Years ago, we went to a theme park when my son Kent was younger. There was a roller coaster ride that he really wanted to ride. There was one problem, all riders had to measure up to a minimum height and Kent was a fraction too short. He was so close yet not to be denied so we placed paper towels in his shoes to clear the bar
Children are meant to grow up do great and big things. However our innate desire to grow or not grow is sometimes motivated by our desires.
There are times when growing up is hard and probably more for parents than a child, but it is absolutely necessary. The same is true when it comes to one’s spiritual growth at any age. Believers must continually grow in their relationship with Christ in order to face the challenges of life.
The question is “How?” How can a believer continually grow in his or her relationship with Christ? How can one who has started the journey with Christ move on with Christ even when the going gets rough? How can you and I who know Christ continue to mature in our walk with Christ even in the hard times?
Hebrews chapter 5 answers those questions and encourages believers to grow spiritually. We left off where we compared the priestly role of Melchizedek to Christ. But the Hebrew believer’s needed to be exhorted to grow so they could grasp this explanation.
Hebrews 5:11 of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
A more accurate translation of the Greek word for “dull” could mean slow. In other words the exhortation is to be better disciples by hearing (obeying) God’s Word and by not delaying to put the Bible into practice.
This passage suggests that a believer can’t afford to be a “ho hum” listener. I think of the age of adolescence when I understand this verse, I can’t tell you how many times that I have heard from a teenager that they are bored when they don’t want to get involved in a conversation or participate in an activity they should be in.
For example a story about a conversation that took place between a boy, named Max and Max’s dad, Todd.
The dad says “Max! Why didn’t you answer me when I called you?”
Max replied, “I didn’t hear you, Dad.”
“What do you mean you didn’t hear me?” Dad asked him, and Max does not respond.
Then dad asks him, “How many times didn’t you hear me?”
To which Max replied, “I don’t know, maybe three or four times.” (Lee Eclov, Vernon Hills, Illinois, www.PreachingToday.com)
Oh, Max had HEARD alright. He just didn’t LISTEN. This passage encourages us not to do the same when it comes to obeying God’s Word. We can’t grow spiritually if we do not obey. The fact is that obstinacy will obstruct a spiritual maturity.
Hebrews 5:12-13 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
These verses describe a believer who delays to place the Word into practice in their life, they don’t progress. Instead a believer will remain a pupil; worse yet remain a child, who still needs to be fed from someone else. There are believers that aren’t able to handle anything beyond the basics of God’s Word in their personal walk with the Lord.
On the other hand, when you put into practice God’s Word in your life, a believer will grow in their discernment. You will become more mature in the ability to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 5:14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Those who put into practice God’s Word are like athletes in the gym. That’s the idea in this verse, since the word for “trained” in the original language is where we get our word “gymnasium.” A believer must study (work out) God’s Word in order to spiritually grow and increase in the ability to distinguish right from wrong.
What do I mean when I suggest that a believer should working out God’s Word? When you learn a new truth from God’s Word, exercise it; work it out; put it into practice in your life. The result will be that you will have the ability to do the right thing in situations in life.
The Hebrew believers were reminded that spiritual maturity is all about being a disciple of Jesus – gaining the wisdom to choose the good over the evil, the right over the wrong, the real over the fake.
Some time ago, Scotland Yard conducted a private exhibition of forged paintings for art dealers. They wanted to warn the dealers about the sale of forgeries, which some experts estimate make up 40 percent of the art market. The sale of fake art can undermine the value of the genuine articles.
The forgeries at the exhibit were created with remarkable proficiency. Reliance on documentation alone won’t solve the problem, because even that is often forged! Fiona Ford, of the Association of Arts & Antiques Dealers, said the level of skill displayed by the forgers was “terrifying.” She added, “If every dealer saw this exhibition, it would further impress on them how careful they have to be.” (Associated Press, “Police Display Fakes at Exhibition to Warn Art Dealers,” www.topix.net, posted on 11-23-06; www.PreachingToday.com)
What’s true in art is also true in life. There is a lot of “fake news” out there – information which looks good but will lead you astray every time – so you have to be very careful.
The Economist magazine ran an article entitled, “Yes, I’d lie to you: The post-truth world.” The article analyzed the dishonesty that’s wreaking havoc in politics, journalism, social media, and many other areas of our common life. One editor that was quoted in the article said, “Right now, it pays to be outrageous, but not to be truthful.”
The article also highlighted one of the most effective ways to tell lies – by hiding the truth in a glut of information. A study from the University of North Carolina states that “Information glut is the new censorship.” For example, the Chinese government tries to censor things they do not like on social media. They just flood it with distracting information. (“Yes, I’d lie to you,” The Economist, 9-10-16; www.PreachingToday.com)
So how are we to live in such a “post-truth (post Christian) world”? Well, that takes a lot of spiritual discernment, and discernment comes from constantly practicing the truth of God’s Word. A Child will believe everything they hear. Adults, on the other hand, through experience and practice, learn to know the difference between the real and the fake.
A believer spiritually grows by putting into their life the exercise of GOD’S WORD. God’s word and His Holy Spirit will work out His truth in our everyday life. The writer of Hebrews is saying that the believers are told to be diligent to learn and grow. Press on to maturity.
Hebrews 6:1 “Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.”
The English translation makes it sound like spiritual maturity is something we do to ourselves; i.e., we MAKE ourselves grow. But we can’t MAKE ourselves grow any more than a baby can! Actually, in the original language the verb is passive. That means the subject is acted upon.
It’s NOT that we must in our own effort “GO on to maturity,” but that we must “discipline ourselves be moved on to maturity. Spiritual growth is the same as physical growth; growing is not something you DO to yourself. It is something that happens to you if you eat right and exercise.
The Holy Spirit works a believer towards spiritual maturity as you live your life in dependence upon Him. “Christ WORKS IN YOU” (Ph. 1:6) to grow in His image as you study His Word and exercise its principles in your everyday life. Yet there is more in this passage.
Hebrews 6:1-2 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
These are the elementary doctrines of the Christian faith. They’re teachings that even the newest Christian should know and practice.
The first is “repentance from dead works” to “faith in God.” Every true believer understands that they cannot save themselves through their own good works but must depend on God to deliver them from sin, so they can become a child of God.
Second, is “the doctrine of baptisms.” A believer should have experienced a once for all “washing” and baptism. Hebrew religious culture required a washings and baptisms every time people repent. Baptism by the Holy Spirt and believer’s baptism are each one time events. Both express that you have died to an old way of life and have been raised to a new life in Christ. Religious people like the Jewish religion, never gain assurance but keep repenting in these washing to “walk in faithfulness to God.” But a believer needs to go on.
Third, the reference to “laying on of hands”, was instruction about which leaders they should follow. In the early church they laid hands on the people they recognized as leaders (Acts 6:6; 1 Timothy 4:4; 2 Timothy 1:6). This was one problem the apostle Paul had writing to the Corinthian believers in 1Cor 3. They had leadership fractions. Some followed Apollos and some followed Paul. In ICor 3:8-9 Paul wrote “Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.” They were to be careful who they followed.
Finally there is the reference of teachings on prophecy, the “resurrection from the dead.” and “eternal judgment.” Don’t be surprised that the issue of death and eternal judgement are elementary principles of the Christian faith. Remember the Pharisees believed in resurrection and the Sadducees didn’t. (They were sad you see…). The resurrection is a basic hope of every Christian (Ro 6:5; 1 Cor 15:21-22) and the eternal judgement which even the apostle Paul tied to the proclamation to the gospel is also a reality (Rom1:16-18).
These four basic Christian doctrines the believers knew. The problem was that some of the Hebrew believers never grew spiritually afterward.
A believer is not to be like Peter Pan, who didn’t want to grow up. Psychologists call the condition “gerascophobia”, which means “the fear of growing up.”
A case reported in Psychiatry magazine described a 14-year-old boy who tried hard not to grow up.
The article described an adolescent, who “does not eat much because according to his own research food contains nutrients needed for physical development. In addition, he adopted a stooped posture to hide his height and began to distort his voice, using lower volume and higher pitch than usual… Every time he notices a physical change that indicates that he is growing, he feels fear and anxiety, to the point that has considered undergoing multiple surgeries to hide it. If people tell him that he is taller or older, he becomes extremely upset and cries… He is currently in the 25th percentile, according to the BMI for his age.”
After treatment, the boy showed significant signs of improvement. “However,” the article concluded, “he continues to express a fear of commitment and responsibilities that he feels will be required of him in adult life. (Case Reports in Psychiatry, 2014, December 21; www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC4283456)
How sad! But no more sad, is the fact that a believer who is “ho hum” to move beyond the basics in Christian doctrine. No believer can afford be like that. A believer must not fear the commitment and responsibility that spiritual growth brings. Every believer must build on the elementary doctrines and move on to greater growth and maturity.
Hebrews 6:3 And this we will do if God permits.
The suggestion here is that God would NOT permit further growth, if you’re not putting into practice God’s revealed Word. How that works is that the Holy Spirit illuminates your mind with truth and wisdom through the study of God’s word. The premature believer will stay drinking milk; the mature believer will exercise their faith with the meat of God’s Word!
A believer needs to spiritually grow by putting into life the practice God’s Word; then persist in the practice of God’s Word, …but a believer must be careful not to BE conceited IN YOUR WAYS.
Don’t be obstinate. Don’t be stubborn and refuse to change and spiritually grow.
Hebrews 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
Those verses are a mouthful! So let’s unpack it.
First, these are believers. Verse 4 says, “They were once enlightened” – I.e., the Holy Spirit has opened their eyes to see the truth of the Gospel. And “they have tasted the heavenly gift” – I.e., they have experienced Christ, God’s gift from heaven. This is not just a sampling of Christ. This is the full experience of Christ. In Hebrews 2:9, the same word is used where it talks about Christ “made lower than the angels… so that… He might TASTE death for everyone.” Jesus did not merely sample death on the cross; He experienced it to the full. So those who have tasted Christ, the heavenly gift, have experienced Him to the full. He is their Savior, and He dwells within. They have also “become partakers of the Holy Spirit”, who only indwells believers (Roman 8:9). And in verse 5, they have tasted, or fully experienced, the goodness of God’s Word and God’s power.
v.6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
It’s clear that these people are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, but they are believers who have become distracted and fell away. Verse 6 does not use the word for “apostasy” as used elsewhere in this book (Hebrew 3:12 &12:25). Therefore some believers did not deliberately turn away from or reject Christ. They stopped growing because they became distracted since they stopped abiding in God’s Word.
These are believers who went astray but did not lose their salvation since that is impossible. Verse 6 says, “It is impossible… to renew them again to repentance.” When believers stop abiding in God’s Word, they become obstinate; they become stubborn in their refusal to change and grow.
Verse 6 says, they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.” A believer’s refusal to change shows disrespect to Jesus, so much so that it is like they need to crucify Him once again. And they do it to their own harm!
This is ironic that this type of person will think they are not saved, and that grieves God. It’s like saying that His death and resurrection needs to be done again. It didn’t take! Or it was not good enough the first time!
In John chapter 3, when Nicodemus told Jesus that it is impossible to be physically born again, it’s impossible to be spiritually born twice.
There was a staff member at a church who had a salvation claim every two years. Maybe because he was living sin or maybe he did not spiritually grow? The real issue is that each believer must be a disciple of Christ and grow in maturity and not stay stunted or desire to go backward as a child. Notice the result of a growing believer.
Hebrews 6:7-8 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
Those who practice God’s Word in their life are fruitful. They become useful for the expansion of Christ’s Kingdom. God uses them to bring others to faith in Christ, and they are blessed.
On the other hand, those who refuse to change and grow become barren and dry. They become unfruitful in Christ’s Kingdom, producing thorns and thistles, producing only those things that are an irritation to others.
One of the greatest problems in a Church comes from “saints” who have stopped growing. They have stopped abiding in God’s Word, and so they have become stubborn and all prickly in their relationships, and are very hard to get along with.
In the end, everything an obstinate believer accomplishes will be for nothing. It will all be burned up. 1 Corinthians 3 says of this kind of a believer, his work is “burned up… [but] he himself will be saved,” (1 Corinthians 3:15). These are believers who have fallen away and refuse to repent to their own harm.
Please, don’t be that kind of a believer. Don’t be stubborn in your refusal to change and grow, lest you become a thorn in somebody’s side.
On the other hand, to spiritually grow we must study God’s Word; then PERSIST to put it into practice in your life GOD’S WORD
A fictional story set in the Middle Ages about a talented young painter was hired to create a mural above the high altar of a great church in Paris. The subject was the life of Christ. The artist labored with persistence for many years, and his mural became known as the marvel of its time. Yet it remained incomplete. The artist, try as he might, could not complete two of the faces: the Christ Child and Judas Iscariot. Whenever he attempted to fill in these empty spaces, the results were out of harmony with the rest of the work.
The artist was greatly dissatisfied with the situation and could not understand why, despite his talents, he was unable to bring the mural to completion. He prayed for inspiration daily, and not long afterward, while walking on the streets of the city, he happened upon a group of children playing. Among them was a boy who had the face of an angel and who radiated goodness. The artist invited him to sit as a model of the Christ Child. With his parents’ permission the child did, and the finished image was considered a masterpiece. Yet the painter could still find no model for the face of Judas Iscariot.
The story of the artist’s quandary spread far and wide throughout the country, and many people, considering themselves the possessors of wicked, deformed, or corrupt faces, offered to pose as the betrayer. But to the artist, none of them seemed quite right for the part. He wanted a face so twisted and ruined by its surrender to depravity that all who gazed upon it would see sin incarnate. Years passed, and the artist would often go to the church to pray for inspiration. He longed to complete the mural, yet in his heart he hoped that the face of Judas would forever elude him, that no human soul would ever be so deeply sunk in sin that it would provide the perfect model.
Then one afternoon as he sat in the church, a beggar staggered down the aisle and knelt at the steps of the altar. He reeked and his clothing hung in rags from his haggard figure. He was not an old man, but he was hunched over, as if weighted by an immense burden of dark memories. His face was exactly what the artist had been looking for. He took the broken man home with him, fed him, washed his diseased flesh, clothed him, and spoke to him warmly, as if with a friend. He instructed his children to treat the visitor with the greatest respect. His wife, a kind and devout woman, prepared fine meals for him. But the poor man dwelt in their midst as if he were made of stone. He was completely unable to speak.
He was, however, willing to sit as the artist’s model. Weeks went by, and as the work progressed, the beggar would look from time to time at the image of himself materializing on the canvas. A curious grief and horror would fill his eyes. One day, seeing the model’s distress, the artist paused in his labor, laying down his brush.
“My friend,” he said, “your heart is troubled. What is it?”
The man buried his face in his hands and burst into tears. After a long moment he lifted his eyes to the old painter. “Do you not remember me?” he said, “Years ago I was your model for the Christ Child.” (Michael D. O’Brien, Sophia House, Ignatius Press, 2005; www.PreachingToday.com)
We see in Hebrews chapter 6 that there is a possibility of those who fall away to such a degree that they harden themselves to all calls for confession and do not respond to God’s loving hand of discipline. There are two passages that also reveal similar thoughts. The first is in John chapter 15 of the vine and the branches. Abiding in Christ otherwise they will wither away. In Revelation chapter 2 churches are given opportunity to repent otherwise a lampstand was removed.
So to bring this whole context together, what God doesn’t intend for His believers is to finish life looking impoverish and malnourished. But bring glory and honor to His kingdom by growing and teach all nations. That is accomplished by….
- Studying God’s Word.
- Surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit.
- Stay in the course of a disciple of Christ.