Word of Salvation – Vol. 50 No.35 – September 2005

 

God Permitting, We Will Mature

Sermon by Rev R Adams on Hebrews 6:3

Scripture Readings:  Hebrews 5:11-6:12

Suggested Hymns:  PsH 180; 453; 459; 20; 452; 493
                               BoW 92; 450; 1a; 210; 533

 

Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

When we’re young we can get away with infantile behaviour. We can do foolish things that show our immaturity, and our self-centredness. When we’re young, people are prepared to be tolerant with us… but as we grow up, we’re expected to learn the difference between behaviour that is acceptable and that which is not. And so we learn to take responsibility for our own actions. And this simply reflects the fact that we’re becoming more mature.

What is true of our emotional and mental development is also true in matters of faith. To be sure, Jesus said, “…anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Mk 10:15). He meant that our faith has to be characterised by a ‘childlike’ trust in God. But a ‘childlike’ trust is not the same as a ‘childish’ refusal to grow up.

God desires that we should grow up in our faith. Peter says that we should, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation…” (1 Pet 2:2). God’s intention is that we should become mature believers… with the result as Paul has it: “…we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching… Instead… we will… grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ” (Eph 4:14-15).

God permitting, we will hear the Word… we will act on it… and we will grow in our faith. However, if we’re non-teachable, we may hear the Word, yet we will continue to do just what our hearts desire… much like little children, who hear their mother’s call but ignore her and go on with what they’re doing.

1. INFANTS IN THE FAITH (5:13)

And this is exactly the problem our Writer sees in certain Christians: they are infants in the faith. So he says, “Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness” (vs 13). Paul, too, says something about ‘infants’ and their ‘food’: “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly-mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly…” (1 Cor 3:1-3).

Similarly, the passage in Hebrews is about a spiritless faith: “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn” (vs 11). The writer was earlier talking of Jesus’ priesthood, patterned on Melchizedek… a mysterious figure in the Old Testament, whose name means ‘king of righteousness’ (7:2). The Writer will discuss Melchizedek at great length in later chapters. For now, he admits that it’s “hard to explain”… and I won’t touch on it here… except to say that knowing how Christ is our Priest before God has much to do with a mature faith… hence the writer’s anguish because these Hebrew Christians are anything but mature in faith. In fact they “are slow to learn” (vs 11).

The writer can’t speak to them of deep things because their faculties are ‘dull’… they’re slow to understand… or as the same word is translated in 6:12, they are ‘lazy’ in a spiritual sense. These Christians have become disinterested in growing in their faith. They’re like some whose involvement in their congregation is minimal to say the least… so you’d never see them at a Bible study, and good heavens, don’t talk to them about ‘twice’ on a Sunday.

The Greek wording implies that these Christians weren’t always like this… they became like this over time. At one time they must have been excited about their faith. They must have been excited about Jesus. And maybe they had a real hunger for the Word of God. But now, they have grown indolent and dull and non-teachable.

These folks have been in the faith long enough so that they should have been able to teach others about their faith. It’s what you’d expect of any mature Christian. But instead of being able to do so, these guys are back in kindergarten. They may have been taught “the elementary truths” (vs 12) of the Christian faith, but they hadn’t bothered to learn them or remember them. It’s like they have to learn their ABC’s “all over again.”

The ‘priesthood’ of Jesus must have been all Greek to them. And could they have been able to explain how we have to be saved by grace? And if they were around today, would they want to profess their faith? We’re told that they knew nothing of “the teaching about righteousness,” and so it follows that neither could they “distinguish good from evil” (vs 14). What a state to be in… in a world that is given over to evil.

So how do you compare with these Hebrew Christians? Are you, like them, an infant in the faith? It’s not enough to expect the preacher to know this stuff. It’s your Christian responsibility to know it, too.

2. LET US GO ON TO MATURITY

We cannot remain as mere ‘babes’, we have a responsibility to grow in our faith. So the writer says, “…let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity…” (6:1). We’ve already heard from Peter, that we should “crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation…” (1 Pet 2:2). And James says the same thing in different words, “humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you” (Jas 1:21).

Knowing God’s Word is very important to a mature faith. We have to feed on God’s Word, so that we can grow by it. We have to read and study God’s Word for ourselves… so that we can understand “the elementary teachings about Christ” (vs 1). And the writer gives us a list of ‘elementary teachings’ such as ‘repentance from acts that lead to death’ and ‘faith in God’ that could be considered the very foundation of our faith… so we need to know such things. But to grow in faith takes more than knowledge in such things.

Once the foundation has been laid we have to build a mature faith on it. As Peter says very forthrightly in his second letter: “…make every effort to add to your faith goodness; to goodness, knowledge; to knowledge, self-control; to self-control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pet.1:5-8).

Peter is talking about ‘growing’ a godly character. Faith has to work out in godly practice, if we’re to grow up in Christ. So we need to be desirous of seeing spiritual growth in our own lives.

Still, God’s Word carries hope for Christians who have been indolent and lazy and veritable infants in their faith. Sure, there is a need to grow… but it’s not too late. For God leaves the outcome undecided as far as we’re made aware… So we still hope that He will allow us to grow in our faith. “And God permitting, we will do this” (6:3).

3. We are confident of better things

The writer is confident his readers will not be among those who fall away. “Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case…” (6:9). And he may think this because, “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them” (6:10). Our Hebrew Christians have been involved in kingdom work in the past… and they haven’t abandoned their work… they’re still serving God in this way. They’ve helped God’s people in earlier days, out of a genuine love for the Lord, and He won’t forget their ongoing service. This is encouraging news for every one of us.

But while the writer says this, he isn’t about to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. “We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised” (vss 1-12). Notice the contrast between indolent and lazy faith, and being diligent to find your ‘assurance of hope’ in the promises of God. And you do this by imitating people who respond to God’s promises in ‘faith and patience.’

It’s not something that happens automatically. So the writer urges us to get on with it. God’s Word calls you to grow and to mature in your faith. And you “will… if God permits.”

And this brings us to a sobering passage: “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened… if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again…” It’s near-on impossible for anyone who has experienced spiritual blessings in the covenant community… but who throws it all away… who turns his back on it… to come back to repentance. And this amounts to a public denial of Jesus Christ. As Peter Adam says, “It is to strike at the heart of God and His salvation” (The Majestic Son, p 73).

To remain an infant in your faith when you should be a mature believer, exposes you to a certain danger. It opens up the fearful possibility that you may be one of those whom God will not permit to mature… just as in chapter 3, God said of certain Jews, “They shall never enter my rest” (3:3).

The original readers of this letter had stood to benefit from being in the covenant community. For example they had:

* once been enlightened;

* tasted of the heavenly gift;

* shared in the Holy Spirit;

* tasted of the goodness of the Word of God;

* witnessed the powers of the coming age.

You can imagine these Christians attending worship services every Sunday. Who knows how many sermons they’ve listened to? They discover for themselves that God’s Word is uncanny in its application to their lives. They’ve seen the Holy Spirit working in the lives of others in their community. It was right there in front of them. They had even felt the Spirit tugging at their hearts and consciences… yet they continue to sleep.

As the inspired writer says, they are like “land that produces thorns and thistles… [it] is worthless and… in danger of being cursed” (vs 8). This reminds us of Jesus’ parable about the seed falling on various types of soil. Our Hebrew Christians are like those who “hear the Word, and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away” (Mk 4:16-17).

But notice what Jesus goes on to say: “Consider carefully what you hear… [for] whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him” (Mk 4:24-25). In other words, if you have the desire to hear and understand the promises of God, you will be given more understanding now… and richer rewards when the Judge comes. But if you don’t have this desire, even what you think you have can be taken away… and with it, all chance of salvation.

To put it in terms of what Hebrews is saying, anyone who has a desire to grow in grace and knowledge and usefulness to the kingdom will always be diligent to find his assurance in the hope promised by God. Anyone who is dull as far as faith is concerned won’t be bothered… and this can only have disastrous results. This is what makes lazy listening so incredibly dangerous.

Remember what the Writer says: “we are confident of better things in your case…” (vs 9). It’s not too late. There’s still hope. But I urge you… if these words are for you… be diligent and careful in how you hear. Don’t be dull… go on to mature in your faith. “And God permitting, we will do this” (vs 3).

In the name of Jesus…

Amen.