Sunday Night Bible Study Hebrews 5:11-14 March 27, 1994 Hebrews 5:11-14 Hebrews 5 11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. :11 Of whom we have many things to say Talking about Jesus. :11 hard to be uttered NASB: "it is hard to explain" It's hard to go much more about Jesus because the readers have become dull of hearing. It's not fun to go on talking when your audience isn't paying attention. Have you ever been talking to somebody when they go to sleep on you? (It happens to me alot on Sunday nights! Ha, ha!) :11 ye are dull of hearing My mom used to complain about me being "hard of hearing". I'd be watching TV and she'd call me for ten minutes to come to dinner, but I'd never hear her. It's is like getting callused. When I pick up my guitar and play for a while, my fingers start hurting, because I've lost the calluses on my hands. But after awhile, if I keep playing, I build up the calluses on my fingers. It doesn't hurt anymore. We get this way with worship songs, when we've sung the same songs over and over again. After awhile, we don't pay much attention to them because we're so used to them. What's dangerous is when we get callused to God's Word. When we stop paying attention to God's Word because, "I've heard that before". 12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which [be] the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. :12 for the time ye ought to be teachers You've been a Christian long enough that you should be a teacher. How long is that? I don't know if you can measure Christian maturity in years. People (healthy Christians) seem to mature at differ rates. Just like kids - some are practically born grown ups. Timothy is 1 1/2 years old, yet in many ways acts just like a five year old. Different animals mature differently. A fly is born, matures, grows old, in a matter of days. A tortoise may live to be a hundred years old. There are living redwood trees that are hundreds of years old! But maturiturity does seem to be related to experience, especially to trials. The harder the experiences, the faster one grows up. Just a few verses ago, the writer was talking about how Jesus' ministry became completed through his obedient suffering. Heb 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; We last week about how we too mature when we learn to go through suffering rather than just bail out of it. The writer is saying that these readers have experienced enough hard times and have had enough good teaching that they too should be mature believers, even teachers. Side Note: I believe that one of the best ways to learn is to teach. Not everyone is called or gifted to teach (at least in the same ministries, some do better with kids...). But if you have a chance to teach something, you REALLY get to know it well! :12 the first principles of the oracles of God The first "ABC's" of being a Christian. He'll go into these things more in Heb 6:1-2 :12 milk ... meat As a teacher, I get comments from time to time like, "Gee, that was real meat you gave us!" Pastors often get compared to one another with, "This guy only gives milk, but this guy really gives meat". And though I'm deeply flattered when someone thinks I give a good Bible Study, I have to be honest in that I'm afraid that we don't usually have a good grasp of what this milk/meat thing is all about. Sometimes I think that as long as I'm telling somebody something they don't already know, that it's meat, but if I tell them something they've heard a thousand times, it's just milk. The issue is not about what you know and what you don't know. It's about how mature you are with the Lord. 13 For every one that useth milk [is] unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. :13 every one that useth milk NASB: "For everyone who partakes only of milk ..." NIV: "Anyone who lives on milk..." The Dairy Council wants us to know that "Milk makes a body good". Milk is used in another place in a good way: 1Pe 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: The idea here is that just as a baby cries and lives for the next drink of mommy's milk, we too ought to yearn and hunger for God's Word so we can grow. But for the sake of our passage tonight, we need to see the constrast with "strong meat". Milk is the stuff that babies live on. Meat is the stuff that grownups live on. If all you live on is milk, you must still be a baby. :13 unskilful in the word of righteousness Here's one of the signs of immaturity: Signs of immaturity 1. Unbiblical Life Unskilful in the word of righteousness. Other translations: Unacquainted with, not accustomed to... Unskilful - inexperienced in, lacking experience with. We're talking about the Scriptures here, but there's a special title used here for the Scriptures. There's a special idea being conveyed. It's the Word of Righteousness. It's the Word that teaches us all about what's right and what's wrong. God wants His Word to produce an effect upon our lives. Ps 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. God's Word, when properly used, has the effect of drawing us closer to God, making us more and more pure (righteous), and taking us farther and farther from sin. If I'm reading about not lying, then I learn to not lie. If I'm reading about paying taxes, then I learn to pay taxes. If I'm reading to love my enemies, then (gulp), I learn to love my enemies. Problem: God's Word doesn't always have the right effect on us. Sometimes we're roadside soil, stoney soil, or thorny soil. God's Word is unable to get past things in our lives we're unwilling to part with. These believers weren't very well acquainted with letting God's Word change their lives. 2. My church is better than your church 1Corinthians 3 1. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, [even] as unto babes in Christ. 2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able [to bear it], neither yet now are ye able. 3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas [there is] among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I [am] of Apollos; are ye not carnal? When Christians get together and start comparing their churches to see whose church is best, it's only a sign of immaturity. We are not in competition with each other. There once was a pastor who belonged to a Rotary Club. They decided that their next meeting would be, "Bring your competition day". Someone asked the pastor which other church's pastor he was going to bring. He replied, "I'm not in competition with other churches, I'm going to go down the street to the corner bar and bring the bar tender to our meeting." 14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, [even] those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. :14 strong meat Just what is "strong meat" (solid food?) I'm not so sure I can (or should) say... I'm really not excited about people who go around classifying teachers as to what kind of "food" they present to their people. I don't want to really give ammunition to these kinds of people. Except it's what mature Christians need. You don't keep feeding baby formula to a five year old. Sadly, there are going to be churches who are only going to be giving formula. All you're ever going to get every week are sermons about salvation and repentance. Don't get me wrong! These are very important! But for a Christian to mature, they need to go beyond these things. Steps in growing up: These are not negative things, but only show what goes on in a person's life as they grow up in the Lord: 1Jo 2:12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. 13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father. 14 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Children: 1. Forgiveness Your sins have been forgiven (vs.12) You should never outgrow this. But this is the place you start in the Lord. 2. Knowing Daddy Have known the Father (vs.13) Nothing deeper than the fact that God loves you like a good Daddy. Please don't outgrow this either. The point in these is not that you outgrow these things, but if these are as far as you've come, and you haven't experienced anything further, you're just a baby. Young Men: 1. Spiritual Victory You have overcome the evil one (vs.13,14) The first steps out of babyhood come through spiritual warfare, and victory in in. I'm not talking about being some kind of "Spiritual Rambo", with a scarf about your forehead, weapons hanging all over you, as if you by yourself are able to even touch the evil one. Victory only comes from Jesus, and using the spiritual weapons He gives you. Re 12:11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 2. Bible Hearts You are strong and the Word of God lives in You (vs.14) These things are all tied together. Strenght and victory over evil are directly related to God's Word Re 12:11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. But it's not just how much you get into your head, but how much affects your heart. Good soil produces fruit. (Mat.13) Fathers: 1. Deep and Wide They have known Him who is from the beginning (vs.13,14) I think that the point here is the depth of your understanding about God. He's not just Daddy. He's not just your Buddy in the Sky. He is an awesome, all powerful, eternal, all knowing God. As we go through hard times and spiritual warfare, we grow to understand more and more just how MIGHTY God is! Paul's prayer for the Ephesians: Ephesians 3 16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what [is] the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. 20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21 Unto him [be] glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Summary: What could "strong meat" include? Among other things: Spiritual warfare, and victory. Getting into God's Word - all of it. Getting to know the depths of God. :14 who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil Just how do we grow up? 1. Practice, practice, practice. "reason of use" = practice (in NASB) Practicing to tell the difference between good and evil, and doing something about it in your life. Over and over again Working on the fundamentals. Doing your scales. When you see something in God's Word that seems to say you need to change something, then DO IT! My children know how to make messes. Their parents know how to clean them up. I know my children are maturing when they learn to pick up after their own messes. Put God's Word into practice in your life. Maturity is not knowing Greek or hard to understand theological terms. Maturity is learning to live the way God wants you to. 2. Speaking the truth in love Ephesians 4 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we [henceforth] be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, [and] cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, [even] Christ: 16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. When we live in an atmosphere of loving one another, we need to also learn to tell each other when we see each other heading for a cliff.