Grow UP! July 4 Reading: Hebrews 5-6

Today’s Readings

Context

Today's passage gives us insights into three of the key themes in the book of Hebrews.

1. It is a Jewish book - rooted in the OT sacrifices and priesthood and rituals and the fact that they could not finally and eternally deal with sin.
2. The admonitions not to turn back from the teaching of grace to the works of the Law. These admonishions are key to the structure of the book. The end of chapter 5 and the beginning of chapter 6 is one such admonition.
3. The importance of going on to maturity in Christ.

A note here is appropriate about the controversial passage in Hebrew 6:4-6. There have been 3 primary explanations of this passage.

• It teaches that one can lose salvation. 
• It speaks of those who "taste" but do not fully ingest salvation - they come close but do not actually fully come to Christ. 
• It speaks of those who truly know Christ but turn back to the teachings of the Jewish Law and backslide into sin. 

It does not seem to be speaking of salvation, due to context. If it does, the person who loses salvation can never regain it. The experience described seems to be more than a simple "taste-test." The best explanation is that this is another in the series of warnings against leaving behind the grace of God and returning to the empty and fruitless works of the Jewish Law. 

Devotional - Grow UP!

 My granddaughter, Johannah, is the cutest thing. She Is well into her "terrible twos" - with both feet! She is testing her limits, demanding her way, pouting, and throwing tantrums. We used to call her Hurricane Johannah - she could leave a swath of destruction behind her wherever she goes. A while back, one of her favorite things was to unroll the toilet paper (thank goodness that "adorable" hobby has passed.) When she eats, ends us strewn about the room. She can be loving one minute and angry the next. Happy. Sad. It's like riding a roller coaster!

But it won't be so cute in 15 years if she behaves the same way. What is cute in a toddler is annoying in a child and intolerable in a teenager. Johannah is normal - that is how two-year-olds behave. But if she is still behaving the same way when she is 18, there won't be anything cute about it. She will begin to hear those fateful words that parents often say to their children - GROW UP!

That is what the author of Hebrews was saying to his readers in Hebrews 5:12.

Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. 

What was the problem? They should have been mature, leading others in the ways of Christ, and training them to follow him, but they were not. They were still having to learn the basic lessons of life. They have remained on a diet of milk instead of going on to eating the solid food they need to grow. 

We sometimes wonder why the church is in the kind of mess that it is in today. The problem is what the author diagnosed here in this passage. American Christians live on a baby's diet, refusing to dig into the meat of the Word and staying with the pablum, or worse, living on a diet of junk food - but that's another devotional altogether. Too often we find believers who have been saved for 20 or 30 years still behaving like they are in their terrible twos.

There is a simple solution to this problem. We need to grow up, to mature in Christ, to grow in him. We need to deal with the sicknesses that prevent spiritual growth, by repenting of our sin and seeking God. We must get a consistent diet of high-nutrition solid spiritual food, by reading studying and obeying God's Word. As we turn from our growth-stunting sins and feast upon God's Word, we will grow and leave behind childish behavior. 

Father, build your character into me. May I grow strong in you through your Word. 

Think and Pray

Are you growing and maturing in Christ?
Think back to what you were a year ago, two years ago? What has changed in you that is evenidence of the maturing work of Christ?