5:11 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God 6:1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of instruction about baptisms—washings—and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.
Today, in our study of Hebrews you’re going to hear something about The Branches church and our philosophy of ministry that you may never have seriously considered before.
Something about me, although I trust those who’ve been here for a while are already aware of what I’m going to say…simply put:
you will learn something about what drives me and the drive for what I do on Sunday morning…what we believe about the Bible…and how it governs all we do at The Branches.
In Hebrews the author repeatedly demonstrates Jesus as being superior over the Judaic system…in the first four chapters the writer reveals the supremacy of Jesus over the angels…Moses…and the priests.
So far, the writer of Hebrews has shown that the promised Messiah meets the requirements of both King and High Priest…listing many of the reasons why that is… but suddenly in verse 11 of chapter 5 that train of thought stops…and he begins to express some frustration with those to whom he is writing.
BUT really, it’s something he’s been implying since the second chapter in an effort to encourage the Hebrews to pay closer attention to:
2:1: the message you’ve heard lest you drift away.
3:1: Considering Jesus.
3:8: Don’t harden your hearts.
3:12: Take care, lest you have an evil heart of unbelief.
4:1: Fear, lest you fail to enter God’s rest.
4:11: Be diligent to enter God’s rest lest you fall by disobedience.
4:14: Hold fast to your confession.
What has caused the author to believe that his readers are less than serious about what he’s been sharing with them… what’s behind all those exhortations: Pay attention! … Consider! …Don’t harden your heart…be fearful! … Be diligent! …Hold fast!
Until now he has only given the cure of what he sees as their ailment…not the diagnosis…now he tells us what’s wrong…he refers to his readers as being ‘dull of hearing’ [11] …probably not something your congregation wants to hear.
What is the disease of dullness of hearing? …what’s that mean…the Greek word (νωθρό) translated as sluggish—or dull of hearing—refers to someone who is slow-moving or lazy…the Jewish Christians had lost their enthusiasm in their
spiritual growth.
Dull hearing doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with your physical ears…it means there is something wrong with your heart.
Goes back to something I said last week regarding the four types of soil that is representative of the heart…there are times when the heart is not eager to embrace the promises of the Word…and turn them into faith.
So, to be dull of hearing implies the Word comes into the ears, goes down to the heart and because the heart has only a thin layer of soil on it the seed can’t take hold…as a result it lasts only a short time.
There’s no passion for it…it’s not embraced…it’s not cherished or treasured… here’s what’s particularly disturbing …if things don’t change—there’s no inheritance of eternal life…dullness of hearing is a dangerous disease because it has the potential to segue into a hardened heart.
That’s why I preach…I don’t preach to condemn…criticize…or to make people feel uncomfortable…or necessarily to make people feel comfortable…and the issue of no-pay is not even a consideration…why I preach is a question I never ask myself…I preach because it’s just the natural thing to do.
I preach because there is nothing more important than delivering God’s Word …I preach because, in my experience, the message is not being delivered often enough or strongly enough in the Church today.
I’m not that vain to imply that I’m the only person preaching the Word correctly, but the Church has evolved over the years…and it’s not been necessarily for the better…something I’ve personally watched in the over 50 years I’ve been in Church…and it’s disturbing.
That was the issue just a few years ago with what was known as the seeker churches…the idea was…as a pastor…you sell them on Christianity Lite… that means you’re not preaching the hard stuff…you’re preaching the light weight stuff that has little application.
Problem was people were never given anything stronger…they never elevated in in spiritual knowledge…so you have to continue to offer Christianity Lite… never feeding them enough meat to transition into more substantial things.
Most of those churches have disappeared…but were followed closely by the introduction of the small group church.
The theory was that this would counter the seeker church by getting people more into the meat of the Bible by meeting in small groups…leaving Sunday church for visitors and to focus more on the elementary teachings of the Bible.
Most small groups followed the same basic pattern…getting together every once in a while…spend the first 15-20 minutes chatting and eating cookies…the “study” would then consist of a leader who would read a selected passage from Scripture and then ask the question: “So what do you guys think about that?”
Here’s the problems with that type of question.
FIRST…inevitably it would transition into the needs of one of the people in the group who insisted on turning every Small Group gathering into a personal therapy session that focused on their individual issues.
SECOND…it provided people the opportunity to tell what they think a portion of Scripture means to them and their particular situation…bad idea.
THIRD…the emphasis becomes more on people having a self-satisfying personal experience that was completely non-judgmental rather than spiritual.
FOURTH…here’s the danger…there’s the potential to become a church within a church with the members feeling no interest or concern to the larger church’s mission.
When the church loses its mission to reach lost people…when the church becomes inwardly focused on itself…the result is a serious state of decline.
As church membership begins to decline…EVERYBODY…church attendance in America has been declining for years…as that occurs churches circled the wagons and started to focus inwardly…all the efforts and energy of the church is shifted from outreach and evangelism inward to life support to try to keep the church alive.
At one time this church had a consistent church attendance of around 200…as attendance began to decline the tendency was on the immediate needs of the church …focusing inwardly on what was best for the inside of the church rather than the needs of those outside the church…jeopardizing our commitment to carry out the mission of the church which is evangelism.
Without evangelism, the church enters into a downward spiral…it becomes lost and purposeless…as the church continues to lose its effectiveness which is evangelism…as a result God will not allow that church to continue to exist as a witness for Jesus…He will remove its lampstand of effectiveness [Rev. 2:5].
More than a few churches have closed their doors because they abandoned their concern for the lost…they compromised their mission as a Church…and lost their first love.
Said it before…at The Branches church we will not compromise the Bible…we will stay focused on missions…I’m not arrogant enough to believe I’m the only person preaching God’s Word…because I’m not…BUT…
as I read the Bible it is the single church service where the Word of God is preached with particular emphasis on the life and ministry of Jesus that meets the needs of both the saved and the unsaved.
There are only two types of people in the world: Those who need to hear the Gospel and be saved…and those who need to hear the gospel to advance in their spiritual maturity.
The Scripture says that believers and unbelievers need precisely the same thing …they need the life changing Word from God! …they need to be taught who God is…how God has saved them through the person and work of Christ. The more they hear about that, the more they grow.
I don’t think any pastor wants to pastor a church that’s dull of hearing…any more than they want to pastor a church where the people have hardened their hearts…so it’s important to emphasize learning…and knowing God’s Word.
When we fail to accomplish that…by not teaching others…then you have need for someone to teach you again…the elementary principles of the oracles of God. [5:12]
Thinking about your own conversion…consider the time that has elapsed since you were converted…do you know and understand the elementary principles of the oracles of God…are you knowledgeable enough to share those?
He’s not saying you ought to become preachers…or teachers…but you ought to be able to explain the elementary truths of the Christian religion.
As parents you ought to be able to explain them to your children…as neighbors, to your neighbors…BUT…as a people…or a church…they had shown they were less than knowledgeable about the elementary principles of Christ.
So, he lists six elementary teachings in the opening verses of chapter 6:
Repentance from dead works v. 1
Faith toward God v.1
Teaching of baptism v.2 –not washings
Laying on of hands v.2
Resurrection from the dead v.2
Eternal judgment v2
It is these elementary teachings that had been made known to the Christian Jews when they converted as a way of helping them understand the work of Christ…
they knew these truths intellectually but gave little indication in their behavior that they had combined them with personal faith…moving on to a more perfect knowledge of Gospel truths.
Let me share with you some additional elements of the Gospel that are not mentioned:
—We are urged to move on from the initial salvation message and grow spiritually in our Christian faith…to advance to spiritual adulthood instead of remaining in spiritual childhood…for some people Jesus never leaves the manger.
—We are to move on from the belief that good works can save us.
—We are to progress into a deeper relationship with the Lord.
—We are NOT to constantly revisit the sins that have already been forgiven.
—We are to wrestle with the tougher aspects of our Christian faith, where we learn obedience by the things that we suffer…a process of ongoing sanctification.
—We are urged to grow in a knowledge of Jesus as both Lord and Savior as we press on to spiritual maturity.
Accepting Jesus as Savior means acknowledging that Jesus came from the Father…was born of a virgin…lived a sinless life…was crucified for our sins… was resurrected…and now sits at the right hand of God.
But just as important…but less emphasized, is accepting Jesus as Lord…when Jesus is Lord of a person’s life, they willingly…faithfully…and joyfully fulfill God’s purpose in their life.
For a Christian, declaring Jesus as Lord is the challenge to bring every area of our life under His sovereign rule…in our lives there should be no rivalry for His authority…He is the one and only ruler in your life…He is in total control.
I think the big takeaway when I read these verses is that the Christian life is not described as coasting down a hill with the wind in your hair kind of experience or…that I’m going to slide into heaven without challenges or trials in my life.
Our inability to grow spiritually leaves us like little children…not realizing that Christianity involves knowing more about Jesus other than a baby in a feeding trough.
It’s leaving the elementary teaching about Christ and pressing on toward maturity…And here’s the key:
Vs1 — let us press on to maturity
Vs3 — this we will do, if God permits
Look at what the author does here…he bookends these two phrases between knowing what are the elementary teachings about Christ with the encouragement to move on to maturity…if God permits.
‘If’ – is a 3rd class condition; conditional particle…meaning something that may or may not be true…under certain circumstances it’s liable to happen.
Strange thing to say…this we will do, if God permits…not implying it’s going to happen…growth is something all Christians are commanded to do… surely God will permit all of us to go on to maturity in the Christian life if we wish to do so!
Or would he? Goes back to that 3rd class conditional sentence… if God permits…this is not to be interpreted as if God is “unwilling” or that God would not allow it if we make an honest effort to do so…it’s suggesting there’s no guarantee that will happen…but not because God doesn’t want it to.
The phrase is used to denote our dependency on God…the writer simply acknowledges that if we neglect to pursue the process of sanctification…if we neglect the confession of sin then there is no guarantee that the Lord will continue to guide…to direct us in our Christian walk should we neglect the elementary principles of God’s grace.
The Bible describes faith as a battle…a battle that is fought everyday…requiring perseverance and diligence…there is an adversary out there who doesn’t want us to trust in God…who doesn’t want us to walk with God…who doesn’t want us to experience the fullness of God’s blessing in our lives.
The writer is encouraging his readers and us to not let your guard down…that God promises grace for the fight…the key is to not only remember the elementary principles of God…but…at the same time with diligence to move beyond the state of spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity.
Hence the importance of declaring Jesus as both Lord and Savior…when we do, we begin to grow into becoming mature believers by developing an abiding fellowship with the Father as we live out our Christian lives in Him.