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HOLY HELP FOR THE HOPELESS WHO PERSIST IN LEARNING TO BE PERFECTHebrews 5:11-6:3INTRODUCTION I regularly speak with people who feel they are in hopeless situations. Whether its health problems or financial problems or marriage problems or work-related problems or wayward children problems--for one reason or another, circumstances have placed individuals in a situation that appears as if there is no way out, all hope is gone. I regularly feel in those conversations that I have nothing to say. I feel the hopelessness. I can't fix the problem. Telling these hopeless people about Jesus and their need to trust him, just doesn't feel very helpful. It feels trite and non-compassionate and even harsh. What is more, I know that what these people want is not Jesus, but a solution to their hopeless situation. They really are not interested in what I have to say because of the trouble they are in. The people to whom this letter is written are people who are in a hopeless situation. If they remain Christians they are going to lose their property, their jobs, their freedom and some of them will lose their lives. What strikes me about our text this morning is that the author is not speechless. He has a lot to say to say to them. However, he does feel what I often feel. He's not sure they want to hear what he has to say. These people have figured out a solution to their hopeless situation and it doesn't involve Jesus. They know how to keep their property and to stay out of prison and to avoid being killed and that is to stop being public Christians and return to the Jewish religion which is acceptable to the Roman government. They are on the edge of quitting Christianity and this letter is written to show them why being a Christian is infinitely superior to any other option they might pursue. In the midst of this letter concerning the superiority of Jesus and his salvation, before he can continue to explain the glory of Jesus he must get them to see why they should care about the glory of Jesus in spite of their present circumstances. The author views growth in the knowledge and application of Christian doctrine as normal for those who truly value Christ and apathy towards Christian doctrine as a sure sign of spiritual decline. In other words, faith in Christ always produces fervency in pursuing knowledge of Christ, no matter what happens. In this morning's passage he gives 4 reasons for why they should pursue the knowledge of Christ in spite of the trouble they are in. MAIN POINT All Christians are eager, life-long learners of doctrine, no matter what happens, because…I. All Christians are teachers (vv. 11-12) Verse 11 begins with the author asserting that he has a lot he’d like to say about “this”. To what is the “this” referring? The “this” refers to what he has been saying in vv. 1-10 about Jesus. He has been explaining how Jesus is our high priest. He is like the high priests in the OT in a number of ways. He is a human being who represents his people to God by offering gifts and sacrifices for sins. He, like Aaron, did not claim the right to be high priest but was chosen by God the Father to be the high priest. In addition, he earned the right to be our high priest by his reverent submission to the will of God, by learning obedience through what he suffered. He was made perfect or fit to be the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him by his obedience to God in a life of suffering which culminated in the cross. What he does beginning in v. 11 and going through 6:12 is what every good parent does when he or she wants to make sure their child pays attention. When you are in the midst of explaining something really important and the child’s eyes glaze over and you can tell they are not listening then a good parent will stop explaining and seek to make the child see why it is so necessary they pay attention. That is exactly what the author is doing here. He stops the explanation in order to get them to see how important it is before he continues. He does this because he knows their eyes are glazing over, they are not paying attention the way they need to in light of what is at stake. Do to the circumstances of their lives they are not sure that Jesus is what they really need. He has a lot that he wants to tell them about Jesus as our high priest in the order of Melchizedek but he first must make sure they are paying attention. What he says is that he is not sure he can go on with his explanation of this difficult to understand material because they have made an already difficult task more difficult in that they have become dull of hearing or “slow to learn” as the NIV has it. It is necessary for every Christian teacher and preacher to work hard at explaining the doctrines of the Christian faith as simply and clearly as we can. We must use language that people can understand and illustrations to make our points. However, the biggest barrier to understanding divine truth is not poor communicators but dull listeners. The word that is translated “slow to learn” in the NIV or “dull of hearing” in the ESV is actually the word for lazy or sluggish. It’s the word that I’ve heard Les Mitchell who teaches math at Parker High school use on a number of occasions as he is daily faced with students who have absolutely no interest in learning math and therefore put forth no effort to learn it. Many of his students are dull or lazy of hearing when it comes to math. Learning math has nothing to do with life as far as many of Les' students are concerned and so they are lazy in their listening. I can’t tell you how many times over the course of my 30 years of ministry I have had people tell me they just cannot read the Bible or listen to a sermon on tape or sit through a forty minute sermon in church or read a short book on some aspect of the Christian faith but who will spend hours mastering video games or watching videos to improve their golf game or listening to tapes on how to manage their money or lose weight or will read countless magazines to find the best deal on some item they want. My dear friends, the reason that people are not interested in or bored by Christian teaching is not because it is too difficult or too boring but because they don’t believe that knowing Christ is anything special. In the case of these Hebrew Christians, at one time they were very eager to know Christ but now they are not. The reason isn’t because Jesus suddenly is less awesome but because something else has become more awesome to them. Notice in v. 12 that given the amount of time they have been Christians, they ought to be teachers of the gospel but instead they are in need of someone teaching them again the basic principles of the Christian faith. There are two things for you to recognize here. First, there are basic principles of the Christian faith, which means that there are also more advanced principles of the Christian faith that must be mastered. For some of you sitting in this room that are new to the Christian faith it makes perfect sense if some of what you read and hear doesn’t make much sense. There is a progression in the content of the gospel that goes from easier to harder. It is an obligation we have as a church to make sure that those who are new to the faith have opportunities to study the basics of the faith and have a chance to ask questions and clarify issues. Our newcomers group and discovering membership at River Hills classes seek to cover some of the basics. A number of our same gender small groups focus on the basics. Also, let me encourage those of you who are newer to the faith to ask an older Christian to meet with you so you can ask questions and get explanations for things that make no sense to you. This will be good for you and for them as it will force them to articulate the truth they say they believe. However, the other thing that must be recognized is that all Christians are expected to move beyond the basics and beyond the need to be taught the basics and are to come to the place where they are able to teach others the gospel. Every Christian is to be a teacher of the gospel. Not every Christian is called to be a pastor or to lead a small group but all of us are to understand the gospel so we can adequately explain the gospel to others. The fact is that until you are able to explain something to another person you do not truly understand it. The author is simply recognizing this basic fact about human beings: If someone or something is valuable to you then you invest time and energy in knowing more about that person or object and you love to tell others about this person or object. Listen to what you are eager to talk about. If Christ is a treasure to you, then you will be growing in your knowledge of him and talking about him with others. All Christians are eager, life-long learners of doctrine, no matter what happens, because…
II. Maturity is mandatory (vv. 13-14) The author next uses a powerful metaphor to encourage the Hebrew Christians to grow in their knowledge of God’s truth. He compares the Christian life to physical life. Babies drink milk and it is good that they do so. Again, new Christians need to learn the basics of Christian doctrine. However, the time comes when babies stop nursing and eat solid food like an adult. How weird would it be for a 15 year old to still be nursing? The author is essentially saying that the fact that they have no interest in pursuing the knowledge of Christ and his gospel is just like being a 15 year old who is still consuming his mother’s milk. I don’t think you can get any more graphic or insulting than that. He is intentionally using this “biting irony” to get their attention. He is telling them that though they ought to be mature already, like adults, they are acting like babies. People who profess to be Christians but who have no appetite for learning Christian doctrine are acting like babies. People who profess to be Christians but who stop pursuing the knowledge of Christ the moment trouble shows up are acting like babies, not adults. The point here is this: God gave you his life when he caused you to be born again by the Spirit of God. Just as every baby leaves nursing behind and “graduates” to solid food, so every true Christian leaves behind the basics of Christian teaching and “feeds” on the solid food of God’s word. It is normal and natural for infants to become children who want to eat “grown up food”. All of us need to grow up and to sink our spiritual and intellectual teeth into the revelation of Christ that is contained in all of the Scriptures. We need to do this even when trouble comes into our lives. All Christians are eager, life-long learners of doctrine, no matter what happens, because…
III. You cannot be perfect without knowing God’s word of righteousness (v. 14b) In v. 14 the author defines for us what he means by maturity. There is a “play on words” that is hard to see in translation. If you’ll look back at v. 9 you can see that Jesus was made perfect by his reverent submission, his learning obedience through suffering. The word translated “mature” in v. 14 and “maturity” in 6:1 comes from the same root as “made perfect” in v. 9. This word “perfect” is used in the OT to describe the way in which Aaron’s sons were ordained or fit for or made perfect for the priesthood. God said that the way that Aaron’s sons were made perfect for being the priest was by submitting to the week long ordination ceremonies and the regulations governing the priesthood. In the same way Jesus was made perfect to be our high priest by his obedient life and death. Therefore, the idea of becoming mature is not merely referring to developing a mature character in Christ but rather the idea is that you are being made fit for your ultimate vocation which is to live with Jesus in heaven. It is not referring to some “ideal” Christian moral status on earth but rather that we are people who are fully engaged in becoming like Jesus so that we join with Jesus in that final state of perfection which is the new heavens and the new earth. It’s like the person who is training to run the 10,000 meters in the summer Olympics. They are fixated upon the goal of winning the race. Therefore, they are eager to learn everything they can learn about the physiology of running, the biomechanics of running, how nutrition affects running, the history of running and the various strategies of running and winning races. Their goal is to run the “perfect” race, which ends in his or her winning the race. To be the perfect runner is to be as fully trained as you can be so that you can complete the race successfully, by winning it. I have no interest in the "solid food" of running. I am not aiming at perfection in running. I am an infant when it come to running and need only the milk of knowledge about running. “Mature” runners are those runners who are aiming to win the race, to be as fit as possible to run and win. In the same way, the only people who need the “word of righteousness” are those who are running to win, that is, who aim to run the perfect race. The perfect race is the race that ends with you entering the new heavens and the new earth with the words of Jesus ringing in your ears, "well done, good and faithful servant." When trouble comes you are tempted to aim at a different goal and so the knowledge that once was so important to you, loses its importance. If the goal is to win back the affection of your spouse, then knowing how Jesus is a priest in the order of Melchizedek doesn't seem very important. However, if living as a faithful Christian while loving your spouse in spite of how he or she treats you is your goal, then knowing this remains very important. The “word of righteousness” is exactly what those who aim to be perfectly prepared for heaven need. What is this “word of righteousness”? First of all it is a word that describes the source of all righteousness, God himself. We discover in this word who God is and what God is like. We discover his commitment to his own glory and how he works his righteous purpose to display his glory throughout the universe. We learn how we fall short of his righteousness in this word. We discover the diverse and numerous ways that we are not righteous. We also discover in this word how God makes us righteous through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this word of righteousness we learn that the God who justly hates the wicked has, for the sake of Christ and for no other reason, chosen to love all those who trust in Christ. It is in and by the truth contained in this word, by the doctrines it teaches that we understand how our lives are changed now by this good news of the righteousness of God given to sinners. We discover how to grow in righteousness as we learn this word. My friends, I can think of nothing more practical to tell you, regardless of the circumstances of your life, than that God has made a way for you, guilty sinner, to be justly accepted and loved by him through Christ’s obedient life and willing death and glorious resurrection. The truths contained in this book, in this gospel, are the only true and reliable words in the universe. As we understand more of the glory of God revealed in this word of righteousness and as we live in this world that God has made, we increasingly understand what is good and what is evil. Our hearts are trained to see what course of action to take; what words to speak or not speak; what prayers to pray. We clearly see the race marked out for us, the narrow road that leads to life. What once seemed impossible to figure out becomes clear in the light of God’s truth and the glory of belonging to him. The reason that knowledge of God’s truth is indispensable to living right is because God’s truth encompasses all of life. There is no part of your life that does not belong to God and does not relate to God. Knowing God is not just one part of your life, it is your life and only those who are growing in their knowledge of and appreciation for divine truth have any concept on how to live in God’s world and so follow the path to the perfect life, which is eternal life. This word of righteousness will not tell you how to fix all of your problems. It will however tell you how to live as a faithful Christian in the midst of all your problems. If being a faithful Christian is the goal of life, then this book and the doctrines it teaches will be your life. However, if finding a fulfilling job is the goal of your life, then this book will be of little interest to you. When I first became a Christian during my junior year of college I found no greater happiness than in being with other Christians talking about Christ as he was revealed in the Bible. I pummeled older Christians with questions. I voraciously read my Bible and other Christian books. I loved going to church and Bible studies and I delighted to share what I was learning with others. I took that delight into my early years of ministry but gradually I became dull of hearing. I became lazy and sluggish in my pursuit of God and his truth. I felt that I knew everything that needed to be known. I found my happiness in reading novels and playing basketball and being a husband and father. I was very involved in Christian ministry, sharing the gospel, counseling Christians, leading Bible studies and yet I was not mature any longer. I was not interested in winning the race and so I had no interest in the things that runners who aim to win are interested in. I had no interest in solid food but was content with milk. My senses were not being trained by practice to discern good from evil. Then, in 1990, 15 years after I became a Christian, God, through a friend and through a couple of books that my friend challenged me to read woke me up to the fact that I was not paying attention any longer. I had drifted away from this great salvation. The central thing that I rediscovered is that God is the center of everything. Life truly is about knowing him. The purpose of life is not to be a good husband and/or father. The goal of life is not to be a moral person. The goal of life is not to have a successful career or successful children. The goal of life is not to become "all that God created you to be." The goal of life is not to have a "Christian" marriage. The goal of life is not to share the gospel with as many people as possible. The goal of life is not to be a faithful pastor with a spiritually healthy congregation. God enabled me to know, in my heart, that the reason Christ came was to bring me to God. God himself is the goal, therefore, learning about the glory of God by learning the doctrines that describe his glory is the central part of running and winning the race that is the Christian life. All Christians are eager, life-long learners of doctrine, no matter what happens, because…
IV. A foundation does not a house make (6:1-3) In the first verse of chapter 6 the metaphor changes. In light of what he has said in vv. 11-14 he exhorts us to move beyond the basic teachings of the gospel and to be carried on into perfection. Then he uses the metaphor of a building. He says that we are to stop working on the foundation and get busy building the house. He is not saying the foundation is unimportant and you can forget about it. He is saying that a foundation is not a house. The foundation is the “the elementary teachings about Christ.” The foundation is referring to those beginning things that every Christian is taught. What is the foundation that has already been laid? He describes the foundation through 3 pairs of phrases. First, at the beginning of the Christian life we come to understand that we by nature do acts that lead to death. The beginning of the gospel is that we each deserve hell for our acts of disobedience to God. We must repent of or turn away from our sins. We must acknowledge that our sins are our greatest problem and turn from them to Christ. So we can escape the death we deserve because of sin by trusting in God, who has made provision for our sins in the life and death of Jesus. Repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin and neither can exist without the other. They are the first visible signs that a person has been joined to God through Christ. The second part of the foundation is the administration of the visible signs of our union with Christ and his church and the life he has called us to live. The first visible sign that we belong to Christ and to his church is baptism. (If you are interested in why it says “baptisms” rather than “baptism” you can ask me after the service.) As is very clear in the book of Acts, when people repented and believed they were then baptized as the visible expression of the work of Christ on their behalf and of their union with him and his church. In the early church the “laying on of hands” was connected to the receiving of the Holy Spirit and being commissioned to some form of ministry in and through the church. The foundation of every Christian's early instruction involves teaching about our union with the Christ and his church as evidenced by baptism and the work of the Holy Spirit and the kind of life that we now live as members of Christ’s body. The final pair of words describing the foundation are instruction about the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment. These two phrases capture the ultimate end of all things. When Christ returns all will be raised from the dead and then God will pass judgment on all humans and his judgment concerning every human will be an eternal judgment. Every believer is “judged” righteous and fit for heaven because of Christ and is welcomed into the joy of our master. Every unbeliever is judged guilty and sentenced to hell forever. What is happening in this church is that because of the threat of persecution and disillusionment with the Christian life they are withdrawing from active learning about Christ and witness to Christ. They are not yet denying Christ but they are drawing back from a vigorous faith because if they are vigorous they will be harmed. They are going underground. Perhaps they are attending the synagogue services as they once did. If you asked them they would say they are Christians. They repented, they believed, they were baptized, they’ve received the Holy Spirit, they expect to go to heaven. However, they have abandoned living as if they were Christians. They profess to be so but don’t live as if they are. In this text the primary thing they have stopped doing is growing in their knowledge of Jesus. They are like a building site where the foundation has been laid but that is all. The building materials are scattered around the building site. Weeds have grown up and obscured the foundation and vines cover the stacks of lumber, which is getting all beaten up and weathered. This is the state of the entire church. They are content with basic knowledge and have no interest in growing in their knowledge of Jesus and his salvation. The solution is, according to v. 1, to be carried on to perfection. Both the NIV and the ESV translate a passive verb as if it is an active verb for reasons unknown. The text does not say that we are to “go on to maturity”, rather it says “we are to be carried on to perfection.” The point is that while we must pursue the knowledge of God our hope is not in our pursuit. We are confident that we will attain that ultimate perfection which is heaven because God carries us there. The means he will use is his word which we energetically learn and apply but in the end no one who is in heaven is going to say, “Look how hard I worked" or "I'm in heaven because I studied theology.” Everyone will say look how God carried me here. In v. 3 the author indicates he expects them to make progress "if God permits." Why does he say that? He recognizes that ultimately the effect of God's truth upon particular people and churches is not determined by the skill and zeal of the teacher nor the study and attentiveness of the audience. Rather God alone is the one who makes his word effective. Paul says the same thing in 1 Cor 3 with an agricultural metaphor. He says, "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow." Therefore, our teaching and our listening and studying must be done prayerfully. We must teach and study with all our might but we must do it asking God to make what we teach and study effective--so God alone gets the glory, not the teachers and not the students. We are not simply talking about knowing the truth, but loving it. We can and must learn, but only God can enable us to love what we learn and use what we learn to run the race to win. The most troubling conversations I have had in the thirty years I have been talking with people about Christ are the ones where I ask a person who has professed to be a Christian for years to explain the gospel to me; or to tell me how a person becomes a Christian or how do they know their sins are forgiven. They will tell me that when they were six they asked Jesus into their hearts and were baptized. Then when I begin to ask them to explain further they have nothing more to say. I am met by awkward silence or anger that I asked they explain anything more. They can't tell me what sin is or why asking Jesus into your heart is the condition for going to heaven or why Christ had to die. They have no idea what it means for Jesus to be the Son of David or why that should fill them with confidence in God. Yet if I were to ask about the flowers in their garden they could tell me with great zeal and amazing detail the names and optimum conditions for growing each one of them. If I were to ask about their favorite TV show they could tell me the entire story line for the last seven years with absolute clarity. What happens to people who have not made knowing Jesus the top priority in their life is that when trouble comes they cannot find Christ because the trouble overwhelms them. Fixing the problem becomes the goal. However, if knowing Jesus has been the goal of your life and you have pursued that knowledge in practical ways, then when trouble comes you will be able to say, "This trouble cannot stop me from knowing Jesus and so I will continue to pursue him in the midst of the trouble." Knowing how Christ is our high priest in the order of Melchizedek will matter to you even while your child dies of cancer or your IRA evaporates in a stock market crash because you know that knowing Christ is what life is about. So let us leave the foundation and be carried on to that perfect end which is life with Christ forever. All Christians are eager, life-long learners of doctrine, no matter what happens, because…
© Copyright 2007 John Swanson.
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