Hammer on Anvil '

Heb 5:11-14 About this 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 need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, (13) for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. (14) But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Heb 6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God

Last weekend we looked at this passage in Hebrews, and began observing the phenomenon of “spiritual dwarfism” – the state of being a Christian who has forgotten how to grow. Growth is a natural thing, and certainly we don’t have any control over our growth spurts and hair growing in new places. God made us to grow, naturally. But He also lays some responsibility upon us to nourish our own bodies in such a way that we will grow and mature in a healthy way. In the same way, God provides us with everything we need. The bible promises us that “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2Peter 1:3) Nevertheless, the bible challenges us to “train yourself for godliness;” (1 Timothy 4:7b)

Have you ever watched a 3-year-old recite their ABC’s? It’s quite a feat, and you probably congratulate them for their accomplishment for their young minds! But suppose you went off to college for four years, gained a degree in mechanical engineering, and when you returned your parents ask you “what did you learn?” and you think for a moment, then respond “A… B… C…. D…. E… F.… G….” Are your parents going to be impressed? Needless to say, after they just dumped 80 grand into your college education, they would want to know that you are (more than) capable of TEACHING the ABC’s to young children, and then some!

A spiritual dwarf is someone who has been feeding on the ABC’s for so long, they have become hardened and dull, forgotten how to learn, and live as if though the whole Christian life is about the elementary basics.

Now we know that the alphabet only gives us the building blocks to form words, which form sentences, which form ideas, which become the foundation for real accomplishments. A mature Christian knows that the elementary basics of the faith (the gospel: The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, the sinfulness of man, repentance from dead works, faithfulness toward God) is just that: the elementary. The beginning. The foundation. But we don’t simply stop with the foundation. We BUILD something on it. Some students may have gained a massive amount of bible knowledge during their younger years, but unless they have learned how to apply it in their lives, then they are only walking in the ABC’s.

So what needs to happen? We need to go into training. No soldier enters battle without training. An electrician doesn’t climb a telephone pole and begin tinkering with intricate connections and dangerous electrical components without training. No Olympic athlete will go into the games to represent his country without LOTS of training. And no Christian should try to attempt life as a follower of Christ without knowing that he is going through a regiment of training.

But how do we train for godliness? Who trains us? We’ll talk about that next week, when we wrap up our look at this passage in Hebrews.