CCF: Press Forward: Never Give Up!
Warning Against Carnality
Hebrews 5:11 – 6:3
(Bro. Jun Ferrer)
Hebrews chapter five poses another warning, the third of the five: warning against carnality. The author is compelled by his love for the flock as the original audience of the book is in great danger. The audience is marked with spiritual immaturity and sluggishness. They may have been in danger of returning to Judaism (The Law) in order to avoid persecution.
The verses started with a concern pertaining to Melchizedek’s relationship to Christ since the audience become dull, which meant the people were once attentive to the word. In the Greek translation, the same word also means hard to move. The audience was also considered to be long-time believers and expected to be mature enough to teach or share the gospel.
In the book “Preaching” by Timothy Keller, the author enumerated Three Levels of the Ministry of the Word:
Level 1: Informal and usually one on one. Where every Christian needs to understand the message of the Bible well enough to explain and apply it to other Christians and to his neighbors in formal and personal settings.
Level 2: May include writing, blogging, teaching classes, and small groups, mentoring, and moderating open discussion forums on issues of faith.
Level 3: Formal – Sermon or Preaching. The ministry of the word or the public sermons and exposition of the bible to assemble God’s people in gathering.
As the writer of Hebrews says, the Christians to whom he is writing have more than enough time invested. They should be able to teach others by now, but instead, they are still spiritual infants. As they still need someone to teach them the basic truth of God’s word again. They are still like infants, dependent on milk instead of solid food. Because they have been slow-moving and lazy in their approach to the faith: "dull of hearing." Instead of teaching, they still need to be taught, as if they were only new converts to the faith.
The author continues that spiritual infants are not accustomed to the word of righteousness, meaning not acquainted or unskilled or inexperienced to discern. Paul described infants as carnal believers from his letters in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4, still worldly and not ready, there is jealousy and quarreling, and there is division.
The goal of every Christian is to grow and press forward toward spiritual maturity. A matured believer as described in Hebrews 5:14 is someone who can take solid food referring to having an intimate relationship with the Lord always ready for more revelation from God; someone who hears the word of God puts it into practice and makes it a habit to follow God. A matured believer is someone who has strong spiritual discernment of good and evil through constant practice. To be a matured believer means we are ready to listen and obey; we develop a habit through the time of practice and we train to discern good and evil.
“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.” – Jim Rohn
A matured believer is someone who has spiritual muscle in times of persecution, trials, sorrow, and pain. Not easily giving up because of his intimacy with the Lord.
So, we ask ourselves, “Do you want to grow?” If we do, we should press forward to maturity. Let us leave (the elementary doctrine about God) and let us go on (to maturity).
The problem is not knowledge but application. Spiritual maturity is not avoiding persecution or turning your back on God in times of trials. God’s desire is for everyone to grow in humility before God and reliance on Jesus.
Jesus is our ultimate model of maturity. Jesus didn’t just tell us to press on toward maturity, He modeled it for us. He came down from heaven to suffer and go through persecution and died on the cross so He can save us from sins.
(Bro. Jun Ferrer)
Hebrews chapter five poses another warning, the third of the five: warning against carnality. The author is compelled by his love for the flock as the original audience of the book is in great danger. The audience is marked with spiritual immaturity and sluggishness. They may have been in danger of returning to Judaism (The Law) in order to avoid persecution.
The verses started with a concern pertaining to Melchizedek’s relationship to Christ since the audience become dull, which meant the people were once attentive to the word. In the Greek translation, the same word also means hard to move. The audience was also considered to be long-time believers and expected to be mature enough to teach or share the gospel.
In the book “Preaching” by Timothy Keller, the author enumerated Three Levels of the Ministry of the Word:
Level 1: Informal and usually one on one. Where every Christian needs to understand the message of the Bible well enough to explain and apply it to other Christians and to his neighbors in formal and personal settings.
Level 2: May include writing, blogging, teaching classes, and small groups, mentoring, and moderating open discussion forums on issues of faith.
Level 3: Formal – Sermon or Preaching. The ministry of the word or the public sermons and exposition of the bible to assemble God’s people in gathering.
As the writer of Hebrews says, the Christians to whom he is writing have more than enough time invested. They should be able to teach others by now, but instead, they are still spiritual infants. As they still need someone to teach them the basic truth of God’s word again. They are still like infants, dependent on milk instead of solid food. Because they have been slow-moving and lazy in their approach to the faith: "dull of hearing." Instead of teaching, they still need to be taught, as if they were only new converts to the faith.
The author continues that spiritual infants are not accustomed to the word of righteousness, meaning not acquainted or unskilled or inexperienced to discern. Paul described infants as carnal believers from his letters in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4, still worldly and not ready, there is jealousy and quarreling, and there is division.
The goal of every Christian is to grow and press forward toward spiritual maturity. A matured believer as described in Hebrews 5:14 is someone who can take solid food referring to having an intimate relationship with the Lord always ready for more revelation from God; someone who hears the word of God puts it into practice and makes it a habit to follow God. A matured believer is someone who has strong spiritual discernment of good and evil through constant practice. To be a matured believer means we are ready to listen and obey; we develop a habit through the time of practice and we train to discern good and evil.
“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.” – Jim Rohn
A matured believer is someone who has spiritual muscle in times of persecution, trials, sorrow, and pain. Not easily giving up because of his intimacy with the Lord.
So, we ask ourselves, “Do you want to grow?” If we do, we should press forward to maturity. Let us leave (the elementary doctrine about God) and let us go on (to maturity).
The problem is not knowledge but application. Spiritual maturity is not avoiding persecution or turning your back on God in times of trials. God’s desire is for everyone to grow in humility before God and reliance on Jesus.
Jesus is our ultimate model of maturity. Jesus didn’t just tell us to press on toward maturity, He modeled it for us. He came down from heaven to suffer and go through persecution and died on the cross so He can save us from sins.
Image courtesy of atlanticuniongleaner.org
Transcribed for CCF Singapore by:
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