Growing In Jesus Series

SIMPLY JESUS

GROWING IN JESUS

HEBREWS 5:11-14

INTRODUCTION

-As you’re turning to Hebrews 5 I wanted to share some headlines

-Police in Wichita, Kansas, arrested a 22-year-old man at an airport hotel after he tried to pass two counterfeit he made.

-The hotel clerk caught on when she noticed the $16 bills.

-A bus carrying 5 passengers was hit by a car in St. Louis, but by the time police arrived on the scene, 14 pedestrians had boarded the bus and had begun to complain of whiplash and back pain.

-A Los Angeles man who later said he was "tired of walking," stole a steamroller and led police on a 5 mph chase until an officer stepped aboard and brought the vehicle to a stop.

-Certain words come to mind when you hear such stories…

-When you hear about grown people doing such childish things, you just scratch your head and think…why?

-Why do people do such immature things?

-It’s easy to pick on people who have made dumb mistakes.

-It’s easy to look at someone else and say “they’re so immature!”

-But it’s harder to take an honest look at ourselves and see our own areas of immaturity.

-Especially when it comes to the matter of spiritual maturity.

-That’s the issue at the end of Hebrews 5; the maturity of Christians men and women.

-Up until this point our author has written about all kinds of things, but now he stops…and in a moment of frustration or maybe just blatant honestly he says this:

11 There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen.

-See when you’re giving constructive criticism you kind have to soft sell it and butter them up first: You are spiritually dull!

-Something wasn’t quite right about the church our author is writing to. They weren’t exactly on fire over there!

-SPIRITUALLY DULL: LITERALLY HAVING A “SLUGGISH MIND.”

-Now I don’t know about you, but if someone calls me “dull”…

-I wouldn’t take it as a high compliment.

-But this isn’t just heartless name calling.

-This is genuine concern for people who are dragging along in their faith. These aren’t just people who were struggling.

-They were immature people who refused to grow up.

-You may know people like this.

-At this point of your life you may be someone like this.

-Our author seems to be writing to a whole church of people who were like this. And that’s a major problem.

-IF A CHURCH IS HEALTHY, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE PEOPLE WHO ARE IMMATURE

-If we are always bringing in new people, and new people are always being saved, we should expect to always see people who have a lot to learn. That’s not a problem, that’s a blessing.

-The problems come when people refuse to grow up, refuse to get mature in their Christian faith.

-And that is who our author is speaking to. He says they…

DON’T LISTEN: THOSE WHO RESIST INSTRUCTION.

-At the very least these people he had in mind were lazy.

-And, at worst, these people were rebellious.

-Now when we think of rebellious people we often conjure up images in our minds.

-A rebel is some scary guy with black leather and a prison record.

-In our minds a rebel is that crazy eyed lady with a hand on her hip and a finger in your face!

-A rebel is that teenage kid who is skipping school and doing drugs

-But those aren’t the rebels he’s describing. He is writing all of this to church people.

-These immature and rebellious people he had in mind wore church clothes, and went to church meetings.

-These rebels knew a little Bible, could say a prayer, and had done some of the good deeds that Christians are supposed to do.

-But when you looked at their track record a theme emerged…they wouldn’t listen. They are rebels.

-They wouldn’t listen to the Spirit of God.

-They wouldn’t listen the Word of God.

-They wouldn’t follow their church leaders.

-These people wouldn’t listen to Jesus.

-He’s not writing to people who have room for improvement; that’s all of us…he’s writing to people who refuse to grow up.

-I’ve been in church all my life.

-And when we talk about the immature, or rebels, or the backsliders…certain easy examples tend to come up.

-Couples who are living in sin and won’t get married.

-People with some kind of addiction who R 2 proud to get help

-Husbands strained marriage and won’t go to counseling.

-And every pastor’s favorite…people who skip church for NFL!

-But there’s a more common form of immaturity that we see in the church everyday…and it’s not so easy to recognize.