Is following Jesus a burden or a joy?
Mike Croschere was a young man that started coming to church because a neighbor invited him and his wife – and they came. They came back and eventually he and his wife decided to become followers of Jesus and were baptized into Him. They came to the Family of God class that I taught, became part of a life group and started helping with the children’s ministry. He was a carpenter and I needed help on a deck so he came over to my home and helped me one Saturday afternoon. We were talking a little about church when he suddenly stopped driving nails, looked over at me and said, “Six months ago I only went to church on Christmas or Easter for 45 minutes and I hated every minute – now I’m going Sunday worship, helping in Sunday School for another hour or so, and going to our home group on Wednesdays – and I wish I could go more. If you had told me that this would happen to me back then I would have told you that you were nuts!”
Last week there was a Super Bowl run scheduled from 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM right down Kenewa Drive. The plan was to close off Kenewa Drive from all traffic from Dobie Road to Okemos Road – in other words there would be no access to Chippewa Middle School at all – none. Now if you all got here on time – no problem! But that’s fantasy! The reality is that there are always some (and you know who you are) who are scrambling around at the last minute and are lucky to be pulling in a little after 10:00 o’clock.
We worked it out with the police department and the parks and recreation department that had organized the run but what I found interesting was that when we went to the police department one of the responses we heard was – and this is a direct quote – “Why don’t you just give everyone the day off?” The person who said this saw going to church as burden. His perspective was one that saw church people as guilt ridden, unhappy burdened folks that went to Sunday service because they had to. The idea that people would actually come into a worship service because they wanted to be there and that it was the highlight of their week didn’t even register on his radar screen.
The major difference between the Old Testament covenant and the New Testament covenant is that in the OT the people were obliged to obey the law that Moses brought down from the mountain. This law set a high standard that none could reach
This old law was replaced by a new and even higher standard that is embodied in the person of Jesus. But the difference is the Jesus lived it – for us. This higher standard changes everything – including the way we live every day. No longer are we living in fear of breaking the law and being punished. Now we live with the joy of a living because it is our desire to please God.
With the higher standard of a new law there is an expectation for us to grow in to become mature in the ways of God. Just as a child is expected to become an adult and give up childish ways God expects us to grow up and become a complete people and to give up the childish ways of our spiritual infancy. Paul gives us six specific areas that we are expected to understand and move beyond to become mature and whole as followers of Jesus.
Let’s begin with a powerful truth that is foundational to our new way of living.
A Powerful Truth
8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 5:8-10
This passage is talking about Jesus – who became our GREAT High Priest. In the first five weeks of our Hebrews Study we learned some pretty exciting things about Jesus.
Hebrews 1 – More than an angel
Hebrews 2 – A little while less than an angel
Hebrews 3 – God’s Right Hand Man
Hebrews 4 – the gift of God’s rest
Hebrews 5 – The GREAT High Priest. He became our great High Priest because of his ability to understand both worlds. He was in heaven and then he came to our world and lived among us. But it’s more than just living here – he suffered here and he obeyed in spite of the suffering and thus was completed (this is the meaning of perfection) so that he could be called by God to be our GREAT High Priest.
That there is an element of mystery in all this should not be denied… In a very real sense, that is not fully comprehensible, the Incarnation gave the already infinitely wise and perfect Son of God the experiential acquisition of knowledge about the human condition.
Suffering became a reality that He tasted and from it He can sympathize deeply with His followers.
The Greek language here has an interesting play on words in the verbs He learned [emathen] and He suffered [epathen].)
This is what the writer had in mind when he affirmed that He became the Source (aitios) of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.
Just as the experience of living as a man and suffering through obedience produced a savior for us – real spiritual growth in us is based on the same experience of obedience and suffering – but more about this later.
The challenge is that many followers of Jesus have never become complete in their own spiritual maturity. In fact, this is a major difficulty that the author of Hebrews feels compelled to address.
Listen to what he says next…
A Nursery of Babies or a Family of God
11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.
Hebrews 5:11
It is this powerful truth that many Christians fail to “get”. Many followers of Jesus never grow up – they just stay babies. Now, that’s not normal!
We all love babies. They are wonderful.
Babies who stay babies and don’t grow become a source of much anxiety. We become obsessed with what’s wrong with them and begin to search frantically for some solutions to the problems. We look for any evidence of physical growth and maturity.
It is no different in the spiritual realm. We need to grow spiritually and there are some clear signs.
The author shares 3 of them in the next few verses.
Mature Followers are Teachers
12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!
Hebrews 5:12
Learning is a lifelong vocation.
Do you remember what you said on your last day in High School! I do! As I walked along the sidewalk (I didn’t have a car yet) I vividly remember thinking – I may have even said it out loud – “I’m never going to go to High School again!”
Do you remember your graduation from college or completion of a vocational program? I do! I remember handing in my last term paper and thinking – I may have even said it out loud – “ I’m never going to write another term paper in my life!”
Now how foolish was this line of thinking – very foolish! I am constantly reading, studying, and learning. I learn from books, I learn from all the various forms of media, and I’m writing papers every week – they are called sermons, lessons, letters, memo’s, emails, articles, and outlines.
But the first indicator of maturity is not learning – it’s teaching!
One of the primary goals that we have for you in this church family is to encourage you to become an intentional teacher of the elementary truths of God’s word. There is a multitude of ways to be a teacher – formal and informal. It can be in the childrens ministry or the youth ministry. It can be in the Men’s Ministry or the Women’s Ministry. You can teach by facilitating a class, hosting a life group, or leading a ministry in the church.
You can also teach by being a good father or mother to your kids and leading them to knowledge of Jesus. You can be a mentor, a big brother or big sister – either through a program or just by being a friend. There are lots of ways to reach out and to teach others about Jesus and many of the most effective ways are by working with someone in life! But it is intentional – not accidental.
Are you a teacher or are you always waiting for some one to teach you? Start teaching somewhere – this month! Make a phone call, send an email, set up an appointment with Dave or Tyler and let them know that you can be a teacher… and don’t tell me it isn’t your gift, that you don’t have time, or that it’s too scary. Make a decision to become a teacher of others by teaching them the elementary truths of God.
Listen, you can do this and it is the best way to start growing. You’ll get more than they ever will.
Mature Followers are Acquainted with the Teaching about Righteousness
13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.
Hebrews 5:13
Baby Christians don’t get the teaching about righteousness. The don’t understand that it takes suffering and obedience to produce completion and spiritual maturity like Jesus.
Real mature people are not only teaching the elementary things of God to others – they are also digging into the deeper things of God – and what is deeper than the Bible teachs about righteousness.
Now, this is what the author of Hebrews wants to spend some time with you on. In the next few weeks we’ll be exploring the concepts, the precepts, and the consequences of being acquainted with the teaching about righteousness – and it is a matter of great spiritual growth.
We’re talking red meat here – real steak and adult food. This is the good stuff. No puddings, pabulum, or puréed carrots here – this is the stuff that leads to being really bulked up and having a hard abdominal six-pak – spiritually that is!
The conundrum is that this teaching about righteousness is not all that complex. It is really quite simple – while also being very elegant and exceptionally powerful. It is the righteousness that we can have through Jesus Christ and all that it means in the present and in eternity. This is the amazing grace of God… We’ll be looking at it as we continue our study of Hebrews.
Not only is maturity involved in the acquaintance of the teaching of righteousness – it’s involved deeply in the practice of it.
Mature Followers are Trained to Distinguish Good from Evil
14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 5:14
This verse reveals a very important and some what surprising truth – maturity is not a state of being – It is the constant state of becoming.
We generally think that maturity is achieved at a specific point of life. For some it is their 18th birthday; or their 21st birthday. For others it is when they get their drivers license; or graduation day after the completion of High School. None of these things do not produce maturity or even mark it – not in any way.
Maturity is achieved by the practice and training of that which marks the follower as being mature – and we’ve already learned what those things are.
1) Being a teacher of the elementary truths to others
2) Being acquainted with the teaching of righteousness.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 puts it this way…
Trained Followers Distinguish Good from Evil
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
It’s all connected.
Teaching is when we show someone what they need to do.
Rebuking happens when you show them what they shouldn’t do.
Correcting happens when you show them how to fix that they have failed in and
Training is all about the practice… practice… practice… of learning and suffering through obedience to the righteousness of God.
Six Elementary Teachings
So what are the elementary teachings? The author lists them for us.
1 Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so.
Repentance & Faith
21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
Acts 20:21
The first two have to do with our relationship with God.
They are Godward and mark the initiation of the spiritual life. They have to do with being released from the past.
To repent means to change one’s mind. It is not simply a “bad feeling about sin,” because that could be regret or remorse. It is changing one’s mind about sin to the point of turning from it. Once a sinner has repented and places his faith in God he begins a whole new life.
Repentance and faith go together.
Instructions about Baptisms & Laying on of Hands
21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God.
1 Peter 3:21
14 Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.
1 Timothy 4:14
Cleansing and Blessing in the present
The next two items (baptisms and laying on of hands) have to do with a person’s relationship to the local assembly of believers. In the New Testament, a person who repented and trusted Christ was baptized and became a part of a local church (Acts 2:41–47). The word “baptisms” in Hebrews 6:2 is plural and can be translated “washings” (Heb. 9:10). While water itself can never cleanse sin (1 Peter 3:21), baptism is a symbol of spiritual cleansing (“Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on His name”—Acts 22:16, NIV) as well as our identification with Christ in death, burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:1–4). The “laying on of hands” (Heb. 6:2) symbolized the sharing of some blessing (Luke 24:50; Acts 19:6) or the setting apart of a person for ministry (1 Tim. 4:14).
Resurrection of the dead & Eternal judgment
12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.
Revelation 20:12-13
The last two items, the resurrection of the dead (Acts 24:14–15) and the final judgment (Acts 17:30–31), have to do with the future. Both orthodox Jews and Christians believe in these doctrines. The Old Testament teaches a general resurrection, but does not make the doctrine clear. The New Testament teaches a resurrection of the saved and also a resurrection of the lost (John 5:24–29; Rev. 20:4–6, 12–15).
It’s Time to Grow Up
The author of Hebrews didn’t teach these things here – he said it’s time to move on to maturity. Do you know these things? Then it’s time to grow up.
Find someone to teach…
Struggle through the suffering by obedience to completion to gain righteousness
Practice, practice, practice…
get better every day living it out in every way
