Introduction:
The Lord encourages us to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who we are made to understand grew physically and spiritually to perfection before returning to heaven seating at the right of His majesty.
And our text today which is taken from Heb 5:7 to 6:3 exhorts us to leave the elementary teachings about Christ and move on to maturity. How we can leave the elementary teachings and move on to maturity shall be the object of this sermon.
A. What are the elementary teachings about Christ?
All these are listed in verses 1 to 2 of Hebrew 6. They are:
Repentance from act that lead to death – being born again,
Faith in God - belief in God,
Instruction about baptism - water/Holy Spirit baptism
Laying of hands – Setting apart for service
Resurrection of the dead – belief in life after death
Eternal Judgment – final judgment
Brethren, our Christian walks and journey to heaven is in stages:
Stage of hearing His Word
Stage of responding to His call for our salvation
Stage of growing and producing fruit for Him and
Stage of reporting back to Him to give account of ourselves
I know some of us have heard His Word and responded to His call and we are therefore born again. I say congratulations. To those who have not yet responded, I say you can also respond today. He is waiting to receive you to His kingdom.
Through our text this morning the Lord is reminding us once again not to rest on our oars and say “yes we are already born again and ready for heaven”. No brethren, the Lord wants us to go beyond this.
B. Why does he want us to leave the elementary teachings and move on to maturity?
• We are saved to serve and produce fruits,
Rom 7: 4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
We are saved not only for the purpose of making heaven, but also for helping others to make heaven as well.
Ever since you give your life to Christ, how many people have you lead to Christ? How many can you call your spiritual children?
We must also recognize that an immature tree or plant does not produce fruit. It is only mature plants/trees that produce fruits.
We therefore all need to grow and be matured so that we fulfill the purpose for which God created us.
• He wants us to understand His deep and secret things and mysteries.
Heb 5: 11. We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.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! 13. Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.14. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
God have some deep and secret things which He wants to be revealing and entrusted to you and I, which unfortunately our level of maturity will not allow us to understand.
Dan 2:22 He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him.
Lk 8: 10. And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.
1Cor 4: 1 [Apostles of Christ] So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God.
Remember there were some secret things which our parents did not reveal to us while we were young, but as we grow in age, they started revealing them to us little by little. So also is with God, His revelation to man is progressive. The higher we grow in Him, the more He reveals to us. Some of His deep and secret things He wants to be revealing and hand over to us, but we have not matured to the level of their understanding. Therefore we need to grow quick so that we can start receiving them.
C. How then do we move on to maturity?
Part of our text this morning says we should leave the elementary teaching and move on to maturity. And some of the elementary teachings of HOW we can move on to maturity include:
• The need for the Word, 1Pet 2: 2
• The need for regular prayer, 1Thes5: 17
• The need for fellowship, Heb 10: 25
• The need for witnessing, Mk 16:15
We all know these and we can all recite them from our memory. Now let us go to the advanced level of How we can move on to maturity.
• Have desire/hunger to grow and not to die,
The first part of our text gives a clue on how we can do this:
Heb 5: 7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
We can see here that Jesus had the desire and hunger for him not to die, death is the opposite of life. Living things grow but dead things do not. Therefore Jesus Christ had the desire to grow.
He offered not only prayers but petitions. He did not only offer these with loud cries but also with tears.
Remember, when we DESIRE something from the Lord, we not only pray, but we also fast, join these with vigil and also remember to be regular in attendance in the church and also pay our over due tithes. And once we get that thing, we slide back.
The Bible did not say during “some days” of Jesus ‘life on earth, but it says during the “days”
Our desire for growth therefore must be continuous and increasing and not diminishing.
• Submit to growth or create time for growth, Heb 5: 7, Eccl 3: 1-2
Not only did Jesus desired to grow, but He also reverently submitted to growth
Heb 5: 7. During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
Jesus Christ our senior brother submitted for growth through efficient management of His time.
There was a time He set for work, a time He set for the Word, a time He set for prayer, a time He set for rest and a time He set for socials.
Eccl 3: 1.There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
2.a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
Brethren, let us organize our time effectively. Just as we are creating time to bath our physical body and nourishing it with appropriate diet, let us also create time and nourish our spiritual body.
We do not only have to nourish our spiritual bodies with His Word, but also through what Phil 4: 8 says;
As we study, meditate and do the Word, which is part of the elementary teachings, then as part of the advanced teaching you should be thinking of:
Phil 4: 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
When you are thinking about all these and you have the desire to grow in your thinking of them, then you will be growing on to maturity.
Note that there are times God wants to speak with us or reveal things, or respond to our requests, but when we don’t give him part of our time, He keeps quiet until we are ready for Him.
• Allow His Spirit to lead you in the way of growth
There is a difference between being baptized by the Holy Spirit and being led by the same Spirit.
Many believers today are baptized by the Spirit but they are not allowing the Spirit to lead them. Rather they struggle with Him or lock Him up within their body.
Jesus Christ was not only baptized by the Holy Spirit but He was continually led by the same Spirit,
Lk 4: 1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert,
Lk4: 14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.
When you allow Him to lead you:
John 14: 25 ---- He will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 16: 13 -----He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
He is the one that knows and understands the mind of God. He knows the deep and secret things of God.
1Cor 2: 10. but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God 11. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
12. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us 14. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
It is not just enough to be baptized by the Holy Spirit; we must be led by the Him.
Rom 8: 14. ---- because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God!
Conclusion:
Growing to maturity is a must for every believer. Let us therefore desire and make conscious effort to take advantage of the opportunity given to us to know and understand the mysteries and deep things of the kingdom of God by growing unto maturity. Let us purposed in our heart to mature like Jesus and to start receiving and enjoying a deeper relationship with God.
Prayer:
Lord I thank you again for the truth of your word, I pray now that you help me to always have the desire and hunger for your word and your things. Help me also to be have the time and be submissive to you always. And whatsoever stands as resistance to my growing to maturity help me to overcome. In Jesus name I pray.
