INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• Where are you spiritually today? Are you growing, is your faith exciting to you or are you bored and disconnected?
• There are times when Christians struggle to grow in their faith.
• Over time we see people who were excited about Jesus walk away. Maybe you have experienced a lull in your walk, where things just are not connecting with you.
• People wouldn’t know it just by looking at you, but maybe your faith isn’t quite as strong as it once was.
• The passion you had isn’t as strong as it was before. Those subtle ones can last a few months or even a few days … honestly even a few hours.
• Spiritual growth isn’t so much like taking a step after step towards God. It’s so often two steps forward, one step back, two steps forward, three steps back … you get the idea.
• If you are connecting with any of this, today is for you. Whether you are new to this whole Jesus/ Church thing, or if it’s your first time back in a long time, or even if your relationship with God isn’t what it once was, you have come on the perfect week.
• Am I moving forward spiritually? Or am I stagnant? Or am I moving backwards?
• Maybe you have had feelings that God is so disappointed in you: You did that again? You’re still struggling with that? I thought we were past this? Here is a cool thing we see over and over in the life of Jesus.
• Jesus always called people to a higher standard, but He did not destroy them when thy fell short. Jesus encouraged them to GROW!
• Jesus was the ultimate encourager. He was always cheering people on. Get back up. Let’s try again. I believe in you. That’s why people were constantly flocking to him
• Why do I need spiritual disciplines to grow in my faith?
• We as a church will reproduce not just what we say but what we do. Your spiritual maturity is bigger than you … it impacts others.’
• Do you have a faith that will attract others to Jesus or possibly repel them? Jesus called for the church to reach the world (Matthew 28:8-20), but for that to happen, it begins with each one of us growing to spiritual maturity.
• Let’s begin by looking at verses 11-12
• SLIDE #2
• Hebrews 5:11–12 (HCSB) — 11 We have a great deal to say about this, and it’s difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. 12 Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food.
I need Spiritual disciplines to grow my faith because…
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. A lack of spiritual growth is not supposed to be the standard for Christians.
• This situation sounds bad.
• The Hebrew writer in the previous section of the chapter starts to talk about the Priesthood of Melchizedek, quoting from Psalm 110:4, but before he expounds on that important Old Testament passage, he needs to make sure the readers are ready to understand it.
• The Hebrew writer gets a little harsh with them. We have a great deal to say about this, and it’s difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand
• The folks had gotten to the point where they were no longer trying to understand things. The readers are Christians.
• It seems like they had not given up on God, but rather they had given up on moving forward spiritually.
• This isn’t supposed to be the norm for Christians. We are called to be growing all the time!
• One can get to the point where they are going through the motions of their faith without ever growing.
• When you are hungry to grow, everything you learn is exciting.
• It’s possible to be at church every weekend and no longer be trying to grow closer to Jesus!
• The people still needed elementary truths taught to them, apparently they had sufficient time to have grown.
• In verse 12 the writer says, Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food.
• The author of Hebrews is saying, “You should be off the bottle by now and on to steak. You need to grow up spiritually.
• If you are not intentional in growing in spiritual maturity, then over time you’ll drift from God.
• It’s not that you purposefully walked away from God; you just got complacent … to the point where, one day you wake up and wonder,” How did I get here? How did I drift so far from God?
• If you have a baby, you expect the baby to need milk, then baby food, then donuts, I mean adult food. !
• Would it be odd if your 4-year-old, 14-year-old, or 24-year-old was still only on milk?
• We understand that in the physical world, growth is expected, the same is true in the spiritual realm!
• Let’s jump down to verses 1-3 of chapter 6 for our next observation.
• SLIDE #4
• Hebrews 6:1–3 (HCSB) — 1 Therefore, leaving the elementary message about the Messiah, let us go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God, 2 teaching about ritual washings, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And we will do this if God permits.
• SLIDE #5
I need Spiritual disciplines to grow my faith because…
II. God’s desire is for you to grow to spiritual maturity.
• We are called to leaving the elementary message about the Messiah.
• I would hope all of us would want to be able to be on a path of spiritual maturity.
• I am sure we all want to be in shape (other than round).
• I would venture to say that we would all like to know why we believe what we believe.
• I am sure many would like to have a lot of money back at retirement.
• The Hebrew writer reminds us that God desires us to grow, this is not just something we SHOULD want, it is something God wants for us to do. Why?
• Well, do you or did you want your children to mature? Did you want your 16-year old acting like a 2-year old? Do you want to keep bailing out your 40-year old out of trouble like a 16-year old?
• Of course you do not. Does that make you an unreasonable, terrible parent for desiring your children to grow up as responsible adults? NO, why?
• Because growing up is what is best for your children. Let that sink in for a moment.
• Now, why do you think God wants you to grow?
• We all want the end result. We want to be mature and maturing—it’s the getting there that’s the problem.
• Want a deep faith?
• Want to not get ticked off at the drop of a hat? To not get stressed out by small stuff?
• We want to be people who are kind and forgiving and secure in who we are as God’s son or daughter.
• We don’t want to be devastated every time someone critiques us. We want to be full of joy and for people to say that they look up to us.
• We want God at the end of our lives to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
• Let’s look at verses13-14
• SLIDE #6
• Hebrews 5:13–14 (HCSB) — 13 Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.
• SLIDE #7
I need Spiritual disciplines to grow my faith because…
III. It is time to stop trying and start training.
• I want to focus on verse 14. If reveals something that is important to see. THE HCSB says, But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil
• The ESV catches the flavor of the verse by stating:
• SLIDE #8
• But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
• There is a word in the Greek that means to practice by systematic training.
• The passage says trained themselves. They were responsible for training themselves. Not God, not their preacher, not their parents, not their small group leader, but themselves.
• WE have a part to play in our growth.
• We are not merely a sailboat that God’s winds push, when it comes to spiritual growth, we also are to have oars in the water, God works with us and though us.
• So to grow, we need to quit trying and start training.
• Can I tell you how many times I wanted to lose weight, I tried but I did not train. I wanted to play all the sports, to keep from riding the bench, I have to train, not just try. TRYING WITHOUT TRAINING LEADS TO FAILURE!
• Here is a huge point for us to grasp if we are going to grow in spiritual maturity. We need to realize there is an immense difference between training to do something and trying to do something.
• Training is required for any significant challenge in your life, and while it’s difficult, training always leads to more joy, more fulfillment.
• SLIDE #9
• 1 Corinthians 9:25–27 (HCSB) — 25 Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. However, they do it to receive a crown that will fade away, but we a crown that will never fade away. 26 Therefore I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. 27 Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
• SLIDE #10
• 2 Timothy 3:16–17 (HCSB) — 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
• Training methods used to grow in your faith are called spiritual disciplines.
• They are valuable because they enable us to do what we could not do with willpower alone.
• For example, disciplines like reading the Bible and prayer enable God to train us to exude the fruit of the spirit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control.
• Here are a couple of thoughts on disciplines. First, decide you are going to train. You cannot just drift into spiritual training, you must decide. DEVOTIONS, PRAYER, READING.
• If I am going to grow spiritually, it does not happen on accident. It’s from intentionality.
• Second, GET A WORKOUT PLAN.
• You need to set some goals. The physical training industry is a billion-dollar business. YOU VERSION CAN HELP!
• The #1 thing they will give you is a schedule. They first will give you basic fitness steps like exercise, getting enough sleep and eating right.
• Then they normally ask, “Do you have any specific goals you want to work on, as well?” For example, I want a six-pack, but not the kind you keep in the refrigerator.
• The same is true spiritually. There are some basic spiritual habits that are good for all Christians, no matter where you are in your spiritual journey. Then there are some that are more specific for what you’re dealing with in life.
• Third, get a person to workout with! Accountability is HUGE! WE have LIFE GROUPS to help you find a workout partner!
• Fourth, take the first step! Start today!
• The good news is that faith is contagious, and when you take a step of faith, it always grows more faith in you.
• It’s why Jesus says faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. When you take a step of faith, it doesn’t stay the size of a mustard seed for long.
• Finally, MOVE FROM GOT TO to GET TO!
• God’s ultimate goal is not that you would just obey him but that you would love him, and obedience would overflow out of that.
• God is the only one that can do this transformational work within us where we are so blown away by what God has done for us that our only response is to live for him.
• When we do something we GET to do, we are more motivated than doing thing have GOT to do!
CONCLUSION
• SLIDE #11
• Hebrews 12:1–3 (HCSB) — 1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, so that you won’t grow weary and lose heart.
• The crowd is cheering! Are you ready to stop trying and start training?
