No Middle Ground
Hebrews 5:12-6:9
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him; rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving...Colossians 2:6-7"
I marvel at God’s forgiveness and His unchanging love when I fall – His is a forgiving love that is unconditional and not based upon your performance or your character but rather His holiness and righteous character. As Martin Luther discovered after a frustrating life of works based on his own merit: "The just shall live by faith...” Your faith and mine must rest firmly in what Jesus did for you at the Cross -- for there the work was finished and the only foundation laid. To live by faith in Christ’s complete work is what it means to move forward in your life. Faith is the great appropriator of God’s abundant resources for everyday life. But faith must be exercised or it becomes flaccid and it must be tested to prove it trustworthy (Warren Wiersbe).
How sad that many are sitting on God’s precious gold mine without knowing how to dig out the ore. How sad to be so rich in Christ (Col. 2:10) and live like a pauper throughout life...to be a believer but never move forward in your Christian life. In Christian love and truth, please know there is no middle ground in your walk with the Lord. You are either moving forward or sliding backward. This is the problem the writer of Hebrews describes for you in Hebrews 5:12-6:9:
12. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. 6:1. Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2. of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. 3. And this we will do, if God permits. 4. For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5. and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6. and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. 7. For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; 8. but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned. 9. But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way.
Here Hebrew believers were not moving forward in their Christian life and it was of great concern to God’s chosen instrument that wrote this letter. The writer identifies the problem and shows believers then and now what they must do.
First, YOU MUST APPLY WHAT YOU KNOW OF GOD’S ETERNAL TRUTH TO EVERYDAY LIFE. Listen again to Hebrews 5:12-14: “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” Jesus said, "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." (John 7:17)
Notice the Word of God is essential to moving forward in your Christian life. The phrase "who because of practice..." in verse 14 implies a life of obedience to Christ. This is a walk that applies God’s eternal truths to everyday life and a heart, which is willing to step out on the waters of faith for Jesus. It takes many Christians a long time to realize that not only does Christ desire to live in us but He also desires to live His life through us (Phil. 2:13). Sadly, many people have what I call "a Peter Pan mentality." They never want to grow up spiritually. You can teach them the Word, you can set an example for them but they don’t take the first step (James says they are "hearers not doers"). They spend all their time engaging in baby talk rather than building godly character. They have an inability to instruct others, an inability to discern good from evil (emotionally gullible, personality followers). They still need milk and are not acquainted with righteousness. They lack godly character and still respond as a child. This truth is illustrated by the high school principal who gave a promotion to an employee with less years of experience than a 25 year employee. When the 25-year employee confronted the principal with the perceived injustice, he was told: "You haven’t had twenty-five years of experience. You have had one years experience 25 times.” This sadly speaks true of many Christians.
Character has been defined as the development of habitual behavior so that it becomes the central part of who we are. That should be our goal: to become addicted to Jesus Christ! A mature faith is represented by a life where godly character has had opportunity to be formed. God places the responsibility on our shoulders to apply what we know of his eternal truths to our everyday life.
Second, YOU MUST MOVE OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE FOR JESUS. Hebrews 6:1-3 says, “Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2. of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. 3. And this we will do, if God permits.” Leave behind the Peter Pan mentality and Go For It! You’ll never know how strong the foundation of Christ is until you build upon it. A foundation is to be built upon not laid over and over again. You are to build upon the doctrinal truths, the church ordinances and the prophetic teachings the writer mentions. Never say no to God when He presses you forward. He wants to open up new doors of opportunity for you because He knows there is no middle ground. But, you must be willing to go through them. Otherwise, you will never work for or take risks for the things you say you believe in. As Warren Wiersbe says, “A faith that isn’t tested cannot be trusted. Faith is like a muscle. It must be exercised or it becomes flaccid.” There are too many flabby and gabby Christians today that are overweight in hearing but underweight in doing.
For example, what if you say you want to follow Jesus, pattern you life after His, cultivate a love for God and for others, and yet never pray, never read Scripture, seldom attend church, seldom use your money for anything other than self-gratification, never witness or serve in the church? Then, do you aspire to anything other than a superficial acquaintance with the things of God? That’s like talking about going on a diet but never doing it. To paraphrase President Kennedy, Ask not what the church can do for you but what you can do for the church -- that is the difference in a superficial acquaintance and a personal relationship.
Third, moving forward in your Christian life involves A WILLINGNESS TO REPENT FROM DEAD WORKS. Listen to Hebrews 6:4-6, “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5. and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6. and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.” The evidence is clear that these verses are not teaching that a born-again blood bought believer can lose salvation. One must always interpret the obscure by the obvious in Scripture and Scripture is clear that a true believer can never be lost. People who believe a Christian can lose salvation also believe a Christian can be restored. Therefore, they would have difficulty with this passage since it says the opposite if it is talking about a Christian losing salvation. The text proves the writer is not talking about salvation but the repentance of the believer from dead works so he/she can move forward in their Christian life.
The phrase, "who have once been enlightened" in Hebrews 6:4 uses a Greek tense which implies once for all time. The phrase "who have tasted the goodness of the word of God" uses the same word for "tasted" that describes our Lord in Scripture when He tasted death for every man which, of course, He truly did. Further, the phrase in Hebrews 6:6, "if they fall away" is the Greek word "parapito" which means to stumble or to fall down. It is not the Greek word for apostatize. The word used in verse 6 is the same word, which is used to describe our Lord Jesus when he fell on his face and prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Finally, the Bible contains several examples of Christians who have fallen away but were not lost. The Apostle Peter and John Mark are two that come to mind not to mention myself.
In Hebrews 5:11, the writer refers to these believers as dull of hearing not dead in their trespasses and sins. They failed to see there was no middle ground. And in Hebrews 5:12, the writer refers to these believers as needing milk not life. Thus, the writer of Hebrews is talking to Christians and the question is not salvation (or the loss of it) but repentance from dead works. Repentance is a believer’s heart response to God that allows God to take him deeper, to prune him back further, etc. so he might move forward in his walk and produce much fruit for the Kingdom of God (see John 15). Repentance means a willingness to change and allow God to change you -- but God cannot work with a Christian that is unrepentant and He will not violate your free will.
Notice the reference in Hebrews 6 verse 9 is for "things that accompany salvation" not salvation. Fruit in the Christian’s life and the reward that comes to the believer is how you can one day lay the crown of righteousness at the Savior’s feet. The gold mine has been given to you (see Colossians 2:10) at salvation. You choose as Christians to what degree you are going to move forward or slide back – live in rebellion or liberty -- there is no middle ground. You choose to either to let Christ wear the crown of your life or you do. If you refuse to go forward, refuse to move out of your comfort zone, and refuse to repent you not only suffer in your Christian life but hinder others from hearing and understanding the gospel and crucify the Lord Jesus by the way you live your life. You make void the precious grace of God. May another person never say this about you or I: "Because of you I rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ." Jesus paid it all, all to Him we owe, give Him the Glory!
