Welcome to Day 2246 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Hebrews 9 God’s Son – The Peril of Failing to Thrive – Daily Wisdom

Putnam Church Message – 06/11/2023 “The Peril of Failing to Thrive” Hebrews 5:11-6:8 Last, we continued our extended series through the book of Hebrews in the New Testament. We learned how God’s Son is also our Great High Priest, and cross-referenced verse, “For there is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus,” I Timothy 2:5. In our message today, we will see that God encourages us, no expects us, to thrive as believers, not just barely getting by. Instead, he warns us of The Peril of Failing to Thrive. Parents and doctors begin monitoring our physical, mental, and emotional growth from birth. Our advancement is measured and compared to others, and people get worried if we lag in any area. But how do we measure our spiritual growth? And what happens when we lag in spiritual progress? Who’s there to size us up spiritually and tell us to grow up when we need to hear it? The Bible says much about spiritual growth (1 Cor. 14:20; Eph. 4:14–15; 1 Pet. 2:2). We come into God’s spiritual family through spiritual birth (John 3:1–8). From there, we grow spiritually through being nourished by God’s Word—from simple doctrines and practices of the faith to more advanced knowledge and skill in spiritual things (see 1 Cor. 9:24–27). As we continue to grow, exercising our spiritual gifts and being strengthened by the community of the Spirit, we advance toward spiritual maturity (Eph. 4:11–16). But just like natural growth, spiritual growth can be stunted. We may partake of the wrong spiritual food or neglect our spiritual sustenance altogether. We may stumble backward into childish attitudes and actions, undoing the maturity we once achieved. Or we may wallow in spiritual infancy because we have nobody around us to set examples of spiritual maturity. All these things result in our failure to thrive, and it’s this problem that the author of Hebrews addresses in 5:11–6:8. 5:11–14 The tone of Hebrews 5:11–14 is one of disappointment. Let me first read this passage.  We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 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! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. The author says he has much to explain concerning Jesus, who was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek (5:10). Still, his readers “No longer try to understand,” or the NLT says, “you are spiritually dull” (5:11). Think of a bored, unambitious adolescent who has to be told several times to get off the couch and do their chores. It’s a trait of immaturity and irresponsibility. But what causes this kind of dullness? First, we can become dull because we fail to grow up as we grow older. Having gray hair, wrinkles, and grandchildren doesn’t necessarily bring spiritual knowledge and wisdom. The point is clear: “Older” doesn’t necessarily mean “wiser” and “more spiritual.” Age should indicate spiritual maturity, as the author of Hebrews admits: “by this time you ought to be teachers” (Heb. 5:12). But in too many cases, people fail to grow up as they grow older. Second, we can become dull because our bad habits prevent healthy development. Look carefully at the spiritual habits cultivated by the audience of Hebrews. They had become dead ends of doctrine rather than conduits of spiritual nourishment. They continued as students rather than growing into teachers. They had developed the bad habit of taking in food but not giving it to others (5:12). They preferred milk over solid food, just like an infant (5:13). The phrase “not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.” Hebrews 5:13 characterizes the inexperienced or new Christian. Yet, just as a baby is unskilled in thinking, acting, and speaking in grown-up ways, immature believers continue to dwell on the basic ABCs of the Christian faith. The author says the Hebrews needed to relearn “the elementary truths of God’s word” (5:12). This is how 5:13 in the NLT describes it: still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. You must gradually consume solid Biblical teaching to mature as a believer “to distinguish good from evil,” 5:14. However, the audience of the letter to the Hebrews was far from exhibiting these signs of spiritual maturity. Not only were they unable to keep up with his advanced discussion of Melchizedek, but they also lazily wanted to go back and audit Christianity 101 … over and over again! This spiritual immaturity threatened other aspects of their Christian life—their ability to withstand trials, resist temptation, and persevere through hardship. They were close to growing so dull of hearing that they were in danger of straying from the path of spiritual growth and falling under the disciplining hand of God. 6:1–3 In light of the Hebrew Christians' disappointing and spiritually dangerous condition described in 5:11–14, the author transitions Hebrews 6 to the book's third (and probably the most well-known) warning passage. This third warning declares, “Don’t stray from the path of spiritual growth!” As we’ll see, this warning began in 5:11 and continues through most of Hebrews 6. It is one of the hardest warnings to hear and contains some of the most difficult, disputed, and controversial verses in all Scripture. Let’s read 6:1-3, “Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so.” However, if we remember that the larger context relates to a group of Christians who had failed to thrive in their spiritual growth—who had grown dull in their hearing and were wallowing in immaturity—we can begin to untie the knot of this challenging passage. Though a chapter break has been added here, the context is still the same: a failure to grow spiritually. We all still know the ABC songs we teach children, (sing), but do we continue to sing them in college or when we enter the workplace? We should not. The recipients of Hebrews failed to grow out of the fundamentals of the Christian faith and life, instead repeating over and over again the ABCs that are the subjects of Christianity 101. In essence, they were crucifying Christ repeatedly by never moving beyond the basics of the Christian life. This non-growth is why the warnings in verses 4-6 are so severe. In 6:1-2 the recipients of the letter of Hebrews seem to be satisfied or stuck, knowing just the basic elements of the believer: salvation, baptism, and the final resurrection. They seemed to grasp what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8-9, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” They never matured to understand Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” They learned the essential teachings that are the foundation for the Christian life. But it’s just the beginning. Those who continue to focus only on what they have been saved from, and neglect the life of holiness, they were saved for. The spiritually immature never seem to grow out of their own conversion experience…or in the worst cases, they continue to “get saved,” or “pray the sinner’s prayer,” or “answer the altar call” over and over again, never growing beyond this very first step. The author’s point is clear: If we’re getting hung up on basic experiences, practices, and doctrines related to the foundation of the Christian faith, we’re not going to graduate to higher levels of spiritual maturity. Instead, we need to move beyond the basics, to be taken forward to maturity (Heb. 6:1). The author is hopeful that, with God’s help, they will press on (6:3). The phrase “And God permitting, we will do so” reminds us that even our spiritual growth depends on God’s provision. He, and He alone, can grow us from infancy to maturity, if we are willing and ready.   6:4–8 Hebrews 6:3 serves as a transition that looks forward with confidence to the ability to move on to maturity with God’s help. However, the “God permitting” in 6:3 suggests that there are cases in which God will not permit one to move on to maturity, such as, if you are unwilling and not ready. Let’s read 6:4-8, “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed/ receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.” In the first point in 6:4, the author discusses the central problem in a believer’s life that would keep that person wallowing in spiritual immaturity. The author explains the obstacles that would hinder spiritual growth. There was still hope, but because of their current state of becoming slow of hearing and sluggish in their response to spiritual things, they faced a real danger of sliding even farther backward toward an irreversible condition. They are stuck in perpetual turmoil, never reaching God’s rest, which we learned about in Chapter 4. By not maturing as believers, we are like the Israelites looking at the Promised Land, but too afraid to cross over the Jordan. A second point we need to understand before walking into the dark, ominous woods of the stern warning (6:4–6) is an essential observation from 6:7–8. The older I get, the more convinced I am of God’s universal law of planting and harvesting. It is just as strong or stronger than the law of gravity. You cannot escape the law of planting and harvesting! What you harvest is dependent on what you plant in life. If you do not mature spiritually, you will never reap the abundant life God has in store. The contrast is black and white: Those who DO press onto maturity verse 7: “Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God.” Those who DO NOT press onto maturity verse 8: “But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.” However, in this illustration that the author uses to explain his warning, which comes in 6:4–6, notice that the ground that is burned—to clear it of its useless “thorns and thistles”—may not be completely obliterated. It is burned to consume the worthless vegetation it has produced despite receiving all the means necessary to produce useful plants. This would support the notion that those who fall under the condition that leads to a failure to thrive spiritually do not lose their salvation, but instead end up having no eternal reward at the judgment seat of Christ. We see this sobering teaching confirmed in 1 Corinthians 3:12–15 about a person’s labor for the body of Christ, the church, during this life: Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames. So, to bring it all together, we see the warnings in Hebrews 6. The author discusses the extreme (and probably rare) cases of those who had truly been born again but “have fallen away” to such a degree that they had hardened themselves to all calls to repentance and have not responded to God’s loving hand of discipline (12:5–7). Instead of abiding in fellowship with Christ—the true Vine—and producing fruit, those who had fallen entirely out of fellowship despite God’s repeated pleas to return will wither away (John 15:1–6). Instead of bringing forth bountiful valuable vegetation to the Father, they produce thorns and thistles that are worth nothing (Heb. 6:7–8). This is not an imagined peril, but actual, as the extreme case of Jezebel in Revelation 2:20–22 demonstrates. Believers can stray so far away from the trail of spiritual progress that they no longer hear the voice of their guide calling from the right path. They ignore all markers that point them back and push away those the Master has sent to lead them the right way. As a result, those who have “fallen away” to such a degree will face temporal judgment by God. If they have not entirely rejected Christ, they will still be saved and one day face the Master that bought them, but all reward will be lost (1 Cor. 3:12–15). This warning has serious consequences – once again, the Law of Planting and Harvesting applies in Heb 6:6. Let me read it from the NLT: “And who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.” I understand that such a radical departure by a true believer is extremely rare. This is probably why the author of Hebrews uses a term for “fallen away” (6) that is used nowhere else in the New Testament: parapiptō. And this is why the author speaks of such people in the third person plural. The Hebrew Christians had been growing dull, lethargic, lazy, and numb to the things that contribute to spiritual growth (5:11; 6:12). But for them, there was still hope of building on their former progress and pressing on to maturity. However, if they failed to reverse course now, while they still had the opportunity, the extreme case described by parapiptō—from which there was no return—was a frightening possibility. Application: Hebrews 5:11–6:8 Practical Principles for Spiritual Progress I pray that no one who hears this wants to end up falling away to such an extreme that there is no possibility for repentance. However, the rare condition described in Hebrews 6:4–6 doesn’t occur suddenly. The warning of 5:11–6:8 describes a long process of continued dullness, repeated backsliding, and failure to thrive. Our spiritual lives wither slowly as we fail to receive the proper nutrients necessary for spiritual growth.   However, 1 Corinthians 10:12 issues a sobering warning: If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. No matter how closely we walk with God, we need to realize that every wrong step is one step off the right path and one step closer to the edge of the cliff. Let’s remind ourselves of three practical principles for maintaining our spiritual progress, as outlined in Hebrews 5:14, to keep us from taking even a few missteps from the straight and narrow way. First, partake of solid spiritual food. The term “solid food” is contrasted with milk (5:12–14). It’s the knife-and-fork food of adults rather than the bottle-fed food of babies. It’s food that requires chewing, takes time to digest, and provides nutrients essential for building a strong body. In spiritual things, it’s a more profound doctrine, more serious devotion to righteousness, and more earnest dedication to the things of God. We must avoid the junk food of weak, shallow biblical teaching, watered-down doctrine, and circus-style worship “experiences.” We need Bible studies that challenge us and a church community that spurs us on and keeps us on the right track. We can’t expect to grow spiritually if we’re not partaking of solid spiritual food. Second, maintain the practice in righteous living. “Practice” is needed to effectively apply the Word to our daily lives. It goes beyond simply hearing and understanding. It means actually doing what we’re told—not once or twice, but repeatedly and continually. Practice takes time, energy, and commitment. We can’t “practice” by attending church once a week, and then starving ourselves spiritually for six days straight. Daily, we must participate in suitable spiritual activities to build muscles and strengthen our spiritual lives. We can’t expect to grow spiritually if we’re not maintaining practice in righteous living. Third, exhibit a trained sense of discernment. “Discernment shows in people who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.” Hebrews 5:14 which is a sure mark of spiritual maturity. Taking in solid spiritual food and turning it into good habits through continual, disciplined practice will sharpen our ability to distinguish between right and wrong, true and false, wise and foolish, and helpful and harmful. The spiritually mature can respond with wisdom and skill to whatever comes their way. It is almost second nature to them. The good news is, if we’re diligent in partaking of solid spiritual food and eager to maintain the practice in righteous living—and if we continue these over the long haul—then we can expect to grow spiritually and exhibit a trained sense of discernment. These principles, given to us by God and...

Welcome to Day: 2246

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Hebrews-9 God’s Son – The Peril of Failing to Thrive – Daily Wisdom

/: 2023

“The Peril of Failing to Thrive” Hebrews 5:11-6:8

Last week, we continued our extended series through the book of Hebrews in the New Testament. We learned how God’s Son is also our Great High Priest, and cross-referenced verse 5 For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus, I Timothy 2:5. In our message today, we will see that God encourages us, no expects us, to thrive as believers, not just barely getting by. Instead, he warns us of The Peril Of Failing to Thrive.

Parents and doctors begin monitoring our physical, mental, and emotional growth from birth. Our advancement is measured and compared to others, and people get worried if we lag in any area. But how do we measure our spiritual growth? And what happens when we lag in spiritual progress? Who’s there to size us up spiritually and tell us to grow up when we need to hear it?

Cor.: 14:20

But just like natural growth, spiritual growth can be stunted. We may partake of the wrong spiritual food or neglect our spiritual sustenance altogether. We may stumble backward into childish attitudes and actions, undoing the maturity we once achieved. Or we may wallow in spiritual infancy because we have nobody around us to set examples of spiritual maturity. All these things result in our failure to thrive, and it’s this problem that the author of Hebrews addresses in 5:11–6:8.

5:11–14

rst read this passage on page: 1867

The author says he has much to explain concerning Jesus, who was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. (5:10) Still, his readers “No longer try to understand,” or the NLT says, “you are spiritually dull” (5:11). Think of a bored, unambitious adolescent who has to be told several times to get off the couch and do their chores. It’s a trait of immaturity and irresponsibility. But what causes this kind of dullness? (Bulletin Insert)

First, we can become dull because we fail to grow up as we grow older. Having gray hair, wrinkles, and grandchildren doesn’t necessarily bring spiritual knowledge and wisdom. The point is clear: “Older” doesn’t necessarily mean “wiser” and “more spiritual.” Age should indicate spiritual maturity, as the author of Hebrews admits: “by this time you ought to be teachers” (Heb. 5:12). But in too many cases, people fail to grow up as they grow older.

Second, we can become dull because our bad habits prevent healthy development. Look carefully at the spiritual habits cultivated by the audience of Hebrews. They had become dead ends of doctrine rather than conduits of spiritual nourishment. They continued as students rather than growing into teachers. They had developed the bad habit of taking in food but not giving it to others (5:12). They preferred milk over solid food, just like an infant (5:13).

The phrase “not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.” (5:13) characterizes the inexperienced or new Christian. Yet, just as a baby is unskilled in thinking, acting, and speaking in grown-up ways, immature believers continue to dwell on the basic ABCs of the Christian faith. The author says the Hebrews needed to relearn “the elementary truths of God’s word” (5:12). This is how 5:13 in the NLT describes it: still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. You must gradually consume solid Biblical teaching to mature as a believer to distinguish good from evil. 5:14

However, the audience of the letter to the Hebrews was far from exhibiting these signs of spiritual maturity. Not only were they unable to keep up with his advanced discussion of Melchizedek, but they also lazily wanted to go back and audit Christianity 101 … over and over again! This spiritual immaturity threatened other aspects of their Christian life—their ability to withstand trials, resist temptation, and persevere through hardship. They were close to growing so dull of hearing that they were in danger of straying from the path of spiritual growth and falling under the disciplining hand of God.

6:1–3

In light of the Hebrew Christians' disappointing and spiritually dangerous condition described in 5:11–14, the author transitions Hebrews 6 to the book's third (and probably the most well-known) warning passage. This third warning declares, “Don’t stray from the path of spiritual growth!” As we’ll see, this warning began in 5:11 and continues through most of Hebrews 6. It is one of the hardest warnings to hear and contains some of the most difficult, disputed, and controversial verses in all Scripture. Let’s read 6:1-3 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death,[a] and of faith in God, 2 instruction about cleansing rites,[b] the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so.

However, if we remember that the larger context relates to a group of Christians who had failed to thrive in their spiritual growth—who had grown dull in their hearing and were wallowing in immaturity—we can begin to untie the knot of this challenging passage. Though a chapter break has been added here, the context is still the same: a failure to grow spiritually.

We all still know the ABC songs we teach children, (sing), but do we continue to sing them in college or when we enter the workplace? We should not. The recipients of Hebrews failed to grow out of the fundamentals of the Christian faith and life, instead repeating over and over again the ABCs that are the subjects of Christianity 101. In essence, they were crucifying Christ repeatedly by never moving beyond the basics of the Christian life. This non-growth is why the warnings in verses 4-6 are so severe.

In 6:1-2 the recipients of the letter of Hebrews seem to be satisfied or stuck, knowing just the basic elements of the believer: salvation, baptism, and the final resurrection. They seemed to grasp what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8-9 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. They never matured to understand Ephesians 2:10, For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

They learned the essential teachings that are the foundation for the Christian life. But it’s just the beginning. Those who continue to focus only on what they have been saved from, /and neglect the life of holiness,->they were saved for. The spiritually immature never seem to grow out of their own conversion experience … or in the worst cases, they continue to “get saved,” or “pray the sinner’s prayer,” or “answer the altar call” over and over again, never growing beyond this very first step.

The author’s point is clear: If we’re getting hung up on basic experiences, practices, and doctrines related to the foundation of the Christian faith, we’re not going to graduate to higher levels of spiritual maturity. Instead, we need to move beyond the basics, to be taken forward to maturity (Heb. 6:1). The author is hopeful that, with God’s help, they will press on (6:3). The phrase “And God permitting, we will do so” reminds us that even our spiritual growth depends on God’s provision. He, and He alone, can grow us from infancy to maturity, if we are willing and ready.

6:4–8

Hebrews 6:3 serves as a transition that looks forward with confidence to the ability to move on to maturity with God’s help. However, the “God permitting” in 6:3 suggests that there are cases in which God will not permit one to move on to maturity, such as, if you are unwilling and not ready.

Let’s read 6:4-8 4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen[c] away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. 7 Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it/ and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed/ receives the blessing of God. 8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless/ and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

In the first point in 6:4, the author discusses the central problem in a believer’s life that would keep that person wallowing in spiritual immaturity. The author explains the obstacles that would hinder spiritual growth. There was still hope, /but because of their current state of becoming slow of hearing and sluggish in their response to spiritual things, they faced a real danger of sliding even farther backward toward an irreversible condition. They are stuck in perpetual turmoil, never reaching God’s rest, which we learned about in Chapter 4. By not maturing as believers, we are like the Israelites looking at the promised land, but too afraid to cross over the Jordan.

A second point we need to understand before walking into the dark, ominous woods of the stern warning (6:4–6) is an essential observation from 6:7–8. The older I get, the more convinced I am of God’s universal law of planting and harvesting. It is just as strong or stronger than the law of gravity. You cannot escape the law of planting and harvesting! What you harvest is dependent on what you plant in life. (Compare two planters) If you do not mature spiritually, you will never reap the abundant life God has in store. The contrast is black and white:

Those who DO press onto maturity verse 7: Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it/ and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed/ receives the blessing of God. 

Those who DO NOT press onto maturity verse 8: 8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless/ and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

However, in this illustration that the author uses to explain his warning, which comes in 6:4–6, notice that the ground that is burned—to clear it of its useless “thorns and thistles”—may not be completely obliterated. It is burned to consume the worthless vegetation it has produced despite receiving all the means necessary to produce useful plants. This would support the notion that those who fall under the condition that leads to a failure to thrive spiritually do not lose their salvation, but instead end up having no eternal reward at the judgment seat of Christ. We see this sobering teaching confirmed in 1 Corinthians 3:12–15 about a person’s labor for the body of Christ, the church, during this life:

Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. 14 If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. 15 But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.

So, to bring it all together, we see the warnings in Hebrews 6./ The author discusses the extreme (and probably rare) cases of those who had truly been born again but “have fallen away” to such a degree that they had hardened themselves to all calls to repentance and have not responded to God’s loving hand of discipline (12:5–7). Instead of abiding in fellowship with Christ—the true Vine—and producing fruit, those who had fallen entirely out of fellowship despite God’s repeated pleas to return will wither away (John 15:1–6). Instead of bringing forth bountiful valuable vegetation to the Father, they produce thorns and thistles that are worth nothing (Heb. 6:7–8).

This is not an imagined peril, but actual, as the extreme case of Jezebel in Revelation 2:20–22 demonstrates. Believers can stray so far away from the trail of spiritual progress that they no longer hear the voice of their guide calling from the right path. They ignore all markers that point them back and push away those the Master has sent to lead them the right way. As a result, those who have “fallen away” to such a degree will face temporal judgment by God. If they have not entirely rejected Christ, they will still be saved and one day face the Master that bought them, but all reward will be lost (1 Cor. 3:12–15). This warning has serious consequences – once again, the Law of Planting and Harvesting applies in Heb 6:6. Let me read it from the NLT:  and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.

I understand that such a radical departure by a true believer is extremely rare. This is probably why the author of Hebrews uses a term for “fallen away” (6) that is used nowhere else in the New Testament: parapiptō. And this is why the author speaks of such people in the third person plural. The Hebrew Christians had been growing dull, lethargic, lazy, and numb to the things that contribute to spiritual growth (5:11; 6:12). But for them, there was still hope of building on their former progress and pressing on to maturity. However, if they failed to reverse course now, while they still had the opportunity, the extreme case described by parapiptō—from which there was no return—was a frightening possibility.

APPLICATION: HEBREWS 5:11–6:8

Practical Principles for Spiritual Progress (Bulletin Insert)

I pray that no one who hears this wants to end up falling away to such an extreme that there is no possibility for repentance. However, the rare condition described in Hebrews 6:4–6 doesn’t occur suddenly. The warning of 5:11–6:8 describes a long process of continued dullness, repeated backsliding, and failure to thrive. Our spiritual lives wither slowly as we fail to receive the proper nutrients necessary for spiritual growth. (Compare Planters)

Corinthians: 10:12

First, partake of solid spiritual food. The term “solid food” is contrasted with milk (5:12–14). It’s the knife-and-fork food of adults rather than the bottle-fed food of babies. It’s food that requires chewing, takes time to digest, and provides nutrients essential for building a strong body. In spiritual things, it’s a more profound doctrine, more serious devotion to righteousness, and more earnest dedication to the things of God. We must avoid the junk food of weak, shallow biblical teaching, watered-down doctrine, and circus-style worship “experiences.” We need Bible studies that challenge us and a church community that spurs us on and keeps us on the right track. We can’t expect to grow spiritually if we’re not partaking of solid spiritual food.

Second, maintain the practice in righteous living.“Practice” is needed to effectively apply the Word to our daily lives. It goes beyond simply hearing and understanding. It means actually doing what we’re told—not once or twice, but repeatedly and continually. Practice takes time, energy, and commitment. We can’t “practice” by attending church once a week, and then starving ourselves spiritually for six days straight. Daily, we must participate in suitable spiritual activities to build muscles and strengthen our spiritual lives. We can’t expect to grow spiritually if we’re not maintaining practice in righteous living.

Third, exhibit a trained sense of discernment. “Discernment shows in people who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.” (5:14), which is a sure mark of spiritual maturity. Taking in solid spiritual food and turning it into good habits through continual, disciplined practice will sharpen our ability to distinguish between right and wrong, true and false, wise and foolish, and helpful and harmful. The spiritually mature can respond with wisdom and skill to whatever comes their way. It is almost second nature to them. The good news is, if we’re diligent in partaking of solid spiritual food and eager to maintain the practice in righteous living—and if we continue these over the long haul—then we can expect to grow spiritually and exhibit a trained sense of discernment.

These principles, given to us by God and applied to our lives by the Holy Spirit, will keep us on the right path and train us for spiritual progress. Plant well, and nourish what you have planted so that you can harvest abundantly.

Next Sunday, we will continue our series on our adventure through the book of Hebrews. Today is the second of ten messages in the second section of Hebrews: "Christ is Superior as our High Priest. Now that we have been thoroughly warned through strong admonitions, next week we will learn the valuable lessons from today and receive the good news of our obedience in a message, “The Brighter Side.” You won’t want to miss it. So please read Hebrews 6:9-20 for next week’s message.