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Hebrews 5.11-14
11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Pastor and author Zack Eswine made a statement about ministry that has stuck with me. In his book The Imperfect Pastor, he described ministry desires as “beauty and arson.” He then goes on to encourage the pastor to know their imperfections and limitations. His desire is for pastors to be healthy and mature in their understanding of their ministry calling.
I’ll never forget the day a pastor friend of mine challenged me to grow up. I had just come through a rather difficult season of ministry. I shared with him my struggles and feelings that I was wrestling with and the potential responses I was considering. After empathizing with my situation, he said something very sobering to me. “Scott, the grass is never greener on the other side, it’s greener where you water. It doesn’t sound like you’re watering the grass.”
His words were like stepping into a cold shower and opening my eyes to a hidden immaturity on my part.
That’s what this passage feels like to me, a sudden cold shower that comes out of nowhere and challenges the believers that Hebrews is addressing.
Hebrews accuses the Christians of being dull of hearing (verse 11). In other words, Hebrews is calling out the listeners for being lazy in their faith. They should be grown up by this time, showing a maturity of faith and being able to lead and teach others who are new to faith in Christ, but instead, they’ve opted for spiritual milk and not solid food. They’re taking the easy way out, not pressing on to know, love, serve and follow Jesus. They don’t know and they are not working to know the grand narrative of Scripture and what it means to follow Jesus.
They’re quite content to have a liquid faith diet, one that enjoys the sugary bits of Christian faith but avoids the vegetables of the hard saying and places in Scripture that challenge us regarding what it means to live for Jesus as His missional disciples as part of a community of faith and in the wider community and world.
The desire of Hebrews in this passage is that the readers grow up and become mature, understanding right from wrong, seeking God’s will and purposes for their lives, and pursuing justice in their community with all gentleness and respect for others as we continue sharing God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness in every relationship and out to the world.
It’s a sudden shift, a cold shower that Hebrews has pushed us into after all the encouragement that we’ve had to continue to grasp hold of and fix our attention on Jesus.
But it’s a cold shower that’s needed for us today just as much for the first readers of Hebrews. It’s far too easy to settle for spiritual milk rather than solid food. To be fair, there are times when we need rest and we certainly don’t want to push too hard on the folks who are young in faith, that is new to faith in Christ, lest we give them such a heavy load that they give up.
However, that being said, we can’t be lazy regarding our relationship with Jesus. Imagine what would happen if you applied a lazy attitude to your marriage, or with your children or grandchildren. I’m sure it wouldn’t be long before your relationship would be on the brink of failure for good reason. So why then do we think that our relationship with Jesus is an exception?
No. We must press on with the challenge; to know, love, serve and follow Jesus and step into all that this means for us personally, and as we worship and fellowship in a diverse community of faith that is bound together by our common connection with Jesus, and out into the wider world. We must grow up and become mature.
As N.T. Wright notes in his commentary on this passage, “If we find ourselves wanting to turn away from the challenge to think harder about our faith, we should ask ourselves whether we are really prepared to settle for permanent spiritual babyhood.”
Are you eating solid spiritual food that gives life and vitality to your relationship with the Lord, or are you settling for milk and wondering why your faith is anemic?
God bless you, and know that I am praying for you constantly.
Scott
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