Still on Milk?

How many years have you been a Christian? Whatever the number is, hold it. Now, ask yourself the harder question. What does that number actually mean? The number doesn’t always mean what we want it to mean. Years on the calendar are not the same thing as growth in Christ. In Hebrews 5, the teacher comes into the room ready to teach, and the room is not ready. The painful part isn’t that they aren’t there — it’s that they should be. But rather than seeing this as scolding today, I want you to see it as a wake-up call. He’s writing them up, calling them up to something better.

1. The Painful Diagnosis (5:11-12a)

   1. Hebrews 5:11: We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. Slow, heavy. Sluggish.

   2. By This Time

      1. 5:12: 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.

      2. They ought to be teachers. Although by this time you ought to be teachers,

      3. They ought to be mature enough to feed someone. You need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again.

   3. Diagnosis, Not Accusation

      1. Hebrews 5 is a diagnosis. We are being called up. The diagnosis isn’t the end … it’s the start of getting better.

      2. Hebrews 6:1: Therefore, let us leave the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to maturity , not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God,

2. Milk vs. Solid Food (v. 12b-13)

   1. Hebrews 5:12-13: You need milk, not solid food . Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant.

      1. What is milk? What is solid food? See 6:1-2.

      2. What is solid food? Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness , … This is applied doctrine. It’s not knowing more. It’s knowing how to live.

   2. Why We Get Stuck on Milk: Milk is Comfortable. Milk is Easy to Fake. Milk Feels Safe Because Everyone Else is on it Too

3. The Mark of the Mature (v. 14)

   1. Hebrews 5:14: But solid food is for the mature —for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil. Real-time discernment. Christ-shaped decisions.

   2. Let’s focus on the word trained.

      1. Hebrews 5:14: for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.

      2. Maturity is the long-compounding interest of a thousand small obediences.

4. As We Close…

   1. So … back to the math we did at the beginning.

      1. The number is just years. The question is what has been built during those years.

      2. But, hear the rest of it too. Therefore, let us leave the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to maturity, …

   2. Let us go on… He’s in it with them. He’s not above them. He’s coming with them.

   3. You can grow up into Christlikeness. Are you ready?