Hebrews 5:12 –
You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.
The first part of this chapter deals with Jesus being the High Priest and why He needed to become human. Reading that part helps gain an understanding of what Jesus represented to the Jewish people. I was thinking about verses to pick and then I got slapped with the next “subject” in this chapter! We keep learning the same thing over and over without exploring too deep, or we just think we have it all figured out and don’t listen.
We all get into this rut where our spiritual growth is based on a 30 minute sermon each Sunday. But think about how much one can grow in a sermon that has to help their congregation grow, but also reach someone who is new to Christianity. After years of going to church I still pull something new from each sermon I hear, but that should not be the foundation of our spiritual growth. We cannot grow fully off the milk being fed to infants in Christ, we must explore deeper into Gods word.
I think back to the first sermon a friend every taught to the youth group at Shadowbrook. He had fun with this and went after the need to grow spiritually. He compared spiritual food to the food body builders need basically saying they could not grow without “real food” just as we as Christians need more substantial studies. I think back to how many years I was a Christian before I decided to read the Bible, then how many years between that decision and when I actually did it.
Now after doing all this study I think it’s time to be teaching others. There are two groups the writer is addressing, the first are the long term Christians who keep living in the basic Gospel message and go no further. The other is the long term Christian who is a “wonk” and feels they need to know everything before they can address anyone. I at one time or another have fallen into both groups, but now it’s time to help others and lead a study group outside this blog. Pray I don’t “blow it” and help others gain a passion for going beyond Sunday morning.