Don T Let Yourself Go

Don’t Let Yourself Go

Hebrews 5.14-6.20

Synopsis:. Spiritual growth is a difficult but undeniable expectation of the Christian life of faith. Like with any living thing, as it ages it must progress, develop and expand. If, for example, one of our children, failed to meet physical, mental, social and emotional milestones as they aged, you could be sure that the doctor would insist on running test to find out why he/she wasn’t growing. In other words, if your 18 year old was just 36 inches long and still eating baby food, something would be terribly wrong. This is what the writer of Hebrews is getting at. For him it is impossible to not to expect someone who has “tasted the heavenly gift” to have grown and matured and moved on to the deeper things of faith. Just as a child, stuck in adolescence at the age of 18 or 20, would be quite the anomaly, so would the Christian who has not demonstrated and increasing demonstration of say, the fruit of the Spirit. By and through God’s faithfulness to use we are shaped and molded into people who would bear the light of Christ to the world.

Opening Question: The Christian life is a developmental one. That is to say that with each passing season of our lives – your life and mine – we should have progressed in our spiritual maturity. What have been some of your developmental milestones along the way? What things have you learned that have helped shape you over the years? Do you feel that you are more spiritually mature now than you were a year or two ago? How might you measure that?

Study:

The writer makes a rather sharp turn in verses 5.11-14 and rebukes his audience.
What is/are the issue(s) at stake?
What is the picture of Christian maturity that the writer is attempting to paint; what does it look like?
What are some things that you think the writer would call the “milk” of Christian discipleship and what would could be classified as the “meat and potatoes?”
Looking at it literally, what are some of the differences between and child and an adult?
Why is this such a powerful metaphor to describe the state of these believers?
What are some of the “basics” of the Christian faith that the writer lists in 6.1-2?
What do you think he means by each of them?
Why do you think he suggests that these are things that really don’t need to be revisited again?
If you could boil down the central teachings of the Christian life, what would they be?
Look at verses 4-5. How does the author explain what happens to us when we become Christians?
There are those in the Church (universal church) who believe that once you are “saved” you are always saved; that is to say that one can never fall away from the faith (even the apostle Paul suggests this in Romans 5-8).
Do you think that’s true?
What do you think that the writer believes about this?
What might entice someone to walk away altogether from the faith that was once so important to them?
Why would it be impossible to bring them back to repentance?
When things are “new” it’s far easier to be much more zealous about whatever it is that has our attention. In verses 10-11, the writer encourages his readers not to give up but to keep that same spiritual fervor alive.
How has your propensity for love and service changed over the years?
Are you just as easy/eager to love and serve others as when you first came to faith in Christ Jesus?
How could you love and serve someone this week?
The writer encourages us not to become “lazy” and to guard against this by imitating those in our lives who have inspired us and set an example for us to follow.
What are some of the ways that we can guard against spiritual laziness?
Who can you think of in your life that has been an inspiration to you as a follower of Jesus?
What was it about their faith that so inspired you?
In 6.13-20, the writer turns his attention towards the trustworthiness of God.
What are the two things that the writer suggests are proof of God’s trustworthiness?
How has God proven himself trustworthy in you life?
How is Christian faith in God ore than simply optimism or the idea that everything will turn out okay in the end?

FOR NEXT WEEK: Hebrews 5.11-6.20