July 17, 2021 — A Study on the Book of Hebrews

“About this we have much to say that is hard to explain, since you have become dull in understanding. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food; for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.” Hebrews 5:11-14

“Ray Stedman introduces this section writing that…

It has been quite evident thus far in Hebrews that the pastor’s heart of the author has been deeply troubled over the spiritual state of some of his readers. Twice he has warned them at some length that they are in danger of repeating the unbelief of the Israelites in the wilderness and failing, therefore, to enter into the spiritual rest which they had been promised. Once again he confronts them with their perilous state.

They are slow to learn, he declares, and because of this dullness, he has difficulty in explaining to them the extraordinary advantages of the Melchizedek priesthood of Jesus. If they had been growing as they should, they ought by now to be able to pass the great truths of the faith along to others. At best, they are spiritual infants who need to be taught over and over the elementary truths as a baby needs to be fed milk and is not ready for solid food. At worst, they are not Christians at all, but are like many of the Israelites in the wilderness. They also are in danger of failing to act in faith on the teaching they have received. (Ray Stedman, Hebrews 5:11-14, The Spiritual State of the Readers)

Oh how I believe that our people have become dull in understanding – and by people I mean Americans – and by dull I mean wandering in the wilderness of faithlessness without a working knowledge of even the basics of faith. Without a core of faith understanding, many people have nothing to fall back upon when their lives come apart. As such, there is an enormous gap between people (those who have no faith or little faith) and the G-d who created all things. As people of G-d, we need to return to the basics when it comes to teaching and living out the Gospel. We need to know the context of our communities, the influences of our families, and the troubles and distresses that they face – and then link our ministries to those needs. Once we begin to serve people in the name of Christ, then we can begin to teach them about the ways of Christ – his love for all, his grace for all, and his mercy for all. Since church is not the place to be on Sunday for most Americans, we need to stop waiting for them, and take the church into our communities.

Pastor Dave