Hebrews 5:11-14: Milk fed or Meat?
Milk or Meat Christian?
Hebrews 5: (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.
The picture on the left is kind of creepy. But nowhere near as creepy as Christians who after years in the faith continue to be bottle-fed, unable to digest the solid food which the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews describes. Note, at least in this passage, the things, which characterize the milk-fed: Dullness of hearing. They just don’t listen. They still don’t get the basic revelations, and need them explained again. They have been in the faith long enough to be teachers of it, but they still need milk. They have long enough history with the Word to be able to handle it, but they remain “unskilled” in the Word. They lack discernment when it comes to distinguishing between right and wrong. How this plays out in practice is churches filled with people who do not look substantially different than those who don’t know Christ. This is in fact what study after study has shown us about the nature of the church right now. Listen to the great Dallas Willard: “Multitudes are now turning to Christ in all parts of the world. How unbearably tragic it would be, though, if the millions from Asia, South America and Africa were lead to believe that the best we could hope for from the way of Christ is the level of Christianity visible in Europe and America today.” Now the question I wonder is this - how true of Lamb of God is what Dallas ponders about the church in the U.S.?
Scripture extols maturity. Ephesians 4:(11) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, (12) to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, (13) until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, (14) so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (15) Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, (16) from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Here in Ephesians 4 Paul describes maturity as the goal of the Christian journey. That maturity is characterized by unity of the faith (living out a real partnership with the body to accomplish God’s purposes), and by knowledge of the Son of God (both the knowledge which come through the study of the Word and the knowledge that comes from intimacy with Jesus through prayer and worship). Paul also speaks of stability (not being tossed around by foolish doctrines and human deceitfulness) and speech characterized by lovingly telling the truth. Paul summarizes this maturity with a wonderful thought: Members of a body working together, truthfully encouraging each other, each one doing their part creating an environment of love.
Yet, as the letter to Hebrews acknowledges many Christians remain perpetually stuck in the basics of Christianity and live on a diet of milk. In the epistle to the Corinthians Paul describes that “milk fed” Christian in this way: But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. (2) I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, (3) for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? One manifestation of the perpetually childish is the inability to deal with issues of jealousy and conflict. The immature remain imprisioned by their passions, flying off the handle, saying things that hurt others, and harboring petty offenses for days, weeks, even years (Often because they cannot recognize the difference between petty and serious offenses because they measure everything by them selves). Note how distinctly different the mature reaction to the offenses of others: I Peter 4: (8) Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
Paul sets forth a very simple premise regarding how we are to think about spiritual maturity: Ephesians 5: Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. (2)And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. We are quite simply to imitate the character of God, and specifically to walk in love per the example of Christ. This kind of love is characterized by lack of selfishness and lavish generosity.(1)
Cavalier attitude about public gatherings
Let me take some biblical examples of how this is worked out in other passages, which exhort us to live in particular ways. Hebrews 10: (25) And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Why is consistency in being in church important? Is God taking attendance? Does he really care about whether we miss? God is faithful. Faithfulness has to do with a quality of God’s character that says - I can be depended on. What I say, I do. What I promise I come through on. The faithfulness of God is at the core of our relationship with Him. If we cannot trust Him, how can we believe in Him day by day? If we doubt that He will come through for us, how can we build a growing relationship of trust? Try and imagine God saying to you - I’m too busy to answer you right now, or I’m too tired to listen to your prayer. Preposterous, right?
Imitating God in so far as it relates to this passage means that we endeavor to establish ourselves as people who can be counted on. Hebrews says that this unreliability is “the habit of some,” meaning that in the churches the writer of Hebrews had noted this tendency among some Christians, the habit of missing the gatherings. This idea of imitating God’s faithfulness is only one part of the reason why this notion even gets mentioned. We are a body of Christians. Family metaphors abound when talking about the nature of Christian community. A family that takes seriously its familial bond shows up for family gatherings. Why are holidays a time when families typically get together? Because those days are special. In the body of Christ every Sunday is a special day. It is a day of the assembling together of the people of God for worship, the word and in our case the Eucharist. It is a “special family day.” Some Christians do not get this. How would they be characterized by the Word? Milk fed Christians.
Wasted Stewardship
Let me give another example. Matthew 25 and the parable of the talents. You know the story. Three servants, each given a different level of resources, scripture says: “each according to his ability.” The master departs and is gone for a lengthy period of time, but then returns for an accounting of what each has done. Two are faithful with their resources, one does nothing. The servant who buries the talent is given the most severe rebuke. Wasted stewardship is harshly rebuked. Some Christians are certainly in view. I Corinthians 3 deals with a very similar ideas as is expressed here by Jesus in Matthew 25 - I Cor. 3: (13) each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. (14) If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. (15) If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. How would they be characterized by the Word? Milk fed Christians.
Poor Handling of money
Another parable of Jesus addresses this. Luke 15: (10) “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. (11) And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? (12) And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own (13) “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Jesus question in verse 11 is powerful: If you are untrustworthy with worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? Jesus calls handling money “being faithful in little things.” You gain access to larger realms of responsibility and opportunity by being faithful with small things. Yet most Christians (yes, I said most) do not do this basic thing. They do not give as the should. Less money is given as a percentage now than was given by Christians during the depression. Did you hear that? Does it come as any surprise that the following is true: 80% of churches in the U.S. are either declining or stagnet. Since Jesus pointedly states you can not serve God and money, and since we know without question that most church attending Christians do not give as they should can their be any mystery about the connection? How would Scripture characterize Christians who cannot handle earthly wealth? Milk fed Christians
Lack of respect to God ordained authority
Hebrews 13: (17) Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.
Every since the late 60’s it has become fashionable to question authority. There was value to some of this. Racism was established in the culture. Policeman and other public officials were used to sustain sinful and corrupt government. As the Summer of Love (67-68) came and flourished all conventions became suspect. What began with some virtue spiraled into drugs, promiscuity and fell apart with the violence at the Rolling Stones outdoor concert at Altamont. It wasn’t long after this that the “hippie” ethic of “peace and love” became the hardened sexually promiscuous drug culture of the late 70’s and early 80’s. (AIDS)
God established authority to bless the world. Human beings abuse this, and often behave wickedly to harm those over whom they have authority. It would take pages and pages to innumerate the history of these abuses. Tragically there have been far to many occasions of this among the people of God. Leaders who are corrupted by their own sinful predilections, leaders who mishandle money, and leaders who are overbearing with God’s people. However, it is God’s intention to use authority in our lives to bless us, and when we find godly authority it is a sign of maturity to be able to place one’s self under it.
I would set before my brothers and sisters at LOG that we have godly leaders. They are not perfect, and they need each other to govern the church with integrity. But we have nearly 20 years with the group of leaders at Lamb. I believe we are tremendously blessed by having men like Kevin Gann, Todd Polyniak, Gary Patti, Doug Estes and Ben Stamper. They are not without faults, but they all love Jesus dearly and take their work as elders with great seriousness. They attempt to live their lives with integrity. Everyone of them have been subject to correction. Everyone of them have submitted themselves to authority, and willingly opened their lives to scrutiny. All of them are men of tremendous generosity. They are worthy of obedience.
My experience is that many Christians actually pay little attention to the direction which leaders give. Right now we as a leadership have embraced the call to be a church which places a high priority on intercessory prayer. We have set out to put in proper order the LOG’s former lack of prayer. We have also discerned that the Lord is calling us to become a house of prayer, a church which takes on a special commitment to pray not only for itself, but for the work of God in this region. That is what we as a leadership have discerned God’s will to be for this congregation at this particular time. How will the mature respond? How will the milk fed respond? You figure it out.
Laziness
Proverbs 20: 4 - The lazy man will not plow because of winter; He will beg during harvest and have nothing. The N.T version of this reads: I Timothy 5:8 - If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Having almost fully raised two daughters (when they are married, living on their own and stable in their home lives I will relax a bit), I have witnessed how it is that children are naturally lazy and have to be taught to work hard. If you do not teach them to pick up their toys, they won’t. If you don’t teach them to be diligent they will not be, and will learn to give up quickly. This is tolerable in the case of children, but no so in the case of adults. It can be understood in the case of new believers who are still learning to grow up, but it is a pathetic thing in the case of Christians who should be eating meat but are still functioning like children.
The bible has a work ethic. The word extols the diligent. Use a concordance and look up the word diligent (which by the way means: constant in effort to accomplish something; attentive and persistent in doing anything). This is what characterizes the mature Christian. Laziness is the opposite of diligence. The lazy are inconsistent in their efforts to accomplish. The lazy are inattentive and lack persistence in doing. How would the Scriptures describe them? Milk fed Christians.
Anger
James 1:20 - Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. Scripture is quite insistent concerning the dangers of anger. Fathers are exhorted to not provoke their children to anger (Eph. 6:4). Colossians 3 warns us to get rid of anger. I Timothy 2:8 envisions churches this way: In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy.
Children are characterized by the childish way they handle the emotion of anger. Little children throw temper tantrums, they mope around, pout and put on a puss when they don’t get what they want. We fully expect this to change, as we teach them how to handle their feelings.
Look carefully at Galatians 5 and its teaching on the fruit of the Spirit versus the works of the flesh. This passage lists 12 different works of the flesh. 7 of those works are related to anger. (1) Enmity - a feeling or condition of hostility. (2) Strife - vigorous or bitter conflict, discord, or antagonism. (3) Jealousy - feeling resentment because of another’s success, advantage. (4) Fits of anger (5) Rivalries - opposition, antagonism. (6) Dissensions - strong disagreement; a contention or quarrel; discord. (7) Divisions - A splitting into factions; disunion. This is sobering. Look how much damage the angry Christian potentially creates. If more than 50% of the “works of the flesh” are elements related to anger, how would you characterize the angry Christian? As mature or childish?
Milk Fed Love
Romans 13:8 - Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. I John 3:4 states - Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. Let me put those two ideas together. The childish Christian often makes a habit of sin. Or to say it Paul’s way - the childish Christian makes a habit of weak love. Did you get that? If one who loves has fulfilled the law, then the one who is weak in love has a tendency to break the law.
What is the forsaking of gathering together? It is an example of weak love for the body. What is poor stewardship but weak love for those who would benefit from your diligent management of what God has given you. What is the mishandling of money - weak love for those who benefit from your faithfulness with money? What is disobedience to God ordained authority? Weak love for those whom God has placed over you. What is laziness? Weak love for those who depend on you. What is sinful anger? Weak love for those who become the target of that anger. I would call all of these examples milk-ish love. Do you see why Paul would say that the one who loves has fulfilled the law? Being faithful to the weekly gatherings is meant to be an expression of love for your brothers and sisters. Making good use of your resources, gifts and talents is a way of showing love. I hope you get the point.
Where does all this lead us? If you recognize yourself as “milk fed” and you know you should be eating meat, what should be your response? First, let me say that Jesus Christ is the fountain of all life and progress in the Christian life. Human resolutions to do better rarely lead to change and almost never to lasting change. Jesus Christ is the life giver, the one in whom all power for change resides. But like Jesus said to the blind man crying out to him - What do you want me to do for you? Jesus wants us to want the change. We are called to face ourselves, to turn from our sins and to fully come to Jesus for the antidote. Jesus is the meat that makes the milk fed Christian mature. Revival is about coming back to the sufficiency of Christ. Revival is about passion for the glory of Jesus. Revival is about making what is first, first once again: first love, the first commandment, the one necessary thing, the treasure hidden in a field, the pearl of great price, the living water, the bread come down from heaven, the joy of our salvation - Jesus.
December 15th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Too often we allow our respective worldviews to be formed by our personal background and preferences rather than letting ourselves be formed by the scriptures, prayer, and fellowship with other believers. One of the reasons why I often make controversial statements on Big Al’s Place is to stimulate biblically-based Christian discussion. I’m not asking for argument for the sake of argument, but I am expecting folks to get excited and to do the necessary biblical research to write thoughtful replies, whether or not they agree with me. And such discussion requires folks who treat each other with the respect and love that come only from a steady diet of spiritual meat.
December 16th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
Your post was good and troubling to my heart. Ben’s leading to call out the names of prodigals in prayer wrecked me. I felt God’s broken heart for the lost and sobbing was the only response. I absolutely want more of his heart. It’s the only thing that will spur me to action. I don’t want to be a baby and avoid the hard things.
I don’t know how appropriate this is, but I told God this last week: that whatever He wills me to suffer, I welcome it, but I want to be so filled with his joy that I don’t notice. Does that make sense? I really want to live so assured of his victory that it propels me on, even through the valley. I don’t want to even notice any suffering I may endure, compared to his joy. And yet, there’s also his heartbreak.
One cool note…guess who called me to tell me she responded to an altar call today? LESLIE. The same one who a few weeks ago could barely keep her focus in church…went forward and (re?)dedicated her life to the Lord today, probably just at about the same time we were praying. It’s confusing to me (skeptic that I am) a little bit, because I wonder if she will avail herself of the opportunity for even the *milk*, let alone the meat…let’s pray for her, and others…that they wouldn’t be the seed that withers for lack of root.
Your sermons have been cutting me very deeply lately. I am desperate for him to change my heart, to tune it to his frequency…I am utterly powerless in myself, and feeling that very profoundly lately. It’s troubling, but freeing at the same time…I am nothing, and have nothing…he is all. To whom else shall I go?
December 16th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
Thank God for Leslie’s response. I am the father of a prodigal, and I know that pray works to bring them back.
Judgment begins in the house of the Lord. We begin with our selves and we expose ourselves to the penetrating light of the Spirit. We want to be purified, made vessels that are useful to God. This isn’t about morbid introspection, its about gazing on Jesus. The more beautiful He becomes the less allure the old ways have. The more my heart desire Him, the less it desires the lesser things.
The things you write are beautiful to the Lord.