Thursday, July 12, 2018
Solid food
Hebrews 6:1,2
Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
More and more today Christians are unable to explain what it is that we believe, and why it is that we believe it. Christians today could hardly know the contents of the bible and are unfamiliar with the doctrinal foundations of our faith.
I haven’t done any scientific research but a significant number of Christians in our churches cannot explain sin, repentance, salvation, or grace. They cannot tell the two Testaments apart or recognise the difference by name between an Old Testament prophet and a New Testament disciple.
Many people who identify as Christian don’t actually go to church services, Bible studies, Sunday School, prayer meetings, and the like and so it is hardly surprising that they don’t actually know anything about the faith they profess. However, many of those who actually show up on Sunday morning, well dressed in their Sunday best, dancing and shouting hallelujah are no better when it comes to the basic knowledge of the faith. They could shout and scream amen on cue but can’t find the passage that the preacher referenced.
A lady joined our church some time ago and explained to me that she was saved at the age of five. She outlined which churches she attended over the years and who were her pastors. This lady went to Sunday School for years, attended VBS every time school closed for the August holidays. She was a prayer warrior who attended many Bible studies for many years of her youth, during which time she attended Christian camps. However, when I asked the Bible study group to go to Ephesians she was stranded in her seat.
Well, for starters I always find people who claim to have been saved at 5 a little suspect. Nevertheless, there was a lot of time over the years for her to figure out her way to Ephesians in the New Testament. Today, many new Christians will never navigate the geography of the Bible. The ability to swipe, click, tap, shake, or speak to get your device to the chapter and verse removes the need to know where to find what in the bible. However, we still need to know what is there.
Part of the reason for this problem, of course, is that many of us preaching today are shouting and screaming for a certain kind of response and reaction, and others of us have left the noble task of preaching and have become motivational speakers. Truth, biblical truth is not being systematically presented to the members of our churches. We have abandoned our former pattern from Isaiah, “But the word of the Lord was to them, “Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little,” That they might go and fall backward, and be broken And snared and caught.” Isaiah 28:13.
The early apostles were always concerned that people were being taught sound doctrine and that those who had the responsibility to teach were so focused. Here is Paul writing to Timothy and warning him of a time like this, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” 2 Timothy 4:3,4. Paul gave the same charge to Titus.
Back in the book of Acts, when the apostle Paul was an active missionary, he and his colleagues encountered a young firebrand preacher named Apollos. They were impressed with him but the issue of doctrine was fundamental. “Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.” Acts 18:24-26
The writer to the Hebrews wanted to get into some deep things with his readers and needed to make the point that it is necessary to go past the fundamentals. Today’s challenge is that we don’t have the fundamentals properly laid down. Earlier he had written of this challenge in different terms writing that, “though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.” Hebrews 5:12
Those who are not on solid food are unable to teach others; they are unable to explain what they believe and why they believe it. Peter counselled us that this was not the desired situation. He wrote that we should “always be ready to give a defence to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;” 1 Peter 3:15
Often, when you start asking questions before teaching or preaching you discover that there is a need to serve milk and not solid food. Paul, handling a slightly different matter in Corinth wrote this to them, “I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;” 1 Corinthians 3:2
Think on these things:
- Do you have a sound understanding of the basic doctrines of our faith?
- Are you able to explain the basics of Christianity to a non-Christian?
- Is there systematic preaching and teaching of the scriptures at your church?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we all would mature in the faith to go beyond the elementary principles.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex