“11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. ”
Do you think that you have anything left to learn? Some of us are 80 years old. Do you think you have anything left to learn? Some of us are 18. Do you think you have anything left to learn?
I hope so. If you think you have nothing left to learn, you will wind up in pride. You will wind up thinking, ‘if only everyone else could be a bit more like me, my work place, or this church, or this country would thrive.’ That’s the pride of thinking you’ve arrived. You haven’t arrived, and you won’t arrive until the new creation. You have so much left to learn. So do I.
If you think you have nothing left to learn, you will ironically wind up in ignorance. David Freeman is right. “The more you know, the more you realize how much you don’t know; the less you know, the more you think you know.” If you think you know it all, that’s most likely a sign that you don’t know all that much. You don’t know it all. You have so much left to learn. So do I.
Sometimes I know I’ve got a lot left to learn. Sometimes I think I know everything I need to know. Sometimes I’m humble and ready to learn. Sometimes I’m proud in my ignorance. My guess is that describes you as well.
This Sunday marks the beginning of our church education year. The children of this church have so much left to learn. The 18-year-olds of this church have so much left to learn. The 80-year-olds of this church have so much left to learn. Don’t forgot that. We have so much left to learn. That’s the claim of this sermon: we have so much left to learn.
We will see this in two points. First: the ABCs. Second: milk and solid food. We will see the ABC in verse 11 through the first sentence of verse 12. We will see the difference between milk and solid food starting at the end of verse 12 and going through verse 14.
First: the ABCs. The author of Hebrews wrote to a church who had stopped learning. Maybe it was the persecution they were experiencing that caused them to stop. There could be a dozen different causes behind it, but it wasn’t healthy. The author of Hebrews rebuked them for it in verse 11, “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.”
He didn’t rebuke them for failing to get PhDs in theology. He didn’t rebuke them for having a not understanding theological terms as well as he did. He rebuked them for stagnating in their knowledge of Jesus.
This man loved this church. He wanted to teach these people a truth that would help them better understand Jesus’ role in their lives. He wanted to teach them truths that would change the way they thought of themselves, but they couldn’t understand.
They couldn’t understand because they didn’t think they needed to understand. Have you ever wanted more for somebody than they’ve seemed to want for themselves? Maybe it is an employee. You think this young lady could go places if only she would apply herself. Maybe it is an athlete. You think this young man could add something truly special to the team if only he would give it his all. This man wanted more for this church than they wanted for themselves, but for them to take hold of it, they would need to listen and learn.
But they were slow to learn. Philip Hughes put it this way, “They have become slack, and their slackness has affected their attentiveness and their capacity to receive and retain solid instruction.”
Why were they slow to learn? Their problem wasn’t intellectual. Their problem went far deeper. The problem lay in their hearts.
That’s usually the case when it comes to misunderstanding God’s truth. Our misunderstandings are rarely academic. They are usually heart problems. Think about Adam and Eve in the Garden. They didn’t misunderstand God’s command. In their moment of sin, they simply didn’t want to understand God’s commandment. They had a heart problem.
This church was slow to understand more because they didn’t care to understand more. It is possible that is you this morning. Perhaps you get nothing out of sermons because you really think you have nothing left to learn. You think you’ve pretty much arrived. It is possible that you get little or nothing out of your Bible because you have grown spiritually slack. You don’t have a hunger to grow and so you don’t grow.
Are you learning? Are you attentive? Can you receive and retain solid instruction? Here’s one metric to use. Imagine yourself hearing the exact same sermon on Psalm 23 ten years ago and today. Would you hear anything new? Would you grasp more because you’ve been paying attention for the past ten years? In other words, have you been learning and living out what you’ve learned? If so, you would hear more.
It is strange—those who want to learn more about how Christ loves them, how the Holy Spirit works within them, and how they can please the Father realize how much more they have to learn. Those who think they know enough rarely, if ever, put what they do know into practice.
If that is you this morning, learning more information won’t do you any good. We Christians are tempted to mistake Biblical knowledge for spiritual maturity. Knowing Isaiah 66:2 doesn’t make you more mature than someone who doesn’t. “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.” Memorizing that verse doesn’t make you more mature. Being humble makes you more mature. Trembling at God’s word makes you more mature.
Do you think you are mature because of what you know? If you know all sorts of Biblical and theological facts, but you can’t remember the last verse you’ve worked to obey, your knowledge is worth nothing. That’s what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13. “If I… can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge… but have not love, I am nothing.” Love is putting the commandments into action. Love is living out the truth. If you know a whole lot without putting into action, you haven’t learned anything.
You husbands know that you are supposed to lay down your life for your wife the way Jesus laid down his life for the church, but that knowledge is worthless unless you seek to do it. You children know that you are supposed to honor your father and mother, but knowing the fifth commandment is worthless unless you seek to do it. If you are learning without living, your learning is pointless. Are you seeking to live out what you know?
If not, you won’t learn anything worth learning. If so, verse 12 is for you. “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again.”
The author was writing to a church of not so recent converts. He knew they should be able to teach by this point in their faith. Are you a recent convert? If not, you should be able to teach by this point in your faith.
The author wasn’t talking about classroom teaching. Some people have that gift and others don’t. He was talking about your ability to explain the ABCs of the faith to someone else, “the elementary truths of God’s word.”
Do you know the basics of the faith well enough to explain them? Could you explain what it means to repent? Could you explain to your child what it means to follow Jesus? Could you teach the Lord’s Prayer to a new believer? Could you tell a recent convert why the Ten Commandments matter? Could you give a reason for the hope that is within you to save one who asks? Or do you need someone to explain this to you? Can you teach the ABCs or do you need to be taught the ABCs? Your answer to that question says far more about your Biblical knowledge than whether or not you can recall who Jehu is in the book of 2 Kings.
If you can’t explain the ABCs, do you want to be able to? Do you think that is necessary? If not, you are stagnating, and you won’t grow. If there is enough stagnation in this church, we won’t grow because the church is the people and if the people are growing there is no real church growth.
If you are able to explain the ABCs, are you willing to learn more of what you need to know? Each and every one of us in this congregation—whether you have been a Christian for eighty years or eighteen days—has so much left to learn.
If you realize how much you have left to learn, then learn. Don’t assume for a moment that you can stop learning when you are done with Catechism classes. That attitude rots the Reformed tradition. That attitude leads to a church with far too many people who are unable to teach the ABCs and instead need a refresher on their ABCs.
If you realize how much you have left to learn, then learn. That doesn’t mean you have to be part of a class in this church. You can learn through conversations with Christian friends. If you are struggling with how you can be faithful in your toxic workplace, talk to a wise friend about it. That’s learning. Ask a friend whose husband had cancer how you can care for your husband with cancer. That’s learning. You can learn also by reading through books of the Bible or any of ten thousand helpful Christian books. You can learn by listening to helpful talks online. If you want, I’ll be happy to send you any number of links.
I want you to learn because I don’t want us to stagnate like the church that first received this letter. “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.”
The author of Hebrews was speaking to that church like a football coach speaks to his team. He wanted to run some new plays and he just found out that they didn’t know the basic plays. This wasn’t about wanting more from them as it is about wanting more for them. He wanted them to grasp something transformative about what Jesus has done for them, but they couldn’t because they’ve grown sluggish. I don’t want us to be sluggish because if we are always learning our ABCs, we can’t behold the glory of M or Q or Z. If we are always learning the basics of prayer without praying, what is the point of more teaching on prayer?
In other words, if we always need milk, we can never enjoy solid food. That’s our second point: milk and solid food. Both milk and solid food have their place. You don’t fault an infant for needing milk, but if a child is two and won’t eat solid food, you know something is very wrong.
There are Christians who are far more than the equivalent of two and won’t take solid food and that is a sign that something is very wrong. There is something wrong when a man who has been a Christian for ten years and has no interest in learning how he can better love his neighbor because all he needs is John 3:16. There is something wrong when a woman who has been a Christian for five years and has no interest in learning how she can better love her circle of friends. That’s not the Holy Spirit’s will for His people. Colossians 1:9-10 is, “We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work.”
Do you want to know how you can please God in every way? Are you willing to learn how to do it? If not, you are stuck in infancy. Verse 13, “Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
Do you take milk or solid food? That verse gives you the metric for knowing which you take. “Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Do you distinguish good from evil? When you read Ephesians 4:29, do you consider what is good in your speech and what is evil in your speech and do you make changes? “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs.” When you read Philippians 4:8, do you recognize that there is a battle for good and evil going on in your mind all the time? “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if something is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things.” Do you fight that battle? If so, you are growing up and you can take solid food.
Christians should mature. Church education should reflect that. We don’t expect a fifth grader to know geometry, but we do expect a tenth grader to know geometry. We expect that that the tenth grader has learned more and more math every year and so now can handle geometry. Do we expect that the children of this church to grow in the knowledge of God? Do you Sunday School teachers expect that as a result of your work this year, these children will know God better and be prepared for what they will learn next year? I hope so. I hope you teach hopefully. I hope you can pray with Moses, “establish the work of our hands for us. Yes, establish the work of our hands.” You are helping these children mature.
Children, I hope you listen to your teacher. There is so much you have yet to learn. Your teacher wants you to know all the ways God shows His love. Your teacher wants you to know the Bible so you can understand why God does what He does. Your teacher wants you to listen and learn so you can mature to become more like Jesus.
Each of us has maturing to do. Each of us has so much to learn. In other words, each of us has quite a ways to grow in Christlikeness. Jesus of Nazareth is the New Testament’s picture of maturity. Paul urged the Ephesians to, “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” He told them that, “speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”
Christ is the picture of maturity. He is the picture of what you and I are to become. When you read the gospels and see Jesus live his life, you are to think, ‘I want to live like him. I want to be like him. I want to respond to people the way he responds to people. I want to respond to sin the way he responds to sin. I want to respond to hostility the way he responds to hostility. I want to feel what he feels. I want to think what he thinks. I want to do what he does.’
You keep learning to become more like Jesus. If your learning doesn’t make you more like Jesus, it doesn’t have much value. Certain personality types love to learn for learning sake. That’s great, but if your lifelong learning doesn’t translate into Christlikeness you are on the road to pride. As Paul told the Corinthians, “knowledge puffs up while love builds up.” He wasn’t telling them to think shallow thoughts and just love on people. He was telling them that if their knowledge didn’t translate into love, into Christlikeness, into obedience, then it wasn’t doing any good.
If you are not someone who makes an effort to learn more about God and what He requires of you and what He has done and continues to do for you, I want you to ask yourself, ‘why?’ If you are someone who makes an effort to learn these things, I want to ask you, ‘is it making any difference? Is my learning translated into living?’
You have so much more to learn so you can live it out. If you are relatively mature, you know how much you have yet to learn. You know how hard it is to raise your teenager in the fear of the Lord. You know how hard it is to keep working as for the Lord in your workplace. You know how hard is to judge rightly without becoming judgmental. You know how much you need solid food because you are putting energy into your faith.
Growing Christians know they need solid food because they know how hard it is to distinguish right from wrong in this fallen world. Growing Christians are open to training because they know that life is hard.
It’s like parenting. Everyone is a great parent until they have children. Living for Jesus looks easy until you do it.
A few years back, we had some missionary friends over. After six years in Africa, one of them said, “I never realized how hard it is to love people until I really tried.” Growing Christians really try to love as Jesus loved. That’s why they need solid food. That same solid food looks like foolishness to the infant Christian because she can’t take it yet. Years and years ago I read CS Lewis’s classicMere Christianityand I thought it was foolishness. It wasn’t. It contains all sorts of wisdom for life. I just wasn’t ready. I wasn’t mature enough to enjoy it the way it deserved to be enjoyed.
High schoolers keep that in mind. If on some Sunday, you find yourself thinking that the Catechism is boring, ask yourself if perhaps you have some maturing to do. Rather than dismiss the material or complain about your teacher, inspect your heart. Are you slow to learn? I’m not talking about intellectual capacity. Your teacher will be happy to explain whatever you don’t understand or to find an answer for your questions. I’m talking about your heart. Do you want to learn? Do you want to become more like Jesus?
That goes for all of us. If you find learning about who God is to be boring, inspect yourself. You might have some maturing to do.
People get bored with God. Church members get bored with the Christian faith. That is a fact and that is a sad result of indwelling sin. One line of thinking says that if people are bored, the answer is to alter the material. That’s why some churches offer entertainment, sentimentality, and manufactured experiences. They know people get bored and they don’t want to lose the people.
There is, however, another response to the reality that our fallen human hearts and minds get bored with God and tired of discipleship. The answer is repentance. If I want something other than the glory of God’s truth, that is my problem and I need to repent. If I don’t want to learn how to obey Jesus, I need to inspect my desires because something has gone awry. If I don’t think I need to learn to obey because I’m already saved, I’m like an infant who can only handle milk and I need to mature because living for Jesus in this world requires solid food.
Recent converts know this. Men and women who come to faith know how much they have to learn and they learn it because they want to live for Jesus.
If you are not a recent convert, have you forgotten how much you have yet to learn? Maybe that is you this morning. Maybe the Spirit has used His word to open your eyes to how much you have yet to learn. Your life is complex just like my life. We need wisdom to navigate. We need to keep learning.
Do you think that you have anything left to learn? Some of us are 80 years old. Do you think you have anything left to learn? Some of us are 18. Do you think you have anything left to learn? Are you learning? Are you becoming more like Christ? That’s what this is all about. Amen.