Hebrews 5 & 6 > Jesus Helps us Grow in Faith

Running the Race, Following in Faith

Spring Disciple Formation Focus

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SPU Professor Dr. Rob Wall's online commentary - www.spu.edu/lectio
 

Jesus (as our High Priest) Helps us Grow in Faith, and Uses People in this Process.  This might also include you...so study up for the task!

Hebrews 5:11-6:20

Teachers understand what the preacher in Hebrews is going through.  Have you ever tried to teach someone to do something, in a formal class or an informal environment like tutoring or training?  Sometimes we get frustrated when we don't see the learner showing much interest or getting distracted by other things.  We might say to them "I think I can help you out with this, but it doesn't seem like you're even trying."  How do you teach a lazy learner?

At the end of Hebrews 5, the preacher shows a similar frustration in teaching the faith: "It’s hard to make it clear to you.” Why? “Because you no longer try to understand” (5:11). "You're not even trying."  When the topic is our tendency to fall away from the faith, our lack of attention to our faith could very well be the culprit.  When we drift away or run into trouble, is it God's fault...or ours?  The message of Hebrews is clear: God - through Jesus - is 100% faithful.  When we lose our way we should look in the mirror and do an honest self-assessment.

In chapter 5, the self-assessment involves our spiritual maturity…or lack thereof.  God’s Word – and teaching based on it – is alluded to here as a source of food, nutrition that helps us grow strong in faith.  When we look at ourselves honestly, we might see that we've expected others to spoon-feed us like a distracted infant (think of the image of a person trying to feed baby food to an infant who wants nothing to do with it - is it comical? Frustating? Both?).  In our life as disciples, God gives us His Word as a full nutritious meal designed to strengthen adult living.  But for so many reasons we become distracted and miss out, only getting small bites of the most basic teaching, and after a while we become weak, unable to stand firm in faith.  To make matters worse, we've not only let ourselves down by remaining immature, but we let others down as well, since our growing might have helped others grow in the process:  “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you (the basics) all over again” (Heb. 5:12).

This sidebar message is kind of a continuation of what we encountered in chapter 4, when the preacher talked about reaching our goal of Sabbath rest, warning us not be like those who faithlessly wandered in the wilderness.  There we were encouraged to get with the program now – today! – and “make every effort to enter that rest.”  Then we were introduced to a tool God uses – or directs us to use – for self-assessment: “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12).

"Making every effort" is our part of the discipleship growth equation.  What we find in Hebrews is an impressive presentation on how God helps us in this task, primarily through the interceding work of Jesus our High Priest, who understands our human tendency to take our eye off the ball of faith.  But we need to provide some effort.  We need to show up.  We need to be diligent rather than lazy.  We need to at least try!

"We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised." (Heb. 6:11-12)

And it's here that we find a precursor to the great litany of those who have lived in faith presented in Hebrews 11.  It's really the key to the concept of "the great cloud of witnesses" introduced at the beginning of chapter 12.  Rather than being inattentive or lazy in our faith, we need to keep our eyes on those who give us a good example to imitate in terms of the attention they pay to exercising faith and patience.

More on this later...

But for now, we conclude with that recurring assurance that we're not alone...it's not all up to us.  Hebrews keeps us on a yo-yo between two poles of tension: our responsibility and God's provision.  Back and forth, back and forth.  The milk/meat discussion is a lot about our responsibility.  Now it's time for a reminder of God's faithfulness to us in the process.  

Remember, in Hebrews, Jesus is the hero.  Our faith comes from his faith.  The strength of our grip on grace is provided by our pioneer who has gone before us into heaven where he functions as our "high priest helper" to assist us in moving forward toward God’s goal for our lives.  He is our source of secure hope.

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf…” (Hebrews 6:19-20)

Summary Formula of Growth in Christ, Hebrews-style

• Make Every Effort. Faith matters - a lot depends on us paying attention to our spiritual growth
• Focus on Jesus. But we don’t do it alone - we fix our eyes on Jesus, who actively helps us have strong faith in the midst of our human weakness
• Learn from Others. One way he strengthens our faith is through the inspiring & encouraging witness of those who live in faith
• Guide Other Learners. We should aspire to be this kind of example to others (an important "end state" to work toward as we pay attention to our growth in faith)

Key Questions:

1. How & when do you assess your own faith maturity or diligence in the way of Christ?
2. Who has God brought into your life to lead you further into maturity?
3. Who has God brought into your life to lead into further maturity? (get the difference?)
4. How are you doing in terms of "making every effort?" What about "focusing on Jesus?"