(Can you locate these scriptures:
You can tell what the
weather will be like by looking at the sky. But you don't understand what is
happening now……
…..For though by this
time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the
elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and
not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of
righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who
because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
So let us stop going
over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and
become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with
the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith
in God.
You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the
resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding. – CL)
Simple
question: How?
Moving
on to maturity: a challenge to Christians - by Dr. Joel McDurmon
What’s been
eating at me for some time and I did not see it is that we have a large segment
of Christians who are highly advanced in nothing but the fundamentals, and
their leaders have never moved them on. Through an abundance of study and
reading theology books, podcasts, conferences, etc., we have created an
illusion of maturity without the substance of it. Let me explain………..
……..While I don’t think intellectual assent to these ideas
will involve much controversy at all, I believe a truly honest assessment of
ourselves in light of them will be much more difficult. The vast majority of
even serious Christians today are considered serious because
they read lots of books and go to conferences. But the vast majority of
Christian books and conferences I see are far closer to the topics of milk than
meat. And yet, we feel as if the milk books we read are in reality meat.
Worse
yet, the vast majority of Christian ministries out there keep their followers
unweaned with an endless supply of materials on the basic gospel level, or even
apologetics that deal mainly with foundational truths. I see endless debates
over milk, and Christians addicted to the nipple. When presented with meat,
they don’t even think it’s Christian. They don’t know what to do with it. They
scoff and turn up their nose. As a result, followers can spend years or even decades
stuck in the infancy described in Hebrews 6 while thinking they are being
highly trained.
What
is sorely needed is for Christians to move on from their studies of tulips and
empty tombs, systematics and solas, and begin to consider how they can apply biblical
truth to all of life—that is, consider how we can provoke one another to love
and good works. The end of the Christian faith is a maturity
defined by good works and service. It’s great that others have labored to build
good foundations; but we are called to build upon those and go further. Let’s
embrace a view of ministry that advances Christian worldview in every area of
life.
The above is
just ONE from a list - and after you have read Joel McDurmon, here is the rest
of the list of related headnotes, all linked:
No one ever said the Christian life was intended to be peaches and cream!
