| Sermon Summary by PKD Lee |
Hebrews 5:12-6:3
In this passage, the author makes three observations about the recipients of the letter. Firstly they have not begun to teach others, which shows a lack of spiritual growth. Even worse, they were unskilled in the word of God - they had not studied the Bible. Because of the lack of knowledge of the word, they were unable to discern between good and evil.
Because of this condition, they were unable to receive deeper truths into their lives. They knew the fundamentals like repentance, submission of their life to Jesus in baptism, receiving the Spirit by the laying on of hands, belief in the resurrection and the coming day of judgement, like most of us are. But it was necessary that they move on to perfection.
What if I do not want perfection? I am quite happy with the salvation I have, and I do not desire anything more? Here the author gives a warning in 6:4-6
• Heb 6:4-6 - For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
We either move on to perfection or we slide back to perdition. The cares of this world and deceitfulness of riches lure us away from the truth and slowly we drift away. Once having drifted away, it was difficult to return. So, what is the higher ground that we need to strive for?
The first is repentance from dead works. This can mean both, doing good works to ‘earn’ salvation’ and doing evil because Jesus’ sacrifice has cleansed us from all guilt. True repentance involves both the ceasing of trying to earn merit before God and ceasing to sin, but gaining a victory over sin as we are the sons of God.
The next step is linked to the equating of Jesus and Melchizedek. Melchizedek’s uniqueness was that he was both a king and priest before God. We need to realize that Jesus is both King and Priest, As king, He demands the total surrender of our life to live for His purposes, like Peter did in Luke 5:11. This means to reinterpret all of my life in terms of the kingdom of God. My profession, my family, my church life, my leisure, all has to be understood in terms of the kingdom of God and needs to conform to the kingdom of God.
The last step is to realize that we are sent as Jesus was, to do His ministry wherever we are. We study the word and begin to minister the gospel to people. Where are you in this process? Remember, one cannot stand still. You either grow in Christ or you backslide. You cannot remain stationary.