Grow up

I am sure many of you have had the experience of feeding a baby. The food does not look that appetising, all pureed down for easy digestion. After a certain period of time a baby moves on to more solid food. If you came into a home and found a 16 year old still being spoon feed baby food you would naturally assume there was something wrong with the child or that the child had never grown up. Sometimes we tell people to grow up and stop behaving like a child. Sometimes we are not brave enough to say it but we think it about the person. We all know people who are immature for their age. People who have never grown to maturity are stunted in all areas of their lives.  I want us to look to Hebrews chapter 5.12 to 6.3. We are going to be challenged, I pray, today about growing to maturity in our Christian faith. The important lesson for us all is to be moving on with Christ and no longer remaining babies in the faith.
The letter to the Hebrews was written to Hebrew Christians in Rome as an encouragement. The writer is disappointed with his readers for he expected them to be further on in their Christian faith than they are. Can I say to you all, as humbly as I can, I believe this is true of many reading this and also myself.
Context: Prior to where we began reading this  the author of the Hebrews has written of the priesthood of Christ and how that priesthood is eternal and therefore the sacrifice which He offered, Himself, is also eternal in its effectiveness.
Verse 11. This is quite an opening statement. The author desires to move on into the teaching and doctrine of the Christian faith but he states, quite plainly, that he cannot do so because they are "slow to learn." This is not because they had educational difficulties but because they were lazy about their faith and therefore slow to learn. Their minds had become dull over time because they had grown lazy in their thinking about the Christian faith. How many Christians today are lazy in their minds about their faith? How many will read the newspaper, magazines, or the latest novel but their bible lies gathering dust on the shelf? Take a moment to think of all the opportunities available to you, to learn more of your faith and how few actually avail of it. Think of how poorly informed, educated and thought through so many Christians are. It is not that there are no resources or opportunities to learn. In fact the very opposite is true but Christians are slow to learn because they have become lazy of heart and mind. The author of the Hebrews wants them to be ashamed of themselves and for this to be a motivator for them to awaken from this slumber and to move on from being babies.
Verse 12. The writer tells them that they had been Christians for so long that they had sufficient time to qualify as teachers of the faith but the reality was far from that. They had actually failed to go on in the faith, instead remaining as babies in understanding and belief. In Romans 2.21 and 1 Peter 3.15 we read that those who had progressed in the faith demonstrated this by an ability to instruct others in the faith. In their case they still needed elementary instruction in the faith. Their knowledge of the faith was minimal when it should have in fact have been advanced. The phrase the writer uses is that they were still in need of learning their 'ABC's.' They were still in the beginner's class when they ought to have been teaching the class.
Verse 13. This is the way the author sees it: 'Anyone' still occupied with the 'ABC' of the faith is still an infant and must be treated as such by the church. They are not 'acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.' He is saying that right living is missing from their lives because they have no understanding or knowledge of how a Christian should think or live. Because they are still feeding on milk they do not conduct themselves in the manner in which God expects.
Verse 14. However, mature people require solid food in order to be healthy and to be able to live a healthy life. Such solid food for the Christian is found in prayer, the Word of God, fellowship and in righteous living before God and man. Physically the results of a healthy diet are clear for all to see, as are the results of an unhealthy diet. The same is true of us spiritually. A spiritually healthy diet will enable the Christian to distinguish between right and wrong, between what is true teaching and false teaching. They will be able to distinguish good from evil and will not be in danger of going astray in their walk with God. You see if they lack perception then their Christian service will always be immature and partial.
6 verse 1 begins with 'Therefore' which moves the readers, and us, on to more solid food. The writer begins with 'Repentance' which may to us seem like 'ABC.' It remains the basic building block of solid food. He speaks of 'repentance from dead works' which relates to the legalistic Jewish ways that so many of his readers had left behind when they came to Christ Jesus. It also refers to genuinely evil acts committed by them before they came to faith in Christ. The writer wants them to understand that they have been forgiven and therefore there is no need to remain at that point but the time has come for them to move on. Now please understand what he is saying to them. He is not saying that repentance is unimportant. He is not saying that there is no need for them to confess their sins to God. He is saying that there is no need for them to go back to be born again.  They do not need to lay that foundation again. Think for a moment about the foundations of a building. They are essential to the safety and security of a building. Remember the parable of the wise and foolish builders. Foundations are vital for the structure to remain standing but you build on foundations. You do not dig foundations and then continue to lay them over and over again. No builder keeps laying the foundations. They are laid and the building is built upon them. You cannot do without foundations and you cannot ignore the foundations of a building. A foundation is laid for the sake of the building. The same is true of the spiritual life. You need the right foundations to be laid in your life if you are going to build a solid spiritual life. Friends let me say to you this is where many christians go wrong. Too many people today think that you can take a shortcut with the foundations and then they struggle in their Christian life.
A belief in the bible as the in-errant, inspired Word of God, containing all things necessary and sufficient for someone to be saved and to be mature in the faith. These are the foundations that enable you to move to maturity in your faith. 
Verse 2 the author now writes to them about 'instructions' which are different from 'foundations.' He mentions 'baptisms' or 'washings' which were different ceremonial rites and also of 'laying on of hands' both of which were widespread practices in antiquity. He then speaks of the 'resurrection of the dead' and 'eternal judgment.' These two topics go together as they remind the hearer that this life is not everything and one day it will come to an end. They are to be aware that one day they will rise from the dead and stand before the judgment seat of God. This was important in a society where most people thought that death was the end - has anything really changed in society in the intervening millennia.
Verse 3 - so they should be determined to press on with the help of God. They should have a set determination in their lives to move from milk to solid food. Without God's help such progress would be impossible but with God they would grow to maturity in the faith.
The author to the Hebrews wants them to understand that you cannot learn all of the Christian faith in one day. It takes time to teach and an effort to learn. There is the important task of teaching but there is equally the important task of listening. The problem with the Hebrews, and with many within the Christian church, their hearing is dull and their appetite for the Word of God limited. The author actually uses the word 'nothros' to speak of them, which means 'slow of mind.' It is hardly a compliment. It can be translated that they witlessly and senselessly forget what they have been taught. The task of teaching is difficult but so is the task of listening.
You know one of the saddest fairy tales is actually Peter Pan. When you read the story you realise how sad it is for a little boy to never grow up. It may seem magical and wonderful but it is actually a sad story. How many people who claim to follow Christ are in fact a spiritual Peter Pan? They have never having progressed from milk to solid food.
The challenge  is very clear, I hope:
Having come to faith in Christ have you progressed in the faith?
Have you laid the right foundations?
Do you have a desire to grow in your faith?
Are you putting an effort in to grow in your faith? There is no substitute for a disciplined regime of bible reading, prayer and Christian fellowship. If those foundations are not in your daily life then you will remain a child and your spiritual house will eventually collapse. To remain Peter Pan in real life is in fact not a fairy story but a tragedy. How many of you are Peter Pan spiritually?
Question is do you actually want to do anything about it? Hebrews says it is time to grow up.
Amen.