Hard Hearted Hearing

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
(Hebrews 5:11 – ESV)

So this passage (Hebrews 5:11-14) says that there is much to learn from the Word of God (the bible), about the Word (Jesus), but too often we don’t give it the due diligence it requires, we let it go and become slothful and stagnant. Then persecution, problems, suffering and situations draw our attention back to our old life and our old ways. We see them as more comfortable than moving forward, and we start to continue to look back, and we become hard of hearing and hard hearted. We can be a Christian for a long time and think we have heard it all before, but while we may have heard it, we have stopped being affected by it.

Now someone can have intelligence but not be learning. Someone can be smart but not skilled. Someone can be doing but not be developed. Some one can have been built up in the faith, but become lax and worn down. This is not simply about biblical knowledge but obedience and faith (trust). 2 Peter 3:18 – this is not simply a call to be more studious but more serious. It is a call to surrender control and submit to study. It does take BOTH to grow. If we don’t keep growing, we start to be slowing, and then we will wither away.

In the Pastoral Epistles, Timothy was instructed to pass along what he had learned, a fully orbed faith. It was not just doctrines of facts and figures. Instead he was given instructions on how to recognize those who had learned. Here in Hebrews, the writer recognizes that by their affections for comfort and companions rather than Christ, he can see that they had stopped learning and were looking back and starting to move backward. A lot of people get confused on these types of issues, because they think that they are simply trying to minister to spiritual stragglers, but they are the ones being left behind.

While it is certainly true that we must be doers not simply hearers of the Word, we cannot be doers if we are not hearers. Otherwise our doing may just be doing what we think is right but it is wrong. Now all of this is about becoming skilled, yes, but it is a matter of will before it is a matter of skill, and if you get the order wrong you will be out of order, which we see so often with people who know a whole lot of bible but are a whole lot of ungodly. This isn’t an excuse for the rest of us to not study, it is a call to rightly handle the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). It is a call to keep on moving forward in our sanctification, becoming less like the world and more like Christ, in true holiness and in the knowledge of Him. Sometimes we can be so preoccupied with ministering to others that we become casualties ourselves. Can you hear what I am saying, or do you think you have it all figured out?

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Turn and Learn

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
(Hebrews 5:11 – ESV)

Some things are hard to explain (interpret or translate), because they don’t know the language. The writer was going to compare scripture with scripture and show them the superiority of Christ through this Melchizedek. This would require effort and thought, and they weren’t quite ready for it. It is like a first day apprentice who doesn’t know the trade; they have to know and learn to use the tools before they become truly effective. Or like a professional who has to acquire continuing education credits to keep their license.

Now there is a reason they don’t move in to more trust: lack of submission leads to spiritual dullness. They have become dull of hearing. The second problem is study. They have become slothful and sluggish (same word as in Hebrews 6:12) in study – not only lazy but slow even when they aren’t. Now we are talking about being spiritually slow, and that is not a function of the intellect. Feasting on God's Word is not first an intellectual challenge; it is first a moral challenge of the will. Will you submit your will to God? Will you be willing to obey what the scriptures teach? If so, will you search and study the scriptures? If you do, then you will learn, grow, and understand.

The pathway to maturity and to solid biblical food is not first becoming an intelligent person, but becoming an obedient person. The real path to obedience is not outward conformity but submitting your will. Then you concentrate on your target by studying the scriptures, and no matter your intellect, your spiritual senses will become more and more attuned to Christ. Jesus has run the path before us (Hebrews 6:19), and He is the key to staying on the path, to keep looking at the One ahead of us, so we don’t lose our way.

Most think that intellectual development is the key to maturity, but this text tells us that isn’t the truth. This is actually obvious even from the everyday unbelieving world. How many smart people do stupid things? How many who have it all still slip and fall? How many people who are geniuses also become madmen? How many children do you know who can overwhelm you with their knowledge of technology but they cannot even handle fifty dollars without it burning a hole in their pockets?

Some are unlearned because they won’t be taught. They won’t submit themselves to study or to be taught by those who have studied. This is often the case with many who have authority issues and yet don’t study for themselves. They just go by their feelings but their feelings, their “powers of discernment” aren’t developed; their skill is like a monkey with a machine gun. Only through experience have they learned anything, and it is not enough. Experience can be good if biblically understood. We need to study and then experience will teach us more precisely. Then our learning processes will speed up.

The way people often learn is flawed, faulty, foolish, and it wastes time, effort, and effectiveness. When your head is turned you cannot hear; you can hear the sound but not the substance because you aren’t paying attention. Who are you fellowshipping with, which camp has your attention, what has you turning your head? If you think some program or some book or anything else is so great but it doesn’t have you digging deeper into the scriptures, it is leading you away from them. If you aren’t turning the pages of the Bible, something else will turn you away from it, and yes, away from God.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

The Truth is the Issue

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
(Hebrews 5:11 – ESV)

About this refers to the priesthood of Melchizedek (vs.6, 10 / Genesis 14 / Psalm 110:4) and how it related to Christ, this is what he was about to discuss. He had just discussed Christ as the Great High Priest and how He was called of God like any true man of God is, and he was about to go into just how superior Christ was than all the other priests before Him.

Now before he goes into this meaty subject there is a sort of parenthesis here from Hebrews 5:11-6:20. The writer is telling them of where they were at spiritually. He was taking stock of their situation and telling them they were not mature enough, and why they were having this problem in the first place. They hadn’t advanced in Christ as much as they should have. This didn’t mean mystical experience but understanding God’s Word and thereby His character, His way. They were failing to discern how disastrous their current course would be if they didn’t decide to press on in the faith and into Christ and away from Judaism, and away from those who wouldn’t separate from those who had turned back.

They should have been solid but they were falling apart, like many today. Growing in grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ, discovering just how supreme and loving and available He is to us, this is what guards us from error and fads and frauds when we feel the weight of suffering or persecution and the pull of the popular opinion, whether that be in the religious world, our family, our church, or whatever. The way to keep discerning is to keep on learning. You cannot rest on your laurels and rest in Christ at the same time.

Now I am not going to say Christian counseling is wrong, but I do think we see that something is wrong when we have so many people who call themselves Christians needing or looking to be “counseled”. Why do so many Christians need counseling today? Why do so many stay immature? This text gives us a clue.

When we are naïve we fail to grasp important issues. These Hebrew Christians were not able to make the distinction between what scripture taught and what they felt was right or what the tradition they were leaning on said. This was about the primacy of the scriptures in theirs and of course our lives in practice not just theoretically (Hebrews 4:12). The Melchizedek priesthood was not of tradition at all only a scriptural matter. There was no Melchizedek priesthood to the Jews, and so they would have to rely on scriptural precept relating to Christ in practice alone.

Even though this was only mentioned briefly in the verses before, this verse says, basically, “of which we have much word” (logos). There would be no familiar tradition to lean on “just in case”. It was something different than what they had learned before. Many are simply looking for affirmation of what they already know and believe. They are looking to be reinforced in their best intentions, not looking to see God’s ways. It is no wonder we see so many “problems” with Christians today.

This is the way it is with people. You see the Bible isn’t just a new set of moral rules we already know about, it is a whole new way of thinking, and His thoughts are not our natural thoughts, not our best intentions. We need to be renewed in our minds or we won’t get it, and many never do get it. Now there are a lot of religious traditions and denominations, but the issue is not about which system has the best morals or seems to be the most loving, the issue is “what do the scriptures say”. The truth is the issue.

People don’t want to break away from old patterns because they may have a grain of truth and they provide a measure of comfort. People become so wedded to error and a false view of God that it is no wonder they think you are attacking them personally if you mention certain things as being false. They want to save face rather than come clean. They are trying to cope yet they give themselves no hope. Something other than scripture holds the weight of authority over them.

This is why every new book, new fad or old fraud sends them into a frenzy or tizzy. This is why we need to make the commitment to scripture beforehand. People don’t actually yield their will to the authority of scripture; they don’t submit their hearts. They don’t have faith. They don’t trust God. They don’t trust the truth. So their first problem is submission.

Of course, it is easy to imagine if this were today, we would hear people saying that the writer is being too harsh, judgmental, and divisive, not loving enough, or whatever. However, remember this; God never shows love at the expense of light.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©