This past Sunday we considered a passage found in Hebrews 5. Verse 12 of our study said – “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.” And upon considering the text I am struck by its implications for the widespread propagation of heresy in the world. When the church at large is not progressing in their faith, and growing deeper in their understanding of the truth, a dangerous environment is created. The immaturity of believers fosters a culture where just about any opinion is welcomed and church members lack the ability to discern the difference. If the mark of spiritual maturity is: “That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine…” (Eph. 4:13a), then the “church” in our nation falls woefully short of that mark.
Children are apt to believe anything that they hear, but a discerning person weighs the merits of everything they are told. Somehow “Christians” have come to a point where discernment about spiritual matters is not as important to them as the religious experience, or the social stances, or the programs that a church offers. When searching for a church they aren’t testing the doctrine or the teaching, but they are looking at the aesthetics. Like children, they are wooed by what is shiny, or new, or entertaining. And more often than not, they end up in churches that offer great aesthetics but only serve “milk” (the elementary principles of the faith) in their teaching. “Solid food,” or the heavier spiritual stuff, is never served because it would only chase away spiritual babes – They can’t palate such food, they literally choke on it.
But such ministries do an extreme disservice to their congregants because they leave them at a vulnerable spiritual stage where they are incapable of distinguishing truth from error. Look, I have two children and I can tell you that kids will put everything they come across in their mouths. And as a parent, you have to be constantly on guard to protect them from consuming something harmful to them. It will be a relief when they reach a physical age where they can discern this for themselves. But in our country, we have a whole generation of “Christians” who have not progressed to such a stage spiritually. In their immaturity, when they are confronted with the poison of heresy they mistake it for something safe to consume. They watch, listen, or read messages from heretical teachers and ministries and they have no way of telling if they are dangerous for them or not. Almost all of the top-selling “Christian” books are written by outright heretics, most of “Christian” television programming is disastrously unbiblical, and many of the largest churches and ministries have false prophets or false teachers in their pulpits. But there is a clear “market” for their resources and their messages, because their books keep being purchased, their conferences keep selling out, and their churches still receive funding.
But why is this? It is because Christians have never been weaned from milk – They have never been trained to feed themselves on the solid food of the Word of righteousness. And so every new heretical book that is published seems so appealing and tasty. It tantalizes their babe-like senses, and sadly they actually believe that by swallowing this trash that they are spiritually growing through consuming it. They don’t realize that it is actually poisoning them, and that it will lead to their destruction. The sad assessment we read of the church in Hebrews 5 is one we need to pay close attention to because it is also an accurate reflection of the church in our times as well. O might we take heed, lest we be as babes who will put every dangerous thing in our mouths, but who can’t tolerate the real solid food.
コメント