Worship as a Sign of Spiritual Maturity -- Hebrews 5 & 6

Hebrews 5:12-14, 6:1-3, 9-12


"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. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. . . . But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (NKJV)

"Those who are of full age."

Our life choices—our ability to discern which behavior and choices are good and which are evil—show our spiritual maturity, whether we are babes or mature believers. Additionally, so does our worship, not so much the how we worship, but the why we worship.


Baby Worship

When we first become a Christian, we realize that we now have the power, authority, and right to enter into the presence of the Almighty God and talk to Him. Not only that, but we have the right to present Him with our petitions.

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6 NKJV).

"Let your requests be made known to God." We have the right to come into God’s presence and ask Him for anything. It doesn’t mean He will always grant it (Thank goodness!), but it does mean that He will always listen to us. As new Christians, as babes in the faith, this is often an amazing revelation. But if we don’t grow up in the faith, we can become bogged down with this kind of relationship with the Lord. We begin to worship Him for what He can do, particularly what He can do for us. We begin to focus on the fact that He provides, He heals, He restores, He empowers, He leads, He makes the way, He blesses, He takes care of us. And He does do all that!

The problem is, when we focus on what God can do for us, the relationship begins to tilt, to become something other than what it should be. It becomes about what He can do for us, rather than about Him. Worship shouldn’t stay at this level. We need to mature.


Higher Worship

As we mature, the focus of our relationship with God begins to be about what He has done, rather than what He will do. He is the Creator of the universe (He created us). He is the Alpha and Omega (He planned the beginning and the end of everything). He is the Author and Finisher of our faith (He has worked out the steps of our lives). He is the Savior (He has saved us). So, rather than asking God to do, do, do for us, we begin to focus on what He has already done. We are grateful for how He was taking care of us, even before we knew Him, even before we were born.

Again, all this is true and all this is right, but again, this is an immature worship pattern.


Highest Worship

I think that highest worship comes when it doesn’t matter what God did or what He might do. In thinking about this, the Lord’s been taking me back to an account in Daniel.

In the Old Testament, there came a time after the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah that the Jewish people were so rebellious, so sinful, that the Lord allowed for them to be conquered. During that process, many Jewish people were relocated from their original homes to homes and cities of their conquerors, usually as slaves. When Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah, he took to his country a group of young Jewish boys. These boys had, up until this point, been planning out their lives as any boy would in the Jewish culture. They may be been betrothed (or thinking about it). They may have been apprenticed and learning a trade. They may have even been building their own homes, planning for the time when they would marry and be recognized as men in their communities. Abruptly, war came crashing in and they were taken as the spoils of war to a foreign country, a country where the language, culture, and daily life practices were totally different than what they were used to. For three of these young men—Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah—the change was all-inclusive. These young men were "good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand" (Daniel 1:4), so they were taken as slaves to the king’s palace. They were redressed, re-educated, and even had their names changed to Shadrach, Meschach, and Abed-Nego. It is very likely that they were also made into eunuchs.

Think about what had happened. Everything about their lives was abruptly and violently changed with no hope of it ever going back to the "way it was", and yet these young men continued to worship God. They found favor with the king and were given positions of trust and influence. Until one day. The king decided to make a huge idol and require everyone to worship it. These young men remained true to their faith and refused. The penalty was to be thrown into a furnace and burned alive. Here is their response:

"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up’" (Daniel 3:16-18 NKJV).

"God will deliver us, but even if He doesn’t, we won’t disobey Him. We will continue to worship only Him."

God had allowed everything to be taken from these young men. These men didn’t have the comfort of "Jesus as their Savior" for the Lord Jesus had not yet come. They didn’t have the comfort of a Bible by their bedsides to read daily for the only scriptures existed in scrolls that were likely still in the synagogues in Judah. They only had the knowledge that God is trustworthy and that He is Who He says He is. They trusted God’s character and worshiped Him as God, not a Provider or Savior, but simply as God. It didn’t matter whether or not God showed Himself to be worthy of worship. They already knew that He was (worthy of worship).

These three young men are only three of a multitude of people, others of which are described in Hebrews 11:

"Through their faith they defeated kingdoms. They did what was right, received God’s promises, and shut the mouths of lions. They stopped great fires and were saved from being killed with swords. They were weak, and yet were made strong. They were powerful in battle and defeated other armies. Women received their dead relatives raised back to life. Others were tortured and refused to accept their freedom so they could be raised from the dead to a better life. Some were laughed at and beaten. Others were put in chains and thrown into prison. They were stoned to death, they were cut in half, and they were killed with swords. Some wore the skins of sheep and goats. They were poor, abused, and treated badly. The world was not good enough for them! They wandered in desert and mountains, living in caves and holes in the earth. All these people are known for their faith, but none of them received what God had promised." (Hebrews 11:33-39 NCV).

"None of them received what God had promised." They worshiped Him because of Who He is, not because of what He had done or what He might do. They knew God and they would worship Him, regardless of what might happen to them in this life. Worship that we give to the Lord, not because of what He does or has done, but simply because of Who He is, this is the highest form of worship that we can give.

You see, worship needs to become not about the stuff, about getting "blessings" today because the stuff here doesn’t matter.

"Now we hope for the blessings God has for His children. These blessings, which cannot be destroyed or be spoiled or lose their beauty, are kept in heaven for you." (1 Peter 1:3 NCV).

When we worship God for what He has done or what we want Him to do for us, we are very often wanting the blessings that aren’t in heaven. We want the blessings on earth that can be destroyed, that can be spoiled, that can lose their beauty. We need rather to turn our hearts to those things which are lasting, which are eternal—to that One who is everlasting and will never fade or leave or die. We need to learn to get our eyes off the "stuff of the moment" and be content just in His presence. Paul had learned this when he wrote:

"I have learned to be satisfied [content] with the things that I have and with everything that happens. I know how to live when I am poor, and I know how to live when I have plenty. I have learned the secret of being happy at any time in everything that happens, when I have enough to eat and when I go hungry, when I have more than I need and when I do not have enough. I can do all things through Christ, because He gives me strength" (Philippians 4:11b-13 NCV).

When our worship stops being about what God "needs" to do for us and instead becomes about who we can become because of Who He is, then our worship starts to demonstrate the maturity of our faith. When we stop focusing on us and start focusing on Him, we begin to grow up in the Lord.

© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.

For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com

Becoming Skilled -- Hebrews 5 & 6

Hebrews 5:12-14, 6:1-3, 9-12


"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. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. . . . But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (NKJV)

"Unskilled in the word of righteousness."

The word "unskilled" here is apeiros and it means inexperienced and ignorant. Not having learned and not having put into practice.

There are, I think, three kinds of Christians: those who are both ignorant and inexperienced; those who are well-versed in scripture, but who put very little of it into practice (except with their mouths); and those who are spiritually mature.

There is no excuse in this day and age to be ignorant of the Bible, but there are many who are. There are many who limit their instruction in the things of God to Sunday mornings, and then, not every Sunday morning, but only some. And I will admit, it is so easy to allow your life to become occupied—even controlled—by the things around us. We are surrounded with calls to satisfy the lusts of our flesh. Frequently, we are even told it is good for us! "Do this for yourself." "Take care of yourself before you take care of anyone else." "Love yourself so that you can love others." Add to that all the commercials and advertisements for things we are told we have to have and it’s easy to see how it would be hard to focus just on the Lord. There are so many distractions!

Regardless, there are also many tools available for us to learn about the Bible. There are, first of all, many English translations. There are even paraphrases for beginning Christians (though these versions should be discarded after the first year or so as they are not reliable for building good doctrinal foundations). While there are translations that are better than others, it’s better to start with something than to become logged down in the process. Pick up a Bible. Begin reading. Begin learning.

There are also many study helps, sometimes perhaps too many. It can become overwhelming! In Matthew 7:15-20, the Lord Jesus Himself tells us how to choose our teachers. This also means how to choose the authors that we read. He tells us that we can tell false prophets by their fruit. This word, fruit or karpos, is the same word as that used in Galatians 5. In other words, the fruit of the Spirit (or the fruit of their lives). We cannot tell false prophets by the results of their labor because even Satan can produce success, numbers, and fame. We have to tell false prophets (or teachers) by how they live. Wow! That means, we cannot usually trust published books unless the authors are dead. Why? Because their private lives aren’t exposed. But if we attend a smaller church, it may be possible to judge the life of the pastor and determine whether or not we should follow him or her. You can also sometimes tell the life of an author by what they write. If what they write is uncomfortable and challenges the lusts of the flesh, you may be able to trust them. Or if you know someone who knows them personally, you can find out if they are a trustworthy teacher. (Some good "dead guys" to read include A. W. Tozer, Alan Redpath, and John Wesley.)

Once you begin this journey of studying the Bible and have a fairly decent understanding of at least what’s in the Book, you will also need to begin a study of the basic doctrines. There are many study helps, as well as websites, to help you with this. Pray as you go and the Lord will lead you. Carefully watch the lives of the leaders of various groups who espouse to certain doctrines and it will help you decide what you want to believe. Be open to changing your doctrinal stance as you grow spiritually. Remember that "being" a Christian is a process, a journey, not a one-time event. That means that the Spirit will grow you, and as you grow, you will likely change how you think about certain doctrines.

However, none of this will do you any good if all you do is study and learn. The other part of apeiros is inexperienced. If you don’t apply what you learn—if you don’t allow the Word to change your behavior and your choices—you will remain apeiros; you will remain a baby in Christ. It’s not enough to read. You have to spend time in meditation and prayer, allowing the Spirit to convict you of the sins you’ve committed against others and to show you the patterns of sin in your life. Once you see those, you need to ask the Lord how you should change. Don’t expect Him to hit you on the head; the Lord never forces us to move toward Him! He calls, He compels, but He doesn’t force. We have to want to move toward Him, to become more like Christ! The Word will clearly show us our sin and what our life is supposed to be like, but we have to want to make the changes.

"Have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil"

These "senses" are more than just the five of taste, smell, hearing, seeing, and touching. This is our sense of right and wrong, our judgment, our conscience. We can exercise our conscience or we can deaden it. If we embrace lust and sin enough, our conscience becomes dead to the evil with which we are filling our lives. If we embrace the Word and the Spirit, our conscience becomes alive and we become immediately convicted when we sin! The more we embrace the Word and the teaching of the Spirit, the more sensitive our conscience becomes. The more we quickly confess sin, the more quickly we are able to discern when we do sin. We need to become top spiritual athletes, those who train our souls and spirits to do the hard things of God. We need to grow up!

© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.

For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com

A House of Prayer -- Hebrews 5 & 6

Hebrews 5:12-14, 6:1-3, 9-12


"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. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. . . . But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (NKJV)

"Imitate those who through faith and patience in inherit the promises."

What promises are those? Oh, there are so many! But the one that’s been on my heart and mind for a number of months now is 2 Chronicles 7:14:

"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." (NKJV)

Pray . . . and seek My face.

"Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, ‘It is written, "My house shall be called a house of prayer," but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’" (Matthew 21:12-13 NKJV).

What is this "house of prayer"? The scripture to which Jesus refers is from Isaiah 56. The Lord is prophesying that He will open His arms to everyone, that worshiping Him won’t be limited to only the Jews; His worshipers shall come from all over the earth. And at this time, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." (56:7 NKJV). The Hebrew word here, tepilah, has the meaning of both uttered prayers and sung, lyrical prayers (such as the psalms) (Strong’s H8605). The point being that this was to be a place of ultimate worship, a place where the cares and ways of the world fell away so that God’s people could meet Him face to face in the act of worship and prayer.

The concept of praying and seeking God’s face is the sense of coming into His presence—the presence of the Almighty King—and worshiping Him because of Who He is. It isn’t the sense of coming to church and asking God to stop by while we stomp our way through some good ol’ rock and roll and down a couple of lattes. There is a true sense of searching in this seeking, a searching that takes time and effort and even sacrifice on our part. God hasn’t moved . . . but maybe we have. I think this is why the verse begins with "humble themselves." If "church" has to become what we like or what amuses or entertains us, then we’ve left "humble" at the door and charged in based on our own desires and lusts. If we refuse to change because "This is who I am and God made me this way" rather than to humble ourselves, then we can’t even begin to understand what it means to seek God’s face.

Now I’m not bagging particularly on any "type" of church. Any time we go to church with specific expectations of how we will and will not act or respond, we are refusing to be humble. But, in the same breath, going to church in the dirty clothes we wore the night before because we were too hung over to do the wash, or coming in our flip flops because they’re way more comfortable and I just can’t be put out, or pulling out our devices as we walk down the aisle because I couldn’t possibly miss one or two Tweets this morning is obviously thinking about ourselves and not about God.

We need to start thinking about what it would take for us to humble ourselves in church. I can remember one prominent pastor in Central L.A. (now in Heaven) who told his congregation that they needed to put aside their furs, designer clothes, and jewels if they expected to attract the "sinners" into their church. This was a place where people prided themselves on lookin’ fine for church! Again, it wasn’t about coming humbly, but was about what they could do to make themselves feel good.

Jesus came into the temple and chased out everyone there who had set up shop for purposes other than worshiping the Father. Church isn’t—shouldn’t—be about business, but instead must be about prayer, about seeking the face of God. Do we really have to have a latte in order to stay awake in the sermon? Then get more rest the night before. Are we really so addicted to our social networks that we can’t stay off our smart phones? Then leave the phone in the car. Can we really be so full of ourselves that we must insist that church be done our way, rather than just hunger to come into His presence, to talk with Him, to learn from Him, to love Him? Maybe it’s time we turned off the stage lights and big screens and instead opened our hearts to the prayers that God Himself wants to place inside our hearts. Maybe it’s time that instead of performing for Him, we actually talked to Him.

Maybe it’s time we started coming to a house of prayer.

© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. 

For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com

Spiritual Maturity: Biblical Literacy -- Hebrews 5:12-14, 6:1-3, 9-12

Hebrews 5:12-14, 6:1-3, 9-12


"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. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. . . . But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (NKJV)

"Let us go on to perfection . . ."

Perfection. Teleiotes. Strong’s translates this as "the state of the more intelligent, moral and spiritual perfection" (Strong’s G5047).

"One of the most serious problems facing the Church in the 21st century is the problem of Biblical illiteracy. Simply put, most professing Christians do not possess a sound and coherent understanding of the Bible, beginning with sound doctrine and general Biblical history" (Henry B. Smith, Jr., "Biblical Illiteracy," from http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2008/09/Biblical-Illiteracy.aspx#Article).

One of the reasons that Satan wanted Christianity out of public schools is because Christianity is, on the whole, dependent upon a literate society. People need to be able to read, and read fairly well, in order to read and study their Bibles. Oh yes, there are Bibles "on tape" and videos galore to watch, but the fact is, if you really want to know what the Bible says, you need to be able to read and to understand what you read. If you can’t, it is highly likely that you aren’t going to mature as a Christian unless you devote an enormous amount of time being discipled by someone who is very knowledgeable about the Bible. Once our society began to dumb down education, Satan knew he had a foothold in the Church.

This isn’t about Christianity being reserved for the somehow-more-intelligent. This is about Christians wanting to learn about God’s Word. Everyone can become more intelligent; intelligence is rarely static. Our brains are wonderfully created and they can change and grow if we challenge them. Paul says, "Let us go on to perfection." Let us go on to becoming more intelligent about our faith, about our Lord. Let us learn and learn and learn and learn. Let us take notes and discuss and read and learn some more.

One of the problems is the Internet and ease with which we are connected to the ideas and thoughts of others. Now, don’t get me wrong. I was accessing the Internet long before most of you and I see and enjoy the idea that we can have access to so much so easily. But because of the Internet and the easy access to "quick" knowledge, we have become a Church of the sound bite, a Church that would rather watch a 30 second video than take 30 minutes to truly study what the Word says. Pastors have been taught to reduce their sermons to three points (or one point) because our weak brains can’t seem to process any more. And somewhere between our sip of that delicious latte, responding to a tweet a friend sent, and our glance at Instagram, the pastor is hoping to drive his "one" point home firmly enough that we can at least remember the sermon from the time we leave the church until we start our car.

As an educator, I can tell you that serious learning doesn’t happen that way. Serious learning happens with intense, over and over and over again practice. We only learn if we do or hear or read it again and again and again. And it happens even more firmly and more quickly if we are reading and writing and discussing it with others.

Paul talked about going on to perfection, about going to that point when we know that we know what the Bible says and we are regularly and easily applying it to every situation in our lives. That kind of perfection. That kind of spiritual maturity.

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me" (Hosea 4:6 NKJV).

We are called to a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9), but a priesthood must embrace knowledge. And not just any knowledge. The knowledge that comes from interacting on a personal and daily basis with the Word of God. A knowledge that comes from digging into the original languages, culture, and context and throwing off the easy interpretations to come to understand what God is really saying. Now am I requiring that everyone take Greek and Hebrew classes? Of course not! There are a wealth of resources available to the English-only students to help all of us understand what the Holy Spirit meant as He breathed through the authors of the Bible. But we need to access those resources, to learn to use them, to discuss with others which resources they trust, and then to read, read, read those people whose lives we can trust (usually the great people of the faith who are now Home) so that we can come to understand what the Bible really says.

But that’s only the first step. Then we must begin to seriously apply what the Bible says to our lives, to our daily choices and behavior, taking every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5) until our very thoughts line up with the righteousness revealed in scripture.

This certainly isn’t an easy journey, but this is the narrow road. This is the journey we must take if we want to present ourselves as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1) and press on to spiritual maturity.

© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.

For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com

Spiritual Maturity, the First Step -- Hebrews 5 & 6

Hebrews 5:12-14, 6:1-3, 9-12


"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. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. . . . But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (NKJV)

I’ve been thinking a lot about spiritual maturity lately. It’s actually something that should be on the mind of every serious Christian. Growing toward spiritual maturity is the difference between moving toward God and moving away from Him. It is the mark of the "diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end." Simply put, it’s what we, as Christians, are supposed to do and to be doing each and every day.

So what does it take to start on the path of spiritual maturity? Paul talks about this in Philippians 3:

"What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind" (Philippians 3:7-15a NKJV).

What are the steps or components of pressing on toward spiritual maturity?

• The things that I once treasured and considered important, I have "counted as loss for Christ"

• Embracing righteousness from God through faith

• Knowing God and the power of His resurrection

• Knowing the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings

• Being conformed to Christ’s death

• Pressing on, forgetting the past, and reaching forward

Whew! That’s a mouthful. For me, I need to deconstruct each one and look at it so that I can clearly understand what it is Paul is saying and what it is that the Lord wants for me.


The things that I once treasured and considered important, I have "counted as loss for Christ"

Just previously, Paul had listed all of his achievements. This man was an overachiever if there ever was one! Definitely a triple Type A personality! He lists both his social and religious status (which came from his family line) and his personal achievements.

He was born a Jew, from the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised on the eighth day according to Jewish religious law. This gave him perfect status as a Jewish man and placed him into that group of one of God’s chosen people. Additionally, being from the tribe of Benjamin, he was from the tribe that was at the "top" of the Jewish social strata. (It might be like saying that you were a Kennedy in America.) He was a full-blooded Jew and thus, much more religiously and socially acceptable than those who were not fully Jewish.

Then, he goes on, saying that he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. It means he came from a family that took being Jewish seriously. They spoke the language, practiced the customs, were fully versed in the history and religious culture. He was, in essence, the perfect Jew.

He says that he was a Pharisee. It was even more than that. He was a favored disciple of Gamaliel, one of the most revered Pharisee rabbis of all time. The Pharisees were the ultimate religious leaders, the ones who had been chosen to establish the kingdom of God (at least according to Jewish thought). Paul was being groomed to take Gamaliel’s place, so he had received the best theological training, had been given the highest positions of authority and responsibility in the Pharisees. The Pharisees were expecting Paul to eventually become their leader.

Paul goes on to say that he took his position among the Pharisees so seriously that when the new "cult" of Christianity rose up, it was his idea—and then his responsibility—to persecute the new Christians, including condemning many of them to death. Paul was willing to be complicit in murder in order to be that "perfect Jew." Paul finishes his description of himself by saying that he had kept every single one of the rules of the Jewish Law perfectly. If it was possible to earn salvation through one’s own actions, Paul would have done that.

In modern day terms, Paul would have been the perfect pastor. He would have been in charge of the largest mega-church with multiple television shows, Internet channels, and a fantastic Twitter account. He would have written books, spoken at conferences, and had his face plastered everywhere, proclaiming himself as the greatest Christian that ever lived.

Paul says, in Philippians 3:7, that the things he once counted as gain, he now counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Paul understood that all the things he had achieved were nothing if he didn’t have Christ. All the position, prestige, and power that he had was meaningless because he wasn’t doing God’s will. The outward traps of "righteousness" were useless because inwardly, Paul was still a sinner destined for hell. And there wasn’t anything he could do to "work" himself out of that situation. Despite all his achievements, Paul was just like all the rest of us! The only thing that could save him was to throw himself on the mercy of God and the blood of the cross. Everything else he had done was useless. And so Paul took all of those accomplishments and turned his back on them. He left everything behind and started to fully follow God on the course that the Father had set.

Paul gave up the things he had treasured, the things that had value in his society and among his friends, in order to pursue Christ. He didn’t just give them up in essence, but actually in fact. He became an enemy of the Pharisees and everyone associated with them. He was subjected to all kinds of torture and abuse because he had turned his back on his culture and his friends. Paul counted all those things as rubbish compared to the joy of serving Christ.


Embracing righteousness from God through faith

Paul literally writes: "that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith."

To be found in Him, to gain Christ. This is much more than simply "believing in Jesus." This is so much more than simply saying the sinner’s prayer. This is pursuing Christ to the extent that, at any moment, when someone comes across me, they will discover that I am in Him! This is taking every effort, every strength, every choice and purposefully moving toward Christ, purposefully choosing to do His will, purposefully wanting to please Him and no one else. When I embrace the righteousness that comes from God through faith, I am no longer interested in whether or not grace covers sin. Paul actually address this issue in Romans:

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!" (Romans 6:1-2a NKJV).

Shall we continue in sin? Certainly not! We can never use grace as an excuse to sin! If we are truly saved, if we have truly embraced the righteousness that comes from God through faith, we cannot also embrace sin. We must choose! Sin or righteousness. Death or life. Evil or Christ. There is no middle ground. We cannot continue to live as if there is some kind of morally neutral or gray area in which we can still indulge ourselves rather than pursuing God. We are either moving toward Him or moving away from Him. Grace empowers us to move toward Him. It isn’t the "free ticket" for us to take a day off from righteousness.


Knowing God and the power of His resurrection

Jesus didn’t save us so that we would become nice people. Look at the apostle Paul. Before he was saved, he was a nice person. He fully obeyed the Law, was totally sold out to being the best Jew (person) possible, and used every opportunity to serve others. Regardless of his motivations, he didn’t need to get saved in order to become a "good" person. He needed to get saved so that his sins would be forgiven and he wouldn’t be banished to hell for all eternity.

That is the power of the resurrection!

We have tried to market Jesus like some sort of new anti-aging cream or character-trait book. We have reduced Jesus to the latest guru on relationships or the expert on finances. And while the Holy Spirit does want to influence every aspect of our lives, becoming a Christian isn’t about being good.

We have become so influenced by television that we, as Christians, have become convinced that life is reduced to the "good guys" (us) and the "bad guys" (everyone else). We expect the "bad guys" to act badly so that we can convince them that "accepting Jesus" will turn them into "good guys." Nothing could be further from the truth! There are literally thousands, perhaps millions, of good people going to hell. These people have a sense of right and wrong, they have a sense of morality, and they often live out the trappings of a "Christian" life. They talk about prayer and kindness and paying it forward. They also talk about karma and ghosts and "good" people going to heaven. They have the outward trappings, but inwardly, they are as much sinners as the guy down the street beating his wife.

They are good people going to hell and they see no need for our message that Jesus will make them good because they are already good. What they need to hear is the power of His resurrection!

I think we often forget the reality of what the Lord Jesus did for us on that fateful weekend. We have reduced the cross to jewelry and the resurrection to an Easter-only story. The truth is, we should be singing and shouting and proclaiming the resurrection message every minute of every hour of every day. Death has been conquered! As Christians, we will not die! We will pass from this life into the arms of our loving Savior.

"For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:52-57 NKJV).

If the Lord Jesus hadn’t died and been raised from the dead, there would be no comfort or peace in death. Every single one of us would be facing an eternity of punishment due to our sin. Our lives would be judged by the reality of God’s Law and we all would be found lacking! But because the Lord Jesus paid the penalty for our sin, death no longer holds fear for the Christian. In fact, we need to totally change how we think about death—our own deaths and the deaths of our saved loved ones, because death is which will bring us into the loving arms of our Savior! Death takes us Home! There is no greater journey, no greater reward, no greater joy than to come face to face with Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.

We rarely hear sermons or read books about death anymore. And, unfortunately, many Christians grieve as the world grieves, sorrowing that the person has died and is now gone. Rather than grieving for the dead, we need to be rejoicing that our brothers and sisters are now with the Lord and work harder than ever to compel those who are not saved to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.


Knowing the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings
The Greek word translated here "fellowship" is koinonia which is the word we use to describe the kind of intimate interaction that Christians are supposed to have with one another. This is the iron-sharpening-iron and bearing-one-another’s-burdens kind of fellowship demanded of the Church. And here, Paul uses that same word to describe that kind of relationship that he wants to have with Christ’s sufferings.

Of course, if we’re supposed to suffer, that ruins every opportunity that we have to try to "market" Jesus to an unsuspecting world. I mean, who wants to join in with suffering? And yet, this very word that Paul uses for "sufferings," pathema, means "the afflictions which Christians must undergo in behalf of the same cause which Christ patiently endured" (Strongs G3804).

The afflictions which Christians must undergo.

This Christian life was never, ever meant to be easy. The moment we become a Christian—a true Christian—we immediately become an enemy to the prince of this world, Satan. We immediately come under attack. And if we are effective in our faith, we will remain under attack until the Lord calls us Home. That attack can come externally through sickness or loss . . . or it can come internally through temptations.

We are so wrong when we believe that the purpose of salvation is so that God will shower us with blessings in this life:

"Now we hope for the blessings God has for His children. These blessings, which cannot be destroyed or spoiled or lose their beauty, are kept in heaven for you. God’s power protects you through your faith until salvation is shown to you at the end of the time. This makes you very happy, even though now for a short time different kinds of troubles may make you sad. These troubles come to prove that your faith is pure. This purity of faith is worth more than gold, which can be proved to be pure by fire but will ruin. But the purity of your faith will bring you praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is shown to you." (1 Peter 1:4-7 NCV).

Our blessings are being kept for us in heaven where they cannot be spoiled! How amazing is that and how awesome. Do you think we will care what car we drove or what house we lived in once we get Home? Do you think we will be thinking about that great job with the super abundant paycheck or that big screen TV that dwarfed our family room? Or do you think we will be focused on how much we had learned to live in God’s perfect will now that eternity is here? Our blessings are being kept for us in heaven! What a marvelous promise.

Meanwhile, we will be asked to endure trials and temptations. Paul even embraced the sufferings of Christ. He wanted to understand, even in part, how much the Lord Jesus had to endure to save him. Paul wanted to be a part of that process, even a minute part. And we, as the Body of Christ, are invited to participate in that! Imagine! The Lord is asking us to participate with Him in the salvation process. Not that we can save anyone, but we can have fellowship with the Lord in experiencing our sufferings for the same cause that He experienced His! He put Himself in direct opposition to Satan and allowed Satan to murder Him for the cause of salvation. We can put ourselves in direct opposition to Satan and, through the power of the Holy Spirit, endure trials and temptations for the cause of salvation. And while our endurance doesn’t save anyone, it will point others to Christ and to His amazing work on the cross.


Being conformed to Christ’s death
Paul became probably the greatest Christian that ever lived, and yet, he didn’t see himself that way. Paul says in Philippians 3:12, "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me." Paul had to continually, each day, press on.

The first step of spiritually maturity is pressing on everyday. Christianity isn’t an activity where you can have a day off. You need to continually be pressing on toward the goal of serving, loving, and desiring the Lord. A "day off" is a step backward. The problem that we have in our society is that we are trained, almost from birth, to "days off." Days off from school, days off from work, days off from the responsibilities of life. And we look forward to the days off because those are the days when we are giving permission to indulge ourselves. Indulging the flesh.

"In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own ungodly lusts. It is these worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions" (Jude 18-19 NRSV).

Indulgence is always tied to the three categories of lust: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life (1 John 2:16). Indulgence leads to lust, leads to sin. There is no other path for indulgence. And there are so many names for this: taking time for ourselves, taking care of ourselves, having fun for a change, letting go, relaxing, being ourselves, enjoying life. All of these phrases—and more—hide within them the idea that we are taking a day off from our responsibilities of life and using our time and resources to please ourselves.

We can’t do this! Each "day off" is a day we fail to press in, a day we fail to move toward God, a day we fail to reach toward the prize of resurrection promised in the Bible. And each day that we do this, it becomes easier to do it the next day. Pretty soon, we live for "days off" rather than living the disciplined life that we must live if we are to press on toward God. Paul wrote in Romans:

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" (Romans 6:1-2 NKJV).

When we conform to Christ’s death, we die to sin. And if we have died to sin, how can we live any longer in it? How can a dead person sin? If we are truly conformed to Christ’s death, we will choose not to sin, and when the Holy Spirit does reveal sin in our lives, we will immediately repent of it, seek forgiveness, and turn from our wicked ways. We will not embrace it to do again and again and again.


Pressing on, forgetting the past, and reaching forward

"forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus"

Paul "forgot" about his great achievements, his possible fame and position as a great Pharisee rabbi. He even forgot about his enormous sin of persecuting the Church, even having Christians murdered. Paul forgot about all that lay behind him and reached forward to the things that were ahead.

What was ahead? Suffering, trials, opportunities for ministry, worship of the One High God, daily pressing forward toward the prize! These were the things that Paul thought about, the things he wrote about, the things he worked toward. Pressing forward, pressing in, pressing on. Daily, pressing, pressing, pressing. No days off. No time for himself. No recreation. Only pressing in to God, doing His will, looking forward to Heaven.

This is the beginning of spiritual maturity, learning moment by moment, day by day, year by year to constantly and consistently press toward God, moving toward Him and never away from Him, giving up all we had (or thought we might have) to gain all that is His. This is the beginning of spiritual maturity! The question is always going to be, each moment, each hour, each day . . . do we want to become spiritual mature or do we want to remain babies in Christ?

"I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Is that your desire today?

© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.

For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com

Sin's Consequences -- Amos 7:17

Amos 7:17


"Because you have said this, the Lord says: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will be killed with swords. Other people will measure your land and divide it among themselves, and you will die in a foreign country. The people of Israel will definitely be taken from their own land as captives.’" (NCV)

None of us sin in a vacuum. We try to convince ourselves that it’s our sin alone, that no one else will be hurt or affected. But there is always collateral damage. Even if there are no witnesses to our sin (except God). It doesn’t matter. Sin permeates our being, spreads to those around us, and the consequences affect others.

There is no getting around that.

Perhaps if we embraced this idea, we would choose to sin less. Perhaps if we accepted this fact, we would wake up each morning determined to serve the Lord and not our own lusts. Perhaps if we finally came to terms with the realization that we are responsible for the chaos around us, we would begin to do something meaningful about our relationship with the Lord. For there is no getting around the fact that the consequences of sin spread; they cannot be contained or controlled.

Last night I watched on the Internet a testimony of a young woman (19 years old) who is at the Dream Center in Los Angeles. By her own admission, she grew up in a Christian home. But after her father died, she became a drug addict. She is a beautiful young woman and I’m sure that her family is immensely grateful she is finally in rehab, but I can also guarantee that her mother was in tears last night. Her family will never be able to recover those lost years while this girl was an addict. The rift in the family relationship caused by the sin of drug addiction may heal, but it will leave scars. Can her family ever be the same again?

A few days ago, I did a quick Internet search for the grandchildren of a dear friend of mine who is now in Heaven. Her only son rebelled in his teenage years, delving into the drugs and becoming part of the drug subculture, even after his children were born. While my friend and her husband were passionate Christians and ministers of the gospel, her son and his wife moved further and further into the world of sin. His children—her grandchildren—now live without any knowledge of the Lord Jesus, totally immersed in a culture that would appall their grandparents. In two generations, a Christian family that dearly loved the Lord and were totally sold out to Him cascaded into a family that may never darken the door of a church. Why? Because of the sin of one man, their son.

Sin has consequences and those consequences spill out over onto those around us.

Amaziah sinned against the Lord by refusing the word of His prophet, Amos, and for that sin, Amaziah would die as a captive of a foreign power. But more than that, his children would be killed in the ensuing battle. Left destitute, his wife would have no other way to support herself other than prostitution. The consequences of Amaziah’s sin spilled out onto his family and even onto his nation!

Like Amaziah, our sin has consequences, consequences that those around us are experiencing. What can we do? The Lord has promised that He will bring healing if we fully turn back to Him:

"If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT).

We are called by His name. We are the Christians, the Christ-ones. And God’s word is simple and clear. We must:

• Humble ourselves
• Pray
• Seek His face
• Turn from our wicked ways

The Father promises to forgive us, but more than that, He promises to heal our land. That land could be the nation in which we live or it could also be that "land" within which our lives exist, our families, our relationships, our future. The Lord has promise to do more than just forgive us; He can miraculously heal the consequences of our sin that spilled out onto those around us. He can make whole what was torn apart. He can restore what was lost. He can heal what was broken. We need to humble ourselves, pray and seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways. We often don’t see healing and restoration because we are still clinging to our private sin, our sin that we are convinced is hidden. God sees all and He will withhold His healing hand until we repent and completely surrender to Him. If we want healing in our relationships, if we want wholeness again in our families, if we want those around us to stop suffering for what we have done, surrendering to God is the only solution. He is ready and willing to heal our land. Are we ready and willing to repent?

© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.

For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com

God Needs an Amos -- Amos 7:12-16a

Amos 7:12-16a


"Then Amaziah said to Amos, ‘Seer, go back right now to Judah. Do your prophesying and earn your living there, but don’t prophesy anymore here at Bethel. This is the king’s holy place, and it is the nation’s temple.’ Then Amos answered Amaziah, ‘I do not make my living as a prophet, nor am I a member of a group of prophets. I make my living as a shepherd, and I take care of sycamore trees. But the Lord took me away from tending the flock and said to me, "Go prophesy to my people Israel." So listen to the Lord’s word.’" (NCV)

Amos walked away from his life in order to be obedient to God’s call on his life. He left his home, his familiar surroundings, his culture, even his job, in order to do what God called him to do. With that obedience came courage to say the things God put into his heart and mouth. With that obedience came a power beyond his imagination as he spoke the words that would become part of God’s Holy Bible. With that obedience came a freedom to obey God fully, without reservation. With that obedience came the ability to live and speak the Truth, even to those who had much greater authority, prestige, and power.

The life that Amos had lived may have one of choice or one of simply family tradition. Regardless, he was a shepherd and a farmer, taking care of flocks and orchards. It was a life where he may have been often alone or where he may have been surrounded by brothers, helping out with the various duties of shepherding and farming. But at some point, God called, Amos answered, and everything changed.

The thing is, Amos had nothing against which to measure the "success" of his call. He didn’t have a large congregation or an impressive building. He didn’t have the Internet to share his words nor a publisher looking to print his book. He wasn’t starring in a television series nor booking concerts in large venues. He wasn’t a conference speaker, a top-10 author, or a mega-church pastor. He was a shepherd and a farmer, both occupations—even in those days—on the very low rungs of the social order. He was a nobody who simply obeyed the Lord and did what God told him to do. It didn’t matter to him that people in high places, people with influence, people with position and power told him to stop. The Lord had told him to go and to speak and that’s what he did.

Imagine what America might be like if Christians rose up in obedience to God’s call and did and said what they were told to do without reservation. Imagine what the our cities and towns and neighborhoods would be like if we actually began to live like the Lord Jesus and loved our neighbors as if they were us, sacrificially giving and loving and ministering to them. Imagine what the world would be like if the Church actually took the call of being the light and salt seriously and began to live the fruit in Galatians through the power of the Holy Spirit. Imagine what would happen if the Lord said, "Go and do and say," and we actually obeyed Him.

The thing is, the Lord has already said, "Go and do and say."

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20a NKJV).

"And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." (Mark 16:15-18 NKJV).

Go. Make disciples. Baptize them. Teach them. And these signs will follow.

This is the message of Amos to Christians today: "Go and do what God has commanded you to do. Prophesy God’s Word to those around you." This is the message of the Lord Jesus Christ to Christians today: "Go and make disciples. Teach them. Live in the power of the Holy Spirit."

We have too long reduced Christianity to counting the bodies in the seats. We have too long reduced the message of the gospel to a "Come to Jesus" moment, rather than making disciples. We have too long been in love with the world, rather than in love with our Savior. We have too long refused to become Amos. And right now, God needs an Amos. He needs you!

© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.

For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com