Growing in Jesus in 2017.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Welcome to Village Church. [0:01] If this is your first time here, my name’s Steve. [0:03] I’m one of the pastors here at Village Church. [0:05] If you have your Bibles, [0:06] go ahead and open them to Hebrews chapter five. [0:08] That’s where we’re gonna spend most of our time this morning.

[0:11] Welcome to 2017. [0:14] It is a new year which brings new opportunity. [0:19] You know, it’s been said that the hope of a new year [0:22] is distinctively a Christian type of hope [0:26] because it means that which is behind is gone [0:30] and we can press forward to a new hope.

[0:33] I mean, that is what we have in Jesus. [0:37] And we, above all people in the world, should enter, [0:41] you know, we should enter every day, [0:43] but specifically for this type of season, [0:46] this type of holiday, [0:48] we should be the people that enter into a new year

[0:52] with the most hope of that which is behind us, [0:56] not weighing us as an anchor would, [0:59] but instead seeing a new opportunity, [1:01] a new hope, a new day, [1:03] and a new life that God has for us in the coming year. [1:08] And so if you are coming in this morning kind of burdened

[1:12] and what has happened in the past year, [1:14] what has happened in the past many years, [1:16] is feeling like it is an anchor on your life, [1:20] is a burden on your shoulders, [1:22] what I hope that the gospel of Jesus can communicate to you [1:27] just maybe for today,

[1:29] is that you need to release yourself from the guilt, [1:33] release yourself from the shame, the anchors, the burdens, [1:37] whatever it is that you’ve been dealing with, [1:39] and let the gospel kind of fill you, [1:42] let it be a reminder if it needs to convict you, [1:46] may it do that as well,

[1:47] that you should be a hopeful person for the new year [1:51] with hope for yourself, with hope for others, [1:54] and above all with the hope [1:56] that what Christ has done for you on the cross [1:59] and through the resurrection [2:00] as he substituted himself for you,

[2:03] how you can apply it to every specific place in your life, [2:09] with everything that you’re going to deal with [2:12] in the coming days. [2:14] And if you are a normal person, [2:17] which I know many of you are not, [2:20] at least 90% of you are making New Year’s resolutions.

[2:26] I mean, you really, you spent the last week [2:28] or maybe the last day, [2:29] and if you’re one of those types of people, [2:32] you’ve like chronicled it in some weird notebook, [2:35] like what are my goals for the new year? [2:38] How much less do I wanna weigh next December?

[2:42] And you’re probably gonna weigh the same, by the way, [2:44] or more.

[2:47] But you’ve kind of marked down [2:50] many different goals for your life, [2:53] whether it be a career goal, [2:55] whether it be a financial goal, [2:57] whether it be an academic goal [2:59] or the most popular one,

[3:01] which of course are the physical goals. [3:04] There are many things of this world [3:07] that you are placing your hopes in for the coming year. [3:12] And I’ll say, those are good things. [3:14] I’m not here today to tell you, [3:16] oh, throw that list away and just read your Bibles.

[3:18] I mean, that would be a good goal to make, of course, [3:21] but those are good things. [3:23] The things of this world, as Paul said it, [3:26] do profit a little, like physical exercise, [3:29] it profits a little. [3:30] He didn’t say the meaningless,

[3:31] no, he said there is some profit in those things. [3:34] But the key that I kinda wanna hone in on this morning [3:39] is how much of your hope are you putting in those things? [3:47] How much of a hope are you putting in your career in 2017, [3:55] or your bank account in 2017, [3:59] or of course, your waistline in 2017?

[4:04] I mean, what will happen if you don’t read a book [4:09] every week, or a book every month, or a book in 2017?

[4:17] You know, you gotta start somewhere, all right? [4:21] But you know, if your goals are academic, [4:23] what if you don’t make it? [4:27] What if you don’t lose 20 pounds? [4:31] What if you gain 10? [4:34] What if you end 2017 in the exact same financial situation

[4:39] you started it in? [4:41] What if at the end of 2017, you’re in the exact same job, [4:45] in the exact same position, [4:48] or what you would probably consider worse? [4:52] Will that devastate you? [4:54] Will that mean that you are a failure?

[4:59] Will that mean that you didn’t get where you needed to get, [5:03] and some of you are sitting there, [5:05] and you’re like, well, be careful, Steve, [5:06] you know, people need to have goals. [5:09] I agree, but what they don’t need to have are idols. [5:14] And if you are arguing with me right now,

[5:17] you’re an idolater, and this sermon’s for you, [5:22] because you’re the one that I’m hoping [5:25] the Spirit will fill this morning [5:27] to bring you to a place of repentance, [5:30] so that you will cease to live this works-based theology [5:36] on your life, where the favor of God,

[5:41] and just how much God loves you, [5:44] and how much you think you’re worth,

[5:49] is based in what you accomplish.

[5:52] Because I want you to understand [5:54] that that is exactly what the Gospel of Jesus Christ [5:57] is opposed to, and that is exactly [6:01] what Jesus came to save you from. [6:05] So in 2017, what I specifically want to talk about [6:09] this morning is that while other goals are good goals,

[6:15] every one of your goals needs to be viewed [6:17] through the Gospel of Jesus, and your main hope in 2017, [6:23] I hope, will be that you will grow in Christ. [6:28] I mean, the truth is that those other things [6:31] need to be viewed through the lens of your faith in Jesus. [6:36] And if they are, all of your pursuits will be tempered

[6:41] by what is real and what is eternal, [6:45] rather than what is completely transient, [6:50] as 2 Corinthians 4 tells us. [6:54] That these things of this world are temporary, [6:57] and they will fade, or they will be fleeting, [7:01] whatever it is that you’re putting your hope in,

[7:03] whatever it is that you’re finding your joy in, [7:07] those things, if they are less than [7:10] the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they will not outlive you. [7:16] They probably won’t outlive 2017. [7:19] But the Gospel of Jesus is that which endures forever, [7:24] and that everything else ultimately terminates on itself,

[7:28] and it cannot go past what it is unless they are filtered [7:33] through the richness of growing in the Gospel of Jesus Christ [7:37] and growing in your faith in Jesus. [7:41] Only then will you be able to have meaningful effort [7:46] without it being consumed with false [7:50] and ultimately self-condemning idols of worldly pursuit.

[7:57] So to jump us off of there, [7:58] I wanna look in Hebrews chapter five. [8:02] This is what the author says. [8:05] And starting in verse 11, he says, [8:07] about this, and I’ll explain what about this is in a minute, [8:10] we have much to say, and it is hard to explain.

[8:15] Why? [8:16] Since you have become dull of hearing, [8:19] for though by this time you ought to be teachers, [8:23] you need someone to teach you again [8:26] the basic principles of the oracles of God. [8:29] You need milk, not solid food.

[8:32] For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled [8:35] in the word of righteousness since he is a child. [8:39] But solid food is for the mature, [8:41] for those who have their powers of discernment [8:45] trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. [8:53] Pray with me.

[8:55] Father, there are often times in our lives [8:59] where our paths need to be corrected [9:01] and thankfully by your grace, [9:03] your word is always ready to do that. [9:08] Lord, my prayer this morning is [9:09] that you will fill us with the hope of Jesus.

[9:13] That you will fill us with a knowledge and an understanding [9:15] of how your grace works its way into our lives [9:18] to relieve the burden that this world will place on us. [9:24] Lord, I pray that you would help us [9:27] to truly catch a vision for growing in you this year, [9:31] above growing in any other place,

[9:33] that you would be the preeminent value in our lives. [9:40] Be merciful to me, sinner. [9:42] In the name of Jesus, I pray, amen. [9:46] Whatever it is in your life this year, [9:50] that you are placing your hopes in, [9:53] I wanna talk about three things that I believe

[9:56] you need to view everything in 2017 in [10:00] and if you do that according to the word, [10:03] you will grow in Christ, [10:04] your worship will be more meaningful, [10:07] your life will have more impact [10:09] and you will have a better relationship

[10:13] and a greater intimacy with Jesus Christ. [10:16] And so I wanna talk about three it’s this morning [10:18] that everything needs to be filtered to [10:20] and the first one is, [10:21] is that it all goes back to the gospel. [10:23] It all goes back to the gospel.

[10:26] A big question that you need to ask yourself [10:28] in every pursuit that you have for this year [10:30] is how does the gospel inform this? [10:34] How does the gospel inform that? [10:36] How does the gospel inform this attitude [10:39] that I’m having right now?

[10:40] How does the gospel inform this action [10:42] that I’m doing right now? [10:44] How does the gospel inform this decision [10:47] that I’m making right now? [10:49] There is nothing so meaningless in your life [10:52] that that question should not be asked.

[10:56] There is nothing that’s going to happen in your life [10:58] that you should not apply that type of thought to. [11:02] In every moment, you are either growing closer to Christ [11:07] or you are growing more cold to Christ. [11:11] And everything that you do factors in [11:14] to which of those two it actually is.

[11:18] So to do that, you need to kind of have a faith checkup. [11:22] The first thing is, what are you placing your faith in?

[11:27] What do I mean by that? [11:29] Well, what is it that you believe [11:32] that if you could just have this or that in your life, [11:38] that it would make you complete and joyful? [11:42] What is it that if you lost it [11:45] would devastate you beyond repair?

[11:50] It has been said that those are the things [11:52] that you are actually worshiping.

[11:55] So whatever it is that you believe would complete you, [11:59] whatever it is that you believe would make your life [12:02] more worth living than it is right now, [12:04] whatever it is that you believe, if I had that, [12:08] I would have more joy, I would have more happiness, [12:10] I would have a better life.

[12:13] What is those things, many have said, [12:16] that are actually commanding what your worship [12:19] is actually in in your life? [12:21] The things that you are pursuing with the most effort [12:24] are the things that your faith [12:26] and the desire of your life are in.

[12:30] Pastor and author Tim Keller said in the counterfeit gods, [12:33] a false god can be a good thing [12:36] that becomes an ultimate thing, [12:38] which makes it a god thing for you. [12:42] How do you prevent that from happening? [12:45] How do you fight that very thing?

[12:49] Well, Hebrews is filled with a specific emphasis, [12:53] specifically here in chapter five, [12:56] on not forgetting or falling away from the gospel. [13:00] Now, the book as a whole is filled with explanations [13:03] and declarations of the why and the how [13:06] of the gospel of Jesus.

[13:08] And with frequency, there is an emphasis on your need [13:12] to dig in and focus on comprehending the gospel of Jesus. [13:17] Now, there’s many warnings for people [13:20] who have tasted the goodness of God [13:23] and wandered away from the gospel [13:25] because it never really took root in their lives.

[13:30] And so in Hebrews five specifically, [13:32] the writer is explaining the priestly office of Jesus [13:36] and then he interrupts himself. [13:38] And so what he does to his entire book is he really focuses [13:41] on some of the more complex aspects of the gospel. [13:45] I mean, in chapter five, he’s talking about how Jesus

[13:47] comes from the line of Melchizedek. [13:50] And some of you are like, who is that? [13:54] And we got to read the book of Genesis. [13:55] You don’t even know much about him at all. [13:57] But then here he’s connecting Christ to that very deeply [14:02] theological, very deeply rooted in the history of Israel.

[14:06] Throughout the book of Hebrews, he does these things. [14:08] And so when many people read the book of Hebrews, they’re like, [14:11] I need to really become a student of the Old Testament, [14:13] understand any aspect of this book. [14:15] And you’re right. [14:17] That’s why many people kind of stay away from Hebrews.

[14:20] But when you do that, what you’re doing is you’re missing [14:23] so much richness from the gospel of Jesus Christ, [14:27] that he’s actually showing the validity of the gospel, [14:30] the richness of the gospel and the beauty of God’s plan [14:34] in the gospel throughout this entire book. [14:36] And it’s a wonderful book.

[14:37] But he often interrupts himself with warnings. [14:41] And I love the warnings here because they get every single one of us [14:44] because he so often does what he does here. [14:46] He interrupts himself to say, hey, you understand what I’m talking about? [14:50] Oh, no. Well, that’s because you’re a terrible person. [14:53] Oh, well, thank you so much.

[14:56] I appreciate that. [14:58] I mean, and really, if you go throughout the book, [15:01] chapter five towards the end here is really one of the biggest [15:06] criticisms you’re going to face throughout the entire book, [15:10] because he says about this, I have much to say. [15:15] So you’re like, great, more

[15:19] much I think you’ve gotten more than I can handle right now. [15:22] But then he explains why. [15:25] You feel that way. [15:27] And it’s a dagger through your heart.

[15:30] This is the reason that you don’t want me to say more.

[15:35] Because you need to grow up. [15:38] There’s a reason you don’t want me to go further. [15:40] The reason that you have the attitude, well, I’m not a theologian. [15:43] Well, I’m not a scholar. [15:45] Well, I don’t you know, I don’t really understand the Bible.

[15:50] He comes to us and he says, it’s basically because you’re an infant. [15:54] Because I love to give you solid food, but you can’t handle it. [15:58] So you’re still on milk. [16:00] You need to grow up. [16:02] You need to begin to contemplate the truth of Jesus [16:06] in every area of your life so that your mind is always on the gospel.

[16:12] Therefore, in every area of your life, [16:16] he’s not saying you need to be smarter, because that’s what we’re tempted to do. [16:22] We say, well, you know, I didn’t go to Bible College. [16:25] I didn’t go to seminary. [16:27] Somebody’s talking about it all. [16:30] He’s not talking about academic intelligence or intellect at all in this passage.

[16:33] What he’s saying is, is that you need to grow up in applying the gospel to your life. [16:41] You need to grow up in actually living out the gospel [16:45] so that you will need more information on the gospel. [16:48] It is not that you have a deficit of ability to learn. [16:53] He’s saying you have a deficit of actually living out the truth of the gospel in your life.

[17:00] And so he says, if you would apply the gospel, if you would live for the gospel, [17:05] if you would trust Jesus with more of your life, you would be eating this up. [17:11] You would be craving more and more of the information that is coming to you here. [17:18] And you will begin to ask, how does my desire here or my effort there relate to the gospel of Jesus? [17:27] And his point is, is that you’re not asking yourself those questions. [17:31] You’re thinking that the actions and the decisions that you make in your life are actually meaningless

[17:36] because you’ve not applied the gospel to any of it.

[17:40] Understand that at times the connection of what I do or don’t do in relation to the gospel [17:45] is an easy connection to make. [17:47] At other times, it will be that moment where you really don’t have much to say [17:51] or you will be forced to explain away how things are different for you [17:55] because it will be more complicated. [17:59] And what the author is saying here for us is it’s not that the gospel isn’t relevant to that situation.

[18:05] It’s that you don’t know how it’s relevant. [18:07] And so rather than letting the spirit do work in your life, you just begin to think on other things. [18:16] And you begin to think that not every part of your life is connected to the application of the gospel of Jesus. [18:22] The emphasis on this section of scripture is simple. [18:26] Grow.

[18:29] That’s what he’s saying. [18:30] He’s saying you need to grow. [18:33] For every season there needs to be a focus in our lives on becoming more godly. [18:38] In every moment of life there is something to be learned about your life in Christ if you are actually following him.

[18:47] You need to continually be preaching the truth of the gospel to yourself [18:54] so that you will become dependent on the gospel. [18:59] And it is only when you are dependent on the gospel that you will understand your need for the gospel. [19:06] So what do you do? Where do you go? [19:08] Number two, it all should come from the word. [19:12] It all should come from the word.

[19:16] I mean, he basically just looked us in the face and said, you can’t handle solid food. [19:21] I don’t know about you, but there’s only one person. [19:24] I have small children and there’s only one that can’t handle solid food without someone watching him. [19:31] And he’s one.

[19:34] And so what Paul is saying is he’s comparing me to my son.

[19:41] Who’s one.

[19:43] That’s criticism. [19:45] For those of you that are like, oh, there, you know, Jesus would never criticize me. [19:49] Yet he just did. [19:52] And you need to receive it and you need to apply it. [19:57] And you need to say, where in my life is that going on where I can’t handle the solid food of God? [20:05] But instead, I need to be on a liquid diet.

[20:10] You know, as my children have matured, they have all been through that phase where they go from liquefied baby food to small solids. [20:17] If you’re a parent in here, I assume that you’ve gone through that. [20:22] And when they begin to make that transition, it’s a very incremental transition. [20:28] So you don’t have any kids. In other words, they don’t go from a jar of baby food to a sandwich overnight. [20:34] You don’t then just place some bread in front of them and say, dig in, Junior. [20:39] No, you got to sit there and you got to rip little bits and cut it up into these tiny little pieces.

[20:44] And then you put it in front of them. And some of you are like, no, that’s not right. [20:47] They’re my kids. Go away.

[20:51] It’s like, whatever. I don’t care what you did. [20:53] They’re still alive, aren’t they? [20:56] And you kind of put it on the plate and they just kind of, you know, they play with it, throw a bunch of it to the dog. [21:03] And and and the lady at dozens of times, right, that my kids have one thing in common. [21:08] Every one of them while going through that phase have looked like they were going to die dozens of times because they’ll get that one piece lodged in her throat. [21:17] Oh, that didn’t happen to you. Well, good for you.

[21:21] They’ll get like a little piece of bread. [21:23] It’ll get lodged in their throat and it’ll just be like, oh, my goodness, I’m going to kill my child. [21:27] What have I done? And so, you know, you’re slapping them on the back. [21:31] My wife is like digging in there and I’m like, you’re going to rip the throat out. [21:34] And I’m like, that’s why you need need a mother. [21:37] Because you can just not be involved.

[21:40] And and and so it just dozens of times this happens. [21:43] Why? Because they’re having to get used to solid food. [21:49] And it’s a tough transition. [21:51] It is a growth process.

[21:54] Some things you’ll give it to them and it’ll be like a week too soon. [21:58] And you shouldn’t have given it to them yet. [22:00] But then they’ll they’ll be choking it down. [22:01] They’ll get it down and then then they get a little bit better. [22:04] And then before you know it, you’re just throwing a hamburger on a plate saying, have fun. [22:10] But it takes time to get there.

[22:13] It takes time to grow. [22:14] And that is why this is a great analogy for how you grow in the gospel of Jesus Christ. [22:21] He’s saying that you need to make a transition. [22:25] And here’s what happens to many of us in the transition. [22:28] We will go through second chronicles.

[22:33] Begat, begat, begat, begat. [22:35] This guy begat that guy, this guy begat that guy. [22:38] And he lived to three hundred and then he slept with the father’s fruits. [22:42] And it was just and you’re just reading that. [22:44] You’re like, well, the Bible is so irrelevant.

[22:47] It’s so irrelevant. [22:49] And then you’ll go to Hebrews and it’ll be like, oh, my goodness, the blood of bulls and goats can’t save for every scene. [22:55] You’re like, I don’t even understand what this is about. [22:58] And so you’ll be like, well, I guess I’m just not going to be a Bible scholar.

[23:03] What’s happening in those moments is, is that the word is being chopped into fine bits for you. [23:10] And you’re having a tough time with the transition and you’re choking a little bit and you can’t quite get it down. [23:16] But just as my children have all developed to a place where they can eat solid food and I don’t have to watch them like hawks. [23:25] So will you where the word is concerned, if you will keep eating.

[23:32] And the word will become meaningful to you and the word will begin something that you depend on and you will be excited about it. [23:39] But it doesn’t happen overnight. [23:41] There is a maturation process that needs to happen in your life where you go from the milk to the solid foods. [23:49] But the only way that you can get there is through the word of God. [23:55] In his great work, the godly man’s picture, Puritzen Thomas Watson details what it means to grow in godliness. [24:05] And in that book, he places a large emphasis on knowledge or understanding God.

[24:12] And his emphasis is very correct corrective for us who look to grow in knowledge in so many different places. [24:21] You say, I need to grow in God this year. [24:23] So you head to a bookstore.

[24:27] You look for the new bestseller. [24:30] You look for someone of the same personality or maybe the same gender or the same feeling that you have someone that will give you all the feels.

[24:41] You know, that’s what’s going to be the secret to faster growth so that I don’t have to choke, so that I don’t have to swallow anything that I’m not used to. [24:53] So that I don’t have to grapple with anything that I don’t understand or doesn’t seem immediately relevant to my specific situation.

[25:09] Thomas Watson is so helpful here because he will not relent page after page after page as he says, it’s in the word. [25:18] It’s in the word. It’s in the word. [25:20] Go back to the Bible. [25:23] It is where you will find this. [25:26] He explains that you must have knowledge of the word. [25:29] You must have understanding of the word.

[25:32] You must have application of the word. [25:35] And this is how you grasp the depths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. [25:41] And friends, this is when you will grow in godliness. [25:48] Godliness is simply becoming more like God in our lives. [25:53] And this is always how God has grown his people. [25:57] I mean, the Bible is literally the record of God redeeming his people.

[26:03] And he always does this by speaking to us. [26:07] If you read the word, he spoke through prophets, he spoke through priests, he spoke through kings. [26:14] Which ultimately led to Jesus. [26:17] Of whom John 1, 1 through 4 tells us that the ancient of days is the word of God, that he is the light of the world. [26:27] And it has always been the word that is the light. [26:32] Friends, Jesus didn’t just begin this at the incarnation.

[26:37] Instead, God had shined this light for centuries in small glimpses. [26:42] And then in Jesus, the light of the sun was fully made manifest to us. [26:48] And so the question needs to be, what is your plan for growing in godly knowledge? [26:54] Because you will not grow without it. [26:57] Understand that Jesus is the full revelation of the word. [27:01] And then the apostles detail it throughout the rest of this magical book.

[27:07] You will not grow apart from the Bible. [27:13] I want to be clear on that. [27:15] You will not grow apart from the Bible. [27:24] It will not happen. [27:26] You can grow apart from best sellers.

[27:34] Oh yeah. [27:35] Head over to whatever Christian bookstore it is or whatever website it is that you purchase. [27:40] Look at the list unless the scriptures are on the list. [27:43] You can grow in God without every single one of those books.

[27:50] They’re not bad things. [27:52] It’s like protein powder for someone that’s an exercise nut. [27:57] It’s a supplement. [27:59] It’s like a multivitamin. [28:01] It doesn’t replace the vegetables, even though you’ve probably done that. [28:08] It’s supposed to be a supplement too, or an aid for, but it shouldn’t replace meals.

[28:16] The word of God is the meal. [28:19] It is the main course. [28:22] It is the feast.

[28:26] And some of us are foolish. [28:29] We’re looking for a protein shake.

[28:33] We’re at Tropical Smoothie when we have a gift card for Ruth’s Chris in our back pocket.

[28:39] I just want the smoothie. [28:42] What’s wrong with you?

[28:48] We have the feast, but we’re so afraid of choking on it. [28:56] We’re so afraid of not understanding it. [29:00] When the Father has told us through Jesus Christ that he would give us the Spirit to remind us or to illumine to us. [29:10] He’s called the Paraclete in the original language. [29:13] Which literally means the guide towards that he would illumine for us the word. [29:21] And we will struggle.

[29:23] We will trip. [29:24] We will stumble. [29:25] But that doesn’t mean to stop walking. [29:27] That means to keep exercising. [29:30] Means to keep going to it. [29:32] That means to keep feeding from it.

[29:35] You need to consume it in large swaths. [29:38] You need to consume it in small snacks. [29:40] You need to consume it in study. [29:43] You need to meditate on it. [29:45] You need to read it every single day. [29:50] Because the word is one of the greatest graces that God has ever provided for us.

[29:56] And we put it to the side for other things.

[30:00] Don’t do that. [30:02] You are missing out on what you will need ten years from now. [30:07] Because you don’t think it’s relevant to the next ten minutes from now.

[30:13] You need to have a larger vision of the word of God in your life. [30:16] You need to receive it and you need to respond to it. [30:20] Because I know some will argue and maybe you have thought yourself. [30:24] Information does not lead to godliness. [30:27] This is one of the dumbest things that has happened in our generation.

[30:32] Is that we believe this lie. [30:34] That we don’t need more information. [30:37] Now it is true that there are people that know a great deal academically about God’s word. [30:42] And that they don’t have godly knowledge. [30:45] I would agree with that. [30:47] Because godly knowledge is saturating your life with the word that comes from God.

[30:52] And then responding to it in your life.

[30:56] Are you arguing your way out of growth? [31:00] In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 the apostle Paul says that they weren’t growing. [31:05] Because they refused to focus on what God had for them. [31:08] They were consumed with their own passions.

[31:13] He says in verse 3, you are consumed with the flesh. [31:18] In verse 1 he says you are people of the flesh. [31:20] In other words they were saying, well that’s not what I need. [31:23] That’s not how I feel. [31:24] I know what’s best for me. [31:26] And if you know what happened in Corinth they became wicked people.

[31:31] Why? Because they thought that they were smarter than God. [31:33] They thought that they knew better than his word.

[31:38] If you think that you know better than the word then you are not going to end up on the road to growth.

[31:45] This is the information that you need to grow. [31:48] So yes friend, you do need more information. [31:51] If you didn’t need more information wouldn’t you be more godly?

[31:57] Friend, stop looking for growth everywhere else and then saying that you just can’t understand the word. [32:04] Struggle with it. [32:07] Consume it. [32:08] And you will grow. [32:11] Every day. [32:12] Day by day.

[32:13] Trusting God, understand, is also trusting in his plan. [32:19] And the Bible is his plan. [32:24] And so if you want to grow in Christ in 2017, be people of the book. [32:32] Be people who understand that this is the avenue, this is the conduit through which God has endured the gospel for centuries.

[32:42] Our problem is not that we have too much Bible.

[32:49] Our problem is that we have too little. [32:51] We have all the access in the world, but little time to consume it. [32:56] Number three this morning, it all should also point to Jesus. [33:01] It all should point to Jesus. [33:04] Look at what he says in verse 13. [33:05] He says, everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child.

[33:12] He says, solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

[33:23] Note the application of what he says there. [33:27] Are you struggling in obedience? [33:29] You need the word of righteousness. [33:32] Are you struggling with wisdom and decision making? [33:34] You need the word so that you will know good from evil. [33:39] This isn’t a solid food.

[33:41] The word is how your life will progress in that direction.

[33:47] Simple obedience is the mark of real growth. [33:53] Simple obedience, not complicated obedience. [33:57] We like to think that our lives are so complex and that’s why we’re struggling to obey God. [34:02] No, it’s not true. [34:04] If your life is overly complex, then you’re just disobeying God. [34:09] That’s the fact.

[34:12] And what needs to happen is you need to ask yourself, okay, it’s a very simple question. [34:15] Does my life point to Jesus?

[34:20] Yes or no? [34:21] See, most of us will be like, well, on Thursdays. [34:26] Yeah, I do, I hear, you know, I got Sundays going, you know.

[34:32] Don’t overcomplicate this. [34:34] It’s either a yes or a no. [34:35] It’s either 5149, one way or the other.

[34:40] And you need to be honest with yourself about that. [34:43] You know, one of the marks of the Reformed tradition is simplicity. [34:48] Simplicity. [34:50] How complicated is your life? [34:53] How complicated do you think spiritual growth is? [34:57] Simplify it.

[34:58] It’s not that complicated. [35:01] Jim Wilson has said that once you have determined what the Word of God has commanded you to do, what’s the holdup? [35:10] Obeying God isn’t easy, but it is simple. [35:15] You are either obeying God or disobeying God in every moment. [35:20] And if you obey God, both the letter and the spirit, your life will point to Jesus. [35:26] So, friend, please stop complicating growth.

[35:29] It is as natural as moving from liquid to solid.

[35:34] You know, it’s funny. [35:36] None of my kids, when they were learning how to eat solid food, ever looked at me and said, I’m going to need an instruction manual.

[35:45] No, they just grabbed the food, put it in their mouths. [35:48] I mean, sure, they put everything in their mouths. [35:51] But I think that’s an instinct that God gave them so they would actually eat. [35:57] What happens? [35:58] Well, there’s food. [35:59] I’m going to put it in my mouth.

[36:00] It’s pretty simple. [36:02] The same thing with God. [36:03] He’s given us food. [36:04] Consume it. [36:06] And He’s given us instruction. [36:08] Listen to it.

[36:09] He’s given us commands. [36:11] Obey them.

[36:13] Do what God has said. [36:16] And if you do what God has said, what will happen? [36:19] Well, you will grow. [36:22] It’s amazing how the mathematical equation there works out. [36:25] The if-then is so simple. [36:26] If you obey, then you will grow.

[36:29] That is God’s plan. [36:31] And it has always been that way. [36:33] It will take commitment. [36:36] It will take time. [36:37] And it will take effort. [36:38] It will take both of those things.

[36:40] But that’s what He’s talking about in the text. [36:41] I mean, He gives it to us so clear. [36:43] He says that the solid food is for the mature, for those who have the powers of discernment, [36:50] trained by constant practice.

[36:57] Huh. [36:59] So it takes time. [37:02] It takes effort. [37:03] It takes a growth curve. [37:06] You will only get the powers of discernment from God that you are so just drastically [37:13] in need of by training with constant practice what God has given you.

[37:21] Let that sentence from the text, from verse 14, be a guide to you this year. [37:29] So the question is, you need to ask yourself, where will your commitments take you this year?

[37:36] I mean, really, what are your commitments 2017? [37:39] What are you getting yourself into? [37:41] What are you committing your time to? [37:44] What are you committing your effort to? [37:46] What are you committing your mornings to? [37:48] Your noons to?

[37:49] Your evenings to? [37:50] Your nights to? [37:51] What are you doing with all of the time and effort of your life? [37:54] Because we all get the same 24.

[37:58] But the question is, what will we do with them?

[38:02] Will you leave margin for that which God has said is a matter of life or death? [38:09] Will you worship Jesus with more fullness this year? [38:12] Will you grow in Christ this year? [38:14] Will your focus on having a personal vision become a louder word to you [38:22] than the simple truth of God’s Word? [38:26] Friends, I’ll be honest.

[38:29] Some of you need to let your dreams die this year.

[38:35] For some of you, the greatest roadblock in your life are your dreams.

[38:43] Some of you, the greatest struggle in your marriage is because of your personal vision for you.

[38:49] Some of you are struggling at home, you’re struggling at work, [38:52] you’re struggling all over the place because of your dreams. [38:55] You know, dream big is what you’ve always been told, is it not?

[39:01] That can be such a devastating thing. [39:02] It’s a devastating thing to some people. [39:05] Either because your dream is your counterfeit God

[39:11] and it’s become a works-based religion for you, [39:14] or because your dream is actually taking you away from the simple obedience of God. [39:20] It’s taking you away from the Word of God and growing in the Word of God. [39:25] God, understand this. [39:26] God has a better and surer dream for your life in His Word. [39:36] He does.

[39:39] If your dreams are not taking you in to the person and work of Jesus Christ, [39:44] then your dreams will be devastating to your faith, [39:48] and your life will become consumed by it. [39:51] And anything or anyone that stands in the way of that dream, [39:56] well, it’s got to go. [39:57] And you might not be there today, but you might be there in five years

[40:00] where Jesus Christ will be the one standing in front of that dream. [40:04] What will you do there? [40:07] What will you do then? [40:10] Because the book of Hebrews warns us, [40:13] will you become the one who tasted of the heavenly gift and then fell away? [40:18] Because your dreams were actually what your faith in Jesus were all about,

[40:22] rather than treasuring the one, the Son, Jesus Christ. [40:28] I tell you, because the Gospel of His Word has told us how, [40:34] we need to stop trying to invent a new vision [40:39] when the unfiltered original is the best. [40:45] It is what it’s all about. [40:47] Do you want to grow?

[40:50] I mean, really, do you want to? [40:52] You need to settle that right here and right now. [40:56] Because growth in Jesus is not something where you’re like, [41:00] yeah, sure, I want to grow, I’m a Christian. [41:03] Of course I want to grow. Not necessarily.

[41:07] I mean, you need to look at your life and say, [41:08] do I really want to grow as a follower of Jesus Christ? [41:12] And if the answer is yes, then you need to anchor down into Him, [41:17] into His Word, because sometimes the question of whether or not I want to grow [41:22] is the same question as do I actually believe the Gospel?

[41:28] If you go one chapter later in Hebrews, Chapter 6, Verse 1, [41:32] the writer urges us to grow up. [41:34] He says, Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ [41:39] and grow on to maturity, [41:43] not laying a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God. [41:47] You might be thinking, and on the first read, you read that part,

[41:49] you’re like, well, the second half of that verse actually sounds like the thing I need to do. [41:54] And he says, don’t do that. [41:55] So what does he mean by that? [41:58] I’ll tell you, the latter part of the text is telling us to become concrete [42:05] and informed on certain doctrines [42:08] so that we can grow up to understand more of the teachings of Scripture.

[42:16] How? How do we do that? [42:19] Well, 1 Peter, Chapter 2, tells us to desire milk. [42:24] I didn’t say stop the milk. [42:26] He says, like newborn infants who long for the pure spiritual milk, [42:29] because some of you, you know, that’s where you are, and you need to be real about that. [42:34] You need to realize that the grace of God is where you are.

[42:38] And you need to desire that sincere milk, [42:40] because my kids wouldn’t have gotten the solids without the milk.

[42:44] He says, buy it. When you drink it, what’s going to happen? [42:47] The point of it is for you to grow up. [42:51] And he actually refers to, he says, grow up into salvation. [42:55] What that means is not that you are attaining through your effort or through your works. [42:59] What he’s meaning is, is that when you desire the sincere milk of the word, [43:05] that belief gets rooted down so that you endure in faith,

[43:12] growing in it so that you can look back on a pathway of following Jesus, [43:17] so that in those moments of doubt, [43:22] where you’re thinking, am I really a Christian?

[43:27] The roots are so far down that you look at the path and you say, [43:32] oh, yeah, that’s the road that I’m on.

[43:36] For some of you, can you do that?

[43:41] Because in verse three, he goes on and he says, [43:43] if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good, [43:47] there’s a warning for us. [43:51] So a few quick things.

[43:54] Number one, you need to trust God that you can grow. [43:59] Some of you doubt it. [44:01] And some of you have spoken to me about that. [44:04] You don’t believe that you can grow. [44:06] I tell you, God has never commanded us to do anything that he will not also empower us to do. [44:12] You can grow.

[44:13] Number two, you need to trust God that you need to grow. [44:20] If you think you’ve made it, you haven’t. [44:25] Number three, you need to trust God that the effort is worth it. [44:32] You need to trust him that the effort’s worth it. [44:35] Those early mornings are worth it. [44:36] Those late nights are worth it.

[44:39] Time spending community is worth it. [44:42] Time serving is worth it. [44:44] Number four, you need to leave lesser visions behind so that you can commit to godly growth.

[44:54] Friend, it’s all about Jesus.

[44:58] And it either all points to how valuable you believe he is [45:02] or how valuable you believe other things are.

[45:08] Jesus is the treasure of greatest value. [45:13] Do you believe that?

[45:16] If you do, you will grow.

[45:24] As the band comes up, I just want you to pray with me for a moment. [45:29] Father, Lord, I am so thankful for new beginnings.

[45:37] Every year we kind of have a feeling that this is a new beginning.

[45:44] Lord, I pray that you would use that as a revelation in our lives. [45:48] Holy Spirit, I pray that you would work your way down into the core of who we are, [45:54] into the core of what we believe, and you would bring out a desire to grow, [45:59] that you would bring out a dependence on you, [46:03] that you would bring out just a willingness to endure, [46:08] a willingness to saturate and focus and meditate on the true gospel in your word.

[46:19] Amen.

[46:21] Right now to start the year, I want us to confront ourselves with the gospel. [46:28] The bread represents the broken body of Christ. [46:31] The cup represents His shed blood. [46:34] When we eat and when we drink, what we do is we are telling others, [46:38] I believe the gospel of Jesus. [46:41] And if you believe the gospel, these tables are open for you.

[46:46] Today as you eat and as you drink, my prayer is that we would confront ourselves with the truth of the gospel. [46:54] And then we would go and we would grow in the gospel. [46:58] When you’re ready.