Something Beautiful for God

A Study in MaturityHebrews 5:12-14

Peter Fitch

Hebrews 5:12-14 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

Maturity

But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

Hebrews 5:14

“for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good

and evil”

• mature—(Greek: teleios—perfect, goal, complete), of full age, grown to what something is supposed to be

• practice—habit, constant use

“for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good

and evil”

• trained—(Greek: gumnadzo—gymnasium), refers to daily exercise

• senses—(Greek: aestheterion—aesthetics), faculty of perception, judging, evaluation (not referring to physical senses)

Becoming Teachable

• Discern—(Greek: diakrisis—through critical thinking), refers to ability to make wise choices

Dia Krisis through crisis (English pun)

Wisdom comes partly through thinking and partly through life

Good and Evil

• In the end, maturity is all about discerning between kalos and kakos (good and evil)

• But there is a surprise in the passage: the word agathos (referring to moral goodness) is not used

• Kalos strongly includes the idea of beauty• Perhaps it is chosen because it sounds better,

but there may be wisdom here, too

Good and Beautiful

Maturity may mean that we have gone through enough of life’s real situations, trying to figure out what God would have us do in each one, that we finally know how to bring about a beautiful result, not just a good one

Joseph and Mary

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. 19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.

Two Kinds of Righteousness

• According to Law or Custom • According to Love or Grace• Which one seems beautiful?• Which one does God seem to like?

Examples from Life

• Holding a position you are sure is right in an argument

• Finding a way to bring your position together with an opposing point of view so that you can reconcile

• “Every argument worth its salt will have more than one right ; you can continue to be right and also continue to be lonely.”

Walter Thiessen

Parenting

• Good for a child to behave• Better for a child to internalize the desire to

behave well• Noah at 5; Hannah as a teenager

Pastoring

• Good for a pastor to tell people what the Scripture says

• Better for an environment to be created where everyone learns for him or herself

• Giving up worship leading• Counseling (silent treatment)

Other Examples?

An Example of God Doing This

• Teaching about imaginative processes• Gambling story• What happened next

Gregory the Great (Pope from 590-604)

No one ventures to teach any art unless he has learned it after deep thought. With what rashness, then, would the pastoral office be undertaken by the unfit, seeing that the government of souls is the art of arts! For who does not realize that the wounds of the mind are more hidden than the wounds of the body?

Yet, although those who have no knowledge of the powers of drugs shrink from giving themselves out as physicians of the flesh, people who are utterly ignorant of spiritual precepts are often not afraid of professing themselves to be physicians of the heart.

The Way Forward

• By modeling, by loving, by listening, we create a desire to move forward in the things of God

• By judgment, by harshness, by too many words (even good words) we stifle life

“But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger” James 1:19

Could this explain something?

• What if the two types of righteousness mirror two types of religion?

• Perhaps one, “Religiousness A”, is unattractive because it is all about the rules . . . It constantly criticizes the interests of others in an attempt to validate its own concerns

• The other, “Religiousness B”, is self-sacrificing and puts the needs of others at the same level or even beyond its own

Stages of Development (Brian Doerksen)

• Preparation• The Call• The Pain of Waiting• The Pain of Doing

And another question . . .

• Matthew 12 as an introduction to the problem of Jesus

• Isaiah 42 as a template for the nature of the ministry that God loves

Isaiah 42:1-4

“Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. 2 “He will not cry out or raise His voice, Nor make His voice heard in the street.

Isaiah 42:1-4

3 “A bruised reed He will not break And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;He will faithfully bring forth justice. 4 “He will not be disheartened or crushed Until He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”

Suggestions• Read Isaiah 42:1-4 several times• Consider memorizing it• Extract the elements that characterize the

nature of the ministry that God loves• Try to make them characteristics of your life• Now, do the same thing with the Beatitudes

from Matthew 5:1-12• Jesus wanted to pass on His ministry to people

who were becoming like Him