Hebrews 5 - Grow up

Setting – Christ is our high priest

Content – Priests were appointed to be representatives for God, (v. 1 NLT) “Now a high priest is a man chosen to represent other human beings in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to God and offers their sacrifices for sins”. Because the priest is human he emphasis with our weaknesses (v. 2 NLT) “And because he is human, he is able to deal gently with the people…For he is subject to the same weaknesses they have”. Christ didn’t exult himself as high priest, but was appointed from God (v. 5 NLT) “That is why Christ did not exalt himself to become High Priest. No, he was chosen by God, who said to him, "You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.”
Even though some know this they (v. 12b NLT) “are like babies who drink only milk and cannot eat solid food.” They (v. 12a NLT) “have been Christians a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things a beginner must learn about the Scriptures” Someone like this (v. 13 NLT) “is living on milk isn't very far along in the Christian life and doesn't know much about doing what is right.” Because in-depth knowledge of the scriptures is (v. 14 NLT) “Solid food is for those who are mature, who have trained themselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong and then do what is right.”

Application – Christ became our high priest, our intercessor to God. He was appointed by God and took on flesh and was able to emphasis with our weaknesses. The writer of Hebrews wanted to go more in-depth with this information, but the immaturity of the believers prevented this. Many Christians never grow up in the faith. They want their faith to be spoon fed to them. They don’t take the responsibility of their growth themselves.

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