“Dull of Hearing”
(Hebrews 5:11-6:3)
Series: Captivated by Christ (Hebrews)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
- Open your Bibles to Hebrews, chapter 5.
While you’re finding that let me say that we will conclude our service with the Lord’s Supper this morning. The Lord’s Supper is a time when Christians come together to reflect on what Jesus Christ did for them on the cross, His body crucified, shedding His blood for the forgiveness of sin. If you are visiting and you are a member of another church of similar faith and practice, then we invite you to partake of the Supper with us. And again we’ll do that at the conclusion of our service this morning.
Hebrews chapter 5. We left off at verse 10 and so we’ll be picking up at verse 11 but, before we read the text, I want you to see how the writer of Hebrews interrupts his teaching about Jesus’ role as the Great High Priest. Preachers do this, you know! They’re going in one direction and then they pause and treat an incidental or tangential matter of concern.
The author of Hebrews has been talking about Jesus’ being our Great High Priest, “called by God as High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek,” as he says in verse 10 and then he pauses, almost as if realizing that this statement about Melchizedek may be lost upon those reading or hearing the letter, as thought the name Melchizedek causes them to scratch their heads and wonder what that’s all about. So the writer says in verse 11, “of whom,” or “about whom we have much to say, and hard to explain,” hard why? “since you have become dull of hearing.”
And that phrase, “since you have become dull of hearing,” takes the writer on a brief bypass, a detour, a side street, on which he warns the hearers about the importance of spiritual growth. Listen for this as I read the passage.
- Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
11 of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
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.
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
14 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.
6:1 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,
2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
3 And this we will do if God permits.
- Pray: “God, we believe that when Your Word is preached, Your voice is heard. Holy Spirit as You work, give us grace that we not be “dull of hearing” this morning. Give us ears to hear and the grace to use them. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
A few years ago I shared with some of you an experience I had one afternoon while shopping with my wife in Evansville. For one reason or another we ended up in this store called Shoe Carnival. And the name of that store is appropriate. It seemed to me a bit like a carnival. The main thing that struck me while we were there was that there was this guy wearing a headset microphone and he always seemed to have something to say. He’d speak and his voice was amplified throughout the store. As I recall from our being there that day, the guy was sort of in this central part of the store and elevated a bit on some kind of platform. There was music playing in the background and every once in awhile this guy would start talking and I suppose he was talking about various shoes and items they were selling. It just struck me that he was kind of like a deejay or something—like a carnival barker.
So we had looked around and, I don’t remember whether we were buying shoes for Michele or me or one of the boys. But we were in the checkout line and again I hear this deejay guy in the background with his voice amplified and I said, “Nobody’s really listening to this guy. It’s just chatter and noise.” And I turned to Michele to say that to her and as I turned to her I saw that she was standing very still, eyes fixed, head turned to one side, focused, and I said, “You’re listening to that guy!” And she was. And about the time I figured out she was listening to the deejay guy, she’s out of the line and running over to an aisle—along with a number of other ladies who’d also been listening—running to some sale going on at the moment, “Buy one get one free,” I think it was. And here I was thinking no one was listening!
You might say that I had become “dull of hearing.” I wasn’t tuned-in. I wasn’t really listening. I was aware there was someone speaking, a guy up on a platform, speaking, but to me it was just noise. It didn’t mean anything. My wife, on the other hand, was actively listening. You might say she had “ears to hear.” So what I heard as nothing more than noise, she heard as treasure, good fortune, and wisdom.
How will you listen to the Word preached this morning? Will you listen actively? Engaged? Believing God has something to say to You in His Word? Will you receive God’s Word this morning—as the writer will say later in chapter 6—receiving it like rain that falls upon the earth so it produces vegetation and growth—or will you hear it as just so much noise?
In this passage the writer of Hebrews addresses the matter of spiritual growth. And he begins by writing about the need for spiritual perception. Now if you’re a note-taker, let me encourage you to write down that two-word phrase in your notes. We’ll consider three of these two-word phrases this morning. And the first one is:
- Spiritual Perception (11)
Readers of God’s Word and hearers of God’s Word require spiritual perception. Perception meaning the ability to see and hear something through the senses. To be engaged, actively aware of what they are reading and hearing. Spiritual perception.
See this in verse 11. Remember that the writer has just been talking about Jesus Christ’s being a Great High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek.” So we’d expect the writer to flesh out what he means by that. And he does. He has much to say about Melchizedek, but not just yet. It will come later at the very end of chapter 6 and on into chapter 7. The writer stops for a moment and issues a terse rebuke to the Hebrews, the Jewish Christians to whom he is writing, because word has apparently gotten back to him that there is a problem with their spiritual perception. He knows they have a hearing problem. Verse 11:
11 of whom (Melchizedek) we have much to say, and hard to explain, (now note this! Hard to explain why?) since you have become dull of hearing.
Now it’s really critical that we get this down. The content concerning Melchizedek that the writer will eventually get around to writing about, the content itself is not beyond their ability to understand. This was not an intellectual problem. It wasn’t that the Hebrews didn’t have the firepower in their brains to understand what the writer was going to be teaching them. This was not an intellectual problem. Their problem was moral and spiritual. They had become, last part of verse 11, “dull of hearing.”
Dull. The word means sluggish. In fact, the same word is translated that way down in verse 12 where he says “that you do not become sluggish.” Lazy. Slothful. Dull. Indifferent.
Again, it’s not that they were unable to understand the biblical teaching. It’s that they were unwilling. They didn’t want to understand. They had become indifferent to the teachings of Scripture.
Preaching is challenging enough to communicate when people aren’t so dull of hearing. This is why preachers often “set the address” as John MacArthur calls it in his book on preaching. Preachers remind hearers where they are in the Bible. We’ll say, “Chapter 5, verse 11 there. See that there. We’re in Hebrews. Chapter 5. Note this. Don’t miss it. Look in your Bibles there at that verse.”
Sometimes just sitting in a congregation listening to the Word preached, our mind can quickly wander. We think, “Did I leave the iron on at the house?” “Did we put the dog out?” “What was that noise?” So communicators continue to call hearers back to the text and back to the message.
There are always external distractions that happen during preaching. A microphone isn’t working properly. The audio is too loud or too soft. I became aware recently of a glitch occurring at the radio station in recent weeks, WSON that broadcasts our worship service from 11-12. Someone contacted the church in frustration. They said that the broadcasting of our service was getting continually interrupted with the Cardinals baseball game. So it’d be me preaching for a few minutes, then the ballgame, then me again for about 4 minutes, then the ballgame, then back to me. And the person was understandably frustrated by this. And I remember thinking, “Imagine how frustrating it must have been for the guy wanting to hear the ballgame!”
But these are external distractions. And they are frustrating, largely because they are not immediately fixed. They are often beyond our control as we are reading or hearing the Word. The writer is talking about something that is not an external problem, but an internal problem. He’s not talking about a problem with the signal, or the sender of the signal, but the problem the writer is talking about is with the receiver, the one reading and hearing.
That’s an important distinction. Dull of hearing. Not dull of preaching. The Word itself is by no means dull. Having said that it, it is possible to be a dull teacher or preacher. Arguably, some preaching may put some to sleep. I always think of the minister who said he once dreamed he was preaching and then woke up to discover that he was! But if in the preaching and teaching, the vast majority of the people are engaged and awake—and it is only the usual handful who seem always to fall asleep as soon as they get still—then we may assume the problem is not with the preacher or teacher.
The writer is talking about those who never really tune in to the message because they really don’t want to. They may be awake. They may even look engaged. But they’re really not listening. The message is going out but there is no receiving it. It’s just some noise, maybe even pleasant noise, like music in the background while we’re on hold on the phone. But there’s no real “getting it.”
The writer is addressing those who don’t want to think about what is being taught and have to work at really “getting it” and “living it.” They’re just present in the event, but not really interested in what they are reading or hearing. So the Word falls on deaf ears.
Now this is dangerous. Very dangerous. Lack of spiritual perception leads to lack of spiritual progression. That’s the second two-word phrase. Spiritual progression.
- Spiritual Progression (12-6:2)
Progression refers to growth and maturity. The writer addresses the hearers lack of growth and maturity resulting from their being “dull of hearing.” Verse 12:
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.
The writer is saying, “You’re not growing!” By now you ought to be teachers. He doesn’t mean the entire congregation has the gift of teaching a group as in preaching to a congregation or even teaching a Sunday school class. He’s not talking about teaching in that sense, but teaching in that you ought to be passing on to others what you know about the faith. Discipleship.
2 Timothy 2:2, “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also,”
Everyone is expected to grow in the faith, to progress, to mature, and to pass on to others what we have learned. We disciple others when we pass on to them what we have learned ourselves. Everyone can and must do this. It’s part of fulfilling our Lord’s Great Commission. “You are my disciples,” He said.
Our vision statement captures this commission: “We exist to develop generations of God-glorifying Disciples Who Make Disciples from the community to the continents.”
Are you discipling someone? “by this time you ought to be teachers” says the writer. Are you teaching another believer? Are you witnessing, sharing your faith, helping another person grow?
The problem with the Hebrews is that, verse 12, “for though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again…!” To teach you again “the first principles of the oracles of God,” that is, the “basics.” The word “principles” there is generally used in connection with the ABCs of something. The basics of the faith.
And he adds, “and you have come to need milk and not solid food.” This imagery is immediately understood by anyone who has raised a child or a grandchild. A baby has a desire for milk. And a baby needs milk in order to grow. In time the baby partakes of solid food, moving or growing from milk to more substantive food.
Applied spiritually, the newborn Christian has a desire for spiritual milk, the milk of the Word. In fact, the word “milk” in the original is the word from which we get lactose as in “lactose intolerant,” those whose bodies cannot tolerate milk. Well, no true Christian is “lactose intolerant!” True Christians “desire the pure milk of the Word that they may grow thereby (1 Peter 2:2).” We grow. We progress. Verse 13:
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
If Christians partake only of milk and never move on to solid food—heavier teachings, doctrines such as providence, election, work of the Holy Spirit, and so on—then they are merely babies. “unskilled in the word of righteousness.” Put another way: “unable to rightly apply the Word of God in their daily lives.” That meaning is clear given the contrast in the next verse, verse 14:
14 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.
The writer is saying that if Christians progress and grow and learn more and more of the teachings of the faith then they will be in a position to make right decisions. The way they live their lives flows out of a proper understanding of the Word.
Look at it again, verse 14: “But solid food belongs to those who are full of age (spiritually mature), that is, those who by reason of use (that is through constant use of the Word) have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
Put another way: Because of our spiritual maturity, we know intuitively what to do or how to react, even where the Bible does not address a specific concern.
You know how sometimes people ask, “Well, what does the Bible say about this, or that” and the Bible does not address that issue particularly? Dating someone. Marrying a certain person, taking a certain job, can I do this, is it okay to do that, what if my boss wants me to do this or that?
The writer says that those who are in the habit of partaking of the solid food of the Word are those who know intuitively which decision to make, whether to respond this way or that, they are those who are able to “discern both good and evil” because they have been growing in the Word, growing beyond mere milk.
A similar idea is taught by Paul in 1 Corinthians 3.
1 Corinthians 3:1-2: 1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;
In that context, the Corinthian context, Paul teaches that spiritual immaturity leads to “carnal” or “fleshly” living. Without a healthy diet of the Word and growth in the Word, we are more likely to live according to the flesh and fall into sin if we know only the basic principles of Scripture. With spiritual growth, however, growing in theology and doctrine, comes spiritual maturity.
What is true of the physical is true of the spiritual: Grown adults are not sustained by mere milk. We need more in our diet. We need solid food.
There are no shortcuts to sanctification. There is no quick way to grow up overnight. Like someone waving a magic wand over a new Christian and that Christian suddenly and instantaneously matures! It’s just like the physical realm. It requires work.
I’d love if I could just walk into a gym and immediately have muscles! Walk through the door and your belly fat just disappears—in an instant—Immediately you look trim, fit, and muscular. Dream on! Same is true spiritually. It doesn’t happen overnight. Growth from an acorn into a towering oak tree takes time. Spiritual growth is a discipline.
We take time for other things. Think of the time you spend looking at screens, TV, computer, cell phone. Some of us are attached to our phones like it’s an IV. Connect yourself to the Word. Let the milk of the Word get into that IV and feed you!
Remember that you have available at the Connection Center these “Growth Guides.” A helpful checklist to keep you on track as you grow in your faith. Everyone’s expected to grow. So it helps you do that, alerting you to various spiritual disciplines and how to do them as you grow and become more like Jesus, enjoying the fulness of a developing, maturing, and progressing faith! There is joy in sanctification, joy in growth!!
6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection (maturity; and that’s the key phrase: let us go on to perfection or maturity), not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
“Let us go on to maturity.” Let us continue to progress. Spiritual progression.
And the writer lists a total of six basic, elementary doctrines that the Hebrews were to move on from, to progress beyond, to not lay the foundation for them again and again. There are six basics in three couplets here in verses 1 and 2. Listen for them:
Don’t lay again the foundation of “repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,” that’s one couplet, verse 2:
2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands (second couplet, and then:), of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Now if you really study these three couplets you will discover that they are all things that were taught in Old Covenant Judaism. There is nothing distinctly Christian about them. Even in verse 2 where it reads “the doctrine of baptisms.” The word is probably better translated “washings” referring to priestly cleansing rites.
And it seems the writer is saying, “Look you Hebrews, we have shown you that Christianity—namely the New Covenant—builds on that foundation you had in the Old Covenant. What you now enjoy is so much better. All of those things basic to your faith in Judaism were building blocks to set you up for Jesus Christ who is better, more superior, than anyone or anything you’ve ever known. So “Let us go on to maturity.” Let’s move on and not “lay again the foundation” upon which and from which you should be progressing, growing.
Spiritual perception. Spiritual progression. Third phrase. Jot this down:
- Spiritual Permission (3)
Look at verse 3:
3 And this we will do if God permits.
This verse directs our gaze upward to our loving, sovereign, grace-giving God. God is the one who makes growth possible. He is the one who brings life from death. The verses will go on to describe—and we’ll look at these next time—they go on to describe the peril of not progressing, describing someone who does not move from the elementary principles of the milk to the advanced teachings of solid food. Someone who’s gotten close to the things of God, and even gotten some benefit out of them, but has not progressed forward.
There’s an implicit warning here! We must never presume upon the opportunities God gives us to grow.
If God graces you with a desire to grow, then grow. Don’t presume that you will wake up tomorrow with the same desire. Feed that desire now. It comes from God. Honor God’s work in you by working that out in growth in the Lord.
Philippians 2:12-13:
12 …work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
It is God who works in you the desire to do for His good pleasure. Don’t presume upon that work! Don’t presume upon God, that He’s going to go on gracing you with these desires and opportunities for growth. Feed them now and you will grow.
And as you go on growing, you will go on to maturity. You won’t fall away. You won’t regress, you will progress, upward and onward, your eyes fixed on Jesus.
I want to pray with you to that end. For our response time we’re going to pray. And I want to lead you in a prayer for three things. If you are in agreement with me on these three things, then you pray along in your spirit. Here are the three things we’ll ask God for. We’ll put them on the wall here. We’re going to ask God to give us grace for these three things:
“God give me grace so that…3 things…
I never become “dull of hearing” God’s Word
I always desire the milk and meat of God’s Word
I regularly feed myself and others God’s Word
Let’s pray: “God, here we find the application now of your Word. We understand the meaning of this passage so now we’re interested in the meaningfulness of this passage. Knowing what it teaches, we now ask for help in applying it. God, give us grace…”
Now as a family we’re going to observe the Lord’s Supper. I’d like to ask our deacons to come and prepare to serve. That’s what deacon means. Servant. These godly men serve the body of Christ in a number of ways, serving you through the Deacon Family Ministry, there for you by phone call or message or visit. And they serve you literally during the Supper.
Let’s pray in preparing to receive the elements of bread and cup, symbolic of the body and blood fo Christ…
Now while the deacons serve you, remain seated, and sing this great hymn together.
1
“In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.
2
In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev’ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.
3
There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.
NOTE: AFTER 3RD VERSE IF DEACONS ARE STILL SERVING, PIANO PLAYS MELODY UNTIL THEY ARE FINISHED (CONGREGATION WILL SING 4TH VERSE AT END, AFTER PARTAKING BREAD AND CUP).
The Bible says that on the same night in which Jesus was betrayed, that He took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11:23-24).
[Eat bread]
Then the Bible says that in the same manner, Jesus also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:25-26).
[Drink cup]
Amen. Stand now and let’s sing the final verse, No guilt in life, no fear in death:
4
No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow’r of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand.
No guilt in life!! Go in the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ and have a wonderful Lord’s Day!
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