Thursday, May 21, 2026
We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Hebrews 5:11-114
A Grown Up Faith
In the third sermon in the series Everyday Missionaries, Pastor Andrew spoke about how we can become stagnant as believers and quit growing, or never start growing in the first place. Some believers think that accepting Jesus as their Savior is all they have to do, and it is all you have to do to be a child of God and have eternal life. But you won’t have abundant life, and that is what God has planned for us.
We have learned that we are all Everyday Missionaries - ordinary people empowered by an extraordinary God for an extraordinary mission. As believers we are called to be Everyday Missionaries as we walk out our faith in our day to day life. We know we only have hope because of Jesus. This past Sunday we heard about the growth that comes with a close intimate relationship with Jesus. The only way we grow as believers is to live a life walking with the Lord. We grow through reading and studying his word, through teachers and preachers at church, through relationships with other believers, and through prayer and relationship with Jesus on a continual basis. As Pastor Jim says, as we walk with Jesus, we learn to live and love like him. As we walk this out in our daily lives we point others to him, glorifying him in all we say and do becoming everyday missionaries.
Spiritual immaturity leads to spiritual laziness. If we are not growing and maturing in our walk with the Lord, we will sit on the pew our entire lives and completely miss out on the work of the Lord going on around us. We will also miss abundance and blessings that come from maturing in the Lord and being a part of his kingdom work.
Spiritual immaturity keeps us from God’s mission. The Great Commission commands us all to go make disciples. We heard this foundational discipleship principle this past Sunday: Maturing disciples make maturing disciples. If we are spiritually immature, we will not be ready to make disciples when the opportunity arises. We will be caught off guard.
Spiritual maturity is the result of constant growth. God intends for his children to grow in spiritual maturity and to produce fruit. When my children were growing up, I always told them that the fruit of the spirit is what shows on the outside because you have Jesus on the inside. It is a pretty good description for adults as well. When Jesus is in our heats and we are in a growing relationship with him, our lives will reflect his presence through love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
The author of Hebrews compares a spiritually immature believer to an infant, who can only have milk, not solid food. As a baby grows or matures, they get solid food. If we don’t grow as believers, we will not understand God’s word. We will only be able to take in the very basic and elementary truths of his word. As we mature we get the solid truths and can train ourselves to distinguish good from evil.
Just as you have to water and feed a plant every day, spiritual growth happens on a continual daily basis with Jesus. Anytime we neglect it or stop it, we are stunting our own growth. The consistent walk of faith produces fertile ground where God’s Holy Word can be planted. We grow into mature disciples of Christ who are on mission with him, sharing the gospel, making disciples who start on milk but will move on in maturity in the faith.
What are you doing daily to grow in spiritual maturity?
Are you consistently training yourself to distinguish good from evil?
