Tag: Spiritual Milk

Does America Have a Spiritual Obesity Epidemic?

Spiritual ObesityI previously wrote an article titled Breastfed Christians. In it I talked about the huge number of Christians that never graduate from spiritual milk (the basic truths of our salvation) to spiritual meat (the deep truths of God). In this article, I want to swing the pendulum far the other way and touch on the other end of the spiritual milk/meat issue; spiritual obesity.

While there are pastors that spend their whole career serving milk to their congregants, there are those who have led their congregation to regularly consume the meat of the Gospel. And while they may be producing well-equipped and capable ministers of reconciliation, there are still those who show up on Sunday and consume more than their fill of spiritual meat. These well-fed Christians know the teaching, commit to devotional time, attend small groups and even volunteer for church-sponsored “outreach projects.” The whole of their Christian life is based on consumption. But, the amount they consume is not really the issue.

The larger issue is the lack of balance between their consumption, physical activity and rest. So, because they show up and eat and eat and eat, never working out what they consume, they become obese. Eventually their spiritual obesity causes them to sit stagnant, never activating their faith. This causes it to be near impossible to delineate them from the world they live in. The hope is not that a Christian would simply graduate from spiritual milk to spiritual meat, but their maturity would compel them to display works that reveal their faith.

A.W. Tozer said, “The health of the church is in direct proportion to the health of each individual Christian. If the church is to grow and be healthy, the individual Christians comprising the church must grow spiritually.” If we are going to be healthy Christians there are three things we need to focus on.

Nutrition

But Solid food is for the mature… (Heb 5:14)

Hebrews tells us that every Christians should eventually mature to be teachers of God’s truth. The example, and one that I previously mentioned, is that of an infant maturing from consuming milk to solid food. Just as nutrition is important for physical health, it is also important for our spiritual health. Here are three ways that we can seek a deeper understanding of God’s truth:

  1. Consume God’s Word Daily. Hearing it only on Sunday is not enough.
  2. Commit to a Community. Connect to a group of believers that will challenge you
  3. Commune with God Daily. Author E.M. Bounds said, “In God’s name I beseech you let prayer nourish your soul as your meals nourish your body.” In other words, pray.

Exercise

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (Jm 2:17)

Our faith and what we learn about God has to include action. The Message version of James 2 asks the question, “Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?”

These God-acts include the work of the ministry for building up the body of believers in love (Eph 4) and the ministry of reconciliation for bringing unbelievers into Christ (2 Cor 5). And while James gives the example of feeding and clothing a friend, this isn’t an area where someone can provide a list of things that will reveal you as a healthy and committed follower of Jesus. Instead, this area is about intention and what compels you. In John 15:5 Jesus explains this idea when He says, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” As we remain connected to Jesus, He creates a change in us that produces much good fruit.

Rest

…and I will give you rest. (Mt 11:28)

No healthy lifestyle is complete without including the habit of rest. It provides the body with the opportunity to recuperate. Rest is just as important if we’re to be a healthy Christian. In Mark 2:27, Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man…” Theologian Matthew Henry explains this by saying, “The Sabbath was made a day of rest, only in order to its being a day of holy work, a day of communion with God, a day of praise and thanksgiving; and the rest from worldly business is therefore necessary…” Our rest is intended to provide us with relief from the world and draw us into God. We should seek rest which is focused on communion with God.

Repeat

The key to staying healthy is keeping the routine going and eventually it letting it become habit. But, to make sure you succeed, you have to do it with a community of people who value it as much as you do. You will know you found that community because they will show their love for you in the way they challenge you to walk as Christ walked.

Jesus wants us to be healthy Christians, because our community and the world need us to be.

 

photo: Daily Radio Bible

Breastfed Christians

Breastfed

SPIRITUAL MILK

Both the Apostles Paul and Peter mention consuming what they refer to as spiritual milk. In 1 Peter 2:2 we are told, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.” In 1 Corinthians 3:2 Paul remarks, “I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it, and even now you are not yet ready.” It is easy to dismiss this, or become lost on what this means. However, we must understand it if we are to obey Jesus’ command to “make disciples.”

My wife likens the idea of new Christians consuming spiritual milk to nursing a baby. A newborn needs the nutrition that a mother’s body is created to produce. But, as a baby grows, the nutritional value of the mother’s breast milk diminishes. The child needs to graduate to consuming solid food. If a child doesn’t graduate to solid foods, then they become malnourished and will not grow.

SPIRITUAL MEAT

In the same way, when someone first becomes a Christian they need “pure spiritual milk, that by it [they] may grow up into salvation.” This pure spiritual milk makes up the principles of the truth of God, and is essential for you to grow into salvation. It’s the beginning of the process to put off the old and put on the new. Eventually you need more than milk. Ultimately you need the deeper truths of God, spiritual meat, which enables you to grow into the fullness of Christ and become a disciple-maker. You need to become someone who is capable of feeding others. My wife would say it like this: Just as a woman matures and becomes equipped to nurse a baby into maturity; you mature as a follower of Christ and become equipped to nurse new Christians into maturity.

Unfortunately, what I see happening in numerous churches, is that pastors are content to preach to the “lowest common denominator.” They decide to preach a sermon so someone who has never heard the Gospel will understand. While I commend their desire for others to hear the Gospel; and on the surface there is nothing wrong with this method; sadly, there are some larger issues with this approach.

A MALNOURISHED CHURCH

First, it disregards the majority of the congregation that has already heard the Gospel and accepted Jesus as Savior. This style of preaching fails to feed the portion of the congregation who need to be consuming the deeper truths of God. As a result, we continue to feed milk to Christians who should have graduated to spiritual meat. While it is important to be routinely reminded of the fundamental truths of the Gospel, a steady diet of just milk is how we have 30-year Christians who never grow past the fundamental elements of being a follower of Jesus. It is also how congregations sit in their church seats, malnourished yet content, with only showing up on Sunday mornings. They never or rarely engage their faith outside the church.

Secondly, it dismisses the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches us “when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…” (John 16:13) It also says, of the Holy Spirit, “And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment…” (John 16:8) In telling us this, Jesus is saying that we can trust that the Holy Spirit is right and good to reveal the truth of the Gospel message. The Gospel message is already quite simple, in and of itself. When we attempt to preach the Gospel “down” we depend on ourselves, rather than trusting the Holy Spirit, to bring people to Christ.

GOD’S GIFT TO THE CHURCH

So what do we do about this? The Bible tells us that one of the reasons that God, “gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds (pastors) and teachers” was “to equip the saints for the work of ministry…” (Eph 4:11-12) And what is this work of ministry? According to Paul in 2 Cor 5:18 God “gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” He “entrust[ed] to us the message of reconciliation” and made us “ambassadors for Christ.” He did this so that we could fulfill the commission that Jesus gave us to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Again, I’m not saying that pastors are not focused on this or not intentioned on leading their congregation down this path. However, the vast numbers of Christians who feel ill prepared and unsure about how to share the Gospel, is an indication that they are not being equipped to do the work of the ministry of reconciliation.

TEACHING OR TAUGHT

What would happen if our church leaders focused on maturing and graduating the “already Christians” to consuming spiritual meat? What would church look like, if rather than using Sunday as a platform for evangelism, we saw a shift toward preaching and teaching people that already know Christ? How would our communities change if pastors trusted the Holy Spirit to lead believers in the pews into all truth, and trusted their congregants to bring the message of reconciliation to a lost world? It is exciting and life-giving to find a church where leaders feed the saints spiritual meat, to mature them and equip them to make disciples that they can nurse, with spiritual milk, into maturity. I am concerned this is more the exception than the rule.

LEARNING TO EAT

Sadly I think the admonishment in Hebrews 5:12-14 still applies today:

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Perhaps those of us who are consuming spiritual meat, will consider encouraging our teaching elders in moving past the spiritual milk. Begin first by praying for the leaders in your church, to be led by the Holy Spirit in this concern, and then reach out to encourage and discuss as the Spirit prepares the right time.

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photo credit: kidsinministry.org

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