HEBREWS 5:11 - 6:2

MATURE.......................................or ELEMENTARY??
MEAT.......................................................or MILK??




I love the Bible! To me, it is so alive, so credible, so relevant to life and to today's issues that, even though it was penned thousands of years ago, it is a document as current and up-to-date as today's newspaper or cable TV news station. To me, it is a trustworthy account of God's purposes and actions in dealing with His creation and His people on this earth. In the Bible, I see wisdom and insights, and a story so vast and big and true; one that responds to the biggest questions and deepest longings of humanity that cannot be found anywhere else. The way the Bible is so contemporary, so revealing, so substantive and timeless, and especially how it unfolds the saving plan of God, it clearly demonstrates to me why Christianity is, in the words of C.S. Lewis, "the myth that is true!" Why Christianity is the best, most authentic and credible religion in our world! There is power in this Word of God. There is truth, and relevance, and challenge, and richness that is absolutely thrilling. To me, Scripture is a "pearl of great price," just like the Kingdom of Heaven mentioned in Matthew 13:45-46.

I was reminded of all this again recently one morning, as I was pressing on diligently with my "read through the Bible in a year" program. This is my eighth or ninth year of doing this, so I am engaging Scripture--all of it--quite regularly and completely. You would think that by now, after 55 years of reading the Bible, there wouldn’t be anything left to surprise me, anything that I wouldn't have heard before, or that would be new and fresh.

You would be wrong!

Which is exactly why the Bible seems to prove the truth and validity of itself, over and over again: it always has something startling, something deeper and richer, something enlivening that speaks to us in our very lives today. If, as Jesus said, we have "ears to hear..."

Here's what I read, from Hebrews 5:11-6:2:

"We have much to say about this (referring to the previous verses describing Jesus as the Great High Priest) but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 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. THEREFORE (emphasis mine) let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment."

What was it about these verses that hit me up side the head like never before? Again, because of some things that come right out of life today, here at home in Hilmar.

Scripture has been a hot topic in our congregation lately. It is in our denomination too--in fact, the theme of the Evangelical Covenant Church this year is "The Centrality of the Written Word of God." Recently, there have been some doubts and questions raised about how the Bible is viewed and used by leadership in our church. Disagreements about how Scripture verses have been interpreted and handled in sermons have arisen. Comments like "just preach the Word" or "give me the simple Word of God" or "I want it straight from the Bible" have been expressed. However, when people ask for clarification because they don’t exactly understand what is meant by these concerns, the explanations still seem murky and unclear.

As I've tried to get a grip on what is underlying these concerns and reactions, several impressions have come to mind:
--people just want to hear the words of the Bible--the actual written words of Scripture--proclaimed in the sermon, as the sermon...
--people just want to hear Scripture spoken in the way they've always heard it spoken; sort of a "Bible-ese" language...
--people want to hear certain familiar phrases and concepts over and over, regularly, even at the expense of neglecting other important biblical ideas, concepts, truths...
--people want more verse-by-verse sermons, with the pastor simply re-phrasing or amplifying the words, verse-by-verse...
--people are apprehensive about Scripture presented in a way they have never heard before, because they think this is being too liberal, too non-literal, with the Word of God...
--there are people in our church who ascribe to the inerrancy of Scripture, a biblical and theological perspective that has never been a tenet of the Evangelical Covenant Church (although individual Covenanters have held to this belief). So when verses are presented in ways that don't ring true to the way these people have always heard them and assumed them to be understood, red warning flags go up in their minds...

With these musings rumbling around in my head, it's no wonder that the verses from Hebrews hit me so strongly, and in such a new and different way. What did I hear the Word of God speaking to me in the midst of all this?

It got me thinking about evangelical Christians, especially those of us who made a decision for Christ a long time ago. It got me thinking about how we have historically handled Scripture and how we have organized our lives to be faithful followers of Christ. Many of us have been Christians for practically all of our lives. We have been attending church regularly, been involved in Sunday School, Confirmation, Bible studies, small groups, have read books about Scripture, read commentaries on Scripture, and kept up with current scholarship on Scripture (through Christianity Today, World Magazine, Covenant Companion, and other periodicals). We have been to conferences (Promise Keepers, Covenant Women Triennial, various evangelistic crusades like Luis Palau and Harvest Festivals) and have attended special series where the Bible is foundational to the speakers' presentations (most recently for us in Hilmar, meetings with Soong Chan Rah and Judy Howard Peterson). We have been surrounded by Scripture, immersed in Scripture, we have lived and breathed Scripture, and absorbed Scripture for years.


With all of this background and familiarity with Scripture, we should be confident that we are some of the most mature, astute, keen and knowledgable biblical Christians to be found anywhere! People of the Word, healthy and firmly grounded in Scripture! “No longer infants tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.” (Ephesians 4:14) We are people “who correctly handle the word of truth” (or as it says in the King James, “rightly dividing the word of truth.”). (II Timothy 2:15) Or as it says in the Hebrews passage: "acquainted with the teaching about righteousness...solid food for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."

I wonder then: what keeps us from allowing Scripture to speak larger than “just the simple Word of God?” Why does there seem to be resistance to delving into the Bible in a more profound way? Why is there apprehension or reaction to mining the meatier, more mature offerings and applications and implications that the Bible offers those who are willing to dig for these rich and rewarding realities? By this, I don’t mean a more scholarly, academic, skeptical, relativistic approach either. I’m talking about pulling from the Holy Scriptures things that connect to and inform our lives, our culture, and our world today that are not always literally offered in the words printed in the pages of the Bible; things that demand more rigorous, holistic understandings. For example, how the meanings of “gospel” and “salvation,” “evangelism” and “worship” and “mission” are much bigger, broader, more vast than the customary definitions and understandings that we Christians--and especially we evangelicals--have usually ascribed to them. Take salvation: it is about much more than just going to heaven or being saved. It includes this, but it also has to do with the present; with the realities of life today. In the words of Isaiah, also quoted by our Savior, Jesus, salvation includes preaching good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind, release for the oppressed, and proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor. Salvation is practical, relevant, here-and-now as well as about our eternal existence in heaven. We must remember and trust that the Holy Spirit is alive and at work today, ready to inform our hearts and minds with new implications and meanings of timeless truths that connect those truths to life as it is being lived today. Because the Holy Scriptures are able to do this, it is clear that the Bible is authoritative, relevant, and the written source for growing in our Christian faith.

But there seems to be a desire by some evangelicals to just want to stay with the familiar, comfortable, customary ways of reading Scripture and how it is to be applied to our lives. Phrases like “the simple Word of God” or “just preach the Word” or “let’s get back to the basics” indicate to me a reluctance, or even an aversion, to stepping out, digging deeper, and seeking fresh interpretations and applications of Scripture for this new time. In some ways, the words from Paul in I Corinthians 3:1-2 seem descriptive of where some of us are regarding the Bible: “Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.”


Not ready for it? Hmmm... Could this passage be speaking to evangelicals today?

However, I do not believe the last part of verse 2 needs to be descriptive of evangelicals--and of us here at Hilmar Covenant: “Indeed, you are still not ready.” NO! Regarding Scripture, we are MORE than ready! Ready for “solid food,” ready for “strong meat” (KJV), ready to “correctly handle the word of truth!” We are mature, for we have “by constant use...trained (our)selves to distinguish good from evil.” Perhaps we have not felt confident about our knowledge, understanding, and application of Scripture and so we have been reluctant to fully engage it as seasoned, grown-up men and women of God. If this is how any of us feel though, it is time to stop talking, thinking, and reasoning as children and become adults (biblically speaking), putting childish ways behind us (see I Corinthians 13:11). As we do this--as we embrace Scripture more openly, more reflectively, seeking its instruction and purposes for the issues and dynamics of our day--our faith will be refreshed, our daily life with Christ will be renewed, and the integration of our beliefs and actions will be re-energized. We will see the Kingdom of God with new eyes, and God’s purposes with new vision. Biblical truth and Scriptural relevance will be heightened and the freedom in Christ that will result in us will be infectious, drawing other people to Him through the refreshing ways we talk and act and relate. This would certainly cast evangelicals in a new light, compared to how we are mostly viewed by our society today: as a political force!

Is it possible, then, for us to do as the writer to the Hebrews admonishes? “Let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment." Can we trust that we have, indeed, so absorbed and practiced and assimilated the elementary teachings about Christ into our very lives that we can go on to true maturity? To new, unknown, weightier matters and instruction that can only be grasped because we have the elementary matters of biblical faith so well in hand? What would the difference be in our worship, our study, our prayer, our relationships, our lifestyles, our behavior day-to-day in the places we live and work and interact with others, our conversations, our priorities? I think it’s exciting to ponder! To move beyond the basics of faith, the clichés that we evangelicals so comfortably use and assume, and the presuppositions we hold that filter how we read and hear Scripture, on to fresh, relevant expressions of biblical truth and to uncluttered assumptions of what a text means. Sort of like going to a spiritual eye doctor and getting a new set of spiritual lenses in our Christian glasses, so we can see our faith, our sacred texts, and our world with clearer, truer vision.


“But what about unbelievers?” you might be anxiously asking. “And new Christians--what about them? They need the elementary teachings of Jesus--we have to give them milk, not meat!” This is, of course, quite appropriate. As I’ve quoted several times from Scripture, spiritual milk IS necessary for those who take the step of faith and come to Jesus. The solid food from Scripture comes later. This is exactly the point though: appropriate food for appropriate spiritual maturity. But WE have strong teeth that are ready to chew on more substantial, solid biblical food! Milk does not require teeth at all. Milk is simple, basic food that slides down easily. It is not complex and is easily digested. It is essential for growth, yes, and for building strong bones and teeth but it is the food of newborns and young children. Milk is like the elementary teachings about Christ. But we who are mature are to move on to something more! Meat requires strong, healthy teeth for eating; teeth that can grind and chew, taking in large bites of food and breaking it down so it can be swallowed. It takes more time and care to consume. Meat is much more complex and it takes longer to digest and assimilate. Meat is like the deeper implications that Scripture offers mature believers, implications which activate and demand thoughtful reflection and application of biblical truth to the complexities we face in our lives today. I believe that many of us at Hilmar Covenant want to chew on the richer biblical fare that is present in Scripture and to taste the amazing array of delicacies that God has for us. To push the food analogy even further, there is a fabulous banquet table just waiting for us to enjoy in the full, diverse, multi-faceted, living Word of God.


Bon appétit!

Last Sunday, September 28, the Hilmar Covenant Church choir went on a mini-mission trip. We headed over to Pittsburg to Edgewater Covenant Church, the new church plant that our congregation is helping to start with money from our “Building For Christ” loan.

This is a great policy that the Covenant has put in place: when a church takes out a building loan from National Covenant Properties, 5% of it must go to assist the planting of new churches in that Covenant conference. In this way, established churches are helping to daughter churches, more opportunities are made available to plant new churches, and the Kingdom is expanded. Hilmar Covenant first partnered with Life Covenant Church in Torrance, California when they organized five years ago. This congregation has already daughtered two churches of its own! Now the last of our building fund money is going to help Edgewater Covenant get started.

Edgewater’s pastor, John Fanous, came to Hilmar last winter and preached one Sunday so we could get to know him and about this new group that is excited about starting a new church in Pittsburg. At the Pacific Southwest Conference annual meeting in April, Bruce and I also met John’s wife, Becky, and we had more time to share together and learn about the vision that Edgewater has to impact its community for Christ. All four of us experienced a special moment when we were called forward at the meeting to receive a plaque and be recognized for starting this new church--and for supporting it. As we talked together, I suggested that we bring people from Hilmar over to Pittsburg to help them out in some way, and to get to know this young congregation better. In August, a group of us provided child care for Edgewater, which gave their regular child care team a rare chance to be in worship on Sunday morning! They were very appreciative.

Then last Sunday, the HCC choir finally made it to Edgewater to sing for their morning service. We tried to do this earlier in the summer, but we couldn’t get the dates to work out properly. However, September turned out to be a better time for the choir to go because we were able to be part of their six week grand opening “Celebration” time, when Edgewater is officially launching as a church.

We got up early so we could leave from the HCC parking lot at 7:15 a.m. We brought coffee and food to eat on the road, and off we went on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning. The trip to Pittsburg takes more than an hour and a half, so we had plenty of time to talk, laugh, discuss issues, and just enjoy our friendship as choir members. The route took us past farm land, orchards, over the Altamont Pass, and through the rolling golden barren hills north of Interstate 580 to the Rt. 4 bypass that brought us to Edgewater’s meeting place: Stoneman Elementary School. We unloaded everything from the vans and went inside, where we were warmly greeted---and promptly joined Pastor John and the leadership group in prayer for the service that morning.

It was wonderful to see this commitment to start off the service--even before the congregation had arrived--with prayer. Then our group started rehearsing with the Edgewater worship team, led for the first time by newly ordained Covenant pastor, Amy Mark.

She had asked us to help lead the congregational songs, so we joined in on the very familiar “Come, Now Is The Time To Worship” and “Joyful Joyful, We Adore Thee” (with the not-so-familiar added chorus by Charlie Hall). People continued to arrive, so we had only a few minutes to warm up on our anthems for the morning. At 9:45, worship began.

There’s something amazing and powerful about a brand new “baby” church, so young and fresh, excited, vulnerable, and so full of anticipation. Why do people decide to come into this environment? What draws them? Who are they? I think they are very brave! It is no easy thing walking into any new group or organization--especially a “religious” gathering. People who come into such a setting do not have a history together, so they are obviously willing to risk being uncomfortable--especially to enter into new expressions of worship. By choosing to attend a new church group, they are obviously searching for something too; something that a fresh young congregation can offer without the habits, behaviors, and attitudes that so often define churches that have been around for awhile. Edgewater describes itself as “a new multi-ethnic church...designed to be a safe place to help you on your spiritual journey.” I was pleased to see the diversity that is already present in Edgewater too, both ethnically and age-wise. There were Anglos, Hispanics, and Asians, older people, young people, families, and children, whom John asked to come forward to be prayed for before sending them off to their Sunday School classes, acknowledging that “these are the future of Edgewater!”

The service had an informal, yet focused feeling about it; of people glad to be together in worship and expecting to meet God there through all the actions of worship. John’s preaching series during this “Celebration” time is quite interesting too: Song of Solomon! When is the last time you heard this Old Testament wisdom book preached?! He is calling this series “Sacred Romance” and it is centered on relationships: relations between wives and husbands and between people and God.

This was the setting that the choir came into as we joined Edgewater Covenant in worship last Sunday. For our anthems, we chose what is probably our “signature” song, “Come Build A Church,” so appropriate for a new church congregation with the lyrics, “Come build a church of flesh and bone; we need no tower rising skyward, no house of wood or glass or stone.” For this is exactly what a brand new church is all about: people, not buildings!

We also sang the delightful, celebrative, traditional Zulu song, “We Are Singing.” We use an original percussion and mallet accompaniment track created by Chris Handy, which gives it an authentic African flavor. We also move between English and Zulu as we sing, adding handclaps as the song progresses, so it was also a very fitting song to share with Edgewater. They really appreciated it too. As the choir was singing through the piece, I noticed more smiles than usual and more of them letting go of their folders and just singing from memory, clapping and even moving to the beat. It sure made it more fun to direct! When we finished, in the midst of tremendous applause, Penny Forgnone quickly said to me: “Dan, turn around!” When I did, I saw that almost the entire congregation was on its feet! As the anthem progressed more and more of them had gotten up, joining in the clapping and freely moving with us--something you would never see in our church at home!

Finally, at the end of the service, there was a time for the congregation to consider how they can serve others as well. This was wonderful to see too: that a brand new church is building into its identity and purpose and DNA the vital component of action when it comes to following Jesus. This body of Christ in Pittsburg is already clear that being a Christian is more than focusing on getting people saved--important as that is (and indeed, Edgewater has already seen new believers come to Christ). It is also about living out that relationship with Christ in practical ways, impacting people’s lives tangibly and meaningfully. And what has Edgewater decided should be their focus? Stoneman Elementary School--the place where they meet to worship each week! Pastor John said he had asked the school what it needed most, and how Edgewater could best help out. The quick answer was school supplies! Following the service that morning, tables were set up with all kinds of brand new left-over school items from a local Target store that people could purchase for the various grades. Also, for those who wanted a more active kind of service opportunity, people could sign up to work on Saturday with the school janitor and grounds people to clean up the school, inside and out. John said the school had experienced some lay-offs because of budget cutbacks and so Edgewater’s help in these areas would be much appreciated too.

Yes, Sunday at Edgewater Covenant was a great experience for us who went from Hilmar Covenant. Coming from an older, established, 106 year old congregation full of traditions, patterns, understandings, and expectations, it was refreshing and FUN to see, experience, and participate in such a new, unusual setting and spirit. It was a valuable taste of the bigger Church of Jesus Christ and I know we all appreciated it. I called the day a “mini-mission trip” because that was what it was like for us who went and participated in this very different church environment: we left our familiar setting to enter a foreign one. And like most mission trips, we who went probably learned more and were blessed far more than the people we went to inspire and help.

Isn’t that just like God? His economy is so upside down from ours!

Think of the Incarnation......

Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to participate in what You are doing, here in Hilmar, over in Pittsburg, and around the world!

Rehearsing our anthems before worship started.


Amy Mark and the Edgewater worship team.



The congregation worshiping with the opening songs.


Our choir joined the worship team in leading the music.

Leading the congregational songs.


Singing our two anthems.


Pastor John had Pastor Dean Honnette from Hope Center Covenant and me from Hilmar Covenant come forward to receive a special "thank you" for our part in helping to plant Edgewater Covenant Church.