Somethings Changing
Hebrews 6:1-8
Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so.
The apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3:2, refers to the stages of maturity in two parts: drinking milk and eating meat. The age of the faith is not emphasized but rather the characteristics of the faith. Is it not wonderful how God "[knows] our frame" in Psalm 103:14; "he remembers that we are" but dust. He saw our frame secretly made in the innermost parts of the earth. From our inward to our outward parts, he knows us intimately. He who hung the world is concerned about you. He knows of what you are made. Believe me, it is not frogs, snails, puppy dog tails, sugar, spice, and nothing nice. He says we are made of dust. What happens to wet dust? It gets runny and forms clay. The God I serve can mold that together and make something beautiful from it. When he adds the fire and puts that clay inside the oven, it gets glazed leaving no visible traces of clay. It hardens into something else; under the right temperature and conditions we become vessels fit for the masters's use as in Romans 9:20. The teachings that make up Christian maturity are listed here. I know some mature Christians who are still hung up between the resurrection and the judgment. I find it funny that the stages of growth are not defined in the Scripture between mature and immature. Christ wants to get you to a place where he can teach you about himself. He cannot do this if he has to keep reminding you that he loves you and died on the cross for your sins. He wants to have a relationship with you like he had with Enoch. In Genesis 5:24, God came down and made his dwelling place with Enoch like in the old tabernacle; then, he walked with Enoch until the day he took him home. They could not find him because God had taken him. Let our lives be so close to God's that he can teach us the innermost things of his heart. He can be like the kingdom man of Matthew 13:52 who opened his house and brought out treasures old and new.
It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
God knows "who are his" in 2 Timothy 2:19. He will not lose one of them nor "shall any man pluck them out of" his hand as in John 10:28. Like the Shepherd with ninety-nine sheep and the one that went astray, does he not go after it as in Matthew 18:12? Unlike the human shepherds, God does not forsake the ninety-nine others who did not go their own way. This is who God is. After knowing his Spirit and his power, if you reject him there is no going back. 1 Peter 3:18 states that Christ died once for his people. This business of murdering Jesus every Sunday for communion and the forgiveness of your sins throughout the week is nonsense; it is like saying that he did not already die for your sins once. Such teaching is not of God. Nor is the text saying that he did not save you when he already did. Are you saying his grace was insufficient for your sinfulness or are you so important that he did not die for you? 2 Corinthians 12:9 says his "grace is sufficient" and his "power is made perfect." Anything else is an insult and frankly unscriptural.
Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.
The fruit of a life is as the fruit of the ground. A child of God will eventually act like him just as the devil's children also act like him. Sometimes it is hard to know the difference between actions without the Spirit of God. This is why he says in Matthew 13:30, let the two "grow together until the harvest" when he sends forth the reapers. Paul is not saying that we should not judge the difference between the two. Anyone can walk past a patch of thistles and call it a patch of thistles and the vineyard likewise. Christ has called us to not be fruit inspectors but rather grace inspectors. Like the prophet in Jeremiah 32:6-7 sent to buy the potters field that no one wanted, Christ sees the land that brings forth thorns and thistles and buys it for himself. The potter's field was the same place Judas bought from the money which betrayed Jesus in Matthew 27:7. They called it the field of blood in Acts 1:18-19 because Judas felt so badly after his betrayal that he hung himself. Was he truly saved? That was between him and God.
What is clear is that the devil had access to his life as a conduit for his will and for evil. When the devil left him, he found himself empty according to John 13:27. See the price of the devil. The potter's field surrounds the potter's house of Jeremiah 18:2. This is where God told the prophet to go and watch him dealing with his children just as the potter made his pots. The potter's field is now a place of blood. God will redeem that. He used Judas's evil deed to save the world. Those testing grounds are the hard places; they are places of cursing and trials in our lives also known as our burial places. Christ wants to buy those not to use them but to redeem them. He repurposes them for his use. If he buys them and still does not redeem it, he throws it for the judgement. Sometimes, he allows his children to be spanked as well so we do not have to be judged along with the world. What was once a place of cursing, testing, disappointment, and broken pots became the site of the mercy tree as Christ identified with his creation. The tree of betrayal and sacrifice gave place to the resurrection.