Part Time Christians

Introduction

Well, good morning. We have a full house this morning, and we’re thankful for your presence. And we have a lot of visitors here with us as well today, and we’re thankful to you for making the choice to come and worship God with us this morning. would have you know I am not the regular preacher. I am filling in this morning. and so don’t set your expectations by me. and I also want to thank Dean for doing a fine job leading us in song this morning. I’ve had the privilege of knowing Dean since college, and he’s talented and faithful servant of Christ and appreciate his efforts this morning. If you would be turning in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 5, and we’ll begin there this morning, Hebrews chapter 5.

Going to do something this morning that I’ve never done before, and that is preach without an outline. And that is not my choice. luckily I decided to go up PowerPoint today, so at least I’ve got something. So if stumble a little bit, it’s because this is you’ve you’ve got what I’ve got. So have you ever had a part-time job? Most of us have at some point or another. Maybe it was in high school or college, or maybe you know you’re just struggling to make ends meet, and you need to get a little something extra. Most of us have had a part-time job. And there’s some negatives to part-time jobs. a lot of it, at least in my opinion, is that it just seems like when you’re working a part-time job, it’s not really, it’s not really the priority in your life.

Because you’re only there some of the time. You don’t really get a whole lot out of it. You’re probably working bad hours, minimal hours for minimal pay. And so you’re not really fully devoted to that job. You don’t really maybe feel like as part as much a part of the company as those who are there all the time and maybe have better positions. You maybe feel like a second rate employee. And yet a lot of the time I think that’s how people view their relationship with God. That’s how a lot of people walk through life as a Christian. As just being a part-time Christian. They only spend some of their time. They don’t wholly devote themselves to that job, so to speak.

They never really mature. And because of that, because they only are looking at what is it giving to me? What am I getting out of this devotion? What am I getting out of the time that I’m putting in? And the fact is that because they’re not putting in that much time, they’re not getting much out of it. In Hebrews chapter 5, beginning in verse 12, the Hebrew writer says, 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 and 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.

1. Part-Time Christians Don't Do What They Ought to Do

The Hebrew writer tells us that God, not only maybe if you’re a part-time Christian, do you feel like maybe second rate? But that’s how God sees the part-time Christian too. Someone who is failing in their responsibility to mature. Someone who is, because they are really serving Satan, not going to inherit the kingdom of God. And there are three things this morning that I’m going to suggest to you that part-time part-time Christians do or do not do. And the first one of those things is that part-time Christians don’t do what they ought to do. In verse 12, there, the writer says again that part-time Christians, for though, for though by this time you ought to be teachers, and yet you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God.

You need milk and not solid food. These are people who had been Christians for a long time. He’s not talking to new Christians here. He’s not talking to babes in Christ. He’s talking to people who should have known better, who should have matured, who should have grown.

He says, You ought to have been teachers. You know, I’m reminded of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 1 through 3. First Corinthians chapter 3 and verses 1 through 3, when he says essentially the same thing. But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you’re not yet ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready. For you are still of the flesh. While there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? He addresses them as infants in Christ. Because though it had been some time since Paul had been there with the Corinthians, they had not progressed any further.

And he still had to address them in the same way that he had before, as infants. You see, our faith ought to be growing. It ought to be growing. It cannot be stagnant and it cannot remain the same. If you turn with me also over to 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 2. 1 Peter 2 and verse 2. Peter writes, like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may do what? You may grow up to salvation. If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. What is a Christian supposed to do? What is our responsibility as we daily walk the Christian walk? Is it to just stay the same all the time? No. The writers tell us that we are to grow, we are to mature, we are to long for pure spiritual milk.

He says that we are to long for this word of God that helps us to grow and to mature. Our faith ought to be growing. It cannot stay the same. You know, one of the amazing things about God’s plan and God’s creation is the way that He causes things to grow. The way that He brings forth life.

In the bringing forth of human life. And how babies as they’re conceived and they grow in their mother’s womb and they come into the world. And then for the first basically year of their life, they subsist on nothing but their mother’s milk. And the amazing thing about that milk is that it doesn’t stay the same. It’s different when they’re newborn, and then as they progress, it changes based on their needs. And then eventually they move on to solid food. You know, that’s what the Bible writers are telling us. Look, your needs as a Christian, they’re very different when you first become a Christian, and they change. As you progress, you need different things. Yes, you need that pure spiritual milk, but you also need to progress on to different things to getting into the meat of the word and maturing in your faith.

And then eventually going on and becoming teachers yourselves. We cannot stay on the milk of the word and remain infants. Part-time Christians don’t do what they ought to do. Also in Matthew chapter 18, verses 1 through 4. Matthew chapter 18, verses 1 through 4. At that time, the disciples came to Jesus saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. So great, okay, yes, we have to be children. Whoever humbles himself is like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So we start out at that point.

We have to re and we have to retain some sense of innocence. You understand? But we cannot stay in our maturity as children. And finally, God ought to be a priority in our lives. He has to take up some measure of our time. Over in Matthew chapter 10, this time in verses 37 through 39. Jesus says, whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For part-time Christians, God is not a priority. Part-time Christians love the world and the things in the world.

1 John chapter 2. Part-time Christians love their families more than Him. They love the world more than Him. They don’t take up their cross and follow Him. They put their own life first and seek to save it rather than to lose it for Christ.

How are we using our time? Part-time Christians don’t make God a priority in their lives.

2. Part-Time Christians Have a Poor Appetite

Back in Hebrews chapter 5. And of course, back in 1 Peter as well. We’re to long for that pure spiritual milk. But in Hebrews chapter 5, the latter part of verse 12, you need milk and not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child. Part-time Christians don’t care about that. They don’t care about coming to the assemblies and listening to the word of God preached. You don’t care about reading God’s word and studying it when they’re at home or going to other Bible studies that might be happening as part of the local Christians that they worship with. Part-time Christians are dull of hearing. Verse 11, if you back up in that passage about this, we have much to say, and it is hard to explain why.

Why is it hard, Hebrew writer, to get through to these people? Because you have become dull of hearing.

People who aren’t maturing in Christ are the kind of people who don’t really want to, they don’t really want to. They don’t want to listen to what God’s Word has to say. They don’t want to listen to what their elders have to say or what their preacher has to say, or what their any other spiritual mentor they might have. They don’t want to listen to that. They don’t want to hear it.

Because what I’m doing is right, and it makes me happy, or I’m happy in the situation that I’m in. You know, these kinds of things we’re warned about in multiple places, Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 10, and Jesus, of course, echoes that sentiment in Matthew chapter 13.

In verse 15.

Backing up to verse 14, quoting Isaiah chapter 6, he says, You will indeed hear but never understand. You will indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull. With their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them. The people in Jesus’ day, their hearts had grown dull because they were so caught up in doing just enough to get by. They were so caught up in their traditions. And yet the true heart of the matter, the true heart that God wanted them to have in their worship and in their religion was completely gone. And they didn’t want to hear anything else.

If they had ears that were willing to hear, they would have turned and been healed, Jesus said. We must have an appetite for the word of God to hear it proclaimed to us and to change our lives accordingly. We must understand Jesus’ teaching. Over in Matthew chapter 13. And verses 14 through 17. Matthew chapter 13, verses 14 through 17. Again, he goes on to say, but blessed in verse 16 are your eyes, for they see, and your ears for they hear. Truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people long to see what you see and did not see it. And to hear what you hear and did not hear it. We are so blessed as Christians today to have the full complement of God’s word.

To learn from. They didn’t have that. And yet we do. How egregious it would be to not take advantage of the word of God that has been given to us. We must long for that word. Part-time Christians are stuck on the milk. But we must be maturing. If you turn back again to Hebrews chapter 5 and continue on in that passage.

Continuing on in verse 6 and verse or chapter 6 and verse 1. Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity. Not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and a faith toward God and of instruction about washings, laying on of hands, the resurrection of dead and eternal judgment. You see, the writer is telling them, yes, okay, you learned these things, and those things are very important. These are the elementary principles. This is the foundation, the very foundation of your faith. You must believe this. But it shouldn’t be necessary to go back and lay that groundwork again to someone who ought to have been maturing. Yes, these things are important. The laying on of hand, the resurrection of the dead, these basic tenets of faith, repentance, baptism, the resurrection of Christ.

But we have to go on from those things. Ephesians 4 and verse 13 says that until we all attain the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, we must continue working until we to in order to attain that unity of the faith, we must continue working towards maturity.

You know, at camp, we sing a s we have a bunch of silly camp songs. And one of those songs is a song called Bubba. You may have heard of it. It’s very familiar to some of our young people. And in that song, it talks about Bubba. And one of the verses says that Bubba was trying to make biscuits. Bubba was trying to make bread. And yet, and then it goes on to say, but Bubba didn’t make any biscuits or bread. He burned down the house instead. And then it goes on to say that Bubba brought home his report card. Mommy and Daddy were pleased. Bubba is now in the third grade. And Bubba is only 33. And we laugh at that and we think it’s funny because it is.

And that’s really funny if it were true in the literal sense. Not so funny when we’re talking about our Christian life. And yet that’s where a lot of people are. They had the intellectual and spiritual maturity, though they’ve been a Christian for 30 years of a third grader, a nine-year-old.

Brethren, that just can’t be so. We have to get out of elementary school. We have to mature beyond that. We have to get past that. It’s not funny. You know, people just think, no big deal if I don’t know anything about the word of God. Because, you know, I’ll just write it on the coattails of whoever else. Or, you know, I go to the right church, and so it just, I don’t have to know those things. We talked a lot in Bible class this morning about the importance of knowing Scripture. Because why? Because we can be so easily deceived. There is a lot of religious deception out there, and if we are not maturing in the Word of God, then we’re going to fall right along with that deception.

We’re going to follow whatever wind of doctrine comes about.

3. Part-Time Christians Give Part-Time Devotion to Christ

Part time Christians have a poor appetite. They do not mature. They do not ever get out of elementary school. They never graduate. Those who are truly mature in the faith will tell you that you never stop studying. You never stop learning. You can never be content with where you are. Finally, part-time Christians give part-time devotion to Christ. You know, we should not be ashamed of our faith. We should not be ashamed of who we are. We should not be ashamed to tell and proclaim Christ to others.

Paul urged Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 8 and verse 12 to not be ashamed of his faith. He says, Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. In verse 12. Which is why I suffer as I do. Paul says, but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed. And I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day, which is what has been entrusted to me. And again, in chapter 2 and verse 15, he warns him do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed.

Rightly handling the word of truth. How important was it to Paul that Timothy not be ashamed of the gospel? Important enough that he said it three times.

How do you rightly handle the word of truth unless you study it? Unless you give full devotion to it. If we are working, a worker who is constantly pressing on to maturity, we have no need to be ashamed. And yet Satan wants us to be part time. That’s part of the way that he goes about deceiving us. It’s by not devoting our time wholly to him. A couple other verses, James chapter 4 and verse 8, tells us that we ought to draw near to God, and he will draw near to us. But Satan doesn’t want us to do that. He wants us to draw near to himself. Because if we’re if we or even just to stay where we are. Because if we are staying where we are, if we’re tending towards Satan, we’re not drawing near to God.

Who are you giving your devotion to? Who are you giving your time to? You know, and it’s not just about being here. What are we doing with the rest of our time? What are we doing on the weekends? Are we spending it with other Christians? Are we just sitting around doing nothing? Or are we spending it with people of the world? How are we using our time? Satan wants us to be part-time in our devotion to him. But we must give our whole hearts to God. A lot of times I think we lose sight of what our true purpose in life is. But Paul tells us over in Ephesians chapter 1 what that true purpose is. He says in 1 4 and 5, that even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

In love, he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved.

What was God’s will for us? He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. And what is that saying? You know, and again, we touched on that a little bit in Bible class as well. He’s not saying that God picked and chose who was going to be saved and who wasn’t, and just plucks us out no matter what we do, and we have no will of our own to either serve God or serve Satan. What he’s saying is that if we are living according to the will of Christ, if we are walking down that predetermined path, then our destiny has been predetermined. We are going to be adopted. We are going to be his people. Our purpose in life is to glorify him according to his will.

Also, over in 1 Peter chapter 4, this sentiment is echoed. 1 Peter chapter 4 and beginning in verse 11, or rather, verse 12. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you’re insulted in the name for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. And if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed. There’s that phrase again. But let him glorify God in that name.

For it’s time for judgment to begin at the household of God. And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? Therefore, let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. Those are some pretty serious words. Talking about the judgment and saying that it’s going to start with us. And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and a sinner? A lot of time, I think what I see in people is that they just want to do the absolute minimum. And that was that was totally mean.

Growing up and going to school. Because things were usually pretty easy. I knew what I had to do to get by, and so I just do that, and teachers would be like, aren’t you doing better than it? Why aren’t you doing more? Aren’t you going above and beyond? Well, because I can do this and get an A. I just wanted to get by. Just do the minimum. Because that was easy. And I think we get our views distorted of what God’s minimum is. If we’re just trying to do the minimum, are we truly giving our whole hearts to him? Are we? What is that minimum? I mean, is it just not being bad? Or is it going on in as he’s as Peter says there in verse 19 entrusting our souls to a faithful creator while doing good?

God in American religious society today has become. And I saw an article on this the other day, and I thought it was good. That American religion today is now something, it’s not Christianity. It’s something called moralistic therapeutic deism. It’s this general belief in a God, you know, and that God is good and that good people go to heaven when they die. And whenever I need something, I’ll just ask God and He’ll step in and He’ll help me out and He’ll just make me feel good. you know, no matter what I’m doing. It’s about what is it doing for me? How does it make me feel? And yet that’s not the God that is presented in the Bible. That’s not the God of Christianity. The God of the Bible is one that doesn’t he doesn’t serve me.

I’m supposed to serve him. And when people fall away today, I see it because, well, they’re they just they lose their faith because they don’t see what God is doing for them. They don’t get anything out of worship. They feel that, oh, well, I’m just not getting anything out of it. Why do you think that is? It’s because you’re not putting anything into it. You’re you’re expecting God to do everything when the truth of the matter is that we as Christians are supposed to do everything for Him. You get out what you put in. Part-time Christians give part-time devotion to Christ. Half-hearted. Slacking.

Conclusion

Which one are you? Some things we can do to better ourselves, brother.

We can start our day in his word. We can end our day in his word. We can progress throughout our day in his word. We can start our day in prayer. Progress throughout our day in prayer. End our day in prayer. We can spend our time, not just on Sundays in the assembly with other Christians, but all the time. You know, when we lived in Germany, I don’t think there was ever hardly a day that went by. I’m serious. I’m not saying weekends. I’m saying hardly a day that went by. That we didn’t see or do something with other members of the Lord’s church there.

And I know that’s not American society and the way our cities are built and everything is not conducive to that, and we, you know, we can run that raggedy and we do. But maybe that’s not as good of an excuse as we want it to be.

Brethren, we the church is a beautiful thing because it’s it’s built to strengthen its members. But in order to do that, we have to make that effort to know one another, to be together. And I’m guilty of that just as much as the next person. We all need to do a better job of knowing one another. Part of serving God, part of serving Christ is serving one another. And it starts here, and if we don’t serve one another in this body of Christ, then how are we going to serve people around us in the community? By bringing the gospel to them, if they don’t know who we are. If they can’t look at us and say beyond the shadow of a doubt, that person’s different. That person is a Christian because of the way that they live their life.

If we’re only giving part-time devotion to him, we’re not any different than anybody else in the world.

Let’s give our hearts to him. Let’s devote ourselves to Christ. And if we do that, then we stand a chance of making it through this world, of not being dragged down by the deception of the devil and finding an eternal home in heaven. Jesus died for your sins. And he died for mine. He shed his blood on the cross. And we remembered that this morning when we took the Lord’s Supper.

Be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. We have water right here. And we can do that. If there’s anyone that needs anything at all, we’d be happy to pray for you. What we need for each of you to do, and maybe it’s something you just make a decision in your mind this morning. You don’t have to come forward, but make that decision to not be a part-time Christian anymore. But to give full devotion to Christ. If there’s anything we can do, why don’t you come now as we stand and sing?