Hebrews 5:11–14    

¹¹ About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. ¹² 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, ¹³ for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

On May 7, 2002, one of the most memorable speeches ever delivered by an American was voiced to the public. It happened in a press interview. Here is how the speech went.

…we’re sitting here, and I’m supposed to be the franchise player, and we’re in here talking about practice. I mean, listen, we’re talking about practice. Not a game! Not a game! Not a game! We’re talking about practice. Not a game; not the game that I go out there and die for and play every game like it’s my last, not the game, we’re talking about practice, man. I mean, how silly is that? We’re talking about practice. I know I’m supposed to be there, I know I’m supposed to lead by example, I know that. And I’m not shoving it aside like it don’t mean anything. I know it’s important. I do. I honestly do. But we’re talking about practice, man. What are we talking about? Practice? We’re talking about practice, man! We’re talking about practice! We’re talking about practice…We ain’t talking about the game! We’re talking about practice, man! When you come to the arena, and you see me play…You see me play, don’t you?

That speech was delivered by Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers, and it has sense established itself as a revered moment in American pop culture. Iverson’s commitment to practice had been questioned. That is what gave rise to that speech. In it, he used the word “practice” 22 times. It was a memorable and fascinating moment, and one that many remember fondly.

Iverson’s point was that if he showed up in the games, why was he being asked about practice?

The writer of Hebrews, in Hebrews 5, said:

¹¹ About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. ¹² 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, ¹³ for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Today, we are talking about practice. About training. About growing. In what? in The Jesus Way, in the ways of Christ.

The Jesus Way challenge that we issued last week is this: In 2025—with every decision you face, in every relationship you have, toward every feeling and attitude that is within you, and over the overall direction of your life—will you make a deliberate, intentional decision to ask, “What is The Jesus Way in this situation?” and then live out The Jesus Way?

We live out of our nature, but our practice trains us for the specific fruits we produce.

There are two realities that we must understand: nature and practice. Our natures are either one of two possibilities:

• a lost, sinful nature
• a redeemed, regenerate nature

Consider the biblical picture of these two natures:

• We inherit a sinful nature by virtue of being born (Ephesians 2:3). We are given a redeemed nature by virtue of being born again through Jesus (Ephesians 2:4–5).
• Everybody is born with a fallen, sinful nature. Only those who trust in Christ are redeemed and regenerate and able to produce good fruit.
• It is the devil who tempts fallen nature to bad fruit. It is Christ, working through the Holy Spirit, who empowers us for good fruit.

That is the reality of human nature.

Then, out of our nature, our practice trains us for the specific fruits we produce.

We live out of who we are, and we produce the specific fruits—whether good or ill—that we train to produce. Jay Adams captures this well when he writes:

We were born sinners, but it took practice to develop our particular styles of sinning, the old life was disciplined toward ungodliness.[1]

Peter, in 2 Peter 2, writes of the lost:

¹⁴ They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!

“They have hearts [i.e., their nature] trained in greed [i.e., their practice].”

We live out of our nature, but our practice trains us for the specific fruits we produce.

Our nature. Our practice.

Who we are. What we do.

We live out of who we are.

When we were lost, we acted naturally as children of wrath. When we are born again, Christ does a work in us to sanctify us. Be we are not utterly passive in the act of sanctification. We are called upon to have the mind of Christ. We are called upon to die to our old selves. It is now Christ who lives in us (Galatians 2:20). But then we are called upon to live out of our regenerate, born again state and practice The Jesus Way.

Let us be very clear on this:

• Getting a new nature is a matter of justification, of being saved, of being born again, and there is nothing you can do to contribute to it. Christ alone is able to save us! That is justification.
• Our practice, empowered by the Holy Spirit, is something you walk in, you learn in, you follow Jesus in. That is sanctification.

You cannot practice your way into your justification. You do practice and learn in your sanctification.

Listen to Hebrews 5:

¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Did you hear that? Solid spiritual food is “for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

Trained by constant practice.

We are trained by constant practice.

This involves, through the Holy Spirit, striving to walk in the way of Jesus, asking, “What is The Jesus Way in this situation?” This involves the submission of the mind and will to what the Holy Spirit is wanting to do, and it involves intentionality in following Jesus.

Your Bible is not going to magically fall in your lap, open itself, and impress itself on your mind and heart. The Spirit is calling you to take it up, because the Spirit is within you…but you need to take it up! That is a practice!

You are not going to accidentally get on your knees every morning and thank God for a new day and cry out to Him! The Spirit is calling you to pray…but you need to pray!

We must be trained by constant practice.

Asking “What is the Jesus Way?” is one way of training.

The Christian is called to train in godliness.

This idea of training is prevalent in scripture.

In Titus 2, Paul writes:

⁴ and so train the young women to love their husbands and children

These young women are Christian young women. Yet they need to be taught and trained, as do we all. This is part of their sanctification. They are born again. Christ dwells within them. That is their justification. They need to be trained and grow. That is part of their sanctification. They need, in other words, to learn to walk in the way that the Spirit who indwells them wants them to walk. Paul does not assume that the Christian virtues just happen. The desire for them should be present, but the knowledge and equipping to live out the desires of the Spirit is part of our training. We need training and growth.

In 1 Timothy 4, Paul writes to Timothy to be faithful in preaching the truth to the church.

⁶ If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.

Timothy will be “trained in the words of the faith and of good doctrine that you have followed.” But this is conditional: “If you put these things before the brothers…” Meaning, if Timothy does not actually do what he knows he needs to do, he will miss the practice that trains him! It is in our practice of The Jesus Way that we are trained to walk in it.

One of the primary ways we practice and are trained, Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3, is through God’s Word.

¹⁶ All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Scripture is there to train us in righteousness. We read it. We memorize it. We pray it. It takes root more and more within us. Constant practice of the scriptures leads to our being trained and therefore our being “complete, equipped for every good work.”

In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul leans metaphorically into this idea of training by likening himself to a runner and a boxer.

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. ²⁵ Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. ²⁶ So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. ²⁷ But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Practice. Train. Reach. Read. Pray. Work.

These things do not save, but they are things that the saved do!

One aspect of our training is this: Asking, “What is The Jesus Way?”

It is Jesus who saves and trains us.

All of this may sound daunting, this talk of effort and practice and training and trying. But we must remember something very important: It is Jesus who trains us, Jesus who changes and transforms us, and Jesus who secures the victory.

In Titus 2, Paul writes:

¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, ¹² training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age

By “the grace of God has appeared,” Paul means that Jesus has come. Jesus is the grace of God who “has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.”

But notice what he says: “bringing salvation for all people, training us…”

This captures beautifully the realities of our justification and our sanctification, of our nature and our practice:

• “bringing salvation for all people” / justification, nature
• “training us…” / sanctification, practice

Here is how Jesus put it in Matthew 11:

²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Do you see?

• “Come to me…and I will give you rest.” / justification (salvation)
• “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me…” / sanctification

We come to Jesus and are born again. On the basis of our justification we are declared right, whole, complete, saved by the merits of Christ. When the Father looks at us, He sees the perfections of the Son!

But we are called over and over again in the New Testament to grow into our justification and to live out of our justification through training and practice. This is called sanctification.

But here is a major difference between being lost and being saved:

• When we were lost, we earned our condemnation. We were to blame.
• When are born again, it is Christ who earns our salvation. He is to be praised!

The victory is His! The glory is His! We strive and work, knowing that the victory has been run! We run, knowing that the race has been won.

Anybody who has seen Rocky II will remember one of the truly great inspirational moments in all of movie history. Adrian, Rocky’s wife, has just given birth. Rocky, at her bedside, says to her that he has been thinking about it and if she, Adrian, does not want him to fight Apollo Creed, to box again, he will find some other way to provide for her.

She looks at him from the hospital bed and says, “There’s one thing I want you to do.”

Rocky says, “What is it?”

She says, “Come here,” calling him to lean in closer.

He does so. She looks into his eyes and says, “Win.” Then that note of that inspirational song hits, that bell, and she repeats it, looking even deeper into his eyes, “Win.”

Then, behind Rocky, there in the hospital room, Mickey, his old trainer, yells out, “What are we waitin’ fer!”

And that leads to one of the great training montages in cinematic history, culminating in Rocky finally catching that chicken Mickey made him chase!

But there it is! Rocky needed the freedom to win, and Adrian gave it to him. And Rocky needed the means to win, and Mickey gave it to him through training.

The Christian life is lot like that, except for one crucial factor. Jesus calls us close and tells us to lean in. But Jesus does not say, “Win.” Jesus says, “I’ve won! I’VE won! It is finished.” (Salvation. Justification. Regeneration.) And then Jesus says, “What are you waitin’ fer! Follow me!” (Sanctification. Practice. Training.)

The Jesus Way.

Let us walk The Jesus Way. He has made it possible. He has shown the way. Let us walk The Jesus Way.

 

[1] Jay E. Adams.  Godliness through Discipline.  (Phillipsburg, NJ:  P&R Publishing, 1972), p. 7.