SPF 126: Lest We Drift - Can We Backslide? How Do We Grow?
Spiritual dullness affects all Christians at some point. Some symptoms are wanting to hear what we want to hear, coming to the Word with our own presuppositions on how things should be and being wooed by the world - we must pay careful attention lest we drift away.
Spiritual dullness affects all Christians at some point. Some symptoms are wanting to hear what we want to hear, coming to the Word with our own presuppositions on how things should be and being wooed by the world - we must pay careful attention lest we drift away.
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Lest We Drift
We can be dull and dim in our understanding even as Christians.
No one is stagnant.
We grow or regress.
We move forward or backward.
We are being softened or hardened.
In Mark 8 Jesus wants to urge His disciples on to spiritual maturity.
Mark 8:17-21
slow to understand because we. . .
hear what we want to hear
let presuppositions and preconceived ideas affect the Truth of what Jesus says
not receptive to spiritual teaching
no capacity to receive teaching when we are dull of hearing
We need spiritually maturity
God has not called us to remain infants in the faith. We are called to spiritually mature but if we are dull to hear becoming slow to understand, we remain in this infant state.
Hebrews 5 and 6 gives warning and instruction with this . . .
loosing confidence and hope
drifting away
neglecting a great salvation
Insensitive to God
Staying infants in our faith
becoming influenced by the world and it’s offerings
getting off track about the true mission of God
The opposite of dull is growth, it’s progress, it’s moving forward, it’s a soft soil in the heart that drinks the rain and is fruitful and receives blessing. The growing life is a blessed life.
Spiritual Growth looks like:
God has a way He wants to be worshipped and we worship in that way.
Cultivating Understanding 1 Cor 14:20
We long to become more like Christ instead of more like a perfect version of ourselves or a worldly standard
We grow by overcoming temptation
I think if we’ve become dull, we need to stop and carefully examine the occasion of our decline. Why is are my ears dull of hearing? Why is my heart hard?
Resources
Check out these sermons and articles on the topic of “dull” from Monergism (including sermon by Lawson and Piper): https://www.monergism.com/search?keywords=dull&format=All
(amazon links are affiliate links)
By ESV Bibles by Crossway
ESV Journaling Bible (Cloth over Board, Flowers)
By ESV Bibles by Crossway
By R. C. Sproul
Reformation Study Bible (2015) ESV, Crimson Hardcover
By Reformation Trust Publishing