The Warning Against Stagnation

There is no such thing as spiritual neutrality. In the Christian life, you are either actively pressing forward into maturity, or you are slowly drifting backward. As Pastor Steve warned using the analogy of a car without brakes on a hill, you might feel like you are just pausing, but gravity guarantees you will soon be rolling backward. In Hebrews 6, the author issues one of the most chilling warnings in the entire New Testament. Having just rebuked his audience for being "dull of hearing" and subsisting entirely on the spiritual milk of infancy, he now demands that they leave the elementary principles and press on to maturity.

He warns that those who have been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and who have partaken of the Holy Spirit, yet fall away, cannot be renewed to repentance. While theologians have debated this passage for centuries, the pastoral application is crystal clear: Do not flirt with apostasy. Do not rely on past religious rituals, and do not hover safely on the edge of commitment. As Jesus warned us in Matthew 12:30 “30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.”