Being Brought on to Maturity by Being Brought into the Word of Righteousness

In the book of Hebrews we see how Paul is burdened to bring the Hebrew believers out of the initial stage of salvation and on to maturity (see Heb. 5:11-6:5).

The Hebrew believers were in a “kindergarten stage” in their growth in life, focusing mainly on the Lord’s earthly ministry, and they needed to be brought on to maturity by hearing and being brought into the word of righteousness concerning Christ’s heavenly ministry.

We also need to be brought on to maturity by being brought into the word of righteousness concerning Christ’s heavenly ministry and the way of God’s economy. We need to advance from feeding on milk to feeding on solid food, the word of righteousness which embodies the thought of God’s justice and righteousness and His governmental dealings with people.

It is easy to receive, digest, and understand the gospel of grace, the word of love, the gospel of peace, and even the gospel of the jubilee, but it takes sufficient growth in life and even a mature person to receive and enter into the word of righteousness.

We all are at different stages of growth in life, but wherever we are, we need to aspire to be brought on to maturity by hearing and being brought into the word of righteousness, realizing that God has a governmental dealing and the judgement begins with His house.

Yes, God is love, light, and peace, but He also is righteousness, and His righteousness is a matter of God’s kingdom, something related to His government and rule.

May we be those who cooperate with the Lord’s gracious work of bringing us to maturity by sharing with Christ in His attainments, being diligent to enter into the remaining Sabbath rest, coming forward to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace, and feeding on the solid food to enjoy Christ as the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

May the Lord save us from being stuck in one stage of growth in life. May we advance, be brought on, and grow in life unto maturity to become in reality God’s new creation, the Body of Christ as the one new man fulfilling His eternal purpose!

Being Brought on to Maturity from Regeneration to Glorification to be God’s New Creation

Many believers in Christ are content with the fact that they are saved, and they make sure they “go to the Sunday service” and meet once or twice a week with other believers, but not many believers pursue the growth in life unto maturity.

Paul’s word in Hebrews is to all of us: we all need to be brought on to maturity from being infants and immature believers to being full-grown mature believers who can receive and be brought into the word of righteousness, the solid food.

In the New Testament, God is doing one main work: He is bringing forth the new creation out of the old creation. First, God regenerates us, then He continues to renew us, sanctify us dispositionally, transform us from one degree of glory to another degree of glory (2 Cor. 3:18), and eventually glorify us by conforming us to the image of the firstborn Son of God.

We were dead in sins and offenses, enemies of God and lost in the world without hope, but by believing into the Lord Jesus we have received God’s divine life and we were born again, regenerated with God’s life.

By believing into Christ we, fallen people dead in their sins, are becoming a new creation in Christ. Daily, Christ as life is the Spirit with our spirit to impart life to every part of our being and regenerate our spirit, transform our soul, and eventually glorify our body to be fully transformed into His image.

We need to realize that our Christian life is much more than being born again; we need to grow in life unto maturity by being renewed in our mind, sanctified in our whole being, transformed in our soul, and eventually transfigured in our body.

We need to be brought on to maturity from regeneration to glorification to be God’s new creation in resurrection.

Lord Jesus, grow in us unto maturity. Save us from remaining infants, immature Christians. Bring us on to maturity day by day. We open to Your renewing of our mind and Your transforming of our soul. Lord Jesus, bring us fully into the new creation by spreading from our spirit and saturating every inward part with Yourself as life. Transform us into Your image from one degree of glory to another degree of glory. Bring Your believers all the way into the reality of being a new creation in resurrection!

Being Brought on to Maturity by Hearing and Being Brought into the Word of Righteousness

When we are a baby, we drink milk and eat “mashed food”, but as we grow in the human life we develop the capacity and have the need to eat solid food. It is similar in our spiritual life. When we are born again we long for the guileless milk of the word, but we need to grow in life and eat more solid food, the word of righteousness.

In the book of Hebrews Paul is struggling to bring the Hebrew believers on to maturity from the initial stage of salvation. Being brought on to maturity, according to the book of Hebrews, is by being brought into the word of righteousness concerning Christ’s heavenly ministry and the way of God’s economy (Heb. 5:12-14; 6:1).

We need to be brought on from the good word concerning the many things that Christ did in His earthly ministry to the word of righteousness concerning Christ’s heavenly ministry (see Heb. 1:3; 4:14-16; 6:20; 7:25; 8:1-2).

Today Christ is in His heavenly ministry as the great High Priest ministering in the heavens; He is a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek ministering bread and wine to us.

Many Christians do not understand the word of righteousness concerning God’s governmental dealings – such words are hard to hear and understand, and many throw them away. The word of righteousness, the solid food for the mature believers, embodies the thought of God’s justice and righteousness and governmental dealings with His people (Heb. 5:13).

On the one hand, Christ Himself is our righteousness before God; on the other hand, righteousness is Christ to be our righteousness, making us God’s righteousness in Him (1 Cor. 1:30).

We need to learn what the government of God is, how to recognize it in our life, and how to respond to it by cooperating with God’s dealings and not rejecting them. We need to be humbled under the mighty word of God, and in due time He will lift us up, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

As God deals with us in His government, He also supplies us with grace. May we not resist God in His dealings with us but be under God’s government and judgement, humbling ourselves under His dealings, and enjoying His ever-present grace.

How we need to be brought on to enter into the deeper thought of God’s justice and righteousness in His dispensational and governmental dealings with His people!

We don’t need to pray for God’s dealings or for His discipline, but simply be aware of it and, when we experience it, we shouldn’t oppose it or resist it but allow God to humble us and gain in us what He is after.

The Lord wants to bring us all on to maturity, but we must cooperate with His gracious work. We simply need to LET HIM do it – we need to let Him bring us to maturity.

Our willing cooperation with God’s gracious work includes our sharing with Christ in His attainments (Heb. 1:9; 3:14), our being diligent to enter into the remaining Sabbath rest (Heb. 4:9, 11), our coming forward to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace (Heb. 4:16), and our feeding on the solid food to enjoy Christ as our High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 5:9-10, 14).

Lord Jesus, we want to learn what the government of God is, how to recognize God’s governmental dealings, and how to respond to Your dealing with us and Your disciplining us. Lord, save us from resisting Your dealings. We want to be brought on to maturity by being brought into the word of righteousness concerning Christ’s heavenly ministry and the way of God’s economy. Lord Jesus, we open to You. May we be diligent to enter into the remaining Sabbath rest. We come forward to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace for timely help. Lord, we open to feed on the solid food to enjoy You as the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Lord, bring us on to maturity!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 2 Peter, msgs. 6-7, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (3), week 6 / msg 6, The Process of Maturity.
• Picture credit: Heb. 5:13-14 picture via, Christian Pictures Blog.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # So we give ourselves; Lord, do grow in us / May we know You in Your preciousness. / O Lord, do make us one as we run toward You, / Pursuing corporately in everything we do / With the saints until full maturity. (Song on Growing unto Maturity)
  # For this growth, for this growth, Lord, ourselves we give, / By the faith, promises, and the pow’r to live. / Nothing more, nothing less, will our basis be / By Thy grace we will cooperate with Thee. (Hymns #1211)
  # “Amen, Jesus,” is our prayer / To the purging work, whate’er; / Now Thy church must desperate be / More the growth in life to see. (Hymns #1239)
  # I would cease completely / From my efforts vain, / Let Thy life transform me, / Full release to gain; / Build me up with others / Till in us Thou see / Thy complete expression / Glorifying Thee. (Hymns #841)