got milk? get steak!

got milk? Masi Oka and Hayden Panettiere, stars of the TV show Heroes are just the latest of many celebrities to appear in these popular milk ads which over the years have featured everyone from Michael Jordan to Superman to Dr. Phil. Masi Oka's ad says drinking milk can make you leaner and help to build muscle. Is milk the answer to fitness? Milk may do the body good, but let's be serious, milk by itself is not enough if you want to be healthy and strong, certainly not enough if you want to be a hero!

If you're growing in your Christian life, there comes a point at which drinking milk alone is not enough! It is to such a group of Christians that Hebrews 5:11–6:20 was written. The author is getting into some pretty serious teaching, about how Jesus learned obedience from what he suffered (5:8), but before he gets into how we too might learn obedience through what we suffer, he suddenly stops the sermon, saying:

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature... (Hebrews 5:11–14a)

I take him seriously. The author is speaking to people not unlike us, people who have been Christians long enough now that they ought to be teachers, but instead they seem to need someone to go over the ABC's (elementary truths of God's word) all over again. What are the first things we learned as Christians? Verse 12: "You need milk, not solid food!"  Do you really suppose this is a serious prescription for them? for us? Do we really need to relearn the ABC's? Is more milk the answer?

No, of course not! It's ironic: "You poor babies need milk, you're not ready for solid food." Hint: Just a moment before, the author said to them, "by this time you ought to be teachers." Too much milk is their problem, not the solution! What they need now is solid food and motivation to grow. It's too easy for us to become sluggish, slow down in our Christian lives, and settle for just drinking milk. Popular preaching promotes a perpetual pablum problem. But a milky diet is not enough! If we can see the author's irony, understand that it is actually a rebuke, then we can own the truth that we too have settled for milk instead of craving solid food.

Bring on the steak! Let's get beyond the ABC's of being a Christian. I want to grow. Hebrews urges us to stop drifting along (2:1), to really focus on Jesus who is our Hero and Champion (2:10, 3:1), and to recognize that if Jesus is our Forerunner (6:20), we better get moving! And it warns us what will happen if instead we choose to walk away (6:4–6).

Last week in the blog, I wrote about Hebrews 6:4–6 which warns us of the danger of walking away from Christ. And, yes, I said that John MacArthur does not believe that John Piper could ever lose his salvation, but I do. MacArthur and Piper do not believe Heb. 6:4–6 applies to Christians, but to those who are close to becoming believers. MacArthur fails to see the irony of Hebrews 5:12! I guess his Bible does not end the verse with an exclamation point! He writes, “The term [infant] in Hebrews 5:13 describes an unbeliever... who was hanging on to the ABC's... The mature person talked about in verse 14 is one who grows up by putting his faith in Jesus Christ...” By missing the irony, he misses the point! It makes no sense to call these immature Christians non-believers. These are Christians being addressed, Christians who have become sluggish, who have slowed down in their faith and who have settled for just drinking milk. Verse 12 is actually saying “Enough milk already!” You know the ABC's! That's why the author, including himself in the group says, “Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity” (6:1).

What is the milk we settle for? Devotional guides that give us a verse or two of Scripture per day but have us spend more time reading the guide itself? Sermons we can listen to rather than Bible studies we can do? [Why not post a comment on what you think is the milk we settle for?] I know the two basic ways to grow as a Christian: read Scripture and pray. And yet, today, I am not where I would like to be. Why? Too much milk has made me sluggish. I settle for getting by and drinking milk rather than craving solid food. My own experience confirms milk is not the answer. I'm ready to move on to maturity; it's time for some steak!

"Hero" Redefined

Vulnerable. Unsure. Lonely. Insecure. Hurting. Hoping. Only a man.

And we had thought he was almost a god, invincible and invulnerable, a superhuman alien, the last son of Krypton. It turns out that the postmodern Superman is only a man is a silly red sheet, dreaming about the man he could be. It's not easy being a hero. I'm alluding to the song "Superman (It's Not Easy)" by Five for Fighting.

Behind the legend and the cape, there is suffering. Tom Welling in the TV series Smallville and Brandon Routh in the movie Superman Returns reveal this side of Superman to us (even more so than did Christopher Reeve in the classic Superman movies). This revisioning of Superman really does make sense. My childhood dream of being Superman and being able to defeat every foe and solve every problem and never be hurt and no nothing of this world's pain—well, it could just never be real. For a real hero could not be untouched and uninvolved in this world's suffering.

This new postmodern Superman sacrifices himself, experiences pain, pushes himself and goes through constant trials to be a hero. This is the Superman who struggles and must use every ounce of his ingenuity and strength to save a jet spinning out of control (Superman Returns). What a contrast to the Christopher Reeve - Superman who effortlessly rescued Air Force One by taking the place of its lost engine on the left wing (see my video contrast). All things considered, wouldn't you agree that the struggling and suffering Superman is more true to reality?

Heroes sacrifice themselves, suffer and sometimes die. Didn't we learn this from 9/11? So why does Christian triumphialism still prevail in the church today? Why do we think it odd when we are touched by and involved in this world's suffering? Why do we as Christians believe we should feel no pain and be healed from all disease? Why are we so prone to believe that God should intervene at every turn and save us from harm? Why do we protest when the way is hard and the path uncertain?

Could it be that the kind of heroes God calls us to be are the kind that are vulnerable, unsure, lonely, insecure, hurting and hoping? Could it be that we are to follow the example of our ultimate hero, Jesus?

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. (John 15:13)

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:10-11)

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:22-23)

They triumphed over him [the Dragon]
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death. (Revelation 12:11)

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