Paul advises Timothy to be ‘sober-minded’, when surrounded by many false teachers telling people what their ‘itching ears want to hear.’ (2 Timothy 4:5) When people want to hear something specific, usually there is something specific that has already ‘intoxicated’ the mind and heart. Now they want someone to ‘teach’ it as though true. This will seal the deal. I think of Dostoyevsky saying, ‘Reason is the slave of passion.’ (Crime and Punishment) In other words, I’ll find a teaching – a reason – to suit and serve my passion. Is there something that you want to believe is true? You will certainly find a scholar, a book, a YouTube channel, a Rabbi or a church that will take your tithe and tell you what you want to hear. Paul tells Timothy he will be surrounded by ‘many’ false teachers, but that he is to be ‘sober-minded’ – or ‘keep his head’ – in all situations. My friends, when it comes to Scripture, the most calibrating, ‘sobering’ thing we can do, is to keep reading. In other words, don’t get stuck on one verse, one insight, one example, one story. Why? Because you might become ‘intoxicated’ – too much of one ingredient, causing you to lose stability, perspective, judgement, accuracy. God gave us 66 books, multiple histories and moments, multiple authors and cultural circumstances, so that we would ‘correctly handle the word of truth.’ (2 Timothy 2:14-15) He also gave us his Spirit, and calls us to know both the ‘power of God’ and a ‘knowledge of the Scriptures.’ (Matthew 22:29) This is challenging, humbling, but his way of working, and where full truth takes effect. We are not called to just know chapter and verse, but to discern the Spirit of Scripture. For example, Paul rebuked Peter because he was acting ‘out of line with the gospel’. (Galatians 2:14) He was not breaking a specific rule (in fact, he was, in a way, keeping an Old Testament rule) but this was ‘out of line’ with the Spirit of God and the whole story, person and life of Jesus Christ and his message. So we know the Scriptures, the written word, but we soak it all in the Living Word, the Spirit of God. Paul again refers to the law – the writings of Scripture - being ‘spiritual’, not a type of word puzzle that carries authority in itself. (Romans 7:14) This is why the Devil could quote Scripture, and yet be not only wrong but evil. (Matthew 4:1-11) Some things come through consistently when the whole Bible is read and understood. Certain values course through the histories and teachings from Genesis to Revelation, holding true in the Old Covenant and the New, from the mouth of Moses to the mouth of Christ and to and through the church thereafter. Other things feature in this or that instance, and give us insight and instruction on the things of God, but they are not patterns, not solid teachings, not core to the fabric, the mission, the example and instruction of Jesus and his apostles. Look at what Paul says to Timothy about Scripture and its place in Timothy’s life, and that of all believers: ‘From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.’ (2 Timothy 3:15-17) Are you being sober-minded in your spiritual judgments and walk? This is not about zeal or fervor, but about stability and health. Are you looking deeply into not only the teachings here and there in the Bible, but the very ‘pattern of sound teaching’ in the Bible? (1 Timothy 1:13) Are you looking for the Spirit of thing – consistent with the gospel and character of God – or are you just pinning down some verses here and there? Are you spending time not only in the Word, but in the Spirit of God? Are you spending time not only in the Spirit of God, but in the Word?
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I’m talking about the inevitable. That moment when everything goes quiet, and our contact with this world fades. The moment when our eyes close, for the last time, to the light of this life, and our soul slips away. If things do go dark at this moment, my friends, let me share some things with you about ‘that’ darkness. We’re told that if we go through the ‘door’ of Jesus Christ, we pass into a new reality. (John 10:9) - here and now, and forevermore. Have you gone through that door? This ‘door’ – Jesus Christ - is God’s ‘rope’ to save us, God’s ‘anchor’ to steady us, God’s ‘salvation’. We pass through this door of eternal life through repentance of our sin, and faith in Jesus Christ. After taking the hand and Spirit of Jesus, we are told that we ‘never die’. (John 11:26) Yes, we do ‘die’ in the flesh, but our souls have been ‘banked’ with God and we will never actually ‘perish’, or cease to be. One verse in the Bible puts it this way: ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ (1 Cor 15:55) Followers of Jesus in the bible, when they die here on earth, are said to ‘sleep’. That’s where we get R.I.P. – or, ‘Rest in Peace’. Because in Jesus, to die here is just to ‘rest’ for a while, until he ‘wakes’ us for Heaven. (1 Thes 4:13-18) This is all in the Bible, my friends, this is the promise and power of Jesus Christ! And you know, darkness actually belongs to God. In fact, a beautiful verse puts it this way: ‘Darkness is as light to God.’ (Psalm 139:12) So when the lights go out, my brother, my sister, and you close your eyes to this world, there is a sweet and peaceful passage you can pass through, carried by the Spirit of God. For more on the ‘door’ that is Jesus, and taking his hand today, please visit: https://1peter1three.weebly.com/first-steps.html Knowledge not given by God is not true Knowledge. Sight not lit by God’s light, is not true seeing. Joy not sanctified, released by God, is not true joy. We can access dimensions that we were not made to access. We can run off cliffs that were supposed to be fenced off. We brought the fences down on the cliffs, so now we can’t run free, or we might run too far… When the fences were there, we could run crazy free, joyous, impossible to run too far or run into danger. But we wanted more. We wanted power. We wanted to ‘be like God’ and so we chose sin. (Gen 3:5a) We wanted more knowledge, to see beyond the bounds of goodness and freedom; we wanted to ‘know’ not just ‘goodness’, but ‘evil’ also, so we chose sin. (Gen 3:5b) Here the walls came down. Untrue knowledge, ‘evil’, or what James calls ‘demonic wisdom’ (James 3:15) flooded our field of goodness, our landscape of the pure. The pure waters of Eden were contaminated with dark, bitter waters. We opened our minds to darkness, and darkness and flooded in. What does that mean for us now? Well, it means that we might see, understand, question, reason… with knowledge, with vision, with motives, that are not all pure, not all meaningful, not all good. We are no longer walled into Eden, and can trust all the parameters of reality. No, we have to decipher now. We have to discern. We have to ‘keep with repentance’ (Mt 3:8), we have to ‘strive to rest’ (Heb 4:11), we have to discard learning (Phil 3:8), we have to wade back upstream to childlike states of being. (Mt 18:3) The real key is taking captive thoughts, and making them subject to Christ. (2 Cor 10:5) Truth is a battle now, does not come naturally. It comes through faith, and it stays true by ‘holding’ to Christ. (John 8:31-32) In faith and ‘truth’, it is as if we are walking on the peak of mountain range – high and beautiful, but dangerous and vulnerable. God calls us to have no fear as we walk this peak, but he does call us to ‘balance’ and secure our steps, by keeping our eyes on him, carrying the cross as we walk. (Luke 9:23) |
AuthorPeter Walker. I hope you enjoy these reflections. Please feel free to comment!:) Archives
February 2024
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