UNDERSTANDING

“UNDERSTANDING”

Words are wonderful things . . . .

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. 

Col 1:9-10  ESV

I’ll deal with this whole verse later.  Right now I’m in love with the word “understanding.”

How many times have we read a passage and responded, “Huh?”  How many times have we tries to understand more about our faith and come up with nothing?  Well, one of the reasons may be a faulty idea of what “understanding,” is.

Let me preface this with the admonition that, as this verse clearly states, “understanding,” like “knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom,” is not something you and I are going to get out of a book, a class, a course or an experience.  Certainly all these may facilitate being filled with these things but I’m parking my boat on a deep need for His provision even in what seems like something we can do on our own.  If Paul is asking that we “may be filled,” I don’t think we, on our own have a hope of understanding much of anything.

Understanding:  σύνεσις   sunesis   soon'-es-is

·         The noun sýnesis means 'union,' 'confluence,' then 'comprehension,' 'understanding,' 'discernment,' and finally 'self-awareness.'

o   Old Testament.  The use is similar to that in the Greek world except that understanding is native only to God and hence is a gift for which one must pray ( 1  Kgs.  3:9 ; Ps.  119:34 ). Practical judgment rather than theoretical understanding is the main concern, its organ is the heart ( Is.  6:9 - 10 ), and its objects are God's works ( Ps.  28:5 ), fear ( Prov.  2:5 ), righteousness (2:9), will ( Ps.  111:10 ), and wisdom ( Prov.  2:1 ff.). KTD

Note please that this is not something innate in us.  Nor does it appear that this is something we can “get.”  Rather it is something that must be given.  Notice also that the focus, although the word carries a meaning of self-awareness, that the object of this understanding is God.

We can certainly understand that we might well need His gift to understand Him but understanding ourselves?  From a non-biblical perspective (psychology) this does not make a lot of sense and makes trying to be “self-aware,” a frustrating and fruitless activity.  But, if one accepts that the fall has warped everything and that our heart is deceitful to the max and we are blind event to ourselves – then it makes perfectly good sense.

And there’s the problem.  We come to Christ knowing we need His grace to be saved and His wisdom to serve but whom among us was ever told that we needed understanding from Him to understand ourselves?  I know I wasn’t.  So perhaps we begin our walk with a limp.  We think we know ourselves – that we are pretty self-aware, but we are not.  Our blindness extends beyond the spiritual (I hate using that word) into the psychological.  We are blind to the truths of God and the truth of us.

This leads me to believe that for many many years I’ve been trimming a shrub that suffers from root-rot.

I assumed I knew me and just added Jesus.  Oh certainly I was no longer blind in any way but I was looking at a very limits selection of things.  I never realized – never had any idea that “I” needed His help to know “Me.” 

Yes, I knew I was a sinner and sinful – yada yada – but I assumed I was pretty self-aware.  Dumb me – praise Him.  It similar to the condition may pseudo-believers suffer.  They know “about” Jesus but they do not know Him.  I know about me but in view of this word I wonder if I know me the way I could know me if I asked Him to help me know me.

Boy, that was a brain twister.

Now, the “organ” associated with “understanding,” is the heart.  Do I really need to paste in the scriptures that teach about our hearts?  Yes, we have a new heart – but the old one has residual effects. 

I think of David’s prayer, “Create in me a clean heart . . . . “   He does not ask God to clean his heart but to create a clean one in him.  Get it?  This is not a transplant!  This is a creation!  A whole new, clean heart that’s got no miles on it.

Reading that prayer – prayerfully – I realize how desperate the condition of my heart really is – and I’ve read that verse thousands of times.  So I have a new insight into my flesh and a deadly an enemy it is – still.

Read Matthew 13 and you’ll get a real taste of what we’re dealing with here.  Ouch!

Understanding – true understanding is a gift from God which we should diligently seek.  Without it our walk will be with a limp.  To understand ones “self” on must know God and have a willingness to receive from Him what only He can give.  Without Christ as our Lord and Savior we have no true understanding of ourselves and hence no hope.  At least that’s what He says – my money’s on Him.

Hmmmmm?

God alone.

Sovereign solutions.

All things for good.

Define good.

Mine or His.

Too often mine dressed up as His.

Actively trusting.

Hard work.

Much prayer.

I was once told to pray as if it all depended on Him but to work as if it all depended on me.

NOT!!!! 

It ALL depends on Him – don’t fight it!

Taste & dDscernment

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John Newton wrote:

Prudence is a word much abused but there is a Heavenly wisdom, which the Lord has promised to give to those who humbly wait upon Him for it. It does not consist in forming a bundle of rules and maxims, but in a spiritual taste and discernment, derived from an experimental knowledge of the truth, and of the heart of man, as described in the word of God;       Newton, John (2010-03-29). Selected Letters and Poems of John Newton (Kindle Locations 724-726). Puritansermons.com. Kindle Edition.

Prudence – what an old funny word much misused and mis-applied in our day.  We have people that are prudent and then we have prudes.  Yet it is a word worthy of our use and correct use at that.

Prudence: the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason.

Although prudence would be applied to any such judgment, the more difficult tasks, which distinguish a person as prudent, are those in which various goods have to be weighed against each other, as when a person is determining what would be best to give charitable donations, or how to punish a child so as to prevent repeating an offense.  WIKI-P

I really think Newton is on to something here that is worth our consideration and diligent prayer.  Note that he hold that prudence is NOT, “a bundle of rules and maxims.”  Rather he presents it as:  “a spiritual taste and discernment, derived from an experimental knowledge of the truth, and of the heart of man, as described in the word of God.”

There is in this description a very important key.  That is that prudence is not knowledge as much as it is the result of knowledge understood and applied.  Newton does not use the words “taste,” and “discernment” lightly.  

I think of wine tasters and tea tasters and coffee tasters.  Certainly many of these folks have a special natural faculty that suits them for this word but the natural faculty is never enough.  There is a great deal they most know and understand before their faculty can be used to its best ends.

In the case of “tasters” there is usually a greater sensitivity in the olfactory senses that enables them to distinguish flavor.  I would suggest that for the confessor (I am growing to like that word better than believer); the Spirit is the source of our greater sensitivity, the key stone of our discernment.  The Spirit is, of course, the life-force if you will that we receive from Christ.  He, the Spirit, makes us alive – lives in us and serves God’s ends in us.

It is the Spirit that convicts us, who enables us to discern the various shades of “flavors” in the opportunities around us.  He, like the “nose” of the wine taster, is our special faculty.

But the Spirit does not work His best in isolation.  He best uses our knowledge of the word of God and necessarily aids us in our understanding and application of it.  Instead of relegating the Spirit’s role in our lives to the extra-ordinary experiences or the alleged messages we would perhaps do better to expect and rely upon Him to work in us with the tools god has provided.

Hence, is a sense, although the Spirit is not prevented from working in our lives by our ignorance and indolence He works best when He is well provided with raw materials.  That is, the Word of God, our fixed attention and our willingness to hear.

For too long in too many places the Spirit has been what spikes the punch at the party.  What I mean is that the Spirit is relegated to the production of extra-ordinary religious experiences and to being regarded as the source of any “revelation” not supported by scripture.  In other word, He’s treated and used as though He were some sort of intoxicant, enhancer and/or demonstrator and not as God has commissioned Him.  (More or that later)

The Holy Spirit is NOT the “joker in the deck,” nor is He the “wild card.”  The Holy Spirit and His ministry is a deadly serious part of the confessor’s hope and growth not to mention faithfulness.  And yet, He is all too often relegated to secondary if not tertiary roles in our lives.

To help you understand more clearly:

TRUTH KNOWLEDGE +

EXPERIENCE (based on and in that truth knowledge, guided by the Spirit) =

Spiritual taste (sensitivity) and discernment.

But – note, the Spirit is not finished at that point for He works in us that this taste and discernment produce glory for the Father, light for the world and a more secure hope in us.

The role of the Spirit in our lives is, as a good friend would say, Ginormous!  We could never present or explain it enough.  However there are four functions He performs that we should be very mindful of and attentive to.

The Spirit:  Confesses, Comforts, Convicts and Corrects (Certainly not an exhaustive list!)

These are not consecutive actions but rather concurrent.  He does them all together all the time.

He confesses:  Simply put, the spirit “says” the same thing God says.  There can never be any contradiction of friction between the word God has spoken and the “word” the Spirit brings.  Any “spirit” that leads, cajoles, speaks, hints, etc. at something which is at odds with the scriptures is not the “Holy” spirit.

He comforts:  Duhhh.  He’s called the comforter.  But that word (parakletos) does not mean someone who just gives you a hug or a meaningful look.  It means one who comes alongside to HELP – not just comfort.  We need to open our arms wider to the Spirit.  What I mean is that in times of discomfort He is not there to just make us feel better but rather to help us move in and through the discomfort regardless of its duration or intensity. 

Ok, I will probably take some shots for this but – the Holy Spirit NEVER – NEVER says, “It will be OK!”  NEVER!  What He does say is, “It IS OK!”  For the confessor “it” is always OK – no really it’s better than OK and that is the comfort the Spirit brings.  How else did Paul learn to be content no matter the circumstances?

He convicts:  It is here that we may often fail.  It is here that the “spiritual taste and discernment,” are developed.  As I grow in my knowledge of the Word the Spirit works to teach me to use that Word in every instance on every occasion. 

All too often I work hard to “figure it out,” using my limited faculties and fail to turn to Him humbly seeking His direction.  We are all “Spirit filled,” but we (and I do mean WE) are not always “Spirit led.”  He always leads – we need to intentionally seek to hear and follow.

He corrects:  The Spirit works with our spirit through the Word of God to set our feet on the right path, to turn our minds to the truth and in doing so comfort comes.  He, like the Lord, is gentle and compassionate.  His desire is for our best.  We must seek and trust in that.

I won’t ever claim to understand the workings of the Spirit but I don’t know that I need to.  I do know that I need to be utterly dependent upon Him as God’s master means of conforming me to the image of Christ.

Like many of my fellow confessors I have a bad habit of not working with Him as He works in me.  The Word of God is His material, prayer is His classroom.  We have the incredible privilege of being a very real part of the work He does.

I desire that “spiritual taste and discernment,” He brings.

One last point.  The Spirit not only works through an experimental knowledge of the Word of God but through an experimental knowledge of the heart of man as we see it in the Word.  We know what scripture has to say about that.  How can we even think of refusing or neglecting the work of the Spirit in our lives?

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William Gurnall wrote:

Indeed there is no duty in the Christian's whole course of walking with God, or acting for God but is lined with many difficulties, which shoot like enemies through the hedges at him, while he is marching towards heaven: so that he is put to dispute every inch of ground as he goes.   Gurnall, William (2010-04-09). The Christian in Complete Armour (Complete & Unabridged) - The Ultimate Book on Spiritual Warfare (Kindle Locations 125-127).  . Kindle Edition.

This is how things looked to Gurnall – way back then.  It seems it’s not so much the case today – is it?   Let me ask you (and myself), “What’s so tough about being a Christian today? “

Now, if your thoughts fly to the political, social and cultural – well, you have a point.  But what concerns me is that the political, social and cultural stuff is not the point – nor the problem.

Consider:

Sin moves by drawing the mind away from God, enticing the affections and twisting desires and paralyzing the will, thus stunting any real Christian growth.   One of the most frightening truths that Owen wants the believer to recognize is that “Your enemy is not only upon you . . . but is in you also.”  Part of understanding the battle against sin is seeing that the enemy, so to speak, is not only external, but internal, which is why Christians often have conflicting desires within them.  Owen, John; Kelly M. Kapic; Justin Taylor; John Piper (2006-10-16). Overcoming Sin and Temptation (p. 27). Good News Publishers/Crossway Books. Kindle Edition.

This is a critical point we must grasp.  Sanctification is about us, individually.  Our battle starts within and though we remove ourselves far from the world and the devil, sin goes where we go.  Could it be that as the world (and the church) church has compromised the truth and the duty of the believer we are more inured to, more callous about and less sensitive to sin?  Are we allowing a cloak of worldliness to fall around our shoulders?  Are we comfortable with a certain amount of impurity mixed with the gold?

I really think we are.  I believe that we have grown shallow or we have remained so callow in our faith that unless it’s grossly rejected by “most people,” we don’t see it as much of a sin.  I am reminded of a lesson I heard on the 10 Commandments.  When the speaker got to the tenth he simply said that this included, “Not even wanting to do the first nine.”  The first commandment is all about God the last is all about “me, mine, I.” 

 

I believe that we have been become so calloused that sin has little meaning.  And yet sin – especially covetousness permeates our culture.  The “American Dream” has morphed into a deadly and pernicious virus clouding our judgments and hindering our sensitivity.  We have succumbed to the “more, bigger, better” lies as well as the “got to’s” of marketing.  I know, I used to swim in it where now I simply wade in it.  We have been fooled into accepting, however unconsciously, that what we have (or don’t have), where we go (or don’t go) is a measure of our value and the all of our meaning.

We have ceased to be in and not of the world.  Perhaps it’s time for an Exodus?  But if we don’t see or feel the slavery we live in why would we want to leave?  Unfortunately I fear that until we experience our Pharaoh who knows not Joseph we will not want to leave.

This is not something new.  We can identify great men and women of faith in history but we find few “peoples” of faith.  We revel in reading of Spurgeon and Owen and Gurnall but they are stellar singularities in the Christian sky.  We seem to think that just “accepting Jesus” (an utterly unbiblical concept) puts us on the right side of the fence.  We are, of course, wrong.

How sensitive are you to sin?  How deeply does it pain you to discover it?  What are those sins that trouble you?  Are they biggies?  Would you refuse to steal the car of your dreams but not be bothered when you envy someone who owns one?  Would you refuse to steal money to have more, bigger, better but scowl at someone who had it?

How much tribulation, sorrow and hunger (spiritually or physically) do we really suffer?  How much are we really persecuted or rejected?  When was the last time you really examined yourself?  When was the last time you were moved to repentance.  Mine was just about five minutes ago – but then writing this makes me more sensitive than I was an hour ago.

We are indeed like the church of Laodicea.  We are neither hot nor cold – BUT we are comfortable – aren’t we.  Tolerance, as the world defines it is a sin.  But intolerance as demonstrated by the “church” may be just as big a sin.  When my intolerance is focused more outwardly than inwardly, I believe it is a sin.  “The Joneses” won’t have to answer to me; I won’t have to answer to “the Joneses but we will both have to answer to God.  So why am I so consumed with what they are doing instead of what I am or am not doing?

Yeah – I’m back on the old “log and speck” thing.  For me, the sins of another are as important as specks.  There is nothing I can do about them and little they can do to me.  My “log’ on the other hand can kill me or get me killed.  It obscures my vision, impairs my judgment and hinders my right actions.  It is very important as it affects me and my walk with Him.

We are called to be holy.  We are called to learn and live righteousness.  We are not called to do these things in comparison to others but in comparison to God.  Yes, we are redeemed from our failure, our rebellion but the call to holiness is not diminished, the expectation of our focus and efforts is not weakened.  We are to be growing in righteousness not wallowing in comfort and complacency.

This “walk” we are called to, this growth in righteousness can never be comfortable.  Therefore I have to wonder, if we are indeed comfortable, are we even walking the Way?  If we are troubled by the sins of the world are we troubles by our own?  Which of the two is our priority?  We all know which one should be.  But no one wants to repent of stuff that others find no problem with.  Huh?

OK, let’s take TV.  Let a mother and father come under a conviction that TV is more bad than good and that what is offered as entertainment on it is not something they want in their home and then let them share with others this conviction and they are immediately seen as, well, weird.  Let a group of believers come under conviction that owning property and a building is not as good stewardship as many think and they become, well, weird.  Let someone decide that bowing to “fashion,” or ‘convention,” in matters of dress and they are, well, weird.

Now a tough question.  Has not this complacency, this callousness concerning sin caused our weaker brothers and sisters to stumble?  Where we are tolerant do we not teach a bad lesson?  Where we are speck focused, are we not laying trip-wires?  Has our attitude of, “it’s not a big sin,” not muddied all the waters?  Hasn’t our failure to teach biblical self-examination and the mortification of sin left many many believers ill-equipped to live the live they are called to?

Perhaps we need to be convicted of our insensitivity to conviction.  We want to be “better” Christians when perhaps we ought to realize that it is only in Christ we are Christians at all.  What is an acceptable level of sin to you?  Yes, it is forgiven – but our liberty cannot be a license for liberality. 

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psa 51:17 

When did we last cry out for God to break “our’ spirit and make “our” heart broken and contrite? 

How about this as a thrice daily prayer:

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!  (24)  And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!    Psa 139:23-24

I fear that if we are not somehow turned to be consumed with our sin we will be consumed by it.  I fear that if we are not obsessed with righteousness we will be continue to be obsessed with comfort and complacency.  I fear that until we are willing to face the shame of our sin we will not fully appreciate the shame He bore for our sin.

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."  And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.   1Pe 1:14-19  

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There is within the human heart a tough fiberous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess.  It covets “things” with a deep and fierce passion.  The pronouns “my” and “mine” look innocent enough in print, but their constant and universal use is significant. . . ..The roots of our hearts have grown down into things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die.  AW Tozer

Honestly, I wanted to change the quote to “There is within my  heart. . . . “

I won’t make any assumptions about any of you but when I read these words I had been wool gathering about some “things” I had and wanted and this quote was a real kick in the teeth.  I am very much caught up in things.

Oh I’m not into really big expensive things I just want lots of little things.  I fight against the “If onlys.”  You know, “if only I had this,” “If only I had that.”  I play the old, “That’s not tooooo expensive,” game.  I justify my wants and gains by keeping them small.

If you ever saw the movie The Jerk with Steve Marin there’s a scene when Steve’s character looses everything.  I a sad but fun ny scene he proclaims the, “I don’t need anything, I don’t need stuff.”  As he walks across the he keeps saying that – but he changes his tune and it becomes, “I don’t need anything but …….”  And he leaves his mansion with an armload of “stuff” that can serve no useful purpose.

I’m like that only I find it’s worse.  I walk around saying, “I don’t need anything more than the Lord, BUT . . . . (or except . . . .)”  Too many of my prayers are dotted with requests for this or that and though they are not bad things they are asked for from a sense that they are really needed. 

There are two things I have to confront with the help of the Spirit.  The first is that somewhere deep down there is a fear or at least an idea that I need the Lord – and.  That somehow the Lord and _____ is the security I need.  Trust me, I’d rather find anything but this in my heart.  It’s not conscious but it’s there and it’s gross.

The second thing has to do with control.  God is sovereign but ……..  I want to live His will but….    It’s interesting.  I’ve been in some pretty dangerous situations and conditions and have found myself trust God with the old, “If it’s His will I’ll survive.”  “If it’s His will X wll happen (or not).”  But – and it’s a big but – When it comes to simple stupid stuff I don’t do that, I just get it or make it happen.

Php 4:11-13  Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.  (12)  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  (13)  I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

1Ti 6:8  But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.

Heb 13:5  Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

But for the grace of God these three verses would convince me I was not redeemed.  If they were the measure of redemption I’d be without hope.  As it is, I am redeemed and miserable.

It’s a good misery – a righteous misery – but misery none-the-less.  Convicted?  Duhhhh.  Guilty”  Duhhhh Duhhhhh!!  Repentant?  Well – I’m just too skeptical of me right now to claim that.  

Those “root’ Tozer wrote of are Kudzu.  If you’ve ever been down south you’ll know Kudzu.  It’s everywhere and almost impossible to get to.  Not only that but you can’t imagine the damage you can do as you try to up-root it.  

Repentance, in this case, for me, is gonna be tough.  Confessing the sin is easy.  It’s the mortification of it that’s really gonna be rough.

I don’t know about you – but I’ve looked in a part of the “mirror” I had not looked in before and, well, “Yuck!”  

God’s gonna have to do some real work here.  Kudzu is tough to root out.

Well – hope this blesses you – it will me – I think ;-}

Help get the word out?!?!

Can you help?

This Sept. we will be starting what we hope will be a unique and valuable Bible Study.  We call it Us & Him.  Below you will find some information about our position.

We hope that the Lord will bring the unconverted, the uncomfortable and the unsatisfied who are interested in the Christian faith and want to learn and understand what the faith truly is.

We plan for the study to be on Tuesday evenings from 7:00-8:30 and "brown-bagging" dinner will be fine.  Right now we're looking for a place to meet in Greensboro but if push comes to shove we'll start out at Caribou Coffee (my "office").

Please pass this on!  I can be contacted at      ms@tc2v1.com      if there are any questions.
Your prayers and help will be greatly appreciated ---
And --- No, we're not starting a new "church" -

Us and Him, a Bible Study

The purpose of “Us and Him” is to glorify God and offer the curious, confused and committed the opportunity to study the Christian faith in a safe and biblically sound setting.

There are so many prejudiced views and confused perspective of the Christian faith that we felt called to offer an opportunity for believers and non-believers to become better informed of what the Word of God teaches about the foundations and priorities of the faith.

Our approach is that all that is most appalling in the history of the Church is, though not excusable, understandable in light of Scripture.  We believe that the priority of each believer and hence the Body of Christ is not to change the world but to be changed by the Word and the Spirit.  We believe that the battle between what Scripture calls the flesh and the Spirit is the key battle the believer has to fight.  We also believe that the world and the devil have been very successful in distracting believers from this critical confrontation by getting them to direct their efforts toward establishing a kingdom which is only His to establish.

Though we are aware of the disturbing issues and debates that mark American culture and even the church, our focus will be upon what has been and always will be fundamental to the Christian faith:  the believer, the beliefs and the one believed in.  For us it is about “Us and Him,” not “Us and Them.”

We are called and thereby re-created to be “light.”  Light by its very nature changes its environment.  We are not called nor re-created to be fire.  The fire which will purge is His to employ not ours.  It is the nurturing (living growth) of our new nature that is critical to the effect our “light” can and will have and it is by God’s Word and Spirit that our new nature is nurtured.

Doctrinally we are Reformed, believing that this perspective offers the clearest and most complete understanding of the Scriptures as well as the duties and obligations of God’s people, corporately and individually. While we are very aware that doctrinal differences can often lead to ugly disputes, we believe that Reformed doctrine requires us to be people who engage in conversations that help everyone involved grow in their love for and service to God and their fellow human beings.”

 Mat 22:36-40  "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"  (37)  And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  (38)  This is the great and first commandment.  (39)  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  (40) On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

To love God is not easy, He’s really really big.  Certainly He has put a love for Himself into the hearts of believers.  But that love needs to grow in its depth and breadth.  Only through the Word and the Spirit can it do so.  This love for God is also what the other commandment depends upon for fruition.  We believe that without a love for God there is only a love for self to the exclusion of love for anyone else.

 In view of this, every session will aim at gleaning the “how” of loving God.

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Words….words….words……

Every once in a while you stumble across something that gives you pause or set you off ….

A.W. Tozer wrote:

Everything is made to center upon the initial act of “accepting” Christ (a term incidentally, which is not found in the Bible) and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God in our souls.

Three things struck me in this statement.

First is the fact that the idea of “accepting” Christ is un-biblical.  Hunt as I could I could not find this concept in the scriptures.  The closest I could come was:

1Co 2:14   The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

1Th 2:13  And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

Jas 1:21  Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

The word ‘accept” here is the Greek term δέχομαι / dechomai.  Its common meaning is, “to take with the hand,” with subsequent meanings of receive, get or even learn.

The key thing we must see here is that the “natural person” does NOT accept the things of the Spirit of God.  This “natural” person if an unredeemed person, a person without Christ.

1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

Going back to the words of our Lord, the bottom line is:  Joh 6:44  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

Now the word “draws” is important.  (ἑλκύω  /  ἕλκω - helkuō  /  helkō)  The word means to drag more so than to draw.  It is not a wooing but a forceful dragging.

Act 16:19  But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.

Joh 18:10  Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.)

Though not the most forceful word for “dragging” the key here is that the one being “drawn,”  is passive.  Perhaps we could even include that the drawing/dragging is NOT the normal state for the drawee.  They are being acted upon by the dragger. 

Here’s the rub.  We speak of our redemption as if it were something we have gotten through some action of effort of our own.  Now I say we “speak of,” it that way not that we really believe it.  But in speaking of it that way it is easy to forget our utter passivity – at least to some extent.  Not only that but we communicate to others the idea that they must “do” something to have what we have.

No matter how uncomfortable it may make us and others the simple truth is:

Joh 6:44  No one can come to me unless

the Father who sent me draws him.

And I will raise him up on the last day.

Tozer writes:

Today, accepting Christ becomes terminal.  That is the end.  And all evangelism leads toward one thing – getting increased numbers of people to accept Christ, and there we put a period.

Can you see the disconnect?  We evangelize; even preach today with the aim of getting men and women to accept Christ.  That should certainly be our desire but it is not OUR goal.  We should so evangelize and preach that the Gospel is clear, God is glorified and the Spirit has something to work with.  Instead we craft careful communications using all the wiles we can find to convince men and women to do something they cannot, without the direct and powerful intervention of God, ever hope to do.

It is NOT our concern who God has called or will call.  It is our concern to herald the Gospel through which God saves.  When we do so, and no one comes it is in no way indicative of our failure but rather it proves both John 6:44 as well as 1 Cor. 2:14.  The lack of positive repentant response does tell us that in that place, on that day, at that time God did not “draw,” anyone AS FAR AS WE COULD TELL!

When did our faith become more about politics, culture, society, ethic, etc. that about the Lord?  When did it become more about us than it is about Him?  Well, the truth is that the faith has always had these kudzu vines growing all over it. 

Anyway – isn’t it time we made it clear that some folks just aren’t called (drawn)?  Isn’t that part of the Gospel (yeah, strange kind of good news).  Isn’t it time we prayed for discernment and courage?

A.W. Tozer wrote:

The new cross encourages a new and entirely different evangelistic approach.  The evangelist does not demand abnegation of the old life before the new life can be received.  He preaches not contrasts but similarities.  He seeks to key into public interest by showing that Christianity makes no unpleasant demands; rather, it offers the same thing the world does, only on a higher level. . . . The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him.  It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. 

The only comfort I have as I look at the Church today is the sovereignty of God.  Were I not absolutely sure that everyone He intends to draw will be drawn no amount of Xanax or Cymbalta would ever be enough.  For ill or good, I also find comfort in the fact that those who pervert the Gospel are accursed by God and only need be exposed by us.

More later .............................................

FT 1 Peter 1:1&2

FT-052812

1Pe 1:1-2 

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,  (2)  according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

How and Why!

According to and In!

For and For!

“Foreknowledge” = prognosis > how it’s gonna go, what’s gonna happen –

Not a “best guess,” or a “I knew that!” but a determination based upon the truths known.

And who knows those truths better than God.

It is used to denote the foreordained fellowship of God with the objects of His saving power.

And can God know something He does not bring about?

Can a quark be or do without His will?

“For obedience,” = submission – putting one’s self under the authority of –

Useless without the means – the Spirit

“sanctification” duhhhhhh

Actually:  “by the sanctifying work of the Spirit”, or, “set apart by the Spirit.”

Sanctification – both the case and the effect  - (it’s a noun here)

1) consecration, purification

2) the effect of consecration

2a) sanctification of heart and life

Who, what and how we are – and WE ARE – and WILL BE

“May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.”

And how not – or why not?

Hold it – it’s yours – fully.