Hearing a Word in Due Season

I've realised that I'm probably not good at hearing what God wants to tell me particularly when the Word comes to me head-on. (Although maybe I'm being unduly hard on myself. I don't know.)

In any case, just recently the Lord 'whispered' into my ear on two occasions. The second time involved our priest/pastor who was talking about the rifts in the Anglican Church among the different brands of churchmanship. She had a burden to promote more unity among the groups. When I asked her further about this issue betraying in the process my allegiance to one of the groups she said lightly (my paraphrase): 'What's important is that the gospel is preached!'

That gentle word brought me up short.

I realised as I began to think about this comment that much of my life and that of my family's life had been nurtured in difference. First, I was raised in a Pentecostalist family in the 1950s and 60s. Second, even this difference was intensified further by the unorthodox views of my grandfathers on questions of the Trinity, the soul's existence after death, eternal torment, and the resurrection.

Such nurturance-in-difference can be associated with intolerance and pride.

Moreover, in my own family, differences with my father was not tolerated. He ruled the emotional and intellectual content of the family like other fathers of his generation. Even the children's different personalities, interests, opinions and gifts were hardly tolerated.

The question now is, where do I go with this new awareness? The temptation is to go off half-cocked which often just makes the situation worse. In rooting out the weeds, we can end up rooting up the wheat as well.

So, I am choosing to sit calmly with what I've been given and see what further things the Lord may reveal.

However, the old adage which seems to have been first used by an undistinguished Lutheran theologian in a tract during the bloody 30-year 'religious' war (1618-1648) also seems appropriate: 'in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity'.

OUT OF CONTEXT!

I don't know how often I've seen or heard the words of Jesus 'the truth shall set you free' quoted out of context. They are sometimes even used by those who have no commitment to Christ at all but even Christians forget or neglect to look carefully at the background in which the words occurs.

The words quoted are lifted out of a long conversation (Jn 8.30-59) Jesus had with those 'who believed him' (v. 31). And for at least two reasons, they are often misapplied.

First, these words were primarily directed to those 'who believed him'. In other words, a group of budding disciples of Jesus. They had listened to his words in the preceding interaction with the Pharisees (Jn 8.13-29) and these led them to believe in Him (v. 30).

The quoted words are preceded by Jesus saying to these new believers, If you abide in My word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free (Jn 8.31-32). If you abide in My word are critical words because they qualify what comes next. If any fail to abide, to continue in, to hold fast to what Jesus taught then then they don't come to know the truth that brings freedom.

The Revelation of Christ's Glory 2

I know I've already spoken about this theme in reference to first part of John ch2.

But the same three interwoven strands of SIGN-GLORY-BELIEF appear again in the pericope of the Cleansing of the Temple (Jn 2.13-22). This occurrence invites a further look at this triad.

The sign is less obvious but it's still there because the Jews ask Jesus 'what sign do you show [us] given that you're doing these things [driving out the money changers from the temple]?'

Jesus gives them the sign of his resurrection: 'Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up' (Jn 2.19).

They don't understand and significantly neither do the disciples!

The disciples only understand after Jesus is resurrected and the text says that the disciples remembered what He had said on this occasion, they believed the scripture and they believed the word which Jesus had said (Jn 2.22).

In this case, some 3 years elapsed before the disciples became more mature believers. No doubt the Holy Spirit brought to their awareness these words of Jesus and the effort on their faith was noteworthy.

It seemed to me on thinking about this passage and the earlier one, the turning of water into wine, that the signs given in John's account are written expressly 'that [we] might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing [we] might have life in his name' (Jn 20.31).

Jesus gently rebuking Thomas says that those who have never seen him are blessed!!! How can that be true? We late-comers believe because of the Spirit's work within us as we listen to the preaching of the word of those who were eye-witnesses.

And God in his mercy surrounds us continually with providential signs of His presence in our lives, signs of his glory in Christ Jesus, that are designed to deepen our belief in the Lord.

However, often we have become dulled by affects of the world, the flesh and the devil that we don't perceive all that God is doing in our lives.

• The preached Word of God. Always the Word will if approached with an open heart heal us, challenge, change us or chastise us depending on our need. At a service yesterday, a priest (Anglican) spoke on Jas 1.19-27. I was arrested by Jas 1.21, 'Therefore, rid yourselves of everything impure and every expression of wickedness, and with a gentle spirit welcome the word planted in you that can save your souls'. Welcome the Word! What an important direction!
• Other Christians and their love towards us are a wonderful sign of His presence in our lives . 
• Answers to prayers. Sometimes we pray and the Lord replies but we don't notice and we fail to give thanks. In everything we are to give thanks. Of course we fail in this directive but we can pick ourselves up from the floor and start again. God is always merciful.
• The holy Scriptures. Perhaps our minds will be exercised on a particular issue and then this very point is raised in a meeting where no one knew about what was going on in our lives. Recently, I was thinking of 'glory'. My wife and I went to different church services where preachers spoke on different texts but both highlighted the issue of Christ's glory. In the service I went to, the preacher spoke about it right at the end of his sermon because the passage in 1 Cor 2.8 calls Jesus, the Lord of Glory. His point was that it is a singular title. That got my attention. But when I got home and my wife was enthusing about the sermon she had heard on Jn 1.14 my attention was even more fully on alert! 

That experience among others has spurred me to write this post.