The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 1 Timothy 4:6,
"If you point these things [the concerns of false teachings] out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed."
How do we know that what it is we think we know is correct? While our president is "evolving" on same-sex marriage, while some within the church teach we need to embrace environmentalism (because, after all, this is God's creation!), while some churches are embracing homosexuality, and teach that speaking against it is "hate speech", while many churches have adopted the concepts of "social justice", "economic justice", you-name-it "justice", just how is it we can be confident that what we think we know is truth? Is politically correct speech really correct? Is "hate-speech" really hate? Should global cooling (from the 70s), now global warming, now "climate change" really be approached as some kind of religion, complete with believers and "deniers"?
For instance, I have heard it said that embracing homosexuality is something we are evolving into, as if that provides that cultural shift legitimacy and is somehow superior to the outdated and unacceptable notion that it is a perversion and sinful. Who is right and how do we know? Speaking out on it as a sin these days is viewed as somehow mean-spirited, and those who do so are homophobic. (I think the term "homophobic" is misguided, as most, I am certain, who reject homosexuality are not afraid of it but are disgusted by it - there is a big difference between fear and disgust.) Should we be disgusted by it? Should we reject it as something wrong and immoral, or should we, in compliance with current cultural dictates, embrace it as something we now know to be on a par with heterosexuality? Simply one of many acceptable alternatives? And, if it is something we are "evolving" into as something superior and correct, how is it the Greeks and Romans practiced it as an art form more than two millenia ago, and we are just now evolving into it? We know there has been a cultural shift on thinking about homosexuality, but how do we know we are, in fact, evolving and not really devolving?
As we banter (I'm certain I banter way too much!) about proclaiming what it is we think we know, how do we know it for certain? Should we be assured, certain of what we know? There are very many in our culture that are horrified when the rest of us claim to know that what we know is certain, unassailable and universally true. Why do they have such a knee-jerk reaction? They insist that none of us can ever be certain we can know the truth of anything for certain (of course, with the exception that their certain truth that we cannot be certain of truth is certain!)
Paul told Timothy to oppose false teaching. How was he to measure what was false? Paul expected Timothy to know truth.
Traditionally, believers have held to the axiom that what is consistent with the Scriptures is truth, what contradicts Scripture is false. Good advice. Peter teaches us that the Scriptures came from God, did not spring from the interpretations of the men who wrote them, but that the Scriptures were in fact written as men were "carried along" by the Holy Spirit, 2 Peter 1:20-21. Therefore the Scriptures are truthful. Of course, to combat this, those who reject God have made a career of attempting to convince the rest of us that the Bible is loaded with errors, is unreliable and cannot be counted on as a basis of truth. I've been reading my bible for some 40 years and I'm still looking for those "errors".
In Paul's second letter to Timothy, he says of the Scriptures, "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 3:16-17. Paul clearly felt the Scriptures were truth. About lawbreakers, Paul provides a definition of what is lawless by defining it as what is contrary to "the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me." 1 Timothy 1:11. That which is consistent with the gospel of God is good. It is to be the yardstick in evaluating what is good and what is bad, what is true and what is not: the Scriptures inform our thinking that what it is we know to be true is, in fact, true. Jesus himself said he was the way, the truth and the life, John 14:6. As a follower of Jesus Christ, I can, without hesitation and with full and total confidence say that whatever it is Jesus has to say is truth (as well as the Scriptures he has had written for us.)
I don't look to MSNBC to inform my thinking. I don't look to the St. Louis Post dispatch to inform my thinking. I don't listen to Saturday Night Live, to musicians, to late night talk show hosts to inform my thinking. I look to what God has to say. I'm not looking to politicians, to pundits, to the persuasive in our pop culture - I'm not buying into anything our culture has to say. It just flip-flops around too much. Slavery was right, now it is wrong. Homosexuality was wrong and now it is right. That is simply not going to do it for me. I want truth to order my life by, not the whims of our cultural elites who have agendas not particularly well known.
In Ephesians 2:1-2 we read, "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient." I think Paul was speaking exactly to this issue here.
How wonderful it is that God chose to reveal himself to us! How wonderful God chose to give us truth, that we may be certain as to what it is we know to be true in the Scriptures! We don't have to guess where the culture is headed as to whether it is right or wrong. We don't have to flip-flop around. How wonderful we have truth right from the source of truth in the Scriptures!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"If you point these things [the concerns of false teachings] out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed."
How do we know that what it is we think we know is correct? While our president is "evolving" on same-sex marriage, while some within the church teach we need to embrace environmentalism (because, after all, this is God's creation!), while some churches are embracing homosexuality, and teach that speaking against it is "hate speech", while many churches have adopted the concepts of "social justice", "economic justice", you-name-it "justice", just how is it we can be confident that what we think we know is truth? Is politically correct speech really correct? Is "hate-speech" really hate? Should global cooling (from the 70s), now global warming, now "climate change" really be approached as some kind of religion, complete with believers and "deniers"?
For instance, I have heard it said that embracing homosexuality is something we are evolving into, as if that provides that cultural shift legitimacy and is somehow superior to the outdated and unacceptable notion that it is a perversion and sinful. Who is right and how do we know? Speaking out on it as a sin these days is viewed as somehow mean-spirited, and those who do so are homophobic. (I think the term "homophobic" is misguided, as most, I am certain, who reject homosexuality are not afraid of it but are disgusted by it - there is a big difference between fear and disgust.) Should we be disgusted by it? Should we reject it as something wrong and immoral, or should we, in compliance with current cultural dictates, embrace it as something we now know to be on a par with heterosexuality? Simply one of many acceptable alternatives? And, if it is something we are "evolving" into as something superior and correct, how is it the Greeks and Romans practiced it as an art form more than two millenia ago, and we are just now evolving into it? We know there has been a cultural shift on thinking about homosexuality, but how do we know we are, in fact, evolving and not really devolving?
As we banter (I'm certain I banter way too much!) about proclaiming what it is we think we know, how do we know it for certain? Should we be assured, certain of what we know? There are very many in our culture that are horrified when the rest of us claim to know that what we know is certain, unassailable and universally true. Why do they have such a knee-jerk reaction? They insist that none of us can ever be certain we can know the truth of anything for certain (of course, with the exception that their certain truth that we cannot be certain of truth is certain!)
Paul told Timothy to oppose false teaching. How was he to measure what was false? Paul expected Timothy to know truth.
Traditionally, believers have held to the axiom that what is consistent with the Scriptures is truth, what contradicts Scripture is false. Good advice. Peter teaches us that the Scriptures came from God, did not spring from the interpretations of the men who wrote them, but that the Scriptures were in fact written as men were "carried along" by the Holy Spirit, 2 Peter 1:20-21. Therefore the Scriptures are truthful. Of course, to combat this, those who reject God have made a career of attempting to convince the rest of us that the Bible is loaded with errors, is unreliable and cannot be counted on as a basis of truth. I've been reading my bible for some 40 years and I'm still looking for those "errors".
In Paul's second letter to Timothy, he says of the Scriptures, "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 3:16-17. Paul clearly felt the Scriptures were truth. About lawbreakers, Paul provides a definition of what is lawless by defining it as what is contrary to "the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me." 1 Timothy 1:11. That which is consistent with the gospel of God is good. It is to be the yardstick in evaluating what is good and what is bad, what is true and what is not: the Scriptures inform our thinking that what it is we know to be true is, in fact, true. Jesus himself said he was the way, the truth and the life, John 14:6. As a follower of Jesus Christ, I can, without hesitation and with full and total confidence say that whatever it is Jesus has to say is truth (as well as the Scriptures he has had written for us.)
I don't look to MSNBC to inform my thinking. I don't look to the St. Louis Post dispatch to inform my thinking. I don't listen to Saturday Night Live, to musicians, to late night talk show hosts to inform my thinking. I look to what God has to say. I'm not looking to politicians, to pundits, to the persuasive in our pop culture - I'm not buying into anything our culture has to say. It just flip-flops around too much. Slavery was right, now it is wrong. Homosexuality was wrong and now it is right. That is simply not going to do it for me. I want truth to order my life by, not the whims of our cultural elites who have agendas not particularly well known.
In Ephesians 2:1-2 we read, "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient." I think Paul was speaking exactly to this issue here.
How wonderful it is that God chose to reveal himself to us! How wonderful God chose to give us truth, that we may be certain as to what it is we know to be true in the Scriptures! We don't have to guess where the culture is headed as to whether it is right or wrong. We don't have to flip-flop around. How wonderful we have truth right from the source of truth in the Scriptures!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment