Stepping on Toes

I am reading "The Jesus You Can't Ignore" by John MacArthur.  It's subtitled "What you must learn from the bold confrontations of Christ."  It's well worth reading, as it gives a clear picture of the many interactions Jesus engaged in with the spiritual leaders of His day.

I'll never look at the midnight interview with Nicodemus in quite the same way again.  After reading how Jesus confronted Nicodemus and implicated him as an unbeliever (this was clear to Nicodemus) I realize that Jesus didn't pull any punches. Instead, He deliberately stepped on Nicodemus' toes.

"Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.  If I have told you eartly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?"

John MacArthur writes,

"To post-modernized ears, that sounds extraordinarily harsh.  Contemporary evangelicals typically bristle at the thought of challenging anyone's profession of faith.  Religious television networks are overrun with teachers who profess to be Chrsitians but whose doctrine and lifestyle show no real fruit of salvation.  People like that have flourished and even begun to dominate the non-Christian public's perception of what Christianity is, mainly because more sound and solid evangelical leaders are reluctant to call them by name and say plainly that they are charlatans and false teachers.  To oppose another minister publicly just doesn't seem "nice."  The thought of being perceived as harsh or negative is more odious to some Christians than actually being undiscerning.  So false teachers are given free reign to promote their false teachings and flaunt their extravagant lifestyles."

But Jesus effectively said to Nicodemus, "You don't know what you are talking about! You ought not to be sitting on your high horse in the place of Moses - Instead you should be placing yourself with the sinning Israelites who needed to look at the serpent to live! "

Nicodemus needed to recognize his spiritual poverty and see his need for a Saviour.  He may have been a Pharisee with the honour and respect of his fellow Jews, but his situation was desperate.  Jesus ended His discourse with Nicodemus by bringing the emphasis right back to the problem of human depravity.

John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Jesus gave Nicodemus a smack-down because He cared more for the truth than He cared how Nicodemus felt about it. 

We, too, should be telling the truth.  We ought to care more for the truth than caring more about how the people we love feel about the truth. 

We know that Nicodemus was eventually drawn to the True Light and became a genuine believer.  He and Joseph of Arimathea prepared the Saviour's body for burial - an act that could have cost him everything. 

Jesus wasn 't NICE to Nicodemus.  He told him the truth. 

John MacArthur writes,

Jesus knew something evangelicals today often forget:  Truth doesn't defeat error by waging a public relations campaign.  The struggle between truth and error is spiritual warfare, and truth has no way to defeat falsehood except by exposing and refuting lies and false teaching.  That calls for candour and clarity, boldness and precision -- and sometimes more severity than congeniality.

Be Very Careful How You Teach

Before I continue with the series of posts I have planned regarding the SGF Ladies' Retreat, I want to comment about teaching. I am painfully aware that I use this blog to teach, so what I have to say applies to myself first and foremost.

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. ~James 3:1

We all stumble in many ways, and we are prone to stumble in the use of the tongue.

Consider Job's friends. They met with Job after the terrible tragedy that befell him, and they sat there silently day after day. I'm sure Job appreciated the company as he reeled with the pain of losing everything. But when his friends began to teach him what they thought they knew about God, his pain increased.

Job begins to talk back after he becomes exasperated with their "wisdom".

Job 26

Then Job answered and said:

2 “How you have helped him who has no power!

How you have saved the arm that has no strength!

Job sarcastically points out that his three friends, by accusing the one who is the helper of the poor and needy, have hurt their only source of power. Job had been the protector of the weak and the provider for the poor. But in their eyes, he must be wrong.

3 How you have counseled him who has no wisdom,

and plentifully declared sound knowledge!

4 With whose help have you uttered words,

and whose breath has come out from you?

Job is mocking their wisdom, and pointing out that the words they have uttered have not been with the help from God that they need; their breath was wasted.

Be very careful when you offer counsel. Make sure you are rightly dividing the Word of Truth, and that you have considered the whole counsel of God, not just a small part of it. When you give advice, be humble and admit that some things are not as simple as they seem.

5 The dead tremble

under the waters and their inhabitants.

6 Sheol is naked before God,

and Abaddon has no covering.

7 He stretches out the north over the void

and hangs the earth on nothing.

8 He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,

and the cloud is not split open under them.

9 He covers the face of the full moon

and spreads over it his cloud.

10 He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters

at the boundary between light and darkness.

11 The pillars of heaven tremble

and are astounded at his rebuke.

12 By his power he stilled the sea;

by his understanding he shattered Rahab.

13 By his wind the heavens were made fair;

his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

Notice the power of God. He does what He wants with nature and weather, with Nations such as Egypt (Rahab) and with animals such as the fleeing serpent. He controls all things.

14 Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways,

and how small a whisper do we hear of him!

But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

We cannot understand how God controls the forces of nature, which we can see. What makes us presume we know what He is doing in the lives of others, when we cannot see into their hearts? We cannot know what God is doing in the midst of disastrous circumstances. We do not know how God is working or what He is accomplishing in the lives of fellow believers. We are very, very little; God is very, very big.

So, in teaching, be humble and gentle. Avoid grave pronouncements that seem to suggest that you know what is going on perfectly. You don't. You can only guess. Only God knows the heart. Avoid giving the impression that you have "arrived" down the spiritual path to perfection. You haven't. As long as you draw breath you will battle your sinful nature. Only God can sanctify and glorify His children.

Be humble. Pray much. Be careful how you teach.