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God's words for discerning Spirit To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the words of understanding; To receive instruction in wise dealing, In righteousness and justice and equity; To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion Proverbs 1:1-4 In every Lord's Church there are certain people who have to be guarded against the clever trickery of men. Ephesians 4:14-20, Paul uses the word clever-trickery which means skill in manipulating the dice. There are always those who by ingenious arguments seek to lure people away from their faith. Christian especially the young Christian has often to meet the clever arguments of those who are against the Lord's revealed words and the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is only one way to avoid being blown about by the latest religious fashion and to avoid being seduced by the specious arguments of clever men and that is by the continual growth into Christ Jesus Our Lord. The only thing which can keep the individual Christian solid in the faith and secure against seduction, and keep the Church healthy and efficient is an intimate connection with Jesus Christ who is the head and the directing mind of the body. Colossians 2:8-10 warned us saying "Beware lest anyone cheat through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ...." Thus we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. The Gospel and the Apostle's doctrine are not the product of human ingenuity, no clever discovery of the human intellect, and the Biblical teaching is not the bright idea of some outstanding genius but it is a revelation of the power of the sovereign God. The body is only healthy and efficient when every part is thoroughly coordinated. The Apostle Paul says that the Church is like the human body and the church can be like that only when Christ is really the head and when every member is moving under his control, just as every part of a healthy body is obedient to the brain. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James, writes the resounding and magnificent doxology which declares the Majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ: "now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing to the only God our Saviour through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen." He warns us to remember the fate of the Israelites, who had been brought in safety out of Egypt but they had never been permitted to enter the Promised Land because of their unbelief (Jd.5). The reference is to Num.13:26-33; Num.14:1-29. Although a man had received the grace of God, he might still lose his eternal salvation if he drifted into disobedience and unbelief. He is like Cain, the cynical, selfish murderer; and is like Balaam, whose one desire was for gain and who led the people into sin; He is like Korah, who rebelled against the legitimate authority of Moses and was swallowed up by the earth for his arrogant disobedience (Jude 11). Having castigated the evil men with this torrent of invective, Jude turns to the faithful. They could have expected all this to happen, for the apostles of Jesus Christ had foretold the rise of evil men (Jude 18-19). But the duty of the true Christian is to build his life on the foundation of the most holy faith; to learn to pray in the power of the Holy Spirit; to remember the conditions of the covenant into which the love of God has called him; to wait for the mercy of Jesus Christ (Jude 20-21). Christian must have that godly fear which will love the sinner but hate the sin and must avoid the pollution of those he seeks to save (Jude 22-23). The power of our God will with Christians all the time, who can keep him from falling and bring him pure and joyful into his presence (Jude.24-25, Matthew 28:20). If anyone speaks, let him speak as one uttering sayings sent from God. If anyone renders any service, let him do so as one whose service comes from the strength which God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ to whom belong glory and power for ever and ever. Amen. Peter is thinking of the two great activities of the Christian Church, preaching and practical service. The word he uses for sayings is logia (GSN3048). That is a word with a kind of divine background. The heathen used it for the oracles which came to them from their gods; the Christians used it for the words of scripture and the words of Christ. So Peter is saying, "If a man has the duty of preaching, let him preach not as one offering his own opinions or propagating his own prejudices, but as one with a message from God." It was said of one great preacher: "First he listened to God, and then he spoke to men." It was said of another that ever and again he paused, "as if listening for a voice." There lies the secret of preaching power. Peter goes on to say that if a Christian is engaged in practical service, he must render that service in the strength which God supplies. It is as if he said, "When you are engaged in Christian service, you must not do it as if you were conferring a personal favour or distributing bounty from your own store, but in the consciousness that what you give you first received from God." Such an attitude preserves the giver from pride and the gift from humiliation. The aim of everything is that God should be glorified. Preaching is not done to display the preacher but to bring men face to face with God. Service is rendered not to bring prestige to the giver but to turn men's thoughts to God. A new grace and glory would enter the Church, if all church people ceased doing things for themselves and did them for God and His body. Remember that there is no Christian teaching which is at variance with the basic truths of Scripture and with the Word of God. If we listen to these false teachers, so far from receiving deep spiritual knowledge, we are simply slipping back into rudimentary instruction from men which we should have left behind long ago. " Paul was prepared to give at least partial credence to the reports of the divisions at Corinth, since he knew that, owing to their carnal state, there were bound to be these opinionated factions in their midst. Here Paul reasons forward from their state to their actions. Knowing them to be carnal and walking as men, he knew that they would certainly fall victims to the inveterate tendency of human mind to form its strong opinions, and the factions founded in those folly and take occasion to make manifest those that were approved of Him, walking according to the Spirit and not as man; and consequently eschewing the whole of this divisive business." F.B. Hole.
Paul foresaw that the schisms already begun in Corinth would increase until they became more serious. Although in general this would be detrimental to the church, the body of Jesus Christ, yet one good thing would come out of it, that is, that those who were truly spiritual and who were approved of God would be Next article will be : Theological setting | |||
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