No Partial Disciples

This is the choice that Christ gives us in Luke 14.33. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple" (KJV). Christ will have all, or he will have nothing. There is no in between; there are no partial disciples.

Where Shall Wisdom be Found?

Job asks his three friends—or perhaps asks rhetorically—in Job 28.12: "But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?" (KJV). He does not leave us hanging. He answers the question. In 28.23,24, he points out that God knows where wisdom is found. In 28.28, he answers the question that he poses in 28.12 and again in 28.20. Where is wisdom to be found? "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom," answers Job, "and to depart from evil is understanding."

Job sets two prerequisites for finding wisdom. First, wisdom is found in the fear of the Lord. In other words, if you do not fear the Lord, if you do not stand before him with awe and reverence, then you will not, indeed cannot find wisdom. This is why a simple follower of Christ can have more wisdom than a man with great education and training. Second, finding wisdom is integrally related to departing from evil. One cannot live an immoral life, with a general acceptance of evil, and be wise. This is impossible. There is something about evil that blocks us from finding wisdom.

In this fact we differ from the rest of society who looks at a leader in society who has, for instance, cheated on his wife, and says, "that is his private life. What difference does that make to us?" According to Job, it makes a great deal of difference, because a man who lives comfortably with evil is a man who cannot find true wisdom. A nation that is led by such a man is bound to experience difficulty.

Who Feeds the Ravens?

Reading in Luke 12.24 this evening (MIA). "Consider the ravens," Christ says, "for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouses nor barns; and God feedeth them; how much more are ye better than the fowls?" (KJV).

Christ says: "God feeds the ravens." Man says: "The ravens feed themselves using the instinct implanted into their DNA from previous generations which has them pursue one aim, survival. So they seek food." Christ says: "Like I said, God feeds the ravens."

If we are to truly understand the world, we are going to have to look with spiritual eyes. Physical eyes will get us so far, but physical eyes will not discover the truth that Christ points out in this simple verse. Man can observe proximate causes. Raven is hungry. Raven seeks food to survive. Raven eats. Christ understands ultimate causes. Ravens are fed by God. We need to look at and acknowledge and thank the God who is the ultimate cause of all things. Ravens getting fed. People getting fed.

Go and Do Thou Likewise

Jesus tells a story to a young expert in Jewish law when the expert asks who his neighbor is. It is a familiar story, the story of the Good Samaritan. At the end, Christ asks the lawyer, in light of the story, which one of the three people who passed by was acting like a neighbor. The lawyer answers correctly, "The one who showed the wounded man mercy." Christ doesn't leave the lesson at that point, however. He means for the young lawyer to make an application to his own life. "Go, and do thou likewise" (KJV), he tells the lawyer.

Of course both Christ and the author (Luke) mean for us to be the lawyer in the story. Neighbors show people mercy. Go and be a neighbor, wherever you are.

Don't be Disqualified

Paul's goal is to keep his life under control (his body) so that he does not end up disqualified in the process of following Christ—a process that he compares to a race. "I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified," writes Paul (1 Cor 9.27). (In a misstep the KJV translates it: "should be a castaway," implying the plight of a shipwrecked sailor. The Greek word means to test and find unfit).

The salient point is that we ought to follow Paul's example here. We are no less obligated to keep our own bodies under control lest we be disqualified, lest we be tested and found unfit.

Why We Must Be Good Loggers

Christ calls a certain class of person "thou hypocrite" in Luke 6.42(KJV). A hypocrite back then was an actor, like a theatre actor. According to Christ a hypocrite was a person who claimed to follow and honor God, but could clearly see the small imperfections in the people around him, and was blind to the humongous imperfections (the logs) in his own life. This kind of person was an actor. They pretended to serve God, but someone who is not interested in seeing his own large flaws is not a true servant of God; he is nothing but an actor.

This is why we must be good loggers. If we truly serve Christ, then we will remove the logs in our own eyes, before we go about clearing specks out of other peoples' eyes. If we do this we will not be hypocrites. We will be faithful servants. Hypocrites are hypervigilant, except with themselves. True Christians are grace-filled loggers.

Stripped of Glory...by God

"He hath stripped me of my glory," complains Job in Job 19.9 (KJV). While it was Satan who was the immediate agent of stripping all things away from Job, we understand as the readers that Job is indeed correct here. All of this was in God's control and allowed by God; therefore it is God who bears ultimate responsibility; a fact which the Scriptures do not try to hide at all. God accepts ultimate responsibility! He does not seem bothered by the implications of this in the least. It fascinates me that Man attempts to explain this away in order to cast God in a better light (from Man's framework), but God doesn't seem the least bit interested in these attempts.

Speaking with Power

Matthew, Mark and Luke point out that Christ spoke "with power." The Greek word for "power" here means: "The power to do something with or without the added implication of authority." It is often translated "authority." The KJV translates it "power" in this instance, but in other instances "authority."

The KJV translation in Luke 4.32 is: And they were astonished at his doctrine; for his word was with power. Just to point out how difficult it is to translate the word precisely, the ESV reads: "His word possessed authority."

The sense of "power" in this passage then appears to be "power with authority." I take this to mean that it struck those who heard strongly; that they could not help but be affected by his word in a manner which caused them to change the direction of their lives.

KJV Word of the Day: Bucklers

The KJV Word of the Day is taken from Job 15.26: "He runneth upon him, even upon his neck, Upon the thick bosses of his bucklers."

A buckler was a small, round shield with a knob or "boss" in the center, carried or strapped to the arm for use in hand-to-hand fighting.

Wist Ye Not

"Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" (Luke 2.40, KJV) says Christ to his parents after they were searching for him during three long days in Jerusalem. It is an extraordinary statement and one that confounds his parents. Indeed, they do not understand what he meant for a very long time, although they do remember the encounter.

We don't know exactly what Christ knew at the age of twelve—everything, some things? We do understand from this incident that he knew enough to confound the intellectuals with his questions, and to know that God was his father and that he must be at his father's business. Deep waters here.

NAC: "After over a decade of normalcy the supernatural nature of their son and his destiny broke in on them again."

KJV Word of the Day: Messes

This is a truly bizarre sounding word because "mess" has such a different meaning now. I take the word from Gen 42.34: "And he took and sent messes unto them, from before him; but Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs." The passage sounds funny reading it from a modern perspective. "Mess" then meant "a portion or serving of food."

Watch

Christ sums up his discussion of the end times and his return by repeating to his disciples what he wants them (and all the rest of his followers) to do: "And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch" (Mark 13.37).

We notice that Christ's summary is clearly not directed only at the disciples to whom he is speaking. He speaks these words to all. I am tempted to say that by all, he meant every person, because, even those who were not his followers, and who did not believe in him would be affected by Christ's return. Most likely it was a comment directed at all of his followers.

Watch means "to stay awake or be watchful," or "to be on the alert." It's pretty clear that here Christ means for his followers to be on the alert for his coming. They ought not to be taken by surprise. For we who follow Christ two thousand years later, the application is no different. We ought to be on the alert for, pray for, be expectant for, Christ's return.

How to Overcome Evil

Paul speaks to how we overcome evil in Romans 12.21. "Do not be overcome by evil," he writes, "but overcome evil with good." There is so much packed into those twelve words (in the Greek).

First, both evil and good cannot win out, it is not possible. If evil is triumphant, than good loses. If good wins, then evil is crushed.

Second, It is possible for a follower of Christ to be overcome by evil. Otherwise, Paul would not have written this admonition.

Third, it is possible for evil to be overcome.

Fourth, the instrument with which to overcome evil is good, which here we would see as the opposite, and the antithesis of evil.

Fifth, Paul doesn't explain exactly how good overcomes evil, or how to overcome evil by using good; he only states to do it. I suspect that he must have felt that how exactly to do it was self-evident. It did not need further explaining.

KJV Word of the Day: Bakemeats

I take this word from Gen 40.17: "And in the upper basket there were all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh." The word means: "all sorts of food made by the baker."

I Have Reserved to Myself

Reading in Rom 11.4, this morning. "But what saith the answer of God unto him? 'I have reserved to myself 7000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.'"

The thing that strikes me about this passage is that, from the men who had not bowed the knee's perspective, they had remained faithful to God. From God's perspective, it was God who had "reserved to myself 7000 men." Which statement is true? Had the men remained faithful or had God reserved them faithfully?

Depending on one's perspective, both statements are true. It is true that the men had remained faithful to God. It is also true that the underlying cause for that faithfulness was that God had reserved the men to himself. The men acted faithfully; God kept them faithful.

What comes out of this is our understanding that, even when we stay faithful to God, we have nothing to boast about. All praise and glory for our faithfulness should rightfully go to him.

Born for Trouble

Man, says Job, is born for trouble as the sparks fly upward. I love this KJVism, which has entered into the popular consciousness probably because it is so obviously true. Man seems to have a penchant for getting into trouble in every culture at every time in every place. This seems to be his nature.

As followers of Christ this fits entirely within our worldview based in the sinfulness of man. One of the beautiful and satisfying things about Christianity is that it fits the world as we see it better than any other worldview. Man is born for trouble? Yep, we expect that because "In Adam's fall we sinned all." The sparks are ever flying upwards wherever Man is? Of course, that is because wherever Man is he is rebelling against God. This does seem to produce sparks!

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The Unexpected

Job acts totally unexpectedly when he discovers that he is ruined in virtually one day. We expect him to fall on his knees in grief. Instead he falls on his knees - no doubt filled with grief - and worships.

I can't quite wrap my brain around how that is even possible, although there is obviously something deeper going on here than human will.


- "Grace is the glory of God, not the merit of him who has been freed." Prosper of Aquitaine

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