One thing about God’s Word is that it is deadly serious. God’s Word is a double-edged sword. It cuts, as it is designed to do, like a scalpel. Paul says poetically that “it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow,” and “it judges the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
If you let it do its work in you, it will save your life, just as a surgeon’s scalpel saves lives. It isn’t often comfortable, but it is necessary, and it brings healing to our condition.
In the first chapter of James, he warns, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22 NIV) This is a sober reminder of what Jesus said about building a house on sand and trees that do not bear good fruit.
The person who hears the words of Jesus and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand (Matthew 7:24-27), and trees that do not bear fruit are cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matthew 7:19)
We are created by God to bear good fruit. He plants His seed in us with the hope and the intention that we bear good fruit. If we are truly connected to the Vine (Jesus), we will bear good fruit.
God has a purpose and a design for the world, and he created us to engage Him to be an active, fruitful part of that purpose and design. So, how do we do that?
We escape the corruption of the world by the way of righteousness and the sacred command. But, what if we lose the way and don’t know the sacred commandment?
I started this short series with a passage from 2 Peter 2:20-21:
If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
They “they” who escaped the corruption of the world only to be entangled in it again are the false prophets Peter accuses at the beginning of the chapter of introducing “destructive heresies” and “denying the sovereign Lord who bought them.” (2 Pet. 2:1) Peter says these false prophets are like dogs returning to their vomit. (v. 22) Seducing the unstable (v. 14) and appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice “people who are just escaping from those who live in error.” (v. 18)
In the introductory article, I note that the words of judgment Peter unleashes on these false prophets might lead to a concern that we could one of those unstable ones who are enticed and entrapped. Those who struggle with sins that so easily entangle us might easily feel condemned in this tirade.
The solemn warning that such ones are better off not knowing Jesus. than knowing the way of righteousness and turning their back on the sacred command is enough to send a shiver down the spine. The actions Peter describes, however, are the fruits of turning away from the sacred command. These fruits are not the problems in themselves, but the symptoms of disconnecting from the way of righteousness and the sacred command.
In the second article, I explored the way of righteousness. The way of righteousness is the way of Jesus, who is the Way! Knowing Jesus and knowing the way of righteousness is the same thing.
The way of righteousness means embracing and walking in light of his sacrifice on the cross by which we are justified and we are considered righteous before God the Father. It means trusting in Jesus and the grace of God the Father. It means ceasing from our striving to earn the way and the pride that goes with our achievement.
The way of righteousness means following Jesus and maintaining relationship with Jesus, who is our Living Water, our Bread of Life, and the Vine in which we have become the branches (extensions of him). Knowing the way of righteousness and turning from the sacred command is to disconnect and to go our own way.
But what is the sacred command? This was my big question as I read through this passage recently, and this question is ultimately what motives me to write this short series.
I admit, that I wasn’t sure as I read through this passage. I should have known, because Jesus was pretty clear about it. But, I didn’t. I had lost sight of it. It’s so easy to lose sight of what’s important in the turmoil in the world that often spills over into my own heart.
Someone commented recently on Facebook that some of the harshest critics of Christians on social media are Christians. (Assuming that anyone who self-identifies as a Christian is a Christian.) This reminded me of what Jesus said to his disciples after Judas left the last supper to betray him.
When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:31-35
“Now” the Son of Man is glorified, Jesus said. He was lifted up, but it wasn’t the kind of “glory” anyone expected. It was the glory of Jesus being obedient to the Father and accomplishing all that intended.
Jesus knew he was leaving, and (if we read between the lines), he knew the disciples left in front of him would struggle at first. What was the key instruction in this time? What was the one thing he gave them to hold onto?
“Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
It’s a sad state of affairs that Christians today may be more well known for their fighting with each other than for their love for each other.
People will say that the doctrine is important and that Paul and the early church were also concerned about doctrine. This is true, of course.
It also occurs to me that the 1st century Christians lived in a world that was predominantly non-Christian. They were a very small minority. The disagreements among Christians likely went completely unnoticed by the world at large.
Christians are in the majority in the United States today, so negativity from Christians toward Christians in the United states is highly noticeable. With so many people who call themselves Christian, the fighting is going to get noticed.
A person might say further that love is tempered by truth. Love that does not recognize and confirm to truth is not love. Right? I cannot help but thinking, however, that such a statement sounds particularly like something a Pharisee may have said in the 1st century.
Isn’t it a shame that, with so many Christians in this country, we do not shine like that proverbial city on a hill? And, by shine, I mean with the love of God for each other (and for others – and even for our enemies).
Looking back at the first Christian leaders who had disagreements, I see that they spent time in prayer – together with each other. They worked to find common ground, and they agreed to disagree on peripheral things. They did not bicker publicly among themselves.
We see many examples of this in the Book of Acts and the epistles that make up the New Testament. Early Christians did not agree on everything, but they agreed on essentials, and they allowed room for disagreement.
Early Christians did take a strong stand against heresy, but we can’t just everything on which we disagree matters of heresy. Heretical doctrines in the 1st Century, like Gnosticism, have their 21st Century counterparts. We call certain clear departures from orthodox Christianity heretical, like the Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons, but the fighting my friend on Facebook was sad about is fighting among Christians who are somewhere in the range of Christian “orthodoxy”.
Navigating by Faith 