Yesterday I mentioned the concept of entropy as a way of
understanding that systems tend to move from order to chaos over time. This lesson begins with, "Truth is
lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey." Over time, civilizations get bored with truth
and begin a search for other truth and meaning and in the end lose any idea of
truth. We come up with theories like
deconstruction, that the words written are to be interpreted not by the writer
but by the reader. Truth then is a
concept that no longer holds the same meaning it once had, nothing is
objectively true for all people, it is only subjective, unique to the
individual. Such thinking has no place
under the sun in the eyes of God, who is truth.
The only solution to this problem was for Him to come in the flesh, to
embody truth, to redeem those who had departed from evil and become a prey. Our hope is, however, not in this world or
this life, our righteousness will be shown in the next life where entropy will
no longer apply.
Belief in the book of John is a malleable thing. This passage is all about belief. The official comes in the obvious belief that
Jesus can heal his son but Jesus challenges him, “Unless you see signs and
wonders you will not believe.” The man
already believes and implores Jesus to come to his son but Jesus sends him away
with a promise rather than going. The
official left in faith, believing the word Jesus had spoken. When he arrived home, the child was healed
and he asked when this happened. It was
exactly the same time Jesus had spoken the word. The result was that the man "himself
believed, and all his household."
He believed in the beginning of the episode, he believed when he walked
back home, and he believed at the end of the episode. Belief, it seems is a continuum. He believed Jesus could heal if he were
present, then he believed that it was possible Jesus could heal from a distance
by word alone, and finally he saw this as reality, his faith was deeper and
wider, more secure. The Lord always
wants us to go further, believe in Him more, trust Him more, but we settle for
less.
One of these churches, Smyrna, is encouraged to persevere in
suffering. They are told what is about
to happen and that this is not the judgment of the Lord, but also that He will
allow it to occur. They are to be
faithful unto death in order to receive the crown of life, a true paradox if
you don't believe. What would your
response be if the Lord told you this same thing? The second church, Pergamum, apparently was
buying into a dualistic understanding of this life, that flesh and spirit were
separate and it made no difference what you did in the flesh, hedonism with a
spiritual license. Where in our
understanding of this life do we make this same error? Spiritual discipline is often neglected in
the belief that sanctification is a passive process lest we be accused of a
works based theology. If we want to go
up and grow up, we have to actively participate in the process. Our expectation should be simply growing in
the knowledge and love of Christ, not some earthly reward.
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