Those who are supposed to represent the Lord, to be His
spokesmen, the prophets and priests are particularly called out for
failure. He says that in the northern kingdom,
Israel, the prophets prophesied by Baal, they did not misrepresent Him at
least. The prophets of Jerusalem, Judah,
claim to be His prophets but they live such lives as to bring dishonor to His
Name. They have taken His Name in
vain. They are adulterers, liars and
unjust men, prophets for hire to the highest bidder. The similes He uses are they are like Sodom
and Gomorrah. Unfortunately, in the US
over the past thirty years the prophetic community has been riddled with such
men, some of whom continue their ministry in spite of such things. Are we so very different from that nation?
As people walk away in droves Jesus has to turn to His
disciples and ask if they too are leaving.
I have seen it happen not only in the church I pastor but in others as
well. People leave and then others will
leave because it isn't the same any more and as a leader it is a difficult
thing. Peter gets it right, you have
the words of eternal life. What is the
most important thing in a church? If we
are receiving the spiritual nourishment of truth and life, Jesus, then why do
we spend our time on secondary issues? We
live in a world where in the church there are a plurality of truths preached
and taught and we need to remain faithful to the truth and cling to it with all
our might. Jesus knew that even in this
small band was one who was a devil and yet continued to give even that man the
best He had to give. It is amazing that
these men would change the world.
"It is not as though the word of God has failed." You can hear Paul's incredible frustration
with his own people coming through here.
What they have forgotten is that God is the one who does the
choosing. Jesus pointed that out to the
disciples in the Gospel reading today, He chose them, not the other way
round. He is very clear that their
choice was not of merit nor of their will but His mercy. We naturally rebel against the idea of
election but it is certain from the beginning of the nation of Israel that it
is indeed a mystery and an action of God but that does not mean He is
unjust. Thinking that some are saved and
not others is unjust tends to indicate that there is some basis for salvation other
than God's mercy, that all must surely deserve mercy at some level. The problem is that we let this dilemma and
theological argument keep us from the one important thing, the ministry of the
Word, evangelism.
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