In Jeremiah's time there were apparently prophets whose
message did not come from the Lord and which did not comport with Jeremiah's
word of warning. We have a sense today
in some circles that prophecy in the post-Resurrection church should always
"edify" and that if a word is given that fails to edify in the sense
of affirmation it should be rejected. Why
should we think that would be the case? Certainly
the words in chapters 2 and 3 of the book of the Revelation didn't affirm all
the churches to whom they were addressed, rather they called to repentance and
offered only judgment absent that repentance.
We need to be careful to listen to the prophets among us, even those
whose message isn't congenial to us.
Jesus certainly spoke words of judgment towards His hearers
on more than one occasion. Peter comes
in line for direct and stinging rebuke when he attempts to dissuade Jesus from
speaking about the crucifixion. He is
offering cheap popularity and the kingdom of the world without suffering,
without obedience to the Father. To the
crowd, Jesus addresses Himself in equally strong terms. He doesn't offer popularity and prosperity
but, rather, a cross. It is in the
denial of self, the turning away from the allure of the things of this world,
that we will save our lives unto eternity.
The measure of a man's blessing cannot be the things of earth. He calls this a sinful and adulterous
generation. What in the world would He
say of us?
Paul uses a perfectly good word for Lent, discipline. There are many Christians today who will not
use that word and somehow equate it with works righteousness. That is something with which Paul would
certainly take issue. He says that he
disciplines his body in order to qualify himself. He is not depending on that discipline for
salvation but for sanctification. His body
will not be his master, he will master it by the Spirit living within him and
it will do the will of God. We are called
to work cooperatively with the Spirit in us that our lives might show forth His
glory and His handiwork. Sanctification has
gotten rather short shrift the past couple of decades while we have argued
about justification. You can't have one
without the other. We need to hear and
heed correctives from the Spirit, from one another, wherever, if we are going
to make progress in become Christ-like.
No comments:
Post a Comment