The Gospel Union: The deep things of God

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

The deep things of God

What are the deep things of God? Sometimes I lose sight of what's deep and what's not so deep in the scheme of things. Was tithing of mint, rue, and other herbs a good thing for the Pharisees to do? Yes. Were those things the deep things of God? Forget about it.

Luke 11:42 - "But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. (NKJV)

If there are deep things of God, then there must be shallower things as well. We should never ignore the shallower things our consciences bind us to, because that would be sin:

Romans 14:23 - But he who doubts is condemned... (NKJV)

But we also need to refrain from thinking that our shallower ideas are deeper than they really are. This is what the Pharisees did with their rules and regulations about tithing, walking a Sabbath Day's journey, cleanliness, and numerous other issues. These deductions and interpretations of the law, which would have been fine for them to hold themselves to in their personal devotions, ballooned into matters of such importance in their minds that they felt compelled to bind them on everyone else.

Jesus said the Pharisees were overlooking justice and the love of God. These were the weightier matters of the law. It is no different for us in Christ. For us, the greatest commands, to love God and to love our neighbor, stand out as the weightier matters of the law. On these two things hang all the law and prophets, and from these two things we learn every one of the deep things of God.

The fruits of the spirit seem to be the best list of character traits that comprise the deep things of God. These character traits should be ingrained into us, as iron sharpens iron, by our interaction with each other.

Proverbs 27:17 - As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. (NKJV)

Galatians 5:22-25 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (NKJV)

If we understand the deep things of God, we will not use our Christian liberty to please ourselves, but to serve each another:

Galatians 5:13-15 - For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! (NKJV)

If we do not understand these deeper things, the works of the flesh, including contention and selfish ambition, will prevail:

Galatians 5:19-21 - Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (NKJV)

We'd better not be passing over the deep things of God. Since we are human, we will always hold opinions that are not entirely accurate or factual. Those opinions will be formed and reformed over our lifetime as we read and study the Word, but we shouldn't confuse deeply reasoned opinions with the deep things of God.

A nugget of truth culled from deep within the scriptures is exciting to discover, and even more exciting to share. But facts, theories, and opinions about them, are useless if we store them in a glass case to be viewed as trophies.

The important truths of scripture are the most life-changing ones that bring our character into alignment with Christ's character. These are the deep things of God, and we can't afford to miss these truths in our mining efforts.

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Choice scriptures:

Romans 15:1-7 - "We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up...May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."
(NIV)

2 Thessalonians 3:1 - "Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you."
(NIV)

Romans 1:16 - "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile."
(NIV)

John 17:20-21 - "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."
(NIV)

Choice quotes:

Alexander Campbell - "We will not hearken to those questions which gender strife, nor discuss them at all. If a person says such is his private opinion, let him have it as his private opinion; but lay no stress upon it; and if it be a wrong private opinion, it will die a natural death much sooner than if you attempt to kill it."

Alexander Campbell - "But men cannot give up their opinions, and therefore, they can never unite, says one. We do not ask them to give up their opinions--we ask them only not to impose them upon others. Let them hold their opinions, but let them hold them as private property. The faith is public property; opinions are, and always have been private property. Men have foolishly attempted to make the deductions of some great minds the common measure of all Christians. Hence the deductions of a Luther, and a Calvin, and a Wesley, have been the rule and measure of all who coalesce under the names of these leaders. It is cruel to excommunicate a man because of the imbecility of his intellect."

Alexander Campbell - "Dear sir, this plan of making our own nest, and fluttering over our own brood; of building our own tent, and of confining all goodness and grace to our noble selves and the "elect few" who are like us, is the quintessence of sublimated pharisaism. The old Pharisees were but babes in comparison to the modern: and the longer I live, and the more I reflect upon God and man--heaven and earth--the Bible and the world--the Redeemer and his church--the more I am assured that all sectarianism is the offspring of hell; and that all differences about words, and names, and opinions, hatched in Egypt, or Rome, or Edinburgh, are like the frolics of drunken men; and that where there is a new creature, or a society of them, with all their imperfections and frailties, and errors in sentiment, in views, and opinions, they ought to receive one another, and the strong to support the weak, and not to please themselves. To lock ourselves up in the bandbox of our own little circle; to associate with a few units, tens, or hundreds, as the pure church, as the elect, is real Protestant monkery, it is evangelical pharisaism."

Alexander Campbell - "I have tried the pharisaic plan, and the monastic. I was once so straight, that, like the Indian's tree, I leaned a little the other way. And however much I may be slandered now as seeking "popularity" or a popular course, I have to rejoice that to my own satisfaction, as well as to others, I proved that truth, and not popularity, was my object; for I was once so strict a Separatist that I would neither pray nor sing praises with any one who was not as perfect as I supposed myself. In this most unpopular course I persisted until I discovered the mistake, and saw that on the principle embraced in my conduct, there never could be a congregation or church upon the earth."

Alexander Campbell - "I have no idea of adding to the catalogue of new sects. I labor to see sectarianism abolished and all Christians of every name united upon the one foundation upon which the apostolic church was founded."

The Gospel Union

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

The deep things of God

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