Warning: challenge ahead . . .

 

READ Proverbs 1-4

For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you. (Proverbs 2:6–11)

When I am ‘tipped over’ by some sort of ‘I will do this myself’ thinking, the wisdom of God is beyond my grasp. It does not make sense to do what He wants me to do and in my thinking, my ‘I wants’ are better. This is ‘old nature’ thinking. Reading these chapters in Proverbs are like listening to a gentle voice talking me out of all that.

Wisdom comes from God. That alone is a rebuke to my selfishness. This NT passage gives a description of both kinds of ‘wisdom’ and the distinctions are pointed, a reminder of what is better:

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3:13–18)

Back to Proverbs, the above passage says that sound wisdom is for those who are upright (not tipped over by fleshy thinking) and for those who walk in integrity. Integrity is being totally the same inside and out, not faking what goes on in my heart and nor denying inside me any foolish things I do on the outside. It is transparent honesty without hypocrisy. In other words, when I tip over, I must acknowledge it — which is the first step toward becoming right side up again. 1 John comes to mind:

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:6–9)

Proverbs also says that God guards the paths of justice and watches over my way. Not only does He want me to walk justly, this suggests that if anyone treats me unjustly (and I respond by tipping over), He will take care of that — once He takes care of me and gets me back in a forgiven and cleansed upright state.

Getting mad or retaliating will not fix situations of being sinned against. When that happens, God wants me to have discretion. Discretion means to judge wisely and objectively, even having a purpose or a plan that deals with such things. While this could be shrewd or with sinful intent, the discretion that comes from God means having a plan that guards me against a fleshy reaction to something done against me.

This suggests thinking it through and figuring out how I’m going to react to unjust treatment. I cannot ‘fix’ those who do it, but discretion will watch over me and understanding will guard and deliver me from it. For that, God’s answer is Jesus and the gospel. When nailed to the cross, He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

Even if they did know what they were doing, forgiveness is the door to a changed life and disciples of Jesus Christ hold the key; Jesus also said, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” (John 20:23) This suggests that if someone sins against me, they will not be forgiven by God until I forgive them. Really?

What is forgiveness? How did Jesus do it? He died for it. He chooses not hold sin against those who sin, including me. God tells me to forgive like I’ve been forgiven. If I will not do that, then whoever sinned against me may remain accountable to God for it — but I also will be held accountable for my lack of forgiveness making this a lose-lose situation. For that reason, discretion includes forgiveness — which might mean seventy times seven if the one sinning keeps doing it.

This strikes me that the only way that discretion can guard me is if, by God’s grace, I plan to bear a sin against me without react negatively. Like Jesus, I need to be able to say: Father, forgive them; they know not what they do, and keep on saying it even if they keep doing it.

 

Be aware of the imitation church

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. (Ephesians 2:19–21)

Today’s question is why a church? What did God have in mind when He planned such a thing? One verse is often quoted (and misquoted) as a significant part of the answer. When the disciples told Jesus who people thought He was, “He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’” (Matthew 16:15–18).

Some interpret this as Peter being the foundation of the church, but that does not make sense. Jesus is the founder, also called the Chief Cornerstone. He builds the church, not Peter or any other human. He said that the foundation of the church is the revealed identity of Jesus Christ. This is also one of two requisites for becoming a Christian. 

Knowing who He is, and believing that salvation is by grace through faith are revelations from God and vital. Without those two main truths, no matter what a group of people call themselves, they are not part of Christ’s church.

The church exists as God’s idea, not the apostles nor the plan of anyone else. He formed it, as it says in Acts, to finish the work that Christ began. We cannot do that work without Him, even though we often try. Whenever we try to do it in our own power (which happens much more than it should), we simply mess it up. 

In fact, the world is full of professing Christians and imitation churches. These mask the reality that Christ has a Body of believers to whom He gave great ability and power to accomplish His will and purposes. While that work is often behind the scenes, it is still His work and cannot be done without Him. 

For instance, Jesus told His followers, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19) He repeated this and added another promise, “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matthew 18:18–20) 

John recorded this assignment given to the church also: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” (John 20:23) 

If Christians rely on Jesus and take our orders from Him, the church is incredible in its power and ability. If Christians (or imitation Christians) read these words and take matters into their own hands, they seriously muck it up, making the church appear as a power-hungry greedy group that is corrupt, self-seeking, and power-hungry.  

Someone once told me that no one imitates junk. That is, we have fake Christians and churches so-called because the original is amazing and the perfection of God. Those who want what Christians have are like many who want a Rolex watch. Rather than pay the price, they settle for something that might look the same and wear the logo, but it cannot last or pass the tests because it is not the real thing.