To Win the More

What is our goal, our aim, our wish? What do we hope to accomplish in living? If it is to win the current argument, we have a terribly small goal. If it is to secure the respect we think we deserve, we are intent on something vaporous. If our interest is to be honored by men, it is an unworthy one. If we wish for others to be charmed and dazzled by our rhetoric and awed by our intellect, then our wish is mere vanity. All such things fully achieved truly amount to nothing.

We have all been, at some time or another, acquainted with someone who intended for us to know just how superior he was. Revealing more insecurity than greatness, he trumpeted his accomplishments and boasted of how high he had climbed the ladder of this world. Any freedom or advantage he has is used to advance and promote himself, whatever the cost. He will step on you if it becomes necessary to get his way, to achieve his goal—which is self-advancement.

Seldom do we meet people with the opposite determination, to represent themselves as smaller than we think, as less noteworthy, not seeking honor, and more interested in us than in anything they might gain from us. Have you made yourself a servant to someone that you might win him, the person? That was Paul’s goal—to win men and women! That should be our goal, as well: to win people! Not win them for ourselves and to ourselves—but to win them to Christ and for Christ by the gospel!

A free man volunteers to become your slave that he might win you! What he wants is for you to know and love Jesus Christ. He wants you to become rich forever. He wants you to share in the costly but free favors of saving grace, as you believe the good news that Jesus died for you and that He was raised from the dead as your sin’s Conqueror. This slave freely serves you so that you will know he loves you and that he wants, not what is yours, but you—so that Christ may have you as His own and so that you may have the Lord Jesus as your very own. Can we honestly say, “I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more” (1 Corinthians 9:19 NKJV)? –TSA

Truly, Love Builds Up

When Paul came to Athens “his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols” (Acts 17:16). Imagine the impact on a person’s mind, to believe that an almost infinite number of gods, deities, and spirits exist—and that they either make you prosper for appeasing them or pay dearly if you offend. Then imagine, having believed all of those things just yesterday, and then hearing the gospel preached by Paul or Peter or Titus or Barnabas and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Indeed, many people were saved out of rampant idolatry, snatched from the swirling currents of demonic occultism. If we think they came to Christ and instantly became sound in their knowledge of God and truth and life, we should rethink that.

If we had believed in many gods throughout our lives and had seen idol figures almost everywhere we looked, supposedly good ones and notoriously sinister ones, the lingering effects of that would be hard to shake. While our modern culture does not acknowledge a pantheon of deities, it is overrun with superstition of all sorts. My dear grandmother was a precious believer in Jesus, as sincere and earnest as they ever come. But she continued to think of certain things in a superstitious way; on some level many still do. A broken mirror meant ‘seven years bad luck’ and I forget what was supposed to happen if you walked beneath a standing ladder—whatever it was, it wasn’t good. In times long past and even now, many who sincerely and truly come to trust in Jesus may have no easy time shaking free of their past way of thinking, no matter how utterly silly some of it is or how entirely inconsistent with faith in the Almighty God. Their faith is real, yet some of their thinking continues to be very inconsistent with their faith.

Some of the Corinthian Christians were more knowledgeable than others who worshipped with them. Knowledge informs beliefs. Beliefs have consequences. If one believes, is absolutely clear on the fact, that there is one God and only one and that idols are not gods at all—that will instruct a person’s conscience. He will think and live under the influence of what he believes is true. Some of the Corinthian believers were crystal clear on these things. To them Paul wrote:

“…We know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him” (1 Corinthians 8:4-6).

Paul’s next few words may catch us a bit off-guard. Remember, he is not speaking of men in general, but referring to Christians in the Corinthian church. Having just stated beliefs that most of us think of as kindergarten stuff, the ABC’s of the gospel: “there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one;” and, “there is one God, the Father…and one Lord, Jesus Christ,” Paul then says something surprising about some Corinthian church members, Christians:

“However not all men have this knowledge…” (1 Corinthians 8:7a)

What? Does he mean that there are some Christians who do not fully grasp that there is one and only one God and that idols are not actual gods at all? Yes; that is what he was saying. Paul was telling the Corinthian church that some among their number were weak in conscience because they were lacking in true knowledge, not understanding certain truths, even some basic ones. And not understanding those truths and their implications, they could not yet be directed in their consciences by truths they did not understand.

But can anyone be a real Christian, a truly saved person, if he does not know—fully understand—that “there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one;” and, “there is one God, the Father…and one Lord, Jesus Christ”? We might write-off such people as unsaved, as unbelievers. Paul regarded them as weak, not as enemies of the gospel and without Christ. Was he content to leave weak brothers and sisters in ignorance and weakness? Not at all; that is why we have the epistles in our New Testaments. Paul and others wrote to teach and clarify and rebuke and strengthen.

We could adopt this attitude toward those who are weak in knowledge and, therefore, stunted in their spiritual maturity, as well. We could love them as brothers and sisters “for whom Christ died” and seek their advancement in the Way. We could be patient and kind and considerate of them, for Christ’s sake and theirs. What if they are, after all, His precious sheep—bought and paid for? –TSA

Great Knowledge & Great Love

Knowledge and love may peacefully occupy the same heart. But one or the other will always take the lead. We must be sure that love is in the driver’s seat. True knowledge is necessary for us to live a fruitful Christian life. Once we know the truth, we must still “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). Knowledge is better than ignorance. “It is not good for a soul to be without knowledge” (Proverbs 19:2). Yet we must have more than bare knowledge; love must tincture and flavor everything if we are to please Christ. Love must drive us and our knowledge of truth forward.

When love leads it builds up, edifies, fortifies. Untempered knowledge is not so good a leader as love is. When knowledge leads the way, and our ‘knowledge’ may be inaccurate much of the time, it brings us to arrogance. Even thinking that we know more than others, we become puffed up with an honorable sort of pride (that’s how we think of it). And it happens almost instantly.

We know something someone else doesn’t and we become proud of ourselves for knowing it. We well remember a time when we, too, were ignorant. Ah, but now we ‘know’ and it feels really good to be right, even if we happen to be wrong about being right. Indeed, we could all wish that ignorance made us as humble as knowledge makes us arrogant, but it doesn’t. Truly, “If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know” (1 Corinthians 8:2).

Knowledgeable Christians, well taught in the Word, learn to apply the truths of the Bible. Their knowledge is not academic; they actually begin to live in light of what God has revealed in His Word. Their goal is to please the Lord and the Bible gives them the true way of thinking and living. But, at some point, a robust Bible-believer may become amazed (even appalled) that others who also believe have learned so little from the Word. They say they believe, but they still think like worldly people. They are superstitious instead of biblically spiritual. They are strong in legalism and judgmentalism, yet weak in their commitment to the word of grace and to gospel-driven godliness. And while these criticisms may be valid enough, they are too often laced with the poison of sinful pride.

Great love, not great knowledge, is the mark of Jesus’ disciples. It is true: some genuine Christians are woefully under-taught and unlearned, therefore, they believe far too little of what they should believe. “Not all men have this knowledge” that you have. And some, who ought already to be capable teachers of the Word, need to be taught again the first principles of the faith (see Hebrews 5:12). Still, we must not permit the knowledge we possess to make us unloving, which it tends to do. Knowledgeable believers, having been privileged to hear and learn and know the truth, must be careful not to regard those who are weak in gospel knowledge as unbelievers or as purely pathetic and unworthy of a second thought.

The Apostle teaches that we must not be unconcerned for a weak brother “for whom Christ died.” Knowledge may make us confident of the truth and bold in the exercise of our liberties, even too bold. But love will make us kinder and less likely to insist on having and using our every liberty in every situation. It was love that provoked Paul’s readiness to do without his liberty: “if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, that I might not cause my brother to stumble” (1 Corinthians 8:13). To have insisted on his liberty at the expense of a weak brother’s conscience being, possibly, mortally wounded would have meant sinning against Christ. Does love for Christ, regard for His atoning death, or love for the people for whom He died have any such effect on us?

It sure is easy to let a little knowledge make us arrogant and obnoxious and unloving. It seems that all we need to know is just a little more than we used to know and we become proud of ourselves; we may then begin to think that others are shamefully ignorant and much less serious Christians than are we. It is true, “knowledge puffs up.” Love must drive us. Love must carry us and our knowledge forward and onward, everywhere we go, for “love builds up!” –TSA

Tell No One

“He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered and said to Him, ‘You are the Christ.’ Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him.” (Mark 8:29-30 NKJV).

Many people think the Lord would have them (always and in every circumstance) to tell others about Him, to make it unmistakably clear that Jesus is the Christ, mankind’s only Redeemer, a sinner’s one true hope. However, after confirming the truthful confession of Simon Peter about His identity, our Lord very specifically ordered His disciples to “tell no one about Him.” There are moments when the Lord is most pleased for His faithful servants to “tell no one about Him.”

It was a timing thing. It still is. As the Preacher of old wrote, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Likewise, when Jesus commanded His disciples to “tell no one about Him,” it was not a perpetual order; rather, it was a time-sensitive command. The time was not then ripe for Him to be broadly announced as Messiah, so our Lord told His disciples, for the moment, to keep that information under their proverbial hat. When the time was right, He would give them another command “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” But for the moment, Jesus wisely restricted their preaching, knowing the times.

We might think that since the command to preach Christ to the nations has now been given we are showing disloyalty to the cause of the Lord Jesus if we ever determine that some particular moment is just not the best time to speak of Him to another person. Yet, the Scriptures in many places commend wisdom and discretion. Jesus picked His spots and so should we. There were times when He would perform miracles, one after another. On other occasions, He limited His mighty works greatly.

He found the situation at His hometown of Nazareth hostile and unwelcoming, where most of the people were neither believing nor even mildly receptive of Him and His message: “And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief” (Mark 6:5-6a). When the it says “He could there do no mighty work,” it has no reference to Jesus’ power or ability; it has to do with the fact that He decided that such faithless people could only misinterpret and despise such great works. He decided not to do many great works there among them. In mercy, He did heal a few sick people.

Surely the message about Jesus is most precious, more precious than perfect pearls. If we think of the gospel as precious and worthy, then we will listen to our Lord Jesus and refrain from casting the lovely message of His love and grace under the filthy feet of filthy swine who only despise precious things. There are some who account themselves unworthy of eternal life by refusing to hear and obey the message of the cross (cf. Acts 13:46). A faithful evangelist does not cast the precious pearls of gospel truth under the feet of vicious, raging swine.

At times and in some circumstances, faithfulness to Christ Jesus will require us to “tell no one about Him.” On some other occasion it may be perfectly right to tell those very same people about the Lord Jesus. Effective evangelism is thoughtful. Effective evangelism strikes its blow when the iron is glowing hot. –TSA

Rejected & Killed

To a first century Jew, the very thought that Israel’s long-awaited Messiah would ever “be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed”—that would truly have been unthinkable, the very opposite of every expectation. The illustrious Person designated by Yahweh Elohim to be King over all Israel, whose kingdom’s reach would extend to the very ends of earth, when He appeared He would be recognized and welcomed and loved and honored and served—that was the nigh-universal belief. However, the reality was to be far different.

Walking northward toward Caesarea Philippi from the Galilee, Jesus asked His chosen men about the general public’s thinking, “Who do men say that I am?” Public opinion was that Jesus was probably one of the old prophets returned, possibly Elijah or Jeremiah. They knew He was unusual and that He must have been sent from God, but they did not recognize Jesus as Messiah, the true King of Israel. The disciples, however, had another understanding. They knew Him to be the Christ, Messiah, the Son of the living God (see Mark 8; Matthew 16).

Jesus confirmed the disciples’ understanding of His identity: the Christ, Messiah, the Lord’s Anointed. How did they come to a right understanding about Him, while the elders of Israel and other leading religious figures, priests and scribes, all rejected Jesus as Messiah and conspired to have Him killed? Was the disciples’ understanding mere prejudice based on affection and admiration? Were they simply too impressed with Him to have a smaller opinion? Who was right, the religious elite or the fishermen and tax collectors? According to Jesus, the disciples were right. He explained how they came to right conclusions about Him.

Hearing Simon Peter’s confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” “Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). These men had been taught the truth about Jesus and it was Jesus’ “Father who is in heaven” who had made them understand that the Nazarene was and is Christ, the King, the Son of the living God.

But the King must die. And He well knew it before He ever came into this world by taking to Himself true humanity through the womb of the Virgin. After the disciples had acknowledged Him as Christ, as true Deity, and after they had been solidly confirmed in their understanding, Jesus then began to speak to them plainly of His death.

What a boulder of a truth and hardly one that they could have expected or anticipated! A stunning revelation it was. How could it be, that Messiah will be rejected and killed? —by every right He should be welcomed, adored and enthroned. The thought was utterly foreign to every mind—except Jesus’ mind. In fact, Simon Peter, the recent chief confessor of our faith, found His words about His impending rejection and death so unthinkable and incredible that he actually began to reprimand Him for saying such things. Simon did not yet understand God’s purpose that Jesus’ had to die to bear away the sins of His people. He would later understand it well and powerfully preach this gospel of a crucified, risen, enthroned Messiah. –TSA

Seeing More Clearly

Some things happen instantly in one event and they’re done. Many of us think of spiritual enlightenment as a momentary experience, as in “I once was blind, but now I see.” Yet for many of us Newton’s lyric is an abbreviation of our fuller experience. It tells the truth of what has happened within us and to us, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. Many of us experienced something rather like what happened to the blind man of Bethsaida.

Jesus “came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up and said, ‘I see men like trees, walking.’ Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly” (Mark 8:22-26 NKJV).

It is common, at least in some circles, for some people to think that others are not truly saved because their particular experience does not exactly mirror their own. Some precious Christians have been tormented by friends and relatives who doubt the reality of their salvation because they cannot recall the date of their conversion or specify the moment of their new birth. For some Christians it seems more complicated and they simply cannot pinpoint the different parts of their conversion experience; that does not mean they are not true Christians. Indeed, some have a Damascus Road moment, while others have a Bethsaida Road experience—in fact, the Damascus Road and Bethsaida Road experiences are more alike than we might, at first, think.

Saul’s Damascus Road experience was a step by step event in his life. He saw a bright light, fell to the ground, as he was blinded by brilliance; he saw nothing for a period of days until the Lord Jesus sent Ananias to him and then there fell from his eyes something like scales. Saul’s experience began in an instant but it was not over in an instant. Over a period of days the Lord used those things to transform his life and He gave him his marching orders as an apostle.

The blind man from Bethsaida instantly got some vision; he was a blind man no more. His darkness disappeared in a moment. Light broke in and his utter blindness gave way to some sight—it was true sight, but it was not clear vision. He saw things. He did see something, whereas before he saw nothing. At first nothing was truly clear. He could see men, but they looked more like trees that walked than like men. It took another touch of Jesus’ hands with another powerful and wonderful work of grace to help him to see clearly.

Having been once blind to the things of God, receiving our first glimpse of Christ is a precious gift. But we may not see things so clearly at first. If we remember well our early days as believers, we know that we saw many things we had never seen before. But many things were rather fuzzy—unclear. We needed the Lord’s further help so that we could see things accurately, as they truly were and are. We still need that. If we now have received the faculty of spiritual sight, we need more and more to behold Jesus and understand the truth as revealed in Him. –TSA