January 16, 2007
As a Last Resort
I give the guys in my family a bad time for reading product instructions only when all else fails. Recently I happened to read the directions on some products I’ve use for years and was surprised to find that my dishwasher detergent label says, ‘For best results, separate the silver from the stainless’. My toothpaste for sensitive teeth says, ‘Warning – When using this product do not use longer that 4 weeks unless recommended by a dentist or physician.’ In the church, as in life, we can also stand guilty of overlooking instructions. How often we turn to one another for their advice, rather than turning to the Scripture. I asked my dentist about the toothpaste warning and although he knew it was on the packaging, he didn’t know why it was there…he suggested I call the manufacturer. What a concept…Go to the source.
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Gail;
----I never was willing to let anyone get between the Bible and me. I have always understood that I have brothers who have a lot to teach me about history and the Bible, but when it comes time for application, there will always be an asterisk on what I have learned from a brother until I have been able to follow the reasoning through the Word myself. But really, the amount of research and investigation to do a legitimate Berean thing is rather extensive. And I do believe that there is a personal, devotional meaning in the Scripture for each believer which will certainly differ between believers. But I also believe that there is a clear, consistant meaning in the Scripture that God wills for all His followers to understand pretty much the same. That is the meaning that takes the work. For example, I always could not quite get what Paul meant by, "The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know," (I Cor 8:2) until I studied this verse in its original language. The Greek for "thinks he knows" and "know as he ought to know" are different words. Basically Paul said that if anyone has just book learning about something, he does not know by experience as he ought to know by experience. The meaning then bacame more precise.
----But most people do not have the ambition to learn how to deal with the original language of the Bible, or to learn all of the history surrounding its stories and the idioms that its ideas are expressed in. They wind up either going and asking someone, or just guessing up a devotional meaning for their own personal viewpoint.
----So I used to think that the church needed good and educated men to step forward and teach the interpretive tools useful for digging into the depths of the Word. But over the years I began to realize how big a sacrifice it takes to develop those tools in the mind. And I have always been mindful of one of my favorite of Jesus' sayings, "God requires mercy, not sacrifice."
----Somehow, God has the church pretty much ordered like He wants it. It hurts to see less done for those who gather than could be if there were better obedience. And I have always felt it necessary to speak up where there is outright disobedience. But both conditions still continue in His church, people still go to the Word looking for their one personal meaning, and to the brother next door for anything more, and God still gets His pleasure and usefulness from us all.
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