The Chapter 30 Diner (18)

  

“Do not slander a slave to his master, or he will curse you and you will be found guilty.” (Proverbs 30:10).

 

Why is Agur telling this to his friends? Why does it appear in this context? How are we to respond to it? What comes to your mind as you read it?

 

I am reminded of Proverbs 26:17; “Like one who takes a dog by the ears is he who passes by and meddles [infuriates himself] with strife not belonging to him.” This in turn leads to Proverbs 3:30, “Do not contend with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm.”

 

Of course, when we read “if he has done you no harm,” we also need to recall Jesus saying, “You have heard it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also” (Matthew 5:38 – 40).

 

Then we have, within the context of the Church, Paul writing in Romans 14:10 – 13, “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, ‘As I live says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.’ So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this – not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.” (See also 1 Cor. 4:5).

 

I am sure there are more facets to the above passages than I see, and there are certainly nuances to them. For example, as the Bible demonstrates, there are times when we need to judge others within the Church, as Paul clearly does in Romans and 1 Corinthians, and indeed, in most of his letters. Immature teaching is one thing, but false teaching and sinful living are another. BUT, and I think this is critical, such judgment is not for an individual to exercise so much as it is for elders. Furthermore, when individual judgment is demanded because of circumstances, it hopefully will be done on the basis of the individual’s position within the church, based on the office of the individual; for example it is the “pastor” or “bishop” or “elder” who is speaking responsibly – it is the “office” and not the individual.

 

Also, there may be times when we do need to bring the actions of an employee to the attention of an employer, just as there may be times when we need to become involved in strife not directly affecting us for reasons of equity and the protection of those who cannot protect themselves.

 

Life can be complicated and how we may respond to the above passages is not cut and dry, but we can trust our Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit to guide us through life’s mazes and complexities.

 

I think the above passages can act like a governor on an engine, they can help us keep our speed below a certain limit and ponder what we see and how we see it and how we should respond. When we err in these things it is usually because we are too quick to speak and act and not quick enough to pray, ask God’s guidance, and submit to the Holy Spirit.

 

We don’t need to have an opinion about everything, we don’t need to judge everything. Paul writes, “For what have I to do with judging outsiders?” (1 Cor. 5:12). The world is the world is the world; we are called to worship God, edify one another in Christ, and make disciples. When Christians think it is incumbent on them to analyze the world by scrutinizing every political statement and every government policy and every corporate action, they are distracted from Jesus Christ and the Gospel. Consider that Jesus said, “If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would fight.”

 

The above passages caution us not to live lives of perpetual judging. We can elevate our opinions and preferences into a sort of moral law, when they are really a simple matter of preferences and opinions – and this can be especially true when it comes to church matters, whether in a worship setting or in church governance.

 

We live in a world in rebellion against God (see Psalm 2); in a world in which no one is perfect – neither sinner (those outside Christ) nor saint (those inside Christ). We ought to have grace and mercy for everyone, we ought to make allowances whenever possible (see Matthew 5:43 – 48) and remember that we are the sons and daughters of God; we are not free to judge as we want, but we are free to show mercy and kindness and forgiveness.

 

Well, these are some of the things I see as I turn the kaleidoscope, what do you see?

 

The Chapter 30 Diner (16)

 

 

“Do not add to His words, or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.” Proverbs 30:6.

 

As I pointed out in the previous post; not adding to the Word of God nor taking away from the Word of God is more than saying, “I believe the Bible is the Word of God and that nothing else written or verbally said is on the same level as the Bible.” We can mouth these words while functionally denying them. We can deceive ourselves and others into thinking that we are not adding to or taking away from God’s Word, when in practice we are doing one or the other or both.

 

I am a proponent of preaching through the books of the Bible; this is not the same as preaching through the Bible beginning with Genesis and concluding with Revelation. I believe it is pastorally important to expose congregations to various sections of the Bible on an ongoing basis to help them see the scope of Scripture, and in order to help them read and experience this scope themselves, in their marriages and families, and in their fellowship with other disciples. Above all, we want to see Jesus Christ throughout the Bible, not only prophetically in the predictive sense of that term, but sacramentally – we want to “see” and taste and receive His Presence throughout Scripture.

 

We ought to remember that the order of the Biblical books, while perhaps having a certain providence to them, is not sacred anymore than the insertion of chapters and verses in the Bible is sacred. At the same time, if we are going to teach the Bible as it was written then it seems that our primary model ought to be working through its books; seeking Christ, seeing the structure of the books, the Biblical context of the books, and honoring Biblical epistemology (see previous past), the Church, and submitting to the Holy Spirit.

Note that I included “the Church” above. I don’t for one moment believe that the idea of sola Scriptura means that we read, understand, and receive the Bible apart from the Church’s historical teaching. I used to think it did, in fact I functionally thought that sound theology began at the Reformation – I knew Church History in the sense that I knew much of the story of the Church in terms of dates and events, but I did not know the story of the Word of God in the Church.

 

An irony is that if we say “sola Scriptura” in isolation from the Church and think we are honoring the Reformation and its immediate successors, then we are mistaken. The Reformers were steeped in the Church Fathers, and, for example, we have quotations in Greek and Latin from Puritan pastors and writers who claimed descent from the Reformation. I have come to realize that if we are ignorant of the Fathers that we lack a context to appreciate much of what has been written in the Reformed or Lutheran or Anglican traditions. While we may disagree over Apostolic Succession in terms of bishops, we should not be so foolish as to discard the idea of Apostolic Succession in terms of Biblical interpretation.

 

The Bible belongs to the transcendent Church and not to me. I am not to own the Bible in a proprietary sense, the Bible is to possess and own me as a member of the Body of Christ, His Church.

 

In the Bible I find communion (koinonia) with the Trinity and with my brothers and sisters in Christ. In the Word we see Christ, we taste Christ, we embrace Christ…and are embraced by Christ. In the Word we breathe the atmosphere of the eternals, we are lifted up above the present age as we learn to live where we already are, in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 2:6). We set our minds on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1).

 

When Christ appears, Christ who is our life…a marvelous thing happens…we also appear with Him in glory (Colossians 3:4). C.S. Lewis in his essay The Weight of Glory, wrote that if we could really see the person standing next to us, that we would want to fall down and worship because we would see the glory of God in that person. Paul writes that Christ in us is our hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

 

Seeing Christ is to be our daily experience, and as we see Christ then we are changed into His likeness from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:17 – 18; 1 John 3:1ff; Romans 12:1ff); we appear with Him in glory and we can see one another in that glory. We eat His flesh and drink His blood (John 6), we partake of Him as our Way of Life.

 

If we are not seeing Christ throughout the Word then we are not far along on our journey of living in the Bible, we may have the raw material of Biblical knowledge, but until the Holy Spirit breathes on our understanding and enlivens our heart, until the Spirit of God reveals the things of God (1 Cor. 2), we are living far below our inheritance in our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

To unpack a passage verse by verse without seeing Jesus Christ and communicating Jesus Christ is not the equivalent of teaching the Bible…at least not as the Word of God, for the Word of God is Jesus Christ. If we cannot see the portrait of Jesus Christ then are we really teaching and unveiling (by the Holy Spirit) the Word of God, are we not then either taking away or adding to God’s Word?

 

If the Word of God is not made “present” to us in our teaching, if Jesus is not touching us and we are not touching Jesus – individually and as His People – then what do we have? We commune with Christ and with one another (in and as Christ) as we receive His Word. Just as the Communion Table is more than an individual partaking (1 Cor. 10:14 – 17), just as we partake of Jesus Christ and of one another, and just as we receive Jesus Christ as a People at the Table – likewise do we experience His Word in this fashion as we partake of the Divine Nature (2 Peter 1:2 – 4).

 

Consider Isaiah 28:13, “So the word of Yahweh to them will be, Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line, a little here a little there, that they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive.” As Edward D. Young writes in his commentary on this passage, “The nation received no coherent picture, did not understand his proclamation in its fulness.” Yet how many times have I heard well – meaning Christians quote this passage as an example of how we should read and teach the Bible!

 

Show me the painting and then we can examine the brush strokes. Show me the forest and then we can examine the trees. Show me Jesus Christ in His Word, by His Word, through His Word…and may we be transformed into His image by the Holy Spirit as we live in the Trinity as His People, as the sons and daughters of the Living God.

 

 

The Chapter 30 Diner (15)

 

“Do not add to His words, or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.” Proverbs 30:6.

 

What does this verse mean? Can we associate this verse with Revelation 22:18-19?

 

“I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.” Rev. 22:18-19.

 

While the context of Revelation 22:18-19 is, of course, Revelation; and while the “prophecy” it refers to, in its immediate context, is the book of Revelation; it is natural to apply these two verses to the entire Bible. While their position in the conclusion of the Bible makes this application quite natural, even if Revelation were positioned elsewhere in the order of Biblical books, it would still be natural and appropriate to see these two verses as applying to the entire Bible – for the entire Bible is a prophecy in that it is God speaking forth and revealing Himself; prophecy being a forthtelling and a foretelling.

 

Agur tells us that we should not add to the words of God, every word of God being tested. If we do add to God's words, Agur says that He will reprove us and we will be found liars.

 

What does this mean? What are the words of God? What is the Word of God that we should not add to?

 

Now I suppose that our typical response is that we should not add to the Bible, that we should not consider any other writing on the same level as the Bible, and I agree with this; but is this all that Proverbs 30:6 and Revelation 22:18-19 mean?

 

Is it enough to say, “I believe the Bible is God’s Word and there is nothing else on the same level as the Bible”? Is it enough to say this if we are misrepresenting the Bible? If we are misrepresenting what the Bible says, then are we not either adding to the Word of God or taking away from His Word? Consider that we can misrepresent the Bible by either omission or commission. That is, we can either use the words of the Bible to teach what is not in the Bible, or we can omit to teach elements of the Bible.

 

Not adding to the Word of God nor taking away from the Word of God is more than saying, “I believe the Bible is the Word of God and that nothing else written or verbally said is on the same level as the Bible.” We can mouth these words while functionally denying them. We can deceive ourselves and others into thinking that we are not adding to or taking away from God’s Word, when in practice we are doing one or the other or both.

 

What is one to do? What is a congregation to do?

 

To begin with, the Bible reveals Jesus Christ, and whatever passage we are working through, our desire ought to be to see Jesus Christ; as Augustine points out repeatedly in his expositions on the Psalms, sometimes we see the Head, sometimes we see His Body, sometimes we see the Head and the Body. Jesus’ unveiling of Himself to His disciples in Luke 24, both on the road to Emmaus and in the Upper Room, through the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings, ought to be an example and challenge in our own understanding and teaching of Scripture. If we aren’t seeing and teaching Jesus Christ then we aren’t “seeing” the Bible, for Jesus Christ is the Testimony of Scripture (John 5:39).

 

The Scriptures are Christological and sacramental, we partake of Jesus Christ when the Holy Spirit opens us to the Bible and the Bible to us.

 

We need the anointing of the Holy Spirit to see Christ in the Bible and the Bible in Christ. We cannot know the things of God without the Spirit of God, nor can we communicate the Bible to others without the Holy Spirit (see John chapters 13 – 17; 1 Corinthians 1:17 – 2:16; Acts 1:7-8). As Jesus says in John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”

 

We’ll pick this back up in the next post.

 

 

The Chapter 30 Diner (14)

 

“Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.” Proverbs 30:5 – 6.

 

During the past few weeks my heart has been arrested by a prayer found in the Valley of Vision, published by Banner of Truth and edited by Arthur Bennett. It is titled The Deeps and is on pages 134 – 135. Here is how it begins:

 

“LORD JESUS,

Give me a deeper repentance,

      a horror of sin,

      a dread of its approach;

Help me chastely to flee it,

  and jealously to resolve that my heart

    shall be thine alone.

Give me a deeper trust,

  that I may lose myself to find myself in thee,

    the ground of my rest,

    the spring of my being.”

 

I am sharing this because the last post in this series was about knowing God as our refuge and it seems to me that this prayer is a living example of what knowing God in Christ as our refuge can look like. (I hope to share more of this prayer in forthcoming posts).

 

In the previous post I pointed out that we need a refuge when we are fleeing danger, and sin is certainly an ever-present danger to the saints of God. Do we have “a horror of sin, a dread of its approach”? Do we desire to chastely flee it?

 

What does it mean to chastely flee sin? I take it to mean that we flee with pure hearts, not with hearts that are divided between sin and holiness, not as Lot’s wife who looks back on that which she is leaving, rather than looking ahead to the salvation that God is working.

 

Do our hearts belong to God alone? Can we hear Jesus saying, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”? Can we hear Him saying that we are to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength?

 

Are we losing ourselves that we might find ourselves in Jesus? Or are we foolishly adhering to the ways of this world – system, which is passing away?

 

Is the Holy Trinity the ground of our rest, the very spring of our being? That is, do we utterly and completely live in the Vine, drawing our life from Him?

 

That is, is God our Refuge?

The Chapter 30 Diner (13)

 

“Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.” Proverbs 30:5 – 6.

 

What is it to take refuge in God? What is it for Him to be our shield?

 

Is it fair to say that we only seek refuge when we perceive danger? If this is so, then how often do we make God our refuge? Why, it must be that we make Him our refuge as often as we perceive danger. But then, how often do we perceive danger?

 

If we think of danger in physical terms, in terms of health or physical safety, then how likely is it that, at least in the West, we make God our refuge? On the other hand, if we consider temptation and sin, and the world-system which is God’s enemy and which seeks to destroy the image and People of God; how often might we make God our refuge?

 

Better yet, are we making God our refuge as our Way of life? That is, are we living in God as our Refuge? Is not a refuge a place of safety, of comfort, of rest, of provision, of protection?

 

The world offers us refuge in its lies and vanities, vanities and lies that take many forms. There is money for example; we think that if we have saved and invested enough, and that if we have a certain level of income, that our money is a refuge – of course “enough” is never “enough” and this serves as a substitute for God as our Provider.

 

We may seek the refuge of control; that is, the more we are able to control our lives the greater our refuge from people and events that may harm us. We may seek refuge in food, in alcohol, in drugs (legal or illegal), in where we live, in what we do, in what we own, in sensual pleasure. We may even seek refuge in being religious, or educated, or in our social connections. Many in the professing church today think they can find refuge in nationalism and politics and in particular worldviews. The world markets many types of refuge, but there is only one true refuge, and that is the True and Living God.

 

When all things are stripped away, the question remains, “Is God my refuge? Is God your refuge?” At the core of my being, am I living in God and is God in Christ living in me?

 

The disciple of Jesus Christ needs a refuge and a shield from the thinking of the world, from its values, from its politics, from its lust for money, pleasure, and power. We need a refuge from the worldliness of the church which has imported substitutes for the Person of Jesus Christ and His all – sufficiency (do we really believe 1 Corinthians 1:17 – 2:5?).

 

And lest you should misunderstand me, I am thinking not of the “church” which makes little or no pretense of honoring the Bible, but rather of us who say we believe the Bible is the Word of God. The problem is always with us, it is never really with others; the problem is in my heart and soul and mind. Have we not made God into a Great Therapist who is in charge of a practice of little therapists? Is not God our political consultant? Our economics guru? Our entertainment director?

 

Do we make God into what we want Him to be, or do we surrender to God and allow Him to make us into the men and women that He wants us to be?

 

If God is our refuge, then He will envelop us in His Presence; if God is not our refuge then the world-system with its rebellion, sin, and evil will envelop us. Let us not be deceived, evil can look good as well as bad, and it is more often than not socially acceptable…and sadly often religiously acceptable.

 

The world is driven by anxiety, fear, and worry; when God is our refuge we will know His peace. The world is driven by false hope on the one hand, and by hopelessness on the other; when God is our refuge we will know a sure and certain hope in Jesus Christ. The world is fueled by selfishness and hate; when God is our refuge we learn to put others before ourselves and to love those who are unlovable and untouchable. The world teaches us to love things and use people; when God is our refuge we learn to love people and use things. The world wants to imbue us with its values and measures; when God is our refuge we learn to evaluate life based on the Holy Scriptures and the Person of Jesus Christ, we learn the folly of the vanities of the world.

 

When God is our refuge we live as strangers in a strange land, as aliens on this earth, as pilgrims on a journey to a glorious eternity.  When God is our refuge we can give to others, we can be God’s Presence to others, God’s redemptive Word and hope to others in Christ; we can be the incarnation of the Incarnation…because our refuge is continuously and eternally in the Trinity.

 

When God is our refuge, we breathe the Presence of God with each inhale and exhale; our source of Life transcends the wickedness, evil, and spiritual death of the world system.

 

When God is our refuge, the Vine is forever our source of Life (John 15:1ff).

 

 

The Chapter 30 Diner (12)

 

“Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.” Proverbs 30:5 – 6.

 

Why is every word of God tested? Or perhaps better, why does God put His own Word to the test? Is this not for His great glory, and is it not so that we will be encouraged to trust Him with our very lives, both for now and eternity?

 

Paul writes that eternal life was promised by “God, who cannot lie” (Titus 1:2).  

 

In Psalm 12:6 we read, “The words of Yahweh are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.” In this passage, Yahweh’s pure words are contrasted with the words of those who “speak falsehood to one another; with flattering lips and a double heart.”

 

The KJV renders a portion of the above, “in a furnace of earth.” I have found this image helpful in that I see the furnace of earth as our own “earthen vessels” of 2 Cor. 4:7. As God’s Word is tested, our hearts are tested. As God’s Word is refined, our hearts, minds, souls, and bodies are refined. This is not to say that God’s Word actually needs purification or refinement, for His Word has been pure forever just as God is pure. Neither God nor God’s Word is subject to change, and Jesus Christ, the Word of God, “is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). The language of the refinement of His Word is language that God condescends to use to accommodate our understanding in order to draw us into koinonia with Himself.

 

God wants us to trust His Word, He wants us to trust His promises, He wants us to trust His love and grace in Jesus Christ. We have an example of how deeply God wants us to trust Him in Hebrews 6:13 – 20:

 

“For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear an oath by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “indeed I will greatly bless you and I will greatly multiply you.” And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. For people swear an oath by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath serving as confirmation is an end of every dispute. In the same way God, desiring even more to demonstrate to the heirs of the promise the fact that His purpose is unchangeable, confirmed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to hold firmly to the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and reliable and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

 

Here is how F.F. Bruce interacts with the above:

 

“Our author emphasizes the fact that when God repeated his promise to Abraham after the offering up of Isaac, he confirmed it with an oath. When human beings swear an oath in order to underline the certainty and solemnity of their words, they swear by someone or something greater than themselves. “As (surely as) Yahweh lives” was the supreme oath in Israel. Abraham himself swore by God and made others do the same (Gen. 14:22; 21:23f; 24:23). But, says our author, God has none greater than himself by whom to swear, so when he wished to confirm his promise in this way, he swears by himself (we may compare the recurring “as I live” in divine oracles throughout the Old Testament)…”

 

“The bare word of God is guarantee enough in all conscience, but by confirming it thus he ‘makes assurance double sure.’” (The Epistle to the Hebrews, F.F. Bruce, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, page 154).

 

God gave Abraham reassurance that His Word can be trusted, and He gives that same reassurance to us through His timeless and eternal Word. David says, “As for God, His way is blameless; the word of Yahweh is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him” (Psalm 18:30). Paul writes, “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed…” (2 Timothy 2:12).

 

Is not life a matter of whom we trust? Of whose word we trust? Of whose understanding and perception we trust?

 

Jesus Christ is the ultimate Word of God, He is the deep Word of God, He is the exact Word of God – and He can be fully and completely trusted.

 

How foolish for the creature to think that he or she knows more than the Creator. How arrogant for a man or woman, born a sinner, born in spiritual death, born with deficient intellectual, emotional, and spiritual capacity to think that she or he can sit in judgment on the Word of God; for to sit in judgment of the Word of God is to sit in judgment of God Himself.

 

If we would judge God’s Word, then let us, with Agur, judge His Word to be true and tested; let us submit ourselves to His Word and allow His Word to judge us so that we might be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. As saints in Christ, let us place ourselves under the authority and power and working of His Word so that we might know the glorious rest we have in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:11 – 16).

 

It is really the height of arrogance to judge and question the Word of God, that Word which has been tested in all generations. This does not mean that we “check our minds at the door” as some would suggest, it is rather an informed decision in which we choose to believe our Creator, our Father, our Lord Jesus – as opposed to all other claims of truth, beauty, and goodness.

 

Tell me now, when you breathe your last breath, do you want to have lived life trusting in God and His Word…or in the changing words of changing men and women?

 

The Chapter 30 Diner (11)

 

 

“Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.” Proverbs 30:5 – 6.

 

What does it mean that, “Every word of God is tested”? If every one of God’s words is tested, indeed, if the Word of God is tested, then why?

 

What would we think if every word of ours was tested? Would every one of our words pass the test of truthfulness, reliability, and of good character and loving and just and holy motive? Would we be willing to submit everyone of our words to a test?

 

To be sure, whether we are willing or not, the decision whether to submit our words to a test is not ours to make, it has already been made, for Jesus says that “…every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36 – 37).

 

This should not surprise us, for we also read in Matthew 12:33 – 35, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak of what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.”

 

Even a cursory review of Proverbs demonstrates the importance that God attaches to our words, for the subject of the tongue and our words appears on every page; but, of course, probably the most well-known Biblical passage on our words and the tongue is James Chapter 3, a chapter (if you will pardon the unintentional pun) we tend to give lip service to rather than obedience. Let’s consider how James concludes this section:

 

“Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.

 

“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peacable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” (James 3:13 – 18).

 

I don’t think most of us believe the above. Before I say anymore, I will share that our merciful God has convicted me many times about my words, both of what I have said and the way I have said them; more often than not, I have been convicted of the latter – for I know what it is to be sarcastic and cutting and biting. Another passage, much in line with James Chapter 3, is 2 Timothy 2:24 – 26, and I will say that God has convicted me of this passage countless times. When the Holy Spirit speaks to me from these passages, I not only confess and repent of what I have said and done, but I also ask God to show me what is in my heart that caused these things to come out – and to purify my heart; for as Jesus says, our words are expressions of our hearts. We have no excuses, our hearts must be purified so that our words will be pure and Christ will be glorified.

 

What amazes me is how professing Christians can profess to believe the Bible and yet engage in the demonic behavior described in James without a second thought. We see this particularly in the political realm. We play the role of the devil when we speak of those with whom we disagree, and yet we justify the actions and language of those we approve of even when they mirror the demonic behavior of James 3, not to mention other sections of the Bible. We become like those we politically worship, just as ancient Israel became like the idols they worshipped. We rationalize away our behavior rather than repent of it, and in so doing cause this evil to grow deeper in our hearts and minds and souls.

 

We should also be aware that the words and images that we allow into God’s temple, both our individual temples and the Temple, matter, for those words and images take up abode in our souls. This brings into view not only the political world, but all of life – education, medicine, entertainment, sports, civil organizations, and the religious world.

 

But having our words tested goes beyond James 3, for it also has to do with the quality of our words, of whether our words glorify our Lord Jesus Christ, whether they are rooted and grounded in Him. This is one reason why knowing the Bible is critical for the Christian, for the Bible shapes our minds and souls, it cultivates our hearts, it teaches us how to think and meditate, it gives us frameworks through which to view situations, it washes our minds and cleanses our hearts, it renews our souls and spirits, it raises us above the dirt of the world-system and brings us into the Light of Jesus Christ.

 

O dear friends, we are called to be witnesses to Jesus Christ and the Gospel, not to political or economic agendas. Are we speaking to people about Jesus Christ as a way of life? Is this the way we are living? Are we praying with people? Who have we prayed with within the past month within our congregations? Have we prayed with strangers lately? Have we listened to strangers to understand how to better pray for them?

 

How are we actually living?

 

Are we quick to speak of political or economic or social issues…but slow to speak of Jesus?

 

Am I?

 

Are you?

 

Make no mistake, our words will be tested.

The Chapter 30 Diner (10)

 

 

“What is His name, or His son’s name? Surely you know!” Proverbs 30:4e.

 

As we saw in the last post in this series, Agur knows the answer to the first part of his question, but what about second? Just what is His son’s name? When Agur says, “Surely you know!” is that simply rhetorical or does Agur mean that Ithiel and Ucal really know both the name of Yahweh and the name of Yahweh’s son?

 

If Agur, Ithiel and Ucal know the name of Yahweh, does it follow that they also know the name of Yahweh’s son? How might they have been thinking about this? How might we think about this?

 

Consider Exodus 4:22, “Then you shall say to Pharoah, “Thus says Yahweh, Israel is My son, My firstborn.”

 

But then we also have:

 

“I will surely tell of the decree of Yahweh, He said to me, You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as Your possession.” Psalm 2:7 – 8.

 

“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders, and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6.

 

We also have Jesus (Matthew 22:41 – 46) asking, “Then how does David in the Spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, until I put Your enemies beneath your feet”? (A quotation from Psalm 110). This question was in response to the Pharisees saying that Messiah is King David’s son.

Then there is Proverbs 8:24ff, “When there were no depths I was born, when there were no springs abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills I was born; while He had not yet made the earth and the fields, nor the first dust of the world. When He established the heavens, I was there…”

 

Why did Agur ask this question about the name of the son? What was he thinking and seeing? What did he know? While in one sense we may not be able to answer these questions, we can be assured that the Holy Spirit inspired these words and we know the answer, His Name is Jesus.

 

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten fro the Father, full of grace and truth…No one has seen God at any time, the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known.” (John 1:14, 18).

 

“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David…the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:31, 32, 35c).

 

Let’s consider how the Gospel of John begins alongside of what follows Agur’s question, “What is…His son’s name?”

 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” John 1:1 – 2.

 

“Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.” Proverbs 30:5 – 6.

 

Since the Scriptures are inspired by God, it can be no accident that the Word and the Son are linked in both the beginning of John’s Gospel and in Proverbs 30:4 – 6. All “words of God” (Proverbs 30:5) find their source in the “Word of God,” (John 1:1). The “words” of God are an expression of God; the Word of God is the express expression of God, the fulness of God, the exact representation of God – God of very God.

 

In the words of the Nicene Creed, we believe:

 

“…in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.”

 

And to think, “God is faithful, through whom you were called into koinonia with His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,” (1 Cor. 1:9). We have been called to share His life, His love, His joy, His glory, His inheritance. In the Son, we have been called to be the expression of our Father as we are conformed to the image of the glorious Firstborn Son (Romans 8:28 – 30).

 

“What is His name or His son’s name? Surely you know!”

 

 

The Chapter 30 Diner (9)

 

“What is His name, or His son’s name? Surely you know!” Proverbs 30:4e.

 

Agur and Job both knew the Name of God, and Agur draws attention to His Name in this final question posed in verse 4. Consider the English translation (in this case the NASB) of verse 9a: “That I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the LORD?”

 

Since the word LORD is capitalized, we know that the Hebrew word is the tetragrammaton, the four Hebrew letters that comprise the name Yahweh.

 

Job also knew His Name; “He [Job] said, Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away, Blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 2:21 – 22).

 

Do we know His Name? Probably not. Few folks in a Sunday school class or small group could correctly answer Agur’s question – and these are people motivated enough to be in such groups; imagine the responses from an average congregation in a Sunday service.

 

This is curious on a few fronts. One curiosity is that many professing Christians would have some degree of heartburn if we quit using the name Jesus, Christ, or Jesus Christ, when referring to our Lord and Savior. After all, didn’t Peter preach, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12)?

 

Paul writes in Philippians 2:10 - 11, “so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

 

Suppose we started substituting “Lord and Savior” for every time the name “Jesus” appears in the New Testament? Of course we’d capitalize these words so that the informed reader would know that they mean “Jesus.” How would this work for us?

 

If such a practice, that of not using the name Jesus, would be unacceptable and thought not faithful to the Biblical text, then why do we maintain this practice of substituting LORD for Yahweh? Should we change this practice? Is it important? If so, why is it important?

 

This is not something we think about, or if we do, we don’t think about it much, which is pretty amazing considering that the name Yahweh appears over 6,800 times in the Old Testament and carries with it the special revelation of the Creator and the Covenant God who is holy and just and perfect and who keeps Covenant with His People.

 

Consider:

 

“The name Yahweh is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe.” Prov. 18:10.

 

“In that day you will say, Give thanks to Yahweh, call on His name.” Isa. 12:4

 

“Indeed, while following the way of Your judgments, O Yahweh, we have waited for You eagerly; Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls.” Isa. 26:8

 

“Therefore thus says Yahweh…they will sanctify My name.” Isa. 29:22 – 23.

 

“I am Yahweh, that is My name, I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images.” Isa. 42:8

 

“Who is among you that fears Yahweh?...let him trust in the name of Yahweh and rely on his God.” Isa. 50:10.

 

There is a difference between reading the above using “LORD” and reading the above using “Yahweh.” If this difference is not readily apparent, I think it will become apparent with practice, that is, if we train ourselves to read “Yahweh” when we see “LORD” we will, I think, begin to see the weight of glory and revelation that His Name carries throughout the Old Testament. After all, the name Yahweh is on virtually every page of the Old Testament and He is anything but a nebulous god indistinguishable from the false gods of both ancient and modern times.

 

And let’s remember, when Yahweh comes to earth in the Incarnation, He comes with the name Jesus, which means Yahweh-saves.

 

Let me try to make a few more points.

 

The Septuagint (LXX), the ancient translation of Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, did not transliterate Yahweh, but substituted the word “Lord.” Also, at some point, Jews stopped pronouncing the name Yahweh and used the word “Lord.” To argue that we should follow these examples is unsatisfying, for after all, if Yahweh has revealed His Name to us, ought not we to use His Name? On page after page of the Hebrew Bible we see the tetragrammaton, and on page after page of our English Old Testament we see the tetragrammaton written as “LORD” – how can we intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually ignore this glorious Name with its rich covenantal heritage, a heritage of which we are heirs as the seed of Abraham and Messiah (Christ)?

 

But here is a warning, there is nothing “magical” about this Name, and there is nothing in using this Name that makes the person who uses it special or apart from the People of God who may not use the Name or who may be unaware of its Glory. I have to write this because we have a propensity to think, “I know something you don’t. I have a special practice you don’t. I am living at a higher level than you are.” Yes, such things are childish, but if we aren’t a childish people then I don’t know what we are, so we need this warning. It seems we will create divisions and sects at the slightest opportunity. Therefore, if you feel any inclination to be “special” vis-à-vis the People of God, please forget you read this and go read about sports or find a Peanuts comic strip – you’ll be better off…and come back when you grow up in Christ.

 

Also, note that the New Testament writers, who wrote in Greek with the likely exception of Mark’s Gospel, which was likely in Latin, did not use “Yahweh” but rather used “Lord,” following the style of the LXX. Why did they do this? Or better yet, why did the Holy Spirit inspire them to do this? Well, of course I don’t really know, but here are a couple of possibilities. The first is that since the LXX is what people were familiar with in the Greek – speaking world that it made sense to communicate in the form of the familiar. The second is that when communicating with those who did not know the LXX, that using “Lord” instead of “Yahweh” made getting the Gospel message across much easier.

 

On the latter, consider Paul’s challenge to communicate in Athens (Acts 17) to educated audiences, if they were confused about the True and Living God and the name Jesus and the resurrection, how much more confusion might there have been had Paul introduced “Yahweh” into his message?

 

(I think we may have a communication model in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. In the first chapter we see “God” creating the heavens and the earth; then in the second chapter we see that this God has a name, “the LORD [Yahweh] God” in 2:4.)

 

Let’s remember, that Yahweh has revealed Himself in Jesus, in “Yahweh-saves,” and that our message is one of holistic and complete salvation in Jesus Christ, about living in koinonia with the Trinity – we must never lose sight of the Gospel and the Cross. Let us also recall that we have received the Spirit of sonship, which causes us to cry, “Abba Father” (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6), ushering in a New and Living Way (Heb. 10:20). It is our Father who is Creator, our Father who is the God of the Covenant, our Father who appears in the Burning Bush – and so when reading “Yahweh” we see so much more than was generally revealed to the Old Testament saints…including the mystery of the Trinity.  

 

I trained myself long ago to read “Yahweh” when I see “LORD.” This has become natural to me when reading to myself and when reading aloud. When I read OT Scripture to congregations and come to “LORD,” I usually point out what the capitalized word actually means and then I use the word “Yahweh” in my reading. This has been especially true in pastoral ministry for, after all, are not pastors called to educate their people? On the other hand, when preaching or speaking evangelistically I use the English word “Lord” because I want to keep the audience focused on the core of the Gospel message, once unbelievers become part of the Family we can move on to other things.

 

Now I realize that most people will not care about what I’ve written, or they will think it impractical…but really, if that is the case, then why don’t we simply remove the name “Yahweh” from our Hebrew Bibles? Why don’t we stop capitalizing it in English?

 

There is nothing quite like reading, “Yahweh is my shepherd…and I will dwell in the house of Yahweh forever.”

 

 

 

 

The Chapter 30 Diner (8)

 

 

Three questions (Proverbs 30:4): "Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth?" This brings to mind questions that God Himself asks Job:

 

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Who set its measurements? Who enclosed the sea with doors? Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, and caused the dawn to know its place? Can you lead forth a constellation in its season?”

 

These are just a few of the many questions that Yahweh asks Job in Job chapters 38 – 41, questions coming one after another and overwhelming Job to the point where he says to God, “I repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). It is a good thing to see our Creator and to do so by not looking into a mirror, but to consider creation and know that there is indeed One who is greater than I am, than you are, than we are.

 

Agur had friends, Job had friends, but other than young Elihu who finally had enough of Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar; Job’s friends added to the confusion, they did not lend themselves to thoughtful and prayerful discourse and friendship. While Agur provides us with a picture of humility, “Surely I am more stupid than any man,” Job and three of his friends attempt to not only out posture one another, but they foolishly try to out posture God, they speak as if they are not in His Presence, as if He does not know what they are saying and what is in their hearts; they frankly talk too much and they talk as if they know the mysteries of life, including why Job is experiencing terrible loss and affliction.

 

However, when Yahweh began speaking they all shut up. All of a sudden these four wise men were dumb, for they could not answer God’s questions. They had talked and talked and talked for chapter after chapter, and all of a sudden they have nothing to say. They hear all of God’s questions, and yet they cannot answer even one of them, until Job gives the only answer that is appropriate, “Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth….I repent in dust and ashes” (Job 40:4; 42:6).

 

This reminds me of a time when an employee of mine accidently called me on his cell phone and didn’t know he had done so. I overhead him talking to some of his staff about me and something I had talked to him about. As I listened I realized that he hadn’t really understood what I had told him; he especially didn’t understand my reasoning behind a decision I’d made. Job and three of his friends talked and talked about God, yet they didn’t know what they were talking about – and God was listening. God is always listening, we would do well to remember that, for Jesus says that we’ll account for every idle word we have spoken. I think that this is especially true of our presumptuous words, our pompous words, our posturing words.

 

Paul considered himself “the least among the apostles,” Agur thought himself stupid, the centurion whose servant was dying considered himself not worthy that Jesus should come to his home. Paul writes in Galatians 6:3, “For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” We know that pride comes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Paul also writes (1 Cor. 10:12), “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”

 

Agur was not as stupid as he said he was, and yet he was and he knew it, and yet he wasn’t as is evidenced by what he shared with his friends Ithiel and Ucal. But what about Job and his three friends? What about them, these men who knew all the answers, answers to questions that perhaps no one was even asking?

 

(I do want to mention that when we are in deep pain and affliction, as Job was, that we can lose our equilibrium; during these times we need others to carry us, to wait with us, to be patient with us, we need friends who know how to just be quiet and “be” with us, reassuring us of God’s love and care for us. We need to give others in affliction room to say what they need to say, and we need not be the righteous theological police critiquing their words, we need to be friends and trust our friend to God.)

 

Well, what do you think? Who shall we have coffee with this morning? Who shall we learn from as positive and godly examples? Who shall we suggest others model themselves after? Shall it be Job and his three friends, or shall it be Agur and the boys?

The Chapter 30 Diner (5)

 

 

“For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us, to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.” Deuteronomy 30:11 – 14.

 

Might have Agur been thinking of this passage in Proverbs 30:4? Of course we don’t really know, but let’s take a look at it nevertheless because it is an element of the Biblical motif of ascending and descending, and of descending and ascending.

 

Consider the context of our Deuteronomy passage, Moses is speaking some of his last words to the people of Israel as he prepares to be taken by Yahweh. How have the people been accustomed to hearing the word of God? How did they hear it in Egypt? How did they hear it in the Wilderness? Where did Moses go to receive the Ten Commandments? Where was Moses when he received God’s commandments concerning the Tabernacle and Levitical system of worship?

 

Moses had served as a mediator between Yahweh and Israel. Moses brought the Word of Yahweh to the people of Israel in Egypt. Moses went up Mount Sinai to meet with God and to bring God’s Word back down the mountain to the people. Moses also communed with God outside the camp in “the tent of meeting” (Exodus 33:7); neither the mountain nor the tent was accessible to the people. The people of Israel were unaccustomed to having the Word of God accessible to them, they had to rely on a mediator.

 

But now, in giving his last words to Israel, Moses says to them, “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.” That which had been outside of them was now inside of them. That for which they depended on a mediator was now theirs to access, engage with, and to obey.

 

In the account of Moses, can we see a foreshadowing of Jesus in the Upper Room?

 

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16 – 17).

 

“These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” (John 14:25 – 26).

 

What was Moses saying in Deuteronomy 30:11 – 14? At the very least, at its most basic, Moses was saying that there is a Way to live that is outside the Levitical Law, a Way that has always been accessible to men and women created in God’s image – the Way of faith, the Way of Abraham, the Way which is our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 4; Galatians 4).

 

We see this in Romans 10:6 - 8:

 

“But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: Do not say in your heart, Who will ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down), or Who will descend into the abyss? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart – that is, the word of faith which we are preaching…”

 

We respond to this “word of faith” internally, by confessing Jesus as Lord with our mouth and believing in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, and thus are saved and made righteous in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9 – 10).

 

And yet, is this our testimony? Is it our testimony in terms of the Way we live, and of the Way that lives in us? Going back to the above passages in John 14, are we living in communion with the Holy Spirit? Indeed, with the Holy Trinity? When many Christians speak of having a “testimony,” we often mean a testimony of initial salvation and we seem satisfied to leave it at that, as if signing on some unseen dotted line is the beginning and end of our faith, our experience, our testimony. But what are we to learn from the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13)? Can we not see that simply witnessing seed sprout is hardly soil for an enduring testimony?

 

How many of us speak of the Holy Spirit as a Friend? A Comforter? A Teacher? How does our relationship with the Holy Spirit compare with what Jesus portrays in John chapters 14 – 16? To reduce the Holy Spirit to promptings of conscience, or feelings, or certain thoughts, is hardly to speak in terms of an intimate relationship, of an ongoing and growing and maturing life in the Trinity. Yes, the Holy Spirit speaks to us through thoughts and feelings and conscience, but this is not a relationship, at best these are modes of communication.

 

To know the Holy Spirit is to worship the Holy Spirit. Are we worshipping Him, for He is God? To know the Holy Spirit is to obey the Holy Spirit, for He is God. To know the Holy Spirit is to have the Living Word dwelling in us, speaking to us, growing in us…as our Way of Life.

 

Are we living as if “the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it”?

 

Am I?

 

Are you?

 

Are our congregations? 

 

The Chapter 30 Diner (4)

 

“Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His son’s name? Surely you know!” Proverbs 30:4.

 

Five questions. The first question presents four possibilities to us, with two images. Was Agur thinking of Psalm 68, or was he thinking of Deuteronomy 30, or was he thinking of something else? Perhaps he was thinking of both Psalm 68 and Deuteronomy?

 

In Psalm 68:18 we have, “You have ascended on high, You have led captive Your captives; You have received gifts among men, even among the rebellious also, that the LORD God may dwell there.”

 

Paul quotes this passage in Ephesians 4:7 – 8, “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, ‘When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.’”

 

Then we have Deuteronomy 30:11 – 14:

 

“For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us, to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.” (See also Paul’s use of this passage in Romans 10:6 – 10).

 

There is yet a third passage of which we should be aware, though it is not a passage that Agur would have known, for Agur lived before the Incarnation. “No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man” (John 3:13).

 

If Agur has an image of Psalm 68 behind his question, then his image is of God ascending, after first descending to Mount Sinai. This was a precursor to Jesus Christ also ascending from “the lower parts of the earth” (Eph. 4:9) “far above all the heavens” (Eph. 4:10). That is, we have an image of God descending and ascending, an image that we see throughout Scripture in various settings, anchored by Yahweh at Sinai and then in the birth, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Of the two events Agur, of course, would only have been thinking of God at Sinai as portrayed in Psalm 68, if he was thinking of that passage, which we don’t really know.

 

However, the Old Testament contains instances of Yahweh appearing to men and women throughout history; Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Manoah and his wife; this is especially woven into the Exodus narrative – a narrative that God’s people, including Agur, would have had embedded in their hearts and minds (at least we hope so). And let us remember  the holy feasts throughout the year pointing back to the Exodus, from Passover to Tabernacles – it would be difficult, one would think, not to have an image of God descending and ascending.

 

I am reminded of how radical this image of God was, and probably still is if we rightly consider it. My Hebrew professor, Gary Pratico, spoke of his time at Harvard working with ANE antiquities. “For years my hands handled religious artifacts that spoke of man attempting to reach up to God, with the exception of the Hebrews; for with the Hebrews God reached down to man.”

 

Do we take this image for granted? Do we fail to recognize this motif throughout the Biblical record? Yahweh sought out Adam and Eve in the Garden, they were hiding from Him while He was looking for them. God well knew what had occurred, He knew they were hiding, we don’t hide unless we are afraid – God knew they were afraid, and God sought them.

 

Can we hear the words of Gabriel to Mary, “Fear not.” Can we hear those words spoken to shepherds? Can we hear Jesus saying, “Peace be with you” on the Day He rose from the dead? Can we see the Good Shepherd seeking the one lost sheep?

 

The God of the Bible pursues men and women and young people with a passion of love, He is the God who has descended to save us, the One who has tasted “death for everyone” (Heb. 2:9), the One who did not cling to His Divine position, but somehow “emptied Himself” and “humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:5 – 11).

 

Consider that before the Incarnation that every time God descended that He ascended without us; but that when Jesus Christ came to us that He not only took us with Him in His ascension (Eph. 2:6), but that God remained with us (Matt. 28:20; Jn. 14:15 – 23). Yes, this is a radically new Way of Life, but then in Christ we have been made radically new creations (2 Cor. 5:14 – 21).

 

Do we realize the depth of God’s love for us?

 

Do I realize it?

 

Do you?

The Chapter 30 Diner (3)

  

“Surely I am more stupid than any man, and I do not have the understanding of a man. Neither have I learned wisdom, nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.” Proverbs 30:2 – 3.

 

What do you think about these “words of Agur the son of Jakeh?”

 

Note than in verse 1 they are styled “the oracle” or “burden.” What do these words convey to you?

 

As you review what Agur says in Proverbs Chapter 30, is he really all that stupid, does he really lack wisdom, does it appear as if he has no knowledge of “the Holy One”?

 

What then, is behind Agur’s words in verses 2 and 3?

 

An oracle - burden, in a Biblical context is a message, a thought, a vision (whether one of our understanding, that is an “inner vision,” or one which our eyes also see; perhaps we can term it “an inner and outer vision,” though these words are inadequate), that is conveyed by God to men and women so that they, in turn, by God’s grace and inspiration can convey the oracle – burden to others as they are led by God the Holy Spirit.

 

This is one coin with two sides that cannot be separated, a Word from God is an oracle and a burden, a burden and an oracle. The element of burden is complex; for it is a burden in the sense of a heavy load that must be carried in the service of God and for the welfare of others, or to convey God’s judgement. But it can also be a burden in the sense of carrying God’s glory, for God’s glory is weighty, it is heavy, it requires us to bow before Him with our faces to the ground.

 

An oracle-burden from God always exalts God and not the messenger, not the one who carries and speaks the oracle-burden. A Word from God is a Word in which God is the focus, He is the Alpha and Omega of the message, and not the messenger. Granted, those who hear the Word of God may focus on the messenger as they respond, such as throwing Jeremiah into a well, or thinking more of the messenger than they ought to think, but the messenger knows full well that he or she is but a vessel of earth, and frail at that, so that God may receive the glory (2 Cor. 4:7 – 12).

 

A mark of suspect preachers and teachers is their desire to make something of themselves at the expense of the Flock of God (2 Cor. Chapter 11). Sadly, we are such dumb sheep that we would often rather follow the glitz and glitter and promise of advanced  supposed spiritual knowledge and special experience than we would the Christ of the Cross, the lowly Lamb and His servants who point to Him rather than to themselves.

 

Perhaps one reason we see so little illumination and revelation is our propensity to merchandise it and turn it into a movement or distinctive? Can you see the Apostle John on a book and speaking tour after returning from the island of Patmos and receiving the Revelation?

 

“General admission tickets are available to his appearance in Antioch, however, with the purchase of a special ticket you and a limited number of guests will not only have a pre-event social time with John, but he will give you some special insight on his experience in Patmos that he will not be sharing with the general audience. Also, this special ticket will entitle you to purchase up to five of John’s books at a discounted price and he promises to write a personalized inscription in one of them – just for you!!! ACT NOW BEFORE THESE SPECIAL TICKETS ARE SOLD OUT!”

 

Yes, I’m not sure we can be trusted with much insight, illumination, or revelation – we seem to have gone the way of Balaam. Some of us are more blatant about this than others, but it does seem to be in the water that a good many of us drink.

 

Peter writes that, “Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances (oracles) of God” (1 Peter 4:11). This ought to be our norm, and if we have times when we want to give our opinion about a matter when teaching or preaching, then we need to make it clear that that is what we’re doing – but our opinions should be the exception and speaking the oracles of God ought to be the rule. Have we lost our prophetic voice?

 

Do people in the pew really think they are hearing the oracles of God? Do those in the pulpit speak with the Divine imperative to preach the Word in the anointing of the Holy Spirit? If Jesus Christ sends us as the Father sent Him, then consider this:

 

“When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Matthew 7:28 – 29).

 

Are we preaching and teaching with authority?

 

On the other hand, there are those who claim to have a prophetic voice but who do not submit to the Bible as the Word of God, nor do they submit to the Church of Jesus Christ; they make merchandise of people, the Bible, and the Gospel – we see this in the Bible and throughout history.

 

What are we to do? We must keep looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, and we must do this in relationship with brothers and sisters who have taken up their cross, denied themselves, and are following Jesus Christ (Mark 8:34ff). The pilgrimage is hard and we must be ever vigilant – and we must do this together.

 

Also, let’s keep in mind that no matter what we’ve seen, and no matter what we think we know, that “we know in part and we prophesy in part” (1 Cor. 13:9). All too often when we have a burst of insight, we think we see all there is to see, when we ought to remind ourselves that whatever we have been given, we have been given for the benefit of others – and we ought to look to others through whom to filter what we have been given and to complement what we’ve been given. We are members of Christ’s Body and we are not the Head, we need the Head and we need the members of the Body or we cannot function as we have been called – we are to submit to one another in the fear of the Lord (Eph. 5:21).

 

Whatever we have been given should be in line with the Bible, the Church Fathers, faithful to the Nicene Creed, and in the historical stream of the Church throughout the ages. Let us never preach something that has not been preached before – for Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

 

Agur had a filter in his friends, Ithiel and Ucal; he had two men with whom he could share his pilgrimage, his learning, his growing; Agur could talk with them, and he could listen to them. Do we have such friends? Do we have friends that we can share our oracle-burdens with? Do we have friends whose oracle-burdens we can help carry?

 

What is behind Agur’s words in verses 2 and 3? When God gives us an oracle-burden, when He reveals His glory and His Word to us, when He pulls back the veil and we see heavenly things, His glory and majesty humble us, and we realize that no matter how glorious and terrible those things are which He has shown us, that on our best days we are “more stupid than any man,” and that the Living God is so awesome and great, that there is a sense in which we really don’t “have the knowledge of the Holy One.” We are like Peter, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8).

 

“There is one who pretends to be rich, but has nothing; another pretends to be poor, but has great wealth.” Proverbs 13:7.