I have been continuing to let this Scripture permeate my
inner being:
20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. (I
Corinthians 4)
I am having quite a wonderful and encouraging experience of
the work of God. There are times when I can hear what God is saying with my
mind, but I know I have not yet experienced that particular truth in my inner
being. In the past, this would trigger the good-boy malware, and I would feel
desperate to figure out how to try to DO what God wants done.
In this last while, God has been graciously ministering
things into my inner being, just as I have been praying.[1]
The result is that I feel rest and peace in areas of life that once caused
incredible turmoil in my efforts to do the right thing. Here’s how this went
further today.
God is ministering to me a tremendous freedom in accepting
that the kingdom of God “does not consist
in talk but in power”. It is as though I am off the hook regarding the
results. The kingdom is not mine, the power is not mine, the gospel is not
mine, the word of the cross is not mine. It is all God’s, and it all has him
and his power backing it up.
To get me to see (and know by experience) that the power of
the kingdom is in “the word of the cross”,[2]
God is showing me so many different ways of understanding that the power is
actually in the word of God we are already given, and, therefore, no preacher
needs to add any of his own power or ability to the picture.
As I continued in I Corinthians 2, a few other Scriptures
came together to reinforce why Paul would not use “lofty speech or wisdom”, why he would only focus on “Jesus Christ and him crucified”, and
why he would take such great pains to make sure that “your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God”.[3]
First, I was reminded of the parable of the sower and the
seed.[4] This
parable revolves around a sower sowing seed, the seed that is sown, and four
types of soil that receive the seed.
When Jesus explained the parable to his disciples, the first
thing he said was, “To you it has been
given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in
parables…”[5]
This means that, what Jesus taught in this parable is one of the “secrets of the kingdom of God” even
though he had to explain it to them so they would “know” the secret.
Jesus then said that, “the
seed is the word of God.”[6] This
means that the metaphor of a sower sowing seed refers to God’s servants sowing
the word of God. When we preach the word, teach the word, share the word,
publish the word, share Scriptures on social media, we are sowers sowing the
seed of the word of God.
The rest of the parable tells us that, although the word of
God, the seed that is sown, is the same for everyone who hears the gospel, the
difference in responses are comparable to differences in the soil. Some people
are like hard ground that is unable to receive the word. Others are like rocky
soil that causes people to get excited about what they hear, but wilt away as
soon as things get hard. Still others receive the word like they are sincerely
interested, but they can never break free of the choking weeds of the world.
And then there are the ones who are like the good soil that receives the seed,
and sees it germinate, put down roots, sprout up, and bear much fruit.
The point is that the seed is the word of God, and nothing
has to be done to the seed to make it effective. The four soils are the hearts
of the people, and it is the hearts of people that determine the effect the
word of God has on their hearts.[7]
The sower simply sows the seed in the soil. That’s it. Nothing extra required.
This reminded me of Paul telling Timothy to: “preach the word; be ready in season and out
of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”[8]
Since the seed is the word of God, all Timothy (and all
preachers) needed to do was sow the word. It did not matter whether people’s
hearts made hearing the word in season or out of season, all the sower ever
does is sow the word.
But that led me to see what Paul said just before that:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God
may be complete, equipped for every good work.[9]
That is such a beautiful explanation of why we do not need
to tamper with the seed (this is why we reject all GMO versions of the gospel!).
It is already breathed-out from God. How could any preacher think his preaching
would rely on “lofty speech or wisdom”,[10]
or, “plausible words of wisdom”[11]
when we already have the breathed-out words of God in seed ready for sowing?
But then I saw what Paul said just before that:
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly
believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been
acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for
salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.[12]
What stands out here is Paul’s description of, “the sacred writings, which are able to make
you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” That is the
description of the seed. The seed, contained in the sacred writings, is fully “able to make you wise for salvation through
faith in Christ Jesus.”
If people have faith in Jesus Christ, they will be like good
soil receiving the word. If their hearts are hard, rocky, or weed-choked, we
cannot modify the seed to make it more “successful”. Only the seed that is the
breathed-out word of God can give life to those whose hearts are like good
soil.
All together, this has been a wonderful gift of freedom for
me. All we need is a connection between the seed of the word, and the good soil
of our hearts. The power is in the seed, the “word of the cross”,[13]
and whatever happens in our hearts simply exposes whatever is in our hearts.
If we will accept whatever the word is telling us, and bring
to God whatever happens in our hearts, the word of God is able to make us wise
for salvation. We simply need to respond with “faith in Christ Jesus,” the means by which the perfect seed of the
word finds good soil in our hearts.
© 2016 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
[1]
Particularly with a focus on Paul’s prayers in Ephesians 3:14-21, and
Colossians 1:9-14.
[2]
I Corinthians 1:18
[3]
I Corinthians 2:1-5
[4]
Luke 8:4-15
[5]
Luke 8:10
[6]
Luke 8:11
[7]
I say this in terms of the parable, understanding that the fuller revelation of
salvation shows that any responsiveness in our hearts is the gift of God’s
grace bringing us to faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).
[8]
II Timothy 4:2
[9]
II Timothy 3:16-17
[10]
I Corinthians 2:1
[11]
I Corinthians 2:4
[12]
II Timothy 3:14-15
[13]
I Corinthians 1:18
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