Conflicting Revelation

“But strong meat belongs to them who are of full age, even those who by reason of use have exercised their senses to discern good and evil.” –Hebrews 5:14

The Apostle Paul, trained in the highest forms logic and rabbinical reasoning by Gamaliel, did not think much of our ability to comprehend truth through the intellect.  On the contrary Paul preached that spiritual truth could not be understood by human wisdom saying, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” -1 Corinthians 1:21  If God chose to make salvation available to us through the exercise of our intellect, only the elite of this world would be heirs to salvation.  Instead of choosing the mind as the vehicle through which we believe, He chose the heart saying, “…For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” –Romans 10:10

For those whose faith is based in the intellect, spiritual truth will always be a stumbling block that prevents them from drawing closer to God.  Jesus told His disciples, “It is the spirit that quickens; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” –John 6:63  Jesus chose to speak words that could not be understood by the mind alone, and those who tried to comprehend His words through their intellect left offended.  When Jesus spoke to the people saying, “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you…”, only those whose hearts were sensitive to truth remained.  Although the minds of the twelve disciples didn’t understand the words Jesus was speaking, their hearts resonated as Jesus spoke the words – and knew He was speaking the truth.  When Jesus asked them if they would also leave, Peter responded saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” –John 6:68

The moment we surrender our lives to Christ, scripture tells us that God sends the Spirit of His son into our hearts crying Abba, Father. –Galatians 4:6  When God sends His Spirit into our hearts, His Spirit within us becomes the vehicle through which we can understand spiritual things.  Without the Holy Spirit it is impossible to understand spiritual things, as Paul wrote “…But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”-1 Cor. 2:14 Instead God has given us the Holy Spirit so “that we might freely know the things that are given to us of God.”-1 Cor. 2:12  As followers of Christ the tool that God has given us to discern truth is the Holy Spirit, and not our minds.

God has commanded us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and therefore He cares about our ability to understand Truth with our minds!  However, Truth is always first understood by our spirit through the Holy Spirit, and then God will bring understanding to our minds.  If we try to understand with our minds first we are cutting out the work of the Holy Spirit, and like those disciples who left Jesus we will be offended and fall into error.  As you read through God’s Word you will encounter many Truth’s that seem paradoxical or irreconcilable by the mind, and yet your spirit will know that they are all true.  Jesus told us through John’s Revelation, “He that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” –Revelation 3:22  Most everyone has physical ears to hear, but Jesus was talking about ears that were spiritually receptive to the Truth.

Oftentimes God gives different members of the church revelations that on the surface appear to be in conflict.  Those who have received those revelations will consequently preach what they have heard and know to be true by the Spirit. Like the Apostle Paul’s revelation of grace by faith and the Apostle St. James revelation on faith and works, it is easy to wrestle with different revelations and even break into factions based on whose revelation our minds can understand the most.  But those who rely on the Holy Spirit will know that both are true before they can articulate why.  As the Apostle Paul counseled Timothy, “…Consider what I say; and the Lord give you understanding in all things.” – 2 Timothy 2:7  The very most important thing is that as members of Christ we all “stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” –Philippians 1:27

Christ In Us

When Peter and John saw a man who was lame from birth sitting at the temple gate seeking alms, they had no money but still had something to give.  Peter looked at the man and said, “Silver and gold I don’t have, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”  Peter grabbed him by the right hand and immediately he received strength in his feet and ankle bones.  The people all around stared in awe at Peter and John, but Peter knew that the healing had nothing to do with him and explained to the people, “You men of Israel, why are you amazed at this?  Or why do you look so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?” –Acts 3:12 Peter proceeded to explain that it was through faith in the name of Jesus that the man was strengthened saying, “…the faith which is by him as given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.”

 Peter knew that his body was being used as a vessel through which Jesus Himself had healed the man.  To take any credit for the healing would be to deny the One who had saved and lived inside of him.  The same Jesus who healed the sick and raised the dead also lives in the hearts of all who believe today, and the Apostle Paul exhorted us saying, “…That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.” –Ephesians 3:17-19 The key to God’s fullness in our life is faith in His indwelling Presence.

Faith begins with a heart surrendered to God that doesn’t trust its own power or goodness.  Jesus won’t break through the door of any of our hearts; we must allow Him access to it.  The degree of Christ’s strength in us depends on the degree we yield our hearts to Him.  All of us struggle with our own pride and self reliance, but as we get to know Jesus and His love it becomes easier to surrender more of ourselves.  Peter had lots of zeal for the Lord early on but when it came right down to it his pride won over his zeal.  The strength that Peter walked in later on was earned through a broken heart that realized how weak it was on its own.  When Peter went to the temple that day, he was fellowshipping in his heart with the same God that had allowed him to walk on water.  If the One who lived inside of him could keep him above the stormy waves, why couldn’t He also heal this poor crippled man?  Peter gave the man exactly what he had inside of him – Jesus.

God has called the poor of this world rich in faith, because the poor are more likely to have less confidence in their own power.  The rich on the other hand have difficulty with faith because they are more inclined to trust their own power.  It’s not the presence or absence of physical possessions that guarantee’s faith, but having confidence in Christ’s Power.  Paul wrote to the Philippians that as believers we “worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” –Philippians 3:3  Paul understood that all his qualifications and accomplishments were empty without Christ, and he desired to be “found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith…” –Philippians 3:9

To live by faith is to live by a Power that is not our own and that we can’t take credit for.  Paul desired to walk in a righteousness that was not his own but Christ’s.  Faith is often confused with a human attribute that we can take pride in, but true biblical faith precludes boasting.  Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”  If our faith in any way allows us to boast in some power or goodness of our own, it is not faith in a biblical sense.  The same Jesus who healed the sick and raised the dead lives in us today – and He is still able to do amazing things through us.