How
Hello!? Hellloooo… is this thing on?
There seems to be so much confusion from so many voices in our world today, and even in the Kingdom. What is said… what was said… what was heard… what was meant… what was implied… what was intended… what should be said… what was left unsaid… who said it and are you sure?
This is not a new phenomenon in humanity:
In the Garden of Eden, when the first person EVER was deceived, it carried this same issue. The slithering, divided-tongue serpent set his spiritual trap for Eve with the skepticism-inducing question, “Did God REALLY say…” (see Genesis 3:1). The human slide down the slippery slope of destruction started with our adversary (the satan) using communication skills to his advantage and our demise.
Communication.
It is the most dangerous and effective weapon of the enemy. It is also the carrier of the greatest of all divine gifts ever bestowed upon mankind: the Gospel.
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Romans 10:14-15 ESV
These are some highly important questions that Paul inquires here. Just a few chapters before, he very eloquently, but decisively, declared there is a specific, “good news,” that is a big, big deal. Maybe the biggest. Because:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it (the Gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Verses 16-17 ESV (emphasis and parentheses mine)
The term, “good news,” is the exact term translated, “Gospel,” in the scriptures. News is giving someone a message about something that has (past tense) happened. News is communication. The Gospel communicates what Jesus, as God and man, has done for God and man with the eternal impact that His completed work has for both God and man. The term, “tetelestai,” that you hear me communicate so often means, “It is finished.” This was the last phrase that Jesus uttered from the Cross as He was dying in His selfless atonement for all of us.
The infinite power of God is somehow mysteriously encapsulated inside, “the Gospel,” according to Paul. When you add that incredible truth to the string of questions Paul was asking back in Romans 10, you could conclude (like I have) that the very power of God is released, twisted, or even stopped through communication tactics. That is quite heavy…
Check out this encounter:
One day an expert in the law stood up to test Him. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” Jesus replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus said. “Do this and you will live.”
But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Luke 10:25-29 BSB
This exchange starts off with you and I as the readers getting some important inside information that the communicator with Jesus was (1) an expert (lawyer), and (2) trying to test Jesus. Because we are given this perspective, we can follow with the proper discernment of what intentions were behind the communicator. As a side note, this is what the Holy Spirit can do for us in the present circumstances. An underutilized and undervalued gift of the Holy Spirit is discernment. Jesus operated in discernment in this exchange and in so doing He was not trapped by the, “expert.” Develop discernment in your life and you will avoid many if not most of the traps set for you.
These experts are roaming the Terra Firma today looking for hapless and naïve victims of their pseudo-expertise… there is nothing new under the sun. Today, their expertise is science and their trap is threatening us with the label, “science-denier.” Their science says gender changes with the fleeting whims and feelings of any and every preadolescent and should be affirmed by the adults who lead and/or parent them because biology is no longer a good science. These are the same experts who ignore the emerging millions of injured or dead people who have been injected with, “safe and effective,” experimental drugs. These elitists trust their calamitous global climate predictions, which have been wrong for over fifty years because the experts have the right science THIS time. Their science says fear is the new normal and their expertise is in controlling your existence. The experts sometimes are the whole problem…
We all know the actual expert was Jesus, but in His grace, He was willing to entertain the lawyer’s actions. Notice that the communication style of Jesus takes a question format for the majority of the occurrences in the Gospels, just as it does here. I am convinced one of the greatest ways to communicate is by asking questions and being asked questions because it engages your mind and heart, which can sometimes minimize your more deceptive emotions.
When Jesus questioned this expert’s knowledge, surprisingly, the expert had the right answer… but the wrong conclusion. Look at this dangerous little phrase, “But wanting to justify himself”. Danger, Will Robinson! If I had a dollar for every time I have been in this type of situation, I could build that garage I want. Please know, there is a HUGE difference between being justified by God and wanting to justify yourself. This lawyer’s plan was to try and trap Jesus with his expert communication for the personal benefit of being right. His pride directed his tongue.
What follows is the timeless parable of, “The Good Samaritan.” That was not what was on the expert’s agenda as an answer to his lawfare, self-justification scheme. Jesus communicated the Gospel with an example of mercy and then turned the communication trap back on the expert like Haman’s gallows.
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
“The one who showed him mercy,” replied the expert in the law.
Then Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
(Verses 36-37)
Whoops… did not expect that! Some expert, huh? Betcha he did not become a, “doer of the Word.”
By the tenth chapter of Romans, Paul believes that his readers are growing in their knowing as they chew each additional line of scripture one bite at a time. This is why Paul’s questions above were not asked as traps, but as learning resources to the attentive reader who was listening with their submitted heart.
One of the statements Jesus made plagued me for years. “Therefore consider carefully how you listen,” (Luke 8:18a NIV). Do you see that kinda out of place, “how,” there? That word was a major hindrance to me for a bunch of years. I could not figure out why it was, “how,” instead of the expected, “what.” But, I get it now after a few decades of life and ministry. Sometimes the, “how,” you hear is infinitely more important than the, “what.”
Paul knew this and was tracking down into Romans 10 with the readers who he believed were listening with the right, “how.” Their hearts wanted the truth and wanted it for the right reasons.
And how are they to hear without someone preaching? (Verse 14c)
Preaching is communication, communication is preaching.
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Verse 17)
What you believe comes from what you hear and how you hear it. Some people search the scriptures looking for proof that they are justified. More mature people hear the Word of God to find out how they can change. Some folks listen with selfish ears to feel better and others listen with a humble submitted heart so they can be transformed through the renewing of their mind.
What kind of listener are you?
What kind of communicator are you?
What news do you believe or not… true or not… Gospel or not?
In the Great Awakening, there will be many voices, many different news proclamations, and many different kinds of listeners. Some will be experts who intend to deceive, like the serpent, with trapping questions like, “Did God REALLY say?” Those of us who will experience God’s will and God’s blessing in these coming times will be able to discern that subtle trap and declare, “Yes… my Father REALLY did say that about my identity and give me that promise! Get thee behind me satan!”
I like the “thee” there… it feels so Jesus-esk!
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Revelation 2:7 ESV
I love you!
Steve
