Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Greetings, dear ones.

There’s some light drizzle falling. The weather has sure been explosive this last week. Yesterday I ran the mill in beautiful sunshine, then pouring rain, all within a few minutes of each other. I’m sad for those gorgeous bodies to be displayed in today’s Rose Festival Parade in Portland. Hope they don’t catch pneumonia.

I intend to haul in a bunch of firewood logs today…then hopefully mill out a key timber for the mural frame…a 4”x15” timber 27 feet long. That will be a challenge.

The little boys are here for the weekend…which impacts everything else. At least Thano is not slated to work at Safeway today.

Have fun with your challenging day. Be blessed.

Love, Dad/Ray

Matthew 10:34 is the counterpart to this verse. In that rendering, Jesus says, “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

I recall riding on the chairlift at Winter Park, Colorado in 2002 with a fellow who made biased reference to this verse from Matthew. He worded his question something like this: “Is it true that Jesus said, ‘I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.’” I responded, “Yes, that is true.” He said, “So fundamental Christianity is really no different than fundamentalist Islam. Both are terroristic.” I tried to explain—but you know, “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” What an ignorant and foolish way to distort Jesus’ meaning! So what else is new? This particular man, like so many, had already made a fundamental ideological decision (He too was a “fundamentalist.”) of disdaining the whole idea of personal accountability to a Holy God and found delight in accumulating supportive data for his rejection. And without knowing it, he was actually confirming the validity of Jesus’ words. I am a seeker (and finder) of God—he’s a rejecter—there’s the fundamental sword and division of which Jesus spoke! And while we may be friendly and accepting of each other’s individuality (even ski together), there is no possible peace at the level of our worldviews. Believing in Jesus and His redeeming grace definitely causes division. By BELIEVING in Christ, I have no alternative but to also embrace that division.

Indirectly, I judge that Jesus’ words following one of the most well-known verses of the Bible represents a parallel statement to our FOCUS VERSE—John 3:17: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Think about it.

Here’s the deal as I see it spelled out in Scripture: ALL HAVE SINNED AND COME SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD. How many is ALL? I think that means ALL—like everyone. (What part of ALL do we not understand?) So when Jesus comes into this world with the mission of causing division, what kind of division is it? Is it a good division or a bad division? I conclude that it is a vitally important and good division. Where would we be if the influence of the “Sword of the Spirit” did not divide and separate us from the condemnation of the ALL? We’d be in a heap of hurt.

Here is a fundamental Biblical bottom line that I believe we will do well to get as straight as possible: GOD DOES NOT SEND PEOPLE TO HELL—HE JUST HONORS THEIR CHOICE. And all you and I need to do is decide on which side of this division we choose to be—and desire others to be.