Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

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November 6, 2014

Good morning, dear special ones.

When we took off on our little walk/jog this morning, I could feel those dramatic changes in air temperature—some pockets of air amazingly warm. It was easy to predict that the wind would be kicking up. It sure did, by the time we reached the top of the hill there were hurricane type gusts.

Jesus sent His disciples out at one point as “sheep among wolves” (Matthew 10:16). That doesn’t make a normal self-sufficient sheep feel very secure. But if that weak and dumb little sheep can get his little head and heart wrapped around the idea that he is not alone, but actually accompanied by the shepherd, he can now be encouraged to behave with the confidence of a lion. What big lion is chicken of a scrawny little wolf? Be reminded that you are accompanied by the very omnipotence of God when you do His bidding. Wow! I’m feeling pretty tough right now! Is it just an illusion?

Blessings on your day.

Love, Dad/Ray.

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06 November
John 7:1-24
Focus: "The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil.” John 7:7.

This is part of Jesus’ reply to his brothers when they chided him about going up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles so He could display His miracles and teachings “to the world.” A little statement is added to the account that confirms their sarcastic mindset—“For even his own brothers did not believe in him” (v. 5). That description also provides us with a general definition of how Jesus means the word “world.” We can deduce from this that the “world” is the entire scope of unregenerate humanity—all those who do not, for whatever reason, believe in Jesus as their Savior from their sin. And it follows that those who DO believe in Jesus both CAN and WILL be hated by the world. Why? Because they perpetuate and represent the general Biblical Gospel that begins with SIN—mankind’s NATURAL SIN NATURE that must be atoned for and eradicated. Ownership of SIN before a Holy God is simply a tough pill for the world to handle. They may react, “Are you calling me a sinner? You have no idea what a good person I am! Why just today I dropped a quarter in the hopper at the store’s checkstand for Doernbecher Children’s Hospital!”

Jesus later gives some very clear insights in this regard—“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you” (John 15:18-20).

Do you see a kind of vicious circle that is possible here?—the world hates to be condemned for sin—so they will hate and condemn anyone who implicates their guilt. At the same time, this sin factor of the Gospel may be a hard pill for many believers to swallow too, because they hate to be hated and condemned by the world. After all, what kind of a peacemaker wants to start a fight? So round and round it can go! Oh, Lord—help us!

He has. And the solution He offers to this potential conflict and chaos is really quite clear—returning to the two greatest (most important) commands contained in Scripture—

1. LOVING GOD
2. LOVING OTHERS (Matthew 22:34-40).

It has to be an AGAPE love/tough love/Jesus love that is driven by the will, not by the emotions—however, emotional support along with the mystical empowerment of the Holy Spirit is sure to follow these Christ-honoring choices made by the will. It’s a love that is more concerned with TRUTH than with opinion and ignorance, more concerned with a person’s deepest needs than with their shallow comfort, more concerned with a person’s healing of the terminal illness of SIN than with a mere treatment of the symptoms.