The way the Bible record is written sometimes seems to state what happened or what was said in terms of what the inner motives of the person were, rather than recording what words were actually said. Thus when the two harlots stood before Solomon, it may be that when the one said “Let (the baby) be neither mine nor thine, but divide it” (I Kgs 3:26), it is possible that this is the Spirit’s description of her inner attitude, rather than the literal words she spoke. That is, her inner thoughts were counted as her words (careful re-reading and reflection make this seem most likely here).
The Jews left in the land after the Babylonian invasion begged Jeremiah to tell them God’s word: “Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord” (Jer. 42:5,6). But when they heard His words, their response was: “As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth” (Jer. 44:16,17). Their apparent zeal for Bible study came to nothing when the results were inconvenient to them (and we can take a lesson from this). But I wonder whether they actually said “We will certainly do whatsoever goeth forth out of our mouth”? Maybe they did; but perhaps this is what their rejection of God’s word amounted to, and therefore this is the way their words are recorded.
Gospels record motives
This approach to the Scriptural record may seem strange at first; but when we come to the Gospel records, its truth is confirmed. A comparison of the different records reveals that the actual words both of the Lord and those to whom he spoke are sometimes recorded slightly differently in different Gospels; the differences cannot always be reconciled, if we are to believe that all these words were actually said and recorded verbatim. Surely on these occasions the Spirit is recording the essence of what was said, reading motives and expressing men’s words from God’s perspective. There are, of course, other places where the words are recorded from the human perspective, with literal accuracy.
In similar vein, God saw David as if he had killed Uriah with his sword (II Sam. 12:9) even though David’s command to Joab to retire from Uriah and let the Ammonites kill him was carefully calculated not to break the letter of the law.
Worship can be performed from a sense of ritual, as a conscience salver…or it can be the real thing.
Hearts perfect and not perfect
There is a common phrase in the record of the kings of Judah which I admit to being unable to conclusively interpret: “He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.” Many of the men of whom this was said were not very righteous, and some (e.g. Uzziah, II Kgs. 14:3) were punished for their later apostasy. Possible explanations are that they repented at the end, although unrecorded; or that they were initially righteous; or that God counted them as righteous although they did wrong things. I find problems with each of these alternatives. So I am left with the possibility that a man can do (and perhaps this is the word that needs emphasis) what is right in God’s eyes, but still ultimately be condemned because his heart is far from God; this is the teaching of I Corinthians 13; Mark 7:6-9 and the other scriptures considered above.
Uzziah “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like (i.e. he didn’t do his works like) David his father” (II Kgs. 14:3) must be paralleled with II Chronicles 25:2: “He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.” Working for God as David did, therefore, involved doing the works with a perfect heart; the open conscience which David so often displayed in the Psalms. But Uzziah was deceived by the fact he was doing good works, and the real essence of his relationship with God was thereby overlooked.
We. too, can project a shadow-self to others, an image of spirituality, which eventually we come to believe ourselves, when our heart is far from God. This feature of human nature explains why a man or woman can reach such heights of devotion and then turn round and walk away from it all, out into the darkness of the world.
The Pharisees did all the works, but in their hearts they never knew God, and finally went and did His Son to death. The Lord plays on the fact that ultimately, in God’s eyes, they did no works at all: “Do not ye after their works; for they say, and do not” (Mt. 23:3). We are left to imagine the anger of those zealous men. They did do works, as the Lord observed. But to him, they did nothing at all.
Developing a character
The real aim of our life in Christ, our being a Christadelphian, our prayer, our Bible reading, our attendance at meetings, our spirituality — however you want to look at it — the real aim is to develop a character in harmony with that of God, to manifest Him. This means not getting bitter, forgiving others, being quick to overlook, to read the best motives, to be patient with your husband, with your children, to be full of meditation on our peerless Lord Jesus, to love the Father’s word as he did — this is what it’s really all about.
The occasional heights of self-sacrifice and devotion, the complete dedication of one’s life and thinking to the things of “the Truth,” “the Christadelphians” (or however we want to describe it), this isn’t necessarily the same thing as being a really spiritual, Christ-centred person. It often takes new converts a long time to realise this; and the quicker we do so, the better.
The essential state of our heart is what God is ultimately interested in. This is why men may perform the same outward actions, but be judged quite differently. Consider how both Cain and Jonah fled from the presence of God; both Peter and Judas denied the Lord; both Samuel and Eli failed to control their apostate sons. Indeed, Eli did rebuke his sons; but in God’s eyes he didn’t (I Sam. 2:24 cp. 3:13 AV mg.). He said words for the sake of saying words, but in his heart he didn’t frown upon them.
The bottom line
Devotion to preaching and the defense of doctrine is a vital part of our spirituality; these things are part of treading the path of the One who went before us. But when we are first baptised, there is a tendency to make spirituality solely equal to these things; we tend not to see that these are only aspects of a Christ-like life.
Self-mastery, real spirituality, an overflowing and overwhelming love in the face of hatred and coldness… these are down there at the bottom line.
Works, especially those involved with preaching and doctrinal contention, can blind us to this, all too easily. Preaching in itself can become an obsession (and the same is true of prolonged prayer); some of the early missionaries of the Orthodox churches caught this disease, as have some Christadelphians. I’ve known several zealous brethren who fell away to J.W.s and the like, not from any real doctrinal persuasion, but simply because they loved the preaching, the thrill of the fight. Think through I Corinthians 15:12: “If Christ be preached [by you] that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection…[for] then is Christ not raised.” We can preach something with apparent zeal and yet actually have no real personal faith in the message.
I’m not saying, of course, that the works, the preaching, the protracted prayer etc. are irrelevant. But they must be an outcome of our experience of the spirituality of God Himself, not the result of our being driven by obsession or fear or desire for reward. If they are, then the light of God’s truth which is in us will only be counted as the darkness of the world in the end (Lk. 11:35). Our emphasis must therefore be on devotion to spiritual mindedness, to appreciation of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father whom his cross revealed; and then the works will follow quite naturally.
The raw nerve
Bible reading, breaking bread, fellowshipping with our brethren, all these things are inevitably repetitious. Yet they should touch our raw nerve; every recollection of the Lord’s death, every hearing of the Father’s word, should divide us asunder, right to the marrow, as the priest’s knife opened up the sacrifices. This is what our contact with the word of God does from God’s perspective — it opens us up. But we can turn away from this vision, turn the other way and hide behind a fake spirituality in every area of spiritual endeavour.
The difference between truth and error is often apparently minimal. The difference between the error of the trinity and the truth of God manifestation can appear just words; but there is an eternally important difference there. Paul therefore described a notable false teacher as Satan himself masquerading as an angel of light. Sheep and goats have the same skeleton, and some goats (especially Angoras) look like sheep. The Lord could have constructed his story using a clean and unclean animal. But sheep and goats were both clean animals; but the rejected are only apparently clean. As outlined above, love, faith, repentance, prayer— in all these things we can have an appearance of true spirituality which is only an illusion. Brothers, sisters: we must examine ourselves. We must shake ourselves from our comfortable numbness, realizing that the call of Christ cuts and calls to the heart. It means more than just attending a few meetings, writing a few letters, telling a few people about “the Christadelphians.”
We must clear our minds before we read, before we pray, before we break bread. Clear them of all that is superficial and extraneous, even if it is based around our Christadelphia; and determine to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. We must let the word bite, the cross of Christ constrain us, feel the cutting edge — and not turn around and pretend we just haven’t seen.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One