May 2025 – Wisdom From the Word

Drawing Near

You are likely familiar with the scripture, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:8). What we will look at is the process, the idea of proximity and sensitivity to His presence. In particular here we are looking at the role of the Spirit in our relationship with the Godhead. In many church settings the place of the Holy Spirit is often neglected. It may be because we are concerned that He will disrupt our plans or we may simply not know Him and His presence well. We are generally comfortable talking about Jesus or the Father, the Spirit less so. I think we can and should change that. After all, look at the following verse.

¹⁴ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. 2 Corinthians 13:14 (NKJV)

Paul’s prayer here is that we would experience communion (Greek koinonia – fellowship, sharing, participation) with the Spirit. It is a relational word not a sterile religious concept. Thus, we will look at how we experience communion with the Spirit.

Let me provide a brief example. I am currently in a smaller community where we spend much of the summer. The church is smaller and recently on a Sunday I was asked if I would read the opening scripture, which I did, I also prayed for the service. The worship was very deep and the service led into repentance and a good deal of prayer ministry. It was very good and there was an important measure of sensitivity to the presence and moving of the Spirit. The pastor had been told by the Spirit during his sermon prep that He was going to move in the service and bring repentance. However, this didn’t guarantee that it would take place, it still required the sensitivity and cooperation of the pastor and worship team to the leading of the Spirit during the service.

While this was taking place, I was aware of His presence upon me and also aware that had we lingered a bit longer in worship more would have happened. To me that said we need to deepen our sensitivity. The Spirit drew near and showed me what was possible but didn’t prompt me to do or say anything. It was simply an awareness He was giving me as I quietened my heart to hear His voice. As the service prepared to move into repentance He spoke quietly to my heart, “This is a holy moment.” It was.

From this we can learn the importance of waiting and not rushing if we want to encounter Him in a deeper way. This is a corporate example and for most of us our influence over a church service is limited to intercession for what He wants to do at any given time. After all, we are all called to be sensitive to and come into agreement with His purpose and presence.

Having shared all of this, for most of us we spend a very small percentage of our time in worship services. Our days are filled with our usual routines, whether that be work, parenting, volunteering or recreation. Given that we spend most of our time in these types of circumstances we need to know how to be sensitive to the Spirit in these settings as well. In my experience we need to train our hearts to be attuned to His presence throughout the day. I believe, and it is my experience, that it is important to start our day orienting our hearts toward Him. This sets the course of our day. Then when He draws near during the day it is because we have honoured His word and first drawn near to Him. Out of this He will bring scriptures to mind, draw our attention to the beauty of creation around us, prompt us to pray for people and similar things.

Here is another recent example, an individual rather than corporate one. I was at a prayer and worship evening at church. I felt led to pray for an individual. I had spoken to him for a few minutes at a men’s breakfast but beyond that I really didn’t know anything about him. I went over and prayed for him and he later told me how impactful and accurate my prayer was given what had been happening in his life. This reinforces two things for me. One the Spirit wants to share things with us and invites us into ministry for others. Two, if we are willing He will use us. After all, He wants to bring to us ‘wisdom and revelation’ (Ephesians 1:17) on an ongoing basis. To that end let’s develop the habit of leaning into Him (drawing near) to receive what He has to offer!

His Church Part 2

I last wrote about Jesus building His church and talked about how the enemy sows tares in Jesus’ wheat field. I think this happens for a few reasons. One is that it creates an opportunity for us to develop and/or deepen our discernment as we seek to follow Him. We have the opportunity to learn to distinguish wheat from tares in the church, and when they are immature, they look indistinguishable. In addition to the tares being ‘sons of the wicked one’ I think they also represent the things the evil one sows into our thinking when we get caught up in our agendas mistakenly thinking they are His agenda. An example in scripture is the Judaizers. They disagreed with Paul and thought that the Gentile believers needed to adhere to the Mosaic Law. The issue was decisively dealt with in Acts 15 where we had the first church council. Here the church leaders got together and addressed the issue. It should have been settled then but some simply ignored the decision and went on with their agenda. We see this in Philippians.

¹ Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. ² Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! ³ For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, ⁴ though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: ⁵ circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Philippians 3:1–6 (NKJV)

In addition to other issues Paul was still contending with those promoting circumcision as necessary for salvation at least a decade after the matter was settled with the Jerusalem Council.

While circumcision as part of salvation is a very obvious example, there are simpler ones that we see all the time in our church world, our debates over baptism (the methodology), the debates over the relevance or existence of spiritual gifts for today. Calvinism compared to Arminianism is another example, there are more options. Regarding the atonement we have: Christus Victor, Penal Substitutionary Atonement, Moral Influence theory, Satisfaction theory, Ransom theory, Governmental theory, Scapegoat theory, Recapitulation theory, and more. I haven’t studied all of them. I am in the Penal Substitutionary Atonement camp; I think the others that are valid are subsumed under it.

I think you get the picture. Now we come back to the obvious question, if Jesus is building His church why does it look the way it does with conflicting theologies, numerous denominations and historically, bitterness, war and inquisitions? Remember Jesus said to let the tares grow with the wheat until harvest time, that is until they mature. I believe the answer lies in what Jesus said in the parable.

³⁸ The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. ³⁹ The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. ⁴⁰ Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. Matthew 13:38–40 (NKJV)

Jesus said “the harvest is the end of the age.” I believe that as this present age draws to a close, we will see change in the church. In the meantime, the Moravians provided very wise counsel for us to follow, “In essentials unity, in non essentials liberty, in all things charity.” This principle came about as the persecuted believers who sought refuge on Count Zinzendorf’s estate had some internal conflicts, just like many examples in the New Testament. Given that charity as used here is the old English word for love, their prescription echoes what Jesus said.

³⁵ By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35 (NKJV)

The church that Jesus is building is one that walks in love.

This is the answer. When we disagree with the fellow believer down the street or across the office Jesus concern isn’t about the rightness of our theology. If we know Him, He wants to see us demonstrate love. I am not suggesting theology doesn’t matter, I have already stated some of mine, nor that we are to tolerate sin. Some decades ago, I had a colleague at work who was very open about her Christianity but also well known for her willingness to manipulate people and circumstances, to put it more plainly, she was known for lying. Not a good witness for Jesus. So, one day I sat down with her and shared my concern regarding her behaviour. This was demonstrating love. She did not change and did label me as a legalist but I did what I felt the Spirit calling to act upon.

Thus, my conclusion is that Jesus is actually building His church with tares among wheat and the measuring tool is our love for our fellow believers. If we know Him our calling is to walk in love toward our fellow believers and trust Jesus to sort everything out at the end of the age, the final harvest.

His Church Part 1

One of the many famous and controversial statements Jesus uttered is found in Matthew 16.

¹⁸ And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18 (NKJV)

I will briefly touch on the controversy as my focus in writing is elsewhere. The word Peter is the Greek petros and refers to a boulder or stone whereas rock is the Greek petra and refers to a large mass of rock. Interestingly Jesus was speaking prophetically about Peter’s identity. At the time he was anything but a rock. Peter was erratic in his behaviour and had to grow into his identity. Even after being a rock in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost, he later seriously wavered and had to be rebuked by Paul in Galatians to regain his rock status. Even though Roman Catholicism claims Peter as the fist pope and the rock the church is built upon, that is clearly not what Jesus meant and Peter would have been quite shocked had anyone suggested to him that he was the first pope as it was a foreign concept to him. The other way this passage is often interpreted by Protestants is that the rock refers to Peter’s revelation of Jesus as the Messiah. I don’t believe either are correct.

Now, coming back to the large mass of rock, many believe, as do I, that this event took place at the foot of Mount Hermon, the traditional place in Second Temple literature where the fallen elohim, the rebellious sons of God descended to earth and took on human form (Genesis 6:1-4). It was here right at the place of rebellion that Jesus said He would ‘build His church.’ This is a much better fit for what Jesus was talking about in terms of building His church on the rock, after all, it is reflective of Jesus redemptive nature. He stated He was bringing redemption and restoration right at the centre of rebellion.

Given that Jesus has been building His church for 2,000 years let’s look at how He is doing. We need to take a look at what Jesus’ church looks like. In the spirit of that I have a quote for you to reflect on. Sometime in the past year I came across this decades old quote and it has stayed with me, “In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centering on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece, where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome, where it became an institution. Next, it moved to Europe, where it became a culture. And, finally, it moved to America, where it became an enterprise.” (Richard Halverson, former Chaplain of the United States Senate).

If Halverson was accurate, and I believe the general thrust of his quote is, just look at how most megachurches look like enterprises, Jesus may not be all that successful at church building. In considering this idea, let’s look at something else Jesus said. I provide this long quote for context but I am focused on a single phrase we will look at.

²⁴ Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; ²⁵ but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. ²⁶ But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. ²⁷ So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ ²⁸ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ ²⁹ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ” Matthew 13:24–30 (NKJV)

When considering the mixture of wheat and tares in the field the owner of the field said, “An enemy has done this.” Jesus began building His church prior to Pentecost with His investment in the lives of His followers and it was fully launched on Pentecost in Acts 2 with the Spirit being poured out. Now, if we were all fully obedient to the Spirit there would be no issues in the church and we would see the full fruit of Jesus building program in a unified healthy church with no problems, hidden or obvious. Yet we see in Acts 6 issues with the neglect of some believers in the sharing of food. Later we have issues with Gentiles coming into the church and what rules they are required to follow, or not follow. In a similar manner, if you are familiar with Revelation the first three chapters are mostly Jesus correcting the church to get it back on track relative to what He is building.

This means, the issue isn’t about Jesus’ ability to build, He is and has been building something. The real issue is about our willingness or ability to follow! More to come.

The Old Paths

The Lord calls us to honour and appreciate the old paths, now granted the verse below was written about 2,600 years, which may lead us to wonder whether it is still relevant. We live in a culture where change and innovation are highly valued and we seem to constantly be in a state of flux. Which may cause us to wonder if we should bother with paying attention to Jeremiah.

¹⁶ Thus says the Lord: “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ Jeremiah 6:16 (NKJV)

Now, prior to going further, Paul had something to say about this.

¹¹ Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 1 Corinthians 10:11 (NKJV)

The context of 1 Corinthians 10 is Paul going over what happened to Israel in the Exodus and their time in the wilderness. He clearly stated that what happened to them was an example for the Corinthians. Now, the Corinthians were not going through anything like the Exodus. Yet Paul’s warning was about what happened to Israel due to their disobedience, idolatry and sexual immorality. Thus, Paul’s warning to the Corinthians was that God would judge them if they engaged in similar behaviour. Jeremiah’s was on the same track. He was warning the people that if they would return to following the Lord’s way, they would find rest for their souls. However, Jeremiah said later in the chapter (verse 19) that judgment was imminent because they had rejected Yahweh’s prophetic warnings about their behaviour and had rejected the Law.

Thus the ‘Old Paths’ are relevant to us and valuable for us as they are the way of obedience. There is an errant teaching in the church that God won’t judge us because He dealt with sin on the cross. This in spite of all the warnings in the New Testament about just that. The writer of Hebrews said.

³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:31 (NKJV)

The verse is written to believers and after the writer of Hebrews assured us of our sanctification he then then said if we willfully engage in sin after we should fear what will happen. Which takes us back to the ‘Old Paths.’ The old paths aren’t something mysterious or difficult to understand. They aren’t about spiritual gifts (which are important), titles or attention. Embracing the old paths is simply an exhortation to walk uprightly before, and intimately with, Yahweh. Let’s do that.