Read John 16:25-28
Who hates their father? Who hates their mother? What about your wife?
Who hates their own life? In 2018 that may require mandatory reporting.
If you don’t, then you cannot be a disciple of Jesus Christ. That’s what the Bible says anyway. I’m not making this up.
If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.
That’s some tough counsel. Some translations make it a spectrum of love and hate and say that you can’t love anyone more than Jesus, but most leave the translation with the word hate.
Let’s change gears…
OK guys--men, I’m thinking that either you are not being honest with yourself or there should be way more eyepatches among you. What? Why?
If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
I am thinking that I have never met a group that has not experienced lust. That’s the context of this verse. Why have we not plucked out our eyes?
Are we not good disciples?
Not everything that seems out there as far as literal application actually applies to all. At least I hope this one doesn’t. Jesus was talking to the Pharisees here.
You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
I have been on several cruises and seen some people put away some food on the buffet. It’s like, “Man, that guy or gal, gluttony does not discriminate, got his money’s worth by day 2 of the cruise. That guy is coming out ahead just on food.”
But swallowing a camel—really?
Why these extreme examples? Because Jesus sometimes used extreme exaggeration to make his point. Today we would call it hyperbole.
But how do we know that Jesus used figurative language?
Because he said that he did. Not too long before Jesus would go to the cross to atone for our sins, he told his disciples that he had been speaking in figures of speech but now would talk to them directly.
They were excited about that. Some of the metaphors and parables and hyperbole that Jesus used were pretty hard to understand, especially for a bunch of fishermen.
Why is this important? Why do we need to know that Jesus used figurative language?
Most of us don’t’ want to have to hate our spouse or cut off our hands if we take the last slice of pizza and there’s somebody at the table that is hungry.
Mostly, we need to understand that Jesus used language to go beyond simplistic rules and regulations. His parables and metaphors and other figures of speech cause us to think at a conceptual level. They enable us to take his example and explanation and make application in the various circumstances of our lives.
Following Jesus is not just a checklist. Do this. Don’t do that or that. Remember this. There is nothing wrong with checklists, but they are narrow and limited in application when the governing force in your life is love. Love liberates you from checklists only if you understand God’s words.
For example, in chapter 5 of Matthew, Jesus counsels:
Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
This only applies to making an offering, right?
What if you were about to teach a Sunday school class? Should we not reconcile first?
What if it is time for the Lord’s Supper and we examine ourselves and realize that we have been harboring a grudge or need to seek our forgiveness from a fellow believer?
What if in anything that I do—we are a living sacrifice if you will recall—I realize that I need to be reconciled with someone before I can do God’s work anywhere else?
Why do I make these points about language and figurative language and concepts and application?
This country and perhaps the world is in the process of being dumbed down. We don’t want to have to think things through. We don’t want to verify facts. We just want to get a snapshot of information and make our decision or agree with the default decision.
I am going to tell you that I am guilty of this every time I upgrade my software on my computer or my phone or my lawnmower or anything else that thinks it’s smarter than me. I just click “agree to terms” and move on. That’s life in the modern world.
But we can’t do this with our most essential instructions. They must be based in the Bible and we must read the Bible and study the Bible and be literate enough to make reasonable interpretations of the Bible.
Some might be thinking, “Isn’t that what we hired you to do?”
We need to have a hunger for the word of God—the Bible. And we need to be equipped to understand it.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. NKJV
Try it in the New Living Translation:
Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.
We need to have an intimate relationship with our Bibles. We need to run counter to the culture when it comes to reading and language skills.
Do we believe the verse that the word of God is living and active? Then our Bible studies are not some religious drill that the preacher is required to endorse by the terms of his contract.
Read.
Read in context.
Read seeking the meaning of words that are 2000 or 3000 or 3500 years old. Some have been around longer passed down in the oral traditions.
Understand your own language and its nuances. Translators have done their best to preserve the original intended meaning of the God-inspired words from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek with great fidelity into our modern language.
Our language can be a tool or an obstacle. Our job is to be fluent in our own language.
Every book in the Bible, except the letters, was likely passed down in the oral tradition. How did it retain its fidelity?
That is, how was the 100,000th telling the same as the first 100 telling’s?
Everybody knew the story. If the teller slipped up, a dozen people would correct him. Consider the story of David and Goliath. So, David as he was getting ready to take on Goliath selected 7 jagged stones.
NO! He picked out 5 smooth stones.
Long ago people were vigilant in knowing God’s word. We need to know our language and know the Bible to be fluent in God’s word.
Why is this important?
The world is trying to dumb down everybody.
We are called to be fully equipped for every good work.
So, we must be fluent in our own language and know the Bible.
Amen.
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