Kid, don't tell me "No"

When our older son was three and our younger son was less than a year old, we took a trip to visit family.  The trip was good, but one scene certainly stands out in my memory.  Our three year old was acting very much like a three year old that day…rambunctious, high-energy, and constantly repeating his latest favorite word, “No”. 

If you have parented through this stage, I’m sure you can agree that this is a difficult time.  Everything…and I mean everything…gets a “No” reply:

Can you come here please?  No.
Are you hungry?  No.
Do you want to play a game?  No.
Do you need to go to the bathroom?  No. (and you know that’s not true)
Stop hitting your brother.  No.
Go get your shoes, it’s time to go.  No.
Your mom called you, go see her.  No.
What’s your favorite color?  No.
(sitting by himself and talking)  No.  No.  No.  No.  No.

Developmentally, he was finding his voice and learning the proper/improper use of this powerful word.  Even if “No” didn’t fit the context, was untruthful (like when he actually was hungry, or he really did need to go to the bathroom), or was disrespectful, he was going to say it and find out what the consequences were. 

As a parent, this stage wears on your patience.  And by the end of this particular day, my patience was extra thin.  We were all tired, and the constant dripping of No-No-No-No-No had gotten on my last nerve.  After being told to do something and replying with a defiant “No.”, I looked him in the eyes and said “If you say ‘no’ one more time, you’re getting spanked.”  I turned around to walk into the next room, and before I took three steps, behind me I heard

“No.”

I took a deep breath and spun around.  He had just earned a spanking, and he was going to get one.  When our eyes met this time, his were huge, like a deer in the headlights, because he knew what was coming next by the look on my face.

And then my wife burst out laughing.

She was in the room the whole time, holding our younger son.  I stared at her, trying to figure out what was so funny in the middle of this intensely frustrating moment.  She was laughing so hard that she could barely talk – but finally she eeked out, “It wasn’t him…it was…the baby.”

Here’s the kicker.  Our youngest hadn’t said his first word yet.  Not “dada”, not “bye”, not “mama”…nothing but incoherent baby babbles up to this point.  His very first word was the word “No”, and it nearly got his older brother in trouble when he said it!

I was ready to act on the information I had, but what I heard was taken out of context.  Because my back was turned, I did not see who actually said “No”.  If I had gone through with what I understood to be true, I would have unjustly punished my older son for saying something that he didn’t say.

As funny as this family story turned out…unfortunately, many Christians are guilty of doing the same thing with Scripture.  We find a verse that sounds good, that makes us feel good, and we run with it.  We plaster it on coffee mugs, wall hangings, and social media.  However, if we zoom out and look at the context of the verse, we find that the part we like best is only half of the sentence, or just a part of the author’s thought in the particular section.  It is entirely possible to look at a verse in context and discover that the opposite of our single-verse interpretation is true!

Let me give you a couple examples.  A favorite verse of many people is found at the beginning of Paul’s letter to the believers in Philippi:

Philippians 1:6
I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

This verse is typically understood to mean that God will always grow you through whatever challenges and circumstances you face.  That God is going to be working on us and with us throughout our lives.  While that feels nice (and God really does do these things), if we read the full context of the introduction of Paul’s letter (Philippians 1:3-11), we find that the good work isn’t an individual’s path to maturity.  Instead, the Philippian church chose to partner with Paul and financially support his ministry.  Philippians is actually a “thank you” letter, and in 1:6 Paul is telling them that their contributions and partnership will have impact until Jesus returns.  Interpreting in context instead provides a bigger application for us modern believers – we can see how a small gift from a congregation is still ministering to believers 1000s of years later, because we get to read this letter.  The Philippian believers wouldn’t have expected to have this kind of impact, but this example does give us confidence that God can do great things with our contributions and support of ministries today.

A second example is a quote from the Old Testament that often floats around social media when national circumstances feel difficult:

2 Chronicles 7:14
and My people, who bear My name, humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

If taught on a Sunday morning, I’m certain your pastor will encourage you to pray for your national leaders, to pray against the evil actions we see in society, and that by doing so, we can be hopeful that God will bless the USA.

And while we should be humble before God, we should pray and seek Him, and we should turn from evil, the promise to heal their land isn’t one that a modern church-age believer can claim.  The fuller context of 2 Chronicles 7:12-22 shows that God is talking to Solomon about a specific location (the temple in Israel).  God goes into great detail about how He will punish the nation of Israel if they abandon Him and what their responses to His punishment could bring.

If we still insist that this verse applies to modern believers, then we need to honestly struggle with a few more questions – namely how this applies to believers in other countries, especially ones like China, Iran, or any place that is violently hostile toward Christians.  Are they not praying hard enough?  Is that why God has yet to heal their land?

God responds in significant ways when we are humble, when we pray and seek Him, and when we turn from evil…but we can’t assume national revival in the USA based upon this verse.

Ultimately, we need to remember that the Bible was written for us, but not to us.  God’s promises were often for specific people at specific times.  We will find promises made to the church, but not every promise contained in Scripture is ours to claim.  Even still, there is plenty to learn about God when we come to a promise that was made to someone else, as they provide evidence that He is faithful to His word and that He cares for those who follow Him.

You may be wondering, What’s the big deal?  If I take a verse “out of context” but it’s still a good application, why should it matter?

Here’s the ultimate reason why we don’t want to take Scripture out of context – to mis-quote God, if you will – a verse out of context can easily lead to an application that is completely wrong and not what God intends for His children.  Just like when I almost unjustly punished my older son, I thought I had all the information needed to take action, but it turns out I didn’t.  My wife provided the additional context so I did not do something that would have harmed my relationship with my son.

We need to be willing to take God at His word.  All of it, in context.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Paper towels and mixed messages

There’s plenty of guilt to go around these days, even when it comes to what I should be using to wipe off my kitchen counters.  Within the last week, I’ve watched a TV advertisement that claimed in order to protect my family from germs, viruses, and food-born illnesses, I need to buy their paper towels.  The convenient single-use paper towel, they claimed, was superior to cleaning with a dishrag that was previously used and now sitting in my sink.  The commercial went on to warn me how a multi-use dishrag was a festering breeding ground for all sorts of nasty bugs, and it also contained bits of food and grease from whatever it was I cleaned up last time I wiped down the counters.  You wouldn’t wipe off the door of your microwave with a slice of pizza would you?  Then, obviously, any responsible adult who desires to protect their family would buy these paper towels.

And then today, when I was flipping through an online list of “Top money wasting purchases when cleaning your home”, what did I come across?  But, of course: paper towels.  This story said a roll of paper towels was too easy for a family to use up quickly and inefficiently.  They did the math, and if you used 2 rolls a week at $1/roll, then that’s over $100 for the year!  And, of course, you should feel guilty for the strain you’re putting on the environment.  Paper towels are tough to recycle, so you’re just filling up your community’s landfill by using them.  Instead, they suggested, I should buy some cheap, reusable microfiber towels.

So, no matter my choice, I am either a poor excuse for a family man or someone who hates the environment.  Talk about getting mixed messages!  You could tie yourself up in knots trying to figure out what is “the best” way to wipe down your kitchen.

We’ve been looking for a new church home, and we recently attended a church on a friend’s recommendation.  To be honest, after over a year of online services from various churches, it was refreshing to be a part of a group worshipping God.  The pastor was an engaging speaker who quoted a lot of Scripture.  His current series centered around the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 4:22-23).  He was spending one week discussing each fruit listed by Paul.  The week we attended, the topic was faithfulness.

While most of his talk was spot-on, there was one part when my ears perked up.  He made a statement to the effect that “We Christians have erroneously combined the ideas of faith and belief.  When in fact, they are two different things.”  And I thought, “Right on. They are different. I’m interested in what he has to say next.”  He then continued to say that believing something isn’t enough, that God expects us to put action to our beliefs and that’s called faith, and that’s what a Christian does.  After repeating a few more times that believing wasn’t enough, he cited a commonly misquoted passage:

James 2:17-19
In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.

But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.  Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works.  You believe that God is one.  Good!  Even the demons believe – and they shudder.”

“See?” the pastor said, “The demons believe and that’s not enough.  We have to have faithfulness and put action to our faith.”

I winced.  It’s a common misquote, but it’s still a misquote.  To find out what James meant by faith without works is dead, click here to read last week’s post.  The pastor finished his preaching and then another lady came on stage to wrap up and dismiss everyone.  What really worried me was something she said next.  She invited anyone who wasn’t a Christian to join God’s family, and all you had to do was “believe and follow Jesus”. 

If I was a non-Christian or someone who was not used to church-lingo, I would have been very confused.  The pastor just said multiple times that “belief” wasn’t enough, that I also needed some kind of actionable faith.  But then she said all I had to do was “believe and follow”, without giving any explanation as to what that meant, especially in relation to what the pastor said.  Talk about mixed messages!

Our word choices matter, and we have to take into consideration the audience we are speaking to.  I spoke with the lady afterwards and although I knew what they were trying to say, I warned her that between the two of them, there was the potential for a lot of confusion.  We talked through everything and came to a basic understanding.  There would have been a lot less confusion if either of them had clearly stated that the preacher’s message was directed towards those who already believed in Jesus for eternal life, and her invitation was for those who have not yet been convinced of Jesus’ offer.  Here’s a rundown of what else we discussed:

·       What the demons “believe” in James 2 isn’t belief in Jesus for eternal life.  Eternal life isn’t offered to fallen angels, so in context, what the demon “believes” is that there is only one God.
·       Believing in Jesus for eternal life is how a person is “saved” and joins God’s family.  There are no other conditions.  (John 11:25-27; Acts 16:31; Eph 2:8-9; 1 Tim 1:16)
·       All believers are called by God to act out our faith. See the James 2 passage the preacher quoted.
·       Choosing to “follow Jesus” is often our first action based on our new faith in Jesus, but it is not a requirement for salvation.

One last thing to note – a clarification, if you will.  In preparing for this post, I have changed my mind on the idea that belief and faith are two different things.  In Greek, they are different versions of the same word, with the only difference between them is that belief is a verb (pisteuo) and faith is a noun (pistis).  As such, if you say that either you believe in Jesus for eternal life or you have faith in Jesus for eternal life, you are saying the same thing.

I hope that clears things up.  I wouldn’t want to give you any mixed messages.

Keep Pressing,
Ken