Amen.
2 Timothy 3:14-17: "14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." (NKJV, emphasis added)
Hi,
Amen and again I say amen! The more I study the Scriptures, as I am sure Paul and Timothy both did with great diligence and care, the more I am confirmed in my spirit by the indwelling Spirit that that singular piece of passage is our confirmation that
all we need to know of the way of righteousness and salvation has been given us through the words found in the Scriptures.
When we attempt to go beyond that; to give some further explanation or make those writings into some mystical or ethereal explanation to us; or even have ourselves some sort of 'aha' moment that gives us some renewed understanding, but any of these are not confirmed by the whole of the Scriptures, then I believe we fall into grave error.
We become, as I have repeatedly claimed, just as the Jews in their zeal to understand the 'deeper, hidden' meanings in the Scriptures. And I hope that everyone understands that such deception is common to man.
Consider that God spoke to Moses on the mountain. None of us today have had the physical presence of God with us, as what the descendents of Abraham had as they left Egypt to toil towards the land of promise. None of us have heard the voice of God that sounds like the rumblings of thunder rolling down off the side of that mountain. Not a one of us have stood beside a great sea trapped by a pursuing army intent to kill and take captive, that just parted that we could walk through on dry ground, escaping what was surely going to end in death and captivity by the miraculous hand and presence of God. None of us have seen the face of a prophet who has been in the very presence of God shining with some unimaginable glow like we might see on some christian Christmas card.
God has dealt with no other people with the proximity and closeness and provision that He dealt with Israel. We have not a single one of us actually witnessed a great pillar of cloud and burning pillar of fire to go before us like some whirlwind tornado. And in their zeal; in what they truly in their hearts believed was the 'right' way to honor that God who had walked before them, they diligently searched the Scriptures. They came up with all sorts of ideas and plans and rituals and practices that they truly, truly believed with all of their heart and all that was in them that these new understandings were honoring that God.
Yet, some 1500 years later, God sent His Son. He prepared our redeemer to come to us. His purpose was to be the culmination and fulfillment of all that the Scriptures told of the servant who would save His people from their sin. And that redeemer; that Son of the living God; that one who would pay the ultimate and awful price for our sin, spoke to the leaders of the Jews; those who had instituted so many practices and rituals that they had taught the people of God for centuries was the true and right way to worship God, and told them that they were like white-washed tombs and blind guides. That their rules and rituals were nothing more than burdens that had been placed upon men by men. He condemned them that they would chase after a soul over desert and waste land to make them a child of God, but that once within their grasp they actually would turn that person in to a devil! He did not ever speak kindly of the leadership of the Jews.
This example gives me pause, and I can't help feeling and understanding in my spirit that these practices and understandings and ideas and rituals that are held as the 'right' way to honor and worship God, that are based not on Scripture, but rather on newer writings of men for whom their is no testimony of in Scripture of them necessarily understanding or knowing the truth of God themselves, is exactly what happened in Israel.
Men began to tinker and think and ponder to themselves, "Well, what does this mean and what about this?" They began to come up with ways that their services and worship would use signs and symbols and acts of contrition and asceticism to 'prove' that this is the way to rightly worship God. Then they taught these things to the people. Declaring to them, "Oh, you must do this in this way and that in that way, to truly worship God. In your services you must wave a container of burning incense for this represents the Spirit among you. You must walk in a staid and proper manner with all these cute little costumes on, for this shows to the people that you are a man of God and represent them before your God."
And I say, "No!!!" This is not what your God has asked of you! These are nothing more than burdens placed on men by other men in some effort to show great piety and contrition. These are exactly the same types of things that my Lord rebuked Israel for. That they had taken the practices and rituals of men and made them to be what they taught the people was the truth of God.
According to this very piece of Scripture penned by Paul, the Scriptures contain everything we need to know as the way of righteousness. So, if there is something within our worship; something within our lives, that we cannot turn to the Scriptures and find, "Yes, this is what God asks of me!" Then my instruction is to set it aside. Do not conform to those practices and rituals of men, but conform yourself to the teachings of your God and Creator. In everything that you do, both in worship and your daily living, the born again believer should be asking himself, is this what God asks of me?
Ortho, I would ask of you one thing. The next time you are in worship and you see that canister of incense I would desire that you ask yourself: Would the Holy Spirit be here if that canister wasn't? If the answer is yes, then what is the canister but some manmade symbol of representation? If the answer is no, then I would ask you to ask yourself why it takes a canister of incense to bring forth the Spirit and not the hearts of the people standing all around you? There is only one 'symbol' that God asks us to honor and have within our fellowship and worship, and that is the symbol of the body and blood of our Lord when we join together to partake of communion.
Now, do not confuse old covenant worship from new covenant worship. In the old covenant worship there was a lot of symbolism and it was all established to point us to God's way of salvation that had not yet been fulfilled. But, in the new covenant, everything is complete. There is no need or desire of symbolism because we have seen with our eyes and heard with our ears God's salvation.
I'm confident that when Paul or Peter gathered a group of believers together in some town or city that they then went about burning incense in the room as they preached and taught and learned together. I just can't see Paul or Peter getting ready to begin teaching and preaching the pure gospel and asking, "Are my fine clothes ready that show that I am of God? It's time for me to go stand before the people."
God bless you all,
In Christ, Ted
