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Bible Questions and Spiritual Discussion
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Heaven is Now
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Little taste of Andrew Farley's really cool book:
Observe All That I Commanded You?
Jesus told his disciples to teach people to observe all that I commanded
you (Matt. 28: 20 NASB). So aren't Jesus's harshest teachings for us
to obey?
There's no question that Jesus told his disciples to preach the gospel
and to teach others what he had commanded them to teach. But here's a
question: Do you believe the disciples obeyed Jesus? I certainly do. And
where can we find the result of their obedience? In the epistles they
wrote!
The epistles reflect what Jesus commanded them to teach. Yet nowhere
do Peter, James, or John ask us to sell our possessions to enter the
kingdom, as Jesus commanded in Matthew 19: 21. Nor do the apostles
tell us to sever body parts, if necessary, in our fight against sin,
as Jesus taught in Matthew 5: 29-30. Finally, they do not suggest that
if we fail to take extreme measures like these, we will be thrown into
hell, as Jesus taught in Matthew 5: 22 and 29-30.
These harsh teachings of Jesus are conspicuously absent from the apostles'
instruction to the New Testament church. They do not appear in any epistle
or in any sermons delivered by the apostles in Acts. Why not? We have
two possible answers. Either the apostles deliberately disobeyed Jesus
and filtered his teaching after he ascended, or - and this is more likely -
those harsh teachings are not what Jesus commanded the apostles to teach!
Jesus knew full well how much life would change under the new covenant
initiated by his blood. And the teaching that Jesus intended us to receive
through the apostles was the new covenant teaching of grace. That's
what we find in the epistles, which are the result of the apostles'
obedience to Jesus.
Trying to Be Great for God
In Matthew 5, Jesus says that whoever practices his harsh teachings will
be called great in the kingdom. What does that mean? Here's how Jesus
puts it:
Anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches
others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but
whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in
the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 5: 19)
At first glance, it seems as if Jesus expects us to keep his harsh
teachings to become great in heaven. And we might even think the same
after reading Paul's statement about law abiders:
For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight,
but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Rom.
2: 13)
This seems to suggest there are people who can truly practice these
commands, some who can be labeled doers of the law. As Romans continues,
however, we discover the exact number of people who have successfully
practiced the law and, by extension, the number of people who will be
called great in heaven:
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under
the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held
accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's
sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious
of sin. (Rom. 3: 19-20)
So how many human beings have successfully practiced the law? Zero. And
in the Gospels, Jesus is quoting the law and raising the standard. He's
making it even more difficult to follow the law. If no one could keep the
original law, how many will succeed under the more challenging version of
the law that Jesus introduced? The answer, again, is zero. Through the
law we encounter failure, not success.
Jesus puts an end to any hopes and dreams of being great in heaven:
"For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the
Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter
the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5: 20). According to Jesus's performance
demands, we have to do better than all of the Pharisees and scribes just
to enter heaven, much less be great when we get there. Upon hearing that
last bit, his listeners' hearts sank, I'm sure.
Jesus wasn't naïve when he presented them with this unattainable
standard. He knew full well they couldn't even approach the level of
righteousness he introduced. As Galatians 4: 4-5 reveals, Jesus was born
under the law, and the goal of his teaching was to redeem those under the
law. How would he redeem them? The first step was to make them realize
that any attempts of their own to "be perfect" were futile.
Heaven has announced a covenant to us that was inaugurated in Jesus's
blood. It was Jesus's death at Calvary (not his birth in Bethlehem!) that
initiated the New Testament era. This truth illuminates the purpose
behind the harsh teachings of Jesus. And it enables us to feel the pure
freedom of God's grace, here on this side of the cross.
Farley, Andrew (2012-04-01). Heaven Is Now: Awakening Your Five Spiritual
Senses to the Wonders of Grace (Kindle Locations 594-613). Baker Book
Group. Kindle Edition.
Way to go, ANDREW!!!!
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Ray 07/18/2012 14:18 |
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Ted C
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07/19/2012 00:09 |
I love it, Ray! That is excellent stuff. Right on.
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Catholica
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07/19/2012 14:06 |
Hmm, this is an interesting take, however I disagree with some of what he said. For example, Peter reminds us the command to "Be Holy in all things, as God is holy" (restated, 1 Pt. 1:15-16). The summary of the article seems to be that the apostles did not teach as strict teachings as Jesus did, so we must misunderstand Jesus, but here we have a counterpoint in 1 Pt. 1:15-16. I am certain that I could pick out many more moral "laws" that the apostles absolutely insist upon.
I know that Andrew is not here, but to me this teaching is too simplistic, and in my mind in a way subversive, because by stating that Jesus's teachings were "too harsh" basically subverts the things that Jesus taught.
Andrew states that:
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"These harsh teachings of Jesus are conspicuously absent from the apostles'
instruction to the New Testament church. They do not appear in any epistle
or in any sermons delivered by the apostles in Acts. Why not? We have
two possible answers. Either the apostles deliberately disobeyed Jesus
and filtered his teaching after he ascended, or - and this is more likely -
those harsh teachings are not what Jesus commanded the apostles to teach!"
----
One other conclusion that I can come to is that the apostles DID teach everything that Jesus taught, but however not everything the apostles learned was written in the epistles. I mean, basically what he is saying is that we can throw out the gospels or chalk them up as simply a story, but when the rubber hits the road its all contained in the Epistles. Perhaps what he is saying is not so extreme, but I severely doubt that if one reads the understanding of the early Church Fathers, that anyone would have rejected hard teachings of Jesus. Rather perhaps there exists a better understanding of what Jesus meant, but Jesus did not lie. So when he said "cut off your hands" we have to take that as it stands and better understand what it means. Self-mutilation is a sin against the commandment "thou shalt not kill". So it is not a stretch to see what Jesus was stating, and that was to emphasize the importance of completely cutting sin out of one's life.
I can see how, if one is left on his own to take the Bible either literally or symbolically or spiritually, depending on his own whim (seemingly) someone who might want to take the Bible more literalistically would have difficulty making sense out of cutting off one's members. But the solution is not to put aside the teachings of Jesus in favor of those of the apostles, but rather to look at both and make them come into unity with each other. I don't think that the author accomplishes this at all.
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Davidwayne Lackey
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07/19/2012 21:21 |
Hmmm, I think Andre has a good point here. The so called hard teachings as presented are done so literalistically. This is a lot different than taking the teachings literally. It is obvious that the teaching was literally done symbolically. Just because the Apostles didn't refer to these things in their epistles doesn't mean they didn't adhere to them. Who was their teacher, was it not Jesus? Does not the Disciple follow all the teachings of the ultimate teacher of all mankind? If Jesus was God incarnate would it not be sin to not follow His teachings or to change them? Would the Disciples teach us to sin by watering down the teaching of Jesus?
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Ray
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09/08/2012 12:41 |
http://www.sermoncentral.com/pastors-preaching-articles/andrew-farley-did-jesus-mean-to-make-his-teaching-impossible-1359.asp?forcecacheupdate=1&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=scnewsletter&utm_content=SC+Update+20120908
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