Howdy,
Whenever I get spiritually wonky and in a sort of soulful funk there are a few writers I turn to that usual give me the needed spiritual kick in the pants. One of the ones I go to most often is an old Puritan by the name of John Flavel. He was for the majority of his professional life a well known Presbyterian preacher in the town of Dartmouth on the south coast of England near Cornwall. His ministry was mainly among the poor fishing class of the city. This makes his work “reachable” to the common man in a way his high-class fellow Puritans sometimes talk over. That is part of the reason why I like him. I’m a good ole boy from the mountains who gets bored by men who feel the need to impress themselves to the reader. While there is a place for academic writing, and even preaching in certain contexts most of us don’t breathe that kind of air. Tell me why it matters, get to it, and explain it in a way that not only makes sense, but gives me a reason to put it into practice in real life. Flavel does that better than just about any of his contemporaries, excepting maybe the two Thomas’s: Brooks and Watson.
There are a number of his works that I could recommend to you, especially Mystery of Providence and The Fountain of Life. In the later he gets his text from 1 Corinthians 2:2 which says, “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”. For today’s worship and prayer help we are going to look at that portion of Holy Scripture a little more closely.
Sometimes when you have a dramatic conversion experience like Paul it can give you a very narrow focus on what you are going to do for the rest of your life. While not everyone has the Lord Jesus Christ appear to them on the road while they are on the way to commit murder there is something we share with the Apostle to the Gentiles. It’s the fact that we all have this same purpose post-coming to know Christ as Savior, whether that is at 1 year-old or at 99. Our goal is that in every human interaction we have that our Lord would be front and center in it. That of course does not mean that as you check out at Family Dollar that you need to tell the cashier about Jesus, I mean you can if you want and it would be a good thing to do, but what we are talking about is far broader than that. Being a Christian implies that you take that faith wherever you go, because you are united to Christ by faith. In a different context this is something that Paul gets into when he warns the Corinthians about consorting with prostitutes. If you are going to engage in that kind of wicked behavior, just remember that you are bringing Jesus into it with you. That should in every way give pause unto us as we revolt from the image. Yet the same thing could be said for any other sinful activity we want to put in its place, and even more far afield that also includes every non-sin born thing we got going on at the moment. The reason why you don’t cuss out the checkout lady at Walmart is because you are a new creature in Him. While the now old youth group thing “What Would Jesus Do?” has passed its expiration date the truth of it still should remind us of the basic truth we are talking about here.
To put it in the words of 1 Corinthians 2:2 again are we determining in every area of life to know nothing other than Christ and Him Crucified? Now, that sounds like a giant burden, and it can be if you make the gospel into a self-righteous affair. We do that when we use that Jesus stuff to make ourselves the center of attention, rather than making it our second nature. Holiness works best when we don’t think about it. When we see someone we know acting the fool how often do we say something like “Well, that’s just how he is” as if that somehow excuses their behavior. I bet the most righteous people you know are folks who, on a positive note, “are just like that”. They ain’t just walking around with giant crosses on their chest or bearing the Bible in their hands like a street preacher. Their Christian faith is so inborn in their character that it can’t help but come out no matter the situation.
That’s what it means for us to know nothing among ourselves but Christ and Him crucified in our day-to-day interactions. It’s because our faith is grounded on our unworthiness for the gift of grace that humility pours out of our veins and it makes the hope we have in our Redeemer attractive to others. There is no worse advertisement for the Christian faith than someone who is loudly pro-Jesus, but acts like He don’t matter when it comes to treating people just existing on earth, let alone those poking them in the chest. But let’s get to the brass tacks. Where do I go, and how do I go about just being a person that no one has to guess their profession of faith?
Well, as with most things in the Scriptures it ain’t complicated. The daily, intentional feeding on Christ in His word, by prayer, and through the encouragement of the Church via her saints is the way that happens. It’s also not something that just appears overnight. Just like you are not going to lose that pesky twenty pounds by just thinking about exercise, you are not going to know nothing other than Christ and Him crucified by only listening to other people talk about it. It’s something you need to work on. Yet even in the midst of this it is not something we do on our own, or ever by ourselves. Thankfully Jesus has sent a Helper in the Holy Spirit to furrow our hearts and sow the seeds of sanctification, to water it, and to ensure its growth by grace. We just need to be interested in doing it, which is also a gift of mercy. Just gifts all the way around.
Y’all be blessed,
Here is today’s link:
https://banneroftruth.org/us/resources/articles/2007/the-living-hope/
By His Strength,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church