Beware The One Man.

“Beware The One Man.”
--from May 12th  --

Day 1

Read Acts 8:9-24

This story fits all of the parts that I want it to fit.  I come at it expecting to get answers for the problems that I see on tv or in culture that smell a lot like this situation.  If I look at this enough I can learn how to approach these people and what category to put them in.  Then, when it concludes and Simon is not put in a great light, and on top of that he never seems to repent, but the story doesn’t really conclude.  It just stops.  That makes the formula that I came seeking here hard to apply.  Why in the world would the writer not just end with a statement like, “And this SImon guy was a two-faced jerk that God clearly was against and he didn’t make it into Heaven.”?   

In the middle of the search for the formula that doesn’t exist here, beware missing the point.  God clearly uses good and bad.  He doesn’t condone or even make room for bad just because he can use it, but he can still work.  The reality of this story is, whether or not Simon was truly saved or not, or a true teacher or not, or someone that finally did truly repent or not, the story that we do have of who Simon was is a dangerous man that needed to be rebuked and needed to repent.  That is what the Apostles called for.  After that, we don’t get much more information.  But the line is clear, pride, money, works of the Spirit and the desire to draw crowds are frowned upon, sinful, and need to be called out and repented from.

What is it that you learn that is helpful from this story?

How have you seen this type of bad example played out around you?


How does this become part of your prayer today?

Day 2

Read Matthew 12:24-32
The next few days we will work through the passages that are used by those that use the terms “loosing and binding” in relation to spiritual warfare.  The idea is that they have been given the power to bind and loose things that were once beyond their power by making a declaration in Jesus name.  The problem that their argument comes up against is the very small amount of verses that they can use to make their point, this passage certainly being the least of them.  This is the only passage that “bind” shows up by itself and it is important to note that “loose” is not even present here.  However, this is the ONLY place that spiritual warfare and the demonic is linked to this idea.  
Notice what this story is about though.  It is about Jesus defending the idea that Satan is not the one that helps Him cast out the demons.  His argument is actually that Satan is the one bound up and that is why Jesus has come into their space and ransacked the house.  If there was any power Satan had, then he wouldn’t allow it, but he has none. It is not that he needs bound up, but that he is bound up.  Jesus has all the authority and Satan has none.  So do we need to bind up the demons in spiritual warfare?  Nope!  It’s already done.  
How does this help you in understanding what is going on in this passage?

These verses are more about the danger of declaring the work of God as the work of Satan.  Why is this a thing to consider and where have you seen this done?

Why do you think Jesus teaches about how a tree is known by its fruit right after this?

 How does this inform your prayers for today?

Day 3

Read Matthew 16:13-20

Now we get to a passage that actually has the two terms we are trying to figure out in them: “bind and loose.”  Interestingly enough, we are lacking any reference to spiritual warfare in this context.  We hear it because we have been taught in the past that this passage is about that.  But notice what we are really talking about here.  Peter makes a confession and Jesus uses that moment to talk about the authority (not papal authority like the Catholic teaching) that will be used to build the church.  This passage is not about authority over demonic things, but authority in the church.  The binding and loosing terms that are used are terms that are legal terms.  This authority is played out in the following passages in Acts 15, as an example, when the apostles meet together to discuss what is to be done with the new believers.  Should they be made to be circumcised and what rules should they have to follow as the new church?  Peter and the apostles hand down that they are to abstain from food offered to idols and a few other things.  That is the authority given here that is played out before them all.  

Another point to be made is that the way we read this in English, “what you bind on earth will also be bound in Heaven…” is not the way it is written.  The tense is actually better stated “what you bind on earth will have already have been bound in Heaven.”  The idea being that in the authority you are walking out on earth will mirror the authority already there in Heaven.  This gives the Apostles the authority to figure out all of the things that were going to be changing in the new church as followers of Jesus.  

How is this different than the idea of binding and loosing in the modern context and how some churches and teachers use it?

How does the idea of “the keys of the kingdom of Heaven” reinforce this understanding?

Why do you think the modern way of understanding the bind and loose concept is dangerous and goes too far?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Day 4

Read Matthew 18:15-20

Here is the only other story where the binding and loosing ideas stand together.  Once again, you see nothing in regards to spiritual warfare in this passage.  With our new understanding that these terms are actually talking more about authority than spiritual warfare, this passage may make better sense to you now. 

The problem is being discussed as to what you should do if you have been sinned against by someone.  I recently watched a public unfolding of the misuse for these verses and I feel they are misused more than they are used correctly.  Step one, go to the person and talk about it.  That is the best case scenario, if you have been offended, talk it out.  Being that there are two people involved at the least, you run into the issue of not being on the same page and that may not work.  The good news is that step 2 involves accountability and you should next try to take a couple of people with you to address this.  In some rare cases, this won’t work either.  The next step is to go before the church and if even that doesn’t work, you can count them as an unbeliever. How is that possible?  Isn’t that unloving and isn’t that a bit more than a church should be able to do?  Jesus teaches love and all that, right?!  That’s the point!  The church can mirror what is happening in Heaven, and the unrepentant is treated like an unbeliever.  So the church has the authority, after following these guidelines and under the direction of God’s people, to do what seems like not what Jesus taught in the passages about love that were not rooted in conflict.  

Does this help you understand this passage better?

Have you ever had to walk through the Matthew 18 process?

How could this process not work and what could go wrong?

How is what Jesus teaching here different than a formula, like we usually want to grab from this passage?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Day 5

Read 1 Corinthians 14:26-40

It seems that a teaching of the current idea of the Spirit of the Lord is that of chaos and disorder.  This really seems like it is not in line with the teachings of 1 Coritnhians 11-14.  I have witnessed what was called speaking in tongues that seems to absolutely not be in line with this understanding presented here.  The look is that the person loses control and is taken over by something that is uncontrollable and even unable to be known by the “regular” people.  In other places you will see the work of the Spirit presented as someone that is slain, becoming like a dead person or sleeping person, when a leader touches them.  This is also not expressed in the Bible in any way.  So what do with all of this and how to address it?

Paul gives the picture of order for the local church service.  He gives the perspective that humility goes even with the work of the Holy Spirit, so the public and on stage ideas of how this is presented should be considered.  Before anything else, is love in the work of God.  There are not hierarchies of Spiritual manifestations that start from the stage and are passed down making some greater than others.  Decent and order are the understandings that should accompany the work of God, especially in the public church service.

Have you ever witnessed a time that the work of the Spirit seemed to be presented in a way contrary to what is talked about here?

Why do you think Paul calls for order and decency in services?

What about people that have had genuine experiences of things not like these verses line out?  Is it right to say their experience was not true or is there another way to approach this?

How can this be part of your prayer today?


No Comments


Devotions

Archive

Categories

Tags

no tags