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“But Now You Say...”

I remember hearing as a kid, “The biggest word in the English language is but!” I may have gotten the gist of the little pun then, but it makes a lot more since now that I have the experienced life as an adult. One of the most significant buts in any conversation was contained in Jesus' closing statement in John while speaking to the self-willed. He said, “But now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains.” (John 9.41). That is the opposite of justification; it is self-condemnation.

“But now you say...” spelled condemnation for the Pharisees. Jesus used the exact converse of this formula six times during the Sermon on the Mount. It went something like this: “You have heard that it was said..., But I say to you...!” In addition He used the same sense another half dozen times in the same discourse. At the present, we are not looking at the substance of His statements, just their form. He pitted what they had heard with the truth that was introduced with the formula, “But I say to you...!”

The difference between spiritual blindness and spiritual sight is captured in these brief observations. Those who heed what Jesus says have their sins forgiven. Those who hear what men say exclude themselves from those that are justified. The difference can be noted in the “biggest word in the English language.” “You say, but I say...” can never be more momentous that when Jesus speaks those words. That but makes the difference between eternal bliss and eternal condemnation.

For those of us who profess to be teachers, this ought to heighten our awareness of the severe consequences of teaching things that are sourced from our own understanding of scripture and those things that are actually taught in the scriptures. The chasm between these two realities is simply too great to ignore or treat lightly. Yet, during my lifetime I have seen literally hundreds of commandments of men treated as though they were backed by a thus saith the Lord. I know that to be the case because I have seen that many diametrically opposing positions in which both sides purported to be speaking the truth! Reality forces me to acknowledge that, as a minimum, at least one side of every diametrically opposing doctrinal issue is wrong. And, in some cases it just may be that both sides are wrong!

These positions have ranged from what some might consider as significant doctrinal matters (such as the existence or non-existence of the Godhead) to such trivial matters as whether or not it is sinful for a woman to wear a pantsuit to worship (don't laugh; such things have actually divided families and congregations). It is here that I wish to draw a line of distinction lest it go unnoticed. Just a couple of lines above, I referred to significant doctrinal matters and trivial matters. I did so with purpose. I want to clearly make this point: The seriousness of the matter is not in the subject matter, rather the seriousness of the matter is driven home by the fact that when someone professes to speak for God, he/she is treading on Holy ground! There can be no other human action that demands more caution than that of professing to speak on behalf of God.

Let me illustrate the point. I do not seek here to prove or disprove a doctrinal point; I simply want to illustrate the point just made in the previous paragraph. Here is the illustration: God never explicitly commanded Christians to assemble each Sunday. Yet, I know hundreds or perhaps thousands of teachers who say that God expects just that! Here is the point of caution! If He didn't command it, how can we be so sure that it is sinful not to do so?

Questions:

1. What is the ultimate difference between what man says and what God says?

2. From what we learn in the Bible, can we just automatically trust our religious leaders to speak the truth when they say, Thus saith the Lord?” Why or why not?

3. God does teach in ways other than through commands, but is everything that is claimed to be taught in some other manner really backed by God's authority? Why or why not/

4. Here are the the hard questions: A) Can man be justified apart from God's word? And B) Can man be condemned for speaking error while professing to speak for God?

"Refreshment in Refuge" from Gina Burgess

Things that go bump in the night