Smooth Talkers - 1

Now, it is my desire, brothers, that you will take note of those who are causing division and trouble among you, quite against the teaching which was given to you: and keep away from them. For such people are not servants of the Lord Christ, but of their stomachs; and by their smooth and well-said words the hearts of those who have no knowledge of evil are tricked. (Romans 16:17-18 BBE)

As usual I find these words taking on a new dimension when I look at the definitions of the various words from which they were translated. But I also sense that beyond just being very interesting that there is a great deal for me to apply to my own life in this passage. I cannot exempt myself from being a person who at times may cause dissension or create causes for stumbling within the body of Christ.

One thing that comes to my mind as I ponder this description of certain people within the body is that their influence is just the opposite as what would be seen from a person who's heart is full of the Spirit of Jesus. It is the undoing of the natural results of God's Spirit at work among His people as described about the early Christian church right after Pentecost.

Paul is saying here that the right way to relate to these kind of people is not to expose their faults or accuse them publicly but to avoid close association with them. I believe that one of the most important reasons for this is that we naturally tend to synchronize our spirit with the spirit of the people we are close to and we become more and more like each other. When we continue to have close association with people who are divisive and fault-finding in their spirit we will eventually become leavened by that spirit ourselves and will began to spread the infection of bitterness. I know about this all to well from first hand experience.

I also notice here that Paul first addresses how we are to relate to these kinds of people before he describes the make-up of their characters. The instructions given as to how we are to relate to them are decidedly different than what we might feel like doing if we were to first hear about their inner condition. After hearing the descriptions that Paul uses to describe them we might be inclined to condemn them, to expose them, to try to shame them into either being converted or leaving our company. But this is not what the Bible is telling us to do. It simply says we are to keep away from them.

But Paul goes on to describe the real condition of these people. This is because their true condition is not obvious to those around them. In fact, the image they project of themselves through their smooth talking and very convincing logic and reasoning is quite the opposite. So Paul has to lift the veil and show us what is going on at their heart level, to allow us to see things as God sees them.

This is not to say that these people are worth less than we are or are hopeless and destined to be lost because God arbitrarily determined it ahead of time. Their condition is a result of their choices in their own lives and their choices have set habits in place that have produced the character from which they operate. It is a character mostly hidden from view by the public because they have developed the fine art of image-management to help them have influence and power over others. But what is on the inside is a very different picture than what is seen on the outside.

What motivates these people who cause divisions between the hearts of others is really an attitude of inner slavery – a slavery of the flesh-controlled heart. These are sometimes people who live for emotions, who allow good feelings to take precedence over truth. They may either be people who are only living from their head, seeking to serve God from only an intellectual perspective, or they may be people who are truly living from their heart but from an unconverted heart. But they are not uneducated in the ways of religion or they would not be able to promote a seductive form of religion that would be so difficult to resist by others who do not realize the subtle, deceptive nature of their words.

They may appear to be true believers, maybe with very high “standards” or they may promote worship that appeals to the emotions that is tremendously exciting. But it will be very difficult to unmask the deceptions embedded in their religious teachings and activities simply by proving them wrong with counter arguments or logic. This is what they are best at doing themselves and no amount of arguing or accusing will undo the dissension caused by their presence. In fact, our natural reaction in attempts to stop their influence will likely result in causing further divisions among the hearts of believers which is precisely the tactic of the enemy.

They hide their divisiveness behind very attractive scenarios, philosophies, logic maybe even enhanced by slick media presentations. This is extremely attractive to hungry hearts that are hurting and looking for comfort and healing but are unaware of the danger and the deceptive nature of powerfully appealing stage productions. These deceptions may even be promoted through elaborate programs promoted in the churches and hailed as wonderful new insights and tools for building up the church. But there is a wrong spirit involved underneath the surface and Paul wants us to be aware of the hidden dangers that such a spirit will produce in our lives.

This situation may be very similar to the story of the wheat and the tares that Jesus told His disciples as described in Matthew 13. The servants in the story wanted to rush in and remove the weeds growing alongside the wheat to “purify the church”, to use our language. But the wise farmer in the story commanded the servants to leave them alone and let them grow together until the harvest when the external results of their belief systems would become more obvious. And even after all that the servants were not the ones entrusted with the job of separating the two groups but the angels were commissioned with that responsibility.

So too here, Paul is not telling us to point out the faults of these people who are so dangerous to the body of Christ while living alongside them under cover. Paul does not instruct us to engage in arguments or debate with them which would only reinforce their claims of authenticity and credibility and spread confusion into the hearts of more people. He simply gives us two simple instructions as to how we are to relate to them.

We are to keep an eye on them and we are to turn away from them.

And to know who the “them” refers to he first gives us a description of the symptoms of their activities. Their presence tends to produce dissension and their words create causes for stumbling in the lives of others. The effects of their lives and influence differs from the original truths that the early believers were taught.

The problem I often see today is knowing what are authentic, original truths of the gospel verses what are traditions and doctrines and ideas passed on originally to us from our ancestors and our church leaders and our culture. Because we are not really as familiar with the glorious truth of the original gospel that the early apostles taught as we believe we are, it is very easy to assume that the version of religion we grew up with is the one we are supposed to cling to based on this statement by Paul. But the teaching which we have learned is not necessarily the one taught by Jesus and His disciple's after Pentecost, though it may use the same words of Scripture to support it.

What I have been coming to realize over the past few years is that trusting in the religion of my upbringing can be a fatal mistake if I am not willing to reexamine every detail of that religion repeatedly with an open mind and a willingness to admit that it may have serious flaws. It is very frightening and disconcerting to be honest enough to challenge the religion of your past and a religion that is still strongly reinforced by many of those around you. But it is never safe to assume that just because our religion has a long history of adherents or widespread support that it is the same gospel that was embraced by the first Christian church. The message in the old gospel song, “Give Me That Old Time Religion” is not the standard we need to be using to identify the true gospel of God.

(next in series)

From Heaven's Perspective

As I get close to finishing my study of Romans and come into the home stretch in chapter 16, I notice something encouraging about the way Paul writes and thinks about the people he is addressing. It is the labels that he chooses to use as he sends his greetings to quite a number of people he hopes to meet soon. This links into my own issues with how I view other people in the church and the choices I make about how to talk about them.

Do I allow myself to describe people based on their problems and hang-ups? Do I label people according to the flesh and the ill feelings that may be produced in me through their interactions with me? Do I sort people out based on whether they make me feel good or discourage me? Or can I, like Paul, choose to perceive the true identity of others based on the viewpoint of heaven and speak words of inspiration and hope into lives that have been beaten down with negative labels for so many years?

One thing I have noticed is that a person generally has a difficult time viewing others through the eyes of heaven if they cannot accept heaven's perspective about themselves. It is only as I embrace the truth about my real identity in Christ that I can begin to see others in the light of heaven and start to pray for them effectively and guard my words and thoughts about them to be encouraging in nature. I know that it is all too easy for me to be tempted to try to convict other people by pointing out their faults and shortcomings and label them in various ways that tends to lock them into negative ruts. But that only accomplishes the devil's objectives of keeping them discouraged and feeling helpless and does nothing to advance the work of God in their lives. I have plenty of personal examples of this kind of labeling all around me and the baleful effects that it can produce. But I want to become a source of hope and a channel of life for those who have been suppressed and confused far too long already.

Let me highlight some of the labels that Paul uses in chapter 16 for the people he is writing to or refers to in this letter.

...a servant of the church... receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints... help her in whatever matter she may have need of you; for she herself has also been a helper of many, and of myself as well.

...my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who for my life risked their own necks...

...my beloved...

...Mary, who has worked hard for you.

...my kinsman and my fellow prisoners, who are outstanding among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. (Note that this was written very possibly before Paul became an physical prisoner himself.)

...my beloved in the Lord.

...our fellow worker in Christ.

...my beloved.

...the approved in Christ.

...those...who are in the Lord.

...workers in the Lord.

...the beloved, who has worked hard in the Lord.

...a choice man in the Lord, also his mother and mine.

Paul goes on to warn the church about those who do not embrace the same spirit of fellowship that he is demonstrating in these descriptions of individuals in the body. But I am going to wait to delve into that deeper another time. For right now I want to simmer in the thoughts that these labels bring to my heart and that encourage me to look at others from God's perspective and see the work that He is doing in their lives instead of the mistakes or dysfunction that still plagues them.

I know what tremendous power of encouragement there can be whenever someone honestly relates to me and describes me from God's perspective. At times I struggle with even accepting affirmations, but part of that is when they come from people who do not even know me. But when someone who is well aware of my faults and sins can share with me the truth about my identity as God views me, it can be a source of real strength and hope and inspiration. I want to be one of those sources of hope for other people struggling under false notions about their worth and purpose and identity. I want to be used of God to apply His labels to others so that they can catch a glimmer of warmth from the love that God has for them that has been hidden from their hearts for so long.

Of course, this seems more difficult to do with those whom I know all too well. When I have personal experience with someone's faults or have been attacked and wounded deeply by them I am far more resistant to seeing their value and identity as God sees them. That is where I need much more grace, humility and a spirit of unconditional forgiveness to embrace a radically new perspective on their real identity and to become a source of hope and life to those who expect the very opposite from me. This can only happen through a miracle of God's grace. But then, that is what salvation is all about, isn't it?

(next in series)

Real Power

For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. (Romans 15:18-19)

This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by force or by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of armies. (Zechariah 4:6 BBE)

I am coming to the part of Romans where Paul begins talking about his travel plans and the next chapter is mostly spent giving greetings to a great number of people by name. I am not saying that these are not important, but they are not of the same kind of instructional intensity that the rest of Romans has been. For the past few days I have been perusing over this last part of Romans but today I wanted to come back and visit the last few verses of what I have been meditating on for the last few weeks.

What I see again is a reminder of the stark difference between what most religious people get addicted to and God's ways of dealing with people – the issue of power. And because most people get sucked into the lies about God that cause them to believe that He uses His power abusively just as sinful religious (and non-religious) people do, hence has been promoted all the tragic and distorted belief systems that have been pawned off as truth about the God of heaven.

Many of these lies and the truths that they counterfeit revolve around the issue of power. Our very concept of what is meant by this word is heavily influenced by how pervasive these lies have infiltrated our thinking. When we read a verse like the one above from Romans we often assume that miracles and the gift of the Holy Ghost are given to us to force people to come to God in some way. Too often we utilize the carrot-and-stick approach to evangelism and corrupt the true gospel of God by mingling in a degree of fearful intimidation if our initial invitation to surrender to God is not effective enough.

What we don't realize is that most of the time what we call “surrender to God” really means surrender to the control of our church or local religious group. We assume that since God has entrusted His people on earth with authority (another word seriously misunderstood) that we have the right to control other people's lives whom we are bringing into the church. We also operate on the assumption that our church is the body of Christ and tend to exclude from our thinking of that body anyone who thinks too much outside the box – our box that is.

The bottom line is that we want to promote our agenda in the name of God and we believe that God is on our side and that He is supposed to vindicate us by using miracles to attract/intimidate others into joining us so we can dominate their spiritual life in the name of training them. I know this sounds rather harsh and that most people would not believe that this is what they do, but in the eyes of heaven I think our spirit and actions toward each other are starkly different than what we are used to perceiving about ourselves.

But what I sense in Paul's words here reveals a different spirit and disposition than the popular religious ones today. Paul had come to the point where he refused to participate in anything that would feed into the pride inherent in sinful flesh and corrupt the reflection of God's character through his life. Instead Paul was obsessed in radically altering the picture of God typically held by most people, Jews and Gentiles alike, by demonstrating and promoting the overwhelming attractiveness of the real truths about God.

In that context the word “power” takes on a whole new dimension and drops off its negative connotations. No longer is power to be viewed as something to promote forcing people to do what we want them to do in the name of religion. God's kind of power is so radically different that what we think of power that it would almost be useful to come up with a completely different word. But God uses our language and so we need to be careful to reexamine the real meanings behind all the words that He uses so as to discern how they have been hijacked by Satan and begin to use them in their true sense once again. Only as we do this do I believe we can begin to benefit more effectively from our study of the Word of God.

In the context of a proper understanding and usage of the word “power”, this verse takes on different implications than what we might initially assume. When signs and wonders and the power of the Spirit are not viewed as things to be used in the wrong way, to promote our brand of religion or bring people under our control, then it will be seen that these are things that are intended to reveal the true attractiveness of God's true character and to draw all people into trusting in His unconditional love for them. This is the essence of the true gospel and was the burden of the preaching and teaching of Paul as he pushed himself to share it in as many places as he could think of.

I want my life to be reflective of the true meaning of this word “power”. I want the incredible attractiveness of God to glow through my words, actions and spirit and to draw people to want to become more intimate with Him. I am painfully aware that much of the time that is not the case in my life. But that is also why I am bent on becoming so absorbed in knowing Him better at the heart level that my unconscious attitudes will be transformed to reflect His goodness more consistently. I want to have the relationship to him that was seen in the servants in Jesus' story in the first part of Luke 17 so that I will have much more faith. I trust God to continue to lead me into that kind of genuine relationship with Him, to cleanse me of false ideas about Him and to fill my life with the kind of power that is never abusive but is overwhelmingly attractive to draw others to His heart.

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