Words spoken reveal the beliefs of the speaker and influence the beliefs of the hearer.

Anytime I hear the cultural iteration of “body, soul, and spirit” spoken by a Christian, I cringe….. like fingernails scratching a chalk board…..1 Thessalonians 5:23 Paul articulates God’s order, “spirit, soul, and body” and urges sanctification using that order….. until the church begins to distinguish itself from the culture by getting aligned with God’s order, seeking first the kingdom of God, and recognizing that all renewal and healing is first and foremost a work of the Holy Spirit in us, we will never see the authority and power realized that Christ intended the church to have in the world. We have to be contrary to the way of the flesh and the world versus the way of the spirit and The kingdom of God…. it’s that “every jot and tittle” thing lived out…… it’s not just semantics. It’s carelessness and deception.
And satan smiles every time he hears the cultural iteration from a Christian’s mouth instead of God’s Word.
This is one of my convictions…. The Spirit has corrected me often enough about the order of things in the Word…… like Christ’s fullness of grace and truth in John 1:14,17. I had referenced truth and grace a number of times when I heard God say, “Go look at that verse again…”. Maybe it’s just a thing God does in holding teachers of the Word to a higher standard….
If you’re not a teacher, maybe it doesn’t apply! LOL! 😆
Or maybe it’s just me, committed to truth and so lacking in grace….. and having to be reminded constantly to fight against the things of the world by relying on the Spirit.
God did tell me specifically in 1997 he “didn’t need more clever wordsmiths, he desired faithful teachers….”

Or maybe God’s just reminding me that he is in charge of the conscience of others just as I seek to have him direct mine, and if he hasn’t convicted them about a behavior, then I shouldn’t…..

Or maybe such things are opportunities for encouraging one another in love of God’s Word…

Getting Beyond our Bumper Sticker Theology-   JD Walt       October 3, 2021

Hebrews 3:13 (NIV)

CONSIDER THIS

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,”

It’s tempting and would be easy to rip this text out of its context and interpret it through the lens of our time, allowing our own cultural mix of stories, fables, heroes and folklore (aka movies) to tell us what encouragement really means.

I can already see the refrigerator magnet:

ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER DAILY. . . or the bumper sticker . . . ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER TODAY.

Upon seeing it we would hasten to pat someone on the back, tell them they could do it, or commend the waiter for doing a good job and feel like we had done it. And while there is always ample need for kind words and thoughtful gestures, let’s not confuse them for what the Bible is talking about when it says, “encourage one another daily as long as it is called today.”

But, did you see what I did back there with the refrigerator magnets? I left out what may be the most significant word in the verse. Did you see it? It’s the first word.

BUT.

Conjunction junction, what’s your function? There is a strategically placed word here. It tells us this admonition to “encourage one another daily as long as it is called today” is in contrast to something that has gone before. It calls us to explore the context. As my New Testament Ninja Bible Teacher, Dr. Ben Witherington III, fondly says, “A text with out a context is merely a pretext for your own text.” If you have been with the Daily Text for any length of time you know this is a “no-fluff-zone” when it comes to the biblical text. We are learning to read well together.

The context here is fascinating and we will take a day or two to explore it in some depth as it will reveal significant layers of nuanced meaning for us. Let’s look back to v.12

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. v.12

We must encourage one another daily as long as it is called today not because we all need more attaboys and pats on the back. It’s way more serious than that. This cuts to the very core of the human condition. The nature of fallen, broken, human beings can be diagnosed as follows: “a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.” Though we have been saved from the penalty of sin by the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, sin still crouches at the door.

And we aren’t talking about mere bad behavior here and the temptation to have a second piece of Aunt Myrtle’s coconut cream pie. Behavior is a symptom. Sin is the disease. We need a far more robust understanding of what sin is and how sin works if we are to truly understand what grace is and how salvation works. Our typical view of sin and salvation is very transactional, and though there is definitely a forensic dimension to sin, it is far more complex and sophisticated. Verse 12 perhaps gives us the most succinct definition of what sin most deeply is: “An unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.” This is why encouragement is so essential. Hear the text now with the context:

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,”

Finally, you have undoubtedly noticed what else got cut out of our refrigerator magnet and bumper sticker version—the whole second half of v.13—more critical context:

so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

The human heart is so easily deceived, and sin (aka “an unbelieving heart”) is unbelievably deceitful. Behavior management is not the cure for sin’s deceitfulness. That is like taking cough syrup for lung cancer. The ongoing Holy Spirit chemotherapy for the deceitful sin cancer of an unbelieving heart is thick encouragement. More on that tomorrow. We will be going to Meribah.

THE PRAYER

God our Father. Forgive me for my flat and thin way of engaging the revelation of your Word. Jesus, as the Word made Flesh, would you be our teacher, causing our hearts to burn as you unfold the Scriptures, the very hear and now wisdom of eternal life. Just as your Spirit inspired the word, may the Spirit now interpret it to my inmost being that it might work itself into every conceivable expression of my life, for my good, for others’ gain, for your glory. In Jesus name, Amen.

THE QUESTION

How are you resonating with this connection being made between the nature of sin and the call for encouragement? Will you help dig this well, or would you rather go back to the bumper sticker?

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