THINKING of my first reading many years ago of this particular section of The Complete Green Letters – Part 4, The Realization of Spiritual Growth, these next several paragraphs gave me the most trouble, making this my least favorite offering for our authors work. For one thing, being somewhat immature in my own growth at the time, I really didn’t grasp what he was trying to convey. Returning to it later after more grounding in the doctrines of grace, I was prone to wariness in it’s leaning towards higher life teaching. We must always play the role of the Bereans in exercising discernment, knowing that things are not always clear require exercise in our diligence and perseverance.
SO after all these years, looking again to these particular paragraphs, there is something to learn here. The author is right, though I do not necessarily like the phrase “deeper truths;” our identification in Christ and the Cross do take time and preparation to understand, appreciate, and embrace. I recall several years ago a conference when a noted Reformed Pastor/Teacher spoke quite eloquently and boldly on this issue, and I was somewhat taken aback. Afterwards, I caught him on the way to the dinning hall, asking him why these things are not expressed more from the pulpit or in our Reformed circles? His answer as I recall, was not unlike what our author says here.
THEREFORE, as our author continues the discussion very practically and accurately in summing up the matter, as always read carefully and prayerfully, seeking our Lord’s blessing on your understanding. I’ll have something to say about that very last sentence next time.
Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it? John 6:60
In the inexorable riches of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10; Isa 30:15; Job 2:10; Jas. 1:2; Prov. 21:30
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Chapter 52—The Rest of Reckoning – Part 3
There is every scriptural reason about us to be perfectly confident in the Lord Jesus for our growth to maturity, and not to be discouraged by the length of time it takes or by the unchangeableness of self. We are “called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:28, 29). “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it” (1 Thess. 5:24). “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).
His dealings with us for our growth, especially as He makes us a “grain of wheat” to fall into the ground and die, may not be very “restful”; but our rest is in Him, and in the precise statements of His Word. We abide in Christ during the processing required for us to be brought to the fulfillment of His purpose; we do not fret and struggle because we are not mature the moment we see His standard for us in the Word.
There is another very important aspect of rest. This has to do with our witness to others. When we first begin to receive some of the benefit of reckoning, we are bent upon teaching the truths of identification immediately. We know just the ones who need victory! It is easy to forget how long it took for us to come to the threshold of this realm of reckoning, and how thoroughly we had to be prepared before we were at all interested in the so-called “deeper truths.” But we soon discover that there are very few believers who are responsive.
It is wise to remain comparatively quiet about the liberating truths for the first year or so following our awakening. After a period of reckoning and deeper study, we will not only know better what to share, but how, when, and with whom. Our teaching should be in the attitude of sharing. “If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of Pith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained” (I Tim. 4:6).
Once we begin to reckon, some of us make the mistake of seeking to straighten out our pastor and the church along these lines. But our testimony must first be observed by others, and then heard. Only hungry, prepared hearts can receive…… ….to be continued.
