God's words - or human perceptions and interpretations?

May 12, 2010

Matthew 9:34 But the Pharisees were saying, “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”

The Pharisees rejected Jesus’ authority and power as coming from God, and even said it came from satan (a truly blasphemous statement, from religious leaders who loved to catch and judge blasphemy in others).

We really must be careful about who and how we judge. Our immense and eternal God works in ways we don’t expect, though always within the boundaries of His unchanging, perfect character). And in our small-minded humanness, we inevitably do not know or understand Him as much as we fancy that we do.

Yes, we are to be discerning, and “test the spirits,” and line things up with God’s word. But we had better be very careful that it is truly God’s word – and not just our own preconceptions and interpretations, and those that we’ve accepted from others - that we are defending when we judge others.

The authority of Jesus rests on His followers, too (He gave it to them: See Matthew 10:1). We are not to b like the scribes and Pharisees, just parroting the interpretations of the “fathers,” but are to abide in Christ, and be led and taught by the Holy Spirit of Christ Himself.

John 16:13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth…. 15. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He [the Spirit] take of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

Look at all the things (listed in Matthew 10) that Jesus gave his disciples authority over:
- over unclean spirits to cast them out (v1, 8)
- to heal every kind of disease and sickness (v1,8)
- to preach: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (v 7)
- to raise the dead (v8)
- to cleanse the lepers (v8)

We are His disciples. We have His Spirit. We have His authority! He is the truth. We must ask Him always to show us HIS truth. And while pointing others to Him, and standing firm on His truth, we must be careful, finally, to let Him judge. And TO NOT JUDGE HIM!

Jesus – You ARE the Way, the Truth, and the Life. You are our Saviour. You are God incarnate. You are Emmanuel – God with us.

Thank You.!