…OUT OF STEP…
Psalm 17:9-13
9 From the wicked that oppress me, My deadly enemies,
that compass me about. 10 They are inclosed in their own fat: With their mouth
they speak proudly. 11 They have now compassed us in our steps; They set their
eyes to cast us down to the earth. 12
He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey, And as it were a young lion
lurking in secret places. 13 Arise, O Jehovah, Confront him, cast him down:
Deliver my soul from the wicked by thy sword; [1]
Lamentations 4:18
18
They hunted our steps, that we could not go in our streets: our end is near,
our days are fulfilled; for our end is come. [2]
We’ve all seen the
pictures, the film clips of soldiers marching in formation, every step precise
and ordered, marching before the reviewing stand. A picture of perfection as every hand and
every arm swing in unison and every step on the rhythm of the cadence
called. Not my platoon though. My drill Sargent had been an instructor for
twenty-five years, and in his words, we were absolutely the worst marchers he
had ever tried to train. Man, we looked
like a bunch of drunken sailors marching down the street, stepping on each
others heels, heads bobbin’ and weaving every direction but the way we were
supposed to go. Now, granted, we weren’t
much to look at, but he did say one thing about us: we couldn’t march, but he would lead us into
combat anytime, anywhere. We had a
camaraderie that couldn’t be broken.
When one man fell, the whole platoon would go back and pick him up; when
one man was on the verge of giving up, all encouraged him. We were all determined that nobody would be
left behind, that we would all bob and weave together before that reviewing
stand, the whole nine yards, or none of us would. Maybe our feet couldn’t stay in step, but our
hearts could.
Now, what can be
learned from such an experience? When
marching, if you get out of step with the group, there was what we called a “stutter-step”
one would do to get your feet back in synch with the squad. That way, you aren’t stepping on each other
and causing all sorts of ill feelings.
It’s the same way with the world.
Walk in step with it, and everything is fine, get out of step and that’s
when the trouble begins. As believers,
friends, we are out of step with the world and they want us to do a
stutter-step every time we turn around, for to be out of step with the world is
to be different, to be out of harmony.
Harmony is another
funny thing. When you harmonize with
something, you are in tune with it. When
singing, it is always good to be in harmony.
(Except me, I couldn't carry a tune if it had a handle on it.) Being out of harmony is what brought down the
original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, in Tacoma Washington. As an ironworker, during my apprenticeship,
we all had to study the Narrows Bridge. One theory my instructors had as to why
the bridge went down was when it was designed, the engineer designed the deck
steel, the heavy girders that carried the roadway, as box girders, basically
two huge “I” beams riveted together. Now
by nature, these girders are solid, no holes or gaps in them. The winds that blow through the Narrows create
a harmony, a frequency, as they rush through the passageway. When these winds hit the steel of the
original bridge, it created oscillations in the steel frame, that in turn set
up a frequency that was out of synch with the winds. The result was the iron shook and jumped and
shucked and jived all over the place until eventually in a strong enough wind,
the oscillations got so bad they caused the bridge to collapse. But time has a way to challenge theories; one
article explains it this way:
“…Construction on the bridge began in September 1938. From the time the deck was
built, it began to move vertically in windy conditions, which led to
construction workers giving the bridge the nickname Galloping Gertie.
The motion was observed even when the bridge opened to the public. Several
measures aimed at stopping the motion were ineffective, and the bridge's main
span finally collapsed under 40-mile-per-hour (64 km/h) wind conditions
the morning of November 7, 1940… The bridge's collapse had a lasting effect on
science and engineering. In many physics text
books, the event is presented as an example of elementary forced resonance with the wind providing an
external periodic frequency that matched the bridge's natural structural
frequency, though the actual cause of failure was aeroelastic flutter.[1] Its
failure also boosted research in the field of bridge
aerodynamics-aeroelastics, the study of which has influenced the
designs of all the world's great long-span bridges built since 1940…” [3]
When we look back
in time, at the original apostles, what do we see? We see twelve men that were out of step with
the world, with men who sang in a different harmony. They were accused of being “…people who have
been turning the world upside down… [4]
”. Paul was accused in Acts 24:5-6:
“…5
For we have found this man a
pestilent fellow, and a mover of
sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect
of the Nazarenes: 6 Who also hath gone about to profane the temple:
whom
we took, and would have judged according to our law…” [5]
Ringleaders,
seditionists, blasphemers: these and many other names were the twelve called
for they were out of step with the world, with its political and religious
systems. Yeshua Himself was labeled
insane, devil possessed, and worse. He
was definitely out of step with the world.
When we as believers walk the way of the Cross, we are surrounded by our
enemies, by those who want nothing more than to see us stop what we are doing
and take that “stutter-step” to get back in line with them just so that they
can feel comfortable again. Just as in
the days of the Maccabees, when the goal was assimilation, so it is today. And that
truly is the problem. Getting back in line with them is not what Messiah came
for. Messiah came and died for you and I,
not so that we could become man-pleasers, but to become God-pleasers: 2 Corinthians 5:15 says:
“...and he died for all, that they that live should no
longer live unto themselves,
but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again…” [6]
He also came so that He, as said in Galatians
1:4:
“…who gave himself for our sins, so that he should
deliver us out of the present evil world,
according to the will of our God and Father…” [7]
and in Titus 2:14 it is said that He:
“…Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from
all iniquity,
and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of
good works…” [8]
So here we are a
“peculiar “ people that are out of step with the world, and under fire for
being so. Now, we all on occasion
stumble, fall if you want to call it thus, but I believe it’s simply at these
times we’ve done the “stutter-step”.
Why? Who knows but God. I’ve found that when I have fallen back into
step with the world it is because God needed to correct me and He, in His
infinite Wisdom, choose to use the world and its ways to teach me that I can’t
do it apart from Him. It is really that
simple.
So,
what do we do from here? We strive, we
study to become that peculiar people, the one’s who refuse to walk in the ways
of the world. Why do I say study? Well, to be out of step with the world is to
be in step with God. How we do that is
to follow the admonishment of Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16-17:
“…All scripture is
given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works….[9]
“
We study the word of God for these reasons and
more. To get ourselves out of step with
this world we must turn to the Scriptures, the marvelous Scriptures that have
turned the world upside down.
In
our studies, we find that we are to let the Bible to comment upon itself and
explain itself. Why, you might ask? Aren’t commentaries and other tools helpful
in trying to understand the Word of God?
The answer to this question is yes and no. Yes, they are helpful if used in their proper
context, as a medium to gauge if you are rightly dividing the word of God. No, because they are, after all, just another
man’s interpretation of the word of God.
Scripture interprets Scripture.
In this fashion then, with the help of prayer and the Ruach Ha’Kodesh,
can our understanding of the Holy Word be increased. A lot of the time, not always, but enough of
the time, if we rely strictly on the interpretations
of others, we find that Scripture is taken out of context or that half a
scripture is used to justify or rationalize the author’s particular point of
view. We must not cite Bible texts in an
arbitrary fashion with no regard to context, the culture that produced the
text, and the statements elsewhere in the Bible which bear on the theme or
doctrine being considered. Remember, it
was Messiah Yeshua who said that we are to “…search the scriptures…”:
(John 5:39)
“…Search the scriptures; for in them ye
think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me…” [10]
Our Savior Himself studied and was
discussed in scripture this way:
Luke 24:27,44
“…(27) And having begun from Moses and from
all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things
concerning himself…”
“…(44) And he said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you while
I was yet with you, that all that is written concerning me in the law of Moses
and prophets and psalms must be fulfilled…”[11]
We see this also in:
John 1:45
“…Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have
found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote, Jesus of
Nazareth, the son of Joseph …”
[12]
Paul also used this method to expound scripture:
Acts 17:2-3
“…2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and
three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, 3 Opening and
alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead;
and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ…” [13]
Romans 3:9-18
9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all.
For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under
sin.
10 As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none
who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned aside; They have together become
unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”
13 “Their throat is
an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;
“The poison of asps is
under their lips”;
14 “Whose mouth is
full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are
swift to shed blood;
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways;
17 And the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” [14]
Notice in the
above example how Paul uses a method I just previously said we shouldn’t use,
and that is using portions of scripture to expound upon a viewpoint. The difference is in the context. Most
commentaries are written to a particular slant, with the author’s text
explaining how he arrived at a particular interpretation. Paul uses scripture (in this instant) to
describe the universal guilt all men have.
You see it is Scripture, not Paul, being the judge. Compare Paul’s use
of the Scriptures with those he cites and you’ll see that the context is the
same. (See Ps. 5:9; 10:7; 14:1-3; 140:3;
Is. 59:7-8)
Using
Scripture this way is not only valid, it is Scriptural as it was used by Messiah
in His teachings:
Luke 4:18
“…The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach glad tidings to the poor;
he has sent me to preach to captives
deliverance, and to the blind sight,
to send forth the crushed delivered…”[15]
Matthew 9:13
“…But go ye and learn what this meaneth, I desire mercy, and not
sacrifice,
for I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners..” [16]
The
main point is that we let Scripture interpret itself and comment about itself
first. Then we can use a trusted
commentary to see if we were hearing the Holy Spirit correctly in our
interpretation. But always, no matter what the “trusted commentary” says – if the
opinion of the writer is in conflict with the plain meaning of Scripture, reject
man’s opinions and seek understanding by and from God.
So
now we are studying the Word of God, Sola
Scriptura [17],
and where are we going now? The
deeper we go into the word of God the more out of step with the world we will
become. This is especially true if you really live by Sola Scriptura; we then become what Jethro said in Exodus 18:3, “…
I have been an alien in a strange land…” [18] Trust
me in this – if you live and hold on to the truth as written in God’s word, you
will even find yourself out of step with the mainstream body of believers. You
will find yourself call a heretic, a blasphemer, ringleader
and seditionist. You will be said to be insane, devil possessed or worse. Does
this sound familiar? Think of the company you’ll be keeping here on this path
though – men like Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob/Israel, Jeremiah, Micah, Isaiah,
Ezekiel, Elisha, Elijah, Daniel, Yeshua, “…Shim`on, called Kefa, and Andrew his
brother, Ya`akov Ben-Zavdai and Yochanan his brother,Philip and Bar-Talmai,
T'oma and Mattityahu the tax-collector, Ya`akov Bar-Halfai and Taddai, Shim`on
the Zealot, and Y'hudah from K'riot, who betrayed him…”[19]
and countless others. The Church has been in lock-step with the Anti-Nicene “fathers”,
with the factions of Constantine and the Roman Popes for so long, it doesn’t
even want to know Sola Scriptura. In fact, there is a circular argument here.
One blog writer puts it thusly, as another writer argued that “personal
fallibility” made it okay to follow man’s traditions:
“…Whether a person relies on the
supposedly infallible Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church, on the
supposedly infallible Tradition of the Orthodox Church, or on the supposedly
infallible canon of the Protestant Church, the person
himself is subject to error. When
he chooses to submit to a supposedly infallible authority, he may choose
wrongly. His own personal fallibility may cause him to select Rome when he
should have chosen Constantinople. Or he may choose Constantinople when he
really should have chosen Geneva. Any way you slice it, it is impossible to
totally remove fallibility from the picture…” [20]
Of course, his argument is that you
have to accept that it is the Orthodox Church that is the “only true Church”.
No, I think that the ekklesia, the Qahal/Kahal (Hebrew: קהל), established by Yeshua and His
disciples is the only true church out there – and it was totally dependent on
the word of God and interpretations of Yeshua about how to understand the
message of His Father.
·
Was Yeshua out of step with the world or was He
not?
If He was then:
·
Was Yeshua out of step with God, or was He not?
If He was not
then:
·
Was the “religion “ of Yeshua the Judaism of His
day, correctly defined and interpreted by Him, or was it not?
If it was then:
·
Was it assimilation, or “correctly dividing” the
word of truth that Yeshua did?
If He correctly divided the word of God and taught this
to His disciples then:
·
Did the Apostles have it right or did they not?
If they had it right then:
·
Were they led by the Spirit of God or were they not?
The obvious conclusion is this:
·
If they were led by the Spirit, then they were led by truth.
These are hard questions. How you answer depends upon what truth you
will believe. Is it the truth based upon the Word of God, given by the God of
the Word, or is it the words of men, penned by men, in the traditions of
men? Do we walk the walk of Yeshua, or
is it the walk of the world?
The
walk of the world will no longer interest us as we go further into the truths
found in God’s Word, for in it we begin to see what the true profit of being
out of step is.
·
We profit in the Word when it
convicts us of sin. (
John 16:8: “…And
when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of
judgment…”) [21]
·
We profit in the Word when it makes us sorrow for
sin.
(Jeremiah 31:19: “…I turn in repentance;
I have come to myself, I strike my breast; I blush with shame, I bear the
disgrace of my youth...”) [22]
·
We profit when the Word leads to a confession of
sin.
(Proverbs 28:13: “…He that covereth his transgressions shall
not prosper: But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall obtain mercy…” ) [23]
·
We profit in the word when the Word produces in
us a deeper hatred of sin.
(Psalm 97:10: “…Love the Lord and hate evil! God protects his
loyal people and rescues them from violence…”) [24]
·
We profit when the Word causes a forsaking of
sin.
(2 Timothy 2:19: “…But the solid
foundation that God has laid cannot be shaken; and on it are written these
words: “The Lord knows those who are his” and “All
who say that they belong to the Lord must turn away from wrongdoing.”) [25]
·
We profit when the Word fortifies us
against sin.
(Psalm 119:11: “…Thy word have I hid in
mine heart, that I might not sin against thee…”) [26]
·
Finally, we
profit from the Word when it causes us to practice the opposite of sin.
(John 14:15: “…If
ye love me, keep my commandments…”) [27]
We find riches when we are out of step with the world. Even if we have stumbled, there is still
something that profits us. If we find
ourselves back in step with the things of the world, all we have to do is take
a page out of its book and use that “stutter-step” to get ourselves back in synch
with God’s word. After all, what’s good
for the goose is good for the gander. Go
ahead; step on a few heels. Sing out of
tune. Maybe they’ll find out it’s a
whole lot better to get in step with you, to sing in harmony with God, than
continue on the way their going.
May God richly bless you and keep you, my beloved.
[7] Darby, J. N., 1890 Darby Bible, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.)
1995.
[11] Darby, J. N., 1890 Darby Bible, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.)
1995.
[15] Darby, J. N., 1890 Darby Bible, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.)
1995.
[17] Sola
scriptura (Latin ablative,
"by Scripture alone") is the doctrine that the Bible contains
all knowledge necessary for salvation and holiness.
Consequently, it demands that only those doctrines be admitted or confessed
that are found directly within Scripture or
are drawn indirectly from it by valid logical
deduction or valid deductive reasoning. Sola Scriptura does
not deny that other authorities govern Christian life and devotion, but sees
them all as subordinate to and corrected by the written word of God. (http://www.ask.com/wiki/Sola_scriptura?o=2801&qsrc=999&ad=doubleDown&an=apn&ap=ask.com
)
[19] Matthew
10:2-4: Stern, David H. The Complete Jewish Bible. Electronic Edition
-e-Sword v. 10.2.1. Jewish New Testament Publications, 1998.
[24] The
Contemporary English [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1995 by the
American Bible Society.
[25] Good
News Bible: Today’s English Version, American
Bible Society, (1992: New York, NY) The Living Bible.
[27] Darby, J. N., 1890 Darby Bible, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.)
1995.
.
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