The Brothers (part 3)

Knowledge means everything in this world. Appearance is everything. Impressions are everything. Being one step ahead of those around you is everything. With that in mind, here’s a noticeable observation from the comparison in real life: Brother A is far more often exalted and placed in leadership than Brother B. One can easily see this in seminaries all over the US. The most natural progression to become a pastor or to find a pastor is the studious, seminary route. “Here’s my resume, do I fit?” Is that strange to anyone else?

How can we assume that a few years of schooling makes anyone a Shepherd of the flock, a leader after God’s own heart? How can we assume that 4 years of cramming knowledge into a tiny brain proves anything about a relationship with the Most High? (I will say here that there is no way to judge any man’s heart). But the logic doesn’t make sense to me. Why do I assume that cramming knowledge into my little brain makes me even one step closer to Jesus? That in all my knowledge, I have a heart of equal proportion? That any, all, or some of that knowledge has taken root in my heart and has resulted in selfless, humble love?

David was the King after God’s own heart and there was only one king David out of dozens of kings in Israel’s history. He was the man after God’s heart, the King who walked with God, who suffered and who did not press his own desires. He was the King who did not suppress rebellion or assert his rightful position when his son arose to overthrow him. He did not kill the rejected King when He himself had already been anointed as the next rightful king. David’s schooling was that of suffering and rejection. David’s testing for the Kingdom was given him though mistreatment, lies and abuse. Not through memorization, impressive thesis statements and speeches.

Geez, this sounds rough… and it is. But I’m just hitting one side of the subject right now. I am also seeing this in my life and in my history, and it’s massively shaking my heart and the way I’m thinking. I don’t consider this to be small stuff.

Brother A has great tendency to become like Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, who went completely mad in his old age, losing hope and spiraling into depression. All that wisdom and all that knowledge couldn’t even preserve him in the end. Whether He made it into heaven or not I won’t know till I’m on the other side, but the observation of his life is easy to see.

Now what I’m not saying is that reading books and biographies is bad. It’s not, but we need to make sure that every time we are diving in, we are doing so with the intention of finding Jesus there, of knowing Him, and knowing Him crucified. I’m not against the knowledge of God and growing in understanding of the Word through books and such. That stuff is very good. But, it can also very easily become idolatry.

The Word of God alone is living and active. God has given us the Bible as the vein through which He brings conviction in regards to sin and righteousness. Scripture out of context can easily off-set our course and conviction. It is through the searching of Scripture that one sees clearly the path of righteousness, and the weakness and inability of the heart of man.

The Bible is the plumb line of theology. All teaching, all wisdom, and all understanding must line up with Scripture. Common sense and earthly wisdom will easily detour us from the path of righteousness and relationship. Heavenly wisdom does not always make sense to the wisdom of this age, and often must be received purely through faith. This faith, however must line up with truth in Scripture, and will in time be revealed as wise by the fruit that comes forth from the obedience.

The currency of eternity is not knowledge, but rather love and humility in relationship. One can have all knowledge, discern all prophecy, have all understanding, yet still miss it, even lose salvation. The path to life is not the path of knowledge, but is rather a path of relationship, of which the knowledge of God is a large part. That knowledge however, must be in the context of relationship, affected at the heart level through the Word of God. It must therefore always lead to love and humility, or it is being pursued in selfish pride.

The Words of God are spirit and they are life. No man has any life in him other than that which Jesus has imparted. All men see as though looking in a mirror dimly. Therefore no man has the ability to convey the Word of God perfectly. Perfect teaching is found in the Words of Jesus, and can only be understood correctly through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, congruent with all scripture.

I believe that all teaching on scripture should thrust you into the scriptures in search of Jesus, and if you find yourself accepting teaching without proving it in scripture, you just may be in pursuit of knowledge, and not in pursuit of Jesus. It’s at least a question that needs to be asked.

Here is a side note that also needs consideration: In the IHOP community, there is abundant knowledge to draw from, learn and memorize. However, the ability to repeat and memorize Scripture, the ability to defend or explain a certain issue or topic does not mean that your heart has changed one ounce. It does not indicate that you are one step closer to God than you were when you first gave your life to Him. God measures our lives by how much we learned to love, and how much we learned to walk in humility. In the IHOP community, it is difficult to not measure our lives up by how much we know, can explain, or how well we can argue a specific point. Any individual could know less than any other person here, and could learn to love with all their heart from the little understanding they have. They could allow the few truths they know to actually penetrate to the deepest parts of their heart, and receive the greatest positioning and reward in eternity. And at the same time, those who can explain all mysteries could fall away.

Please understand that by my writing this, I am indicting myself, and testifying that I am not proven before God, that all of my knowledge does not necessarily mean I have loved with meekness in my life. Even the understanding and truth in this post means nothing of my heart before God right now. All I am wanting is that we ask ourselves this question and line our hearts up to discover Jesus in every pursuit of our lives. Only what He does remains and has righteous effect, and I pray that we continue in His love all the days of our lives.