The Kingdom is a Community

This document below is a presentation from one of the bible nerds Vicky Hobbs. It is very well done, ties in with some new thoughts on old scriptures.

Jesus Is the Light of the World

JOHN 8:12-29

 

       “Once again Jesus spoke to the people, saying “I am the light of the world. Anyone who continues following me will never walk around in darkness, but will have the light of the real life.” ¹³“You are testifying about yourself!” objected the Pharisees. “So, your testimony isn’t valid!” ¹⁴“Even if I do testify about myself,” Jesus responded, “my testimony is valid, because I know where I came from and where I’m going to. But you don’t know where I came from or where I’m going to. ¹⁵You judge by human standards; I don’t judge anyone. ¹⁶But if I did judge, my judgment would be right, because I don’t judge on my own, but it is I and the Father—the One who sent me. ¹⁷It’s written in your own Law that the testimony of two people is valid. ¹⁸I give evidence for myself, and the Father who sent me also gives evidence on my behalf.”

       ¹⁹“Where is your father?” they began asking him.    

     “You don’t recognize me or my Father,” answered Jesus. “If you had recognized me, you would also have known my Father.” ²⁰He said this while he was teaching in the temple’s treasury area; but no one arrested him because his time hadn’t yet come.

       ²¹Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. You are unable to come to where I am going.” ²²So the Jewish leaders began to say, “Surely, he isn’t planning to kill himself, because he says, ‘You are unable to come to where I am going.’” ²³“You people are from what is below,” he said, “I am from what is above. You belong to this world-order; I do not belong to this world-order. ²⁴That’s why I told you that you will die in your sins; because unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

       ²⁵“Who are you?” they demanded. “It’s what I have kept telling you from the beginning” replied Jesus. ²⁶“I have much to say concerning you, and indeed against you, but the Father who sent me is truthful, and what I’ve heard from Him I announce to the world.” ²⁷But they still didn’t realize that he was talking to them about the Father.

    ²⁸So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority. I only say exactly what the Father taught me. ²⁹And the One who sent me is with me. He has never left me on my own, because I am always doing those things that please Him.”

Interesting take on the talents from our bible nerd community member, Robert Q

This is a paper by another friend who joins our community of bible nerds, David Grioli about the parable of the weeds and the good seed.

Jesus gives Matthew 13:36-43, The parable of the weeds, to his elect so they may understand the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, whilst those not initiated into this holy secret would remain ignorant to the true meaning of the parable. (See Mathew 13:11). This parable was given to encourage future generations of believers that would eventually be sown as good seed throughout the world to have hope and peace of mind despite the menacing machinations of the devil to disseminate pseudo-Christians within Christian communities. The Apostle Paul recounts such an event recorded in Galatians 2:4 “Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery”— English Standard Version. Luke records this same event in Chapter 15:4-29 of the Letter of Acts. Jesus had forewarned that Weeds or false Christians would eventually infiltrate the field of true Christians he had sown at Pentecost 33 CE. In Philippians 1:14-18, Notice how Paul describes the attitude of some as ‘envious, rivalrous, selfishly ambitious and insincere’. He reiterates this in his letter to Timothy, in 1 Timothy 4:1,2: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,” English Standard Version. Paul goes on to emphasise the sowing of weeds in the field of true Christians had already commenced in his day when in 1 Corinthians 11:17-19 he says, “But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.” English Standard Version. 

Paul the Apostle is well versed in the secrets or mysteries of the kingdom, as he often attests to, as he does in 1 Corinthians 4:1: “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” English Standard Version. Paul has been initiated in these holy secrets or mysteries of the kingdom and takes his responsibility very seriously, warning his and future generations of true Christians as to the events that would occur following the deaths of the last faithful apostles of Jesus. In 2 Thessalonians 1-10, Paul outlines in a prophetic voice the details surrounding Jesus' parable of the weeds that would culminate in the manifestation of the man of lawlessness, which Paul says was already at work in his day. He further goes on to state that the then-living apostles acted as a restraint over this spirit of lawlessness, and Paul concludes by emphasising that to protect against this spirit of lawlessness, one must ‘Love truth and so be saved’. 

Paul, in the aforementioned scriptures, has artfully superimposed many elucidating details onto Jesus' parable of the weeds. This should serve to prepare Christians of all generations, including our own, to expect multi-denominational sectarianism as a product of the Devil’s meddling. 

Important features of the parable of the weeds to keep in mind are as follows. Firstly, the weeds would be left to grow together with the good seed. Secondly, one would not be able to distinguish a good seed from a weed until harvest time. Thirdly, only at the end of the age or with the return of Messiah would angels be commissioned to remove all causes of sin and lawbreakers out from His kingdom to be burnt in the fire. Lastly, then and only then would the righteous shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. This moment of truth is described by Jesus in Mathew 7:21-23 ‘On that day many will say to him they did many powerful works in his name only to be rejected by Jesus as workers of lawlessness.’ On what day, one may ask, is Jesus referring to? Jesus gives us the day on which he will sit on a throne with his holy angels to judge the nations of the world (remember, the world is the field that Jesus sowed with good seed, and the angels are the reapers). In Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus borrows Ezekiel’s prophetic language as recorded in Ezekiel 34:20-30 where fat sheep and lean sheep are judged, “Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats.” Jesus always speaks in the voice of the prophets to imbue his words with authority. That Christians are in view here is corroborated by reputable commentaries such as Meyer’s NT Commentary “We should therefore return to the very old view (Lactantius, Instit. vii. 20; Jerome, Euthymius Zigabenus), which, though it had been neglected in consequence of the prevalent eschatology, was preserved by Grotius, the view, namely, that what Jesus is here depicting is the judgment of Christians: περὶ τῶν Χριστιανῶν δὲ μόνων ὁ λόγος ἐνταῦθα, Euthymius Zigabenus, who proves this, above all, from Matthew 25:35-36.  

Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats, therefore, is further amplification of events surrounding the deracination of weed-like Christians that have been allowed to grow side by side over the centuries until his return as Judge. One will note in the parable of the sheep and the goats many overlapping similarities with terms, rewards and punishment as given by Jesus in the parable of the Weeds.

All this is to say that sincere Christians who seek fellowship with other Christians must be mentally prepared to engage with Christianity as a whole as a global field or body without the absolute certainty of which individuals constitute a good seed and who is a weed when evaluating any and all (individual) Christians. Paul the apostle highlights this dilemma in 1 Corinthians 4:3-5, “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. As a caveat to the aforementioned, Christians can and should condemn Christian institutions and their practices that blatantly obfuscate or pervert in either practice or doctrine the words of our Lord Jesus. It is the individual good seed or weed that one can not and should not judge before the appointed time. 

One final example reported in scripture should serve to encourage us in our endeavour to find truth and fellowship within the global body of Christians is found in Revelation chapters 2-3, where Jesus addresses the seven churches of Asia Minor. It is notable to read in the words of our Lord when describing the spiritual condition of these churches, things such as false apostles, the synagogue of Satan, Satan’s throne, the teaching of Balaam, the Nicolaitians, the woman Jezebel, Sexual immorality, food sacrificed to idols and that some congregants were neither cold nor hot. What consolation does the Lord give to those in the seven congregations who remain faithful lovers of truth? Revelation 2:24-29 THE PARABLE OF THE WEEDS EXPLAINED 4 answers this question, “But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. (See Psalms 2:8,9) 

It is noteworthy that Jesus, nowhere in his council to the congregations, says explicitly to leave the congregation due to their inherent corruption and departure from the truth. Rather, Jesus’ words are explicit that all truth-seeking Christians, no matter where they should find themselves, have an individual responsibility to keep their vestments white in his sight. It is incumbent on all honest-hearted Christians today, as in the first century, to assume their responsibilities and develop a heart of wisdom to be found a good seed at harvest time. This is the great challenge our Lord Jesus set before us in the parable of the weeds if we are to conquer as he conquered, to grow within the global field of Christianity side by side with weeds or false Christians without growing weak or being discouraged or, worse yet, choked to spiritual death.

To whom should we go if we are feeling isolated and alone in our Christian journey? John 6:68,69 tells us, “Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Also, Jesus' words in Mathew 18:20 should encourage us even when our fellowship is small: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” We must not feel compelled to pertain to a large institutionalized church structure to be found approved by our Lord at his return. The parable of the weeds should give us pause and reflect on the nature of Christianity as a whole; it is not the denomination one belongs to that will save rather, it is a heart sown with good seed which grows despite the immediate context of its environment that will receive the promise to shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their father.