Clarity

So we’ve been in the Hebrew Shema unpacking the meaning of the text exegetically. Exegesis is a critical interpretation or analysis of a specific text. We have talked about the Shema being a prayer but also a word which means to hear and obey. We then broke the Shema into 3 sections, the Heart, the Family and the Community and how you have to follow them in that order. If you do not follow them in that order everything can very quickly get out of whack. You with me? We learned that the world encourages us to “follow our heart” but God calls our heart “deceitful above all things and desperately sick” and he wants us to “direct our heart in the way” and who is the way through his own admission? JESUS! We then learned through Scripture the best way to direct our heart instead of follow it was through these 3 things: 1. God’s word 2. Prayer 3. God’s People. We then learned that God created the family with very specific commands for the mother, father, and children. And that God relates his church and himself to us through familial terms. He is our father, we are his children, and we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Then we went into what Family Discipleship is and how if we are going to properly train our children it will require an investment on our part. It will require an intentional plan. So that’s where we ended last week at the beginning of our 3 C’s for helping craft a specific and intentional plan. Last week the first C was Consistency. In the Shema it tells us to teach our children diligently, which means not giving up, being patient and not compromising the truth to keep our child comfortable. To be diligent means to be consistent. Consistency reinforces the truths we are teaching.

Deuteronomy 6:7 ESV

7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Colossians 4:4 The Message

4 Pray that every time I open my mouth I’ll be able to make Christ plain as day to them.

How do we teach clearly?

“We will never know what to do, if we do not first know who we are, or more importantly, whose we are.”

I know this can be confusing because as Christians we feel we need to understand so much before we can teach our children well or even walk confidently as a Christian. Think of how we’re going through the Shema right now. First, the heart, then the family and then the community. It can be intimidating to ever pass the heart phase, because we can feel that we never understand enough to move past it. But that is certainly a lie from the enemy.

“A man can eat his dinner without understanding exactly how food nourishes him. A man can accept what Christ has done without knowing how it works: indeed, he certainly would not know how it works until he has accepted it.” - C.S. Lewis

We see this at my house with our children all the time. They are listening to mom and dad. They are trusting mom and dad. And they will continue to do so until we give them reason not to, or someone else’s voice is more appealing. But the hope and prayer of consistently and clearly discipling them will be that they understand when the Lord opens the eyes of their heart, or remember through our teaching when temptation comes their way.

John 13:7 (ESV)

7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”

The scripture is full of the disciples not understanding Jesus. But continuing to follow him. Think about that.

“The Gospel is good news, not good advice. Advice = what you should do. News = what has been done.” - Tim Keller

Good advice is so often separated from the Good news.

I often ask myself why are Christians today not having the impact we could potentially have?

I believe it’s because churches are full of good advice separate from good news.

Full of people trying to do before they know what has been done.

Full of people living in circle #3 before ever even visiting circle #1.

Full of imperatives before indicatives.

Indicative - What God has done (doctrine)

Imperative - What we must do (duty)

I’m certainly not saying here that you must know the ins and outs of how it all works, or else you will never step forward in faith. Which will always keep us in circle #1. I am saying that we need to know with clarity that God is good, God is for us, God does not lie, God is faithful, slow to anger and overflowing with steadfast (which means firm, unwavering, devoted and dedicated) love before we can produce good fruit or teach our children to do the same.

Philippians 4:13 (ESV)

13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

This verse is a perfect example of how people use Scripture without having proper clarity or context of what God is sharing.

Yet we constantly see parents allowing their children to share this verse as a way to almost provide affirmation that they should win the game. Disregarding the competition’s right to the same grace and power offered to them, as Dorah said. That’s the power of the Cross. Everyone that believes is now on the same level. That’s what we believe. That’s what we teach.

Let’s look at some context for Paul.

2 Corinthians 11:24–28 (ESV)

24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

Philippians 4:11 (ESV)

11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

“Contentment in all states is not a natural propensity of man. Covetousness, discontentment, and murmuring are as natural to man as thorns are to the soil. You have no need to sow thistles and brambles; they come up naturally enough, because they are indigenous to earth. So you have no need to teach men to complain; they complain fast enough without any education. But the precious things of this earth must be cultivated. If we would have wheat, we must plow and sow; if we want flowers, there must be the garden, and all the gardener’s care. Now, contentment is one of the flowers of heaven, and if we would have it, it must be cultivated. It will not grow in us by nature; it is the new nature alone that can produce it, and even then we must be especially careful and watchful that we maintain and cultivate the grace that God has sown in it. Paul says, “I have learned to be content,” as much as to say he did not know how at one time.” - Charles Spurgeon

Paul has learned to be content through consistently cultivating his clarity of who Jesus is. Of who God is and what God has done. Of consistently and clearly reminding himself daily of the indicatives (doctrine) and because of that obedience, the imperatives (duty), are easy to obey.

And God has clearly given us his word. He has clearly shown how he is at work in the world, from the old covenant to the new covenant.

Deuteronomy 30:10–14 (ESV)

10 when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

Psalm 119:130 (ESV)

130 The unfolding of your words gives light;

it imparts understanding to the simple.

It’s surely why Jesus so often urges the remembrance of Scripture when what he is saying is unclear, or lacking clarity for his audience.

Matthew 12:3

Matthew 12:5

Matthew 19:4

Matthew 22:31

Mark 12:10

Mark 12:26

Luke 6:3

God has clearly revealed himself in the scripture. And he gives us the means to have scripture guide us through public reading, diligent or consistent study, thoughtful reflection or meditation, the holy spirit and teachers. We must live in the book that declares the victory! That declares the good news. This goes back to last week, we must be consistent. We must steep like a bag of tea in the word. Through prayer, in community. 1. God’s word 2. Prayer 3. God’s people

If we remember nothing else when we are having difficulty with clarity and our children are having difficulty with clarity, remember this verse to share:

1 Corinthians 13:12 (ESV)

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

This last quote will combine clarity and our next C, creativity.

“When something is clearly and meaningfully understood, it is retained much longer, can be built upon to acquire further understanding, is usually very versatile in the situations and ways it can be used, and that facilitates creativity.”

Homework:

Read Ephesians 2 and give your own heart clarity on who God says you are in Christ.