Lots of Scriptural Knowledge - but do we have LIFE?

[Vine Abider]

With this devotional (Daily Open Windows) I am reminded that it is not about knowing a lot of scripture and having my doctrines all lined-up.  No!  It is about daily coming to Christ to experience His life!

 

You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life. (John 5:39-40 NIV)

The value of everything is its livingness. The value of the Scriptures is not that we know our Bibles and can handle our Bibles and can give addresses, wonderful addresses, from our Bibles, and that we can quote Scripture fully and accurately and all that sort of thing. It is not that we bear the name of associates of Christ, Christians, not that we have this great inheritance and tradition. It is the livingness of it all which is proving itself in all ways, that this risen Life of Christ should prove itself.... That is a strong thing to say, it is a searching thing to say. You have the Christian tradition and a great deal of Christian teaching, perhaps you know your Bibles very well, or think you do, perhaps you have many advantages in your associations, but the question arises. Not do you know it all, have you got it all, all the teaching, the truth, the Bible knowledge, the association, and that you are at all the meetings and you have heard it for years and years past and your association with it has been very close. That is not it. You can have all that and yet you yourself not be marked by this vital something that you become a vital factor in the whole thing. You are still a passenger, perhaps a parasite; not really in the good of it yourself. Let us be frank about it. We must face this as a personal matter.

The answer is in the resurrection.... Resurrection is not to be only something that happened with Jesus, but it is something that has happened in us and taken place inside of us. There is a counterpart of that by His risen Life imparted, that we have been raised together with Him. And that is not just doctrine either. That is real, that is vital truth and something to happen in us as well as in Jerusalem so many years ago. It is not just history and tradition, it is experience.... We have not only to believe that Jesus rose from the dead, but we have got to be alive ourselves with Him in that resurrection and on that ground.

By T. Austin-Sparks from: The Testimony of the Christ - Chapter 9

[AnOrangeCat]

The thread reminds me of where in James it tells us to not only hear the Word but to do it. Knowledge alone doesn't do much. An atheist can possess the knowledge but they're still spiritually dead. I feel like that's a core theme of James. Be active. Bear fruit. Demonstrate your faith. Show that you're alive in Christ. Even if we're talking about a believer not acting on their scriptural knowledge wouldn't that be an example of what Jesus called hiding our light under a bushel? I'd say so.

[Marathoner]

59 minutes ago, Vine Abider said:

With this devotional (Daily Open Windows) I am reminded that it is not about knowing a lot of scripture and having my doctrines all lined-up.  No!  It is about daily coming to Christ to experience His life!

 

You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life. (John 5:39-40 NIV)

The value of everything is its livingness. The value of the Scriptures is not that we know our Bibles and can handle our Bibles and can give addresses, wonderful addresses, from our Bibles, and that we can quote Scripture fully and accurately and all that sort of thing. It is not that we bear the name of associates of Christ, Christians, not that we have this great inheritance and tradition. It is the livingness of it all which is proving itself in all ways, that this risen Life of Christ should prove itself.... That is a strong thing to say, it is a searching thing to say. You have the Christian tradition and a great deal of Christian teaching, perhaps you know your Bibles very well, or think you do, perhaps you have many advantages in your associations, but the question arises. Not do you know it all, have you got it all, all the teaching, the truth, the Bible knowledge, the association, and that you are at all the meetings and you have heard it for years and years past and your association with it has been very close. That is not it. You can have all that and yet you yourself not be marked by this vital something that you become a vital factor in the whole thing. You are still a passenger, perhaps a parasite; not really in the good of it yourself. Let us be frank about it. We must face this as a personal matter.

The answer is in the resurrection.... Resurrection is not to be only something that happened with Jesus, but it is something that has happened in us and taken place inside of us. There is a counterpart of that by His risen Life imparted, that we have been raised together with Him. And that is not just doctrine either. That is real, that is vital truth and something to happen in us as well as in Jerusalem so many years ago. It is not just history and tradition, it is experience.... We have not only to believe that Jesus rose from the dead, but we have got to be alive ourselves with Him in that resurrection and on that ground.

By T. Austin-Sparks from: The Testimony of the Christ - Chapter 9

Our faith is living, for God is not the God of the dead. Many never had the benefit of the scriptures, but this isn't an issue to the Lord. He called me from this world with me knowing a single verse or passage. I was ignorant of scripture.

The Lord is a person, not an idea or concept. He speaks, unlike idols who require men to speak for them. If we don't know Him --- and the only way to know the Lord is if He is pleased to reveal Himself to us --- then the scriptures mean nothing. I know of militant atheists who study the scriptures and use that against the religious. 

[enoob57]

You cannot separate God from His Word many try...

[Vine Abider]

2 hours ago, AnOrangeCat said:

The thread reminds me of where in James it tells us to not only hear the Word but to do it. Knowledge alone doesn't do much. An atheist can possess the knowledge but they're still spiritually dead. I feel like that's a core theme of James. Be active. Bear fruit. Demonstrate your faith. Show that you're alive in Christ. Even if we're talking about a believer not acting on their scriptural knowledge wouldn't that be an example of what Jesus called hiding our light under a bushel? I'd say so.

The verses at the top of that devotional (John 5:39-40) says it well I think - a focus on scripture alone will not produce life, but life is in Christ, so we need to be sure to go to Him in His word.  Our spirits are thereby nourished by His life and we then have the ability to bear living fruit.

[Vine Abider]

2 hours ago, enoob57 said:

You cannot separate God from His Word many try...

The living word was not meant to be separate from The Living Word (Christ).  But Paul does warn of the dead letter which just kills (2 Cor 3:6).

[Marathoner]

8 minutes ago, Vine Abider said:

The living word was not meant to be separate from The Living Word (Christ).  But Paul does warn of the dead letter which just kills (2 Cor 3:6).

Amen.

What Paul warns us about is what I refer to as "religion." It's empty and devoid of Life, for Life is not derived from letters. Life is given by the Son of God alone, and He gives His Life to whomever He pleases. 

I've also referred to religion as a cargo cult. A cargo cult relies upon ritual and superstition to achieve their imaginary goals; they acquire something of value by believing and acting in a prescribed manner. Some examples of cargo cults:

Amish, Amish-Mennonites, and groups that form in order to replicate the church as recorded in the book of Acts. The former believe that dressing a certain way and living a certain way acquires the blessing of God for them, while the latter believe that living a certain way and behaving in a certain way creates the "church as it was." 

Neither succeeds, and neither have the Life.

[Sower]

2 hours ago, enoob57 said:

You cannot separate God from His Word many try...

                     For any who may not know,

                          God is the word.

 

Thanks, enoob

[Vine Abider]

9 minutes ago, Sower said:

                     For any who may not know,

                          God is the word.

 

Thanks, enoob

"In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God." "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."  John 1:1 & 14

[Vine Abider]

18 minutes ago, Marathoner said:

 Some examples of cargo cults:  Amish, Amish-Mennonites, and groups that form in order to replicate the church as recorded in the book of Acts. The former believe that dressing a certain way and living a certain way acquires the blessing of God for them, while the latter believe that living a certain way and behaving in a certain way creates the "church as it was." 

Neither succeeds, and neither have the Life.

Amen!  I was in a quasi-cult for some time with a group that thought they had the way to be the church, to meet, etc.  While the teaching was pretty good and seemingly based on scripture* and at first things were VERY living, eventually the adherence to the form took over.  Then elitism set in and the group started believing it had something better (all the while advocating that they had the one, true path to Christian oneness).  After I got out I saw a good amount of similarities with the Amish . . .

* Paul tells the ones in Corinth that some say, "We are of Paul" and "I am of . . ."  and still others said, "We are of Christ!"  While the ones saying "We are of Christ" are doctrinally correct, it lacks love and is haughty, therefore just another division.