“Jesus said to them,” “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.” Matthew 13:52
A good friend helped me understand this passage better by explaining that Jesus mingles both old and new Truths together, and encouraged His followers in this passage to discover how to do this same thing in the way they live out their lives!
Jesus while on the earth, was all about unity of Truth. Nothing that He said was against the teachings of the Old Testament. Jesus brought something that was different to the people, but still was complete Truth and went along with the entire message of the Bible! In this passage, Jesus asked His disciples if they understand what He is telling them about all these different passages. They say they do, meaning that they are ready to live it out in their lives!
What is Jesus refering to with the teachers or (scribes) in this passage?
”They must be scribes who discover the truth”. The scribes began as a noble group under the leadership of Ezra. Their purpose was to preserve the Law, study it, and apply its truths to daily life. Over the years, their noble cause degenerated into a routine task of preserving traditions and man-made interpretations, and adding burdens to the lives of the people (Luke 11:46–52). They were so wrapped up in the past that they ignored the present! Instead of sharing living truth from God’s Word, they merchandised dead doctrines and “embalmed” traditions that could not help the people.” The Bible Exposition Commentary
Today, Christians are people who have the Truth of God inside of them through the Holy Spirit, but they need to discover what they need to be doing in the world! Christians are called to be people who are continually using all avenues of both traditions of the old way of thinking from the past, as well as new observations of the present that are following after the Way of Jesus! Both old traditions and new methods of discovering God’s Truth are both correct as long as the Spirit of God is the one doing the work! A Spirit of God will be one that unites Christians with one another, and does not destroy. A Christian then, will be a person who “mingles” both the old and the new together as Jesus did. The new will not be against the old and the old will not defeat the new. But they will both mingle and work alongside of each other in perfect harmony, because God will be working in the lives of the believers through His Holy Spirit!
One amazing privilege of a Believer, is to take the Truth of God, and live it out in whatever situation they may find themselves in, because of the Holy Spirit at work in their life! As Christians, the Spirit of Truth will be the guide in helping to mingle together all Truth, which God is constantly accomplishing for His Kingdom! When a person opens themselves up to constantly looking for Truth in God’s Word and to His Spirit, they will find out what God is doing in the world, and come alongside, and assist in bringing all Truth together, and living it out in their lives, with the help of the power of God! (John 14:6) (John 16:13) (1 John 5:6)
You said in your post, “Today, Christians are people who have the Truth of God inside of them through the Holy Spirit, but they need to discover what they need to be doing in the world!” I agree with you, Jathan. My question is: How do we encourage Christians to reach inside of themselves and bring the Truth of God out? This is one issue the church struggles with the most. How do we allow the Truth of God to come out and faithfully be revealed? It is a tough question – I am not expecting you to have an answer right away.
My other question is built off the sentence you state, “One amazing privilege of a Believer, is to take the Truth of God, and live it out in whatever situation they may find themselves in, because of the Holy Spirit at work in their life!” My question is: Is it a privilege or is it a responsibility? I understand it is an issue concerning grace – we must always remember it is by grace we know the Truth of God. Is it just a privilege or a responsibility or both? Just want to see what you think. Thanks for your post. God bless man.
By: timiekley on January 25, 2008
at 5:44 am
Thanks Tim for your responses. All good questions! For your first question, I believe that the only way for a person to get out the Holy Spirit in their life is to have from God! So, to get a Christian to reach inside of themselves and allow the Truth of God to be revealed, I belive we need to get more from God! This goes along with what we are constantly talking about with faith! Matthew talks about Asking, Seeking, and Knocking on God! In order to reveal God’s Truth in a Christians life, they need to be Asking God! Seeking God. And Knocking on God. These 3 aspects can be understood as Communicating with God (Prayer), Reading and Observing His Truth(Bible), and also risking everything and going up to the door of God’s incredible riches, and accept His gifts to us, and then act on the gift God has given you. I belive this is how a Christians relationship with God works! I think Christians get frustrated sometimes because they may do bits and pieces of what they need to do to become weapons of God! A Christian might Pray to God, and they may Read His Word, but then I think a lot of times they do not go up to the door and accept their gift from the Lord! Recieving the gift requires a person who is risking everything, not knowing what is going to happen when the door is opened and the gift is given. Most people hate change, and hate risk, and are not willing to be vulnerable before God to accept the gift that God wants to give them to live out in their lives, to impact others!
I like your other question as well. I belive it is both a privilege -(Blessing) and a responsibility (Grace) for us to live out the Truth of God in our lives!
Thanks for your good questions Tim. Keep asking them, they are helpful to me. Let me know if my answers made any sense to you!
By: wisconsinway on January 25, 2008
at 6:01 pm