Jesus prepared you to weather the changes our society is experiencing.
John 16:1-4a (NIV)
CONTEXT: Jesus has been speaking with His disciples in the hours before His arrest.
“All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them.
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 29: The Marks of the True Church
The true church can be recognized
if it has the following marks:
The church engages in the pure preaching
of the gospel;
it makes use of the pure administration of the sacraments
as Christ instituted them;
it practices church discipline
for correcting faults.
As for the false church,
it assigns more authority to itself and its ordinances
than to the Word of God;
it does not want to subject itself
to the yoke of Christ;
it does not administer the sacraments
as Christ commanded in his Word;
it rather adds to them or subtracts from them
as it pleases;
it bases itself on men,
more than on Jesus Christ;
it persecutes those
who live holy lives according to the Word of God
and who rebuke it for its faults, greed, and idolatry.
These two churches
are easy to recognize
and thus to distinguish
from each other.
Summary
Why is it that you're expected to gather with God's people weekly to hear His Word proclaimed? Why do we encourage you to read and dig deeper into God's Word each weekday? Jesus explains here that one of the primary purposes that He gives His Word to us is so that you will not fall away.
That final night with Jesus had to be excruciating. The disciples didn't know exactly what would happen in the coming hours, but they knew nothing would be the same from this point on, and that their ability to spend time learning day after day at the feet of their Rabbi was coming to an end in one way or another. But they didn't spend that last night together reminiscing all of the awesome moments they shared; instead Jesus wanted to teach them all He could before being led to His death because He knew it was this teaching that would keep them strong.
Jesus wanted them to know their life would be a battle, even after - maybe even especially after - His coming resurrection. Yes, they would experience Pentecost and perform signs and wonders in His name, but many of them would suffer immensely and die as martyrs.
Jesus here warns them of the source of their suffering. It wouldn't just come at the hands of pagans, but even more so from those who thought themselves to be the godliest. It would come from what our Confession refers to as the false church.
Dig Deeper
We've lived through an exceptional time in history. In nearly every other epoch, there has been a tight relationship between the religious and civil authorities. The religious leaders accusing Jesus of blasphemy still needed approval from the Roman government to have Him executed, but they were a strong enough politically to manipulate Pontius Pilate and get their way.
Such a relationship between religious and political powers seems so foreign to us here in North America. Afterall, we live in a context in which both sides have seen the wisdom of keeping the church and government in different spheres. Religion hasn't had the power to persecute, and secular authorities have lacked the ability to regulate faith.
But this independent relationship between the church and state these last couple of centuries, which has been the exception compared to most of history, is showing signs of collapse. The secular world has positioned itself to have increasing authority over how its citizens can live in and express our biblical convictions, and increasingly severe penalties will result for infractions. The false church is once again becoming more politically powerful.
Although this change is difficult for those of us who remember that exceptional time in history where we were free of persecution, take comfort in the fact that God's protection over you hasn't relaxed one bit at all. In fact, Jesus here warns us that their time is coming (it comes and goes throughout history), and He gives us His Word so that you will not fall away as that time comes once again.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who holds us in His hands through good times and bad;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will increase your effort to know God's Word so that you will not fall away as 'their' time comes once again;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: 3 John
