Spiritual Contemplations for those who serve the Lord |
People needs guidance from servants. They get teaching from their mouths considering it the Church teaching. Therefore, we need to observe the purity of our teachings which we give to people lest we offend those who put their trust in us. St. Paul mentioned this in his talk to servants saying, “You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?” (Romans 2:21-22) In his trial when St. Paul was talking to the chief priest who gave an order to strike him on his mouth, St. Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?” (Acts 23:3)
1. To be out of pure conduct “Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct” (Hebrews 13:7) This is according to what our Lord said, “First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye” (Luke 6:42) The plank in your eye is hindering you from clearly seeing the mistake in your brother to guide him. Therefore, Lord Jesus Christ likened whoever does this with a blind leading a blind. This is the wrong teaching of the Pharisees which people observed in them and about whom Jesus Christ said, “Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers” (Luke 11:46) Therefore, St. Paul said to his disciple, “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine” (1Timothy 4:16). Our fathers, the Church teachers, had this good conduct, which is righteousness, otherwise their teaching would be abstract theological theories that only increase one’s knowledge (knowledge puffs up) It is hard when people feel that our teachings are directed meaning they are connected to certain persons, certain benefits, or compliments. Therefore, we accept the teaching of a certain person because of his rank while we refuse the same teaching from another person as our teacher St. James says, “My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality….. and become judges with evil thoughts? ……. but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors” (James 2:1-9) Therefore, the Holy Bible warns us not to fall under the curses of this contradiction. In such case, we take a curse from the Lord instead of taking a blessing, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20) 2. To be paired with good deeds Our Lord said, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46) What matters is not what we say but if we do what we say. When the Lord gave a metaphor of those who do and those who do not, He gave the parable of the wise man who wanted to build a house, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” (Matthew 7:24-27) Whoever notices the difference between the two will find no outward difference as both built two houses seen by people. But the difference between them is a hidden difference that people cannot see which is the foundation. Is the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Rock, the foundation of our teaching? The only thing that illustrates the difference between the two buildings is the coming floods (the tribulation). Sometimes, God allows tribulations to come upon us to purify His church from impurities (strange teachings), to characterize the believers and saints and to steadfast them. Our teacher St. Peter emphasizes this meaning in his saying, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you” (1Peter 4:12) In the first book of Samuel, we find David the prophet talking with assurance about his trust that God would give him victory over Goliath. This trust is coming from a practical experience he got when he struggled with a lion and a bear. There is a huge difference between a servant who talks out of practical experience in God’s work with him and another one who talks without this experience. 3. To be taken from the Church In the book of Acts, when the Council of Jerusalem was held, the apostles said nice words, “Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law”—to whom we gave no such commandment” (Acts 15:24) What the Fathers said shows that the sound teaching must have reference from the Church. St. Paul himself presented his Gospel to the Apostles, who seemed to be pillars, lest he taught his own teaching instead of the Church’s. St. Paul reminds us that we were handed an unshakable kingdom. Preaching the Kingdom is a tradition handed to us by the church. He warns us to be carried not by strange teachings, “Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines” (Hebrews 13:9) Unfortunately, teachings are plenty nowadays. Some of them are cheap and others are precious. But among all these teachings, we must know those of the Church. Even the sayings of the Fathers, although they are deep and dense, yet we must understand them through the Church understanding. If the sayings of St. Paul were distorted by some people who do not understand or study well (as our teacher St. Peter said), we would rather be cautious when we study and understand the sayings of the Fathers. 4. To acquire the virtue of discernment This is one of the most important virtues through which we can discern the teaching offered to us and to discern the one we give to people. We ought not offer everything, and you may mention sound information and right words that are not convenient to the listeners. Therefore, St. Paul says to the Corinthians, “I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able” (1 Corinthians 3:2) Our Lord Jesus Christ rebuked the Pharisees because they were able to discern the face of the sky and were not able to discern the times. In the book of Acts, there is a nice story about a servant named Rhoda. This girl was able to discern the voice of St. Peter although she did not see him as he was behind the door. Yet, she entered inside telling everybody that Peter was outside. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “My sheep hear My voice” (John 10:27) Job did not accept the words of comfort from his friends because he did not feel they were God’s voice to him. Therefore, Job’s friend became like students who memorized the curriculum and rules without understanding how to apply what they knew. May the Lord grant us to be honest in our teachings and to observe its purity. Amen *Adapted from the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States - Monthly Message for the Consecrated May 2021
0 Comments
|
AboutMonthly articles for servants. Adapted from HGBY and other fathers' writings. Archives
April 2022
Categories
All
|