Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. - 2Timothy 2: 23-26 (ESV)

God is always speaking to me first when it comes to writing devotionals. The same should be for anyone preaching. The only issue is if we are listening because the trap is to always assume this fantastic Word is for someone else. Even though it inevitably is, because we know His Word does not return void, it is foolish to not be introspective and see what God is saying to us as well. The moment we become unteachable is the moment we stop listening to God. It is difficult to write about discernment this much and not be criticized frequently. To point out false doctrine and error and not have people constantly throw it back on you. I try to say what I feel Paul would say. Of these I am the least. I am an imperfect vessel trying to explain the perfection of Christ. As my pastor says, dirt talking to dirt. Any insight I have comes from the Lord. Any biblical understanding comes from the Lord. At the end of the day though we are human and imperfect. One such area God is constantly trying to work on in me is the need to seemingly be willing to debate everyone, everywhere.

My motives might be pure but that is irrelevant. My desire is for people to come to the knowledge of the truth and come out from under the deception they are under. As so often in Christianity, we seem to like doing the job of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that draws, not me. With the ever expanding role of social media, we see that everyone who can put a halfway coherent thought together has a blog. Facebook has been the undisputed home of Monday morning quarterbacking for over a decade now and shows no signs of slowing down. The result is everyone is ready to argue at the drop of a hat, even in Christian circles. I had such an experience today. It was with an obvious Joseph Prince acolyte although he pretended he had never heard of him. Everything was hyper grace antinomianism. That means that he is an adherent of the false theology that the grace of God renders the law as meaningless in the life of a believer. I should have known better because these conversations always go the same way because the antinomian does not even listen to what is being offered to him. He merely regurgitates every scripture that has the word "grace" in it and pretends that any disagreement is a spirit of legalism. It becomes very frustrating as you craft well thought out scriptural responses only to have them glossed over for the next grace verse. When the dust settled and I was sitting down to write God led me to the key verses so He could deal with me on this. What does God say about this dynamic of arguing, even about important spiritual matters?

First off we are to have nothing to do with foolish and ignorant controversies for they lead to quarrels. The world likes to sell the notion that everything is in shades of gray. That there are no wrong opinions. I have even heard the heretical notion that there are no wrong bible verse interpretations. That is utter nonsense. The revealed Word of God is black and white beloved. There are no shades of gray. There is right and wrong. Black and white. Wise and foolish. Correct and ignorant. Well what does that mean preacher? It means we are supposed to rise above the pettiness of argument. That we are to discern when dealing with something or someone who is coming from a place of foolishness or ignorance. When we see we are dealing with someone who dismisses the law of God from the lives of believers for example we state the truth and walk away because we know the breeding of a quarrel will only follow. Quarrels inevitably confuse those who are watching or listening. They may start out with best intentions but the heart is wickedly deceptive beloved and if we were to be honest, it ends up being about our pride. About having to have the last word. About having to prove our point. The truth is that God does not need us to defend Him just to preach Him.

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. - 1Corinthians 2: 2-5 (ESV)

Nothing but the Gospel. When we find ourselves in arguments however it becomes so much more difficult to not end up resting in the wisdom of men. The next thing we see from the key verses is a reminder that we are in fact the Lord's servant. Our actions and words are supposed to serve God! We are not supposed to be a free agent or some uncontrollable wild card! We are supposed to behave as if we remember who it is that we serve. Just in case we get confused, God provides a definition for what being a Lord's servant entails when it comes to dealing with the foolish and ignorant people our flesh wants to argue with. This definition has five parts for us to consider. The first is that we are not to be quarrelsome by nature. That means we understand that dealing with the foolish and ignorant will lead to quarrels if we do not behave as a servant of the Lord. We must not have a nature that desires the quarrel. That seeks the disagreement out.

Don't answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are. Be sure to answer the foolish arguments of fools, or they will become wise in their own estimation. - Proverbs 26: 4-5 (NLT)

This literary form known as parallelism is throughout portions of Scripture, especially in Proverbs. It may appear to be contradictory but in reality verse five builds on verse four. What this is essentially teaching us is that we cannot stoop down to the level of the foolish argument - we cannot get into the quarrel. Yet at the same time, the fools argument cannot be left unchallenged. How do you respond to foolishness? With wisdom. How do you respond to ignorance? With the truth. The foolish or ignorant make their statement - you correct it and move on. The fool or the one who operates out of a place of ignorance desires the conflict because it muddies the water. State the truth and trust that God will not allow His Word to not accomplish the purpose for which it was set forth.

The second caveat in the definition of being the Lord's servant in these situations is that we are kind to everyone. Wow - doesn't this grate against the flesh! Who wants to be kind to their opponent? Who wants to be kind to someone they want to argue with and prove wrong? But we do not serve our flesh anymore but the Lord. As His servant we are His ambassador. If you have a Jesus fish on the back of your car then you have given up your right to cut people off! If you claim to represent Christ then you have given up your right to quarrel because we are supposed to be kind to everyone.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. - Ephesians 4: 31-32 (ESV)

Beloved, we are to treat people remembering how God treated us in our own ignorance and foolishness! That He died for us while we were still sinners against Him! It is difficult but we must remember that it is not about the person arguing. It is not about ourselves. It is always about Him. Even if we cannot sway the foolish or the ignorant, let them remember us for our kindness.

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. - 1Peter 2: 15 (ESV)

The third portion of the definition of being a servant for the Lord in these situations is that we must be able to teach. Teaching conveys that we make our points in a teachable manner. The people we speak to should never feel as if we are talking at them or over them. Teaching is done with a pastoral heart. We ought to be concerned about the person and their state of salvation. It matters not whether they are in the church or not. Many in the church are sitting under strong deception and have been tricked by the devil into thinking they are saved when they most certainly are not. They need a kind and teachable voice to say the truth about God. Maybe they will not come out of their darkness that day but the seeds we plant may be watered by someone else before God gives the increase.

Fourthly we are to patiently endure evil. God never said this was going to be easy. I know for myself personally when I hear or see false doctrine I want to get up in arms. I want to set the record straight. When I approach the situation that way the quarrel that follows usually saps whatever patience I have right away. Then the statements go from helpful to accusatory. From righteous to prideful. It eventually becomes about us instead of about God. Instead of kindness we represent the Lord like a bully. Don't think for a second that it is lost on those watching. On the unsaved or those who are babes in Christ. We can delude ourselves all day long that our anger is righteous but deep down we know it is all about us.

The fifth and last caveat of this definition of a servant of God during situations such as this is that we must correct our opponents gently. It would only make sense that if we are operating as servants of God in lovingkindness that even our correction would be gentle. When the woman was caught in adultery and the Pharisees brought her to Jesus we see Jesus never deviate from the truth. Never compromise the truth. But He also made His point gently and allowed God to do the rest. "Let him who is without sin..." and "Go and sin no more." The sobering truth today is that we do not need to smack people over the head with the Bible - saved or otherwise. It was not designed to be a blunt weapon:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. - Hebrews 4: 12 (ESV)

The Word of God is a double edged sword not a billy club. The Holy Spirit does the convicting; not us. Correct gently, in kindness. Our message will be heard better when it is not screamed at someone.

Why? Why does God so specifically outline for us how to behave in controversial issues? The answer is found in the remaining portion of the key verses. We can so easily forget that the goal is not to win the argument. The goal is not seem superior to others. The goal is that we can lead someone to the knowledge of truth through their repentance. That they may come to their senses beloved before it is too late and before they lead anyone else astray. It is so easy to forget that they have been ensnared by the devil to do his will. It matters not if they do not realize it. Some of the hardest delusion to break through is when the person feels they are grounded in the Word when they are not. The Bible speaks to this directly:

but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! - Matthew 6: 23 (ESV)

Indeed. Often times when we are dealing with foolish and ignorant positions what we fail to recognize is that the person who is enveloped in darkness actually has convinced themselves it is light! Telling them they are in darkness is not going to make the real light suddenly come on. The only thing that can break the yoke of blindness and has the words of eternal life is the Word of God! But as always we must remember that these truths are to be wielded in lovingkindness and delivered with gentleness. We must teach in a spirit of patience and a not have a quarreling nature if we are to ever expect someone to see the glorious light of the Gospel truth.

I write these things in utter shame and humility because I know I fail Him so often in this area. No one is ever going to be beaten up into the kingdom. They are not going to be forced into the kingdom. We cannot compel people to believe the truth. The Bible says that some simply refuse to hear the truth and choose unrighteousness. Thus they are sent a strong delusion. We can speak truth in love to the delusion but we cannot argue our way into removing it. The people watching or listening need to see Christ in action. Uncompromised truth who understands the eternal destination of the souls of men hang in the balance. The black and white definitive nature of absolute truth does not mean we get to shove it down the throats of those who do not want to hear it. We present the truth so the foolish argument is countered, let God be God, and then walk away. Having nothing to do with foolish and ignorant controversies which will only lead to destructive quarrels. Message received Father.

Reverend Anthony Wade - July 21, 2014