Knowing and Believing

                                                       Most of what we "know" isn't true

                                                                                         Anonymous 

Not long ago, sitting in the Lions' Square here in Samos, I had a college-dorm type of conversation with a good buddy.  He was wondering why, when it came to God and matters of the spirit, we can never know for sure.  Why can't we see miracles or other forms of irrefutable physical evidence, and know beyond a shadow of a doubt?

I didn't mention it, but Jesus did many miracles when he was on the earth, and it did not seem to matter.  Many people, especially the hyper-religious, still did not accept his claims.  Instead, while not denying that he possessed a supernatural power, they attributed his power to Beelzebub, the devil.  Or they would quibble with him about healing on the Sabbath day, the mandatory day of rest.  Either way, they refused to believe the clear evidence that was right in front of their eyes.  

In our recent Bible study on Mathew 16, the Pharisees and Saducees asked Jesus for a sign of his messiahship. He had already done many miracles in many places in front of vast multitudes, but they still wanted more.  It turns out that John 5 and Mathew 16 are nearly contempor- aneous.  Jesus said in John 5:31 that if it were just his own testimony that bore witness, it would not be valid.  He then gives us five solid reasons to believe on him. 

Vs. 32.  The Jews had accepted John the Baptist as a man of God, and 

              John pointed to Jesus.

Vs. 36.  The incredible miracles he had done, which had not been seen 

              in Israel since the days of the prophets.

Vs. 37.  The Father spoke audible from heaven three times over the 

             course of his earthly ministry: at his baptism, at the Mount of 

             Transfiguration, and during his last week on earth.

Vs. 39.  The holy scriptures, which foretold the key events in his life 

             down to the smallest detail.

Vs. 45.  Moses, the prophet they trusted above all others, wrote of his 

             coming.

I was reading 1 John 4 when we had the discussion in the Lion's Square.  John starts out the chapter talking about "believing," but by the 13th verse he speaks of us "knowing."  John admonishes us to "test the spirits," not to blindly accept claims made about spiritual matters.  And he gives us three ways to try the spirits and discern what is true.

1 John 4:2   "Hereby know ye by the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God."  Some were veering off in the direction of docetism, the teaching that Jesus had not actually taken on a human body.  The spirit of God will always direct us to the Jesus of the Gospels, the one who came down to this earth, assumed our nature and our flesh, lived as a man amongst men, suffered, and died for our sins.

4:6  "We are of God; he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us."  The truth will always line up with the writings of the apostles.  Because Jesus never wrote down anything that has been preserved, all we know about him comes from his followers.  

4:8.  The final test for knowing truth and reality is purely spiritual.  "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love".   It is impossible to know God, to experience the fullness of His spirit working in our lives, without manifesting love.  Indeed, Jesus said we could recognize a false prophet by his fruits.

1 John 4:13   "Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit."  We know because we have experienced Him.  If we expect to see God put under the microscope, photographed, and dissected to our satisfaction, we are going to be disappointed.  It isn't going to happen.  But if we are willing to humble ourselves, lay aside our own thoughts and accept His Son, He has promised to dwell within us.  What stronger proof could there possibly be?

The conviction that "experiencing is knowing" permeates all of John's writings.  "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren" (1 John 3:14).  See also 2:3-5, 3:24, 5:2, 5:13, 5:18-20.  Outside of experiential knowledge, all other knowledge is second hand. We heard it from someone else.  We may believe that the earth revolves around the sun, and we may believe it with a high degree of certainty, but we cannot say we know it for sure.  We only truly know what we have experienced.

The Robes of Righteousness

March 1 - This week we are studying Matthew 22.  "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they would not come............  So those servants went out into the highways and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good.  And the wedding hall was filled with guests.  But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.  So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.  Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'"

It was the custom in those days for kings to provide garments for the wedding guests.  This way everyone would be dressed in the same expensive clothing.  As a kid, I could never figure out how the royal closets would have just the right number of pants and shirts in all the right sizes.  But this was the Middle East, and everyone wore robes.  Like our bathrobes, you would only need small, medium and large sizes, and everyone could be properly fitted.

God has also provided a spiritual covering for His people.  "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27).  "But put ye on The Lord Christ Jesus, and make not provision for the flesh" (Romans 13:14).  It is impossible for us to supply our own righteousness; God has made provision for us in Christ Jesus.  When we believe on Him, God sees us through new eyes, imputing the righteousness of His son to us.  We are justified by simple faith.  

Colossians 3:10 "And have put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.  Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.  But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection."

"I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyfull in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels" (Isaiah 61:10).  The robe of righteousness in Christ will become the garment of our salvation for all eternity.  

The Changing of the Guard

January 17 - Erika is leaving us, flying to Switzerland to be with an old companion who is nearing the end of the journey.  She will stay with her sister, who lives fairly close to the Donneloye convention grounds. Elizabeth, left in the first picture below, will be taking her place.  She is planning to give language lessons here, and we will probably fit in somewhere.  We just learned the Greek word for one hundred, "exeto," which we told her we could remember because it sounds like "extra-toe."  I gathered from her expression that she prefers other teaching methods.  Anyway, we learned that Denita is a "ya-ya," a grandmother, and I can proudly claim the title of "papoose."  No, I am not making this up.

Someone sent us a picture this week that just melted our heart.  It showed Brian, our youngest son, sitting in a chair, cuddling with Ayla, our two year old granddaughter.  They looked pretty contented together.  We love Brian, and we love Ayla, and it was very obvious that they like each other as well.

It made me think of heaven.  Heaven will be filled with people who love God's Son.  No one else will be invited.  "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John 14:23).

The love between a man and a woman is perhaps the peak human experience, and it gives us a little glimpse of what heaven will be like.  When we respond to the love of God in the Gospel, we are betrothed to Christ. "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19).  It is a curious thing, but we love someone we have never met.  "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable" (1 Peter 1:8).  Like a bride, we spend our time here getting ready for the bridegroom of our soul. "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready" (Rev. 19:7).  The marriage itself is when we meet Christ for the first time. This is the grand climax of all creation, the fulfillment of God's plan from before the foundation of the world. The marriage supper, which follows the wedding, are the eternal ages Christ and the church will share together in perfect love.  "That ye, ........ may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge ......" (Eph. 3:17).

Elizabeth, Erica, and Anna

Vasili and Irene had us over for a snack on the way to the airport.  This room doubles as the living room, where we have our meetings.

This picture was taken one Wednesday night after Bible Study

Winter is Done - Finished - Kaput!

January 11 - Winter has come and gone.  The temperature was up 10 degrees this morning, and it's supposed to be 10 degrees warmer again tomorrow.  I don't know if this is normal, but we'll take it.

After meeting this morning, we took the younger Hellen and "inspected" the new pizza parlor that just opened along the waterfront.  One feels an immense responsibility to recommend good restaurants to visitors.  Smile.  After six months of eating Greek food, which is pretty bland, we got to sample cannoloni, calzone, ravioli and, of course, pepperoni.  I only wish Doyle was here to share in the discovery.

Anna, Erica, and Hellen. 

The most colorful character on Samos!  The olive-wood stoked oven makes fantastic breads and pizzas.

It was Anna's birthday January 13.  Her father worked on the Suez Canal, as did a lot of Greeks, and she was born in Egypt.  Anna speaks four languages: Arabic, French, English, and Greek.

We invited a neighbor lady, Maria, in for birthday cake.

Christianson's to Saipan

January 8 - Today Larry and Debbie Christianson are flying to Saipan to have an open home for the work of the Gospel there.  They plan to stay on the island until April 20th.  Larry just started a Blog where we can follow along, UsOnSaipan.blogspot.com, and the E-mail address where they can be reached is 1dejaceo@gmail.com. 

It is the dead of winter here.  It is supposed to get down to freezing tonight and tomorrow night.  The wind barrels across the Aegean, having nothing to stop it, and then slams into the hillside where the little town of Vathi sits.  Our house creaks, and the wooden shutters bang and clatter.  The 30 MPH gales toss the chairs around on the rooftop like toys.  We look across the bay and see an unfamiliar white line near the top of Mount Ampelos.

Tuesday, the 6th, was the Greek Orthodox Feast of the Epiphany.  It pre-dates Christmas, which was invented by the Roman church in the middle of the fourth century.  The Epiphany is an annual remembrance of the baptism of Christ, and each parish engages in a little ritual called "The Blessing of the Waters."  There was to be one here at Vathi at 11:00, and Denita and I got to the harbor's edge promptly at 12:00, camera in hand.  Rats!  Anyway, Erica told us the presiding bishop casts a cross into the sea, and some of the locals swim out to retrieve it.  The one who finds it gets a blessing.  

It is amazing to me how much stock people put in Christmas and Epiphany.  We never read anywhere in the Gospels where Jesus asked his followers to commemorate his birth or his baptism.  Nor did the apostles consider memorializing these events.  Rather, as we gather on the Lord's Day, we are asked to remember his life in the bread and the new covenant he sealed by blood in the wine.  "This do ye, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me."

Samos in the dead of winter from our hallway window

The Birthday Girl says Poli Creo!!!! (Very Cold)

Mmmmmmmm, fresh octopus!

Water cascading down the steps in front of our house.