Last night we spent some time getting our heads around how the scriptures discuss the ideas of good and evil. This is connected to our study from a few weeks ago on true maturity, for which we read Hebrews 5:12-14 and saw that true maturity involves developing the ability to correctly distinguish between good and evil by using our experiences to let God teach us how he evaluates things.

If that’s so, it seems it raises three questions for which we must search the scriptures for answers:

• What is Good, and what is evil?
• How can we learn the difference between the two?
• Once we learn the answers to these questions, what should be our relationship to good and evil?

Here are the notes from last night:

Part 1: What is Good? What is Evil?

First, see Deuteronomy 30:15-19. This passage is key for this discussion. Notice especially these two pairings:

• v.15 Life & Good v. Death & Evil
• v.19 Life & Blessing v. Death & Cursing

This gives us a contrasting of two trios: Good/Life/Blessing and Evil/Death/Cursing.

Now see Psalm 34:8-16. Notice the similar themes. If you want to see life, seek the good.

So we can arrive at a preliminary definition for “good”: In the world of human experience, good is that which promotes and preserves life and everything associated with it.

Now see Jesus teaching in Matthew 19:16-17. Notice a similar paring of good and life, this time in the form of good things and eternal life. Jesus takes the time to point out an interesting fact: No one is ultimately good but God. (Note: this statement is not absolute, Jesus called other people good. Mt 12:35, 5:45)

With this we can get a fuller definition for “good”: Good is the basic quality of who God is, as the giver, promoter, sustainer, of life, and the one who makes life pleasurable, free, beautiful, and productive. Who God is defines good—that is, who he is in his personal qualities. These qualities reach us in the way he relates to everything he has made, especially in how his goodness reaches us as humans. This would make “evil” the opposite of those qualities God displays. Evil is everything that separates from created beings God, leading to breakdown in life, and ultimately, death.

Part 2: How do we learn to distinguish between the two?

The Problem: Our Senses Are Messed Up
See Isaiah 5:18-21. Notice a dual problem. First, our ability to distinguish between good and evil is impaired. It’s messed up just enough that a lot of times we make mistakes, and we’re easily fooled into mistaking good for evil and evil for good. Not only that, but as Isaiah points out, even the understanding we do have can be corrupted by people who intentionally obscure the difference between good and evil (see also Malachi 2:14-17, and Proverbs 14:12).

The Solution: Seek God. Specifically, let him tell you what promotes life.

See again Deuteronomy 30:11-19 and Romans 10:1-11. The ultimate “Good” and the ultimate “command” is to acknowledge Jesus is your rightful authority (“Lord”). Once we do that, how do we learn to know which things are good for a follower of Christ? We’re going to do the same thing the people of God have always had to do—we’re going to let God’s word teach us what things lead towards life and what things lead towards death.

Practically, we must learn to read the bible humbly, with prayer and other believers. As we read we ask God to use the stories, commands, and truths contained in it to show the difference between what things will promote and preserve life and what things will destroy life—especially what things will promote and destroy your life and the life of those around you. For this discussion, notice also John 17:3. Eternal Life is to know God.

The Full Story: Like so many things in life, the issue is all relational. Whatever breaks down my relationship with God leads to separating me from the source of life. So I let him tell me how to draw to close to him, how to “stay connected to him” and then I will be eternally in relationship with him, and therefore eternally connected to all that promotes life.

But we need to be careful here! Because of the culture we live in, we need to fight the temptation to assume we know what promotes life, and to think that if we just have positive feelings towards God, then we can trust our instincts about what’s good for us and what’s not. There’s too many pitfalls, lies, and confusing situations for us to ever put this thing on cruise control. We need to keep God’s instructions from scripture flowing through our minds so we keep getting fresh exposure to his thoughts. We need to develop a reflex of asking God about every decision—is this a way I should take or not? Is this a path I should go down? Is this thing good or bad to bring in to my life? Will this lead me closer to you, or further away from you? (See 1 Ki 3:9)

Part 3: What Should be a person’s relationship to Good and evil?

1. Those who know God become smart about what is good and how to do it, but not smart about how to do evil.

Romans 16:19
For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil.

Jeremiah 4:22
My people are foolish, They have not known Me. They are silly children, And they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, But to do good they have no knowledge.”

2. Those who know God learn to hate evil and stay away from it, but they love good—they chase it, and keep it close to themselves.

Romans 12:9
Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.

1 Thessalonians 5:15
See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.

3 John 1:11
Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.

Amos 5:14-15
Seek good and not evil, That you may live; So the LORD God of hosts will be with you, As you have spoken. Hate evil, love good; Establish justice in the gate. It may be that the LORD God of hosts Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

Psalm 34:14
Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.

3. Those who know God learn never to fall into the temptation of seeking to use evil to further God’s purposes. You can’t really defeat evil just by bringing in a stronger evil.

Romans 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

4. Those who know God learn to constantly remember that ultimately good is that which triumphs, and that which lasts. So they become people who use their lives to do things which are eternal, and they don’t despair when others do things which are evil. In other words, those who know God actively use their lives to do good things.

Proverbs 14:19
The evil will bow before the good, And the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

Romans 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

1 Peter 3:8-12
Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. For “He who would love life And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil.”

A few months ago while we were studying the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:9 stuck out to me, where Jesus instructs his followers how to pray. The first thing he tells them to ask is, “Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” After studying the passage, I had wanted to explore some of the scriptures where we are specifically directed to do just that–to hallow God’s name. On Monday night we had the opportunity to do just that together. Here are the notes:

Hallowing God’s Name // 8.3.2015

Matthew 6:9 – “Hallowed Be Your Name” To “hallow” means to “sanctify.” To make sacred, or to acknowledge as sacred. It means to set something apart as totally unique and pure, or, to set it apart as holy. This is usually done for people or for things. But a few places we’re told to “sanctify” or “hallow” God.

How can we “set God apart as Holy”?

Isaiah 8:11-14 This (v.11) was the basic way of the culture of Isaiah’s time: (v.12) …living in fear. But Isaiah and his community were to exhibit a sense of calm that was not freaked out by what was making everybody anxious. They were not to be characterized by anxiety, either from geo-political events everyone was talking about, or by threats from those who opposed them. (v. 13) Instead, they were to fear God. In order to figure out how the Lord seems to mean for us to “fear” him as he spoke through Isaiah, let’s think about something a little easier–How do people “fear” the other things Isaiah mentions?

1. When they hear about them, they believe they exist
2. They believe they will affect their lives
3. They listen to the pronouncements of the threats, and try to figure out what to do in response
4. They think about how to protect themselves
5. They Honor those making the threats, if necessary

In other words, the presence of those who they are afraid of begins to dominate their thinking and their decisions. Their emotional state is anxious, and their decision making is unstable. So, to “fear God” in this way is to acknowledge that he exists, and that he is present. It means we listen to the things he says and we respond accordingly. (You always obey the one you fear.) Since God is always present, his attribute of holiness begins to dominate our thinking and decision making—we know that the Holy God is always with us, and it leads us to live holy lives. What we think and do is always done in reference to Him above anything else. We constantly ask ourselves: How does God and who He is figure in to this decision?

Numbers 20:1-12
Here, Moses and Aaron were in an incredibly stressful situation. God provided, but they messed up their part–they misrepresented him and colored the way people would experience his help. It also seems like they kind of took credit for what (must “we” get you water?) and they were acting as if they really were the ones who were getting the water. But even though God had acted, no one would have been able to tell how calm God was in the situation by watching Moses and Aaron. So here, not hallowing God’s name means letting the stress of the situation get to you so that you freak out at people and misrepresent him.

1 Peter 3:8-17
The Christians Peter wrote to were facing opposition and possibly suffering for following Christ. He quotes Isaiah 8 for them, and adds to the negative response (“don’t fear”) a positive one (do be ready to give a humble, reasoned explanation of your message). So hallowing God’s name for Peter looks like not letting fear drive us to silence or to adopting the same tactics as those who don’t know God (v.9—reviling for reviling)

Some Applications:

1. To “Hallow” God’s name means that we live with a consciousness of his constant presence, and his holiness becomes a dominant concern for our lives.
2. Consequently everything we do is done in reference to who he is and how near he is. We don’t speak or act like he’s not around—as if we’re alone and unprotected in a hostile world, with only our own wits to protect us; or as if everything in our lives depends on us and our efforts. To act this way ignores God’s presence. When we live this way we fail to honor him for who he is, especially for people who don’t know him yet, or who are weak in their faith and need encouragement.
3. When we pray for God’s name to be hallowed, we ask for everything in the world to become aware of his presence and his holiness and for nothing to ignore him any longer. But the bible tells us that if we know Christ and follow him, we start with ourselves—we become ground zero for this new way of moving through life. We learn how to bring every word and action into line with this awesome, huge truth of the God who is always present and always holy. Then people will always see these two truths about God.
4. Peter adds that if we’re living and thinking this way, we’ll know it by our readiness to speak to people about what we believe. If I won’t speak to people about it, it may be that I’m fearing things other than God…and so I’m not hallowing his name before them, because I’m scared of them.
5. …Which begs the question for everyone—do you know the constant presence of God in your life?

Last night we spent some time thinking about biblical descriptions of maturity. Here are the notes:

PART 1: What Maturity Is – Ephesians 4:11-16

Observations from Ephesians 4:13.

1. Maturity is defined by Jesus. (The way Jesus was, and now is, fully human is fully mature humanity)
2. This maturity is achieved collectively, with a perfect expression of unity. (“we all”)
3. Maturity looks like perfect unity where we all are directed by and dependant on the risen Jesus.

PART 2: What it looks like in the meantime.

The maturity we pursue now is really a continual pressing forward towards this perfect maturity, which will only be reached in the next age. So what does it look like in our lives today? 

1. Maturity promotes loving truth and is not moved by deceitful human philosophies. (Ephesians 4:14)

If we’re growing towards maturity, together we’ll be less and less influenced by philosophies and ideas that aren’t true. In addition, (see 4:15, “speaking the truth in love”) maturity means we’ve learned to use our mouths to lovingly say things which promote truth. In other words, we verbally encourage people to think and act in ways that actually match reality. This will always promote a true unity which helps people grow and work in a coordinated, healthy manner, and will always be pointed up towards Jesus. We’ll move towards a situation where he’ll be the head, which means this maturity will be unified around obedience to Jesus, and dependence on him. Practically, this means that we are led and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

2. Maturity has to do with having God’s wisdom revealed to you and in knowing how to transcend sinful fighting, divisions and envy. (See 1 Corinthians 1:17-18, 1:21-25, 2:6, 2:13, 3:1-3)

Maturity, evidently, always pursues unity, and it always moves in the direction of obedience to and dependence on the risen Jesus. Christian maturity is supernatural, and is growing in a direction that makes no sense to those who don’t actually know or follow Jesus.

3. Maturity involves understanding the work of the Holy Spirit. (See 1 Corinthians 14:20)

How do you come to understand the way the Holy Spirit works? You actively involve yourself in the things we saw in Ephesians 4—you use your life to be part of God’s people in such a way that you contribute your part to the work of building up the whole family of God, and you let. Notice also that we are encouraged to be immature in terms of our doing evil.

4. Maturity includes having experience and ability to correctly distinguish between Good and Evil. (see Hebrews 5:12-14)

Also maturity can handle real spiritual truth because it has worked to develop skill in understanding God’s word…and these two things are related. We can’t claim to understand deep things about the bible, if we don’t have the ability to correctly distinguish between good and evil. We have to use our experiences to let God teach us how he evaluates things (is this thing/path/decision “good” or “evil”?). This helps us develop “skill” in understanding and applying God’s word, for ourselves, and for others. (As these verses say, “You should have been teachers by now!”)

5. Maturity understands it has still not arrived, and so it presses towards the goal. (See Philippians 3:12-15)

Thus, maturity in this life is not a destination; it is more of a state of motion and a direction, always moving towards deeper maturity. In verse 12, Paul says that he “hasn’t yet been perfected” and uses a related word to our word for “mature” in verse 15. And actually, right now, we have a similar idea everyone’s talking about—the idea of evolving, that we’ve changed by progressing to a certain way of thinking or being, and then we arrive at the desired state. But Paul says that truly mature people think this way (Philippians 3:12-14) “I just want to know Jesus, and I haven’t arrived yet, so I’ll spend my life pressing on to know him more and more every day.” That is the truly “evolving” mind.

6. The goal of Christian teaching is a mature humanity. It’s worth expending labor for. (See Colossians 1:28-29)

Some Challenges from these texts:

1. Do these things describe us, or not? Christians—have we settled for immaturity in our lives?
2. Are we attempting to pursue our own self realization? This has no place for the Christian, who understands that true humanity is found together with others, unified under Christ’s headship. In a culture that worships self-realization, we must let God’s truth direct our minds in another direction. This is the direction of Christ and the new humanity he’s creating. (See Ephesians 2:14-22)
3. We should see that there are many ideas and philosophies which are diametrically opposed to this way of seeing the world, and to God’s purposes (as described in Ephesians 1:9-10). We can string all these points together—these forces opposing true maturity spread teachings which blur the distinction between good and evil for the purpose of breaking down people’s ability to unify under Christ the head and be energized by the Holy spirit to live lives which build up the God’s new humanity.
4. If you don’t know Jesus, you may decide–do you want to be part of this new humanity?The bible asks us to be real about what’s going on around us in the world—we should admit that things are messed up, and that in many ways humanity has gone horribly wrong. We should then look at ourselves and admit that we are part of the problem—we’ve contributed our share to the evil, and we’re personally liable to God for our share. The Christian message is that the solution to the problem has come—it’s Jesus Christ. He came, lived a perfect life, and died in our place to pay the debt we owed for the evil we contributed. He rose again and began the work of gathering people to himself. Anyone can now join the family of people who follow Jesus to learn from the Holy Spirit how to be part of his Church—his body. If you want to begin this life of learning these things, you can start today.

Last night we finished our study through Matthew chapters five through seven (“The Sermon on the Mount”). Here are the notes:

7:13-14
The picture Jesus draws: Two gates, one wide, one narrow, leading to two ways. The Wide Gate leads to a wide road with lots of people traveling on it, and it goes to what Jesus calls “destruction.” The Narrow Gate leads to a road that’s difficult to walk on with not a lot of people traveling on it, and it leads to eternal what Jesus calls “life.”

The command he gives in response to this reality is “enter” and the means to enter is by passing through the narrow gate. Based on verse 14 this must mean “enter into life. Based on other verses, including Matthew 18:3 (which speaks of “entering the kingdom of God”) and Matthew 18:8 (“enter into [eternal] life”), this “life” must be the eternal life in the kingdom of God Jesus frequently referred to.

So “enter” must mean, “begin the journey now, by making a decisive decision, which will have ramifications for your life, This decision will literally shape the rest of your existence, and it will ultimately lead to eternal life.” …Which means that the two ways are not ends in themselves, but their significance is found in the destinations each of them leads to.

So Jesus challenges anyone within earshot, especially those who have some connection to him, to make a decisive choice to step into the hard life of following him. He pictures the choice as a gate which is restrictive, and which few pass through, maybe because it is so narrow. He promises that this, and this alone is the way to life. If you’re a believer, this encourages you to press on up the hard road, remembering why you’re on that road—you’re headed to life.

If you’re not on that road, Jesus calls you to repent—which in this teaching means—turn aside from the broad road, leave the common way of living and thinking, and enter the narrow gate. Choose life by choosing the way of following Jesus now even though it has real short term costs, like persecution and minority status.

Some Applications:

1. Life really is this serious. In our time we’re tempted to think of everything as kind of a joke and a party. In jokes and parties things don’t really matter, just having a good time. That’s why being chill and funny are the two traits we esteem most. But here is Jesus being drop-dead serious. There are times in life to get this sober—to realize that really life is not about the joke and party, but about the destination we’re headed to.
2. It’s not really about the journey. It’s about the destination. The destination determines whether the journey is meaningful, significant, and worth it. If the journey ends in destruction, the whole struggle, the whole party, was a waste. If the journey ends in glory (in “life”), the whole struggle, all the joys and victories, are gathered up into eternal significance. The destination is everything.
3. Jesus asks us to totally redefine what we think life is. He tells us that there is not a rainbow of choices. Unless he’s ignorant, or lying, there are only two choices in life: a wide road and a narrow road. Our culture has declared that there are many paths, and one destination. Jesus declares that there are only two paths, and most certainly there are two different destinations. We must choose: who is our authority, and who should get our allegiance? Anyone can choose to disagree with Jesus. But then they should admit who they follow and why they gave that person authority to say what life is all about. And if someone makes that choice, they must personally reject Jesus’ claim to authority—especially if they’ve heard about Jesus. What is not available to any honest person is the option of saying that life has many roads, and at the same time saying Jesus agrees with them. He does not.
4. If this is true, why does there seem to be many roads? In other words, if Jesus knows what he’s talking about, why isn’t it more obvious? Why does there seem to be many ways of living, thinking, and worshipping? And why isn’t there more help in evaluating all the choices? Why is it so confusing? The answer is right actually right here in this teaching. The broad road has “many people” on it—so by definition it is wide, in other words, it takes in all kinds of things. It’s a big tent: it seems to accommodate every possible way of living and thinking, and so it is easy to mistake that one broad road for many different roads. But Jesus says that’s not the case—It’s actually all one road, and only leads to one place. The huge numbers it boasts doesn’t change that fact.
5. Why are there only two roads? “The reason there are only two ways is that one is exclusively by revelation.” (D.A. Carson) In other words, there is only One God to know, and therefore only one path into relationship with him. And that one path is only illuminated when he shows us the way. So people can have all kinds of ideas about how to find God, but only God really knows. What ends up happening is what Paul says in Romans 3:4—God is true, and every man a liar.
6. Which gate have you entered? Which road are you on? Which destination are you headed to? The bible gives us a very definite way to know the answer to that question. Have you entered by the narrow gate of repenting of your sin and acknowledging Jesus Christ as the Lord of everything, and of you personally. Have you affirmed in your heart what the Bible says—that he was perfect, was killed, and is now alive because he rose from the dead. In effect, have you pledged your allegiance to Jesus to be his follower regardless of what it costs. If you have, your road will be hard but you are walking to life. If you have not, you are on the wide road, and whatever hardships you have in life, you won’t face persecution because of an identification with Jesus, and your road leads inevitably to destruction.

7:15-20
Don’t listen to just anyone who claims to say what God thinks. Instead, look at their words and their lives. Do their teachings match the teachings of Jesus? (For instance, do they teach that the gate is narrow which leads to life and the road has only a few people walking on it?) Does their life match the life Jesus called his followers to? Does it seem to evidence the power of the Holy Spirit?

If not, you don’t have to listen to them. We shouldn’t be surprised that there are so many ideas about God, and about how to know God. We shouldn’t even be surprised that people use the name Jesus in so many different ways. Jesus told us to expect this. The fact that he has to warn us about wolves in sheep’s clothing means that people will mimic truth for the sake of promoting error. So all these ideas about God don’t disprove the bible; they confirm its predictions.

Jesus himself tells us to be discerning: Don’t listen to everyone who claims to speak for him! Examine their words, and examine their lives. Match it against the only records about the real Jesus and his teachings we have—the documents collected in the New Testament. That’s our only sure guide to distinguish between the wide and narrow roads.

End: Read Mat 7:21-29 – If we’re tempted to doubt if we should listen to Jesus, we need to grapple with the historical reality of who Jesus was, and therefore who he is now. To listen to him was to be struck by his authority.