Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Agree or Disagree

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

AGREE OR DISAGREE

Luke 12:8-10

8 "I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. 9 But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

NIV

What is interesting when we look into Greek, the word translated as acknowledge, homologeo, has this direct meaning to agree with. We can see two words here making up this compound word, homo, and logo which we can see as man agreeing with the word.  However, this agreement with Jesus must be before men. We cannot simply be in agreement with Jesus while hiding in our church or Christian community. This is what Jesus said about hiding the light under a bowl, instead, we are to put it on a lampstand for all to see. Using this translation we must acknowledge the fact that we know and agree with Jesus before other people who may not or rather do not agree with Jesus.  Jesus is warning us that if we disown him before men, we are in big trouble. Again, the Greek word gives us greater insight into what disown means, arneomai means to contradict and can be used to disavow, reject, or abnegate. This word is mostly translated as deny, however, we think to contradict Jesus before men is much deeper than simply denying. If we just live our daily walk in life, doing what we do, at work, at the stores shopping, or whatever else we do and never ever say anything about being in agreement with Jesus are we in some sense not acknowledging him before men. Sure, we cannot go around with our megaphone screaming out the good news about the kingdom of God. Yet, whenever we engage in any conversation with another person, do we confess our agreement with Jesus, that is do we insert the word of God into the conversation. We think this is more than trying to tell people our beliefs but informing them of what Jesus said that is relevant to the conversation. In other words, people should know what Jesus said, and that we are born again, Spirit-filled followers of Jesus. Simply saying we are a Christian may not be enough, as many who actually contradict Jesus are calling themselves Christian. Of course, Jesus said that even if we are not in agreement with him, and contradict what he said, we will be forgiven. We would also think that would include some form of repentance, or changing the fact that we contradict him and now agree with him. However, there is no forgiveness if we vilify the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? How can we speak against the Holy Spirit? We wonder if this could indicate that we are not willing to accept gifts as relevant for today. If we choose to ignore the gifts of the Spirit, both to the church and to each individual then are we in essence contradicting the Spirit and Jesus. Even if we confess the gifts of the Spirit are real, but do not allow them to be practiced within the community of faith, we could be denying the Spirit, and that could bring unforgiveness to our lives. Jesus said we would not be forgiven which are harsh words. Let us be both in agreement with Jesus and the Spirit before other people. How that looks may be a little different depending on each person’s personality, but we cannot be simply the silent minority, we need to speak up. 

No comments: