Are You Growing in Knowledge and Truth?

PRAY OVER THIS

“We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.”

1 Corinthians 8:1b

 

PONDER THIS

Would you like to find out whether or not you’re growing in knowledge and truth? Let me ask you this question: Are you excited about truth? What new truths are you learning? Are you experiencing freedom in your life? Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). Are you still in bondage to political correctness, prejudice, lies, the party line, pressures, and fears? It is because you’ve not understood the truth. Are you learning humility? A man who is learning truth doesn’t tell you how much he knows; he tells you how little he knows and how much he has yet to learn. The more you learn, the more you realize that the ocean is so big, and your boat is so small. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.

Have you experienced the reality that knowledge puffs up?

How might you pursue humility, even as you seek to grow in knowledge and 

truth?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of the differences between only growing in knowledge and growing in knowledge of the truth.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Suffering That Crushes Faith

“They have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.” (Mark 4:17)

The faith of some is broken instead of built by suffering. Jesus knew this and described it here in the parable of the four soils. Some people who hear the word receive it at first with gladness, but then suffering makes them fall away.

So, affliction does not always make faith stronger. Sometimes it crushes faith. And then come true the paradoxical words of Jesus, “The one who has not, even what he has will be taken” (Mark 4:25).

This is a call for us to endure suffering with firm faith in future grace, so that our faith might grow stronger and not be proved vain (1 Corinthians 15:2). “To the one who has, more will be given” (Mark 4:25). Knowing God’s design in suffering is one of the main means of growing through suffering.

If you think your suffering is pointless, or that God is not in control, or that he is whimsical or cruel, then your suffering will drive you from God, instead of driving you from everything but God — as it should. So, it is crucial that faith in God’s grace includes the faith that he gives grace through suffering.

John Piper 

Bible Study

Galatians 1:6-7

[6] I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—[7] not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Galatians 5:7-10

[7] You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? [8] This persuasion is not from him who calls you. [9] A little leaven leavens the whole lump. [10] I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.

Matthew 11:6

[6] And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Isaiah 8:14-15

[14] And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. [15] And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

Do You Hate Sin?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

(Colossians 3:5)

 

PONDER THIS

God’s people are to live like Christ is all, and in all. Paul told the Colossians to put to death the sin in their lives. Why would you put something to death? Because you hate it. Did you know that Christians need to learn to hate? You cannot have love without hate any more than you can have high without low, or hot without cold, or in without out. If you love justice, you hate crime. If you love health, you hate disease. If you love purity, you hate pornography. If you love flowers, you hate weeds.

We are to hate any sin in our lives. It needs to be put to death. Why? Because Christ is all, and in all. What is the center of the Christian life? It is not your church. It is not prayer. It is not doing good. It is Jesus Christ. Christ is our life! He is all and in all.

What does your life say is at the center? Is it Jesus or something else?

Have you learned to hate sin in your life?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of sins that you desire to hate in your life. Make a corresponding list of how hating that sin leads you to love Christ more.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Suffering That Strengthens Faith

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. (James 1:2–3)

Strange as it may seem, one of the primary purposes of being shaken by suffering is to make our faith more unshakable.

Faith is like muscle tissue: if you stress it to the limit, it gets stronger, not weaker. That’s what James means here. When your faith is threatened and tested and stretched to the breaking point, the result is greater capacity to endure. He calls it steadfastness.

God loves faith so much that he will test it to the breaking point so as to keep it pure and strong. For example, he did this to Paul according to 2 Corinthians 1:8–9,

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

The words “but that was to” show that there was a purpose in this extreme suffering: it was in order that — for the purpose that — Paul would not rely on himself and his resources, but on God — specifically the promised grace of God in raising the dead.

God so values our wholehearted faith that he will, graciously, if necessary, take away everything else in the world that we might be tempted to rely on — even life itself. His aim is that we grow deeper and stronger in our confidence that he himself will be all we need.

He wants us to be able to say with the psalmist, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:25–26).

John Piper 

Bible Study

Matthew 5:12-14

[12] Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

[13] “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

[14] “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

1 Peter 1:6-9

[6] In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, [7] so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. [8] Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, [9] obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Hebrews 10:36-38

[36] For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. [37] For, 

    “Yet a little while,

        and the coming one will come and will not delay; 

    [38] but my righteous one shall live by faith,

        and if he shrinks back,

    my soul has no pleasure in him.”

Romans 5:3-6

[3] Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, [4] and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, [5] and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

[6] For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

How Do We Attain the Truth?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Buy the truth, and do not sell it, also wisdom and instruction and understanding.” (Proverbs 23:23)

 

PONDER THIS

Believing in Jesus is the first step in attaining truth; we must also abide in His Word through discipleship. Discipleship is costly—it costs time, discipline, and obedience; but ignorance is far more costly. We must study the Bible for enlightenment. If we know in knowledge but not in grace, we will be dangerous to ourselves and to others.

Truth is to your spirit what food is to your body, what light is to your eyes, what melody is to your ears.

We also study Scripture for our enjoyment; reading the Bible should not be perceived as a punishment, but as a privilege. We read for our personal enrichment, to sharpen our minds and strengthen our wills. We read Scripture for our enablement, to grow in our faith and fellowship with others.

Finally, we must preserve the truth; guarding it against those who will deny, distort, dilute and defile the Bible. We do this by proclaiming the Gospel truth.

Why must believing in Jesus and valuing Scripture go hand in hand?

Are you more likely to view reading the Bible as a punishment or as a privilege? Why?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time today to read the Bible in an unhurried manner, seeking to enjoy the privilege of studying God’s Word.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers