“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.”
(Matt 13:19, NKJV)
In a previous teaching we pointed out that David became a target for Satan because he was not positioned correctly, he was not in alignment. What exactly does it mean to be positioned correctly? There are a few aspects we need to consider.
Firstly – you need to exactly understand what happened at the cross of Yahshua. The term “completed work of the cross” is often used, e.g. by Francis Schaeffer in his book True spirituality. But what exactly does this mean?
Schaeffer ponders this matter because it is an answer to the alternative reality in which many Christians live. The Christian faith is grounded in my everyday reality. If my relationship with God does not dictate every facet of my functioning in the reality of everyday life, I am living in a Christian imaginary world and this eventually forms a demonic construct through which I am controlled and which I could even believe is from God. It also means that I need to integrate everything around me into what I believe. But ironically enough Christians often use this as a cop-out – we don’t understand certain things but blindly believe that somewhere within God’s greater scheme it does make sense. Believers who are faced with great tragedies are often comforted with these words – We may not understand now, but one day it will all make sense. (This is a version of 1 Cor 13:12 – “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”)
Yet it is important to God that we understand things – He had after all created us as rational beings, and encourage us to wrestle with Him in certain matters (Isa 1:18), presenting our case (Isa 41:21) before him. We need to always be willing to answer to anyone that requires an explanation of us (1 Pet 3:15).
“Many Christians,” says John Stott in his Your mind matters, “are keen but clueless”.
In Christian circles one finds a strong pull towards anti-intellectualism. This is mainly because the focus so strongly falls on experiencing God – it is thus about the experience of God, and not about knowledge. I still remember how a pastor in a large Charismatic meeting, years ago, urged the congregation to address their brain and loudly say – “Brain, one day you will rot.” God’s children are not mindless idiots.
The Word seriously warns against zeal devoid of knowledge (Prov 19:2; Isa 5:13; Hos 4:6; Rom 10:2). What you do not perceive, you cannot receive. If you have received something from God which you do not understand, Jesus spelled out in Matt 13:19, you are robbed of it – “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.”
- Sela: Repent of any form of resistance to “the mind of Christ”(1 Cor 2:16).
- Read: 1 Kings 1:1-3
- Examine how this is fulfilled: 1 Kings 1:18. Who are the sons of Zadok in the new covenant?
- For a deeper understanding: Read John Stott’s Your mind matters.
