What Was Wrong With Simon?

This was our topic of discussion in Sunday night small group. I posted this on our small group website as further thoughts:

What Was Wrong With Simon?

Acts 8:9b - "saying that he himself was somebody great."
Acts 8:10b - "This man is the power of God that is called Great."

Simon was seen by those around him as a man of power. Not only was he seen as a man of power, but he was even called THE power of God that is called Great. Simon loved it. He was a power and fame seeker. He thrived on being the center of attention; he thrived on being seen as a powerful god-man.

When he saw that when the apostles laid their hands on some the Holy Spirit was given, he could only imagine what it would be like to possess that type of power. "I want to be able to do these signs! I want to give the Holy Spirit! I want to be the man!" Acts 8:18b-19 - "he offered them money, saying 'Give me this POWER also, so that anyone on whom I lay MY hands may receive the Holy Spirit.'"

I want this power! That's all he could think about.
Simon badly missed the point. Simon badly mis-heard the Gospel.

A lot of times we think like Simon, whether we realize it or not. We are hungry for fame in our circles. We want people to say what they said about Simon, "he/she is somebody great!" We even go so far, like Simon, as to make evangelization about us. "I brought that person to Christ!" "I, with my clever words and reasoning, convinced that person to choose the Way of Christ."
Or we use ourselves as an excuse, saying, "I am not prepared to talk to this person about Christ." "I don't have the ability (or power) to open this person's eyes to the glory of God."

With both types, those who take the credit for the convert, and those who never talk about Christ because of their insecurities, a common theme rings out: I, I, I, I, I.

First, if you are a Christian, you ARE prepared to talk about Christ. Is it what you have to say that is going to save the person? NO! Is it answering every single question that may arise that is going to save the person? NO! Then, what saves them? Romans 1:16 says, "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for IT is the POWER OF GOD for salvation to everyone who believes..."
It is God through the Gospel that saves. If we know nothing more than the Gospel, we know enough; therefore, we have no excuse. It is God who saves, and not our craftiness.

Second, you are correct to say that you do not have the ability to open their eyes to the glory of God. Paul says that we plant the seed, and God provides the growth. He says in 1 Corinthians 4:5-6 "For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
Who said "Let light shine out of darkness?" Was it us, or was it God? Of course, it was God. In the same way we are to preach and teach the Gospel, and we trust and pray for God to speak into existence light in those who are in the darkness.
In the very next verse, 4:7, he says, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." It is God who has the power to save, not us. Teach those around you, and rely on God to do His work that we are unable to do.
Like Simon, it is hard not to think of the power as being in ourselves. This is the very thing with which the serpant tempted Eve, "You can be like God! You can have the power."

We need to let God be God; and we need to do what He has called us to do, namely, be a light unto the world, teaching the Word of Christ by word and example as often as we can. Trust in His power.

Finally, some mistakenly claimed that Simon was like a god-man, but Christ WAS THE God Man. Unlike Simon, the true God Man didn't seek power and glory from man, but He sought to glorify His Father. Instead of seeking power, He humbled Himself completely. Instead of wanting to be liked by everyone and be a man of fame, he willingly was humiliated and eventually killed. This is what it is to have the power of God. It is being able to humble yourselves for the sake of others. It is being able to even humble yourselves to the point of being humiliated and possibly even killed for the sake of the children of God. It is being humble by acknowledging that the power is all God's and none of ours.

Don't be a power and fame seeker. Don't be a Simon. Trust God, and seek to glorify Him by being humble, teaching others, and being a light to the world.

"Suppose You Are a Liberal Critic of the Bible" - Piper

My fellow soldier in war with the liberals sent me the link to this article by John Piper:

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Suppose You Are a Liberal Critic of the Bible

April 14, 1998

Suppose that you are a liberal critic of the Bible. By liberal, I mean unfettered by commitment to the inerrancy and authority of the Bible. And suppose that you find in an early letter of the apostle Paul these words: "Concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge." And then suppose that you find in a letter written near the end of his life the words, "You are able to admonish one another." And suppose that, as a liberal, you are not inclined to find old-fashioned unity in Paul's various teachings, but rather are somewhat excited when you can construct new theories about how the diversity of Paul's teachings emerged.

So you infer that there was an "early Paul" who was enthusiastic and optimistic and perfectionistic. And you prove it with the early words, "You yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge." You argue that "full of goodness" and "filled with knowledge" clearly imply that Paul believed these people "had arrived." They had reached a state of perfection. They didn't need any teaching or any correction. They were "full of goodness." This is the "early Paul." But you also infer that Paul's thinking developed over time. He changed his mind and the "later Paul" emerged. Reality had settled in over the years, and Paul's optimism had been dashed by people's imperfections; and so he had adjusted his theology to something more realistic.

Perfectionism had given way to process. And you prove it with the later words, "You are able to admonish one another." You reason, "Clearly, if they had to admonish one another, they were not yet perfect." In fact, with scholarly flourish, you observe that the verbs "are able" and "to admonish" are both in the present continuous tense, implying ongoing action. And you argue that the imperfections must be fairly constant, because they require continuous admonition and correction.

From all this, you proclaim, with liberal "courage," over against conservative commitments to the inspiration and coherence of all apostolic writings, that Paul cannot be inspired by an all-knowing God, and his writings are limited and sometimes mistaken by his ordinary human perspective. He has to correct himself when experience proves his earlier efforts erroneous.

Now here is one of the problems with such an imaginary scenario. Romans 15:14 combines both of those words (the so-called early and the so-called later) in one verse: "And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another." In other words, there is nothing, in Paul's mind, inconsistent in saying both of these things about the same people at the same time. Being "full of goodness" and "filled with all knowledge" is not meant to imply perfection. It does not mean that the people are beyond the need for admonition and correction. The "fullness" is not a fullness of sinless perfection, but fullness of sufficiency for ministry, that is, the church in Rome had all the goodness and knowledge it needed to minister effectively to each other through admonition and correction.

Here's the point. When you find two parts of Scripture that may seem to be in tension with each other, don't make the liberal mistake of jumping to the conclusion that the Bible is inconsistent or self-correcting or in process of moving from enthusiastic error to realistic truth. Instead, picture the things that seem in tension as spoken by a person who means both of them, and regards both of them as true. Then work toward a coherent understanding of them as best you can. This will take you much deeper into the reality of God's truth. And you will honor the divine Author of Scripture.

Loving God's inerrant word with you,

Pastor John
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Thanks!

Whoever it was, thanks for praying, it worked. I got some substantial work done today on my exegesis.

It has been a weird and trying day.

First, I looked at some mail and it said we owe a bunch of money on our car insurance. That's not what the commercial advertised! (explained below)

Second, I realized that today was the 6th, and the rent was supposed to be paid no later than the 3rd! I can't believe I did that - actually I can.

Third, I got a call from a friend that works for our apartment company, but at different grounds, and he said, "Dude, I just saw your car being towed down the road!" I accused him a few times of joking around, but I quickly knew he was serious. Let me explain: apparently, a notice was put on everyone's door to get a new parking sticker last month. Well, restaurants and health clubs stick stuff on our door every single day, so we turned those into "Eli's mail". Not knowing that the apartment complex used the junk mail system of sticking things on the door, we told Eli he could have the mail on the door everyday. We never even look at it most of the time. So, I'm guessing I never saw the notice. From now on, I'll have to check Eli's mail after he gets it off the door.

I was pretty hacked off at first, but while waiting for my car to get towed back, I read a little bit of "God in the Dark" by Os Guinness. It was exactly what I needed to hear. On page 61 in the section titled "Faulty Picture of God", Guinness said, "To believe in God is to 'let God be God'...In trusting God, we are living out our assumptions, putting them into practice all that we say he is in theory so that who God is and what he has done can make the difference in every part of our lives...This means that the accuracy of our pictures of God is not tested by our orthodoxy or our testimonies but by the truths we count on in real life. It is demonstrated when the heat is on, the chips are down, and reality seems to be breathing down our necks." I stopped there as my car arrived.

So, I had to pay a good bit of money to get my car back, and a good bit of money for the late fee for missed rent. In the meantime, I had a dentist appointment that it took me like a year to make; I missed it. I had to call them, and embarrassingly admit that my car was towed. It's rescheduled.

Then, my exegesis was driving me crazy. I was having to read off the wall commentaries, among other things. Thoughts were creeping in and out of my head about my study. But, then I blogged, and someone must have listened and prayed, and things got a lot better. Also, I misread the Geico bill, and we don't owe a lot of money on our car insurance. The commercial's claims still hold true!

At 6:00 we went to the Swenson's to eat. They had us and some of their neighbors over. It was a fun time. Allen played his new song that he wrote; it was absolutely amazing.

Gotta hit the bed; it's late.
Thank God for working in me, both to will and to work for His good pleasure; otherwise, I would be dead in my trespasses and sins! In other words, I'd be toast!
God bless!

Grace and peace,
Rick

Prayer Request for me

Please pray for me as I exegete Matthew 7:13-14. It has been a very difficult process. I have been confused several times, and have gone through a couple of ups and downs spiritually. Pray that I'll receive understanding and guidance from the Spirit of God as I search the Scriptures. Pray that I'll be discerning, being guarded from evil and temptation by God.