so this winter i am participating in a class at my church, going through the book of Acts. its nice to finally have a solid reason to look forward to mondays :). not even joking when i say its one of the top three highlights of the week (the other two being home groups on thursday night, and well...saturday mornings when i dont have to set my alarm clock and wake up to go to work!).
last night we went over the passage in Acts 16-18, following Paul on his second missionary journey. at first we find him in thessolonica, where the jews cause a "riot" and throw him out. next Paul travels to berea, where he finds the bereans to be of "more noble character(than the thessalonians), testing the scriptures daily to see if what Paul said was true." (woohoo, go bereans. for those of you just tuning into my life, i attended a few years at Berean Bible College, in which our mission was to immitate the styles of those early bereans :)). the scriptures were definitely primary in the life of the bereans. some jews, some philosophical greeks...the bereans were great thinkers and that obviously was something that stood out to the writer of Acts.
our teacher challenged us with a question: how primary is scripture in your life? it was honest and valid, plain and simple. did we consider scripture first? or perhaps (like the wesleyean thought) we filtered our spiritual life through four areas: scripture, experience, tradition and thought. as is often the case, i wanted to have the right answer at that moment. but i was quite at a loss for my own answer.
being a christ follower for 12 years now, and being a minister of the Word for most of that time, scripture has definitely played a major role. but is it primary? truth be told, perhaps i agree more with wesley, and allow all four to work. my experiences that i've had with God and His Spirit have hugely (and will continue to do so) molded me into the being you know this very day. i cannot deny that. the traditions and histories that have been passed down through generations may evolve and adapt, but ultimately define what we, as a race of believers, come from. who would want to give less honor to that? and truth has been revealed throughout the ages, through great thinkers using the very gifts given them to reason. i see that all of the time.
i learned once (at berean bible college, go figure!), something about the revelation of truth. we have the privelage of standing at a place in history where we can look back far enough to see the process of the revelation of truth. God's ultimate truth, in all of it's facets, is entirely too much for the human mind, heart and soul to comprehend all at once. so throughout time, we see the revelation of that truth being dispersed. not only into different generations, but to different cultures, genders, and most importantly, through different tactics. in OT times, truth was given to generations of slaves and kings, through law and word, but also through spirit and experience. as time progressed, tradition played a key role in the revelation of God's truth...both in the thriving age of the roman catholic church, and also in it's regression. the greeks brought us into maybe our first "age of enlightenment" as humans, and more was discovered. and in that time, God showed more of His truth by pouring out His Spirit on all men and women who believed. from then on, there are so many more incidences where we know of God's involvement in the growth of His people. Martin Luther & King Henry VIII, brought the Church into new existence. More truth was revealed in the Great Awakenings, which started in England and then moved across the sea into a new world. A missional mindset was re-ignited as believers in different "denominations" began to seek truth for themselves. even now, we see the church "emerging" into something new, discovering new ways to live a christ centered life and being moved towards more truth.
whew. all that to say, God does what He wants, when He wants, to whom He wants, in the way He deems appropriate. We are His. at the disposal of His hands. and although i admire the bereans for their devotion to scripture, making it primary in their lives, i have to believe that the Lord would ask us to have openness to all of the above mentioned "filters". He's given each to us. why not take full advantage, and use them to their fullest ability?
