Following God to the Best of My Ability Versus Expecting Others to Follow God Like Me

Each of us should be following God with complete sacrifice, but our journey of sacrifice is limited by what we understand that God wants from us. If you think the command to the rich young ruler to sell all his possessions and give them to the poor is a command to all Christians, then you better sell all your possessions and give them to the poor. If you think that the command to the rich young ruler was a command specifically given to that one man with the understanding that Jesus' command to that ruler does not apply to all Christians, then you do not need to sell all your possessions and give them to the poor. Sorry is the man who believes the command to the rich young ruler applies to all Christians, yet he does not sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor. Each of us will be held accountable if we do not live out the faith as we understand it.

We begin with prayer and dealing honestly with Scripture. However, even two people who deal honestly with Scripture might not come to the same conclusion on what Scripture means based on their understanding of the context of the situation or the experiences of their lives that the Scripture is inevitably filtered through. That does not mean that there is not absolute truth. What it means is that we currently "see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:12). If Paul's knowledge was limited, then it would be arrogant to assume that our knowledge is perfect. Paul's conclusion is the key. "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13). In the end, the most important thing is that we are people of love.

We need to follow the truth as we understand it to the best of our ability and not be judgmental to those who are following the truth in the way that they understand it. We should not ignore others who follow differently, nor should we bash them, whether to their face or in our fellowship circles. "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently" (Galatians 6:1a). In light of Paul stating that we do not fully know, we also must deal gently with those who are struggling to live out the faith as we understand it. We deal gently because we must not be arrogant or prideful about our understanding of the truth. In the end, we might realize that we are the one with the inaccurate understanding when we confront a brother in sin. The key here is that we actually have a gentle conversation with our brother. We do not ignore our differences, but we deal with one another gently in the hope that the end result will be that we are both built up in Christ.

Paul does give the warning, "But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted" (Galatians 6:1b). When dealing with a brother's sin, we must be careful that we are gentle and open to the fact that we might have the wrong understanding, but we also need to remain firm in the faith as we understand it.

Paul made the point in his letter to the Romans that people will be judged based upon their faithfulness to the knowledge they have (Romans 2:5-16). Earlier, in the first chapter, he set out that everyone should have a basic knowledge of God through nature. We can automatically say that those who do not believe in God are not our brothers or sisters in Christ as there is no excuse for a lack of belief in God. After believing in God, we will be judged based upon the knowledge we have. This means that the man who does not know he should be baptized as an adult will be judged based upon his knowledge and faithfulness to God in areas that he does know. This means that often brought up mythological man living in the center of Africa who never has heard the Gospel will be judged based upon his faithfulness in the knowledge he does have. This means, for those who believe that speaking in tongues in essential to salvation, that those who do not speak in tongues are fine with God as long as they are faithful in what they believe God expects of them. We must deal with one another gently, in love, with the possibility that we might be wrong yet always remain firm in the truth as we understand it.

As teachers, we are to help transform people's understanding of what God expects of them into action. It is not healthy for a person to believe God expects something of them, yet they refuse to live it out. We are also in the important yet precarious situation of shaping people's understanding of God. I can guarantee that we will teach errantly at times, but we need to teach to the best of our ability with the understanding we now have.

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."