What has God hidden from me?

At that time Jesus answered and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.  Even so, Father for so it seemed good in Your sight.

-Matthew 11:25-26

The implications behind the above verses are pretty vast.  Probably the most direct application of this is the Plan of Salvation - which was manifested by Jesus coming to the earth, living a perfect life, dieing an unjust death so that w could be forgiven of our sins and restored to a relationship with God.  It is evident because we weren't able to see this until God opened our eyes - afterwhich we saw the beauty of the Gospel.

But at the same time that God hides things from the "wise and prudent" should be a wake up call to all who seek to love Him with all their minds (Matthew 22:37) by pursuing understanding through the study of the Word.  This wake up call isn't to discourage us from this pursuit but rather to temper our hearts from the pride that comes by increased knowledge (1 Corinthians 8:1).

As we grow in knowledge we need to keep in mind that God will often hide things from us and reveal them to "babes".  As such when we see someone younger in the Lord or encounter expressions of the Church* that are different from what we are used to then we should have our hearts open considering, "What has God hidden from me that they might have?"

In the end the understanding of God is not something that is acquired but rather is given by revelation.  If God chooses to withhold from us personally until we honor others then that is His choice - and one that seemed to really please Jesus (see verse 25 above).

Honoring the Entire Body of Christ

We navigate this by honoring all the streams of the Body of Christ.  This is admittably difficult because when you read new authors or listen to new speakers with an open heart you will encounter things you disagree with.  The best answer I can give on this is to use the Bible as your ultimate litmus and to genuinely consider the author's perspective.  Weigh it against Scripture to see if its Biblical like the Bereans did (Acts 17:11).  If it turns out to not be Biblical then throw it away.

That being said many of the differences in the Church are over non-essential issues.  We may disagree about the gifts of the Spirit, the place of women in ministry, Communion, infant baptism and so on but find that we agree on the essentials of the faith.  Things like the Divinity of Jesus, the Trinity, the Death, Burial and Resurrection, the definition of Sin, Repentance, Justification by Faith, Eternal Condemnation, Eternal Life and so on.

While "non-essential" issues are still important in their own right they won't determine someone's standing before God.  So when we find we disagree on these aspects of the faith then we still acknowledge those we disagree with as brothers and sisters in the Lord and we have to chalk up our disagreement as a blind spot either in us or in them.  But at the same time we must show respect for them as they serve God as they genuinely believe to be right and Biblical because ultimately they aren't subject to us but to God (Romans 14:4).  If He hasn't chosen to reveal this to them then thats His business.  I praise God because He still loves, saves and uses me in the middle of all the stuff that I've got wrong.

Wolves in Sheeps Clothing

I temper what I just said though with the other side - which is that there are essential non-negociable aspects of the Christian Faith that if someone doesn't hold to then it makes them not a Christian.  We should not receive these people as brothers in the Lord because to do so would dishonor God and trample upon the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the Cross.

For example if a supposed Christian teacher is to say "I like Jesus but I don't think He is Divine" then that would indicate that such a person is not a Christian.  If they attempt to give themselves the label of "Christian" then we should not agree with them in regarding themselves that way.

Both Jesus (Matthew 7:15) and the Apostles (see 2 Peter 2, 2 John 1:9-11, the entire book of Jude and actually many other verses) were adament about making sure that we don't accept people who deny the essential doctrines of the Christian faith as brothers and sisters in the Lord.  We should accept them as friends and look to foster life giving relationships with them as we should with all of those who don't adhere to the tenants of Christianity but we cannot allow them to influence us in regards to the faith itself.

We should not be hasty to do this though because many may be struggling with their faith and not necessarily confidently trumpeting false teaching.  With them we should be kind and seek to encourage them in Christ (see Jude 1:22-23).  Furthermore we should only label someone a false teacher in the fear of the Lord - after much thought and prayer before God.  To do so is a very weighty thing and something we will be held accountible before God if we speak too loosely (Matthew 12:36).

Lord give us an open heart as we seek You for more.  If You lead us to new authors and new speakers in the Body of Christ give us discernment to use Your Word as our ultimate litmus and to eat the meat and throw out the bones.  Help us also to identify the wolves in sheep's clothing and not to be led astray from the simplicity of trusting Jesus and His Word.

Amen.






*I believe its appropriate to include other streams of the Body of Christ into the mix of "babes" that is intuitively occupied by young believers and children because it is the dilemma that the Pharisees found themselves in.  The Pharisees had studied the Law and the Prophets their entire lives and then here God was revealing Himself to these fishermen who followed a renegade Rabbi.  God furnished many proofs for what Jesus was declaring by releasing signs and wonders in their midst but there was a difficult hurdle that many of the Pharisees found hard to overcome.  That hurdle was the pride that comes from studying for something your whole life.  They were meant to be the teachers, not the students - at least so they thought in their minds.  The reality of it was that the fishermen and the Pharisees were all meant to be students for their entire lifetimes.  God is not a subject matter that one masters and then is able dispense as an authority.  Rather God Himself and the Word is the authority and we are all students.  That He raises up teachers in the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-12) is to reveal a piece of Himself to us but is not to declare that the individual is the be-all end-all of all things Divine.