Applying truth to new situations

How can we have a sound understanding of a specific truth in several areas, yet fail miserably in applying that same truth in another area? 

This kind of "missing the mark" doesn't mean we didn't learn that truth before (maybe even for the 2nd, 3rd or however many times), we just hadn't applied it to that new situation ¹yet. 

We may have a sound grasp of some powerfully liberating truths, but every new situation becomes an opportunity to apply that same truth in a new way - to a new situation.

Though God's truth applies to all of life, we have not lived out every situation or every aspect of life (and may never) where those truths need to apply. We are constantly encountering ¹new circumstances that require a previously learned truth be applied to that new situation.

If you struggle to apply a particular truth God has already helped you learn well, don't beat yourself up. We are all spiritually fragile and still inclined away from God no matter how long you have walked with Him. He is always expanding us in our trust in Him. 

We still struggle with subtly buried distrust in some unknown area regardless of how long we have walked with God. New circumstances bring previously hidden distrust to the surface of our awareness. We only need to learn to apply an already understood truth to this new situation as well.

For example the truth of being content no matter what your circumstances may be firmly embedded in our heart but when a new situation presents itself that creates discontentment, that is our clue we haven't applied it to this new situation. You will need to apply what you've already learned in other areas before you have a sense of peace and contentment again in this new area. 

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¹This in fact may be exactly what Christ experienced when he learned obedience through the things he suffered...yet without sin i.e. Christ was never disobedient. He struggled with some

of the choices he had to make but He never stopped trusting, always making the best and most God honoring choice. He simply went from untested obedience to tested obedience...and unlike us who often fail to trust God in all areas and situations we encounter, he always passed i.e. He always trusted His Father - He was always without sin. 

And because He encountered new areas where He had to entrust Himself to the Father,  He understands and sympathizes with our struggles because he also struggled but always succeeded i.e. never failed to trust. 

Give as you have received

From the very beginning, the Bible speaks of God blessing others.

Gen 1:22 Then God blessed them (animals) and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

28 And God blessed them (Adam and Eve). And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 

And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. - Gen 1:28‭-‬30 

These instructions to be fruitful and multiply at the very outset tell us God wants life to flourish - especially for us, the bearers of His image. He wants to expand (multiply) the blessings He gives. Hinted at in these blessings is our blessing others. This becomes even clearer as we continue further.

Each new day of creation was a blessing from God. After each day, God pronounced all He did and made was good, i.e. a blessing.

Even after He destroyed the earth through the flood, God again pronounces His desire to bless us. 

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. - Gen 9:1 ESV

He wanted to be sure that after this worldwide destruction, there was no confusion that his primary desire had not changed and it was still to bless us, not destroy us.

God also confirmed and illustrated His desire to bless us when He called Abram and promised to bless him.

1 Then the LORD said to Abram, ²“Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s household, and go to the land ³I will show you.

2 ³I will make you into a great nation, and ³I will bless you;

³I will make your name great so that you will be a blessing.

3 ³I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you;

and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”

God's ultimate goal with Abram from the beginning of his call was to bless all nations through ¹him; not simply to bless Abram (or His immediate progeny) so only he or they could bask in the blessings and forget about everyone else.

The more we dig into scripture, the more we see that whenever God gives us anything - any blessing, i.e. ¹resource, etc - he always asks us to turn around and use it to bless others.

Why?

Because we are in His image - designed and called to be like God. 

Who is God? What is He like? 

God is an ⁴endless and perpetual overflowing fountain of love who calls us to be like Him, to be His children...a "chip off the old block," if you will. We are called to love as we are loved - by Him - and to give as we have received - from Him. This, in large part, is what it means to be in his image.

This is also the very essence of the 1st and 2nd commandments on which all other commands are based.

This commandment involves us receiving from God life, love, and all things and then sharing with our neighbor (others) what we receive.

How? It is only through our connection with God, being loved by Him, and responding to His love by loving Him with all that we are and have that we can love our neighbors in the same way we desire to be loved.

Contrary to the common approach to living, life isn't about getting to keep and only indulging ourselves in the blessings of life, but about getting to give. It isn't getting all you can and then sitting on and protecting our individual "can" but "getting" (receiving) all we can so we might give all we can. This is who God is and who He's designed and called us to be as bearers of His image. The more we receive, the more we are to give. To use Christ's words, "to whom much is given, much is required." And the servant who is faithful in little, will be given more.

In short, life is about being like God; living as He does, is, and designed us to be - to receive and give love as the Father and Son do between each other from all eternity past (Jn 17:25b). All this happens in, by, and through the Spirit - the Spirit of infinite and passionate love for another.

What is the nature and greatness of God's giving and how did he demonstrate it? He gave until it hurt i.e. Sacrificially. He gave the very Son of His infinite and eternal affection so we might enter into that very same community of affection between the Father and Son and partake of God, who is love and life Himself (Jn 17:3); the Creator and giver of all we have and are. 

We are to be holy for He is holy i.e. like God. Holiness isn't about being perfect in conduct, but perfect in our focus and passion for God, in the same way He is for Himself. He is most worthy of all our affections, worship, honor, and glory. God ²is glorious and designed and calls us to partake in His glory and be glorious like Him. In so doing we bring Him the greatest honor and experience our greatest joy.

We will never experience true life as God intends until we live as he lives i.e. by receiving His overflowing blessing and sharing it with others.

And we will never be able to live this way until we partake of His life as He experiences it in the giving and receiving of glory between the Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit.

For a discussion on sewing and reaping click here

For a discussion on socialism versus capitalism click here 

For a discussion on the fallacies of the prosperity gospel click here
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Footnotes:

¹What do our resources comprise? Any blessing we receive and possess, be it time, good health, money, things, talents, abilities, skills, experiences unique to us, etc.

²“Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you..."

All the things we normally look to and depend on for our sense of identity and meaning - e.g. our national origin and heritage, wealth (our own land) our extended family (kindred), and even our immediate family, Abraham was called upon by God to walk *away from and look to Him alone as the source of all he is and has...i.e. go to the land I will show you..."

*He also called him to walk towards all he previously sought and had by promising to make him a great family and nation of his own... again, so he might know that God alone is the source of all blessings and in turn bless others.

³Which also involves recognizing everything we are and already have come from him.

⁴God was rebuilding Abrams ⁶identity from the ground up. He was telling him every good thing you desire - your own land, your very own nation through your children, a great reputation - I will provide for you and that so you might honor me by being a blessing to others.

Our receiving what we need and value most is not by pursuing these directly but by being like God and blessing others, i.e. seeking first the kingdom of God. God loves to give us all these things (Rom 8:31-32; Matt 7:9-11) as long as we don't forget it is He who gives them. He does so that we might bless others, becoming the means for others finding, seeing, and experiencing God.

⁵A God of overflowing abundance, beauty, love, majesty, glory, blessing, and joy.

⁶Abram eventually became Abraham (Gen 17:5). He went from being not just a father of Issac (and ultimately Israel) - Abram - but a father of many nations - Abraham.  

God is a God of overflowing abundance and desires we partake of that abundance and in turn, share it with others. This is a primary part of what it means to be like God - in His image.

What is the narrow way

Is the following an accurate picture of what Christ was saying about the broad and narrow way?

With all scriptural passages, we must read them considering what goes on before and after any given verse - i.e. read it in the context - to get an understanding of the true meaning of that verse. And not only the immediate context but the context of the entire book or letter as well as the Bible as a whole. All scripture is in agreement; there are no contradictions. Though the Bible has many human contributors, it has one ultimate author - God himself - with a unified message. Many things may appear at odds within the Bible but when you dig deep you find they are pointing to the same God "...with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." Jas 1:17 ESV

Before taking a course in hermeneutics (principles of biblical interpretation) many passages in scripture were unclear and confusing to me. For example, the broad and narrow gate (door) passage coming right after the "golden rule" always puzzled me. The broad and narrow gate teaching seemed to be a random teaching inserted with this entire passage with no connection whatsoever to the surrounding verses.

How did it fit in with the rest of this passage or the sermon as a whole?

Is there a common thread that runs through chapter 7 of the gospel of Matthew  (or the entire sermon in chapters 5-7 - or all of scripture, for that matter)?  If so, what is it?

On close examination, we can see a primary thread through the sermon is how we relate to and treat others - whether the "other" is God himself, our neighbors, or anyone (including those who see us as enemies). The entire sermon has to do with loving God and others, i.e. applying the greatest commandment and the 2nd which is like it "...which is a summary of the Law and the Prophets" i.e. the main overall teaching of the OT as well as the NT.

Is the "golden rule" mentioned in verse 12 and the broad and narrow way right after it randomly sandwiched between other teachings of Christ with no apparent relationship to the surrounding verses i.e. completely out of place and standing on its own? The "golden rule" is actually the unifying thread throughout the whole sermon on the mount. We could argue it is the unifying message of the bible itself.

We have heard the narrow and broad gate is about our eternal destination, who and how many go where eternally. But the context is not directly about our eternal destination.

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." - Matthew 7:12‭-‬14 ESV

In light of this context, how should we interpret the broad and narrow gate (way) passage? I offer the following interpretation for consideration.

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this (my command to love your neighbor as you love yourself) is the Law and the Prophets. “Enter by the narrow gate (of treating others as you want them to treat you). For the gate - of loving yourself more than others - is wide (most go through it) and the way - of loving yourself more than others - is easy (it's much easier to be selfish than selfless. But selfishness...) that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way (of sacrificial love) is hard that leads to life (i.e. life and flourishing now, not necessarily later during our eternal life) and those who find it are few (i.e. very few people connect with God and His infinite love well enough that they are empowered to live and love sacrificially i.e. few live for God and others first instead of just for themselves). Sacrificial living is hard - "faith is hard work." Very few live this way. Matthew 7:12‭-‬14 ESV

I suggest the context calls for us to understand the narrow way as living by the golden rule and the reason the other gate is broad is that most don't, i.e. most don't live sacrificially. In fact, very few consistently do. It is truly the narrow way to live.

To not live according to the golden rule does in fact lead to great harm and destruction here on earth… our own as well as that of others. We see it daily all around us. It is, in fact, the reason for all ¹human conflicts on this planet. 

This ultimately leads to our eternal destruction but in this context, living by the golden rule is primarily about the here and now, not eternity, i.e. how we treat others today.

The sermon on the mount deals with the direction of our hearts. Christ knows - and assumes - we cannot live by this sermon without being empowered by God and his love. We can't and won't love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength unless we know we are loved by God in this way 1st.

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¹If you look at why some countries do far better morally, socially, or economically, it always points back to whether the values of that country are based on honoring God and others or using - exploiting them.

For a discussion on how we exploit God (try to) click here.

For a further discussion on culture and values, click here.

For a discussion on the basis of morality, click here.