{"id":737,"date":"2015-06-18T13:12:38","date_gmt":"2015-06-18T18:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=737"},"modified":"2015-06-19T13:19:06","modified_gmt":"2015-06-19T18:19:06","slug":"on-preaching-the-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=737","title":{"rendered":"On Preaching the Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday of the 11th<\/sup> Week of Ordinary Time<\/h2>\n

2 Cor 11: 1-11; Mt 6: 7-15<\/h2>\n

Deacon Larry Brockman<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Listen again to these words Paul had for the Corinthians: \u201cFor if someone comes and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached\u2026\u201d.\u00a0 Then these words are followed by an appeal to the Corinthians to test and validate the preaching they have received.\u00a0 Paul goes on to make it clear that knowledge, real knowledge, and first-hand experience of God are the kinds of tests needed; not what the preacher charges for his services.<\/p>\n

You see, Paul is clearly implying that the Corinthians somehow felt that these other preachers were more credible then Paul was because they charged for their services and Paul didn\u2019t.\u00a0 We can relate to that because we are used to hearing \u201cYou get what you pay for\u201d.\u00a0 But when it comes to knowing God; that just doesn\u2019t apply.<\/p>\n

I get the impression that the Corinthians had just been visited by some slick tongued, new wave preacher who preached a \u201cNew Jesus\u201d, different from the one that Paul preached.\u00a0 It must have sounded good; maybe even made them feel good about themselves; but the question was- was it the truth based on real knowledge of God and his message for mankind?\u00a0 Paul claims knowledge and first-hand experience of Christ as his credentials; not a noble income for his eloquent words.\u00a0 And in the case of the Corinthians, Paul was not even requesting that the Corinthians defray his room and board.\u00a0 There was no question of an ulterior or self-serving motivation in Paul\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

We live in a pluralistic society, with the airwaves and the TV constantly bombarding us with messages.\u00a0 Secular voices and religious voices abound competing for our time all promising to be able to make sense out of life, or to make life better.\u00a0 For example, there are megachurches out there claiming to Minister to every aspect of life- children\u2019s programs, programs for the elderly, and sponsorship of all kinds of social settings.<\/p>\n

But I wonder if these organizations pass the tests that Paul just suggested to the Corinthians.\u00a0 Or are their messages short on knowledge of God, and big on what is convenient and pleasing to hear; all for the value of the contributions that keep them afloat.<\/p>\n

You see, God\u2019s message is not about meeting our worldly needs and wants.\u00a0 Rather, it is about meeting our spiritual needs.\u00a0 It would be great if the brothers and sisters in our Churches would be generous so that everyone\u2019s worldly needs were met as well.\u00a0 But the main focus of our faith must always be on understanding God\u2019s truth and then applying it.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Gospel, Jesus contrasts two styles of prayer.\u00a0 The first method is long winded, with lots of words.\u00a0 It apparently is pleasing to the ear as well.\u00a0 The second is remarkably simple and characterized by humility, concern for others, and truth.\u00a0 But it is the second style of prayer that we need to adopt as Christians, a humble and sincere desire for God and His truth.\u00a0 Once we understand and know God, then we can properly deal with social justice and meeting the worldly needs of others.<\/p>\n

Most governments, and ours is no exception, have clearly shown that efforts to meet the physical needs and wants of the people go astray unless they have got the underlying motivation correct.\u00a0 That\u2019s what Paul was trying to say.\u00a0 Teach the Jesus of the Gospel; preach the values of Christianity according to the Gospel; and then practice the values we preach and teach.<\/p>\n

Sometimes this is harder to do than it seems because the truth is not acceptable to some people.\u00a0 But the truth has a nagging and stubborn quality about it.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t go away no matter how much one tries to water it down, because God is there to remind us through our consciences.\u00a0 Respect for God, respect for all life that he created; the sanctity of marriage; \u00a0\u00a0honesty; forgiveness, forbearance, and respect for authority- these are the kinds of values that God has preached through His Son Jesus to us in the Gospel.<\/p>\n

All of these are based on love of God, and that calls for us to love our neighbors as ourselves.\u00a0 But it is not the other way around.\u00a0 It is not all about making others feel comfortable or accepted first.\u00a0 It\u2019s about learning God\u2019s truth first; and then loving our neighbors as God loves us by applying it.<\/p>\n

Recently, we have been hearing echoes of the kind of preachers Paul warned the Corinthians about.\u00a0 They have been preaching a different Christ.\u00a0 They have suggested the Church needs to change its teachings to get with the modern world.\u00a0 The Church must stand firm for the truth.\u00a0 As Paul put it:\u00a0 \u201cBy the truth of Christ in me, this boast of mine shall not be silenced\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday of the 11th Week of Ordinary Time 2 Cor 11: 1-11; Mt 6: 7-15 Deacon Larry Brockman   Listen again to these words Paul had for the Corinthians: \u201cFor if someone comes and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached\u2026\u201d.\u00a0 Then these words are followed by an appeal to the Corinthians to test […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[350],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":738,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737\/revisions\/738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}