03/31/2008
20 Don’t despise prophecies,
21 but test all things.
Hold on to what is good.
22 Stay away from every form of evil.
23Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely. And may your spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The word “prophet” (and prophecies) comes from a compound of two Greek words which mean “speaking before.” Prophecy is usually considered akin to telling the future, however, this is not necessarily the case. Prophets sometimes did foretell future events, but their main purpose is to speak boldly before people. A prophet is one who has the spiritual motivation to stand before people and declare the truth.
Isaiah stood before King Ahab declaring the truth, and though it put his life in danger, it was his mission and desire. Other prophets from Jeremiah to Jonah have prophesied openly at their own peril. Jonah as you recall was a reluctant prophet, but a prophet nonetheless.
So with this in mind, we can look at verses 20 and 21 above a little differently. Prophets were those present in the church who were given the spirit and motivation to speak out about behaviors. The young Christian churches were learning what it meant to be holy and set apart. Prophets would stand before them and give instructions through the Holy Spirit. Paul’s instruction is not to reject these messages (or the messengers); but rather to “test” them.
There will always be false prophets. This is just a simple fact. But rather than reject all prophecies, we can test them for truth. How can we test them? All true prophecies will be consistent with scripture – and, of course, consistent with the apostle’s teachings. We each have the responsibility to know the scriptures well enough that when we hear a prophecy, we can hold it up to the light (so to speak) and know of its origin. At the very least, we should be able to search the scriptures to validate or refute it.
We must then hold on to those prophecies that are true and avoid anything that even looks like evil. Let me paraphrase this: “we should avoid doing anything that can be construed as un-Christian-like behavior.” This sounds like a tall order, but the fact is, people are watching. The world has a set of expectations (right or wrong) for what it means to be Christian. We must be careful to avoid doing those things that would cause the world to think we have broken our own laws.
We must always present what is considered to be Christ-like behavior.
Do you have any behaviors that could be construed as un-Christ-like?
Jeff Justus
Cleff Publishing
www.cleffpublishing.com
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