Let’s Remove the Filters

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”-John 8:31-32

This morning, I’m thinking about filters. Time was, they were used for purification, for straining out junk, as in the case of water, or (praise the Lord) for keeping grounds in coffee to a minimum. In the age of media, parents became filters (for a time). They would screen what their children watched, and shield them from the rest, hoping to protect their innocence a little while longer. Nowadays, everything is filtered, from pictures taken on a phone, to the news we all watch. You can’t say words like “kill” or “death” online without them being censored (people often use the word “unalived”), and news companies (take your pick of sides) will typically filter a message geared toward their base. And, typically, we hear filtered sound bites, cut and pasted to make one side or other look good or bad, based on what the presenter wants their audience to hear.

I’ve noticed these filters coming out more: people dividing up based on what they heard from this or that source. Time was, if you needed to know something, you read both sides of an argument, did your research, didn’t listen to clips and sound bites, and listened to both sides before forming an opinion. We make judgements with partial information, rather than consider the whole, for good or bad. And, we do the same with God’s word. All too often, we use filters with God’s Word: my grandparents said, my preacher says, our church’s missional organization believes, our traditions state, and more. What we should be doing is using the whole story of God’s Word, letting the Holy Spirit do His work in giving us right interpretation.

Don’t get me wrong, preachers, elders, and church leaders are necessary. They exist, according to the Scriptures, to equip and train. We protect (or should protect) the Church from worldly influences, and keep it on the straight and narrow. But we should always point you to Scripture and the authority of God’s word, and we should always encourage you to dive deeper, for yourself, into the Scriptures, that you may be made complete, fully equipped for every good work. We should not seek a filter with God’s Word, we should give God our complete and undivided attention, seeking His whole counsel, and if we find something we don’t like, it is not God’s word that needs to change, it’s us. It’s time to remove the filters, let God’s word transform us from the inside out, and seek and speak the truth in Love.

2 Timothy 2

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;

If we endure, we will also reign with him;

if we deny him, he also will deny us;

if we are faithless, he remains faithful—

for he cannot deny himself.

Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.