The Third Response To God's Truth

Continuing the four different responses to God's truth, here is the third one from my commentary:

3)  Gamaliel Avoiding the Truth:  "He was a Pharisee who did not want to see the Sadducees win any victories.  (Paul had been trained by this man.)  ... He had tried to use cool logic rather than overheated emotions, but his approach was still wrong.  To begin with, he automatically classified Jesus with two rebels, which means he had already rejected the evidence.  To him, Jesus was just another zealous Jew, trying to set the nation free from Rome ...With a clever twist of bad logic, Gamaliel convinced the council that there was really nothing to worry about!  Troublemakers come and go, so be patient.  Furthermore, he assumed that history repeats itself ... He also had the mistaken idea that, if something is not of God, it must fail.  But this idea does not take into consideration the sinful nature of man and the presence of Satan in the world ... But the biggest weakness of his advice was his motive:  he encouraged neutrality when the council was facing a life-and-death issue that demanded a decision.  'Wait and see' is actually not neutrality; it is a definite decision.  He was voting 'No!' but he was preaching 'maybe someday' ... Jesus made it clear that it is impossible to be neutral about Him and His message:  'He that is not with Me is against Me' ... There are times when being neutral means making a quiet (and perhaps cowardly) decision to reject God's offer."

Father, I pray especially for the junior high kids I got to teach last night.  Work on their hearts and lead them to not quietly reject Your offer, but to understand they must make a decision to accept it if they want eternal life.

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford