PRETENSE AND TRUTH II

Paul, an apostle, wrote to the Church at Philippi while in prison in either Rome or Ephesus. He openly addresses ‘envy and rivalry’ and ‘pretense and truth.’

“Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.” (Philippians 1:15-18)

This is a verse that needs to be shouted from the rooftop: “Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.” I am the first to admit that is contrary to my nature. I prefer to ‘get it right and keep it right’ on many angles. That leads to ‘we are the only one(s) that have it all figured out…’ That’s actually pretty scary thinking.

Jesus gave an entire parable about this in Matthew 13 with the Parable of the Tares and Wheat. The workers told the landowner that someone had sowed tares (weeds) among the wheat. “The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’ ‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed. ‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked. ‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’ (Matthew 13:24-30)

At the harvest… Christ will pull out the weeds from the wheat… pretense from truth.

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field.” Jesus