Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim:
I Timothy 3:9: “Holding the mysteries of the faith in pure conscience.”
It seems like every Bible student, pastor and teacher has chimed in on this verse with their idea of what the Apostle Paul was talking about when he speaks of the “mysteries” of the faith. Many never stop to consider the word “mystery” and automatically think in terms of, you know – Agitha Christie. A Bible student will look at this word in the Greek and find the word “musthrion” which has the idea of “close kept” or “secret.” A Bible College or Seminary professor will check the Septuagint and discover that “musthrion” is used for the Hebrew word “sod” which means secret.
None of that really helps me; at least, understand what Paul was talking about. There is just one thing many Christians do not examine when they see the word “mystery” and that is the fact that Paul was a Jewish scholar and theologian and he would have viewed this word “musthrion” or “sod” from that of a scholarly or theological standpoint. Even in English the word “mystery” has a much more narrow meaning within academic circles.
To most of us the word “puzzle” and “mystery” mean the same thing. However, in academic circles there is a major difference. Paul is not saying our faith is a puzzle, but a mystery. When you do a crossword puzzle there is satisfaction along with frustration. Even when you can’t find the right answer, you know it exists. Puzzles can be solved, they have answers. A mystery does not offer such comfort. It poses a question that has no definitive answer because the answer is contingent upon a future interaction of many factors, known and unknown. A mystery cannot be answered; it can only be framed, by identifying the critical factors and applying some sense of how they have interacted in the past and might interact in the future. A mystery is an attempt to define ambiguities.
You see the Apostle Paul was merely saying what an orthodox rabbi once said to me when I wanted to learn the “mysteries” of God. “I can’t teach you, you must learn yourself.” In Christianity, and I find particularly in the Western prophetic movement, we have a tendency to go from fad to fad. God moves and reveals Himself in a certain way though a certain expression of worship. It is really effective, wonderful, you feel the presence of God, you experience the miraculous, but before long some start to grow bored with that form of worship. The spontaneity wanes and in desperation the leaders begin to program this worship, write out a script to follow. The faithful doggedly stay with the script hoping to recapture that glow they once felt. Along comes some new prophet with some new revelation on worship and prayer and then people are flocking to this, getting all excited, feeling like they are on the cutting edge. Before long that wears thin and the leaders panic and start scripting it out.
This is what rabbinical teaching tells us the “mysteries” of our faith is all about, what Paul was most likely referring to. You see our faith is very fluid, we are always moving from glory to glory. As some of you know, God has me closeted up for 8 hours every day. I spend that time studying, worshipping, praying etc, the whole ball of wax. Although I have been a Christian for almost 50 years, I feel like I am just learning how to pray and how to worship. God is leading me into worship and prayer far different from anything that I have yet to experience. Now, I can come out of my closet, look around and say: “Mercy Maude, I’m into something new here. I need to write a book, preach a few sermons, get the Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim together, for a new church and have some serious prayer and worship here.” I will write it out, step by step, just follow the check list and you too can get your prayer answered. But you see the critical element of the word “muthrion” and “sod” is that you can not script it out, you can not write a book, or preach a sermon on it. When a man is intimate with his wife, he is not about to go around blabbing all the secrets he shares to enter this intimacy with his wife. What goes on between a man and his wife is “muthrion” or “sod.” That is why David often says: “My God,” He is no one else’s God, at least not in the way he is intimate with Him. He is your God, Jesus is your Savior.”
Last Sunday evening I heard an old song from the old Hit Parade. It kept repeating the words, “All of me, why not just take all of me.” At first I thought God was telling me he wanted all of me. Then I realized He was asking me to take all of Him. To do that means I must step out into uncharted territory. I must blaze a trail no other believer has gone down because there has been no other person like me in a relationship with God like I have. Just as there has been no other person like you, in a relationship with God like you have. He is an infinite God, He made no two people alike, He wants a special relationship with you and you alone. It is time to blaze a new trail with God, walk down a new path that no one else has ever walked. That is the “mystery” of our faith. To you personally it is no mystery, just to everyone around you.
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