More Doing, Less Knowing

By Norman Edwards

Let us take a brief test to think about how our concept of following God fits with 1 Corinthians 13:1-2:

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal” (v 1).

What do we have in our life? More love or more speaking in tongues? Many of our readers have never spoken in a “tongue of men or angels,” so “love” clearly wins here. Verse 2 has three parts. We will swap the order of the last two for convenience of discussion:

“And though I have the gift of prophecy, [...] and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”

Again, not too many of our readers would claim to have the gift of prophecy or faith to move mountains. They might know other brethren who are more gifted in these areas. So again, love wins.

“[...] [A]nd understand all mysteries and all knowledge [...]”

Wow, things are getting more difficult. Do we really place our need to love others above our desire to understand the Bible and its mysteries? “But the Bible is important,” we might reply. And it is. But prophecy, faith and speaking in tongues are also important. Our love for others is more important than all of the other things. How many other believers do you know who have more Bible knowledge than you do? Do you know of any other church group that has more Bible knowledge than the one you attend? This writer knows believers who do not know of anyone who understands the Scriptures better than they do. But do they ever ask, “Do I have more love for others than all other believers?”

Love is “doing,” not just “knowing.” To love someone, you must actively do what they need, not just know what they need. Some Church of God groups have frequently done a good job of studying and understanding the Bible. But they have often had little appreciation for other groups who may know less and love more. We can justify ourselves by saying that anyone who does not know about the Sabbath is an unbeliever, but is that what God does? Jesus said: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). During the 30-month lapse in Servants’ News’ publication, we have learned something about how difficult it is to actually reach out, love, and serve brethren. We intend to write with more honor and respect for those who are actually doing that—even though they may not understand all we believe to be right.

One of the recent visitors to PABC related a dream that she felt that God gave her. She saw a tower reaching up to heaven which she understood to represent the kingdom of God. It was surrounded by ladders, with people climbing them, seeking the kingdom of God. As she moved closer in the dream, she saw that there were various truths and life-lessons that were written on each rung of the ladders—but the items were not written in the same order on each ladder! The message of the dream was that God does not teach lessons to every believer in the same order.

Some readers might be wondering if God still speaks to people through dreams today. We just read about the gift of prophecy (see also 1Cor 11:2). It, as with all gifts, is a good thing as long as it is subordinate to love for others. Looking up “dream” or “vision” in a concordance shows over a dozen cases where God spoke to people through dreams and visions in the New Testament. Such messages were not reserved for apostles, but included Ananias (Acts 9:10), Cornelius (Acts 10:3) and Pilate’s wife (Luke 27:19). A church group’s teachings may influence its members, but it does not stop God from speaking in dreams and visions. It is the Father who decides to speak, and the individual believer who decides to listen. This writer started the Servants’ News ministry after asking the Eternal to show him if it was His will through a dream or vision. He learned that God still does this by reading the Scriptures. The woman who received the ladder dream had been a member of an independent Sabbatarian group for over 30 years. Members of the group have generally understood that God can speak through dreams, but not all of them keep all of the feast days. As the dream shows, we are all learning different things at different times. Dreams, visions, feast days, the Sabbath, love, service, patience, humility, wisdom and many other things are all part of the rungs of the ladder that we climb as Christ teaches. We ought not to look down upon other believers because they have not learned something that we have learned. We ought to be humble and ask, “What do they know that I need to learn?” There is a lot we can learn about how to love, serve and encourage others. We can learn to be “doing,” not just “knowing.”

We cannot emphasize enough that Port Austin Bible Campus (PABC) is not intended to be a headquarters” or a new denomination. It is a place where people can serve God and be served through His people. Many Sabbatarians have had a tendency to want to look to a single place as the work of God. The Bible and history show that the Eternal has worked through a diversity of people. Unfortunately, the servants of God today, much like the disciples of Jesus, still argue about who is the greatest among them (Luke 22:23-27). We hope we can be servants, as Jesus instructed, and leave the judgment to Him (2Cor 4:10; 1Cor 3:10-15).