26 November 2014 - hidden track

“They will seize and persecute you,

...

It will lead to your giving testimony.

Fair enough. It is nice of Jesus to warn us in advance. So we should prepare ourselves, right? Of course we ought to think through all the things we'll need to say, the arguments we'll need to use, the things we'll need to do to prove Jesus true. Not so fast.

Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,

He is telling us that we are going to be put on the spot. We're going to be called out. We're going to have to stand and be counted. And then he tells us that we don't need to get ready? We need to be ready to respond. But we don't need to be ready with that what of the response. We need a habit of not being ashamed of Jesus and his word so that we are able to say anything at all (cf. Luk. 9:26, Rom. 1:16). But we don't need to have a carefully composed stock answer ready to go.

I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking
that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.

Jesus knows how much we'd like to get it all down to a formula. But because he is real it is not so simple. Because he is the living God he gives us a word that is living and active (cf. Heb. 4:12). It is more than we can fit into formulas. It is more than something we can just commit to memory. There is a place for those things. Jesus teaches much that can be learned and memorized. But as to just what to say that will change hearts and reveal his Lordship, we must receive that at the moment it is needed. Only Jesus knows the hearts of those who hear our testimony. Only he knows the special invitations of love they all need. But if we just listen, if we don't fill our heads with the "right" things to say and listen, we will receive from him the words we need.

Rather than running off to the limited resources of our own intellects we are called to  persevere with Jesus in the moment. We are called to trust him completely. It may seem like too little too late. It may seem too precarious to work. But Jesus assures us that it is enough.

You will be hated by all because of my name,
but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.
By your perseverance you will secure your lives.

The only way to learn the new song of the wondrous deeds of the LORD is to receive it from him. We want to join in the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb rather than composing our own halting and fragmented songs. His song alone is the song of victory. 

So then, are we ready to join the song?

Great and wonderful are your works,
Lord God almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
O king of the nations.
Who will not fear you, Lord,
or glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All the nations will come
and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.