Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out.

• Proverbs 18:15

Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills—to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.

• Exodus 31:1-5

He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, “‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’

• Luke 8:10

Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

• Romans 10:1-4

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.

• 1 Corinthians 8:1

“Luther had said that all we can do is of no avail, however good a life we live. He had said that nothing can avail us in the sight of God but ‘the grace and favour which confers the forgiveness of sin.’ But he spoke as one who knew that at the very moment of his crisis he was called to leave all that he had a second time and follow Jesus. The recognition of grace was his final, radical breach with his besetting sin, but it was never the justification of that sin. …
“At the end of a life spent in the pursuit of knowledge Faust has to confess:
“ ‘I now do see that we can nothing know.’
“That is the answer to a sum, it is the outcome of a long experience. But as Kierkegaard observed, it is quite a different thing when a freshman comes up to the university and uses the same sentiment to justify his indolence. As the answer to a sum it is perfectly true, but as the initial data it is a piece of self-deception. For acquired knowledge cannot be divorced from the existence in which it is acquired. The only man who has the right to say that he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ. Such a man knows that the call to discipleship is a gift of grace, and that the call is inseparable from the grace. But those who try to use this grace as a dispensation from following Christ are simply deceiving themselves.”

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (Costly Grace)

The Scriptures put knowledge on both sides of the argument over whether “knowledge” is important, not important, or it gets in the way.  But I have heard many street evangelists speak of the eighteen inches.  They usually say no more unless they see someone who does not understand.  They speak of the eighteen inches between the head and the heart.

In the Proverbs passage, the “heart” obtains the knowledge because the ears seek it out.  Note Jesus said for those who have ears, let them hear – so that the heart can obtain the knowledge.  Jesus usually said that after telling a parable, while the Luke passage explains how the disciples understand but the more highly educated religious leaders went away befuddled.

The Exodus passage gives the mechanism of these eighteen inches of knowledge transfer.  I wrote years ago about Bezalel and his assistant, Oholiab, were probably “SP” temperaments, that temperament that focuses on how to do stuff and being very good at it.  But even then, everything that went into the Tabernacle was already in Heaven.  If the Holy Spirit had not come upon Bezalel and his crew, they might have not made the earthly version like what God was looking upon at the time.  With that in mind, there is no way that the Bible today is wrong in the foundational truth because God would see to it that it was right.  Yes, there have been “translations” that have been discredited, but there are weeds (tares) among the wheat that must be separated at some point and cast into the fire.

But then the Romans passage is Paul talking about the knowledgeable Jews did not have the knowledge that Jesus was the Messiah.  Again, such a strong head knowledge that it often got in the way, and still gets in the way, of that knowledge ever reaching the heart.  And why is this the case?  Because the head knowledge puffs you up.  Heart knowledge becomes apparent by the love that pours forth from a true believer.

Bonhoeffer talks about Luther’s struggle.  He also mentions the two crossroads in Luther’s life.  Luther was coming home from college.  A lightning bolt nearly killed him and as he fell from the animal he was riding, he dedicated his life to Christ.  He was convinced that God had not taken his life for a purpose.  He became a monk, much to his parents’ chagrin.  He was studying to become a lawyer.  But then when he protested the use of indulgences and other things that were not biblical, things making Rome rich (the Pope and his closest advisors) and everyone else poor, there was backlash from his 95 Theses, including death threats.  He again saw that his grace was not cheap.  He had to leave the monastery, for God wished him to preach the truth to the masses.  Both times, Luther left what he was doing and risked everything to follow how God led him.

Was this by head knowledge or heart knowledge?  Luther struggled with this until he realized that confession and repentance were necessary.  Each person was to confess to God, not through a priest, and repent of his or her sin.  And God’s Grace would be bestowed upon them.  Salvation comes from faith alone, but sanctification, what God places within us as a burning desire, is a lifelong struggle.

So, what good is head knowledge?  Certainly, it is good for the priest, or minister, to have to help explain things.  The Gutenberg Bible had been out for roughly fifty years.  That Bible would spur the growth of education in the Western World, but in Luther’s time, only the elite could read.  But Luther dealt with the idea to teach these people in their language so that they knew the pathway from head knowledge to heart knowledge.  Indeed, he was working toward establishing a church that developed that head knowledge, but he was fighting a society that wanted only the elite to be able to read and discern whether the pastor was preaching the Word or not.

But Bonhoeffer’s loose quoting of Kierkegaard is extremely important.  It is head knowledge that God has forgiven our sins: past, present, and future.  That knowledge does not give us free license to forget God’s Law and sin to our heart’s content.  A heart with Jesus at its center could never be content under those circumstances.

Lord, guide me. Help me to understand, in my heart, what is important knowledge.  Help me to understand that the burning desire within me is to sin no more and You do not hold my sin against me.  But I can never be content seeing my lapses in keeping my eyes on You.  Until the day that I die, I may struggle at times, but I also claim Victory in Jesus.  Thank You, Lord.  In Your name I pray.  Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.