Daniel, let me give you an example of how the Lord Himself drove home this particular lesson to me.
You know the section in the last discourse when Christ tells the disciples the He is the vine and they are the branches, and that any branch that does not bear fruit will be cut off -- right? It sounds for all the world like someone could lose their salvation. Either that or God is really bad at grafting!
And we both know neither of those options is true.
And so, despite the apparent meaning of that verse, I knew I was a sheep and that my Shepherd would take care of me and that I was His and that was that.
And so I rested in that faith.
But then God was gracious enough to add knowledge to it, which helped me understand more what God was doing (and saying).
I have grapes out along a couple of the fences here. Red flames. Wonderful things!
But although the vines were gorgeous for years, the fruit was small and shrivelled. Water or fertilizer didn't matter. I got magnificent growth and lousy grapes.
We have some pretty good vinyards and wineries around, so I knew it wasn't the weather or altitude!
Then, a couple of years ago, I thought, "What the heck..." and I cut off every branch which did ot have developing fruit on it. All the extra branches which sprouted during the year from the main branches I cut off mercilessly every couple of weeks all summer (they grow really fast!).
I got gorgeous grapes. Loads of them.
And I stopped, and I thought about that.
My life is like that. There are the areas, or branches, of my life which bear fruit -- the areas where God wants me to concentrate my time and energy. But man can I get involved in a bunch of other stuff that takes my attention away from the areas where God wants me!
And so He trims those areas out of my life. An opportunity disappears, a promise does not come through, I get sick and lose the right time for something....I'm sure you know the story. And I have learned what that is now. In order to get me to concentrate my growth where God knows there will be fruit, or His results, He cuts off the other areas of my life.
What Jesus was giving the disciples was a promise of care and results, not an indication that some people would be cut off!
I bet they knew this. I didn't. Now I understand that parable better.
Or consider this one -- how many times have you heard people talk about cutting off one's hand if it causes you to sin. My mother (not a Christian) considers that passage gory enough to refuse to read any of the Bible.
But the meaning is idiomatic, and knowing the culture helps one understand that. No hand can cause you to sin! You are not controlled by your hand, but by your heart and mind.
But if we understand the idiom used at the time, it makes perfect sense. Your hand represented what you do -- your actions. Your right hand was your strength. But 'hand' itself was simply what you did. So if what you do is causing you to sin, quit doing it! Cut it out of your life.
And I have to chuckle as I think of both the above pictures -- it is sort of like God saying to those who are His, "OK, that's not a productive part of your life. In fact it is involving you in rebellion against me. You are sinning. Now, are you going to quit it or am I going to cut it out of your life?"
Right in line with Philippians 1:6 and Romans 8:28-30 and Jesus going after the lost sheep and everything else!
Did you know that the same phrase that is translated as "lose its saltiness" in the Sermon on the Mount is used by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians? But you won't find it translated that way there. You will find it translated as 'become foolish.'
And there is THAT idiom! The more we know of the culture and times, the deeper we understand what God is saying. It does not change the meaning and the meaning does NOT depend on our understanding of the culture or times in terms of the message of the Bible itself -- who man is, who God is, God's plan for man, what Jesus did and who He is, etc. But understanding culture and language is a wonderful help in fleshing out what was going on and what the people themselves understood Moses, or Jesus, or Paul to be saying.
I think that is kind of important. The effect in my life has been to leave me more in love with God and certainly more in awe of Him.
One of the first times I became acquainted with the fact that we may not be getting the point of some of what the Bible is saying is when I read Phillip Keller's "A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23." I was not only stunned, but I finished the book loving God more than when I started.
It made no difference to my salvation, but an awful lot to my understanding of what David was telling us about God!