"Good Discourse"

 "Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him." (John 13:31 KJV)

  "For God, who said, "Let there be light in the darkness," has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Corinthians 4:6 NLT)

 Whether or not we can totally understand this, Jesus is free to talk opening, now that Judas has departed and set off to betray Him. As Matthew Henry points out regarding Jesus sharing the details of the cross, "Christ did not share this discourse till Judas was gone out, for he was a false brother." 

 There is a time and place for the mysteries of the Bible to be discussed among brothers and sisters; the best time is while among true believers; the best place is away from non-believers. Truth and Light do not have fellowship with lies and darkness; there is really nothing good that can be agreed upon in those types of conversations.

 What we are talking about here, is not some sort of Bible Study or Church Service; as those are meant to establish and freely give out the message of the Gospel. When elders meet, the meeting is between the elders, and the elders alone. The discussion is not to leave the room, which means, you do not go home and share the things discussed with your wives. There are certain things that require the wives to get involved, but that is because they are participating in praying for whatever discission is being made. 

 That, in a strange sort of way, is what Jesus was making clear: 'The evil has left the room, now I can speak more clearly about what I am about to do!' Whenever the mysteries of God are brought to life, they involve the sincerity and attention of the pure at heart; there are things that many people will not truly comprehend; and if they do somewhat comprehend it, it will be full of holes and loaded with extra little jewels of their own. 

 I have struggled with this, time and time again; most of the time without any sort of discourse that is not taken out of context or refuted with content. It has to do with the role between husbands and wives, regarding their love for each other and the health of their relationship. The husband is the one who is responsible for the love! Yea, I know; as soon as that is said, most of the men in the room will shut off hearing the rest of the message. 

 I have yet to be find a crowd of men that can receive that message, without raising up their voice in some sort of debate or argument. The most popular refute, is, "The woman can sin too, so it's not only the man's fault." My reply is always the same: "If she loved you at the altar, and has fallen out of love with you, it is your fault!" That doesn't go over well, as to be expected. 

 Without getting too personal: when the Bible studies stopped in my family, it was because I allowed it to happen; maybe even forced it to happen, because I had allowed something else into my life that took away from the "pure milk of the Word!" If my wife was not feeling loved, it was because I was not doing my duty as the husband to love her as I should have loved her; "as Christ loved the church!" 

 That is about all I can stand to share about all of that! It hurts too hard to even think about. But, I will just add this little mystery: Wives reflect the love that they are given, as does the church...

"For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God's word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. No hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. And we are members of his body. As the Scriptures say, "A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one." This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." (Ephesians 5:25-33 NLT)