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Real, Day 17

by David Joynt on March 26, 2019


LUKE 7:26-27 | What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’

Our world is afraid of conviction and prone to terminal openness. Flexibility is favored over judgement, even careful and considerate judgement. Yet all conviction is not dogmatism, and all judgement is not judgementalism.

Jesus admires John’s conviction and identifies him as a true prophet, the first in over 400 years. John’s authority rested on his capacity to express God’s will and word and the extent that he did so, he spoke truth, unadorned and unqualified. But as we shall see next week, conviction and humility can go together, as can courage and submission. John’s most authentic role was to point to Jesus and away from himself.

Do you see dangers in terminal openness?

Whose conviction do you admire?

 

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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