When Spoilers Are OK

When we think about a mystery novel or series, it’s usually considered impolite to tell others how things end up.  As my wife reads books, I will often announce that, “The butler did it!”, despite having no knowledge of the book’s setting.  She knows that I don’t actually know the culprit, because I didn’t read the book.  If I did, and spoiled the dramatic conclusion of the book for her, she would be unhappy with me and might just move on to the next volume in the series.

However, there are other times when knowing the answer and keeping it from someone else is just cruel.  If a doctor knows what illness a patient is suffering from and how to treat it, it would be unthinkable for the doctor to say, “Well, just wait and you’ll find out”.  In the same way, if someone needs directions to somewhere important (perhaps in a place where they don’t have good cell reception), it would be heartless to suggest that they just drive around and see if they stumble upon it.

In the previous article, we considered what a “mystery” was in the context of Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church:

‭‬This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

1 Corinthians 4:1-2 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.4.1-2.NIV

The answers to these mysteries about life have been provided by God: Who am I?  How did I get here?  What is my purpose?  Is there a God, and if so, what is He like?  Can I know Him?

Once we’ve learned these truths from God, though, what we do with the answers to these “life questions” is our choice.  For instance:

We could hide these truths about God, forcing other people to fumble around and hopefully find the answer on their own.  Due to the significance of these truths, though, that’s fairly hateful, especially when we know what others are missing out on when they don’t hear the good news.

We could keep these truths about God to ourselves, perhaps because others say that they don’t want to hear it.  Even for people who insist, “No spoilers!” (so to speak), when we try to tell them about Jesus, they need to hear the truth.  We know what the rest of the book says: it says that people can’t wait to find out how it ends, because then it will be too late.

We could distort the truth, so that people feel better about what is coming in the future.  We could try to make our message more comfortable, palatable, and attractive.  When we compromise the truth for the sake of acceptance, though, we not only become liars, but the outcome is often even worse.  This could be when someone leaves angry when they find out that we were lying, someone builds their life off of something that isn’t accurate, or someone misses Jesus when they accept a “modified gospel” (which is really not the gospel at all) as truth.

Or, we could share the truth generously and faithfully, helping people not only to prepare for what comes next, but also to help them enjoy their current life more (spending it with Jesus), rather than waiting until they – maybe – figure it out later.

The mysteries of God are important, to be sure, and God is not trying to keep them from people.  After all, He literally gave us the answer when we couldn’t figure it out on our own.  However, since they are life and death matters, we need to get the word out to those who don’t yet know the answers.  Let’s not keep them to ourselves or try to change them to fit what we think others want to hear.

From Sunday School lesson prepared for March 10, 2024

References:

• The Lookout, March 10, 2024, © 2024 Christian Standard Media.
• Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
• The College Press NIV Commentary – 1 Corinthians, by Richard E. Oster, Jr.  © 1995 College Press Publishing Co.