Posted by David on December 20, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
I wonder how the Paul of Acts 8:1-3 and 9:1, 2 dealt with being a Christian evangelist? How did he feel when he walked Jerusalem’s streets past the houses where he arrested people? How did he deal with past words of threats and murder? Even he was mystified by God’s grace that forgave his violence (1 Timothy 1:12-16)!
How did Paul deal with his past failure? How could he be so committed to a religious tradition of destruction and become an effective missionary among the hopeless? (1) He put his past in the past. (2) He forgave himself by trusting God’s forgiveness. (3) He committed himself to serving God’s purposes instead of his own fears.
All of us commonly refocus each January 1 as a new year begins. The New Year is fresh-a time for hopes and dreams. The old year is worn, threadbare. Though the old contained good, it also created opportunities for our flaws to tower over us as they controlled our lives’ direction. So, inwardly tired and troubled, we resolve to deal with our flaws as we are inspired to reach for productive new heights.
The following are some resolutions I hope we find worthy of consideration.
- I will seek to be more Christ-like in my mind, emotions, behavior, and consideration each day I am privileged to live.
- I will make serious efforts to understand God’s purposes and values instead of assuming my purposes and values are God’s.
- I will allow God to continue to “renew my mind” so my God will continue His transformation process in me.
- I will listen to understand before I speak.
- I will show the compassionate mercy I wish to receive.
- I will forgive as I wish God to forgive me.
- I will seek spiritual growth quietly, humbly as God’s servant by deliberately shunning arrogance.
- I will understand my credibility as Christ’s representative is enhanced by both my behavior and my words.
- I will dedicate myself to being a person of faith, and reflect faith in my character.
- I will put my faith in the Savior instead of the saved.
“Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32). Happy New Year! May God be glorified in us!
Posted by David on December 18, 2007 under Sermons
I am not seeking an agreement with my perspective. All I want is to move you to think. I am convinced that when people think, they move closer to understanding each other and God. The result is that faith in God and Christ grows. All I ask you to do is think with an inquiring mind.
Most of us have little insight into how much controversy and reaction Jesus caused among his own people. His work and teachings caused people to think as they had never thought before. People (including us) are not good at thinking brand new (to us) thoughts. Controversy and reaction is not what Jesus wanted or sought (consider his grief in Matthew 23:37-39). He wanted to redirect people toward God’s core concerns. He wanted people to value God’s concept of compassion. He wanted people to see God’s character and concerns as He is, not as they had heard from others. He wanted them to learn the joy of having confidence in God. The route to that discovery lay in their repentance. His objective was not to squash, but to liberate.
However, as Jesus’ popularity grew among the common people (which were considered the wrong people in religious circles) opposition to Jesus grew among the religious leaders (which were the symbols of the right people in religious circles). Jesus’ emphasis on motives (see Matthew 6:1), secret dependence on God (see Matthew 6:5, 6), compassion toward the struggling (see Matthew 12:7), and repentance (see Luke 15) did not set well with most of Israel’s leaders. They interpreted scripture to focus on correct deeds, human praise, compassion for those who keep the rules, and repentance for the godless (which they were not!).
- Consider how radical Jesus was in first century Israel. (Most examples are deliberately taken from the gospel of Matthew because that gospel dealt with many first century Jewish religious perspectives.)
- Consider some of the things Jesus said and did in Matthew:
- He touched lepers (Matthew 8:3), which was not to be done (Numbers 5:2, 3).
- He healed the servant of a gentile (Roman Army Officer) and declared the gentile had more faith than anyone he met in Israel (Matthew 8:6ff).
- He further declared gentiles would assemble with ancient Jewish forefathers in God’s kingdom while the sons of the kingdom would be cast in outer darkness (Matthew 8:11, 12).
- He did not have his disciples fast [fasting was a common religious activity utilized to declare humility before God] (Matthew 9:14).
- He blessed a hemorrhaging woman who touched him [a woman was not permitted to have any public contact with a man who was not a relative; a person with a hemorrhage was not allowed to be in public] (Matthew 9:20).
- He healed the blind [people with permanent disabilities were commonly considered punished by God for some sin–see John 9:1,2] (Matthew 9:27ff).
- He answered the imprisoned John by applying Isaiah 35:5 to himself (Matthew 11:5).
- He invited the weary and burdened to follow him [not the powerful, privileged, and influential] (Matthew 11:28).
- He was accused of tolerating Sabbath violation [a huge evidence of violation of God’s teachings] (Matthew 12:2).
- He healed a withered hand on a Sabbath (Matthew 12:10ff.).
- Miracles had an old acceptance in Israelite history–the plagues in Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the manna and quail in the wilderness, the crossing of the Jordan, the fall of Jericho, Giddeon’s fleece (Judges 6:36-40), Elijah’s flight (1 Kings 19), Elisha’s resurrection of a boy (2 Kings 4), Naaman’s cure (2 Kings 5:6,7), the floating ax head (2 Kings 6:4-6), etc., –the problem was not that Jesus’ performed a miracle.
- The problem was that Jesus performed a miracle to eliminate a condition that did not threaten life, and he did it on a Sabbath day [see Luke 13:14].
- To heal a condition that did not threaten life and do it on a Sabbath day was a violation of the Sabbath day.
- Jesus taught a "strange concept of the law" (Matthew 12:41ff).
- Jesus transgressed Jewish tradition (Matthew 15:1-3).
- He healed a Canaanite [gentile] (Matthew 15:21-28).
- He was tested by religious leaders (Matthew 16:11ff).
- He did not feel obligated to pay the temple tax that Jews commonly paid (Matthew 17:24ff).
- His concept of significance before God was different (Matthew 18:1).
- His attitude toward children was different (Matthew 18:3,4).
- His concept of forgiveness was different (Matthew 18:15ff).
- He drove the money changers [a sanctioned business considered necessary for visitors to the temple] out of the temple area (Matthew 21:12ff).
- He said the tax collectors [considered traitors to Israel by many Jews because they collected taxes for Rome] and harlots [prostitutes] would enter God’s kingdom before the chief priests and elders (Matthew 21:31).
- To the chief priests and Pharisees, Jesus said God’s kingdom would be taken from them and given to a nation who produced the fruit of God’s kingdom (Matthew 21:43).
- A deep antagonism toward Jesus developed with the religious leaders (Matthew 22:15-40).
- Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees they were hypocrites (Matthew 23:15-36).
- Jesus ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners, healed people who were demon-possessed, and was accused of eating and drinking too much (see Matthew 9:10-13, 11:19, and 12:22-37).
- Compare those things Jesus did to many typical congregations today.
- Much of our focus in teaching and preaching is on what is wrong with others and what is right about us.
- We often want to attract people to our congregations who are just like the people in the congregation.
- When a Christian reaches out to someone very unlike those in the congregation, some question his or her motives or his or her integrity.
- Too often we focus our internal considerations on:
- What translation should be used.
- How Christians should or should not dress in different places.
- The appropriate involvement of Christians outside the congregation.
- What stand should be taken against social drinking (not drunkenness).
- What is acceptable worship and acceptable worship etiquette.
- What are the correct concepts for preserving the church?
- What is the role of elders? Who should be elders?
- When a Christian individual understands how concerned Jesus was about "the unacceptable people," how hard Jesus worked to give such people hope, and his willingness to tell the religious elite of his day that they missed the thrust of God’s concern, what is he or she to do?
- Jesus was not intimidated when his motives were not understood; what does that mean when a Christian’s motives are misunderstood by other Christians?
- Jesus was not ashamed of his association with the outcast; does that mean we should not be ashamed to associate with the outcast?
- Jesus questioned internally (he questioned the Jewish system of the First Century): should we question internally (should Christians question congregations of the 21st century)?
- Should the spotlight be on those who follow the God of the Bible as it should be or on those who do not?
- Does the focus need to be placed on Christians individually and collectively in a manner equal to those who do not follow Christ?
- Jesus paid the price for his internal questionings within Judaism: should Christians expect to pay prices in congregations for internal questionings?
- The first century religious leaders did not like for their "long-accepted concepts" to be questioned.
- Twenty-first century leaders often do not like for their "long-accepted concepts" to be questioned.
- There is a grave need for Christians and congregations to understand that many Christians need a forum within our Christian community to discuss what is understood to be a conflict between Jesus’ thrust and the thrust of congregations today.
- Christians need to understand such discussion and openness is not destructive but the avenue to healthful spiritual maturity.
- Christians need to understand there is a place for Christians to reach different conclusions and still respect each other in Christ.
- Christians need to understand that biblical unity never has been uniformity.
- We Christians need to understand that Christianity is a caring, courageous thrust into this world, not a fearful hiding from this world.
- How could this possibly happen?
- As Christians, we need a deeper understanding of scripture as we seek a godly balance between what we define as internal peace and following Jesus.
- As Christians, we need a better understanding of the fact that we can have internal peace without destroying Christians who disagree with a long held conclusion.
- As Christians, we need a better understanding of the conflict between Jewish Christians and gentile Christians in the New Testament.
- As Christians, we need a better understanding of the epistles’ teachings regarding that dilemma.
- As Christians, we need a more biblically accurate understanding of Romans 14.
- As Christians need a more biblically accurate understanding of Ephesians 2:11-22.
- Recommended commitments:
- As Christians, we all should be more committed to a patient sharing of "whys" instead of a quick dismissal of those in Christ by an emotional reaction.
- As Christians, we should not assign bad motives to Christians with whom we disagree.
- As Christians, we refuse to seek internal resolutions by destroying people in Christ.
- As Christians, we inspire others to listen to us by who we are in Christ and how we act in Christ.
- As Christians, we are committed to making "our congregation" an oasis of hope in Christ rather than a cemetery for people in Christ who dare to study and think.
One of the enduring strengths of the spiritual kingdom God built on Jesus’ death and resurrection was and is its ability to encourage believers to grow and question. Understanding is the interstate highway for the journeys of faith. May spiritual growth never make us feel threatened. May fear never be substituted for faith.
Posted by David on December 13, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
In warfare, there is a modern term often heard-collateral damage. My Webster’s New (though quite old) Collegiate Dictionary defines collateral as indirect or parallel (along with some other concepts). In warfare, collateral damage concerns innocent [civilian] people who suffer fatal or destructive wounds as a result of the actions of military forces. It is the common way to refer to civilians who are killed or maimed as the result of a military confrontation.
A man, woman, or child who dies or is maimed as a result of collateral damage is just as dead, suffers just as much pain, or causes just as much grief to his/her family as the man/woman in the military who dies or is maimed in the same hostile action. Dead is dead. Maimed is maimed. Pain is pain. Grief is grief. The end result: the grieving survivors have zero confidence in the nation whose personnel caused the collateral damage.
Christians need to give great care to avoid collateral damage. At times Christians become so emotional about their personal cause that they ignore the effect of their actions on the souls and spirits of others. How awful it would be to be surrounded in Judgment by a great cloud of witnesses who were the collateral damage of our words and deeds! How wonderful it would be in Judgment to be surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who came to or remained in Christ because our words and deeds prevented collateral damage!
With God, there is no collateral damage. His people are committed to a “no collateral damage” policy. Consider Matthew 5:43-48. Godless people know how to be nice to those who are nice to them. Godly people know how to be nice to enemies.
Christian Jews had a lot to tolerate in Christian gentiles, and vice versa. The uncleanness, food (sacrifices), and kept days to which Paul referred involved spiritual acts. Those two sets of Christians reached totally different conclusions about those acts. Paul did not say, “Decide a winner, decide a loser, and become identical.” He said that God’s kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, not winners and losers.
As we commit to a policy of no collateral damage, let’s invest as much in the salvation of others as God did. May our actions and words never negate Jesus’ death in their lives!
Posted by David on December 6, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
Jesus opened his longest recorded teaching (Matthew 5-7) with what most of us know as the Beatitudes. In my opinion, the theme of the entire lesson focuses on how a righteous person looks and acts. In my understanding, the Beatitudes are a composite view of a righteous person who looks to God to define what he/she is and how he/she acts. Jesus spoke of poverty of spirit, mourning, gentleness, hungering and thirsting to understand God’s ways, mercy, inner purity, making peace, and suffering. For many, these are not the attitudes of righteousness.
In my opinion, because we realized the enormous consequences of rejecting Jesus as God’s promised Messiah, we tried to make it as easy as possible to respond to Jesus. While there are many groups who used various concepts of grace to make it convenient to be Christians, we (the Churches of Christ) emphasized a lack of commitment. The commitment to service after baptism did not parallel the importance of being baptized. Thus baptism became the objective instead of the beginning.
We addressed two difficult problems: 1) sincere people who reach different conclusions, and 2) young children who understand basic facts but not long-term concepts (with a strong emphasis on “easy”). Thus, a lot of people became Christians, not because they were committed to a Savior, but because, “It is easy to be saved, and I do not want to go to Hell.” A personal observation: when serving God becomes demanding, many are not committed to the demands of being Jesus’ disciples. Thus, they often wonder, “Where is the ?easy’?”
Jesus did not teach being righteous was easy. He taught that with God’s mercy and kindness it was possible. He who emptied himself of equality with God the Father (Philippians 2:5-7), who endured rejection by people believing they understood God better than he did (Matthew 24), and who endured unjust trials and death on a cross, did not call people to a “convenient righteousness.” It is not easy or simple to recognize personal insufficiency, be gentle, be learning constantly, be merciful, be internally pure, make peace, or be persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Though exhausting, it is possible.
Do not be a Christian because you expect it to be easy. Be a Christian because you are committed to a Savior. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary (Galatians 6:9). Do not get tired of doing good and being godly.
Posted by David on November 29, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
As we get older, life changes and takes on new qualities. Whatever you used in the past to measure the significance of your life becomes less meaningful, less important. You begin realizing that your life is coming to its close. All the medicine, all the surgery, all the technical advances in our physical world cannot keep physical life from ending.
In the past you acknowledged the things God did and does. He created, He can renew, and He sustains what He renews. He created-He made physical existence possible. He renews-He can make it possible for anyone to begin again in Christ. He sustains-with His grace and mercy, He can make anyone His continually.
It is only as you get older that you are filled with a new sense of awe at the incredible things God does. As we become increasingly powerless, we see from different perspectives the awesome things God does. The “beginning again” of anyone-privileged or not, educated or not, free or not-is truly remarkable. Regardless of what a mess you made of your past, regardless of how poor your focus was, regardless of how stupid your past choices were, in Jesus Christ you can begin again-incredible!
What God did and does in Christ is so “mind blowing” it is beyond our comprehension. In Christ’s death, God paid the full price of our renewal. In Christ’s resurrection, God assured us that He is more powerful than physical death, that the end of the physical is not “the end.” The fact the He can take that which was created in His image, trashed and marred beyond recognition, and create again men and women who can reflect Him is beyond our imagination. The fact that He can sustain them in all their human weakness really reveals what faith is all about. (Do you trust God to do what He promised to do?)
And what does He want from us? He wants us to become what He remade us to be. Why? So we can reflect Him. The objective is to see us and glorify God because God made us what we are. Read Matthew 9:1-8 and pay special attention to verse 8. Then read Matthew 5:16. Consider 2 Corinthians 9:13.
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
Posted by David on November 15, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
To me, there is a significant degree of assurance to realize Christians of the first century often struggled with problems similar to ours. The Jews were quite geography-centered in their worship (Deuteronomy 12:5, 11, 13, 14; 16:16). The Temple was the holiest place of all places! They were quite ritualistic with priests, sacrifices, and correct procedures. They wore tassels on their clothes (Numbers 15:37-41) [as did Jesus-Matthew 9:20; 14:36; Mark 6:56; Luke 8:44]. They were careful about what they ate (Leviticus 11) and observed special days (Exodus 12:15-20). To Jewish Christians it was unthinkable that God would call those who did none of this His people!
To me it is obvious why the New Testament acknowledges the enormous dispute between Jewish Christians and gentile Christians. Jewish people and non-Jewish people were distinctively different in virtually every way.
The first four chapters of 1 Corinthians addressed (in various ways) the internal divisions in that congregation. These are the divisions noted in 1 Corinthians 1:10-17. Their internal “quarrels” seemed to focus on the person responsible for their conversion-Paul, Apollos, Peter, or Christ.
Among his arguments against internal division is the one in the text. There was more at stake than their group and its perspective. God’s temple that houses His presence (read 2 Chronicles 7:11-16) is no longer a building at a place, but a people who belong to Him through a commitment to Jesus Christ (read 1 Peter 2: 5, 9, 10).
To those firmly committed to Jesus Christ, there is always something more significant than personal views and preferences. It is the understanding of God’s purpose clearly declared in Genesis 12:3c. God intended to bless everyone. He would not do it in a place, but in a people. He would do it in His people, devoted to His character, honoring His values, committed to His purpose.
Paul’s statement (above) is frightening. The KJV translation correctly notes the “you” Paul used is plural. Christians (plural-congregations) comprise God’s temple now-Jewish Christians, gentile Christians, agreeing Christians, disagreeing Christians, people from all backgrounds. They must not use differences to discredit God’s work and purpose. If a Christian does discredit God by harming what is now His temple, Paul said God would destroy that person (strong language for Paul) because God’s temple is holy.
To me, preserving unity is one of the more difficult tasks God gives us. Nothing about it is simple. We are not one because we are wonderful, or can justify our behavior, or God endorses our point of view, or because people agree with me, or because our culture endorses the best and most sensible way. We are one because we are in Jesus Christ.
May God’s purpose always be our purpose. We belong to Him, not ourselves.
Posted by David on November 8, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
Recently I had opportunity to drive across several wastelands, some of which were just plain deserts. Vegetation ranged from sparse (with small scrub bushes that occasionally dotted the landscape) to absent, with hills gutted by gullies with little to hold the soil.
Occasionally, I saw a ribbon of trees snaking along a low place in the landscape. When I saw that ribbon of trees, I knew there was water available-a small stream or a low river. In the dry areas, the problem was not the nutrients in the soil, but the absence of moisture. Strong trees would grow and produce their fruit if water were available.
In the southern regions of Palestine, the psalmist saw a similar situation. Some regions are extremely arid. In those areas, occasionally there will be a spring and a pool. Around that pool, there is incredible vegetation, including strong fruit-bearing trees with strong root systems.
In short, there is life in a lifeless landscape. Life exists because there is water. The contrast is incredible-no water, arid; water, life.
Once as Jesus was teaching, he said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ?From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water'” (John 7:37, 38).
Consider what Jesus said to the woman at the well near Sychar in John 4:10, 13, 14, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ?Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water. … Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
Knowing and listening to Jesus is like providing a tree in the desert with water. Knowing Jesus will do more than change what you believe. It will change who you are.
In our American society, people need more than information. While they need information, they also need examples. The person who trusts in God must be like the tree in an arid region growing by the water source. The person who trusts God must be sustained by the living water, Jesus Christ. He or she obviously does not thirst. Instead, he or she is a well springing to eternal life in others.
In a society that mistakes pleasure, money, possessions, power, and influence for life, to have the courage to let Jesus quench the thirst for life is the difference between a scrub bush in an arid region and a tree by a water source. Have the courage to be God’s tree. Have the courage to let Jesus Christ be life to you and a well to others through you.
Posted by David on November 1, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
One of the results of being “strange” is looking at and listening to things a bit differently. I find that to be a powerful source of learning and self-evaluation. Often, the lives of others cause me to see things about myself I had rather not see or know.
Recently while we were taking a relaxation trip, we visited an impressive congregation in an extremely small town. It was a much larger congregation than one would expect to find in such a small town and sparsely populated terrain.
It was a very active congregation that was both community-focused and foreign mission-focused. Their contribution and their projects/programs were nothing less than astounding. Obviously, instead of feeling sorry for themselves (as many congregations do in their setting), they were actively involved in helping others and ministering to Christ’s family.
Significant in the congregation were a number of retired, much experienced elders and ministers. The level of talent and experience in that small congregation was truly impressive. Though they did not comprise the bulk of the congregation, they were active, prominent, and significant in the congregation’s work.
Such people form “living mirrors” who challenge us to examine ourselves. Time transforms us all in small, silent ways. I find those transformations are not obvious until we look at ourselves reflected in such “living mirrors.”
Perhaps this transformation is best understood with an illustration. It is the soul of the meaning of, “He/she seems so much younger than he/she actually is.” In a positive way, he or she does not act his or her age. He or she refuses to allow physical aging to change “who I am.”
To mature spiritually, two things are necessary: (1) Know who you want to be. (2) Know who you do not want to be. The two are not the same. You know who you want to be by looking at Jesus Christ and scripture. You know who you do not want to be by (a) backing off from yourself, (b) being honest with yourself, and (c) seeing yourself in your actions and attitudes. We must know both who we are and who we do not wish to be. Instead of justifying ourselves, we examine ourselves-and that is demanding!
From Paul I learn it is as important to be honest about who I am (absent God’s grace) as it is to have confidence in whom Christ Jesus made me (with God’s grace) to be.
Posted by David on October 25, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: ? (Romans 2:1-6)
For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written. (Romans 2:24)
In grief-filled fascination, I realize the American Restoration Movement began about 1800 as a unity movement. In time, the movement transitioned to a defensive movement. In less time it transitioned to an isolationist movement. Now it is fragmented. One large fragment seeks to understand God’s purposes with scripture as the source. Another large fragment identifies “the right to exist” with a desire to declare everyone’s error inside or outside the movement.
It is difficult to learn from others’ mistakes. Jesus said to a Jewish audience in Palestine, “Do not listen for the wrong reason. Listening to learn what is wrong with people you resent is the wrong reason. Listen to transform your lives. Life is full of moral and ethical floods. The real issue: ?Will your life stand after your floods come?’ Do not listen for others. Listen for yourself. Listen to act. Listen to change yourself rather than listening to discover what is wrong with others.”
Paul was upset with the Jewish people who thought they were experts in knowing others’ errors. He was concerned because these self-appointed judges were as ethically deficient as those they condemned. People who were supposed to be God’s people were a significant factor in idol worshippers not considering the living God seriously. Thus, one of God’s obstacles was the misimpression created by those who claimed to represent Him. Evidently, Paul often had to teach godless people about God by dismissing the example of those who declared “I am who I am because of God.”
Do you find Jesus’ and Paul’s declarations frightening? Why?
Posted by David on October 18, 2007 under Sermons
Quite often when we are driving, we will see a yellow or orange sign that says, "CAUTION." We know immediately by the color of the sign and the word used that we are being warned. Though only one word and one color appear on the sign, we understand that we are being warned of possible danger, and we are being told to exercise special vigilance. If we have an accident because we ignore the sign, few people will sympathize with us. The attitude likely will be, "You were warned. Why did you not pay attention to the warning?"
This lesson is intended as a warning. The warning does not come from me. It comes from my understanding of what God said. The source of the warning is God, not me. To "steal" God’s warning by "hiding His caution sign" would not be a harmless prank. It would mean the potential death of people.
Ironically, most Christian are convinced they think like God thinks. That has never been the case! The reason we study scripture is to learn to think like God thinks. Long before Jesus Christ came to earth or Christianity existed, God said through one of the prophets:
Isaiah 55:6-9 "Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.’"
Isaiah revealed many harsh realities to Judah and Jerusalem. (See Isaiah 1:4-9 as an example.) There were some who understood his warnings. They basically reacted by saying, "It is too late. Too much evil has occurred." Isaiah basically said, "You do not understand how to think like God thinks. He does not think like you think."
Jesus once told the Pharisees, "But if you had known what this means, ?I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent (Matthew 12:7)." The Pharisees were recognized in first century Jewish society as the "official conservative interpreters of scripture." Jesus quoted Hosea 6:6, and said they did not know what God meant by that statement. He said if they understood what God meant in that statement, they would not have condemned the innocent. They did not know how God thought.
- Because a person is immersed in Christ does not mean he or she automatically thinks like God thinks.
- Because a Christian reads the Bible regularly (which is a wonderful thing to do) does not mean he or she automatically thinks like God thinks.
- Such reading can lead you closer to God’s thinking if some things are true.
- You listen as you read.
- You carefully refuse to force your desires on God’s revelations.
- You are willing to grow as you increase your understanding.
- Your are willing for God to change your thoughts and understandings.
- If the Pharisees (who were recognized as experts in scripture) could fail to understand how God thinks, so can we.
- Because a person goes to church, listens to the preacher, and follows the direction of their elders does not mean he or she automatically thinks like God thinks.
- Going to church does not carry an automatic guarantee that your thoughts will be God’s thoughts.
- Listening to the preacher is an important help if his thinking is in tune with God’s thinking.
- The same is true for elders.
- Because of one’s position in a congregation, we must not assume the person is spiritually mature.
- Consider an example.
- Let’s begin with an incident in Luke 22:24-30.
And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest. And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called ?Benefactors.’ But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant. For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves. You are those who have stood by Me in My trials; and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
- This incident occurred just after Jesus gave them the Lord’s Supper.
- That means the twelve were with him his entire earthly ministry, yet they still did not "get it."
- Jesus said his kingdom was not like all the kingdoms they knew–those kingdoms were power based.
- Those who occupied positions of authority liked the power of position and loved the designation of the person of power.
- It would not be like that with the twelve.
- Greatness would be like being the youngest person (the least influential person) and like being a servant.
- Yet in Jesus’ kingdom he would turn things upside down–the server would be greater than the served.
- The 12 were given positions in Jesus’ kingdom, but as servants.
- That is not the way things were done then and is not the way things are done now.
- People are still power-based (it is who I know or what I have).
- We want our significance to be declared by our position over others.
- Jesus said in his kingdom that was not the way it worked.
- Consider an extension of the example in Mark 9:33-37:
They came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house, He began to question them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. Sitting down, He called the twelve and *said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” Taking a child, He set him before them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me."
- The 12 had an argument among themselves about who would be the most significant in Jesus’ administration when Jesus ruled in his kingdom.
- When they reached their destination, Jesus asked them what they were discussing as they traveled.
- They did not respond because Jesus had made himself clear on this matter before.
- He told them in his kingdom the path to greatness was the path of servitude.
- He illustrated his point by taking a child in his arms and stating that receiving a child meant receiving him and God.
- Frankly, it just does not work that way in anybody’s world in any age.
- Servitude is a matter of behavior, not a matter of words and claims.
- Nobody wants to be a servant.
- Everybody wants to be served.
- However, Jesus said greatness (not the path to greatness) was achieved in his kingdom by serving.
- You have to really listen to God to learn to think like He thinks.
- To save us, God served–that is the only reason we have grace, mercy, and compassion.
- To give us a Savior, Jesus served–all the way to and including death on a cross.
- The 12 became our servants.
- The apostle to the gentiles was a servant.
- Paul told the Christians at Philippi in Philippians 2:3:
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;…
- There is no way you would ever learn to think that way if you did not listen to God–people just do not think of being great in connection with serving rather than being served.
- Consider Jesus’ statement give in a prayer shortly before his death.
John 17:20-23–"I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.
- Just as Jesus was about to give the ultimate sacrifice of self in suffering and death, he prayed for the oneness of all who believed in him.
- He not only prayed for our oneness as believers, but that our oneness would reflect the oneness he had with God the Father.
- His prayer was that he be so thoroughly in us that we would reflect his presence in the oneness we share with each other.
- It is by sharing this oneness that we cause the world to believe three things:
- That God sent Jesus.
- That God loves those who follow Jesus.
- That God loved Jesus even though He permitted Jesus to die on a cross.
- In his request, Jesus forever gave proof that oneness can exist even when there is great differences (something we have been very slow to learn).
- Jesus was flesh; God was not.
- Jesus could and would die; God could not die.
- Jesus was temptable and about to face his greatest temptation; God is not temptable.
- Jesus could physically suffer and know physical pain; God could not.
- Jesus could actually experience human emotions that could threaten his commitment; God could not and does not experience those emotions.
- As different as they were, Jesus the Son being human and God the Father being divine, they were one.
- And we struggle with each other because we do not agree on every detail.
- In Jesus and God’s value system, oneness ranks high on the list of important things.
- Does it on ours?
- Or do we reason that to preserve unity we need to divide and place "me" in control?
- Do we really know how to think like God thinks?
Learning to allow God to teach us how to think is a huge, never-ending challenge if we aspire to spiritual maturity. It takes enormous courage to allow God to change your thinking. When a person allows that to occur, he or she increasingly becomes behavior- centered in his of her life. It is more than what he or she affirms to be correct. It is allowing conviction held to become behavior practiced. It is a faith in Jesus that increasingly becomes focused on "me" instead of a faith focused on others.
