"Not Wasting Anyone's Time"
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
How would you like to spend 2 years making phone calls to people who aren't home? Sound absurd? According to one time management study, that's how much time the average person spends trying to return calls to people who never seem to be in. Not only that, we spend 6 months of our lives waiting for the traffic light to turn green, and another 8 months of our lives reading junk mail. These unusual statistics should cause us to do time-use evaluations. Taking a look at the use of our time helps us understand how even little things we do can add up to large blocks of time. And in evaluating those blocks of time, are we wasting a chunk of our lives on that which doesn't matter. What else could we be doing that makes our lives count for something?
"My friends, you know that our time with you wasn't wasted." That's how Paul shifts gears in this part of his letter. He wasn’t going to look back on his time in Thessalonica and feel like he had wasted any time. As I’ve said a few times before, Paul was an intense, type-A personality. He was going to make sure that each moment counted in his ministry for Christ.
But for Paul, it wasn’t just the moments he was counting. It was how he was using each moment God gave him to share the gospel--to tell people about his relationship with Christ. There are good ways to maximize each of those moments of witness. And he describes those ways in these couple of paragraphs of his letter to the believers at Thessalonica.
The first thing Paul says, if you want to maximize your time of witnessing for Christ is make sure you have no hidden motives. We have to be sure we are clear, within ourselves, what our motives are. In talking to people about Christ, we're trying to develop believers, not get church members. Talking to people about Christ and talking to people about coming to church at Pratt Presbyterian Church are two different conversations. Talking to people about Pratt Presbyterian Church is an invitational conversation about being a person enveloped in a caring fellowship of people. Talking to people about developing a relationship with Jesus Christ is a conversation about repentance and life transformation. If our motives aren’t clear, people will see right through our witness and we will be wasting our time and the person’s time we’re talking to.
Paul then writes that we are wasting our time if we are filling our witness with foolishness. Paul made it clear that there should be no clever tricks or come-ons.
I read about a church that held a lottery during their offering time in the worship service. This is how it worked. The offering would be collected. Then they would choose one offering envelope at random from the offering plates. The “winner” would then receive double their offering back.
But there were rules to this game. Only people who pledged were eligible. If you pledged, you would get a set of offering envelopes, and you were to put your weekly pledge in those envelopes. Only offering in envelopes was eligible--not random checks or pew envelopes. You could only get the offering pledge envelopes if you were a member of the church--that way only members were eligible.
What they found happened was that membership increased, and so did giving. In fact, some people were making three or four pledges so that it would increase their chances of winning the offering lottery. One woman said, in the article I was reading, “The offering time has become the highlight of the worship service.” Do you hear that!? Not the scripture reading, not the sermon, not the prayers. The offering lottery was what people were coming to worship for.
That’s a clever trick and come on. Paul says that using such gimmickry in our witness for Christ is a waste of time.
Paul then states that when we are witnessing about our relationship with Christ, there should be no people pleasing. Please God. We talked a little bit about this in Men’s Bible Study this week. If we’re into people pleasing we are only worried about if people like us, rather than hearing the good news of Christ and developing a relationship with him. We’re only sharing about Christ so that others will like us, rather than like Christ.
People pleasing is telling people what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear. Watering down the gospel. This has been called, "Cheap grace." The term “cheap grace” can be traced back to a book written by German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, called The Cost of Discipleship, published in 1937. In that book, Bonhoeffer defined “cheap grace” as “the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.” Cheap Grace tries to emphasize the benefits of Christianity without the costs involved. To offer people cheap grace in order to please them without pleasing God is to waste their time.
Paul then told the Thessalonian believers that when they preached the gospel, they didn’t come with a lot of flattery. Flattery is a form of what I was just talking about with people pleasing. It's telling someone something that you think is pleasing to them, complimentary. But in reality, by flattering, you are lying. There's a difference between flattery and paying someone a compliment. The difference is sincerity. Flattery has sincere insincerity behind it. The intention is manipulation. Many Greek orators would use flattery in their speeches to butter up a crowd, setting them up to be taken advantage of.
By flattering a congregation and telling them they are all OK is doing those people and the gospel a disservice. Sometimes you have to say some hard things. One of my professors in seminary said the job of the preacher is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Worrying about what people think about you and acting towards them so you will be sure to stay in their spotlight is basically coddling, and avoids doing the hard work of challenging and confronting. Paul said they didn’t waste the Thessalonians time by setting them up with a lot of flattery.
Paul said there was no greed involved in their sharing of the gospel. This kind of greed of which Paul writes has to do with power as well as things. But the motivation behind this kind of greed isn't just having stuff. The motivation is trying to outdo others, or being superior. And the way one acquires is by taking advantage of others, violating people, asserting yourself in an aggressive way. This kind of greed leads to violence and a total disregard for others.
Maybe you’ll remember the name of Leona Helmsley. She owns a string of hotels. She owns the Empire State Building. She’s a billionaire. In September 1989, Leona Helmsley was convicted of 33 counts of tax evasion. The picture of her that emerged from her trial was one of a penny-pinching tyrant who tried to stiff just about everybody she knew or was acquainted with. No amount of money was too small to fight over. After the sudden death of her only son, at age 40 in 1982, she sued and won a majority of his estate, $149,000, leaving his four children with $432 each and his widow with $2,171.
Paul wanted to make sure the Thessalonian believers understood that his preaching didn’t involve coming at them, wasting their time by taking them for everything they were worth and then leaving town. Instead of greed, Paul gave and gave, demanding nothing for what he gave--only that they might listen to the gospel and give their lives to Christ.
Paul said he also didn’t waste the Thessalonian’s time by putting himself constantly in the spotlight. In other words, Paul wasn’t witnessing for Christ in order to get recognition and praise. Paul’s witness for Christ wasn’t about him--it was about the Lord.
One time I was in Seattle, visiting my family. I was up there over a Sunday, so I was feeling really religious. On the same Sunday morning I visited my sister's church (Presbyterian--new church development) and a friend's church (Episcopalian). At my sister’s church, everything in the worship service was about their young pastor. He was involved in every aspect of the worship, and it was like he was making sure no matter what was happening in the worship service, he was the center of attention.
At my friend’s church--the Episcopalian church--everything in the worship service was liturgy centered. We followed along in the service in the Book of Common Prayer. It was like the Episcopal Priest was almost invisible to the worship service as we became immersed in the liturgy and the flow of the service. The spotlight was on Christ, and how the liturgy was keeping we congregants focused on him--not what the priest was doing. That’s what Paul said he was about--putting the spotlight on Christ rather than himself.
Lastly, Paul said his witness about Christ to the Thessalonians was like a mother nursing her child. Mothers can take up to two or three years before totally weaning their child. Thus Paul is describing a style of doing ministry that doesn’t involve coming into a town for a weekend, setting up a big tent for some kind of crusade, and then hauling the dog and pony show on to the next town. Instead, Paul is describing a way of Christian outreach that is a long term relationship of closeness and intimacy and friendship. Paul wasn’t going to waste the Thessalonians time by being a flim-flam man, staying only a short time, without taking the time to build relationships over a mult-year time span, in order to bring people into relationship with Jesus Christ.
As we think about our own styles of sharing our Christian faith with others, we want to make the most of our time. We don’t want to end up wasting our time, and the people’s time with whom we are sharing the faith. Paul has given us seven great guidelines for how he shared his faith, that we can easily make use of: no hidden motives, no clever tricks, no people pleasing, no flattery, no greed, no spotlight on ourselves but on Christ alone, and making sure we are talking to people in the midst of a long-term relationship and friendship.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Monday, October 20, 2014
Student/Teacher Conference
"Student/Teacher Conference"
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
The first nine weeks are almost up at school. That means parent/teacher conferences. That means report cards. When my kids were growing up in Nebraska, the parent/teacher conferences were in the gym. Tables were set up all around the gym, with one of the teachers at each table. There were no appointments. We parents just showed up during one of the four hour blocks of time of the conferences. Then we'd line up waiting for whatever teacher we needed to talk to.
The busiest teachers--the teachers with the longest lines of parents--were the math and science teachers. There were virtually no lines, and no waiting, at the PE teacher's table. I'd always go there just to make the PE teachers feel important.
When I'd visit the tables of my son Ryan's teachers they all said the same thing. "I'm really concerned about Ryan," they'd say, all serious.
"Why is that?" I'd always ask.
"He never takes any notes while I'm lecturing," they'd say. Especially the science teacher--this would frustrate him the most.
Then I'd ask, "What's Ryan's grade in the class."
The teacher would kind of squirm and say, "An A."
"So, what's the problem?" I'd ask.
"He should be taking notes like the rest of the students," the teacher would say, frustrated that Ryan didn't fit the mold.
"I'll talk to him," I'd say, lying. I wasn't going to talk to Ryan, a straight A student, who had a memory and a brain like a sponge that was never squeezed out. Everything that went in, stayed in, with my son's brain. And the thing I marveled at was that he knew how to retrieve all that stuff that was in there. My brain was more like teflon--anything the teachers threw at me just slid right off.
What if there were parent/teacher conferences for all Christians? Church member/pastor conferences? One-by-one you'd come into my office, sit down on my couch. I'd rustle through some papers, and say, "Hmmmmm. You haven't been taking notes during sermons, have you?"
Or maybe disciple/Jesus conferences. Yeah.
Or, another option would be to let one of the people of the Bible be your teacher--Paul, for example. We could let one of his letters be your guide for your conference. Let's try that. We'll use 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 be the teacher for our conference.
Let's say three of the classes are the Faith, Hope, and Love classes. The purpose of the classes is in verse 3: We continually call to mind, before our God and Father, how your faith has shown itself in action, your love in labor, and your hope of our Lord Jesus Christ in perseverance (REB).
This kind of faith that you are being graded on isn't a faith in some thing, like in a chair that when you sit in it, it won't collapse. It isn't faith in an idea or concept, like democracy. It's faith in some one: Jesus Christ, and God the Father.
This kind of faith in God is a faith that causes you to act. So, in a sense, what you are being graded on is not just your faith--what you see in God--but more in your actions: what you do once you see.
Several years ago, Florence Chadwick, after successfully swimming the English Channel, became the first woman to try to swim the 21 miles from Catalina Island to the California coast. Thousands watched her all-night struggle through icy water, schools of sharks, and blinding fog. Only a mile from shore, however, she had to be pulled from the water, exhausted, chilled, and defeated.
In evaluating her two experiences, Florence remembered that in her English Channel swim, at the moment when she felt she could go no further, her father sighted land. That was inspiration enough to help her make it. But in her unsuccessful swim from Catalina, fog had obscured the land ahead. Even when she was told land was only a mile away, she didn't believe because she couldn't see it. What she lacked was faith, not ability.
Two months later, with renewed faith, she turned her defeat into success and became the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel despite the fog.
Once you see, hopefully you're ready to act. Because if you want a good grade in this class at your disciple/Jesus conference, your faith-seeing has to result in faith-action. Notice that the New Testament book is called The Acts of the Apostles, not The Plans and Objectives of the Apostles. Faith is never passive. It demands a response. It asks for a mission. It demonstrates the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
In the musical, "The Music Man," the professor tried to get Marion the librarian to go out with him. He asked her to meet him at the footbridge across the stream running through the park. She wanted to, but she refused. She said, "Please, some other time. Maybe tomorrow." The professor persisted, yet she continued to put off their meeting. Finally, in exasperation, he said, "Pile up enough tomorrows and you'll find that you've collected nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays."
How many "empty yesterdays"--days in which faith never became action--are you going to hear about in your disciple/Jesus conference?
The next class you are being graded on is whether your love is being shown in labor. Let's look at these two words separately and then put them together.
Love is easy. It's the word, in Greek, agape, that you may have heard many times before. It's the kind of loving in spite of what you get in return. It's the kind of love that loves the unlovely and unloveable. It's the kind of love that is an intense and passionate caring for all people. It's the kind of love that doesn't give up. It's the kind of love with which Jesus loved.
Labor, in the Greek language, is the word kopos. This word literally is descriptive of the weariness that comes from being in a battle, or from taking a beating. This kind of laboring means to be totally worn out, from fighting a constant battle.
So, now, put the two words together as Paul has to the Thessalonians: "...your love in labor..." This is what we are being graded on, in our disciple/Jesus conference. I'm here to tell you, this is tough. It is a labor, using the full meaning of this word, to love and go on loving despite what you get in return. That is like taking a beating, and constantly setting yourself up for a beating. It's a labor to love the unloveable. It's a labor to not give up loving. That kind of loving is a labor that can easily wear you out. Total exhaustion. It makes me envious of the Thessalonians because Paul says, in this student/teacher conference letter, that they are doing really well in this regard. I droop my head and sag my shoulders wondering how I measure up to that standard.
Here's a good description of loving in labor:
People are unreasonable, ignorant and self-centered: love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives: do good anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow: be good anyway.
Honesty will get you nowhere--it will make you vulnerable: be honest anyway.
People favor underdogs, but they follow the top dogs: fight for some underdogs anyway.
What you spend days building may be destroyed overnight: build it anyway.
People really need help but they attack you if you try to help them: help anyway.
Give the world your best and you get kicked in the mouth: give the world your best anyway.
What does your report card say about the labor of your loving?
And the last thing we have to talk about with Christ at our Jesus/disciple conference is "...your hope of our Lord Jesus Christ in perseverance." Notice it says "your hope of our Lord Jesus Christ". This is what keeps hope from being mere wishing. Wishes come and go. Wishes are pursued but given up on. Wishes are born out of our fickle desires.
Christian hope has to do with Christ. Our hope as Christians is grounded in a person--Jesus Christ--and thereby becomes something outside of us, bigger than us. That's how hope is turned into perseverance--we're not in control of it, Christ is.
The word Paul used for perseverance is not just having patience, either. A teacher asked a second grade boy, "Why are you sticking your stomach out?"
"The principal told me to," the little guy replied. "This morning I told him I had a stomach ache. He told me to stick it out until noon and then I could go home."
The word Paul used for perseverance is more a courageous endurance. It literally means to stay behind in order to stand firm. It's a form of successful resistance. And that resistance is not for reward or acclaim, but from the inner strength of love and faith.
In his book, Tortured For Christ, author Richard Wurmbrand tells stories of this kind of resistant perseverance. One story happened in a Chinese Communist prison. On pain of being severely beaten, preaching to other prisoners was forbidden. Wurmbrund wrote:
A number of us decided to pay the price for the privilege, so we accepted their terms. It was a deal; we preached and they beat us. We were happy preaching; they were happy beating us; so everyone was happy. The following scene took place more times than I can remember. A brother was preaching to the other prisoners, when the guards suddenly burst in, surprising him halfway through a phrase. They hauled him down the corridor to their 'beating room.' After what seemed an endless beating, they brought him back and threw him bruised and bloody on the prison floor. Slowly, he picked his battered body up, painfully straightened his clothing, and said, "Now brethren, where did I leave off when I was interrupted? He continued his gospel message.
I know that's a stark and awful example of this kind of perseverance. But when I read stories like this it makes me think, What do I have to do to persevere in my Christian faith. Nothing like this. So why am I so worried about my level of resistance?
Our hope as Christians is about getting through present afflictions with courage and strength, because of our relationship with Christ. Our hope in Christ is what creates our perseverance, for whatever we face, in the here and now. That is what we are being graded on.
The Jesus/Disciple conference is over for now. You're walking away from the table. How did you do? If not so well, there is still time for improvement before the next round of conferences in the Spring.
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
The first nine weeks are almost up at school. That means parent/teacher conferences. That means report cards. When my kids were growing up in Nebraska, the parent/teacher conferences were in the gym. Tables were set up all around the gym, with one of the teachers at each table. There were no appointments. We parents just showed up during one of the four hour blocks of time of the conferences. Then we'd line up waiting for whatever teacher we needed to talk to.
The busiest teachers--the teachers with the longest lines of parents--were the math and science teachers. There were virtually no lines, and no waiting, at the PE teacher's table. I'd always go there just to make the PE teachers feel important.
When I'd visit the tables of my son Ryan's teachers they all said the same thing. "I'm really concerned about Ryan," they'd say, all serious.
"Why is that?" I'd always ask.
"He never takes any notes while I'm lecturing," they'd say. Especially the science teacher--this would frustrate him the most.
Then I'd ask, "What's Ryan's grade in the class."
The teacher would kind of squirm and say, "An A."
"So, what's the problem?" I'd ask.
"He should be taking notes like the rest of the students," the teacher would say, frustrated that Ryan didn't fit the mold.
"I'll talk to him," I'd say, lying. I wasn't going to talk to Ryan, a straight A student, who had a memory and a brain like a sponge that was never squeezed out. Everything that went in, stayed in, with my son's brain. And the thing I marveled at was that he knew how to retrieve all that stuff that was in there. My brain was more like teflon--anything the teachers threw at me just slid right off.
What if there were parent/teacher conferences for all Christians? Church member/pastor conferences? One-by-one you'd come into my office, sit down on my couch. I'd rustle through some papers, and say, "Hmmmmm. You haven't been taking notes during sermons, have you?"
Or maybe disciple/Jesus conferences. Yeah.
Or, another option would be to let one of the people of the Bible be your teacher--Paul, for example. We could let one of his letters be your guide for your conference. Let's try that. We'll use 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 be the teacher for our conference.
Let's say three of the classes are the Faith, Hope, and Love classes. The purpose of the classes is in verse 3: We continually call to mind, before our God and Father, how your faith has shown itself in action, your love in labor, and your hope of our Lord Jesus Christ in perseverance (REB).
This kind of faith that you are being graded on isn't a faith in some thing, like in a chair that when you sit in it, it won't collapse. It isn't faith in an idea or concept, like democracy. It's faith in some one: Jesus Christ, and God the Father.
This kind of faith in God is a faith that causes you to act. So, in a sense, what you are being graded on is not just your faith--what you see in God--but more in your actions: what you do once you see.
Several years ago, Florence Chadwick, after successfully swimming the English Channel, became the first woman to try to swim the 21 miles from Catalina Island to the California coast. Thousands watched her all-night struggle through icy water, schools of sharks, and blinding fog. Only a mile from shore, however, she had to be pulled from the water, exhausted, chilled, and defeated.
In evaluating her two experiences, Florence remembered that in her English Channel swim, at the moment when she felt she could go no further, her father sighted land. That was inspiration enough to help her make it. But in her unsuccessful swim from Catalina, fog had obscured the land ahead. Even when she was told land was only a mile away, she didn't believe because she couldn't see it. What she lacked was faith, not ability.
Two months later, with renewed faith, she turned her defeat into success and became the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel despite the fog.
Once you see, hopefully you're ready to act. Because if you want a good grade in this class at your disciple/Jesus conference, your faith-seeing has to result in faith-action. Notice that the New Testament book is called The Acts of the Apostles, not The Plans and Objectives of the Apostles. Faith is never passive. It demands a response. It asks for a mission. It demonstrates the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
In the musical, "The Music Man," the professor tried to get Marion the librarian to go out with him. He asked her to meet him at the footbridge across the stream running through the park. She wanted to, but she refused. She said, "Please, some other time. Maybe tomorrow." The professor persisted, yet she continued to put off their meeting. Finally, in exasperation, he said, "Pile up enough tomorrows and you'll find that you've collected nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays."
How many "empty yesterdays"--days in which faith never became action--are you going to hear about in your disciple/Jesus conference?
The next class you are being graded on is whether your love is being shown in labor. Let's look at these two words separately and then put them together.
Love is easy. It's the word, in Greek, agape, that you may have heard many times before. It's the kind of loving in spite of what you get in return. It's the kind of love that loves the unlovely and unloveable. It's the kind of love that is an intense and passionate caring for all people. It's the kind of love that doesn't give up. It's the kind of love with which Jesus loved.
Labor, in the Greek language, is the word kopos. This word literally is descriptive of the weariness that comes from being in a battle, or from taking a beating. This kind of laboring means to be totally worn out, from fighting a constant battle.
So, now, put the two words together as Paul has to the Thessalonians: "...your love in labor..." This is what we are being graded on, in our disciple/Jesus conference. I'm here to tell you, this is tough. It is a labor, using the full meaning of this word, to love and go on loving despite what you get in return. That is like taking a beating, and constantly setting yourself up for a beating. It's a labor to love the unloveable. It's a labor to not give up loving. That kind of loving is a labor that can easily wear you out. Total exhaustion. It makes me envious of the Thessalonians because Paul says, in this student/teacher conference letter, that they are doing really well in this regard. I droop my head and sag my shoulders wondering how I measure up to that standard.
Here's a good description of loving in labor:
People are unreasonable, ignorant and self-centered: love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives: do good anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow: be good anyway.
Honesty will get you nowhere--it will make you vulnerable: be honest anyway.
People favor underdogs, but they follow the top dogs: fight for some underdogs anyway.
What you spend days building may be destroyed overnight: build it anyway.
People really need help but they attack you if you try to help them: help anyway.
Give the world your best and you get kicked in the mouth: give the world your best anyway.
What does your report card say about the labor of your loving?
And the last thing we have to talk about with Christ at our Jesus/disciple conference is "...your hope of our Lord Jesus Christ in perseverance." Notice it says "your hope of our Lord Jesus Christ". This is what keeps hope from being mere wishing. Wishes come and go. Wishes are pursued but given up on. Wishes are born out of our fickle desires.
Christian hope has to do with Christ. Our hope as Christians is grounded in a person--Jesus Christ--and thereby becomes something outside of us, bigger than us. That's how hope is turned into perseverance--we're not in control of it, Christ is.
The word Paul used for perseverance is not just having patience, either. A teacher asked a second grade boy, "Why are you sticking your stomach out?"
"The principal told me to," the little guy replied. "This morning I told him I had a stomach ache. He told me to stick it out until noon and then I could go home."
The word Paul used for perseverance is more a courageous endurance. It literally means to stay behind in order to stand firm. It's a form of successful resistance. And that resistance is not for reward or acclaim, but from the inner strength of love and faith.
In his book, Tortured For Christ, author Richard Wurmbrand tells stories of this kind of resistant perseverance. One story happened in a Chinese Communist prison. On pain of being severely beaten, preaching to other prisoners was forbidden. Wurmbrund wrote:
A number of us decided to pay the price for the privilege, so we accepted their terms. It was a deal; we preached and they beat us. We were happy preaching; they were happy beating us; so everyone was happy. The following scene took place more times than I can remember. A brother was preaching to the other prisoners, when the guards suddenly burst in, surprising him halfway through a phrase. They hauled him down the corridor to their 'beating room.' After what seemed an endless beating, they brought him back and threw him bruised and bloody on the prison floor. Slowly, he picked his battered body up, painfully straightened his clothing, and said, "Now brethren, where did I leave off when I was interrupted? He continued his gospel message.
I know that's a stark and awful example of this kind of perseverance. But when I read stories like this it makes me think, What do I have to do to persevere in my Christian faith. Nothing like this. So why am I so worried about my level of resistance?
Our hope as Christians is about getting through present afflictions with courage and strength, because of our relationship with Christ. Our hope in Christ is what creates our perseverance, for whatever we face, in the here and now. That is what we are being graded on.
The Jesus/Disciple conference is over for now. You're walking away from the table. How did you do? If not so well, there is still time for improvement before the next round of conferences in the Spring.
Sunday, October 12, 2014
You Are What You Think
"You Are What You Think"
Proverbs 23:7
Philippians 4:8-9
There have been a number of attempts at reducing human beings to one little, simple phrase. Such as:
You are what you eat.
You are what you wear.
You are what you own.
Or as Popeye says, "I am what I am; I'm Popeye the sailor man." Then he'd toot his corn cob pipe.
James Allen had another idea. He wrote a little book that has been called "one of the greatest books of the past century." He took his title from the verse in Proverbs that was read by Dani, titling his book, As A Man Thinketh. His main, and fairly convincing idea was that we are what we think. When you think about it, there does seem to be something about our human nature that if I were to think of something often enough and long enough, it will become part of me.
It seems to be one of the basic characteristics that separates us from animals--we as humans are shaped by what we think. What we do and what we become is not a simple matter of inbred instincts that animals obey. We may have certain instincts and drives like animals. But isn't it amazing that our thoughts can have sway over even our instincts. By our thinking, we can have a hand in shaping ourselves, our destinies, and even our instincts.
I think that's what Paul was hoping when he told the Philippian Christians to think about whatever was true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable; to think about those things that are excellent and praiseworthy. If I were to think about those things often enough and long enough, they would become a part of me. I would become what I think about. As I think in my heart, so I am--or, so I will become.
Sometimes we like to think that circumstances in our lives are what make us who we are. But what if it isn't the situations themselves, but how we think about those situations? Isn't it more how we react in our minds and hearts to those events that matters most--that shapes us most? Long before something happens to us, we have developed ways and patterns of thinking.
What if it is more that experiences only reveal what kind of person you are, rather than making you the person you are? If the kind of person you are is already shaped by how you have learned to think, then certain episodes in your life only serve to help you see the quality of person those thoughts have created. Or, the shallowness of who you are as a person.
Two people face the same kind of life experience, but react very differently. It wasn't the event they faced that shaped their reaction. It was the difference in what kinds of people they were, that had been shaped by long years of a certain way and kind of thinking.
It's an intriguing question, isn't it? Is your character simply the complete sum of all your thoughts? Let's think about this question together and see what becomes of it.
First, let's think about this question using the imagery of the garden. A plant grows out of a seed. Let’s pretend, then, that we grow out of a seed as well--the seed of our thoughts. The blossoms on each of our different plants are the actions that we do that springs from our thoughts. We cannot act unless we have a thought first.
And there is fruit on some kinds of plants and trees. These fruits and vegetables are of two kinds: sweet and bitter. The sweetness and bitterness of our fruit depends on how we cultivate our thoughts.
Anyone who gardens and does yard work knows that it takes a lot of work. You either plan it and work it thoughtfully and intelligently so that it thrives, or you let it run wild, or become overrun by weeds. The same is true with our lives. We either cultivate our lives thoughtfully, or we, by our thinking, neglect them. Either way, something will grow. But what the quality of what is grown is a direct result of our thoughtFULness or our thoughtLESSness.
Another way to look at this question is the idea of growth. You and I are living beings that grow and change and become. We aren't an instant and static work, like a piece of art or statue. Once the artist is done, the painting or sculpture never changes after that. But not with we humans. We grow and change all through the length of our existence.
The question, then, is, What influences those changes the most as we grow? Could it be what we think? Is thought how that growth takes place? Is thinking and the sum of our thoughts the artists hands that mold us and constantly remold us? It seems Paul's teaching that Godly thoughts will mold a Godly person. Although he doesn't say it, the flip side has to be true: Unruly and immoral thoughts will mold an unGodly person.
Are you beginning to see the power of all those little thoughts that flit through your minds, day in and day out?
I think another image that comes to mind as I ponder Paul's words is that thoughts are like weapons. By our thinking, by what we choose to think about, we can forge weapons, with which we do battle against the world. The world is full of people who have let immoral and unGodly thoughts rule their lives.
This is the evil that infects our world. We must defend ourselves against it. The best way to do that is by out-thinking evil. It is by focusing our mind's thoughts, and fashioning those thoughts into powerful weapons that do battle against the vast army of evil ways of thinking.
Verse 7, the verse that preceded those that were read this morning, in part says, "The peace of God...will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Paul knew that we needed our hearts and minds guarded. Then he goes on to write that the best way to attain that sense of peace is to guard your hearts and minds by thinking about whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy. Those kinds of thoughts are our weapons that Christ has given us, so that our hearts and minds will be enveloped in peace.
Think about the alternative. If our thoughts can be like weapons, the dangerous alternative is that those weapons, if not forged correctly, can be turned on ourselves to our own destruction. If we can gain peace by our Godly thinking, we can also come to self-destruction simply by the weapons our unGodly thoughts have been allowed to become.
Jesus defined the kinds of weapons of self-mutilation that are created by a heart that does not let God shape its thoughts. Isn't it interesting that the first thing on Jesus' list in Mark 7 is "evil thoughts." What follows from that in Jesus' list? All kinds of self-destructive actions: sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All that comes about by first thinking it. Then doing it.
Paul wrote in the 2nd chapter of First Corinthians, “But you have the mind of Christ.” Or, as the Contemporary English Version has it, “We think as Christ does” (2:16). What Paul is saying is that the more we shape our thoughts with the right, the pure, the lovely, the true, the noble, the excellent, the praiseworthy, the more we think as Christ does. The more we have minds like Christ’s mind.
Or, as Paul says in Galatians 5:19, we can let the thoughts of a sinful nature take us over, and we will end up having the mind of the evil one. It all depends on what we think about, and who it is that we allow to shape our thoughts—Christ, or the evil one.
Another point I see in Paul’s words is that our hearts and minds are attracted to that which is already in our hearts and minds. In this case, like attracts like. The more we allow our hearts and minds to dwell on thoughts of truth, goodness, the lovely, the noble, we will want those things even more. We will develop, more and more an appetite for the kinds of thoughts we are already digesting. The more we think Godly thoughts, the more we will aspire to the unending heights of Godliness.
Sadly, the converse is also true. The more we think evil thoughts, the more we will be attracted to, and therefore sink into, the unending depths of Godlessness. We are attracted, more and more, to the kinds of thoughts we harbor in our hearts.
So, Paul wants us attracted to the right kinds of thoughts. And the only way to develop that attraction is to think about what is lovely, true, pure, admirable, noble, and so on.
And finally, from both Paul’s and Jesus’ words, it is clear that any attempt to change a person’s behavior, without changing a person’s thinking, will be fruitless. If behavior is to be changed, you must first begin with the ways you think and what you think about. If you want to make fundamental changes in your life it has to begin in your mind and heart where thoughts are developed. As Paul wrote in his letter to the Christians at Rome, “Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him” (12:2).
Maybe you would like to make that happen in your life. Maybe you recognize something has to change. Have you been realizing, more and more, that you need a transformation from the inside out? Have you been desiring a renewing of your mind—of the way you think? You can do that right now, by making that commitment to Christ. Let Christ transform you and your thoughts, so that what comes out of your heart becomes the basis of your actions: all that is true, noble, right, purge, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. If that’s what you’d like to do, bow with me in prayer, and in some way, make this prayer your own:
Lord Jesus, my thoughts have become corrupted. They aren’t what they should be, and they aren’t leading me in the direction I should, or deeply want to go. Come into my heart and mind. Clean house. Transform me from the inside out. Give me thought weapons with which I can defeat the world’s way of thinking and it’s infectious ugliness. I turn my thoughts, and therefore my very heart of who I am, over to you. I am yours. Amen.
Proverbs 23:7
Philippians 4:8-9
There have been a number of attempts at reducing human beings to one little, simple phrase. Such as:
You are what you eat.
You are what you wear.
You are what you own.
Or as Popeye says, "I am what I am; I'm Popeye the sailor man." Then he'd toot his corn cob pipe.
James Allen had another idea. He wrote a little book that has been called "one of the greatest books of the past century." He took his title from the verse in Proverbs that was read by Dani, titling his book, As A Man Thinketh. His main, and fairly convincing idea was that we are what we think. When you think about it, there does seem to be something about our human nature that if I were to think of something often enough and long enough, it will become part of me.
It seems to be one of the basic characteristics that separates us from animals--we as humans are shaped by what we think. What we do and what we become is not a simple matter of inbred instincts that animals obey. We may have certain instincts and drives like animals. But isn't it amazing that our thoughts can have sway over even our instincts. By our thinking, we can have a hand in shaping ourselves, our destinies, and even our instincts.
I think that's what Paul was hoping when he told the Philippian Christians to think about whatever was true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable; to think about those things that are excellent and praiseworthy. If I were to think about those things often enough and long enough, they would become a part of me. I would become what I think about. As I think in my heart, so I am--or, so I will become.
Sometimes we like to think that circumstances in our lives are what make us who we are. But what if it isn't the situations themselves, but how we think about those situations? Isn't it more how we react in our minds and hearts to those events that matters most--that shapes us most? Long before something happens to us, we have developed ways and patterns of thinking.
What if it is more that experiences only reveal what kind of person you are, rather than making you the person you are? If the kind of person you are is already shaped by how you have learned to think, then certain episodes in your life only serve to help you see the quality of person those thoughts have created. Or, the shallowness of who you are as a person.
Two people face the same kind of life experience, but react very differently. It wasn't the event they faced that shaped their reaction. It was the difference in what kinds of people they were, that had been shaped by long years of a certain way and kind of thinking.
It's an intriguing question, isn't it? Is your character simply the complete sum of all your thoughts? Let's think about this question together and see what becomes of it.
First, let's think about this question using the imagery of the garden. A plant grows out of a seed. Let’s pretend, then, that we grow out of a seed as well--the seed of our thoughts. The blossoms on each of our different plants are the actions that we do that springs from our thoughts. We cannot act unless we have a thought first.
And there is fruit on some kinds of plants and trees. These fruits and vegetables are of two kinds: sweet and bitter. The sweetness and bitterness of our fruit depends on how we cultivate our thoughts.
Anyone who gardens and does yard work knows that it takes a lot of work. You either plan it and work it thoughtfully and intelligently so that it thrives, or you let it run wild, or become overrun by weeds. The same is true with our lives. We either cultivate our lives thoughtfully, or we, by our thinking, neglect them. Either way, something will grow. But what the quality of what is grown is a direct result of our thoughtFULness or our thoughtLESSness.
Another way to look at this question is the idea of growth. You and I are living beings that grow and change and become. We aren't an instant and static work, like a piece of art or statue. Once the artist is done, the painting or sculpture never changes after that. But not with we humans. We grow and change all through the length of our existence.
The question, then, is, What influences those changes the most as we grow? Could it be what we think? Is thought how that growth takes place? Is thinking and the sum of our thoughts the artists hands that mold us and constantly remold us? It seems Paul's teaching that Godly thoughts will mold a Godly person. Although he doesn't say it, the flip side has to be true: Unruly and immoral thoughts will mold an unGodly person.
Are you beginning to see the power of all those little thoughts that flit through your minds, day in and day out?
I think another image that comes to mind as I ponder Paul's words is that thoughts are like weapons. By our thinking, by what we choose to think about, we can forge weapons, with which we do battle against the world. The world is full of people who have let immoral and unGodly thoughts rule their lives.
This is the evil that infects our world. We must defend ourselves against it. The best way to do that is by out-thinking evil. It is by focusing our mind's thoughts, and fashioning those thoughts into powerful weapons that do battle against the vast army of evil ways of thinking.
Verse 7, the verse that preceded those that were read this morning, in part says, "The peace of God...will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Paul knew that we needed our hearts and minds guarded. Then he goes on to write that the best way to attain that sense of peace is to guard your hearts and minds by thinking about whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy. Those kinds of thoughts are our weapons that Christ has given us, so that our hearts and minds will be enveloped in peace.
Think about the alternative. If our thoughts can be like weapons, the dangerous alternative is that those weapons, if not forged correctly, can be turned on ourselves to our own destruction. If we can gain peace by our Godly thinking, we can also come to self-destruction simply by the weapons our unGodly thoughts have been allowed to become.
Jesus defined the kinds of weapons of self-mutilation that are created by a heart that does not let God shape its thoughts. Isn't it interesting that the first thing on Jesus' list in Mark 7 is "evil thoughts." What follows from that in Jesus' list? All kinds of self-destructive actions: sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All that comes about by first thinking it. Then doing it.
Paul wrote in the 2nd chapter of First Corinthians, “But you have the mind of Christ.” Or, as the Contemporary English Version has it, “We think as Christ does” (2:16). What Paul is saying is that the more we shape our thoughts with the right, the pure, the lovely, the true, the noble, the excellent, the praiseworthy, the more we think as Christ does. The more we have minds like Christ’s mind.
Or, as Paul says in Galatians 5:19, we can let the thoughts of a sinful nature take us over, and we will end up having the mind of the evil one. It all depends on what we think about, and who it is that we allow to shape our thoughts—Christ, or the evil one.
Another point I see in Paul’s words is that our hearts and minds are attracted to that which is already in our hearts and minds. In this case, like attracts like. The more we allow our hearts and minds to dwell on thoughts of truth, goodness, the lovely, the noble, we will want those things even more. We will develop, more and more an appetite for the kinds of thoughts we are already digesting. The more we think Godly thoughts, the more we will aspire to the unending heights of Godliness.
Sadly, the converse is also true. The more we think evil thoughts, the more we will be attracted to, and therefore sink into, the unending depths of Godlessness. We are attracted, more and more, to the kinds of thoughts we harbor in our hearts.
So, Paul wants us attracted to the right kinds of thoughts. And the only way to develop that attraction is to think about what is lovely, true, pure, admirable, noble, and so on.
And finally, from both Paul’s and Jesus’ words, it is clear that any attempt to change a person’s behavior, without changing a person’s thinking, will be fruitless. If behavior is to be changed, you must first begin with the ways you think and what you think about. If you want to make fundamental changes in your life it has to begin in your mind and heart where thoughts are developed. As Paul wrote in his letter to the Christians at Rome, “Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him” (12:2).
Maybe you would like to make that happen in your life. Maybe you recognize something has to change. Have you been realizing, more and more, that you need a transformation from the inside out? Have you been desiring a renewing of your mind—of the way you think? You can do that right now, by making that commitment to Christ. Let Christ transform you and your thoughts, so that what comes out of your heart becomes the basis of your actions: all that is true, noble, right, purge, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. If that’s what you’d like to do, bow with me in prayer, and in some way, make this prayer your own:
Lord Jesus, my thoughts have become corrupted. They aren’t what they should be, and they aren’t leading me in the direction I should, or deeply want to go. Come into my heart and mind. Clean house. Transform me from the inside out. Give me thought weapons with which I can defeat the world’s way of thinking and it’s infectious ugliness. I turn my thoughts, and therefore my very heart of who I am, over to you. I am yours. Amen.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Only One Coat
"Only One Coat"
Philippians 3:7-14
The question we need to ask, in light of what Paul wrote to the Philippian church, is, How many coats did Paul decide to wear?
Through a confrontation with the Risen Christ, Paul was suddenly brought to the realization that he had on an old coat. That old coat wasn't going to do anymore. His old religion was tattered and falling apart. It wasn't going to sustain his life anymore. Paul may have been a gung-ho kind of person, but he was gung-hoing in the wrong direction.
Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, "The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving." Paul was good at making stands. It's just that the foundation upon which he was standing was not going to hold him up anymore. Paul was good at being goal oriented. But all his goals were skewed because they set him on a direction that was contrary to God.
What do you do when you get a glimpse of yourself through the eyes of God in that condition: with an old coat? In other words, what do you do when your life isn't going to work the way it used to? What happens when you wake up and find out the direction your life was heading, the goals you had set for yourself, no matter how comfortable they were, just don't fit anymore?
The answer is, you find a new direction, set new goals--start looking for a new coat that you can wear. But the problem is, the answer is in itself a problem. There is a law in the universe that every empty place must be filled. Every empty place can not remain empty. It will be filled with something, even if it's just air.
So here's the problem. Once you decide you need new goals, or a new direction for your life, there are all kinds of choices out there. All kinds of goals and directions are just waiting to be sucked into the empty space that's been created in your life. All of them will challenge each other for your attention. A lot of your choices will be good; some bad. Weeding out the bad options is not quite as hard as having to decide between all the good alternatives. But even though they all may be good, you still can't have them all. You must choose.
In one Frank and Ernest cartoon, Frank and Ernest have walked up to a lady at an Information Booth. Frank is lifting up his arms exclaiming to the woman, "You're a godsend! There's lots of things we don't know!" Or there's Siri. Mark Graber is a big fan of Siri. Talks to her all the time. Tonie isn't a big fan. One time Mark asked Tonie about some directions or something, and Tonie replied, "Why don't you ask the girl in your pocket." One of the things we don't know the most, when looking for direction, is how to choose between a number of alternatives and how to choose the best one or the right one.
Paul wrote:
Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant--dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him.
Paul looked at all the alternatives that were available to him to organize his life around. His Jewish background and upbringing was eliminated. There was no end to philosophical, social, political, religious ways that Paul could have pulled in line with. Or he could have mixed and matched, putting on any combination of "coats." But he didn't.
Paul knew to do that would only serve to incumber himself all over again with that which didn't matter. Instead, he made the strategic decision to simplify his life, simplify his goals, and shed himself down to only one new coat. To put on too many would have served only to immobilize him and his effectiveness.
At some point, you need to realize the wisdom of Paul. Concentrate on one thing in life. His wise choice to simplify back to one focus, also happens to be his mission. That focus, that mission, was Jesus Christ. Focus on Christ alone; nothing else matters, ultimately.
At one point in Alice In Wonderland, Alice said to the Chesire Cat, "Would you please tell me which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," the cat replies.
"I don't care much where," Alice says.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," says the cat.
Paul found out which way he knew he was supposed to go. He cared about his direction. He wasn't going to just wander through life. He picked out a single goal--knowing Jesus Christ--and pursued that goal singularly. Paul defined himself by what he accepted as a goal. That definition process also means rejecting all other goals available to you. To define your life in one way means that you aren't defining yourself in other ways. What you choose will cause you grief, because it means you can't choose something else.
There were three boys playing in a field of deep snow. One of them said, "Let's have a race. Only the race will not be who can go the fastest, but who can run in the straightest line." They all thought that was a fun idea. So they lined up and spied a certain tree across the field and decided that would be their goal. On the count of three they started off.
In order to run the straightest line, one boy decided to keep his eyes on his feet. He thought keeping one foot going in front of the other would surely make the straightest line in the snow. The next boy decided to watch the boy who was watching his feet. Surely that way he could also run a straight line. The third boy understood best what he needed to do. He kept his eyes on the tree at the other end of the field of snow--he kept his eyes on the goal. Which one do you think will win? Which one will run the straightest line?
Paul is keeping his eyes on the goal. He's not keeping his eyes on himself. He's not keeping his eyes on anyone else, hoping somehow that somebody else can get him to his goal. He's keeping his eyes focused on Jesus Christ alone. He took his eyes off of all other goals, and let Jesus Christ alone define everything he is and does. Only one coat, so to speak.
Philippians 3:7-14
The question we need to ask, in light of what Paul wrote to the Philippian church, is, How many coats did Paul decide to wear?
Through a confrontation with the Risen Christ, Paul was suddenly brought to the realization that he had on an old coat. That old coat wasn't going to do anymore. His old religion was tattered and falling apart. It wasn't going to sustain his life anymore. Paul may have been a gung-ho kind of person, but he was gung-hoing in the wrong direction.
Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, "The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving." Paul was good at making stands. It's just that the foundation upon which he was standing was not going to hold him up anymore. Paul was good at being goal oriented. But all his goals were skewed because they set him on a direction that was contrary to God.
What do you do when you get a glimpse of yourself through the eyes of God in that condition: with an old coat? In other words, what do you do when your life isn't going to work the way it used to? What happens when you wake up and find out the direction your life was heading, the goals you had set for yourself, no matter how comfortable they were, just don't fit anymore?
The answer is, you find a new direction, set new goals--start looking for a new coat that you can wear. But the problem is, the answer is in itself a problem. There is a law in the universe that every empty place must be filled. Every empty place can not remain empty. It will be filled with something, even if it's just air.
So here's the problem. Once you decide you need new goals, or a new direction for your life, there are all kinds of choices out there. All kinds of goals and directions are just waiting to be sucked into the empty space that's been created in your life. All of them will challenge each other for your attention. A lot of your choices will be good; some bad. Weeding out the bad options is not quite as hard as having to decide between all the good alternatives. But even though they all may be good, you still can't have them all. You must choose.
In one Frank and Ernest cartoon, Frank and Ernest have walked up to a lady at an Information Booth. Frank is lifting up his arms exclaiming to the woman, "You're a godsend! There's lots of things we don't know!" Or there's Siri. Mark Graber is a big fan of Siri. Talks to her all the time. Tonie isn't a big fan. One time Mark asked Tonie about some directions or something, and Tonie replied, "Why don't you ask the girl in your pocket." One of the things we don't know the most, when looking for direction, is how to choose between a number of alternatives and how to choose the best one or the right one.
Paul wrote:
Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant--dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him.
Paul looked at all the alternatives that were available to him to organize his life around. His Jewish background and upbringing was eliminated. There was no end to philosophical, social, political, religious ways that Paul could have pulled in line with. Or he could have mixed and matched, putting on any combination of "coats." But he didn't.
Paul knew to do that would only serve to incumber himself all over again with that which didn't matter. Instead, he made the strategic decision to simplify his life, simplify his goals, and shed himself down to only one new coat. To put on too many would have served only to immobilize him and his effectiveness.
At some point, you need to realize the wisdom of Paul. Concentrate on one thing in life. His wise choice to simplify back to one focus, also happens to be his mission. That focus, that mission, was Jesus Christ. Focus on Christ alone; nothing else matters, ultimately.
At one point in Alice In Wonderland, Alice said to the Chesire Cat, "Would you please tell me which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," the cat replies.
"I don't care much where," Alice says.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," says the cat.
Paul found out which way he knew he was supposed to go. He cared about his direction. He wasn't going to just wander through life. He picked out a single goal--knowing Jesus Christ--and pursued that goal singularly. Paul defined himself by what he accepted as a goal. That definition process also means rejecting all other goals available to you. To define your life in one way means that you aren't defining yourself in other ways. What you choose will cause you grief, because it means you can't choose something else.
There were three boys playing in a field of deep snow. One of them said, "Let's have a race. Only the race will not be who can go the fastest, but who can run in the straightest line." They all thought that was a fun idea. So they lined up and spied a certain tree across the field and decided that would be their goal. On the count of three they started off.
In order to run the straightest line, one boy decided to keep his eyes on his feet. He thought keeping one foot going in front of the other would surely make the straightest line in the snow. The next boy decided to watch the boy who was watching his feet. Surely that way he could also run a straight line. The third boy understood best what he needed to do. He kept his eyes on the tree at the other end of the field of snow--he kept his eyes on the goal. Which one do you think will win? Which one will run the straightest line?
Paul is keeping his eyes on the goal. He's not keeping his eyes on himself. He's not keeping his eyes on anyone else, hoping somehow that somebody else can get him to his goal. He's keeping his eyes focused on Jesus Christ alone. He took his eyes off of all other goals, and let Jesus Christ alone define everything he is and does. Only one coat, so to speak.
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