Attitude of a Leader

 Attitude of a Leader

October 31, 2024

Philippians 2:5-8

5 Havethis attitude^g5426 in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Yesterday, I was speaking on the topic, “Pride and Humility”. One verse that stood out in my notes was Philippians 2:5-8. “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus…”. How do you have this attitude? But first, what is an attitude?

g5426. φρονέω phroneō ; from 5424; to have understanding, to think:--

adopt...view(1), conceited*(1), concern(1), concerned(1), feel(1), have...attitude(3), intent on...purpose(1), live in harmony(1), mind(4), observes(2), set their minds(2), set your mind(1), setting your mind(2), think(3), views(1).

Strong’s Greek dictionary tell us that the Greek word here is phroneo, which means to have understanding, to think, to set your mind, to feel… It seems to me, then, that this implies that you can purpose in your heart to think in a certain way. You can choose to view the world with a particular mind set. We if we are going to do that, then we need to understand how Jesus viewed the world. What was his attitude? 

The writer to the church at Philippi goes on to explain Jesus’ attitude. His primary focus was to be a servant leader, with an attitude of humility. He empties himself, made himself of low esteem in the worlds eyes, and adopted the attitude of a bond-servant. Not only a servant, but a bond-servant who was one who had pledged his entire life to his master. He was also obedient the the wishes of the Father, even to the point of death on the cross.

If we aspire to be leaders in the church, we need to have this same attitude. Always putting others first. Considering others’ opinion before our opinion. Pledging our whole life to the Lord as a bond-servant. Humbling yourself.

Can you do that? Can I do that? That kind of humility requires a great strength of purpose and strong courage. We must know that we know that we know the will of the Father, and do everything in our power to obey it. We must be able to stand up not only to the forces of darkness of the world, but the forces of darkness in our own soul. That is a far harder task! The easiest person to lie to is yourself. Do you have the strength of purpose, the attitude of Christ, to stand up and tell the truth to yourself? 

In a previous blog I was talking about walking in the light. Light illuminates the darkness and exposes evil. Do you have the fortitude to shine the light of the gospel into your own heart and soul? I was talking to my wife recently about how to pray for people who have experienced trauma. She said that she has talked to some who were so severely traumatized that they can not shine the light on it. The exposure, at least at one time, would be too painful. I takes great humility to have the wisdom to know how to pray for such a one. They need to know the love of the father, and the cleansing light of His word, but it needs to be done in such a way as to not cause further hurt.  We need to have the attitude of Jesus.

Jesus demonstrated this attitude when he spoke to the woman at the well. He didn’t accuse her or expose her past all at once, but engaged her in conversation and eventually brought up the subject of her husband. He engineered the conversation in such that she brought her sinful situation to light on her own, when she was ready. That is wisdom. The attitude of Christ.

Well, I’ve rambled on for awhile now, but will just leave you with this. Have this attitude in yourselves… Like Jesus who humbled himself and obeyed the Father, even to death on the cross.

Overcoming

 Overcoming the World

1 John 5:1-5 (ESV) 

1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

We’ve been talking about some hard truths and problems in the world, but the Apostle John wraps up his epistle with some good news. Everybody wants to be loved and the good news for Christians is that is is easy to find love. All you have to do is love the Father, accept His love for you, and find other like minded individuals so you can love one another. A community of believers who love God and live by His commandments is THE place to find love, acceptance and support. What was that old country song, “Looking for love in all the wrong places …”. People tend do do that if they don’t know where to look. I’m grateful for the community of believers that I am associated with. None of us, me in particular, are perfect, but together we know how to love God and love one another. 

Another benefit of being born again and living in a community of believers is that together we can overcome the world! Alone we can get overwhelmed by the the evil and problems of the world, but together, the Apostle John promises us that through faith, we can overcome the world. Jesus has overcome and when we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, we can participate in that victory. Certainly this is good news for today. We can see wars and rumors of wars all around us in these days and observe that men’s hearts are growing cold. The Devil is throwing a pity party, but we don’t need to participate! 

So be encouraged, pray and press in to a community of believers who can help you obey the Lord and can share His love with you. Together, we can overcome the world!

4 Foreveryone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Test the Spirits

 Test the Spirits 

1 John 4:1-6 (ESV) 

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

If there every was a time to test the spirits, it is now. We have misinformation, malinformation and disinformation. And many of the spirits that are calling out lies are themselves lying. It is most often the “fact checkers”, that are labeling things as misinformation, that are themselves the ones that are miss-informing people. How do you tell who is telling the truth?

The Apostle John says to test the spirits. But how do you do that? He says the first test is whether or not they acknowledge Jesus Christ. These days, most dark spirits are too savvy to outright say anything agains Jesus directly, but if you look at their lifestyle and all of their messaging, it becomes apparent which side of the light/dark divide they represent. If they tell you they love the children, but support killing those unborn ones that are “inconvenient” or don’t say a thing about the thousands of children being trafficked into the sex trade, then they may be representing darkness. If they are continually calling for war by someone else’s children on someone else’s land, then they may represent the forces of darkness. If they say they are for helping the poor, but the cities they run are full of homeless people with no hope, then they may be on the side of darkness. By their fruits you shall know them…

Are you upset that you don’t have a huge number of followers on social media and that your posts have low engagement? John says not to be surprised when the world does not listen to you. He tells us that the world listens to their own. Find those who will listen to you and bring the message of hope and peace to them. There are those out there who are hurting and lost and are just waiting for someone to tell them the good news. They need to hear the truth.

In this day, many ridicule the truth and even deny that there is any truth. They talk about “my truth” and “your truth”. You need to not be afraid to tell them “The truth” and be strong enough to insist that their is objective truth, despite what the world says. You will be reviled for it, but that is nothing new. That’s how the Apostle John got himself exiled to the Isle of Patmos! Even so, he kept writing letters proclaiming the truth, and we benefit from those letters to this day.

So be like John. Speak the truth and test the spirits to know which ones are true and which ones are false. Don’t be distracted by the glitz and glitter of the world’s message, but listen to the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth and spend time with those who know and love God. “By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

Love God, Love People

 Love God, Love People

October 28, 2024

1 John 3:11

11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;

1 John 3:23-24

23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. 24 The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

In today’s verse, the apostle John boils down the gospel into two commandments; believe in Jesus Christ and love one another. This is basically the same message as in the contemporary gospel song by Danny Gokey, “Love God Love People.”

Thus stated, the gospel is simple but not easy. That is to say that is is easy to say believe in Jesus and love one another, but it’s hard to put into practice when things get tough. The Apostle John tells us in verse 13 that following this gospel will cause problems.

1 John 3:13

13 Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.

We see this all around us today. When you are not allowed to proclaim “Jesus is Lord!” in a political rally in a church, then you know that the world hates you. The message is no longer subtle, the forces that be hate you and want to silence your voices. Don’t let them. A part of believing the Jesus is Lord is having the courage to proclaim it in the public square without fear of what repercussions may follow. Any loving your neighbor includes loving those that are trying to silence you and put you down. Now that is definitely not easy!

There is a lot more that could be said about this, but today, I’ll keep it simple: Love God and Love People.

Light

 Light

October 26, 2024

1 John 1:5-10 (ESV) 

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowshipwith him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Light is a fascinating topic. As a physicist, I studied way too much about photons, energy levels, frequencies, particle/ wave duality and other aspects of wave theory and quantum mechanics. It’s another whole area of study about nuclear physics and the fusion reactor we call the sun that provides all of our sunlight and moonlight. Then there is biology where we study how this sunlight is converted to living tissue through photosynthesis.  Truly, we could not live without light. Indeed, Genesis tells us that our whole universe was created in a flash of light, “And God said, let there be light…”. Also, we understand that physically, darkness has no substance. Light is the presence of photons, but darkness is simply the lack of light. There is no darkness particle.

Philosophically, we understand light to be understanding. To be enlightened… Let us shed some light on the subject… And the darkness, the absence of light, is used to describe ignorance  or lack of understanding. He’s so dim witted…. Darkness is also used to speak of evil. It was a dark movie…  Light and darkness are the Yang and yang used to discuss good and evil. This derives from the biblical understanding of God as an agent of light and Satan as an agent of darkness.

That leads us to 1 John where we learn that “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” The lesson here is that we are to walk in the light, which is to walk in God, that is, to walk in the ways of God. Walking in the light also leads to fellowship with one another. It is darkness, hidden things, that poison a relationship and break fellowship. We were dealing with such things in the Cleansing Stream retreat last week. People get hurt and are traumatized by various injuries in personal relationships. The devil’s answer is to hide it in the darkness. Let sleeping dogs lie, and all that. God’s answer is to bring these traumas into the light where they can be healed. Verse 9 instructs us that this process starts with confession of sins which leads to forgiveness . Without forgiveness, there can be no healing.  As long as a personal hurt is buried in the darkness, it is just going to fester and the hurt will grow. If the problem is ignored long enough it results in a root of bitterness which can cause all sorts of problems. (Hb 15:12)

Just as sunlight is source of all physical life, spiritual light is the source of all life in the kingdom of God. In previous discussions, we were talking about pride, and it is pride that tries to keep or sins buried in the darkness. As we strive to walk in the light, the Lord will help us to confess our sins and forgive us. Then as we forgive one another, we can restore relationships with other people. Done properly, this leads to a life of faith, hope and love. Walking in the light. So let us thrive to allow the Holy Spirit to enlighten our understanding and resist our pride to allow the cleansing light of God into our lives. Healing and true fellowship will result. 

Lord, shine your light into our souls so that we may be healed and can live as the light to the world.

What the World Needs Now

 What the World Needs Now

October 25, 2024

Yesterday, we were talking about what is wrong with the world. But what can be done to fix it? Back when I was in high school, there was a popular song, “What the World Need Now”. It was a song with lyrics written by Hal David and music composed by Burt Bacharach. It was first recorded and made popular by Jackie DeShannon in 1965.  The chorus went like this:

What the world needs now 

Is love, sweet love 

It's the only thing that there's just too little of 

What the world needs now 

Is love, sweet love 

No, not just for some, but for everyone 

Then a couple of years later, in 1967, the Beatles released a song called “All You Need is Love”. It was the era of peace and love with flower children marching in the streets against the war in Vietnam. I remember it well (Then again, maybe not so well. We had a saying, “If you remember the 60’s, you weren’t really there!). But is the kind of love that we were singing about the kind that would save the world? The kind of love that most of us had in mind was characterized more by The Rolling Stones song, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction”!

No, the kind of love that will save the world is illustrated more by the story in the gospel of John in chapter 13.

John 13:5-17

Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

5Then He *poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

…

15 For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

True love is humbling yourself and serving one another. It is not always easy and it never comes at a convenient time, but it shows true love for your brother. There is a lot of strife and animosity in the world caused by selfishness and pride, but the antidote is unselfish love. Such love really is beyond the capability of most of us outside of the love of God and the  power of the Holy Spirit. So really, what the wold needs now… is Jesus! 

So then, let us be an example to the world, living according the the example set by Jesus when he washed the disciples feet. Let us humble ourselves and love our fellow man by serving them. We can bring a little bit of true peace and love to our corner of the world and who knows how far that can spread. 

What’s Wrong with the World

 What’s Wrong with the World?

October 22, 2024

1 John 2:15-17

Do Not Love the World

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Some days you look around and it seems the the whole wold has gone mad. So what’s wrong with the world? Are things really worse than they have ever been or are we just seeing the faults in the world system more clearly?

Some 2000 years ago, the Apostle John wrote his analysis of the world’s problems. He boiled it down to three things that cause all of the worlds problems.

1. Lust of the flesh
2. Lust of the eyes
3. Boastful pride of life

If you think hard about it, it’s difficult to some up with any current problem that can not be put into one of these categories. Crooked politicians and war: boastful pride. Drug addiction and Diddy parties: lust of the flesh. Corrupt entertainment industry: lust of the eyes. I could go on, but you get the point. The world system hasn’t really changed since the age of the apostles, it’s just that the problems manifest if slightly different ways.

John’s solution was equally simple: Do the will of the Father. Having money problems? Do the will of the Father, work hard and tithe. Depressed and addicted to drugs or alcohol? Do the will of the Father and seek godly council. There are believers that can help you. Worried about the elections? Do the will of the Father. Pray for our leaders and go vote. The list is endless.

Now you may say that this is over simplified, and in some sense it is. But in solving problems, it is always good to remember Ocam’s razor: The simplest solution is almost always the correct answer. You can always complicate a matter, but starting with from the premise that you are going to obey the will of the Father will always lead you to His correct solution. Is this easy to do? Absolutely not! It was not easy for Jesus to go to the cross or for John to go into exile on the Isle of Patmos, but they did it because it was the Father’s will. Not all victories are realized in this world. We need to be aware that the Kingdom of God is not only on this world in this time, but is in heaven and is eternal. Doing the will of the Father in this world is guaranteed to produce blessings in the eternal kingdom, even if it looks like suffering and hardship in this world.  So take heart, as Jesus said, “I have overcome the world”. (John 16:33)

Pride and Humility

 Pride and Humility

October 23, 2024

Another topic that came up in the retreat was pride.This is a difficult subject to talk about, especially in America where we encourage all types of prideful behavior in our children: Self-actualization, Self-esteem, self-respect, self-identification. Now this is not all bad, but there are additional selfish and prideful attitudes that underly the addictive behaviors that plague our country: Self-gratification (sex, over eating), self-medication (drugs, alcohol), self-promotion (athletics, politics, entertainment ), selfish desire to get rich (gambling ). Then of course America has the whole month of June dedicated to Pride in breaking as many of God’s commandments as possible in one month!

It’s also hard to talk about because talking about it brings up the realization that there is pride in our (my) soul, and we don’t want to acknowledge that, because we have pride in our soul… Oh my! It’s also hard to talk about humility, because they say that you can’t claim to be humble, because as soon as you do, then you are prideful, and not humble!

So then, what is pride and why is it so harmful? From the list of prideful attitudes above, you will notice that they all start with “self”. Pride is basically putting yourself first before God or any other person. That was Lucifers problem. “I will exalt myself above the most high…” By seeking to raise himself up, he was cast down and cast our of God’s presence. Therefore, we can say that pride separates us from God, and this produces a rottenness in our soul. John 15 talks about the vine and illustrates how the branch dies and rots if it is cut off from the vine. This is exactly what happens when we are proud and exalt ourselves above the Father.

So if pride is an overly exalted opinion of ourself, what then is humility? Is putting yourself down, being a door mat and kowtowing to evil authorities humility? No. True humility is having the opinion of yourself that God the Father has of you. When you see yourself as loved, honored and cared for by the Father, then you are truly humble. Humility is akin to meekness. That is commonly misinterpreted as weakness, but in truth, meekness is the strength of a horse that has been broken and trained. Once a strong horse has been broken to ride and trained to obey the riders wishes, it is a powerful tool that can herd cattle or run a race. Such meekness is strength under control. Humility is like that in that it is a sense of self worth that is true, and not exaggerated or minimized. 

How do you get rid of pride? I don’t think there is any easy answer there. It is a process of submitting to the Lord Jesus and listening to the Father’s voice though the Holy Spirit. When you walk in submission over time, pride diminishes and humility increases. Like all the fruit of the Spirit, it takes time to grow. You don’t plan an apple seed and expect to harvest apples the next day.  It takes a season, and sometimes two or three, for the tree to grow and begin to bear fruit. So my admonition, is start from wherever you are. Renounce pride and begin to follow the Lord with all you heart, and let Him work on your character until you look more like Jesus and less like the world.

Questions

 Questions

October 22, 2024

In the last blog, we talked about education and unbelief, but today, I’ve got questions. Does asking questions indicate unbelief? Are we allowed to ask questions? When did it become prohibited to ask questions? When I was in school (way back in the 60’s) asking questions was the preferred method of teaching. At least in Physics class, we were not to believe anything without scientific proof and verified experimental results. When baby boomers were students, we didn’t trust anyone over 30 and questioned everything. Now that my peers are the senior professors and deans, if seems that asking questions on campus is strictly prohibited. What happened in the meantime? (I don’t have any answer to this, but if you have any idea, feel free to discuss it with me.)

The God of the Bible is not afraid of questions. A quick look at the Psalms shows you all the times that King David questioned the Lord. “Why do the nations rage?” Ps 2, “How many are my foes?” Ps 3, “How long shall my honor be turned into shame?” Ps 4… and that is just n the first 4 Psalms. But if you read the Psalms to the end, the psalmist always found an answer and consolation and reason to hope.

Jesus likewise welcomed questions. “Where are you going?”, “What dies this mean?”, “Who sinned, this man of his parents?”, etc.  A master and his disciples asking questions was the time honored method of teaching. We call it the Socratic method after Socrates, the Ancient Greek philosopher. When did we change to a method of simply telling pupils what to believe and expecting unquestioned obedience?

Asking questions of the Lord is not necessarily unbelief. If you sincerely want to know the answer, asking questions can lead to deeper belief. Of course, a syndical question that does not expect an answer is a different matter. The difference is a humble attitude that asks questions in the expectation that there is a good answer, and then believing.

Some questions are more dangerous than others. Asking the Lord “Why did this happen?”, rarely gets a good answer. And “How long, O Lord?”, doesn’t always get an answer that you like! Mary asks “How can this be?”, and it was a perfectly acceptable question that the angel answered. And the disciples that asked “Is it you, Lord?”, got an answer every time. In most cases, asking a sincere question and listening for a true answer is an excellent way to learn.

One day, in the eternal kingdom, all of our questions will be answered, but in the meantime, let us just keep asking questions, listening for the voice of our master. This is the way to build faith and belief, by finding answers that you can believe in and walking in that truth. So be blessed, and keep asking questions.