God, the Father, God, the Son, and God,
the Holy Spirit are the same Yesterday, Today and Forever. What does this
mean? We can say God is unchanging in nature, image, character, holiness,
truth, ways, purpose, and design. Our God is consistent, always upholding
His grace and truth through love. There is no variance in His image or
character. What is true of God today will be true tomorrow and
forevermore with regard to His character.
The revelation of God to mankind
is for this purpose to make known His glory to the universe through His
ongoing creative endeavors. The universe belongs to God and everything in
it. The statement requires a response or reaction from mankind who for
now was made a little lower than the angels. The very nature of God is
revealed in His creation, which we need to comprehend. Being wonderfully
and fearfully made by the creator ought inspire us to behold His glory in
that we are called, time and again, the children of God. For it is by the
will of God that we are created and not of our choosing. We are born out
of the love of the Father for His creation for His pleasure that we should
sing the praises of His glory. We are His prized possession knowing that
He created us in Christ Jesus for the express purpose of revealing the
riches of His love for us through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is our life! Jesus
life is the revelation of God the Father’s love for us in this world. He
came into the world for the sole purpose of redeeming the Father’s
creation who we created in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world
was laid. It pleased God to create us in the image and likeness of His
Son. Man was free to choose to obey God and knew the will of God for his
life. Man’s free will was compromised after God’s character was
attacked. When man sought knowledge from another source he eventually
lost the true knowledge of God and his free will was subjugated to the
lies that he embraced. Man was to believe and rely on God’s truth alone.
When man listened to the enemy of God, Le Satan, or Lucifer also called
the devil, his ability to reason rationally was darkened. The enemy
accused God of having less than holy motives or intentions towards man.
This left man over-stimulated and unable to process what transpired when
he disobeyed the divine decree. This is the same condition everyone born
has to contend with. Therefore, we need to be born again. Therefore, our
leaders need to make this the precedent in their teaching and evangelism.
In the Church, the Holy Spirit
leads and gives us the ability to equip others to fulfill God’s will. The
Holy Spirit’s leading of the church should be through the spiritually
mature who are able to, ‘rightly divide the Word of God’, and lay a
foundation based on the elementary teachings of Jesus Christ. Leaders
will emerge who are called and chosen to minister by the Holy Spirit to
implement God’s plan and carry out His will.
The roles of ministers are
changing. God’s leaders should be seen as facilitators or enablers.
Facilitators learn to trust in God and allow His Word to feed His flock.
The salvation of the world belongs to God and the role of carrying the
message belongs to the believer. According to the Word of God, the fruit
of the Holy Spirit will draw others to Christ. The enabler’s role is to
encourage the members of the congregation to contribute and participate
through lifting Jesus up and His ‘fulfillment of the promise.’ When He
is lifted up God will add the increase by using the church to share the
life changing experiences, talents, and gifts given through the
relationship God brought to their life.
Leaders are needed to encourage
everyone to participate in the ministry of the Word, even through very
modest efforts. Every member of the local body can participate in the
workings of the church. We are all capable as God’s children and
individually equipped for ministry to an infinite number of people from
every nation, tongue, tribe, and kindred. Churches should concentrate on
doing its best to teach, bring understanding, and involve every member to
participate as an integral part of the local community.
Elders are the members of the
congregation with specific on-going responsibilities. The leaders know
they are there for the exhortation, edification, and comfort of the
church. Chosen for their ability to encourage others toward being
conformed through the Holy Spirit’s effort to transform them through a
change of heart into the image of Jesus Christ.
Good leaders are not born, they
are reared. The role requires flexibility and awareness to meet the needs
of the group. There are different ways to lead a meeting; good leaders
adapt to the needs of the care group. They develop a sense of
understanding and know what to do in each situation.
Every leader learns to keep the
people focused on the One who will bring change to their life, knowing He
is the One who can change the heart. The members are all encouraged to
participate in the group activities. Every leader steers the ship and
resolves the situations where people come together and disagree. The
helmsman keeps the crew moving forward by directing them through an
atmosphere where the Holy Spirit can direct the individuals in a concerted
effort. In such a climate the will of God can prevail over the personal
agendas and fulfill the vision God has given the Pastoral/Teacher and
Elders.
Faith is a certainty of God’s love as it
is revealed through His Word and experienced in life, more often than not,
in the local church. Faith or trust in God is a gift. Faith is given
from the witness of the moral law that is inherent in us from the time we
were created. The easiest way to convey the truth is to children at an
early age.
Obedience is the yardstick of approval
with God and a barometer of our spiritual growth. The value we place on
obedience to God is the motivating force behind our decision making.
Knowing our values are truly based on God’s moral law is one liberating
force that transform us and all of our relationships.
The rewards are incalculable for those who
are obedient to trust in God’s laws. He is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him and are called according to His purpose. The joy of
the Lord is in doing His will. Knowing Him intimately is the reward for
our efforts in being obedient to His calling and being used for His
purposes.
Our beliefs about God and values
concerning relationships need to be expressed in order to legitimize their
influence upon our daily life. This is true since it is written of God
that above all God is love. The priority we give to our relationships
will help clarify the decisions we make in order to fulfill God’s plans
for our God-given dreams and visions. By placing godly values upon the
characteristics of a healthy relationship we begin to understand the
motivation of our renewed hearts in the light of God’s truth. Our
understanding of God’s will empowers us to accept the need for change in
our behavior and willingly surrender ourselves to God.
The whole moral law of God is summed up in
two commands; to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and body, and to
love one another as we love ourselves. Love is the fulfillment of the law
in our relationships. When we identify the attributes of love we see a
clearer picture of our heavenly Father. With a clearer vision of His
characteristics in our heart we can begin to trust God to bring about the
changes in us. The changes we undergo will directly influence our
relationships through the manifestation fruit of the Spirit when we take
up the cross and deny the corrupt nature of the flesh.
To approach God we must always approach
the throne of grace in the Spirit and in truth. The goal of this work is
to help us understand how people perceive truth and determine what reality
is. Proper perception or understanding of truth will lead to healing and
reconciliation through forgiveness. The method and practice of our faith
must reflect the mind, will, Word, Truth and Character of God in order for
us to worship God in Spirit and in truth. Truth in this case more readily
translates reality. Therefore, by the renewing of your mind through the
transforming Word of God our lives will worship God by eliminating faulty
thinking, erroneous assumptions, vain imaginations, and preconceived
ideas. In doing so we will more accurately reflect the life of Jesus
Christ and the character of God.
As we grow into the image and
likeness of Christ through the transformation of our ‘thinker’, the mind,
we will be conformed into His image. In God’s plan the Holy Spirit
illumines our mind to the truth. The ‘regenerate’ mind is being renewed
everyday that it receives nourishment from God’s Word. The carnal mind
cannot know the things of the Spirit for they are spiritually discerned or
known; the Holy Spirit reveals them to our spirit, (I Cor. 2:4-12). These
statements should compel us to rethink our position and know whether our
thinking is in the faith or not.
Consider the merits of the
following premise. The premise describes a born again or regenerate ideal
pattern for entreating a redemptive process to receive God’s truth, and
therefore, we learn to respond obediently to the reality set before us.
To know the truth we MUST ALWAYS ‘filter’
our experience, opinions, tradition, doctrine, thoughts, perspective,
values, perception, feelings, temperament, personality, knowledge, reason,
attitudes, background, and actions THROUGH the Word, mind, truth, design,
will and character of God!
The difference between having a carnal or
fleshy mind that stands in opposition to the Spirit and not having a
regenerate mind set on fulfilling God’s will is this: 1) the carnal mind
or flesh is at enmity with God and cannot know the mind of Christ, nor
obey the truth; 2) while the regenerate mind led by the Spirit is being
sanctified daily by the Word of God and embraces the truth. Regeneration
allows for the condition necessary for obedience since the ones ‘born from
above’ receive a renewed heart and spirit.
Our regenerate spirit passionately desires
to obey God’s will. If we truly comprehend the truth we understand that
viewing our circumstances from the light of God’s Word is vastly different
than filtering His Word through our life experiences. The foundation for
living a Christian life can only be resolved when this perspective is
accepted as the seat of all spiritual knowledge, wisdom and
understanding. The difference is a bottomless chasm between a world
filtering our lives through the mind of Christ or the mind of an
unregenerate. Unregenerate thinking produces a carnal Christian or a
nominal Christian, which only knows about God.
I would suggest many nominal ‘Christians’
are unregenerate, meaning they are not ‘born again’ by the will of God but
assume they are because they chose to believe. The choice was theirs in
response to the general call of all men to salvation. The truth is that
only those who God sovereignly renews in heart and spirit are regenerate.
Another term often used is ‘quickened’. The choice to respond to God is
theirs alone but this does not equal regeneration, as is commonly
believed. The Scripture is clear. God sovereignly manifests His glory in
the election and calling of those chosen to eternal life. God is not
obligated to regenerate a person who does not show works meet for
repentance, which is revealed through godly sorrow. An unrepentant person
cannot nullify God’s justice in denying the rebirth.
People need to know how to establish a
foundation of truth from the Word of God in their pursuit of truth. They
need to be aware of ineffective and erroneous methods of establishing
truth, to guard against the ways truth is distorted, and gain reasonable
and logical tools to establish their thinking truthfully. There are a
variety of ways that we unconsciously allow deception, experience and
feelings to violate His Word. Our thinking should be God-centered and
Word reflective. God’s Word will challenge your thinking when the truth
is revealed through dutiful study and obedience.
Without the mind being reconciled to God a
person is open to a myriad of possible problems that lead to various
trials and tribulations. Through the revelation of God’s Word, the truth
will propel us toward a very biblical, gracious, holy thinking that
manifests the reality of a renewed heart and spirit. Christian thinking
must become Word-reflecting, Spirit-filled, Grace-empowered and
Truth-driven, only then will we live from the perspective of the mind of
God.
The mind, body, soul, and spirit in union
with God will glorify Him. Jesus was not born with a sinful or depraved
nature. Therefore, God was glorified in the life Jesus manifested in the
physical body. Jesus Christ manifested His dependence upon God for all
things. Jesus modeled the life that a Spirit-filled believer will reflect
as they are transformed through the renewal of the mind and led by the
Spirit of grace and truth.
Jesus did not come as man. He came as
God-man, He chose to veil His almighty power and authority. In order to
redeem mankind He kept His power and authority under wraps. These are
things He set aside (if you will) Glory, Position, Place of Authority, and
Sovereignty by being “encased” in a human body. The Second Adam came in
perfection; sinless in the form of man and died sinless in order to
satisfy the righteous wrath of God against mankind’s sinful nature. It is
only because of the Excellency of the sacrifice of a perfect man, the
spiritual man, that God would justly accept a like-in-kind sacrifice for
the remission of sins. For it is written, “Without the shedding of blood
there is no sacrifice for sin.” Jesus is the lamb without blemish in
perfect union with the Father. Jesus submitted perfectly to God and was
empowered by the Spirit of grace and truth, given without limit or
measure, to perform the Father’s will.
In practice Christians fall short of the
mark of this principle of total dependency upon and obedience to God. As
God’s Word in union with the Holy Spirit sanctifies the believer, an
individual will begin to manifest the fruit of the Spirit. This is
putting in practice the principle of thinking from God’s perspective.
God’s Word transforms our thinking and empowers the practice of our
faith. Our new life in the Spirit will spring forth as the rivers of
living water flow from our innermost being, John 7:37. Through the
conviction of the indwelling Holy Spirit we will view life through the
mind and attitude of Christ. This is the attitude or thought-life we are
to humbly receive and adhere to.
Believers are often challenged by God’s
Word, challenged in their beliefs and behaviors. It is normal for a young
Christian in Christ to be confused. They have not usually been taught to
think Scripturally. The language mature Christians speak is foreign to
them. However, the believer(s) of any age need to continue to learn to
‘rightly divide the word of truth’. We need to know, obey, and understand
the will of God. We need to adopt a life view and thought-life that
reflects the truth to please our God.
Inconsistent and irrational thinking
causes us to violate and contradict the Word of God. We should not accept
opinions, preferences, values, and feelings that violate His Word, design,
or the will of God as Christians. Jesus came to reveal grace and truth.
These attributes of God’s character should permeate our thinking. If we
are nurtured by the truth, the Word will expose our misguided beliefs and
behaviors. When the Holy Spirit convinces us of some irrational thought,
feeling, or behavior we are to eliminate the negative and integrate the
truth into our thinking which will manifest through our daily life.
We are the creature not the Creator. Upon
accepting this fact we may begin to view our life through God’s Word. We
need to declare to our self that He is and we are not gods. Only through
the grace of God can we become whom He desires us to be. When the Holy
Spirit begins working in our life we accept the truth. He alone is the
One who will reveal the life of the Lord Jesus Christ being lived through
us as He becomes known to us as our Lord, Savior, and Life.
Jesus’ life is the standard God lifted up
on the Cross for us to look upon. Jesus’ life of obedience is the
standard we are to accept as our life’s role model without exception. The
gift of eternal life in Christ is the gift of God and our reward for
obedience.
To live a life worthy of the Excellency of
the sacrifice of God’s Son, we must accept God’s standard of faith. To
attain this standard we must let Christ live through us in the power (dunamis)
and authority of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Ultimately the highest
standard we achieve is to submit to God in obedience. By obeying the
truth of God’s Word we have hope. Trusting in the Holy Spirit to exchange
our life for the life of Christ being lived through us sets us free.
In Christ we may approaching the throne of
grace in our time of need. We come to boldly ask for His grace and truth
to perform His will. We may lay down our self-life and live the
victorious life in Christ Jesus through the power of His indwelling
Spirit.
Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and
the Life. In order to perform God’s will, we need to imitate the Way
Jesus lives, a life in obedience to the Father. Only through observing
the Truth found in the commands of Christ may we hope to know God. In
allowing the Life of Christ to be lived through us can we hope to fulfill
God’s will for our life. We may already know and believe in our heart
that Jesus is the Way, however we do not know all the Truth. We should
know now a Life that is surrendered to God in Christ is God’s will.
With all the knowledge and wisdom that we
can gain we need understanding to have intimate relationships. In order
to gain a more comprehensive understanding of God’s will for our
relationships we need to proceed with an education that is objective. Our
perspective must come from God’s view so are relationships will be
fruitful and bring glory to God.
A person relates to what they see as the
truth. The truth is distorted when a value judgment is added that is not
based on the Word of God. Objective observation is defined as what is
seen. For our purpose, objective observation is narrowly defined as the
desire for the truth to be understood in the light of God’s Word. This is
the only frame of reference we know that is God given. By God-given we
mean that we do not add a subjective value judgment to the translation.
Subjective value judging weighs the intent of the person’s own opinion. We
need to view God’s Word without reflecting our feelings, biases or
prejudices. When we take God’s Word on objectively our communication and
relationships will improve dramatically. When we recognize our failure to
remain objective and implement the principle of objective observation into
our life we will see God’s perspective more easily.
Subjective feelings actually ‘judge’ the
motives or unconsciously condemns or criticizes others based on our biases
or prejudice. The expression of subjective feelings leads to either an
explicit or implicit accusation of blame that tragically hinders correct
thinking and healthy communication. Only when subjective observation is
replaced with objective observation will our destructive practices be
eliminated. Subjective feelings are skewed through the filter of our life
experiences and do not necessarily reflect the truth because of the
imperfect mind, heart, soul, and spirit of man. Objective feelings, based
solely on what is seen and filtered through the Word of God with the mind
(attitude) of Christ, will reflect the truth and guide us toward healthy
relationships through open communications.
When we subject what we observe through
our values alone, we do not necessarily
reflect the truth or reality. We may
cross a critical line and move into judging and blaming through subjective
observation. The practice is destructive in relationships that need truth
in order to maintain healthy communication. With subjective observation
the tendency is to judge the thoughts and intents of another person’s
heart.
In order to overcome the error of
subjective observation there is a need to draw upon logic and reason alone
to gain understanding. The truth is self-evident when screened through
the Word of God, the only standard we have for spiritual Truth. To use
objective observation we must incorporate logic and reasoning. Our faith
is based on facts, not legend as some would have you believe. When our
values, beliefs, views, and thoughts are weighed against the solid rock of
the inspired Word we gain logic, reasoning, and understanding, which is
where sound judgment and wisdom is gained.
The truth is that we all hold
inconsistent, contradictory, irrational and illogical beliefs.
Sanctification is the process that God takes us through to transform our
mind (our thinker) by His Word. When mankind uses faulty methods to
observe any actions they become subject to the fullest extent of the
standard used. When a standard is not benchmarked against the truth,
false conclusions are the result. We need to begin to apply those
principles in our life. The truth and inerrancy of God’s Word and His
will prove to be the only reasonable and logical standards to use.
Our philosophy, life-view, personal
theology, doctrinal affirmations, belief system, thoughts, responses,
activities, and feelings can and should reflect the mind and character of
God. Trust in God’s Word as the inspirited standard for behavior, allows
your thinker to be renewed by the washing of regeneration by God’s Word
resulting in transformed thinking. When light governs your thought life,
the darkness will flee the radiance of God’s presence illuminating your
life. When we submit our thought life to the light our actions, thinking
patterns, feelings and beliefs will reflect the truth and God’s will for
our life. In return for our self discipline we will be single-minded and
gain significant peace, ‘the peace that surpasses all understanding’.
Logical, rational and transformed thinking
are the result of, and subsequent to, regeneration – the new birth. When
God quickens us we receive His Spirit of love, power and a sound mind,
which is self-control. We learn to take every thought captive to Christ’s
attitude, which brings them into submission to God the Father’s will. Our
only rational choice is to be obedient and dependent upon God and
discontinue to using the faulty standards we grew up with. We must
consciously choose to trust God’s Word (which He honors above His name) by
faith. When our faith has been tried in the fires of trial and
tribulation we learn to rest upon Him and the power of His Word working in
our life.
The value system we adopt as responsible
adults will either guide our families and us into truth. Or, the lure of
subjectivism will lead us into complacency. We cannot accept less than
God’s Word as the standard for our moral, spiritual, ethical, behavioral,
and inter-relational endeavors. Our relationships will reflect what is in
our heart and spirit in time. Therefore, we must always choose to filter
all things through His Word and make His standard the basis for our life
and relationships. In doing so we will fulfill God’s will for our life as
we are conformed into the image of His beloved Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
People live according to their perception
of themselves!
Nature is illustrative while the Bible is
authoritative. We see truth in different perspectives. There is nothing
in common between Empirical Research versus Exegetical Research. Theology
interprets psychology. When we know God, we could know ourselves. The
comparison is the Holiness of God versus “Oh, wretched man that I am!”
God’s authority is higher than man’s edict. The wisdom of man is
foolishness to God. For this reason our union in Christ is by God’s
doing, not man’s performance. Our union in Christ is equal to us being
‘in Christ’ or ‘Christ in us’. There is no difference. We are all united
in Christ. The Holy Spirit reveals through God’s Word, our relationship.
Psychology bases their counseling approach on a ‘belief system’, or, their
concept of God, which is subjective at best.
Christian counseling is based from God’s
perspective of us. A relationship should begin with acceptance and
affirmation. Rebellion comes in when it starts with authority and
accountability. Evangelism is best served from the standpoint of our
conditional acceptance by God through His affirmation toward us in sending
His Son to die for our reconciliation. The concept can be evaluated
through the following statement of faith towards God’s love toward us.
“It is who I am that determines what I do! If I am a child of God I will
behave as I see myself. It is not what I do that determines who I am! I
am acceptable to God since Jesus gave His life for me.”
Counseling Christians and leading seekers
to Christ must always be from the points of acceptance and affirmation.
In Christ we are all acceptable in His sight and He affirms this by giving
us a renewed heart and spirit, the residence of the Holy Spirit.
Pride and guilt can help us see
our usefulness. When the Holy Spirit works in us through God’s Word, the
process is sanctification. The Holy Spirit’s work of conviction can
reveal those areas that we continue to be self-reliant in. Pride deals
with our self-perception and independent nature. When the Holy Spirit
exposes our arrogance or haughtiness we can surrender our opinion of self
and be delivered from the iniquity.
Guilt deals with our sins of omission and
commission. Things we do not do and those we do. When the Holy Spirit
convinces us of sin He will lead us to the throne of grace and the mercy
seat so we can receive help in our time of need. There is no reason to
believe we must sin. Neither does our renewed heart and spirit desire to
sin; they desire to do God’s will and reflect Christ’s life through us.
So guilt and shame can be used through the conviction of the Holy Spirit
to draw us closer to God, Prov. 22:6. When God, the Holy Spirit,
convinces us of there being a better way, His Way, we are invited to a
more intimate relationship with God. Yes, God can use the negative to
drive us, motivate us to desire and achieve God’s eternal goals.
Experience is essential to develop expertise and see others differing
needs such is the gift of discernment.