Are You Brainstained?

    I said to myself concerning the sons of men, "God has surely tested them in order for them to see that they are but beasts." (Ecclesiastes 3:18 KJV)

    Do you ever talk to yourself? I'm not asking about insane mumblings or whispered narration of tasks you are performing. Solomon often uses the expression -- I said to myself... What are you saying to yourself? What is the inner voice that provides a narrative of life as it passes by saying to you? Is it opposing God and Godly thought or affirming God and Godly thought?

   Ever hear the term "brainwashing"? I just Googled it. Here's how Wikipedia defines it -- Brainwashing (also known as thought reform or as re-education) consists of any effort aimed at instilling certain attitudes and beliefs in a person — beliefs sometimes unwelcome or in conflict with the person's prior beliefs and knowledge, in order to affect that individual's value system and subsequent thought-patterns and behaviors.

 

    Is your brain stained? Are you allowing your mind to continuously deepen the stain, or are you washing it with the Word of God? God needs to quiet the -- I said to myself... voice in our heads, and replace it with an ear tuned to the inner voice in our hearts, the voice of the Holy Spirit.

  Could your faith life use some thought reform? Continuous spiritual improvement requires  tuning into God's voice, and a simultaneous tuning out of the inner shouting which childishly demands our attention to its unending stream of worldly opinions. We cannot wash our own brains clean of sin stains. Jesus has to do that. The mind cleansing Word says -- He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. (Titus 3:5,6)

Where are your thoughts unreformed? Where is your brain stained? Are there areas of thought where you have giving up and stopped scrubbing? Is there a part of you that you've allowed your inner voice to convince you Jesus is impotent to transform? Open the Word. Pray. Scrub your brain stains. Tune in to God. Tune out yourself.

And He was saying to them, Take care what you listen to... (Mark 4:24)

Copyright 2013 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be quoted in whole or in part without prior written permission if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com

The Word, the Root, and the Branches Search for Unity

And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. (Romans 11:17-21 NKJV)   

 

   According to church researchers most Christians have an ambiguous theology. We kind of know generally what denominations we disagree with, but we are unable to articulate the particulars of the disagreement. The Holy Spirit instructed me years ago to “die to denominationalism”. Over time I have concluded that every born again Christian is my brother or sister in Christ. This has made me realize that I am coupled at the root with believers with whom I may have sharp theological disagreement. It has become obvious over time, that two Christians, both bent on "rightly dividing the Word of God", my still find themselves in disagreement on minor theological issues. My sense is that God is focused on unity while our flesh, wanting to be right, distinguishes the differences.

 

   Reluctantly, I have tilted in favor of unity. It is amazing how my interaction has changed when I have abandoned the need to explain to others the failings perceived in their theology. I now consciously resist letting the theological anger of another lead to mine in return. Paul’s words to the church in Rome remind to re-center my focus on Christ -- But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

 

  

   This may seem to be an odd comment coming from a man who has written about the bible and the Lord for years, but I wonder if the root of our disagreement isn’t fed from our habit of spending more time reading the uninspired words written my mortals about the God than we spend simply reading the Word and praying. It seems we’ve become as a church a little obsessed with the next cool explanation. In other words, we boast about the man who has written about the Root rather than boasting about the Root he is writing about.   

   John Wesley called himself a man with a one book library. His method of bible study was simple. Read a verse and pray. If he still lacked understanding he next read every other verse about the same subject or that contained the same word and prayed more. Then he’d ask a trusted Christian friend to do the same and he’d discuss their understanding. (By the way, this included his dear friend George Whitefield who had a very different theological view). As a last resort he’d look to the church fathers and what they’d written.

   First the Root, then the branches.   

   Are you a student of the Word, or of what has been written about it by its branches?

   Copyright 2013 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be reprinted in whole or in part without prior written permission if a link is provided to: http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com

Confessing Praise......

   Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. (Hebrews 13:15 NKJV)

 

     Human praise is often well intended false praise. If my friend sings a solo that is actually painful to listen to but immediately asks me how he did, I will undoubtedly praise him. Sometimes I want to praise someone to encourage them but find myself looking hard for something praiseworthy. If I find nothing, I select the best thing I can find and praise that. I think it was Joan Rivers who said -- Anything a man says to a woman about her shoes, weight, dress, hair, eyes, face, ears, shoes, height, shoes, weight, or shoes is probably a lie. Sorry ladies, I really don’t care about your shoes as much as some of you do.

 

…let us continually offer… In the original Greek, this is better translated as continually confess.... This offering requires praise mindedness. If the weight of the Lord’s salvation alone has settled in my heart, how can my praise ever end? Since I recognized the truth of the Gospel, I have lived a life observed through a God-lens provided by the indwelling Spirit and focused by the Word. All provision I see as from Him. All favor from Him. Luck and happenstances are things of my past. My Father is watching over me, attending to my needs, pruning dead limbs and pouring mercy and grace over my life. In the days of the tabernacle and temple, praise was offered at certain times and in certain places. The old is gone, behold the new has come. My continuous praise exists because of His continuous Presence in my life.

 

….a sacrifice… When I research a Greek word it typically has multiple meanings that are dependent on context or other associated words. Here the Greek word means only sacrifice. It is used 29 times in the New Testament and it is translated as sacrifice all 29 times. What do I sacrifice when I praise God? I sacrifice my flesh, my ambition, my pride, and my desire to be worshipped. Praising God in truth sets not only Him in proper perspective, but myself also. When I pour out an offering of words to describe the greatness of my Lord, my prideful somethingness fades to humble nothingness.

 

…. of praise to God… In praising a person or any created thing I can easily outreach the truth, but it is not so with God. With the Lord if I simply state the truth of what He is and has done, I can never exaggerate and I can never finish. That is authentic, the fruit of our lips, worshipping in spirit and truth, God praise. My praise cannot be mechanical, a fleshy offering of my good praise works. It has to be an offering poured from my grateful heart, giving thanks to His Name….

 

 Copyright 2013 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be quoted in wole or in part without prior permission if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com   

Brand Evangelists, Downton Abbey, and Loving My Enemies.....

   It is absolutely thrilling when the Lord uses us to bring someone to the knowledge of His saving Grace. It encourages us to want to repeat the process. If we began by sharing our personal salvation testimony, we are encouraged to share it more frequently. If we began by sharing the Gospel, we are encouraged to share it more frequently. But a stubborn fact remains. For everyone we lead to the Lord's salvation, scores will reject His message. Those rejections can accumulate. If we see them as personal rejection of ourselves or failures of ourselves to effectively communicate they can become an obstacle to our holy boldness. Insurance salesmen are trained to expect twenty rejections for each sale and often speak of "collecting the no!", until they have collected enough that they finally get a yes! Too often, we approach the spiritual by trying to apply what works in the natural.

    The Church is supposed to lead the culture, reform the culture, and watch the culture be transformed by the Word, the Spirit, and Gospel. However, I often hear churches today  instead adopting the culture, and in that also adopting  secular sales and marketing rhetoric. Individual churches speak of "marketing their brand" as if they stood separated from Christ, and even applying secular marketing methods to the gospel. We are not called to be  "brand evangelists" for Christ.

 

   The message of Christ is meant to be transferred by attraction rather than promotion. What reflection of Christ in me will attract someone to saving faith? Often we are more like the servants in the kitchen at Downton Abbey, gossiping about those who reside  in the same home rather than loving them so much that we are distinguished by that love. Jesus said --

But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. (Luke 6:35 NKJV)

   Love is the most distinguishing reflection of Christ. Radical love, love that loves its enemies, hoping for nothing in return, is virtually non existent outside of hearts transformed by Christ. Too often it resides in seclusion within the those hearts which have found it. Jesus also said -
 

But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. (Luke 6:32 KNJV) Has your love reached beyond those easy to love family and Christian friends, or does it appear only where it is comfortable?

  

   The door to the Gospel is most easily opened by the power of love. Not some fictitious love, feigned for sake of opportunity, but simple love, genuine love, the love of God which has taken residence in our hearts. In 1 Corinthians 13, the Lord assures us of the power of love with this simple verse -
 

Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:8 NKJV)
 

That's a promise from God. Test it. Try being the love of Christ in the lives of those for whom you are praying that they will find saving Grace, and watch the door to the Gospel fly open!

Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:8 NKJV)

Copyright 2013 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be quoted or reprinted in whole or in part without prior permission if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday