Keeping It Real: A Sober Mind

The Bible contains several passages concerning being sober-minded – I Peter 5:8, I Peter 4:7, Titus 2:2 and 2:6, and I Timothy 3:2 among these. The point is that our thoughts are to be under God’s control as much as our actions. I Peter 1:13 tells us to prepare our minds for action, being sober-minded with our hope in Christ. We are to think and act like God thinks. Our minds have to be where His is.

Matthew 16:21 begins a story of Peter claiming he will stand between Jesus and death, but Jesus rebukes Him fairly strongly, telling Peter his mind is set on the things of this world rather than the things of God. In other words, Peter is thinking like man instead of like God. Jesus then speaks to His apostles about true self-denial, to align our minds and values with God’s.

Paul, in Romans 12:1-2, says we should not act like the world. Instead we should be living sacrifices, not conformed to the world, but transformed through renewing our minds. This is what being sober-minded is about – thinking like God thinks. That is our reality.

Challenges to Sober-Mindedness

What things can impair our judgment? What can take our minds off of our Lord? Part of it comes down to what we put in our minds with television, movies, our music, sites we visit. Along with filling our own minds, we are filling our family’s minds with the same content. We should always be cautious about this because God expects our minds to be under control, and we can become drunk on poor influences through the media we consume.

Also, in Galatians 5:19-21, Paul covers many activities we will fall into when out of control. Among these, Paul discusses physical drunkenness. I Corinthians 5:11 covers similar activities, warning us to even avoid people who live such lifestyles. Ephesians 5:18 instructs us to fill ourselves with the Spirit rather than drunkenness and these other poor qualities. Once we abandon sober-mindedness, it becomes easier and easier to lose all self control.

Maintaining a Sober Mind

This means we may have to avoid attending some parties we might want to go to. This means we may have to block some sites we’ve grown used to visiting. This means we may have to simply turn the television or radio off. In some cases, we may have to ask for help from our church family; Galatians 6:2 reminds us we are responsible for each other, bearing each others' struggles and burdens. We may even need to seek treatment in some cases, depending on the seriousness of our challenges.

I Peter 4 tells us Jesus faced all of the same challenges we do and that it is possible to think like He did, not subjecting to the tyranny of our own desires but subjecting ourselves to the will of God. That life will be one free of the burden of guilt and one with a clear mind. I Peter 3:13-16 reminds us to live with a clear conscious, with thoughts and minds prepared for God’s service at all times. We live sober lives because of what Jesus did for us and because we want to be closer to Him, and we want to be like Him.

lesson by Ben Lanius

Pushing Away and Reaching Above

When watching a yoga DVD, I was trying to participate in an exercise where the instructor wanted me to raise my arms up over my head and get on my toes. He put it this way: “Push away from the floor.” When he said this, my mind was very focused on that floor underneath my feet, and I was very focused on keeping my shaky balance and not falling back down. I was pushing away from the floor, but it was a tedious and unbalanced thing.

When we are first converted, we are focused on the life we once led, and we try to push away from that life of sin. I Thessalonians 5:22 tells us to push away from every form of evil, and I Peter 2:11 calls on us to push away from the passions of our flesh. We are trying to walk away from the world and lift ourselves to something higher. Just as with yoga, however, our balance may not always be great, and we will need to change our focus.

Reaching Up Versus Pushing Away
In the video, the instructor changed from pushing away from the floor to reaching as high as possible. The activity was the same, but now the focus was different, and that change is a necessary step in our maturation as Christians. When we begin actively reaching upward, then we begin to make real progress. Then we can stop focusing on what is behind us.

Romans 12:1-2 appeals to us to present ourselves as living sacrifices, being transformed from the world and conformed to the perfect will of God. We renew our minds in this by asking better questions of ourselves, by changing our focus from the physical to the spiritual. I Corinthians 9:24 then speaks to the discipline required for any athletic activity, and we must have that same endurance and discipline in our Christian race. We must press on to the finish, and Hebrews 12:1-2 calls on us to lay aside the weights of this world when running this race, keeping our eyes on our goal.

The Benefits of Reaching
When reaching forward, we become more engaged as a whole. Pushing away from something will put the focus on the parts doing the pushing, but reaching requires our whole body. Jesus, in Matthew 16:21-23, rebukes Peter for not being fully engaged in the things of God, releasing focus on the things of this word; and Matthew 22:37 calls on us to love our God with heart, soul, and mind – completely and totally engaged in following Him. Romans 8:6-11 tells us setting our mind on spiritual things is life and pleasing to God.

Also, once we begin reaching, we find we can go further than we think. We put limits on ourselves that don’t really exist, and when we put our entire focus on God, we can break past those limits in our service. Hebrews 4:11-16 talks about reaching and striving for rest in God, drawing near to His throne with confidence, knowing the mercy He has for us. I Timothy 6:9-12 encourages us to change our focus, fleeing the things of this world and pursuing, or reaching toward, things above. I Peter 1:13-16 simply calls on us to set our hopes on Christ, striving to be holy as God is holy.

Finally, when we are focused in our reach, the pain that comes with pushing away from the world seems less intense. II Timothy 2:22-23 calls on us to flee youthful passions and to chase after faith, peace, love, and righteousness. It can hurt to leave those passions behind, but the fruits of the spirit ease those pains. I Peter 3:11 calls on us to pursue peace, and I Timothy 4:10-16 encourages us to devote ourselves to our persistent spiritual progress, regardless of age or place in life.

Conclusion
When we reach toward something, rather than simply push away, we become more engaged in our mission. We find that we can push past the limits we thought we had, and the pain of the initial push away from the world goes away. Where is your focus? What are you reaching for? How much further can you reach? How can you better serve God on a daily basis? You may surprise yourself.

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

-Colossians 3:1-2

lesson by Donn Koonce

How Many Commandments Are There?

Recently, I was looking at a website with a section called A Crash Course in Jewish History, and one quote from an article on the Ten Commandments caught my eye: “Because we don’t have the temple, 369 of the 613 commandments are no longer applicable today.” By the First Century, the law of Moses had been so analyzed that scholars could enumerate 613 separate laws – 365 negative/248 positive. In Matthew 22, one comes to Jesus and asks which is the greatest on these laws. In verse 37, Jesus answers with two commandments: to love God and to love our neighbors.

In Deuteronomy 4:2 begins by calling on the people of Israel to neither add to or subtract from the commandments, and, when we reach chapter 6, we come to the verse Jesus quotes regarding our love of God. Moses goes on from this command to love God to instruct the children of Israel to know the word of God as they know themselves. It can be an imposing thing to know so many laws, and I think many New Testament Christians look at the Bible the same way – as a list of do’s and don’ts. How many commandments are there that we have to keep?

Narrowing the List

In Psalm 15, David asks who will dwell with the Lord, and he reduces the law of Moses to eleven principles.

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?

He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart;

who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor,

nor takes up a reproach against his friend;

in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD;

who swears to his own hurt and does not change;

who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be moved.

Even in these, we might find gray areas or have a hard time remembering all eleven principles. Isaiah 33:15 narrows this list down to five items – one who walks and speaks uprightly, rejects oppression, avoids bribes, does not listen to words of violence, avoids looking at evil. Taking things farther, in Micah 6:6-8, the prophet speaks of three things God looks for in His followers: to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God.

After going from 613 to eleven to six to three, Isaiah 56:1 reduces the requirements to two basic principles. He calls on God’s people to keep justice and to do righteousness. Amos 5:4-6 calls on God’s people to seek Him, and Habakkuk 2:4 says the righteous shall live by faith. All of these come back to the same general ideas of righteousness, holiness, honesty, justice, and love. These are characteristics that are neither easy to follow, nor are they always encouraged.

The Foundation of God’s Law

I don’t think God looked at His law as 613 commandments. What He wanted and still wants from His people is holiness and uprightness. When Jesus answers the question of the greatest law in Matthew 22, He is telling His listeners to love God more than anything and to treat others the way you want to be treated. Love others even if they do not love you. Remember the Ten Commandments? The first four cover man’s relationship with God, and the rest relate to man’s relationship with his fellow man.

James 1:21 calls on us to put away wickedness and to receive God’s word into our souls, and James 2:22 tells us our faith must be living and active. Back in James 2:8, the author calls loving your neighbor as the royal law. We should respect the authority of God’s word and follow His pattern, but, in our daily lives, it can be as simple as putting God first and loving our fellow persons as ourselves. Instead of focusing on the checklist, we should be focusing on our God and those lives we touch every day.

by Tim Smelser

Who Will This Child Be?

Repeatedly, God’s people in the Old Testament are admonished to teach their children and their grandchildren. Each newborn child brings new hopes and opportunities to the life of their parents, and we wonder, “Who will this child be?” In Luke 1, the priest Zechariah is expecting a son, and this child is born in verse 57. The tradition would have been to name the child after the father, but both Elizabeth and Zechariah insist his name will be John. After seeing the signs surrounding the birth of John, the people wonder, in verse 66, “Who will this child be?”

The Unguided Child

We wish for our children to be better than ourselves, and we should realize that our choices impact that outcome. What kind of children do we desire? How can we impact the direction they go as they mature? What spiritual goals do we have for our children. Proverbs 22:6 discusses the importance of working with our children early, laying a foundation for their life later. Solomon encourages to take a hands-on approach with our children, and Proverbs 29:15 warns that a child left untended will bring shame to his or her family. Also, chapter 22:15 encourages us to correct our children when they behave foolishly.

I Corinthians 15:33 warns about the people we spend time with, and the same warning applies to our children. We should be encouraging our children to surround themselves with good influences and spiritual friends. I Peter 3:3-4 calls on us to focus on inward beauty over outward beauty. What if we teach our children that fashion is more important than modesty or goodness? What if we teach them to prioritize the secular over the spiritual? Matthew 6:33 records Jesus teaching to seek God’s kingdom first, placing our worldly concerns in God’s hands.

At God’s bidding, the high priest Eli has to reprimand his sons for their sins in serving God and their example to the people. King Rehoboam governs foolishly because he ignores the advice of his father’s advisors and listens to his foolish friends. Salomé inflames Herod to sin because of her immodesty. Paul criticizes Demos for loving the things of this world. These individuals put the world before God, are uncontrolled, are immodest.

The Nurture and Admonition of the Lord

Proverbs 20:7 blesses the children of one who walks in integrity. Ephesians 6:4 calls on fathers to nurture and train their children in the ways of the Lord – not always what is most enjoyable, but what is needed. Deuteronomy 6:4 records Moses instructing the people to make God’s word a daily part of family life, and Luke 4:16, the gospel writer reveals the child Jesus had been customarily taken to worship by His family.

Proverbs 13:20 says wise companions bring wisdom, and III John verse 4 expresses John’s joy in seeing his spiritual children walking in truth. We take pride in much that our children do, but character is what we should be able to take the most pride in. Our families should also be prayerful, James 5:16 encouraging us to pray earnestly. Think of Samuel, Timothy, John and Jesus, David and Jonathan, Barnabas, and Paul – the examples they serve in the scriptures. These once had parents who brought them up and influenced who they would be.

Our choices have an impact in determining who our child will be. Our children have more than an earthly father and mother. They have a Father in Heaven who also looks down upon them. What relationship do you and I have with God? What do our children see in our walk as children of God? If we want out children to reflect godly qualities as they grow, we should first be reflecting these qualities in our own lives.

lesson by Tim Smelser

A Royal Priesthood

Peter uses a passage from Exodus 19 in I Peter 2:9, directly quoting God speaking to His people through Moses. Peter reminds us that we had no true identity prior to obtaining mercy, but now we are His people. now we are His priests. In the Old Testament, a priest was one who performed sacrificial and mediator duties. In Latin, a priest is one who “builds bridges.” A priest crosses the divide between the mortal and the divine.

These duties go back to the days of Cain and Able in Genesis 4. Also Noah, after disembarking from the ark, offers sacrifices to God – as do Abraham, Job, and other Old Testament figures. Numerous individuals are engaged in priestly service in the Old Testament prior to the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai. With the establishment of the Levitical priesthood comes an established covenant relationship.

Holy and Anointed

The Levitical priests oversaw the daily offerings and sacrifices, and God emphasizes their holiness when making the offerings. They maintained the lamp, the alter fires, and the incense. They maintained the sanctity of the people, keeping the covenant, knowing the covenant, and teaching the covenant. They were to maintain their own purity in their service of God. They were set apart for service unto God most high.

Exodus 29:7-9 describes the anointing of Aaron and this priesthood. No other was to use it or duplicate it in Exodus 30:31. Exodus 40:14 continues this anointing for Aaron’s sons. This holy oil is used again in I Kings 19:16 when the prophet Elijah is instructed to anoint kings and prophets. Kings, prophets, and priests were all sanctified by this holy oil – all those who served God as mediator between Him and His people.

Exodus 7:16 records God calling His people from Egypt so they may serve Him, and Numbers 3-4 records the census of the Levites. Time and again, reference is made of the Levites serving in the tabernacle. In the New Testament, in Hebrews 9:1, these duties are revisited. Throughout history, God expects sacrificial service from those ordained in His service. These roles had nothing to do with helping “me.” Rather, the focus was and is on serving others and serving Gods.

An Imperfect Priesthood

There were shortcomings, however. In Leviticus 10, Nadab and Abihu are struck down for insufficient service. I Samuel 2:12 records the failings of the High Priest Eli’s sons. In II Kings 23, we read of priests offering children in sacrifice to Molech, and Malachi 1:6 has God scorning the priests who fail to honor Him properly and fail His name. Though the priests were outwardly sanctified, human failings could still bring down these separated servants of God.

A Perfect Priest and King

Psalm 110, however, speaks of a king higher than David, and this king would also be a priest in a manner similar to Melchizedek. Also, Zechariah 6:9-13 contains prophecy of a priest who would sit on His throne, a Branch that would promote peace through His roles as priest and king. This is a unique pairing of roles, for, in the Old Testament, the offices of priest and king were strictly separated.

In Luke 1, Zechariah the priest (a coincidence of names that is probably no coincidence), is serving before the alter of incense. There, Zechariah learns that his son will be the forerunner to the Messiah, and we can read of the ministry of this son in John 1. Those listening ask John if he is the one to come, and John answers that He prepares the way.

Hebrews 7 draws a distinction between the priesthood of Aaron’s sons, Melchizedek, and Jesus. The Hebrew writer argues that Jesus’ priesthood is established by an oath and that it is an eternal priesthood. Hebrews 4:14-16 describes the High Priest of Jesus as one who shares our humanity, and Hebrews 2:14-17 calls Him our brother. He is better mediator of abetter covenant enacted upon better promises. He intercedes on our behalf, and He is God’s obedient servant as seen in Hebrews 5:7-9. His service is obedient and sacrificial.

A Nation of Priests

Returning to I Peter 2, we are a spiritual house, a priesthood given over to spiritual sacrifices. Philippians 2:5 calls on us to have the mind of Christ. As Christ’s service was obedient and sacrificial as a priest of God, we are to likewise serve. We are priests serving under a great High Priest and King. Our mindset is not centered on “me” any more than Christ’s. He gave Himself on our behalves, and we should be sacrificially giving ourselves over to Him. We can be a beacon hope for one another and for the world, serving in God’s house as priests.

lesson by Tim Smelser

The Challenge of Love

To treat others how we want to be treated, to love one another – they are ideas that look easy on paper. If we take a hard look at ourselves, though, we may find we aren’t so good at these simple concepts. God sets out expectations of how we are supposed to live and treat each other. He sets an example of love, and our challenge is to follow that example, to demonstrate the love of God in our lives.

In our character, God is the pivot point. When we know how to interact and how to react to God, we learn to better interact with those around us. We learn from an early age that God made us and God loves us. We study His power, His mercy, and the many ways He loves us. We demonstrate our love for Him, in turn, when we love others. Without loving others, we do not love God.

Foundations of Love
According to Genesis 1, we are God’s Creation, and He made us in His spiritual image. We understand that authority is a part of Creation. We are His. However, man likes to live by his own authority. In Daniel, for example, both kings Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar need to be reminded of their places. In contrast, Psalm 19 describes the glory of God’s word as portrayed by nature. The psalm speaks of a power before which we must humble ourselves. It is the testimony of I AM as God calls Himself in Exodus 3:14. We are created for the purpose of good works under this authority according to Ephesians 2:10.

John 3:16 describes the love God has for us in the sacrifice He provided and made on our behalves. Paul elaborates on this point in Romans 5:6, describing how undeserving we are of such a sacrifice. He describes our relationship with God as adversarial, but the cleansing power of Christ’s blood bridges the gulf separating us from our Father. He loves us despite the fact that we are unlovable. This love is a model for the love we are to have for one another according to I John 4:19. It is unmeasurable by our standards, but it is also a love that is unconditional. THis is the foundation upon which our love is built.

God Doesn’t Want Us to Hit
Ephesians 5:1 encourages us to be imitators of God in all things, and I John 4:7 equates loving others with loving God. God is characterized by love, and demonstrating unloving qualities separates us from our God. Without love, according to John, it is impossible for us to even know Him. Verse 20 goes as far as to say that we are liars if we claim to love God while harboring animosity and resentment in our hearts. Just as we don’t want our children to hit their friends and classmates, God does not want us striking out at each other. Doing so is contrary to His nature.

God’s will is accomplished through love. Galatians 5:14 calls love the summation of God’s law. Loving one another takes care of the details. Once love is in place, all other aspects of obedience become easier to follow. Many of us are familiar with I Corinthians 13, describing the qualities of love. We often recite these verses at weddings, but Paul is describing more than the love between husband and wife with these words. He is expounding upon the type of love all Christians should have for their fellow man, and Paul even has the audacity to say that anything we achieve ultimately amounts to nothing if we do not have love.

Where then is our love for those around us? God created us. He loves us – completely and unconditionally. In turn, He wants us to demonstrate His love in our lives.

sermon by Kevin Heaton