2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Today, the Lord leads me to continue looking into His perspective on our congregations from the Scriptures. There is so much in RO 12 that I feel it’s important to look at that entire chapter. When I cited RO 12: 2 yesterday we saw that it spoke of not conforming oneself to the standards of the world but allowing God to transform us by the renewal of our minds. Someone without faith would look at that as a “crutch used by weak-minded individuals “ to cushion themselves from the harsh realities of life. What a sad attitude those in unbelief have! They are so self-absorbed that they truly live up to the comment made by Paul in RO 1: 25, “They exchange the truth for a lie; they worship and serve what God created instead of the Creator, Himself, Who is to be praised forever. Amen!” The alternative to this that a loving Abba offers us is the only way to reality based happiness. I’m not ashamed to stand up to those who let men (or women) be the leaders of their lives in exchange for the One Who can truly bring them the kind of peace and happiness that transcends the grave. The real beginning of this happiness comes from being a part of a healthy dynamic congregation that puts Jesus Christ at the head of it.
Let’s look at some of the ways the Lord transforms peoples’ minds in this process of renewal, a process that has profound effects on the way we can interact with the others around us. RO 12: 3, “And because of God’s gracious gift to me [Paul] I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you should. Instead, be modest in your thinking, and judge yourself according to the amount of faith that God has given you.” A psychologist can categorize behavior as passive, aggressive, or assertive. How the Godly directive here is interpreted can also take these three paths, depending on the state of mind of the person hearing it. So, the question arises of what did God (through Paul) mean? From studying Romans as thoroughly as I did, it is clear to me that God doesn’t want us to be ashamed of expressing His teachings to others any more than Paul was. So, being passive about them isn’t God’s will. God certainly never intended for us to learn His teachings and then keep them to ourselves. On the other hand, over-rating our own self-importance in the process of the transformation of another person’s mind to deeper faith, aggressively boasting about it, is also as abhorrent to the Father as its passive alternative. So that leaves the assertive approach with humility as the only way I believe this directive was meant. I know this because I can tell from the way the Lord has chosen to work in the lives of others around me. In other words, we can know if we are approaching our interactions with the others around us the way Christ would have us do from the way the Lord, through the Holy Spirit, brings them to deeper faith.
Let me tell you a short and true story about how I came up against this issue in my own life to illustrate what I mean. A number of years ago I began seeing the enormously important connections between the OT and NT. Now, you know that’s a big blessing to me, because I talk about so often. So many things that I had read in the OT made sense in a way they never had before when the Lord revealed these things to me. I got so excited that I couldn’t wait to get home to tell Pete all about it. I was like a kid in a candy store. In my arrogant foolishness I told Pete that I wanted to write all of this down and then I could bring my entire traditionally Jewish family to faith in Jesus Christ! In his superior wisdom, he grinned at me and put his hand up to stop all my verbiage. Then he said, “no Lynn, you won’t bring all your family to faith. Only the Holy Spirit can do that.” He was dead right! I not only had to learn that this was not the task God had set out for me, but that if it was ever to happen, it would be in God’s time and in His way. For me, that was a huge lesson. It didn’t mean that I should stop praying for them or serving God with those who will listen to my speaking, writing, and teaching. It was Pete’s very sweet way of reminding me that in carrying out the commission God has given me, I needed to remember to take into account God’s sovereignty and my responsibility to respond to it.
RO 12: 4-6a uses the metaphor of a human body to convey a crucial message from God about how we need to view our place with regard to the others around us in our congregations. “We have many parts in the one body, and all these parts have different functions. In the same way, through we are many we are one body in union with Christ, and we are all joined to each other as different parts of one body. So we are to use our different gifts in accordance with the grace that God has given us.” In other words, we are many parts of one body joined together with each other and with Christ, Who is at the head of it. That is a profoundly different way of thinking about our relationship with the other believers around us than it is likely we ever had before we came to faith. When a person comes to faith in Christ, his account is imputed with righteousness and an eternal link is made between him and the persons of the Godhead. Eternal links of this kind cannot be broken. That is why God tells us through Paul in RO 8: 38-39 that nothing can separate us from His love. Please read this stupendous truth and enjoy the heavenly warm glow of the love Abba has for you in it. Tomorrow, we are going to look at God’s perspective on our individual differences as revealed in this amazing chapter of Romans. In the meanwhile, join me in this prayer:
PRAYER: O Lord, You call us to join You in Your work and ask us to change our view of ourselves and the other believers around us, so we can carry out Your will. Sometimes these changes are difficult for us, but we must never forget that anything You ask us to do is for our ultimate good. Help us to have the self-discipline necessary to study Your Word and to approach You in humble prayer often, so You have the opportunity to transform us by the renewal of our minds. We dedicate ourselves to putting aside our preconceived notions about other people or what they have been called to do to take on Your view of them. Give us the faith and courage to put our human agendas aside in favor of Yours. We offer our praise, thanks, and humble adoration for the work You do in sanctifying us so that we might one day experience the eternal joy of fellowship with You in heaven. In Christ’s name, amen.
If we come away with only one revelation from all of my messages, let it be our understanding that we are utterly loved by our Father in heaven. I feel privileged to be equally yoked with you in the Body of Christ. The knowledge and heart-attitude that each one of us is valued this way should be eloquent encouragement in our shared faith. God loves you and so do Pete and I.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn