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The Mind of Christ
Posted by: | CommentsThe things we believe to be true are the engine of our thought life. Our thought life is the ground on which God engages us and He commands that we take every thought captive that is not pleasing to Him. God wants to replace our thought with His thought. He wants to exchange the mind of Christ for our carnal mind. The Three Holy Lies, if believed to be true, are a major roadblock that allow us to continue to think in ways that seem right to us but are not pleasing to God. All of the thoughts we have that are based on believing the Three Holy Lies are not pleasing to God. These are the thoughts we must take captive and these are the thoughts that we must take to the cross as we crucify the seven deadly sins of self.
In this blog I have discussed the concept of living Life on a Cross. To crucify self, the process of taking thoughts captive must be integrated with the Life on a Cross model. When we are able to do that a powerful transformation begins to take place at our spiritual core. The power of God to really change us at the level of thought and motive becomes evident to us. As we become more patient, more kind, more forgiving and more obedient, we begin to authentically reflect God in our lives for the first time. This is real Christianity. This is the purpose of God. This is how we are putting on the mind of Christ.
The Things We Think
Posted by: | CommentsIf we are to take thoughts captive that are not pleasing to God we have to be capable of identifying and judging them. This judgment is enabled and made possible by conviction of the Holy Spirit coupled with the truth of scripture. Consider this:
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
In my carnality I resist the judgment of my thought life as sin. In my flesh I justify my thoughts as reasonable. After all, when another person wrongs me, is it not normal to be angry with them and think of all the things I might do to get even with them? What could be wrong with imaginary conversations in my mind about how I will confront my adversaries and gain victory over them? My carnal nature tells me this is acceptable and it revels in the fantasy of experiencing victory over those who have wronged me. Such fantasy is captivating and emotionally satisfying. I resist judging these kinds of thoughts as being unpleasing to God. I want to hang on to these wonderful visions of revenge and triumph. My carnality defends using the standards of the flesh. The following scripture seems to acknowledge that:
There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Proverbs 16:25
The way that seems right to a man is his carnality. A simple way to understand carnality is to see that it involves getting what we want when we want it. I have previously discussed carnality in some detail at this blog, but we must understand that the thoughts we think which are not pleasing to God are the thoughts that spring from our carnality. The desire to get or do what we want in our flesh triggers all the thinking that leads us into behavior that is not pleasing to God. These are the thoughts to be taken captive and brought into obedience to Christ.
Step 4 of Crucifixion: The Fixing of Feet to the Cross
Posted by: | CommentsDuring crucifixion, as gravity pulled the body down, the natural response of the victim would be to push the body up and produce respiratory relief. To prevent that, the feet were also nailed to the cross and the legs of the victim were broken at some point. Pushing up to relieve the respiratory distress became very painful and soon impossible as the pain and exhaustion took over. The fixing of the feet was another mechanical technique in crucifixion that produced a forced obedience to the process and guaranteed the end result: Death.
The crucifixion of self becomes a reality as three things happen:
- We acknowledge the truth of God
- We accept the truth of God by faith and keep our hands out of His business.
- We affirm our faith in God’s truth by becoming obedient to it. It is the living practice of what Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His passion: “Not my will but thine be done”.
It is by obedience that the power of faith in God’s truth is experienced. It is obedience that is sorely deficient in the lives of Christians today. As Christ’s feet were fixed to the cross, so must our own feet as we walk in obedience to God’s truth. The obedience requirement of the crucifixion of self requires us to walk through our sin and turn from it by the power of Jesus living in us. In other word, we allow him to walk out and live our lives for us, by faith.
The unwillingness to obey causes spiritual difficulty and produces the disasters and the spiritual beatings of daily living. We are commanded to love but we don’t. We are commanded to forgive but we don’t. We are commanded to be humble and poor in spirit but we remain haughty and proud. Without obedience, faith has no life. The book of James puts it this way: “Faith without works is dead”. The works of faith flow from obedience. Obedience is the final matter in the death of self. Without obedience, the Three Holy Lies continue to live and the life of Christ in us is suppressed.
Step 3 of Crucifixion: Fixing the Hands to the Cross
Posted by: | CommentsThe third step in the crucifixion of Christ was the fixing of Jesus’ hands to cross with spikes. Everything up to this point had been done to prepare Jesus for death. The fixing of the hands began the actual execution. The hands were rendered powerless and left the body suspended in a way that suffocation resulted. As gravity pulled the body down constricting the abdominal cavity, respiratory function was progressively restricted and breathing became impossible. The fixing of the hands was a mechanical technique designed to produce a specific physiological result. The fixing of hands was designed to not only produce the desired physical response but it was also designed to remove the victims power to stop the process.
The crucifixion of self-will also requires that we fix our hands to the cross so that we will keep them out of God’s business and allow Him to work His truth into our mind and spirit. This is so the life of Christ may be reflected in and through us. The fixing of hands can be seen as a symbol of faith and allowing God to do with us as he pleases. It is only by faith that God’s truth can be appropriated and faith requires us to trust Him. As faith grows, God’s will begins to reign. I open my arms to the restriction of the cross and by faith I accept God’s truth. I keep my hands out of God’s business so His truth can do its work.
The way I put my hands in God’s business is to buy into the idea that my will and what I want is better for me than God’s will and what He wants. When I know God’s truth and I question whether it is appropriate for me I am putting my hands in His business. When I rationalize what I want to do and make excuses for myself I am putting my hands in His business. When I believe that I can define truth, define God and define right and wrong I am putting my hands in God’s business. Engaging my faith in God’s truth and allowing that truth to be appropriated experientially is the prerequisite for the death of self. The way truth is appropriated experientially is through obedience, which leads us to the fourth step in the crucifixion process.
The Death of Self
Posted by: | CommentsThe Bible only offers one prescription for the problems presented in the seven deadly sins of self and that prescription is the death of self! The Apostle Paul presents the issue clearly in his letter to the Galatians:
For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. (Gal 5:17)
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. (Gal 5:24-25)
And in his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote:
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. (Rom 6:4-7)
It is only by the death of self that the risen life of Christ may be revealed in us. Only by the death of self may His Spirit fill us. Jesus says we must take up our cross and follow Him. Paul says we must crucify our flesh and die to sin. The cross is the most powerful instrument of Christianity and crucifixion is a bloody business. Most of the modern church has lost the view that the cross is an instrument of death. Worse, most Christians have no idea how to use it for the purpose of learning obedience by faith.
The heart of real Christianity is found in the crucifixion of self and allowing the risen Christ to live through us. That is the only ground upon which the Holy Spirit may trod and invade our spirit. It is by the death of self that we are filled by the Spirit and the death of self only occurs when we bring the seven deadly sins of self to the cross of Christ for crucifixion.
The Sin of “Self-Righteousness”
Posted by: | CommentsSelf righteousness involves making judgments about what other people need to do, based on decisions we made for ourselves. Because something was good for us, we righteously believe others need it too. Our good becomes another man’s duty! I quite smoking, therefore all smokers should be forced, intimidated and coerced into becoming like me. I quit eating meat so those who eat meat are a danger to society and cruel to animals. I found a church that seems to agree with everything I want to believe, so all other churches are wrong! The examples of self righteousness are endless. The command from Jesus is ‘judge not lest you be judged’ and the Apostle Paul said this in Romans 2:1
Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.
Self righteousness is a huge block to the filling of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Spirit is to judge us and lead us into truth. If we are involved in judging others this vital work of the Spirit can’t be performed because we believe we have become righteous in our own thinking and in our own flesh. The Holy Spirit urges us and convicts us to change and to be humble and meek in attitude. A self righteous person resists change and resists information that conflicts with what they believe. The self righteous believe the are a source of truth unto themselves and they have all the answers they need for themselves and for everybody else as well.
Characteristics of Love – Kindness
Posted by: | CommentsKindness - Many Christians believe they are kind because they think nice thoughts about others and pray for them. They think kindness is an attitude. While kindness does involve a certain disposition, it is a disposition that produces action. Kindness is a temperament or disposition which delights in contributing to the needs of others. Kindness is about doing things that will alleviate the distress of others and it accompanies love. Do you view the needs of others as an opportunity to serve them, or are they an inconvenience? The Biblical story of the good Samaritan is a perfect picture of kindness in action (Luke 10:30-35). When you exercise kindness does it flow from your heart out of Godly compassion, or is it a matter of doing it because you think you should? If it is by works, it is carnal.
The Sound of Angels
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