Teaching. May 20, 2007

May 20, 2007

I am posting my notes on Pastor Mike’s teaching from Sunday, May 20th. These are MY notes. Not a transcript. Not his notes. Any misquotes, mistakes, or mystifications are my fault (or something like that). All verses are from NASB 1995.

What should we be intent on?

Philippians 1:27; 2:1-2.
27 Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
1Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,
2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

One Spirit, one mind, same mind, same love, one purpose. In other words, Paul is writing to the Philippians and saying, “Hey, I need you all to be united.”

What is the one overriding purpose we are to have?

Jesus’s purpose was to go to Jerusalem and sacrifice Himself (2:8). God is intent on one purpose: Holy Spirit’s purpose is to glorify Jesus. Jesus’s purpose is to do the will of the Father.

What should we be intent on?

Matthew 11:28-30
28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

1) Me. It is easy to think about me. “Lord, help me to receive Your rest.” I know my weariness and heavy burdens. I know that I need His rest.
2) But, “all”. Everyone. One teacher, all learners. “Learn from Me.” What is He going to teach us? Humility, gentleness, rest, love. He teaches all of the “me’s”. And the world needs to learn this stuff.

One yoke, all of us pulling in the same direction.

Meditate on these verses:
I Cor 1:10
John 17 (all)
Romans 12:16; 15:5

Ephesians 4:1-6
1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,
2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,
3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

“Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit...”

Diligence is work, effort, setting one’s mind on one purpose, being intent of purpose.

Be intent to hold onto the things that hold us together.

Forbearance #2

Ephesians 4:1-3 (NASB)
1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance [tolerance] for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:1-3 (Amplified)
1 I therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to and beg you to walk (lead a life) worthy of the [divine] calling to which you have been called [with behavior that is a credit to the summons to God’s service,
2 Living as becomes you] with complete lowliness of mind (humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another.
3 Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace.

Oddly enough, I prepped this last weekend, and Pastor Mike used this verse this morning talking about "being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

Humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, love.

One of the things that Christians get taught, usually fairly early, is that love is not just an emotion. Our culture emphasizes, even glories in, the emotion of love. However, love is also action. That is, love is demonstrated by actions. The abusive husband always “loves” his wife. But his actions are the actions of hate. We can control our emotions only to a limited extant. But we have free will over our actions. I may not have the emotion of love towards someone, but I always to the works of love.

Additionally, I was taught, early on, that if I make it a habit of doing loving actions, then the emotion will follow the habit.

This is the point that James was making in James 2:14-18. [James 2:18. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”] By my works, I show my faith. And by my works, I show my love, my humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance.

I tend to view humility, gentleness, etc., as attitudes, not as actions. I tend to think that humility is something I feel, or that comes from my heart. It does need to be true in my heart, but humility is also actions, deeds. I make a conscious decision to approach a situation in humility. Knowing that I am a fallen human being, I need to ask for God’s grace to do it. I need to believe in faith that He will make it possible.

Forbearance #1

Ephesians 4:1-3 (NASB)
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance [tolerance] for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:1-3 (Amplified)
1 I therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to and beg you to walk (lead a life) worthy of the [divine] calling to which you have been called [with behavior that is a credit to the summons to God’s service,
2 Living as becomes you] with complete lowliness of mind (humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another.
3 Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace.

Humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, love.

One of the things that Christians get taught, usually fairly early, is that love is not just an emotion. Our culture emphasizes, even glories in, the emotion of love. However, love is also action. That is, love is demonstrated by actions. The abusive husband always “loves” his wife. But his actions are the actions of hate. We can control our emotions only to a limited extant. But we have free will over our actions. I may not have the emotion of love towards someone, but I always to the works of love.

Additionally, I was taught, early on, that if I make it a habit of doing loving actions, then the emotion will follow the habit.

This is the point that James was making in James 2:14-18. [James 2:18. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”] By my works, I show my faith. And by my works, I show my love, my humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance.

I tend to view humility, gentleness, etc., as attitudes, not as actions. I tend to think that humility is something I feel, or that comes from my heart. It does need to be true in my heart, but humility is also actions, deeds. I make a conscious decision to approach a situation in humility. Knowing that I am a fallen human being, I need to ask for God’s grace to do it. I need to believe in faith that He will make it possible.

As I work into my life habits of humility, of forbearance, of gentleness, then the emotions and heart attitudes will follow them.