Welcome to the Monday Night Bible Study. This Is Shalom Dodi and I am glad to be here with you.
Our format is: Welcome, Song, Prayer, Sharing and Closing. Comments and/or questions are always welcome.
Song: Holy Is The Lord https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf9uP6b7qns
Prayer: Father God thank you for this time you have given us to gather here around your Word. We ask you to be with each of us in the just right way. Help us all to set aside the cares of life for this time and simply “be” with you. In Jesus name amen.
Tonight we are going to continue considering “Put Off, Put On”. I guess we could title it “Holy Opposites” too.
What we will do is look a list someone compiled of opposite ways from Scripture.
The passage which is our jumping off point is Ephesians 4:17-24.
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
When you read that, if you are like me, you begin to wonder what those things are. The problem is quite often the way we have always done things feels normal to us.
One reason we need to be “in the Word” is to learn what God teaches us there. So that we can no longer be “darkened” in our thinking and so that we can be RESTORED to the original design/plan God has for us.
2 Cor 10:5 says, “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,”
Do you ever wonder how to take every thought captive unto the “will of God aka obeidience of Christ”?
I like to think of wrong ways as stinking thinking. Things we never even knew were wrong as well as justification for things we did know were wrong.
Replacing “stinking thinking and actions” is something GOD instructs us to do in order that we can be free of the devil’s monkey business against us. Also in order that we will stop cooperating with him.
We understand that we are in a battle and that the weapons we are to use are not carnal, (man/natural) but spiritual. One of those weapons is to capture thoughts as we begin to think them and then to see if/how they line up with what GOD says.
This process is described in 2 Corinthians 10:4
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,.
This is the process of mind renewal. Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
We put off certain thing/habits/ways of thinking: In Col 3 we see what we are to do:
8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.
9 do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
....12 Therefore, as the elect of GOD, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffereing;
13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another;even as Christ forgave you, so you also MUST DO.
14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
15 And let the peace of GOD rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to GOD the Father through Him.
Sounds like a tall order doesn’t it? The good news and the bad news is that it takes a lifetime. God will reveal to each of us, bit by bit (as we allow him to do so), “stinking thinking” we have, false beliefs and wrong ways of being and doing. (sin)
He does not expect instant perfection, but once he pinpoints something he does expect us to get to work on that.
Today and in the next weeks we are going to look at a few of these. We are going to keep a balance I hope, by including two sorts of items.
The first thought is...and you may be feeling this EXACT way right now...”It’s IMPOSSIBLE”.
Do you have a situation in your life, a secret sin, a habit, anything at all that FEELS impossible to overcome?
God has an answer for your feeling. Luke 18:27 But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with GOD.”
We say, “This is IMPOSSIBLE for me!” God replies, “ALL things are possible.”
The preceding verse listed some of the things we are to put off.
The list includes: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language, and lying.
Let’s look at a few of those:
ANGER Proverbs 29:22 says, “ An angry man stirs up strife, and a furious man abounds in transgression.”
Also Psalm 4:4
Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah
That can be quite a struggle cant it? But notice, God never tells us not be angry. He instructs us not to SIN when we ARE angry.
Things will make us angry. There are ways to respond that are sin and ways to respond that are not sin. The angry feeling is not sin. Our action/reaction may be though.
Something interesting I have learned over time is that quite often anger results because we have an unhealed wound or hurt that God wants to heal. For instance someone cancels an engagement we really were looking forward to.
We become out of porportion angry AT THEM. They may have had a legitimate reason to cancel, but we have a rejection wound, so we get way way angry.
At that moment we have a choice, we can lash out at them, gossip about how mean they are to another, or we can go to God and ask God to show us WHY we are so upset.
Does that make sense?
Instead of anger, we are to put on SELF-CONTROL. Gal 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Do you love the list in Galatians?
Love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), self-control.
We like how our hearts feel when we are living a loving, joyful, peaceful life don’t we?
Being angry does not lead to the good Fruit of the Spirit.
In the earlier example about going to God in our anger, do you see how “self-control” plays in to that?
Another one is BITTERNESS. Heb 12:15 Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.
Dodi Note: This ties directly into anger. When we are angry and do not process it with God and come to a place of forgiveness, a bitter root will spring up.
Part of the “many” who are defiled by a bitter root includes ourselves and those we love. Have you ever been around a person who is always upset and angry? Not much fun is it?
The opposite and the cure for bitterness is to be TENDERHEARTED and FORGIVING. Eph 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as GOD in Christ forgave you.
If we dwell on, spend time thinking about, and rehearsing what “they” did to us, then we are filling our minds with that offense AND watering and fertilizing a root of bitterness.
Have you ever been around a really bitter person?
Someone who is a perpetual “victim”? It really is defiling isn’t it? Almost feels like being slimed.
We do NOT want to slimed, but neither do we want to slime another. The cure? Forgiveness.
Sometimes that is way way hard and we feel like we simply can not do it. We may have even tried. Remember the earlier verse?
Luke 18:27 But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with GOD.”
Another way we may try to deal with hurt besides nursing it and rehearsing it is to try to deny it.
Neither will help us. We must face the fact that YES, it hurt. Yes, it still hurts and we simply go to GOD.
From that place of a VERY VERY tender heart and says, “Abba I am hurting.
Help me to forgive.”
I promise you, that if you try doing that, it will work. It may take time. Tears will probably arise because the tender place within our heart is being touched. But do you want a stone heart? Or a tender heart?
I have lived life both ways. I prefer tender.
Ez 36:26-28 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people and I will be your God.
That was spoken to the house of Israel. But now we ARE the house too in a way. Our heart is God’s dwelling place. So I personalize it to be my heart.
And I pray, “Thank you GOD for removing my heart of stone, the walled off heart, the heart that was bitter and in denial of all hurt, and for giving me a tender heart that can feel you. Thank you for teaching me a new way to walk.”
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I ran across a neat post on FB. It’s written by a man named John Frederick Tyler and I asked permission to share.
LETTING CHRIST CHANGE OUR ATTITUDE
1. Recognize the Need for a Change of Attitude!
(Ephesians 4:25-32) “25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold. 28He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
Dodi Note: We do recognize that we need a change of attitude, right?
Look back that the list from these verses, anger…don’t go to bed angry.
Always speak truthfully, speaking truth but from a heart of love.
Share with those in need.
NEVER let ANY unwholesome talk come out of our mouths but only speak things which help others.
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling (arguing) and slander and every single bit of malice.
Wow.
Always be kind and compassionate.
Anyone here always able to do all of those things? All the time?
So then then next step according to John is:
2 Admit to your-self That You Are Powerless to Change it by Yourself!
Dodi Note: Does that sound like one of the CR steps?
(Ephesians 4:17-19) “17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles (ungodly) do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.”
Dodi Note we discussed this a bit before.
Once we were darkened in our understanding and futile in our thinking about life lived in Christ. But once we were born again, that changes. Now we are also held accountable for what we do know based on what we have studied in the Bible.
We are without excuse, but we can feel powerless. So we ask God for help.
3. Don’t Let Pride Stop You from Changing Your Attitude!
(Philippians 2:5-11) “5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature. God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Dodi Note: If anyone had a right to be proud, it was Jesus who was in very nature GOD. But Jesus came and humbled himself. That is our role model. Humility.
4. Acknowledge That Only Through Jesus Christ Can You Change!
(Ephesians 4:20-23) “20You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Dodi Note: It is God’s work. Our job is to invite God to have his way in our lives and to walk in obeidence.
5. Determine That You Will Live for God as Jesus Did
(1Peter 4:1-6) “1Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. 2As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do–living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. 5But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.”
We will be judged on our attitude as well as our deeds!!
(Jeremiah 17:10) “10 "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."”
Dodi Note that can be scary but if we spend time being with God in prayer, in worship and in the Word our hearts AND minds will be transformed and renewed.
THE ATTITUDE OF OUR HEART + THE ATTITUDE OF OUR MIND = THE ATTITUDE OF OUR SOUL!