Our format is: Welcome, Song, Lesson, Closing.
Song:https://youtu.be/4dh02OnJpIE
So far we discussed and asked God to:
(Using Sylvia’s prayer)
Father,
Forgive me for the ways I have allowed evil roots to have a place in my heart and mind.
You are the Gardener of my heart. You search me and know my every thought.
Please shine the light of your glory so that anything that is not of you can be uprooted and removed.
Remove all roots of prejudice (favoritism, discrimination, tribalism, tradition).
And replace them with fear of God, Godly wisdom and the ministry of reconciliation.
Remove the root of walking in the flesh (carnality, divisions, envy, jealousy, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness).
And replace it with walking in the Spirit and being rooted in love and filled with all the fullness of God.
Remove the root of soulish talk, criticism, and curses And replace them with speaking blessings and cultivating restoration.
Those were excellent reminders of things we do, choices we make, (often unknowingly), ways we behave and live life that are counter to the good and perfect plans God has for us.
I like the way Sylvia presents them in couplet format…remove this and replace it with that.
When we have harbored something in our heart that is contrary to God’s will for us, contrary to God’s plan for us, we cannot just will it away.
An empty place will remain. Imagine a helium balloon and we let all the air out of it…if we do not refill it with new fresh helium, it will sink to the ground and be useless.
That is not a perfect analogy, but there is a verse I have heard used to describe what happens. We get rid of the bad…but we need the NEW Jesus “stuff” to fill that space.
The passage I am thinking of is Matthew 12:43-45. Stay with me and don’t get freaked out in any way.
The teaching Jesus was giving just before this was in verses 33-37.
33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Jesus was talking to the Pharisees who outwardly were oh so holy but inwardly and actually in the judgmental attitude towards legalism also, were very wrong acting.
Don’t you LOVE the part that reminds us that, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.”
This is in a present personal application speaking of our hearts…and I think has application for all these things we have been speaking of removing and replacing with GOOD treasure.
Then Jesus spoke of the present generation, theirs but actually we see similar in our current culture’s values, being like the time of Jonah.
Following all that we read:
43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”
Wow…maybe you do not agree, but for me, I plan to continue to invite God to REMOVE but also to REPLACE (fill the space in my heart).
Tonight’s couplet is:
Remove the root of bondage (control, greed, exploitation, oppression).And replace them with Christ’s humility and having no other gods before You.
Let’s ponder the verses she suggest pertaining to getting rid of roots of every sort of bondage. That includes control, greed, exploitation and oppression.
Some of which we might be guilty of without realizing it is wrong. Especially control, greed…well any and all of them.
Exodus 1:8-14, Pharaoh Oppresses Israel
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
Dodi Note: Remember Joseph who was a good guy, treated so wrongly by his jealous brothers and sold into slavery. ( Well actually Joseph was not totally innocent because he was a tad bit braggy.)
But because God had plans to use Joseph, he had come into a place of influence, even as a slave.
9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”
11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.
12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.
13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves 14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.
Dodi Note: Do you think the root causes of the actions of the Egyptians were jealousy, fear and control? Which led to oppression?
Can we be jealous? Of another’s gifts? Of another’s popularity? Wealth? Position? Whatever?
Can we then be afraid that what they have somehow causes or might cause us to lack what we need?
Can we be afraid, maybe that someone will have so much or so many friends that we will have none? There will be nothing left for us?
Do we see this in our culture? When in fact the poorest person in the Western World is vastly richer than most of the people alive?
Do we ever want to “bring them down”? Gossip? Gather support for our perceived position?
If so are we a tiny bit guilty of “control, greed, exploitation and oppression”?
Next suggested passage is Mark 10:35-45.
The Request of James and John
35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
Dodi Note: Audacious isn’t it? Telling Jesus what to do? Telling Jesus to do as THEY demand/ask? Uh-oh do we ever pray or feel tempted to pray and tell God what we think he should do about our issue?
36 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”
Dodi Note: Power, position, glory etc…putting them ahead of the other disciples.
38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”
Dodi Note: Hmmmm, sometimes we do not know the full extent of what we are asking either.
I remember once, we prayed for God to change my husband’s work hours. He did…and it was not a change we liked one bit at first.
But they are a tad bit haughty and say:
39 And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
Dodi Note: And in the end, the way James and John died was not exactly fun.
James (one of Jesus' brothers, also called James the Less) was thrown from a pinnacle of the Temple, and then beaten to death with a club. John, the beloved disciple (elder son of Zebedee, brother of James, both James and John we also called "Sons of Thunder" or "Boanerges"), died of extreme old age in Ephesus.
Now we see how the others around James and John reacted:
41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.
Dodi Note: Ever feel that way when someone gets or seeks what you think maybe you deserve?
42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Dodi Note: We saw this leadership principle of
“servant leader” lived out by Jesus. Remember when he took the servant role and washed their feet? Remember when he took all of our sin upon his pure perfect sinless self on that cross?
Next verse:
Proverbs 22:22-23, Do not rob the poor, because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate,23 for the Lord will plead their cause and rob of life those who rob them.
Dodi Note: A lot of “business” was done at the City Gates. Not exactly like but similar to a small claims court.
God is pretty strong here in His instruction and what the outcome will be. They will be robbed of life for exploiting the poor/defenseless.
Perhaps it means literal life, or spiritual life or just abundant life. But whatever it means, we do not want that.
Proverbs 14:31; Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.
Dodi Note: We are seeing a lot of if/then and opposite actions. Whoever oppresses other insults GOD…see the capital “M” in Maker? But if we help those in need, we are honoring God.
What do we want to do? How do we want to live our life? Honoring or dishonoring Jesus?
I love this one and it/the principle is found in other places as well.
Isaiah 58:3, ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.
Dodi Note: See? Selfish gain. Personal pleasure at the expense of others.
And can’t we be guilty? Even online?
Here is one other place right in the same passage: Isaiah 58:6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?”
2 Peter 2:3, 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
Dodi Note: Now this…is…what… some… false… teachers do on TV. Give me your “seed” money and I will pray and God will do whatever you want. Really? Really?
Or is it to get themselves a fine mansion and other carnal things?
The last suggested passage is personal and probably true for us at times, if only in our thought life.
Jeremiah 6:13, “For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.”
Dodi Note: And now the GOOD part. What we are to replace those sneaky hidden heart attitudes with. And remember…when we study stuff like this it is NOT for us to point our fingers or our thoughts toward another person but to invite God to reveal if WE have and hidden ways in us. It is very tempting to think…oh now i know what is wrong with so and so. That is never the purpose.
Psalm 139:24-25 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
AMEN???
So we: Remove the root of bondage (control, greed, exploitation, oppression).
And replace them with Christ’s humility and having no other gods before You.
How? Let’s see.
Mark 12:30-31 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Dodi note: Love is not a feeling here. It is an action. The action is to do something different. To care about others.
But there is something very interesting and life changing here.
As Christians often we are drilled to “love others” but we really really can’t until two things happen.
First we realize how much GOD loves us. Personally loves us. Just as we are, but too much to leave us there.
And then…ready?….it says..love your neighbor AS yourself. “As” in the same manner as. While you are loving yourself.
If you or I do love ourselves, not in a selfish way but accepting our position as The Beloved of Jesus, dearly loved and precious. We cannot really love others. We are of great worth. If we believe we are not…then we call God a liar.
But if we realize that we were created by God, in God’s own image to do GOOD works God has prepared ahead of time for us to do, then we have absolutely nothing to prove to another. So then we can love “as” we are loving ourselves.
Make sense?
Loving yourself might include not talking bad about yourself. It might look like setting boundaries with controlling or abusive people.
See?
2 Corinthians 10:3-5, 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
Dodi Note: Key action point. “Take EVERY thought CAPTIVE to OBEY Christ.”
Every….single….one….every…single…time. No excuses. No blaming others for our actions.
To do that we have to KNOW the Word.
Know who God is.
Know who God says we are.
Matthew 20:28, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
1 Peter 5:2-3, 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
Dodi Note: Very specific instructions for any leaders and we are all leader to someone.
Do it not for gain. Do not domineer but leading, as Jesus did by example.
Yes, we can have a bad day.
But yes, also, we are NOT to take it out on others.
Perhaps at times, like me, there are times instead of replying in chat, you need to simply click out?
Or at home, go into the bathroom if there is no other private place. And talk to God BEFORE you talk to “them”.
Luke 22:24-30 Who Is the Greatest?
24 A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. 25 And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. 27 For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.
28 “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, 29 and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, 30 that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
And enough said.
Lord we need your help to reveal to us any places we need to submit to you and then to fill us with all the goodness you have for us. We are not good in our own, but in you we will be showing forth more and more good fruit. Fruit in keeping with repentance.
So bless each one in Jesus name amen.