In The World But Not Of The World

As I look at the news today I can’t help but think the world has gone wacky.  Society calls the things that are wrong right and right things wrong.  Down is up and up is down.

Without Jesus, we should be surprised, with Him as our Lord and Savior we shouldn’t. I must confess that even though I am a blood-bought child of The Living God, I have a hard time (at times) with what’s going on in the world. When I think of the guy on a cruise after perhaps saving for the cruise for years, to be met by a guy in a haz-mat suit because of a Ebola virus quarantine on board, I wonder what is going on. I wonder at what point do I say “wow…that’s as good as it gets”. Or just laugh to keep from crying.

We live in a broken world and have for thousands of years.  Why, as followers of Christ, would or should we be surprised that the world seems to be off the rails now? (Glad you asked) I think it is partially that even though we intellectually know parts of the big-picture God has for the future, we can’t see it that readily. We then get focused on our situation – on ourselves and we have a tendency to focus on the negative aspects of all we can see.

The other part of the answer to that question is the FACT that the Kingdom Of God is EXACTLY the opposite of the kingdom of the world. God’s Kingdom serves, changes hearts from the inside out and thus manifest in changed behavior rooted in love. The broken kingdom of the world can only control behavior by force or threat of force from the outside in. The world’s only concern is if our behavior lines up. The world does not and cannot care about the motivation of hearts. The two will always be at odds – it can be no other way.

Even for Christians it seems the expectation is for conditions in their world, town, state, city or neighborhood to always get better. The fact is though - The world is degenerating. I don't mean that we shouldn't or can't change our individual situations.  We think positively and take control (we think) of our situations to make them have the best possible outcome for us. We plan for the future, careers, family, vacations, college, retirement etc.  We should plan for these things.  It would very be foolish not to.

 We can and should do this. We should do everything we can to have a Kingdom influence – pray, have faith for (after prayer and study to find and know Christ’s mind and example) and act within the confines of the governing laws - remember Christ never once railed against the oppressive Romans or broke their laws. He never once criticizes or bad mouthed the Roman government.  In fact he forgave them and prayed for them.  He instructs His disciples (and us) to go the extra mile for them. 

 I’m convinced that Jesus doesn’t care about your political affiliations.  He doesn’t care if you’re a democrat, a republican, a socialist or whatever.  What He cares about, is whether you follow Him or not.  

We take our example from God.  God is a God of organization and planning, He does nothing haphazardly, He never acts rashly or shoots from the hip.  He has a set of values and standards He has passed on to us.  Those standards are called the Word.

Many places in The Word, God tells us to meditate on it (His Word). When we do this regularly, we start to see things as He sees them. We start to know His mind. We see different problems. Thank God – we see different solutions!

The more we hold to His Word and stick to His thinking, the more we recognize just how upside down the world really is.  John tells us that we are in the world but not of the world.

In Joshua 5:13, the Commander of the Lord’s army (whom we know as Jesus), tells Joshua that He is on no one’s side.  This tells me that Joshua’s commander was God and it also tells me The Lord is with those that are with Him (in context).

It follows then, if Jesus is the Word (John 1:1.and 14), and The Word is God, and He is with those who are for Him and He has provided His Word to us so we can know Him, then it also follows that we know Him and follow Him by utilizing and meditating on His Word as made available to us. Namely The Bible.

To meditate means to mull over, kick around in your mind, to ponder and to think about deeply. You can go to the internet and read up on methods to meditate on The Word. While there is nothing wrong with employing or learning a new method for anything. We should always be learning God’s Word and ways to study it. In fact, I am going to re-post a study on a method of meditation on The Word that changed my life as only God’s Word can.

Remember though, the children of Israel, as they received this instruction had no internet. Bible study instruction was nonexistent because there was no Bible. They had God’s Word to think about and mull over in their minds and most importantly to act on and employ in their lives – in everything they did. It is obviously impossible for them or us to employ anything in their or our lives without thinking about it.

 The focus here is on God’s Word – it can, does and will change lives. Meditating, thinking about,  focusing on, His words and thoughts changes our point of view to His. We then know Him more and more. The more we know Him, the easier it is to have faith in and act on what He is telling us to do.

The fact is we MUST do this on PURPOSE. Meditating on The Word won’t happen otherwise. We can’t know Him otherwise. We can’t expect God’s Word to work in our lives if He has nothing to work with. We can’t see things from His perspective if we don’t know it because we haven’t thought it over, kicked it around in our minds, thought about, thought deeply or pondered it. It's on us!

He is telling us what to do Joshua 1:8 (meditate on The Word) and then leaving it up to us Deut. 30:19 (choose life).

The Example We Set

Example - noun

1.	one of a number of things, or a part of something, taken to show the character of the whole: This painting is an example of his early work.

2.	a pattern or model, as of something to be imitated or avoided: to set a good example.

3.	an instance serving for illustration; specimen: The case histories gave carefully detailed examples of this disease.

4.	an instance illustrating a rule or method, as a mathematical problem proposed for solution.

5.	an instance, esp. of punishment, serving as a warning to others: Public executions were meant to be examples to the populace.

6.	a precedent; parallel case: an action without example.

–verb (used with object)

7.	Rare. to give or be an example of; exemplify (used in the passive).

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[Origin: 1350–1400; ME exa(u)mple < MF example < L exemplum, akin to eximere to take out (ex- ex-¹ + emere to buy, orig. take); r. ME exemple < L, as above] —Synonyms 1. Example, sample, specimen refer to an individual phenomenon taken as representative of a type, or to a part representative of the whole. Example is used of an object, condition, etc., that is assumed to illustrate a certain principle or standard: a good example of baroque architecture. Sample refers to a small portion of a substance or to a single representative of a group or type that is intended to show what the rest of the substance or the group is like: a sample of yarn. Specimen usually suggests that the “sample” chosen is intended to serve a scientific or technical purpose: a blood specimen;

Greek

deiÛgma

from the base of (1166)

        1.    a thing shown

2.  a specimen of any thing, example, pattern

Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:

• This verse tells us Jesus is exact image of God – He is God that we can see – “if you have seen Me, you have seen God”-Jn 14:6

• Jesus is our example –

Eph 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

Eph 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ

1.     Jesus fulfilled every one of these offices – note the word edify /Word only builds up –

2. That is how God treats His Kids – that is the example He sets for us

3. Every account in Word is there to give us answers, build us up and to set an example.  Mat 17:24-26 shows us is an example of submitting to authority weather we agree or not – that is what God calls doing right “just because”

 Here we see from Mat. 27 Jesus setting an example to His disciples (as well as us) to do right even when we know we are being taken advantage of. In those days a tax collector taxed the individual taxpayer more than was owed. He then payed the government. He kept the difference. The difference was his profit. 

side note: Rome only taxed foreigners - not citizens of Roman Empire

²⁴ After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”

²⁵ “Yes, he does,” he replied.
When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?”
²⁶ “From others,” Peter answered.
“Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. ²⁷ “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

(The right thing to do, doing just because it's right)

Mat 20:28  

Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many

(The right thing to do, doing just because it's right)

     

      Jn 13-17

13"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.    

(The right thing to do, doing just because it's right)

          

In Paul’s 1^st letter to Timothy he cites The Lord’s mercy and example to us all:

 12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. 13Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

 15Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. 17Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Examples to set (set for):

1.    Our children – Godly , do the right thing always (do right just because it’s right) God wants you to do this because good for us – what comes around, goes around.

Eph 6:4

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

            .family

2.    believers and non believers – there watching you.(you may be the ONLY representation of Jesus they see)

1 Tim 4:12 Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an

                             example

a.    Always build up

b.    Don’t do things that are OK but don’t help or non-believers and many believers don’t understand -  remember:

1 Cor 6:12 says - All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Do the right thing on purpose – just because it is the right thing to do!

Be Set Like Flint

• Pray
• Text -  Isaiah 50:7  For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

• Flint abundant in mideast wilderness

• Known to be very hard –arrow heads – holds edge – stays in the shape it’s given

• When the stone was cut by a craftsman, worked, (set) - it was there, established, not going away. (GOD is a Craftsman (Isa 64:8 – potter clay / formed you and I)

When people looked to a God they could not see - in faith, then suddenly He became clear to them and there spiritual eyes were opened  - David knew God, was an example of faith and the relationship that ensues, to his people and to us – relationships grow out of faith

·       We cant see the wind but we can see what the wind does

Lets look at Psalm 8 to get a look at one of David’s examples and what he realized as his relationship grew

Psalm 8

 

1 O LORD, our Lord,
       how majestic is your name in all the earth!
       You have set your glory
       above the heavens.

A. 1^st Lord = Hebrew NAME of God. Yahweh, eternal, supernatural

       B. 2^nd Lord = master, superintendent, king, of men

·          the idea is that God of their worship is their master. He is Greater than His creation (Rom 1:19-23)

C. The earth is too small for His Glory – It takes an infinite universe to show The Glory of an Infinite   God – no time or space limitations

2 From the lips of children and infants
       you have ordained praise ^[b]
       because of your enemies,
       to silence the foe and the avenger.

A.    God uses the weakest, most frail instrument to give him praise. Their instinct is to give Him spontaneous praise – He, because of His Glory, is so apparent.

B.    God uses these to silence those who rail or come against Him (Matt 21:16). – Read Matt 21;14-17

 3 When I consider your heavens,
       the work of your fingers,
       the moon and the stars,
       which you have set in place,

A.     The magnificence of the visible heavens for the purpose of illustrating God , who, though the mighty Creator of these glorious worlds of light, makes man the object of His favor.

a.   The universe and stars are too much to grasp or comprehend, yet for you it was nothing to create – set in order science and math physics order – it is rocket science

4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
                the son of man that you care for him?

A.    literally “frail” man

B.    son of man – all lower case, only varies in the form of speech, mankind.

C.    Care – some versions say visiteth = God shows us favor  (Psalms 65:10)

D.    Who am I that the Creator God cares about me?… If God cares about David – He cares about me and you – If he will meet David in a pasture He will meet you and me you and me here, on the street, in our yard or basement - anywhere

5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings ^[c]
       and crowned him with glory and honor.

·          Angels can’t watch over us if they are bound to the same limitations as us

·          They don’t know the concept of time

·          Bible says the are “ministering spirits” to us – our servants  (Heb 1:14)

·          They carry out the work of God – no free will (because of that, WE are the only ones who can worship Him – that is one of the reasons we were created, to have relationship with God) (

 6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
       you put everything under his feet:

·         Royal dignity, Hebrews says we are joint heirs with Christ – (Psalm 21:5, 45:3, Romans 8:16-17)

 7 all flocks and herds,
       and the beasts of the field,

·         Dominion over all – Genesis 1:26-28

 8 the birds of the air,
       and the fish of the sea,
       all that swim the paths of the seas.

·         Genesis

 9 O LORD, our Lord,
       how majestic is your name in all the earth!

·         General praise of His Glory – David sums up his awe of God