 |
|
(Matthew 18:19,20)
Section 1 - Lesson 8
A Hebraic Perspective
The Hebraic Stream Versus The Judaizing
Stream
Hebraic Logic
Representing Our Father’s Care
Through Action
Humility As You Serve Others
The Sacred Nature Of All Of Life
A Hebraic Perspective:
The Hebraic Stream Versus
The Judaizing Stream
“When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it.
Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and
the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the
work of your hands” (Deuteronomy
24:19)
Let’s anchor what we mean by a
“Hebraic perspective” by discussing for a moment
the Hebraic stream of Judaism. Following the footsteps of their
Hebrew ancestor Abraham, the Hebraic stream chose to relate to
God through their love for Him. And because of that love, they obeyed His commands.
An example of the Hebraic Stream compared to
the Judaizing Stream may clarify the difference. As you read, discern
which stream you are following.
Say you were walking through Israel five
hundred years before the coming of Jesus. You encounter a
farmer who’s just finished harvesting his vineyard, and
you see that he didn’t go back over the vines again for
more grapes. You ask him, “Why didn’t you go back
over your vines one more time?” He replies,
“Because the Law commands me not to.” This is the rule-keeping reply
of the Judaizing Stream.
You go a little further and meet another
farmer who’s just finished harvesting his vineyard. You
ask him the same question. This farmer joyfully replies,
“It’s because of my
love for my heavenly Father. And
because HE loves the poor and the alien, I don’t glean my
vineyard a second time. That way there will be enough for
them.” That’s the love-based answer of the Hebraic Stream.
The crucial distinction between the two
streams is this:
• The Hebraic
Stream is based on motive, WHY you serve God
and others. The Hebraic foundations and living by them are vertically-focused,
initiated by asking yourself, “Why am I doing
this?”
• The Judaizing
Stream focuses on WHAT you do. The
emphasis is horizontally-focused. You keep religious rules and participate in activity without questioning
“Why”. Hellenism builds on the Judaizing Stream by
emphasizing what without why.
The motive of love-grounded obedient trust
is God’s priority.
• “...for
the LORD searches every heart and understands
every motive behind the
thoughts” (1 Chronicles 28:
9).
• “All a man’s ways seem
innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD” (Proverbs 16:2).
The same criterion applies to the
followers of Jesus today. God
scrutinizes your heart and searches your motives. He isn’t as interested in what you do as why you do it.
You may not realize the profound effect
that motive has on your relationship with our Lord. Many
prayers don’t get answered by our Father because
self-gratification was your incentive: “You pray and don’t receive, because you
pray with the wrong motive, that of wanting to indulge your own
desires” (James 4:
3,CJB).
As we share different facets of the
Hebraic perspective, examine your own life motives. Remember, our Father is looking for your motive
to align with His heart and His Word.
With motive in mind, please answer these
questions.
• Why are
you a Christian?
• Why do
you fellowship where you do, as you do, with whom you do?
• Why are
you married, single, divorced?
Are your answers acceptable to God? A Hebraic Perspective:
Hebraic Logic
“‘For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’
declares the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8).
We can’t stress enough how strongly
Western thought has been influenced by Hellenism. The method by
which most of us have been educated involves steps that begin
with a premise and lead up to a conclusion. Each step is linked
to the next in some sort of rational order until you discover
the answer or conclusion. Technically, this process is called “syllogistic reasoning”. It’s the manner by which Europeans and
Americans are taught to acquire information.
The western education system depends on
this type of reasoning. All subject matter is organized into
tidy boxes, called “subjects”. The syllogistic style works well if all you want to do
is add to a person’s factual knowledge. The focus is on knowledge dissemination and
acquisition. Rarely is your way of
life impacted by what you
learn. Your brain cells are filled but your heart doesn’t
change.
This same teaching style predominates
Christendom. And sadly, so many believe this is the only way to make
biblical truth known. The problem with this type of reasoning
is that it draws no one closer to understanding God and
applying His Word — the goal He desires. People are unable through reasoning to translate their faith into
a way of life.
Over the centuries, syllogistic reasoning
has resulted in multitudes of books penned by theologians as
they attempt to define God and His Word. Piecing together a lot of seemingly related
scriptures, they’ve organized the Bible into a logical, teachable
format.
Western theology’s syllogistic style
of dealing with the Bible meets the Greek-conditioned
analytical mind of Western man. Logical creeds are manufactured to be systematically
taught, verse upon verse, similar to a mathematical equation.
Hellenist reasoning especially appeals to
right-handed men who rely on the their logical left side of the
brain. Information that uses syllogistic logic is readily
understood by right-handed men. In this manner, even an intimate value such as love can be
discussed but never become a character quality of the heart. Men feel they know
about love, but they are unable to live it.
Our Creator designed males and females
very differently regarding their mind’s function. Perhaps
that’s one of the reasons He declared that “it is not good for man to be
alone.” He intended for
men and women to be interdependent in their need for the
other’s input.
Research indicates that women are able to
simultaneously access both sides of their brain. The two
hemispheres of a man’s brain, however, are connected by a
smaller corpus callosum. Therefore they dominate on either
their logical left side or affective, emotional right side.
Since the majority of men are
right-handed, dependence on syllogistic logic reigns. Most of
the theological topics that we westerners have been taught have
emanated from an intellectual framework that brings about
little if any life transformation.
Consider the German society of the last
century. Because of Martin Luther’s influence they were
the most biblically knowledgeable culture of their time. Yet,
syllogistically-learned Bible knowledge didn’t keep them
from initiating two World Wars and untold atrocities against
humanity.
Unhindered by the influence of Hellenism,
the Hebraic Stream relied on input from both hemispheres. They
were not reluctant to use their affective side from which a man
understands love, compassion and mercy — the tender side
of God.
Unlike Hellenized Christians of today, our
Hebraic ancestors in the faith relied on what we term “Hebraic logic”. From the Hebraic approach, each thought or idea can
stand alone; they don’t necessarily fit together sequentially.
Any matter that concerned God and the manner in which He
revealed Himself as recorded in Scripture was not confined to a
systematic, organized format.
Our Hebraic ancestors in the faith
realized that some questions were unexplainable. There
existed matters about God for which they had no answers; nor
did they believe that God required them to. Their trust in His
Sovereignty enabled them to live at peace with their Lord
without having to define everything.
From the Hebraic point of view God is full
of irreconcilable antitheses:
• A focus on the temporal as well as
the eternal;
• A simultaneous love and fear of
God;
• The nearness of God yet His
transcendence.
A few examples from Scripture illustrate
man’s inability to box God in to a predictable
cause/effect framework:
• Jesus is called the Prince of Peace in
Isaiah 9:6; but He tells us, “Do
not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did
not come to bring peace, but a
sword” (Matthew 10:34). We don’t
have to grapple with the
seeming inconsistency.
• In Jeremiah 23:2 God chastises the
leaders of Israel, “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will
bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done.” Yet in the very next verse God says, “I Myself will gather the remnant of My
flock out of all the countries where
I have driven them and will bring
them back to their pasture” (Jeremiah
23:3). So who drove them out? Reconciliation of the two
statements isn’t necessary from the Hebraic viewpoint.
• We’re told in 1 Chronicles 21:
1 that “Satan rose up against
Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.” Yet we then read that “the anger of the LORD burned against Israel,
and He incited David against them, saying, “Go and take a
census of Israel and Judah” (2
Samuel 24:1). A contradiction? Not at all from the Hebraic
understanding!
The Bible was seen through the lens of
Hebraic logic by those to whom it was first given. This reality
is important for us in the West to grasp! The Bible can only be truly understood for application
by relying on Hebraic logic — God “outside the box”. For right-handed men, this means breaking free
from Hellenism and its dependence on syllogistic logic.
Developing a Hebraic understanding
could happen if right-handed men would truly listen to
their wives’ perspective. As humbling as it is to men, a
woman’s mind can more readily grasp Hebraic logic than a
man’s brain can. That difference has certainly stood out
during seminars we’ve conducted on the Hebraic
foundations!
When we’d request feedback from
those in attendance after an hour or two, all the women
understood what we’d been sharing but few of the men
could. The men were trying to organize our presentation into
categorized, syllogistic boxes. If the material we discussed
seemed at all contradictory to the syllogistic mental
predisposition, the men would short circuit. Or, in computer
lingo, they’d “crash”.
No man who studies the Hebraic foundations
on his own can be changed unless his wife helps him or he
participates through discussion with two or three other people.
When two or three come to agreement in scriptural matters,
they’re promised the special presence of Jesus in their
midst (see Matthew 18:20).
As part of God’s great design,
around the age of 50 the frontal lobe of a man’s brain
begins to shrink. This enables him to think more affectively
rather than systematically. The input that the right side of
his brain previously suppressed now are magnified in his
thought processes. Love, compassion and mercy take greater
precedence.
This is why the shepherds of the earliest
church were older, wiser men who could fully represent the
Father’s heart for His children.
Let’s recap this one more time:
To the Hebraic mind the seeming
discrepancies in God’s Word didn’t have to be
explained. The basis to this view was:
“Let God be God,
and let me find out my responsibilities in
relationship to Him.”
The God of all the universe defies
rational explanation. Yet
there are more books in Christian bookstores today that try to
define God than those that exhort us to walk in the
responsibilities His Word so clearly requires of us!
Paul emphasized the unknowable mystery of
God and marveled,
Oh, the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his
judgments, and his paths beyond
tracing out! Who has known the mind of
the Lord? (Romans 11:33-34).
The God of the Hebrew Bible is the Creator
of all that is, and His standards are absolutes. Punishment as
well as reward were concepts well understood by the Hebraic
Stream who put their trust in Jesus.
God was fully capable of using the wicked
as instruments of punishment against His disobedient people
(see Habakkuk 1) — and then punishing those wicked agents
Himself! You don’t need to understand God, nor must you
suppress your questions either.
Our Father perceives your innermost heart.
Putting on a brave face and confronting your tragedies with a
half-hearted “It’s OK, God...” is
hypocritical. He doesn’t expect you to either justify or
vindicate Him for His ways. A life of ongoing obedient trust
instead calls you to constantly ask yourself in each
circumstance:
“Am I trying to determine from my own reasoning what
is “good” and what is “evil”?
Or, can I instead seek to determine my Lord’s will and live in accordance with that?”
The Jesus of Hebraic society two millennia
ago would probably not be accepted by most theologians in
modern America. His teachings were intended for man to live by, not to
ponder or neatly organize.
Your “salt” and
“light” had to permeate not only your own life but all your relationships and your society at large.
There would have been no doubt to others
as to where you stood as a follower of the risen Messiah! The
differences made in you through the Holy Spirit would most
certainly set you apart in purpose and lifestyle from those who
were content with obligatory religious practice.
The Hebraic teaching style was by example, bringing
the truth of Scripture into real-life application. Rabbis of
the Hebraic Stream first role-modeled what they taught. From
their way of life they trained their disciples to walk in obedient
trust according the Word of God.
Hellenism
• Quest to define God
• Quantities of knowledge neatly
organized, but little or no change in lifestyle
• Fruit equals what you know
Hebraic
• God is feared, loved and worshiped
without being fully understood
• Life-to-life role modeling from
teacher to disciple
• Fruit equals how you live
How comfortable are you with not understanding
God or the reasons for the difficulties you face in life?
Do you view your Christian walk as
segmented from other parts of your life such as work, school,
recreation, home? Yes or No? How many who interact with you in
the different arenas of your life would truly describe you as a follower of Jesus?
Ask those close to you in the faith to
evaluate the depth of your affective side — your love,
compassion and sympathy. Do they describe you as someone who is
always trying to learn more? or, as a person who is earnestly endeavoring
to reflect Jesus to others?
A Hebraic Perspective:
Representing Our Father’s
Care Through Action
As Jesus ministered among the poor, the
sick and the needy, He was doing so as His Father’s
representative. We’ve already noted that our God deeply
cares for the poor and the underprivileged (see Deuteronomy 24:
19). James reminds us of the responsibility we have as His
people to both meet the needs of the neediest and to walk
continually in His holiness ourselves:
The religious observance that God the
Father considers pure and faultless is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep
oneself from being contaminated by
the world (James 1:27,CJB).
Jesus’s care that translated into
merciful response also reflected the nature of a Hebraic Stream
teacher (rabbi). Unlike the arrogant elders and leaders of the
Judaizing Stream, the rabbi of the Hebraic Stream was a man who related to the heart of God.
The Hebraic rabbi walked with a biblical
shepherd’s concern for the defenseless and those in need,
representing God through deed as well as word (see Luke 15:
4-7). Out of his sacrificial lifestyle of concern for others
his teaching flowed.
First the lifestyle, then the teaching. You can see how Hebraic logic and the
influence of the affective side of the brain made this
lifestyle possible. How he chose to live flowed out of his heart, not his
brain’s evaluation.
In Luke chapter 10, Jesus commends the
Hebraic lifestyle when He answers the expert in the law about
the greatest commandment. Our Lord cites the parable of the the
Good Samaritan and concludes by asking a question: “‘Which of these three do you think
was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of
robbers?’ The expert in the law replied,‘The one
who had mercy on him.’ ¶ Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise’” (Luke 10:36,37).
When Jesus was questioned by John’s
disciples if He was truly the long-awaited Messiah, He replied, “The blind receive sight, the
lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the
dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the
poor” (Matthew 11:5).
For the Hebraic Stream the true Messiah would be
recognized as He fulfilled signs prophesied centuries earlier
— signs that evidenced an affective, active concern for
the needy.
In ancient Jerusalem and throughout
Israel, young men often attached themselves to a particular rabbi, literally my teacher,
because of certain strengths in his character and his
distinctive life that brought glory to God.
The disciples of that rabbi were
absolutely devoted to him, inhaling not only his every word,
but the manner in which he taught. Every act of that rabbi became a
role model trait that was emulated by his students. If a rabbi
performed acts of mercy, his disciples then followed his
example, learning by doing.
Because the influence of the teacher was
so profound, his character was far more important than the content of his
teachings. The hypocrisy that Jesus criticized in the Pharisees
and scribes was an affront to both God and man. Jesus warned
His disciples about the discrepancy between their actions and
their words:
So you must
obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice
what they preach (Matthew 23:
3).
Hebraic-influenced leaders in Newer
Testament faith communities emphasized the importance of a
man’s life choices: “Remember your leaders, those who spoke God’s
message to you. Reflect on the results
of their way of life, and imitate their trust (Hebrews
13:7). We would say today that their walk better match their
talk!
Any effective teacher of God’s Word
must be true to the nature of the Hebraic teacher.
First, his
lifestyle must demonstrate responsive action that reflects our
Father’s concern for the poor and needy.
Second, those
whom he would disciple must have close intimate access so that
he can effectively role model a godly way of life for them.
[For more on the interconnectedness
between Hebraic leaders and their flock, see our book Pastoring By Elders].
This certainly isn’t the discipling
pattern of contemporary western Christi-anity! The religious
teaching pattern practiced today was adapted from the Greek
pagan priesthood. Their priest/ teachers relied on Hellenist
reasoning and lectured at them from behind pulpits and altars that
separated them from the common people.
Hebrew is an action language. Unlike
English or Greek which stresses the noun or subject, Hebrew
emphasizes the verb, or the action. In the Hebrew Bible, the
faith of those who trusted God could be seen through what they
did. James interconnects this Hebraic truth that unites trust
with response:
What good is it, my brothers, if a man
claims to have faith but has no
deeds? Can such faith save him?
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep
warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical
needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action,
is dead.
But someone will say, “You have
faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds,
and I will show you my faith by
what I do.
James wasn’t drawing conclusions
from fantasies or imaginings of his own design. He was
apperceiving truth from the Hebrew Scripture that his readers
would immediately recognize.
You foolish man, do you want evidence that
faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he
did when he offered his son Isaac
on the altar? You see that his faith
and his actions were working together, and his faith was made
complete by what he did. And the
scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God,
and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was
called God’s friend.
You see that a person is justified by what
he does and not by faith alone.
The Hebraic foundations for cementing a faith that leads to action is so vital that we’ll continue James’s
instruction:
In the same way, was not even Rahab the
prostitute considered righteous for
what she did when she gave lodging
to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith
without deeds is dead (James 2:
14-26).
We have here two ends of the social
spectrum in Israel’s history: a revered patriarch and a
once-despised prostitute. Yet both are esteemed because they trusted God in such
a way that obedience was their only response to His command!
Recall some recent instances in which you
were made aware of the tangible needs of someone. How did you
respond? What was the most difficult sacrifice you’ve
ever been called on to make on behalf of someone else? Now be honest: Was the
“religion” that you displayed in that instance pure and faultless as unto God, or did you enjoy the acclaim of men for responding
as you did?
A Hebraic Perspective:
Humility As You Serve Others
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition
or vain conceit, but in humility consider others
better than yourselves.
Each of you should look not only to your
own interests, but also to the
interests of others” (Philippians 2:3,4).
Jesus is the epitome of humility as He
carried out His Father’s will. A poignant parable
presented to “some who were
confident of their own righteousness and looked down on
everybody else” illustrated
the kind of humility that’s acceptable to the Father:
‘Two men went up to the temple to
pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The
Pharisee stood up and prayed about
himself: “God, I thank you that I am not like other
men — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like
this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”
‘But the tax collector stood at a
distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his
breast and said, “God, have
mercy on me, a sinner.”
‘I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went
home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, and he who humbles himself
will be exalted’” (Luke 18:10-14).
Because Hebraic thought was founded on the motive of one’s heart and on trust that
led to action, Jesus could teach as
He did about the Final Judgment. A person’s enactment of his
trust in Jesus determined if he was truly in God’s
sheepfold.
As He spoke of the separation of the sheep
and goats in Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus concluded, “Whatever you
did for one of the least of these
brothers of mine, you did for me” (v. 40). The earliest
followers of Jesus clearly understood responsive action as the
vital criterion for everyone at the Final Judgment.
The entire nature of a person
who claims to follow Jesus
is seen in his care for those
who can never pay him back.
To do the work of salvation was to humbly bring healing,
relief and victory to those weighed down by the debilitating
difficulties of the here and now. It truly requires humility of
heart for a person to earnestly and lovingly look to the
interest of others.
In his first epistle, John conveys the way of life of a
humble person. Both attitude and action are the means for
someone who is truly humble to revealing his trust in Jesus:
This is how we know what love is: Jesus
Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material
possessions and sees his brother in
need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth (1
John 3:16-18).
True humility grows as your dependence on
God increases. God created you as a
physical being with distinct material needs. Your Father in
heaven wants you to humbly depend on Him in faith to provide
for those needs. He may allow you to work to earn money, but
you also must keep in mind that He has furnished your job, your strength, and the
food itself for which you labor. That realization should serve
as a reminder to keep pride at bay!
You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But
remember the Lord your God, for it
is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore
to your forefathers, as it is today” (Deuteronomy 8:17,18).
Our Hebraic forefathers in the faith knew
that it was within the home that humility and concern for others is
learned. Home is the first place in which you learn to humbly interact and
participate with others. Your first encounter with having to
set aside your own personal desires for the sake of others is
learned in your home among your family members.
The intimacy of parental training comes
across clearly as Solomon shares wisdom with his own child: “Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s
teaching” (Proverbs 1:8).
Until the early 1900’s
“education” was defined as the relationship of a mother with her children. It didn’t have the academic, schoolhouse
connotation as it does today. Education once carried with it
the Hebraic relational understanding of the influence a mother
has on her children in their motivation and awareness of the
world around them. A mother is God’s tool to teach her
children self-sacrifice and concern for others.
How does a child learn to look to the
interests of others? It’s certainly not genetic! One
answer is as simple as sharing a family meal. In that common
framework you learn to live by the command that “sums up the Law and the Prophets,” that is, “In
everything, do to others what you would have them do to
you” (Matthew 7:12).
As people interrupt their eating to pass
food to each other, they are learning to serve. Setting the
table and clearing and washing the dishes are other
opportunities that even the youngest can take part in.
Household and yard chores are another way
in which a child begins to see his life in service to others.
This foundation that looks to the interest of others helps
guard his heart from later being enticed by the allure and
prestige of the world’s system.
At the retreat center we served the meals
family-style to encourage interaction and helpfulness. Most
retreats began with dinner on Friday evening. One men’s
retreat in particular stands out.
The participants had come for the first
time. When they sat down for supper, we were dumfounded that no
one even passed the food around to the others. Each man reached
across the big table to take his own portion from the serving
dishes as though he were alone, disregarding the other dozen
empty plates and the presence of people who could have helped
him reach!
On another occasion during a clergy
retreat from a particular denomination, we placed the coffee
pots near the table where people could get up and help
themselves.
While the superintendent of the
denomination was at the pot getting coffee for himself, he
commented to Mike that he had difficulty getting his clergy to
follow through on things that he needed them to do. Mike asked
him, “What are you doing right now?” He replied,
“Getting coffee.” Mike directed his attention back
to the table where the men were sitting, and from which he had
just gotten up. “How many empty cups are there?”
Awareness dawned, and instead of filling
his own cup, he took the pot back to the table and filled the
empty cups of everyone else. “Instead,
the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one
who rules like the one who serves... I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:26,27).
Humble care and concern for others
epitomize the nature of Jesus in you. These character qualities
must be practiced in the training ground of your home until
they truly become facets of your transforming nature.
Think about the pain Paul must have felt
as he continued his letter to the Philippians, “For everyone looks out for his own
interests, not those of Jesus
Christ” (2:21). He must have
wondered with sorrow if these believers had clung to their
fleshly desires and resisted the work of the Spirit in this
area of their lives.
Were you raised in a home in which you
were trained to serve others? Yes or No?
How would you describe yourself when it
comes to humbly looking to the interests of others?
Ask a few people close to you in the faith
to describe the depth of your humility and servanthood. What
evidence can they give for their evaluation?
A Hebraic Perspective:
The Sacred Nature Of All Of Life
“In all your ways acknowledge Him
and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:6)
The Hebraic stream viewed all of life as
God’s dominion. The Lord wasn’t relegated to the
spiritual domain alone; He made His presence felt in all
aspects of life. Therefore all of life’s pursuits were
“sacred”. If you were doing anything in God’s
will, that activity was sacred.
A person’s job was considered just
as “holy” as the time spent studying God’s
Word. There was no division of
sacred and secular as Hellenism later introduced. God created the whole world and declared it
“good”. Even though sin had entered the world, He
never retracted His words concerning that which He had created!
As a result of God’s evaluation of all of creation as
good, the Hebraic Stream were continually aware of God in their
daily routine.
How often do you greet each new day with thanks to
God for the ability to get out of bed, for having a job, for
being able to brush your teeth?
All of the circumstances of your life,
whether pleasant or painful, come not by chance or fate, but
are allowed through the sovereignty of God. How many today
could honestly say from their hearts these words of the prophet
Habakkuk?
Though the fig tree does not bud and there
are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the
fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I
will be joyful in God my Savior” (Habakkuk 3:
17,18).
Yes, even
suffering is orchestrated by our
Lord for our spiritual growth: “So
then, those who suffer according to
God’s will should commit
themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good” (1
Peter 4:19). God yearns for a humble people who gratefully
acknowledge His presence throughout the day and rest in their
dependence upon Him.
Today’s Christian culture tends to
compartmentalize the different aspects of life into distinct
categories: work, play, religion, education, political, family.
Some categories are framed as “sacred” and others
“profane”.
Boxing off the spiritual from the secular
is a mindset that emanates straight from Hellenism. Monks who
isolated themselves from the pollution of the common pursuits
of work and pleasure were exalted. Any perceived indulgence of
the flesh, whether marital intimacy or physical labor or
even joyful family experiences, were looked down on as
“unspiritual”.
Unconsciously or otherwise, this
misperception has infused the idea of many Christians regarding
their religious practice. That’s how God has so often
become confined to a one-or-two hour block of
“holy” time on Sunday morning, and the rest of
their lives can blend with values of the world.
(In a later lesson when we discuss the
influence of Hellenism, we’ll deal with this topic more
fully.
How aware are you of God in your daily
life? A little? or a lot? During the past two days, describe in
detail when you were conscious of God.
Ask those close to you to evaluate you as
someone who is grateful in their life circumstances versus being a grumbler. How did
you respond to their appraisal?
Is the level of holiness you exhibit in
corporate worship the same as the level you maintain in the
privacy of your home? What activities do you participate in
that would not at all match “what Jesus would do”?
|
 |
|
|