Speaking the Language

In 1-Corinthians 2:14-3:15, St. Paul again helps us understand how we connect with the Lord and just how important it is in our everyday living. He begins by saying: "Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else's scrutiny. 'For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?' But we have the mind of Christ."

The light of Christ and the mind of Christ have truly come into the world. Trying to understand the Spirit is much like experiencing a foreign language. If we hear a foreign language spoken and we have not studied it at all, it has no meaning whatsoever to us. If we have studied it in school or have lived around people who have spoken it we can catch on a little.

In order to clearly understand, speak, or write a language different from our own, we must engage in a discipline of studying the mechanics and the spirit of the language. As we become knowledgeable we must practice by speaking with others who can speak and understand the language. And then when we become fluent in the language we can teach others who are trying to learn.

We don't always realize how separated from God we are and what it will take to get our communications reactivated with Him. How many of us are spiritually like the person who has no background in a foreign language at all? How many of us are spiritually mature to the point where we can only get by in a pinch? How many of us are fluent in the language of the mind of Christ?

It is a wakeup call for us when we compare our spiritual growth with learning a foreign language. We see that we have a long way to go and much work ahead of us. We must pray and meditate in the Spirit and on the scriptures on a daily basis in order to come closer to the Lord our God and understand Him.

We must study God's Word and visit those who have spoken or written on the scriptures. As with the person learning a new language, we must come together in a community to learn and receive support for our journey in the Lord. As we are built up spiritually in our Christian communities, we are called to pass on what we have learned about the Lord.

In our natural lives we struggle to give the Lord a bit of our time. We think that we must take care of our worldly chores before we can take time out for the Lord. After all, our jobs are putting bread on our tables and money in our pockets so that we can survive. Where we are fooled is in thinking that we need to take care of natural world issues first. We think that time with God will hinder us in our worldly chores.
                                                                                                                                                  

On the contrary, a deep relationship with God, which requires daily discipline in the Lord, will actually see us through our worldly chores with better successes than any other way. Having the mind of Christ is a prerequisite for everything else.

Perseverance or Resistance

It takes much perseverance to follow the Lord in our lives and seek His leadership in all things. We sometimes feel like we are headed into a battle without the proper weapons to assure our victory. We are not familiar with the weapons provided by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, because they are not weapons of destruction, but weapons of love and faith through His Grace.

St. Paul speaks to us in his second letter to the Corinthians 4:13-5:10: "So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal."

What a wonderful way to look at our lives. Our natural bodies begin wasting away as soon as we are born. We have a definite shelf life. But as we grow older, and we seek the Lord, our inner nature is renewed more and more, day by day. This is our preparation for an eternal life with Him who cannot be seen now. If we can see it, it is temporary. If we cannot see it, it is eternal.

In electrical terminology a resistor is a device that resists electricity in an electrical circuit in order to protect or control. I compare this to St. Paul's description of our outer nature. It is designed to protect us from the external and allows us to control our lives. Unfortunately it tends to slow down and interrupt the flow of the Spirit to and through us to our inner nature which is of God. Fortunately our resistor, this outer nature, does wear down and waste away as we age. This process let's God's Spirit inhabit us in preparation for that which cannot be seen.

Blessed are those who can find the Lord at an early age. For most of us it takes a large part of our lives to find Him. No matter, for we should be happy at any age to have shed our outer nature and to have connected our inner nature to our Lord and God. The important thing is to get there. To achieve eternal life through Christ Jesus who died for our sins, which dwell in our outer nature. At one point in my life God just ripped off most of my outer nature and threw it away.

 

This happened as a result of my being in a Christian community as a sinner searching for a closer relationship with God, combined with a life threatening event. In order to heal me, the Lord had to speed things up a bit and dress me down. His surgical method of removing a large part of my outer nature was to tell me that I was forgiven. He did this in such a way that I could not doubt the fact, as I had doubted it in my life before. I shed tears of joy when He said to me, "Now go my child and try life again, and tell all those who will listen of my love." What is the condition of your outer nature? I pray that it is wasting away and that you are being renewed day by day.

                                            

St. Paul and His fellow messengers for the Lord experienced tremendous threats as they spread the gospel in their world. When we are living in God's word and doing His will, His mercy for our mission is our protector.

Paul's protection was the carrying in his body the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. It was in this way that the life and light of Jesus was made manifest in his body. The Holy Trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is described, petitioned and praised in this verse written by William Whiting (1825-1878), as part of what is commonly referred to as The Navy Hymn: "O Trinity of love and power, thy children shield in danger's hour; from rock and tempest, fire and foe, protect them where so e'er they go; thus evermore shall rise to thee glad hymns of praise from land and sea."

Positive Travel

We humans are interesting creatures. We build up prejudices and opinions about people before we even get to know them. Like most of us, I’m in situations every day where there are people around me that I don’t know anything about. I immediately start sizing them up through observation of them while they’re in close proximity to me. These type folks only cross paths with me if I’m out and about for shopping, dining, at large meetings, community events, sports events or entertainment. Chances for real interaction with folks in these situations are slim to none.

While we may not have close contact with strangers in those situations, as Christians, we are called to find ways to minister to others we may not know.  Ministry to the elderly, the homeless, the sick, the needy, those in prison, victims of fire and windstorm, single parent families, those with drug and alcohol addictions and children with educational and behavior issues are only a part of the larger list of opportunities for our ministry. Just relying on the media to help us understand about what people go through is not really knowing them or understanding what their lives are like. Of course, we must also be aware of opportunities for ministry with people we encounter in everyday life situations. Maybe folks that God has led to us or us to them.     

Recently, a close friend shared a quotation from a book published in 1869 titled “The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims' Progress,” written by famous American author and humorist Mark Twain. He wrote: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

In a letter written by Mr. Twain in 1867 he stated, “nothing so liberalizes a man and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kinds of people.”

While Mark Twain’s thoughts about travel pertain mostly to getting to know people in other places and so to love and understand them better, I think it applies even in our own communities. If we sit at home and don’t use our volunteer time to get to know and help others, we are not “traveling” in our own area of living. We just rely on the media to inform us about what is going on. This deprives us, and those we might contact, the joys of understanding each other, and helping and being helped.

Holy Scripture informs us in this traveling thing and especially in Matthew 25:35-40 when Jesus said, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”

Through outreach ministry at my church, we have experienced some humbling things regarding helping others. We have learned much from those with problems in their lives. While support money and tangible items for living are appreciated, the fact that we have been willing to interact with them through sharing and joint bible study really makes a difference for them.

In another outreach situation we were blessed by the needy giving back to us. As sometimes happens, on any given day that we hand out free bags of groceries, we ran out of bags while there were still a few folks waiting for a bag. One of our brothers shared with our church the following: “There was a special blessing this morning.  The last car asking for food was told there was no more food.  She reached deep into her purse and donated $5.00 to the church.  What better Christian love than the 'widow's mite'?"

So let’s keep our “traveling bags” packed, reach out, and get to know our brothers and sisters in our communities and beyond. The blessings go both ways. All are blessed in the uniting of the children of God.

Receiving & Giving

Being a Christian by oneself may be possible, but I'm not ready to try it. God works in so many great ways through His people, the Body of Christ. Saint Paul spent his whole Christian ministry developing churches, that is, Christian communities. His conversion of Gentile and Jew, his dedication to the brethren and his willingness to die for Christ certainly left us with some history to ponder.

St. Paul was not just a giver in his ministry for the Lord. His ministry for the Lord began with the kind of experience that few ever have. He received the Love of Christ by being blinded on his way to Damascus to arrest believers in Christ. The Holy Spirit then moved in Ananias of Damascus some three days later to seek out Paul and lay hands on him and pray for the restoration of Paul’s sight. Paul was then baptized (Acts 9:13-19).

While Paul did give much in the name of the Lord, he received much strength from those communities that he had converted. They gave him the strength to continue in God’s mission for him. Paul was dodging bullets all through his ministry and somehow was able to stay alive and active even when in prison until his work for the Lord was complete.

The Church, the Body of Christ is not perfect by any means. The idea is that we come together to seek perfection as shown to us by God through His Son our Savior Jesus Christ. His example has survived all challengers and challenges for more than 2000 years. And how did this happen? It happened through the inspired Body of Christ, the Church and its many members. We are variety, but inspired by the one Spirit.                                                                                                                       

In 2-Kings 2:1-18, we are told in part, "When they had crossed [the Jordan], Elijah said to Elisha, 'Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.' Elisha said, 'Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.'"

Have you ever known someone whose spirit impacted you the way that Elijah's spirit impacted Elisha? In our lives, that kind of person comes along every now and then. They aren't perfect but they have a spirit about them that pulls others to them. They are not judgmental and are always ready to spend time listening or helping. Everyone recognizes that the person's life is dedicated to the Lord. In a spiritual sense they are role models.

In Christ Jesus we have a model. We don't have to inherit a double share of His spirit. We will do well to inherit a piece of a share. In our seeking God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we must model for each other. There are times when we need encouragement and support in our walk with Christ. There are times when we need to encourage and support a brother or sister in their walk. The important thing is that we are there for each other as God's messengers.

To succeed in this we must be ready to go out on a limb. We must be willing to approach a brother or sister at the moment they seem to be unapproachable. Our ears must be tuned to hear their cry -- a cry that is usually disguised. We must be able to recognize depression when we see it. Depression is the great silent cry.

We must remind one another of the love of God. Our need for control in our lives is eliminated through God’s love for us. We must accept the role as God's healer as well as being healed ourselves. Not one of us is without need, but all of us can be a blessing to a brother or sister.

Like the tide’s ebb and flow, we must let our ministry and our need to be ministered to so move. God will guide us when we need to be attentive to the needs of others. He will help us to submit when He is healing us through a brother or sister. We should know that it is this sense of giving and receiving that is His will for His children. Thanks be to God.