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The Word of Truth Ministries | |
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________________ The Principles of the Doctrine of Christ
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Now, speaking to those who have been correctly born again into the Kingdom of God, the second step needed for perfection is to get the mind/thoughts of man correct/transformed. Isaiah said that we, the wicked and unrighteous, (a category all men fall into if they have not come to Christ and been born again) have to forsake our ways and thoughts in order to return unto God. When man left God originally, and sin is a departure from God, our thinking became flawed and devilish, unreasonable and earthly. The mind of man became self-centered (ego-centric) and alien from the life and thoughts of God. Remember God called out to man, asking Where are you? Adam said that he hide because he was naked. Note, Adam and Eve had been naked all the while, but before sin they were not egocentric but God-centric, so they had paid no attention to themselves and never realized they were naked--that was not important to them. [Gen. 2:25; 3:10] Sin always centers one's thinking on self and away from God; this is one of the reasons many who have gone away from God or those who have not come to God are so hard to teach to their acceptance of God's word--they are carnally/worldly minded. But to live in self is to be carnal minded, which is death--for to be carnally minded is death, Paul wrote. Such a mind wars against God; that is why our minds must be transformed.[Rom. 8:6] Paul said that let us not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds that we may prove what is that good and acceptable will of God. [Rom.12:2] Our mind must be renewed/transformed so that it is readily receptive to God's word--to the searching it out, understanding it, and doing it. [Isa. 34:16] Jesus, as well as scriptures, talks about the importance of the mind and thinking in a person's life and behavior. For as one thinks in his heart, so is he. [Prov.23:7] With the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. [Rom. 10:10] Of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. [Mat. 12:34] The mind of man is the center of his behavior; what a man believes is what propels him into action. The mind is his center of knowledge, but knowing a thing is not the same as believing a thing. I, as an educated man, know many things that I merely know. Those things I know may not be things that propel me to action. But those things that I believe are things that motivate actions and propel me to behavior. And those things believed are sheltered in the deep recesses of the mind, called the heart. The mind is very important to guard, guide, and educate, and it must be educated to the things of this world if we are to mature into proper adults and function politely, as we should, and it has to be educated to the things of God that we may grow into perfection and not become fools. Far too many Christians have ceased educating the mind both in the things of God and in the things that God has made; those are retarded Christians who may be willingly ignorant, Peter said. [2Pet. 3:5] Furthermore, many Christians have allowed men to make them retarded children. And those who retard God's people do so that they may have sway over them, their minds, their bodies, and most importantly, their finances. Yet, Paul tells us to be no more children, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine…and by men who lie in wait to deceive. [Eph. 4:11-17] (Indeed, the prophecy of Isaiah 3:12 is more profound concerning this day than many have any idea. This prophecy has little, if anything, to do with literal children oppressing God's people, and it has more to do with the ministers who know not the word of God and are attempting to lead and teach God's people in oppressive ways and making merchandise of them. Please see Heb. 5:12-14) Responsible parents send their children to school from the time they are almost infants and on, until they leave home to have independent lives. This is done so those children may be tutored in the affairs of this life that they may know how to behave themselves properly in polite and other forms of society. And when they fail to comport themselves with the proper protocols of society, parents are embarrassed. These are natural aspects of most societies, and those aspects are proper for those societies and also for the behavior of the people of God. The educational process continues on, hopefully, for a lifetime. A person untutored in the affairs of a society is considered crude and unsophisticated, a heathen and a barbarian, unable to converse with reasonable men or traverse the normal, mature complexities of life--in business we are to be diligent and mature. [Prov. 22:29; Rom. 12:11] We educate our minds, our children's minds that we may be able to reason. All people are born with minds, but that precious mind must be developed and educated, otherwise people will think it is not present within us or it is not functioning. And be assured of this, the mind is given by God to be educated. The Greek writer Sophocles wrote, "The mind is God's crowning gift to mankind." Solomon, one known throughout the world for his wisdom, wrote that much learning is weariness to the flesh; he is correct, and that is the very reason many never engage in learning to the level they should--they live in the flesh and mind the things of the flesh and not the things of God. [Eccl. 12:12; Rom. 8:5] Education is the discipline we put ourselves through; it is the discipline God wants us to put ourselves through that we may grow into him. Education is a development of the human spirit, and the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord. [Prov. 20:27] Notice that the discussion of the mind is not a discussion of the brain. The brain is the biological organ that is within man's head. The mind is not the brain; the brain causes certain physical and biological functions of the body; the mind allows for abstract computations and reckonings to occur--this is a different realm of human functioning. Paul was speaking of the mind when he said, ears have not heard, eyes have not seen, neither has it entered into the heart [mind] of man the things God has in store for those who love him. [1Cor.2:9] The heart, like the brain, is a physical organ that functions in the physiological realm, yet Paul was not talking in that realm. When Solomon admonished us to seek wisdom and in all our getting, get an understanding, God was saying the same. [Prov.4:5-7] As knowledge is the step on which understanding rests, an understanding is the building block that leads to wisdom. Where there is no knowledge, there can be no understanding, and where there is no understanding, there can never be wisdom. A fatal flaw of many Christians is the failure to seek knowledge, the very first step toward wisdom. Hosea the Prophet wrote that God's people are destroyed because of a lack of knowledge and because they actually reject knowledge, God rejects them. [Hos. 4:6] The people of God are destroyed because too many have become simple, unthinking, and foolish, even while Jesus Christ is made unto us wisdom and sanctification. [1 Cor. 1:24] Solomon asks the question, "How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And the scoffers delight in scoffing and fools hate knowledge?" [Prov.1:22] God takes no delight in our ignorance. Luke wrote in Acts that the Bereans were noble because they searched the scriptures to see if the things Paul said were true. God hates unthinking Christians who will allow preachers to say anything and get away with it--whether those things make sense or not. Because the Bereans were nobler than the saints at Thessalonica, Paul wrote that church and told them to prove all things. [1 Thes. 5:21] The fool will allow men who claim to be ministers of God to teach them, tell them, preach to them wrong thing and ask no meaningful questions and accept any type of answers. If a minister is a man of God, he will teach God's people the raw, unadulterated truth of God and he will teach them to ask questions of him or anyone else purporting to be ministers of God. The scriptures says, in all our getting, we should get an understanding. That is why questions should be asked and that is why Christians should study the word of God. Only an understanding can cause you to have a handle on God's word. Ignorance indicates our carnal nature because we fail to discipline our flesh long enough to develop the mind God has given us. Renewing our minds is not easy, as any learning extracts its toll on our flesh, but renewing it we must if we are to walk the walk of God unto perfection. What we see as we develop that renewed mind is that it will conform to spiritual and academic discipline if it is placed under those restrictions. But those willing to live in the flesh are unwilling to discipline their flesh enough to develop their minds. Paul told ministers especially to study to show ourselves approved of God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. [1 Tim. 2:15] Notice that for a minister to be an effective minister and one who should not be ashamed or to shame God, that minister must study. To study is to develop the renewed mind to the things of God. But Solomon said that such study is weariness to the flesh. [Eccl. 12:12] The born again saint of God will not shy away from study and the discipline needed for study. The idea that one can go to sleep and awake with all the knowledge God has for him is childish, foolish, and satanic thinking--it deceives that person into thinking that no work need be done. This is the simplicity of the fool Solomon wrote about. Wisdom must be sought, and seeking is a process of disciplining the body to develop that abstract, almost ethereal aspect of us called the mind. No great men of God or great men of letters become great through a failure to study. Men and women of God study the word of God and other works carefully and continually that they may see what God is saying to his people. And in so studying they renew their minds. Jesus said, from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. What is in the mind is what comes out of the mouth. [Lk. 6:45] That is why it is important to renew the mind with the right things of God that we may speak as God would have us speak. There are too many ungodly mouths and words by people who claim to be godly. Guarding the mouth and making our words in accord with God's word is a major part of perfection. We must speak the things that become sound doctrine. Now it should be said that learning about the things of God takes a saint deeply into and beyond the Bible. If we study the word of God carefully, we will see that truth. Notice that David wrote in Psalm 19 that the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows God's handiwork, day unto day utters speech and night unto night shows knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. Indeed, this is a most instructive scripture by King David, who wrote under the anointing/the breath of God. This is a scripture the great Apostle Paul took to heart and used to propel his behavior, as he told Timothy to bring the books and the parchments he left. [2Tim.4:13] We also see he used it, as we see him on Mars Hill in the book of Acts. There, Paul quoted from Greek philosophers and poets--as the poets were philosophers--and used their words so much that he took Greek writing and placed it into Holy Writ. [Acts 17:29] Paul understood Psalm 19. David is saying that since all things were made by God, a study of the things God has made is to understand God, to heard and see him speak; furthermore, David shows us that there is no speech or language where God's voice cannot be heard. It is impossible not to hear the voice of God throughout his creation because he is the maker of all things, and God is everywhere in his creation, but we must be able to sleuth Him out, otherwise we are blind. David said each day and each night show speech and utterances from God; the heavens declare God in all His creativity and glory. Matter of fact, there is God everywhere, throughout His creation and His creatures, and anyone who looks carefully can learn something about God through a mere study of creation and His creatures. In fact, David is saying, in today's parlance, that God's DNA is throughout all His creation. Paul was more explicit than David. In Romans 1, Paul wrote that the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made [visible] even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Things that are invisible are things, by definition, that cannot be seen by the naked human eye; yet Paul declares that they can be seen. How is this to be understood? They can be seen if you understand the visible things that God has also made. What is the implication here? It is this, and more than an implication it is, that God has made visible and invisible things on a same or a similar pattern/model. Paul said even God's eternal Godhead could be understood by understanding that which we can see. This is an important concept needed in our faith life and it has been overlooked by many; indeed, this blindness has been perceived by careful students of the passage in Hosea, where God says, my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge, and because thou has rejected knowledge I will also reject you. Contrast that scripture with what Paul says about faith: without faith it is impossible to please God. [Heb. 11:6] If one does not please God, he is rejected by God, and if one has no faith such a one cannot please God. So one must have faith to satisfy God, but examine how faith comes and see the connection between faith and knowledge. The disciples of Christ asked him to increase their faith; at that request, Jesus began to teach them, saying, "If thou has the faith of a grain of a mustard seed…." Jesus did not lay hands upon them and pray for them to have more faith; nor did he speak and declare that they have more faith, hence, giving faith to them in those ways. That is because Paul, the major writer of the New Testament, expounded the idea of faith and what Jesus was doing when responding to their request. Paul said that faith comes by hearing of the word of God. [Rom.10:17] Hearing is a sense gate; it is through our sense gates that we learn and know. To hear a thing is to know it. To see a thing is to know it. To touch, to smell, to taste is to know a matter, and without the sense gates we will not learn, we cannot know. Hence, to learn the word of God in to increase our faith. To learn of God is to increase our faith. To learn of the patterns and creations of God is to increase our faith. That is why Hosea was commissioned to say, my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge (ignorance) and because they reject knowledge God will reject them. When knowledge is available and we do not seek it, that is a rejection of knowledge. God has instructed/commanded us to seek out the book of the Lord and read it; study to show ourselves approved unto God a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth; come let us reason together; prove all things and hold fast to that which is good; the Bereans were more noble than the Thessalonians because they searched the scriptures to see if the things that Paul said were so. And on, God commands us to seek wisdom, for it is the principal thing, and in all our getting, get an understanding. Yet we do not follow his command because Solomon says that much study is a weariness of the flesh, and being carnal minded, we will not weary our flesh, but we will cater to it. In so doing, however, we reject knowledge and God rejects us. [Isa. 1:18; 34:16; Acts 17; 1Tim. 2:15; 1Thes. 5:21] But look at those who have acquired knowledge and understood God more and have outstood faith: The Centurion Soldier went to Jesus to heal his servant, and Jesus responded that he would go to the man's house and heal his servant. At that the Centurion soldier, a commander of men and one who looked at that pattern of command and understood that Jesus was a commander of a spiritual force, and said to Jesus that he was a man of authority too; he speaks and a soldiers go at his word, and like as he, Jesus was a man of great authority among a spirit host, all he needed do was speak the word and his servant would be healed. When Jesus heard that, he healed the soldier's servant and marveled, saying he had not seen so much faith, no, not even in Israel. His knowledge of God's pattern was faith. How did this man come to such faith that it even astonished Jesus? The man saw and hence knew and understood the nature of legitimate and rightful authority; second, he somehow knew that Jesus commanded legions of angels at his ready, and, as he had authority to dispatch soldiers at his command, all commanders have this universal authority. Third, he understood God's pattern--there is no power other than of God, and the powers that be are ordained of God. He, no doubt, surmised that the universal truth that one of authority can speak and have his word as law, was a pattern that God had also made, and it was patterned after God's kingdom. Moses was sternly warned by God to make all things according to the pattern shown him. [Rom. 13:1; Heb. 8:5;] Hence, the centurion soldier reasoned that Jesus could easily command, like as he does, and it would be executed. This is faith that is acquired by knowledge, and knowledge of the tings of God is to renew your mind. But the fool, Solomon said, hates knowledge. [Prov. 1:22] Many are too carnal to acquire knowledge because acquiring it is wearies the flesh, and they have too much love for the flesh. [Eccl. 12:12] Look further at Paul's thoughts on this matter of the patterns of God: In Romans 1:20 Paul says that the invisible things of God--spiritual things are invisible--are seen by understanding the things that God had made visible. If we know and understand the visible things of God, that knowledge helps us understand the invisible things of God. And remember, all things were made by Him. [John 1] God has made all things according to a pattern; to discover that pattern is to greatly understand the things of God. A few days ago, my wife and I visited the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. The docent informed us that the architect who designed the museum had designed it had so structured it in a way that all patterned were aligned perfectly. This in a like figure is after the behavior of God's patterning. This knowledge of God's patterns is more valuable than you know. Finally, in Matthew 15: 22-28 a woman of Canaan came to Jesus asking that he heal her daughter. Jesus' response to her was that it was not right to give the children's bread to dogs. His point was this: she was considered a dog by the Jews, and the gospel and the good things of the gospel, such as healing, were for the Jews first. Healing was their bread, and that bread should not be given to dogs, but to the children. Notice that this statement was an earthly pattern of earthly things and the response of this woman concerning that pattern showed that it was a pattern of a heavenly reality also. Jesus taught that way, in parables so that seeing, the unsaved would see not and hearing they did not understand, but to us, the saved and anointed of God, it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom that are hidden away in these parables or earthly dimensions! The Canaan woman perceived that earthly pattern that Jesus spoke, and, realizing it, she also realized that sometimes in this earthly pattern the crumbs will fall from the table of the children and the dogs will eat those crumbs. In understanding that pattern, she saw the pattern of God. And since we gather knowledge through our sense-gates, seeing a thing [sight] is knowing a thing. Hence, her faith was built up, and she asked Jesus for the crumbs of his mighty power, surmising that they would be enough to heal a daughter vexed of a devil. When Jesus saw her faith, he said great is the woman's faith and healed her daughter that very hour. This woman's knowledge was the way she built up her faith. She saw the parable pattern of God and applied it to spiritual truths--the invisible things of God became visible to her through understanding those things made by God, because they were a pattern that was similar. There are many such examples in scripture of earthly realities being patterns of spiritual truths. Not only are they in the scriptures, they are all around us and the more we know of the things of God around us, the greater is our faith in God, and the more we please God. Solomon said that only a fool will hate knowledge! God is throughout his creation and speaks to us in many ways. Often we do not hear him because we are too carnal and worldly possessed to hear his voice. But Paul was not so disposed. When contending with the Greeks on Mars hill, Paul showed us that he understood God regardless of the source. He quoted from Greek philosophers from which he had read and heard the voice of God. Consequently, Paul wrote that Greek literature into out Holy Writ. Indeed, there is no speech nor language where God's voice cannot be heard. [Psa 19:3; Acts 17:28] Our faith is built and grows by increasing our knowledge of God and of the things that God has made. The fool who hates knowledge and the lazy Christian who does not study God's word try to distinguish between education--learning of the things that God has made--and Bible knowledge. Knowledge comes from God; wisdom that is godly can come from many sources, not just the Bible, and it is up to Christians to acquire it wherever and from whomever we can. The Bible is to divine that knowledge for us. We must transform our minds by renewing it with and by the word of God. When it is renewed, we see things differently, we fashion our behavior in conformity to the dictates of his word, and we see an increase in our faith. One cannot be perfect with the old mind. When a person repents, that act is supposed to be the forsaking of the old mind, but many fail to see that and try to keep their old minds. The old minds are faithless; old minds will not discipline the flesh long enough to acquire the truths of God. Therefore, as a next step after the new birth must come the new mind. That new mind will not come automatically. The kingdom of God suffers violence and you must be spiritually violent enough to take it by force--a force that disciplines the flesh so that the mind can be renewed back to God. [Mat. 11:12] You must understand that this way is a radical way: to come to Christ is a revolution in the behavior of a person, it is not an evolution. However, many want to go the evolutionary way, while Christ is calling for the revolution. The one, revolution, is quick and extreme--a mind-altering, life-altering, behavior-altering way of life away from past worldliness--he other is a slow gradual, imperceptible change. Repentance is a repudiation of your past way of life (we are buried with him in baptism and we rise from that baptism/watery grave to walk with Christ in the newness of life) and a turning to God for his way of life. That requires the faith of the operation of God--a new mind as the next step after the new birth. Paul talks about this in Colossians 2:12-16. Through water baptism after repentance, God nails our sins on the cross with Christ and clears us of all unrighteousness. But after this justification and right-standing with God, we must continue then in his word and that can never occur if you are still possessed with a worldly/carnal mind. The operation of God occurs from the start of baptism to the acquisition of Christ's mind in us. [Phil. 2:5-7] Many Christians have no idea of the cost to the old man to bring out the new man, and resultantly, many have never allowed themselves to grow, but they have called themselves Christians anyway. Let me give you an example of what it takes to transform the mind to the things of Christ by giving you a personal academic example. I attended Law School for two years. I had attended UC Berkeley and attained my first degree (BA) in record time so that the school was astonished. I thought that by taking my Junior and Senior years in one year that I had the discipline to master law school. (And since I didn't have the money to go to undergraduate another year, that was the only way I could complete my studies. And by the grace of God I did what many thought was far too much.) When I attended law school, I was still working and going the school. But as a result of long hours of study, I was able to force myself to alter my way of looking at certain concepts and seeing them differently. That mind alteration took even longer hours of study (a weariness to the flesh) than I had been putting in while in undergraduate and working 40-hours a week. During the first year of law school, I studied from six to twelve hours a day, plus attended classes. Study became so much a part of me that when I had free time, I felt like I was wasting time. Weekends I took my books with me wherever I went, and on the weekend, I would see if I could get 36-hours of study into that weekend. I was not unique in that behavior; that is the way of the world for serious students! Most those who attend law school the first year drop out because of the rigor and discipline needed. This was also true when working on my doctorate degree (PhD). So radical and prolong were my study habits that my father cautioned me against long study. But having NOT come from a discipline or family culture of study, I had to immerse myself into it to alter the way I had been seeing academic matters, that is to open my eyes. This is just the natural focus. God and the things of God require greater focus. And many are unwilling to become spiritually violent to get the things of God. But they sings the songs of zion and about selling out to God, giving up the world to follow Jesus. And many have not even begun to fight, striving against sin and becoming like him. Still, the scriptures say, they run, but I have not sent them! To be perfect, we MUST have our minds renewed away from the world, the flesh, and the devil and turned unto the things of God. The next step after salvation is perfection, and perfection has steps to it as well, if we are to walk in the way of the lord or merely stand in that way of holiness. [Jer 6:16] I remember attending a brother's assembly approximately five years ago, and that brother remembered and said about me, "This brother was preaching stuff 20-years ago that most ministers have not come to even today." And that was perfection. But why is that true when God's word is clear on this and many subjects? The answer may be in the cost that is required. We want that which is easy, that which is quick, that which satisfies the flesh; we are still carnal. But the carnal mind is enmity/hostile against God, it is not subject to the law of God and neither can be. [Rom. 8:7] That is why our mind MUST be transformed. When you renew your mind, your eyes will become open to how you can actually grow into him--perfection. [Eph. 4:11-15] Without that renewed mind, you will say as the world says, "Ain't nobody perfect." That is the old man and his mind. That attitude simply says, "I will not become violent enough to take the things of God." And if you do not, you can never grow into him. (See the second installment of Perfection.)
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2004
The Truth of God