TWO CHOICES--AND THE FIRST ONE DOESN'T COUNT

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We began this series with this sentence: When your life is out of control and your back's against the wall, you need a faith-lift. Well as we continue working on giving you a personal faith-lift, we come to what many have called the Hall of Faith. It's found in one of the earliest writings in the New Testament in the book of Hebrews. In the eleventh chapter the writer of this book illustrates extraordinary faith exercised by simple, ordinary people with unusual results. Each of these illustrations is helpful in lifting your faith. It's ordinary people living extraordinary lives!

Hebrews 11 begins with a definition of faith: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

So, what is faith? Faith is the promise of God! Faith gives confidence of "things hoped for." Faith gives "conviction of things not seen." It makes things concrete and gives substance to the invisible! Faith gives us a connection with God, because by it we gain approval from God and by it we understand the miracle of creation-"that the universe was formed at God's command." Faith makes the promises of God a reality!

I like how The Message expresses it: The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd. By faith, we see the world called into existence by God's word, what we see created by what we don't see.

In essence you can say that faith is taking God at His word!

Faith is not only the promise of God; faith is personal! The writer of the Hebrews goes on to speak about Adam and Eve's two sons, Cain and Abel: By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

Again, The Message renders it this way: By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference. That's what God noticed and approved as righteous. After all these centuries, that belief continues to catch our notice.

These two brothers lived their lives before God differently. Cain was a gardener and Abel was a herdsman. Cain offered sacrifice to God as a ritual-something he was supposed to do. Abel offered sacrifice to God by faith with his first-fruits-something he wanted to do. So, Cain did what he did to get by while Abel's heart priority was for God. Therefore, Cain's offering to God was disapproved and Cain became mad at God and the world, ending in being silenced. Abel's offering was approved and still speaks today. Cain, because of his anger, killed his brother, Abel. And, even though Abel was put to death, he continues to speak today with this principle of heart-generated faith.

There is something else about faith. Faith is powerful! What makes ordinary people live extraordinary lives? I have found three basic ingredients: FIRST-People of faith keep changing their perspective; they see the God who is there! This is a decision of the will-your choice!

SECOND-They keep committing to personal programming-to hear what God says. This is a discipline of the mind.

THIRD-They keep centering the priority of their hearts on God-to know what God wants! This is a desire of the heart! With this decision of your will, the discipline of your mind, and the desire of your heart, your ordinary faith becomes powerful!

You've got two choices and the first one doesn't count! Either, like Cain, you lose God as priority of your heart and leave the presence of God. Then you've got a real problem!

Or, like Abel, you center on God as the priority of your heart and gain God's approval. Then you've got the real power to go through anything. Abel is a supreme illustration of the work of faith. No matter what you offer to God, you must bring it to Him with all of your heart.

So, it's not a ritualistic, religious act of the mind and body, but totally and wholly a relational matter of the heart. Remember, God looks on the heart and man looks on the outward appearance. So, how's your heart?

A FULL SYMPHONY OF LIFE

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The four clanging cymbals are not satisfying personally and are offensive to the watching crowd. God has a different idea. Instead of an orchestra filled with clanging cymbals, He has in mind a full symphony of life.

In Peter's second book in the first chapter, Peter reveals that God is all about preparing us for living the life He wants us to live. He says: His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

God through Jesus has already prepared us to participate in the dynamic of divine living with the ability of escaping the corruption that is in the world! He has done this by giving us His most special promises that we can count on.

In verses 8-11 Peter articulates the kind of promises God offers to us, if we will do certain things: For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if any of you do not have them, you are nearsighted and blind and you have forgotten that you have been cleansed from your past sins. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So, you can count on receiving these promises, if you add these qualities to your faith! If you possess these qualities and practice them, you will be effective and highly productive, you will not be blind in any way, you will be kept from stumbling and you will be given a special entrance into the Kingdom of Jesus. You will be welcomed and celebrated in a special way!

What are the qualities Peter lists? They are the eight qualities that we used to counter the four clanging cymbals. Let's take a look at them in context: For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-strength; and to self-strength, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

Each one builds on the preceding one. You start with faith. Then you add virtue, which is an initial commitment to follow through with your faith-to stand on your own two feet. To virtue (that initial commitment) add experiential, relational knowledge. Then add self-strength to your knowledge. At this point, you may feel you have it pretty much together. You have arrived at a certain level of self-strength.

It's at this point that you need to add perseverance. Just when you think you have it all together, you will find there are many other trials and tribulations you never ever experienced before thrown into your life. There is no amount of self-strength that can handle these. So, you must do all that you can; you must hold on for dear life or hang in there-perseverance. Then, after you have gone through the fires of these extraordinary trials and troubles, you will find that you will experience a new series of character qualities that will emerge in the midst of the trials. You are now taking on dimensions of godliness. What a satisfaction this is-to know you have gone through some of the worst experiences ever and you are rewarded for it by gaining some new and improved qualities in your life. It's at this point you understand that you cannot go through these struggles alone, but need to operate with a few others for support. This is brotherly kindness. The ultimate expression of a life that is growing and maturing is love-unconditional love. So, now you add this love to your faith. It's a full symphony!

These qualities are dynamic in that you may not be operating on all eight cylinders at any given time. And, you may be in the middle of cycling through these eight again. You may be working on knowledge and self-strength and find yourself rocking along. Or, you may be in a season of trials that have threatened to be overwhelming and all you can do is to add perseverance to your faith-to hold on for dear life and hang in there.

What I have seen is that you are somewhere along these eight qualities of life-cycling through them. The important thing is to know where you are right now and be able to anticipate what's next. No matter where you are along the way or where you may have left off, you must continue to get back to the music-to lay down your cymbals and keep playing your symphony.

Note what Peter cautions you to do. He says to make certain of your calling-that God is calling you. You see, even though in this passage you are urged to add these qualities to faith-you add them or literally: you lavishly supply them to your faith-walk, you are cautioned to keep your focus on who is calling the shots in your life. You are to add these things to your faith, but this is all in a heart response to the call of God upon your life. This is the essence of what discipleship is all about. Discipleship begins not with your choice, but with His call. Have you heard His call on your life? Are you listening for it?

THE CLANGING CYMBAL OF SELF-CONTROL

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In the struggle to "get over yourself" it's important to examine what I call the four clanging cymbals. A clanging cymbal is when what you say and do is absent the love of Jesus and therefore is a cymbal that doesn't make a certain and attractive sound, but an offensive, clanging sound. Each of the four clanging cymbals is countered by two of the eight qualities Peter lists as essential for being most effective and fruitful. The first clanging cymbal was SELF-DOUBT and was countered by FAITH and LOVE. The second was being SELF-DIRECTED and was countered by VIRTUE and BROTHERLY KINDNESS. The third clanging cymbal is SELF-IMPORTANCE and is countered by KNOWLEDGE and GODLINESS out of Peter's dynamic list in II Peter 1.

Today's clanging cymbal is SELF-CONTROL and is countered by two more qualities from this list-SELF-STRENGTH and PERSEVERANCE. We'll examine all eight of these qualities in the session tomorrow. So, we come to self-control. There is a delicate balance between you taking control and realizing that you are being empowered by the strength of God-strengthened enough in order to have a sense of self-control.

Remember a few sessions ago we discussed how our world is out of control. When your past is out of control, it's all about guilt. When your future is out of control, it's all about fear. And when your present is out of control, it's all about anger. Although these are deadly causes of human paralysis, they can serve you well. You see, if you know your life is basically out of control without God, you are in an advanced stage of maturity and growth. Once you understand and accept your powerlessness without God, you are at a balancing point and have a sense of being centered.

Self-control is misunderstood if you think you have the power to control your life. Some of the most "controlled" people I know are addicts. They believe with all their hearts that they can control their addiction and they cannot.

The term self-control is literally self-strength. This is an inner strength and discipline that you can bring to your faith. This is to be understood as a strength that must come from your Creator. Now, that kind of self-control is productive and strengthening. This is an understanding along with the Psalmist who wrote: Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. (Psalm 127:1)

We make the mistake of trying to appease God by giving Him all kinds of things-money, time, and checking off my list of performances. But God cannot empower you, if you think you have it all together. He wants to take your fragility and transform it into inner strength. Remember that Jesus came to reach out to those who were lacking, not those who had it all together.

Paul realized this when he shared his personal story with the followers of Jesus at Philippi. After listing out all of his accomplishments, he compared them to a pile of manure. He said that he saw it clearly that knowing Jesus and focusing on Him is the most important thing of all-all else amounts to a pile of manure.

PERSEVERANCE is the second quality needed to counter the clanging cymbal of SELF-CONTROL. Perseverance is the determination to hang in there no matter what. It's one thing to have the inner strength that only God can give; it's quite another to hold on to this inner strength and hold on for all its worth. That's perseverance. Many times things come upon us that we either weren't prepared for or just seem to be more than usual. It's at this point that only perseverance-hanging in there-can get you through it.

In the recovery community there is a great saying: "Don't give up one day before the miracle happens." You will get through it; now hold on! This goes along with what we discussed earlier: THE BEST WAY OUT IS THROUGH.

I want to sum all of this up with this: GOD wants your fragility before He wants your ability. When you are marked 'Handle with care', He can then strengthen your life to get through it all! So count on your Creator-God for your inner strength and hang in there!

THE CLANGING CYMBAL OF SELF-IMPORTANCE

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In the struggle to "get over yourself" it's important to examine what I call the four clanging cymbals. A clanging cymbal is when what you say and do is absent the love of Jesus and therefore is a cymbal that doesn't make a certain and attractive sound, but an offensive, clanging sound. Each of the four clanging cymbals is countered by two of the eight qualities Peter lists as essential for being most effective and fruitful. The first clanging cymbal was SELF-DOUBT and was countered by FAITH and LOVE. The second was being SELF-DIRECTED and was countered by VIRTUE and BROTHERLY KINDNESS.

Today's clanging cymbal is SELF-IMPORTANCE. Self-importance continues the "self" theme that we are so good at embracing. What do you think of yourself? If you think of yourself wrongly or in the wrong way, it means your certain destruction! Paul warns of this problem in his letter to the followers of Jesus in Rome. He says: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. (Romans 12:3) So, be careful to have a right evaluation of yourself.

The question is not so much "What do you think of yourself?", but "What does God think of you?" If you understand what God thinks of you-his unconditional love and acceptance, it means life and confidence and hope! In the world of Alcoholics Anonymous there is a term that says it all: stinkin thinkin! The Twelve Steps speak of the need of being restored back to sanity. Note the first three steps:

Step #1-We admitted that we were powerless over our problem-that our lives had become unmanageable. Step #2-Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Step #3-Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care and direction of God.

The people Jesus opposed the most were the religious leaders who definitely thought more highly of themselves than they should have. When you have a high level of SELF-IMPORTANCE, you will find that you have a few common tendencies:

1. The tendency to out-share all that you have done-to speak evangelastically about your life-to overstate who you are. 2. The tendency to outdo one another, being caught up in the deadly spirit of comparison and competition. 3. The tendency to outsell one another-to convert others to your way of thinking. 4. The tendency to out-story one another. This is usually evidenced by not really listening to others share, but just waiting for the opportunity to match the story being shared, which brings the attention back over to you.

The good news is that no matter what your tendencies are, God totally accepts you as you are and loves you unconditionally. The Creator-God sent His Son, Jesus, in the flesh so that we can have a personal relationship with God. That's the Good News!

The two qualities that we can use to counter the clanging cymbal of SELF-IMPORTANCE are KNOWLEDGE and GODLINESS. The quality of knowledge is not a knowing of a series of facts, but an intimate knowledge-a personal knowledge-a relational knowledge. In a very familiar passage Paul gives a four-step process on how to change your thinking about yourself that will directly counter your sense of self-importance.

FIRST-Offer your body-Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God-this is true worship.

SECOND-Overhaul your mind-Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.

THIRD-Obtain a servant's heart-For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

FOURTH-Operate in a group-For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.

Knowledge is all about knowing Jesus better-to know Him. And as you come to know Jesus better, you will experience an automatic adjustment with respect to your self-importance.

Godliness is the natural outflow of this Knowledge. If you aren't getting to know Jesus better, all you have to focus upon is your self. And if your focus is upon you, then you will not be displaying godliness, but you will tend to play God. Playing God leads to an attitude of comparison with and condemnation of others. However, if you come to KNOW Jesus personally, you will naturally be a walking expression of GODLINESS. Paul says that the mystery of godliness is nothing other than JESUS.

So, here is how these two qualities work to counter the clanging cymbal of self-importance. Knowledge is to know Him and Godliness is to make Him known. That's it-to know Jesus and to make Him known. It's not all about you and your importance; it's all about Jesus and His preeminence above everything.

THE CLANGING CYMBAL OF BEING SELF-DIRECTED

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In the struggle to "get over yourself" it's important to examine what I call the four clanging cymbals. A clanging cymbal is when what you say and do is absent the love of Jesus and therefore is a cymbal that doesn't make a certain and attractive sound, but an offensive, clanging sound. The first clanging cymbal was self-doubt. Today's clanging cymbal is being SELF-DIRECTED.

As I have often said, most of my life I have lived life my way for Jesus. I was definitely the leader. I didn't have a handle on what it might mean to wait for Jesus to lead out so I could follow. In other words, I struggled with and was losing the battle over being self-directed.

What I've come to realize is that God wants us to be ON CALL to do significant things for Him-even showing up for divine appointments. But instead of being on call, the natural tendency is to live our lives in a position of not being able to hear His call at all-busy signals, disconnections, interference, off the hook or just allowing our machines to answer. Since we haven't been positioned to hear from God or be on call with Him, the result is confusion. Confusion leads to conformity-going along with the crowd-and then comes a sense of complacency-going it alone.

So, the clanging cymbal of being self-directed is based upon two diversions-going along with the crowd and going it alone. Going along with the crowd means that you have no personal convictions or standards worth dying for. Worse than that, you have very little to personally and uniquely live for. Going it alone necessarily emerges out of going along with the crowd. You see, going along with the crowd is a way of avoiding any personal interaction and relatedness. You simply move the way the wind seems to be blowing at the moment without much thought on your part. So, you are already alone.

Do you see the inevitable outcome in your life if you are always going along with the crowd and going it alone? You have no one else (personally) to rely on. You are all alone and therefore self-reliant. This is why people like to claim they are self-made, but when I hear this I am tempted to say, "You knocked off too soon!" There is so much more to living than limiting yourself to being self-reliant and self-directed. And when you are self-directed, it's too easy to be driven by people, places and things that limit your drive and fulfillment in life.

SELF-DOUBT was countered by faith and love. The problem of being SELF-DIRECTED can be countered by two qualities as well. The first is virtue. This is the quality that was to be first added to your faith. Virtue is making an initial commitment to follow-through on your faith. It's a personal commitment to stand alone on your own two feet-to think for yourself!

The second quality is brotherly kindness. You are to stand alone on your own two feet, living within yourself, as you learn to walk with Jesus, but you cannot go it alone and expect to be satisfied with your life. There is a great need in your life to not only walk with Jesus, but to walk with others. You need their support and they need yours. In a real sense you become the answer to one another's prayers as you walk through life together.

By the way, this is what's at the core of Jesus' teaching on what the greatest commandment is. When asked to give His opinion on naming the greatest commandment, Jesus was unable to isolate it to just one. The reason for the difficulty is that the greatest commandment must be two-fold-first, to love God with all your heart, and second, to love your neighbor as yourself. To love God with all your heart is to focus on what He uniquely wants to do with you-to fully express the message of God, which is your purpose in life. You can't do this and go along with the crowd.

To love your neighbor as yourself requires that you don't go it alone in life. You need the community of family and friends to fully do life together. Note in this case, if you don't love yourself, your neighbor is in trouble. When you can love yourself, you are better able to love others. A great reminder of this occurs before takeoff on every airliner: Put your oxygen mask on first, and then you can help your children with theirs.

For me, virtue and brotherly kindness are the best counters to the problem of being self-directed and these two qualities are best summed up in how you see Jesus.

FIRST-You must see Jesus in you! This is a sensing of His presence in you. When you are aware of Jesus walking with you and residing in you, it's easier to seek Him out for His direction. Knowing Jesus is in you gives you a confidence to stand on your own two feet-to not go along with the crowd, because you know He is in you. You also know you are not alone.

SECOND-You must see Jesus with you! This is a sensing of His power with you. Because Jesus is with you, you can count on His empowerment in your life. In a very real sense, as you connect with others and touch them, you are being Jesus to them. Just as Jesus took on flesh and became man, you are now the flesh Jesus is taking on. Jesus is in and with you! We are not to give away some message to the world, trying to get others to believe it; we are to give Jesus away, for He is the Gospel.

THIRD-You must see Jesus in others! This is a sensing of His potential of being in and with others as He is with you. Jesus gives us the best example here, too. Jesus never saw a prostitute; He saw a woman deeply hurt in need of inner healing with the possibility of being free. Jesus saw something of great value in the maligned tax collector by the name of Zaccheus and invited Himself to go to lunch with him. Jesus saw something special in the woman at the well who had several husbands and the man she was living with was not yet her husband. What's interesting is that Jesus is attractive to so many who are in need and I think it's because of the way He looked at them and welcomed them. He was so safe in an unsafe world.

You have a choice. You can choose to be self-directed where it's all about you or you can choose to be directed by Jesus. He will direct you to stand on your own two feet with confidence (that's virtue), not going along with the crowd and He will lead you into relationship with others where you can experience brotherly love to counter going it alone.

The clanging cymbal of being self-directed can only be countered by being tied to Jesus while touching people-that's virtue and brotherly love. To sum it up, think in terms of: 1. Practicing the presence of Jesus in you! 2. Practicing the power of Jesus with you! 3. Practicing the potential of Jesus in others!

Then, you'll know Jesus is supernaturally directing you, where you will find freedom and infinite possibilities. Stick with being self-directed and you will be limited to your self.