Catherine’s Three Wishes – A Make-A-Wish Story | InspirationalArchive.com

Catherine’s Three Wishes – A Make-A-Wish Story | InspirationalArchive.com

What Is a True Christian? by Jeremy Walker

What Is a True Christian?

Article by Jeremy Walker  July 2011

A Christian is someone who has obeyed the gracious command of Jesus Christ, "Look to me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other" (Is 45.22). As one believing into Jesus, the individual who was once a lost and wandering sinner is made a new creation in Christ and a true disciple of the Lord: old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2Cor 5.17).

But how can you tell if you really are a Christian? How can you know if you have been born again? What are the definite marks of a new creation in Christ?

The apostle John addresses both the new birth and its evidences.  He wrote his gospel so that we might know that Jesus is the Christ, believe, and be saved (Jn 20.31). Later, he wrote his first letter so that believers might "know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God" (1Jn 5.13). John's first letter will help us to answer the vital question: "What is a true Christian?"

There are many things which the world - and many outwardly religious people in the world - assumes are certain marks of true Christianity. These things fool many into imagining that they are true believers when they are not. Even many Christians build their assurance on these things, and find that they fail them when they need them, because they form no sure foundation. These are inconclusive indications.

An excellent book by Gardiner Spring called The Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character suggests seven things that are not, in themselves, conclusive marks that a professed work of grace is true or false.

Visible morality. An outwardly upright character is no sure indication of love to God. A fair appearance does not necessarily indicate true heart righteousness (1Sam 16.7). There are many people who can maintain the facade of morality without ever possessing eternal life and developing true conformity to Jesus Christ.

Head knowledge (mere speculative knowledge or intellectual perception) as opposed to spiritual understanding of the truth (Rom 1.21; 2.17-20; Jas 2.19; 1Cor 2.14). It is possible to know a great deal about Christ without truly knowing Christ; a man can know a lot of the Bible, without ever bowing to the God of the Bible.

A form of religion. Many have the appearance of religion without the reality, the form without the power (2Tim 3.5; Mt 25.1-12; Is 58.2-3). The Pharisees are the prime example of such people: a great reputation for religion, but a heart far from God.

Eminent gifts. Some have great natural abilities (and, perhaps, verbal dexterity - the gift of the gab - is something that is often taken to indicate a heart for God), which they employ even in religious contexts (again, the gift of ready speech is one that people often mistake as a sign of true godliness). Balaam and Saul both enjoyed eloquent prophetic experiences without entering the kingdom (Mt 7.22-23). John Bunyan was known as "a great talker in religion" before he became a true believer, and several of his characters in Pilgrim's Progress demonstrate the same problem.

Conviction for sin. We must be careful here. Conviction for sin is necessary for salvation but not necessarily joined with salvation (note also that many Christians feel conviction for sin far more acutely after they are saved than before, and that some who are brought up in godly homes and converted young may have relatively little clear and distinct sense of sin). Awareness of and a sense of guilt concerning sin do not mean that a man is saved or will be saved (Jude 14-15). Ask King Saul, King Ahab, or Judas.

Strong assurance. There is a difference between believing you are saved and believing in Christ and therefore being saved. It is possible for someone entirely persuaded that they are right with God to be wrongly persuaded (Mt 3.7-9).

Notable time or manner of one's professed conversion. Even unusual and distinctive experiences do not demonstrate that one's profession of faith is genuine. There are some who live and die trusting in the memory of a moment - perhaps some warm and fuzzy feeling, or raising a hand or walking an aisle or responding to a call - without ever having known true spiritual life.

There is almost nothing more dangerous than to imagine oneself saved and yet to remain unsaved. There is nothing more blessed than to know oneself a Christian grounded on a solid foundation, as the Spirit witnesses in the heart and to the work he is accomplishing in those whom he indwells. To recognise these inconclusive indications for what they are liberates the true believer from the tyranny of mere subjectivism, and strips away the flawed and rotten supports on which we - and others - too often build our hopes.

What, then, are the Scriptural indicators that a genuine work of grace has taken place in the heart of a sinner? When John writes his letter, he does so in carefully-planned circles. Like an aircraft circling the same territory, John notes the same heart-terrain repeatedly. At least four indispensable indications of true Christianity become plain as we circle through John's letter.

The first indication is a humble and wholehearted embrace of the divine diagnosis of and remedy for sin (1Jn 1.7 - 2.2; 2.12-14; 3.5, 6, 23; 4.2, 9-10, 13-16; 5.1, 5, 10-13, 20). A Christian man has an accurate view of himself as a sinning sinner. He acknowledges the just judgments of a holy God (Ps 51.4; Lk 15.18; 18.13). This Spirit-wrought conviction of sin leads to genuine repentance as his heart breaks over his godlessness: he becomes revolted by his sin and turns from it and forsakes it because it offends the Lord God (Jl 2.12-13). With repentance is joined faith in Jesus as the Lord Christ is presented in the gospel in his might and majesty, his meekness and mercy. Faith receives Jesus, looks to Jesus, comes to Jesus, flees to Jesus, leans upon Jesus, trusts in Jesus, holds to Jesus, and rests upon Jesus. Let us remember that this is the essential point and gives birth to all that follows: the dying thief never had an opportunity to manifest the other three marks of saving faith (though he would have done had he lived), but still the Lord assured him, "Today you will be with me in Paradise" (Lk 23.43). Whoever trusts in Jesus, though he believes one moment and dies the next, has his life hid with Christ in God.

The second indication is a humble reverence for and joyful devotion to God and his glory (1Jn 1.3-5; 2.12-15; 3.1-2; 4.12-13, 19; 5.1-2). A radical reversal of priority has occurred: the idol Self is toppled and God reigns in the heart. A change has occurred: a heart that by nature is enmity with God (Rom 8.7) has been replaced by one that loves God entirely (Lk 10.37). The man who lived for self now lives for God, offering himself as a living sacrifice (Rom 12.1-2). Gratitude for grace received and delight in God himself issues in joyful service of the Lord of glory. This is a man convinced of God's excellent glory, for its own sake: he would, if called upon, serve without reward for he recognises God's worthiness to be served: Romans 11.36 seems entirely pleasing and proper to him, for God in Christ is now at the pinnacle of his thinking and feeling and doing. The testimony of such a man's heart is "Whom have I in heaven but you?  And there is none upon earth that I desire besides you.  My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Ps 73.25-26). He believes it, knows it, pursues it, and repents afresh because he does not know and feel and prove it more. He is concerned for God's name and God's people and therefore his time, energies, graces, gifts, faculties and efforts are consecrated to God, whether in the apparently spectacular or the genuinely mundane (1Cor 10.31). His chief end and great delight is to glorify God and to enjoy him now and forever. God in Christ is all in all to him, and he longs to know and feel and prove it more.

The third indication is a principled pursuit of godliness with an increasing attainment in holiness (1Jn 2.3-8, 15-16, 19, 29; 3.3, 6, 10, 24; 4.13; 5.2-5, 21). The hypocrite likes the reputation of holiness, but the true child of God is satisfied only with the substance. He considers his ways, and turns his feet back to God's testimonies (Ps 119.59). The world no longer sparkles as it did - or, at least, his attraction to it and affection for it have been fundamentally altered - and now he lives for God, called to be holy as God himself is holy (1Pt 1.16). The bonds to sin have been broken, and the persistent habit of unmortified sinning has been shattered because of his union with Christ. The new root brings forth new fruit (Mt 7.20; 12.33-35). His obedience - though not yet perfect - is universal (throughout the whole man), habitual (a regular and consistent part of life), voluntary (he does it willingly, not because he is forced) and persevering (he continues to pursue obedience to the end). He has taken up his cross, and continues to do so daily, as a disciple of a crucified Christ (Mt 16.24-25). He pursues Christlikeness - it is the burden of his private and public prayers. He increasingly manifests the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5.22-23); he has no love for the world (Jas 4.4); the previous pattern of conformity to, company with and compromise for the sake of the world is over (2Tim 3.4; 1Cor 16.33). This is not sinless perfection, but laborious progress. It does not mean that a Christian faces no battles but rather than he fights great battles, opposed as he now is to a raging and committed enemy of malice and power (Rom 7.13-25). Sometimes he wanders; sometimes he is on the back foot; sometimes, grievously, he backslides. However, the tone and tenor of his life is one of advance. The trajectory of his life over time is upward. The points plotted on his spiritual graph are not a seamless upward curve, and there are painful plateaus, but the line of best fit indicates persevering progress over time as sin dies and godliness is cultivated.

A fourth mark that John identifies is affection for and attachment to God's redeemed people (1Jn 2.9-11; 3.10-18, 23; 4.7-11; 4.20 - 5.2). This is more than natural affection (just liking them), mercenary attachment (what you can get out if it), party spirit (a gang mentality), or mere presence (just turning up at the right place at the right time). The true Christian loves God's people because they are God's people, even though they may be unlovely in themselves. In that sense, he needs no other reason, and yet he has several. He loves them because of what they are to God, loved by him and saved by Jesus, and it is therefore Godlike to love them. He loves them because of what they are in themselves, marked out increasingly by the image of God, by likeness to the Jesus whom he loves. He loves them because of what they are to him, members together with him of the one body of which Jesus is the saving and sovereign head (1Cor 12.12-14, 26-27). He loves not in word only: it is manifest in his thoughts and deeds (Eph 4.1-6, 12-16, 25-32). He is a true churchman: he does not simply "do church" but views and responds to the saints individually and gathered together with affection, commitment, service and investment. He is not a spectator but a servant, concerned not just to get out but to put in.

These four marks will invariably be present in a true child of God. They will not be perfect until glory, but they will be present now.

We cannot afford to be fooled, imagining ourselves saved when we are not. This is a most desperately dangerous condition to be in, and a devastating conclusion to daw. We do not need to be confused, either always doubting or building on a wrong foundation. We can know whether or not we are saved. John writes so that we can be sure, knowing ourselves saved and enjoying eternal life.

If these indispensable indications, these marks of a true believer, are not in your heart and life, then you are not a Christian, whatever you claim or imagine, and you should not fool yourself nor dishonour Christ by claiming his name without walking in his ways. You blaspheme Jesus and expose him to scorn by taking the label of a true believer but living apart from his gracious power and saving wisdom. The hypocrite gives other unbelieving men a reason to scorn and deride true religion by pretending to what he does not have. We see this written on a large scale when those professing to be a true church depart from the truth, teach their own concoctions, live without godliness, and give occasion for men to blaspheme. "Call that Christianity?!" No! No, it is not Christianity - it is an empty masquerade that gives opportunity for sinners to deride or despair of Jesus, which leaves your hands with the blood of men upon them, and which will ultimately damn you if you are not saved from it. It is better to know yourself outside than falsely to imagine yourself inside: you must therefore flee to Jesus, and acknowledge your need, repent of your sin, and trust in the Saviour.

But if these things are present in you and true of you then you are a Christian, and you should not dishonour Christ by denying the source of grace in you. Some doubting and fearful saints are terrified that they will lay claim to God's grace in Christ without having it, and so walk in shadow if not in darkness, robbed of joy and neither being blessed nor blessing others as they might. But consider: these things simply do not grow in the soil of the unregenerate heart, and to possess them without a Christian testimony is to know the privileges of the kingdom without wearing its livery. It might give the impression to some that the fruits of grace can grow in natural soil, and imply that unconverted men can attain to true godliness and genuinely Christian morality, and so prompt a despising of the work of God's Spirit. Others might be profoundly discouraged, imagining that a man can show marks of true holiness but not really be saved, and so wonder if they can ever truly testify, "I am his, and he is mine." Friend, if you have these things in you, then honour the God who put them there by owning yourself saved of God, and live accordingly.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Ps 139.23-24). If you need Jesus, go to him now and you will be saved.  If you have Jesus - if he has you - then hold fast, love him, serve him, and rejoice in him, for you are a child of God, and he will keep you to the end, perfecting that which he has begun in you.

Jeremy Walker is a pastor of Maidenbower Baptist Church. He blogs at The Wanderer and is co-author of A Portrait of Paul: Identifying A True Minister of Christ (Reformation Heritage Books, 2010).

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ISRAEL THROUGH GOD’S TELESCOPE

1. In November 1947, the United Nations recognized Israel’s right to renew
Statehood after a world-wide dispersion of almost 1900 years.
2. Israel has been preserved through immeasurable persecution while scattered among the nations, and (as a re-gathered nation) through several intensive wars aimed at her destruction.
3. The most frequent Bible promise concerns Israel’s physical re-gathering and spiritual restoration. For this to happen in 1947 was a incredible fulfillment of Biblical prophecy e.g. Deuteronomy 4:27/31, Hosea 14:4/7, Romans 11: 24/29 and Acts 3:21
4. Israel is assured of the coming prime position amongst the nations according to the Bible. (cf. Isaiah 60:1/3, 12/14, 62:1/2, Jeremiah 31:7)

7 REASONS WHY WE NEED TO PRAY FOR ISRAEL

1. GOD HAS NOT FORGOTTEN ISRAEL
“You are My servant; O Israel, I will not forget you.” (Isaiah 44:21)

2. WE HAVE ALL BENEFITTED FROM THEIR STRUGGLE
“Because of their transgressions, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel
envious.” (Romans 11:11)

3. WE HAVE A CONTINUING DEPENDENCE UPON THE PAST, PRESENT AND
FUTURE OF ISRAEL
“Consider this: you do not support the root, but the root supports you.” (Romans 11:17)

4. GOD LOVES ISRAEL – WE SHOULD TOO!
“Israel … I have loved you with an everlasting love.” (Jeremiah 31: 1/3)

5. GOD CALLS US TO SHOW MERCY TO ISRAEL
“That through your mercy they also may receive mercy.” (Romans 11:31)

6. GREATER BLESSING IS PROMISED THE WORLD THROUGH ISRAEL
“For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” (Romans 11:15)

7. REPEATED EXHORTATIONS IN THE BIBLE TO PRAY FOR ISRAEL’S PEACE & SALVATION
“My heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.”
(Romans 10:1 NIV)

“PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM! MAY THEY PROSPER THAT LOVE YOU.” PSALMS 122:6

We as Asian people of faith need to pray and support Israel, not politically, but spiritually. I am not writing this article for political reasons, but spiritual and humanitarian reasons. It was during World War II that many cities in China, Shanghai etc were made “cities of refuge” for despondent and exiled Jewish refugees who were escaping and hiding from Nazi Germany genocide of their people. I believe because the Chinese opened their hearts and homes hospitably to the Jewish people that it is one of the reasons God is blessing the growth and success of China’s nation today. When we show love to our neighbors, it is an act of love and an act of God. With the rising tension in the Middle East and the possible bombing of Israel from nuclear weapons in Iran, we must pray for this small, but powerful nation to be protected once again by God’s sovereignty.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Shalom,

Jaeson Ma

“Blessed is the nation who God is the Lord.”  — Psalms 33:12

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The Masterful Mind

The Masterful Mind(Romans 8:4-6 NKJV) That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (5) For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (6) For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
The decisive factor in Biblical EQ is the Mind of the believer. If it is set on the flesh and we are carnally minded the result is death. If it is set on the Spirit and we are spiritually minded the result is life and peace. Chapter after chapter in this book has demonstrated the truth of those two statements in Romans.
The previous chapters have laid the ground-work showing how our emotions flow from our perceptions and our beliefs and how they are affected by our physiological state. This chapter looks at the decisive act of setting our mind on things above, on the things of the Spirit, on mastery of our life and our emotions. Through the Mind we gain mastery. This chapter is about experiencing that mastery. 



Fight, Flight or Mastery

You may have heard of the “fight or flight response” that humans and animals have in response to threat. It does not take high level thinking to engage in the fight or flight response. Even the most unthinking of creatures such as an ant can make the decision whether to avoid an intruder or whether to stand their ground and fight. The fight or flight response is fast, rough, instinctual, and sometimes quite inaccurate. Mostly it is a useful instinctive response with high survival value, but it is not the stuff of wisdom, ethics, or the Spirit. Under the rush of the adrenalin that the fight-or-flight response releases people can quickly perform great feats of strength; they can also behave absolutely stupidly, because adrenalin signals the body to send blood away from the brain where it is needed for thinking and send it instead to the muscles, where it is needed for running and fighting.
When people combine these two aspects of the fight-or-flight response and quickly perform great feats of strength which are stupid , unthinking and ill-informed we have the groundwork for violence and tragedy. When societies give in to their instinctive fight or flight responses we see factions, disputes, wars and vendettas breaking out. Survival may seem to depend on the fight or flight response but true civilization depends on taming it and mastering it.
Why is the fight or flight response so destructive and if so why do we have it? I suppose initially it was not a bad thing. The fight or flight response was meant to operate in a human being who was connected to God. This connection would have moderated and altered the response. But now it isn’t so well connected and its become one part of us that has been most affected by the Fall. Cain was the first person in Scripture who was faced with the task of managing murderous rage (Genesis 4:7) – and he chose to fight instead. His descendant Lamech boasted of murder (Genesis 4:23,24) and by the time of the Flood his descendants had “filled the earth with violence” (Genesis 6:11). Trusting fallen human beings to choose self-mastery rather than fight or flight was a total failure. Eventually Moses came along with the Law, which pointed the way to what was right and wrong and gave very reasonable and agreeable limits for human conduct. The Law also failed.
Finally God sent His Son and the laws of God were written on our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 10:16) that we might become spiritual overcomers (Revelation 21:7). This has worked but even so it has been no easy task. Only re-establishing the connection with God has brought any measure of control to the fight-or flight response.
The problem with the fight-or-flight response in fallen humanity is that it eliminates choice and when you eliminate choice you eliminate all sorts of things like freedom, morality, love and decency. When the fight-or-flight response occurs blood flows to the hands and feet and away from the brain and huge shots of adrenalin and other hormones take over and the fast action control centers of the brain come into play and suddenly you are exploding at people, or running, or fighting. In common parlance your “buttons have been pressed” and you are just reacting at an entirely visceral and instinctual level. This is not a bad thing when you are running away from a charging rhinoceros. Speedy reactions may be a very good thing.
However in modern life the provocation that sets off the response may be a cutting remark or a threat to our ego in the office. The feeling of threat is enough to set off the entire chemical cascade that is known as the fight-or-flight response. Road rage involves people reacting to rudeness as if it were the proverbial charging rhinoceros. A minor incident becomes a matter of life and death. The perception of threat and the impact of adrenalin cause us to react without choosing our reactions. Startled people have accidentally shot their family members thinking they were burglars and soldiers have fired on their own troops through the sheer speed and inaccuracy of this response. You cannot be Christ-like and filled with rage and gut-level fight or flight responses. Neither can you be a timid, always retreating wimp soaring into anxiety attacks like a frightened bird at every alarming news item which one effect of the “flight” side of the response in modern life. The fight or flight response removes our ability to make wise, free and balanced moral choices and is definitely not the stuff on which Christian character is built.
[Lest I be misunderstood its not wrong to fight under some circumstances if it is a chosen and wise moral act. At other times its Ok to retreat and avoid certain troublesome situations as long as it is thought through, wise and moral to do so. The great biblical warriors like King David fought battles and won victories but they did so out of deep character not out of flash-pan rage. The military heroes of Scripture like Gideon, David and Jehosophat were people of mercy and thought and heart and balance. They were not just big bundles of anger walking around looking for a fight and they were not governed by the fight or flight response.]  



Mastery
The alternative to the fight or flight response is to achieve mastery of the situation. Jesus always demonstrated mastery of any and every situation He was presented with. He neither fought the soldiers who arrested him or fled them but rather throughout His entire trial demonstrated an amazing degree of personal mastery. At no point in His life did Jesus give in to the adrenalin-filled panic of a fight or flight response. He could have gathered an army but He did not. Perhaps He could have fled hostile Israel and gone to Greece and been welcomed as a philosopher, but He did not. There were times when He avoided Jerusalem because of the hostility and because His time was not yet come yet at no point did He react from instinct alone.
His actions were masterful, strong, wise and spiritual. His Spirit-filled mind had total mastery over His flesh and His instincts. This gave Him power, poise and a degree of personal authority that seems to have been the main aspect of His personality that people admired and is frequently commented on in the gospels. The following verses are just some of the verses that show how other people saw Jesus as having authority and how Jesus saw His own authority being used to master situations. (Matthew 7:29, 8:9, 21:23-27, 28:18-20, Mark 1:27, Luke 4:32, Luke 9:1, 10;19, John 5:27, 7:17, 12:49, 14:10, 16:13, 17:2)
Jesus was not thrown even by encountering the Devil in person. During the temptation in the wilderness Jesus met the Devil in a face-to-face spiritual encounter that must have been of incredible intensity. The Devil was out to destroy Jesus, he was malice incarnate, and he was beguiling, tempting, and pushing Jesus into a wrong response. Jesus neither fled nor fought. Jesus mastered the situation, resisted the temptations and used His authority to deal with the problem. Jesus did not flee. He mastered the temptation to avoid the encounter and thus preserve himself from possible spiritual harm. He faced the dangers of the Devil at full force. He stood His ground against pure evil. Jesus did not fight. Jesus did not launch into an aggressive tirade against Satan. There was no raw and red-necked stream of spiritual vitriol directed against the Devil. Instead Jesus defeated Satan through the calm use of God’s authority based on God’s Word. Jesus mastered the situation.
The biblical example of Jesus in the wilderness shows us that even if we think a situation is utterly evil and threatens our health, identity and success (as the wilderness temptations did for Jesus) that we do not need to get upset and become reactionary. Nor do we need to pack our bags and run. We just need to calmly and authoritatively expose that situation to the truth of Scripture and the authority of God. We want to end up moving through life as Jesus moved through Israel, and cope with our pressures and threats as he coped with His.
When I speak of mastery I am not speaking of sinless perfection. Mastery is more like a combination of faith, courage, decisiveness and balance. It is having spiritual authority, poise and power in all situations. It asks questions such as: How can we tackle every situation in life as if it were the perfect golf shot? How can we master every threat and every frustration with grace, power and poise? How can we move through a grossly unjust trial without losing our cool? How can we forgive those that nail us to the cross? Of course these reactions are the supreme achievements of a Perfect Life. They are what made Jesus the spotless Lamb of God. While we may not always achieve them we can aspire to them and discipline our minds toward them.
Lets move from the cosmic to the comical and consider my attempts at playing golf. As an under-funded missionary I do not own golf clubs or have a golf membership but once every few years I am dragged out onto a golf course by a friend. When the ball lands in the rough, as it often does, I have three possible responses – fight, flight or mastery. I can become depressed at the difficulty, give up on the shot and pay the penalty – that is the flight response. I can hit wildly with all my might and try and blast it out of there – that is the fight response. Or I can call up my considerable golf prowess, concentrate carefully, keep my eye on the ball, visualize the wonderful trajectory it will take and get it out of there with just the right touch. This is the mastery response and as you may well guess it is the most difficult response and the hardest to perfect. I rarely get it right, but it is the one I wish to practice and reinforce. There is really no other possible choice since the other two responses just lead to failure. Mastery is the hardest choice but it is the only choice that goes anywhere. 



The Mind

I need to spend a few paragraphs defining what I mean by “Mind” before we go too far and get confused. By the Mind I do not mean various individual thoughts or mind as intellectual activity or a set of intellectual abstractions. I mean mind as the entire mental framework of the person. We use the word Mind this way in the phrases “single-minded” or “open-minded”. Mind in this sense is an inner state of consciousness that has certain properties. The mind is controllable and can be focused by the believer. Paul asks us to set our mind on various things such as the Spirit, things above, and the pursuit of maturity so the mind is something we can focus on God.
For those of you who enjoy Greek the phren word family phroneo, phronema and phronesis , phronimos is in view here. Thus the mind is that part of our total consciousness and awareness that we have some control over. In this definition it does not include dreams or the sub-conscious. The sub-conscious is part of our mind in a larger sense but not part of it in this narrow sense we are using it here because we have no real control over the subconscious and cannot discipline it or focus it. Neither is mind in this sense the scattered thoughts that drift in and out of a person who is daydreaming or watching TV. Of such people we sometimes say “their mind was switched off when they watched the movie”. Their inner consciousness was inactive. Thus the mind is what thinks when you do some real thinking.
The mind is where you receive and mull over wisdom and where you make real choices about your actions. That’s your mind. It is that part of your consciousness that you can control and exert and which bears a close relationship to the “real you”.
Throughout this book I will keep saying that the mind is the only part of our consciousness that we can control, and therefore it is of vital importance. I do not mean to imply that we are all mind or that the mind is superior, rather it is part of an integrated whole which it directs. The mind is like the wheel on the bridge that controls the rudder of a ship. The navigator plots the course and then the wheel is turned to a definite bearing and the ship holds that course. The course of the entire ship is determined by where the captain’s wheel is set. The wheel is the only part of the ship that can be focused on a direction or course of action. The engine will drive the ship anywhere, the cargo hold does its job, the air-conditioning makes it bearable but the wheel, connected to the rudder sets the entire direction and destiny and decides which port the ship will go to or even if it will be shipwrecked through carelessness. The mind is that part of us which we can steer and which we can plot our course with. It’s the only part of us that can do that job. Therefore it is decisive.
We need to love God with our whole being – mind, spirit, soul, and strength, and all these parts of us are vital and important but it is the mind that directs the spirit, or the soul, or our energy and strength onto God and His purposes. The mind is the critical point where the decisions are made and the course committed to.
The mind in the sense of the phren word family generally means the wisdom and understanding especially of the righteous (Luke 1:17, Ephesians 1:8). This mind be set on various things. When Jesus rebuked Peter he said he was “not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." (Matthew 16:23, Mark 8:33), the legalistic Romans nit-picking about food and drink were literally “rules-minded” in the Greek (Romans 14:6). The mind can be set on the flesh or the Spirit (Romans 8:5,6) and things above (Colossians 3:2) or on earthly things (Philippians 2:19), which caused Paul to weep. Due to the renewing and infilling of the Holy Spirit we can even have “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:14-16) and when we are humble servants we have a mind like Christ’s (Philippians 2:5). On the other hand we can have a childish mind (1 Corinthians 13:11, 14:20) Unity of mind is important and Christians are to be one-minded and like-minded. (Romans 12:16, 15:5, 2 Corinthians 13:11) This word family can also mean the careful, prudent mind, that which thinks of others, the mindful and thoughtful person (Philippians 1:7, 4:10) though the word “mind” is rarely used in English translations of this aspect.
Thus it is clear from the New Testament that the sort of mind we end up with is entirely our choice. We can focus or mind on God’s interests or man’s interests, the Spirit or the flesh, the things above or earthly things. We can choose to be humble, like-minded, unified and thoughtful of others or we can choose to be puffed up, childish, contentious, worldly and carnal. 



Mastery and The Mind
Mastery is a product of the focused and disciplined mind bringing the whole person into submission to an over-riding ethic or ethos. Throughout history everyone from Zen monks to Spartan warriors and corporate traders have discovered this. People have become masterful human beings by disciplining themselves in all sorts of pursuits from archery to fencing to philosophy. That is why competitive sports, while trivial in themselves, have shaped many a person for the better. The somersaults of a champion gymnast are in themselves quite pointless. They don’t feed the hungry or make any great philosophical point. Its not doing somersaults that makes the gymnast great but the discipline he or she puts in. The sport builds mastery and mental strength into the gymnast so that when the days of gymnastics are over the character remains. Another point, the focus must be external to self. The gymnast does not find self-mastery by focusing on self-mastery. He or she finds self-mastery by focusing on somersaults.
The mind is the only part of our consciousness that we can focus and direct therefore it is the only part of us that can give us mastery. A million dollars will not give you personal mastery. People who win the lottery often end up poor because of their lack of personal mastery. The money has not made them masterful. A strong body will not give you mastery except of certain physical skills. Athletes can be enslaved to alcohol or drugs. Education will not give you personal mastery, there are many well educated people who are small-minded and weak-willed. Willpower won’t give you mastery as the will can simply become stubborn and inflexible, unable to adapt to changing situations and thus lead to inevitable defeat. Even religion won’t give you mastery. Many people are enslaved by cults, caught up in bondage to religious guilt or overtaken by idolatry and superstition. Only the adaptable, flexible, trained, focused and disciplined mind can bring mastery.
Please be clear about this, I am not advocating mentalist philosophies, mind science, Christian Science, or think and grow rich kinds of mental mastery. They are half-truths. The mind is not a terribly significant force in itself. The mind does not have the ability to create heaven or hell as Blake thought. God creates Heaven and Hell. Reality is His creation, not ours. The mind does not create the world but it does enable us to move through it with poise and power. The mind is not God. The mind works best when it is set on God. In biblical terms personal and emotional mastery is a product of the mind set on God and imbued with His Word and authority. The unaided mind operating alone by itself cannot produce mastery of the kind we see in the life of Jesus Christ. For that kind of mastery we need more than positive thinking. We need a direct connection to God and the mind must be resolutely set on God, on the Spirit, on things above, on the Kingdom, and the righteousness thereof. 



Directing The Christian Mind
So we see that we are faced with three universal truths: Firstly that personal mastery is the only wise option. Secondly that such mastery is solely a product of the mind. Thirdly that the mind becomes masterful as it is disciplined and focused on something outside itself. This book maintains that the highest degree of mastery can only be attained when the ‘something outside itself” is God. You can achieve a sense of mastery by focusing your mind on fencing or gymnastics or horse-riding but you won’t end up like Jesus just by focusing on those things. The mind must be directed onto Christ. That is its proper place.
This directing of the mind is a forceful and decisive activity. It is hard to put into words. It is not concentrating on Christ, neither is it speculating about Christ or studying or daydreaming about Christ. It is not even thinking about Jesus as such. It is not an internal, reflective or meditative process. It’s similar to standing outside yourself and directing yourself onto Christ. Its like standing at the top of a high-dive tower and looking down and plunging in with total commitment. It’s choosing where your life energies will be focused and your mental processes directed. It’s like going outside yourself but towards Christ at the same time. I suppose you could call it faith, or at least faith is very much involved in it. I am stuck for an analogy. It’s a little like those missiles that lock onto their target or a cat focused on a mouse.
The whole of the mind is fixed on Christ and directs the total life energies of the believer in that direction. As this focus is attained everything else is entrained, the emotions, the will and the responses. Just as someone absorbed in a video game entrains all their concentration, emotions and will into the game so a Christian absorbed in Christ, with their mind set on the Spirit, inevitably brings their whole life into conformity with Jesus.
It may not be immediately obvious but when we direct our mind to a purpose it means that we commit ourselves to the rules and techniques that the particular purpose requires. For instance in writing this book I must follow the rules of the English language. I am hardly conscious of that because I have internalized many of the rules. Now and then the spell-checker or grammar checker on this computer alerts me to where I am going wrong. Then I correct it. That is part of writing, part of the project, and part of being focused on writing a book. Following the rules of English grammar is not bad or awful. It’s not a restriction on my freedom or a legalism or a lack of grace. It’s just required. Mastery of anything means sticking to the rules. Similarly, following Jesus has rules. Submission to the commandments of Jesus Christ is not optional if we are to stay focused on Christ and know life and peace. Obeying these commandments is not the whole of the Christian life but they are part of the discipline of the Christian life. They make it flow and if you are to have mastery in the Christian life you must decide to obey the rules. You cannot just make up the spiritual life as you go along any more than you can decide to reinvent English grammar every time you write.
Deciding to totally set your mind on Christ and achieve total life mastery is the very hardest thing you will ever do. But what are the alternatives? To potter along lamely is not much of a life. To refuse it totally is to go into eternal darkness. But the effort seems tremendous, the focus too narrow and the rules too hard. The focus must be kept and we are unruly. We are prone to distraction. We are far too easy on ourselves. We don’t want to get up and practice. We want heaven from our armchairs. So we make a commitment to Christ, then that fades, then another one, then a spiritual breakthrough, and then a slack patch. We are all over the place. Our minds are set on ourselves, or on our finances, or on the opinions of the Christian community or on the success of our ministry. We find easier goals and substitute foci. We become anxious, stressed, harried and spiritually weak. We need to come to a point of final decision where we look at the mess, pull ourselves together and decide with all that is within us to focus ourselves totally on Christ alone and pursue single-minded, focused, disciplined mastery.
People are drifting around in ministry without a real and solid connection to God because the cost of staking everything on God is too high. You must come to that decision. The Christian life is unlivable without it. You cannot dabble in the eternal. You must commit totally to it and direct your mind to it. 


Prerequisites For Self-Mastery
The absolute prerequisites of spiritual progress are that you are born-again with a new nature from God, that you have the filling of the Holy Spirit and that you are single-mindedly devoted to God in obedience to His word. Without these three things you do not stand a chance.
Unless you are born-again you do not have a new nature. Without the new nature it’s an impossible job. If you are not Spirit-filled and led by the Spirit in your daily life then you will not have power over the flesh (see Galatians 5:16-18) and you will struggle continually and lose continually. If you are not single-minded you will be double-minded and double-minded people receive nothing from the Lord (James 1:5-8). You will be left wallowing in your doubt and indecision. These three things are the basics. Before I go on to talk about techniques in self-mastery you must have these three things in your life or be prepared to have these three things in your life as soon as possible.  

Practical Techniques For Emotional Self-Mastery

Its fine to talk about the need for a personal relationship with God and having one’s mind set on things above but how will that keep someone from exploding next time someone cuts them off on the highway? What are the practical tips for mastering our fight-or-flight response and for mastering life?
There are thus two levels to emotional self-mastery. Firstly we must set up the foundations of the new self and the God-focused mind. That renews our connection with God and sets up some spiritual lines of control over the fight or flight response. Then we must learn the practical details of responding to life intelligently and wisely.

· Pay attention to your physical state. If you realize that your fists are clenched and your neck is rigid and you are physically tensed up and alerted for danger then try to undo those physical states. Unclench your fists, rub your neck, relax your posture. The fight or flight response is partly a physical response and as we undo its physical correlates it will lose much of its power. Perhaps try and relax or use deep breathing if you are tense, guarded or explosive.
· Be aware of the magnitude of your emotional responses and the quick “zoom” to anger or anxiety that the fight or flight response produces. Learn to recognize when you are zooming to disaster and practice keeping a lid on it.
· Take time to think. Use your God-given right to choose your response. Do not just respond on auto-pilot. Once you stop and think you are far more likely to choose a good and much more optimal solution.
· Disengage. If you have started to move into attack mode pull back the troops! Go for a walk, cool down. Have a pray about it.
· If you are going into a situation that you know aggravates you (such as dealing with an annoying person) try to make a conscious decision about how you are going to react in that situation. Then rehearse your balanced and biblical reaction over and over in your mind. Perhaps seven times or seventy times seven? (see Matthew 18) Train yourself mentally to react rightly just like professional golfers ‘see the ball going in the hole’ even before they make the shot. Use mental rehearsal to disarm potential conflict situations.
· In the converse of this - don’t mentally rehearse the wrong response. Don’t see in your mind’s eye a picture of yourself strangling the boss of the phone company. It may be very satisfying but it is not helpful. It is educating yourself in the wrong direction.
· Use the ‘what would Jesus do?” question as a quick reference.
· Question your perceptions of threat. Is this really a life or death issue? Am I getting tensed up over nothing? What does it say about me if I am so easily riled? Or on the flight response: Is it really that bad? Is the world going to end over this? Is this fear, anxiety and emotional reactivity helping me? Has running away from things helped or hindered my life?
· Learn to find your emotional center and to live from it and to know when it is in balance and out of balance. This is quite difficult for many people.
· Some people will push you wanting you to explode so they can take advantage of your immature reaction. Be alert to this and deliberately react the opposite way they are pushing you. (1 Corinthians 4:12) For instance when they revile you greet them with a blessing. (1 Peter 2:23 NKJV) who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;
· Remember that when you react rightly to unjust treatment that “great is your reward in heaven”. So rejoice and give yourself a pat on the back when you keep your cool. Positive reinforcement for good behavior. (Matthew 5:11)
· Do not return evil for evil. (Romans 12:17) Keep a lid on your desire to retaliate. Leave retaliation to the Lord. (Romans 12:19) If we return a blessing instead we will inherit blessing. . (1 Peter 3:9).
· If people rip you off and insult you don’t escalate it into a life or death struggle over honor and pride. This is what Jesus means when He says “do not resist him who is evil”. (He does not mean that the police should not arrest robbers!) Rather it means “don’t let the evil person push you into a full-scale, adrenalin packed, fight or flight response”. Deny the natural man’s urge to strike back. If he slaps you, turn the other cheek, if he takes your cloak, let him, if he makes you walk a mile, go two. If he says “give me money” let him have some. (Matthew 5:38-42). Deny your reactivity and show you are made of different stuff.
· Don’t let unkind, ungrateful, stingy, mean or small-minded people get to you. God is merciful to the unkind and ungrateful and we have a great reward in heaven when we do likewise. (Luke 6:35) Brush their meanness to one side without taking it too personally and treat them as well as you can with reasonable safety (because some are quite toxic).
· Do not get your ego hooked into the game of “Christian comparisons”, my church is bigger than your church etc. This only leads to fuming and fighting.
· Do not let theology push you into fight or flight mode. For instance “I won’t study the Second Coming its too contentious” (flight response) or “You are a heretic and I will torch you verbally since the law won’t allow me to burn you at the stake” (fight response). The mastery response is to learn about the Second Coming and other aspects of theology and grow in God and only debate under circumstances that are harmless to the hearers (such as with good friends in the ministry) unless of course there is an urgent apologetic reason. Even then your speech should be seasoned with salt.
· Learn correct responses by modeling mature Christians and by studying the heroes of the faith.
· Make a personal commitment to grow in this area.
· Have some friends keep you accountable for your reactions and encourage you to maturity.
· Enjoy the feeling of grace rather than the feeling of explosive emotional power.  


Overcoming Paralyzing Fears
The flight part of the fight-or-flight response has not received a lot of attention so far. Its not as dramatic and many people simply dismiss it as weakness or nerves. When it blossoms into fully-fledges agoraphobia people disconnect from life for fear of giving a panic attack in public. Fear can create a state of life that is almost unbearable. The person becomes over-reactive, nervous, withdrawn and anxious and may be filled with phobias and obsessions. Dr Claire Weekes has done some wonderful and compassionate work on this and every pastor should read her books which are listed under “agoraphobia” in the reference section at the back. Below I will summarize, very briefly and perhaps a little roughly and inaccurately, the central points of her work.
Life circumstances cause the person to reach, at some point in their life, a point of nervous exhaustion in which fear that already exists cannot be suppressed or controlled by the will and during which new fears can be easily implanted. (See the section on stress in the previous chapter)
Strange frightening thoughts then appear in a tired mind. The person worries about these thoughts. This further activates the fight or flight response and exhausts the person and so they have even less energy to control their fears with. More fears then surface, the person then worries, and so on in a vicious circle. The strange thoughts in the tired mind eventually reach such an intensity that they lead the person to the threshold of panic. A small incident then triggers a full-scale panic attack, which, if this spiral continues, may become the first of many.
Mastering such fear means moving away from the fight or flight response. Instead of trying to fight the fears or run away from them they are just accepted. This position of not fighting and not running away disengages the fight or flight response, lowers the adrenalin levels and helps the person think. They are encouraged to go slowly because the need to “hurry” or take action activates the fight or flight response. They are encouraged to rest, eat properly and recover strength and get over their prior depletion. This enables then to get some perspective on their fears. They are told that the only way to deal with fear is going through it and her famous phrase “even jelly legs will get you there” has helped man agoraphobics. Of great importance is floating through experiences.
The problem with fearful people is they engage life too tightly. When you grab life too tightly it bounces you round and you end up either struggling with it or fleeing from it. A bit of detachment can lead to peace of mind and Claire Weekes teaches “floating through” normally traumatic experiences such as shopping in a large mall. The person floats through the shop door, floats around the store, floats up to the counter, floats out the money and pays for the goods and floats out again. The person is slightly detached but not dissociated from reality and is able to do the task that was impossible before. Dr Weekes has reduced a whole lot of complex medicine to four short phrases that are of great help to those who have panic attacks - and to the rest of us as well!
1. Face, do not run away.
2. Accept, do not fight
3. Float, do not tense.
4. Let time pass – do not be impatient with time.
Hints on working these out in your life are contained in her excellent books which are listed in the reference section. Mastery of fear means setting the mind in the right stable position. We set it into the situation but without fighting it. We are calm. We are like Tiger Woods looking at a golf ball in the rough. Its no big deal, small problem, he can handle it. Neither are we tense. Some people believe that being tense is being responsible; being tense means you are putting the effort in. That is a mistake; being tense ruins the golf shot and also ruins life. Jesus was not a tense person and Jesus was the most responsible and committed person who ever lived. And mastery means letting time pass. Jesus never seemed to care about time, Abraham and Moses took years, seemingly wasted years. By letting time pass we actually use it best. The people who look the most hurried and who have the most time-consciousness with their organizers are generally the junior executives. The members of the board seem unhurried. Thoughtful, careful, responsible and wise, but unhurried. There is a lot of spiritual wisdom for anxious people in the four phrases above. As an exercise think of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and during His trial using the four concepts above – facing, accepting, floating and letting time pass. Before I leave the topic of fear I want to deal with a peculiarly Christian form of fear – reacting to new and powerful spiritual experiences.  



Reacting To New And Powerful Spiritual Experiences
New and powerful spiritual experiences often activate the fight or flight response. The result is over-reaction, division, fear and anxiety. I hope you can see that there is no place for angry, reactionary responses or panic stricken flight from strong emotions or unusual spiritual experiences. Flapping around wildly is not the correct response. Rather we need to analyze that emotion or experience in the light of Scripture holding to what is good and rebuking that which is evil. Discernment is a mastery response not a fight or flight response.
Because we are creatures and not the Creator we have a certain inbuilt dread and fear of the numinous. The old writers talk of “the dread of God”. The powerful and the spiritual evoke emotional reactions within us and those reactions are often immature. We become reactive and fearful unable to cope with emotions and experiences that are unfamiliar to us. Instead, when evaluating a new teaching or experience we should say “I’m a mature person with a good brain and I know the Scriptures fairly well, I’ll just sit back and watch, I’ll hold to the good bits I find here and reject the junk, I don’t have to fear what’s going on. I’ll pray for protection and discernment, stay within my boundaries and work it out as I go along.”
We can need to accept that we are complex creatures with complex emotions in a complex world created by a God far beyond our comprehension and that sometimes we will encounter things that rattle and disturb us. We need to accept the experience “as is” then evaluate it in the light of Scripture, holding to the good and discarding what is of evil.
Avoiding a black and white stance where its got to be “all of God” or “all of the Devil” is important. People who take black and white stances lump people into one category or the other and thus have very blunted discernment. “All X are Y” is frequently incorrect. For instance not all Arabs are Muslims, and not all Muslims are terrorists, therefore “All those Arabs are evil terrorists” is not true and is a very poor judgment. Similarly “All Baptists are legalistic” or “All Pentecostals are flakes” are untrue stereotypes. Thus black and white stances are poor discernment and lead to damaging evaluations and serious mistakes in judgment. Jesus never named an opponent or launched a personal attack against an individual. Rather in every debate He found the good (do what the Pharisees tell you) and dismissed the evil (but do not do as they do). See Matthew 23:2,3
Lets apply this. Suppose you hear a sermon that is in major error what should you do? Leave the church and never return (flight) or talk to everyone indignantly and start a church split (fight) or seek a peaceful but powerful solution (mastery)? The person with a good biblical EQ would work out carefully what was incorrect and then talk it over with their pastor and if he or she did not respond would take the matter to other responsible leaders in the church in a peaceful and caring fashion.
To give a further teaching example how should we react to a controversial theologian like John Spong? A wise approach is to write against the controversial doctrine without attacking the person. We can defend the truth of the resurrection and expose the error of wrong facts, theology and logic without engaging in personal attacks or feeling overwhelmed by heresy. Our stance should be emotionally mature, clear, authoritative, biblical and balanced. The emotionally competent Christian should never fight (do not resist him who is evil); nor should we flee (when you have done all, stand) rather we should demonstrate courage, self-mastery, integrity, power and competence when these various challenging doctrinal situations arise. 



The Problem Or The Solution

Fear looks for the problem but faith looks for the solution. Fear generates the fight or flight response but faith generates intelligent thinking and personal mastery. In this section I want to talk about being “solution-focused” as an alternative to being “problem-focused” and as a way out of the fight or flight spiral and as a huge step towards personal mastery.
I first came across this concept in the work of William Hudson O’Hanlon and Michele Weiner-Davis in their book “In Search of Solutions” which looks at a new approach to brief family therapy. It’s a brilliant book and I highly recommend it. It has revolutionized my clinical practice. However I have as usual sought to go a ‘bit deeper” and seek its application to the Christian life and it is my conclusions, based on reflecting on their work, that I will present here.
Their concept is that instead of trying to analyze the problem down to its last detail, we should instead search for the solution. A youth in trouble with the police was brought to one of them for counseling. So instead of asking “why do you break the law” they asked “when don’t you get into trouble?”. The youth replied “when I play football”. How often can you possibly play football the counselor replied? Soon the youth was playing football and other sports in his every spare moment. He was not getting into trouble any more because the time that has been given to doing bad things was now given to doing harmless things. They found a solution. In just two sessions of counseling his delinquent behavior was reversed. But if the therapists had taken the “find the problem” route they would still be analyzing his childhood and he would still be in trouble with the police.
Imagine two motorists in identical situations with their tires punctured by nails. Problem-Focused Pete bends down and finds the nail in the tire and says “Why was that nail in my tire?”, he then searches around for sources of nails. Finding none he walks around looking for where the nail may have come from in the life history of the road. Finally he sends the nail off to the government analytical laboratory hoping to get to the source of problem. Meanwhile his wife and kids are furious but Problem-Focused Pete leaves them in the now hot car because he must get to the source of the problem. A few days later the answer comes back from the government laboratory and Problem-Focused Pete is till there, by the side of the road, searching for where the nail came from. Solution-Focused Sam gets a puncture, says “how can we fix this”, gets out the jack and the spare, fixes the tire and is on his way in five minutes. It’s a lot less intellectually satisfying but his family is eating pizza soon after, while the other one frets by the highway.
Sometimes in counseling we end up so focused on the problem that we miss really obvious solutions. Instead of getting our clients on the road as soon as possible we end up analyzing the nail to bits. Being solution-focused means looking for the solution, not focusing on the problem; finding the way forward for people and situations, not getting stuck in the “blame game”; stopping doing things that don’t work and continuing to do things that do work. Doing more of what works and succeeds and less of what does not work and just frustrates.
Some of the basic concepts as I understand them are:
Just find a solution. Don’t ask why the stream is flooding or sit around analyzing the water quality – just find the bridge and walk across.
Avoid the paralysis of analysis. If you puncture the tire on your car with a nail don’t analyze the nail, change the tire.

Don’t see problems everywhere. Learn to see solutions everywhere.
Big problems sometimes have really simple solutions. Scurvy was a huge problem among sailors for centuries and the British Admiralty refused to believe that fresh fruit was the solution saying “such a large problem cannot have such a simple solution”. It took the death of one third of the British navy from scurvy in one year and the urging of Captain James Cook to get the Admiralty to see that big problems sometimes have easy solutions.
If you do what you have always done you will get what you have always got.
Ask what is working and do more of it. Discover the positive and reinforce it.
If it’s not working stop doing it. If its futile, its futile.

Don’t fix the blame – fix the problem.

Forget about reacting to the problem and just start searching for the solution.

The person who is chronically poor and unable to pay their bills does not need to ask: “Why am I poor and unable to pay my bills”. That will just lead to them blaming themselves, their wife, their parents, the government, their employer and God. They do need to find a solution and ask the questions: “How can I best bring my finances under control? How can I make myself wealthier? How can I solve this financial mess?” The solution focused approach will work better and faster than all problem-focused analysis of their poverty.
When we become problem-focused we start finding people to blame and enemies to accuse or we get wound up over the size of the problem. Basically we soon end up in fight or flight mode. When we start searching for solutions we start thinking, we start using our mind, we start praying, we start digging into the Scriptures, we ask for wisdom, we tally our resources and we move forward step by step in faith believing that God has a solution. In other words we start marshalling our resources towards mastery.
Jesus had an amazingly solution-focused approach to life. There was always a solution. There were no “problems” for God. In the gospels Jesus says “nothing is impossible with God” or “all things are possible with God” a total of nine times. Jesus finds solutions for blind people, lepers, demon-possessed Legion, Lazarus in the grave, five thousand hungry listeners and a boat full of disciples on a stormy sea. Whatever the problem there was always a solution and the solution always gave glory to God. The faith of Jesus searched for, found and activated solutions.
Jesus never gave a long-winded analysis of things when the disciples asked “Why”. In John chapter nine when they asked “why was this man born blind, who sinned, him or his parents” He cut them short. The analysis was not needed and not helpful. What was needed was a solution that would give glory to God. So Jesus healed the blind man. Jesus did not teach His disciples to analyze problems and write treatises on them. He taught them how to provide solutions by healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers and preaching the Kingdom of God. (See Luke chapters 9 & 10).
Obviously a fairly basic level of analysis is needed. You do need to identify if the person is blind or lame or demon-possessed so you can know what to do. But you don’t stop right there with the analysis. You move from the analysis, by faith, to the solution. This is where mastery comes in. To move through life with mastery is to be able to see the solutions in every situation and to implement them to the glory of God. This requires a changed mindset. Instead of a fearful, helpless, analyzing, quarreling and useless mind we need one that is bold, and confident and faith-filled and solution-seeking and this can only come through the power of the Holy Spirit as the mind is fixed on God.


Conclusion

We are to move away from the visceral and self-defeating reactions of the fight or flight response to the noble, practical, solution-focused and faith-filled responses of the sanctified believer. The instrument for doing this is the mind. The mind is the only part of our consciousness that we can focus and deploy. We can use it to stop automatic responses and to master our emotions. We can focus it on God and things above and be connected to His eternal power. We can use it to give us poise and power when we face our fears and to search for positive faith-filled solutions to pressing needs so as to give glory to God. The disciplined, focused mind is the only instrument we have to bring us out of our messy emotions and into life and peace. Mastery is the only wise alternative and mastery comes from the mind and the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. The next section will deal with getting a handle on our emotions; first identifying them then choosing those we will express and those we will deny.


Discussion Questions

1. Explain the differences between fight, flight and mastery?

What is “the mind”? What are some things it can be set on? How do we focus and control the mind?

3. Dramatise and enter into Jesus temptation in the wilderness. Imagine that your body is absolutely starving, you have been utterly alone for forty days and now you are being assailed and tempted by concentrated pure evil. How do you cope? What would you naturally be tempted to do? How on earth do you achieve mastery over such a situation?

4. Why do we need to set our mind on God to achieve mastery? Why cannot we achieve mastery in our own strength just by practice?

5. What does it mean to be “solution-focused”? How is it different from being problem focused? What sort of difference does it make to the way people tackle life?

6. How should we react when we come across theological error or strange and powerful and new spiritual experiences?

7. What are the four concepts that can help us tackle paralysing levels of fear? How are they very similar to a lot of biblical concepts?

The Great Servent of God

This is the fourth and last of the Servant Songs in Isaiah. Earlier we read of Israel being God's servant, God's wayward servant. But Christ is later identified as God's faithful servant Who will accomplish His mission in gentleness by the Spirit, 42:1-9; Whose commission includes even the redemption of the Gentiles, 49:1-7; and Who suffers in submission to the will of God and will be vindicated, 50: 4-11.
In this last song, Christ, though despised and rejected, redeemed many because unknown to them, He was saving His ignorant people by means of His suffering when He underwent divine punishment in their place, 52:13 -53:12.
This song has five stanzas of three verses each. They are the last three verses of Isaiah 52, then vv. 1-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12 of Isaiah 53. It is important to include the first section which is found at the end of Isaiah 52 to get the entire picture.
We should be very careful to see who is speaking! In Isaiah 42:1-7, it is the Father speaking, with one verse narrated by the prophet. In Isaiah 49, the prophet reports the words of Christ and the Father to each other! In Isaiah 50, I think it is Christ alone who is speaking in the entire song. In Isaiah 52, 53 Christ does not speak, rather God and men combine to sing His praise.
In the last great song, the five stanzas change speakers:

• It begins with the Father speaking of His Servant,
• and switches to Israel expressing its own unbelief,
• but suddenly they speak with understanding of the Servant's mission.
• Then Isaiah the prophet speaks.
• Then Isaiah speaks of the Father's purpose in Christ's suffering and resurrection, with the final words, like the beginning, coming from the Father.

Stanza one, 52:13-15:
It is regrettable that many read Isaiah 53 without beginning with these words. In it is contained the exalted position of Christ followed by humiliation and then Christ as the object of faith and wonder. He is Eternal God who became God incarnate. But His unique humiliation was so appalling that His true position as Lord was beyond human comprehension. The high esteem of which He is worthy meets up with His mangled flesh on the cross. Yet the Father is boasting of the work of His Servant, Who will serve so wisely that the repulsion caused by His disfigured appearance will be replaced with great wonder. Nations fall before Him in adoration. The One mutilated will be exalted. God will see to that. Many who draw back in misunderstanding will come to see Who He was and is, and what He has done. Horror will be replaced by wonder and worship.
Stanza two, 53:1-3:
Misunderstanding about the Servant - the report of stanza one includes Gentile nations eventually believing. But its fulfillment will be preceded by rejection. Isaiah speaks as one of them when he uses the first person plural. The rejecters are God's people. This prophecy showed that when He came, Israel would not believe in their Messiah. It also implies that they will.
Note Paul's use of this verse in Romans 10:16: "Not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Israel says, 'Lord who has believed our message?' " Isaiah 53 has Israel not getting it! And Isaiah 42:18-20 calls God's servant, Israel, blind. The Savior when He comes would be unimpressive to them. He was not a loud revolutionary according to Isaiah 42. He lacked the superficial beauty so enthralling to modern taste. Instead of riding high, He suffered. Many were His sorrows, but politicians try to have a smiling face. They project image; character matters little. He was despised and rejected. People did not flock to him when they saw an agenda different from theirs, virtues they did not share like submission to the will of God, and the way of the cross. All of this is repugnant to worldly advance.
Isaiah 53:1-3 is an indictment of the world's sense of what is esteemed. Let every believer fix in the heart that Christ did not fit into the criteria of what is desirable and winsome. I am saddened that the evangelical church today is so enamored with appealing to the world by means of what is attractive to it. The entire ministry of Christ is contrary to that worldly and misguided approach. We embrace the One the world considered ugly! To us He is beautiful. To Israel He was a shameful disappointment. They, with hearts like ours, did not esteem Him. We should not forget this Song began with God expressing His delight in Him.
Stanza three, 53:4-6:
All the misunderstanding changes in what has to be one of the most glorious sets of words in the entire Bible. A new appreciation of Christ emerges in this stanza. The change is not in Christ at all, but in His observers. Blindness is removed for now they see, and how they see! A radical revision has transpired. Before, He was to them a useless specimen of humanity. They once mistakenly thought of the One they rejected as rejected by God as well. (We tend to think God agrees with us, when real enlightenment is to agree with Him!) All this sorrow and indignity was of tremendous purpose. He was not an outcast to be pitied, but the great Servant acting for the benefit of His people.
Here sin and the cross come together! Sin is manifest earlier when we read of their rejection of Him, but the theme now is how He was enduring what those sinners deserved. This chapter has a sharp sense of "We were so wrong," and "But He was doing this for us!"
It is my opinion that not even in the gospels do we come across an explanation of the cross that exceeds this part of Isaiah in clarity. The Gospels speak primarily of what happened; Isaiah spoke of the purpose of the Servant's work.
The Servant's death was substitutionary. Note how representative it is; it is He for us:

• He took up our infirmities
• He carried our sorrows
• He was pierced for our transgressions
• He was crushed for our iniquities
• Punishment that brought us peace was upon Him
• By His wounds we are healed
• The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Here I must repeat Isaiah's words because there is more than one crucial perspective on Christ's work. Some evangelicals today will admit one element of Christ's work and deny another.
The Servant's death is atoning. This means it has special reference to our sin. Earlier it was for us, now I am saying it was because of our sin. But this makes no sense unless the intention is that Christ takes the consequences of our sin in our place. We can have a substitutionary action that is not atoning, such as one doing a task for another. The representation of Christ in the Bible is a major theme developed more in the New Testament. But the Old Testament makes a strong connection between sin and death. Redemption is a release from sin secured by a payment being made for it. The earlier quotations say:

• He was pierced for our transgressions
• He was crushed for our iniquities
• Punishment was upon Him [Punishment can only be for sin]
• The Lord laid iniquity on Him [The Lord did not make Him sinful, but laid on Him the guilt of iniquity, and therefore sin's penalty]

On this theme there is more in later stanzas:

• For the transgression of my people was he stricken, vs. 8
• His life was a guilt offering, vs. 10
• He will bear their iniquities, vs. 11
• He bore the sin of many, vs. 12

Death for sin and sin bearing are interchangeable in this Scripture. But there is another very important theme without which the doctrine of Christ's atoning death is incomplete.
The Servant's death was propitiatory. I hate to use an unfamiliar word, but it is one very specific and one again in dispute in evangelical circles. Propitiation is the turning away of God's wrath against us because Christ absorbed that holy wrath in the offering He made for us. It was not turned away in the sense that it was deflected away from both Christ and us like a bullet that hits no target. We who believe in Him have had it turned away from us, but in order for us to escape, it was not turned away from Christ. We need to remember He really was crucified. The crucifixion is the event; the laying of iniquity on Him is the explanation. He died for us and for our sin; but He also went to face God for us, and the holy justice of God was brought to bear on Him on the cross. Good communicators of the gospel have said it in various ways, such as: "He satisfied divine justice that was against us." He absorbed in His flesh the consuming fire of the wrath of God against every sinner He represented.
To understand propitiation we must enter the holy interaction of the Father and the Son. The Father sent Him to be sin for us so Christ would take the accusation of our sin. He came to be priest for us, so He would make a proper offering for us. Something is going to happen between the Father and the Son, between the Lord and His marvelous Servant.
Poor Israel once thought of Christ as stricken by God, 53:4. And here is the great irony. They saw it as proof that He was not God's Servant. But He was sent to be God's Servant to go under the smiting rod of God. The stanza does not switch from smiting to no smiting, but from confusion over the reason He was smitten. They saw the blow, assumed it was from God, and read it wrong. The blow received was not evidence of God's rejection but of His provision. The smiting, piercing, crushing, bruising strikes against Him were the divine requirement that the Lamb of God take away sin so we could be saved. In this stanza, that smiting of God is now understood in its saving purpose.
The crushing and piercing are facts of the event. They are tied to our sin. But Who is smiting Him? He was punished, but Who did the punishing? It is God! When unbelievers said He was smitten by God, they did not know how close to truth they were. The first clear statement for this is, " … the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." And later, "it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and … the Lord makes his life a guilt offering" (53:10). There is purpose here. It is not just that death for some vague reason happened to him. The Lord laid on Him not only iniquity, but also iniquity's reward, which was God's just retribution for sin.
So the Christian gospel is that our Lord Jesus Christ took upon Himself the punishment of sin and took it from the Father's hand. He took in one day what it would take us forever in hell to pay for our sins. The wrath once against us was directed against Him, and so He was wounded for our transgressions. God was satisfied with His offering. Nothing more would ever be needed to atone for our sin; Jesus paid it all. The three doctrines all combine: He died an atoning, substitutionary, propitiatory death.
Stanza four, 53:7-9:
This section shows the intentional nature of His offering. He knew what was going on and told his disciples of His crucifixion, Matthew 20:17-19. He was like a sheep without resistance, but not like a sheep in ignorance of what lay ahead.
His death was unfair. He had no sin yet was treated as a criminal. His deliverance would come later. Our deliverance depended on Him not being delivered from injustice. He was "cut off" and was cut off because of sin, but the sin was not his. This stanza has shifted from the great purpose of good for His people, to the evil and oppression done to Him. Our Lord had no obligation to do what He did. He had the right to turn it down, except that He would always do His Father's will. The Father had no obligation to save or redeem apart from the grace He was determined to reveal in His Servant.
People would wonder what good it did for the Servant to obey. This stanza shows His submission; where is the vindication? He would never see any offspring if death were His end. He looked like one about to be wiped out in history. The passage cannot end on such a note for this faithful Servant, because He is the pride of God's heart. His reward is coming.
Stanza five, 53:10-12:
Here is the bright section that says it is worth it all! But we are so dull God in this stanza reviews again for us the purpose of His death. That He was pierced for transgressions, ought to be very clear. That the Lord laid on Him iniquity, ought to be clear. We might see that sin requires death. All of us have some sense of justice. Why is it so jarring that God would insist on executing justice? He personally requires that sin be confronted and engaged and that He is the One who exercises this right as God. He does not overlook sin, let it go, or sweep it under the rug. He said vengeance is His and that He would repay, not might repay. This is His policy because it is His character. We might let sin go, especially our own. In fact, we tend to justify sin when God justifies sinners.
But God's justice is holy and good. It is right that it should be exercised, rather than be some idea merely expressed in words rather than action. It is good that Babylon should be destroyed and its torments ascend forever, Revelation 19. It is proper and fitting that sinners go to hell, or that God's great Servant should undergo justice that sinners may be forgiven. Both are part of the glory of God. To deny this is to assert that God has a dark side, but "God is light; in him is no darkness at all," 1 John 1: 5.
He does not clear the guilty but pays wrath to His enemies and retribution to His foes, Exodus 34:6,7 and Isaiah 59:18. So we read in vs. 10 that it was the Lord's pleasure to put Him to death for us. We cannot really celebrate till this holy attribute of God's justice is addressed. Admitting God's justice is not some price we have to pay to have an otherwise wonderful God. His justice is equally pure and beautiful. That justice required the cross for the Servant or hell for the sinner. Who can complain when He turned His justice on Himself? To resist this is to deny what love has done.
"Though the Lord makes his soul an offering for sin," there is something else the Lord has in mind for Him. He Whose days were cut short would have His days prolonged. He had done the will of the Lord, now it would prosper in His hand. He would see the light of life on His Resurrection Day. The One Who earned life for those who deserved death, would Himself have the life He deserved. God did not spare His Son but gave Him up for us. Now He would raise Him from the dead. Christ underwent justice for our sin, now He would have justice for His obedience.
Our salvation is the design of the Father and the accomplishment of the Son. Verse 11 indicates that the Servant knows what He is doing! He would justify many by his knowledge. He knew what was needed. He knew death brought a penalty, and He would take it, and He knew how to do it - He would go to the cross. When sin is removed from us, then justification can come to us. The iniquities would have to be borne. Notice how often this doctrine is repeated in this passage.
But now we view the victory party. He won. He gains the prize for His efforts - hardly a waste of a life in the light of the resurrection. The Father rewards the Son. Added to the reward of life, He is also to be the possessor of all He gained. He Who had life removed from Him ends up dispensing life to all His own. The One deprived at Calvary is the One Who gives.
And let us never miss who shares His victory. He was numbered with us transgressors, and bore our sin, and now has us as His clients. He intercedes for us. We are not a deserving lot for Him to have, but He loved us enough to die for us, and we are His prize and bride. He was numbered with us that we might be numbered with Him and share His spoils, a privilege the New Testament calls being "heirs with Christ".
Many are saved. He bore the sin of many. The first stanza tells us kings will come to understand. He has done what no other king has ever done. He comes now in the gospel to the nations as the One Who left His throne for a humiliation we do not impose on mass murderers. Yet He was the exalted One and He will be exalted because He poured out His life unto death. Those who truly come to understand will bow in eternal gratitude. He will be "raised and lifted up and highly exalted" just as the Father said.
Conclusion:
This is the ministry of Christ. I am grieved that so many today present Christ as the fixer of all our little cuts and bruises, when He is first the Redeemer from sin by His blood. No blessing and no treasure compares to being redeemed. (I have an uncle who, apart from his name, has one word on his tombstone: "Redeemed".)
Three of the five sections teach penal substitutionary atonement. It is not enough to believe in the historical events of the cross. We must accept God's own explanation of the significance of His own acts. God is His own interpreter. Without this we lose the gospel, because our hearts will supply our own distorted explanations.
We must follow our Savior who was humiliated, who suffered injustice, who did not complain of the wrongs done to Him, and Who was satisfied with the vindication that would come from God. This is part of our calling too, since we are commanded to bear our cross.
This song exudes the pride of the Father in the Son. That same pride and boasting in the cross of Christ comes first in the conviction of the mind from God's word. It then flows into our motivations and emotions in worship, evangelism and self-sacrifice as well.
It is a terrible sin to neglect the cross. Many today think it is a good strategy to skirt around the edges of the gospel and avoid its shocking yet glorious core. They call it being "relevant". Our need today is to be Biblical.
An Appeal: Note how brief these verses are! This longest of the four Servant Songs is 15 verses. If all four are totaled, there are only 39. These are passages we must read and linger over, and if we do, we too will sing the same kind of song found in the heart of God.
Jesus Christ is the Servant Isaiah has spoken of - rejected, crucified and raised to glory with nations now coming to faith in Him. Join in and bow too, and you will find in Him, the Sin-Bearer, forgiveness and acceptance. Many still hide their face from Him, and more and more find majesty in Him. To have God's great Servant as Savior is to be saved from the wrath that fell on Him; to reject Him is to face God's justice forever by yourself.