Life With Others Pt 6

if God’s people would take their
Bibles and turn back once again to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12 and we find
ourselves in verses 15 and 16 this week. I’ve shared with a couple of
you Kind of a quirky funny book that
Charles Spurgeon wrote. Not many people know about. It’s
called John Plowman’s talk. And what he refers to is. Kind of a country guy named John. Who is a plowman a farmer. And
the John Plowman’s talk is what he what Spurgeon identifies as
plain talk. that is really for the common
people is what Spurgeon describes. And he says that refined tastes
and dainty words have been discarded for strong proverbial expressions
and homely phrases. In other words, he speaks to
the common person on their level about the deep things of God.
And. I found it really encouraging
to take up John Plowman’s talk from time to time. I don’t know
that I’ve ever sat and read through the book in its entirety from
cover to cover. But it’s one of those that you
can more pick up find a subject and turn and be either encouraged
or significantly convicted. He doesn’t mince any words. As
he lays down the truths of Scripture. Well, some time ago I happened
to turn to a chapter and I’ll I’m betraying my my own confidence
in sharing this with you, but I turned to the chapter called
men who are down. Well, I turned there for my own
purpose, but I recalled that chapter as we were reading as
we were studying these particular verses. past few weeks. Charles Spurgeon. John Plowman. Said this. Nothing makes me more
sick of human nature than to see the way in which men treat
others when they fall down the ladder of fortune. Down with him, they cry. He was
always good for nothing. Dog won’t eat dog, but men will
eat each other up like cannibals and boast of it, too. Instead
of a little help, they give the sinking man a great deal of cruelty
and cry, serve him rights. All the world will beat him.
Whom fortune buffets. If Providence smites him, all
men’s whips begin to crack. The dog is drowning and therefore
all his friends empty their buckets over him. The tree has fallen
and everybody runs for his hatchet. The house is on fire and all
the neighbors warm themselves. The man has ill luck. Therefore,
his friends give him ill usage. He has tumbled into the road
and they drive their carts over him. He is down and selfishness
cries. Let him be kept down then there
will be more room for those who are up. Well what Spurgeon points
to there is not exactly what I went looking for. What Spurgeon
points to there is exactly what we have been considering and
what we will consider more specifically this morning. What about those
who are down trodden. How are we how is the Christian
to respond to the person who is down trodden who is. Stumbled
across misfortune. who is downcast, who is troubled,
who is poor. How are we to respond? Well,
Spurgeon, in his classic style, urged us to consider our ways
when he said, no man’s lot is fully known till he is dead. In other words, what he starts
to forecast is beware. Beware, because your fortune
is likely to change. No man’s lot is fully known till
he is dead. Change of fortune is the lot
of life. He who rides in the carriage
may yet have to clean it. The thought that we may ourselves
be one day under the window should make us careful when we are throwing
out our dirty water. With what measure we meet, it
shall be measured to us again and therefore let us look well
to dealings. with the unfortunate. Well, what
Charles Spurgeon says there so articulately and creatively,
Paul says equally forcefully in Romans 12. We have been considering
Romans 12 and we’ve been considering, essentially, life with others. That’s what I’ve entitled this
section, which begins in verse 9, but it courses through all
the way through chapter 14. Life with others. How does the
Christian respond to others? We’ve looked and we’ve seen how
Christians are supposed to respond and treat other Christians in
verses 9 through 13. We saw last Lord’s Day how we
are supposed to treat those who are antagonistic towards us in
verse 14. But here in verse 15, Paul takes
up the downtrodden. You read along with me in verse
beginning in verse nine. Let love be without hypocrisy,
abhor what is evil, cling to what is good, be devoted to one
another in brotherly love. Give preference to one another
in honor not lagging behind in diligence fervent in spirit serving
the Lord rejoicing in hope persevering in tribulation devoted to prayer
contributing to the needs of the Saints practicing hospitality. Blast those who persecute you
bless and curse not rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with
those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one
another. Do not be haughty in mind, but
associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil
to anyone. Respect what is right in the
sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends
on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge,
beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written,
Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry,
feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink for in so doing
you will heap burning coals upon his head. Do not be overcome
by evil, but overcome evil with good. Now. Of all the. sections that I’ve
identified. It was easy in verses 9 through
13 to really zero in on who Paul is dealing with there. He’s dealing
with other Christians how we respond to other Christians.
It was relatively easy to look at verse 14 and say that Paul
is obviously dealing with those who are antagonistic. But there
is somewhat of a blend here in verses 15 and 16, and you might
come away saying that I’ve embellished this to a degree by suggesting
that Paul is dealing here with the downtrodden. After all, he
says rejoice with those who rejoice. But in the entirety of the verse,
there is this recurring theme weep with those who weep. Be
of the same mind toward one another. And what he points to there is
not so much those that are elevated in mind, but those who are downcast
and discouraged. No wonder he says, do not be
haughty in mind. Don’t think that you’re better
than another, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in
your estimation and the totality to me. It’s clear that what Paul
has in mind here is the downtrodden. And it’s them that will consider
this morning with regards to how is the Christian to respond? We want to be genuine in our
outward expressions, first and foremost. That’s what Paul deals
with in verse 15. Genuineness in our outward expressions. But then he’ll deal in verse
16 with genuineness in our inward thoughts. You know it well that
Paul has already called us away from hypocrisy, called us away
from pretend Christianity, called us away from saying things that
we don’t mean and offering things that we have no intention of
fulfilling. Paul is urging us towards genuineness. God desires
genuineness. And the first thing that Paul
wants to deal with is a genuineness in our outward expressions. And
he says rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who
weep. It was interesting that more
than a few men pointed out in the consideration of the commentaries
more than a few pointed out that there’s a specificity here to
the order. There’s a reason that Paul put
these two exhortations in the order that he did. Rejoice with
those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Why is weeping
not first? I think what Paul does here is
essentially point out what is more difficult to do. That it’s
more difficult to rejoice with those who rejoice really and
genuinely. Most of us will put on a sour
and our face when somebody really experiences some tragedy, some
grave difficulty in their life. But to really, truly and genuinely
rejoice and to pull it off. Even to go through the motions
of rejoicing is difficult. But to really let your soul feel
what your friend feels. Insofar as it’s possible in our
humanness to really truly rejoice. It’s very difficult. Paul says here and he starts
rejoice with those who rejoice. He basically says that we are
to have a common sympathy with our brothers and sisters in Christ. But it was interesting how many
people several indeed pointed out that these exhortations are
really true, just as much for how we should treat the unbeliever,
perhaps neighbors or friends or loved ones, that we should
rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.
And I find that to be generally true. But to truly rejoice. With those who are truly rejoicing
is only possible for Christians, and I’ll make that point in a
moment. Only a Christian can experience
true joy. Only a believer can really, truly
rejoice. And so what Paul, I believe,
is urging here is for a Christian to come alongside another Christian
and to really sense in the depth of his being the joy that his
brother in Christ is experiencing. One said it this way, The Christian
is to take his stand beside his fellow man, whoever he may be,
to have time and room for him in those experiences in which
he is most truly himself, in his real human joy and real human
sorrow, and to strive to be both with him and for him altogether
without reserve, yet without compromising in his evil or sharing
the presuppositions of his age which are passing away. You see. We can’t rejoice with those who
rejoice if rejoicing just means they hit the lottery. That’s
not rejoicing. We can’t weep with those who
weep if weeping means that God has turned his back upon them.
Because we can’t countenance those ideas we can’t even begin
to. Think along those lines that somehow by hitting the lottery,
you have made yourself impervious to all the difficulties of life.
It’s a brief and a fleeting happiness, not joy. Neither can we mock
God. What Paul talks about here when
he says rejoicing with those who rejoice is a Christian thing. This is Christian joy. This is
not just unbelieving happiness. Unbelievers can be happy, they
can have happy moments, they can have happy thoughts, they
can have events and episodes that look very much like true
Christian joy, but it’s not. It’s a cheap imitation. I’ll
show you why. To set the tone, Robert Johnstone,
one commentary said that Christianity is often charged with making
men gloomy and morose, averse to sharing in the innocent pleasures
of life, prone to frown on the enjoyments of others. Christians
are sharers in this new life of triumphant gladness, however,
the burden is removed. They have entered into glorious
liberty. They know indeed the seriousness of life. And thus,
their happiness is touched by gravity, but for that very reason,
it is deep and broad and lasting. What Johnstone goes on to say
is there is something about Christian joy that the average believer
just does not get. They don’t grasp it. They don’t
receive it. They don’t understand it. He
goes on to say to an unregenerate man, the happiness of Christians
is unintelligible. So how could you possibly say
that a believer is to go and rejoice with an unbeliever who
is rejoicing because he doesn’t understand that kind of joy in
the first place? He sees a certain extent the
restraints which Christianity imposes, but of its blessed communion
with God, he sees and he can apprehend nothing. He doesn’t
know what you know. He doesn’t see what you see.
He hasn’t experienced what you’ve experienced in your faith in
Christ. He closes with this. His heart
knows that the pleasures of this world do not yield him full satisfaction. He cries out for some better
happiness. Let me tell you about Scripture’s
version of rejoicing. It’s exciting stuff. What does
it mean to rejoice in the Lord? Because so often that phrase
is presented in Scripture. Rejoicing is joy. It is happiness that is done
only in the Lord. And of all my investigation of
Scripture, I could find only one occasion where it was even
hinted that believers experienced this kind of joy, or at least
a sliver of it. I’ll tell you about that in a
moment. Here are the occasions for rejoicing in the part of
believers in Scripture. The incarnation of Christ. Luke 1.14, you will have joy
and gladness. And many will rejoice at His
birth. told that his power was a cause
for great joy, that his presence with the Father was a cause for
great joy. In Luke chapter one, it says
that Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country of Judah
and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And from
the beginning of the Gospels, the very beginning of each Gospel,
it is an opening of joy as if the world had never before experienced
it. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the
Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud
voice, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit
of your womb. And how has it happened to me
that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when
the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my
womb for joy. and as the Scriptures continue.
For the Magi, when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly
with great joy. In Luke 2, verse 10, an angel
said to the shepherds, Do not be afraid. For behold, I bring
you good news of great joy, which so be for all the people. Over and over again, through
the Scriptures, as the Gospels advance when the gospel comes
to those who do not know Christ. They rejoice. The 70 that were
sent out by the Lord Jesus Christ came back rejoicing with joy,
and they said, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in our
name. Ministry brings joy in the Lord. But it’s fascinating, too, that
in Paul’s use, in Paul’s particular use of this concept of joy and
rejoicing, it is almost distinctly due to God, to our relationship
with him. This joy is in the Lord. Paul
said in Romans 14, 17, the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking,
but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The Christian knows joy. The
Christian knows rejoicing. Romans 15, verse 13, Now may
the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, believing
so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Paul asks that benediction upon the Roman believers. The same
thing in First Corinthians. To those who are the call, both
Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of
God, Paul pronounces peace and blessing and joy upon them as
well. Well, throughout the Scriptures,
really, that’s how the word is used. It’s used primarily of
believers. Only one occasion that I could
find where there was even a glimmer of joy. And it was the reception
of the Gospel for the rocky soil Christian. They immediately receive
it with joy. But just a sliver. See, the rejoicing that Paul
talks about isn’t just a good feeling, it’s not just happiness
as the world knows happiness is not just joviality. Party
mindset. But it is one described it is
as one described the supreme pardon me, the manifestation
of a serene and heavenward looking disposition. Isn’t that beautiful?
We know about heaven. We’ve been given a foretaste
of heaven. We’ve been given the down payment of heaven itself
by God’s own Spirit. And the fruit of that Spirit
is joy, says Paul in Galatians. Joy is one of the crucial elements
that the Spirit brings to us as we come to know Christ. One pastor described joy this
way. He said Christian joy is not
giddy, superficial happiness that can be devastated by illness,
economic difficulties, broken relationships or the countless
other vicissitudes and disappointments of life. Instead, it flows from
the deep, unshakable confidence that God is eternally in control
of every aspect of life. for the good of his beloved children
a confidence rooted in the knowledge of his word God’s character is
the saving God’s character rather the saving work of Christ the
sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit divine providence spent
spiritual blessings the promise of future glory answered prayer
and Christian fellowship all cause believers to rejoice. And
that’s why I say Only a true Christian can really
experience joy. Only believers can truly rejoice. And so when Paul says here, rejoice
with those who rejoice, he’s saying, get near to your Christian
brothers, know what they’re experiencing in life. And have a like mind
towards them, experience that with them, empathize with them,
even in their joys. You see the opposite. The opposite
is so easy, it’s just envy. It’s just bitterness of heart
towards even our brothers who are experiencing some sudden
blessing. And instead of rejoicing with
them, we wince. We wince out of bitterness because. We’re really, truly angry at
God because he hasn’t blessed us instead. Jealousy and envy. Will tear us apart. Jealousy
and envy will tear a church apart. Because those are our natural
inclinations aren’t they. Jealousy. Envy. Malice towards
others. Hatred. Those things just come
naturally. Even to a believer. Even to a
believer, we have a tendency to think only of ourselves and
that when we see somebody experiencing some great grand blessing. We immediately respond in bitterness. One pastor urged that rejoicing,
which is that arises from gratification before the Lord and in the Lord,
some particular occasion for special joy because of God’s
favor and blessing, some distinguishing manifestation of grace bestowed. We are to enter into this rejoicing
as if the occasion were our own. And that’s why I say that’s the
harder of the two, isn’t it? To really, truly rejoice with
another. Not just to send them a card,
congratulations on it, you know, and to go through the motions.
But to really come alongside them and to immediately say,
brother, can I can I rejoice before God with you in this?
Can I pray with you? Can we thank God? Can I tell others of your experience
what has happened to you and to really take it as if it’s
happened to us? Can we really truly be thankful
for the blessings that God bestows on our brothers and sisters in
Christ? We should. We should. But Paul couples that
in his exhortation to genuineness in our outward expressions. He
couples that with really what is easier, isn’t it? To weep
with those who weep. I mean, what hard-hearted, crass
individual Can’t come alongside somebody who is weeping. Somebody who has fallen in some
difficulty. Somebody who has experienced
some great loss. Who can’t soften their hearts
to come along? A believer, mind you. What believer
can’t come alongside someone like that in that condition?
I would really challenge whether the person is even a believer
if they can’t. This is easy. This is the common plight of
life. pulled up to a Starbucks the other day and I just was
in line waiting to go through the drive-thru and I watched
a woman get out of her car and start to walk and as she glanced
back towards her car, suddenly she tripped over a parking median,
I guess you would call it. stumbled into the road and everybody
around everybody who witnessed it jumped out of their vehicle
to come to raid. I thought isn’t that just not
just an illustration of weeping with those who we come to people’s
aid. It’s just common. Even these
three girls that were so just heinously held against their
will in Ohio then Suddenly when the moment presented itself essentially
a crack addict was the one that rescued the girl. Who wouldn’t. When Paul says weep with those
who weep he’s at such a basic human level. He’s saying that
this is obvious. No wonder he says rejoice with
those who rejoice first. Lays the groundwork. is contrary to weeping is just
gloating. It’s that same kind of bitterness
that we saw in our refusal to rejoice with those who rejoice
only on this occasion. We stand back and we rejoice. We rejoice in their calamity.
We rejoice that they have experienced some difficulty. They had it
coming after all we think. One described it in these terms.
He said weeping means sorrow, pain, grief of heart. It is not
pleasant to weep. No one invites grief, but love
for others will constrain us in the sorrow of heart, which
the providence of God meets out to our brothers and sisters in
Christ. And this is where Spurgeon says your time is coming. Your
time is coming. The principle is simple in Scripture. He who mocks the poor taunts
his maker. He who rejoices at calamity will
not go unpunished. How foolish it is for us to rejoice
or to fail to weep. And I would say it that plainly.
That to fail to weep when our brother weeps is to rejoice. To fail to enter into his experience
and to empathize with what he is experiencing It is to rejoice
in His calamity. Paul said the same thing to the
Corinthians. If one member suffers. Remember that whole idea. Many
members, one body. That we’re all made up of various
parts, but together we are one. We are one church. And we’ve experienced it here
before. In the midst of heartbreak. As I said, it’s much harder to
recognize in the midst of joy that we’ve experienced it before
that if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. And
if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. See, we can’t be indifferent.
Can’t be indifferent to our brothers and sisters and what they’re
experiencing life. That’s what Christianity is.
That’s what it means. that we are to fully experience
what our brothers and sisters in Christ are experiencing. We
are to enter into those things with them and be so much a part
of them that we are said to go through that and experience it
with them. Paul urges us to a genuineness,
doesn’t he? This pretend Christianity is
no Christianity at all. This going through the motions
is pretending to care, pretending to love, pretending to serve. This pretend kind of Christianity
is no kind of Christianity at all. And Paul says you need to
have genuineness. We need to cultivate a genuineness
in our inward thoughts. And we need to pardon me, we
need to cultivate a genuineness in our outward expressions and
we need to cultivate a genuineness in our inward thoughts. That’s
Paul’s next concern. It’s an interesting passage,
look at verse 16. Be of the same mind toward one
another, do not be haughty in mind, associate with the lowly,
do not be wise in your estimation. Here’s where I think Paul is
going. He has already urged us to a
genuineness in the outward expressions, but here he takes us inward to
the mind, to our thinking, to our thought process, to our attitudes,
if you will. And he uses this same word three
different ways. Let me tell you about the word
first and then I’ll tell you how Paul uses it. In the book
of Philippians, I called it the Froneo factor. That’s the word
that Paul’s using or some form of it. And the word means to
think or to be mindful of, to consider. It’s used 10 times
in all of the rest of Paul’s epistles. But in Philippians,
Paul uses it eight times. Paul wanted to adjust the Philippians
thinking, right? He wanted to change the way they
thought about certain things about certain subjects, even
about themselves. Paul wanted to adjust their thinking
because he knew that if he adjusted their thinking that actions would
follow. Here’s how it plays out in Philippians.
Paul says to them in chapter 1 verse 7, it’s only right for
me to feel, and really the word there is to think, it’s only
right for me to think this way about you all. He looks at them
and he says in all genuineness, this is what I consider you to
be. Then Paul gets into the Philippians.
Philippians 2. Make my joy complete by being
of the same mind. Think the same thing. Maintaining
the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. You know,
it was fascinating as I studied it. Paul uses the same word twice
in the same sentence. He literally says this, that
you might think the same thing, one thinking. One thought. One mind. Philippians 2.5, have
this attitude, have this pattern of thought in your mind. which
was also in Christ Jesus. And then Paul launches into that
incredible passage Philippians 315. Let us therefore as many
as are perfect have this attitude have this mindset. Think this
way. And if anything you have a different
attitude God will. He turns them over to God. I
love this. We should do more of that. If anything you have
a different attitude God will reveal that to you. Uses it several more times. I urge you, Odia, and I urge
Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord, to think the same.
That’s what he urges them to do. And he uses it several additional
times. My point is this. He uses the
word eight times in the book of Philippians. And only ten
times in all the rest of his epistles. The interesting thing
is for us this morning, he uses it five times in the book of
Romans, Three times in this verse. Three times he uses that word
phroneo. We have a phroneo factor here
in Romans as well. Let me tell you what it is. In
the first sentence, he urges us to be like minded. Be of the
same mind towards one another. In the middle of the sentence,
he urges us to be humble minded. Do not be haughty in mind, but
associate with the lowly. And at the end of the sentence,
he urges us to an open mindedness. And I just urge you, give me
time to explain what I mean by that. He urges us to an open
mindedness when he says, do not be wise in your own estimation. Let’s look at like mindedness
first, be of the same mind toward one another. That we’re to have
an agreeableness, we’re to be united in our feelings and thoughts
and interests. There’s not supposed to be disunity,
and that’s really what Paul is after here at the beginning of
this verse. He’s talking about our feelings, our affections,
not about some strict doctrinal code to which we’re all supposed
to adhere on every point. That’s not what he’s about. He’s
talking about unity. Unanimity. Essentially, this
is a what one described a an abstract expression of the golden
rule, you know, the golden rule. Matthew 7 12. Treat the same
people treat people the same way that you want them to treat
you. This is the law and the prophets.
That’s what we call the golden rule. Well this is this is the
golden rule played out. You want people to treat you
a particular way. Treat them a certain way. And
Paul says here it starts with a common. Thought it starts with
one mindset. It starts with unity of heart
and mind. What he points to here is just a common feeling, a mutual
allowance for one another, a patience with one another, a oneness of
spirit and mind. And it’s a recurring expression
for Paul. It’s a recurring exhortation,
I should say. At the end of Romans, he tells
this little church, Now may the God who gives perseverance
and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind. That’s what
he prays for them. If I could pray one thing for
you, he says to the Romans, that you be of one mind, the same
mind. To the Corinthians, in his second,
much more upbeat epistle, he said to them, finally, brethren,
be Rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded. Be of one mind. Be of the same
mind. To the Philippians, which book
we just coursed through. Make my joy complete by being
of the same mind. Maintaining the same love, united
in spirit, intent on one purpose. You see, it’s a recurring exhortation
because Disunity is a deeply rooted in widespread disease.
What Paul urges is a oneness of you with regards to the things
that are of vital importance and with that oneness of you.
To the degree that they yield up their hearts To God in his
power and in this common faith, they essentially cultivate a
oneness of disposition and oneness of purpose. It’s unity that Paul’s
after here. One pastor said it this way,
he urged. It is not necessary that Christians
think exactly alike on every subject. But it is necessary
that in the lives of all God’s children, the love of Christ
be reflected and thus all will truly be united into one body
and powerful fellowship. See, this thinking, he goes on
to say, this thinking the same thing is not to be conformed
to any sphere of opinion, but to all that might occupy their
minds or to be pertained to the church, not in trade or politics
or the common concerns of life, but in all things which, as members
of the church, they might be expected to form a judgment.
Think the same thing. Come to a unanimous decision.
Paul says, first and foremost, the church must be like minded. We must be genuineness in our
like mindedness. Secondly, though, he says we
must be humble minded. Paul said it this way, do not
be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. This same word
here translated as haughty is translated in 1120 as conceited. Do not be conceited. Do not be
high minded, as the King James put it, but fear. It can be translated
high, haughty, exalted, and not always in a bad sense. There
were high places. There were lofty expectations.
But here, what he points to is this vanity of mind, this high
position that people think that they occupy either socially or
spiritually. What he’s warning here is against
this haughtiness of mind that is so destructive to the church’s
unity is a kind of this grasping for power, grasping for position,
grasping for influence within the church. Paul had addressed
this to the Corinthians the first time that he wrote them. The
more severe letter of the two. When he said that love does not
act unbecomingly, it does not seek its own. That’s this haughtiness
that Paul speaks of. This selfish ambition as he points
to in many other places. God is opposed to the proud,
but gives grace to the humble. Remember? Paul says, do not be haughty
in mind, but associate with the lowly. See, that’s how you can
tell if you’re being haughty of mind, if you refuse to associate
with those who are humble. Or lowly or depressed or meek,
what I’ve referred to as the downtrodden. If you refuse to
have anything to do with them, if you refuse to have anything
to do with people like that, then you are already experiencing
haughtiness of mind. Particular verb here when it
says associate with the lowly. This is a really fascinating
word. What it means to lead along with someone passively, you could
translate it to be carried away with. And so somebody gets washed
into a river, they’re carried away with the river. The only
time Paul only other time Paul uses this word, he uses it just
like Peter did in a negative sense. Listen to this. To the
Galatians, Paul wrote, the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy
with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. Peter uses it in the same negative
sense in second Peter 317. The point is that Paul says,
I want you to get carried away. By the concern of others that
are less fortunate than you. I want you to get carried away
with those who are downtrodden. I want you to get carried away
with the lowly, the unimportant. I want you to get carried away
with the poor and their concerns. Let yourself share, participate,
fellowship in their condition. That our attitudes are to be
so much bound up in what theirs are that we are said to be experiencing
them with them. That’s what Paul wants us to
do. Those that are in a low state. Those that are downtrodden. Those
that are socially inferior or so we think. Or those that are
spiritually less than we are. We are to come alongside and
to sow fellowship with them that our experiences are one and the
same. They are part of the body. One pastor really rebuked when
he said such an attitude so contrary to the nature to the worldly
man comes naturally to those who are being transformed by
the renewing of the mind. In other words, he says that
this pattern isn’t in you. Then there’s good reason to question
whether God has begun to work. If you don’t naturally sense. The plight of your fellow brothers
in Christ. In their loneliness, in their
difficulty, in their hardship. Then, as Paul, as Paul has already
urged, says God begun a renewing of the mind in your life. It
is always the sign of worldliness of the church when its leaders
no longer associate as readily and freely with humble people
as those who are socially superior. You see, there’s this pattern.
There’s this pattern to Saddle up with those that are important
and those that are powerful and those that are handsome and those
that are wealthy. When God says. Do not be haughty
in mind, what does that look like? It’s an avoidance of those
that are lowly. It is a refusal to associate
with them. Were to be genuine in our inward
thoughts. Were to be like minded. were
to be humble minded and Paul says were to be open minded.
And I told you to wait while I explain. I’m not saying that
we are empty headed. I’m not saying that we throw
open our minds to every foolish thought that’s out there. You
know, that’s not what I mean. What I mean by open mindedness
here is a willingness of an openness to receiving correction, receiving
rebuke, receiving counsel from others. He says, Do not be wise
in your own estimation. That is essentially an echo of
Proverbs 3 7. Do not be wise in your own eyes. First of all, we should be willing
to be counseled and taught and nourished by scripture, right? Then why should we refuse a brother
to come alongside of us and to open the same and to point to
a specific sin or struggle or problem? And to come to us and
say, you know, brother, you might. You should consider. Charles Hodge said ambition and
contempt for lowly persons and pursuits generally arise from
an overweening self-estimation. No species of pride is more insidious
or more injurious than the pride of intellect. or an assumed superiority
to those around us, which leads to a contempt of their opinions
and a confident reliance upon ourselves. Paul says you need
to be open minded. Paul says do not be wise in your
own estimation. Don’t close out the thoughts
and opinions, the counsel of others. Don’t close out their
counsel to you, especially about you. Because they can often see
what you don’t. See what Paul has in mind here
is this arrogance. That is really so self-sufficient
and so complacent that our judgment is so perfect that we don’t need
the insight of our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the man who has no opinion
or no care for anybody else’s opinion, not just in subject
matter, but especially with regards to himself. We should always
be ready to welcome those who God brings into our life to correct
us and to share with us. I close with this. A.W. Tozer has a little article, you
can find it in full online, but The title of his little paper
was on receiving admonition. And it points to say essentially
to this same tendency that Paul speaks of here at the end. This
tendency to close out everybody else especially towards admonition
who can speak into our life who can essentially rebuke us. And
he gives a series of encouragements that when a brother comes to
us, when somebody comes to us to correct us and mind you, it
isn’t always a brother. Isn’t it the most humbling thing
in the world to have your sin exposed by somebody who doesn’t
even believe in God? Well. He gives some reminders,
some pointers on how to receive that admonition, he says, first
of all, don’t defend yourself, your church or your organization
against criticism. Don’t do it. Just receive it. If the criticism is false, it
can do no harm. And if it is true, you need to
hear it and do something about it. I would add here, don’t retaliate. How many times have you sat down
with a brother and you’ve prayed about it, you’ve thought about
it, you’ve studied the passage, you go to him, you bring this
issue to him, or maybe we’ve responded this way ourselves
wrongly. We go to them and we share this
concern that we have and immediately, well, do you know what you did?
And they immediately launch in their own little list, right?
Oh, you’ve been in that meeting. Don’t respond with your own criticisms
of the person who’s been bold and loving enough to confront
you, if you have your concerns with them, deal with your own
sins and issues, and then after you’ve prayed about it, then
approach them. What I would encourage you to
do is cultivate an openness, a receptive spirit to the wounds
of a faithful friend. That’s what Scripture calls it,
right? Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Only a friend, right,
is going to come and tell you you got bad breath. Second of all, he says, be concerned
not with what you’ve accomplished, but what you might have accomplished
if you had followed the Lord more completely. I love that.
Thirdly, he says, when reproved, pay no attention to the source. Do not ask whether it is a friend
or an enemy that reproves you. An enemy is often of greater
value to you than a friend because he is not influenced by sympathy. You see, that’s where believers
they’ll tell you. They’ll tell you how you are. They’ll tell
you how you’re living. Fourth, Tozer says, keep your
heart open to the correction of the Lord and be ready to receive
his chastisement regardless of who holds the whip. You see,
we often pick and choose. Well, you know, I’ve walked with
him for a long time, so I’ll let him talk to me. But this
guy, I don’t even know. And he’s after all, he’s young
and he goes to a different church. Finally, it it should never surprise
us, should it? that we sin and that we have
sinned. That somebody could observe some
shortcoming in our life, it shouldn’t. It shouldn’t surprise us, should
it? So when Paul says here that we are to cultivate a genuineness.
In our inward thoughts that we are to be like minded towards
our brothers and sisters in Christ were to be humble minded and
were to be open minded is to welcome that correction that
others see. Let’s enjoy God’s presence. Our
merciful God, we thank you so much for this passage, for this
section of Scripture that is so rich and so engaging, so challenging,
so humbling. Father, even today, so instructive. Father, we pray that you would
grant us the grace to examine our hearts and tell us whether
or not we are genuine. and cultivate that in us. Not only the outward expression
of it, but beginning in our hearts cultivate those things. Cultivate
a genuineness of mind and a genuineness of outward behavior. We plead
with you for this grace in Jesus’ name.