Dirty Jobs

Dirty Jobs

John 13:1-13:17

    There's a popular TV show on the Discovery Channel- its called Dirty Jobs. The premise of the show is that the host Michael Rowe goes around the country looking for the most menial, dangerous, or filthy job he can find and reports on it. Some of the jobs range from scraping pigeon poop off of chimneys to wading through open sewers as well as performing artificial insemination on cows to sorting trash at the city dump. Those are all dirty- perhaps even disgusting jobs but the fact is someone's got to do them. And as he introduces himself he says, Hello, my name is Mike Rowe, and this is my job: I explore the country looking for people who aren't afraid to get dirty—hard-working men and women who earn an honest living doing the kinds of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us. You might remember a job like that or you might even do it now. ?

    The scene we are witnessing took place no more than 24 hours before the end of His life. Yet more was written about Jesus' last 24 hours than was written on the first 33 years of His life. So is the day when Jesus went to the cross to die for our sins. What I find most strange is that during this 24 hour period, as if His going to the cross were not a selfless act. Even so, Jesus stoops down to perform a particularly dirty job and that was the act of washing His disciples' feet. But when He did Jesus this he foreshadowed the ultimate dirty job, and that was when he laid His life down on a filthy cross to take the sins of the world on Himself. Showed us several important truths about serving others and this is what we are going to look at this morning.

I. Somebody's Got to Do it (v. 4 ) rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. Jesus engaged here in a dirty job- the dirty job of washing the feet of His disciples. It was customary when guests would come into a home to have them remove their sandals. A servant or slave would then come in and kneel at their feet with a bucket of water. That servant would then bathe their feet and in some cases anoint them with perfume. We're reminded just one chapter earlier how the woman came in and anointed Jesus' feet with her tears and the spikenard, and then dried them with her hair. His disciples were there, and they witnessed this spectacle, and yet as soon as they got to the place where they were to celebrate the Passover, none of them took the initiative to do what this woman had done. They had even been talking among themselves about who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven. They looked themselves over in their so-called pecking order. Maybe they were thinking, "Who is going to do it? Somebody's going to do it? We know this because this was a job that was supposed to have been done before they ever entered the room to sit down. They were already engaged in the meal.

    Ever have one of those jobs, ever see one of those jobs that you think- somebody needs to do something? Ever been the first one at the scene of a big mess and then pretend that you didn't see it? Maybe there is a diaper that needs changing or the dog had an accident or you come into the church and discover that the toilet has overflowed and there is unpleasantness everywhere-and you just happen to stumble onto the scene. Or maybe It's kind of like this old story about four people: Their names were Everybody, Somebody, Nobody, and Anybody. Whenever there was an important job to be done, Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. When Nobody did it, Everybody got angry because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Somebody would do it, but Nobody realized that Nobody would do it. So consequently Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done in the first place. Everybody's always looking around for somebody.

    Yet Jesus, the Bible says, knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and so he took off his cloak put a towel around His waist and washed the dirty feet of His disciples. This was the last lesson Jesus was to teach them. He did not have the time to hold a seminar or to teach a course on the subject. There was only one way Jesus could do this in order to make the fullest impact possible. To show them the priority of serving by finding the most degrading job he could think of at that moment to show them what it was He was going to do in a few hours time when He went to the cross to take on His body the filth and the sin of all humanity, and doing so as a suffering, loving servant- the One about whom was written in Isaiah 53:4-6 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

    Jesus became that Somebody- that somebody who loved us so much that He took upon Himself the dirt job of handling the filth of the whole world, suffering and dying for us. And seeing that He has done this for us, is there anything that we would be unwilling to do for our Lord.

II. The second thing Jesus showed about dirty jobs is that we have to do them no matter how important we think we are, To serve in spite of rank or status. (v.6)
And this is significant because these disciples were just having a discussion about who among them was the greatest.

A navy chaplain told me this story while working with a large group of women for the fleet family support group- all of them were military wives. The chaplain said, "Now ladies before we begin this meeting we're going to do a little exercise. I want you all to line up each according to rank." He said. All at once the women began to position themselves- putting the admiral's wife and the CPO's wife up front, with the so-called chain of command. In a moment, the chaplain broke it off. He said, "What are you doing? Your husbands might have a rank, but you have no rank!"

And that's the way it is with us as fellow servants of Jesus Christ. Only Jesus Christ is the head of this church. He is in charge of it. None of us have any rank in the church- not if we are servants, Our families may have belonged to this church for a few weeks or even a couple of hundred years- and while that might mean something to us it means nothing to God. Clearly if there ever someone who was a Somebody, Jesus made Himself a nobody. who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Phil 2:6-8)

    Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; yet He reached up to His disciples by stooping down to serve them. This is exactly how we are going to reach the world for Him, reaching out, and reaching up, by stooping down.

    The late Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's hamburger chain was known for his humble service within the multi-billion dollar empire he founded. When asked what made him so successful; he replied, "my MBA." But he didn't mean a graduate degree in business education, he meant "a mop- and-bucket attitude." In other words, no work task was too insignificant for him to tackle; he simply jumped in and got the job done. He never asked anyone to do anything he was unwilling to do himself. Dave Thomas was an extremely busy man- but if he saw a need, he did it. And I want to ask right now "Who in this church is not extremely busy?" I want to see a show of hands. If you put your hand up, its probably because you were so busy at one time and you are now worn out. Everybody here is busy. There's not a one in this room- with a few exceptions, who is not. I realize its not always pleasant to serve others. Its not always convenient. We all think that what we got going on is more important than what others have going on. Especially if we think we have a more responsible position or job than others have, etc Guess what, God has called us as Christians who are busy people because He knows busy people will find a way to get a job done. He knows better than to call a lazy person just to get them involved. But don't ever think you are busier than somebody else.

Paul tells us in For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. Romans 12:3 This also answers those who think they don't have to do certain things anymore.

Jesus also told His disciples- But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. 44 And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Mark 10:42-45 The word servant, by the way, comes from the word diakonos. IT is also the same word we get Deacon from. And I have to tell you, I have been in a lot of churches and never have I seen such model examples of servanthood like I have seen in our deacons. These men are the busiest men in this church and in this community. They might not be doing the things you think they should be doing, that's because they are doing what the Lord wants them to do. A couple of them are retired men- that means they are busier than anybody else. And I cite them to tell you sometimes we have the attitude that our deacons and other spiritual leaders are part of the woodwork. We take them for granted sometimes. We think of our best servants like the plumbing around here- don't ever think about them until its not working properly. Jesus, was the Lord of the Universe. If anyone didn't have to humble himself to wash the feet of farmers and fishermen, He didn't. But because he knew he was Lord of the Universe, Because He knew, He was not diminished by showing his love in humble service, he took up the towel and basin and stooped to serve.

III. The last thing about dirty jobs here is that in order to have part in His Kingdom, we must let Christ to do a dirty job on us. (v.8)

    A young woman asked for an appointment with her pastor to talk with him about a besetting sin about which she was worried. When she saw him, she said, "Pastor, I have become aware of a sin in my life which I cannot control. Every time I am at church I begin to look around at the other women, and I realize that I am the prettiest one in the whole congregation. None of the others can compare with my beauty. What can I do about this sin?" The pastor replied, "Mary, that's not a sin, why that's just a mistake!"

    Peter almost made that mistake. Because when Jesus came to Simon Peter, he could not bring Himself to let his Lord wash his feet and asked Him "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" (v.7) Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." "No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Just like Peter it is pride that often keeps us from letting Jesus cleanse us. We want to be self sufficient. It shames us that the Son of God should have had to die for our sins. We want so badly to be considered good people in our own right, by our own effort. Truly unless we let Him cleanse us, we have no part with Him.

    Unless we recognize the mistake of our pride--the mistake that says, "I'm good enough on my own" then we make no room for Jesus. Unless we confess our need, confess our sin and humbly ask his forgiveness, trusting that His death on the cross paid the price for our sins, we are doomed to an eternity without him.

Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." "Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" The point here is made so well. We cannot be qualified as servants unless we have first allowed ourselves to be served by the chief servant, Jesus Christ. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Washing Disciples’ Feet

You know what I discovered as I made that list? It is difficult to say exactly what a servant does, but you know one when you see one. It is hard to get a good definition of what servanthood is, but you sure know what it is when you experience it. I thought about Delores Bolton, a church secretary for 30 years, one of the most retiring, shy, unassuming people I have ever known. Buford Thornton, a pharmacist, was one of my father's best friends; Hal Kirby, who had so much help for me when my father died; my friend Libby Redwein down in Texas. Of those people, none of them are famous as the world counts fame. None of them are great and there is no reason that you would know any of them. And yet, when I thought of servants, those are the people I thought of. Why? Because you may not know how to define it, but you sure know a servant when you meet one.

I draw some conclusions from that.

#1 Being a servant is an attitude, not an action.

So many of us think, "Tell me what I need to do if I'm going to be a servant." Being a servant doesn't start with what you do, being a servant starts with the attitude of the heart.

#2 Servants come in all sizes, all shapes and all colors.

These people are some of the most ordinary people in all the world. Mannford George Guchki said it this way, "The servant of God may be a very ordinary person with a very ordinary manner of life."

#3 Anyone can be a servant if they have a servant's heart.

What is it that makes the difference between being a servant and not being a servant? Is it visiting a nursing home? Is it baking bread for those who are sick? Is it giving money to those who are in need? No, because you can visit a nursing home with a servant's heart or you can do it out of a sheer sense of obligation. You can bake bread because you want to serve somebody, or you can do it because you want to win favor and have them praise you. You can give money because you really want to serve, or you can give money in order to curry favor with somebody. The same action can be the action of a servant or the action of a proud person. What makes the difference is the motivation inside the human heart.

#4 Some people will find it easier to be a servant than other people.

However, the Bible commands us all to be servants whether we find it easy or difficult. Somebody said to me last week, "Are you going to talk about the spiritual gift of being a servant or the spiritual gift of service?" I said yes. I am doing it right now. I just want to acknowledge that there is such a thing as a spiritual gift of service. There are those people inside the body of Christ who are specially gifted by God at serving others. Romans 12:7 says, "If your gift is service, let him serve." The other part is the part that all believers, whether they have the gift or not, are commanded to serve one another. Galatians 5:13 states, "You therefore, have been set free. But do not use your freedom as an excuse to indulge the flesh, but rather serve one another in love." So whether you find it easy or whether you find it difficult to be a servant, it is still commanded that you should have a servant's heart.

#5 Jesus Christ is the ultimate or model servant for the people of God.

There are two verses that you ought to tattoo on your soul. The first is Mark 10:45, "For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve." The second is Philippians 2:5, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." What was Jesus, why did he come? He was a servant, he came to serve.

Where do you find servanthood in the life of Christ? I think you could go almost anywhere in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, but to me the supreme expression was Thursday night in the Upper Room. The disciples gather with Jesus for their final meal. They are all there—James and John, Judas, Peter, Bartholomew, Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot. They are chattering in a nervous tone. Things aren't going well. The men know that something is up. Jesus seems pensive and quiet. He doesn't seem his usual gregarious self. He talks, but it seems as if he has something on his mind and indeed he does. Jesus, as he eats that meal, knows that before long Judas will come with a kiss, the Roman soldiers will come to arrest him, and soon he will stand before Herod and Annas and Caiphas and Pilate. Soon, in just a matter of hours, he will be hanging on a cross. The chatter goes on back and forth and Jesus listens. Suddenly, without a word, he stands up. Without any explanation, he takes off his tunic and wraps the towel of a slave around his waist. Taking a pitcher of water, he goes to the end of the table and kneels down. Without a word he takes the feet of the disciple. He brushes the dirt off and begins to splash the water on the feet. He massages it. When it is clean, he takes the towel and wipes the feet dry. He goes to the next one and does the same thing. In the room there is silence, total silence. No one dares to speak. They cannot believe what Jesus is doing.

Four facts about foot washing:

1) Foot washing was considered an ordinary sign of common courtesy.

To us what he did was bizarre and unusual, but in those days foot washing was just what you did when somebody came to your house. The roads in Palestine were dry and dusty, except when it rained they turned into a quagmire of mud. So even if your feet were clean when you left your house, by the time you got wherever you were going, your feet would be covered with dust and dirt and grime and grit. So it was common in those days that if you came to my house for the evening, when you arrived I would greet you with a kiss on the cheek, I would offer you oil to rub on your face, then I would call my servant, who would kneel down and take off your sandals and he would wash your feet. That was a sign of common courtesy.

But what was NOT common was for the host to wash the feet of his guests. Foot washing was the work of slaves. It was the mark of a rich man that he never had to wash anybody's feet because he had enough servants to handle the feet of anybody who came to see him. But Jesus broke the rules and that's why they were so shocked—not that somebody would wash their feet, but that Jesus was the one doing it. That broke all the customs of the day.

2) Foot washing by definition is dirty, smelly and humiliating.

Have you ever tried to wash somebody's feet at the end of a long, hard day? Have you ever tried to wash somebody's feet covered with grime, perspiration, somebody's feet when the feet really stink? Have you ever put your face right down next to an ingrown toenail? It's not as much fun as you think it is. There are some churches, I think the Freewill Baptist are among them, that will have foot washing as a part of their regular practice. Some churches even call it a Third Ordinance —Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the Washing of Feet. They will say, "On Thursday night we're going to have a foot washing ceremony." So everybody will come out on Thursday night. Only what do they do before they come to church? They wash their feet. Because you don't want anybody touching your dirty feet. But that misses the point. The only feet that need washing are dirty feet. Just to have somebody messing around with your feet is embarrassing.

As I was preparing this, my mind went back to Seminary days when I took a course called The Upper Room Discourse (John 13-17) in Greek exegesis. There were about twelve of us in the class. It was taught by a young professor at Dallas called John Best. John Best had always struck me as a rather proper, rather straight, non-exciting, typical Greek teacher, knowing the adverbs and participles, but nobody that would surprise you. We were a couple of weeks into the class and we came to this passage in John 13. We were all sitting around a table and he had a box next to him. He started to talk about the Greek text, about participles and adverbs and conjunctions and pluperfects, and suddenly he said, "Take off your shoes, men." I don't like it when somebody says that. We all looked at him. "Go on," he said, "Take off your shoes." So we reluctantly took off our shoes. He opened up his box and said, "Give me your shoes." He started polishing our shoes. He said, "I could have washed your feet, but you would have thought that was bizarre. But shoe shining is something you pay people to do. That is the closest I can come." When he came to me, it bothered me. I didn't want to give him my shoes because my shoes were old. My shoes were dirty. My shoes had a hole in the bottom. Because my shoes had been on my feet, they stunk. With my shoes off, my feet were stinking. I didn't feel comfortable. That was 17 years ago, but when I came to this passage, that is exactly what came back to my mind, because any time people start messing around with your feet and you don't expect them to, it's uncomfortable. It's dirty; it's humiliating. It makes you vulnerable.

3) Foot washing, though often misunderstood, meets a very real need for continued cleansing.

Peter told the Lord, "Don't touch my feet. You're not washing my feet. Jesus, what are you doing?" By the way, when Peter spoke up, I think he was speaking for all the disciples. As usual, Peter was blurting out the concern of all of them. In Peter's mind and in the mind of the disciples, what Jesus was doing was demeaning. You didn't do that. That was slaves' work. Don't, Lord, don't touch my feet. That's not your job. That's beneath you. What bothered them was not what he was doing, it's that he was doing it. Foot washing was OK as long as a person of lower class or lower position did it. But to see the Son of God do it, that was a bother. That just blew all their preconceptions; it destroyed their status quo notions.

I have a question for you. If foot washing was common, and it was, and they had come together as friends, and they had, then why hadn't they already washed each other's feet? And why hadn't they washed Jesus' feet already? What was it the disciples were talking about before and during the Last Supper? What was the topic? Who's going to be the greatest. Jesus was about to be crucified, and they were arguing about who would be on his left and right. Listen, as long as you're arguing about who's the greatest, you're not going to have any time to do foot washing, because foot washing and looking out for number one are mutually exclusive. In that room you had a bunch of proud hearts and dirty feet. They would fight over a throne, but they wouldn't fight over a towel and a basin.

Not only that, the story of Jesus washing the disciples' feet is meant to be a picture of his work on the cross. The disciples didn't understand that. It is meant to picture the cleansing that his death can provide. The dirt on the feet is just a symbol of the dirt that's inside the soul. The dirt on the outside is just a picture of the dirt of sin, and the water that washes away the dirt of the feet is a symbol of the blood of Christ which washes away the dirt of sin. Coming to Christ is having his blood wash away the dirt of your sin. Therefore, having your feet washed is like coming to Christ because all you do is sit there and Jesus does it all. That is what salvation is like. You're dirty and he comes and cleans you up. I heard somebody say a few months ago that coming to Christ is like taking a shower on the inside. There are some of us this morning who need a shower on the inside. You are clean on the outside but you're dirty on the inside. What you need is inner cleansing.

Our hymns speak of that. "What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus." "There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stain." "Down at the cross where my Savior died, down where for cleansing from sin I cried, there to my heart was the blood applied, glory to his name." "Dark is the stain that I cannot hide. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace that is greater than all my sin." "Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow." If you're dirty, I know where you can be made clean. I know somebody who can clean you up from the inside out. His name is Jesus.

4) Foot washing will never go out of style because you'll never run out of dirty feet.

Everybody has dirty feet. That's one good thing about foot washing. Everybody around you has dirty feet. Wouldn't it be great if we would take a few minutes now to prove that, to take our shoes off and check everybody out? That would be the end of the service. Even to think about it is frightening because underneath all the exterior, we've all got dirty feet. Jesus came to a world of dirty feet. He came to clean the dirty feet, which means he came for you because your feet are dirty too.

That brings me to the end of the message from Jesus Christ to you. He got to the end of the foot washing and asked the question in verse 12, "Do you understand what I have done for you?" In order to answer that question, you have to go back to verse 1, which says, "He now showed them the full extent, the completeness of his love." Verse 3, "Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that he had come to God and was returning to God." So in washing their feet he was giving them a parable, an acted-out object lesson. He wasn't just washing their feet. He was saying, "This is who I am. This is why I have come to earth. This explains the cross. I came as a servant, to wash dirty feet." The greatest washing of all took place when he died on the cross and his blood was poured out. The answer to his question, "Do you understand?" is no, they didn't. So like any good teacher he goes ahead and gives them the truth, the command and the promise.

The truth is found in verse 13, "You call me teacher and Lord and rightfully so, for that is what I am." The truth is you call me Lord. What is the command? Verses 14 and 15, "Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you." The command is do as I have done. Brothers and sisters, that is a shocking thought, because to wash feet is the work of slaves. It is not the work you would think of for the Son of God. No wonder they were upset, baffled, confused. No wonder the disciples tried to protest. After all, these are the same geniuses who just ten minutes before were arguing about who would be greatest in the kingdom. End of argument. Jesus is saying, "If you're going to be my disciples, just go wash dirty feet and let the kingdom take care of itself. If you're going to follow me, just get down on your hands and knees and find some feet to wash. In the end all that throne stuff and kingdom stuff will be taken care of." That's the message. Here's the promise in verse 17, "Now that you know these things, you'll be blessed if you do them."

Brothers and sisters, I have good news and I have bad news. The bad news is feet stink. If you're going to wash feet, you're going to do some humbling things and some humiliating things and you're going to be involved in some situations that aren't very nice or popular or that aren't going to be seen by the masses. You aren't necessarily going to be applauded for doing it. The good news is there is a great reward for foot washers. You're blessed if you do these things.

Three reasons why we ought to wash dirty feet:

#1 Because Jesus did it.

#2 Because dirty feet need washing.

#3 Because we're blessed when we do it.

Here is my whole sermon in one sentence: The followers of Jesus distinguish themselves through humble acts of service to those who don't expect it and are unable to repay it. Foot washing is a distinctive mark of the followers of Jesus Christ.

Only one question is left this morning. It is very simple. Jesus said, "Do as I have done." My question to you is this: who's feet are you going to wash this week? It is time for us to move away from theory and get over into practice. It is time for us to move away from talk and get over into action. You see, if all you do is just say, "Well, Pastor Ray, that was a nice sermon," and you walk out of here and it doesn't change you and affect you, you might as well not have been here at all. Jesus didn't say, "Blessed are you if you know what I know." Jesus said, "Blessed are you if you do what I do."

How did Jesus do it? Note this: 1) He saw a need and moved to meet it. 2) He didn't wait for an invitation. 3) He took the initiative. 4) He took off his uniform of greatness and got down on his knees. 5) He didn't announce what he was going to do. He didn't stand up and say, "Well, men, I'm Jesus and now I'm going to wash your feet." 6) He didn't wait for a thank you and didn't receive one either. That is what a servant does. He sees the need and moves to meet it.

Just remember this. It all starts in the heart. I'm going to give you some suggestions, but I'm halfway scared to. You'll hear my suggestions and you'll think that a servant must do something. Servanthood begins with an attitude of the heart. A couple of years ago the staff got together and came up with a list called "Fifty ways to wash feet." Here are some of them.

Running errands for a friend.Baking a cake for a shut in.Opening your home for international students.Giving $20 with a note of encouragement to a single mom.Confronting a friend who has strayed from the Lord.Driving car pool to Awana.Making tape recordings for the blind.Hugging your children every day.Refusing to repeat gossip.Sending flowers to a friend.Meeting a new Christian at 6:30 a.m. for discipleship.Picking up your own dirty underwear.Giving anonymously so a single Mom can go to Snow Camp.Intervening in a quarrel to bring two friends back together.Buying food for the food pantry.Tutoring at Circle Urban Ministries. Helping a friend light the pilot in their boiler. Writing your parents a love note. Cleaning up the kitchen so your wife can read the paper. Complimenting your boss. Keeping a secret you'd really like to share. Spending Saturday helping a friend move. Raking leaves for a senior citizen. Changing the oil on a friend's car.Making supper for a new mom. Baking an extra loaf of bread for your child's teacher. Visiting a nursing home.Counseling at the Crisis Pregnancy Center.Inviting college students over for Sunday dinner. Volunteering to serve in the nursery.Washing windows at the church. Reading books to children. These are just suggestions. The heart is what matters. The servant's heart will always find plenty of dirty feet to wash. If you have the right kind of heart, you will find 10,000 times 10,000 opportunities this week to wash dirty feet.

I want you to pray a prayer right now. The prayer is, "Lord, whose feet should I wash this week?" Don't pray for ten names. Start with just one, your husband, your wife, your children, your family, your friends, people across the street, your co-workers, somebody you barely know. Ask the Lord for one name right now. Now that you have the name, write down the initials of the person the Lord has shown you. This will help you be accountable to God, to seal the decision.

It's not that difficult if you have the right kind of heart. If you don't, it's impossible. Anyone can wash dirty feet. You can. If you're willing to kneel down and if you don't mind your hands getting wet and if you don't mind dirty feet you can do it. You can wash feet this week if you're willing to be a servant, not a big shot. Jesus said, "Do as I have done for you." The only question this morning is this, "When will we take the words of Jesus seriously?"

Lord Jesus, for too long we have overlooked your words and we wonder why the world has overlooked us. Forgive us for our disobedience. Send the Holy Spirit to do a deep work of repentance within us. Grant that we might leave this place determined to become foot washers for you. As you were not ashamed to kneel before your brothers, may we not be ashamed to do as you have done, and so prove ourselves worthy to bear your holy name in the world. Amen.

Church growth

What do you think of when you hear the words "church growth"?  What kinds of associations do you make? The question is an important one because the phrase has come to signify one of the most popular and, at the same time, provocative ideas in the recent memory of American Evangelicalism.  Hundreds of thousands of people flock to the Western Meccas of suburban mega-churches, while others have, for one reason or another, decided to remain warily aloof.  But the importance of the church growth question lies not merely in developing an educated opinion about a current methodological fad.  Rather, the question of how we understand, value, and pursue growth in our churches has to do with the way we read our Bibles, what we think a truly converted Christian is, and what we think the local church should be doing.  In other words, our model of church growth strikes at the very heart of what we say we believe, and what we intend to do about it.  The way we define church growth will determine the way we measure it.  The way we measure it will determine how we pursue it.  How we pursue it will determine our effectiveness in achieving it.  And what it is that we actually achieve will determine whether or not our churches honor God's plans, goals, and values for the local church.  As you can well see, there is much more at stake here than initially meets the eye.

God warned Moses to build the tabernacle after the pattern he was shown on the Mount (Ex 25:9, 40; 26:30; Acts 7:44; cf. esp. Heb 8:5). Moses was not free to choose any pattern or method that suited his fancy or worked best with his culture.  God had a pattern for the tabernacle because He had a plan to inhabit it - Moses was to build it for God's pleasure, not man's.  We believe that God has a similarly normative blueprint for His New Temple, the Church.  Just like the tabernacle, the blueprint for the Church is tailored to the personal specifications of the Master Architect Who plans to move into it.  And that blueprint should serve as our normative guide for the way we go about building the New Temple - for the way we understand and promote growth in the local church.  From tools to design, from materials to the finished product and its intended use, God has a plan for the raising of His Church, and it is important that we know what that plan is, and how to put it into practice.


God cares about numbers. 

• Many staunch critics of the mega-church movement cite the irrelevance of numbers in God's economy.  "God cares more about depth than breadth", they like to say.  There is certainly a measure of truth to this concern - even millions without maturity misses the mark. 
  
• Yet God does seem to be interested in numbers - even big numbers.  After all, the first command He gives to humanity is to Be fruitful and multiply [not just add!], and fill the earth (Gen 1:28).  And one of the last visions of heaven we have is of a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb singing praises to God (Rev 7:9).  Situated between the two is a whole book with the very title "Numbers"!
  


God commands multiplication of people and wildlife.

• God blessed [every living creature], saying, "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth" (Gen 1:22).
  
• Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth" (Gen 9:1)
  
• Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands that they may bear sons and daughters; and
  multiply there and do not decrease" (Jer 29:6).
  


God views abundance as a blessing.

• The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord; they will flourish in the courts of our God (Ps 92:12-13).
  


God will cause the growth of His kingdom.

• The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed… and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches (Matt 13:31-32).
  
• Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number…the Word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith (Acts 6:1,7).
  
• But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied (Acts 12:24).
  
• So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing (Acts 19:20).
  


God cares about the strength and maturity of His children.

• Some think that it is normal for Christians to remain in spiritual infancy for the duration of their lives.  As long as they have professed Jesus as Savior and Lord sometime in the past, they are satisfied, and think God expects no more of them. 
  
• But what kind of a father would want to have ten children and then not care about whether any of them grow to spiritual or physical maturity? 
  
• By the same token, what kind of Father would God be if He wanted to adopt so many children, but then didn't care whether or not they ever grew up?  God is not a deadbeat dad.  He is always working towards the spiritual growth of the members of His Church.
  


God cares so much about this growth that He expects it in His older children.

• And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.  I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it.  Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly (1Cor 3:1-2).
  
• We have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.  For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.  For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.  But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil (Heb 5:11-14).
  


God cares so much about this growth that He commands it in His younger children.

• Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord (1Peter 2:2-3).
  
• Be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2Peter 3:18).
  


God cares so much about this growth that He causes it in all His children.

• The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows - how, he himself does not know.  The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.  But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come (Mark 4:27).
  
• What then is Apollos?  And what is Paul?  Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.  I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.  So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth (1Cor 3:6-7).
  
• May the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you (1Thess 3:12).
  
• We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater (2Thess 1:3).
  


If God cares so much about this growth, we should care too.

• Pastors should care about the continued spiritual health of the sheep under their care, not just how many are in his flock.  No good shepherd neglects the health of the sheep God has entrusted to him.  Good shepherds are faithful to graze and guard the flock.  
  
  • "Thus says the Lord God, 'Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves.  Should not the shepherds feed the flock?… Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them'" (Ezek 34:2-4).
    
  • I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.  He who is a hired hand…sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches and scatters them (John 10:11).
    
• Members should care about their own continued spiritual progress, as well as that of the other sheep in the flock.
  
  • As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine…; but speaking truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love (Eph 4:14-16)
    


Godliness grows as we believe the promises of God.

• Godliness does not grow as we remain passive when we feel tempted beyond our ability to resist. It grows as we believe the promises God gives us and as we use them to escape the stains of worldliness. (Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You [Ps 119:11]).
  
• Godliness does not grow as we try harder to obey God's perfect law in our own strength. It grows as we believe and use God's promises to proactively imitate His character (2Pet 1:4). 
  


Godliness flowers as we imitate the character of God.

• We are to supply certain character traits to our faith if that faith is to mature in godliness.  Mature people are morally pure, Scripturally knowledgeable, self-controlled, persevering, godly, kind, and loving. 
  
• There is no true growth in godliness or maturity in Christ without the development of Christ-like character.  Maturity into spiritual adulthood only develops as we proactively cultivate these habits and character traits in our own hearts and relationships.
  


Godliness comes to fruition as we become useful in the knowledge of God.

• The knowledge of God has a purpose - in its mature form it is supposed to be put to the use of bearing fruit that others can eat and appreciate. If our knowledge of God is not useful or fruitful, we may rightly question whether that knowledge is mature, and may even be wise to question whether it is saving (cf. James 2:14-26).
  
• The character traits listed in 2Peter 1 are the things that make our knowledge of God useful and fruitful.  If these qualities are in us and are increasing, we are useful to God in the building of His church and the spreading of His kingdom.
  
• This is the Biblical pattern for spiritual growth.  As Christians who have been called into saving fellowship with God, we must believe God's good promises, using them to kill the weeds of sin and cultivate the character of God in our hearts and in our local churches.  It is in this way that we will bear fruit for God's kingdom both individually and corporately, and prove to be mature adults in the family of God.
  


A lack of individual growth in godliness suggests a false conversion.

• This is not to say that genuine Christians are always perfect Christians.  We know that indwelling sin is tenacious - even in the most mature believers - and that we will not be completely freed from the presence of sin in our lives until we are glorified with Christ in heaven.  This significant remainder of indwelling sin is why the Christian life is characterized by Paul as a battle (Rom 7:14-25; Eph 6:12-18).
  
• But it is to say that the most reliable indicator of true conversion is the Spirit-produced fruit of an increasingly godly lifestyle.  God's purposes in us are purposes of holiness, of increasing conformity to the image of His son.  This increasing conformity to the image of Christ is our biblical destiny as truly converted Christians - it WILL happen (Rom 8:29). 
  
• So if we are not able to discern increasing conformity to the character of Christ, then we have reason to examine whether or not God has even commenced the work of conformity in us by truly converting us. In other words, our failure to grow in godliness suggests that we may never have been truly converted at all, because increasing godliness is the destiny of everyone who is truly converted.
  


The church is the primary means of maturity (vv14-16).

 Of course, God works in different people's lives by different instrumental means - God does not wield a cosmic cookie cutter.  But again, according to Ephesians 4, the primary instrument He uses to develop spiritual maturity in His people is the local church.

 How, specifically, does God use the local church to develop maturity in His people?

• Truth spoken in love (v15) - We "grow up in all aspects into Him" by "speaking the truth in love" to one another. 
  
• Individual growth happens as we talk with each other about God's Word - His Truth - and its implications for our lives. Spiritual growth is therefore a function of relational involvement, not rugged individualism.  We grow by pursuing the joy of purposeful relationship with one another - by deliberately and lovingly talking with each other about God's truth over meals and walks and car trips and plane rides. 
  
• Conversely, if we neglect to do this, then our lives will evidence that neglect in perpetual immaturity - and God will hold us accountable for it.
  


The proper working of each part (v16) - The body "builds itself up in love" by the "proper working of each individual part." 

• Corporate growth happens as we each serve in the ways God has called and gifted us to do so as individual members of His corporate Body.  Spiritual growth is therefore a function of investing ourselves fully in a local church, not remaining aloof or anonymous.  We grow by pursuing the joy of working together for the building up of the local church. 
  
• Conversely, if we neglect to do this, then our local church will evidence that neglect in stunted growth and perpetual corporate immaturity - and God will hold us accountable for it.
  

A lack of individual growth in godliness suggests a false conversion.

• This is not to say that genuine Christians are always perfect Christians.  We know that indwelling sin is tenacious - even in the most mature believers - and that we will not be completely freed from the presence of sin in our lives until we are glorified with Christ in heaven.  This significant remainder of indwelling sin is why the Christian life is characterized by Paul as a battle (Rom 7:14-25; Eph 6:12-18).
  
• But it is to say that the most reliable indicator of true conversion is the Spirit-produced fruit of an increasingly godly lifestyle.  God's purposes in us are purposes of holiness, of increasing conformity to the image of His son.  This increasing conformity to the image of Christ is our biblical destiny as truly converted Christians - it WILL happen (Rom 8:29). 
  
• So if we are not able to discern increasing conformity to the character of Christ, then we have reason to examine whether or not God has even commenced the work of conformity in us by truly converting us. In other words, our failure to grow in godliness suggests that we may never have been truly converted at all, because increasing godliness is the destiny of everyone who is truly converted.
  

 

A lack of corporate growth in numbers may suggest a spiritual problem. 

• Since numerical growth is no sure sign of a work of God in a local church, its presence or absence may or may not indicate spiritual vitality or fatality. 
  
• It may be that a pastor is called to a work in a local church that will not enjoy rapid or substantial numerical blessing, even though there is no discernable sin in the pastor or in the congregation for which the Lord is withholding it.
  
• It may be that a pastor is called to work in a local church that will not enjoy rapid or substantial numerical blessing because there is sin in the congregation for which the Lord is withholding it. 
  
• Jeremiah is a prime example.  He faithfully preached his whole life to a rebellious people, and preached them right into numerical atrophy and exile because of their rebellion against the Lord!  They rejected his warnings, burned his writings, and threw him into prison.  And they rejected him most clearly at the very end of his ministry to them. 
  
• As for the message that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we are not going to listen to you!  But rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths (Jer 44:17). The numerical decline happened because of Israel's rank, rebellious sin.  The decline and exile of Israel was a means of God's discipline of His people.
  
• It may be that a pastor is working in a local church that will not enjoy rapid or substantial numerical blessing because there is gross sin in the pastor for which the Lord is withholding it. The pastor needs to repent of his sin, seek accountability from other men in the church,  and believe the gospel for forgiveness and change.
  

 Read 1Peter 2:1-3.  What is Peter's hope for these Christians?  What does he mean by "grow up" in salvation?

 Some people believe that "church growth" means only growth in numbers.  Read Acts 2:41.  Why do you think the number of converts was recorded?  Now read the rest of chapter 2.  Would the great numbers of converts have been glorifying to God if they had not also been growing in holiness?  Why or why not?

 Weeds can have bad effects on the plants around them.  In what ways can undisciplined, sinful church members negatively affect the growth of Christians around them?  How can good influences in a church be tools in God's hand for growing His people?  Can you think of some examples in your own church?

 What are some ways that God is glorified by a maturing church?  How many of these things do you see consistently in the life of your church?

Objections Against Church Discipline.

Objections Against Church Discipline.

1. "The implementation of discipline will cause division in the church."

Christ has commanded the exercise of loving discipline (Matthew 18; etc.) both for moral and for doctrinal offenses. His word is determinative for the church; the church is not to walk according to pragmatic considerations. Should division result (assuming that the disciplinary steps are taken in a spiritual manner) then that division is not carnal. The church would have been obedient, and Christ's blessing would be upon it.

2. "To discipline someone is to judge someone, we would be guilty of disobeying the Lord's teaching."

It is not judging; rather it is the recognition that the sinning member has proved himself unworthy of fellowship with the saints; he has judged himself. And as long as he continues unrepentant, the church should make him all the more aware of his guilt...to help him in the way of restoration. If the church is silent she is automatically complacent; indirectly she is approving sin. Paul rebukes the Corinthians for failing to judge (1 Corinthians 5:1,2), and the Lord himself rebukes the local church (Revelation 2:20). Let us make it clear that there is a world of difference between the right act of judging (1 Corinthians 5:3,4) and the wrong act of judging (Matthew 7:1-5).

3. "As we are all sinners, how can we judge and condemn another?"

Admittedly every person, converted or unconverted, is a sinner. But there's a difference between a repentant sinner, contrite in heart and humble in spirit, and a sinner that virtually brags of his sin and does not combat it, mortifying it daily.

So all those who persist in open sin without repentance, remorse, or desire to change, would be subject for discipline, whoever they may be.

The church does not condemn anybody. In discipline she only pronounces Christ's disapproval and judgment upon those who bring this censure upon themselves by persisting in open sin without repentance. For a Christian does not practice sin.

4. "Church discipline seems to be so unloving, especially excommunication. Is it not better to work with the offender, to counsel him and try to lead him gradually out of his sin?"

Many reject discipline in the name of love. But which kind of love? It is ironic that this rejection is often justified by eloquence over love. When John wrote that we should "love one another," he also wrote: "And this is love, that we walk after his commandments" (2 John 5,6). When properly carried out discipline is a profound display of Christian love. For the Spirit-filled Christian dares not ignore the use of the various forms of discipline wherever they are applicable. Love necessarily challenges sin, for sin is fatal to the soul. A surgeon is not unloving when he operates; his act of removing the cancerous member is praiseworthy. No loving parent watches his wayward child, moving towards disaster, without protest. If we look for God's blessing in our churches, it is essential that we conduct ourselves according to his directives. He tells us how to conduct ourselves in the house of God (1 Timothy 3:15). And for this purpose the Scripture is profitable for reproof and rebuke.

Indeed there should be nouthesia, individual attention to give counsel where needed, but in the case of a person who is progressively becoming fossilized in sin, action should be taken (Galatians 6:1ff). We are not advocating rashness, but on the other hand passivity is not the answer either.

5. "Does not the phrase "against you" (Matthew 18:15) limit disciplinary action to the one or ones who have been sinned against?"

Christ speaks thus not without reason, for it is the sinned against member that usually takes (or should take) the initiative. Every sin, if persisted in unashamedly, is a sin first of all against Christ and then against his church, as well as against any specific person involved. Therefore, more is at stake than the feelings of the one currently sinned against (cf. Psalms 51:4). Comparing Matthew 18:15 with other scriptures we find that in no other text is the right to exercise discipline limited to offended persons. Is the offended one mentioned in Romans 16:17, 1 Corinthians 5, or 2 Thessalonians 3:14?

6. "Why proceed with public censure if the offending member decides to withdraw membership from the local church?"

All the more should the church proceed with censure, seeing that a man should not be allowed to lessen the judgment against himself for his course of sin by committing another sin (leaving the church without proper cause and becoming a schismatic). Besides, a quiet withdrawal can only be seen as sweeping sin under the carpet. The issue is not solved. Again, failure to administer proper discipline is a tacit admission that there is no spiritual power or authority in the act, but simply a breaking of outward ties. It is also seeking peace through compromise rather than obedience. This kind of peace is cheap and unbiblical.

 

“ Loving God with All Your Mind"

The Greatest Commandment: " Loving God with All Your Mind"

Mark 12:28-30

Some of us are just never satisfied. Frank and Mabel had been married for 40 years. Frank turned 60 a few months earlier, and they now were celebrating Mabel's 60th birthday. During the birthday party, Frank walked into another room and was surprised to see a fairy godmother appear before him. She said, "Frank, this is your lucky day. I'm here to grant you one wish—what would you like?" He thought for a moment and said, "Well, I would really like to have a wife who is 30 years younger than me." The fairy godmother said, "No problem." She waved her wand, and "poof"—suddenly Frank was 90 years old. I imagine old Frank was a little bent out of shape by the way that turned out! I have a friend whose favorite expression was "bent out of shape." When he was upset about something he always said he was "bent out of shape" about it, and I recall he stayed "bent out of shape" much of the time.

I. Attitude: The Power of our Thoughts. Mark 12:30 Going back to our Scripture in the Great Commandment we find that we don't have any reason to be bent out of shape. We've been looking at what it means to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, today we're looking at loving God with all our mind. They say that a mind is a terrible thing to waste, and in the mind God has given us a wonderful gift. The word that is used here in the original language Jesus uses the word dianoias.
This noun, dianoias, means thought, thinking. What I found interesting is that this word is similar to another word which looks kind of like it, the for power, dynamis- and it is associated with basically the same idea. What ever word Jesus used, there is no denying that there is power in our thoughts. The thoughts we have basically control our decisions, our rational ability to make choices and to respond to things around us. What's more is we have the ability to control our thoughts- what we allow ourselves to think and more importantly, our attitudes about the things and the people we think about. I want to narrow this down here this morning because I know we don't have a lot of time here today.

The English poet and cleric Thomas Traherne (1637-1674) once wrote: "As nothing is more easy than to think, so nothing is more difficult than to think well." I want us to think about thoughts today, not just any kind of thoughts but the kind of thoughts that motivate us and glorify God. What's more these thoughts are the thoughts that motivate us to fulfill the will of God within us. These thoughts are called our attitudes. They empower us to do and to accomplish what we want to do. More specifically how do we love God with our attitude?

We certainly don't love God by being bent out of shape. You know its amazing I know people who have the intellectual ability that would enable him or her to get into Harvard or Yale or even Oxford if they wanted to be. They have the ability to recall facts and knowledge that would just make you sick. When I was in high school I knew some of these people - they were bright, super-intelligent, studious, smart. They were always the first one to raise their hand when the teacher asked a question, they were always the one making 100% on a test, they were always the ones making straight A's in chemistry and in calculus. When I was in high school we didn't have calculators- we used slide rules. And while we were trying to figure out how to get our slide rules out of the case, these guys didn't need one- they had it all in their heads, and they would make you feel inferior sometimes. We called them nerds.

But you know what? Intellectual ability alone won't help you to succeed and it won't always help you love God. I've known people who were voted most likely to succeed and most studious and you know what? You can't find them today- nobody knows what happened to them. The tragedy is I've known so many so gifted with smarts like you wouldn't believe make a wreck of their lives because they convinced themselves that they will never amount to much or worse yet, were afraid of where those thought would And yet I've known those who had somewhat marginal intellectual or even average ability give what little they had to God and God used them in a tremendous way. That's the power of the attitude. It's the power of not only what we allow ourselves to think about, but also what drive us- what motivates us. On the other hand, those with somewhat limited intellectual ability have been propelled to into greatness because of what, and especially who they allowed themselves to think about, because ultimately

II. We Are What We Chose to Think About. (Prov 23:7) When you think about the mind you have a terribly complex organ in our craniums that commands every aspect of our physical being. Did you know, for example, that the average brain weighs about three pounds – It contains 12 billion cells. Each one of these cells is connected to 10,000 other brain cells, totaling 120 trillion brain connections. Dr. Duane Gish has observed that "the human brain is the most complex arrangement of matter in the universe."Some have compared the brain to a sophisticated computer, but technology still has a long way to go before it can duplicate the brain's capabilities. The brain is not only the most complex mechanism in the world; it is the most influential organ in your body. It accounts for your ability to think, remember, love, hate, feel, reason, imagine and analyze. Everything we see, hear, touch and smell is recorded on the lobes of the brain. Your brain elevates you high above the animal kingdom – It literally sustains your life. It also houses your intuition, your conscience and your sexuality. It both houses and actually constitutes the mind.

    Proverbs 23:7 summarizes so well the over-arching significance of the mind as far as God is concerned in this poetic declaration:- For as he thinks within himself, so he is. – Proverbs 23:7a (NASB) We may rightly conclude that the human mind is the single most important entity in Creation – for as it goes, so goes the person and the society in which he/she lives. Who and what we will be then must have its origin and sustenance in the mind. What we sanction or suppress mentally determines whether we take the high road less traveled or the low road which is far more popular.

We could look at the mind in all kinds of different ways. We could look at intelligence and giving God all of our intellect- as if He really needed that. He's got more intelligence than we ever thought about having. I mean the smartest guy in the world doesn't even come close to God's intellect- not even close. He's not even on the same planet, the same roadmap. God doesn't need our intelligence- I mean we need to give our intelligence to Him but it's not like He needs it. In our mind we could talk about not just intelligence but rational abilities, decision making, our resourcefulness and we know all this comes from God anyway so why does He need that? No what I believe Jesus is talking about here is not just the brain processes and the things which we can think up, the very reason we do or do not chose to think at all and this is our attitude, friends.

Its all about attitude. God can give me all the intelligence in the world but if I don't have a loving attitude, a good attitude, one that uses that thought to the glory of God its not going to mean a thing- not if I'm bent out of shape all the time. Here is a smattering of wry observations on life and work: Attitude = The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. Borrow money from a pessimist. They don't expect it back. If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it. The sooner you fall behind the more time you will have to catch up. If at first you don't succeed, then sky diving isn't for you.

III. We Can Choose the Attitudes that will express our love to God. (Romans 12:2) Many people think that attitudes and moods are things that are thrust upon us, that we are passive and therefore must respond to them. Attitudes come about by our choice. Don't speak of being in a bad mood because of what has happened to you that day, as though you couldn't help it. You can. Its what we choose to think about that motivates us and gives us a thought life that glorifies God, and therefore exemplifies a mind that loves Him. That's what Paul tell us in Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind- that you may know what is that good, acceptable, perfect will of God."

Christ spoke to hundreds of people, just like the ones He spoke to in our text today, whose minds were blinded by lies of their own making, what they chose to think about so that they refused to see what He wanted them to see. Its not that they were stupid, they were blind. Paul did as well. That's because their minds were not transformed, they were not renewed by the Power of the Holy Spirit. Its only the Holy Spirit that can renew your thought life from thinking about wickedness and turn it into godliness. The Holy Spirit can renew our thought life and bring it into subjection to Christ. I had someone say to me on more than one occasion, "I can't stop looking at pornography on the internet." I said yes you can- You look at it because you want to. Nobody's holding a gun to your head and making you look at it. The same way with cursing. Cursing and vulgarity are nothing but the expression of impure thoughts placed in your mind by Satan. They are Satan's words, and every time you emit them, you invoke not the power of Christ, but the power of the devil, did you know that? I know people who say, "I can't stop!" Yes you can, because you can choose what you say and what you look at and what you think about because Scripture tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, ⁵ casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, Bringing every thought captive. That carries with it the idea of a policeman arresting somebody. With the power of the Holy Spirit when you go in there armed to the teeth and arrest that evil thought, that impure lust, that silly musing, that clever rambling and hogtie it with handcuffs and throw it back into the pit of hell where it came from! If you don't, sooner or later that thought will pervade your subconscious and work its way out into our attitudes and eventually into our actions. That's why Jesus equated sin not just what we did, but also what was in our thoughts. Matthew 5:28

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is lovely; whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things...And the God of peace will be with you" (Philippians 4:8-9). What do you have in your mind that keeps you from loving God?