Lighthouse Church Durban
Learning some "Jesus-Thinking"
Jesus demonstrated some ways of thinking that are vastly different from the way that many around us think - and the way that we may be thinking now:
-Being faithful in waiting and in obscurity
-Being a willing servant and sacrifice (not a "victim")
-Being passionately zealous for the Kingdom of God
-Looking past the pain of the present to the eternal joys of the future.
Isaiah 55:8-9, Matthew 11:28-30, Luke 2:49-52, John 1:46, Luke 3:23, Matthew 20:25-28, John 10:17-18, Matthew 5:44, John 2:13-17, Revelation 3:15-16, Hebrews 12:1-3, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
- Duration:
- 17m
- Broadcast on:
- 30 Nov 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
Hi there, welcome to the Lighthouse Church sermon broadcast. The title of today's message is "Learning Some Jesus Thinking". God spoke these famous words through the prophet Isaiah recorded in Isaiah chapter 55 verses 8 and 9. I'll read all texts from the new international version. "For my thoughts honoured your thoughts, neither or my ways your ways declare the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the Son of God, Jesus also taught and demonstrated some ways of thinking that are very different from us and far higher and he invited his disciples to learn from him. Listen to Matthew chapter 11 from verse 28. "Come to me, all you are weary and burdened. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." We live in a society where most people don't think like Jesus and it's a troubled, dysfunctional, stressed art world. As we live out our lives in this world we can easily pick up its ways of thinking along with its troubles and stresses. We see in this text that Jesus invites us to yoke in with him, to walk and work with him, keep in step with him and as we walk and work with him, we will learn from him, we will learn his ways. Today we're going to look to the Bible to learn four Jesus attitudes. As we adopt these attitudes, I trust that we'll also find some much needed rest for our souls. The first attitude is being faithful in waiting and in obscurity. Luke chapter 2 from verse 49. "Why were you searching me?" he asked. That's the young Jesus. "Didn't you know I had to be in my father's house? But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But as Mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man." In John chapter 1 verse 46, Nazareth, can anything good come from there? Luke 3 verse 23. Now Jesus himself was about 30 years old when he began his ministry. As a boy, Jesus already knew that he was different. He knew that God was his father, but he patiently waited for his father's timing. He submitted to his parents and he grew up as a respected member of his community. He was a carpenter's son and he would therefore have worked hard as a copment to himself. Although he may have been held in high regard in his town, this town Nazareth was an obscure one. It was a small town from which nothing significant was expected. Jesus lived a godly life in obscurity largely unknown for 30 years. He waited patiently for his father's perfect timing faithfully obeying his parents and the law. But you and I live in an impatient world. We want results now. We want results now. And this thinking has invaded our lives in even the church. Jesus demonstrates a different way of thinking. This way of Jesus, this Jesus attitude is to serve God faithfully wherever we are, even an obscurity where few people see us or hear from us until he opens the door to the next opportunity in his perfect time. The next Jesus attitude is being a willing servant and sacrifice, not a victim. Matthew chapter 20 from verse 25. You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lauded over them and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first must be your slave. Just as the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. John chapter 10 from verse 17. The reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again. No one takes it from me but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my father and Matthew chapter 5 verse 44 but I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. From a human point of view Jesus was betrayed by Judas, arrested by the religious leaders, rejected by the Jewish people, crucified by the Romans. He was seemingly a victim of betrayal, religious error, mob justice and oppressive government but from Jesus point of view he willingly laid down his life as a ransom for all who would believe in him. He was no victim. This was what he came to earth to do but we live in this world that's obsessed with rights. Challenge any one of those so called rights and you could face anything from criticism as being tone deaf as they say to condemnation as a hater or even to legal action. We can become infected with this thinking too. Suddenly we're offended, we're angry, we're leaving the church, we're even leaving the faith. We resent being criticized, we pray against our critics and our persecutors but Jesus demonstrates a different way of thinking. This way of Jesus is to choose to be a servant, to choose to live sacrificially laying down our rights and our lives. Now think about this for a moment. If I follow Jesus example and I have already laid down my life and my rights then no one can take them from me. I've laid them down already. The next Jesus attitude is being passionately zealous for the kingdom of God. John chapter 2 from verse 13 when it was almost time for the Jewish Passover Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle sheep and doves others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of courts and drove all from the temple courts both sheep and cattle. He scattered the coins of the money changes and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said get these out of here stop turning my father's house into a market. There's disciples remembered that it is written zeal for your house will consume me. In Revelation chapter 3 from verse 15 I know your deeds that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you are either one or the other. So because you're a lukewarm neither hot nor cold I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Jesus came as a patient humble sacrificial servant but he was also passionately zealous about the kingdom of God. He was never half hearted and he rebuked the Laodicean Church for being lukewarm saying that it disgusted him. He was going to spit them out of his mouth. I think many people today would be offended if Jesus showed the kind of passion today and if we follow it we showed that kind of passion. Think about it. Jesus was unapologetic in his preaching. He preached a level of righteousness that probably shot many hearers. He passionately rebuked hypocritical religious leaders. He called would-be disciples to lay down their lives and then follow him and he chased out people who had set up a market in the temple courts. Friends I think the Lord wants to ignite some fresh fire in some of our hearts. We've become too meek and mild to afraid to confront what is contrary to the ways of the kingdom. We've lost some of our passion for the lost. Think about that. If I have passion for the kingdom this will energize me into action. It will motivate me to push through hardship, opposition and persecution. Let's be zealous for the kingdom. One lost Jesus attitude. Jesus looked past his present pain to his eternal reward. Hebrews chapter 12 from verse 1, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross scawning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. I find it ironic that while so many are calling for tolerance of alternative thinking and lifestyles, intolerance in the form of Christian persecution is on the rise. The organization Open Doors reported over 365 million Christians currently face high levels of persecution. In 2023 last year attacks on churches and Christian properties increased six times compared to the previous year. Yet many of us get terribly upset when we're subjected to mild forms of persecution. Jesus faced indescribable pain when he laid his life down for us. The pain of betrayal by one of his cursed disciples. The pain of brutal mockery by unbelievers. The pain of rejection by his nation. The pain of absolute injustice and the pain of being brutally flogged and then crucified. As he prayed the night before all of that happened, Luke chapter 22 and verse 44 records that he wasn't such anguish that he sweated blood. No one has ever suffered agony like this. So how did Jesus get through it? How did he keep going through it all to the end? Our text tells us he looked past the pain into eternity. He looked to the joy of seeing sin defeated, of seeing a way made open for anyone who would believe to be with him for all eternity. He looked to the joy of ruling over his people in a glorious eternal kingdom. You and I would do well to learn this way of thinking. Our present circumstances can feel overwhelming at times and in those times we have to look ahead, past our present pain, to the eternal joy that waits for us. Writing about our glorious eternity, the Apostle Paul wrote these words. Second Corinthians chapter 4 verse 16. Therefore we do not lose heart, but outwardly we are wasting away. Yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. Since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal. Friends let's be real about this text. Some trials feel anything but light and momentary. Some pains are extremely severe. Some trials seem to last forever. For some people, like many persecuted disciples right now, their trials could last their entire earthly lives. Now I don't believe that Paul was being naive. I don't believe he was minimizing the severity of the trials that he and others experienced. I believe that he was doing what Jesus did. He was looking into eternity, seeing that eternal glory that far outweighs them all. We aren't being asked to deny our pains, but to see the glory that waits for us in eternity. When we can see that, and please Lord would you give us all the ability to see it, we realize that this will pass. And when we look back from eternity, we will realize that it was worth it all. That's for attitudes from Jesus, so different from ours that we need to learn. Let me summarize in closing. Jesus demonstrated some ways of thinking that are vastly different from the way that many around us think and the way that many of us may be thinking right now. Here are those four being faithful in waiting and in obscurity, being a willing servant and sacrifice, not a victim, being passionately zealous for the kingdom of God, and looking past the pain of the present to the eternal joys of the future. I pray that we will be more inspired by Jesus' ways of thinking, but I pray that we will be more than inspired, that we will learn and adopt his ways of thinking, thinking more like him and living more like him as a result. When this happens, our lives will change. And remember, Jesus promised that if we learn from him, we will find rest for our souls. Oh, may this be so for us, Lord. Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]
Jesus demonstrated some ways of thinking that are vastly different from the way that many around us think - and the way that we may be thinking now:
-Being faithful in waiting and in obscurity
-Being a willing servant and sacrifice (not a "victim")
-Being passionately zealous for the Kingdom of God
-Looking past the pain of the present to the eternal joys of the future.
Isaiah 55:8-9, Matthew 11:28-30, Luke 2:49-52, John 1:46, Luke 3:23, Matthew 20:25-28, John 10:17-18, Matthew 5:44, John 2:13-17, Revelation 3:15-16, Hebrews 12:1-3, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18