Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Phil 2:5-6
Remember this thought is connected to being of one mind, one purpose and overcoming factionalism. I have been forced to ponder the big picture between this Gem and the previous one. The allusion to the first prohibition in Scripture opens up a world of confusion which invites challenge. “Did God really say . . .?” is a continuing and constant refrain these days. “You don’t believe all that biased Bible nonsense, do you Ian?” You bet I do. Unequivocally! The Truth found in the Bible is unified and integrated. God’s Truth helps me to see all other “so called truths” in the light of God’s revelation to us. It is by His Truth that we see all other truths in perspective.
The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”
“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
Gen 3:1-3
The moment Adam and Eve believed satan’s challenging lie they lost some something precious. They began to doubt God’s Truth and believe the lie. Mankind has continued on that track ever since. The instruction Don’t . . . eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the first prohibition ever uttered by God. Just think for a moment what happens to you as a human being when someone tells you “Don’t . . .” i.e. Not to do something. Something is triggered inside each one us that wants to know “why?” and then comes the temptation to challenge the prohibition. That reaction is the sin principle, a result of The Fall. “No Ian, you’re just repeating the deception of the Bible because you have been indoctrinated. You have to leave that old world, past generation stuff behind.” No! Bible Truth helps me to see the overview of things. It is the one world view which not only convinces me of its Truth but also helps expose all other views for the lies they are.
The act of knowing good and evil described in Genesis 3 is not an intellectual one; it’s experiential. The word for knowledge used in Genesis for Adam knowing Eve and the two of them knowing the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil comes from the same root word [ידע] yâda‛ to know. The connection between the two leads us to the inevitable conclusion that knowing the difference between good and evil is the same process of Adam knowing Eve – i.e. having a sexual relationship with her. i.e. having intercourse. The act of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil led Adam and Eve into experiencing sin and temptation first hand. Mankind has been doing the same ever since.
Prohibitions are put in place by those who know the consequences of acting in a particular way leads to inevitable results which are not in our best interests. Pain and suffering are the result. But try telling that to someone who is not aware of the pandora’s box they are opening as a result of their action. I can look back to my experience of being a father and telling my girls not to do something. It fascinated me that by telling them not to do something seemed to throw a switch in their brains that necessitated them to try it. Don’t touch that, it’s hot! How does one know what hot is until one tries it? So of course in our ignorance we want to try it. So it continues for the rest of life.
God set some prohibitions in place by telling us what not to do. Don’t . . . do these ten things. We know them as the 10 Commandments. in Hebrew they are known as the Ten Words. They are introduced by the Hebrew word [לא] Don’t! No! But we human don’t like to be told “No!” You are limiting my freedoms when you do that. Don’t limit my potential. Allow me to be all that I can be. But that is exactly the problem. A parent tells their child not to do something which results in a challenging reaction only because the parents know the negative consequences of such an action. But if we doubt our parents’ wisdom then we will challenge the prohibition. The same is true of the sin principle. We doubt God’s word because the devil’s challenge to each one of us is on-going.
- “Did God really say . . . ?”
- “God . . . and your parents . . . just want to limit your fun. Go on do it.”
- “At least try it. Just once.”
We have all had those scenarios play out in our minds and in our experience. It is part of our common human experience. We all seem to want to grab on to, seize, take hold of that experience which we have been warned not to do. But we do it only to find it was not a wise decision. But once we have made the decision to do it, you can’t take it back. What’s done is done! The cat is out of the bag; Pandora’s box has been opened. Now I know what sin is. But sin by its very nature is enticing and begs you ir order to lead you into ever increasing levels of sin.
Read these words of Paul:
Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarrelling, deception, malicious behaviour, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
Romans 1:29-32
That dear reader is what is happening all around us in this present day and age. When I read or watch the news I am reminded of the Truth of what the Bible tells me because I see all around me the ever increasing levels of wrong doing we justify or condone in our action and even by the laws our governments pass. It just makes no sense but life lived outside of God’s prohibitions doesn’t make sense. We now not only do ever increasingly non-sensical things in the name of pleasure and gratification but we encourage those around to do the same and experiment with new kinds of pleasure and thrills. Little wonder that we now see items in the world news of young people wanting to try all manner of things to find a new thrill.
Let’s look at theft. I personally know the buzz that came from shoplifting. When I had just started high school I was persuaded by my mate in the May holidays to steal something from a department store. We had ridden into the neighbouring shopping centre a few miles away to hang. Then my friend suggested we go to Woolworths and steal some stuff. I said, “No, I didn’t want to do that.” Why? Because of my sense of right and wrong? No. Because of my knowledge of God’s Word? No, I wasn’t a Christian. I didn’t know what the Bible said. Because of God speaking to me via my conscious? No. . . . Because of my sense of shame in being caught and knowing what my mother would say and do if she knew. To my shame, the thought of what my mother would say was not enough to stop me going with my friend’s suggestion. He was persuasive enough to overcome my inner warnings. “Come on Ian. it’s easy and you’ll get such a buzz afterwards knowing what you got without paying for it.” So foolishly I entered into a life of crime.
We went to Woolworths with our backpacks and took a number of things each. My friend was able to persuade me to take more than one item. So I took three. I learned later when laying our stolen goods out on MY BED that he had two or three times the amount I had taken. Yes on MY BED. His suggestion after we had stolen things was to ride to my place because my mum wasn’t home as she was working, whereas his mum was home. I have thought about that many times since, realising how easily I had fallen for the temptation. I have to admit as we rode to my place the feeling of stealing something and not getting caught put me on a high. My friend was encouraging my elation by telling me how the feeling of having got away with it just keeps getting better. It is such a buzz. He was right, it was growing by the moment as we headed to my place.
I opened the front door at home and we raced into my bedroom and spread our ill-gotten-gains on my bed. I remember I could feel my heart beating in my chest. I felt so alive and yet at the same time had the feeling of it being wrong. I was amazed at what my mate had got away with. His booty was so much more up-market than mine. I felt like an amateur beside him. Then I came crashing back to reality. A police car came down my little no exit road. When I first saw it from my bedroom window the heart I could feel so alive and beating in my chest had changed position and was now in my mouth. Imagine my horror when the police car turned around at the end of our little cul-de-sac and stopped right outside my house.
I started to grab the stuff on the bed, mine and my mate’s and shove it under the bed, in the wardrobe, anywhere I could think was a good hiding place. My mate was just standing there watching the police car. He was the first to see two officers get out of the car and walked across the road to neighbours’ house opposite mine. My mate started laughing at me. I looked up and saw the two policemen walking over the road. I felt such relief. My heart was back in my chest again where it should have been but now it was not just beating normally. It was pounding. I told my mate (who wasn’t as much of a mate as I first thought) that was it! He could take my share of the stolen goods and have them as well. I didn’t want any of it, it was all his. My life of crime was over as soon as it had begun.
How grateful I was back then and now to realise that fortuitous moment that May school holiday day was enough to dissuade me from wanting to know that adrenaline rush ever again. When I read news accounts of two boys taking a gun and shooting someone dead just to see what it feels like to murder I realise the power of the thrill of that adrenaline buzz. It’s the same rush that drives all mankind toward ever increasing levels of sinning.
The verses before the section I quoted above from Romans 1 make it very clear what God’s view on the limits to sexuality are. Just looking at the way the Designer makes it clear that homosexuality is not “normal”. Talking with Sy Rogers in Jakarta when he would come to JPCC, Sy told me personally of many who think that having a sex change operation will be the answer to their struggle and will set them at peace with themselves. But it never does. It generally leaves them in more turmoil than before. Just as we can’t legislate people to be more moral neither can any government come up with laws which make the human condition and the temptation and tension that comes with not follow God’s prohibitions any more tenable. You can call me a homophobe and label me full of hate. But do you realise you can’t become one mind with someone until you understand their heart. I can tell you categorically I may disagree with the sin of homosexuality but that doesn’t make me hate the person. My heart goes out to such a person in compassion. “There but of the grace of God go I.” I have to earn the right to speak to another about how God feels about homosexuality by demonstrating my concern and love for them. I have seen firsthand how God can change our minds on things that we may hold dear when we understand God’s Truth clearly. I saw the change in my father and I know the change that God has brought in me.
God Word says:
The LORD has told you what is good, and what He requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8
To have the mind of Christ within us we need to walk humbly. That is exactly what Paul is saying in this passage and what leads him to the statements he makes about Christ’s humility. We can’t have one mind about something with someone else unless we have humility and are willing to hear their point of view. Many think followers of Jesus are bigoted and some are. But that doesn’t change the Truth of the human condition nor our orientation to it.
When a person sins, he is expressing a preference for something other than God. He is saying that God and his way are less satisfying than the way of sin.
John Piper
Sinning is a discounting of the value of the glory of God. If God passes over this attitude and this behaviour, as though his glory were not of infinite value, He is agreeing that other things are more to be desired than He is. That is a lie.
John Piper
To get a divorce because we run out of love is like selling a car when it runs out of gas.
Holly Wagner