Main Menu
Links
Bulletin
Board
Contact Us
October 2, 2005
Mural Worthey
Important Christian Attitudes
Introduction
Paul wrote, “Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus.” (Phil.
2:5.) There are many significant
Christian attitudes taught in the Bible.
Sins of the mind are just as prevalent and wrong as sins of the
flesh. Attitudes come from the heart and
from what one has been learning over the years.
Christian attitudes are winsome and attractive; non-Christian attitudes
are repulsive, distasteful and damaging to the Cause of Christ.
One major reason why I believe in Jesus
Christ is that his heart and mind is the right one for every person of every
age in every culture. His life and
attitude rises above every human boundary in time and space. His attitude is always right and will last
through eternity. I preach the mind of
Christ because every person who embraces it will be a better person and will be
god-like. To reject the mind of Christ
will make one worldly, un-Christlike, ungodly and unpleasant to be around.
But what causes us to have bad
attitudes? We could list things like
financial problems, health concerns, family relationships, problems at work or
school, the feeling that you have been mistreated in life, etc. But there are many people in each of these
categories who have wonderful attitudes.
What makes the difference? The
difference is maturity and understanding.
Having bad attitudes can be the result of bad habits. Do not blame others for your lot in life; we
should not blame God. Difficulties can
be blessings in disguise. There is no
excuse for Christians possessing bad attitudes.
I want to remind us of these significant Christian attitudes.
Humble, Servant Attitude
This attitude is what Paul had in mind when
he wrote, “Let his mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus.” No one has ever humbled himself as lowly as
Jesus did. Paul gave these different
levels to which Jesus descended: 1) Highest level—Equal with God (Phil. 2:6),
2) Was made in the likeness of men (2:7), 3) took upon himself the form of a
servant (2:7), 4) became obedient unto the death (2:8), and 5) even the death
of the cross (2:8). Then God highly
exalted him. Jesus’ whole life was lived
in service for us. Did you say you
wanted to be like Jesus? Then, take upon
yourself this mind which was in Jesus Christ.
The apostles, James and John, wanted high
positions in the Lord’s Kingdom: “You know that the princes of the Gentiles
exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon
them. But it shall not be so among you,
but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among you, let
him be your servant. Even as the Son of
man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a
ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:25-28.)
Jesus washed his disciples’ feet in the
upper room the night in which he was betrayed.
Some have made a church ordinance out of what Jesus did. They have not learned the lesson of humility
that applies to the very attitude by which we should live. Jesus said, “You call me Lord and Master and
ye say well; for so I am. If I then,
your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye ought to wash one another’s
feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to
you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The
servant is not greater than his lord, neither is he that is sent greater than
he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if you do them.” (John 13:13-17.) One of those disciples left that night and
sold him for thirty pieces of silver.
Another left and denied ever knowing him.
Jesus taught, “Blessed are the poor in
spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
(Matt. 5:3.) James wrote, “Humble
yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up.” (James 4:10.)
“Yea, all of you be subject to one another and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud and gives grace to
the humble. Humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time.” (1 Peter 5:5-6.) “Submitting yourselves one to another in the
fear of God.” (Eph. 5:21.) This is the
language of humility and the mind of Christ.
Let me express the language of pride and
arrogance. I hear it all the time, even
from Christians. You can recognize this
attitude because it has a lot of references to self. “I don’t need to go to this teachers’
training workshop because I have been teaching for years and know just about
all they will be saying already. In
fact, I could teach the classes myself.”
Another says, “You know, you have to have confidence in yourself,
because if you don’t, then others won’t.”
The language of arrogance says, “I can preach better, lead singing
better, and pray better than anyone in the church.”
A young man once entered the pulpit to
preach with great pride and self-confidence.
He felt assured of success. After
a few minutes of preaching and strutting, the audience rejected him and gave
him a sour response. He did not know
what to do. When it was finally over, he
slowly walked to the back with his head held low. One old man in the audience remarked wisely,
“If he had gone into the pulpit the way he came out, he might have come out the
way he went in!”
I read this statement by a former missionary
now deceased: “I don’t know whether to stay in the
Suppose that five men are being considered
to serve as elders or shepherds in a congregation. Of those five, only three were selected. The other two men were also qualified
men. Do you know that in the Scriptures,
some who were qualified were not selected to serve? When men were being considered to replace
Judas, the qualifications were that they had to have been with Jesus from the
time of his baptism unto this ascension into heaven. Two men were considered: Matthias and
Barsabas Justus. Both were qualified as
well as many others out of the 120 disciples.
But only one was chosen, Matthias.
(Acts 1:15-26.) What attitude did
Barsabas have about not being selected?
The Bible does not describe it. What if he pouted and protested and
complained for months afterward? What if
a man among us pouts and complains because he has not been selected to serve as
an elder or deacon or song leader? If he
shows a childish attitude, then it is good that he was not selected. But if he
is humble and keeps on serving in the church and doing good to others, then he
has the mind of Christ. No one needs a
title to serve in the church. Remember
that we are talking about serving the church. We are not talking about a high position on
the Lord’s right or left hand. We are
not talking about being a chief elder. There is only one Chief Shepherd and
that is Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Peter
5:4.)
I heard once about an area wide meeting planned
in a large southern city some years ago.
The committee planning the event finally decided upon a good speaker,
known throughout the brotherhood. Yet,
they were afraid that other equally qualified men would be offended because
they were not selected for this great event.
They decided to call one of the possible candidates to tell him that he
was at least considered. When they
talked with him, they were apologetic to him because he was not selected. He replied, “You did not need to call me or
apologize. You selected a great
man. If I can help with the arrangements
for the meeting in any way, just let me know.”
Isn’t that a wonderful attitude?
He was not offended; he did not act childish and pout over it. He had a mature Christian attitude.
Esteem Others Better
The definition of attitude is
interesting and helpful. Some words we
use often without thinking about what they mean. A synonym is posture. It means a mental
position with regard to a fact or state.
It is a feeling or emotion toward a fact or state. Attitude is the position of something in
relation to something else. Your
attitude is your mental state or feeling toward others, God, and things that
happen to you in life. You are the one
who determines what your position will be toward others and events.
Illustration: Attitude can be illustrated by the use of a
beach ball. A large, colorful ball is
thrown into the ocean. It comes to rest
upon the water, floating easily along.
But if you take the ball and throw it into the air, it will immediately
fall back to the sea due to the pressure of gravity upon it. If you take the ball, submerge it, and
release it quickly, it will pop out of the water and into the air. Then it will fall back to the sea again. Attitude is the relative position of the ball
to the water level. If the ball is above or below the water level, it is not at
rest. There are forces acting upon it. If our attitudes toward life, God and one
another are not what they should be, we will have tensions and strains acting
upon us. We will not be at peace with
God, ourselves, or our fellow man.
The attitude of a servant is your mental
position toward yourself in relation to others.
It is a role that you voluntarily assume. This role is not by coercion, but by choice. Jesus said, “Therefore doth my Father love me
because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself.” (John 10:17-18.)
The Bible tells us what our attitude should
be toward others. “Love must be
sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to
what is good. Be devoted to one another
in brotherly love. Honor one another above
yourselves. . . Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not
curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice;
mourn with those who mourn. Live in
harmony with one another. Do not be
proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. . . If it is possible,
as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (
“Let nothing be done through strife or
vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than
themselves. Look not every man
on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” (Phil. 2:3-4.)
The value of this attitude should be
self-evident. This disposition is not
taught just for one Christian, but for everyone. If I count you better than myself and you
count me better than yourself, we are almost assuredly going to have unity and
love among us. If I wash your feet and
you wash mine, both of us will be happy.
You submit to your wife and she submits to you. (Eph. 5:21—“submitting to one another in the
fear of the Lord.”)
Positive, Hopeful, Loving Attitude
Jesus came to give lost man hope. His message was encouraging and edifying to
the lost and downtrodden. Paul commanded
the Corinthians to do all things unto the edifying of the church. (1 Cor. 14:12.) We have every reason to be hopeful and
positive. While Jesus faced the cruel
cross, he did so with “joy set before him, despising the shame.” (Heb. 12:2.)
Our sad, complaining, caustic, unloving, harsh attitudes are killing the
church. You do not have the right to
talk about, attack, think and say just anything you want—not if you are a
Christian. There are so-called
Christians who will curse you out and then boast about it as if it were
something good that they did.
People wanted to be around Jesus because he
did not exalt himself over them; he came to serve mankind. They loved his forgiving and kind
spirit. He gave them hope. He spoke about God clothing the grass of the
field, the lilies of the field which toil not nor spin.
Paul wrote, “Be careful for nothing, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be
made known unto God. And the peace of God which passes understanding shall keep
your hearts and mind through Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely,
of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on
these things.” (Phil. 4:7-8.)
After Paul and Silas were beaten and
imprisoned, yet during the night they were singing praises to God and
praying. Paul wrote Philippians from a
prison cell.
Quote: “Our mission is greater than any
problem, any triviality, any personality conflicts, any prejudice, or any
amount of depressing news.” (Laundon Saunders)
The Unhappy Monk
One
time, a man joined a monastery where the monks were allowed to speak only two
words every seven years. After the first
seven years had passed, the new initiate met with the abbot, who asked him,
“What are your first two words?” The man
replied, “Food’s bad.”
After
another seven-year period, he again met his superior, who asked, “What are your
two words now?” And the man replied,
“Bed’s hard.”
Seven
years later (twenty one years after he entered the monastery), the man met with
the head monk for the third time. “And
what are your two words this time?” he was asked. The answer came, “I quit.”
The
disgusted superior shot back, “Well, I’m not surprised. All you’ve done since you got here was
complain!”
How
sad to be known as a person whose only words were negative. Paul wrote the church in
Thought
it’s true that one of the easiest things to find is fault, the person who is
always finding fault seldom finds anything else. What a blessing to be around people who focus
on things that are encouraging and uplifting.
Dennis Lynn
Life Lines,
Jan. 16, 2005
Being Filled With Gratitude
If you notice those in Scripture who were
filled with good attitudes about life, they were people filled with
thanksgiving. Read the stories of the
lives of the great men and women in the Bible; they all have this in
common. Being thankful is such a
powerful attitude in life. It has the
power to override so many negatives things that want to creep into our
thoughts.
Thanksgiving is an attitude or posture that
you assume toward your position in life and toward God. How do you feel about yourself? If you are bitter, against whom are you
bitter? Against God? Man?
Some want to blame just about everyone for their position in life. Even if you are right about some injustice
against you, you should not live the rest of your life with an offended
conscience and a chip on your shoulders.
The Bible tells us how Jesus responded to those who unjustly beat and
killed him. First, he prayed that the
Father would forgive them. Have you done
that? Secondly, he did not curse or
revile them. But he committed himself to
the One who judges righteously. (1 Peter
2:21-24.)
No matter what one’s present condition is in
life, there is much for which one can be thankful. A soldier is wounded in battle, but he is
still alive. Another has a limb
amputated, but he is thankful that he survived.
One family may not have as many resources as another, but their greatest
treasure is that they are filled with gratitude for what they have. Someone said that he complained about the
shoes that he had to wear until he noticed a man who did not have any feet!
If you are thankful for the church at
The nine lepers walked on after being healed
by Jesus. He asked, “Were there not ten
healed; where are the nine?” (Luke
17:17.) One thief dying with Jesus asked
to be remembered; the other died in bitterness and defeat. Nabal was churlish and immature; Abigail was
a woman of good understanding. Nabal
died; Abigail became David’s wife.
Thank God
Thank God for life!
E’en though it bring much bitterness and strife
And all our fairest hopes be wrecked and lost
E’en though there be more ill than good in life
We cling to life and reckon not the cost
Thank God for life!
Thank God for love!
For though sometimes grief follows in its wake
Still we forget love’s sorrow in love’s joy
And cherish tears with smiles for love’s dear sake
Only in heaven is bless without alloy
Thank God for love!
Thank God for pain!
No tear hath ever yet been shed in vain
And in the end each sorrowing heart shall find
No curse, but blessings in the hand of pain
Even when he smitteth, then is God most kind
Thank God for pain!
Thank God for death!
Who touches anguished lips and stills their breath
And giveth peace unto each troubled breast
Grief flies before thy touch, O blessed death
God’s sweetest gift; thy name in heaven is Rest
Thank God for death!
Author unknown
Being thankful is such a beneficial
Christian attitude. It keeps us from
complaining and murmuring about our lot in life. It keeps us positive and hopeful. It is the only proper attitude to assume
toward God. We should be thankful in
life and in death. We should be thankful
for our parents, our children, our friends, the church, our Lord, etc. All that we are and have we owe to God. Be filled with gratitude.
A Forgiving Attitude
“Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Eph. 4:32.)
“And forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors. . .For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will
also forgive you. But if you forgive not
men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matt. 6:12, 14-15.)
“Take heed to yourself. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke
him, and if he repent forgive him. And
if he trespass against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn
again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him.” (Luke 17:3-4.)
People, even Christian people, do not easily
forgive wrongs. From one generation to
another, the bitterness is passed on.
Jews and Arabs have been bitter enemies for centuries. Both are wrong in that they do not practice
forgiveness. Someone at church can have
a conflict and get their feelings wounded and they will remain offended for the
rest of their lives. Someone called me
recently on the phone from out of state.
The person related to me a story that I always was aware of about a
brother there. Then he said, this man is
not going to let it go. He will carry it
to his grave. This is a sad, but too
common attitude for Christians to have.
If this man refuses to forgive those who hurt him, he cannot be forgiven
of God. Our forgiveness is based upon
whether we forgive others. Family
members quarrel with one another and never forgive, never let go of it.
James Busnell, Systematic Theology of the
Christian Religion, wrote: “All forgiveness, human and divine, is in the
very nature of the case vicarious, substitutional, and this is one of the most
valuable views my mind has ever entertained.
No one really forgives another, except he bears the penalty of the
other’s sin against him.” This is an
important statement. It reveals why
forgiveness is such a difficult thing for many to do. It means that you must bear the pain of the
other person’s wrong against you. It is
the only way that he can be permitted to go free. But we do not want him to go free. We want him to pay for what he did. But the question comes back: Do you want to
pay for what you have done against God??
Do you want forgiveness? Yes, we
want it, but we are not as ready to give it.
Some examples of forgiveness. Here are some examples of the god-like
attitude of forgiveness.
1)
Joseph forgiving his brothers for throwing him in a pit and wanting to kill
him. Instead, they sold him into
slavery. Later, he was in a position to
get even with them. But instead, he wept
and forgave. He gave them grain and saved
their lives. Would you do good to those
who desired you to die?
2)
Jesus prayed to the Father while he was hanging on the cross, “Father, forgive
them for they know not what they do.”
Jesus was willing to forgive those who beat him to death. He was willing to forgive Judas for betraying
him for thirty pieces of silver and Peter for denying him three times. Jesus forgives us our sins against him.
3)
I find it amazing that though some opposed the apostle Paul on other grounds,
there is not one statement of bitterness or an unforgiving spirit against him
by the families of those that he persecuted unto death and imprisonment. He
returned to
4)
The father’s forgiveness of the prodigal son when he returned home. He desired the fellowship of his oldest son
as well.
5)
The forgiveness of Gomer by Hosea, which represented God and
6)
A student years ago at Freed-Hardeman was killed by some other students playing
as if they were bowling using glass coke bottles and a ball. When one student threw the ball down the hall
and hit the bottles, a fellow student stepped inside the dormitory and was hit
by a flying bottle. The parents of the
deceased son payed for the tuition of the boy who killed their son. That’s forgiveness.
7)
The seventh example is about you. Of
course, I cannot tell this story. What
is the grudge that you are holding? What
happened? When and by whom? Are you willing to forgive? Do you possess the spirit of Christ? Or are you going to complain and murmur till
Jesus comes back?