Mentoring Minutes

God’s Word calls us to seek His Kingdom and Righteousness first (Matthew 6:33) and to focus on that which is eternal rather than temporal (2 Corinthians 4:18).  These commands prompt us to explore what The Holy Spirit means in His Word when He speaks of eternal or Kingdom things to ensure that we understand where we are to invest our lives. 

After a thorough search I could find only three things that exist on this temporal earth that are Kingdom in nature.  They are: 1) God’s Holy Spirit; 2) God’s Word and; 3) the souls of human beings.  Everything else is temporary and will pass away.  Only these three will remain and they all exist for relationship.

My question to you: “What are you doing with His Word, His Spirit, and the lives of those around you? Are you investing in what will last or in that which will someday perish?”

God’s Word shows a very clear contrast between His design and desire for loving relationships and the world’s attraction to stuff and self at the expense of true relationships. The two words in Scripture that best describe love are “hesed” in Hebrew (Old Testament) and “agape” in Greek (New Testament).

Both words describe God’s unconditional, sacrificial, unfailing, selfless (US² – His Love is always exponentially toward US!) lovingkindness.  All other expressions of love find their source in His love (1 Jn 4:19).  We call lots of things love that aren’t!

On the other hand, “porneia” is the Greek word from which we derive “pornography” and stands for any and all sexual immorality.  It goes even further in Scriptural context and includes a sexually immoral mindset evident in sexual sin. 

There are many fleshly lusts and desires that destroy hearts, minds, and relationships—jealousy, envy, anger, pride to name just a few. See the list in Galatians 5:16-19.  They all play a role and many are encompassed in porneia, which is the enemy’s greatest ammunition in this battle.  For this reason I’m focusing on porneia with the understanding that allother vices and “lusts of the flesh” must be accounted for in our lives and, along with porneia, must be overcome by Christ and in His Word and Spirit as we choose to nurture relationships and build His Kingdom.

Keep all of this in mind as you compare and contrast God’s covenant order in relationships and sexuality as shown in Scripture with the way of the world and evident in our human nature apart from Christ.  The Scriptures below show the standard that God has established for human relationships and sexuality in His Kingdom as well as the perversion of the enemy that prevails in our human nature apart from Christ.  We have a choice to make, personally and relationally, when it comes to whether we will follow the loving disciplines of His Word and Spirit or the lustful desires of our flesh.

Following is a straightforward Bible study contrasting God’s Word and Kingdom with this world and our flesh regarding relationships, sexuality and community…

RELATIONSHIPS

Kingdom Currency – Loving Relationships

Christ as Lord – Hesed/Agape

• Fruits of the Spirit – Galatians 5:22-23
• Personally – Proverbs 31:10-31; I Corinthians 13:4-8a
• In Home – Ephesians 5:21-33
• In Church – Book of I John
• In Community – Matthew 22:37-39; 5:43-44
• Parable of Sower – Matthew 13:3-9; 18-23 (emphasis v. 23)

World’s Currency – Stuff/Success

Satan (“Self”) as lord – Lust and selfish desire

• Lusts of the flesh – Galatians 5:16-21
• Parable of Sower – Matthew 13:3-9; 18-23 (emphasis vv. 19-22)
• Selfishness, flesh and world – Romans 1:18-31; Galatians 6:7-8a

SEXUALITY

Kingdom Currency – Christ as Lord – Agape

• Marriage as One Woman, One Man – Genesis 2:24; Matt. 19:5-6
• Our bodies as part of Body of Christ, Temple of Holy Spirit – I Corinthians 5:13; 6:19
• Sexual Purity and Blessing – I Corinthians 6:18; Ephesians 5:3 

World’s Currency – Satan (“Self”) as lord – Porneia

• Depravity of man (all sexual sin) – Romans 1 (emphasis v. 24-27)
• Lusts of the flesh – Galatians 5:16-19
• Lust, Sin, Death – James 1:15

“Flee sexual immorality (‘porneia’).  Every sin a man does is outside the body; but the sexually impure sins against his own body.” – 1 Corinthians 6:18  (Parentheses mine and added)

Hesed/Agape and Porneia/Lust cannot willingly exist together in your heart.  One or the other will win out.  Which are you choosing?

Understand that there is a difference between a stronghold and a struggle.  A stronghold is something that you have given into.  It is set up in your heart and mind, controlling or dictating your thoughts and actions.  You have either willingly or subconsciously done so and now live by its hold on you regardless of what you say.  You may say you desire God’s love in your life but continually choose the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life (1 John 2:15-17) over and over again.  This is a stronghold, and porneia is perhaps the strongest. 

You can never win and hesed/agape cannot reign in your life if you continue to willingly give in to porneia or any stronghold.  You must recognize it, quit deceiving yourself, and surrender it to The Holy Spirit to conquer it by changing your motives, thoughts, decisions, and actions.  Otherwise it will cripple and destroy your life and every relationship. 

A struggle is something you battle against because you are aware of it and do not desire to have it in your life.  For this reason, you may struggle with porneia or any of the lusts of the flesh, lusts of the eyes, or pride of life, but you fight against it.  Know that as a Christ follower you already have the victory! Even though you may struggle, you will overcome if you continue to walk in faith—believe in God’s overcoming Truth and act accordingly, even when you struggle.

To be continued…

Contact L&L to let us know what you’re thinking and how we can help.

Give online as The Lord leads – https://give.cornerstone.cc/loveandlordship.

Check out @Loveandlordship for “L&L LIVE” every Thursday at 3:30pm on our Facebook page.  Also you can find videos and podcasts at www.loveandlorship.com. 

Make it a great day and God bless in Christ!

Love and Lordship…Food for Thought – What drives your daily decision making…the truths of Christ’s Word and Kingdom?  Or your day-to-day needs and desires?  Seeking His Kingdom and righteousness first places our priority on Him and His Kingdom. 

Love and Lordship…Action Item(s) – 1) In your daily quiet time (and throughout your day) ask The Lord to reveal to you where your priorities lie based on what you focus on and how you make decisions.  2) As He reveals these areas, write them down and ask Him for the strength and wisdom to place His Kingdom and Truth first in these issues and relationships, in every part of your life.

The answer lies in a personal relationship to Jesus Christ…We can ever remain powerless, as were the disciples, by trying to do God’s work not in concentration on His power, but by ideas drawn from our own temperament. We slander God by our very eagerness to work for Him without knowing Him… This is your line of service — to see that there is nothing between Jesus and yourself. Is there? 

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Disguising Godly Relationships

Several years ago, I was asked to speak for the final three weeks of a four-week series at a large men’s gathering.  The general topic was “Men, Lust/Porn and Relationships.”  Craig Gross of XXX Church kicked off the first week.  Usual attendance at this weekly gathering ran about 250-300.  During this series there were 450-500 men each week. 

After teaching my first week on pursuing a loving relationship with God (which is where all discipleship and relationships must begin), I followed up the next week with how to build a Godly, fulfilling marriage and family.  I was challenging the men to be sure they were prioritizing their lives, marriage, spouse and family according to God’s covenant order (the scope of my soon to be available book in eBook and Kindle versions). 

In the middle of sharing, The Spirit laid a question on my heart about an upcoming Promise Keepers (PK) conference that was just three weeks away: “How many of you are planning to attend the PK Conference in a couple of weekends?”

Let me just say, I’m a big PK fan, as were many in the group.  Nearly two-thirds of the 450+ in attendance excitedly raised their hands showing their commitment to be Godly men.  The Spirit immediately prompted me to ask a follow up question.  My initial thought was, “REALLY?  You want me to ask that?” Yet I knew why He was prompting me to do so.  “OK,” I silently agreed and took a deep breath (the follow up question and responses included in a future post)… 

The Currency of Christ’s Kingdom:  Loving Relationships

One of the more poignant questions we need to ask is “How are we doing when it comes to building loving relationships as His disciples—first with The Lord Himself, then in our homes and families, and then in His Church?”  We will follow this up in future posts with an even more potent question.

Unfortunately, you’ll find the circumstances in the rest of the true story above (future post) all too prevalent in our culture and churches today.  And while this story was focused on men, it applies to women as well. 

As you contemplate the story, let me simply say: If the shoe fits, wear it.  If it doesn’t, then help those whom it does fit.  That is discipleship!

The currency of the culture is obviously money, but money is only a means to an end.  It allows us to obtain, afford, or satisfy ourselves with fame, stuff, security and/or pleasure—or avoid those things that don’t offer these and can cause pain or loss.  The latter elements (fame, stuff, security, pleasure) serve as the real “currency” of the world and they are always at the expense of our relationship with others.

The currency of Christ’s Kingdom is loving relationships and they are nearly always built at the expense of the stuff of this world!  What are you investing in…people and relationships or pleasure, success and stuff?

Our discipleship response to Christ must be lived out in relationship, and not just in relationship to Him as Lord.  It is to be lived out in such a way that being His disciple is to impact and influence every other person and relationship in our lives. 

However, God’s Word is also very clear (Deuteronomy 6:4-6; Jeremiah 20:12-13; Matthew 22:37-39; Mark 12:29-31) that His covenant order has a distinct priority in how we are to live in relationship with Him and with others for the greatest impact when it comes to His Kingdom currency—loving relationships. 

 Unfortunately, the enemy knows all to well the contrast of these two currencies. Throughout time and history—but never as prevalent as in our day and time—his greatest weapon against, and destroyer of, loving relationships is “porneia” (Greek word from where we get “pornography,” rooted in our selfish lustful desires and the cheap satisfaction thereof, particularly with regard to sex). 

I once heard that Hugh Hefner said, “The reason I’ve been so successful in this business (porn) is because the Church has done such a horrible job with sexuality!”  I’ve searched to no avail to find out if he actually said it.  Whether he did or not, the statement is accurate and this must change. 

It’s not enough for the church to simply speak for marriage, purity, and moral relationships based on God’s Word. We must hold Christ followers accountable to this as a priority if we are to see loving relationships across the board.  We also must be willing to boldly speak and stand against relational and sexual immorality in all forms and be able to do so with grace, gentleness, and respect.  Only then will we see loving relationships, healthy marriages and families, and strong churches.

Much more on this to come in future posts, podcasts and videos.

Contact L&L with your comments and/or how we can help.

Give online as The Lord leads – https://give.cornerstone.cc/loveandlordship.

Check out @Loveandlordship for “L&L LIVE” every Thursday at 3:30pm on our Facebook page.  Also you can find videos and podcasts at www.loveandlorship.com. 

Make it a great day and God bless in Christ!

Love and Lordship…Food for Thought – How can our obedience to the greatest commands from Christ help us build His Kingdom?  How might it help us, as His disciples and His Church, overcome the injustice and oppression in our culture? 

Love and Lordship…Action Item(s) – 1) Spend time every day (begin with just 5 – 10 minutes) with The Lord and in His Word to know, worship and love Him. 2) Ask Him to show you who you are as a new creation in Christ and learn to be humble, content and able to love who He has recreated you to be. 3) Build or rebuild your relationships in humility based on Christ’s example. 4) Look for people who are hurting, oppressed or rejected and be intentional about building relationships with them just as Christ our Lord did. 

Building on last week’s post, we find ourselves in a culture that is wrestling with how to deal with and as best we can delete (or at least diminish) social injustice and inequalities in an imperfect world. 

I talked about the need to be sure as Christ followers that we not get caught up in the heat or emotion of the moment, practicing a compassion that does not align with God’s Truth.  And by the way, there is a place for proper anger…”Be angry and sin not,” Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:26.  A simple way to recognize the difference in our own lives and others is that anger for a just cause and ultimately the wellbeing of others is acceptable in God’s sight.  Anger that is mendacious and malicious, used without thought for the good of others, or with intent to harm others, is evil and not acceptable to God.

We need to be willing to uphold His Truth and that begins by asking ourselves, and those who are jumping on the passion-driven bandwagons, “Do you fully know what cause or causes are being espoused or demanded?”  If there are agendas and causes contrary to God’s Word and Truth principles, we must reject pushing for them.  If they are intertwined with agendas not in line with His Word, and/or are hijacking agendas that are in line with His Truth, then we are obligated as followers to do the tough work of mining the issues and peeling back the layers to find the right ones to defend or correct and then take action accordingly!

Is Colin Kaepernick still standing against systemic violence against blacks, which we must assess and do all we can to remedy accordingly?  Another question would be is he (and all those who are standing against black oppression) willing to join forces with others who may appear to stand for the same thing but the end result may be more oppressive than the current state?  Finally, is it possible that those who claim to be standing for this cause really have a different endgame in mind?  Passion without focus, control and direction creates zealots…and for Christ followers, isn’t it revealing that He calls us to go make disciples, not zealots. 

He knew that we could drive ourselves into a frenzy in our flesh or self-focused desires but in bringing that passion in line with His Truth and Love through discipline would not only help us learn to love one another as He loved us but also point the world to Him! 

OK, one more question…this one for Coach Stoops and his University of KY Football staff (and many others who have jumped on the bandwagons)…are you really standing and protesting for what you think your standing and protesting for?  If you’re not sure, and especially if the ulterior motives and agendas are not in line with God’s Truths, then we may be doing much more damage than good. 

Let’s be sure that we are standing up for those that are oppressed and building loving relationships with all our fellow human beings, especially our black brothers and sisters and all those who look different or have a different skin color.  That truly goes both ways if we are to work toward a world of equality, unity and love.

BTW – this only applies to those who are Christ followers and as such are willing to live according to His principles of Truth and Love!  If you do not claim Christ and His standards then they don’t apply to you…but the outcomes and fruit will still bring great destruction and suffering.  His Truth is never compromised.

For those of us who are His disciples, we are not absolved from standing firm for that Truth and working to build loving relationships that reflect it.

If we simply get caught up in the frenzy of the moment and fail to discern the issues then we fail to build relationships and call for change that betters our communities and culture.  And we have not followed His commands to love as He did. 

The most important thing, according to God’s Word, is that we learn to Love…Him, ourselves and others and we only do the latter by dying to ourselves according to His Word and example on The Cross.  Love is the answer as many songs refer to but not the love of the world…the Love of our Lord.  We can do many good works as defined by the culture and completely miss what’s most important.  We need to nail it on both counts…in the here and now and Eternity.  He’s shown us how to do that.

As we are faithful to follow through and know Him as Savior and Lord for eternity, we are, in the here and now, His disciples that bring His Love to all others and work together to remedy the oppression and injustice that only His Truth can resolve…we are the ones He has entrusted to walk in His Word and do His work, showing the world His Love.  Relationships are most important and they begin by knowing Him. 

As I quoted to wrap up last week’s LIVE, Jesus’ prophetic words in Matthew 7:21-23 orders our priorities, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

There are billions of dollars and millions of people, made in God’s image, that serve their fellow man every year around the globe as an overflow of their fleshly compassion, but do not know Jesus as Lord.  Let’s be careful not to waste our service and funds for things that won’t last.  It must be an overflow of our surrender, sacrifice, and obedience to Christ as Lord as we share His Truth by our lives as His disciples. Otherwise, we risk adding to the multitude that do not know Him. 

Is He your Savior and Lord?  His Word is very clear that He has made the way through Christ.  It is also very clear that He has saved you to be in relationship with Him and the only way you can be in that relationship is to know Him as Lord…as His disciple.  Don’t miss out by claiming Him as Savior and not knowing Him as Lord.

Beware of anything that competes with loyalty to Jesus Christ. The greatest competitor of devotion to Jesus is service for Him. It is easier to serve than to be drunk to the dregs. The one aim of the call of God is the satisfaction of God, not a call to do something for Him. We are not sent to battle for God, but to be used by God in His battlings. Are we being more devoted to service than to Jesus Christ?   Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

The world doesn’t get it.  Passion without Truth is enough for them.  As we consider, as Christ followers, who and how we are to serve our fellow man, remember it must be in line with His Truth and done in His Love.  The only way we can change the world around us and battle the oppression and injustice in our culture is to build relationships with others in His Truth that sets us free (John 8:31-32) and His Love that never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8a).  The way we do that is to know and love Him as Lord.

Every other relationship will reflect whether He is Lord of your life or not.  You can be assured that He is and that He is blessing you to be a blessing to others as you serve Him and them.  That’s how discipleship is lived out — in relationships.  We have a tremendous opportunity to do this in the chaos of our culture today!

Contact L&L to let us know what you’re thinking and how we can help.

Give online as The Lord leads – https://give.cornerstone.cc/loveandlordship.

Check out @Loveandlordship for “L&L LIVE” every Thursday at 3:30pm on our Facebook page.  Also you can find videos and podcasts at www.loveandlorship.com. 

Make it a great day and God bless in Christ!

Love and Lordship…Food for Thought – Loving relationships are essential for us to overcome the chaos and turmoil in our world today.  The greatest relationship must be with God in Christ.  All other relationships that can overcome oppression and injustice come will flow from our walking in His Love and Lordship. 

Love and Lordship…Action Item(s) – 1) Analyze your place of employment and/or board. Make meaningful changes to battle oppression and injustice. 2) Donate to an under-resourced, minority-led, Gospel based, inner-city church or organization. Get involved with them in some way. 3) Offer Biblically based relationship, financial, business, skills and other training. 4) If able, look for/connect with those in need for jobs, mortgages, start-ups. 5) Find someone in your sphere of connections (neighborhood, workplace, other) that is different skin tone that you and build a lasting relationship. 

Don’t just serve…build loving relationships!