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Sunday, June 22, 2008 am
SPIRITUAL INDICATORS (6)
How much do I care about others?
Today we bring our study of spiritual indicators to a conclusion. As we have noted in each lesson, an indicator is a gauge that gives us information about the condition of something. Another example of an indicator (thanks to Joe Moran) is a lighthouse. A lighthouse emits a powerful beam of light to ships off shore which warns them of impending danger and it also helps them orientate themselves as to where they are headed. Similarly, the word of God is a source of light (cf. Psalm 119:105) that gives us warning of impending danger and helps us orientate ourselves with where we need to be going spiritually. That is what a spiritual indicator is about – something that helps us see where we are in comparison to where we need to be.
In this lesson the indicator we want to examine is our attitude toward others. Are we truly concerned about the well being of others?
I. I. What it means to care.
a. Care defined: “1. A state of mind in which one is troubled; worry, anxiety, or concern. 2. A cause or object of worry, anxiety, concern, etc.” (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, via www.dictionary.com). The term care as we are dealing with it means that one has a state of concern especially for others.
b.
Love defined.
The characteristic word for love in the NT is AGAPE. That is a word which
is defined as “to regard with strong affection.” (WS Dictionary) “To be
full of good-will and exhibit the same” (Thayer). It IS a challenging word
to define because its use in early times was almost exclusive to Christianity,
but it describes the foundation of being a Christian.
I define this word as, “caring enough to sacrifice for what is best.” The key
word in that definition is CARING. Interestingly it is word that while it
involves emotion it is not really an emotion itself. In other words it is
something we can train ourselves to do (as opposed to an emotion or feeling).
We are commanded to love as we shall see. That means we HAVE TO care!
c. God cares –
i. He is the ultimate example of what it means to care - John 3:16
ii. Hebrews 12:3-11 where we read of the chastening of God, we see that he STILL cares.
d. Jesus cared
i. That is seen in what He did for us! Philippians 2:5-8 where we read that he humbled Himself and died for us. Note John 15:13 where He said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” Jesus did that for us. We ARE His friends!
ii. He was moved with compassion. Matthew 9:36 tells us that when he saw the multitudes as sheep without a shepherd, “He was moved with compassion for them.” The message to His disciples was, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” (37-38) He was telling them they needed to care.
iii. He STILL cares – 1 Peter 5:7. We can thus cast all our cares upon Him.
e. Others cared
i. Moses cared – by delivering Israel from Egyptian bondage and even interceding for them when they were rebellious.
ii. Elijah cared as he confronted Ahab and Jezebel as well as the prophets of Baal. When he thought he was all alone, he is frustrated thinking “nobody will listen.”
iii. Esther cared about her people enough to risk her life before the king to save them.
iv. Nehemiah cared as he travelled to Jerusalem and inspired the people to rebuild the walls of a broken city in 52 days.
v. Peter cared as he went to Cornelius. His letters were written because he cared (cf. 2 Peter 1:12-14)
vi.
Paul cared which
is why he continually suffered as he did and prayed for his brethren (cf. 2
Corinthians 11:28 which speaks of his deep concern for all the churches).
2 Corinthians 5:11 where he said, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we
persuade men.”
II. II. We NEED to Care About Others
a. Caring is the foundation of every relationship we are involved in. When you apply the definition of love (agape) as described above you find it related to EVERY relationship we are involved in: Toward God, Christ, our brethren, our neighbors, even our enemies. Do we care?
b.
God will
hold us accountable for how much we care for others.
Matthew 25:31-46 describes the judgment scene. We find here ONE of the
qualities God will look for in judgment.
Hebrews 13:6 says, “But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such
sacrifices God is well pleased.”
c. Who is my neighbor? The idea of caring is borne out in a familiar parable that Jesus taught as recorded in Luke 10:25-37 where Jesus is asked by a lawyer what is the greatest command. The answer was #1- Love God and #2 – Love your neighbor as yourself. This prompted a question by the lawyer, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus then told the parable of the Good Samaritan and answered the question noting that your neighbor is ANYONE you have the opportunity to help and show mercy to. Galatians 6:10 tells us to do good to all which accords with the answer of Jesus.
d.
We live in
a selfish world. The average
person thinks first about himself and then those of his family, often to the
neglect of everyone else. The Christian thinks about others – Philippians
2:3-4.
The command to “love your neighbor as yourself” is found 7 times in the New
Testament. It is described as the command second only to loving God (Matt.
22:39), the summary of the law (Rom. 13:9), the fulfillment of the law
(Galatians 5:14) and as the Royal law (James 2:8).
It is important that we think about others – in describing Christian love
in 1 Corinthians 13 Paul noted that love, “does not seek its own” (1 Cor. 13:5).
Ephesians 4:28 speaks of one working so that he may have something to give to
him who has need.
The godly life of a Christian frequently involved sharing with others in the New
Testament!
e.
We live in
a LOST world – Souls are dying
that are going to spend eternity in torments. We need to care about
this! Perhaps the greatest area of neglect in the lives of some is how
much we care about the lost souls of others. We cannot rationalize away
our need to try and win the lost.
2 Corinthians 5:11 describes Paul’s attitude and it ought to be ours! “Knowing
therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…”
While the great commission was initially given to the apostles (Mark 16:15,
Matthew 28:19) we find its fulfillment involved ALL Christians. Acts 8:4
helps explain how the gospel was spread – Christians – men and women alike took
the gospel with them wherever they went.
Colossians 1:23 notes that as Paul penned this letter, probably in the 60s
[about 25-30 years after the beginning of the church on Pentecost] that the
gospel had been “preached to every creature under heaven…” This was
not done just by twelve men, but by those men teaching others who kept the
process going (cf. 2 Timothy 2:2). When we see how the gospel spread we
can CONCLUDE that the great commission applies just as much to us as it did to
the twelve apostles and Christians of the first century.
III. III. How Much Do I Care About Others?
a. Do I care? Do I understand what it means to care? Do I make efforts to apply that meaning to every relationship I am a part of?
b. What do I see when I look at my neighbor? Do I see a lost soul? Do I see a sheep that has wandered from the flock? Do I care enough about them to do something, even if it is risky or unpleasant to try and win them to Christ? What effort am I putting forth to reach them?
c. Who is my neighbor?
d. What is my attitude toward others? What type of attitude do I have in general? Do I make the gospel attractive to others by the way I live my life? Am I pleasant to be around?
e. WHO do I care about? While I care about my family and my close friends, how much do I care about my enemies? How do feel about one who has mistreated me?
f. How much do I think about myself? As I look at my life is it all about me? Am I considerate of others? When I DO offend others (and we all will) do I try to make it right?
g. What am I doing for others? Do I see myself as a servant, the way my Lord did? Can my neighbor look to me for help in times of need? What am I doing for my brethren? Do I treat my brethren as my neighbors?
IV. IV. How Can I Improve My Attitude toward Others?
a. First, realize that God WILL hold me accountable for my attitude toward others, as we have seen.
b. Remind yourself on a daily basis that its not just about me!
c. Pray for God’s help in dealing with others. If my attitude is not right pray for help in dealing with the attitude adjustment I need. Pray for others – especially your enemies (Matt. 5:44, Romans 12:14). You will be amazed at how much this does to calm YOU down.
d. Look for opportunities to do something for someone else. As Jesus taught, the harvest IS plentiful! There are opportunities to do good. Look for them and do them!
e. Resolve to find ways to reach the lost. Pray for God’s wisdom and guidance in reaching the lost – that He will open doors, etc. Make the saving of souls a goal in your life. If you are not ready right now to teach others – LEARN so that you can! The “I’m not ready yet” excuse will only work for so long (cf. Hebrews 5:12).
Truly, we DO need to be concerned about others. And when we examine our lives we can see how important it really is. Heaven is a wonderful place that we ought to look forward to with great anticipation. But in our quest to achieve our eternal home we must NOT forget the desire to take as many with us as we can. How much do you care?
And thus we bring this study to its conclusion. It is my hope that we now have some actual areas of our lives that we can examine to gauge whether or not we are where we need to be in our standing with God. I am sure there are others that could be added to the list, but I am also sure that if we will seek to build upon these things and improve everywhere that it is needed, we will be MUCH closer to God and ready to stand before Him as we await our eternal reward. What are YOUR indicators saying about you? Think about it!