Mindfulness That Jesus Endorses Part 3 Being Mindful of the Things of God

hello and thanks for joining us here on search for truth it's great to have your company and today brian continues our series called the mindfulness jesus endorses with talk entitled being mindful of the things of god again we're going to see how christian mindfulness can help bring us into greater awareness of being in the presence of god and leaders to closer relationship with our lord jesus so this week brian's going to take closer look at the behavior of some of the first disciples so let's go to brian now for our bible study thanks john we talk about someone going from hero to zero think we could say that more than once about the apostle peter whenever we think about his interactions with jesus as we have them reported to us in the gospels being often the first one to speak meant that peter seemed to get it wrong as often as he got it right take for example the time recorded in matthew chapter 16 when jesus came into the district of caesarea philippi and he was asking his disciples who do people say that the son of man is and they said some say john the baptist and others elijah but still others jeremiah or one of the prophets he said to them but who do you say that am simon peter answered you are the christ the son of the living god and jesus said to him blessed are you simon barjona because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my father who is in heaven also say to you that you are peter and upon this rock will build my church and the gates of hades will not overpower it will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven then he warned the disciples that they should tell no one that he was the christ from that time jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised up on the third day peter took him aside and began to rebuke him saying god forbid it lord this shall never happen to you but he turned and said to peter get behind me satan you are stumbling block to me for you are not setting your mind on god's interest but man's then jesus said to his disciples if anyone wishes to come after me he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it there's lot we can learn from that exchange for example how at first peter got it right speaking by revelation about jesus true identity but then how quickly he went from hero to zero as it were by saying quite inappropriately that the lord wouldn't die on the cross that brings us to the lord's critique of peter when he replied get behind me satan you are an offense to me for you are not mindful of the things of god but the things of men you are not mindful of the things of god how often might that criticism be addressed to us that's really important for us to consider when we're thinking about this idea of mindfulness which has become so fashionable in recent years at least in some parts of the world mindfulness is kind of meditation one that aims to heighten awareness every christian must surely want greater sense of god in his or her life mindfulness can be excellent depending on what it is that we're mindful of mindfulness of the things of god would have prevented peter from being satan's agent in this instance can we not conclude from jesus words here that being mindful of god's things should be our aim at all times central to god's interests is the cross of christ that much is made clear in the first chapter of first corinthians there we read from verse 18 for the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of god for it is written will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever will set aside where is the wise man where is the scribe where is the debater of this age has not god made foolish the wisdom of the world for since in the wisdom of god the world through its wisdom did not come to know god god was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe for indeed jews ask for signs and greeks search for wisdom but we preach christ crucified to jews stumbling block and to gentiles foolishness but to those who are the called both jews and greeks christ the power of god and the wisdom of god because the foolishness of god is wiser than men and the weakness of god is stronger than men the apostle paul guided by the spirit began there by quoting from the prophet isaiah it was back in the 29th chapter of isaiah that god had forewarned that he was one day going to do something wondrously marvelous which would utterly confound human wisdom god fulfilled that promise in the most wonderful and marvelous way possible at the cross philosophers ever since have struggled to fit the cross into their ways of viewing the world religious traditionalists don't consider it to be at all the kind of sign they'd expect and the professional debaters who were around in the first century doubtless founded topic quite unsuited for their art not much has changed since contemporary intellectuals dismiss what they view as the sadistic and horrific barbarism of the cross they hold an utter contempt any god who would conceive of such deed as the bible claims occurred at the cross they do this in similar vein to what shown in an early piece of graffiti where christians and their god were the butt of the joke it displays figure on cross with donkey's head and under the figure under the man drawn beside it the inscription reads alexander worships his god recently stephen fry the uk tv presenter was threatened with blasphemy charge for broadcast views in the south of ireland in which he railed at the stupidity of god in making world full of injustice outspoken atheist richard dawkins likewise slanders the bloodthirstiness of genocidal god whom he calls the most unpleasant character in all of fiction and then states it gets even worse in the new testament because in his view that was basically cosmic child abuse the latter may be another person's phrase but doubtless dawkins would fully support it what all these excerpts show is how the cross is viewed by intellectuals today as being utter foolishness they hold it in contempt in that the world in its wisdom is on display and god has destroyed their wisdom if we are to be mindful of the things of god then we'll have the highest view of god's purpose at the cross we learn that from the lord's rebuke of peter the hymn writer says it well jesus keep me near the cross bring it sins before me let me live from day to day with its shadow or me the hour of our lord's death was always on his mind he was ever aware that his destiny lay there it should always draw our thoughts too at another time jesus famously said seek first god's kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you being mindful of the things of god as priority concern is basic to our relationship with the lord and since christianity is all about that relationship this is big deal after all this is what sets christianity apart from all the world's religions since it's about our personal relationship with its founder the apostle paul captured the very essence of the christian life when he said that his desire was that he might know him that he might know christ paul was mentor for timothy and because he also wanted timothy to grow in his true experience of christ he said this to him it's found in first timothy chapter four and verses 15 and onward say this meditate upon these things immerse yourself in them so that they may see your progress paul was referring to timothy's conduct his bible reading his teaching ministry and his spiritual giftedness those were the things he was to meditate on and immerse himself in it's probably worth more detailed look at these let's reverse back up the chapter it's still first timothy chapter four but we'll go back to verse seven paul says there train yourself for godliness for while bodily training is of some value godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance for to this end we toil and strive because we have our hope set on the living god who is the savior of all people especially of those who believe command and teach these things let no one despise you for your youth but set the believers an example in speech in conduct in love in faith in purity until come devote yourself to the public reading of scripture to exhortation to teaching do not neglect the gift you have which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you practice these things immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress keep close watch on yourself and on the teaching persist in this for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers timothy was to set an example for others in the way that he spoke in the way that he acted in fact he was to be role model for other believers in the demonstration of his love and his faith and his purity he was to set the tone for others by reading and sharing the bible and his teaching in doing so he'd be operating out of his spiritual gifting from god these were the practical disciplines by which timothy would remain mindful of the things of god and the same remains true for us is so is be my glory thanks brian for your talk today now hope all of you are finding encouragement from this series if you've been following the last couple of weeks and if you have any questions about today's talk or the series please write in and brian would be glad to help there's transcript book for all the talks it's available free on request by asking for the title the mindfulness jesus endorses and you can order the book by email or by post and here's our address search for truth haze press the barn flax lands royal wooden bassette swindon sn4 d1 united kingdom our email address is sft at churches of god dot info so many thanks for being with us today that's all we have time for and we've enjoyed the privilege of your company so please join us again next week if you can when brian will bring us another bible study which is about achieving the renewing of your mind till then it's very best wishes from brian david our singers and me john so cheerio and may god richly bless you is you