Pastor Candace teaches from Luke 4:14-21 that having a "beginner's mind" helps us to hear God better & love & hear others better too
Pastor Candace’s Chellew-Hodge Sermon, a “Beginner’s Mind” from Whosoever Magazine is terrific. What stuck most with me was the whole point about how our experience and knowledge can hold us back from really understanding others or even from seeing what God is doing in our life and the lives of others. I love this quote from her sermon:
Jesus’ ministry was a Jubilee – a time for the poor and oppressed to be liberated, a time for those in bondage to be set free. Jubilants, we too are called to that ministry – to help the poor and liberate those who are oppressed because of economic conditions or society’s prejudices and hatred. Before we can do that, however, we have to get out of our own bondage of the expert’s mind. We are held hostage by our old thinking patterns, held in captivity by the things we “know” to be true – the opinions and beliefs that we will fight to the death to defend. Those beliefs don’t keep us safe – they keep us in prison. When we say “I know” – we lock the door to new possibilities and throw away the key.
My classical evangelical biblical upbringing says, “use the bible to test all things” (Acts 17:11) and I still subscribe to that but over the last 5 years with a much more open view to how God’s “box” or vision of life is far bigger than my own. The religeous leaders of Jesus’ day used the bible, (Tanakh) But instead of testing all things with their sound biblical knowledge and being open to what God might do outside of their understanding (but not outside His character or plan) they put God in a box built by their own limited (though sincere) understanding.
The sermon is good, so have a read (or a listen an MP3 of her sermon is up as well) at this link: Beginners Mind.
Dear Rebecca:
Don’t you think our life time experiences and education (knowledge) makes us better adapted to understanding what G_d is doing in our lives.
Ignorance of G_d creates many gawds, one of the reasons there were so many false idols throughout history. Ouch fire … must be a gawd … wow sunshine … must be a gawd.
I think you get the direction I am heading here. We have come out of the darkness and with of a serious curiosity we have attempted to explore everything concievable about the G_d of man.
There I said it … “the G_d of man”. This new gawd is also something we have created, give me a prophet and I will give you a gawd … Jesus was a prophet as was Buddah and Mohammed … all given, to instruct us on how to be better at understanding the power of the eternal being.
I praise man for his knowledge and understanding of G_d in this new era of enlightenment rather then the fear of gawd as did our ancestors.
G_d is not meant to be feared unless you oppose his teachings and then who really knows his wrath.
Could all the natural distructions that are plaguing the world be a part of this wrath because of his disappointment in how we have treated his creation ???
Hi Nikki,
Thanks so much for joining the conversation!
I don’t think our life experiences are very helpful in our understanding what God is trying to do. I think whether someone is a new believer or been walking with the Lord for 30 years, you have to trust Him. I think our experiences and knowledge help us to get more perspective certainly though. I love the example of Sarah in Genesis 18, when God declares Sarah going to have a baby. Now by now, what with God having led Abraham, Sarah and clan out of Haran (Genesis 12) at age 75-ish and having done a number of miracles along the way, that Sarah would have said, “Me have a baby at 100 – sure Lord why not?”. Instead she laughs to herself. But in Genesis 21 we see God having the last laugh. She has a baby! Experiences I think help us have perspective but no one can know the mind of God. That’s why life is such a great adventure (even when we feel like we are up the creek).
I think you are right on regarding your comment about man creating little gods; also I think the word idol would apply. And the resultant catastrophes they bring are never expected. Now that’s one area where our education and experience should be clear; if we don’t learn the lessons of history we are bent to repeat them. And so we continually do. Genocide might be the worst of them. Continually reaking havoc on God’s creation is another one too.
Finally, on that Jesus guy. He was actually fully God and fully man. So I would agree with you yes he was a prophet but he was also fully God. And that is what sets him apart from the other prophets and why his words and teachings are so important.
~*Becki*~