Living Between the Extremes - Lesson 13 - Conclusion

Introduction

I believe we are caught between the person we are and the person we want to be.
In addition to that we are either living in the past or in the future.
Are we studying the scriptures for ourselves to live our lives?
Or do we trust what we have heard others say?
Let’s search the scriptures and find the balance,
that safe place where we can reside.

That was my goal for this 13 week lesson.
And here was our foundational verse…

Proverbs 11:1-3, ‘A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight. When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom. The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.’

Opening thoughts…





Answer – It is a heart issue.
Prayer will reveal the answer in the gray areas.
The revelation will not contradict His written word.

I believe we blur the lines
and turn the black and white into the subtle shades of gray
that make others not want what we have.

One foot in the white,
One on the black.
If the world sees us we can simply lift our white foot.
If our church friends see us we can lift our black foot.

Let’s not live in the gray.
Let’s find the answer in His Word.
Confirm it in prayer.
And walk as He has told us to.

Here is what I believe the progression of our spiritual growth should be.
What I am basing this on is how my spiritual progression has gone,
Backed up by other men in this church I spoke with.

- We start out as a dry brittle sponge. Every message we hear was written for us. We soak it all in. How did Pastor know I needed that? Much like that dry sponge soaking up any moisture found, our new spirituality is ready to receive anything given to it.
- We aren’t as absorbent. Some messages are for us, some don’t apply. We are not the new person in church.
- We grow in our spirituality, we need Sunday evening and Wednesday evenings as we realize Sunday morning is more specifically for the unsaved or the newly saved Christian.
- We need help from ‘Study Bibles’ and commentary notes to help us understand the Bible better
- We outgrow commentaries as we find them to not always be accurate as they are one man’s opinion, or a consensus of men’s opinions.
- We seek the Lord’s understanding to reveal His Word to us. He gives us a deeper understanding of scripture. Ideas that we feel we are the first person to come up with. Later we find out that others have thought that too. Either way we were given that inspiration independent of someone else’s opinion.

Additional thoughts…





Let’s look at that as it applies to Husband and Wife relations

1 Peter 3:1-2, ‘Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.’

Even before you say it, you are right.
Us men don’t deserve your subjection,
However the Lord put it here.

No, a husband is not allowed to blame his wife for his lack of growth,
Just as a wife is not allowed to blame her husband.
With that in mind we are not to take that for granted,
And hinder the other.

What advice do you have for us here?





1 Peter 3:7, ‘Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.’

Two parts here.
Give her the honor she deserves as the Lord commands.
That our prayers be not hindered.

Women what advice do you have for us men as how we can honor you?

Men, why would we want our prayers hindered?





We are also not allowed to blame others for our sin.

That’s what Adam and Eve did.
Eve blamed the serpent,
And Adam in a way blamed the Lord,

Genesis 3:12, ‘And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.’

What advice do you have for us when we want to blame others?
Even when they are to blame?





Where is the balance between authority and responsibility?
When I worked at Pipe Solutions I had a problem with that balance.
My boss made me totally accountable for my workload.
I had to take full responsibility for it.

The problem was with the authority factor.
I did not have total control over the project.
I did not control manpower.
I did not control finances.

However I did have to accept responsibility for the project as a whole.
And be able to give account for anything that went wrong on the project.
I was also not allowed to make excuses or assign blame.

Can anyone relate to that?





Philippians 4:8-9, ‘Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.’

I asked you before how much time do you spend thinking on these things
and the consensus was not enough.
Asking that question a few weeks later how would you answer?





Galatians 5:16, ‘This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.’

There is the answer.
What is your advice as to how we are to practically apply that verse?





Conclusion

Manage your strengths or they will manage you.
And ignore your weaknesses and they will trip you up.

I don’t want you to stumble,
And I need help at times,
Let’s work together, growing in one accord,
To be the individual He designed us to be
And the part of the body He also designed us to be.

Any additional thoughts?





Next week we will be starting
Content yet still wanting
With the foundational verse…

Philippians 4:2, ‘I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.’

How well do you balance being content and still desiring more?
Have you ever really gone without?
Do you trust Him to provide all your wants?
All of your needs?
All that you deserve?

Let’s search the scriptures together
as God teaches us to bear prosperity with meekness,
and adversity with contentment.

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