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Author
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Topic: Changing Your Mind
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Michael Harrison
Advanced Member
Member # 6801
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posted
quote:
2. Was your initial response a hurried “yes” without sufficient thought? Have you found that no fruit has come from your flippant “yes”? Change your mind by allowing the gospel to take root and bring forth fruit.
The moral of the story, summed up in the final statement is, don't be a Tare! Cain was a Tare. To think that you love, insomuch as you think that you do so 'for' Christ, is to be a Tare. It is not disasterous to change one's mind from being a tare. As the Greek said above, the word associated with repent means to 'think', 'consider'.
Posts: 3273 | From: Charlotte N.C. | Registered: Sep 2007
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WildB
Moderator
Member # 2917
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posted
quote:
Originally posted by ANM:
What do yall think that verse means ?
Jas.3
[1] My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
http://bible.cc/james/3-1.htm
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That is all.....
Posts: 8775 | From: USA, MICHIGAN | Registered: Mar 2004
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ANM
Advanced Member
Member # 7184
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posted
What do yall think that verse means ?
Jas.3
[1] My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
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whats up?
Posts: 85 | From: pa | Registered: May 2008
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WildB
Moderator
Member # 2917
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posted
Nothing~Mike likes to post to read himself not knowing what the Bible says about such matters.
Jas.3
[1] My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
Job.11
[2] Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified?
Prov.10
[19] In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.
Ecclesiastes 5
[3] For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words.
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That is all.....
Posts: 8775 | From: USA, MICHIGAN | Registered: Mar 2004
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Carol Swenson
Admin
Member # 6929
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posted
Interesting. But what in the world does it have to do with this topic?
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
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Michael Harrison
Advanced Member
Member # 6801
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posted
So many, being so well meaning, recognize that love is the most important ingredient. It is most important. Even we can recognize it as sinful human beings. But the concept is wrong. We don't produce it by willingness! It is purely the attribute of God.
Here is the trouble with what we call love. In its simplicity, Cain thought that his input was the better of the two. 'That' was what mattered to Cain. He was convinced of his offer, that it was better! But Cain was blind to the fact of 'what God was looking for', which is what Able submitted himself to discover. Cain nevertheless had ‘elected’, or supposed his sacrifice to be better, and was wroth, and that with Pride, to find out that his offer was rejected. Why? It was because he 'determined' that his was a better sacrifice - that without considering what God wanted.
The flaw: His input was completely valuable to him because he thought himself to be a 'good' person, and he wanted to be validated as such to prove it, hence, pride in his sacrifice. That, I am afraid to say, is what makes up most Christianity today. They think that they are good people, and they want their input to be validated as such so they can be accepted as the creme of the crop. And they think that it is validated when they aspire by self election, to 'become' Christians. Therefore when they speak their peace, they think that they are ‘right’ in what they say. (They will shout you down, to prove they are right and in times past, they killed you.)
These believe that HE did it; they identify with it, that settles it! But they overlook the participation part of their own surrender. But, it isn't a question of 'identifying' with, but rather a question of surrender to His will which they think means to identify with Him, and to lord it over others.
What does that have to do with love? Love is not something we produce any more than the sacrifice of Cain was acceptable as a sacrifice. That would be works. Love is who He is. Therefore love is what only He does. We cannot love. So, in keeping with Cornelius Stam’s sermon on faith as being a noun, and belief being the verb, Love is the same. Love is something that He is, which we see the fruit of when we do the verb I.e. ‘believe’. Then love becomes the verb, which is His ‘doing’ it. It is transitional. His loves is manifest when we stop trying to, and believe that He is.
Posts: 3273 | From: Charlotte N.C. | Registered: Sep 2007
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Carol Swenson
Admin
Member # 6929
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posted
Changing Your Mind Can Be Blessed or Disastrous
Matthew 21:28 - 32 (NLT)
28 “But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go,’ but later he changed his mind and went anyway. 30 Then the father told the other son, ‘You go,’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t go. 31 “Which of the two obeyed his father?” They replied, “The first.” Then Jesus explained his meaning: “I tell you the truth, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do. 32 For John the Baptist came and showed you the right way to live, but you didn’t believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to believe him and repent of your sins.
Key Verse: Matthew 21:29
I. The Context of the Parable of the Two Sons
A. The parable comes in response to the question the chief priests and elders asked Jesus as He taught in the temple, “ … By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?” (Matt. 21:23).
1. Jesus refused to answer their question directly since they declined to answer His own question concerning the source of John the Baptist’s baptism.
2. Yet this parable provides an indirect answer, as is shown by the connective “but” which begins it.
B. This parable is presented as a vivid pictorial challenge to the Jewish leaders.
1. In Matthew 3:4-6 we find a first group responding to the message of repentance by John. But they came to John after their change of mind and regret for their sinful way of life. They feared that the Messiah would have nothing to do with them. The first son is representative of this group.
2. In Matthew 3:7-10 are the religious characters which parallel the second son in the parable who said he would obey and yet, in the end, did not.
3. The specific explanation and application is found in Matthew 21:31, 32. These religious leaders saw only too well that Jesus was referring to them (Matt. 21:45, 46).
II. The Content of the Parable
A. A father had two children growing up.
1. The word used in this parable is τέκνα, “children,” not υἱοί, “sons,” who are old enough to decide what they are going to do in life, which word is used in the parable for the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32.
2. In this parable we have two children who had not yet carved their careers nor made any final choices.
B. The father invited both sons to go and work in his vineyard. The duty of every father is to instill in his children the necessity and blessing of work.
1. The children must recognize the field is still their father’s although they are called to work in it. “Son, go work today in my vineyard” (Matt. 21:28).
2. As laborers, children at work, we must never lose sight of the fact that it is not our world, it is His. “The field is the world” as Jesus said (Matt. 13:38). The whole world is His vineyard for His children to work in.
C. These two children were of the same father and yet they were so different.
1. When the second son is introduced, the Greek text in some manuscripts is τῷ ἑτέρῳ which means “the other who was of different makeup and outlook.”
2. The first child said, “I don’t want to go” (Matt. 21:29).
a) He voiced the instant inclination of his sinful nature. Tell a child to do something or go somewhere and the likely answer will be “I don’t want to” (οὐ θέλω) or as the kjv has it “I will not” (Matt. 21:29).
b) “Afterward he repented and went.” How much afterward? In Greek the adverb is ὓστερον which implies not immediately afterwards, but toward the end of the thought process. It has more the meaning of “finally.”
3. The other child is differently disposed but the challenge of the father was the same. Work is for all. This child said “I’ll go,” but he did not.
III. The Change of Mind Which Means Repentance
A. The word most commonly translated “repentance” in the New Testament is μετανοέω, derived from μετά, “after,” and νοέω, “to think, perceive.”
1. It means to change one’s mind, which involves an instantaneous change of heart, a regret for unbelief and sin, and a determination to change direction.
2. This is what both John the Baptist (Matt. 3:2) and the Lord Jesus preached: “Repent: for the kingdom of God is at hand” (Matt. 4:17). Real repentance (μετάνοια) results in the forgiveness or removal of sin (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3; Acts 2:38).
B. This is not the word used in Matthew 21:29: “ … but afterward he repented and went.”
1. The Greek verb here is not μετάνοήσῃς, but μεταμεληθεὶς, the passive participle of μεταμέλομαι, derived from μετά, “after,” and μέλομαι, “to care or show concern for oneself.”
2. It means to regret, not because one feels he has done anything wrong but because something did not turn out to his own advantage. A thief when caught regrets stealing not because he has concluded that stealing is a sin, but because he was caught. Such a person, however, has not become moral if he does not steal anymore.
3. Μετάνοια represents moral change in an individual while μεταμέλεια is a convenient, selfish change of behavior and regret.
a) This verb μεταμέλομαι is the verb used of Judas in Matthew 27:3, “Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he [Jesus] was condemned, repented himself [μεταμελεηθείς] and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.”
b) This was mere regret and not true repentance. Judas was not saved at the end, but he proved himself to be what he always was, the son of perdition (John 17:12). It is this verb μεταμέλομαι that is used in Matthew 21:29, 32.
IV. The Application of This Parable
A. A prophetic application
1. The first son or child represents the Gentiles who were expected to say “no” at the beginning but in the end said “yes,” and are now ahead of the unbelieving Jews (Rom. 10:18b-21).
2. The second son is representative of the Jewish nation. Jesus was of their own nationality. “Yes” was the immediate response expected, but then they changed their mind about Jesus and this change became disastrous (Rom. 9:1-10, 18).
3. God is not yet through with the second son who will change his mind again and say “yes” (Rom. 11).
B. A personal application
1. Your initial response to Christ may be a “no.” Change your mind and be blessed.
2. Was your initial response a hurried “yes” without sufficient thought? Have you found that no fruit has come from your flippant “yes”? Change your mind by allowing the gospel to take root and bring forth fruit.
(52 New Testament Sermon Starters, Volume One)
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
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