Headlines: What is your perspective?
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Headlines. If you watch the news too much then it might feel like headlines dominate life. Right now we’re moving into the season of politics.
So we’re going to have a lot of headlines that not only tell us why to vote for or against someone else, we’re going to have headlines that will tell us what to think about, what to think about ourselves, and what to think about others as well.
A few years ago we were involved in a season where all of us watch the headlines every day…maybe even more than that. Deadly disease spreading over the planet. And it was…many of you still grieve over the losses.
Headlines would warn us to stay home. Businesses shutting down. Jobs vanishing. Daily death toll. Supply chain shut down. Shortages of …TP…and more. Negative negative negative…negative news and headlines.
And then right near the end of that time we had headlines about racial tensions, violence, political division. Negative headlines.
Then we had headlines that talked about Covid being on the way out…then on the way back…almost like waves coming in at high tide. For awhile we didn’t know what to believe.
So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Set your mind. Some other ways to say this…Think about different things. Have a perspective that is of Jesus. Think heavenly, hopeful, God centered thoughts.
Set your minds on things that are above...
…and not on things that are earthly…here.
Things “above”…having to do with Jesus…are things that have to do with eternity. This is Kingdom of God stuff. Kingdom thinking about not only ourselves but of everything around us.
Thinking in earthly terms is to think of things that are temporary. Not lasting…even evil things.
What’s that last part say? For you have died.
Now, obviously, Paul is talking to believers here in his letter to the Colossian church.
You have died.
Paul in other letters talks about this idea of the death of the old person. The old you was buried with Jesus. Paul, in Romans, says that you died with Christ…so that just as he was raised up…you will be to.
He writes here that our lives as believers are hidden, tucked away, with Jesus.
We’ve talked about living a full life that Jesus brings to give us.
The world is a tough place. It has a curse on it because of sin.
It isn’t what Jesus intended.
We chose and often choose to steal glory from God.
So how do we live a more full life here?
Set you mind on things above.
Set your mind on Jesus.
What is Paul not saying…but saying loud and clear?
That there’s a lot of things here to set our minds on. That are life stealing. Life confusing. Ultimately life defeating.
So when we focus on things above what we’re focusing on is messages and truths from above rather than half truths or outright lies here.
Have you ever read a headline that you know wasn’t true?
Now I’m sure you’ve never seen a headline that you even so slightly assumed might be wrong.
Right???
Here are a few headlines that were completely wrong.
SLIDES _________
Ok those were some that are not true…were not true by any means.
There are some though that turn from truth or possible truth to just laughs right?
We’ll see some here just for a few smiles.
SLIDES _________
Truth is sometimes it does seem like the headlines either drive life or make life…or a the very least…seem to affect us.
The rough part is this, sometimes we allow the world to write headlines for our lives…or we write our own...
…and often, they’re not very helpful…maybe not even truthful.
What Paul is saying in this the verse we just read is this…keep your perspective, your point of view, your worldview, on truth from above.
Truth that is from God. Allow God to give you wisdom and truth and life.
The old person is gone, Jesus lives in you…spirit to spirit.
Allow Him to direct your perspective. When we do it on our own, or allow the world to do it for us, it will be skewed.
Here’s where the battle is. And we’ve all heard this in one way or another. But for the most part, we can’t control all the circumstances around us or in the world.
What can we control though?
Our perspective. We can control our perspective.
In a sense, we have the opportunity, everyday, to write our own headlines. Paul encourages us to do so. And he encourages us to do it from the perspective of ultimate and eternal truth.
There are tons of stories in scripture where we see people battling perspective. Trying to hold on to truth.
We see it first in the garden…truth is skewed just enough. Doubt sets in…the headline is written, “Does death really follow sin?”
We know the truth…but Adam and Eve’s perspective was off…just enough to allow a door to open for sin.
Abraham and Sara....
The first headline from God was,
“Couple who couldn’t have children promised child from God!”
Just a little doubt and that headline changed.
Abraham wrote his own, because of he and Sarah’s doubt...
“Looks like God isn’t going to come through.”
God did come through, only after Abraham and Sarah took things into their own hands for awhile.
One of the best historical accounts is this one.
It happened when the Israelites were about to enter the promised land.
This happens in the book of Numbers chapter 13.
God talks to Moses and says this, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan that I am about to give to the Israelites.” Part of that could be the headline right?
God is about to give the Promised Land to the Israelites or something like that. That would be based on truth…on God’s word.
Moses picks some men to go into the land…they go…they bring back bunches of grapes and other fruits. It’s awesome. The land flows with “milk and honey.”
But....that dreaded word “but.”
One group went, two groups came back.
One group wrote their own headline...
The other group stayed with God’s.
One group said the land is full of powerful large people in fortified cities…there’s no way God can give us this land…they even say these words, “We’ll be devoured by the land.”
Into the evening these people wrote headline after headline for themselves based on fear.
“The land can’t be taken. Israel will for sure be destroyed.”
Even saying…Moses just take us back to Egypt.
Joshua and Caleb speak up at one point and say…God will give us this land! He said so.
They stick with God’s headline....God’s truth.
“God promises the land of Canaan to Israel!”
You can alway change your perspective…even when the circumstances can’t be controlled around you.
Paul’s life is another case study. Wow…Paul was determined…and that is an understatement.
Paul started out as the most Jewish of all Jewish people. Loved God. Loved God’s Law. Love leading people in God’s Law. Loved trying to be righteous before God...
...Hated Jesus and those who believed in Him.
He wanted to destroy Christianity.
Paul’s headline early on might have been...”Paul defeats Christianity. Peace restored to the Hebrew Faith.”
Jesus turned Paul around. Long story short, Jesus talked directly to Paul in a vision. And we get the shortest written account of this in our scriptures.. Because Paul talks quite a bit about this vision.... It must have been huge. He doesn’t give direct details…he just says that Jesus talked directly to him.
Paul must have seen things enough that...
well…let’s just say that....
CHANGED HIS ENTIRE PERSPECTIVE....
Paul is now bent on telling everyone about the gospel. And this isn’t just information…he wants to let everyone know…the direction of history has changed. Get on the boat…The Kingdom is here. Jesus came to die, rise…and save people. Decisions need to be made. ........
....and....
....I need to get to Rome.
Paul has a dream of going to Rome. It seems that God has given him the idea…and Paul begins to say…if the Lord wills. I think he wants to talk with the highest officials. It looks like he also wants to get to spain...
Paul gets to Rome…but not by making up the corporate missionary ladder.
Paul makes it by way of imprisonment, beatings, appealing to Caesar as a way of law, a storm at sea, a shipwreck, and deadly snake bite to the hand, and then some procedural issues.
Now…at any point in time, Paul may have listened to those around him.
Their headlines for him. Or maybe even his own discouragement creating headlines.
“Paul’s Imprisonment Dashing His Hopes of Rome.”
“Paul stopped. Christianity fails.”
“News of Jesus Shown to Be … Passing Myth”
“Paul awaits Likely Execution. Christianity Doomed”
He might have thought about those. People might have told him those things.
Again…Paul is not in control of all of his circumstances. However, he can be in control of his reactions, his perspective. Paul can write his own headlines.
At the end of Acts we find that Paul is in a house…renting a house in Rome. But he is under house arrest as he waits a trial before Caesar. He can have visitors, and he can continue to share the news of Jesus.
Not quite what Paul might have been thinking. But Paul writes near the end of Acts that he is well…and that the Gospel is advancing. That people are being saved and that many who are in service to Caesar as guards and military personnel have accepted the truth of Jesus as well.
Paul didn’t necessarily write out his circumstances…but he wrote his own headlines based on God’s will and God’s truth.
All of us in here can write our own headlines. And if we do that carefully, relying only on the truth of God....our perspective will be from truth.
In counseling, you’ll find that often, people are taught to re-frame their perspective. Decide for yourself what the perspective is. Don’t allow doubt or fear or even others who don’t wish the best for you to do so.
Here’s a slightly different approach…similar in that you’re not allowing negativity in…So, As you keep getting to know the heart of God, allow Him to guide your perspective. Look to His truths to guide your mind and your heart.
Joshua, Caleb, Paul…and so many others, chose to see what God was doing … even when others saw fear, threats, adversity, negativity.
You may be in some circumstances right now that seem horrible. Your negative thoughts, or even the world, or whatever else other than God might be sneaking in to write headlines for you.
Do you see them as real challenges? They might be challenges…very true.
But do you see the possibilities within those challenges? Or just the negative dead ends?
The Devil’s headlines or God’s headlines?
Here are a number of passages that we’re going to flip through …and I hope you get a sense of what could be through God’s truth. These are from people who knew Jesus and struggled themselves. Paul, John and Peter.
They all talked about taking a circumstance that may seem out of your control…or even one that you may have placed yourself into…and turning it around by focusing on truth.
So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
1 John 3:1 (CSB)
See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are!
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Our perspective …not in darkness. Our perspective is all about light. About seeing the light at the end of a tunnel. Our perspective says…there is light to be found where it looks there is none.
I read about a couple who was on a long trip together. Traveling down the straight highways of the west....long straight highways out west....
The husband said…these roads go on forever. She said the scenery is beautiful. He said, there’s nothing but road! She said there are flowers everywhere!
Two perspectives. Same road. Same car. Same trip. Two perspectives. A defeating perspective…but another one that is built on something different.
You might be facing something hard. You might be walking…or God may be leading you to a challenge.
Maybe you’re facing something family wise.
Maybe you’re needing to forgive someone.
Maybe you’re needing to let go of something.
Maybe you’re face up to an addiction in your life.
Maybe you’re needing to eat the proverbial humble pie.
Maybe you’re in a decision process and don’t know where to go.
Your own darkness or even Satan himself might be writing headlines for you. Don’t let that happen.
Things might get rough…but that doesn’t mean they are outside of the reach of God amen?!
Let me read something to you as we finish…I’m going to read …and I’m going to ask that you close your eyes…and as I finish I’ll go right into our prayer. Praise team you can come on up and get ready…we’re going to sing our hearts out as though we know and rely and live in the promises of God ok? And if there are decisions to make…make them today.
We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair;
we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.
Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.
So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Lord help us to see our lives through your perspective…with your truth. Help us see your perspective. Help us look for the possibilities you give when we’re in tough spots…the peace you can give when we’re in turmoil…the full life only you can give.
Give us strength for difficulties. Give us your light in dark places. Peace in the middle of storms. Help us to write our headlines based on your truth and your will.
In your son’s name we all pray…Amen