Attitudes of a True Disciple Part 2
Introduction
D. The happy long for God. God will satisfy you in Him.
Israelites who had estranged themselves from the vitals of religion are here seen putting their confidence in mere rituals of religion, hence soon find themselves with only a form of godliness but without the power thereof. Some today carry Bible under arm and even shout for religion but are without real communion with God.
II. Other Centered Love
A. Be Happy in helping others graciously knowing that God will graciously help you.
If you meet a sinner, do not turn your back on him, as a Pharisee might, but help him all you can, for Christ helped you all he could. If it should cost you a great deal of trouble to win that soul for Christ, gladly put yourself to that trouble, because Christ took so much trouble to save you.
A good brother said to me, the other day, concerning a certain boy, that he was afraid we should never do much with him because he was of very corrupt origin. I said, “So were you.”
He replied, “I do not quite mean it that way.”
“No,” I said, “but I do mean it that way.”
He or she who is a son or daughter of Adam had a corrupt origin. As we all came from that source, we are all corrupt. Do not ever say of anybody, “That person is too bad for me to do anything with him.” It is the genius of Christianity to select the worst first, and we should never regard any man as utterly hopeless until he is dead. As long as the breath is in his body, even if all the devils from hell were also in him, there is enough power in the Lord Jesus Christ to make the whole troop of them fly, and it is for us to attack those devils in his name. Jesus Christ having saved us, the salvation of other sinners must be possible.218
One of the greatest tests of the degree of a person’s transformation into the likeness of Christ is his reaction to the one who does evil to him.
A critical aspect of mercy - Forgiveness
Piper: “Mercy comes from mercy.”
B. Happy are those with a clean and pure heart. You will enjoy eternal fellowship with God.
C. Delight in being a peacemaker. It gives evidence that your are a child of the God of Peace.
In 1930 a movie was made about World War I called “All Quiet on the Western Front.” In one scene some American “doughboys” were talking. A comic character asked, “Where do wars come from anyway?” Another replied, “Well, one country gets mad at another country, and they start fighting.” The first soldier asked, “Do you mean that one piece of land gets mad at another piece of land?” “No,” the other replied. “The people of one country get mad at the people of the other.” The first soldier picked up his rifle and started walking away. When asked where he was going, he said, “I’m going home. I’m not mad at anybody.”