Loving Hashem with Your Mind

Luke 2:19 HCSB But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them.

Introduction

In order to not only understand but properly apply this passage, we need to understand what the author’s views were. Approaching this Ancient, Middle Eastern, Jewish passage from a Post-Modern, Western, American point of view will not be helpful. Don’t worry - we will soon move to that view in order to make applications, but we will have to begin our journey in Palestine.

One of the ways we attempt to describe the human experience is as a trinity. We are composed of a spirit, a soul, and a body.

1. The human Spirit is the source of will – instantly redeemed (justified) at salvation. (John 4:24; Psalm 51:10; 14:1; Ecclesiastes 10:2)

The spirit is that inward, eternal part of the human that can commune with God and will endure regardless of what happens to the mind or the body.

• John 4:24 HCSB God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Upon salvation, the human spirit is immediately and irreversibly redeemed - transformed into what the apostle identifies as a “new man”. This is what David was requesting in:

• Psalms 51:10 HCSB God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

As the need of the human spirit for salvation is tied to the need to submit our stubborn and recalcitrant spirits to the will of God, the spirit can be identified as the source of our will. Consider the description of the atheist, someone who has decided to believe that God does not exist. Consider where that decision is made.

· Psalms 14:1 cp 53:1 HCSB For the choir director. Davidic. The fool says in his heart, "God does not exist." They are corrupt; their actions are revolting. There is no one who does good.

Also consider where it is that we decide to practice righteous living.

· Ecclesiastes 10:2 HCSB A wise man's heart goes to the right, but a fool's heart to the left.

This is where a lot of people get confused because the Bible rightly considers the seat of the human will, where we decide to submit to God or not, as the “heart” of the human existence.

In American post-modern thought, all that really matters is how one “feels” so we often consider our feelings to be our “heart”. This leads to a lot of bad theology and worse practice! So when you read about the human heart condition in the Bible it is not talking necessarily about our emotional well-being, but about our spirit – the seat of our will.

2. The human soul is the source of emotional and cognitive life – progressively redeemed through sanctification. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Ephesians 4:22-24; Philippians 2:12; Colossians 3:10)

The soul is composed of two abilities: cognition and emotion, that is our thoughts (both conscious and subconscious) and feelings. This part is not immediately redeemed by justification but requires a partnership of active effort on our part and empowerment of the Holy Spirit in a process called sanctification.

• 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 HCSB (3) For although we are walking in the flesh, we do not wage war in a fleshly way, (4) since the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments (5) and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
• Ephesians 4:22-24 HCSB you took off your former way of life, the old man that is corrupted by deceitful desires; (23) you are being renewed in the spirit of your minds; (24) you put on the new man, the one created according to God's likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.

Note: The spirit of your minds. Paul recognizes the need of applying the spirit’s will to the discipline of the soul (mind).

• Philippians 2:12 HCSB So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Note: work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Notice that Paul says that a one-time decision to say a “sinner’s prayer” (a phrase found nowhere in the Scriptures) is not the stopping point. We must go one to knead that wonderful truth into every aspect of our lives. Note also HOW it is done, “with fear and trembling”, an emotional experience. Here again, we see that the spirit wills, the soul feels, the intellect is engaged, and this leads to the body’s righteous lifestyle.

• Colossians 3:10 HCSB and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of his Creator.

3. The human body is the vessel of obedience – disciplined through sanctification while awaiting a future redemption. (Mark 12:30)

a. Disciplined through sanctification. (Romans 7:23; 6:6-7, 12; 8:12-14)

• Romans 7:23 HCSB But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.
• Romans 6:6-7 HCSB For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin's dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, (7) since a person who has died is freed from sin's claims.
• Romans 6:12 HCSB Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires.
• Romans 8:12-14 HCSB So then, brothers, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, (13) for if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (14) All those led by God's Spirit are God's sons.

b. Awaiting a future redemption. (Job 19:25-27; Romans 6:5; 7:24-25)

• Job 19:25-27 HCSB But I know my living Redeemer, and He will stand on the dust at last. (26) Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God in my flesh. (27) I will see Him myself; my eyes will look at Him, and not as a stranger. My heart longs within me.
• Romans 6:5 HCSB For if we have been joined with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection.
• Romans 7:24-25 HCSB What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (25) I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin.

When it comes to the Gentile concept of the soul, the standard phrase is “mind, will and emotion”. This reflects the Greek idea that the mind should be first and foremost in our studies.

We see in Mary’s reaction, though, that the Hebrew mandate is to first suborn our will, which will allow us to have appropriate emotional reactions and priorities, which will in turn direct our mind in its pursuits. As the Master said,

· Mark 12:30 HCSB Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

Spirit, Emotion, Intellect, Physical obedience.

So now that we understand some of the terms and something of the mindset that drove both Mary (who lived the experience) and Luke (who recorded it through the process of Holy Spirit inspiration), let’s parse the statement and bring some applications to bear upon OUR lives.

Main Points

1. To treasure is to keep in one’s memory.

Today’s passage says that Mary “treasured all these things”.

Our spirits must decide to put God and God’s kingdom first, regardless of the personal cost. This is “volition”, “will”, at its best and most righteous. We must deliberately choose what is important to us in the long run regardless of what discomfort it may bring in the short run.

When we decide that something is important, our minds automatically recall it. If we have a hard time remembering people’s names, it is because people are not that important to us. If we have a hard time remembering mathematical theorems, it is because we fail to see their critical function or benefits in our lives. If we fail to remember God’s commands and blessings, His “mitzvoth”, then it reveals that God is not important to us.

Treasuring someone means that you are instantly able to recognize them when you see them. A lover’s heart is able to see even beyond costumes and various masquerades. To treasure God and remember His voice, means that we should be able to recognize God when we see Him in our day to day lives. We should recognize His voice whether it comes in the guise of our parent’s advice or the instructions of a wise friend or the counsel of a church elder.

If we treasure God we will remember:

· our times with Him

· our lessons from Him

Finally, to treasure God and keep Him in our memory means that we will take steps to not only personally retain the memory of God, but to pass that memory on to future generations.

2. To keep in one’s heart is to keep in one’s affections. (Ephesians 4:26; Psalm 42:2; 63:1-2; Matthew 7:22; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3; Psalm 84:2-4; 119:130-131)

Today’s passage says that Mary treasured these things “in her heart”. This brings us out of the area of the spirit and into the area of the human soul, the first half being the emotional life. I call it the “first half” because we feel before we think. Our brains give us emotional impressions before the object of our consideration comes to the attention of our front lobes, the seat of consciousness. That is why the Bible says,

· Ephesians 4:26 HCSB Be angry and do not sin. Don't let the sun go down on your anger,

You are allowed to be angry, you can hardly stop your first, subconscious impression anyway! But once that thought hits the front lobe, you must consciously decide what to do about that irritation. But back to the main point.

Adonaic Christianity must not become an intellectual pastime. It is not a social organization seeking to lift the human spirit through better education or more ethical good works. Adonaic Christianity is the cultivation of a personal relationship between the human and the divine spirit. It is about the two principle requirements that God makes upon us, ahavah and yare, loving and fearing Him.

Feeling, emotion, is not something to be feared or “stifled”. It is something to be cultivated and disciplined. Undisciplined emotion will destroy you just as surely as not cultivating emotion will.

We are to grant emotional weight to our experience of God.

We are to develop the full range of emotional expression. We shouldn’t be emotionally “flat”. Fear/awe; Love; Humility; Gratitude; Joy; Appropriate hate; Jealousy. All these are rightly found in the range of righteous human experience.

This means we need to develop an intuitive appreciation and understanding of God.

· Psalms 42:2 HCSB I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God?

· Psalms 63:1-2 HCSB A Davidic psalm. When he was in the Wilderness of Judah. God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You. I thirst for You; my body faints for You in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water. (2) So I gaze on You in the sanctuary to see Your strength and Your glory.

To have a right view of God and even to do right things FOR God is not enough. Love must take hold of us.

• Matthew 7:22-23 HCSB On that day many will say to Me, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?' (23) Then I will announce to them, 'I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!'

These people were DOING many amazing things – things that I long to be able to do. Yet they were denounced! Why? Because they weren’t known by the Lord. They did not have a personal, emotional life with Him.

• 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 HCSB (1) If I speak the languages of men and of angels, but do not have love, I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. (2) If I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so that I can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. (3) And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Again the Apostle Paul reiterates the point. It’s not enough to be empowered with great charismatic gifts. We must love not only the Lord, but also our fellow man.

• Psalms 84:2-4 HCSB I long and yearn for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh cry out for the living God. (3) Even a sparrow finds a home, and a swallow, a nest for herself where she places her young--near Your altars, LORD of Hosts, my King and my God. (4) How happy are those who reside in Your house, who praise You continually. Selah

David longed and yearned for the courts of the Lord. He experienced this longing as both an emotional and a physical need. He was jealous of the birds who got to nest in the Beit ha Mikdash (The Holy Temple)! He wished he could just live in the Temple.

We must be careful to not lose God in the wilderness of ministry. We must not allow the multitude of mitzvoth that we both read and attempt to obey to swallow up this central fact: God is neither an idea nor a moral code, but a Person. We can never hope to fully know a fellow human being through a single encounter. How could we ever dream of gaining sufficient insight into divine Personality in even one hour a week? It is only after long and loving time spent with the Lover of our Souls that the full ramifications of d’vekut can be realized. We need to develop a strong yearning to be in God’s house, to be learning from God’s Word, or to be conversing with fellow Believers about God.

• Psalms 119:130-131 HCSB The revelation of Your words brings light and gives understanding to the inexperienced. (131) I pant with open mouth because I long for Your commands.

3. To meditate on is to use one’s intellect to dig deeper. (Ephesians 5:26; Psalm 119:11; Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12; Luke 2:19)

Today’s passage says that Mary “meditated on these things”

This brings us to the second half of the human soul. Thought – Mind – Cognition. Once we have decided to put God first in our life, and have developed a passion for the Lord, the next (and never-ending) step is to deliberately engage our intellects. We need to exercise our minds to improve or increase this experience.

We must develop our understanding of our relationship with God within the context of various situations.

We must develop an ability to not only recall, but aptly apply the lessons we have learned.

We should use our imagination to consider potential issues and proactively provide biblically and ethically appropriate solutions.

We should regularly spend time trying to store as much of the Bible in our minds as possible, especially if we believe that merely handling God’s Word “washes” our minds as the Apostle Paul teaches in Ephesians 5:26.

• Ephesians 5:26 HCSB to make her holy, cleansing her in the washing of water by the word.

And as David taught in Psalm 119…

• Psalms 119:11 HCSB I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You.

If we still struggle with sin and temptation, it is very likely that we have not been studying and memorizing the Scriptures enough. As one man once said concerning the Bible, “Either this book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book.”

Isn’t that how Jesus kept the devil at bay? In each occasion of temptation in the wilderness, the Lord quoted Scripture in response. [(1) Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4 (2) Matthew 4:7; Luke 4:12 (3) Matthew 4:10; Luke 4:8] The Scriptures are our only offensive weapon [Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12]. Unfortunately, most of us are walking around unarmed.

Conclusion

Luke 2:19 HCSB But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them.

Mary engaged her spirit, and her soul’s emotions and intellect. She demonstrated her true passion for the Lord not just when she yielded, saying

"I am the Lord's slave. May it be done to me according to your word." (Luke 1:38)

She treasured this act; she cultivated an emotional response to her encounter with God and meditated on its meaning. May each of us today have that same response to God’s Word.