102: Craig Blewett - New Mind

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Welcome to the Good Christadelphian Talks podcast. I'm Levi. And I'm Chris. Thank you so much for joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one talk a week to help each one of us get the Bible in our daily news feed. And we post at the start of each week for you to listen with a short intro beforehand to kind of set the stage for the talk you're about to hear.

2. 0:33

   And now let's hear more about this week's talk. Hello, this is Chris and welcome back for another talk this week. To start off, I would like to thank Brian and Rachel for doing the hosting for the month of July. I know Levi and I enjoyed having the week off, even though we came back for one special one for our 100th episode.

3. 0:59

   But we are back and back to your regularly scheduled programming. For this week's talk, we're listening to a class that was given by Brother Craig Blewett. And over the past summer, I know myself and I'm sure a lot of you have felt the disappointment of a lot of the traditional Bible schools that we have been going to been canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic that is affecting everybody.

4. 1:22

   One of the hidden blessings that has come out of that disappointment has been all the different online versions of the Bible schools that have been being put on around the world and has given everyone an opportunity to hear from speakers from different parts of the world, different countries, different people that normally different Bible schools that we may not have ever attended if we were going to be there in person.

5. 1:42

   And this is one of those online Bible schools. Brother Craig was giving a series on one new thing. And the basic premise of his class was that last year, the year of 2019, he set a goal for himself for every single day. He was going to try to do one new thing. And from that kind of experience, he gained a lot of insight and different things.

6. 2:03

   And this whole series of classes, which were all super excellent, we'll be getting all of them up on the extended Christadelphian Talks podcast, was talking about taking a look at the one thing that we need to all make sure that we're doing in our life to give glory to God. The subject of his of this class is now learn this.

7. 2:25

   And the main point of it is he's looking at the parable of the lost coin. And without spoiling too much, because he has some interesting perspectives on the coin that I found to be really, really powerful. He is looking at how do we view our life in the truth. And the parable of the coin with the coin being lost in the woman's house and the woman that goes to look for the coin and finds it.

8. 2:49

   And her reaction has a lot of meaning. I'm sure you've heard many exhortations and classes and talks on this parable in particular. Again, I don't want to steal any of the points because when I was listening to Craig's class live, some of the points he made were really, really powerful. So I'm not going to give as much of an intro for this one as I normally would because I don't want to steal anything from it because the whole class is really powerful.

9. 3:13

   And he kind of builds off of what he is saying in the beginning. He recaps the first few classes right at the beginning. So it gives you kind of a little cliff notes version of what the other classes have been about. This was a class that I found really powerful. The entire series was fantastic.

10. 3:29

    This was just the one I was listening to it with Kristen. And as soon as the class was over, we both kind of looked at each other and it's like, this is the one that will be for the podcast. So this is brother Craig Blewett's fourth class from his series, One New Thing.

11. 3:43

    And the topic is now learn this. But let's just start with a short prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for opportunities like this that we can connect, that we can consider things old and new, that we can consider our perspectives and the things that we hold important, but also reevaluate them all the time that we might see them in the light of your word and that the spirit might work in our life.

12. 4:09

    And so we thank you for this special time. We thank you, Lord Jesus, for being so centered to our lives. And we offer our prayer through our King, our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. Right. So what are we going to do to begin with? And tonight we're going to be looking at, well, tonight, tonight for me, Doc here, maybe this morning, today for you, in the great United States of America.

13. 4:30

    We're going to be looking at part four of our One New Things series. And we want to look at the new mind and to do with our thinking and maybe some of the things that we think about and how we maybe want to maybe rethink some of the things we think about. So let us have a quick look at that.

14. 4:50

    Right. So we want to have a look at tonight. So today we want to have a look at the new mind. Love the Lord your God with your heart. We looked at that. The soul was yesterday looking at the Zoe life. And today we want to look at the new mind. And one of the things as a body, as a community that we are, we pride ourselves in is our thinking.

15. 5:14

    We often say that we Bible students, we study the word. And we just want to have a look at a little bit about that and about the concept of knowledge and what we do with it and how we use it in our lives and in our preaching and teaching. So as I said, last year, I spent the year doing this one new thing.

16. 5:36

    And so every day I would try and say, well, there's something new I have to do today. And then I broke them into different things. As I said, sometimes it was meeting a new person. Sometimes it was going to a new place. Sometimes it was experiencing something. And sometimes it was what we're looking at tonight, learning a new thing.

17. 5:52

    Something I didn't know. I remember this particular one. This was I heard that we learned that if you take an egg, a raw egg, and you put it in your hand, you can't actually crush it with one hand. I think some of the people eventually got it right. But it's actually quite a difficult thing to do.

18. 6:08

    Especially if you put it in your non-dominant hand. It's almost an impossible thing to crush a raw egg. You don't give it a try. But even now, if you're like, why are we doing this session? You go and grab a raw egg and see. And I was very dubious as to whether this would work.

19. 6:21

    But I couldn't crush that raw egg in my hand. So yeah, I learned something. So that was learning new things. I learned this. This is one of the other things I learned. You're more microbe than human. If you count all the cells in your body, only 42% are human. Wow. So we're like aliens.

20. 6:37

    Didn't realize that. I thought maybe there was something slightly different about me. But yes, we're more microbe than we are human. So again, these are just things I learned through the year. And on some of the days, that was my one new thing. Learning some new and interesting things about myself or about life in general.

21. 6:53

    I remember one day, my son, because he would be often the one Joshua, I'd say, what are we going to do at the end of the day? And he showed me how to make an origami thing. So we learned how to make some new little things. And I'd made it. And I'd bought today a new origami skill.

22. 7:08

    So, a new mind in learning new things. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. And this is interesting because we come to consider the word of God and we come to apply our mind to it.

23. 7:32

    And obviously, that's what he wants us to do. He wants us to think very carefully about these things. And even in the sessions we've already done, we've looked at Greek and we've cross-referenced and we've looked at all sorts of things. But he warns us that it's the foolish things of the world that shame the wise and the weak things of the world that shame the strong.

24. 7:48

    And so we need to be aware of that. And so this brings us to a big question. A new mind is related to a new perspective. And so the question I ask myself in life, looking back, I'm still young. You know, I've just turned 22. I know that the highlights that you're seeing are highlights.

25. 8:12

    I pay a lot of money for these highlights. So very young. So some of you older ones would have had this more than me. I mean, some of you are really old, probably 40s. Who knows how old you may be. Maybe in your 50s and beyond. It's just crazy. Ages. Maybe even 150.

26. 8:27

    But wherever you are in your life, how many times have you changed your perspective on something fundamental? So I'm not just saying, you know, I used to like pink and now I like purple. Something fundamental. You had a view of something. You had a view of something. And for example, maybe you were a meat eater and you decided, you know what, for whatever reasons, the ethical health, I'm going to become a vegan or a vegetarian.

27. 8:59

    That's quite a perspective change. Or maybe you saw a passage or a certain understanding of scripture in one way and a scene that was very powerful. And now later in life, you see it in a different way. How many times have you changed perspective? You see, because one of the hardest things to do is do that.

28. 9:20

    And if asking ourselves that question, and at the end of our lives, or not at the end of our lives, at our point now, if in all your years up to where you are now, you have never changed perspective on anything, there are one of two options. Option one is, wow, you were one of the very few people who had the right perspective on every single major issue.

29. 9:44

    Well, that's amazing. Or option two, well, maybe we're a little bit too stubborn to realize that we could be wrong on some of the things and we don't want to change our perspective. It can only be one of those. And I know for myself, when I was younger, I was thinking, wow, I'm amazing.

30. 10:02

    I'm just so, so really blessed that I have the right perspective on everything. And it's only later in life that you realize, well, maybe I didn't have the right perspective on everything. And so it's very important that we are prepared to question even the big, big things, the fundamental things. If we are not prepared to question them, it means we are uncomfortable with being able to defend them.

31. 10:26

    And it doesn't mean that we have to change, but we should always be open to hear what people are saying about things and to have a new think. The divine mind and your relationships with one another have the same mindset as Christ Jesus we read in Philippians 2 verse 5. So I'll ask you this question.

32. 10:45

    So you've got an opportunity to now type in something. What would you say is the key to learning? Because that's essentially what changing our perspective is. That's what growth is about. That's what learning ultimately. If you had to put it down to a word, what would you think is the key, the thing that is really, really important if you're going to be an effective learner?

33. 11:11

    Right. I'm going to give you a moment to put in your replies. I can see them coming in. And I'll show those in a moment. What would you say is the key to learning? That thing that's so important that we have in place if we want to be effective learners? And obviously, there's a lot of answers, but let's just get an idea of what people are saying.

34. 11:32

    Right. So here's our word cloud. And we're starting to see the things that are big. So the words that are coming out bigger in our word cloud are the words that are mentioned more often. Right. Now, it's very interesting for me to see what you're saying here because my area of study, I'm a lecturer at the university.

35. 11:49

    But more than that, I study in my research and my PhD and my background is on education technology and trying to understand how people learn specifically with technology. And so one of the big questions, even besides the technology, is what is learning and what underpins learning and what's key to learning. And so we're seeing a whole lot of really important words coming out here.

36. 12:10

    And I love the words we think. And so big word we're seeing there. And it's changing as more of you are coming in and as we're seeing. But listening, yes, absolutely. An open mind, absolutely. Humility. So those are the big words. Curiosity, study, willingness. Then some of the smaller words, resources, contemplators. Love, loving what you like.

37. 12:32

    Having a mentor. Lots of words, open-mindedness coming out in various other ways. Attention, searching, reading, meditating, desire, a teacher. And absolutely, all of those are key to learning. And they're all absolutely really important. But I want to pick up on one aspect. And the great Erebus Einstein, he said, quoting him, ego is equal to one divided by knowledge.

38. 13:02

    Created a formula for us. More the knowledge, lesser the ego. Lesser the knowledge, more the ego. What he's saying is the more you know, the less your ego is. You start to realize, and anyone who's studied and gone through school and then into university and a bachelor's degree and a PhD and on and on and going.

39. 13:26

    And the higher you get, you start to realize, wow, there's so many things I don't know. And so what he's saying is the more you know, the lesser the ego. And often people who are very, very convinced that they know things and they've got it figured out, often are the people that actually know the least.

40. 13:44

    And in a way, what he's saying in a very simple thing, and that's the question I was asking you. Underpinning, underpinning learning is humility. Humility, that is absolutely essential because humility is that core aspect that enables us to be vulnerable. Because only in vulnerability are we open to learn and receive new ideas.

41. 14:08

    So all of the things, important things about listening and reading and all of those inputs, we won't hear what we're listening to. We won't be able to get anything from what we're reading. If there's a teacher involved, it's great. But if we do not have humility, if we do not make ourselves vulnerable to be able to change, we cannot learn.

42. 14:30

    And so core to this is being vulnerable. And then we see Jesus. Jesus, who being in the form of God, made himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a servant. He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death. He's the ultimate example of humility. Humility, when he was on that cross, naked before everyone, was a representation of ultimate humility.

43. 14:55

    And he was prepared to do that, teach us such a great lesson. And so with anything that we're learning in life, whatever the sport is, if you're not prepared to be humble, it actually becomes quite hard to learn. So if you're going to pick up a new sport like skiing, and I've seen this a lot because joy skiing, but not a very good skier.

44. 15:14

    And the reason that it takes longer for an adult to learn to ski or to learn any new thing is we don't like to fall. We don't like to embarrass ourselves. We don't like to be looking stupid, whereas kids tend to not often care. And so the core of learning new things is being humble.

45. 15:34

    Isaiah 48 verse 6 says, And so I want to share with you possibly something that is not new, but maybe is new in terms of a little slight twist on it. And it's going to focus in specifically on our understanding, on knowledge, and these things that are really important to us. So let me take you on a little journey through a very well-known story.

46. 16:07

    And there's a story that Jesus tells of a woman who loses a coin. She's got a little home. She's lost a coin. And the story is pretty simple. She loses a coin. She has to sweep around, find the coin. And she's happy she got the coin. So it's a very simple story. But I think the lesson that it's teaching is quite profound when we start to maybe open our minds to what is being taught.

47. 16:31

    So this story is recounted by Jesus in Luke chapter 15 verse 8. What woman having 10 pieces of silver, if she loses one piece, doesn't light a candle, sweep the house and seek diligently till she finds it? So she's lost one of her coins out of the 10. Now, the interesting thing here is this particular parable is in a series of parables where we've got lost and found parables.

48. 16:56

    And there's a parable of the sheep that's lost. There's a parable of the prodigal son where there's a son lost. And this is the parable of the coin that's lost. But there is a distinct difference between a sheep, the son who has lost, and the coin. And the difference is, whereas a sheep or a human can lose themselves, a coin can't.

49. 17:16

    You see, unlike sheep and humans, coins do not have legs. And this makes this parable quite distinct from the other two. So while the three parables sit together and they teach us a really important lesson about being lost and being found, there is something that's slightly weird about this one. Because the coin gets lost but doesn't have an ability to lose itself.

50. 17:41

    And also, unlike the other two parables, the lead character in this one is a woman. So the lead character in the prodigal son is either the son or the father. The lead character, obviously, in the lost sheep is the shepherd who goes out to find his sheep. This one, the lead character is a woman.

51. 17:59

    So we've got two things that should start to make us think a little bit. There's a coin that has no legs. It gets lost. There is a lead character who is a woman. So we need to start questing for what's happening here. Well, we know quite clearly in passages like Ephesians 5, 31 to 32, for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife.

52. 18:19

    And the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery, but I'm talking about Christ and the church. So when we see the symbol of a woman in scripture, often it represents the church. It represents the bride of Christ. That's the same metaphor. Christ is the groom, the church, you and I, we are the bride.

53. 18:40

    And so this picture of a woman should immediately tell us, unlike the other two stories, here we are talking about a church scenario. Here we are talking about something that is happening inside a church environment. It's about the bride. It's about the woman. And so then we read in Luke 15, as we continue in Luke 15, verse 8, Ida, what woman having 10 pieces of silver, if she lose one piece?

54. 19:10

    Now, it's very interesting when we look at that word lose. Now, without going into too much Greek and not understanding a lot of it, but very simply just go and grab a Strong's or open your Bible on your computer. You'll see that that word lose is actually the word to destroy fully, literally or figuratively, to destroy or die.

55. 19:32

    Oh, that's quite weird. I, the what woman having 10 pieces of silver, if she destroys one piece, wow, she destroys it. She doesn't just lose it. She actually destroys it. So, just to give you a sense, it's the same word we find in Luke 9, verse 56. For the Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.

56. 20:01

    That's exactly the same word. It's actually a word that doesn't occur very often. This is exactly what it means. Somehow, this coin, this one silver coin, has been destroyed. So, the question I'll leave with you now is, or ask you, is how do you think the woman has destroyed the coin? Give me a suggestion.

57. 20:25

    So, all we know so far, here we've got a woman, and it seems to represent the church, and she's got a coin, and somehow, she's destroyed it. She hasn't just lost it. She's destroyed it. That is what this very strong word means. And as I said, it only occurs a few times. We'll pick up on a couple of the other times.

58. 20:49

    It only occurs four times. But it does literally mean to destroy. So, I'm about to ask you, so you do a little bit of thinking, because that's what we're looking at, the new mind. So, we've got to be using our brains here. So, those of you in Mentimeter are having an opportunity to use it.

59. 21:03

    Those who are sitting here watching just on Zoom, you're just waiting for the answers, aren't you? Yes. Well, in your mind, think to yourself, well, what do you think has happened? How could the woman have destroyed the coin? Right. So, I see some answers coming in here.

60. 21:23

    Lost her faith. Devalued it. Fire. Made it into the idol. Neglected it. Didn't appreciate it. Buried it. Melted it. Yes, absolutely. Took away its meaning. Lost the value and lost cherishing it. Forsook it. It's her to members. Spiritually ignored it through negligence. She burned it in the fire for cooking. Carelessness. Repurposed it.

61. 21:46

    Use it for something else. Loss of identity. Loss of function. Loss to the community. If this is the church, she destroyed someone's faith. It fell in the cracks. No faith. Maybe it changed and therefore its value changed. Yes, a great idea. So, here we've got a whole lot of things. And this is the type of thinking we need.

62. 22:06

    Because here we've got a picture of a church represented by the woman with these very precious things in it, which obviously represent our members. These 10 coins. And we can see that from other parables. One is lost. Not just lost. One is destroyed. What caused it to be destroyed? And we've got suggestions.

63. 22:27

    Everything from being ignored or negligence or forsaken, whatever. What caused it to be destroyed? Well, the best way to see what caused it to be destroyed is to see how this word is used. As I said, this word destroyed is only used four times. Here we see it in Romans 14. But if your brother is grieved with your meat, you are not walking in love.

64. 22:53

    Don't destroy, same word, him with your meat for whom Christ died. And so, here we see the same word. And it's used to show the destruction that is caused by our perception of something. By our understanding of something. And so, Paul is warning them. Do not destroy your brother because of your opinion on something.

65. 23:23

    And it's quite a harsh warning. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 10 to 11. For if any man sees you who has knowledge, sit at meat in the idol's temple, won't his conscience, which is weak, be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols? And through your knowledge, the weak brother will, same word, perish for whom Christ died.

66. 23:46

    There you have it. The reason the coin is destroyed. It can be for many reasons. But when we trace that word, the reason we are given is because of your knowledge. This coin is destroyed. And that's quite a sobering thought. I thought, yes, well, maybe it could be neglect. And of course, that could destroy a coin.

67. 24:13

    Or maybe it could be all sorts of things. Who would have thought my knowledge could cause the coin, another brother or sister in the church, to be destroyed? And so, the bottom line, the sobering thought is this. Knowledge crushes coins. Now, about food sacrifice to idols. We know that we all possess knowledge.

68. 24:47

    But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. But whoever loved God is known by God. And so, the warning that Paul is giving in 1 Corinthians is be very careful of your knowledge. Because that knowledge puffs up. That knowledge can destroy.

69. 25:10

    And the message ultimately is knowledge is vital. But it's not about what you know. It's about who you know. This is what makes all the difference. Suppose a woman has 10 silver coins and loses one. Doesn't she light a candle? So, the next thing is, she's lost this coin. This coin is destroyed.

70. 25:35

    This coin is crushed. And we're seeing that this coin has been crushed. This person in this ecclesia has been crushed because of knowledge that has puffed up and caused this person to be crushed and lost. Well, what does she do? She lights a candle. Well, that's interesting. Why is she lighting a candle?

71. 25:58

    You see, the only time you have to light a candle is if it's dark. Because if the house was already brightly lit, she would have gone, coin, where are you? Are there you are on the floor? And find the coin. Lighting a candle because this church darkness and that itself. There's a great insight into what has happened.

72. 26:24

    For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves. We've been called into a household, into an ecclesia of light. Yet in this church environment, a coin has been crushed and it is lost because there is actually darkness. So why is it dark?

73. 26:48

    Because really, no one lights a candle and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand so that those who come in can see the light. Why is it dark? I mean, if you go into a house, the lamp is shining. If you go into the church, there shouldn't be darkness.

74. 27:03

    Bright and shining should be the light. The light of Jesus. Why is this church dark? Why is there darkness inside this place? Well, you know what? Maybe it's because we think it's light. Maybe it's because when we look around, we say, oh no, it's light in here. And it's only when that coin is lost and destroyed that we realize that from God's perspective, it's not light at all.

75. 27:32

    It's actually dark. Now, if you're looking at that on your screen, you're looking at it from your perspective. But actually, I can take that same thing and flip it upside down. And from God's perspective, it says dark. If you don't believe me, you can take your computer and turn it upside down now and you'll see it as light.

76. 27:57

    And quite simply, what looks to be light from our perspective, when you turn it the other way, is darkness from God's perspective. And that is very important. You see, because the fact that we think something is light does not necessarily mean it is light. And we may very well not have Jesus in the center of our church.

77. 28:19

    We might not have Jesus who is the light of our Ecclesia. And we may have found that the coins that have been destroyed, that have been crushed, when we search for them, we need to find the light once again. Because from God's perspective, there is darkness. And so the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

78. 28:40

    And so we are given this beautiful verse that Jesus wants to shine in the darkness of our lives, in the darkness of our Ecclesia. And he wants to make sure that the darkness is expelled, that it is not there, that no one is lost. Because there is no light shining brightly in this light stand.

79. 29:00

    Doesn't she light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully? You see, what she does is she has to first light a lamp, because the house is dark, and then she has to sweep the house. I mean, what? What's the story with this house? It's a mess. It's not only dark, and maybe that's why she doesn't have the lights on.

80. 29:24

    But when she puts the lights on, she goes, oh, man, this place looks way bad. It's an absolute mess. You see, this church environment, where this coin has been crushed and lost, it is in a sad state. It's dark. It's an absolute mess of disorderly, and it's just a disaster. It's a cluttered house.

81. 29:49

    But what does it mean if it's a messy, cluttered house? Have you let go of the commands of God in a holding on to human tradition? You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own tradition. How quickly do we do this? We stray from the simplicity of Christ, and we start to clutter our house with our own tradition.

82. 30:12

    The things that we believe are important because the great ancestors did it, or it's something that I've always done. And very soon, another thing comes in, and another thing comes in. And when the lights come on because something has been crushed in the process, the house is cluttered by our traditions. Now, it's quite an interesting thing, and I'll just leave this for you to ponder.

83. 30:39

    This verse, and he said unto them, full well, you reject the command of God that you may keep your own tradition. Look at what the Greek value of the word tradition is. Is it chance? I don't know. Interestingly, the Greek value of that word tradition is 666. Now, you can have whatever interpretation you like of 666.

84. 31:02

    It's just very strange that it's one of the only words, if not the only word, in the New Testament that has a numeric value of that. And whether that may be mere chance or not, it does make us pause for a moment to think, wow, is tradition that thing, that thing that can be so anathema to God, that thing that he dislikes because of what it can do to his precious coins, and cluttering his home and cluttering our lives.

85. 31:34

    And so it's worth thinking about that, because we do not want to be losing our coins. Because knowledge can lead to traditions, which can lead to darkness, which ultimately can lead to destruction and loss. And so while knowledge is so vital, if that knowledge becomes enshrined in tradition, which becomes resultant to darkness, it can ultimately end up in this destruction and loss.

86. 32:05

    And so what do we do? Well, what does the woman do? So we start to sweep clean. And so we look at this church, we say, we've got to fix it quickly. It's full of too many traditions and too many crazy things, and there's no darkness. And so we start sweeping furiously and moving things aside and getting it neat and clean and beautiful, just like that picture.

87. 32:24

    And then he says, I will return to my house from where I've come. And when you arrive, he finds it empty, swept, and tidy. And it's a parable where Jesus is saying, you've got this unclean spirit, and he's in the body, and it gets cast out. So the body's messy, and it gets cast out.

88. 32:40

    And now everything's clean and squeaky clean. And then the little unclean spirit comes back and says, oh, it's nice and clean here now, and moves in with seven more spirits. And so the solution is not so much about the cleaning out. It's about what we are putting in place of the things that we take out.

89. 33:00

    And so removing needs replacing. Cleaning needs Christ. And this is very important because we can have a mindset that is all about the things that we throw out, the things we don't want. This is a very negative mindset. We should be focused on the things we do want, the things that we need in our life.

90. 33:21

    And ultimately, the thing that we need, the person that we need, it's Christ in the center. And that is the message. When I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was one like the Son of Man. He is the light. He stands in the middle of all of these candles, and we see this as a representation of all these ecclesiastes that we're going to have the letters to them.

91. 33:47

    And in the middle is the light. In the middle is Jesus. He must be there. He has to be the center of everything that we do. And so she finds this coin, and she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, rejoice with me. I found my last coin. And she's so happy.

92. 34:05

    She's like, wants to have a party. I'm not going to go down this little track. I'll ask you to ask yourselves, do you think her friends came to join the party? Because she's so excited. She's found this lost coin. And she wants to celebrate, because the parable ends there. So we don't know.

93. 34:23

    He left us a few questions. Come and rejoice with me. Did the people come and rejoice with her? Did they come and celebrate with her? There's another parable, I think, that answers that. So we have this woman who's got to the stage. But I believe there is one final twist. Let's twist again.

94. 34:43

    Because it almost looks like the parable's over, which it is in terms of how it's presented here. So we've got the woman. She's lost the coin. We realize that it's a disabled house. It's a dark house. And actually, she's responsible for destroying the coin with her own knowledge. And she finds it, and everyone's happy.

95. 35:02

    And the laugh is great. Well, is that the end? I always find in a way that the parables seem to finish. But if we put things together, it almost looks like the parable's picked up somewhere else. Because, I mean, if I'd lost this coin that was really important to me, I want to make the same mistake twice.

96. 35:18

    Because I often end up doing this. So maybe it's best to try and keep it safe. And in fact, we will move up. If anyone gives a neighbor silver or goods for safekeeping, and they're stolen from the neighbor's house, the thief of his court must pay back double. But if the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges.

97. 35:34

    And they must determine whether the owner of the house has laid hands on the person's property. So, in a way, this person has been given these coins. They don't belong to her. That's exactly us. In our church environment, our members are gifts to us. These are not our coins. And we have ten of them.

98. 35:51

    And so when one gets lost or crushed for our knowledge, and now we've managed to get it back, what are we going to do? Oh, wow. I don't want to lose it again. Because if I lose it again, there's going to be an inquiry. And this is not even my coin. So what should I do with it?

99. 36:06

    Because the last thing I can afford is to lose it. Because that's going to be a real problem. And so we see the story or the coin saga actually has more than one part. We just looked at Luke 15, verse 8 to 10, which is the first part. That's the losing part. Part 2 of the story is another parable that occurs in Luke 19.

100. 36:27

     Because here we have a parable about someone who always has the coin. Because this is part 2 and they've got the coin now. What do we do with the coin? And this is the hiding part. You see, we read in Luke 19, and a man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king.

101. 36:47

     And then to return. So he called his 10 servants and gave them 10 minas or 10 coins. And he put this money to work, he said, until I come back. And so they each get these coins. And that's very exciting. And then we read later on that the one person takes the coin, the investment, so makes it 10 times return.

102. 37:03

     And the other person makes it 100 returns. But then we read specifically about the continuation of this story. There's one of the people there that's sitting with the one coin. Remember the one they lost? Oh, they've got it. And now they're sitting here, and it's part 2, and they've got their coin. And they're like, what should I do?

103. 37:20

     Then another servant came and said, sir, look, here's your coin. I've still got it. And I kept it laid away nicely in a piece of cloth. You've got to be very happy because I kept it nice and safe. I kept it in a piece of cloth. I'd hate to have lost it. And his reply to that person is, you wicked servant.

104. 37:40

     What? But I didn't want to lose it because I saw the law, what it said, and I thought, I've sort of lost it before. And I didn't want to take a chance. Luke 19, 22, you wicked servant. You see, we are given these coins with great responsibility. But we are given them that we might grow them.

105. 38:04

     That we might, through the power of God, through the Spirit's work, through Jesus being the light and the center, we are called to faith and abundance. It wasn't about what that person could do with that coin. It was about what God could do through them with that coin. And so we are called to light and love.

106. 38:23

     We are called to fruitfulness and multiplication. We are not called to scarcity. We are not called to protect the things that remain. We are called to fruitfulness. And it's a message from Genesis 1, about the way through to the end of Revelation. And so, there is one new thing that all of us must know.

107. 38:47

     And that one new thing, it's who we know that matters. You see, knowledge is absolutely vital. But it's not the knowledge of the what. It's the knowledge of the who. That is what is vital. Right. Knowing one new thing. Now this is eternal life. That they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

108. 39:26

     We can have this entire study. We can know many, many things. And it's beautiful and exciting to know all of these things. But if the what we know doesn't lead us to the who we should know, at the end of the day, not only will we destroy other coins, but we will destroy ourselves.

109. 39:45

     Because it is about who we know. The entire story is about that one thing. And we talked about it yesterday. The one who stands in the narrow path to bring us into the broad and abundant way. It's about Jesus. This is eternal life. This is the Zoe love. That they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

110. 40:12

     What we know may destroy. But who we know saves. And that's the message that we want to share. The message of Jesus. Because he is the one that brings life and salvation to those who come to him. And so I leave you with this verse to end with. Which is really the challenge for all of us.

111. 40:37

     Let this mind be in you. Which was also in Christ Jesus. And his level of humility to be able to change. To be able to hang on that cross. Was beyond human understanding. And we're asked to let this mind be in us. That was also in Christ Jesus. That we might bring others to this beautiful perspective.

112. 41:03

     That it's who we know. That really matters. For he is life eternal. Well, on that note, I thank you for your wonderful attention. Right. So let's just close our time and pray together. Father in heaven, we come before you indeed thankful once more. For your love and for giving us opportunities like this.

113. 41:26

     We realize that through humility we learn. And through Jesus and through the work of your spirit, so many things are revealed to us. But we realize that always we must be humble in the things that we learn. For ultimately, it's about coming to you, our Lord Jesus, that is most important. It's about reflecting your character, Father.

114. 41:49

     Your love and your mercy. Your grace and your long-suffering. And your patience and your truth that's so critical. And so we thank you for opportunities to meditate upon these things. And may we always be growing. May we always have our eyes open. And even more importantly, may we always be shining lights with Jesus in the center of our lives.

115. 42:08

     That we might help those around us. That we might not crush. But rather that we might grow and expand to all bountifulness and fruitfulness. So we thank you again for this special time. We pray that you'll bless us all through the remainder of this day. Through our powerful King Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

116. 42:25

     Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you for listening to the Good Christ Adelphine Talks podcast. Please subscribe for new episodes and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Or whichever service you are listening from. To help people find the show when they search for it. If you enjoyed this talk. Share it on social media so other people can find it too.

117. 42:49

     For show notes and links to the talk that you just listened to. Visit our show page at anchor.fm. We want to encourage everyone to share their thoughts from the talk this week. On Facebook or Instagram. Where we are at. Good Christ Adelphine Talks. Or on Twitter. Where we are at. GCT underscore podcast.

118. 43:08

     If you know of a great talk. We want to know about it too. Send a suggestion to. Good Christ Adelphine Talks at gmail.com. Or message us on any of our social media platforms. Thank you for listening. God bless. And talk to you next week.

119. 43:24

     God bless. God bless.