<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hillside O’Malley SDA Church

Becoming Like Jesus

David Shin

Becoming Like Jesus - Part 1

Becoming Like Jesus - Part 2

Pray with me this morning as we ask the Spirit to attend us.

Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you for the words of that song.

In the morning, when I rise, give me Jesus.

Give us Jesus today, a glimpse of Your character, a glimpse of who You are.

May the thoughts of our minds and the meditation of our hearts be continually upon the beauty of the character of Jesus Christ.

Bless us now as we open this service time, this time in our worship service to spend time meditating on heavenly themes.

Pray that You would speak to us in Jesus' name.

Today is our second installment in our two-part mini-series that we've entitled Becoming Like Jesus.

And let's do a brief review of last Sabbath study.

It says, but we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit." That was the focus of our study last Sabbath, and we indicated that there is this principle in the Bible that by beholding, we become changed, that through contemplation, we have admiration, which leads to our transformation, amen?

That through contemplation about Jesus, it leads to admiration about who Jesus is and unconsciously there is this Transformation that begins to happen in our own character, and we said that this idea of contemplation is to thoughtfully look at a long time.

In other words, it's not just to behold, but it is beholding.

It is to think about, to take in, to reflect upon, to meditate, and to ponder.

So this is continuous action of beholding.

And the tense there in the original language is a nonstop beholding.

So we have 2 things that are taking place.

As we are beholding, we are unconsciously being transformed.

As we think about Jesus, the natural byproduct is that we are being transformed in character to become more like Jesus.

And we looked at this quotation from the book The Desire of Ages.

It would be well for us to spend a thoughtful hour each day, notice the word, in contemplation of the life of Christ, we should take it point by point and let the imagination grasp each scene, especially the closing ones, as we thus dwell upon His great sacrifice for us, our confidence in Him will be more constant, our love will be quickened, and we shall be more deeply imbued with His Spirit." So it's this idea that contemplation also involves our imagination.

We are to, in imagination, go back to the scenes that we see in scripture.

And as we join Jesus in Gethsemane at the cross, in our imagination, it leads to a transformation that takes place in our lives.

And we address this idea of the left brain and the right brain activities.

The left brain is the analytical, it's the logical, it is the part that breaks things, the part of the brain that breaks things apart, and then you have the right brain that is about synthesis and imagination.

I spent a lot of money, over $40, 000, doing my Master of Arts degree, and we spent a lot of hours.

Which side of the brain do you think we had our activities in?

It was in exegesis, in analysis, in systematic theology and coherence and logic.

But here we have this thing of imagination that is many times missing in our thinking when it comes to scholarly studies.

And I almost needed some therapy when I got out of the seminary because that side of the brain was dormant.

And I found that when I read scripture, it was work, hard work in analysis.

And I realized that God is calling me to engage Him with all of our brains.

Not just the left side, but the left and right side.

And the right side involves this emotive feeling of entering into the text.

And it's quite liberating and therapeutic, actually, that I can open my Bible and say, okay, I can give the analysis a rest for this morning, amen?

And I can just immerse myself in the experience of the text.

There's something that happens when we experience the text in this way.

And we read this quotation from Thoughts of the Mount of Blessing.

And as we sit with the disciples on the mountainside, enter into the thoughts and feelings that filled their hearts, understanding what the words of Jesus meant to those who heard them.

We may discern in them a new vividness and beauty, and may also gather for ourselves their deeper lessons." This is an important part of how we read scripture.

It's not just to be analysis, exegesis, and critical thinking.

It is also to involve imagination, to enter into the scene, to let our emotions enter into the scene.

And I believe it is when we do this that Jesus goes from a proposition to a person, From a concept to the Christ.

We look at the example of John the Beloved.

As the character of the Divine 1 was manifested to him, Jesus saw in his own deficiencies and was humbled by the revelation.

John saw his own deficiencies and was humbled by the revelation.

Day by day, in contrast with his own violent spirit, He beheld the tenderness and the forbearance and heard his lessons of humility and patience.

Day by day his heart was drawn out to Christ until he lost sight of self in love for his master.

The power and tenderness, the majesty and meekness, the strength and patience that he saw in the daily life of the Son of God filled his soul with what?

He yielded his resentful, ambitious temper to the molding of Christ and divine love wrought in him a transformation of character John had defects He had a temper He was ambitious But as he beheld the beauty of Jesus it filled his heart with admiration and through this process of imagination It led to admiration Which led to his?

It's the capacity to produce, and notice what it is, images and ideas and sensations in the mind without any immediate input of the senses such as seeing or Hearing it's that right side of the brain and some synonyms for imagination is meditation, visualization, and contemplation, and reflection.

Now I want to make a little note here on meditation.

There was this video I was so excited to share, and then things just went downhill after that and when I tried it up there But we need to recognize that there is a fundamental difference in biblical meditation and Transcendental meditation The video I was going to share was a gentleman that was premiered or there was an interview that took place and it was shown on AR TV Adventist Review television and He had gotten into Transcendental meditation He tells a story of how he was practicing these techniques to empty his mind and to reach a certain state of consciousness that he says that he experienced something very unique He came up out of his body and had an experience where he talked with and saw a person that looked just like Jesus.

Just like the Photos that you see of Jesus.

I should say the paintings that you see of Jesus and and he asked him While he was meditating and in this transcendental state he asked him.

And he said no, I'm not Jesus I'm an elevated being so they had this communication and every time he Meditated he would go into this transcendental state and begin dialogue with this being and he said that their Relationship if you can call it that developed to the place where he didn't even have to be in this meditative state.

This being would talk to him as he went through his day.

They would have dialogue and engagement and so forth.

And he said that later on he went to an evangelical community, accepted Christ, and found, strangely enough, that the same practices that he had been doing with this group that was subscribing to Alistair Bailey and these other types of thinkers, that the same practices that they were doing was being practiced in certain evangelical communities as well.

We need to recognize that for every truth, there is a counterfeit.

And what I believe that this man was actually experiencing was spiritualism.

He was actually having dialogue with a spirit, a being.

And this is the type of meditation that certain practices are leading to but here is a fundamental difference between biblical meditation and Eastern meditation.

He says, Eastern meditative practices involve the emptying of the mind, whereas biblical meditation involves filling the mind with the Word of God.

Reflecting carefully upon God's revelation of Himself in Scriptures, in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, and upon God's acts in history, including the life of the believer." Eastern meditation, emptying the mind, biblical meditation, filling your mind with the word of God.

Now we need to be very careful here because there is a tendency that when you see something that is leading a certain direction like Eastern meditation that there's a tendency to swing the pendulum and say, you know, I'm not going to practice meditation at all.

But I want to show you that meditation, biblical meditation, is something that is not just optional for the Christian life, but biblical meditation is imperative for the Christian experience.

Here it is from Psalm 77, verse 2, I will also meditate on all your work and talk of your deed.

Psalm 119 verse 15, I will meditate on your precepts and contemplate your ways.

Psalm 119 27, make me understand the way of your precepts, so shall I meditate on your wonderful works." Psalm 119, verse 48.

"'My hands also I will lift up to your commandments, which I love.

I will meditate on your statutes.'" This is just a sample of them.

Last but not least, 1 Timothy 4, verse 12, meditate on these things.

Give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all.

Back to Menu

Series

Becoming Like Jesus

Becoming Like Jesus - Part 2

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

How to Have VIVID Worship Time

32m

I Know Something Good

51m

Christian Martin Weekend

How To Avoid Being a Good for Nothing Christian

50m

Power Through Prayer: Learning the Science of Prayer and the Secret to a Life of Spiritual Prayer

2. Time to Pray

1h 19m

Are You a Wise or a Foolish Virgin?

51m

Where We Are in the Stream of Time

43m

Becoming Like Jesus

Becoming Like Jesus - Part 1

34m

It Was Night

38m

Speak it in Love

49m

A Thoughtful Hour

A Thoughtful Hour- Part 2

1h 17m

How to Stand at the end of Time

1h 6m

Meaningful Morning Time

56m

Sound Doctrine