Chapter 10

Christian Reactions

We have established that self-control is evidence of the control of the Holy Spirit in our life. The Holy Spirit works through us, not in place of us. He gets hold of us so we might get hold of ourselves. God’s provision of divine assets that brings us to maturity comes with personal responsibility to make right choices based on knowledge of His will. This knowledge comes through study of His Word. We will now examine in more detail right Christian reactions.

Our Expectations

Human responses span both actions and reactions. We are the initiators of our actions. Our reactions are responses to an external stimulus such as another person’s action or our circumstances. In either case, a stimulus is required to trigger our reaction.

Our responses reveal what is dominant in our mentality at that moment. Options for what may dominate us at any point in time include either the sin nature flowing from an emotional framework or the Holy Spirit grounded in a doctrinal framework.

Most of us prefer honest responses from others rather than hypocrisy. However, an honest response is not always a holy response. An open honest reaction may reveal that we are not using divine viewpoint at that moment. It’s important to recognize what is driving our mindset at any point in time, the Holy Spirit or our sin nature. We should ask ourselves if our honest reactions come from a right or sinful place. Genuine, humble reflection rooted in truth will enable our maturity. In Ephesians 4:15, Paul encourages us to speak the truth, but to do so in a loving way.

Realities About Reactions

Problems with our reactions tend not to be in response to good things done for us, rather we struggle when a stimulus is negative or sinful toward us. Satan wants us to have the wrong reaction and feel good about it because we feel justified in our reaction. This attitude is seen in complaining, which is a powerful refuge from responsibility. Complaining is nothing more than a quarrel with circumstances. The circumstances may be horrible, but they are never an excuse for a reaction driven by our sin nature.

The simple solution for complaining is to never do it. In Philippians 2:14, we are told to do all things without grumbling or complaining. Since we are never to seek the will of God on commands that are clearly stated, we simply should never complain. The Greek word for complain is gongusmos. This is an onomatopoetic word, meaning the word sounds like what it describes. Pop and sizzle are examples of onomatopoetic words. Say to yourself gongusmos over and over to get the idea of what a constant grumbling or murmuring might sound like to others, a repetitive and senseless droning on about a person or situation.

Why the command to not complain? First, God wants us to take responsibility for our reactions. Second, God wants to remove excuses for our sinful reactions. Third, if we create cover-ups for responsibility, our ability to relate to God’s word will be stifled.

Our internal attitude, not external things, should determine our reactions. The root cause of wrong reactions is inside of us. Not taking responsibility for our reactions will limit our maturity. Overcoming a problem begins with acknowledging and accepting responsibility for it. Rather than grumble that, “Bob hurt my feelings,” take ownership and admit, “I allowed Bob to hurt my feelings.”

We should discern how we respond in personal relationships. Every relationship has a “one day,” a day when wills collide or frustration erupts. We might react by saying, “I’m not going to put up with that.” Our reaction could come from human viewpoint or divine viewpoint. We could have a human reaction and lash out at others for their behavior. Or we could react with a divine viewpoint as found in Colossians 3:13 where we are told to bear with and forgive one another.

External things might trigger our reactions, but they should not control our reactions. We have the choice to respond in a way that is consistent with the knowledge of Scripture or in a way that brings out our sin nature. Developing a routine to regularly take in God’s word so that it will transform our thinking to align with God’s thinking will result in more Christ-like reactions.

This development of self-control, which flows out of knowledge, allows us to take control of our emotional world. Transforming our thinking to align with biblical teaching will be reflected in our maturity and emotional stability. Emotion is a response mechanism, and we need to give it a framework of truth to drive its responses.

In a non-Christian world, we should expect to be treated in a non-Christian way. In John 15:18-19, Jesus told His disciples they would be hated by the world in the same way He was because neither He nor His followers were of this world. We are to live in this world and be lights to the world, but we should not expect the world to treat us in a godly way.

Passages on Thinking and Volition

Jesus’ teaching in Mark 7:14-23 demonstrates how Christianity is in opposition with modern sociological thought, which looks to environmental factors as the sole reason for our thinking. Jesus teaches that the external is not our issue, rather our internal thinking is. Here, Jesus teaches that external things cannot defile, and in Matthew 23:25-26, external things cannot cleanse us.

The sins of men come from the nature of men or our minds. Modern thought, on the other hand, shifts responsibility from individuals to the environment. This is the basic idea of socialism. The evils of humanity come from the environment. Therefore, the solution is an improved environment enabled by the government. Christ, on the other hand, teaches that we first need to get our personal thoughts right so that our right actions and reactions will follow.

The next passage we will consider is II Corinthians 10. The context of II Corinthians is Paul being continually under attack for his actions, attitudes, motivations, teaching, character, and ministry. II Corinthians is a key book on how a Christian is to react to non-Christian treatment. The line of thinking is this. When Paul is absent, he is strong and demanding. When Paul is present, he is weak and vacillating. This led to him being accused of hypocrisy. Instead of retaliation, Paul reacts by giving an explanation and defense of his ministry.

Paul’s ministry involved two activities, tearing down and building up. This is the picture of II Corinthians 10:4-5. Our mentality is like an old city lot with junk buildings that need to be torn down. God’s word tears down and burns up our wrong attitudes. Only then can it begin the work of building up new attitudes that are grounded in divine viewpoint.

The tearing down phase of God’s work includes three truths. First, we are engaged in a battle. Second, we have weapons to fight the battle. Third, God supplies the weapons assuring victory if we choose to use them.

Our battle is against strongholds. These are all the things in our lives that are contrary to the Word of God. The first step is to destroy what we think so God can then take hold of what we think. We fight strongholds by identifying and casting down things that exalt themselves. We must continually engage in an internal battle to tear down and dethrone the schemes and thought processes that take us captive. Once we move forward, something else will rise up to get in our way of knowing God. The process to rid our thoughts of strongholds is a never-ending effort.

The final step is to bring every thought into captivity. Thoughts refer to any product of the mind. Human viewpoint never stops bombarding our minds. We gain a new mentality when we bring our minds and thoughts to God for control. When our thoughts are under control, all else is under control because our thoughts determine our feelings. We are responsible for our actions, reactions, thoughts, and feelings. Believers never mature until we get sick and tired of human viewpoint and reject it wherever we see it.

Controlling our Emotions by our Thoughts

Paul used divine viewpoint to control his emotional world. In II Corinthians 10:5, he tells us to control our thoughts by bringing them into alignment with God’s word. God does not want any of His children to be defeated by anything and has provided for our victory. Romans 8:37 says we are to be super conquers of all things through Christ. The Greek word used here is the compound word huper-nikao. Huper means super and nikao means to win or conquer. Victory over “all things” does not exclude feelings. In contrast, Satan attempts to bring about our defeat by convincing us we can’t help how we feel. He encourages us to be victims and retreat.

Are feelings spontaneous, or are they triggered by a cause? Both are possible. Feelings are the result of our thought habits. Feelings can be learned, and we may be able to trace out how we came to feel the way we do. Begin by asking why you feel like you do. You might fear losing your job. This could be based in fact, or it may have no basis in reality. We can learn a spontaneous response through repetitive reactions that create a path in our minds, which eventually lead to spontaneous feelings that control us.

We should practice self-examination guided by the Word of God so our mentality will develop control over our emotional world. All of our thoughts are to be brought into the captivity of Christ. Therefore, we are to use God’s word to change our mental attitude.

An example is the fear of death. This could be based on the reality of one’s age, health, or family’s medical history. Thinking about these things might create a feeling of fear. Our thought-life can affect our feelings. We can deal with this fear by denial or taking our feelings into captivity through God’s promises.

We can counter this fear with divine viewpoint. This includes reminding ourselves that we possess eternal life. II Corinthians 5:6-8 tells us to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Paul reminds us in Philippians 1:20-21 that to live is Christ, to die is to gain. When we embrace biblical truth, fear can come under the control of our minds, and we begin to take captivity of our feelings.

On the other hand, a series of negative responses to God’s word can lead to neurosis or even psychosis. Denial of God’s truth has consequences. The life of Saul recorded in I Samuel is a prime example of that. Let’s look deeper into Saul’s life to see this idea.

We begin with Saul’s establishment as king in I Samuel 8-10. In 9:2, we see that Saul began as a choice young man with great potential. In 9:26-10:16, Saul is presented with God’s word, its confirmation, and his anointment as king. The lesson at this point is that when we are exposed to the Word of God, we either affirm it or not. When we don’t affirm it, we set ourselves up for choices that over a period of time can lead to a bad outcome. That is what we see in Saul’s life.

From Saul’s establishment as king, we move to the national recognition of Saul in I Samuel 11-12. In Samuel’s farewell speech, he reminds the nation and Saul that obedience to the Lord will bring blessing, and disobedience will cause the hand of the Lord to be against them (12:14-15). I Samuel 13:8-10 marks Saul’s negative volition toward God’s word when he neglects the command to keep the roles of priest and king separate. Saul chooses to present a peace offering to God, but it was the priest who was designated to do this, not King Saul.

In 13:11-13, Saul rationalizes his actions three ways. He blamed the people for scattering, Samuel for not coming, and the Philistines who were organizing for battle. As a result of these things, Saul says he “forced” himself to offer the burnt offering. Saul never faces the issue of disobedience and its consequences, rather he defends his action in a pious way.

His second example of disobedience is recorded in I Samuel 15. The Lord told Saul to totally destroy the Amalekites for their treatment of Israel when they came out of Egypt. Instead, Saul went about the battle in his own way and spared its king and the best animals. Saul again rationalizes his decision when he says they, the people, saved the best animals for sacrifice, but we destroyed the rest. When you rationalize responsibility, you ultimately rationalize away duty and moral obligations. These and other repeated choices to deviate from God’s commands lead to Saul’s mental problems.

David, on the other hand, sinned in what we would see as more substantial ways, but he took full responsibility for his actions. We see this in II Samuel 12:13 when he told Nathan he sinned against the Lord, and Psalm 32:5 when David writes, “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity.”

The emotional collapse of Saul begins in I Samuel 16:14 and is rooted in his negative volition toward God’s word. Saul begins with jealousy in response to women singing, “Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands” as recorded in 18:6-11. Next, 18:12 shows that fear entered Saul because the Lord was with David. From that point on, all of Saul’s reactions are colored by jealousy and fear. In 18:20-21, Saul even looks to his daughter as a way to affect vengeance on David. His emotional sins deepen in 18:29 when we are told Saul becomes even “more afraid.”  Then he struggles to sustain any type of purpose, whether good or bad. This is seen in his vacillation to kill or save David as recorded in 19:1, 6, 9-10. He then becomes a victim of obsession, going from place-to-place chasing David. This follows with Saul becoming so out of control that he is not able to be kind in a lasting way. This is seen in his effort to kill David even though David spared Saul’s life on multiple occasions. Saul then loses all contact with truth when he trades God’s word for a medium (28:7). Truth rejected is truth lost. Finally, Saul commits suicide 31:4.

This choice young man was exposed to the Word of God. In response, he disobeyed it and refused to accept responsibility for his actions and reactions. This resulted in his emotional demise leading to his suicide. We are responsible to make a positive response to God. Here we see the tragic example of Saul failing to do so.