Attitudes – Part one

There is a statement, “attitudes are more important than facts.” That is a declaration that, on the surface, you might question. Without a true understanding of the scriptures, one will never develop the right attitude. It also follows that those who have a correct understanding of the Truth don’t always allow the scriptures to change and adjust their attitudes. Let us never forget that our attitude will determine our behavior, and, inasmuch as our behavior still is not totally reconciled to a life in Christ, we ought to look at our attitudes.

Does What We Learn Affect Our Attitude?

So the benefits of our studies are not simply that we have learned from scrip­tures but that which we have learned from scriptures is going to affect our attitudes and our relationships, and it will then condition our behavior before our Lord. Can we just give an example of this from Romans 5:12. The Apostle Paul says, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all have sinned.” Now, there is a straight declaration that one could write as the epitaph over the life of Adam; here is, perhaps, the most profound exposition of Genesis. But if we only use the scriptures for that purpose, then we have missed the reason, I be­lieve, for which the Apostle Paul put it there. If we look at that verse again, “wherefore, as through one man sin entered into the world,” — it only took one man; it took one act of defiant disobedience — what are you and I learning? Aren’t we learning the horror of sin ? So do you see then how this fact, clearly established and clearly expounded in scripture, is not simply a statement of fact; it is designed to affect and change our attitude, an attitude that frankly tends to play with sin and be careless of sin, and what the Apostle Paul is showering us is that you and I should have a horror of sin, an abiding terror of the consequences of sin, the slightest contamination of sin that will poison our life, poison our family, poison or society. So, contained within, in the very essence of this teaching, this clear teaching, there is the response of our attitude which should be one of absolute horror when we see the consequence of sin. The Apostle Paul needed to say it, he needed to say it to the Romans, and probably he needed to say it to us because in chapter 6 verse 1 he says, “What shall we say then ? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound ?” and he speaks of the attitude in brothers and sisters that is still careless of sin: the attitude that hasn’t yet absorbed this terror and horror in the presence of sin.

Let us then, as we think of the sacrifice and our hasty preparations to depart on the great journey of life, remember first that the angel of death is abroad. Our studies give us the opportunity to think upon the passover Iamb. The children of Israel, and you and I are not allowed to take this lamb and give it to a priest and simply take the life of the lamb like other sacrifices. This sacrifice is one that you and I must prepare our­selves. We have no officiating brother who is going to perform this sacrifice for us. This is the lamb that you will flay and you will cut and prepare that you will set before your family and before your children. Mark, then, I Cor. 11:23 and the very careful language of the Apostle Paul. “I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered to you.”

What You Have Received you will Deliver

Observe the faithfulness of the Apostle Paul; what he has been given, he is delivering. This is what is required of every brother and sister, isn’t it, that as we have received of the Lord so we will deliver a passover lamb, a yearling, the first year of your flock. What you have received you will deliver. And what does he say,  the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat this is my body” These words are so familiar but have they really had their full weight and affect upon our attitude? The Lord takes the bread, the symbol of His own life, and before us all He is going to break it? And before He breaks it, He’s going to thank his Father for being able to break His own life? What an astonishing thought! He is grateful for being able to break this bread, and, though this bread is His own life, see how He thanks His Father for it

You have brought a lamb from your own flock and you will thank God for it and our Heavenly Father will give you cause to do so So then, when our brethren pray for the bread and the wine, let us remember that it is not us that is praying over this bread, it is the Lord who is giving thanks, and we all are entering into the prayerfulness of His thanksgiving when He thanked His Father for this lamb, for his life, and brake it gratefully and in love

Vs 26, 27, “As oft as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” The warning is, therefore, when you bring your passover lamb, that the angel of death will pass over Take heed to the writing and dissect this passover lamb as prescribed, you have no priest to do it for you This is a sacrifice in which each one of us is involved Let a man prove himself as he cuts open the pass-over lamb and divides it and prepares it You are proving and examining yourself So let us eat of that bread and drink of that cup The attitude in which the pass-over lamb is prepared; the carefulness, the thoughtfulness, the obedience is enjoined upon us