Welcome back to all of our listeners! I’m BJ Sipe, and you’re listening to the Set Your Mind Above podcast – where everyday ordinary events teach us extraordinary eternal truths. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today, I am excited to share my life and my faith with you, and I sure hope that you’ll do the same with me along the way. 

Every so often, one of my podcasts is inspired by another person’s podcast, where I want to emphasize a particular point of something that I was listening to. Today is one of those instances, as today’s podcast comes by inspiration from Hal Hammons & his “Citizen of Heaven” podcast’s most recent episode. Sam’s Club was going to be closed over the New Year’s weekend, so I realized that I needed to make the 40 minute drive up to get our monthly shopping done today. Whenever I make this kind of a trek, I love throwing on one of the many podcasts that I listen to, and today happened to be Hal’s. The episode is entitled, “VISITORS: Hospitality. The Tangible Kingdom. My Guests. New York Slice.” – which is quite the mouthful, but it will make sense when you go and listen to it. Over the course of the episode, Hal discussed at times an overarching principle of how we are to approach our relationship to others both inside and outside the church. One of the things that really resonated with me was from one of the books that he had recently been reading, where the point was made that we frequently place unnecessary barriers between ourself and others when we approach the church with the wrong mindset. When we come to the church with an individual mindset rather than a collective mindset, we often become concerned with things being done my way and the church providing what I need rather than submitting to others and asking what I can provide for the needs of the church. To illustrate this point, Hal went on to discuss a game that he and his family have played with others on occasion called “New York Slice.” Now, I have never played this game before, but after he spent some time describing it I can tell you that I am absolutely going to be checking it out. Since I’ve never played it I won’t try to explain it in detail, but it’s how the game begins that is important. To begin each round, you slice up the pizza into portions, but then it is not you who gets to choose your slice first, it is your opponents, and you get second choice. It’s the classic way that mothers handle the “last piece of pie” with their children, which is the “I cut, you choose” method. You see, if you cut one piece to be much larger than the other, you’re actually going to end up hurting yourself because your opponent will grab the larger slice and you’ll get stuck with the smallest one. It is a paradox of sorts, because to actually end up getting what is best for you, you first have to do what is best for someone else. While I never played this game, we did the “I cut, you choose method” at home between my brother and I frequently with the last slice of pie or whatever it was. Over time, something amazing happened. Rather than vying for the biggest piece yourself, you recognized the effort that the person cutting was putting into making it even, and actually differed the bigger piece to them. By my brother putting me first or visa versa, it actually ended up being best for ourselves too. 

Well, why are we talking about pizza games and other pies? Because what all of this accentuates is the fact that the wisdom of Christ is far superior to that of our own. Let’s begin with what is commonly referred to as the “golden rule” from the teaching of Jesus, and then we will move on to some of the teachings of the apostle Paul. In Luke 6:31-36 Jesus would teach, “And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” This teaching from Jesus is most countercultural, to his own admission. Most are interested in doing for others so long as it means that they will have something done in return for themselves, kind of an “I scratch your back, you scratch mine” mentality. In doing so, their service to others is in actuality really still just self-seeking. Jesus brings a different wisdom, a superior wisdom, and that is the following: you serve others with no expectation to be served back. In fact, Jesus takes this even further by saying to love even your enemies, kind of a “I scratch your back, even if you stab mine” mentality. But who would do such a thing? How could anyone love someone in this way? Therein lies the great paradox: because if you only serve others when it is self-seeking, you will actually end up just hurting yourself. The wisdom of Christ is this – it is actually in your best interest to first serve the interests of others, and not your own. Why? Because more often than not, the golden rule of Jesus is reciprocated by those whom you serve. When you work diligently to put the needs of others ahead of your own, most will be moved to do the same for you in return especially after they see the efforts you have put in to love them. Now this is not always the case, and with this mentality you serve them regardless. This moves a relationship from being founded on selfishness to selflessness, and bring much more depth and blessing to that relationship. In fact, this is how Paul said that we would accomplish unity within the church. Look at what he writes to the Philippian church in chapter 2:1-5, “If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others. Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,” How we approach the relationship that we have towards others, especially in the church, makes all the difference. If we are first concerned with our own interests, there will be division and disruption at every turn. But if we all, each and every single one of us, are concerned with serving others first and giving them priority, then it will actually be in our own best interest as well. Where there is selfless love, you will find unity, peace, and patience in that said church. The question that remains is this: have you adopted the attitude of Jesus in this matter? Do you selflessly love others and place them first, as Christ as done for you, without any self-motivations? If you find yourself lacking in this, trust Jesus and just try it – I think that you’ll find that you’ll be much better off with Jesus way of doing things than your own. 

Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Tune in, Tuesday-Fridays, as a new podcast episode will be uploaded each day. Also, be sure to follow the Facebook page for the Set Your Mind Above podcast for future announcements and video sessions. As you have the opportunity, share these thoughts with your friends and family, and share with me what important lessons you are learning from every day, ordinary events. Until next time know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.