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Men's Zoom "Breakfast" Report

This past Saturday, May 9, the men of Calvary Grace were blessed by a timely message given by Pastor Josh Kary and also the gift of being able to see one another albeit virtually.

Although our limitations as creatures were put on full display in that our plans for a breakfast gathering at the church meant to be held last month never came to fruition, we rest in the fact that all of our plans are indeed subject to God’s will (James 4:13-15).

Pastor Josh spoke on the topic of, “Keeping Our Heads When Others Are Losing Theirs” Since we are in Christ, there is a great distinction between the minds of believers and the world. While many around us are muddled and inebriated in their thinking, Christians are sober-minded. While unbelievers' minds are slavishly following their passions under the guise of “free-thinking”, believers are “regulated thinkers” having the mind of Christ and our thoughts under his rule. This distinction causes us to “shine as lights in a crooked and perverse generation.”

Having this new mind in Christ, Pastor Josh spoke mainly from Philippians 2 of four qualities of the sober-minded man:

 Awareness like Christ

 Discernment like Christ

 On Mission like Christ

 Expectant like Christ

In Philippians 2 we learn of the humiliation of Christ. In his incarnation, he embodied the fully aware human. In particular awareness of the adversary, who seeks to tempt us back in mental drunkenness and devour us via our passions and awareness of our human limitations. Practically, we can be aware of our weaknesses in two ways, physically, that we need sleep, food, and exercise to function, and spiritually, that we regularly need to feed on scripture, pray, and fellowship with other believers.

In Colossians 2:3 we read that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. A chief characteristic of wisdom is discernment. Having discerning minds we examine all things charitably, but rigorously. We distinguish truth from falsehood. Furthermore, we apply this discernment in using the truth to clarify and build up, not distract and tear down.

Philippians 2:5-11 condenses Christ’s mission. His life followed the pattern of humility and service. A humble mind counts others as more significant and looks to the interests of others. Our mission unfolds in three progressively larger spheres, family, church, and societally. Pastor Josh shared a helpful alliteration of 5 P's to clarify being on mission: Push Past Platitudes to Practical Particulars.

Finally, we see in Philippians 2:9 the future expectancy of the mind of Christ. His humiliation was temporary, his glory is eternal. For believers, our suffering is temporary and our glorification is certain and eternal! Pastor Josh admonished us to grow in sober-mindedness by spending 15 minutes a week meditating on the promises of scripture for the glorified future of the believer.

Following his message, we had a brief period of question and answer with Pastors Josh, Clint, and Gavin. This also was a beneficial time in which they were able to share their insight into each of these areas in pointed and practical ways.

We are grateful to Pastor Josh for taking the time to prepare and deliver this message, and Pastors Clint and Gavin for their wisdom in the Q&A. Foremost we thank God for his providence in allowing us to gather virtually.

We hope to edit and share the recording of this event shortly so that those who were unable to join might be blessed by the teaching. While this talk was given particularly to men, these truths are relevant to all believers and trust and pray that many might make good use of it.

Grace and peace to you all,

Akin, DJ, and Michael