The Technique of Thinking Divine Viewpoint, No. 4

Techniques of the Christian Life

TL11-01

This is a real mental renewal. This is not just determining to be something other than what you really are. What we're talking about is becoming something different in your thinking from what you, by nature, are. Carnality is human viewpoint in action while godliness is divine viewpoint in action. For this reason, the Bible regularly contrasts man's mind which we call HV, human viewpoint, and God's mind which we call DV, divine viewpoint. The mind of the unbeliever is a blinded mind, 2 Corinthians 4:4 tells us. The mind of the believer is a girded armed and kept mind, as we find in 1 Peter 1:13, 4:1, and Philippians 4:7.

The only acceptable mental attitude for a Christian is the mind of Christ spoken of in 1 Corinthians 2:16 and Philippians 2:5. This mind is revealed in the pages of the Bible. Consequently, a study of the Word of God will give you divine viewpoint. That's the simple approach to securing what God expects us to have in the way of an outlook on life. We secure divine viewpoint by simply learning the Word of God and being positive to it.

Each of us exercises our own will as to whether we are going to secure that kind of a view on life or not. We have already looked at Romans 12:2 which contrast these two viewpoints. It says that on the one hand you can have human viewpoint, which is being conformed to this world. On the other hand you can have divine viewpoint, which is being transformed by the renewing of your mind. We've seen the contrasts in Colossians 3:2. Divine viewpoint is reflected by affections on things above. Human viewpoint is reflected by affections on things on the earth. Our mental attitudes, our mental frame of reference, determine all of our actions. Victory in your life as a Christian is going to be the result of divine viewpoint. Defeat is going to be the result of human viewpoint. You and I constantly sway between the two. It is God's desire that we keep moving more and more toward a divine viewpoint mentality.

Therefore, this quality of peace and of happiness will be reflected in our Christian service. There are some Christians who have had the experience of being very eager to serve the Lord. Then when they get into the service of the Lord, they discover the realities of the angelic conflict. They realize that they were just going along in life, with spiritual gifts because everybody has them, but never once exercising their spiritual gifts. They were just floating along in life on certain human viewpoint goals, never exercising their spiritual gifts, thus never serving the Lord, and things went along pretty nicely for them, and they had what they considered happiness. Then they decided they want to be what God wants them to be. They want to get out there and start using their gifts. They want to serve. Then they discover that Satan suddenly becomes interested in them. Then they discover they begin to have some real conflicts, problems, and grief in their life. How will you react when that kind of occupational hazard and frustrations that are involved in serving the Lord come into your life?

At this point, your mental attitude will determine it. Once you understand this principle of mental viewpoint, it becomes almost embarrassing because our outward actions reflect to a "T" what we are internally. The nature of our minds will be reflected in our outward responses and reactions. When you know this about yourself it will instruct you a great deal about how to deal and how to evaluate what you see in yourself. You won't be deceiving yourself and kidding yourself. It can be rather embarrassing if you happen to be around other Christians who understand this doctrine. If you are reacting in a certain way that reflects human viewpoint values and qualities, they'll know exactly what kind of a mentality you have. If you're going to serve the Lord, you're going to come up against suffering. It'll be suffering that you don't deserve, but you'll have pressures put upon you. If you have a human viewpoint mentality, some preacher may have gotten up and given you a great big challenge, and screamed and yelled at you that you ought to be out there serving the Lord. So you decided, "Yeah I should." So you got out there and started doing something. You approached it on a human viewpoint mentality. When you get the pressures, what you're going to do is start complaining to people. You will have emotional reactions because a human viewpoint mentality is a mentality that exists in the context of emotional domination of the soul. Remember that. You never have human viewpoint unless the soul is dominated by the emotions. Those two always go together. Therefore, the expressions will be from that emotional domination of the soul. In time, you will run away from the service to which the Lord has called you, or you'll be looking for a patsy or a crutch of some kind.

On the other hand, if you know the Word of God; you are filled with the spirit; and, you have developed a divine viewpoint mentality, you will be able to take the pressures that naturally come to you in the Lord's service. You will take those in stride, and you will look to the Lord for solutions. There will be an inner happiness that remains within you while there's all kinds of firing of the enemy toward you taking place around you.

History is filled with the noble actions of men on the battlefield. Very frequently officers on the battlefield who, in the heat of battle and under fire, have stood up in such a way, in such utter contempt for the enemy, as to become a fantastic inspiration to their men in combat and which has often spelled the difference between defeat and victory. What they were reflecting was sometimes even when they themselves were personally physically shot up. They were standing up and they had an inner calm in the midst of the raging battle about them.

The Christian is no different. When he gets wounded, as he will, in the battle, he still has the capacity to go on. Men everywhere admire this. Now, that's all up here in the mind. You and I as believers with divine viewpoint are going to be able to stand up. Our happiness will continue though the pressures may be upon us. If you're going to serve the Lord you may very readily expect that you will have opposition. Be prepared for the kind of reaction you will have to it. Therefore, 2 Thessalonians 2:2 says to us, "That you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of the Lord is present." Nothing should shake you in your service for the Lord. You keep on serving and you keep moving.

In the human viewpoint Christian's mind, there's a certain peculiarity of thinking in which he takes pride in the fact that he is a traitor on the field of battle and a deserter in the midst of the battle. It takes a human viewpoint mentality to be that insane to think that there is something commendable about being a Benedict Arnold and a deserter on the field of battle. This is exactly what human viewpoint tells you to do, not to keep moving, but to cut out. The Christian should have an edified life built up in his soul as an inner happiness when things are tough as well as when things are prosperous and wonderful. 2 Timothy 1:7 calls our attention to that when it says, "For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

You know what God is like, don't you? Where do you see worry in the character of God? Can God worry because he is sovereign? Never. Can God worry because he's absolutely righteous? No. It's wrong to worry. Can He worry because he is omniscient, and knows everything? No. Because he's omnipresent? No. Nothing in the character of God can permit Him to worry. Therefore since we are to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ who is God, this is what we are to imitate, the essence of God. The essence of God does not include worry. The essence of God is a pure divine viewpoint expression. Worry is a human viewpoint expression. We cannot imitate Him as Ephesians 5:1 calls upon us to do if we worry. Whenever we do, we're out of fellowship.

Worry about Guilt

Worry about Your Problems

Worry about Death and Dying

Here's where you need stability. Here's where you need to know that God has given you grace for living, and also He has given you grace for dying. If you have had occasion to visit people who are dying, they also are in a certain position where it's readily evident whether they have a mentality that's tied into human viewpoint or to divine viewpoint. It's all the difference in the world because this is one place you can't fake it. This is one place that it is quite evident what is the nature of the mentality of that individual. These are the things that Satan is out to do, to cause us to worry about, and there are many more, in order to get us onto a human viewpoint response, and thus to keep us neutralized in our relationship to the Lord.

What we've said here is, first of all, that peace and freedom from worry is a mental attitude. It requires divine viewpoint outlook for you to have that. If all you have in your mind is human viewpoint, then there will be very little peace in your experience. There will be little peace inwardly and outwardly. There will be little happiness, and there will be an awful lot of fretting, fussing, and worrying.

There's no need to be proud of the fact that we do not have grace orientation because we have some deep feelings and deep reactions. This again is reflecting a mental attitude on our part. Obviously it is easy enough to be pleasant and nice toward people who are treating you kindly. Grace comes into the picture when somebody is not treating you kindly. The Lord Jesus Christ, by the grace which He demonstrated, set the ideal for us. He came in grace to redeem sinners who actually hated him. He came in grace to people who killed him for no reason at all. In grace he receives people such as you and me into heaven, and He remembers our sin no more. Now that's grace.

Matthew 18:21-35 - Forgiveness

I'm not saying that you have the right to pardon a person for what he does wrong. I'm not saying that you are called upon to pardon a person for his wrongdoing. His wrongdoing is none of your business. It is none of your business. His pardon has to do with the Lord's business. But what does concern you is forgiveness. That is your business. It is not in your right to pardon a guilt. God does that. However, it is in your right to give and to extend forgiveness. Whether a person asks for it or not is also beside the point. It is your business to forgive. Forgiving a person means what? It means clearing his record as far as you're concerned. It means you transfer responsibility for any discipline that may be involved to God. If you have not yet learned the danger of applying discipline, you better think that through, and listen to the tapes that deal with that. When you start applying discipline, you bring that judgment on yourself. God alone can exercise the discipline and the vengeance. To forgive a person does not mean that you may have perhaps a comradery that you once had with that person, but it does mean that there's a certain openness as before the offense. You yourself are released from any emotions of bitterness. That's the issue.

Peter here in this passage was concerned with this matter of forgiveness. In verse 21, he asks the Lord, "How often when my brother sins against me shall I forgive him? Seven times? Peter felt that he was being extremely generous. He felt seven was a perfect number of times to forgive a person. Peter got himself on these little books at the dime store. He went down to downtown Jerusalem one day and he bought himself one of these little books that you could get for 15 cents. It had the little lines and he put a person's name. He put John's name there, and Andrew, and Judas (oh, Judas was a good one). Every time they would do something that was wrong; every time they offended him; or every time they really treated him in a way they should not, he got his ballpoint out, clicked it, and marked down--one. Pretty soon Judas had five just like that. Two more times. Now this was just for the same offense. I don't want you to think that Peter was an ungracious person. He gave you seven times for the same sin, and that was it. That's what he was asking. I don't know how he knew seven times. He was actually suggesting he was going to keep a mental record. Right away he's human viewpoint thinking. Otherwise he would not even have thought such a thing.

The answer of the Lord was, "No Peter, seven times is not the perfect number. What you should do is 70 times seven, which means 490 times. Who's going to remember 490 for the same offense? The point was there is no limit. The person does the wrong, and you do the forgiving. In verse 22, Jesus said, "I say unto you, not until seven times, but until 70 times seven.

In Matthew 18:23, the Lord then proceeded from Peter's question to say, "I want to illustrate to you, Peter, what I mean. Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about." In this story, about a certain king, the certain king is God. Verse 23 says, "Therefore, is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king who would take account of his servants." Now the certain king here is God. He says in verse 24, "And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought on to him who owed him ten thousand talents." Ten thousand talents is a big amount of money. Ten thousand talents equals ten million dollars. This man is brought. He owes the man a fantastic amount of money. Verse 25 says, "But forasmuch as he had nothing with which to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him saying, 'Lord have patience with me and I will pay you all.' Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him all the debt." He came and he said, "Grace" right across the ten million dollars, and he wiped it out.

You and I are born with a debt of sin which our human good can never repay. We are all born slaves to sin except the Lord Jesus. He was free born. Therefore He became the ransom for the rest of us. When we act upon what He has done, the penalty of our sin is canceled. This is God's attitude of grace relative to us and our sins. We receive what we did not deserve. We receive something opposite to what we did deserve.

Now notice that this man who has had such a huge debt forgiven to him, finds somebody who owes him some money. Verse 28: "But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denari, and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying, Pay me what you owe." Now, a hundred denari is equal to $20. The point of the Scripture is that in New Testament times, this was the relationship between these two sums, with an absolutely unimaginable difference between them. So, he's got this poor guy that owes him $20. He's just been forgiven $10 million dollars. Has he learned something about grace? No. The man who has been forgiven the ten million has a human viewpoint mentality. He will have human viewpoint decisions.

Verse 29: "And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him saying, 'Have patience with me and I'll pay you all, and he would not but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt.'" He wouldn't forgive him the $20. "So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and they came and told unto their lord all that was done. And when his lord, after he had called him, said to him, "'Oh you wicked servant. I forgave you all that debt because you besought me. Should not you also have had compassion on your fellow servant even as I had pity on you?' And his Lord who was angry and delivered him to the inquisitors till he should pay all that was due to him. So likewise, (and here's the punchline) shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you if you from your hearts (from your divine viewpoint mentality) forgive not everyone his brother his trespasses" (whether he asks you or not).

If you want to have God's judgment and discipline upon you as this man in the story brought his Lord's judgment upon him, then just be an unforgiving person; that is, to be a graceless individual. We have to forgive the offense. That's what Galatians 4:32 very clearly calls upon us to do: "And be you kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you." We forgive as the Lord has forgiven us. The confession of the offender of his sin to the Father is his problem, as Psalm 51:4 points out.

The second thing we want to point out is that not only is peace (happiness) a mental attitude flowing from divine viewpoint, but grace flows from divine viewpoint. If, in your experience, you discover that you are not a grace-oriented person, the first thing to do is to go to God and say, "Lord I've discovered I have a human viewpoint mentality. I want to get into the Word and correct this." Well, you may be in the Word, but you may be negative to the Word, in which case, knowing the Word will do you no good.

If you're going to give, first of all, you have to have a divine viewpoint. It is not uncommon around this place to see splendid examples of divine viewpoint expressions in giving. We have seen expressions of divine viewpoint giving that, at certain strategic times, have opened tremendous doors of opportunity for the Word of God to flow out because a person was functioning on divine viewpoint, and God could speak and move and prosper and bless the response of that mind relative to handling some area of their money and possessions. 2 Corinthians 8:12 says, "For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that which a man has and not according to that which he has not." Literally, if a willingness is present, that's what God says is first of all of concern with Him. Gifts are accepted on that basis. We are not dealing with tithes. We are dealing with minds that are willing to give.

Well, what does human viewpoint do? Well, human viewpoint tries to pit one donor against another. Some churches are not above publishing members' contributions every week in the bulletin. One of the interesting things about coming to church on Sunday morning is there's always an insert in your bulletin, and on the insert there's a list of the members of your church and what they gave last week. I know churches that do that, and when the people walk in, that's the first thing they do is look down the scoop sheet to see who's giving what. Now, this is not a grace motivation. This is not the result of divine viewpoint. That's human viewpoint, seeking to pit one donor against another.

Gifts which are given with a willing mind are given in love; they are given in joy; and, they are given with thanksgiving. Even if they are a small sum, God accepts them with great reward and great blessing. God is concerned first of all with your willingness to give. He is not concerned with your hundred dollar bills. He is concerned that you have a mentality that is divine viewpoint and therefore has a willingness to give. If you have a mental willingness to give, and yet God has not prospered you so that you can give, you are still blessed. Do you realize that? Your divine viewpoint attitude toward giving is all that God needs to bless you in those times when you don't have the money to give. Now, if you had the money to give then you are blessed according to what you should be doing. Getting people to give from a wrong mental attitude requires increasing stimulation.

1. Every member of the human race has as his mental frame of reference either human viewpoint or divine viewpoint. Whether you are a believer or unbeliever, you have one of these two. If you are an unbeliever, all you've got is human viewpoint. If you are a believer, you have divine viewpoint unless you you're in a carnal state, then you're back operating on a human viewpoint.
   
   
2. Divine viewpoint represents God's value system while human viewpoint presents Satan's value system. Divine viewpoint presents God's value system. Human viewpoint presents Satan's values.
   
   
3. A person is what he thinks, not what he does because all actions flow from our thoughts (Proverbs 23:7, 2 Corinthians 10:5-6).
   
   
4. Every thought that you and I have is either human viewpoint from the mind of Satan through our old sin nature, or divine viewpoint from the mind of Christ through the filling of the Spirit (Isaiah 55:8-9, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
   
   
5. Divine viewpoint is developed in the mentality through the regular intake of Bible doctrine into your human spirit. This is the technique of living in the Word which we have already studied. These techniques are interrelated. You could not do the divine viewpoint technique unless you were using the technique of confessing your sins and unless you were living in the Word; that is, learning the Word of God. These are dependent on one another.
   
   
6. Divine viewpoint is actually mental occupation with Jesus Christ so that His thinking is in is (1 Corinthians 2:16, Philippians 2:5). Sometimes you and I are prone to smile at certain groups of Christians who make a great deal about how wonderful the Lord is. I recognize that many times that is just as fake as the devil himself. That's a put-on that they feel in that certain group. That's how you talk. Therefore, you talk about how wonderful the Lord is, and every other word you interject the words "Praise the Lord," "Hallelujah." and so on. Nevertheless we must recognize that where that is a genuine expression of the mentality, it is on the right track, whether we want to express ourselves that way or not, because it is being occupied with Jesus Christ. Divine viewpoint causes your mind constantly to be coming back to the Lord. Back to the Lord all day long. You're wandering back to thinking about Him. You're wandering to thinking about His attitude about this thing and that thing, and your mind is constantly going to Him for guidance and direction. It's actually occupation with Christ.
   
   
7. It is God's will for the believer that his natural human viewpoint be gradually replaced with God's divine viewpoint. You are not born with divine viewpoint. You are born with a good case of human viewpoint and you go from there.
   
   
8. Human viewpoint can never please God though it is cultured, intelligent, and sincere. Now that will throw a lot of people. Because they know very intelligent, cultured, sincere, and moneyed (maybe we should add that) people, they feel that their viewpoints therefore merit our consideration. However, human viewpoint, no matter what you are in this life, does not cut anything with God.
   
   
9. Human viewpoint is strongly convinced that it is correct in its conclusions, and it justifies itself (Matthew 7:3, Proverbs 14:12). You will never find a human viewpoint Christian who doesn't think he is absolutely at the center of God's thinking. Human viewpoint causes you to have that blind spot.
   
   
10. The social outlook of this world is human viewpoint and is no pattern for Christians to imitate. Just because other people do something does not mean that it is acceptable guidelines for you.
    
    
11. Worldliness is human viewpoint expressed in experience, and can only be corrected by renewing of the mind with divine viewpoint (Romans 12:2).
    
    
12. Human viewpoint decisions will appear to be the most logical, safest, most pleasurable, and most profitable course of action. Human viewpoint always looks like it is right.
    
    
13. Human viewpoint to Christians with a limited spiritual frame of reference will appear to be divine viewpoint (2 Corinthians 10:12 and 18). Human viewpoint will come out looking to you like divine viewpoint.
    
    
14. Human viewpoint looks on the outward appearances while divine viewpoint looks on the mind, the heart (2 Corinthians 10:7).
    
    
15. Human viewpoint evaluates leadership on the basis of human dynamics, personality, and appearance. How many times have you been impressed with somebody who is a real "go getter" as human viewpoint likes to say--somebody who has the statistics to prove some area of success? Human viewpoint looks upon the dynamics, the personality, and the appearance.
    
    
16. Human viewpoint is loyal to an ideology and will not respond to doctrines of truth in any area of life.
    
    
17. Human viewpoint is out of touch with reality in all areas of life. Therefore, the problems of life remain. That which is pseudo, human viewpoint calls genuine. Human viewpoint, in other words, cannot solve problems. That's our trouble with government leaders.
    
    
18. Human viewpoint belittles the need for learning bible doctrine and resists the communicator of the Word of God.
    
    
19. Here are five results of divine viewpoint that you find in 2 Corinthians 10:13-17:
    
    
    1. It gives true values in life (verse 13).
       
       
    2. It produces witnessing with the Gospel (verse 14).
       
       
    3. It brings Christians to spiritual maturity (verse 15).
       
       
    4. It increases missionary activity (verse 16).
       
       
    5. Christians glory in the Lord (verse 17).
       
       
20. Human viewpoint is a sin and must immediately be confessed to God the Father when we discover it in our thinking.
    
    
21. Divine viewpoint thinking enables a believer to hold his focus constantly on God and not get sidetracked.
    
    
22. Human viewpoint produces defeat for the Christian in the angelic conflict while divine viewpoint leads to spiritual victory.
    
    
23. Human viewpoints says success in Christian service is dependent on methods, personality, and drive rather than the grace of God.
    
    
24. Finally, human viewpoint operates in a climate of emotional domination of the soul while divine viewpoint operates in a climate of mental control of the soul.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1973