No Filter
Pt. 3 - Origin
In an age where things that are not real are promoted as reality it would serve to reason that in church, we would tell you to live with no filter since we are taught by our Savior to live authentic and genuine lives. However, I want to tell you that filters are an important and essential part of life.
Filters catch and hide flaws and impurities. They keep some things in and they keep some things out! A filter is essential if we are going to represent Christ. A filter is essential if we are going to live like Christ. I want to address the fact that many of us have no filters. We have lost some essential filters in our life that were designed to catch impurities, to help us look and act more like Jesus and to protect us. We need to check our filters!
Text: Genesis 37:23, 28; 50:14-15 (TLB), 50:18-20 (NIV), 2 Corinthians 2:11 (KJV)
When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his coat—his coat of many colors that he had on. And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty, and there was no water in it.
28 Then when the Midianite merchants passed by, they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.
50:14-15 Then Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to the funeral of his father. But now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers were frightened.
50:18-20 His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
2 Corinthians 2:11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
It’s my duty to make sure that Satan does not win even a small victory over us, for we don’t want to be naïve and then fall prey to his schemes.
I draw your attention to these accounts because I am convinced that too many of us (even those of us who have been saved for long periods of time) have lost an essential filter. Our ability to walk the right direction, choose the right paths and our ability to withstand attack is tied up in this filter.
In order for us to avoid not only frustration but mistakes . . .
We must have the Filter of Origin!
Joseph has this filter in place. He is mistreated badly by his own flesh and blood. Out of jealousy they debate whether or not to kill him. Instead, they fake his death and sell him into slavery. You thought you family has issues. They ship him off never expecting to see him again. Knowing that the life of slave would be brutal and possibly fatal they did it anyway. Then years later, due to a famine, they have to travel to Egypt to find food. Low and behold the man in charge of the food in Egypt is none other than their hated, despised, mistreated brother. They expect revenge and retaliation. They expect to be killed or at best to now find themselves in slavery as well. However, because Joseph has the filter of origin in place, he makes the now famous declaration . . . what you meant for harm, God meant for good.
He somehow had the ability to see past the pain, the wrong, the wounds inflicted by those who should have been looking out for him and have enough of this filter in place to be able to determine that this situation was actually God sent for him and his family. Then we read in 2 Corinthians the statement that Paul makes. He is talking about forgiving someone and at the end of his statement he says, "we are not ignorant of the enemy’s devices/schemes/strategies." Ignorant not stupid. We are not supposed to lack understanding or knowledge.
Basically, what Paul was saying is that it is absolutely essential to have a filter of origin. In other words, we must filter everything that is happening in our lives with an eye for and an understanding of whether what is happening is God sent or enemy sent? What is the origin of this thing? This is true in a case like Joseph's which was painful, but we must have this understanding in every situation.
I can take you to accounts where there are good things happening and this filter is needed.
Balaam, in Numbers 22, is trying to make his way to the battle lines to prophecy a curse on the nation of Israel and his donkey keeps coming to a stop on the journey. The donkey finally lays down and Balaam beats the donkey for the third time and declares that if he had a sword, he would kill the donkey. Finally, God allows the donkey to speak, and he says . . . “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?” Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown. The angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.”
Balaam has no filter of origin, so he begins to beat his donkey never realizing that the donkey was saving his life by balking.
Ruth - a widow struggles to recognize God's hand at work when Boaz is sent by God to rescue her out of her poverty and plight.
In Matthew 16, Peter hears Jesus talking about His impending death, lacking a filter of origin, Peter doesn't realize that this is a good thing. So, Peter rebukes Jesus. His lack of a filter causes him to try to stop what would bring salvation to not only him, but to the entire world.
Again, the filter of origin is necessary to determine if what we are facing, going through, experiencing is God sent or enemy sent.
This is an absolutely essential filter because if we don't have it, we won't know the (SLIDES 10-11) difference so, without this filter we fight what God sends and accept willingly what the enemy sends. We end up missing out or messed up.
We must have the filter of origin so that we will embrace or reject properly.
I continue to watch too many of us fight God and embrace the devil. I watch too many of us fight our way out of God ordained ministries, God ordained roles, God sent relationships, God sent opportunities while we run willing to things that will destroy, devastate, and distract us.
Paul said we are not ignorant, but we end up acting like it when we don't use the filter of origin to recognize where this is coming from.
If you don’t have this filter, then you will stop what should flow and let flow what should be stopped.
The perfect example of lack of a filter of origin is the example of Jesus. The savior of the universe, the Son of God arrives on the scene and because He shows up in a different package, different wrapping, on a different street than what was expected Scripture says that, "He came to His own and His own and they received Him not". They couldn't determine origin.
So, how do we learn to discern. There are 3 ways to discover origin.
1. Does it line up with His Word?
No negotiations here just because something feels good or is our preference. If His Word declares something is wrong or destructive, then don't give yourself permission to believe or behave as if you are the exception. Don't think it will trap everyone else, but it won't hurt me. God will never give you permission to disobey what He has already said. This is an important question because it helps us determine if what is happening to me is God sent or devil sent. By the way this undoes the teaching that only good things happen to believers. There are some things in life that are painful. There are some bad things that happen to believers. God's Word identifies the reason and end game of those things - all things for our good. If we don't consult His word to determine origin, we will fight out of stuff that God wanted us to stay in to grow. For example, some of us are suffering and we will self-medicate or exit the scene thinking that God would never allow this when we are told in Romans that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. So, if we don't know His Word then we will miss painful moments that were permitted with the plan propel us into our best days! What is coming towards our lives must line up with His word and character or it is from the enemy!
2. Seek and listen to wise counsel.
(Key words here are listen and wise - Some seek but won't listen. The only thing that shocks me more than people not listening to wise counsel is those listening to unwise counsel. Seek advice from those who are failing in the area you are needing help.)
I am shocked at how many people are warned that something or someone they want to do is not from God and that wise counsel is tossed aside. Then because they had no filter of origin they come crawling back after bankruptcy, divorce, addiction, or a broken heart in amazement that it went so badly. If you had had the filter and the willingness to trust wise counsel, then you would have realized that this was a plan/person sent by the devil to destroy you! We have been told that in the last days people will begin to call evil good and good evil. In other words, they will lose their filter of origin and be unable to tell the difference. So wise counsel helps us navigate and determine origin. In days gone by people talked about discernment. I don't hear that much about it anymore. Discernment is a spiritual muscle that must be developed. One of the ways it is developed is to have people with Godly wisdom in your life who you can bounce things off of. We must be willing to listen to wise counsel. If they warn us, we should listen. If they confront us, challenge us we should listen! We are not always right on our own. Wise counsel helps us learn origin and develop discernment.
3. Let God speak louder than feelings!
I don't know if you have figured this out yet but when it comes to this you can't rely on feelings. That is where we miss it! A lot of times we think that what is God sent will be comfortable and enjoyable. May I remind you here that God is more committed to your character and your growth than He is to your comfort! The enemy is relying on our inability to determine the origin so we will trust our feelings rather than using discernment to see his end game.
We are told that His sheep know His voice! God still speaks. We get in trouble when we allow our feelings to override and drown out His voice! The way something feels isn't the deciding factor. The deciding factor is what God says! Notice I put this in third place. I didn't do that because God's voice isn't preeminent and important. I placed it here because too many of us walk around saying God told us to do something and because we make this number 1 instead of number 3, we will let what we heard overrule what we read! God will never contradict His own written Word. God told me should never carry more weight than God wrote me! If what you heard contradicts Scripture, then you are listening to feelings not God! The reason I have this step positioned after wise counsel is because so many of us have dislodged the filter of origin so long ago until we have become so unaccustomed to discerning that we will hear a voice and follow it and a wise counselor who has years of practice knowing God's voice could have helped us to know that we were being misled!
4. How will this affect others?
Joseph is able to discern origin because he recognizes that his pain will result in help for many others. His discomfort and distress were the seedbed of deliverance for others. We must think about the impact our choices/actions will have on others. I see too many people doing what they want to do with no thought about the repercussions on anyone else. The repercussion on others is a good indicator of origin. If what is happening to me is painful but it helps others in the end, then it may very well be from God. If what is happening to me is enjoyable to me but destroys others, then that is a pretty good indicator that this is from the enemy. This test helps us wade through good things that may not be sinful but aren't necessary or productive. Lawful but not expedient. We have to stop long enough to think beyond our own desires and comfort and think about others. If I buy this, will it shackle my kids with mountains of debt even after I am gone? If I walk out on this relationship, will it destroy the other party? If I continue this practice, will it set my friends up for failure? If I endure this, will future generations be blessed? If I invest now rather than spending my entire paycheck, will it impact my grandchildren? If I get clean now, whole now, healthy now, will it affect those around me or coming behind me? When you think about origin stop and think about others!
