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Our topic is: "Am I Too Cynical or Not Cynical Enough?" Is cynicism really as bad as people think it is? Let's think about this.
If being cynical means you doubt the integrity and motivation of others, when is the last time you saw that attitude plainly displayed? Oh, pretty much all the time. Wow, this is worse than I thought! What do we do now? Here's Rick and Jonathan.
[Rick] (0:37 - 0:45) Welcome, everyone. I'm Rick. I'm joined by Jonathan, my co-host for over 25 years.
Jonathan, what's our theme scripture for this episode?
[Jonathan] (0:46 - 0:56) John 1:46: "Nathanael said to him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see."
[Rick] (0:57 - 2:19) Our world is such a cynical place. Sometimes it feels like every time you turn a corner, you're met with frustration, unrest, and a lack of trust. Because we have so many platforms through which we can speak, we do.
When we speak, our words and sentiments are often full of accusation and vitriol. We harshly address "those people," those people on the other side of this or that issue, whom we often label as "uneducated" or "ignorant," as members of the wrong party, wrong belief system, wrong ethnicity, or wrong culture; "those people." We speak to be heard, and we neglect speaking so others will listen.
Let me say that again. We speak to be heard, and we neglect to speak so others will listen. We are cynical, and this cynicism is to the detriment of all.
As Christians, we should not participate in this damaging interpretation of free speech. Is it possible to be cynical in a positive way? We're talking about something that is everywhere, and we want to see, is it possible to have it even be positive, or do you just try to throw the whole thing away? We're going to develop that as we go. Jonathan, let's begin by defining what it actually means to be cynical.
[Jonathan] (2:20 - 2:39) The following data comes from Oxford languages: "Cynical" is an adjective and means "believing that people are motivated purely by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity; doubtful as to whether something will happen or whether it is worthwhile."
[Rick] (2:40 - 3:38) Alright, so the bottom line of being cynical is this distrust in human sincerity or in integrity, okay? That's the bottom line of what real cynicism is. Now cynicism can happen on many different levels, and here's the thing; all levels of cynicism are not the complete doubt of all human integrity. Let's look at an important distinction between doubt and cynicism. When one has doubt, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are cynical. Doubt can be a symptom of a lack of understanding, a lack of knowledge, or a lack of experience. Cynicism is a fundamental distrust of underlying motivation. You see there's a big difference between not having information or experience or understanding, versus "I just don't trust the motivation." Big, big difference and we want to make sure we see the difference between those two things.
[Jonathan] (3:39 - 3:52) Another word that is in between doubt and cynicism is "skepticism." A skeptic questions or doubts accepted opinions, but cynicism goes far beyond that.
[Rick] (3:52 - 4:35) We have doubt, we have skepticism, and then we've got cynicism. We've got to be careful; that's the thing. It's like, okay, all these words, what does it mean? How does it fit into my life? Let me tell you, it fits into all of our lives and it really shouldn't.
We've got a lot of work to do here. Many things can make us cynical. Let's look at how Jesus--and, Jonathan, I love this part; we're just getting started, but I love this part-- let's look how Jesus, in a very subtle way, laid a foundation for us to face our cynicism appropriately. Where do we find this?
We're going to begin at the very beginning of Jesus's ministry, and I mean the very beginning. Let's look at John 1:35-39:
[Jonathan] (4:36 - 5:10) "Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God! The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, What do you seek? They said to him, Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are you staying? He said to them, Come, and you will see. So they came and saw where he was staying; and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour."
[Rick] (5:11 - 5:35) There's this little question and answer thing that's happening, and the result of Jesus asking them, What are you looking for? "What do you seek?" The result of that was Jesus inviting them to come and see.
Come and see. That sounds like a pretty simple suggestion, come and see. But what does the word "see" mean?
[Jonathan] (5:36 - 5:44) It means "to stare at, to discern clearly (physically or mentally); by extension, to attend to."
[Rick] (5:45 - 7:00) Okay, ''to discern clearly, to attend to." "Come and see" is not like, take a glance and say, "Oh, okay, I see where the lost key is." This is something much bigger.
Pay attention. He's saying, Come and really, truly observe. Think about the power, the potential doubt, and the potential cynicism of this whole moment.
I mean, John says, "Behold, the Lamb of God." Now there's a whole big introduction for cynicism right there. Really? Come on. You've got to be kidding! But that's not what's happening here. Jesus's response is not to explain himself. When they come to say, "Master, where are you staying?" When he begins the conversation, he doesn't just go and explain to them, Hey, here are my credentials. Here's what's making things happen. He's inviting them to understand him. Come and spend some time with me.
He's inviting those who want to know to have the opportunity to know. This is big. This is a very subtle, but very powerful piece to this whole cynicism puzzle that we are going to be unfolding.
[Jonathan] (7:01 - 7:04) Where can cynicism come from?
[Rick] (7:04 - 7:34) Oh, all kinds of places. All kinds of places. First, the reputation or track record, which is either perceived or factual. It might be just our own imagination, our own assumptions that we're putting together, but the reputation or track record of a person, a group, or a place. Let's look into this.
Let's proceed a few verses later in John as we see cynicism actually begin to unfold. John 1:43-46:
[Jonathan] (7:35 - 8:01) "The next day he purposed to go into Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, Follow me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathanael said to him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?"
[Rick] (8:03 - 9:00) Okay, here we have cynicism introduced. Nathanael's statement was a sweeping generalization; "can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Come on, it's Nazareth. Of course, I'm making it dramatic here. We believe that his personal cynicism, as we'll see in the Scriptures in a few moments, his personal cynicism here was not deep, but his general statement reflected the depth of the cynicism that so many of us can easily fall into because when we make that kind of generalization, whether we deeply believe it or not, we're feeding that thought. Let's go a little further because he brings the cynicism out. "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Really? Nazareth? You couldn't have picked another town?
Here's what Philip says. Here's Philip's powerful, powerful response. John 1:46-51:
[Jonathan] (9:01 - 10:06) "Philip said to him, Come and see (or come and understand). Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" Let me pause.
Jesus always stands above cynical behavior. Continuing: "Nathanael said to him, How do you know me? Jesus answered and said to him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said to him, Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these. And he said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." Well, that must have been an important moment for Nathanael when he was under the fig tree, to respond the way he did.
[Rick] (10:06 - 12:23) His response went from, Nazareth, really? To, Behold, "you are the son of God." There's this amazing, amazing turn. That's why we think Nathanael's cynicism wasn't really, really deep and personal, but he held the thought that was common. Can anything good ever come out of that dirty, dusty place of ignorance, Nazareth? They had a sense of it, and it was part of culture.
Again, it wasn't a deep cynicism on Nathanael's part, but what we're looking for is to understand how cynicism works. We can prejudge things based on the phraseology that we always use: "Oh, you come from that side of the tracks?" Automatically you fill in all the blanks, and they're not good. Cynicism thrives on that kind of thinking. Because Nathanael was given a "come and see" moment, Philip literally said, Come, "come and see," come and understand. Come and be a part of what I am experiencing. That's what he's saying to him.
"Come and see;" a "come and know the truth" moment. That's what he's giving him.
He was able to immediately suspend any doubt or cynicism that he may have had. It all just got to go away, because it didn't take much for Jesus to prove himself to him. See, when you're around Jesus, if you have an open mind and an open heart, proving is easy.
It's when you're going to him with an agenda, that's where you get into trouble, and we'll get into that a little bit later. But this example of "come and see" will be a foundation for our entire cynicism conversation here. Jonathan, we've got this one simple, straightforward example, and it's not deep, it's not hard, it's not harsh, it's not something that had to be really, really undone, but it sets the guideline, and we use Jesus's words when he said to the disciples, "Come and see." Then Philip uses his same words, "Come and see." This gives us something to work with.
As we go through this, we want to learn how to be Seeing Cynicism With Certainty. What do we have?
[Jonathan] (12:24 - 12:48) As imperfect human beings, we are all susceptible to falling into the sweeping generalization pit of cynicism. Even if we only casually repeat these cynical generalizations, we can be guilty of reaffirming them more deeply into the hearts and minds of others.
[Rick] (12:48 - 13:20) We've got to be careful about putting that in a place where we're just repeating something and not thinking about it, because what we can be actually doing is feeding something that's very, very damaging. Our Cynicism Reversal question-- look, it's in us, face the facts, folks-- cynicism is in you, it's in me, we need to do something about it. What's our first Cynicism Reversal question? When was the last time I identified my potential support for unjust cynicism?
[Jonathan] (13:21 - 13:52) Looking at and tackling this subject, I realized that it is so easy to fall into cynicism. Yes, I do it, and now I can work on weeding it out of my heart. Rick, you mentioned to me the other day that you wondered if Psalm 19:12, which says, "cleanse thou me from secret faults," could possibly be cynicism within us that we aren't aware of. This is a sobering thought.
[Rick] (13:52 - 14:17) It is, and that could be one of those secret faults that we just don't pay attention to. Jesus is actually showing us how to pay attention to it. He's saying, come, come and see, see what lessons I have for you. So far, the lesson is clear. We need to continually pay attention to not only how we think, but how we contribute or detract to or from those around us.
[Jonathan] (14:18 - 14:27) Nathanael seems to be a relatively easy example. What about hardened and enduring cynicism between different groups of people?
[Rick] (14:28 - 15:40) Well, the Bible has many examples of this kind of cynicism. We're going to look at just one example from Jesus's day that not only defines the problem, but it also defines the solution as well. It is so important to stress that cynicism is easy.
As we shall see, it's often built into the fabric of our thinking and therefore secretly damages all involved. It is built in. We don't even have to subscribe to it.
Hey, did you get a subscription to this magazine or that magazine? No, I subscribe to cynicism by nature, by nature - that's what happens. We subscribe. We naturally subscribe to it, and our society just feeds that natural subscription and it's free, except it costs an awful lot. Let's look at an example. Alright, the Jewish people and the Samaritans, these are people who are at odds. These two groups were absolutely at odds in Jesus's day and this tension had very specific beginnings, many, many, many, many generations before, and it stayed through all of that time.
[Jonathan] (15:41 - 16:33) The Samaritans. Albert Barnes' biblical commentary states: "This people was formerly composed of a few of the ten tribes and a mixture of foreigners. When the ten tribes were carried away into captivity to Babylon, the king of Assyria sent (people from other countries) to inhabit their country. These people at first worshipped the idols of their own nations, but being troubled with lions, which had increased greatly while the country remained uninhabited, they supposed it was because they had not honored the God of the country. A Jewish priest was therefore set to them from Babylon, to instruct them in the Jewish religion. They were instructed partially from the books of Moses; but still retained many of their old rites and idolatrous customs, and embraced a religion made up of Judaism and idolatry."
[Rick] (16:33 - 17:11) There you have the problem. This religion made up of Judaism and idolatry, this mixture, this watering down was looked down upon by Jews of Israel. You had this generational feud going on between them. No, we see it right. No, we see it right. No, we see it right.
No, we see it right; and it never got better. We're talking generations and generations and generations. These events that you just talked about through Albert Barnes' commentary began many religious and social tensions that lasted for all of this time, all of these generations. This is a basis for where we're going to begin to expose cynicism.
[Jonathan] (17:12 - 17:16) Where can cynicism come from? History and tradition.
[Rick] (17:17 - 18:30) Okay. When events happened long ago between groups of people, their effects can easily skew our view of every individual in those groups involved in the present. Our low subconscious expectation of others can blind us to the value of whole segments of society because we have these low expectations because, "Oh, they're some of those people, the way they think, the way they live, what's important to them, them, them, they, they, they." We create a series of expectations, and cynicism just rushes through our hearts and our minds and we often don't even think about it. We drop in on Jesus here calling out the Pharisees regarding hypocrisy. Now this isn't about the Samaritans. This is about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The Pharisees' response to Jesus reveals their cynicism toward the Samaritans. As we begin the scriptures, it's Jesus telling them where they've gone wrong. He's being very strong and very hard on them because they need to be able to hear. John 8:44-49:
[Jonathan] (18:31 - 19:38) "You of are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him…. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God. The Jews answered and said to him, Do we not say rightly that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? Jesus answered, I do not have a demon; but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me." They had no respect at all for Jesus. They didn't. And Albert Barnes' biblical commentary says: "Though thou art a Samaritan; this was a term of contempt and reproach... it had the force of charging him with being a heretic or a schismatic, because the Samaritans were regarded as such."
[Rick] (19:38 - 20:28) You have the Samaritans regarded as heretics and schismatic. In other words, somebody who creates schisms, creates divisions. They looked at all Samaritans are heretics. All Samaritans create divisions. A great insult was, you are a Samaritan. They use this whole people as the basis for this insult that they're trying to put upon Jesus. You can see how deep the cynicism was toward the Samaritans amongst the Jewish people. It wasn't good. It wasn't right.
It wasn't appropriate. It wasn't godly. Let's look at the other side of the issue. How did Jesus treat these same Samaritans? We're going to look at a couple examples. We're going to start with John 4:7-10:
[Jonathan] (20:29 - 21:18) "There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman? (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, who it is who says to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." In their conversation, the Samaritan woman has this cynicism towards the Jews, but Jesus casually witnesses to her and is not bothered by her attitude and reveals that he is the Messiah that they've been waiting for.
[Rick] (21:19 - 22:30) His treatment of the Samaritans was entirely different. He did not withhold the power of the gospel from her. Instead he offered her a "come and see" moment. He said, If you knew who I am, who's offering you this living water, you would just drop everything and come to listen. He's saying, Come and learn from me. Let me share with you what I stand for.
She's like, Why are you even talking to me? Because your kind doesn't talk to my kind. Jesus, like you said earlier, he just rises above the cynicism, crosses that great big void between the two peoples, and treats her with love and respect.
It's a beautiful example. Let's look at another example. This next example, it's going to be from Luke 10. There is a lawyer, a doctor of law, questioning Jesus and feeling pretty full of himself, as we shall see. We're going to see how Jesus puts things in order because, remember, those higher up within the Jewish ranks did not look kindly upon the Samaritans. Let's look at Luke 10:25-29:
[Jonathan] (22:30 - 23:04) "And a lawyer stood up and put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said to him, What is written in the Law? How does it read to you? And he answered, YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. And he said to him, You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE. But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor?"
[Rick] (23:05 - 24:13) That's the point. That last verse, 29, "wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, Who is my neighbor?" Now, Jesus can read his heart.
Jesus knows his motivation. Here's a great opportunity for Jesus to be cynical. Look at this guy, thinking he's all full of himself. Let me hammer him down a little bit. Let me ... because he's completely wrong, and I could just toy with him. He could have been so cynical.
It was an opportunity for cynicism, but not for Jesus. Not for Jesus. He, reading his heart, he knew the self-interest, and then instead of coming down on him and reacting to him, what he does is he gives this lawyer a "come and see" moment, that's what he does. He gives him a "come and see" moment, and it's in the form of a story, of a parable, and it's the parable about the good Samaritan. We're going to drop in on that parable. This comes right after this lawyer justifying himself, saying, "Well, who's my neighbor?" because he's all full of himself. Let's look at Luke 10:30, then 33-37:
[Jonathan] (24:14 - 25:25) "Jesus replied and said, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead." We know the story; a priest and later a Levite passed by him. Now verse 33: "But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands? And he said (this is the lawyer), The one who showed mercy toward him. Then Jesus said to him, Go and do the same." Now the lawyer didn't say the word Samaritan specifically, but he was willing to choose correctly.
What a gentle way Jesus taught this important lesson.
[Rick] (25:26 - 26:42) It was gentle. It was powerful because it was gentle. You notice it wasn't cynical at all. It rose completely above it. It was beyond cynicism when he looks at this lawyer and he says, which one of these three did the right thing? Which one of these three was the neighbor? Because you asked the question, who is my neighbor? Which one was the neighbor? When the man says, well, you know, that guy, Jesus then says, yes, you're right. Now you go and be like him. You go and be like the Samaritan. You just think about that and the power of that lesson; he teaches him without berating him. He teaches him without building upon his knowledge that he's just out to justify himself. What he does is, he's corrective. He's upbuilding. He gives him something to think about instead of talking at him. He talks with him.
It's a beautiful, beautiful lesson. When we look at cynicism, we want to understand the kinds of solutions that are presented to us. A Cynicism Solution here is to focus on God's grace and righteousness, just like Jesus did here. Jonathan, let's read Psalm 1:1-3:
[Jonathan] (26:43 - 27:07) "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers."
[Rick] (27:08 - 28:19) These three verses of Psalm 1 are profound. It shows you the process of walking away from God. You "walk in the counsel of the wicked," you "stand in the path of sinners," and you take a seat and get comfortable in "the seat of scoffers." He says, no, you don't want to be like that. You don't want to be cynical. What you want to be is have your delight in "the law of the Lord," meditating on it "day and night." You are "a tree planted by streams of water." You are in such wonderful positioning because you are meditating on the law of God. That's what Jesus did.
That's how he could tell him the story about the good Samaritan. That's how he could witness to the gospel to the Samaritan woman. That's how he could go to Samaria and actually preach to them.
That's how when the apostle said about the Samaritans, hey, we should call fire down from heaven like Elijah, Jesus said, you don't know what you're asking. He fought the ingrained cynicism from one people to another with love, compassion, mercy, wisdom, and knowledge of God's word.
Let's look at this. Seeing Cynicism With Certainty, where are we?
[Jonathan] (28:20 - 28:44) Our human experience immerses us into cynical environments. Our social, traditional, and ethnic backgrounds are fertile ground for deep and hurtful cynicism. Let us do as Jesus did and rise above what may feel natural or expected, and simply see all peoples as equally purchased from sin and death by Jesus himself.
[Rick] (28:44 - 29:05) See all peoples as equally purchased from sin and death by Jesus himself. Therefore, our Cynicism Reversal Question is: "What definitive steps have I taken to expose and address my own historic and traditional cynicism?"
[Jonathan] (29:06 - 29:48) Rick, I have to be honest about my challenges dealing with the war involving Israel and its enemies. We as Christians want to look with favor to God's chosen people, the Jews. But the danger we face is having hate and wanting evil, horrific outcomes for the terrorists.
I have to stop myself from going there because Jesus died for them too. Yes, they are misled based on evil influence. Following in our master's footsteps means we rise above the natural emotions and see things from a higher perspective.
In this situation, there is heartbreak at every turn.
[Rick] (29:48 - 30:27) There is, absolutely, heartbreak at every turn. When we look at this, you're right; so well put. Let's see those whom Jesus died for through the eyes that Jesus saw them. I'm willing to shed my blood for you. Am I willing to be understanding, knowing that this world is full of sin, and giving them that opportunity for the resurrection and for the judgment, which is a day of reconciliation, so they can be made right before God? Or do I just want them to suffer? If I do, I'm too cynical. We need to rise to Jesus' level.
This is hard.
[Jonathan] (30:28 - 30:28) It is.
[Rick] (30:28 - 30:42) This is a difficult, very difficult, difficult thing for us to do.
This is an uncomfortable area of our personal lives to examine. The good news is that heartfelt examination can bring heartfelt change.
[Jonathan] (30:44 - 30:52) We have seen the real drama when our cynicism is fueled by history and tradition. How else can cynicism trap us?
[Rick] (30:52 - 31:37) Yes, the history and tradition, that's a big part of the story, but there's a lot of other parts as well. As we progress, we're going to suggest three other ways our natural cynicism can be fed and therefore be destructive. Now, the tricky part about all of this is that left unchecked, so many of our normal reactions can bring us down cynicism's dark pathway.
This ends up being a really big lesson on paying attention to how we respond regarding our life experiences. How do I respond regarding...look, we all react, but how do I respond regarding my life experiences?
[Jonathan] (31:38 - 31:42) Where can cynicism come from? Fear and uncertainty.
[Rick] (31:43 - 32:09) Alright, we've got fear and uncertainty now on the table. When emotion overrides our rational thinking and true perceptions of reality, what are we left with? We're left with the hopelessness of cynicism.
You see, cynicism doesn't solve anything. What it does is it produces hopelessness, and it brings everybody down. This is something we really need to focus in on.
[Jonathan] (32:10 - 32:48) After Moses led Israel out of slavery, the people quickly lost focus and became angry and cynical. Why? Because Pharaoh and his army were closing in. Exodus 14:11-12: "Then they said to Moses, Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."
[Rick] (32:49 - 33:36) What a turn! You've been delivered from this horrible slavery, and now things look bad, it's like, ah, didn't we tell you that we should have just stayed in Egypt and served the Egyptians? You were slaves!
They lost their focus, and they became cynical toward Moses and God's deliverance. There was this dramatic turn that said, this is ridiculous, you brought us here to die, way to go, I mean, good job, what were you thinking? You have that whole sense.
That's what cynicism is, and that's what fear and uncertainty can bring us to. Fear makes it seem impossible. Then...and then came Israel's "come and see" moment. Listen to this, Exodus 14:13-14:
[Jonathan] (33:37 - 34:13) "But Moses said to the people, Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent." The word "forever" here means "vanishing point." In our last two episodes, we define this as a point at which something disappears from view, like when you look at the horizon and it looks like the earth ends because of its curvature, but it really doesn't.
[Rick] (34:14 - 35:35) That's one of the definitions of the word "forever." The other means "eternal," forever and ever and ever, and we know that the ransom of Jesus clearly, according to Scripture, bought every human being back from sin and death. These Egyptian soldiers were part of that. When you say you'll never see them again forever, it's not, they're done, they've died, but not until the day of resurrection, which is far beyond their sight. But here's the beauty of this; "The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent." Stand by and see, "come and see," come and understand God's deliverance and God's salvation. He didn't bring you out here to die, oh, you cynics! He brought you out here so He could establish you as His people. Be quiet, stop complaining, and watch how you are delivered. Our cynicism that comes from fear and uncertainty requires us to calm down and watch for that deliverance. Cynicism's Solution here is to "stand ready to evaluate whatever comes our way." Now before I said we all react, and we've got to figure out how to respond. What we're suggesting here is when we get a reaction, it's human nature, you react; so react, evaluate, and then respond. Let's look at 1 John 4:1:
[Jonathan] (35:35 - 35:47) "Beloved, do not believe every spirit (or every influence), but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."
[Rick] (35:48 - 36:26) Don't believe every influence that comes your way. Social media, internet, news. Don't believe everything.
Put it in perspective. Evaluate to see if it is from God, and if it's not a godly influence, why are we listening? Why are we trusting?
We have to be careful about such things, and that kind of says, why are we trusting? Oh, Rick, are you saying we should be cynical? Hold that thought.
Hold that thought. We're getting to that, okay? Let's see this cynicism with fear and uncertainty. Let's see the Cynicism With Certainty. Jonathan, what do we have?
[Jonathan] (36:27 - 36:47) Fear debilitates, and this inability to overcome is an invitation for cynical conclusions to fester and grow. Standing in faith and testing what we are faced with, rather than giving into it, gives us the ability to see God's ever-present hand and abandon cynicism.
[Rick] (36:47 - 37:23) There you go. If you stand for things, if you look and you evaluate and you say, okay, this is how I fear, but this is where God's word is. This is where we stand.
This is the godly influence. It can help us. Our Cynicism Reversal question is, "how readily do I stand by and observe God's deliverance when I'm afraid?" How readily am I going to say, I am scared to death? Where's God's deliverance? Let me look for it.
Instead of dwelling in my fear, let me dwell in His power and providence.
[Jonathan] (37:24 - 37:33) As we mature in Christ, our focus should be like it says in 1 Samuel 3:18: "It is the Lord. Let Him do what seemeth Him good."
[Rick] (37:34 - 37:48) What a great scripture, because you don't know. We're not sure, but if we can see God in it, even through difficulties, let Him do what He sees as good. That's where we need to go.
[Jonathan] (37:49 - 37:57) Next, where can cynicism come from? Self-doubt due to unrealized expectations. Oh, this is a big one.
[Rick] (37:58 - 38:31) Whenever we talk about self-doubt--look, we all have self-doubt--and that can create deep cynicism. This doubt can turn us to a self-directed cynicism, and that, folks, that can be incredibly, incredibly destructive. Let's look at an example of this; Elijah. After Elijah destroyed the prophets of Baal, Queen Jezebel had threatened to kill him within twenty-four hours. She says, by this time tomorrow, you're dead. You're gone. He's afraid. Here's what happens.
1 Kings 19:3-4:
[Jonathan] (38:32 - 39:08) "And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers." Elijah's mindset was, I failed God, just like all the prophets before me.
They couldn't save Israel. I don't deserve to live. Rick, what should our takeaway be?
[Rick] (39:09 - 40:14) He is feeling this very deep, depressive response that's saying, I have no value. I have failed you. What looked like a victory, he's saying, obviously, is defeat.
I'm running for my life. If I don't hide, I die. Please, Lord, just take my life.
I'm no good. The takeaway is, sometimes we get into this place. Sometimes we get overwhelmed by the doubts that come our way because things maybe didn't go the way we expected or whatever the case may be, and then we look at ourselves and we say, I'm no good.
I'm just, just no good. God gives Elijah several "come and see" moments after this, because Elijah was worth it, was valuable, was faithful, was courageous, was godly. We're just going to look at one of those "come and see" moments. Jonathan, with our difficulties can come the "come and see" moment if we look for it. 1 Kings 19:5-6:
[Jonathan] (40:15 - 40:35) "He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, Arise, eat. Then he looked and behold (sounds like "come and see"), there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and laid down again."
[Rick] (40:36 - 41:24) Here's what happens; this is the first of many "come and see" moments for Elijah. Instead of seeing death and dying and hopelessness and I'm done and I don't deserve to live, what did Elijah see?
He saw God's provided nourishment for life. He saw the message, you are valuable to Me. Come and eat, because I have more for you.
He saw the answer, which couldn't come from him. It had to come through that angel. When we look at our Cynicism Solutions, we have to think about, let's remember who we have become. Not who we were, but who we have become. Good scripture for that as Christians is Ephesians 4:21-24:
[Jonathan] (41:25 - 41:47) "If indeed you have heard him and have been taught in him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth."
[Rick] (41:47 - 42:26) You were what you were, but now in God, through Christ, you are what you are. What you are does not equal what you were. That's talking to those of us who have been drawn by God through Christ and been given His spirit. You are different, therefore valuable, period. That's how we need to be able to look at ourselves. That's how Elijah could begin to unfold his own dilemma, his own difficulty.
We need to do the same by looking at scriptures like Ephesians 4:21-24. Jonathan, Seeing Cynicism With Certainty in regards to our self-doubt, what do we have?
[Jonathan] (42:27 - 42:43) When we give power to the cynicism of self-doubt, we allow Satan's influence to take root in our hearts. Our highest and best remedy is to run to the power of God's spirit, for we as Christians are defined by Him. He overrides our doubts.
[Rick] (42:43 - 43:05) We are defined by Him. Sometimes we want to define ourselves. That's wrong.
We are defined by Him, and that can take away the cynicism. Our Cynicism Reversal question is, "How well do I respond when my self-doubt grabs hold of me?" What process do I have in place to reverse this trend?
[Jonathan] (43:06 - 43:29) You know what? I have a practical answer that works for me. I need to remind myself when I begin to doubt, Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." Also, Hebrews 13:5: "...I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
[Rick] (43:30 - 43:48) The process is a scripturally-based response. You evaluate and you respond, and we can give our issues over to our Father, through Christ. What a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful picture here.
Jonathan, let's go on to the next cynicism example.
[Jonathan] (43:49 - 43:52) Where can cynicism come from? Assumptions.
[Rick] (43:54 - 44:25) This is a big one. We can see things differently than someone, and therefore assume that, you know what? They're just wrong.
It doesn't matter who they are. They're just wrong. Such an assumption can not only taint our view of them, but it can also contribute to our devaluing them before God, and that's a big deal.
That's something we need to run away from. Assumptions create cynicism. We have to be careful.
The Apostle Paul was aware of this very human tendency, and he addressed it clearly in Romans 14. Let's look at Romans 14:1-3:
[Jonathan] (44:26 - 45:07) "Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him." Here's a current example. If your Christian friends eat meat, or are a vegetarian, or a vegan, or are gluten-free, etc., don't judge. If you have them over for a meal, do your best to prepare foods for their needs.
It's the fellowship that's important.
[Rick] (45:08 - 45:32) It's rising above the little things of physical inconvenience, for the higher things of spiritual maturity. That's exactly what you're talking about here; shifting our thoughts from what feels important, to what honors God. That is our "come and see" moment in this particular example, and it's shown to us in Romans 14, a few verses down, verse 13, then 15-17:
[Jonathan] (45:33 - 46:08) "Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this (come and see or come and understand)—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way. For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy spirit."
[Rick] (46:08 - 46:32) "Righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." You think we can get over ourselves and get to that? I mean, that's really what this is about.
Don't make assumptions, and if you do make them, don't put stock in them. Don't give them value. Don't give them credibility.
They're just assuming we can't go there. The Cynicism Solution here is, let's demonstrate in real life that which we preach. Hebrews 12:12-15:
[Jonathan] (46:33 - 47:06) "Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord See to it (come and see) that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled." How do we act with grace and encouragement when someone may be wrong?
[Rick] (47:07 - 47:55) Well, the scripture says "pursue peace with all men" and the "sanctification." You have to pursue peace and sanctification. If somebody may be wrong, here's an idea; go to them with the spirit of kindness and love and compassion and say, I don't know if I can understand where you're coming from. Can you please explain it to me because I see it differently? Then sit down, and here's an idea; have the two opposing sides talk to each other. I mean, have them actually have a conversation. What a wonderful way to get through such things, and it takes the cynicism and the assumptions right out of the equation.
Listen, and you might learn something. It really is amazing. Alright, Jonathan, Seeing Cynicism With Certainty here. Where are we?
[Jonathan] (47:56 - 48:08) Assuming anything negative about anyone should sound a major alarm in our hearts and minds. Let us strive to see others as our Father in heaven sees them, and then act accordingly with grace and encouragement.
[Rick] (48:09 - 48:30) Act accordingly with grace and encouragement. You know what? That's what Jesus did all the time.
That's what he always did. Our Cynicism Reversal question is, how many of my assumptions about others are positive versus negative, and what am I doing to remove the cynicism from those assumptions?
[Jonathan] (48:30 - 48:35) The bottom line is, always seek the highest level of purity.
[Rick] (48:36 - 48:53) That's simple. If you said that at the beginning, I wouldn't have to say all that other stuff. There you go.
Look, let's be cynical about the fear, the self-doubt, and the assumptions that so easily come into our lives and yet are so destructive.
[Jonathan] (48:55 - 49:03) There are so many kinds of cynicism that we need to avoid. What about good cynicism? Is there such a thing?
[Rick] (49:04 - 49:41) Actually, there is. There is. We finally get to it.
What we will look to call it is "appropriate cynicism." This is an area that we have to be really careful. It is far too easy to label our preconceived ideas and emotional reactions as an appropriate basis for our cynicism.
The Bible, again, in a subtle way, shows us what should be the basis for godly cynicism, okay? Appropriate cynicism is godly cynicism. Now, here's a hint: this does not come naturally.
[Jonathan] (49:43 - 49:45) Next point, where can cynicism come from?
[Rick] (49:46 - 50:47) Observing the real and provable unfolding of events that demonstrate absolute disdain for all that is godly and righteous.
In other words, you can see some things that are absolutely true and terrible, and you can look at them and say, I shouldn't trust in any of this. That's appropriate, but how do you do that? How do you do that?
That's where we need to go here. Let's go to an example, and we've talked about this example in a few of our other episodes. While lamenting over Israel's overwhelming idolatry, Jeremiah set the stage for godly cynicism, and he actually gives us four steps.
The first step: Feel the sadness and despair of the sins you are observing. Folks, I will tell you, that this step is the one that gets overlooked so easily. Feel the sadness and despair of the sins you are observing. Let's look at Jeremiah 9:1-2:
[Jonathan] (50:47 - 51:14) "Oh that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh that I had in the desert a wayfarers' lodging place; That I might leave my people and go from them! For all of them are adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men." Jeremiah was heartbroken.
He's grieving over the evil.
[Rick] (51:14 - 52:00) He's grieving over it, and he's crying over it. It is breaking his heart regularly, again and again. He's speaking very poetically here about his eyes being fountains of tears, and his head being this never-ending source of those tears, because it's so hurtful to him.
He's showing us, this is how you view those who walk away from God. This is our reaction to it. You've got that feeling the sadness and despair of the sins that you're observing. Here's the second point Jeremiah gives us; recognize the challenge of these sins that you face through God's perspective, not yours. Jeremiah 9:3. Here's what the Lord declares:
[Jonathan] (52:01 - 52:09) "They bend their tongue like their bow; lies and not truth prevail in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me."
[Rick] (52:10 - 53:15) What's happening here? God is proclaiming "lies and not truth prevail in the land ...they proceed from evil to evil." God is expressing. He's describing where they are and what they're doing.
Jeremiah doesn't have to assume anything. He's listening to the words of God. God's words, and nothing less, defined the truth of what was happening.
When I go to define the truth of something happening, am I using my words, my thinking, my assumptions, my history, my this, my that, or am I going to higher principles? That's an important part of this. You've got the first step: Feel the sadness and the despair of what you're seeing. Secondly: See it through God's eyes, not your own. The third step: Be wary, righteously cynical... righteously cynical regarding the interactions with those who are mired in this heartbreaking state of being. It is talking now about being righteously cynical. Let's listen to how it's described. Jeremiah 9:4-6:
[Jonathan] (53:16 - 53:41) "Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor, and do not trust any brother; Because every brother deals craftily, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. Everyone deceives his neighbor and does not speak the truth, they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity. Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know Me, declares the LORD."
[Rick] (53:41 - 55:05) Again, you see it's "declares the LORD." This is God's words, God's judgment, and He's saying you need to be aware. You need to not trust such deceit.
It's like, hey, you know, you've got this beautiful messenger, his name is Lucifer. Do you trust him? No.
Looks good, is bad. That's what we're looking at. God is telling him to have a righteousness-based cynical awareness, and it helps us to be guarded in the midst of deceit. When you come across darkness and evil, and you see it clearly through godly principles as darkness and evil, be careful.
Be cynical in a righteous way. Make sure you feel the pain. Make sure you see it through God's way, and then apply that righteous, godly, appropriate cynicism.
The fourth piece: Acknowledge God's stated intentions and actions towards those that we are now being righteously cynical towards. This is another important step. If you don't do the first one, and you don't do the last one, you're off.
I'm just telling you because this is the recipe that we see in scripture. In this, this acknowledging God's stated intentions and actions toward them, He is going to, in this scripture, talk about refining and reshaping. Let's look at Jeremiah 9:7:
[Jonathan] (55:07 - 55:15) "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will refine them and assay (test) them; For what else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?"
[Rick] (55:16 - 56:26) "I will refine and assay (test) them." In other words, when God is saying, I, God Almighty, am cynical toward their behavior, it is for their own good that I will cast them off. I will test them.
I will bring them back around, because that's My objective. Our personal cynicism doesn't usually have such a good objective. We just want to judge them and throw them away.
God says, I will judge them, I will punish them, so I can reclaim them. There's a beauty... there's a beauty in this. Any righteous cynicism we may have, must be kept in balance by God's righteous plan for all. If we don't do it that way, we're not doing it in a godly way. You better throw your own cynicism away, because it's not godly. New Testament example of this; Jesus profoundly executes this, just absolutely perfectly executes this, when he proclaimed the woes upon the Pharisees in Matthew 23. There were those seven woes, and then here's how Matthew 23 ends, verses 37-39:
[Jonathan] (56:27 - 57:00) "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! 39 For I say to you, from now on you will not see (or understand) me until you say, BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!" They need to be cast off so that they can become reclaimed.
[Rick] (57:01 - 57:49) Absolutely, and that's what you will see. You will have your "come and see" moment. It's coming.
The casting off is for the purpose of giving you the "come and see" moment later. That's God's motivation. That was Jesus's motivation.
Therefore, it must be ours. Godly cynicism, applied in a godly manner, produces an eventual godly result. We cannot, according to Scripture, take our cynicism beyond those things.
Let's look at an End Times opportunity from the Apostle Paul for us to measure and apply godly cynicism. We looked at Jeremiah. Let's look now, at End Times prophecy in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, and Jonathan, I understand these are among your favorite scriptures.
[Jonathan] (57:49 - 58:25) Do we have to read this? Yes, we do. Yes, we do.
"But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; avoid such men as these."
[Rick] (58:27 - 58:29) That's a lot. That's a mouthful.
[Jonathan] (58:29 - 58:30) It is.
[Rick] (58:30 - 59:33) It says "avoid such men as these." It's saying have godly, appropriate, righteous-based cynicism about those actions and activities and stay far away. Choose to be removed from that.
To have appropriate cynicism is to be wary, questioning, and as emotion-free as possible as we determine the depth of the darkness that we may face in these last days. Folks, look around you. We face a lot of darkness, but we can't be judging the people. Love the sinner, hate the sin. Okay? We have to put that in perspective. While our cynicism is not in place to bring them down, it is in place to help us avoid them.
It's a protective measure, and so we have to look at this with God as our judge. Okay, so Cynicism Solutions. For this, what are the Cynicism Solutions? Let godly wisdom and grace lead the way. Jonathan, let's go to Colossians 4:5-6:
[Jonathan] (59:34 - 59:47) "Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person."
[Rick] (59:47 - 1:00:24) When you think about that, you look at that verse, "conduct yourself with wisdom toward outsiders," and that's what Jesus did. "Making the most of the opportunity," you know what? That's what Jesus did.
"Let your speech always be with grace." You know who did that? Jesus.
Always "seasoned with salt, so that you will know how to respond to each person" by God's grace. Follow in Jesus' footsteps, and cynicism can start to drain away, and when it's appropriate, it can come back to us in a way that is actually upbuilding, because we see it through God's eyes, not ours. Jonathan, finally, Seeing Cynicism With Certainty; where are we?
[Jonathan] (1:00:25 - 1:00:45) To develop appropriate cynicism is to develop a godly tool of righteousness. Any cynicism we develop must be built on the solid foundation of knowing God's Word, seeking only His will, and humbly doing it His way. No other foundation is appropriate.
[Rick] (1:00:45 - 1:02:05) God's Word, God's will, God's way. That's the foundation. It's really that simple.
Here's our final Cynicism Reversal question; am I regularly thinking about the foundation that any and all of my personal cynicism is built upon? Do I think about it?
Do I consider it? Then do I say, okay, now it's time to go to work? Folks, this is an important subject.
You think about it, and it's like, everybody's cynical. What's the use? The use is that for us, we are not supposed to be everybody who is cynical.
We are supposed to rise above that. We're supposed to be on a level like Jesus was to build bridges and not blow them up. We're supposed to be on a level of witnessing the grace and glory of God through our actions and our thoughts and our words and our deeds.
We are supposed to stand for something higher, put cynicism away, and put God-honoring behavior in its place. Think about it. Folks, we love hearing from our listeners.
We welcome your feedback and questions on this episode and other episodes at ChristianQuestions.com. Coming up in our next Episode: "Should Christians Fast?" Should Christians fast?
Talk to you about that next week.
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