Romans 8: Week 2

INTRO

What’s up, guys? It’s good to be here tonight!

This week, we are back taking a deep dive into one of the most powerful and honestly life-changing chapters of Scripture. We’re going to be camping out in Romans 8 tonight so you can go ahead and turn there now. What are some things you guys remember from last week’s message that Tyler shared? (Encourage feedback) Yeah! That’s all great, last week Tyler opened us up to the magnificent castle that is God’s Word and we looked at Romans 8:1-4 and we saw that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Tonight, we’re going to keep reading in Romans 8, and we’re going to see that…

Whatever consumes your mind controls your life.

BODY

Everyone has a chosen mindset.

Illustrate: Have you ever tried thinking of nothing? Do it. You couldn’t do it, could you? Even if you literally tried to think of “nothing,” what you actually probably ended up with was a picture of a pitch black room with no doors or windows. That’s distinctly a something. Or maybe you thought of the deep, endless void of outer-space. Still a something.

The greater point here is this: just like it’s nearly impossible to force your brain to think about “nothing” for even a moment, it is equally impossible for your mind not to have some kind of mindset about a given situation or reality. That’s how your brain works. What do I mean by that? Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, I want to define what a “mindset” actually is, because it’s critical for our understanding of tonight’s passage.

A mindset is “a mental attitude or inclination,” or a “fixed state of mind” as Merriam-Webster defines it. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it as “an established set of attitudes.” This could be an established set of ideas or attitudes regarding one’s outlook on life, philosophy of the world, social or cultural values, etc.

In other words, a mindset is any given set of ideas that make up how you see the world around you. It’s kind of like a worldview, but it’s on smaller scale. Any given person can have various mindsets about various things. You can have one mindset, or outlook, on your family life and another on your friend group. You can have one mindset about your academic success and another one entirely on your athleticism.

Ok, now that we’ve defined some terms, I want us to look carefully at what Paul has to say regarding mindsets in Romans 8. Let’s start in verse 5...

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but  those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit,” (Rom 8:5).

The first truth we see immediately from Paul’s words is…

There are two mindsets to choose from.

Paul is painting things in pretty black and white terms. You can either chose:

The mindset of the flesh OR

The mindset of the Spirit.

What does Paul say about each of these two mindsets? Let’s keep reading:

“For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and  peace.” (Romans 8:6).

Paul’s words here are a clear and simple caution:

Choose carefully.

Your mindset is everything. It will entirely affect how you live your life and how you follow Jesus or don’t follow him. It is literally a matter of life or death, in Paul’s words.

(For High School service) Notice Paul says “to set the mind on the flesh is death” and “to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace,” who can tell me what kind of language device he’s using? (Hint: is it a metaphor or a simile?) It’s a metaphor. When you liken two things without using “like” or “as.” Why does an author choose to use a metaphor instead of a simile? (Answer: when he wants to make the point stronger or draw the comparison more directly).

Side note: you guys remember last week when Tyler was talking about finding keys to unlock the biblical castle? Did you know that careful study of language is actually one of the keys? The words of Scripture are inspired by the Holy Spirit. Every word is breathed out by God (2 Tim 3:16-17). If that is true, then the actual words matter. And they matter very much. That’s why we’re spending 4 weeks stewing in 1 chapter of Scripture, because here at FSM we genuinely believe the words of the Bible matter and they have meaning and relevance not just for the original audience but to our lives today!

Paul is saying here that the choice between having a mindset of the flesh and a mindset of the Spirit could not be more critical. Why does Paul think that? Or how can he make such a bold claim? Let’s keep reading…

“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s  law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God,” (Rom 8:7-8).

Here it is. The reason the choice is so critical and the reason that Paul can say that to choose the mindset of the flesh is the same as choosing death:

The mindset of the flesh is opposed to God.

Notice Paul uses the word “hostile.”

Illustrate: Imagine you’re walking down the sidewalk, minding your own business, when suddenly a venomous snake, fangs wide open, pops up out of the grass next to you. You see your life flash before your eyes, you pee yourself a little. That snake is hostile towards you. And this is the natural state we all found ourselves in apart from Jesus. We were all naturally opposed to God, born into a sinful world, adopting a mindset of the flesh.

Tyler talked about this last week, in Romans 5, Paul explained that all of us received this mindset from our ancient ancestor, Adam.

GOSPEL SETUP: Adam and Eve made the first decision in the Garden to oppose themselves to God. They chose to seize what was not theirs, what God had not given them, because they thought it would lead to life. They were deceived and instead it brought death, just like God had warned them it would. And before you go blaming Adam and Eve for all the brokenness you have to deal with now, just remember: you made the exact same choice, too. Every day we face the choice to choose God or choose the flesh. And before Jesus, every one of us chose the flesh 100 times out of a 100. And this choice, to continually choose the flesh, to choose the sinful nature that wants to rebel against God is what Paul calls “the mindset of the flesh,” and just like God told Adam and Eve in the Garden, Paul warns his listeners that it’s going to lead to death.

Now, some of you may be asking, “what even is the mindset of the flesh?” And that’s a great question.

Because in our culture today, there are a lot of popular and influential voices out there telling you to “just do you.” “Live your truth,” “Be yourself,” “Look out for Number 1,” etc. There may even be a lot of well-intended role models of yours that have said something like “follow your heart” or “chase your dreams.”

And while I’m not saying that chasing dreams is inherently bad, what I am saying, is that in the words of the prophet Jeremiah,

“the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick,” (Jer 17:9).

The mindset of the flesh is any set of attitudes or beliefs that values self over God and the things of this world over the things of God.

The mindset of the flesh positions self as the authority over God.

The mindset of the flesh sees the things of this world as more valuable than the things of God.

Paul describes what some of the “things of this world” might be that someone given to the mindset of the flesh would value in his letter to the Galatians:

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries,  dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things  will not inherit the kingdom of God,” (Gal 5:19-21).

Here’s the thing about the mindset of the flesh: anyone can live with this mindset in life. Anyone can have a set of attitudes that say “I get to make the choices in my life, not God.” Anyone can say “the things I can gain in this world are worth more to me than the things I can gain in Christ.”

Anyone including believers.

This is why Paul is warning against adopting this mindset to believers in the Church in Rome. If it wasn’t a genuine concern, he wouldn’t have wasted his time warning them against this mindset. In fact, if you go back and read in Romans 7, in that chapter Paul talks about wrestling with the mindset of the flesh in his own life.

When it comes to those who are not in Christ—your friends at school, your family members, your neighbors, maybe even people in this room tonight—who would say “I do not believe that Jesus is the answer for my salvation,” these people have no choice. If that’s you tonight, your mindset is already determined. You are living in the flesh, and your mindset will only be on the flesh. It’s like what Tyler talked about last week with the chains. If you are not in Christ, you’re still in chains. And those chains run as deep as even your mindset about the world. It’s the reason Adam and Eve chose the Tree over God and it’s the reason we all continue to do it today.

But the good news is that there is hope! Let’s keep reading in Romans 8…

“You, however, are  not in the flesh but in the Spirit, (if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in  you). Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But (if Christ is in you), although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of  righteousness. (If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you), he who  raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his  Spirit who dwells  in you,” (Rom 8:9-11).

The mindset of the Spirit only comes through Jesus.

This is what Paul meant when he said earlier that “to set the mind of the Spirit is life and peace.”

What kind of life is possible? The kind of life that comes by the Spirit of the living God inhabiting your body! The kind of life that fills the resurrected Jesus!

What kind of peace is possible? The kind of peace that comes from knowing that death has been defeated in Christ and you are no longer condemned, like Tyler talked about last week!

This is the mindset that we can have as believers and this is the lens through which we can live our lives here on earth. Remember what we said at the very beginning;

whatever consumes your mind controls your life.

If the mindset of the flesh consumes your mind, like the world would encourage you to do, all you’re going to inherit from that is more anxiety and stress and chaos and, ultimately, death.

If, however, you let Jesus consume your mind and let the mindset of the Spirit take hold of your life, Paul promises us that we will receive life and peace!

We just said that anyone can adopt the mindset of the flesh, and in fact it is everyone’s base instinct. It’s the starting point. Everyone naturally has the mindset of the flesh. But, the good news is that not everyone has to keep the mindset of the flesh. There is a different way forward and it is only found through Jesus.

If the mindset of the flesh values self over God and the things of this world over the things of God, the mindset of the Spirit sees the world rightly and values God over self, it values the things of God over the things of this world. What are the things of God? Well let’s go right back to Galatians where Paul laid out the first list and see what he says…

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,  faithfulness, gentleness, self-control,” (Gal 5:22-23).

This is what we begin to value and this is what our life begins to demonstrate when we allow the mindset of the Spirit to take hold.

GOSPEL PRESENTATION: This mindset of the Spirit is available to anyone, but not everyone receives it. It comes only through Jesus. Because it’s the mindset of the Spirit, it is by nature something that only comes from God. He wants you to be able to have this mindset. God wants you to stop viewing the world and all its pleasures as more valuable and important than him. He wants you to stop chasing after lesser things that will only give you anxiety and depression and frustration in return. And he made a way for this to happen—through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection.

So, as the band comes up, there are two paths for tonight’s application:

CONCLUSION

Change your mindset

If you have been living apart from Jesus, trying to run your own life and tonight you realize that you need a change of mindset, maybe you’ve come to the end of your rope and you’re noticing that the world around you is full of anxiety and chaos and you’re starting to be consumed by that too. Tonight, there is hope, there is a better way. Give your life to Jesus—it will be the best decision you ever make! In the words of Paul, you would literally be trading “death” for “life and peace.”

Strengthen your mindset

If you are a believer, and you through Jesus have been given access to this mindset of the Spirit, your application of this text from Paul is to strengthen this mindset every day. What do I mean? We need to preach the gospel to ourselves daily.

Every day when you wake up, you need to remind yourself that you are a child of God, forgiven in Christ, adopted by the Spirit and brought near to the heart of God. You need to remind yourself that, in Christ, you have the freedom to resist sin, you have the freedom from the condemnation and guilt that would otherwise overtake you. We are so quick to forget the gospel and its implications. We must not. Remember…

Whatever consumes your mind controls your life. Let it be Jesus.