Make Up Your Mind

Matthew 6:22–23 (NIV)

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

Introduction

Hey church, how many of you got a broke best friend?

All the parents in the room, I am talking to you. If you got a kid, you got a broke best friend.

One of my sons recently asked me to go to the store to buy something he needed. So we did and we took care of getting him something he needed. Then he saw something he wanted, and he had to have it. You know what I’m talking about?

That’s our broke best friend.

And I was thinking about where that starts, and it starts when they are really young. You see if you have a toddler you know that toddlers are a lot like robbers. Yes, a robber.

Here is the reason why. Here is the way the mind of a toddler works, and no one had to teach them this.

“If I like it, it’s mine. If I can take it away from you, it’s mine. If I had it a whole ago, it’s mine. It’s mine if I say it’s mine. If it looks like mine, it’s mine. If you are having fun with it, it’s mine. If I lay it down, it’s mine. If it’s broken, it’s yours.”

Transition

So where does a child learn this? How doe s child have this ingrained selfishness that they did not go to school for?

We have to go back to Adam in order to see it.

The Mind of Christ

We are all born with the Mind of Adam. Who is Adam? Adam is the first human that God created. He is ground zero for creation.

Adam & Eve were made in the image of God.

Genesis 1:26 (NIV)

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

Not only were they made in the image of God, but they were given the authority to rule over God’s creation. What God did in Adam was create him to rule and fill the earth.

As we continue in the story of Adam we learn that Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden. They were deceived into believing they were less than who God said they were.

God made them in their image, and the enemy tricked them into believing that they would only be like God when they did the one thing God told them not to do.

The consequence of their actions was the sin entered into the world. We are born with a natural bend to sin.

This is the natural bend to think about our self first, to put our needs ahead of the others, to live in a world of “mine.” It is called a fallen nature, and it was not God’s original design. That was the result of sin entering the world.

So rather than having the likeness of God, we have the Mind of Adam.

The Mind of Adam

But that is also why the New Testament tells us we are to put on the Mind of Christ.

Philippians 2:5 (KJV 1900)

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

1 Corinthians 2:15–16 (NIV)

The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

And then of course we have this verse that we will be coming back to throughout this series.

Romans 12:2 (NIV)

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Well, have you ever thought about why they Bible is repeatedly telling us that we need to renew our mind?

Because of the fall, we now have the Mind of Adam.

What are some characteristics of the Mind of Adam? We need to look at what happened after the fall. The first thing about the mind of Adam is this:

It Choses Isolation over Intimacy

Adam walked in intimacy with God, but when he fell the first thing he did was hide from God.

It Agrees with Shame

When Adam fell, not only did he hide from God, but he felt shame.

It Is Not Accountable

Adam was so quick to blame Eve about what happened. One minute he’s praising God for his partner, and the next minute he’s blaming her for making a mess.

The Mind of Christ

And so the Bible teaches us that we need to renew our mind, or said differently, we need to put on the Mind of Christ.

The Mind of Adam choses Isolation, but the Mind of God Restores Intimacy

We are first restored to an intimate relationship with God, but beyond that we have an intimate relationship with the body of Christ. Every say the body of Christ. Jesus is the head of the body and the body is his church. That’s why you can’t be an isolated Christian detached from the church. You can’t expect a relationship with the headship of Christ and decapitate his body. We need to make gathering a priority. A person with the Mind fo Christ does not reject the intimacy with the bride of Christ, the church.

And this is worth emphasizing. God’s plan for the salvation of this world is the local church. That is plan A and there is no plan B.

The Mind of Adam agrees with Shame, but the Mind of God Agrees with the Spirit

Romans 8:1–2 (NIV)

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

When we have the Mind of Christ, and we have restored intimacy with God, shame can no longer control us. Shame is one of Satan’s most effective weapons. So many people feel shame about their mental condition. They feel shame for the what they don’t have in life, or what they haven’t achieved in life. But when you have the Mind of Christ, we agree with the Law of the Spirit, and that law produces life in us.

The Mind of Adam Is Not Accountable, but the Mind of God Restores Identity

Let me explain that for a second. When a person does not take accountability for themselves, they are not owning up to their responsibility, and responsibility is a function of identity. So if all of a sudden my microphone was to turn off, we would all look at the sound man, because it is his responsibility to make sure the sound is running today. He was given that responsibility because today, his identity is that of a sound man. We don’t look at the ushers or the cafe team. That’s someone with a different identity, which drives their responsibility.

So listen to me, not being accountable comes down to someone now knowing who they are. But when you know who you are. When you are convinced of your identity. You will take responsibility and you will not take it lightly.

When you know that you are a child of God, there’s just places you won’t go. There’s things you won’t do. There’s people you won’t run with. There’s things you won’t watch. There’s things you won’t listen to.

Is it legalism, absolutely not. It’s called identity. It’s knowing who you are and whose you are.

What We See

Paul says to us that our eyes are the lamp to our body, and if they are healthy our whole body will be healthy.

I want to try an illustrate when I believe this to mean.

What We See is the input to What We Think which determines What We Believe

And what we think is a result of our Mind.

So make up your mind… do you want the Mind of Adam or the Mind of Christ.

The Mind of Adam will misdiagnose what you are seeing, and it will affect what you are believing.

If you have anxiety, depression, or if you suffer from panic attacks. The Mind of Adam will want you to isolate yourself. The Mind of Adam will want you to feel shame for what you are going through. The Mind of Adam will cause you to relinquish any control of the situation.

You see the Mind of Adam tells you that you are broken, so why should you even try.

But when you have the Mind of Christ, you know that your brokenness is an opportunity for an encounter with God. The Mind of Christ says don’t stay home in isolation, but get to the church today. Get around people who love you, and are for you. The Mind of Christ says we are not agreeing with shame, we are agreeing with the Spirit. And the Spirit says I am alive. I’ve been healed by the wounds on Jesus’ back. Jesus conquered death for me. The Mind of Christ reminds you that just because something happened to you, it doesn’t sever your relationship with God. You are his son and you are his daughter. Nothing that you did, or nothing that was done to you, can ever change that.

Can I give you a preview of next week’s sermon? I’m going to dive into depression. I think it’s going to help so many of you.

But in my study, I’ve learned that there are 7 causes of depression. And of those 7 causes of depression, only 2 are neurological. There are only 2 causes that are medically diagnosed. That means that the other 5 are things that you can take control over. These are things that if you surrender to the Mind of Adam, you’ll never overcome. But with the Mind of Christ, you can come out of your depression. It’s going to take work, but what start right here, can transform what’s going on in here.

So Make Up Your Mind today… will you continue with the Mind of Adam or will you put on the Mind of Christ today?

Born Again

Now, today is such a beautiful day and I am so excited for all of the Baptisms that we are going to celebrate. The Bible describes Baptism as a New Birth, or to be Born Again.

I love the simplicity of this language.

Because many people, with the Mind of Adam say “I was born this way...”, “I can’t change this about me becuase this is how I was born...”

And, as we already talked about today, that’s the Mind of Adam. It’s not taking accountability. It is agreeing with an identity that God did not give you.

So that’s why we are born again. I born with the Mind of Adam, but when I was born again, I put on the Mind of Christ.

And for many of you this is your next step. You’ve been putting this off. You’ve been creating artificial finish lines to this… “One day when this happens, then I’ll get baptized.” Why are you creating artificial deadlines? Today is the day of salvation. God has been working on you, and changing you, making you better, blessing your marriage, protecting your children… What else do you want?

We can water baptize you today. We have extra shorts, shirts, towels… we have everything that you need to make the decision today.

You too, can be born again.

So as we get ready to baptize these beautiful people here, please run to the back, and let them know that you would like to be baptized today.