‘Mind Your head’

(S1) —

What determines how you live our life? Experiences, upbringing, social-economic conditions, beliefs...

‘How Your Thinking Creates Your Reality’ Jennice Vilhauer, Psychology Today, Three buckets in life—things we control, things we influence, and things over which we have no control.”

While some things are beyond our control…how we think can create our reality…

1 Corinthians 2:16 “For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.”

(S2) — Series—Life in the spirit—Mind your head.

The Apostle Paul—use of comparison and contrast as an effective method of instruction...

— (1-5) Law of sin and death/Law of Spirit that gives life

— (4) he speaks broadly contrasting those who live “according to the Spirit,” with those who don’t

In verses 5-8, he gets more specific about these as two ways of thinking, leading to two different lifestyles—The saved in contrast to the unsaved, and how utterly opposed they are to one another.

Do you ever think about what your thinking about? What drives the way you think? Desires of the flesh…or desires of the Spirit…? Both

“Whatever gets your mind gets you”

Battle in this world against the Christian faith — The greater war begins within the mind

“A violent battle is raging around us twenty-four hours per day. In 1965, Donald Grey Barnhouse wrote a book about it called The Invisible War. The battle for your mind, and that battle is vicious. It is intense. It is unrelenting, and it is unfair because Satan never plays fair. And the reason why it is so intense is that your greatest asset is your mind. Rick Warren

‘Mind Your Head’— Why? — How we think, and what we do with our thoughts, determines how we live…

What we learn from Paul and Romans 8…The Christian life is not only based on a firm moral structure (law), but walking in the newness of life IN CHRIST, by “setting our minds on the Spirit”

Want to live the Good Life? It begins living Life in the Spirit

BIBLES/PRAY

(S3) —

2 CONTRASTING SPIRITUAL CONDITIONS, by which one governs their life

2 SPIRITUAL CERTAINTIES or outcomes, that determine our reality

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

Paul begins with the spiritual condition of

I. Those who live according to what the FLESH desires

At conception, we are given both a physical and a spiritual nature (soul)

Psalm 139:13 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

You were on God’s mind before you were born — Created for the GOOD life

Then SIN entered the world through one man—Adam

Due to our fallen nature, we are born without the knowledge of God—with the spirit of the flesh, but without the spirit of God

What did Adam and Eve think about…?

Therefore, we all start out with our source point of operation of our thinking, in the FLESH

Spiritually, Paul is speaking of non believers. Those who, ”set their minds on things of the flesh” (ESV) —“human nature in its fallen state”— without conversion/God’s Spirit“. before we are born again, of God, we are still in the nature...

Ephesians 2:3 “All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.”

When we are ’BORN AGAIN’ the source of our thinking becomes the spirit of God in us,

(S4)

Before one comes to faith in Christ, their thoughts are on the lusts of the flesh and its desires…

“This means that their worldviews, opinions, pursuits, and desires are all influenced by and regulated according to the corrupt nature. It means that their approach to and outlook on life are all shaped by their fallen hearts, which are focused on and occupied with their sinful selves and the base things of this world, which are not of God. Expository Outlines & Observations on Romans

Thinking/making decisions is on only what the flesh desires—SELF-ORIENTED—Me, myself and I

Finding Nemo—Mine, mine, mine

This is the spiritual condition of the non-believer…the person without Christ

— Paul spoke of God’s frustration….giving them over to the sinful desires of the flesh

Romans 1:21-24…

(S5) — Second spiritual condition...

II. Those who live according to what the SPIRIT desires

They have their mind set on the things of God. What does this mean in regards to our thinking?

— Our thoughts are more occupied with the things that the Spirit of God then the desires of the flesh.

What are some of these things?

— the Word of God, which the Spirit inspired

2 Peter 1:20–21 “Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.”

— the Son of God, whom the Spirit came to glorify

John 16:14 “14 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.”

—the gospel of God, which the Spirit makes real to every heart whom He regenerates

John 3:6 “Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.”

In other words, to live a life in the spirit…

— God’s word is central to our daily thoughts and decisions…

— Jesus is forefront as the source of our salvation, and how to live (WWJD)

— The Gospel (Good News) is our reason for sharing our faith

“It is to be one who is being shaped by the things of the Spirit and has “holy affections,” and deep longings after God.” Jonathan Edwards (theologian, revivalist)

Think about what you think about—The decisions you make—What/who is your point of source? Do you live life in the Spirit of God?

(S6) — Two SPIRITUAL CERTAINTIES (believers/non-believers)

6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.

The spiritual certainty of one…

1. They are without HOPE in God!

Without Christ— Living with the consequence of sin—both spiritual and physical death

John 3:19 “And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.”

To be without hope is to only be thinking about the here and now—what one can obtain, accumulate and acquire— there is no future beyond this life

— This should make us sad...yet it should also inspire us to share our hope in Christ

The spiritual certainty of Life in the Spirit; is thinking less about death, and more about our new life in Christ and what that means.

John 10:10 “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

The spiritual certainty of Life in the Spirit; there thinking is the PEACE of Christ in them

John 14:27 “27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”

Life in the Sprit is walking in HOPE of Jesus who has come into our hearts and lives...

1 Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

(S7) — The spiritual certainty of one is…

2. They are HOSTILE towards God

7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.

They are favorable or sympathetic to the ways of the world

What Paul means is they are deliberately disobedient towards the ways of God

A child deliberately disobedient to their parents?

“ A non-Christian may not externally express enmity against God, but by passively neglecting Him, by not fleeing to Jesus by faith for salvation their disposition of heart towards God is hostile.” (2)

Ephesians 5:6 “Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him.”

Paul’s issue is not with the one who is IN Christ, falling to fleshy temptation, rather to those whose disposition is intentionally only hostile towards God.

Jesus/sheep's and goats (Matthew 25:32-33, 41)

What is our ATTITUDE towards God?

Human nature has a bias towards evil. People often excuse themselves, saying, ‘It’s just human nature’. They are correct that it is human nature to sin, but are terribly wrong to excuse it; rotten meat does not become acceptable because it is its nature to smell bad. To be spiritual, on the other hand, is to be back in relationship with God with the influence of the Holy Spirit active in our lives. ‘To walk according to the Spirit’ is to live our lives with God in the centre of every moment, every action, every thought. Romans: Dust to Destiny (The Sanctifying Spirit)

Spiritual certainty of Life in the Spirit

Romans 5:10 “For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.”

(S8) — The spiritual certainty of one…

3. They are HELPLESS before God

8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

That is they can never please God, no matter how good they are. Their motives are impure, their goal is that of self-pleasing rather than God-pleasing.

To be helpless is to be lost in one’s self righteousness. This person can not be good enough, cannot do enough, even if it is good, to please God.

Spiritual certainty of Life in the Spirit is one who seeks to please God over pleasing man

Galatians 1:10 “Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.”

Spiritual certainty of Life in the Spirit is when we come helpless before God, laying aside the desires of the flesh by receiving the gift of of the Spirit, given in the saving grace of Christ. Then and only then do we become pleasing to God.

2 Corinthians 2:15 “For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.”

Spiritual certainty of Life in the Spirit is to have the fragrance of Christ

(S9) — How do you MIND YOUR HEAD? Live Life in the Spirit of God in you?

What determines how you think?

— Only your desires or those that are pleasing to God?

What is your spiritual condition?

— Do you think more in the flesh or of God’s Spirit in you?

What is your spiritual certainty?

— Death/fear/judgement, or New and Eternal life in Christ

— one of hopelessness or Hope in Christ?

What is your attitude towards God?

— that of an enemy of God or a child of God?

— Helpless before God, or pleasing to God: filled with the sweet aroma of Christ

Life in the Spirit

“We are those whose lives were once under the control of a sinful lower nature but now are guided and empowered by the Spirit of God. This is illustrated by the principle of living “according to the Spirit” by comparing the motor car that operates on the storage principle and the tram that runs on the contact principle. “It is the latter that God has adopted for holiness.” We do not store up grace but stay in constant contact with the one who is the source of all life and power.” Expository on Romans (3. Living in the Spirit (8:1–39).

(S10)

We already know what God thinks of us....before you were born…

— our spiritual condition, our spiritual certainty, will determine what we think! What we think can create our reality, of life in the Spirit

“What you think you will become” Norman Vincent Peale

Is God’s word central to your daily thoughts...

Is Jesus in forefront of your mind and His spirit the source of your salvation?

is the Gospel (Good News) the reason for the HOPE you have?

If so, then be joyful…if not let today be the day...

References

Expository Outlines & Observations on Romans: Hints and Helps for Preachers and Teachers (Exegetical & Practical Insights)

Pillar N.T. Commentary, Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans

3. Rob Ventura, Expository Outlines & Observations on Romans: Hints and Helps for Preachers and Teachers (Ross-shire, Scotland: Mentor, 2023), 206.