Renewing the Spirit of Your Mind

“As your pastor, I want to remind you that voting is one way we share in the responsibility God has given us as citizens. Our vote is a privilege and a responsibility, a chance to uphold values that reflect God’s heart for justice, mercy, and truth. Authority is designed by God to promote the good and restrain evil (Romans 13:1-4). As you vote, I encourage you to consider candidates and policies that protect the unborn, uphold biblical definitions of male and female, and shield our children and young people from harmful gender transitional ideology and lies.

so Let us steward this opportunity to support what is good and stand firm in our convictions as believers. Please make your voice heard and vote with faith and wisdom.”

pray for your leaders…

Memory Practice: ???

Recap:

Last Week - Walk Like This

This Week - Don’t walk backward but walk forward. Walk like Jesus.

army not country club

walking is more like marching

Spiritual athletes not couch potatoes

Students thinking and learning not dead robots

soldiers putting on the whole armor of God…

1. YOU WERE (17-19)

A servant of darkness.

Marching in Sauron’s orc army…

A soldier serving and marching in the army of darkness.

Your mind was plagued with futility and emptiness and hopelessness.

Your minds understanding was darkened.

Your mind was alienated from the life of God. It was ignorant to the mysteries of the gospel life.

This was a result of your hardness of heart.

You have become callous. hardened.

Romans 1:28 “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.”

Ephesians 4:19 “They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.”

2. BUT NOT ANYMORE (20-21)

That’s not who you are now.

You don’t go to that school anymore. You are student at the School of Christ. Old school of sin to the new school of Christ.

The School of Christ. “But that is not the way you learned Christ” (20)

You must notice the amount of metaphors and allusions to education, learning, understanding, thinking, learning, mind, mindset…

New school of grace… where you lean of the new life and the new way…

Not of an idea. Or a set of data points and purely information.

you learn of a person, Jesus

Ephesians 4:21 “assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,”

The school of grace

This school teaches you about the grace of Jesus Christ. the grace to save you from your past sin and sins penalty. The grace to transform your life from the stains of present sin, and the grace to sanctify and cleanse you completely in glory one day.

Teaches you to live in your new identity

“Be what you already are.”

David Powlison:

Past grace - you have been saved (positional sanctification, justification)

Present grace - you are being saved (progressive sanctification)

Future grace - you will be saved. (final sanctification, glorification)

Philippians 1:6 (ESV)

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2:12 (ESV)

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

The work of transformation and sanctification in the Christian life… a life long process of shedding off the old life and putting on the new life… through the renewing of your mind.

working with cord wood

future grace - dad would finish the jib

past grace - the wood and logs were delivered

present grace - the work of transformation, grace and spirit, power tools to do the job.

Growing up, I had to do wood with my Dad a lot. Split wood. Chop wood. Wood splitter. Stack wood. Bring wood inside.

He would get a grapple load of wood. This massive pile of logs looked impossible to finish and get cut up, split up, and stacked in the shed.

But my Dad had the experience and work ethic to know what it took and he knew the job would be finished. If we worked at it and he had the tools to complete the job. He knew how to use a chain saw. He knew how to run a splitter. And I knew how to do all the grunt work in between and stack the shed.

For me sanctification has a holistic understanding of the tension found looks like this:

My Dad knew the job would be finished. When you work with Dad, you knew you weren’t going to get out early without finishing the job. So it was a guarantee if we were gonna start, we were going to finish. (Future Grace, my sanctification will be completed)

But for the job to move, we had to get moving. We had to get working. We had to put some effort into it. We couldn’t just start the job and stand there and act like the change would happen in the pile being stacked in magically by itself or poof, in a second the job is done. (Present Grace, working out our salvation, grace is not opposed to effort but to earning.)

But we had a chainsaw and a wood splitter and a maul splitting axe. we could talk about the job all we wanted, we could try getting the job done, but if we didn’t have the POWER TOOLS to get the job done, than it wasn’t going to happen. The power of the Holy Spirit enables change to occur.

People talk about changing all the time, they talk about doing better and being moral and doing good deeds. But if they don’t have the power tools of the holy spirit to truly affect change on the job needing to be accomplished than good luck with that. ( Present Grace, the power of the Holy Spirit)

Paul describes this in terms of soldiers putting on new uniforms and having their entire mindset changed in how they approach the life.

3. Take off the old uniform (22)

Shed your scales. Change your dirty soiled, ripped, clothes.

Former way of life.

Ephesians 2:1–3 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

You don’t fight for the Dark Prince anymore. You fight for God and you march in his army. For the Kingdom of Light.

Matthew a former tax collector, viewed as a traitor to the Jewish people now received as a disciple of Jesus.

Simon Peter, a former Zealot, who would have fought against the Romans and sought to rebel, now a disciple and apostle.

Paul, a former Pharisee and persecutor of the church, now a missionary and church planter and author of much of the new testament.

What about you?

That way of former way of life was corrupt and deceitful.

1 Corinthians 6:11 “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

Put off that way of life // Put on a new way of life.

4. Put On the New Uniform (25-32)

But it is not enough simply to die to the old life; there must also be resurrection and the manifestation of the new life. We put off the “grave clothes” of the old life and put on the “grace clothes” of the new life.

Warren W. Wiersbe

New Man/self

Baptism

Change your clothes

Uniform clothes

(DCA private school. People asking my daughters where they went to school?)

Spiritually speaking, our lives and lifestyles are to look different. That your clothes, spiritual clothing is to look different. Stand out.

Uniform clothes: (25-32)

Christian community called out darkness to form a new society of people who should look different in their lifestyle. Others should be able to look at our lives and see the difference Jesus Christ makes in a disciple who is learning of Jesus and having their minds renewed. It results in a changed life.

Shirt, Pants, socks, jacket should look different.

Instead of a list of vices to be discarded and another list of virtues to be cultivated, this paragraph counterbalances each vice that is mentioned with a virtue: falsehood is to be replaced by truth, unrestrained anger by timely reconciliation, stealing of others’ property by the generous sharing of one’s own, foul language by helpful speech, animosity by kindness — F. F. Bruce

Take off Lying // Put on Truth

Take off Anger // Put on timely reconciliation

Take off stealing // Put on hard honest work so you can share

Take off bad language // Put on helpful gracious speech

Eph 5:4. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

Take off wrath, slander, bitterness // Put on kindness and forgiveness

Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

Motivation:

Because Jesus has done these things for you, so you should do this for others. Because God has forgiven you, you ought to forgive one another.

Uniform equipment for the battle

To stand and fight: Ephesians 6 whole armor of God.

Transition: But HOW?????

Did you notice I skipped a verse?

Ephesians 4:23 “and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,”

5. Renew Your Mind (23)

Colossians 3:9–12 “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,”

Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Transformation. (metamorphosis)

Meaning how you change?

How you stop sinning and start living for christ?

No Quick Fix. No One Size Fits All. No One Solution.

In our world, we live with a quick fix immediate solution for almost anything.

Sanctification and spiritual formation is not a microwave but more of a crockpot.

Transformation occurs through renewing our minds:

So our thinking needs renewing…and it does involve a bit of reprograming…

The process of making disciples involves both deprogramming (exposing, critiquing, and correcting the pictures and stories we live by) and reprogramming (replacing the “old self” and the social imaginaries that funded our former way of life with the social imaginary generated by Scripture and the gospel)

Kevin J. Vanhoozer

Yet…. Your mind isn’t a computer that simply is a data center of ones and zeros and algorithms. Change the input and you are all set. That helps for sure. But notice the phrase in Eph. 4:32 when he says, in the “spirit of your mind”

Your mind has a spirit. Your mind and heart you might say, the seat of your life, has a mindset. A bent. A direction. It has a mindset. It can be formed and shaped and bent. It’s not just a mathematical equation. It’s more of a well… what a person is like.

You are more than the sum of DNA and input and output of numbers.

Otherwise, all you would need to change is MORE INFORMATION. BETTER EDUCATION. But this isn’t how spiritual change and spiritual formation really truly occurs.

Does simply more bible education and bible knowledge produce changed and mature christians?

There are many influences upon our spiritual formation and spiritual renewal. We are the sum of many parts and influences upon our spiritual mindset and the output that results in action or inaction. The tension between our faith and our works.

How are we renewed?

How can we actually put away the bitterness in my life?

How can I stop being full of wrath and anger?

How can I stop clamoring and shouting and yelling to get my way?

How can I put off the malice and hatred filling my life?

How can I stop lying?

How can I put off and put on… How? How?

How can I be kind?

How can I be tenderhearted?

How can I forgive?

Renewing the spirit of our mind.

For starters, stop conforming your mind to the way of world.

For this is multifaceted. But it’s not rocket science.

It’s Spiritual. The work of the Spirit through the means of grace and the spiritual disciplines of training our bodies and our spirit to work in conjunction with the righteousness of God. We learn of Jesus and our minds are renewed.

Renew your mind by stopping.

What do you need to stop doing? Where do you need to stop going?

addition through subtraction.

Renewing your mind by replacing.

Instead of stealing… trying giving generously.

Renew your mind by reading.

Renew your mind by listening.

Renew your mind by praying.

Renew your mind by singing.

Renew your mind by gathering.

Renew your mind by silencing.

Renew your mind by suffering.

Renew your mind by participating.

Participating in the Lord’s supper.

Do this in remembrance of me.

Communion

apostles creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,

and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended to the dead.

On the third day He rose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven

and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,

from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian(catholic) Church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.

PRAY

Our Father……….. Lord's prayer

Prayer emphasizing the gospel (Christ’s body that was given for us) PLEASE STAND (if the men would now distribute the bread)

communion instructions: in order to accommodate two services we have altered the way we serve you communion. There will be one elder or deacon on an aisle and they will be passing the plate to the person sitting on the edge of the aisle. We simply ask you pass the plate down the aisle to the elder or deacon who will then usher the plate for you to the next row behind you.

the simple change is we are asking you to pass the plate one by one down your row. thanks for helping.

BREAD

Cor. 11:23-24

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

CUP

I Cor. 11:25

In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Declare:

1 Cor. 11:26 - For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

“Lend Us Your Grace (After Communion)” A Prayer by Myles Coverdale (1488-1569)

Lord Jesus Christ, our redeemer, we give you forever honor and praise for feeding our souls with this spiritual and heavenly food.

We look to you for your tender mercy. You have given this communion celebration to us as an observance of ongoing thankfulness, of daily remembrance, and of loving unity.

Even so, merciful Savior, please lend us your grace. May we be thankful to you not only for our redemption, purchased through your death and shed blood, but also that in this observance we would increase in love toward you, toward all others for your sake.