Stewardship of Our Mind

Have you ever considered the importance of making sure your thoughts are clearly going the right direction?

For example, where would your thoughts go if this were you?

An English lady, while vacationing in Switzerland, fell in love with a small town and the surrounding countryside. She asked the pastor of a local church if he knew of any houses with rooms to rent that were close to town, but out in the country. The pastor kindly drove her out to see a house with a room to rent. She loved the house and decided to rent the room. Then, she returned to her home in England to make her final preparations to move to Switzerland.

When she arrived home, the thought occurred to her that she had not seen a “W.C.” in the room or even down the hall. (A W.C. is short for “water closet” and is what the English call a toilet.) So she immediately emailed the pastor to ask him where the “W.C.” is located.

The Swiss pastor had never heard of a “W.C.,” and so he Googled the abbreviation and found an article titled “Wayside Chapels.” Thinking that the English lady was asking about a country church to attend near her new home, the pastor responded as follows:

Ms. Smith,

I look forward to your move. Regarding your question about the location of the W.C., the closest W.C. is situated only two miles from the room you have rented, in the center of a beautiful grove of pine trees. The W.C. has a maximum occupancy of 229 people, but not that many people usually go on weekdays. I suggest you plan to go on Thursday evenings when there is a sing-along. The acoustics are remarkable and the happy sounds of so many people echo throughout the W.C.

Sunday mornings are extremely crowded. The locals tend to arrive early and many bring their lunches to make a day of it. Those who arrive just in time can usually be squeezed into the W.C. before things start, but not always. Best to go early if you can!

It may interest you to know that my own daughter was married in the W.C. and it was there that she met her husband. I remember how everyone crowded in to sit close to the bride and groom. There were two people to a seat ordinarily occupied by one, but our friends and family were happy to share.  I will admit that my wife and I felt particularly relieved when it was over. We were truly wiped out.

Because of my responsibilities in town, I can’t go as often as I used to. In fact, I haven’t been in well over a year. I can tell you I really miss regularly going to the W.C. Let’s plan on going together for your first visit. I can reserve us seats where you will be seen by all.

Sincerely,

Pastor Kurt Meier

After reading such a letter, you can probably imagine the many thoughts running through her head at that moment.

As you can see, making sure our thoughts are heading in the right direction is of utmost importance.

Last week we began a four week series on stewardship.

We understand from Scripture that it is a concept that includes all areas of life, not just money.

The key to being godly stewards is being trustworthy.

1 Corinthians 4:1–2 (NASB95)

Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.

The concept of stewardship in the Bible is that God has given us all the resources we need for life and godliness to to use for living and working in His kingdom and he expects us to manage them well.

Last week we examined the parable of the talents to provide a foundation to our understanding of a biblical theology of stewardship...

Encapsulated it into four basic principles...

God Owns Everything; I Own Nothing

God Entrusts Us With Everything We Have

We Can Either Invest or Bury What God Entrusts to Us. God Wants Us to Invest It.

God Can Call Us Into Account At Any Time.

Today, we want to consider what God has to say about the stewardship of the mind.

...the importance of making sure our thoughts are going the right direction...

With that in mind, I invite you to turn to Philippians 4:8.

As you are getting there, Philippians 4:2-9 is filled with practical expressions of the truth taught in 4:1.

Philippians 4:1 “Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.”

Standing firm is a stewardship issue…God has given all of us just one life to life and that life is to be lived standing firm in Him…no retreating.

He says it also in 1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

So in Phil 4, Paul provides a series of challenges that we must handle properly in order to stand firm in Christ.

Read Phil 4:1-9.

For our purposes here this morning we are going to camp out on v. 8 and examine some other verses as well.

Main Point: Godly Stewards Strive to Think and Act Biblically!

Let’s consider 3 truths about developing biblical thinking to help us steward our minds well.

Possessing and developing a biblical mindset is a very significant concept in the Scripture.

We are just scratching the surface here...

It involves a continuous process of renewing our minds.

Romans 12:1–2 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Ephesians 4:23 “and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,”

2 Corinthians 4:16 “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.”

Renewal of our minds is a process that adjusts our thinking to align with God’s perspective so that we are transformed by it.

It is a continuous process.

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to take His Word, implant it into our hearts and minds, and then guide us with it.

Without a renewed mind we cannot...

Discern God’s will

Know what is good and pleasing to him

1 Corinthians 2:14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

Enjoy fellowship with Him.

Renewal of the mind is not about changing our mind’s natural abilities but rather redirecting its focus and energies towards God.

God entrusted us with the Scripture to use for that process of renewal.

John 17:17 ““Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

Our thinking needs to be set apart from the way the world thinks…that’s what the word sanctify means…to set apart.

Turn to Psalm 19:7–9 “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.”

Take notice of what it doesn’t say…reread it supplying the word feeling…experiences…opinions of experts...demands of society… the fear of man…cultural norms…

Sadly that is where some believers have gone...

Instead of the Scripture guiding them, they turn to how they feel, their truth is based on their experiences instead of the Scripture, some compromise truth in the name of cultural relevance, listen to “highly educated experts” for how to handle the issues of life, the fear of man motivates the actions instead of the fear of God, the cultural norms determine their actions instead of a desire to please God.

What we say and do reflects who really controls our minds.

Romans 8:6–7 (NASB95)

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,

2 Corinthians 4:4 (NASB95)

in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Matthew 22:37 (NASB95)

And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment…and he quotes Deuteronomy 6:4–5 ““Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

Yet he changes the word might to mind.

The significance of the heart, soul, and mind together speak that we are to love God with all we are…but with his deliberate substitution of the word for mind Jesus communicates our love for God ought to impact how we think…motivated to think on that which pleases Him.

Colossians 3:2 “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”

We have the responsibility to take every thought captive.

In 2 Cor 10, Paul uses terms of warfare…we are in a spiritual battle that is being waged in the arena of our hearts and minds.

We too easily forget we are at war and so often go to sleep at our posts when we allow thoughts to enter into the compound that set themselves up against our King.

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NASB95)

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

God gives us divine weapons that are powerful enough to destroy the way people think, to demolish sinful thought patterns, to break down the mental structures people set up in rebellion against God.

God wants us to use His weapons to crush the strongholds of sinful thinking in our lives...every high thing, every haughty thought, every action that forms a barrier to the knowledge of the living God.

Turn back to Philippians 4:6-9.

Biblical thinking is critical to experiencing the peace of God.

Read Philippians 4:6–9…when the days are hard and you need to experience the peace of God you need to look to your thought patterns.

Notice in verses 6-7 Paul mentions the peace of God guarding your heart and mind and then in verse 9 he mentions the God of peace being with you.

So we have a Peace Sandwich...The “meat” between the two peaces is right thinking.

Right thinking guards us against the “peace thieving” sin of worry.

Worry = often translated as anxiety/care…it is a word that means to divide part, rip or tear apart.

describes the effects…what it does to us.

it is concern over the future…about something we have no control over, nor can we know all the details for certain.

It is that thought pattern that is so overly concerned about what may or may not happen in the future that it keeps you from acting in faith today.

Wrong thinking leads to wrong feeling, and before long we are torn apart by worry…

Jesus warns against worry in Matthew 6:25-34 because it demonstrates a lack of trust in the goodness and sovereignty of God.

Here in Philippians, Paul instructed them to be anxious for nothing (this is a command) and pray for everything

Paul says to start with focused prayers and then get a grip on what we think.

Right thinking takes discipline.

Dwell on these things.

The command in the text comes at the end of the verse … the command is to dwell … to evaluate or to ponder.

It is a present imperative…meaning do not stop thinking about these things...

It speaks of thoughts that enter your mind and stay there a while and lead you to do something.

The kind of thoughts described in this passage are the kind of thoughts that should be hanging out in our heads, thoughts that lead us to obedience. 

By his grace we have the opportunity to dismiss garbage thinking and to take every thought captive which is consistent with the glory of Christ.

One of the effects of the curse of sin is that sinful thoughts pop in our minds quickly.

Thoughts of anger, bitterness, foolishness, etc. are one split second away.

But thankfully, God gives us resources to overcome that and we do not have to let those thoughts occupy our minds.

We do not have to allow them to consume our time and mental energy.

Biblical thinking is focused thinking.

Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

The phrases, “excellence” and “worthy of praise” are the summary statements.

Think about the things that are excellent … not just decent or okay or good, but the things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Those thoughts are...

Thoughts that are true

True thoughts represent things as they are as opposed to false thoughts or merely perceptions or feelings.

This is not whatever our culture might claim to be true.

Truth is measured only by God and requires spiritual discernment.

Paul expects his readers to have the moral discernment to make their own right judgments about what exactly constitutes the virtues he lists

This also calls us to evaluate our perceptions in the light of what is real.

Perceptions can be deceiving meaning before we allow that perception to impact us either positively or negatively, we need to investigate those perceptions and compare them with what is real.

Not just perceptions about life situations, but also your perceptions of people…avoid judging motives...

We need to remember that Satan is the father of lies and wants all of us to fill our minds with thoughts set up against God…when we believe the lies, we allow Satan a stronghold in our life.

The next characteristic is …

Thoughts that are Honorable

Honorable thoughts are thoughts that are above reproach, dignified

that which inspires respect from others

This word is used of people in 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus.

The sense here is to have thoughts that are valuable as opposed to trivial or worthless.

We should focus our time on thoughts that have value or the things that are important to God.

Things like our relationship with Him … thinking about the Lord’s goodness to us and the Lord’s promises for the future.

Thinking about our relationship with other believers … the ways they have cared for us or the concerns we have for them.

Thinking about those who are ill or those in our circle of knowledge who need Christ.

Thinking about how we can make a difference for Christ.

Thinking about how we can be a blessing to others...

The third characteristic is …

Thoughts that are righteous or just.

This is something that conforms to custom or law...For Christians, what is “right” is defined by God’s justice

It really comes down to thinking about what is the right thing to do to others and in every situation.

Do we see all people are made in the image of God and any mistreatment of them as wrong?

Do we pause long enough before acting to think about what is the best action to take that is fitting with the character of God and what He defines as just.

You and I have to discipline ourselves and to ask the Lord to help us see our blind spots.

We need to practice the discipline of determining what is right by the Scripture and allowing the Scripture to help us see where we have blind spots.

Thoughts that are pure

This is not limited to sexual purity but extends to all areas of moral purity in thought and speech and actions.

They were to focus on that which is not tainted with evil.

The thoughts born out of a proper motivation.

Remember when Solomon was granted anything he wanted from the Lord he requested wisdom. 

He wanted to rule well and his focus was on others. 

While he was the one who would ultimately receive wisdom the beneficiaries were the people of Israel.

Yet, if we honestly evaluated many of the things we think about and say to others, many of the things that we pray for, or things that we desired then we would find some selfish motivations and thus impure thoughts.

James 4:3 “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”

Thoughts that are Lovely

Means those things that put themselves forward by their attractiveness.

“Lovely” includes not only what is morally lovely but what is aesthetically lovely—“all that is beautiful in creation and in human lives”

—from a sunset to a symphony to caring for the poor and powerless—all things beautiful.

The opposite to this is repulsive thoughts.

What our world likes to tell us about is stories of crime, hatred, violence, and evil. So we have to discipline ourselves against that.

Our time should be spent thinking about things that inspire and encourage love.

Thoughts that are of Good Repute

conduct spoken of highly by others.

This generally speaks about thoughts that win and encourage people rather than to needlessly offend. 

It is those thoughts that God would judge as being good or encouraging.

There is no doubt that there is some overlap between the words, but when taken as a complete list they form an all-encompassing whole.

Thoughts that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Our entire thought life should be centered on things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Let me read Philippians 4:8 a bit differently for contrast...

whatever is false, whatever is worthless, whatever is unjust, whatever is impure, whatever is repulsive, and whatever is offensive think on these things.

That is not what it says, yet sadly, that is where we allow our minds to go from time to time.

Lesson for Life — Biblical Thinking is Displayed by Our Actions.

Philippians 4:9 “The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Throughout Scripture there is a close link between your heart and your head.

In other words, we haven’t really learned to think biblically if we don’t live that way.

Paul balances four activities: “learned and received” and “heard and seen.”

It is one thing to learn a truth, but quite another to receive it inwardly and make it a part of our inner man.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 “For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.”

Facts in the head are not enough; we must also have truths in the heart.

Ask God for his grace.

Taking control of our thoughts is not easy…we need God’s grace.

It seems like I can be consistent to this list for a very short period of time and then wham … back out again. Ask God for his grace to think wisely.

Maybe you are here today and these concepts are completely new to you. Maybe you would struggle answering the question, “if you died today and stood before God and he said, Why should I let you into my heaven?” [give the gospel]

Repent of wrong thinking

Repent of wrong thinking and for allowing ungodly thoughts to linger.

In order to grow, we have to see that change is needed.

Perhaps you’ve had thoughts towards others that doesn’t fit this quality control label...

Memorize Philippians 4:8 or a similar passage about thinking

Romans 12:2–3 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”

1 Peter 1:13 “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Develop a Think List

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