The Christian’s Battle for the Mind

Intro:

Review:

Unity in the body 1-6

Serving the body 7-12

Maturity in the body 13-16

1. Putting Aside the Old Ways

Ephesians 4:17–22 NASB95

17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20 But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

A. Understand the conflict

Paul spends a large section going back to look at the ways of life of Gentiles who have never put their faith in Christ. He is drawing a contrast for the believer to understand his exhortation of their new life in Christ. He wants them to see the contrast and NOT THE SIMILARITIES of the opposing lives between the lost and the redeemed.

With his exhortation, He clearly emphasizes the mind of a person the mind of the unbeliever and the mind of the believer in Christ. He will mention the heart. He will mention the actions but he will press heavily on the mind. WHY?

The unbeliever is a slave to a mind that is calibrated to his unregenerate heart. The unregenerate heart seek its own interests and the mind is the facilitator of those interests. We could say the heart of a person is the CPU then the mind is the operating system governing the different applications that are used.

For Paul, he wants the Ephesians to understand that an unregenerate mind is very different from a renewed one. This is his instruction for the church as they are called to live differently than the world. Therefore, as he instructs them, he reminds them of the past lives before Christ so that they can understand the conflict of the mind that they face. In Chapter 2, he looked to their past life to extol the Lord who rescued them from such depravity. This passage reflects on the unregenerate life to remind them not to return to such living.

This conflict or battle is one that one must understand as the struggle rages on daily. Even though the believer in Jesus Christ has been rescued in salvation, a sinful flesh still remains until the Lord Jesus returns. Therefore, it is a battle.

First look with me at Paul’s emphasis of the mind as his major focus here.

v17 futility of their mind: futility is vanity, emptiness, uselessness. Paul describes the futility of the mind in Romans 1 as he explains the unsaved man who lives for himself and his pleasures instead of living for the purpose of God that he was created to fulfill.

Romans 1:21 NASB95

21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

v18 darkened in their understanding: Similar to what Paul wrote the Romans, he once again declares the imagery of the unbeliever who lives with a darkened mind. Remember that darkness only exists when light is absent. A darkened understanding is a mind that is missing the God’s light. It is darkened in its logic, its reason, it conviction because darkness is all that it knows.

v18 excluded from God because of ignorance

Thirdly, the mind is mentioned with the word ignorance that leads to estrangement from God. In totality, the unbeliever is separate from God because of the mind and heart that is corrupted.

Notice also that exclusion from a spiritual life with God comes through a hardness of heart that Paul says is a callousness. That is a lack of sensitivity of feeling like a paralyzed man who cannot feel his legs nor can he use them. When the depraved mind is set on ungodliness and immorality, it is senses are deadened.

Look with me. Peter is talking about false teachers but notice how he describes the general state of unbelieving in these verses.

2 Peter 2:6–12 NASB95

6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, 11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,

Notice first in v 7-9, he mentions the OT cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities and its people have become the poster child for gross immorality. Peter mentions this to illustrate the judgement of God that fell on these people for their immorality, so also will not be withheld from others like false teachers. Sodom and Gomorrah paints a picture for all mankind of the unrelenting judgment of God upon sin.

v. 10-12 is what I wanted to focus on as Peter describes for us the mindset and motives of the unbeliever. He states they are like animals who lack reasoning abilities. Animals act upon instinct, without conscience of right or wrong. They have no conviction only their appetites.

This is the mind of the unbeliever that Peter and Paul are describing is the person acting purely on the lusts and desires of their corrupted flesh, like animals.

B. Unloose the weight

Now all of Pauls words here are written in the form of command for the church. He is not giving a social report on the immorality of the culture. Its a warning for the church not to fall back into its old ways. Lazarus, who was raised from death to life by Jesus, came out of the grave with his grave clothes still on, which had to be removed by his friends. They were saturated with the stench of death and burial spices. Can you imagine after a day or two later, Lazarus missing them and digging through the trash heap in order to put them back on?

The Ephesian church existed in the shadow of some of the most immoral religious cultures of the Roman world. The goddess Artemis was a fertility and sex goddess. The temple dedicated to her involved all imaginable and unimaginable acts of immorality as forms of worship to her. Many in the Ephesian church had left those practices behind but yet were still tempted by them. These words are for them and for us now who are tempted to return to the stench of our grave clothes.

The command is back in v 17 NO LONGER WALK. This is a present active command meaning you are commanded to no longer walk in your former life before Christ. Maybe your life didn’t consist of gross immoral temple worship but it was an evil life controlled by a selfish mind and heart. Paul says in v 17 no longer go down that path that leads to death. In v 22 he says it another way….in reference to your former manner of life, you must lay aside or take off the old man. His word use speaks of removing clothing but he is referencing an entire manner of life that you must steer clear of living again.

The elders teach this practice quite often. Its called putting off and putting on. Last week, in Pastor Adam’s sermon on repentance, he stated the practice as Confession, Repentance, Replacement. In that is putting off or repenting in a 180 degree direction from the path you once walked. For many Christians, the putting off or repenting is often the only step they take.

In a famous Bob Newhart skit, where he plays the role of a therapist, Bob invites a young woman in to his office. who fears being buried alive in a box. Before they begin, Bob explains that he requires $5 in cash for the first five minutes and anything after is free. In disbelief over such simple pricing, the woman agrees to the counseling. She explains she is afraid of being buried alive in a box and therefore cannot stop thinking about that when in tunnels, in houses or anything boxlike. Bob, agrees to give her the help she needs with two words. She is to take these with her out of the office and apply them in her life.

His instruction to her is simple “STOP IT” just “STOP IT.”

Many Christians live their lives thinking they are supposed to just stop whatever sin in their lives. This only part of the equation. Stopping it is part 1 and replacing it is part 2. Laying aside the aspects of your former life is part 1 and adopting the replacements parts of your new heavenly life is part 2.

So why does Paul spend so much time referencing the mind?

The Christian mind is the battle ground here. With a new life in Christ, comes wonderful new promises for the future when Jesus returns. With a new life in Christ, we are given a new heart that longs and yearns for satisfaction in Jesus. But the mind is that which needs constant renewal from its former state. The heart is instantaneously changed while the mind is renewed day by day.

Romans 12:1–2 NASB95

1 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. 2 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.

Renewing the mind begins with laying aside the former mental immoralities that once resided within you. These include lusts of the mind for earthly things and not those heavenly things. Let’s be honest, the believer should be in a continual state of repenting from mental temptations to sin. I don’t know about you, but for me, I may have mental temptations throughout the day that I must turn away from so that my dwelling on them does not become sin.

Paul understands this battle and so he reminds the church of how Gentiles think and live so that the church can evaluate their thoughts and actions based on that. Therefore Church, our battle for spiritual growth begins with the mind. Our heart has already been transformed in our relationship with Christ and our mind is promised to be transformed day by day by the power of Christ.

But the way in which we are transformed is the obedient actions to turn our minds away from thinking like the world. As a youth pastor, we taught young men the “eye bounce” which was the immediate action to look away if they were looking with immoral intent. All Christian need a mind bounce. Immediate action to put off thoughts that do not honor Christ. Any thoughts of jealousy, greed, suspicion, anger

Hebrews 12:1 NASB95

1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

2. Putting on the New Ways in Christ

Ephesians 4:20–24 NASB95

20 But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

A. Heart Change Drives Mind Changes

In v 20-21, Paul centers us on Jesus. Jesus is mentioned in each phrase to remind us of what has occured in our new lives in Christ. In Jesus, we were taught differently in Him. We understand differently, because he made us heavenly through his victorious work on the cross. His resurrection proves the changes in us will come through Him.

Therefore, we understand the process of putting off and putting on as sourced in the power of Christ. You do not possess the power to not be enslaved to your thoughts without the power of Christ to help you turn away from them.

V 20-24 reflects on a guaranteed work in us. As we put off the worldly life and put on the godly life, we reflect the change that has already occured in Christ. Look with me at v 24

Ephesians 4:24 NASB95

24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

The literal reading in these verses is old man, and new man. Your old man is the old ways the new man reflects the regenerated life in Jesus. V 24 Paul says that life “has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. What has God already accomplished in us… the new creation that is rooted in the character of God. Just as the Son demonstrated holiness and righteousness in his life on earth, so we too are being transformed to think and act holy and righteous in all our ways.

C. Mind Changes lead to Godly Actions

In the power of Christ, we then must STOP IT with the unholy and unholy thoughts and actions and put on continually holy and righteous thoughts and acts in replacement of what was there before. Put on the new man sounds like a strange command because we assume that since God created the newness in us, it is something he will do. But Paul writes this as an imperative action we fulfill with obedient disciplines of the mind and the actions.

Next week, we will look at some examples that Paul gives in the remaining verses. But as way of application, let me give you some examples of putting off and putting on that Paul does not mention in the following verses.

Turn with me to Matthew 5

Matthew 5:27–28 NASB95

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; 28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Pastor Adam spoke on this a few weeks ago. As we know, lust starts in the mind before it is carried out with our bodies in immorality. The battle begins with turning our minds away from impure thoughts before they become ungodly actions. Jesus uses strong words in regards to how to deal with the lust of the mind.

Matthew 5:29–30 NASB95

29 “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 “If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.

This sounds like some radical putting off and putting on but necessary for the work of godliness to take effect. Years ago, a Christian movie had a scene wit Kirk Cameron taking his computer out into the yard and bashing it with a baseball bat. Why? It was his way of putting off his sexual addictions and turning his eyes to his wife as the gift from God.

Many of you today may need to be radical in your lives to flee sexual immorality or even emotional immorality in your life today. If you are ensnared, don’t just turn it off, but do away with those things that continually lead you to stumble. That might be relationships need to end in order for the lust to stop. Maybe jobs need to be changed in order for the temptations to cease. Whatever it is, confess, repent and replace. Replace lust with commitment to your spouse or your purity before marriage.

Let me give you one more that we can apply today:

Hebrews 13:5–6 NASB95

5 Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” 6 so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”

We can allow the mental battle over money destroy us as well. “I don’t have enough money” or “I need more possessions to fit into society or give me peace of mind. The writer of Hebrews makes the point to flee from the love of money and put on the character of contentment. We all know discontentment is a mental battle ground. When we look at other people’s cars, their homes, their family, we can fall into discontentment. The writer of Hebrews teaches us that contentment comes from the doctrine of God’s provision. He is our helper and therefore I will not be afraid or worry.

Imagine the impact of society if they believed this doctrine of God’s provision. This would cripple the pharmaceutical industry with all the meds that dish out for those who worry over money. It would be life changing.

Mention Thomas membership vote