Holiness of the mind

Do we have holes in our mind?

When we look upon a Holy God, we can begin to see the holes in our holiness. Today we are going to look at our mind and our mindset. We can combat temptations, build stronger relationships, and grow closer to God with heart and mind transformed by God's truth. Today is going invite us to examine our thought life and challenges us to submit our minds and thought processes to Christ.

Holiness begins in our minds; by transforming our thoughts through Christ, we can live out holiness in our daily lives.

Picture a puzzle missing a few pieces. It’s frustrating, right? That’s our thought life without God’s truth. When we aren’t focusing on holiness, the big picture is incomplete. But every time we align our thoughts with God’s word, it’s like finding a missing puzzle piece. We begin to see the whole image of His holiness in our lives! Let’s commit to seeking those missing pieces together today. I really like how Paul David Tripp talks about holiness and our dependents on God’s grace.

“It's the holiness of God that tells us that since we cannot escape ourselves, we all need a Savior who can do what we can't - rescue us from us. You simply cannot consider the holiness of God without also mourning your sin and crying out for the grace of Jesus.”

Paul David Tripp

With dependency on God it is with our whole being, not just parts of ourselves. The Creator of all things deeply desires all aspects of our lives to be surrendered to him. When Jesus was challenged about what the greatest command was here is His response.

Mark 12:30 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”

What saddens my heart today is seeing half hearted christians trying to do this thing called life. When I see and interact with whole hearted disciples of Jesus it puts fuel in the fire of my soul.

To be in a true stereotypical pastor form I want to give you three points when it comes to holiness and our mind.

1. Holiness Of Mind Requires Sacrifice

Romans 12:1–2 “Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

Transforming our minds begins with offering ourselves as a living sacrifice to God.

The ‘work’ of transformation is us being holy, setting our selves apart, consecrating ourselves. This happens internally and affects our entire being. Through Christ, we are empowered to discern and act according to God's will.

Some practical ways to do this includes immersion in scripture and prayer, ultimately leading to a holy life aligned with God's purposes. What I am not saying that just reading your Bible is going to ‘fix’ everything, but it does put some knowledge into our brains for the Spirit of God to do his work. It does give the Spirit some materials to work with. God is very resourceful and can do a lot with very little. What would it look like to give Him some materials to work with?

Consider the process of renewing our minds as similar to an old house undergoing renovation. Just as a builder removes outdated materials and brings in fresh elements to create a livable space, our minds must shed unproductive thoughts and replace them with God's truth. Romans 12:2 invites us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, emphasizing the ongoing work of God in reshaping our thoughts according to His will.

2. Pursue Purity Of Mind In Our Holiness

Philippians 4:8

“Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things.”

This is a practical list from Paul and invites us to intentionally choose our thoughts, underscoring the importance of deliberate mental focus in the pursuit of holiness.

TRUE

In our culture today it seems like who ever has the loudest voice or biggest platform seems to know the truth, which corresponds to reality. Anxiety comes when false ideas and unreal circumstances occupy the mind instead of truth. Ultimately, thinking on the truth is thinking on Jesus, who is the truth.

Lets look at some bold statements made by Jesus himself.

John 8:31–32 “Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 14:6 “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Aiden Wilson Tozer frames this idea of truth and what you think about or dwell on exposes what truth we have been listening to.

If you can find what I think about when I am free to think about whatever I will, you will find the real me. That is true of every one of us.

A. W. Tozer

So what do you think about the most?

Okay our third point to holiness in our mind.

3. Captivate Your Thoughts To Christ

2 Corinthians 10:3–5 “For although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

Spiritual warfare involves taking our thoughts captive to ensure obedience to Christ. This passage highlights the necessity of guarding our minds against arguments and pretensions that oppose God's truth. By relying on Holy Spirit, we can demolish strongholds of negative thinking. And for some of us we have had some strongholds for awhile. Maybe you are just realizing that you have some strong holds in your life. This might be revealing an active resistance required in your thought life, so the encouragement is for us to have accountability and the importance of community in maintaining a Christ-centered mindset.

God’s Holiness leads to God’s Grace.

I said this last week and will say it again. We need God’s grace. Not to abuse it and live the way we want but as we see the holes in our holiness we need to see God’s grace through those holes.

Video of man looking through key hole

This is us. We guard ourselves from God peeking through some sort of barrier in our life. But we are beginning to to see the holes in our holiness.

So I want to attempt to give us some practical mindsets with holiness in our mind. So I want to give 8 mind shifts of statements we might need to say these out loud with Holy Spirit and allow the renewing of our mind to take place. My encouragement to you is see if one statement you gravitate towards, or one that maybe you find your self not saying and you actually need to shift your mindset.

8 Mind Shifts Towards Holiness Of Mind

1“I need to focus on God’s grace” over “I need to focus on stopping my sin.”

Titus 2:11–12 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age,”

Picture a child learning to ride a bike. If he concentrates solely on not falling, he’ll wobble and panic. But when he focuses on pedaling forward, he finds his balance. Like that child, when we concentrate on embracing God’s grace, we gain strength to ride through life’s challenges rather than being paralyzed by the fear of sinning.

2“I need help from God’s people” over “I can do it alone.”

Ephesians 4:11–13 “And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.”

Our growing and maturing takes time. This is not a flip of the switch to all of a sudden I am Jesus and don’t need help. Paul uses lots of language of a body which is connected by multiple parts, multiple people.

3“I need to please God” over “I need to feel better about myself.”

2 Corinthians 7:9–11 “I now rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance. For you were grieved as God willed, so that you didn’t experience any loss from us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly grief produces death. For consider how much diligence this very thing—this grieving as God wills—has produced in you: what a desire to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what deep longing, what zeal, what justice! In every way you showed yourselves to be pure in this matter.”

Paul had written several letters to the church in Corinth. His first letter was not recieved well and rebellion broke out. The people questioned Pauls leadership, even though, it was Paul who planted this church. Paul visited the church in person. What we call his second letter was to reassure the people Pauls love for the people after his visit.

4“I am fully equipped to obey all the time” over “It’s too hard for me.”

2 Peter 1:3 “His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”

1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it.”

5“I need to live in obedience” over “I need to have victory.”

The words we use matter and subtly shape our thinking and expectations—which is why we must take on biblical terminology. When we describe our battle for holiness as a “victory” or “defeat,” we might be tempted to think our struggle against sin is something external to us; something not in our control. But Scripture describes sin and temptation in terms of “obedience” and “disobedience,” not “victory” or “defeat.”

Don’t soften the weight of sin against a holy God. Take ownership for your sins by calling disobedience what it is.

6“I need to expose my sin” over “I need to hide my sin.”

Psalm 32:1–2 “How joyful is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How joyful is a person whom the Lord does not charge with iniquity and in whose spirit is no deceit!”

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

“Every time we come to confession we come to that naked moment of truth and receive from God the wildly improbable gift of grace”

Jen Pollack Michel

7“Repentance is worship” over “I’m ashamed before God.”

Instead of keeping our distance from God due to shame, preach to yourself that Christ took your shame and punishment on the cross, and remember you are clothed in Christ’s righteousness. Take joy that in Christ you are forgiven, and see drawing near to God not as something to avoid, but something to run to because repentance is worship that greatly honors the Lord.

Another way to say this is I need to run to Dad I screwed up, not run from Dad because I screwed up.

Anyplace where a person sins, he puts handles on his soul for Satan to grasp. Repentance gets rid of the handles.

A. W. Tozer

8“Put sin to death” over “I’ll just try to stay away from it.”

Romans 8:13 “because if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Galatians 5:25 “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”

Holiness begins in our minds; by transforming our thoughts through Christ, we can live out holiness in our daily lives.