The Mind of Christ
The mind is a garden that could be cultivated to produce the harvest that we desire.
The mind is a workshop where the important decisions of life and eternity are made.
The mind is an armory where we forge the weapons for our victory or our destruction.
The mind is a battlefield where all the decisive battles of life are won or lost.
"When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”— but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. " (1 Corinthians 2:1-16, NIV) [1]
I walked into the gymnasium one afternoon last week feeling particularly “helpful”. I should be cautious when I get those feelings. Randy Inman and I have shared a meaningful gesture during the years that he has spent as a trustee and head trustee. It has to do with the fact that we all have certain areas of expertise and we are better off when we realize that and function as much as possible within that area. Sometimes a measure of success will breed pride and we begin to believe that our specific knowledge or expertise gives us a right to speak more broadly. This attitude is error prone. I still love the wisdom that one of my more broken friends articulates when he says, “The older that I get the more I have come to distrust the “sovereignty” of my own thinking.
Consequently, I have felt that in the areas of my incompetence, which are many, I am better off to trust someone who likely “knows better”. Randy will cup his hands either side of his face, look at me and say, “Keep the focus.” That means, let me do what I do well and I’ll let you do what you do well.
I lost focus . . . briefly.
It seemed to me that the gym was too warm so I checked the controls. The box has a sign on it that says in very plain language, “Do not touch these controls.”
But it felt too warm.
I am the pastor.
There are slots big enough for me to get my car keys to the sliders on the temperature control module.
It was set to heat!!! Of all things – no wonder it was too warm. It’s the summer and we don’t need heat on in the summer. And the fan was set to “Fan” rather than “Auto”.
That’s it – someone had “monkeyed” with this unit and the pastor was going to fix it. I reached up in there with my church keys and set the temperature and the fan controls to “Auto”. I checked periodically throughout the day and could tell that the gym was cooling off as it should have been to the 72 degree target that we aim for.
In our board meeting on Tuesday evening I was talking to Chris Haines – currently Chris is our head trustee. He sits on the board. Our trustees are in charge of building and grounds and insurance matters – a host of other things. I want to thank these guys for taking on this responsibility and also to apologize for the times when the pastor complicates their job simply because he cannot “keep the focus”.
Just a small side thought as well. Churches that don’t allow the pastor to be the pastor are dysfunctional. They can make it difficult for the pastor to hear from God and to give leadership accordingly. I don’t feel this is the case here.
Chris gently explained to me that the settings that I had changed were the designated settings. He tried to make me feel better by telling me that this system was “counter-intuitive”. I liked the sound of the word. I think that he was telling me that he could understand the way that I was thinking and that this was a normal way of thinking. What he didn’t have to say was “keep your hands off the system controls”. But I heard it anyway.
I have been preparing this week to preach on the mind of Christ. I want that mind to control everything that I do as an individual before God and as a pastor, the grateful pastor of this beautiful church.
Let me read a few verses of scripture this morning.
“The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. " (1 Corinthians 2:1-16, NIV)
We have the mind of Christ but does the mind of Christ have us? Are we guided and controlled by this mind above and beyond all others? Do we “keep the focus”, or do we lose it every once in a while?
Maybe you have a “mind of your own” – that’s good when it comes to being able to think freely but not good when it tells you that others opinions are not worth hearing and considering because of the superiority of your own. It’s not good when inwardly you are not able to accept the fact that God’s greatest messages will often come through humble or lowly sources.
"For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”" (1 Corinthians 1:25-31, NIV) [2]
God will never choose the proud to communicate his message but those who are wise enough to depend on Him – on His Strength, His Wisdom, His Power. God never speaks through a proud messenger.
God builds His church on the shoulders of those who depend on Him for their help and strength. That’s really what my prayers are for His church – our church. I pray for a testimony to God’s greatness, a movement of God so significant in this city that I can’t “seminarize” it. I have a planned response to give the more pragmatic who one day will come to First Wesleyan Church looking for the “key” to it’s growth. I want to be able to look at them and say, “God is the reason.” Nothing more and nothing less. I want that the permeate the consciousness of our people so that when the time comes for me to leave, that people will not despair simply because we understand that God has done it.
So the idea of the mind of Christ and this word have gelled together for me.
1. I believe that the mind of Christ is “counter-intuitive”.
It is not common sense – it is uncommon sense. It is not what comes naturally but what comes supernaturally.
A real Christian is an odd number anyway. He feels supreme love for one whom he has never seen, talks familiarly every day to someone he cannot see, expects to go to heaven on the virtue of another; empties himself in order to be full, admits he is wrong so he can be declared right, goes down in order to get up, is strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest, and happiest when he feels worst. He dies so he can live, forsakes in order to have, gives away so he can keep, sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, and knows that which passes knowledge.
(from "The Root of Righteousness" - A. W. Tozer)
I am going to come back to the gymnasium story but let me give you an example of the this counter-intuitive mind of Christ.
" Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days." (John 11:1-6, NIV) [3]
Let me highlight for you what are the significant aspects of this story.
Ø The people in need here were on the “inside track” with Jesus. They had a relationship with Jesus that had “aged”. Perhaps not old friends but not new friends either. John identifies Mary as being the one who poured perfume on Jesus feet and wiped his feet with her hair.
Ø Lazarus, from the word that they sent, was identified as “the one you love”. John himself the writer of the synoptic gospel is identified as the “beloved disciple”. Just as this title delineated Jesus relationship with John as perhaps the one that he was closest to, so Lazarus was in a similar category. Our intuition would tell us that we would rush quickly to aid those that we love above others.
Ø The promise was that Lazarus’ sickness would not “end in death”. I would suggest that while intuitively death is a very sad thing, that God does not see the death of those that he loves as a sad thing. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." (Psalm 116:15, NIV) [4] Physical death is the doorway to eternity. It is the opening of the shades that cause us to grieve. I suspect that for those who have passed from us with the hope of Christ, would never choose to return to this earthly existence. I believe that there are parents who have carried a lifetime of care for children who are far from God, who are comforted as they understand the way that God is working to redeem those that they have left behind and they would never choose an earthly existence over life in the presence of God. I also think that there is great testimony to be shared in the way that we think and talk about eternity, if we truly believe this promise of Christ. For the Christian, no sickness ultimately ends in death – it simply opens the door to eternity.
Ø Lazarus sickness and Jesus response was for the glorification of God the Father and God the Son. This may see. I want to tell you that God is more concerned with His glory than your comfort. That may sound strange to you. I’d suggest that you read some of John Piper’s writings. The website is “Desiring God”. John maintains that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”
Ø Part of God’s plan to “satisfy” them was not to rush to them in what they saw to be the hour of their need. The same is true in our lives as well. Because God may not respond when your need is most acute, does not mean that he doesn’t see your need or that he has no plans to meet your needs.
Now let me go back for a minute to the heating/cooling system in the gym. This idea of the system being counter-intuitive has stayed with me all week. I have wondered why in the world an air conditioning system should ever be set on “heat”. My feeling is that the system set this way would just keep pumping out heat regardless of the temperature.
I began to think about the other components of the system. There was also a humidistat tied to this set of controls. The humidistat measures the percentage of humidity in the air and activates the part of the system that raises the level of humidity in the air.
Then it hit me – nothing brilliant at all but for me there was meaning.
This is a gymnasium!
The reason that it didn’t make sense to me was that I had assumed that the air conditioning system was there for human comfort. I should have remembered. We’d had many discussions about all this as we decided what type of floor to put in the gymnasium. If we were to put a wooden floor down and maintain it, one of the most important things was to be able to maintain a constant level of humidity in order to prevent the floor from cracking for lack of humidity or bowing from excess humidity. The air conditioning system was a first step. It took the humidity levels down. That was great for the summer. In the winter we set up a number of small humidifiers until we were able to add this component to the existing system.
I walked into the gym and judged whether or not things were as they should have been based on the way that it felt to me. I wanted to evaluate based on the way I was feeling. The system wasn’t designed to be measured by my feelings. It was designed in the interests of maintaining a floor.
You see, a gymnasium is primarily a place that people go to for exercise. They don’t go there to be comfortable – they go there to get uncomfortable. This is the place where the contests occur – where the battle takes place on the court. You know the application – right?
2. My “intuitiveness” is based on nothing higher than my own well-being.
The reason that the mind of Christ is so counter-intuitive to us is that we try to figure it out in terms of our own well-being, our comfort, our reason, our convenience. And how many people have to remind us that in the final analysis, God never means it to be about you. It’s about Him, His Glory, His pleasure, His kingdom.
3. Until we can surrender ourselves to the sovereignty of God and learn to “trust the settings” we can never hope to enjoy the process of following God.
We pray this early in our lives and do it mindlessly by rote as we grow older.
"“This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:9-10, NIV) [5]
The coming of the kingdom among us the realization of the will of God, done immediately without question.
And we are so shocked that God would suggest that it is about Him – shocked because we are so convinced that it should be about us.
LORD SOMETIMES...
...You allow breakages, so You can rebuild
...You allow wounds, so You can heal
...You allow me to walk in darkness, so that I see Your light
...You allow me to be perplexed, so I seek Your truth
...You allow me to be empty, so You can fill me
...You allow me to be lonely, so I can see what a friend You are
...You allow me to learn hard things, so I can be a gentle teacher
...You allow me to be void of feelings, so I learn to walk by faith
...You allow me to suffer pain, so I may be sympathetic to the hurts of others.
...You take away my fture plans, to teach me to live one day at a time
...You allow me to see the futility of life, so I will see everything is loss compared to the excellency of knowing Your Son Jesus Christ my Lord.
You know what that prayer means – it means that we pray that the Will of God be done before our own. The Will of God be done before our own:
Ø Pleasure
Ø Healing
Ø Preferences
Ø Desires – seek first the “kingdom of God”
And you know what, until we can do that we will forever be at odds with the parts of life that we consider to be unfair and we will question where God is or whether or not He really cares.
Extra- Material
" Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus," (Philippians 2:5, NKJV) [6]
"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus," (Philippians 2:5, ESV NT Rev. Int.) [7]
"Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God." (Romans 8:5-8, NIV) [8]
"“For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. " (1 Corinthians 2:16, NIV) [9]
Do you think that any of us really call our own shots or are we somehow conditioned and controlled by our programming? I watched a show this week on the Discovery Channel about a group of “out-of–the box” thinkers who are determined to free the world of its’ dependence on fossil fuels by inventing what they call the “Machine To Die For”.
The name suggests that they are actually placing themselves in danger by trying to invent such a thing. Imagine what the world would look like if we no longer needed oil as a primary energy source. They suggest that this new machine would have absolutely no negative impact on the environment. They feel that they are in danger because the oil giants love to have the world in its’ current state of dependence. And while we don’t want to pay the price at the gas pumps, the negative economic impact because of jobs lost, in an society no longer held hostage, could be far worse??? Is it an answer that any of us can really afford? There are those times when it would seem that we have painted ourselves into a corner. The documentary suggested that sometimes answers come to us from some very “strange” people. The danger for us is that we would too quickly dismiss the answers because they come from “kooky”, eccentric people.
"But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”" (1 Corinthians 1:27-31, NIV)[10]
It seems to me that God often chooses unlikely people and circumstances to communicate His message. To cause us to consider other alternatives whether it be for matters of energy or spirituality. And when you come to Christ and experience His presence He has plans to use you as well. Often you’ll find yourself with direction or answers that make little sense from a human perspective . . . as a matter of fact, there are times when you will appear simplistic or even foolish to some.
But where does your guidance come from? Is it just good common sense that you pride yourself in? Are you a controller, all the plates spinning and manageable? Have you looked for a Trip Tic that is somehow going to chart the way between here and heaven? You’ve taken it all into your own finite hands and you are trusting yourself with questions of eternity. That’s faith. Amazing faith! And if faith got you to heaven that would be a good thing. But faith won’t get you there. God’s grace alone will do that. And trusting in that grace is faith as well . . . in the right thing. Faith in your goodness will never do it.
When you make the bill payments each month do you feel as though you actually possess anything or do you have that suffocating feeling that you are trading your life to support something that in itself has very little meaning and significance? A person can be extremely successful and totally insignificant. In his book, “Finishing Well”, Bob Buford observes that our lives are divided into at least three parts. Life 1 – Halftime – Life 2. In Life 1 we are driven to succeed. We give huge amounts of energy and devotion in the pursuit of something that carries little satisfaction. He likens it to the day that the power failed at the dog races. Off they went chasing the electronic rabbit and then the lights went out. The dogs actually caught the rabbit, they whimpered and danced around not knowing what to do with what they gave their lives to chase. Buford says that especially for men, this sort of experience takes place in their forties and fifties. The rabbit stops and we are disappointed at what we have caught. I have found this to be true to a degree in the ministry. Like anything else the ministry can be full of secondary pursuits.
The halftime and we begin to long for significance more than success. Somehow we want to make a difference. So there is this period of evaluation a reconfiguring so that Life 2 can mean something more. The danger is that many people in halftime begin to believe that what they are looking for is retirement so that they can spend a large chunk of years pleasing themselves and having time to think more about what they should have done with their lives. Many times they become bitter and disillusioned. Living for yourself is never satisfying at any age. Or they decide that because their years of usefulness have passed they will live according to someone else’s priorities.
Life 2 is a period of time where a person has the opportunity to use the wisdom that they have collected for the greatest good. Attitude is the greatest obstacle to overcome because we can never influence other people toward a better future with a negative attitude.
I spent a bit of time with a young man who is trying to assemble an aberration of eclectic beliefs from a faith smorgasbord. He has his own unique “slant” on things. Now that’s great if it doesn’t matter what we believe but I think that this is one of the greatest gambles that a person can take with life here and now. He is largely driven because he has seen people in the Christian church who consistently live differently than they say they believe. You see, if doesn’t make any difference what a person believes then what a person believes doesn’t make any difference. It is impotent. And dear Christian, if what you say you believe is making no difference in the way that you live then you might just as well be quiet about it because it won’t make a difference in the way anyone else believes or lives. Your faith is impotent.
3 Levels Of Living
THE LEVEL OF INSTINCT - represents the level where people frankly want their own way, and so far as they are able, get it. It is the level of sheer desire, where that is the overmastering concern. It is the level where we most nearly approach the brute beasts. If a man on the level of instinct is economically big enough to take a business away from a man who is economically small, or from several such men, he takes it...
THE LEVEL OF CONSCIENCE - And here one has moved up from the level of instinct. One has seen it's selfishness and shortsightedness. One realizes that alongside the urge to feather one's own nest and enjoy one's own indulged desires, there is another urge: the urge to character, service and brotherliness.
THE LEVEL OF GRACE - I mean the level where God's mind is first believed in, and then sought in every matter. One has moved up from the level of irresponsibility to conscientiousness; and then one has moved through the level of conscientiousness to the level of guided-ness.
Taken from a sermon by Sam Shoemaker.
FOUR LEVELS OF MATURITY
John Maxwell has identified four levels of maturity for Christians. They are given in progressive order with the least mature viewpoint listed first: (1) I'm going to do what I want, regardless of any thought for God; (2) If God gives me what I want, then I will give him what he wants; (3) I will give God what he wants, with faith that he will give me what I want; and (4) I will give God what he wants, regardless of any thought for myself. Many Christians spend the balance of their life at level two or three but the greatest joy is found at level four.
("How to Get Commitment for Ministry," John
Maxwell, The Pastor's Update, April 1991)
We have a tendency to resist the mind of Christ to a greater degree than we resist temptation.
Although I do love Him, I find that he has to labor and work with me to get me to do what I should truly be doing as a kingdom builder
There is a relationship between the way that we live and the way that we think. If we “live” or if the pattern of our living is in cooperation with our human nature it is because our thinking is cooperative with our desires. In other words it is because we so choose. The pattern of spiritual living is a mind that is in cooperation with the Spirit of God. We have made a choice to follow the inner voice of spirit rather than the outer voices of pleasure. One seeks its’ own pleasure first and the other seeks God’s pleasure first.
It’s not that we can’t take a stab at living as Christ would live but at some point it has to become an internal thing an automatic reflex. We begin to want what God wants. Our greatest pleasure becomes the pleasure of God.
It was an exhortation to a group of people to allow this mind to be the prevalent attitude among them. “Have this mind among yourselves.”
Nurture it. Practice it. Develop it to be normative. Let it prevail.
I have my mind made up so don’t confuse me with the facts.
" If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:1-11, NIV) [11]
Difference between a “reaction” and a “response”.
A real Christian is an odd number anyway. He feels supreme love for one whom he has never seen, talks familiarly every day to someone he cannot see, expects to go to heaven on the virtue of another; empties himself in order to be full, admits he is wrong so he can be declared right, goes down in order to get up, is strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest, and happiest when he feels worst. He dies so he can live, forsakes in order to have, gives away so he can keep, sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, and knows that which passes knowledge.
(from "The Root of Righteousness" - A. W. Tozer)
Grace bucket brigade.
----
[1] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[2] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[3] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[4] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[5] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[6] The New King James Version. 1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[7] Schwandt, J., & Collins, C. J. (2006; 2006). The ESV English-Greek Reverse Interlinear New Testament. Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[8] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[9] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[10] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[11] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.