Importance of the Mind

The mind is powerful

Two immovable forces:

A determined toddler.

A mom determined to get a “good” family photo.

A determined mind is a prepared mind.

I prepare my mind before maxing on a lift

You prepare your mind before a test, going to the DMV, or getting your kids up and ready for church/school.

You prepare your mind so you don’t kill them.

You keep your kids focused on the task, free from distraction. You keep them sober-minded.

SERE-Resist

Perils of an unprepared or distracted mind:

Failed lift- get under the weight and the mind notices how heavy it feels, results in a failed lift.

Get in the bottom of a squat and your not focused on a tight core, failed lift.

Start daydreaming during a test, eat up time dreaming.

Let your kid find an old toy you thought they lost, they get distracted and forget to get dressed. Now, you’re late.

An unprepared and distracted mind is a dangerous thing and almost guarantees failure. However, when the mind is prepared and sober, it can be one of the determining factors in success.

Q: Why do you think the mind is important?

Ability to encourage when disheartened

recall a joyful time

discipline, tell the body what it will do.

Ability to recall facts

Recap 1 Peter 1:1-12.

1st Peter is a letter instructing its readers how to defend and confirm the gospel in their exile.

Chapter 1 is divided into two parts: doctrine and devotion

vv 1-12 contains doctrine, and can be summarized as:

vv 13-2:3 contains the devotion, the application of vv.1-12.

1 Peter 1:13-16

13-16 we two commands, v. 13 and v.15.

v 13- set your hope on the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ

v. 15- you also be holy in all your conduct.

Vv 13-16 address the person, holistically. Mind, heart/soul, & body.

To summarize John Piper, the mind serves the heart and one’s conduct is the fruit of the heart.

Your mind has the ability to either stomp out temptation or fan it to flame.

1 Peter 1:13

Therefore.

My pastor in Jax, NC always said, “When you see therefore, stop and see what it is there for.”

Q: How would you summarize vv 1-12?

Peter exhorts us in 1-12.

We have a living hope

An inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading kept in heaven

We are being guarded through a faith for a salvation ready to be revealed

Though we face various trials, though for a little while, they test the genuineness of your faith, and this will result in praise and glory.

We have joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory

All of this ultimately results in the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Therefore, set your hope on the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Therefore transitions us from doctrine to application.

Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

What is this hope Peter speaks of? A. Our salvation.

This is the imperative, the command from Peter.

He is instructing us to set our hope in the grace that is to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

“at the revelation of Jesus Christ” in v. 13 is the same phrase Peter uses in v. 7

Where does hope arise from? A. The heart. It is our heart that hopes in something.

NASB- “fix your hope completely”.

We don’t make it to the end partially invested. There is far too much at stake to be partially invested in Christ and partially invested in the World.

If our hope isn’t fully fixed on Christ, we risk being “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”

Recall Cody’s sermon in Joshua last week:

Decide what matters most; Make sure you believe it; and live like you believe it.

God is a jealous God and will not settle for a piece of you.

The Christian life is a marathon and make no bones about it, a difficult one.

From the time we believe until the time we go home, we face opposition.

Opposition from the world:

If the world hated Jesus, it will hate you.

Opposition from the devil.

The devil is like a lion, prowling around seeking out those who he can devour.

Opposition from our flesh.

Our heart must be fully set on Christ, fixed on him.

We know ourselves and how our heart is prone to wonder.

Our hope must wholly be on Christ and our mind is instrumental in this task.

God is known both in the heart and the mind.

Man is commanded to love God with all his heart, soul, and mind.

The unregenerate engages their mind to hate God.

Everything but God is a plausible answer.

The Christian engages their mind in the act of loving God. We engage our mind in order to set our hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Scripture compares the regenerate mind to the unregenerate mind.

Romans 8

English Standard Version Chapter 8

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Ephesians 4 makes a similar comparison.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

The unregenerate mind is not able to “set their mind on the things above, not on things that are on earth” as Paul tells us Colossians.

We know there is a war raging within us, a war between the old self and the new self.

Galatians 5:16-17

English Standard Version Chapter 5

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Preparing your minds for action, and being sober minded.

Temptation may arise from the heart but it is the mind that either stomps it out or fans it to flame.

See a beautiful woman and and the temptation to lust rises like an ember, but it is in the mind where she is whisked away to the bedroom to commit adultery.

See a mom who appears to have it together and the heart begins to yearn for that, but it is the mind that begins to criticize your husband and kids, and you become discontented with the Lord has blessed you with.

The mind has the ability to rationalize anything.

Our mind meditates on whatever our heart desires and our heart desires whatever our mind meditates on.

Think on the things above, the heart desires the things above.

Think about the things of this world, the heart will desire this world.

There is war raging within in us, a war for our heart. How do we engage our mind in order set our hope fully on the grace that will be brought to us? A. Being prepared for action and sober-minded

Preparing your minds for action.

What are some ways we prepare our minds for action?

We prepare for the fight for our hope by reading and meditating on God’s word.

Psalm 1:1-4

English Standard Version Psalm 1

Blessed is the man

who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

2  but his delight is in the law of the LORD,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

3  He is like a tree

planted by streams of water

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers.

4  The wicked are not so,

but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Greek: gird up your loins. It’s the same phrase used in Exodus 12:11 when God commands Israel on how to eat the Passover meal.

They were ready for action, ready move out when God issued the command.

Memorize the Word of God.

Psalm 119:9, 11

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Chuck Swindoll says of scripture memorization:

“I know of no other single practice in the Christian life more rewarding, practically speaking, than memorizing Scripture. . . . No other single exercise pays greater spiritual dividends! Your prayer life will be strengthened. Your witnessing will be sharper and much more effective. Your attitudes and outlook will begin to change. Your mind will become alert and observant. Your confidence and assurance will be enhanced. Your faith will be solidified”

Know your triggers, prepare your mind to react, and pray.

This is where reading, meditating, and memorization grow feet.

Tired from work and know your about to walk in to absolute chaos at home.....

Pray about your heart before you enter into the chaos.

Prepare to respond in gentleness and kindness. Be slow to anger.

Dealing with a disobedient child.

Pray that you are able to suppress the urge to fly off the handle and react in a calm manner.

Pray that your words aren’t harsh.

Prepare to be patient and discipline with a firm and loving hand.

God was patient toward you in your rebellion and he also disciplines those he loves.

There will be times when temptation catches you by surprise.

This is where you engage the Scripture you’ve memorize.

When the old self is fighting and the flesh is yearning to be satisfied, remember Jesus employed scripture to fight and win against temptation.

He could have commanded the Satan vanish from his presence and Satan would have obeyed, but Jesus modeled how we are to fight.

Sober-minded.

What is a sober mind?

A mind that is not intoxicated, it has control of its faculties.

A sober mind is a mind free from intoxication, free from being gluttons of this world.

Do not get drunk on your retirement.

Do not get drunk on your kids, your marriage, your job.

Are these things good, yes but they are not who our hope lies in.

A mind drunk on this world does not place its hope in the risen Christ.

We set our hope fully on the grace that is to be brought to us by employing our minds to serve our heart.

When our hope begins to fade, our minds throw the promises into the furnace of heart to stoke it.

Hopeless:According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope

Doubting: who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Spiritually Impoverished: you have an inheritance that in imperishable, undefiled and unfading

In a season of testing: In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith-more precious than gold that perishes though tested by fire- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The mind is important in the Christian life.

We were created as thinking and feeling creatures.

Our mind serves the heart and enables it to set its hope fully on the grace that is to be revealed at the revelation of Jesus Christ, by being prepared for action and sober-minded.

We are prepared for action when we