Lordship Involves Thinking
Lordship Involves Thinking
Dr. J. Mike Minnix, Editor, www.pastorlife.com
Introduction
1 Peter 4:1-6
We are studying the truth of Lordship and what is required for us to honor Christ as Sovereign Lord. So, turn with me to 1 Peter 4:1-6.
A man was offended by something another said, so he responded by saying, “I going to give you a piece of my mind.” The other man responded, “You better not do that because I don't think you have enough mind be giving a piece of it away.”
We need to be aware that the mind is critical to the Christian life – in fact, the mind is critical in everyone’s life. 'What you think is what you become,' we are told in the Book of Proverbs, so it stands to reason that one must be careful about his or her thought life. Thoughts prompt actions, and actions can lead you to the pinnacle of success or to a prison cell for life! Needless to say, we must be careful about allowing our thougths to run amok.
There is the story of a bomb threat that was called into an office building. The call was traced to a mental hospital and the authorities went out to investigate. They narrowed down the call to one or two people. So, they interviewed the first man and asked, “Have you made any telephone calls today.” The man immediately replied, “Well, I ain’t called in no bomb threats.” Of course, the police had not even mentioned the bomb threat, so they knew they had their man.
A weak mind is a dangerous thing, but not all people with poor mental capacities are in mental hospitals. One need only read a few pages on Facebook or the Internet to realize that there are a lot of disturbed people out there in the world, and sadly many of them are expressing what they are thinking freely and foolishly.
Peter addressed the issue of the mind in 1 Peter 4:1-6. Now you have your Bible there, follow as I read: "Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles - when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 4 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. 5 They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.”
Peter reminds us that Jesus lived in the flesh and he suffered greatly in the process, so Peter wrote to his readers telling them to have the same mind as Jesus, especially as they dealt with the flesh. You will recall that Paul addresses this in his writings as well. Paul penned, in Philippians 2:25, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Chrsit Jesus." The mere fact that the idea of having the mind of Christ two of the greatest early Christian writers makes us aware of how terribly important it is for us to think God's thoughts and not those thoughts that merely wandering in and out of our minds from the world, the flesh and the devil.
You can be sure that your flesh desires to be filled and thrilled, but to follow those desires is to be led down a path of destruction. I read the other day that approximately 50 people were killed in the month of August in the United States by mass murder, but that about 450 people died in the same month in our country due to obesity. There was no mention of how many died from overdose of drugs, from driving while intoxicated or diseases other than obesity that come from the abuse of the body. Surely one can look at people and see the dangerous nature of abusing our bodies, but we all do that to some degree. You see, our minds are given to blocking out the dangers associated with a desire. I recall clearly from my early seeing the photo of a man lying on a barroom floor in New York City being wrapped up to be taken to the morgue. Yet, two or three men sat on barstools I n the photo still drinking as the medics removed the body. Sin has given us the ability to shut off the warning signals in the brain so we are prone to go right down the road that we absolutely know is leading us to misery and death.
In short, to give in to the desires of the flesh is to invite disaster. This was the cause of the first sin, was it not? Eve was tempted through the flesh to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree. God’s Word lost out in her life as the voice of the evil me spoke through her excited taste buds. What she knew did not matter at that moment - what she wanted was far greater.
The way to victory for a child of God is to fix the mind on God’s Word and not the world’s wishes. We are constantly being bombarded with temptations through our flesh. Think about it, have you ever seen an ad for alcohol that involves a drunk throwing up all over himself? Or, how about an ad that pictures a family killed by a drunk driver? No, and you will never see one. The call to the flesh always shows the pleasure but never reveals the pain. Why do they always show a triple cheeseburger being eaten by 110-pound beautiful woman? Have you seen an ad for pornography that shows the broken homes, ruined hearts, and weaping children left n the wake of that behavior? No, and you will not see one.
The mind is to be the territory of the Lord, however, there is an enemy who seeks to take that territory away from the One loves us and desires our best. If we allow our minds to drift away to follow wherever it wishes, we will be controlled by the flesh and swept over the rapids of sin and crushed on the rocks of our on making.
The Christian is the walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh. To do this we must have the mind of Christ. Jesus must be the Lord of our thinking processes. So, let’s think today bout three things Peter mentions in our text and use them to recommit our minds, our thoughts our decision-making process to God’s Word, will and way.
I. The Arming of the Mind
In our passage today you will note that Peter said for us to be “armed” with the same mind that was in Christ. As I said a momen ago, Paul said something like this in Philippians 2 when he wrote, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” But Peter uses an idea that is slightly different. The word "arm" in the text comes from the Greek word "hoplezo". The word speaks of being equipped like a soldier ready to do battle with the enemy. In other words, we cannot allow our minds to slip into enemy hands. To keep that from happening we must guard the mind by arming the mind with a weapon of defense. That weapon - the armor that can defend our thought life from the enemy is to have "the mind of Christ." Peter mentions that Christ suffered in the flesh in order to accomplish His divine task. This means that we cannot please the flesh and accomplish God's will. We have to bring the flesh under a thought process that keeps it in line. This involves not allowing the flesh to get everything it wants.
I heard about a sign in a very rough neighborhood that read, “Please watch for children, they may be armed!” Now, that is a place where you might not want to live. Oh, it would be wonderful if we could say that the neighborhood of our minds had such a sign when the enemy shows up trying to lead us astray. When the devil,comes to invade our minds we need the Lordship of Christ occupying the territory with a sign that reads: "The mind is armed with the Mind of Christ."
We can homest say that when it comes to the human mind every person actually has a mind that is armed. Your mind is loaded! It is armed with the thoughts of the world or with the thoughts of God. To live victoriously we must be armed properly in our thinking processes.
When you think of being armed, you are usually thinking about a war. Every soldier is armed when he goes into battle. Peter knew that the Christian is living in a war zone – this world is at war with God. As believers we are walking around in a world where the evil one is looking for people he can use to attack the Savior. Remember, Satan tempted Jesus, so you can be sure he isn’t going to give you or me a pass. You are at war – a war for the mind. This is not a physical fight but a mental one. It is a war for the mind of the believer. Though our physical nature is involved in this battle, the actual ground of attack is in the mind - in our thoughts.
In a war the aim is to get the most prominent territory and hold it. In every battle there is an attempt to take a bridge or high spot so that the enemy can be seen and controlled. Likewise, in the war against Jesus Satan is looking for the “high ground” – and the high ground is my mind and yours. The enemy knows that he can control you if he can take that one spot in your life.
Look at Proverbs 4:23:
“Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.”
You need to know that the heart contains the mind – that is true biblically. Look at Genesis 6:5, for example, “ Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Do you see there that the thoughts come out of the heart. The idea is that the mind and heart are one. So, you are to arm yourselves with a heart that thinks the thoughts of God and follows His will. To do otherwise is to give territory to the enemy of God. To put it bluntly, you think most about what you most, and you love most will win the battle of deeds and actions.
So, Peter is telling us to arm our minds as Christ armed his. That is a great challenge, but it is doable. We can think His thoughts by hiding God’s Word in our hearts (minds).
Note that this also involves our …
II. The Attitude of the Mind
What do we mean when we use the word "attitude" in human life? The attitude is a way of thinking that is reflected in one’s behavior, words, and habits.
in short we can say that the Christian challenge is to get our attitude at the correct altitude. We have to stand and walk on higher ground in this world. It is said in battle that the high ground is always the most valuable. Certainly that is true in the battle for the mind.
Now, if one wants to obtain the right attitude, he or she must have the right “will” in mind. You must “will” to do what God says you are to do. The Bible says of Jesus that He always did what the Father told Him to do. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed to the Father, “No my will but thine be done.” In other words, to have the mind of Christ is to have an attitude that is fixed on doing what God desires.
Peter spoke in our text today about the "will" and how important it is to follow God's will. Let’s take the word “will” and use it as an acrostic today.
A. W - willingness
The “W” can stand for “willingness”. We must be willing to do what God says if we are to win the battle of the mind. We often lose the battle because we give the will over to the flesh. I’ll give you an example. When credit cards were first issued, my wife and I got one. We sat down and talked about how to use it and we agreed that we could buy whatever we wanted with it, as long as we observed one principle. We had to pay off the entire card at the end of each month, and if we couldn’t pay off the entire amount on the card, the card had to stay at home till it was paid off. No more spending for anything on the card till the entire amount was paid! So, we never, ever – not even once – got in trouble with credit cards. In fact, I don’t ever remember paying interest in a single credit card charge in my life. How did we do that? We “willed” to do it. That is what we have to do with every part of our lives if we are going to have any chance of maintaining the mind of Christ. The will is the place of winning and losing in the battle for the mind. If our mind wavers, wobbles or waffles regarding what we know is God's will, we will lose the battle for the mind.
B. I – illumination
The “I” in the word “will” can stand for “Illumination.” We need divine light cast upon our thinking process. You see, our minds live in the darkness of our own heads. No one can see what we are thinking - know one but you and God, that is. So, you can think things without revealing them to other people. This means that we can begin to feel that what we are thinking is not really that important, since it is not an action but simply a passing thought. After all, no one can see it and we may be able to think it without every doing whatever that thought involves. Right? Wrong! What you think is what you become – you are what you think about in the dark. Let the light of God’s Spirit and Word fall on your mind at every moment, and in this way your mind is His to direct.
The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:105:
“Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.”
That is what we need – a light to show the way. If we walk in the darkness, we will walk in the path of evil. John wrote of Jesus in John 1:5, “And the LIGHT shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
Everyone in sin is living in darkness. Isaiah prophesied of Jesus, “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.” Let the Lord illuminate your heart and mind, and the evil one who lives in darkness cannot enter.
C. L – love
The “W” is the “will” and the “I” is illumination. Now let’s think of the first “L” in the word “will." That "L" can stand for "Love.”
Think about it. Why did Jesus come to the earth? He came because God so "loved" the world that He was willing to Send His Son, Jesus, to give us eternal life. Love prompts sacrifice.
Love is a powerful emotion. Loving someone can make people do some really beautiful things, but loving that which is forbidden can lead people to do some abominable and repulsive things. Love is a key factor.
If we love God, we will follow Him. Your mind cannot belong fully to God if you are in love with the world. Satan knows this, so he works on your mind to lead you to love those things which are not within God’s will for you. In 1 John 2:15 we read, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." You can't truly love God and love the world at the say time.
In wartime, the enemy will often use money, sex, drugs or whatever is possible, to lure the soldier away from his devotion to his country and fellow soldiers. Many spies have forsaken a country for the bribes they are offered by the enemy. Women have been used to get men to give away secret information to the enemy. Sadly, we are all prone to give away our devotion to God for some earthly trinket or worldly pleasure. If you mind is to be in God’s control, your love for Him must outweigh your love for any other thing in this world.
D. L - life
In the word “Will” let’s think of the last “L” as “Life.” In the end, following Jesus is giving your entire life to Him. Did you notice that our text today says of Jesus, “that he no longer lived the rest of his life in the flesh…” Jesus faced temptation just like we do, yet He overcame it and never sinned in any way. He gave His LIFE for you and for me. He calls us to follow Him and that means that our attitude must be the same attitude as that of our Lord. This calls for constant recommitment and rededication of our lives.
So, we Arm our minds and we fix our Attitude. That leaves one other thing.
III. The Accounting for the Mind
Verses 5 and 6 in our text today remind us that we will be required to give an account of our lives to God. I don’t want to take too much time with this, but just be assured that faithfulness will be rewarded. I don’t think any Christian desires to be ashamed when he or she faces Jesus at the end of the way.
We will meet our Lord as believers one day and true believers desire to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We must never forget the day of accounting for our thoughts and our actions will occur one day in the presence of Christ.
Conclusion
Lordship involves our minds – out thinking process. How many of us today need to recommit our minds to our Lord? No doubt, many of us - no, not many of us but all of us need that recommitment. Then let us do that right here – tonight – in this service.
The songwriter Francis Havergal penned:
“Take my will (Mind) and make it thine;
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart it is thine own;
It shall be thy royal throne,
It shall be thy royal throne.”
That is Lordship in a nutshell.