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LET’S BE CLEAR

A. Introduction: The Bible has much to say about what we as Christians are supposed to do with our mind. It
tells us: Be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom 12:2, NKJV); Let heaven fill your thoughts.
Do not think only about things down here on earth (Col 3:2, NLT); Don’t worry about anything…(and
God’s) peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:6-7, NLT).
1. In our current series, we are considering what these and other passages mean, as well as how we obey
these and other specific instructions about our mind and thoughts. We’ve made these points previously.
a. When we come to faith in Jesus all of us have thought patterns, attitudes, opinions, and morals
which need to be exposed and changed because they contrary to God. Isa 55:8: Eph 2:1-3; Eph 4:18
b. The way we live is an expression of how and what we think. Therefore, our mind must be renewed
(or renovated) so that we can live lives that are pleasing to God. Prov 4:23
1. There are two aspects to renewing your mind. One involves changing your perspective or your
entire view of reality (the way you see life). This change takes time and effort.
2. The other involves getting control of your thoughts and emotions in the moment while your
perspective is in the process of changing, so that you can bring honor to God.
c. There is more to reality than what you can perceive with your physical senses. There is an unseen
realm. Almighty God, who is invisible, presides over an unseen kingdom of power and provision
that can and does affect the physical, visible world. I Tim 1:17; Col 1:16; II Cor 4:18; etc.
1. God gives us access to this unseen realm through His written Word. The Bible shows us the
way things really are, and we can and should learn to live according to these unseen realties.
2. In the midst of life’s hardships One of God’s promises to His people is peace of mind, or
freedom from disquieting thoughts and emotions, as we learn to keep our minds focused on
Him and these unseen realities. Isa 26:3; John 14:27; John 16:33: II Cor 4:17-18; etc.
A. We keep our mind focused on God and His unseen power and provision by praising Him,
by acknowledging who He is and what He has done, is doing, and will do.
B. We’ve looked at several examples of people who kept their focus on the Lord by praising
Him, and experienced peace of mind and deliverance. Acts 16:16-26; II Chron 20:1-30
2. Some of the things we’ve said thus far about renewing the mind have been misunderstood by some well
meaning people. Before we go any further in our study, I need to make several points clear so that there
is no confusion about what I am and am not saying. That’s our topic in tonight’s lesson.
B. Let’s start by making it clear what renewing your mind is not. It’s not self improvement through developing
a positive outlook. It’s not making positive affirmations or reprogramming your mind with the Scriptures.
There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with those things, but they miss the point.
1. Renewing your mind is learning to bring your thinking (and subsequently your behavior) into obedience
to Almighty God. We renew our mind to change our thoughts and our view of reality (the way we look
at life) so that we live and act in a way that brings honor and glory to God.
a. Rom 12:1-3—Friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer you bodies to him as a living sacrifice,
pure and pleasing. That’s the most sensible way to serve God (CEV). Don’t copy the behavior
and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you
think (NLT). Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him (CEV).
1. This is your duty as a Christian. You present your body to God as an act of consecration. In
other words, you commit yourself to do His will. Then you renew your mind, or find out what
He thinks, so you can do His will.
2. God’s will for our lives is that, instead of thinking and acting like the world, we become Christ-
like in our character and behavior: Rom 8:29—For God knew his people in advance, and he
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chose them to become like his Son (Rom 8:29, NLT).
c. The Greek word translated transformed in Rom 12:2 means to change to another form. It refers to
undergoing a complete change by God’s power which expresses itself in character and conduct
(Vine’s Dictionary).
2. In some Christian circles renewing your mind is presented as something that you need to do so you can
be successful, prosperous, and blessed, and so that you can get everything God wants you to have.
a. Josh 1:8 is often cited to support this idea. The verse reads: This Book of the Law shall not depart
from your mouth; but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do
according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will
have good success (ESV).
b. When we read the verse in context we find that God had just commissioned Joshua to take Moses’
place and lead Israel into Canaan (the Promised Land) to settle.
1. The Hebrew word translated prosperous means to push forward. The word success means to
act with insight and succeed as opposed to fail. Success means succeeding at God’s will or the
mission that God has given him to do.
2. The purpose of renewing our mind is so that we can succeed at the mission God has given us,
which is to grow increasingly in Christ-like character and behavior. I John 2:6
c. Renewing the mind is not simply memorizing Bible verses and making positive confessions. It is a
supernatural process carried out by the Holy Spirit through the Scriptures. II Cor 3:18
1. When we surrender our lives to Jesus, the Holy Spirit indwells us and gives us the power to
make the necessary changes in our thoughts, words, and actions as we choose to obey God.
2. We read the Scriptures, not simply for information, but for transformation by the Holy Spirit
through the written Word of God.
3. Motivational speakers are quite popular nowadays. Corporations hold seminars for employees to train
them how to think and speak positively, how to have positive attitudes and make positive affirmations—
I can make this sale; I can close this deal.
a. But that process is natural. It is a technique that will make you feel better. But it has nothing to do
with the supernatural process that produces Christ-like transformation in followers of Jesus.
b. The basis of right thinking for a Christian is knowledge of who God is, what Jesus has done for us
through His death and resurrection, and what we are now because of what He has done.
1. Col 3:1-2—Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of
heaven, where Christ sits at God’s right hand in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill
your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth (NLT).
2. There’s a lot in this verse that we’ll discuss in later lessons. But for now, note that the change
in our thinking (renewing the mind) is connected to Jesus and what He has done.
e. Positive thinking says: You can do it. Biblical thinking expressed in positive confessions is
connected to Jesus. Paul made this affirmation, this confession: I have strength for all things in
Christ Who empowers me—I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who
infuses inner strength into me, [that is, I am sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency] (Phil 4:13, Amp).
4. Renewing the mind (Christian transformation) is not about self-improvement or learning to think
positively. It’s realizing that you are a sinner who is guilty of sin before a holy God and powerless to do
anything about your condition or your eternal fate. But God your Creator loves you even though you
have sinned, and He has made a way out if you will come back to Him in repentance and faith.
C. What I’ve described thus far are misunderstandings on the part of sincere Christians who lack accurate
knowledge in this area. But there is a more serious side to this with much more serious consequences.
1. There are those who talk about the mind and seeing true reality, but they are not Christians—even though
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they reference Jesus. The Jesus they accept and talk about is not Jesus of the Bible. They have a
much different view of who and what He is.
a. This includes what are known as the New Age Movement and the Mind Science religions. Their
views are not orthodox. Orthodox means consistent with the Bible regarding Christian beliefs.
b. Because both New Age and Mind Science religions talk about the Bible and Jesus, and about the
mind and seeing true reality, unlearned Christians are vulnerable to deception in this area.
1. When Jesus was on earth He warned His followers that the years leading up to His second
coming will be marked by rampant religious deception, specifically false Christs and false
prophets who preach false gospels. Matt 24:4-5; 11; 24
2. My goal in this lesson is not to do a detailed study of the New Age or Mind Science beliefs and
practices, but to urge Christians to read the New Testament for themselves and to get good
teaching from a competent Bible teacher.
2. Although there are many groups that come under the umbrella of the terms New Age and Mind Science,
and there are wide ranging and even contradictory views among them, there are some basic beliefs that
are common to most if not all of them. Here is a brief list of some of their beliefs.
a. God is a force or an energy, a Law, or a Principle. God is impersonal and not separate or distinct
from creation. God is in everything. Everything is an expression of God. God and God acting
is all there is. God is a universal Mind. Everything is God.
b. Humanity, like all creation, shares the essential being of God and is therefore divine. We just don’t
know it. Jesus was a man who recognized his divinity. We have not recognized our divinity. All
of us possess the Christ-concept. We need to recognize the Christ image in ourselves.
c. All problems arise from ignorance of our divinity and our oneness with all things. Humanity’s
problem is wrong thinking. By changing your perception of reality you can overcome anxiety, evil,
and death. Reality is what you determine it to be.
d. Human beings need transformation. This transformation comes through awareness of our divinity
and positive affirmations help us realize our potential and divinity.
e. There is no need for salvation from sin and guilt for sin, and therefore no eternal judgment or
punishment. Jesus came to save us, not from sin, but from mistakes and failures in this life due to
wrong thinking. Reincarnation or absorbsion into God is what awaits us after death, not judgment.
3. Each of those statements is in direct contradiction to orthodox Christianity. Remember, orthodox
means consistent with the Bible regarding Christian beliefs. Here is a brief list of what the Bible says
about these issues. (We could do, and have done, series on each of these points.)
a. God is a Being, the Creator of everything. The distinction between Creator and created will never
cease. God is Triune or Three Persons in one Being—God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Spirit. They co-inhere or share one Divine nature.
b. All human beings have broken God’s moral law and are guilty of sin before their Creator. They
have no way in themselves to be reconciled to Almighty God. All face eternal judgment.
c. Jesus is the Second Person of the Godhead (Trinity). He incarnated or took on a full human nature
in the womb of the Virgin Mary and was born into this world. Jesus became fully man without
ceasing to be fully God.
d. Jesus took on a human nature so that He could die as a sacrifice and atone for sin so that sinful men
and women can be reconciled to God through faith in Him.
4. If ever there was a time to know who Jesus is according to the Bible—the eyewitness accounts of men
who walked and talked with Him, heard Him teach, saw Him do miracles, saw Him die and then come
back to life—it’s now. The Bible gives us doctrine—who Jesus is and what He has done. II Tim 3:16
D. God is a Person, as opposed to a force or energy. A person is a self-conscious being, one who is aware of or
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conscious of himself as a self. Self has personality, self wills. An energy or a force does not.
1. This wonderful Being, the Creator and Sustainer of all things, wants to be known by us. He created us
with the capacity to know Him.
a. Jer 9:23-24—This is what the Lord says: let not the wise man (boast) in his wisdom, or the mighty
man in his might, or the rich man in his riches. Let them boast in this alone: that they truly know
me and understand that I am the Lord who is just and righteous, whose love is unfailing, and that I
delight in these things. I, the Lord, have spoken (NLT).
b. John 17:3—And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, the One you sent to earth (NLT); And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive,
recognize, become acquainted with and understand) You, the Only true and real God (Amp).
c. Love, kindness, justice, righteousness, and delight are not the traits of a force or an energy. Eternal
life comes, not through Christ-consciousness or reincarnation, but through knowing God the Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ experientially.
2. Jesus is God’s clearest revelation of Himself to humanity. Jesus is the Word made flesh, God Incarnate.
He never claimed to be a human who realized His divine potential, an ascended master or Way Shower.
a. Jesus’ claim was: I am the great I Am (the Self Existent One). If you don’t believe that I Am who
I say I am, you will die in your sins (John 8:24; John 8:58). Jesus authenticated everything He said
by rising from the dead (Rom 1:4).
b. Jesus told people: Come to Me, follow Me, learn from and imitate Me (Matt 16:24; Matt 11:29).
This is relationship with a Person, not a set of principles, rules or spiritual laws for successful living.
c. Sadly, some of these ideas have crept into orthodox Christian circles. If we just reprogram our
mind, say the right words and don’t say the wrong ones, we’ll get what we want from God. This
has become a technique that is completely separated from relationship with a Person.
3. The night before Jesus was crucified He told His apostles: You are my friends if you obey me. I no
longer call you servants, because a master doesn’t confide in his servants. Now you are my friends,
since I have told you everything the Father told me (John 15:14-15, NLT).
a. This concept was not new to the apostles. Their ancestor, Abraham was called the friend of God in
Isa 41:8. That statement was made in the context of God with us: Don’t be afraid, for I am with
you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold
you with my victorious right hand (Isa 41:10, NLT). That’s reality as it truly is.
b. Essential to any close relationship is knowing what and how the other person thinks. God has
given us His written Word so that we can know what and how He thinks and then bring our thinking
in line with Him (renew our mind), and enjoy the relationship as we bring glory and honor to Him.
1. There’s more in these verses than we can address now, but note one final thought: The
Scriptures ask, “Has anyone ever known the thoughts of the Lord or given him advice?” But
we understand what Christ is thinking (or we think as Christ does) (I Cor 2:16, CEV).
2. It’s often wrongly said that now that we are born again we have the mind of Christ. No, we
don’t have His mind. We have access to His mind or how He thinks through the Scriptures.
But we have to avail ourselves of His thoughts (read the Bible, especially the New Testament).
3. Then, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we have to change our way of looking at life (God,
ourselves, our past, our present, and our future) so that we can walk in agreement with Him and
accurately express Him to the world around us though our character and behavior.
E. Conclusion: Let’s be clear. Renewing our mind is part of the process that restores us to our created
purpose as sons and daughters of God, who bring honor and glory to our Father through our Christ-like
character and behavior. And it’s all possible because of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, God
Incarnate. Much more next week!