Loving God with All Your Mind

Transcription

1 Loving God with All Your Mind Isaiah 55:6-13 Rev. Jeff Chapman ~ February 6, 6, 2011 ~ Faith Presbyterian Church Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD ORD, he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD ORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees es of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. (Isaiah 55:6-13, NRSV) ccthat I chose to read this particular scripture today because it sets the table for our discussion this morning about what it means to love God with all of your mind. Notice how the writer here recognizes that we, as humans, are so far beneath God when it comes to our thoughts? God is near to us, it s true. God is even poised to show mercy to us. Yet the things that captivate our minds are so vastly different from the things that captivate the mind of God.

2 There s a passage in Romans 1 you may know it where Paul says our sin has led God to turn us over to a depraved mind. Sin, in other words, corrupts our minds. They are supposed to be filled with truth, and beauty, and humility, and praise. Instead, sin has filed our minds with things like envy, deceit, arrogance, rebellion, and malice. 1 2 Don t believe this is true? How many of us would like to have all the thoughts which cross our minds broadcast for everybody else to see? Not me. I doubt you would either. The prophet Isaiah knew this same truth Paul knew. Our thoughts are so far beneath the thoughts of God. And yet, the prophet proclaims, there is hope. For God is sending out his Word. And like rain falling on a dry and parched land, God s Word can have a magnificent effect. If received, it can lead to the restoration of a human mind, to joy, to peace, to truth, to worship. Keep this message of hope in your mind today as we move forward. As we jump in, let me give a quick summary of where we have been. According to Jesus, the greatest thing we can do in life is to love the God who already loves us with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, all our strength. Two weeks ago we talked about what it means to love God with one s heart. The heart, remember, is the will. So loving God with my heart means that regardless of how I feel, I choose to place my life and my confidence in God s hands. This is a choice, a step, which every believer must make, and continue to make, in life. Once this decision is made, scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit of God comes and takes up residence in our lives. That means that with God literally living within us, never leaving us, never failing us, that means our very lives are rooted in a foundation that can never be shaken. In this confidence, we begin to love God with our soul as well, with the very essence of who we are. No matter what happens, in God s hands we know that it is well with our soul. It is in this place, then, that we begin to ask this question. Now that Christ is in my life, not that I belong to him, how can I begin to live a life which honors Christ? How can I begin to develop the character of Christ, to love like Christ, to think like Christ, to act like Christ? In other words, now that I love God with my heart and soul, how can God help me begin to love God with my mind and my strength? It s almost like this. Imagine your life is a house. 2 And you have made the decision to invite Jesus to move in with you. And he s accepted. He s moved in. He s sharing the place with you now. And because he s there, you have this new confidence that your home is now secure. With Jesus living there, nothing can happen to your house. 1 See Paul s stark words in Romans 1: I m inspired in this illustration by a famous sermon once preached by Robert Boyd Munger called My Heart, Christ s Home. Even if you ve read this before, it s worth reading again. You can read it online at

3 3 There s just one problem. You know how when company come to stay with you, that s when you notice all the things that are wrong with your house? Well when Jesus moves in, you notice that the place is a wreck. And if Jesus is going to live here, the place your life - is going to need to be renovated. You can t do it yourself, of course. Its way too big a job and things have been neglected for far too long. But you re in luck. Jesus specializes in renovation. He s actually famous for being able to transform messes into things of beauty. Rumor has it that he s even made dead things come alive again. Now, if you were to ask Jesus, Lord, now that you ve moved in, which part of my life do you think we should renovate first?, I believe I know what Jesus would say. First, Jesus would say, we need to renovate your mind. Let s begin there, with your thoughts. Because as both of us know, the things that occupy your thoughts are so far beneath the things that occupy my thoughts. You love me with your heart and soul, let s see now if I can help you love me with your mind. The order of the great commandment is not an accident. First we love God with our heart and soul, next Jesus says we are to love God with our mind. Last and we ll get to this next week we love God with our strength. Now, the mind, as you know, is very complex. A Christian philosopher named Dallas Willard, whose work I am heavily relying on in this message, says that there are, in fact, four distinct areas of the human mind. The first area is ideas. Every human mind is full of ideas, concepts about any number of things. These are assumptions we make about reality. They re powerful. They govern us. They are also very abstract. Education. Happiness. The American dream. Science. Death. Home. The feminine and the masculine. Sportsmanship. Secular. God. Freedom. These are all ideas which are, in some way, beyond definition. And yet we each keep trying to define them. Sometimes in very different ways. The second area of the mind is images. Rather than being abstract like ideas, images are very concrete. They are also often loaded with feeling. While freedom, for instance, is an idea, the American Flag is an image. Now, as soon as a person places that image in his/her mind, there s a good chance it will illicit very strong feelings about the idea of freedom. For some, those feelings may be positive. Many Americans, obviously, picture an American Flag and the image immediately fills their minds with pride over what they believe this country has done to establish freedom. Others around the world, however, see the very same image and their minds are immediately filled with a whole different set of feelings. To them, the American flag may represent oppression and tyranny. So the image fills their minds with rage and hatred. This teaches us something very important about these first two areas of the mind. Ideas and images are very, very subjective. Two people can think about the very same idea or image and come away with two very different perceptions. Which can often make discerning the truth very difficult. I mean, how do you tell which is right? How do you tell which is closest to the truth? The American patriot and the al-qaida terrorist can t both

4 be completely right in their perceptions of freedom and the American Flag. Maybe neither of them is completely right. 4 Let me tell you something you likely already know. Some ideas and images in our minds lead us to the truth, to the way things really are. But some ideas and images do the opposite; they lead us away from truth. The implications of this reality are extraordinarily far-reaching. When I was in junior high I watched the movie Jaws. It was not a good choice. Anybody else here watch that movie as a kid and then have a very difficult time going in the ocean after that? Man, I was so scared by that movie I wouldn t even go near a swimming pool for months. The idea of this creature petrified me! I m quoting the actual trailer here: A creature which has lived millions of years without change, without passion, and without logic. It lives to kill, a mindless eating machine. It will attack and devour anything. It is as if God created the devil, and gave him jaws! 3 The image of that shark still sticks with me. Funny thing about that movie, however, is that it created these ideas and images in people s minds that simply were not true. Because great white sharks rarely, if ever, behave like the beast in that movie. In fact, if you spend lots of time at the beach you ve got a far, far greater chance of dying from skin cancer than from ever even seeing a great white shark. Nonetheless, the idea and image put forth in that movie were so strong, that the truth got swept aside in countless minds. Images and ideas are powerful, even when they re false. An aside to parents here. Do not be deceived about the power that media can have over your kids. In fact, I would suggest that it is the foolish parent who is not being extraordinarily diligent in monitoring the images and ideas which are being placed in the minds of your kids. Movies, and television, and video games in our culture, much of which are targeted to kids, are absolutely full of corrupt and false images and ideas when it comes to sexuality, and violence, and wealth, and happiness, and God. And the spiritual and emotional toll that parental ignorance and apathy along these lines is taking on this generation of children and youth is staggering. 4 Entire nations and cultures down through history have been misled by false ideas and images convincingly placed in people s minds. It s an extreme example, but Word War II itself was the tragic result of false ideas and images which were embraced by a whole generation. Tragically, ever since the beginning of human history, people have been embracing false ideas and images about God, and about life, and about humanity, and about creation, and about salvation. And these false ideas and images lead people in all sorts of directions away from the truth, away from God, away from the grace and life and love God has to offer. In fact, a theologian named A.W. Tozer once said, What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. 5 In other words, making sure that our minds are filled with true images and ideas about God is supremely important. 3 Taken from 4 Philippians 4:8 is an excellent guide for parents as they consider what ideas and images to place in the minds of their children. 5 Emphasis mine.

5 This is why I believe that when Jesus moves into the house of our life, the first thing he wants to renovate is our minds. In fact, loving God with our minds has a great deal to do with making sure that we exchange all false ideas or images about God and his ways with true ideas and images. 5 The apostle Paul regularly insisted that this must happen. For instance, in Romans 12:2 Paul writes, Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world [to the false images and ideas that are everywhere] but instead be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 6 You see, transformation in the Christian life does not begin with actions or behaviors. No, the very first part of the house Jesus wants to renovate is the mind. But how? Well, Dallas Willard says that the only way the first two areas of the mind, our ideas and images, can be changed is with the third area of the mind, which is information. You see, along with ideas and images, we also have the power to place before our minds information. Truth. Facts. Reality. For instance, when a student sits in the library and does her Chemistry homework, she is placing information in her mind and, in doing so, building true images and ideas about the way things really are when it comes to the natural world. That s what accurate information does. It changes ideas and images. Which means that if I would have gotten my information from the Monterey Bay Aquarium when I was a junior high kid, rather than by watching Jaws, I would have had very different ideas and images about great white sharks. Information, truth, is a powerful corrective to false images and ideas. You know this. For we ve all had the experience of meeting somebody we didn t care for all that much. Initially, our ideas and image of that person were not positive. But then we actually took the time to get to know him. And what happened? The things we learned about this person, the truth, had the power to completely change our ideas and images about him. Now, if you still don t believe me that images and ideas are powerful forces, jay attention this afternoon during the Super Bowl. Advertisers will spend millions and millions of dollars to show us commercials that are full of ideas and images and almost completely devoid of information. In some instances you won t even be able to tell exactly what product is being promoted. Still, Madison Avenue knows if they can convince us to set information aside, and simply embrace images and ideas, whether or not they point to truth, we will open up our wallets and make them very wealthy people. Understand something. You have the ability to intentionally place before your mind information and use reason, logic, and intelligence to shape images and ideas in your mind. Dallas Willard calls this the fourth part of the human mind, thinking. You can choose, for instance, to put the information in a Chemistry textbook in your mind as way to form right ideas and images about the natural world. You can choose to sit and listen to another person and learn about his life as a way to replace assumptions and stereotypes with right ideas and images about that person. And of course, you can also choose to seek knowledge about God, and about God s ways, so that your images and ideas about faith and life can also conform to the truth. 6 Romans 12:1-2. Emphasis mine. Note that in the first 11 chapters of that book Paul passionately lays out the truth about our the absolute sinful and corrupt nature of humanity and the absolute stunning and lavish nature of God s grace and love made available to us, in spite of our sin, through Jesus Christ. Then, beginning in chapter 12, Paul uses the last five chapters of his letter to tell us how this amazing grace of God should change everything in our lives. As he begins that last section on what we might call renovation, listen closely to the very first thing Paul says. In Romans 12:1 he writes, Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God s mercy [in light of what God has done], to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God this is your spiritual act of worship. In other words, in light of God s love for you, choose to love God with your heart and your soul. And then what is the very first thing Paul says next? The verse quoted above about transforming your mind. For some reason, he was convinced that this renovation must begin with the mind.

6 So where do we find knowledge about God which we can trust to be true? Well, the question actually leads us back to where we began this morning in Isaiah. All along God has told us that the information we gain from His Word is what we need to form and shape ideas and images in our minds about God which are true to the way things really are. And this is why the scriptures, the Bible, is God s priceless and unparalleled gift to us. Hebrews 4:12 puts it brilliantly. The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 7 That s powerful. Scripture, when received by a person full of the Holy Spirit, has the power to cut into even the most deeply-entrenched ideas and images in our minds. But here s the thing. I meet people all the time who have been around churches their whole lives. They profess to believe in God, in Christ. And yet, when I begin listen to some of these people talk about their beliefs, I quickly realize that they are carrying around in their minds all sorts of false ideas and images about God, about who Jesus was, about what Jesus did, about how a person comes to be saved, about what the kingdom of heaven is really all about. Understand, I m not passing judgment on anybody s standing before God. That s never my place. I just want you to know that I meet all sorts of people whose false ideas and images about God and life are powerfully leading them all sorts of places I believe they were never meant to go. Into guilt. Into shame. Into bitterness. Into following paths that ultimately lead nowhere. Into hopelessness. Even into death. In nearly every instance, the problem has been that people like this have never done the hard work of placing the right information about God and about life into their minds so that their ideas and images can be transformed away from the patters of this world which mislead. Specifically, they just don t know the scriptures. They have not committed themselves to a constant and lifelong study of God s Word. Because, you see, when we do study, and meditate on, and memorize, and pray through, and internalize the message of God s Word, then the Holy Spirit within us will begin to reveal the truth to us. It s like God s Word is a light which, over time, dispels any darkness which has found its way into our thinking. 8 In fact, I believe that any person who approaches God s Word with a truly humble heart and open mind, and commits themselves to an extended season of serious study of the Christian Gospel, I believe that person will, with God s help, eventually find themselves coming to faith in Jesus Christ. As C.S. Lewis once cleverly said, The young atheist can t be too careful what he reads and must steadfastly protect his arrogance. The only people who never come to know the truth about God are people who never truly seek God. In Jeremiah 29:13, God says, You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. An honest pursuit of God, which begins with the information found in God s Word, always leads to faith. It always leads to worship. Just like Isaiah talked about. God s Word, like falling rain, will produces life. Specifically, it always produces worship. Not only in people, Isaiah says, but even the hills burst into song. Even the trees clap their hands. 6 7 NIV. 8 Psalm 119:105 says that God s Word is like a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. The whole Psalm, in fact, is a beautiful exclamation of the power of God s Word.

7 The application here, I imagine, is obvious. We love God with all our minds when the images and ideas we have about God in our minds are full of truth. For when we know the truth about God, we can t help but worship God, we can t help but love God. 7 But again, the way we shape those images and ideas is through thinking carefully about information. Specifically, scripture must inform us. We must feed on it regularly. Not just on Sunday mornings, though that s not a bad place to begin, but daily we must study it, and mediate on it, and pray through it, and memorize it. Remember when Jesus said that people do not live by bread alone but also live by every Word that comes from the mouth of God. 9 So while bread is food for our bodies, scripture is food for our minds and our souls. And just like we don t just eat once a week and expect to have healthy, well-nourished bodies, we simply cannot expect our minds to be healthy in their love for God unless we also feed daily on God s Word. Now some of you, I recognize, are already doing this. Keep it up. This message this morning is for you, I hope, an encouragement and a reminder to keep doing what you re already doing. Others of us, however, have never made the daily study of scripture a priority. And that s okay. Really! There s no shame in that. This message is not meant to beat you up or load you with guilt over something you haven t been doing. Nothing good comes from that and so that s not what I m trying to do. Instead, my hope is that today you have been encouraged and inspired. Understand, if you have already made the decision to trust Christ with your life, to love God with your heart and soul, then the Spirit of Christ has taken up residence in your life. That means the first thing Christ wants to do in his new home is renovate your mind. If you let him do so with scripture, he will! Now, if you don t know where to begin with all this, maybe we can help. So much could be said here, but let me at least offer a few practical comments before I close. To begin with, make sure you have a Bible. If you don t have one, go get one. If you like, we ll even give you one this morning. Then, find a regular time of the day when you can commit to spending time in scripture. Might be first thing in the morning. Might be right before you go to bed. It s not so important what time you choose, as it is that whatever time you choose is a time when you can be regularly focused and uninterrupted. It doesn t even have to be all that long at first. Maybe you just want to start by taking 15 minutes or so. (If my math is right, that s only about 1% of your day!) Just so you know, some days it will go well. Some days it won t. I ve been trying to make this a daily practice for over 30 years now and I ve had as much failure as I have had success. Still, I am committed to continuing to strengthen this daily discipline because I know that the health of my life with Christ depends upon it. Now, I understand that the Bible is a big book and lots of people don t jump in because they don t know where to start and what to do when they start. If that s you, I would urge you to use the Next Step that we hand out every week in worship. While there are many ways to study God s Word, the simple guide provided here is a great way to begin. It s self-explanatory. Just walk through the steps listed here and use the scriptures we provide at the bottom every week. Many of you, I know, already use this as your guide. 9 See Matthew 4:4.

8 As you get stuck, as questions come up, that s where the church comes in. Many of us work through these things in classes, or in Life Groups, or by reading through books that help interpret and explain things. All of us need the community to help us understand what the Bible is teaching us. I know I do. Of course, if it would be of help, I encourage you to make an appointment to come and talk to one of us as pastors. I think I speak for Patrick, Quinn and Jim in saying that there is almost nothing we would rather do than to sit down with you and talk about how you can develop a daily habit of feeding on God s Word. In fact, few things bring me more joy in life than seeing somebody immerse themselves in God s Word in such a way that the Gospel begins to transform their ideas and images and leads them to a place where they begin to love God with all their mind. Let s pray together The Next Step A resource for Life Groups and/or personal application ~ Read Isaiah 55:6-13. What is one thing this passage teaches you or one question that it raises for you? ~ Isaiah says that our thoughts and ways are very far away from God s thoughts and ways. However, he also says that the Word of God has the power to change all that. Can you think of a time in your life when your thoughts or your ways were completely changed by what you learned or heard in the Bible? ~ A.W. Tozer said, What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. What do you think he meant by this? Do you agree? ~ Paul urges us in Romans 12:2, Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God s will is his good, pleasing and perfect will. What does this mean to you? How would you apply this verse to your life? ~ The Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, was one of many Christians over the ages who became absolutely convinced that scripture must be the primary shaper of the mind of a Christian. When he was on trial for his convictions, he famously said at one point, Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason I do not accept the authority of [even] popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Here I stand I cannot do otherwise. Amen. Do you agree with his conviction that the conscience should be captive to the Word of God alone? ~ Have you developed habits in your life around the study of scripture? If so, what are they? If not, would you like to? ~ What tends to get in the way of you putting in the time and effort to seek the truth about God and life in scripture? ~ In Philippians 4:8, Paul encourages us, Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthy 8

9 think about such things. Why do you think God seems so concerned with what images or ideas we place before our minds? 9 ~ Would you say that the media and entertainment choices you make in your life, or in your children s lives, have any negative impact on how you do or do not love God with your mind? Further Scripture Readings for the Week: Monday: Romans 1:18-31 Depravity of our minds Tuesday: Psalm 119: Love of God s Word (Read the whole Psalm if you have time.) Wednesday: Philippians 4:8-9 Think on these things Thursday: Romans 8:1-17 Life through the Spirit Friday: Luke 24:36-49 Jesus opens their minds Saturday : II Corinthians 10:1-6 Every thought captive