GROWING A BEAUTIFUL MIND
Do these words sound familiar to you? “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” (Rom 12:2).
You have heard these words before but, no doubt, have wondered how your mind could be renewed. Our thinking has been influenced by the pattern of this world. We grow up understanding, or what we think is an understanding, of how our world works. That influences how we behave and what we choose to do.
Each generation seems to have its own way of looking at the world. Baby boomers, those born after World War 2, are a generation who optimistically push forward and reach for the American dream of a home with a two-car garage. Generation Xers (my generation), in contrast, are cynical and cautious. The pattern of our generations dictates how we view the world around us.
Regardless of the generation that describes your age it is said by experts that we suffer more from mental illness today than ever before. The great dream wasn’t as fulfilling as you thought; you are cynical, skeptical, disillusioned and tainted by a worldview that has no answers for the local and global crises we are facing today.
We need a new way of thinking. We need a new mind. We need to put away the pattern of this world and be renewed in our thinking to see life how God sees it.
The problem is that our expectation of the solution is that we can just add water, stir and instantly we have a renewed mind. That is our current mindset. Jesus, through the words of Paul, calls us to discipleship. That is, he calls us to come and follow him and learn from him and put these things into practice. It is not instantaneous, it is a process.
If you would like to renew your mind this morning, join me in Philippians 4:4-9.
1. Find your Joy in Jesus
In our series “Living the life of Joy” we have reached the pinnacle of Paul’s ode to joy. He has used the term “joy” or “rejoice” several times before, but now he shouts out the essence of all that he has said, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (4:4).
Let me remind you once again that joy is not happiness. It is much deeper than happiness and more enduring. Happiness depends on what is happening around you; joy is constant and sure. You may not be happy today but you are saved by the blood of Christ and this is reason to rejoice. Joy is always possible which is why Paul says we should rejoice “always.” To rejoice is an action, not a feeling, and we choose how we are going to react to our situations.
With that in mind remember that Paul was sitting in a Roman prison, his back sore and tender, his wrists chafing from the chains, perhaps a little bloody, and a soldier connected to the other end of that chain. And he’s telling the Philippians to rejoice. He himself was rejoicing in his circumstances, as we have seen throughout this letter.
Doesn’t this sound foreign? Our brains aren’t wired that way. How can anyone think like this? How do you get to a place of joy like this?
About ten years ago CNN’s Larry King interviewed Billy Graham. For some time now Graham has had several health issues including his struggle with Parkinson’s Disease. When Larry King asked him how he felt about having Parkinson’s Disease, Dr. Graham replied, “I feel great about it. It’s been a wonderful experience. I believe the Lord has many lessons to teach me through this disease.”
Dr. Graham was rejoicing in the Lord. I wondered when I read this, how could a person be able to do this. The answer came to me as twofold. First, it is supernatural. That’s the only way I could grasp this kind of joy. It had to be from God. And secondly, in cooperation with the Spirit of God, Dr. Graham must have made it a habit to daily rejoice in the Lord. Even a disease like that which would bring anyone’s spirits down was a cause for Billy Graham to praise God. The Lord gives the gift of joy but we have to practice it.
This so totally goes against our natural mindset. When we face tragedy we are most likely to blame God and ask “why?” but joy does the opposite. If we find ourselves unable to rejoice in all circumstances that is one sign that we need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
2. Show us your “Calm”
When we have begun to practice rejoicing in all circumstances, our minds are better prepared for any circumstance. If we can learn to rejoice even when things go wrong a change of attitude is going to be evident.
Paul follows the challenge to rejoice with a natural result: “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near” (4:5). This word is translated variously as “forbearance,” “mildness,” “moderation,” “large-heartedness,” and “inner calmness.”
Charles Swindoll described it this way: “In our rough-and-rugged individualism, we think of gentleness as weakness, being soft, and virtually spineless. Not so! ... Gentleness includes such enviable qualities as having strength under control, being calm and peaceful when surrounded by a heated atmosphere, emitting a soothing effect on those who may be angry or otherwise beside themselves, and possessing tact and gracious courtesy that causes others to retain their self-esteem and dignity.... Instead of losing, the gentle gain. Instead of being ripped off and taken advantage of, they come out ahead!”
Some things are just plain frustrating. When we attempt to teach others a principle or a practice we grow impatient when they fail to get it. I am one of those who lacks gentleness, but I have been learning it with Ethan through our Wednesday night father-son times. We build a model together or draw something. And I am finding God is teaching me “calm” or gentleness through this.
Paul could have been frustrated with the Corinthians. They thought they had it all as Christians but the Apostle could see glaring immorality in their midst. He could have been really angry with them. Instead he wrote, “By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you…” (2 Cor 10:1). He took a sensitive, parental approach to their stubbornness.
A key to this attitude is the short phrase “the Lord is near.” There are two meanings we could take from this phrase; both give us reason to rejoice and remain calm. One is that Jesus is literally near. “The LORD is near to all who call on him” (Ps 145:18). The second is that Jesus is coming back soon. “…be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!” (Js 5:8-9).
So with either aspect we have reason to be calm. If we are facing trouble or frustration we can be calm because the Lord is near. Our attitude is based on the faith that God is in control.
3. Control your “Worry” levels
The attitudes of joy and gentleness will help lay a foundation for growing a beautiful mind. The antithesis of these attitudes is anxiety. Some expert somewhere said that there are more people addicted to anxiety than to all the other addictions combined. I don’t know that for sure but I do know that more and more people seem to be afflicted with anxiety.
Paul wrote, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God” (4:6). The KJV says it even better, “Be anxious for nothing.”
The word “anxious” means “to be divided” or “to de drawn in different directions.” If that sounds bad consider that the word “anxiety” comes from an old English word that means “to strangle.” It was used to refer to the practices of wolves killing sheep by biting them around the neck, strangling their prey to death. That’s anxiety.
This is similar to the picture that Jesus uses in the gospels. “What was sown among the thorns is the man who hears the word but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful” (Matt 13:22). Our spiritual growth is greatly hindered by our anxieties and our obsession with the pursuit of wealth.
Some years ago a professor at a leading American university studied the things people worry about. His research yielded the following results: 40% never happen, 30% concern the past, 12% are needless worries about health, and 10% are about petty issues. Only 8% are legitimate concerns. That means that 92% of your “worry time” is wasted energy.
When we worry we are saying that God is not capable of taking care of us. When we worry we are not rejoicing; we are diverting energy into a black hole that produces nothing. R. H. Mounce once said, “Worry is practical atheism and an affront to God.” We can worry or we can worship. It’s impossible to do both.
Rather than worry, Paul calls us to prayer. To pray is to worship God, to focus on his character and adore his attributes and his names. It continues to amaze me that we pray as a last resort when the peace that comes from prayer is so profound.
When we pray we also put before God those problems and needs, no matter how small, and we can get real specific about the troubles we are facing. That’s what it means to present petitions and requests before Him.
And always we pray with thanksgiving. This is the practice of a beautiful mind. Again, it is not instantaneous; it is something that we learn by practicing. I have been challenged in recent months to pray for those who I have considered adversaries and I have learned to thank God for them. It changes our perspective.
The result of this practice is this very real truth: “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (4:7). When God’s peace floods our souls it protects our hearts from wrong feelings and thoughts. The word “guard” means “to garrison” and it is a picture of soldiers protecting a camp or castle. The enemy is unable to get in when God’s peace protects us.
A beautiful mind is a mind that has learned to cast our worries onto God and receive his peace. This is a mind that views life differently than the pattern of this world.
4. Filter your Cranial Input
Ultimately, what do you fill your mind with? Whatever you sow, that you will reap, Paul said, and it applies to the mind too. If you wonder why you think the way you do, or why you hear “rejoice in the Lord always” and “Do not be anxious about anything” and can’t grasp the realities of these commands, it may have something to do with an overcrowded brain.
Paul said, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things” (4:8).
Brian Bill commented on these verses saying, “God has packed a lot of good into this world and we need to fill our minds with that which is praiseworthy. Be deliberate about what you allow yourself to think about. Just as good food is necessary for our body’s health, good thoughts are necessary for spiritual health.”
Some Christians believe that you can only think about those things that have the Christian stamp upon them. It is true that Christian radio has a more positive affect on you when you listen to it. But I would also add that God gave gifts to Bach and Beethoven, to Paul Brandt and to Bono. There is God’s beauty in art and photography and even TV. Nothing is secular when we see that God is in it. At the same time God is clearly not in some things and we need to filter our brains to refuse those things.
But if it is true or right or noble or lovely and if it causes you to praise God, then think about it and thank God for it.
The mind is a fertile field. We plant all kinds of seeds in our minds throughout each day; seeds from what we watch on TV; seeds from our music, conversation or idle talk; seeds from what we read. What kind of crop of thoughts are you growing up there? The fruit will come out in your actions and values. How much is the Word of God planted up there? The fact is, if we plant more of God’s thoughts we will know better how to handle other, sometimes anxious thoughts.
Fill your mind with the Bible by reading it daily; memorize it; meditate on it. Be committed to regular Sunday attendance at church. Expose yourself to things that reflect the goodness of God. Fellowship with other believers. Guard your eyes when watching TV. These things will plant a better crop in your mind and produce a better harvest of thoughts.
Those thoughts that do not help the mind, destroy the mind. Paul said, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor 10:5). Literally, through the power of the Spirit, tell those thoughts they have no place in your mind and cast them out in Jesus’ name.
Warren Wiersbe said, “Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny.” This is how the process works: God gives the gift and we get to practice it.
Conclusion
Appropriately, Paul concludes this portion of the Word with a challenge of a practical nature. He said, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you” (4:9).
Paul would never tell his people to do something he did not do. It is also clear that I am not offering you a magic pill to swallow and cure your mind. In order to have a beautiful mind you and I have to practice rejoicing in every situation; we have to learn gentleness and quietness in the face of frustration or crisis; we have to learn to trust God instead of worrying; and we have to fill our minds with good food for thought. This takes practice. We have to work at having a beautiful mind.
The promises are a great motivator for us to try. If we cast our anxiety on God and pray and put everything before him, he promises us the peace of God. If we put into practice all of these attitudes and actions, the God of peace will be with you. Both promises are peace: the peace of God and the God of peace.
The fruit of a beautiful mind is peace. Interestingly, as we have studied this passage today, did you notice that we could have been talking about the fruit of the Spirit? This is not just some sermon to take or leave. This is the stuff, the good stuff God wants you to have and to be.
So let me say again: “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” (Rom 12:2).
AMEN
