“As A Man Thinketh”
Transforming our Thought Life!
A Summary of lessons on the thought life of the believer!
LESSON ONE- THE NEED FOR TRANSFORMATION
ROMANS 12: 1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform 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.
If we are going to truly live the Christian life we are going to have to do something about the way we think. Not only are we to make certain that our bodies are avoiding physical misconduct, we also need to work to prevent our minds from conforming to a worldly mindset. God’s will is not only in how we act, but also in how we think.
Our minds need to be constantly being renewed. Just as a person who is driving down the road must constantly adjust his steering, even on a straight road, we must constantly adjust our thinking to be consistent with God’s thinking.
This particular study is about thought patterns that we need to incorporate as well as those we must avoid. There are ideas in God’s Word about things we need to focus on in our thinking as well as things we need to avoid thinking about. We adjust our thinking so we are thinking like God thinks. This can only happen as we immerse ourselves in God’s Word and begin to see how he thinks.
LESSON TWO- THE MIND OF CHRIST
Philippians 2
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature] God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
This passage deals with our thinking and attitude within the framework of the work of the church. We must be cautious in our attitudes towards one another. If you read the book of Philippians carefully, you will discover that the church had some fellowship problems. Apparently two women had become at odds with one another and created a disruption in the church. There may have been much more going on, but these women were upset enough that the Apostle Paul named them and asked the remainder of the church to assist them in resolving their differences.
We will get over to those two women later, for now let’s focus on what kind of manner of thinking Jesus had and how it affected the church.
1) Jesus did not hang on to a position that justly and properly belonged to Him.
Believers need to be careful about hanging on to a position that they think they should have. Jesus, equal with God, chose to relinquish the position. Why? He trusted the Father to restore Him to that position. Of course, we have the privilege of hindsight to look back and see that He was obedient and God did indeed restore Him to glory.
Do you insist on being recognized for some position that you believe God would have you serve in? Do you struggle with others to hold on to some position? Do you demand that others recognize you in that position?
Another example of this type of humility would be King David. Even though the prophet Samuel had anointed him as king, he refused to take action to assume that position, declaring his belief that if God had called him to that position, then God could be trusted to remove Saul and elevate David to that position.
2) Jesus took the form, position, and responsibilties of a servant.
A servant thinks about those he is going to serve. A good “server” in a restaurant is constantly monitoring the needs to the customers. The best servers anticipate the needs of the customer and bring coffee or condiments, or something else needed. Jesus recognized the needs of the church and was willing to humble himself as necessary in order to meet the needs.
Are there jobs in the church that you refuse to do? Even if the jobs are necessary to keep the church operating? Do you refuse to clean toilets or empty trash? Do you hold out for a more prestigious Sunday School class to teach? Jesus took the most difficult task, the dirty job, a job nobody else could do. We should follow this example.
3) Jesus acted in obedience to the most difficult task
Jesus recognized that the task he was being called to was difficult. We should never get the idea that Jesus was happy about going to the cross. The night before He was crucified He pleaded with the Father for another way. However, he told the Lord He was willing to follow God’s will, even to the difficult task of dying on the cross. So he took upon Himself the sins of the world, and carried them to the cross. Obeying, even when it was difficult.
The tasks God calls us to are often difficult tasks. The fact is that even when we are hesitant to obey the Lord in these difficult tasks we must boldly choose to submit to him, regardless of the personal cost.
LESSON THREE – Higher Thinking in the Lord
Philippians 4:4-8:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus Finally, 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—think about such things. 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.
Now, that’s an interesting place to start, but we need to see a bit fuller context. The entire book of Philippians is about changing the way the believers at Philippi think, primarily in regards to each other. Earlier in this chapter (Remembering that there were no chapter and verse references in the original letter) Paul pleaded with the two ladies who were probably the center of the problem by name, Euodia and Syntyche, to find agreement in the Lord. He also urged others in the church to assist them in sorting out their differences.
I think it is safe to assume that this instruction, following on the heals of that plea, is further instruction for both those two women AND those Paul was asking to assist them. Paul tells the ladies to agree in the Lord and now to rejoice in the Lord.
1) Agree “in the Lord” and Rejoice “in the Lord!”
He does not tell them to agree and to rejoice in their differences, but rather to return their focus to the Lord. They needed to find common ground in the Lord and they needed to find common cause for joy in the Lord. Rather than conflict, they needed to be focused on the Lord. They needed to learn gentleness. Instead of demanding from one another they were told to present their requests to God. Rather than being harsh with one another they were to be aware of the Lord’s presence, which should assist them in being gentle. It is hard to be nasty and mean with one another when we remember that God is present with us.
Then the Apostle Paul states that it is time for these two women (and of course all believers) to focus on the positive. They are to focus on truth, on noble attitudes, on correct thinking, those things that bring praise to God. Peace cannot coexist with conflict that is stirred up from the wrong type of thinking. One cannot experience peace while thinking about how to get even or get over on brothers and sisters in Christ. One cannot experience peace while abiding in suspicion of the motives of others. The answer to all of these wrong attitudes is to go before the Lord with them.
Samuel had a conflict with the people of Israel who came to him with accusations about his sons. The accusations must have had some merit, for Samuel did not dispute them. However, Samuel was hurt, but before he responded, he prayed about the matter. God told him how to handle it and reminded Samuel that the people were not rejecting a prophet, but it was God that they were rejecting. Sometimes, we need God to show us that the way we feel about other people’s attitudes toward us are not what we suspect. We need God to help us learn to think on that which is true and see the reality of the situation.
In our sharing, we also examined the use of the word “noble” to express a higher attitude. In the ancient code of Chivalry, the noble were supposed to protect the common man. Sadly, likely because of the fallen nature of man, this code of chivalry, protecting the weak, exacting justice, etc. eventually fell apart. Noble thinking is thinking of the very highest class.. the most chivalrous--- not just in regards to men and women, but we are all called to be soldiers of God’s justice and therefore must conduct ourselves with attitudes above the common selfishness.
In Dicken’s classic book “A Tale of Two Cities” we have one of the characters acting out of love, assuming the place of another on the guillotine, and as the book ends he is musing about his noble act. Noble thinking is sacrificial in nature. How can I best minister to others? Christ, of course, is the supreme example of this noble thinking.
So, important steps in developing our thought process (that we discovered in this lesson):
1)Focus on the Lord
2)Remember His presence and conduct ourselves accordingly
3)Present our requests to the Lord
4)Focus on the things God would have us focus on—how we can be better
LESSON FOUR – Stop Stressing over Evil
The next lesson was a mixed lesson from Psalm 37 and Psalm 73. In Psalm 37, the Psalmist David, who had huge conflicts with others in his life, states that we are not to fret because of evil men because their days are numbered.
The word fret can sort of mean worry in modern terms. In the Hebrew it has the idea of being frustrated , enraged, annoyed, and greatly bothered. It is more than worried, it is worried to the point of angry frustration. I like the Spanish word for worried.. it is preocuparse - - you can see it is the same root from where we get the word “preoccupied”—but it is more than that. The “se” on the end denotes a reflexive verb. Therefore it is something one does to himself. To preoccupy oneself would be a good definition. Others DON’T cause us worry, we take it upon ourselves.
David goes on to declare that such fretting (continually thinking with great concern and deep emotion) over evil men leads only to evil. In other words, we can’t spend our time thinking about the evil in this world and how evildoers seem to escape judgment. Why not?
1)Evildoers are temporary- the things of God are permanent
2)Thinking on evil men/deeds stirs up anger within us that is not beneficial
3)Thinking with great concern on evil men /deeds creates lack of faith in God
Asaph was the other writer who wrote about our response to evil men and the evil that they do. In Psalm 73 he describes how he looked about and decided that evildoers were getting away with evil. It was frustrating to him and caused him great concern. In fact, most of Psalm 73 is more pessimistic that Eeyore looking for his tail. Asaph begins by saying God is good, but he had almost slipped. He cries his way through most of this Psalm, declaring how bad guys get away with bad deeds. Suddenly though, he comes to the place of worship, and there he renews his focus on the Lord. This led us to our fourth point about why we should not spend our time allowing our thoughts to dwell on those who do evil:
4) Thinking on evil people/deeds can cause us to doubt God’s righteousness
We must be careful that we don’t allow ourselves to be emotionally driven by those who are doing evil. An emotional response will cause us to be in peril of slipping in our walk with God.
LESSON FIVE – FEAR is not an option!
Our initial text for this lesson was II Timothy chapter 1. Paul tells Timothy that he is grateful for him and his Christian upbringing. He encourages Timothy to exercise his calling and gift, finally reminding Timothy not to be intimidated.
II Timothy 1:6-7
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline
Paul reminds Timothy that Fear (timidity) does not come from God. The Greek word translated as timid in the NIV is translated as FEAR in the King James, but has a root meaning of COWARDICE! In other words, Paul tells Timothy not to be a coward. This is strengthened by the illustration Paul uses in the second chapter of this letter to the young preacher when he describes Timothy as a soldier who needs to prepare to endure hardship.
God does not give us cowardice, but POWER (strength) for the specific purpose of doing His will. He gives us love because we will deal with unlovable people. Finally, he gives us disciplined minds, which is of course, the topic of this particular series of lessons.
1) Recognize the source of Fear
The majority of Christians that I know are not bold in sharing the gospel. They also aren’t apathetic about it. They want to be able to share the gospel, but Satan has managed to intimidate the believer about using his particular spiritual gifts and be in fear of sharing the faith. If the source of fear is not God, it is Satan.
2) Recognize the source of Strength and Courage
We then looked over in the book of Joshua chapter 1 and examined God’s call to Joshua. No less than FOUR TIMES in chapter one does God tell Joshua to be strong and of good courage. What was the source of that courage? It was the repeated assurance that God offered Joshua of His presence. The source of courage and strength in the life of the believer must be an awareness of God’s presence. This was also true about the source of gentleness in the believer’s life that we saw in Philippians 4.
Have you ever seen a believer that was bold and strong in his faith? If you examine his walk and relationship with God you will discover that believer had an awareness of God’s presence that provided that strength, that boldness.
Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail boldly sang praises even after being soundly beaten and placed in prison. I truly believe that they had a sense of God’s presence that motivated them to boldly praising God in the middle of the night.
The Psalmist David, in the beloved 23rd Psalm declares that the reason he is not afraid in the valley of the Shadow of Death is because of a deep awareness that God, his shepherd, is with him.
As believers, we must develop an awareness of God’s presence, of God’s work in our hearts, of God’s might and power. This creates a courage, a boldness, and a willingness for increased service and makes us of more value in God’s Kingdom work.
3) Recognize that FEAR is a drain to POWER, LOVE and SOUND THINKING!
The next lesson was a Sunday Evening semi-continuation of the same theme and even the same text (II TIMOTHY 1:7) as we discussed how Fear acted as a power drain for the positive traits Paul was telling Timothy were supposed to be evident within his life.
Remember, we’re using FEAR as synonym for cowardly behavior, or cowardice. If we live in fear of others it is difficult to demonstrate strength and love towards them as well as right thinking.
Our focus is how fear causes us to behave towards others.
Fear can tempt us to be dishonest in order to protect ourselves.
Fear can cause us to avoid fellowship with others.
Fear can cause us to be suspicious of others.
Fear can prevent us from resolving conflicts with others, regardless of which person was in error
If we react in that fear then we may choose to break fellowship, or because of that fear, we may try to create an alliance to protect us from that person. In church work, we may go about drumming up support for ourselves against a person that we are a bit afraid of. In other words, Fear can tempt us to act improperly towards the very people we are supposed to be ministering to and working with for God’s kingdom work.
Paul told Timothy to join him in suffering for Christ. He didn’t want Timothy to fear the persecution he himself had endured, but to continue in the faith. Timothy might have been frightened to identify Paul as his spiritual mentor because there were those who strongly disliked Paul. Some in Corinth (Read II Corinthians) had suggested that Paul was a coward because he wrote strong, unapologetic letters, but in person was apparently a bit more soft-spoken. Some still may have held a grudge from the period in which Paul, while he was still Saul, had persecuted the church. Others may have simply disliked his teachings (as many today still view Paul as a male chauvinist). Paul told Timothy to join him in doing the right thing and involving himself in the ministry with the full knowledge that the ministry would bring persecution. In the very next chapter, Paul tells Timothy to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. A good soldier cannot dwell on his fear of others, of circumstances, or of conflict.
Fear corrupts the way we demonstrate love to others. Fear corrupts our thinking towards others. Fear is a log jam that derails us in our fellowship with God and with the body. The reason Paul was so adamant about few was that he recognized the danger of fear in regards to Timothy’s ministry. We also must recognize the manner in which fear drains us of the positive traits God is working through His Holy Spirit to establish in our hearts.
LESSON SIX– What are You Storing up?
In Matthew 12 we read of Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees who claimed he was delivering people from demonic possession via demonic influence. Jesus told them (verse 24) that what comes out of the mouth is an overflow of what is in the heart.
What you say is a good indication of what you are thinking. If your mouth pours out complaints, frustration, etc. then you are dwelling in those attitudes. If your mouth pours out bitterness against others then you have stored those things. In other words, sometimes we discover our wrong thought patterns by the things we find flooding out of our mouths. In other words, your words can be a measuring stick for your attitudes, helping you discover sinful thoughts as they proceed out of your mouth. Sometimes we are unaware of a wrong attitude until it finds expression from our lips.
I have an iphone and it is really cool. Okay, I didn’t like it this morning when I asked the final score of the Texas Rangers and Angels game last night and Siri decided to editorialize by telling me that the Angels were “trounced” by the Rangers by a score of 11-3. Anyway, I can play music from my iphone and it is pretty cool. But the iphone’s built in speakers really aren’t that strong and they sound sort of like a cheap transistor radio. I can plug it into a car audio, or the church amplifier or a set of speakers and it will blow your soaks off. What’s the difference? An amplifier.
Sometimes our words are an amplifier for our attitudes. We speak and the attitude is played louder and the feeling grows. We express our complaint in a way that is nasty or rude and we became even nastier as we speak. Those around us are subjected to it. Some them want to shout, “TURN THAT DOWN!” Some get angry about the issue along with you. Attitudes are contagious and for some reason negative attitudes always seem more contagious than good attitudes.
There is a reality program on television about hoarders. Some of these people literally can no longer sleep in their own bed, cook in their own kitchen, or use their own restroom because they have piled up things that for some reason they find value in. Now, to be fair, many times some of the items these people are saving have genuine value, be it financial or sentimental, but their lives have lost order because they have stored along with those items other items that have little or no value. In far too many cases storing the good stuff has made it difficult to remove the bad stuff and sadly garbage and junk accumulates as well. There might be some good stuff, but there is hardly room for it because of all of the bad stuff.
In much the same way, we tend to store attitudes, emotions, and thoughts that we feel have value, only to discover that they clutter our hearts and overcrowd the good stuff. For example, we may feel the need to carry a grudge when it simply clutters our heart. A person may try to crowd his life with pornography, gossip, pride, worry, or other negative influences. We cannot expect the good stuff to overwhelm the bad stuff, it is almost always the other way around.
Here’s the sad thing about hoarders: they believe that the things that they are saving, the things that threaten to overwhelm their lives, the very things that keep them from being able to function normally in their homes, they believe that these things have great value. The exchange functionality for the perceived value. They treasure this stuff.
Just as hoarders treasure the stuff that they collect and accumulate, believers can collect and accumulate an attitude (like a grudge) that they believe makes them feel better about themselves, but prevent them from functioning as a normal child of God. This is true for those who are drawn to disputes or gossip. It is true for those who are tempted by pornography. It is true for those who struggle with pride or other attitude sins. They somehow feel that the attitude is helpful.
I think it an interesting choice of words that Jesus uses when he says we STORE those things up. In other words, we value them and therefore give them a place when they should have none.
So what do we learn in this lesson.
1. Our words help us know what we are thinking.
2. Giving voice to our wrong feelings can AMPLIFY them in our hearts and spread them to those around us.
3. We need to constantly evaluate the attitudes and thoughts and use discernment to see what needs to be rejected as useless.
4. Whatever we store in our hearts will affect the way we think.
LESSON SEVEN– Setting Forth a Plan for Handling God’s Word
II Corinthians 4:1-6
Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
One of the main ideas we want to get across in the renouncement of secret and shameful ways. We should never use trickery or deceit to advance the gospel or God’s kingdom. This is one of the reasons I think churches have to be careful not to fall into the marketing trap. (like changing names to obscure their denominational affiliation).
As believers, we need to make certain that we have not only moved away from dishonesty, trickery, etc. but that we have renounced those ways. We have disowned them and they have no part in our lives.
Paul then added that those in partnership with him in ministry, including himself, refused to distort the word of God. He was CAREFUL not to distort the Word.
A prime example of how believers distort the word of God is by applying it to only one area and ignoring the other applications. One of the worst areas that I see this done is II Corinthians 6:14 which speaks of being unequally yoked. Even as you read this reference to this Scripture your heart is thinking of how it applies to marriage. If one goes to read that text, one will discover that marriage is never mentioned in that passage. That is one application that believers take for that Scripture and ignore the fact that it is talking about tying your life to that of an unbeliever in such a way that it is difficult to get loose. It refers to going into business with an unbeliever, owning property with an unbeliever, as WELL as marriage. It refers to partnering up with someone who doesn’t accept the Word and work of God through Jesus Christ. It is a distortion of God’s Word to take that particular passage of Scripture and only speak about marriage. Believers need to be careful to find the context of a Scripture in order to not mishandle the Word.
In order to accomplish this, Paul was saying that he was very careful in handling God’s Word. You and I must use great care in handling God’s Word.
So what do we learn in this lesson.
1. We must decide in our hearts to be CAREFUL with Scripture.
2. We must renounce secrecy and sneakiness as methods that corrupt God’s Kingdom work
3. We need to set the truth plainly before people and let God use that truth to shine light into the lives of unbelievers.
4. When people reject the gospel it is because Satan has blinded them, not necessarily because they are evil.
5. We need to be careful to always promote Jesus – not ourselves!
