WHAT KIND OF MIND?
TITUS 1:8
It was in 1929 that a German scientist by that name of Hans Berger proved what many scientist had suspected for years and that was that there was electrical activity in the brain. He proved that some of us run on 220 volts while other are running on about 110. Just kidding.
But his discovery led to the development of the, (pay attention now because this is a really big word and you know how big words and I get along) elec-tro-en-see-fala-graph. What this device enabled medical personal to do was measure and record the electrical activity of the brain known as an EEG. This was found to be very helpful in diagnosing disorders and malfunctions of the brain. For the first time in history man was able to take a look at what was going on inside the brain.
We now have many modern devices which allow even a closer look at the brain. Thinks such as CAT scans and brain scans, all of which are very helpful to doctors. But while we can see the function of the brain we cannot know that thoughts of that are inside. We cannot know what another person is thinking. This of course is for the better. As you can imagine what would happen if we could each others thoughts. (Remember that Gilliagan’s island episode were they found those berries that let them read each other thoughts)
But let us say that it was possible for them to open up your mind and see what was in there. What would they find. I would say that if they could they would probably find some good stuff, but I also believe that they would find stuff that would bring to you much embarrassment and shame. I know they would with me.
Today I want us to take a look some of what the Bible states about our minds. Please turn with me to Passage for today, that would be Titus 1:8, that is page 1032 in your pew Bibles. Remember that we are discussing the qualifications of the elders or bishops of the church which Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is giving to Titus.
Titus 1:8 "but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled,"
We have taken a look at the first two qualifications which Paul has given to us, know let us take a look at the phrase "sober-minded".
First of all it has nothing to do with not drinking. Now the Greek word translated "sober-minded" is "SOPHRON". To those of you who may be unaware the reason I sometimes give the Greek word is because that is the language in which most of the NT was written.
But anyway "SOPHRON" literally means "prudent, thoughtful, or to be of sound mind". Now we are going to get back to what it means to be "sober minded" in a little bit.
But first I want you to realize that God cares a great about what goes on in our minds. God we must understand see all that goes on in our minds. So let us ask ourselves "What Kind of Mind Do I Have?".
The Bible speaks of various kinds of minds. Know very briefly may I say that for the most part the heart and the minds as far as the Bible is concerned are one and the same. The mind is made up of our feelings and our thinking. It is our reasoning and judgements. It is our thoughts and that which we will to do.
So we can see why the God is so interested in what kind of mind we have.
In our message for today we are going to look at 8 different minds that are mentioned in the Bible. Some are good some are not so good. Now we are going to be looking at a quite a few Bible verses. We are not going to take the time to turn to each one this morning but you may want to jot down the references.
The first type of mind that I want us to see is the "reprobate, debased, or depraved mind". This type of mind is seen in Romans 1:28 which reads; "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;" The KJV uses the term "reprobate". The NIV reads, "Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done."
Now the word that those three translations translates "Reprobate, debased, or depraved", literally means "not standing the test". The word originally had to do with metals. A debased metal is one that has been mixed with other metals or impurities, and therefore fails the test.
A reprobate mind is one that has failed the test with God. It is a rejected or disapproved mind. A mind which God has not approved.
Rom. 1:28 tells us that these people have rejected God, they have not retained the knowledge of God. Their minds are now polluted and impure. Their minds have know been found wanting.
The reprobate mind is the mind that does not want to ruled by God. It is the minds that does not think on God, does not care about God and His righteousness. It is a mind the care only about fulfilling it’s own desires.
This is the mind of the unsaved. This is the mind of one who has not accepted the Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. This is an unrepentive and unregenerated mind.
This is the mind of one who does not realize that they are a sinner in need of a Saviour, in need of salvation. This is a mind of one whom God as not worked in. One whom God has not worked the power of Grace in.
The second type of mind I want to point out is a "anxious mind". Listen to Luke 12:29, "And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind."
The Greek word translated "anxious mind" here is "METEOR-IZO". It is the word in which we get our word meteor from. It literally means "in mid-air". It was also used to denote "putting out to sea".
In our modern language we could translate this passage to read, "And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, and don’t be an airhead."
What Jesus is speaking about here is a distracted mind, a mind distracted by worry. He uses this word "METEOR-IZO" metaphorically to mean that if your mind is on what you are going to eat and drink, if your mind is on the basic needs of life, the your mind cannot be on God.
If your mind is distracted by the worry of your daily needs, needs God promises to take care of, then your mind cannot be on what God wants it to be on and that is Himself.
Our minds should not be filled with doubt but with trust. It should not be filled with hopelessness, but with assurance. Let us not be distracted by the cares of the world, but focus our minds on our creator, on the one who has given us life, on the one who sustains life.
The third type of mind I want to look at is the "Carnal mind". If you read the book of 1 Cor. you will see that it was the carnal mind that was tearing the church apart.
Listen to 1 Cor. 3:1-3; "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?"
Now the basic meaning of carnal is simply one who is being controlled by the flesh rather then the Spirit. This is something that we have been studying in SS. The carnal mind is one that is preoccupied with self and fulfilling the desire of the flesh.
And when you have a church full people who are being controlled more by their flesh then the Spirit of God, you have some real problems.
We all have a flesh nature. Whether we have been born again by the Spirit of God or not we still have a flesh nature. Now if you are saved that flesh nature is going to be in a constant battle with the Spirit dwelling inside of you. And that battle is going to fought over the mind. The way you think, your feelings, your reasoning, your will. These are prizes over of which the flesh and the Spirit will battle.
Rom. 8:7 tells us; "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be."
We learned in SS that that word enmity literally means hatred. It is the direct opposite of agape love. The carnal mind hates God, it hates anything to do with God. And it will fight to keep us away from anything to do with God.
Thus far we have taken a look at the reprobate mind, the anxious mind, and the carnal mind. None of these sound very appealing to the Christian. These are all the types of minds we strive to avoid.
Now let us look at some of the types of minds God would have us to have;
First a willing mind. Listen to 1 Chron. 28:9; "As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever."
We need to have a willing mind. A mind which is willing to submit to God and His commands. A willing mind is one the freely surrenders to God and His will. It is the type of mind that will read God’s word and obey it’s instructions.
A mind that freely states, "Yes Lord I will do that!"
Now we all know that having a willing mind is not always easy. In fact most of us do not have a willing mind most of the time.
Most of us are more like Jonah when God told him; "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me. But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD." No willing mind there.
We need to more like Isaiah, "also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." He certainly had a willing mind.
We all need to have willing minds. Minds willing to obey God’s call, His commands, His will.
We also need to have a ready mind. 2 Cor. 8:19; "and not only that, but who was also chosen by the churches to travel with us with this gift, which is administered by us to the glory of the Lord Himself and to show your ready mind,"
We need not only be willing but ready. We need to ready to respond to the call of the Lord.
In Titus 3:1 we are told; "Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work,"
Paul tell us in the book of Romans 1:15; "So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also."
Let me ask you are you ready for "every good work". Ready to serve others, ready to put other first. Are you ready to serve the church any way you can? Are you ready to preach the gospel? To share the good news of Jesus Christ to those whom God places in you path?
Do you have a ready mind?
The third type of mind the Lord would have us to have is "one mind" or the "same mind". Listen to some passage from God’s Word;
Rom. 15:6 "that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Rom 12:16 "Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion."
Phil 1:27; "that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,"
Now I am certainly not suggesting that we become a bunch of clones. But what the Scripture speaks of when it states we should be of one mind is that we all should have one goal, and that goal is to bring glory to God.
We should have unity in our mission to preach the gospel, unity in our mission to encourage one another, unity in our mission to see God lifted up in all we do.
Sure we may have different ideas on how we will accomplish these things, but we need to be of one mind in what we need to get done.
We need to of one mind, a mind which stands on the common ground of the truth that is found in God’s Word. Common ground of the love which we can see in the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary.
I pray we would all be of one mind to see our God lifted up in this community, as we seek to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The seven type of mind I want to mention is from our verse for today, Titus 1:8. Remember our verse, I told you we would get back to it.
Know while we have seen that this is a qualification for an elder in the church, as will the other qualifications it is something we all need to have.
Right in the book of Titus in chapter 2 Paul tell us that we all should "live soberly", basically repeating what he states the elders should be. We all need to be of sober mind.
As I stated to have a sober mind is basically to be prudent or thoughtful. This can also be translated "sound mind" as it is in 2 Tim. 1:7; "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."
We can say that to have sober or sound mind is to have a mind that is strong and firmly convicted of the way of God. A sober mind is one the seeks after God. One that is not easy moved away from God. A sober minded Christian is one who things in terms of God, and how each one of his or her actions will effect their relationship with God.
A sober minded Christian is one who is not seduced easily by the temptation of the word. One this is not drawn away from Christ by the lusts of this world.
A sober minded Christian is one who is aware of the dangers that lurk on the pathway of life. Those things that seek to take our minds off of Christ. May God help us to have a sober mind which is fixed upon the will of God.
Let us look at the last type of mind the Bible mentions. You see the Christian mind can be summed up in 1 Cor 2:16; "For "who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ."
In a nut shell that is type of mind we all ought to have "The Mind of Christ". Let us think as Christ thought. Let you reason as He reasoned. Let us give God the place in our minds that Christ gave to the Father.
Our whole life needs to consist of us striving through the power of God, to have the mind of Christ. A mind that is willing, ready, one with God, sober and sound. Not an easy thing, but with God all things are possible.
In closing my I just say that you cannot have the mind of Christ until you have a heart from Christ. Until you have a personal relationship with Christ, until you have gone to him for forgiveness of your sins, and turned your life over to Him, only then can you begin to have the mind of Christ.
I ask you will you trust in Him today. Believe in Him for eternal life.
To those you who do know Jesus as Saviour and Lord, will you go from this place striving to have His not just his forgiveness, not just His grace, not just Him blessings, but His mind as well. May we all go from this place living our lives to the glory of God.
LET US PRAY
