What Is Your Mind Set?
Needless to say, there is a war raging inside of the Christian for control of the mind. That is why the Bible says to have the mind in you that is in Christ Jesus. It is why Christians are to seek things above and to crucify the flesh with its passions and lust. The reason is because a battle is going on for mind control. The master counterfeiter, Satan, wants to be the head of the body not Christ. In the Christian life your mind is like the rudder of a ship. Whether the flesh or the Spirit controls the rudder determines the course your life will take. Therefore, it is essential for the Christian to be anchored and rooted in faith. A believer’s roots must go deep into Christ and not simply play lip service to Him. To do otherwise, makes you easy prey for the Devil’s schemes.
The enemy does not play fair. He will deceive, accuse and condemn. He will fill your Christian heart with fear and inadequacies if your mind is not guarded by God’s truth. He wants your life to make void the grace of God that is available to every believer. He wants you to live a fruitless life lacking in God’s peace and abundance. He wants your remaining days to be a desert waste land for the things of Christ. Satan will attempt every strategy and use every weapon in His arsenal to keep you impotent and warming the bench for God.
Brothers and sisters don’t let this happen. The battle for mind control is critical and of the utmost importance to you and the Kingdom of God. A mind for Christ is a terrible thing to waste and I plead with you not to let this happen for God has made ample provision for you. Remember the words of Isaiah 26:3: “The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace. Because he trusts in Thee.” What joy it will bring your heart to one day hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant enter into your rest.”
The Apostle Paul points out four truths about Christians who set their minds on the things of the flesh in Romans 8:5-8: “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7. Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. 8. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
First, THE MIND SET ON THE THINGS OF THE FLESH, WILL LIVE A LIFE ACCORDING TO THE FLESH. Listen to Romans 8:5: “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” This is a biblical principle that can work for you (walking according to the Spirit) or against you (walking according to the flesh). It is much like the principle of sowing or reaping. The Bible says, “All things are yours, and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” (1 Cor. 3:23) Pastor Rey Stedman makes it clear in his writings that this includes all things needed for living – your family, your home, your workplace, your church, etc. But depending on where your mind is set, you will view all things needed for living differently. For example, is your job just a job? Or is your job a place you seek and find ministry and witnessing opportunities? If you view your job as simply a job, you are setting your mind on the things of the flesh. You are falling into the trap of separating the secular from the sacred. However, if you view your job as a ministry – as a place where you can honor Christ in word and deed and build relationships that might grant opportunities to witness or encourage coworkers then your mind is set on the things of the Spirit. It is the same workplace but approached from a different mind set. The workplace is the same but you view it from a different perspective – a Christ-like perspective – one that does not separate the secular and sacred. Separating the secular from the sacred is one of the enemy’s commonly used weapons to get your mind set on the things of the flesh. For example, Satan has manipulated the commonly used expression, “separation of church and state” until many people even Christians think that “separation of church and state” is the freedom from religion rather than freedom of religion. It may sound reasonable but it is a lie from The Father of Lies – there should be no separation of the secular and sacred in the Christian’s life.
Second, THE MIND SET ON THE FLESH IS DEAD TO THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT. The Apostle Paul says, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,” (Romans 8:6). Death can neither hear nor see the things of the Spirit and death is powerless to act on the things of the Spirit. Remember the life of Samson in the Old Testament? The Spirit of the Lord moved in him giving him great strength but he was enticed by Delilah, who represents the flesh, and lost his strength, his sight and became a slave to the Philistines. Samson wasn’t even aware the Lord’s power had left him until it was too late. The Bible is very clear, “For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:8) Only when Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes” (Judges 16:28) did the Spirit’s power return to him. Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
A mind set on the flesh will do nothing for the Lord. It is a mind dead to the things of the Spirit. A mind set on the flesh will not hear the cries of the lost or perceive opportunities to encourage the saints. A mind set on the flesh will not see the fields are white for harvest. And for all purposes, if such a person is a Christian, he/she will live as a practical atheist and their life will make void the grace of God. They have ears but do not hear – eyes but do not see. They are reaping corruption when they could be reaping life and peace and sowing seeds of such in others to whom the Spirit would lead them.
Third, THE MIND SET ON THE FLESH IS HOSTILE TOWARD GOD. Paul says in Romans 8:7: “Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.” The Apostle is reminding us again that the flesh has no power to submit to the law of God. “For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.” (Galatians 5:17) The flesh gives you neither power to live a holy life nor power to control the cancerous spread of sin in your life. When you sin, it will always take you further and deeper than you want to go. Like an infectious disease it spreads until its end result is death (Romans 6:23): loss of seeing (darkness), hearing, impotence, etc. James says, “Then when lust has conceived it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death” (James 1:15). Then, James quickly warns, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” (1:16) Instead of being deceived, Paul beseeches you: “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:24) Why? Because if you are living according to the flesh, your mind is set on the things of the flesh which means your mind is dead to the things of the Spirit, does not submit to the Law of God and is not able to do so. Thus, you must follow Paul’s pattern when he says, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life (not death) which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
Fourth, THE MIND SET ON THE FLESH CANNOT PLEASE GOD. This is simply stated in Romans 8:8: “And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” The Bible alternative is, “…to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship” (Romans 12:1). But the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God and does not submit itself to the law of God. A picture of the mind of the flesh versus the mind of the Spirit is seen in the lives of Cain and Abel in the Old Testament. Hebrews 11:4 says, “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead he still speaks.” Notice this passage says, “By faith” Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain. Walking according to the Spirit is the walk of faith. “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6).
The Bible records of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:3-8: “So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. And Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering: but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?” If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must master it. And Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.”
Cain’s offering, “the fruit of the ground” was the product of his own hands or flesh. He took great pride is his “good works” offering to God. But God had no regard for Cain’s offering. Abel brought “the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.” Because Abel’s mind was upon the Spirit, he discerned that without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sin. So he gave the firstlings of his flock as a sacrifice to God. Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, Cain became angry and his countenance fell when the work from his hands was rejected. The Lord warned Cain, “sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” God is telling Cain and us today, your flesh desires “to run over you and to dominate you” so you must master it. Instead, Cain, yielded to the flesh, rose up against Abel his brother, representing the Spirit, and killed him. When questioned by the Lord in Genesis 4:9 about Abel’s whereabouts, Cain declares, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s helper?” Cain failed to see what many Christians fail to see today: THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO WALK IN AND LIVE BY THE SPIRIT. Paul’s advice to the Christians at Colossae is appropriate for us: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6,7).
As Christians, we must be warned by the example of Cain’s life and realize those who are in the flesh will be dominated and controlled by the flesh and cannot please God. “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
