Developing a Biblical Mindset
Colossians 2:8
November 2, 2003
Introduction
This is the third message on living a life characterized by the peace of God. In the first message I gave six strategies to living in the peace of God.
Last week we talked about the fact that God is in control, no matter what we see or understand.
Next week we will look at how to plan ahead for the future, yet keep in mind that God’s will prevails, then we will take a look at how to live in anticipation.
Today, however, we are going to discuss developing a biblical mindset.
The basis of our time this morning is a verse from Colossians 2, which I have printed at the top of your note-taking guide. Please follow along as I read this verse.
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
So how do we go about developing a biblical mindset?Here are 5 ways to help us do that. I think you’ll find these practical and doable, no matter what your situation. Ready? Here we go.
The first way to develop a biblical mindset is to…
1. Make time to be in the Bible regularly.
Some of you might be getting tired of me telling you to get in the Bible all the time. Well, too bad. We need to hear this all the time!
Look back at our passage. I want to point out the phrase,
which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
Circle the words, “human tradition.” This is critical to our understanding why it is so important to develop a Biblical mindset.
You see folks, human tradition is a fickle thing. It changes all the time. But the Word of God does not change.
In a world full of fluctuating values, we need a solid reference in order to make sense of it all, and to be able to respond to it in a reasoned and reasonable manner.
Now, some of you here today are very careful to get in the Bible every single day. I applaud you and say keep it up.
Others in here maybe have not opened your Bible in years, and the only exposure you get to Scripture is when you come here on Sunday mornings.
And still others get into it on an occasional basis.
And let me be very frank with you for a moment. I have trouble getting in the Word every day. It’s hard for me, and it doesn’t always get done.
I offer no excuses, although I could think of some. The problem with excuses, though, is that they’re like armpits. Everyone’s got a couple and they usually stink.
Read through the Bible on a yearly basis. If you can’t do that, at least read through the New Testament every year. A chapter a day will do it for you.
Make a commitment to God and yourself to do that this coming year, starting January first.
Get in the Bible on a regular basis.
During a recent Superbowl, FedEx ran a commercial that spoofed the movie Castaway, in which Tom Hanks played a FedEx worker whose company plane went down, stranding him on a desert island for years. Looking like the bedraggled Hanks in the movie, the FedEx employee in the commercial goes up to the door of a suburban home, package in hand.
When the lady comes to the door, he explains that he survived five years on a deserted island, and during that whole time he kept this package in order to deliver it to her. She gives a simple, "Thank you."
But he is curious about what is in the package that he has been protecting for years. He says, "If I may ask, what was in that package after all?"
She opens it and shows him the contents, saying, "Oh, nothing really. Just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds."
Like the contents in this package, the resources for growth and strength are available for every Christian who will take advantage of them.
Contributed by: A. Todd Coget (SermonCentral.com)
When you’re not in the Bible, you miss out on the blessings it has to offer, and you obviously cannot develop a biblical mindset.
The next way to develop this biblical mindset is to…
2. Proactively choose your sources of information.
Choose who you’re going to listen to.
For instance, I generally choose not to let the evening news guide my theology. Even when “religious” people come on the news, I usually don’t let them determine how I view God or the Bible, unless it’s Billy Graham, of course!
I don’t let my unbelieving friends and co-workers tell me what I should believe about God, the Bible, or how I should respond to worldly thoughts and lifestyles.
I go to sources that I know I can trust, because they have shown themselves to revere God and His Word.
This not to say that I don’t occasionally watch the news. I do. I just don’t let them determine my worldview.
I’m also careful about listening to those who call themselves Christians, yet seek to undermine the Bible and teachings of Jesus.
One such group is called The Jesus Seminar. This a bunch of “scholars” who have determined that much of what we have in the gospels is hearsay and myth.
And you know how they did this? By voting on passages they thought were questionable, many times based on the belief that a loving Jesus would never say such things.
Not on the basis of the eyewitness testimony of the apostles, of course.
So if they came across a passage they didn’t like, they would discuss it, and finally take a vote. If the majority did not feel it was something Jesus would have said, it was declared to be untrustworthy.
I’m oversimplifying it a bit, but that’s the basic scoop.
Why should I listen to people who have no regard for the plain, eyewitness testimony of those closest to Jesus? Talk about arrogance!
Jesus does not give us the option of only believing the stuff we like to hear, folks!
He said some pretty harsh stuff. He said in John chapter 3 that if you refuse to be born again, then you remain in the wrath of God.
That’s not exactly “tea time” conversation, is it?
If you are serious about developing a biblical mindset, then you need to be proactive about where you get your information. And sometimes that means disregarding or discarding information from other sources.
And let me close this section by telling you something else. If you don’t decide who to listen to, then you have, by default, allowed the world to decide for you. A world that doesn’t care for Christ or the Bible.
At least have the guts to make these decision by your own free will, instead of just flying about like a feather in the wind.
3. Guard your thought life.
This is so important. In fact, this is critical. The media barrage we face on a daily basis gives plenty of ammunition to the enemy of your soul to capture and corrupt your minds.
Go back to our passage. Put a box around the words, “takes you captive.” Your thought life is the first conduit to either captivity or freedom.
Guys, I’m going to speak to just you for a moment. This is hard for me to talk about, and it’s a pretty heavy subject, but hang in there with me, okay?
Every man on earth battles temptation, especially sexual temptation, at times. And I’d be so bold as to call you a liar if you denied it.
It may not be the issue it once was for you, but chances are 99.9999999999% that temptation comes your way at least once in a while.
You have a choice. Either follow it into sin, or walk away from it, with the help and power of God.
I grew up in a home with pornography. I was first exposed to it when I was about 9 years old. It was not only in my home, but I had access to it through friends, one of whom was the teenage daughter of a minister who had a subscription to Playboy. I’m sure he only subscribed to read the articles. I have battled pornography for the last 30 years.
I don’t seek it out, and God has been gracious and faithful to me when opportunities to look at it come my way.
I make the conscious effort to stay away from places that offer temptation.
On that great gospel program, "Hee Haw." Doc Campbell is confronted by a patient who says he broke his arm in two places. The doc replies, "Well then, stay out of them places!"
He may have something there. We cannot regularly put ourselves in the face of temptation and not be affected. When faced with the problem of temptation, we need to take the good doctor’s advice and "stay out of them places."
In their excellent book, Every Man’s Battle, authors Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker share their own stories of breaking the cycle of sexual sin, and offer very practical help in overcoming it.
I cannot suggest highly enough that every man in here read that book, because it truly is every man’s battle. If I could afford it, I would buy each one of you a copy. It’s that important.
TV tells us it’s okay to cheat on our spouses. Or that it’s okay to “look but don’t touch.” Or that it’s okay to watch other people make love on the screen. Scantily clad women flit across the screen like it’s not big deal.
Folks, it’s not okay! It’s wrong!
The Bible says that we are not to have even a hint of sexual immorality, and we Christians are guilty of not only looking at it, but sponsoring it by subscribing to the channels that carry it or buying the products advertised on those programs.
Let me just give you three things I do to help me in this area of guarding my thought life.
First, I memorize Scripture. The Bible says to think on the things that are pure, holy, lovely, etc. And what better things to think on than the things of God revealed in Scripture? I also memorize action verses like Ephesians 3:23 where it says to not have a hint of sexual immorality.
Another great verse is our text for today. That helps us keep our guard against worldly philosophies, and wouldn’t you agree that pornography is the result of a worldly philosophy?
Next, I don’t subscribe to cable or satellite TV. I’m not necessarily against it, but aside from the fact that I’m not in a financial position to pay $50-100 per month for it, I’m not willing to bring it in my house because of the filth that comes with the privilege of watching the Twins games or John Wayne movies.
If you subscribe that’s your business. But let me ask you: are you allowing things in your house and in your mind that are counter to a biblical mindset?
Getting a bit personal, aren’t you, Brian? Yep. Deal with it.
Lastly, I have internet filters on both my computers, here at the church and the laptop I use for my other job. And I pay for them out of my own pocket. It’s that important to me.
Why? Because porn can pop up on your computer without warning, even in the most innocent searches.
I need to be proactive in guarding my thought life. And so do you.
And ladies, we need your help. Don’t flirt with someone who’s not your husband. Don’t dress in a way to entice us. Do us a favor and dress modestly, clothed in the spirit of God, okay?
Guard your thought life, people. It’s too important to ignore.
Well, after that heavy stuff, I feel the need to lighten things up a bit, so allow me to read this list of real country western songs that a guy used in a study about drinking and country music. This has absolutely nothing to do with the message, but I think you’ll enjoy it.
Top 10 List
10) How Can You Believe Me When I Say I Love You When You Know I’ve Been A Liar All My Life?
9) You Done Tore Out My Heart And Stomped That Sucker Flat
8) I Don’t Know Whether To Kill Myself Or Go Bowling
7) I Fell In A Pile Of You And Got Love All Over Me
6) I’m Just A Bug On The Windshield Of Life
5) If The Phone Don’t Ring, Baby, You’ll Know It’s Me
4) My Wife Ran Off With My Best Friend, And I Sure Do Miss Him
3) If Love Were Oil, I’d Be A Quart Low
2) I’d Rather Have A Bottle In Front Of Me Than A Frontal Lobotomy
1) If My Nose Were Full of Nickels, I’d Blow It All On You
SOURCE: Rick Stacy, Sr. Pastor, Meridian Christian Church
Okemos, Michigan. From "Choosing Wisdom," http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=46606.
Let’s review: in order to develop a biblical mindset, we need to first of all, get in the Bible on a regular basis. Next, proactively choose your sources of information. And third, guard your thought life.
Let’s move on and discuss the fourth way to develop that mindset, and that is to…
4. Use the Scriptures as a filter.
I mentioned that I use filters on my computers to shield me from harmful content.
In much the same way, I use the Bible as a filter.
What I mean is that when I hear or see something, I run it through the filter of Scripture to determine its worth or truthfulness.
If it’s in accordance with the Bible, I accept it. If it goes against the Bible, I disregard it as truthful.
I don’t just accept everything that comes down the pike, even if it claims to be from a Christian source. I pour it through the filter.
By being familiar with the Scriptures through your regular reading and meditation, you are able to use that filter effectively, and it will go a long way to helping you sort out the good from the bad, truth from error.
In 2 Timothy, Paul warns young Timothy that the time will come when people will turn away from sound teaching from Scripture, and turn to what their itching ears want to hear.
We need people familiar with Scripture to help us avoid that – individually, as a church, and as a society.
In researching this message, I came across a story about a young guy at seminarian, who was rather legalistic and had to have a Bible verse for everything he did. He was trying to use the Bible as a filter, but it was going just a little far.
He did all right with that until he began to fall in love with a beautiful co-ed. He wanted very much to kiss her, but he just couldn’t find a scripture to okay it. So, true to his conscience, he would simply walk her to the dormitory each night, look at her longingly, & then say "Good night."
This went on for several weeks, & all the time he was searching the Bible, trying to find some scripture to okay kissing her good night. But he couldn’t find one, until finally he came across that passage in Romans that says, "Greet each other with a holy kiss." He thought, "At last, I have scriptural authority for kissing her good night."
But to be sure, he went to one of his professors to check it out. After talking with the professor, he realized that the passage dealt more with a church setting than with a dating situation. So once again he simply didn’t have a passage of scripture to okay kissing his girl good night.
That evening he walked her to the dormitory & once again started to bid her "good night." But as he did, she grabbed him, pulled him toward her, & planted a 10-second kiss right on his lips.
At the end of the kiss, the Seminary student gasped for air, & stammered, "Bible verse, Bible verse." The girl grabbed him a 2nd time, & just before kissing him again, said, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
Contributed by: MELVIN NEWLAND (SermonCentral.com)
5. Understand the need!
Our world, by and large, does not support a biblical mindset. Rather, it encourages mindsets and lifestyles that are decidedly anti-biblical.
Take a look at primetime television. Better yet, don’t take a look. You’re much better off. Suffice to say that many times Christians and Christianity are mocked and targeted for special disdain.
When a Christian makes a public mistake or commits a sin, it is all over the news.
But the real problem lies in the area of people understanding their need for Christ.
The world tells us that there is no need to believe in God at all, really, and especially the God of those hypocritical Christians.
Besides, God, if he exists, only wants you to be happy anyway. He would never put the kind of restraints on you that most religious people would like you to have.
Folks, the misinformation and the lack of information is causing untold people to not find Christ, and they will spend eternity paying for their sins.
So the need is this: people who have a biblical mindset to meet the challenges in their own lives as well as those presented by a world that does not love Christ.
We need people who live out a biblical lifestyle based on a biblical mindset. And we need people who can communicate that to those outside of Christ in a thoughtful and reasoned manner.
Folks, the need is huge. And I want to challenge everyone here today to get involved.
No matter what you do for a living, no matter where you live, no matter your social status or financial situation, you know people who live under non-biblical delusions that are fostered by the world.
Are you willing to help? I sure hope so. Because the need is so great.
Conclusion
I have given you some very practical, doable ways to develop a biblical mindset. My desire is to show you that it’s not as hard or as abstract as it seems.
Living life controlled by the Holy Spirit using the Word of God in your life is a life worth living, folks, believe me.
Won’t you try it?
In your bulletin, I have placed two sheets of paper with a way to make a commitment to God and yourself to be very active in developing a biblical mindset. Please take these out and look at them right now.
One is for you to fill out and keep where you can see it. The other is for me. I will use this to pray for you, and to encourage you in your efforts.
I won’t be checking up on you to see how you’re doing, unless you want me to. This is just a tool for me to pray for you and encourage you.
What I want from you right now is to take a moment and fill this out. I’m going to pray for us in just a moment, then I want to give you the opportunity to fill this out, and you can either give it to me, or place it in the offering boxes, and the offering tellers will give them to me.
Why am I doing this? Because it’s too easy to let this kind of thing just slip away and die in the land of good intentions.
The need is too great. We need believers who are competent in Scriptural reasoning, and we need them in this church if we hope to increase our impact in this area.
So I’m challenging you to do more than just sit on this. I’m challenging you to take action to be a person who rises above the level of the average Christian in our society who knows little or nothing about the Bible and how to apply it in our daily living and in our interactions with other people.
Will you take the challenge? Will you make a commitment to God and yourself to not follow the crowd, but rather, go against the flow of our culture, meeting it with the wisdom of God in Scripture?
I’m going to pray, and then we will be silent for a few moments as you fill these out, after which I will dismiss you. Let’s pray.
