What Mindset Do We Have? Series

STRAIGHT FROM ROMANS 8 - What Mindset Do We Have?

May 8, 2022 (Mother's day)

Romans 8:5-8

Introduction:

I did a survey with some folks I really trust with only one question. Ready…“Who controls your thinking?”

And over and over again I got back this answer…“I do…but sometimes I can’t control all the thoughts that enter my head. Especially after I’ve had encounters with certain people.”

And every single one of us know exactly what they mean. “How people treat me sometimes influences the thoughts I have.”

We’ve all walked away from some encounters thinking: “Man, I really feel encouraged…I love that person…they have such a good heart.”

But each of us have had other encounters where our thoughts have a tendency to run down a much darker rabbit hole…“What a jerk! I feel really angry right now…I feel really guilty…I feel really hurt”…or a combination of these feelings…and then we replay the conversation over and over again in our thoughts…

Wishing we’d said “this or that” or wishing we hadn’t said “this or that.”

Does Satan try to influence our thinking? Absolutely!!! It’s where anger, lust, greed and hatred begin.

Temptations always begin in our desires…and they find a ready helper in our thoughts if they are not controlled.

James tells us…“Each one is tempted when by his own evil desire he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:14-15)

It’s important we all remember that temptation in itself isn’t a sin…Hebrews 4:15 tells us “Jesus was tempted in every way, as we are, but never sinned.”

Anyone who tells you that Christians don’t sin hasn’t read scripture and they haven’t been honest about real life.

Paul writes to the Galatians and says, “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in sin, you who are spiritual should restore that person gently. But (Big warning!!!) watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. (Gal 6:1). The temptation is an arrogance that you are better, more righteous, and less susceptible to sin than the one you're helping.

But Romans 8 is about ownership…Christians aren’t owned by sin anymore. Those chains were broken by Jesus at the cross. Paul is shooting straight in Romans 8 when he paints a contrasting picture between sin’s ownership of us or the Holy Spirit’s ownership of us.

Let’s look at this contrast…

I. THE MIND CONTROLLED BY THE SINFUL NATURE

Romans 8:5 clearly says, “Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires.”

[It's Mother's day and my Mom will be 96 this July if Jesus tarries She's struggled with some dementia ans alzheimers for the last 8 years or so....She also cannot hear very well...she has the amazing hearing aids that were super expensive, high tech and noticeable. You had to set them just right or they would squeal like a wounded pig when you hugged Mom. But if you set them just right she could hear you really well.]

The human heart, because of Adam & Eve’s fall in the garden, is set on “sin,” We can hear lust, greed, desire really easy because since the fall our hearts are tuned toward sin!!!! My natural desire because of my disobedient grandparents is to seek the things that make me happy, that feel good, that I want…my thoughts work that way. I can begin to formulate a plan and a scheme…the Holy Spirit will screech a warning squeal when I get too close to hugging sin but in my flesh I hear clearly what I passionately desire speaking to me.

Yes, I might know the law. Yes, I might know what’s right and what’s wrong…but my nature says “forget that…do what you want…”

I remember when I was in the burn unit at Saint Joseph's hospital my Mom read to me Bible stories and one of the most powerful was Jesus temptations after His baptism:

Luke 4:1-13

The voice of the Tempter is crystal clear to Jesus.....Hebrews 4:15 reaffirms an amazing truth about our Savior....it says, "For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to feel sympathy for our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are...yet He did not sin."

Jesus was tempted....how? JUST AS WE ARE......I remember even as a child learning from my Mother.....Jesus was starving to death....I get hangry when I miss lunch....Jesus could have proven His divinity as the angel's catch Him up.....Maybe if he gives me all these worldly kingdoms I don,t have to go to the cross...Jesus was tempted....just like us...YET DID NOT SIN

For the individual who has not been set free from the law of sin and death by the Spirit of Life, sin is the driving force of your decision making…selfishness is the filter for your direction…and it leads to one destination…DEATH.