1Corinthians 2:11-16, Eph 4:17-24
Stitching Gears
In this text, Paul is preparing to introduce a major teaching which will be taught
throughout the New Testament, namely, the teaching is that the born again have
two minds.
Christians still have the original equipment, that which they were born with,
a dirty, rotten, malfunctioning mind. To be honest, even though it should not be,
that broken mind is still often our primary mind. However, we have been given
new mind, a much improved model. It is the Cadillac of minds, the mind of Christ.
Let’s consider a few thoughts about these two minds and how to use the new one.
I. From 1Corinthians, we learn that we been given a new spiritual mind.
A. \\#1Cor 2:16\\ Our new mind is called the mind of Christ.
B. Here we learn the basic difference between the two minds we have.
1. The old mind is a fleshly mind.
This is the mind that wants to get angry, jealous, get even, maybe
cuss or strike out in some manner, that wallows in self pity, and
enjoys sinful delights.
2. The new mind is a spiritual mind.
This is the mind that loves, is joyful, is helpful, is forgiving,
is kind, is hopeful, strives to do what God desires.
C. Understanding the difference helps us to understand why we spend so
much of the time using the older model.
1. The fleshly mind is just more natural for us to use and it is
easier for us to use it.
2. I know that is very simple theology, but it very important to
understanding why we are the way we are.
a. I hear people who say, "I don’t know why I do that. I know
I shouldn’t. I want to do better, but I just don’t seem to
be able to do it."
b. Here is the answer.
c. You acting and thinking fleshly because that is you basic
nature. It is the way you were born. It is just easier for
you to act that way.
3. One of the hardest things to get a Christian to understand is that
living fleshly is the natural life; however, God wants us to
start living the supernatural life.
a. God wants us to understand that we have been given spiritual
power, by a spiritual Source and a spiritual Power, the Holy
Ghost Himself.
b. The change we seek will come when we learn that to live the
new life, we must use the new equipment and that means we
must start turning to the spiritual, even though it is not as
natural and easy as it is for us as turning to the natural.
D. Person confession-For the last few months, I have been sharing my
battle with patience. I shared that I have recently learned that
patience is not just waiting with anxiety but it is also responding
without frustration. This past week, a situation came up that really
frustrated me. It wasn’t important, but I knew I was not handling it
well. So while I was driving, I turned to the Lord and asked Him how
I was supposed to turn off this emotion. As I was thinking and
praying, a thought that I have preached many times came to me. You
can not think of but one thought at a time, so I decided to praise
Him and to pray for anyone that God brought to my mind. About 15
minutes later, I noticed that I was not frustrated anymore. I
completely forgotten about what had aggravated me. Of course,
remembering that started the frustration coming back, so I returned
to my praise and prayer!
E. What is the key here? The key is to understand that we have spiritual
powers that may not be the easiest, most natural for us to use, but
if we will turn to the spiritual, we can use the new mind that God
has given to us.
II. From Ephesians, we learn two things.
A. \\#Eph 4:17-19\\ We learn what kind of equipment the original mind is.
1. \\#Eph 4:17\\ He calls that mind a vain thing.
a. A vain mind is a mind that thinks in a undisciplined,
unscriptural, unprofitable way.
(1) Vanity means to have pride and conceit, to be arrogant.
(2) Those who use their original mind are going to be worldly
and Christless in their thinking, placing themselves
first and the things of God last.
b. He further describes it as being the way the Gentiles walk.
(1) The word "Gentiles" means non-Jews; however, the book of
Ephesians is written to non-Jews (Ephesus).
(2) It is kind of awkward to criticize people for being what
they are!
(3) I think Paul has adapted the word to mean "people who are
unlearned in the things of God."
(4) So the old mind functions like the unregenerate or the
unlearned mind would function.
2. There are many other terms used in these verses to describe this
mind. Because they are so similar, I will not dwell on each term,
but each one added to the list helps us to see just how deficient
the original equipment we have really is.
a. \\#Eph 4:18\\ It’s understanding is darkened.
(1) It’s ability to reason is not good.
(2) Darkened is the term to refer to sin and the dominion of
sin.
(3) Our original mind will never come to the correct
conclusions.
(4) It is incapable of doing so.
b. It is blind.
(1) Sight here is an analogy to describe a means of inputting
data into the mind.
(2) The mind cannot really see but sight is one of the main
means of a human being taking in new information.
(3) The fact that the mind is blind means that it not only
cannot produce correct conclusions (understanding) but
it cannot see things as they really are.
c. These two conditions cause alienation (separation) from God and
ignorance of the things of God.
3. Folks, if you think this is bad, what Paul has been describing so
far is the original mind as its best. From here, it only gets
worse.
a. \\#Eph 4:19\\ This mind can produce a vessel which is past
feeling.
(1) That is, it will not feel as God intended it to feel.
(2) It will not feel love, remorse, compassion, pity, regret,
conviction, sorrow.
(3) It will most likely feed on anger, bitterness, jealousy,
lusts, vengeances, and malice.
b. This mind will become lascivious.
(1) Lasciviousness is the state of your flesh ruling over you.
(a) We are flesh, mind, and soul (carnal, mental, and
spiritual).
(b) God’s will is for the spirit to the strongest,
the mind to be the second strongest,
and the flesh to be the weakest.
(c) Most humans have their mind the strongest,
the flesh the second strongest,
and their spirit the weakest.
(d) A lascivious person has their flesh the strongest,
the mind very weak but still the second strongest,
and their spirit by far the weakest.
(2) A lascivious person is capable of doing anything!
(a) Most of us have the temptation to do a lot of things
but our mind and/or our spirit stop us.
(b) This person has no brakes!
(3) Hence, his works is to do all kinds of unclean things with
greed, that is, that will feed his lusts.
4. This is the mind that we all have. It is our original equipment.
It is easier for us to fall back into using this even though we
are Christians.
5. It is not very flattering, is it?
B. Let’s take a break here and figure out what God is saying and what He
is actually asking us to do.
1. What is the Bible saying?
a. We have two minds.
b. One is natural and easy to use, but will always put self first
and Christ last.
c. The other is spiritual and not easy to use, but will always
lead us to put Christ first and to do what is right.
2. What is God asking?
a. He is asking us to take our primary mind (what we were born
with) and make it secondary, and to take our secondary mind
(the spiritual one that He gave us at our new birth) and make
it our primary mind.
b. You could say that is asking us to switch gears here.
c. He wants us to exchange the new for the old.
d. I wish we could just pull over to the side of the road and
throw away that natural mind that we were born with, but we
cannot.
e. One day, He will remake us and He will remove that wicked
mind from that glorified body, but until then, we must choose
to use the spiritual over the original.
C. \\#Eph 4:20-24\\ We learn how to switch gears, that is, how to use
the spiritual over the original.
1. \\#Eph 4:20\\ We must learn some things.
a. That sounds harder than it really is.
(1) A lot of people have an aversion to learning.
(2) Their motto is, "I hate school."
(3) However, for most of them, the only thing that makes
learning difficult is their attitude.
b. \\#Eph 4:21\\ To learn the thing necessary to operate your
new mind is simple since it is Christ you is doing the
teaching.
(1) When you have a Teacher as good as Christ, learning is
very easy.
(2) All you have to do is listen.
c. I cannot tell you what Christ will teach you to help you
operate your new mind.
(1) Your curriculum is tailored to your needs and it is
private.
(2) However, if you will listen to Him, I guarantee He will
show you how to use it.
2. \\#Eph 4:22\\ You need to start striping away the old ways.
a. You don’t need anyone to tell you what the old ways are.
(1) If you are a Christian, you know at least some of the
things that need to go.
(2) Start striping those things off first.
(3) Maybe it’s your temper, your lusts, your liquor, your
vulgar mouth… Whatever they are, start chunking them.
b. As you start removing the old, Christ will start adding the
new.
3. \\#Eph 4:24\\ Start doing the right.
a. With the same effort that you have done the wrong, start doing
the right.
b. Don’t get worried if at first it is difficult or awkward.
(1) It will become more natural in time.
(2) Just ask Go
c. Don’t get disappointed when you fail.
(1) Just stay at it.
(2) You will do fine.
What you will find is that even though you don’t think you are making much
progress, you are. One day, you will look back into your life and will see the
changes that the mind of Christ has made in your life.
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