RENEW YOUR MIND

BIBLE TEXT: EPHESIANS 4:17-32, CEV

¹⁷ As a follower of the Lord, I order you to stop living like stupid, godless people. ¹⁸ Their minds are in the dark, and they are stubborn and ignorant and have missed out on the life that comes from God. They no longer have any feelings about what is right, ¹⁹ and they are so greedy that they do all kinds of indecent things.

^20-21 But that isn’t what you were taught about Jesus Christ. He is the truth, and you heard about him and learned about him. ²² You were told that your foolish desires will destroy you and that you must give up your old way of life with all its bad habits. ²³ Let the Spirit change your way of thinking ²⁴ and make you into a new person. You were created to be like God, and so you must please him and be truly holy.

²⁵ We are part of the same body. Stop lying and start telling each other the truth. ²⁶ Don’t get so angry that you sin. Don’t go to bed angry ²⁷ and don’t give the devil a chance.

²⁸ If you are a thief, quit stealing. Be honest and work hard, so you will have something to give to people in need.

²⁹ Stop all your dirty talk. Say the right thing at the right time and help others by what you say.

³⁰ Don’t make God’s Spirit sad. The Spirit makes you sure that someday you will be free from your sins.

³¹ Stop being bitter and angry and mad at others. Don’t yell at one another or curse each other or ever be rude. ³² Instead, be kind and merciful, and forgive others, just as God forgave you because of Christ.

INTRODUCTION

We have been told that our attitude has to do with the way we think, feel, and behave. Those are the reflections of our attitude. How do we come about our thoughts, feelings and behaviour? From the things we hear, see and experience. Our passage above describes the life of the unbeliever, which should be the old life of the Christian, and then goes further to spell out the rules for the new life.

In the old life, the following was predominant;

§  Useless thoughts

§  Ignorance

§  No relationship with God

§  Hardness of heart - stubborn

§  Ungodliness

§  Wickedness (and given to indecency)

§  Rudeness

§  Telling of lies

§  Laziness

§  Stealing

§  Obscene conversation

§  Blasphemy, etc

The old life is described as the old attitude. This old life is not in agreement with what the Almighty God desires from us and that is why Apostle Paul spent time to teach the people of Ephesus about Christ and the new way of life. The old way could not bring us salvation, redemption, and divine reception. It was a worthless life; a meaningless life; and all because of our attitude.

The main cause of that old attitude is the wrong beliefs we have about life. We see life through the things we believe and experience and these control our conduct and behaviour. What we believe becomes very powerful because they determine what experiences we will have in life.

Take for instance, a situation where you had a bad experience, may be a bad relationship. As you dwell on it and listen to other people’s stories, you begin to form an attitude of “all men/all women are the same”. Over time, you find yourself going from one bad relationship to another - just to further confirm your thinking that all men/women are the same.

Job 3:25, NIV: “What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me”.

Any situation in life, whether good or bad, has to do with the focus of our attitude. In order to embrace the new life, Apostle Paul calls us to abandon the way we used to think and to depart from the way we used to behave;

Ephesians 4:22-24, NKJV: 

“²² that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, ²³ and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness”.

To change our old attitude, we need to change what we believe – in our minds. The power to change our minds is in the word of God. Let us ponder over a few areas;

1.            "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." (Proverbs 23:7). The Bible is telling us that “we are what we think”. Your thoughts reflect who you are and show in your behaviour. In reality, no one really knows what you are thinking, except you and God. To change your attitude is something that only you and God can work out — it has to take place inwardly – the renewing of the mind.

Proverbs 4:23, NIV: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

2.            “If you faint in the day of adversity, Your strength is small.” (Proverbs 24:10). How do we react to difficult situations, trials and tribulations? We grumble and complain and murmur… we put the blame on someone or something… we lament and go into self-pity… then we turn to prayer and fasting. Our reaction is our attitude to our faith.

Romans 8:28, NKJV: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose”.

It will serve us better to take all our matters to God first and then calmly, go over the situation to discover the hidden lesson.

Philippians 4:6-7, “⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”.

3.            Galatians 5:19-21, "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God".

What is our attitude to sin? Some of us do not take sin seriously. We justify sin - “I had to drive against traffic to get here on time”; we condone sin – “it was just a small lie”. Were we to appreciate the enormity of harm that sin does, we would wage war against it. How do we react when people point out our errors? We deny… argue… defend… and even insult them. In some cases, people leave the church. Not because they will change but just to avoid people poke-nosing in their affairs.

Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

CONCLUSION

Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”. Apostle Paul is encouraging us to have the type of attitude that Jesus had toward God’s will and toward people. Jesus did not throw his status around, despite his divinity; he submitted himself to God’s authority. He was disciplined and obedient. He trusted God to provide for him; and he ‘went about doing good’.

The mind of Christ was not full of mischief, selfishness, wickedness, greed, lust, fraud, ignorance, fear, disrespect, ingratitude, irresponsibility, etc. Without the mind of Christ, we cannot make progress, whether spiritually or physically. It is only the mind of Christ that can get us into heaven.

Philippians 4:8, NIV: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things”.