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Drawing Illustration - Different voices have different messages to communicate .…
Turn to Romans 12 and Genesis 3
Our vision is to be a church that helps people reach their full potential in Christ: Physically, Spiritually and Emotionally.
Regarding our potential, we’ve been looking at Romans 12.
And Paul says,
To reach our full potential in Christ, we offer ourselves fully to God, we prevent ourselves from being conformed, and we permit ourselves to be transformed by the work of the Holy.
Transformation begins in the mind - learning to think correctly about God and about life.
Why the mind?
Every mind needs renewed because every person has a sin nature, and sin causes brain damage!
We can’t think right.
Of course, wrong thinking leads to wrong behavior.
But God desires to restore our hearts and minds and give us a new nature (that’s called sanctification).
Our minds are restored as we immerse ourselves in the Word and learn to have the mind of Christ.
As we do that, our thinking about other people and life should become more Christ-like.
However,
Thinking properly and spiritually also includes how we think about ourselves.
I don’t need to go into detail here, because we all have experienced this.
Everyone struggles with thinking properly about themselves.
We either think too much or too little.
Too good or too bad.
But in
So, Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, acknowledged we all have a thinking problem - we all have brain damage.
You can read more about that in Romans 1 - that sin leads to a depraved or useless mind.
Now, understand, only God is perfect - so no one, other than God will ever think perfectly about themselves and others - nor should we expect others to think perfectly.
We need to acknowledge that all of us think imperfectly at times.
So,
The goal is not perfection in our thinking, but rather management of our imperfect thinking.
What does that mean?
To manage our imperfect thinking simply means to
Recognize ungodly thoughts and replace them with righteous thoughts - that’s in alignment with Christ and His Word.
Let’s go back to Genesis 3 and look at some common thinking problems that need to be managed.
And before we get there, just know that I’m not talking about chemical imbalances or mental illness or anything like that.
Managing our thinking means we are to manage that which can be managed.
If we can exert self-control - then do it.
If we can take captive our thoughts - then do it.
If we can learn to think Biblically, then do it.
Genesis 3 we find Adam and Eve in the Garden, and Eve is having this conversation with a serpent.
I do not believe this is a literal snake or serpent, but rather an elohim, a spiritual being who has a serpentine but dazzling bright appearance.
One of our thinking problems is
1.
Polytheism: There are other standards.
Polytheism says,
Polytheism is the belief in and worship of other gods.
Part of worship is bowing down to and submitting to - and listening to.
The deity says - I believe - I behave.
This goes back to what we talked about a few months ago that there are other elohim, other spiritual beings, other “gods” present in our world.
Some are pro-Jesus and are here to help us.
Others are anti-Jesus, and they seek our demise and often portray themselves as gods or equal to God.
It’s these that I’m concerned about.
There are multiple “gods” trying to influence us and corrupt our thinking.
There are multiple external voices challenging, confusing and corrupting the truth of God - and consequently challenging, confusing and corrupting how we view ourselves.
Therefore, we must be so careful with who and what we listen to.
If polytheism is a problem,
The solution is Monotheism.
The belief in and worship of the One Sovereign God - who is above all gods.
It’s His voice, the voice of truth, the voice of His Son Jesus Christ and His Spirit that we should listen to and submit to.
So you can see, we need to manage who we listen to.
Polytheism is a problem with external voices - what about the internal?
Jump to verse six.
The second common problem with our thinking is
2. Pride: I’m above the standard.
And pride says, I’m above the standard.
Whether it’s God’s standards, the laws of our nation, our employer, our parents - doesn’t matter - pride says I know the rules, I know the standards, but they don’t apply to me.
So, Eve heard the voice of another “god,” who challenged and confused God’s standard, and she fell for it.
She believed, “Oh, there’s another standard here, and I’m going to follow that one.”
That’s pride.
The third thinking problem we can struggle with is -
3. Passivity: I’m below the standard.
Look at the rest of verse 6 and notice how Adam responded.
Eve took the fruit, that was pride, she ate it, then
For some reason, Adam took a passive role in this ordeal.
He was with her and he did not protect her.
He allowed another god into his home.
Men, are you passive - allowing false gods into your home - to influence, to corrupt God’s standards?
He did not say to his wife, “We should not do this!”
Adam did not stand in the gap between his wife - his family - and the other standards.
His thinking and his behavior were passive.
You know what passivity is? It’s allowing others to do your thinking for you.
I’ll let other people tell me what’s right and what’s wrong.
I’ll allow others to make the decisions and I’ll just go with the flow - even if I know it’s wrong.
The fourth thinking problem is
4. Shame: I don’t meet the standard.
It’s interesting - Adam and Eve were just fine with their bodies, with their self-image, they had a great relationship with God until they bought into the lie of another god - until they accepted another standard.
See, sin and shame do several things:
Sin and shame confuse the standards, distort our self-image and cause fear.
We get confused.
Whose standard do we live up to?
His? Hers?
Theirs?
Photoshop?
You can’t compete with a touch-up job.
Our self-image is distorted.
How many have thought I’m - “Too ugly.
Too plain.
Too tall.
Too short.
Too fat.
Too skinny.
Too dotty.
Too spotty.
Too dumb.
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