THE WRONG MINDSET

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to persuade the worshipper to set their minds on God's interests.

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The Text

See Mark 8:33
Mark 8:33 NASB95
But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
Introduction:

According to the New York Times, in the summer of 1994, a Virginia state trooper, who was a member of the bomb squad, and his dog, Master Blaster, became local celebrities when they found bombs at malls in Hampton and Virginia Beach.

That bit of celebrity evidently went to the state trooper’s head. A hidden camera later recorded him placing a bomb in a shed that he had been asked to search for explosives. He was arrested and later pled guilty to planting explosives at two malls, a courthouse, and a coliseum. He told investigators he had not intended to hurt anyone. The bombs—a cardboard tube filled with explosives, and pipes filled with gunpowder and nails—never exploded. He said he was simply trying to enhance his image.

Selfish ambition is one of the most powerful—and potentially destructive—motivations we can have. When we are in the grips of selfish ambition, we can rationalize almost anything.

Context of the Text:
Jesus is instructing his disciples about his death, burial, and resurrection when he is interrupted by Peter, who takes him aside and rebukes him. Jesus publicly rebukes Peter and states that he is being motivated by the wrong mindset. The Lord has sent a search warrant into this place today; it is not that He does not already know, but He wants us to come clean with him today about our own mindset.
Someone may be asking what I am referring to by mindset: 1) The Cambridge dictionary defines it as a person's way of thinking and their opinions, 2) The Merriam-Webster dictionary says it is a mental attitude or inclination, 3) The Bible Sense Lexicon sees it as: a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations.
Contrary to popular postmodern relativistic belief: There is, in fact a right mindset and a wrong one.
Central Idea:
We, like Peter, possess the wrong mindset when we become unteachable, influenced by Satan, and motivated by self-interests.

Being Unteachable

Explanation:
The text begins with Jesus teaching his disciples. Mark 8:31-32 says
Mark 8:31–32 NASB95
And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.
The lesson was being taught by Jesus, the Master and teacher. He had prepared his lesson plan and was presenting it to the Twelve. The text informs us that he was not speaking to them in parables, sayings, or proverbs, he was speaking in a non-figurative language, “plainly.”The word parresia is the use of speech that conceals nothing and passes over nothing, outspokenness, frankness, plainness. I was thrown for a loop when I read this because what we have here is more than the student rebuking the teacher. I could not understand what made Peter think that he could correct Jesus?
The issue of presumption came to mind because it has been defined as “arrogant behavior; the act of venturing beyond due bounds of reverence or respect”. Peter was a daring person: (i.e., an improperly forward or bold person). As I read the passage again and realized that this scene follows directly behind Peter’s great confession and elevation. And it occurred to me that being celebrated and elevated can cause some of us to become overconfident and lead us to believe that we know more about things than we really do.
How presumptuous is it for a man to rebuke God?
This is beyond presupposition! Presupposition is defined as: something taken as being true or factual and used as a starting point for a course of action or reasoning.
I think I should let you know that when your presupposition is informed by your own presumption you have become unteachable because you think you already know. This is what it looks like to be unteachable:
Illustrate:

In Broken in the Right Place, Alan Nelson describes a scene from the book A Layman Looks at the Lord’s Prayer.

The author talks about watching a potter mold a lump of clay. On the shelves in his workshop stood gleaming goblets, beautiful vases, and exquisite bowls. The potter went to an odorous pit in the floor and took out a lump of clay. The smell was from rotting grass, which increased the quality of the material and made it stick better. The potter patted the lump of clay in his hands into a ball. Placing the lump onto the slab of stone with seasoned skill, the potter sat down on his wobbly little wooden stool. Already the master potter could envision the work of art this lump of earth would become. Whirling the wheel gently, the artist caressed the spinning mound. Prior to each touch, he dipped his hands into the two water basins flanking each side of the wheel. The clay responded to the pressure applied by his fingers. A beautiful goblet arose from the pile, responding to each pinch and impression.

Suddenly the stone stopped, and the potter removed a piece of grit. His seasoned fingers detected the unpliable aggregate. The stone spun again, allowing him to smooth out the former lodging of the grit. Suddenly the stone stopped again. He removed another hard object from the goblet’s side, leaving a mark in the vessel. The particles of grain within the cup resisted his hands. It would not respond to his wishes. Quickly the potter squashed the form back into a pile of clay. Instead of the beautiful goblet, the artisan formed the material into a crude, finger bowl.… When we resist the Master Potter’s hand, we run the very real risk of becoming less than we could become.

Application:
Be quick to listen (hear) and slow to speak (James 1:19)
James 1:19 (NASB95)
This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;
2. Defer your Wisdom to God’s (1 Cor 1:18-25)
1 Corinthians 1:18–25 (NASB95)
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;
but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,
but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Influenced by Satan

Explanation:
Jesus seems to understand completely where this presumptuous presupposition was emanating from and calls it out and puts it in its place. The text says: Mark 8:33
Mark 8:33 NASB95
But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
It is clear that Peter’s actions were the result of some influence. That is, in a cognitive sense: a cognitive factor that tends to have an effect on what you do. When we speak in terms of cognition we mean: the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning. Lest we forget, Peter had just passed the test of spiritual discernment and Jesus had elevated him in front of his peer group. He was clearly the spokesman of the group.
Parenthetically:
There is nothing more dangerous to the body of Christ than people in leadership positions with the capacity to influence people, who are under the influence of Satan themselves.

Peter clearly understood Jesus’ words (8:31), but could not reconcile his view of “Messiah” (v. 29b) with the suffering and death Jesus predicted. So Peter began to rebuke Him for this defeatist approach.

Peter’s reaction, which the other disciples probably shared, was a satanic attempt similar to the wilderness temptation (cf. 1:12–13), to divert Jesus from the Cross. Jesus … rebuked (cf. 8:32) Peter for the benefit of them all. This was not a personal attack. The words, Out of My sight, are literally, “Go away behind (after) Me.” This is probably not a command to Peter to take his proper place as a disciple (contrast 1:17; 8:34), for Jesus named Satan as the source of Peter’s thoughts.

Illustration:

WHEN you burn a CD, you take the music or the movie and you pass it on so that on the other disc has precisely what was the original disc being burned. The copy is precisely the content of the original.

Satan does the same thing when he burns his thoughts into our thinking so that we think his thoughts after him. His goal is to get us to do this until those thoughts are burned so deeply they become our thoughts. His thinking, which starts as a suggestion, turns into a way of thinking for us, which then turns into a way of operating. The incorrect thinking ends up creating the actions that result from the thoughts.959

Application:
Rest the Devil (See James 4:7)
James 4:7 (NASB95)
Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
2. Guard your thought life (See 2 Cor 10:5)
2 Corinthians 10:5 (NASB95)
We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

Motivated by Self-Interest

Explanation: See Mark 8:33
Mark 8:33 NASB95
But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
Jesus’ rebuke of Peter is scathing, it cut right to the heart of the matter. Peter was not following Jesus without some ulterior motive; he had a mindset from the time that Andrew came and told him “We have found the Messiah (John 1:41)”, he had his own reasons for following him. As a matter of fact, they all did! Don’t you all remember the dispute between them about who would have the most prominent seats in the kingdom? See Matthew 20:24; Mark 10:41)
Matthew 20:24 (NASB95)
And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers.
Mark 10:41 (NASB95)
Hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant with James and John.
And then it was that time when the rich young ruler chose his possessions over Jesus and Jesus begin to teach about how hard it is for the rich to get into the kingdom. You all remember that it was Peter who said “What’s in it for us?” (See Matthew 19:27)
Matthew 19:27 NASB95
Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?”
I’m just trying to show you that Peter was being motivated by something. I need to ask you to be honest today: “What is motivating you to follow Jesus?” Is it because you are expecting him to make you rich? Is it because you want him to keep you healthy and well? Is it because you need him to be your protection, to guarantee you prosperity and good success? Are you following Jesus for the house, the car, the power, the status, the things? Are you motivated from a mindset of self-interest.
Illustration:

Nichelle Nichols played Uhura in the original Star Trek TV program and six Star Trek movies. She was one of the first Black women regularly featured on a weekly TV show. As such, she had obstacles to overcome. According to Steve Jones in USA Today, a few studio executives were hostile toward her character, which was often diminished by script rewrites, and the studio even withheld tons of her fan mail. After one year on the program, she was fed up. Nichols, who was also an extremely talented professional singer and dancer, told Gene Roddenberry she was going to quit and pursue her performing career.

Before she did, however, she went to a fundraiser for the NAACP. There she happened to meet Dr. Martin Luther King, who urged her not to leave the show. She was a role model for many.

Says Nichols, “When you have a man like Dr. Martin Luther King say you can’t leave a show, it’s daunting. It humbled my heart, and I couldn’t leave. God had charged me with something more important than my own career.”

The rest, as they say, is history. Not only did she become a fixture on Star Trek, she actually influenced NASA, challenging them to hire Blacks and women for their astronaut corps. She led a 1977 NASA recruitment drive that saw 1,600 women and 1,000 minorities apply within four months.

By giving up her plans to sing and dance, Nichols found the defining role of her career—Uhura—in one of the most popular TV shows ever and influenced a nation.

Like Nichelle Nichols, as we die to ourselves and our own plans so that we can pursue something far more important—the cause of Christ—we find our God-given destiny.

Application: Go from the wrong mindset to the right one.
Self has to die (Mark 8:34)
Mark 8:34 NASB95
And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
2. Let Christ live in You (Gal 2:20)
Galatians 2:20 NASB95
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Conclusion:

Having the wrong mindset is detrimental to God’s interests. The Lord is interested in the lives of the poor, the captives, the blind, the oppressed and brokenhearted. The Lord is shining his search light in our souls today and we must respond to Him by allowing Him to be the teacher, by being under the influence of His Holy Spirit, and by making our mindset and motivation about His glory.

(Phil 2:5-11)

Philippians 2:5–11 KJV 1900
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Invitation:

According to an October 29, 1994, story from the Reuters news agency, a Chinese woman named Zhang Meihua began to suffer mysterious symptoms when she turned twenty. She was losing the ability to nimbly move her legs and arms. Doctors could not find the cause, and the symptoms continued.

Two decades passed, and Zhang began to also suffer from chronic headaches. Again she sought help from the doctors. This time a CAT scan and an X ray found the source of the woman’s mysterious symptoms. A rusty pin was lodged in her head. The head of the pin was outside the skull, and the shaft penetrated into her brain. Doctors performed surgery and successfully extracted the pin.

The Xinhua news agency reported the doctors expressed amazement that the woman “could live for so long a time with a rusty pin stuck in her brain.” After noting the position of the pin in her skull, they speculated that the pin had entered her skull sometime soon after birth and before her skull had hardened. Zhang, now fully recovered, said she “had no memory of being pierced by a pin in the head.”

Like the rusty pin in that woman’s brain, unwholesome thoughts, bad attitudes, and painful memories can lodge in our minds and cause chronic problems. God tells us to renew our minds.

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