Seeing Jesus - Mind (Add 1)

	Jesus has the hands of a carpenter, a fisherman, a physician, a farmer, a teacher and a parent.  They reach down in love, out in support and up in praise.  His eyes look backward for lessons from the past.  They look forward with determination. They always look with love.  Certain things never come from His mouth.  However, He always speaks up when the situation calls for it.  At all times, His words are those of God.  The feet of Jesus are often tired.  But this does not stop Him as he pursues His critical mission.  These feet are willing to step forward and stand firm.  They are powerful.  And they are beautiful.
	It is of major importance that we comprehend and develop in ourselves the mind of Christ.  This requires that we eliminate certain negative elements from our minds.  These include things which are bad, misinformed or useless.  We must in turn fill our minds with positive traits.
	As we have seen, bad thoughts would include those which are physically, mentally or spiritually corrupted.  Those which are worthless involve minds which have been hardened, blinded, led astray or embittered.  Thoughts are worthless when they come from vanity, disputing or weariness.  Our minds must be cleansed of all these if we are to develop the mind of Christ.  But, as the Bible indicates, it is not enough to simply eliminate the negative.  We must add that which is positive.
	"When the unclean spirit goes out of a man," Jesus explains in Luke 11:24-26, "it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.'  And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order.  Then it goes and takes {along} seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first." 
	So ridding ourselves of a worldly mind is simply a preliminary step.  We are wasting our time if we don't take the positive action of developing the mind of Christ.  But how many people actually realize this?  How many times do we hear the statement, "I don't kill, I don't steal, so I'm O.K."?  The question on the judgment day is not going to be, "What have you not done?" but rather, "What have you done?"
	Next week, Lord willing, we will start to examine some specific elements of a christian mind.  For right now, though, let's look at some basic considerations involved in putting on the mind of Christ.
	Developing the mind of Christ requires a transformation of our minds.
	"I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God," Paul writes in Romans 12:1-2, "to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, {which is} your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
	As this verse indicates, the transformation of our minds involves a renewal.  When we are born, our minds are pure.  But, as sin enters our lives, our minds become corrupted.  This is what Jesus is indicating in Matthew 18:1-4.
	"At that time," this passage records, "the disciples came to Jesus, saying, 'Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?'  And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, 'Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'"
	"Renew" means to "make new again."  To have the mind of Christ, we must transform our own minds through a renewal.
	"But you did not learn Christ in this way," Paul explains in Ephesians 4:20-24, "if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in {the likeness of} God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth."

	A christian mind is one which has been transformed by renewal.  It is also motivated by love.  A Pharisee asks Jesus which is the great commandment of the Law.
	"'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,'" the Master replies in Matthew 22:37-40.  "This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
	"In this is love," we read in 1 John 4:10-12, "not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son {to be} the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us." 
	"And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us," the passage continues in verses 16-21.  "God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.  By this, love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.  We love, because He first loved us.  If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.  And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also."
	The christian mind is transformed by renewal.  It is motivated by love.  And it is founded on the law of God.
	"For this is the covenant," Hebrews 8:10 quotes from Jeremiah 31, "that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them upon their hearts.  And I will be their God, and they shall be My people."
	In spite of his many shortcomings, David has a special place in the heart of God.  Could this be related to David's dedication to God's law?  Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. But it has a single theme.  Nearly every verse focuses on God's law.  And David does not merely think about this law.  He meditates upon it.  Here is what David says in verses 15, 23, 48, 78, 97, 99 and 148.
	"I will meditate on Thy precepts, and regard Thy ways."
	"Even though princes sit and talk against me, Thy servant meditates on Thy statutes."
	"And I shall lift up my hands to Thy commandments, which I love; and I will meditate on Thy statutes."
	"May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie; {but} I shall meditate on Thy precepts."
	"O how I love Thy law! It is my meditation all the day."
	"I have more insight than all my teachers, for Thy testimonies are my meditation."
	"My eyes anticipate the night watches, that I may meditate on Thy word."
	The christian mind is transformed by renewal.  It is motivated by love.  It is founded on the Word of God.
	In Mark chapter five, Jesus heals a man who is demon possessed.
	"And they came to Jesus," verse 15 notes, "and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind."
	If our minds are worldly and corrupted, we're not very different from this man, are we?  Only those who have the mind of Christ are in their right minds.  Our minds are sound only when they have been transformed by renewal, motivated by love and founded on the truth of God's word.  Only this truth will set us free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."