Resources
Control Your Soul…By Controlling Your Mind
Pastor Nick Floyd speaks about controlling your soul (the mind, the will, and the emotions) using scripture from 1 Thessalonians 5 and Romans 12.
$6.00 — $12.00
I just have to say this morning that as I’ve walked around a little this morning here, and also at our Springdale Campus, you guys look good today. You really do. You look fit. You look strong, thinner, and if you’re wondering what in the world I’m talking about, we are in the second week of our series called “Extreme Spiritual Makeover.” Last week we dealt with caring for our bodies, so I hope this week you’ve taken time to uh, run some, to uh do some sit-ups and push-ups. I did some sit-ups and push-ups last night trying to get my ab into a set of abs. I’m trying to get that working. And uh, I hope maybe you drank some water at your meals, or diet, or whatever else you may have chosen to do.
But today we’re going to shift gears a little, and we’re going to talk about controlling your soul by controlling your mind. I want to go ahead and invite you to turn with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, and that is really the uh, passage we’re going to launch from into another passage today where our series is based off of.
Controlling the mind is one of the biggest battlefields that a believer will face. I could literally pull dozens and dozens of people up on stage with me this morning, and I could find person after person who is imprisoned in their own mind. You think about all the things that come as a result of the mind. Worry. Stress. Anxiety. Bitterness. Anger. Impurity, all begins in the mind.
And so this is a crucial battlefield for us, and so that’s where I want us to begin today. I want us to look at 1 Thessalonians together. Chapter 5, and we’ll read in verse 23. This is Paul writing. He says, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely.” That’s a key phrase. “And may your whole spirit and soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We’re dealing with the soul today. We believe the soul’s comprised of three things: the mind, the will, and the emotions.
And so for the next three weeks that’s what you’re going to hear about, and we’re going to start today by talking about controlling your soul by controlling your mind. The passage says, “May the God of peace sanctify you completely.” Now what you’ve got to understand is that really when we talk about the ability to control the mind, what we’re dealing with specifically is a sanctification of the mind. We all know what sanctification means. There’s a time in your life when hopefully you hear the gospel, you hear what Jesus Christ has done for you, whether that was in a church service like this, or whether that was across the dinner table from somebody, but they told you about Jesus and the forgiveness that you could find. And at that moment you turn from your sin, you turn to Jesus Christ to save you, and you were saved. That’s how that happens.
And then the Bible says that each believer after this until the day that they die should go through a sanctification process for the years, months, days, however long it happens until they die. And this sanctification process is the process of becoming more like Jesus Christ. And so when we talk about the sanctification of the mind, we are talking about becoming more like Jesus Christ in your mind.
Let me give you a big statement as we begin here. This will kind of be an overarching statement to guide us throughout our day this morning. How we think will determine how we live. How we think will determine how we live. I want you to say that with me. How we think will determine how we live. It’s an absolutely crucial part of our Christian life is this battlefield of the mind.
I want to invite you to turn over to Romans chapter 12 with me now. We’ll spend the rest of our time in Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. As you’re turning, let me ask you a question. You think back to those decisions in your life that were wrong, and what’s the reason? Why do people make bad decisions? Why do we make dumb, and at times stupid decisions that we then pay the consequences for?
For instance, think back in your own life at some of those decisions, and you may think back and even ask yourself today what was I thinking? Or you may be in the parenthood days of, of raising teenagers, and they get in trouble at school, and they get home, and what are the first words out of your mouth? “What were you thinking?” Now really there’s usually two scenarios here. The first option: We were not thinking. It’s a viable option. Number 2: We had a wrong thinking that led to a wrong or sinful behavior. So in order for us to become obedient believers, we have to have our mind straight and set on godly things so that we can live in the way that God wants us to live.
I want you to look at Romans chapter 12 with me. Let’s read this together. Verse 1, he says, “I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship.” Now as we learned last week when we read therefore in the Bible we need to ask the question, “What’s it there for?” That was weak. What’s it there for?
And so when Paul says I appeal to you brothers, I appeal to you church, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as living sacrifices.” What he is saying therefore to is the first 11 chapters of his book. You see this was a letter he was writing to the church, this church at Rome, where we get the word Romans. And he is writing to this church and so essentially he is taking the first 11 chapters of this letter, and he is talking to them about what God has done for us, in theological language about what we are to believe, and now Romans chapter 12 becomes the practical outplaying of those principles.
So in other words, Paul understood the power of the mind, and he took 11 chapters to tell us what we are to believe, and what we are to think about what God has done for us, and therefore, based on all of that stuff, we are now commanded to live in such a way, to live as living sacrifices.
Now let’s look at verse 2 because verse 2 really continues this on. And this is where he really gets specifically into the mind. He says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. That by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable, and perfect.” What is good, and acceptable, and perfect?
I want to give you three statements this morning that deal with the mind based off Romans chapter 12, verse 2, and I believe after this we’ll have a better grasp of how we are to control our minds as believers in Christ.
First statement:
1. We all tend to conform. We all tend to conform. You see this right off the bat. Paul is saying believers do not be conformed to this world because he knew, oh he knew how easy that is. Your version may even say it like this, “Do not be conformed to this world any longer.”
So what does it mean that we all tend to conform? It means that Nick Floyd, and insert your name, this means our minds and our lives apart from Jesus Christ, and apart from the influence of God’s Word, and just daily time with Him, and being around other believers, just left to ourselves we will always tend to conform to the world. We will always be bent toward sin. And so if you ever want to get control of this battlefield of the mind you have to start there knowing that just Nick and Nick alone, man I’m going to chose sin, and be bent towards sin.
Now this word for conform refers here to an outward expression of something that is different, that is, that is not match up with what is on the inside. So as we side, remember, Paul is writing primarily to believers. He’s writing primarily to a church here, and so here’s what the message of Paul to these people. He’s saying do not conform on the outside to something that God has made you completely different on the inside.
In other words, don’t let there be a disconnect in your mind or in your actions from what God has changed you to be at salvation. That’s a key. Let there be no disconnect. But it’s so easy to disconnect. And I wonder how many of you sitting here this morning would say there’s a disconnect going on like that in my own life. Yea I know that I had this time in my life where I gave my life to Christ. Man I turned from my sin. I turned to Jesus Christ. There’s no doubt there. But yet, man, my actions and my mind are just so conformed to the world that there’s a disconnect between God has changed me to be, and what I am actively living out.
As we said, it’s just natural. It’s natural to conform. Let me illustrate this way. About nine months ago Meredith and I began toying with the idea of international adoption. We’ve had some friends do it, and man God just began to turn our hearts towards it. So for the last nine months we’ve been praying and thinking, and talking about that. It was one of our three things we fasted about when that happened in January as a church. And so we believe that God has given us the green light to at least take the next step. We know it’s a long process, and things can change, and God can totally change our plans. But we’ve initially started out with turning in our paperwork to adopt a little baby boy from Rwanda.
And so let me illustrate it this way. If we never went to get our baby boy from Rwanda, do you know what would happen? He would grow up to be a Rwandan. He would speak a certain language. He would dress a certain way. He would like a certain kind of food. He may wear his hair in a certain way. He may wear a certain kind of shoes. And he would conform naturally to the Rwandan culture.
Now likewise, if we are able to follow through, and God lets all the doors open, and we are able to go get our little boy, then you know what? He will speak our language. He will naturally conform, and probably wear clothes like all of us are wearing this morning. He will probably like Chick-fil-a because Meredith and I like Chick-fil-a. He will prob…He will like football because his father likes football. That is not in question. And he’ll just naturally conform to this world, right?
It’s so easy. You did it when you grew up. I did it when I grew up. And now think about this in your mind. How easy it is to sway. Do you remember what we said? How we think will determine how we live. So let me ask you a question. What is having the greatest input into your life right now? Is it God? The things of God? His Word? Or is it your friends? And their world-view is becoming your world-view? Or is it television? And your mind is so consumed with what you’ve seen on television that before you know it you have drifted so far away because you have begun to conform to this world. Or even think about the books you read. All these things have a conforming process, and if we’re not careful, they will outweigh what God and His Word have said because it’s so easy to conform. You need to realize this about yourself, and I need to realize this about myself. We will always tend to conform, and that’s why we have to fight this battle in our minds.
We all tend to conform but the great message in this passage is that:
2. We can be transformed. We all tend to conform, but we can be transformed. Look at verse 2 again. He said do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed, be transformed. This word for transformed is the opposite of what we see in the word conformed, and it means that there is a direct correlation, okay? What happens on the outside matches what’s on the inside. And so Paul’s, Paul’s plea to these believers in Rome is this, church, let what happens on the outside, and what happens in your mind, be according to the change that God has brought about in you at salvation. Let there be no disconnect. Let it all match up perfectly. And there we find so much of the Christian battle of brining our beliefs in line with our behavior.
It’s easy on Sunday mornings, right? It’s easy to sit in here and think about you hear these commandments of the scripture, you hear about God, and you’re like, “Amen, that is, that’s good preacher.” And then we walk out of these doors and the world is all over us. And this is the life of a believer. The fact that we have been changed by Jesus Christ, we are no longer citizens of this earth, but citizens of heaven, and now we are in this wrestling match trying to gain control of our minds.
You say Nick how do we go through this transformation process? Look at the verse. It says, “But be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” Now we can all say amen to that like hey man if you’ve been in church at any time you know this passage, and you say man, absolutely, let’s renew our minds! But if we were to switch places, and I were to say hey, take this mic, and explain how we renew our minds. It may be difficult for some. Others may nail it exactly. But it’s this biblical term and a biblical phrase that we know many of us know, and yet how do we do this? How do we go through the process of renewing our minds?
I want you to think about it this way. We renew our minds through a continual adjustment in our mindset. If you were at the men’s conference I used an illustration much like this, but I think it fits here. In order to renew your mind, you must realize that God’s Word is the authority in your life. That no longer is it that your mind or your will or your emotions, but God’s Word now becomes the primacy. I mean it is first priority, and it rules the day.
And so here’s what it means to renew your mind. You have a situation in your marriage, and you don’t feel like doing the godly thing, but you have so come under God’s Word and His authority that you say God’s Word is the authority. I am not. And I’m going to adjust. Not the other way around.
And then you have a situation with your kids. God’s Word is the authority. I am not. And so I’m going to adjust. You have a situation at work, or at church. God’s Word is the authority. I am not. And I am going to adjust. Do you realize if you make those kind of decisions time after time, and you just begin to have the Word of God just dwell so richly within you, and you continue to make godly decisions based on the authority of His Word, do you know what’s going to happen? Over time your mind will be renewed because you will have placed this in such a priority, and such a high authority that it will overtake your life.
But let’s get even more practical. How do we do this specifically? Like we just said:
(1) The Bible must be the foundation of your life. The Bible must be the foundation of your life. If you are looking for a plan B, you will look until you die. There is no plan B. There is no other way to renew your mind. There is no other way to live a godly life. It is only through obeying His Word that our minds can be renewed. Are you getting this? There is no other way. Ain’t no other way. No plan B. It is all here. The Bible must be, must be, must be, has to be the authority in your life, and it must become the absolute guiding light in your life.
The Psalmist said it this way in Psalm 119:11, “I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.” There it is again, how we think will determine how we live. If I am placing this as the number one priority in my life, and guide of my life, then you know what? When this gets into my life, and man, I’m beginning to learn it, and trust it, and really believe it, and hold on to it with everything that I am, you know what’s going to happen? You’re not going to sin as much because you’re going to know exactly what you’re supposed to do.
I think sometimes we may look at this Bible we have here, and you may see it as a place where you can come and hear some good commandments. You can hear about God’s love, or some other character traits about God, and yet, we don’t see it as the overarching plan of God that is wrapped up in a book.
Tullian Tchividjian, try spelling that name by the way, Tullian Tchividjian is a pastor in South Florida. He wrote a book called Unfashionable, and here’s what he said in there. He said, “The Bible isn’t simply a manual for understanding spiritual concepts. It provides us with a comprehensive framework for understanding all of life, all of reality. It presents an entire worldview, a complete a perspective on life. It supplies us with an overarching explanation where we came from (which is creation), what’s wrong with us in the world we live in (which was the fall), and what’s the solution to the problem, or how the world can be set straight again (which is redemption).”
If you understand that as your biblical worldview, the conflict you get into with the person who you work with begins to make sense. Other things in life begin to make sense. Earthquakes, oil spills, tragedies begin to make sense that one day Jesus will come and make this all right again.
And so I ask you, is God’s Word that authority? Have you ever, not just been saved, but have you ever, you may have had this time where you turn from your sin, turned to Jesus Christ, but have you ever had a time when you said, “Man, I’m sick of living the way I am. I’m sick of no spiritual growth, and I’m willingly taking a step under God’s authority of His Word, and I’m going to base my life upon it.” The Bible must be the foundation of your life.
But second, our minds are renewed through:
(2) Consistent Prayer. Through consistent prayer. Can I be honest with you? Without God’s Word, and consistent prayer, I stink at controlling my mind. Okay I’ve got it off my chest. Whew. I feel better. Without God and His Word, and without consistent prayer, you know what I do? I tend to conform. And just naturally I just begin to drift, and I find myself in worry, or some other battle of my mind, but it’s got to be through consistent prayer.
You know for years now I’ve prayed the armor of God upon Meredith, my wife, and myself in the mornings. And in that, I’ll pray specifically for our minds, specifically things we have talked about or not talked about that I know are a struggle for each one of us involving our minds, and I tell you now that I’ve been doing that, and been praying the armor of God upon my life, I notice when I don’t. And maybe I’m getting mad at Meredith, or maybe we’re having some conflict, and I’m thinking well you know I never did pray the armor of God upon our lives today. And begun to see a difference in how consistent prayer protects my mind from Satan.
The Bible must be the foundation of your life. You’ve also got to have consistent prayer, but third, you’ve got to:
(3) Get around Biblical Christians. Notice I just didn’t say Christians; get around Biblical Christians, those who hold the Word of God in that place of authority that we’ve talked about this morning. And this, and can I vent for a second? Is that okay? Is this an open forum for me here? It’s beyond me why anyone would take their family out of, out of a local body of believers. Obviously you’re not that person. You’re here this morning, but you know what we say when we do that? We’re going to leave the teaching of God’s Word, and we’re going to leave a time with the smaller group, a connection group where we can discuss and learn from each other in God’s Word, and I’m going to leave the community of believers, and I’m going to live a Christian life in isolation. And you know what happens when we do that? We tend to conform.
But being around Biblical Christians helps us. That’s the person that when you want to leave your spouse, a biblical Christian shows up on your door and says, “You’re not doing this.” Or maybe you’re having a struggle with your child, and another biblical Christian, an older person, an older man or woman comes up to you and says, “Man let me teach you about parenthood.” And they open God’s Word and they begin to tell you about discipline.
You’ve got to be in a community of believers. You were never intended to live this Christian life alone. You’ve got to be around biblical Christians. And let me just take some pressure off this whole process of renewing your mind. It takes time. And it is a day by day by day by day choice where you are choosing God’s Word, you are inputting into your life God’s Word, and you’ll look back a year from now, 5 years from now, 10 years from now, and your life, and your mind will be transformed. But it’s a process.
We all tend to conform. But we can be transformed. And then there’s a great promise in this passage:
3. Then we can be informed. Then we can be informed. Look at the passage. He says that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. In other words, when you renew your mind, and you go through this transforming process of the sanctification of your mind, guess what you’re going to know what to do? You are going to know what God wants you to do.
Anybody want to know what God wants you to do with your life? Tomorrow, the situation you’re facing right now? It happens through a renewing of your mind as God’s Word comes and takes authority in your life.
Imagine we all started a new job tomorrow. This is a good way to think of it. And, and I went to this job, and I didn’t know how to answer the phone. Um, they had a certain protocol and I didn’t know it. I didn’t know if I was in proper dress code. I didn’t know what time my meetings were that I had to be at. And so I walked in, and they gave me an employee manual. I mean thick. Nobody’s ever read it before. But, but I would reference that, and, and man that was just kind of my saving grace right off those first few months, and weeks of my job. And I would okay, how do I answer the phone? It’s ringing and ringing. Here it is, and I answer the phone. Hello. Hopefully it’s more than just hello.
And then I begin to learn that well I need to wear slacks and a dress shirt on Monday through Wednesday or Thursday, and then Friday is a dress down day. And I begin to just put all this stuff in my mind, and I read it, and I learn it, and so you know what happens? I just know how to work, and I know how to live at my job.
As you renew your mind, and as you daily spend time in God’s Word, and it becomes the authority in your life, you know what? You’re going to know God’s will. We often search for God’s will as a big old cloud up there that we’ve got to find. Most of the time, with a renewed mind, you’ll know what to do. 98-99% of all the questions you’ll have in life you can probably just answer from a renewed mind with having the Bible as the authority in your life.
Or there are those rare occurrences where you may need some biblical counsel. Absolutely. But most of the time the promise from this passage is if you renew your mind, God will transform you, and you know what will happen? You’ll know what God wants you to do.
I don’t know where you’re at this morning. Some of you may have some stuff that you know God wants you to do. You ever been in one of those situations where you know God’s wanting you to do something like days, or weeks, or months, or years, and you know, I mean you know what you’re suppose to be doing, and yet, there’s like uh, there’s a gap between I know and I’ve got to obey, and so maybe there’s even some doubt in your mind. Man is this, I know God’s telling me to do this, but man, I just don’t know that that’s right. And according to this passage, when you renew your mind with the Word of God, and you conform no longer to this world, you know what’s going to happen? God is going to make His will known to you, and it is going to be good, and acceptable, and perfect.
There’s a guy named Alva Reid who wrote a book called Romans that I used in college that I referenced and studied for this passage today. He says this about God’s will. He says, “It’s good. God’s will is always good. It may be hard, but it is always good.” He says, “It’s acceptable. It ought to be acceptable to you, because it’s acceptable to God.” Well thank you Alva. I appreciate that one. He says, “It’s perfect. Sometimes the will of God leads you into places that you cannot see the reason for, and it seems that everything is going wrong. But remember that His will is perfect. No matter how devious the way may be, His will is perfect because He knows the end from the beginning.”
Where are you at in life? Are you in some situation where God is calling you to do something? Are you in some situation where maybe even in your mind you know what to do, but to, to get that, over that hump of obedience something’s got to get you there? Do you believe that God in His sovereignty, and His overall purpose for our lives, right where He has you today is a good and acceptable and a perfect place? And do you know that the things that God is going to call you to do is a part of His good and acceptable and a perfect plan?
Let’s tie a bow on this today. What do you say we talk about Jesus? Isn’t that good? Here’s the truth: without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we have no hope. There is no other way, and we cannot renew our minds. And so I want to speak to you first of all those of you that are in the church, who know Jesus Christ, and I would tell you this: the same person who got you into this salvation thing will be the same person who carries you through it. And He will be the only answer. Him and His Word to getting you sanctified in your mind.
The second group I would mention would be those of you who have never trusted Christ. I don’t know your background. I don’t know if you regularly attend here, or if this is your very first time. But man I’ve got some great news for you. When I was 12 years old I turned from my sin, and I turned to Jesus Christ to save me, and He’s changed me completely. And I could bring Josh Stanbery up here and he could tell you about how Jesus Christ has changed him. And I could line a line of people all the way up to the door who have had this moment in time when they heard the gospel like you were hearing this morning, and they turned from their sins, and they turned in faith to Jesus Christ, and He saved them. And He changed us.
And so today the wonderful news that I have for you is that you can have that same experience. That if you will simply turn from the sin that you have in your life, and you’ll turn from your selfish ways, and turn to Jesus Christ and say, “Lord I need your forgiveness,” He’ll forgive you. Your problem this morning is not a renewing of your mind problem; it’s a sin problem. The same sin problem that I have, and each one of these people in here have. But Jesus Christ is our only hope. And so today regardless of which side of that you’re on, I pray that you will turn to Jesus this morning, and in turning to Jesus our lives will be changed.
Let’s pray together…
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