Sermon 06-06-2010

06/06/2010 Sermon by Min. Mike Johnson

Taking Captive Every Thought

The brain is a complex organ. It regulates body temperature, stores knowledge and controls emotion, all while serving as a mental scrapbook for our memories. It is also quite delicate. If the brain is damaged, it does not repair itself quite like the rest of the body. Some areas of the brain can see gains after an injury while others are completely dependent upon God’s touch for restoration. Just as we’re to exercise and strengthen our bodies, so must we exercise and challenge our brains through memorization, puzzles and even those dreaded mathematical equations. Okay, I know, some of you like those! We actually know what the brain looks like because of scientific research and advances in medical technology. What we can’t see, however, is the mind. If I were to ask you to point to your mind, you would probably point to your head, right? But it’s hard to put your finger on the exact place where the mind resides because, simply, we can’t see it.

Last week we talked about putting on the full armor of God because we don’t battle flesh and blood. Instead, as Paul writes in Ephesians, our struggle is against the rulers, powers, world rulers of darkness and spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. It’s pretty intense, isn’t it? Some might wonder why we should spend time looking at this. To simply ignore this epic struggle would be to ignore what is happening not only around us, but inside us.

The enemy works in many different ways and sometimes he is quite subtle. He understands that our minds can be manipulated. He is well aware that people want to claim knowledge for themselves. We are introduced to this right away in the book of Genesis. Adam and Eve are in the Garden of Eden, enjoying fellowship with God, surrounded by everything they needed and unimaginable beauty. Despite all this, they were easily manipulated by the serpent. Genesis 3:4-7 says, “The serpent said to the woman, ‘Surely you will not die, for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like divine beings who know good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”

Eve was given the chance to have wisdom for herself and she took it. As a result, she was able to separate good from evil as much as she was able in her new, fallen state of mind. Adam too was enticed by the chance for wisdom and he also ate the fruit and partook in this sin. They wished to take wisdom for themselves instead of trusting God. The result of their action is that they were judged and banished from the Garden of Eden. Because of their fall, we enter this world as fallen people. We might find ourselves looking down on Adam and Eve and wondering, “What were they thinking?” but we need to recognize that we can be manipulated just as easily. People wish for power, prestige, and knowledge. People wish to make their own truth that is not the same as the Truth found in God’s Word. The enemy knows this and works hard to destroy the concept of Truth. There are many who wish to eliminate the concept of absolute truth. They wish instead to make a world of conditional truth where all is relative. This is the concept that what is good for you is not necessarily good for me. It’s the proclamation of tolerance. While this works to an extent it ultimately divides and distracts from the ultimate truth in Christ. The enemy all along is working very patiently to slowly change the minds of people. Think about a frog sitting in a pot of water. If it goes from room temperature to boiling, that frog will immediately sense danger and jump out of the pot. On the other hand, if the water is slowly warmed over time, the frog won’t realize what is happening. The enemy works in the same way so that people do not recognize the change that is taking place until our thinking has radically shifted away from God. This leaves the enemy an open door to convince the person of just about anything. The enemy is able to deceive in ways we might not even recognize. So how can we possibly prevent this from happening?

Well we must first pay attention to what we put in our minds. What do you concentrate on? Where is your mind most focused? We must be wise and pay attention to what keeps us preoccupied. Are you worried about what others think about you? Are you preoccupied with human philosophy or with God’s truth? Do you get wrapped up in debates on morality and ethics without tracing their relationship back to Christ? Is your mind ruled by fear? Doubt? Worry? Guilt? Regret? Pride? All of the above? Do you find it difficult to concentrate? Does your mind frequently wander? Do you get sidetracked often because of disorganized thoughts or are you easily confused? Do you find it difficult to memorize Scripture, not because it’s a lengthy passage, but because you can’t seem to concentrate on it? Do you read a paragraph and forget what it was you just read because your mind has drifted to others matters?

As Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks, so is he.” That’s quite a statement. It puts a lot of pressure on what we’re thinking. It can make us or it can break us. What it can’t do, is stay in neutral. Do you practice taking every thought captive? When a thought enters your mind, determine its fruit. Does it bring you peace or does it bring unrest? A disciplined mind is quick to evaluate every thought so that unhealthy thoughts don’t have an opportunity to grow, expand and take root in our minds. I have a friend who was counseling someone who was battling self-esteem issues. This friend advised the person to physically grab the thought that said “I’m not good enough” out of the air, hold it up and say, “God, is this from you?” It seemed silly at the time but it actually worked. The person would laugh and say, “No, it’s not, is it, Lord?” and, treating that thought like it was a baseball, would then throw it away from them as hard as they could. You might think it’s silly to do this but sometimes a physical action helps us realize what is going on spiritually. It’s not enough to just cast off negative or ungodly thoughts. We have to replace them with something. Philippians 4:8 gives us a good place to start: “Whatever is true, worthy of respect, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent or praiseworthy, think on these things.” I know I have said this more than once, and I will say it again. Scripture will provide aid to protect our minds so long as we are wearing the helmet of salvation. We cannot merely quote Scripture to ease our minds but we must be found in Christ. We must be His. He must be our Savior.

It is of utmost importance that we believe in Christ alone and use Scripture as our rule for Truth. This is the basis for our faith. Through Christ and life by Scripture we have security and peace. Through the transforming work of Christ and by the power of Scripture we can begin to shape our perception of ourselves. Hopelessness and worthlessness begin to vanish as we look through Scripture and find our identity and future in Christ. The enemy wishes that we either stay hopeless, try to find hope in human thoughts and philosophy or just go numb. He wants us to keep debating ideas until what was once faith is now shattered thread of doubt. I think of the deconstructionist method of thinking. The idea is to break down a concept and insert one’s own meaning in place of the author’s intent. You may be reading the lines of a poem or the lyrics of a song. Without knowing what the author or writer was trying to say, you can easily take those words, place your own meaning on them, and make it personal to you. This may seem quite trivial as people insert all kinds of meaning onto ideas they did not originate. If it’s trivial to change the meanings of songs, where do we stop? If this practice goes unchecked, we may find that we alter what we find in God’s Word to better suit or needs or to edit it in order to make it easier to swallow. This reminds me of a conversation I had during my time at seminary.

I was taking a class on a different seminary campus and someone in the course told me they were struggling to fit a particular idea they had into the Bible. I was taken back by this concept. Instead of letting the clarity of Scripture inform her thinking, and trust me, Scripture is very clear on this particular matter, she wanted to force her idea onto Scripture. It was breathtaking! She was surprised at how difficult it was to achieve her goal because Scripture wasn’t making it easy for her to get away with it. Ultimately, this person was trying to fit her own ideas into the Bible instead of allowing Scripture to reveal the truth. This is exactly opposite of our passage for today which states, “We tear down arguments and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God…” When we stop tearing down the obstacles that are raised up against the knowledge of God our beliefs become infiltrated with half-truths and non-truths. Soon we lose sight of the truth of Scripture to give us clarity. We begin to hope for a meaning that fits our situation in the way we want it to fit. We want Scripture to change to our needs versus changing our beliefs to the authority of Scripture. Scripture needs to mold and change our beliefs in such a way that the enemy cannot attack our minds and fill it with deceitful and harmful words. An attack on one’s mind is harmful not only to the person’s faith, but also to the person’s mental wellbeing.

If one’s mind is healthy that person will have a sound mind and sound spirit. Hopelessness, empty philosophy, fear, doubt, confusion and worry will have no place in the sound mind. The enemy may try to attack, but the Holy Spirit in us will pull the veil off the attack to reveal its true identity. The person of the sound mind and spirit will have hope. They will be able to help others and be an effective member in the Body of Christ. We must all strive to develop the good habit of right thinking. Even the most upright in Christ needs to be aware of attacks on the mind. If you think you are very good at taking every thought captive, do you do it 100% of the time? The enemy is so tricky that once he has you celebrating the strides you’ve made. You will quickly be tempted to think of yourself in a prideful manner, with your chin held high as if you did anything on your own. If it sounds like you can’t win, you’re right. You can’t win on your own. As Zechariah 4:6 reminds us, it’s not by our might and not by our power, “’but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord.”

This means that we must question our thought life and the situations we place ourselves in during our daily routine. Do you fall prey to office gossip or do you walk away? Do you find yourself curious with human philosophies that cause you to doubt the Lord? If you feel hesitation with something to you still pursue it? To be aware of attacks on the mind is to require honesty. Do not be ashamed when you are tempted, but praise the Lord that He opened your eyes to weaknesses. The Lord does not wish to shame us. He does not wish to rub our noses in our mess. He wishes that we seek Him with all our hearts and with all our minds. In order to do this He must reveal to us where we are weak so we can stand against the enemy. Rejoice in this. It is a happy thing. The world wants us to believe we have a cold God who wants to limit our freedom. This is not the case. Our Lord wants to set us free. He wants us to be free from rage and anger. He wants us to be set free from grief, confusion and fear. He wants us to be released from every bondage. In order to be free, we must confess our sins to Him and ask Him to be the center of our lives and our thoughts. Like the final verse states we must take every thought captive and make it obey Christ. Our minds are fascinating. They are powerful. Don’t we want our minds to obey Christ versus the way of the world? I hope you answer with a resounding YES! The way of the world leads us into darkness and unrest as we move further from the Truth. But the way of Christ brings us into the glorious light of His redemption, His grace, His healing and His love for us. To Him be the glory and the power forever, Amen!

2Cor. 10:3 For though we live as human beings, we do not wage war according to human standards, 2Cor. 10:4 for the weapons of our warfare are not human weapons, but are made powerful by God for tearing down strongholds. We tear down arguments 2Cor. 10:5 and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ.