Love God With All Your Mind part 3

© 2 0 1 5 T h i r d C o lu m n M in i s t r i e s


The Message in the Music"Happy" by Pharrell WilliamsIt might seem crazy what I'm about to say

Sunshine she's here, you can take a break

I'm a hot air balloon that could go to space

With the air, like I don't care baby by the way

Because I'm happy

Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof

Because I'm happy

Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth

Because I'm happy

Clap along if you know what happiness is to you

Because I'm happy

Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do


The Message in the Music"Happy" by Pharrell WilliamsHere come bad news talking this and that, yeah,

Well, give me all you got, and don't hold it back, yeah,

Well, I should probably warn you I'll be just fine, yeah,

No offense to you, don't waste your time

Here's why

Bring me down

Can't nothing

Bring me down

My level's too high

Bring me down

Can't nothing

Bring me down

I said (let me tell you now)


The Message in the Music"Happy" by Pharrell WilliamsBring me down

Can't nothing

Bring me down

My level's too high

Bring me down

Can't nothing

Bring me down

I said

Bring me down... can't nothing...

Bring me down... my level's too high...

Bring me down... can't nothing...

Bring me down, I said (let me tell you now)


The Double-minded Person


“Jesus is

God”

“Everyone's

morals are

equally

valid”

What would

follow if

Christianity is

true?

What would

follow if

Christianity is

not true?

How does our view of reality influence

our decisions and actions?


“Jesus is

God”

“Everyone's

morals are

equally

valid”

Private life Public life

People try to compartmentalize their lives.

We act one way at work, another at school,

another at work, and another way at home.


“Jesus is

God”

“Everyone's

morals are

equally

valid”


"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today... is

Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the

door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is simply what an

unbelieving world finds unbelievable."

Lyrics from DC Talk "What if I Stubble"


“Jesus is

God”

“Everyone's

morals are

equally

valid”


Moral Confusion


“Jesus is

God”

“Everyone's

morals are

equally

valid”


Moral Confusion

Psalm 119:113

“I hate double-minded

people, but I love your

law.”

James 1:8

“…he is a double-

minded man, unstable in

all his ways.”


Biblical View of the Mind


The brush off

One of JP Moreland’s professors had said that,

“Because he was bright, he developed…intellectual

doubts as a teen. When he approached the elders and

pastors of his church, they failed to answer his

questions…[they] gave him the message that faith does

not require answering intellectual queries and that his

problem was really spiritual and not intellectual.” P. 42


“Modern evangelicals are the

spiritual descendants of leaders

and movements distinguished by

probing, creative, fruitful attention

to the mind.” - Mark Noll


Augustine (AD 354-430)

• Joined The Manichees• Dualism (good/evil equal)• Material evil, spirit good

• Had intellectual doubts about their teachings

• No other followers could answer his questions

• Christians were able to answer his intellectual questions

• Influenced his decision to become a Christian

• These thinking Christians “exhibited a more biblical appreciation of the role that reason plays in Christian life and ministry than did the leaders in my professor’s church.” – J. P. Moreland


Augustine

“You say that truth is to be grasped more by faith than by reason ... Heaven forbid that God should hate in us that by which he made us superior to the animals! Heaven forbid that we should believe in such a way as not to accept or seek reasons, since we could not believe if we did not have rational souls.”


Important

• Sincerity is not enough for ministry

• We need accurate biblical understanding as well

• Developing a Christian mind is part of discipleship

• To have an accurate and informed Christian worldview

• To view the world from a Christian perspective


Our Lord is a God of Knowledge

• God is all knowing

• “If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”• 1 John 3:20 (NIV)

• “Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who has perfect knowledge?”• Job 37:16 (NIV)

• Jesus is the Logos (“word,” “reason,” or “plan”)


The Biblical Case

• The only wise God (Romans 16:27)

• His word is truth (John 17:17)

• He invites us to reason with Him (Isaiah 1:18)

• Teachers are required to properly handle the word of truth and sound doctrine (2 Timothy 2:15 & 1 Timothy 4:15-16)

• Give a rational justification to questioners (1 Peter 3:15)

• The Gospel is true and rational (Acts 26:25)

• Renewal of our minds (Romans 12:1-2)


The Biblical Case

• Ignorance is not a virtue in the Bible

• God created the word to be rationally discerned

• “When we affirm that the Bible is a revelation from God we do not simply assert that God as a person is known in and through it. We also mean that God has revealed understandable, objectively true propositions. . . . . This truth is addressed to our minds and requires an intellectual grasp to understand and then apply.” J. P. Moreland


1 Corinthians 2:14-15

• ginosko, has the sense of knowing experientially by entering into. It does not mean simply to grasp something cognitively.

• “appraised” is anakrino means to spiritually sift something. • One cannot sift something until he possesses an intellectual grasp of

the teaching

• Tells us that the Spirit aids the believer in being open to Scripture, in entering into it experientially, and in finding it good and acceptable.

• The Spirit helps us apply the significance of the text, but He does not teach us the cognitive meaning of the text. He leaves that up to us.”


1 John 2:27 • Some take this to say that the Holy Spirit teaches the

believer the truths of Scripture and that there is no need for a teacher – directly or in the form of commentaries – to understand the Bible.

• Common sense tells us this cannot be the correct way to take the passage.

• The entire New Testament holds that God has given His people gifted teachers who are to work diligently at their teaching

• John is saying that since the believers have been baptized into the body of Christ by the Spirit, they have no need of some additional, special, secret knowledge only given to certain teachers.


Romans 12:1-2

• Transformed by the renewing of your mind

• This brings the mind to the spiritual stage, front and center!

• We all want to know God’s will, but this text is telling us we can’t unless we present our bodies, including our soul and minds, to the Lord for transformation and renewal!

• Paul means we must be available to do the hard work of understanding what God has said in His Word and take the time to study it in order to have our minds transformed!


Matthew 22:35-40

• Expert in Mosaic Law challenged Jesus to summarize the entire Old Testament

• Jesus Answer

• “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind”

• Jesus included an intellectual love for God


1 Peter 3:14-15

• Apologia means to defend something like in court

• Offering positive arguments for and responding to negative arguments against your position in a courtroom

• How the apostle Paul did evangelism• Acts 14:15-17

• Acts 17:2, 4, 17-31

• Acts 18:4

• Acts 19:8


Other points

• Scripture values extrabiblical Knowledge• Isaiah 19:11-13, Jeremiah 49:7, Zechariah 9:2, Job 28:1-11, 1 Kings

4:29-34, Acts 17:28

• Scripture teaches us the value of the natural moral law• Job 31:13-15, Romans 1-2

• Scripture shows people qualified to minister in God’s name in situations that required them to have intellectual skills in extrabiblical knowledge• Daniel 1:3-4, 2:12-13, 5:7


Resources


Recommended Books to start with


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Spiritual

Love God With All Your Mind part 3