Father, we ask that you would bring your word home deeply into our hearts and minds and lives.
You know, Father, the fears we have about surrendering even more of who we are into your hands.
Father, continue to bring before us how much you love us and that your son died on the cross to redeem us
so that as we are gripped by what you have done for us in the person and work of Jesus,
that we, Father, will ever more willingly surrender more and more of who we are into your hands,
knowing that you only mean our good and our wholeness.
And this we ask in Jesus' name, your son and our savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
One of the great fears that we have, probably not just in our culture but in every culture, is losing our mind.
Many of us have probably known people who've suffered from some type of dementia, Alzheimer's,
and it's very, very hard to watch somebody who might have been quite brilliant,
even if they weren't brilliant.
They don't have to be brilliant to make it tragic.
It's just really hard when you see somebody just getting lost in their own thoughts.
And, you know, I guess maybe in other cultures in earlier times,
many people who now suffer dementia, they would have died from something else.
So maybe it wasn't something as common.
But for us, with all of our medical technology, it's very common.
In fact, as you all know, one of the things which is driving the desire in our culture
to have doctors be able to put people to death is, in fact, not only the fear of pain,
but the fear of losing our minds.
And just somehow if we lose our mind, we lose ourselves.
So I don't know if you noticed when Anne was reading the text,
But for many of us, this idea that Paul or the Bible desires to capture every single one of our thoughts
and capture all of our thinking so that somehow our thoughts or thinking belongs to him,
this is not an attractive thing to most of us, if we're honest.
And so let's just look at it.
Is what it is that the Bible is saying, what it is that the Bible is not saying about this.
So it would be a great help to me and to you if you took your Bibles
and turned to 2 Corinthians chapter 10.
2 Corinthians chapter 10.
And we're going to look at that chapter.
Just sort of going along with it, you know, for many people in our culture,
the idea of becoming more and more deeply Christian
is also sort of the idea that you become more and more irrational,
more gullible, and more nuts.
So this idea from all sorts of directions of having every thought captive to Christ,
if we're honest, isn't very attractive.
So we're going to look.
And here's how it begins.
We'll read the first few verses before we get to this troublesome bit.
And in many ways, actually, the entire sermon is just around verses 4, 5, and 6.
We'll use all of the chapter to illustrate it.
But the different fears and objections that we tend to have to this idea,
it's a very interesting how Paul sort of deals with it in the verses all around it.
But here's how it begins.
I, Paul, myself entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.
I, who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away.
I beg of you that when I am present, I may not have to show boldness with such confidence
as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh.
Just pause there before we get any further.
Chapter 10, 11, 12, and 13 of the letter.
All the way through the letter, Paul's been dealing with a group of people in the church
who are really against him and ultimately against the gospel.
And it's really now in chapters 10, 11, and 12 in particular
that he's going to address in a more pointed way some of the things that are going on in the church,
which has provoked the letter.
But we're not going to look at that today.
We're going to look at a bit more of it next week and the week after.
But that's sort of what's going on behind it there.
Basically, one of the things that they're saying with him is,
oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, when he's, you know, a couple of hundred kilometers away,
he writes these big, tough letters.
But when he's, you know, when he's around us, he's a big wuss, you know.
And that's one of many complaints that they have against him.
And so that's sort of the background to some of this.
But we're not going to look at that.
We're going to look at that more in the coming weeks, but not today.
So back to verse 3.
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh,
but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God
and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete.
You might have noticed as I read, I sort of almost said louder certain words.
You can just imagine what it would be like if you were to just get a group of people together
in a Tim Hortons or a Starbucks or a Bridgehead and say,
how would you like to look at a Bible text?
And you read this Bible text.
And you could just, you can just, if you just imagine where your coworkers,
how this idea of every thought and destroy and punish,
and there'd be a chill in the room as the text is being read.
So what's going on?
Well, just a couple of things at first to help, not to tone down the language,
but to help bring out the underlying sense.
And when you understand the underlying sense, it doesn't sound quite as bad,
but it's still very dramatic, and it's still very, very challenging.
So for instance, when it says destroy, which is a very, very good word,
it literally means pull down.
You know, in the next couple of years,
the deck at the back of my house is going to have to be destroyed
because it's old.
And if we want to put a new deck,
if we want to get a proper deck that actually is workable,
probably the only way to do it is at some point in time to destroy it
or pull it down so that a proper one could go up.
Or maybe in the meantime, you destroy or pull down parts of it
and you put in new planks or new supports to keep it going for a longer time.
And that's the language here.
Destroy, pull down.
And the language of punish, which is a very, very good word,
but it's a technical legal word.
One of the interesting things is that often in the New Testament,
Paul in particular will use technical words from economics or business or law.
And the word punish is one of those technical legal words.
But if you understand its legal sense, it loses some of its sting.
And its technical legal sense is make justice.
Make justice.
So, you know, for instance, then,
if you heard that there was somebody in the congregation
and they were harassing women,
you'd want me to make justice, wouldn't you?
In fact, if the council and myself didn't do something about it,
you would all be upset.
You'd want me to make justice.
And part of the making justice should be that there should be some type of,
well, of punishment to them, an amendment of life, etc.
But that's the idea there.
So on one hand, it takes a little bit of the sting off of the text,
but it's still a very, very, very strong text.
And here, Andrew, if you could put up the first point.
And in some ways, this is the whole point of the sermon.
And everything else in the sermon is to make you want this.
And what Paul is saying, what the Bible is saying,
is that Jesus Christ is to be the Savior and the Lord of my mind.
I often put my down there,
because if you're writing this down in your notes
or if you're going to use it as your prayer,
then it says you're saying this for yourself, right?
So Jesus Christ is to be the Savior and the Lord of my mind
from its deepest depths to its highest heights
to its furthest reaches and to everything in between.
Jesus Christ is to be the Savior and the Lord of my mind
from its deepest depths to its highest heights
to its furthest reaches and to everything in between.
That's what Paul is saying here.
In other words, if you're saying that Jesus is Lord,
well, what part of Lord don't you understand?
You see, it isn't that just Jesus came
to save the spiritual part of us
and then the non-spiritual part of us
can just do whatever it wants.
You know, we can just sort of live like a typical Ottawa person
and just accept all of the things that Ottawa people do
and it's just something's going on to our body
or our secular time,
but that Jesus is to be somehow Lord of our Sunday morning
when we get together or our quiet time
or certain types of religious emotions or affections.
No, the great claim of the Christian gospel
is that God, the Son of God,
really and truly,
seeing human enmity against him
and human need and human sin,
human rebellion and human apathy,
and seeing humanity's great need
that God, the Son of God,
with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
but God, the Son of God,
sets aside his divine prerogatives
and divine splendor.
He takes into himself our human nature
and comes and lives amongst us,
living a fully human life
only without himself being in rebellion
or in enmity or sinning against God.
And he comes to die upon the cross
and as he dies upon the cross,
he's both dying upon the cross
to, in a sense,
deal with all of the debt that we owe God
in terms of our rebellion,
but it's also a means by which,
as our substitute and our exchange,
even his relationship with God is offered to us.
It's as if he says,
George, I will take your doom
and die upon the cross.
And as I take your doom,
I offer you my destiny.
And that's the great message of the gospel,
that that's what God, the Son of God,
does in actual history, in real time,
and he does it out of real love
for you and for me.
And God vindicates this message
by having Jesus rise from the dead
and appear to those to show
that he really did rise from the dead
and he's ascended in heaven,
he will come again.
And you see, this is what makes the gospel
and what Paul is saying here
very different than something like Islam,
which I think for many people in our culture
is almost the pure definition of religion
because at the heart of Islam is submission,
to submit to God,
to submit to whatever his will happens to be.
And it can be just maybe send,
you know, 95% of the people to hell
and 5% to heaven
or whatever the statistics are
to ruin your life,
to benefit another person's life.
Whatever his will happens to be that day,
we are just to purely and utterly submit to it
and we submit to it with no gospel.
That's the profound, profound, profound
watershed difference between the gospel
and all religion and all spirituality.
That all religion and all spirituality
and even irreligion and opposition to spirituality
always involves some submission to something.
Your own mind, to drinking,
to your culture, to Islam, to Buddhism,
to Krishna, whatever it is.
Some type of submission with no gospel.
But what we see here in this particular text
is that God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only son to the end
that all that believe in him
will not perish but have eternal life.
That the person who loves you
more than you love yourself,
who knows you better than you know yourself,
and sees your need better than you see your need,
and sees the glory you have,
in a sense, in God's eye,
better than you see the glory
that you have in God's eye,
that the one who knows you so well,
he died for you.
And the same one who loves you so much
that he died for you to reconcile you
to your creator
is the same one who says,
your mind belongs to me.
I mean, there's other things.
It's just here we're talking about the mind.
Your sexuality belongs to me.
Your money belongs to me.
Your time belongs to me.
Your body belongs to me.
That when you trust Jesus as Savior,
you put your hand out,
and he comes and takes your hand
to be your Savior
at the same time you are taking him as your Lord.
And that includes your mind.
It includes your logic,
your imagination,
your memories,
the furniture of your mind,
the longings and habits
and patterns of your mind.
He comes and takes your mind.
And so that's what Paul is saying
in this particular text.
It's bringing home in a very sharp and pointed way
that Jesus Christ is to be the Savior
and the Lord of my mind
from its deepest depths
to its highest heights
to its furthest reaches
and to everything in between.
So some of you might say,
okay, George,
it's still a very type of violent language.
And boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
Don't you think language like this is dangerous?
Don't you think it can be the case that,
I don't know, George,
doesn't it sort of lead to being
a type of closed-mindedness
that you know everything you need to know
is just in this book
and if it's not in this book,
you're going to be really aggressive
against people who disagree with you
and, you know,
there's something arrogant about this text.
Don't you think there's something arrogant
about this text?
Like, that's a very good objection.
And you know what?
Part of the objection is because
many people have met Christians
who are extremely aggressive,
who like the idea very much
of destroying arguments.
I used to be the chaplain
at Augustine College
and one of the things
that I had to do
as a chaplain of Augustine College
is that once a week
I did a teaching time
as well as leading some worship.
And there was this one particular year there
that there was a fellow
who was from a very, very
high Reformed background.
He had,
and some of you might know
a little bit about this
and others of you don't,
but it's like there's these
massive theological works
with in-house theological jargon
and it's just very, very, very ornate
and intricate
with all sorts of little bits and pieces
and he knew this system very well.
And every week at chapel
he delighted in trying to embarrass me
with asking me questions.
And frankly, most of the time
I didn't have the vaguest idea in the world
what he was talking about.
Like, just to be honest,
I'm a simple Bible guy.
You know,
and you know,
if I could go back in time
I'd say, you know,
you should spend ten times more
reading the Bible
than you do reading this
ornate,
Reformed,
theological,
theologizing.
But you know,
many non-Christians
have met Christians
who are so aggressive.
But is that,
is that what the Christian mind is like?
Is that what it's like
when Jesus takes over,
becomes the Savior
and the Lord of your mind?
Well, look at the text.
Look at verse one again.
I, Paul, myself,
entreat you
by the meekness
and gentleness of Christ.
Look at that.
I, Paul, myself,
entreat you.
How?
How's he doing this?
Like, what's the ground
by which he's begging them
to think through
what they're doing?
Because that's what entreat means.
By the meekness
and gentleness
of Christ.
I, who am humble
when face to face with you,
but bold toward you
when I am awake.
If you could put it up,
Andrew,
the Christian mind
is gentle,
teachable,
and strong.
Why should you desire
Jesus to be
the Lord of your mind?
Because
as you start
to call out to God
that,
that Jesus would be
the Savior
and the Lord of your mind,
he will lead you
to a mind
that is gentle.
and he will move
and work in with you
to start to create a mind
which is teachable.
And he will make your mind
strong,
not weak.
Like, why do you say that?
Like, how does that,
like, partially,
that's what the word
meek partially means.
It has several
different senses.
In this particular contest,
it means,
meek means
submissive to God.
You know,
I love it.
I love,
I love.
It's a perfect illustration.
Some of you are old enough
to remember
when the Solidarity Movement
was,
was starting to bring down
an empire.
For those of us
of a certain age,
we thought the Soviet Empire
would never come to an end,
virtually.
And it was a bunch
of Polish ship workers
who were the beginning
of the end
of the Soviet Empire.
And there was a phrase
that they were
on their knees
before God
so they could stand
before tyrants.
They were on their knees
before God
so they could stand
before tyrants.
Some of you
might have seen
film clips
of what Martin Luther King
and the early
Civil Rights Movement
was like.
And it is very,
very gripping
to see all these people
in their Sunday best
kneeling
in the face
of
men
in uniforms
with truncheons
and water cannons
and I,
there are so many images
of them
on their knees
in prayer
as the water cannons
and the truncheons
are unleashed
against them.
That is being meek.
It's being strong.
It's being gentle.
I want that.
That's what happens
when we give our minds
to Christ.
And as his word
and as his Holy Spirit
begins to work
in our minds,
they become gentle
and teachable
and strong.
But some of you
might say,
George,
don't you think
that this whole thing
of a Christian mind
can lead people
to believe
that they're always right?
That non-Christians
are always wrong?
Don't you think
that it can become
that religion
ends up divinizing
their thought?
You know,
George,
haven't you met
these charismatic types
who,
you know,
they say they have
a word from God
about this type of thing
and it doesn't matter
how crazy it is
or how kooky
or in fact
how just wrong
historically and accurate
it is
but they somehow,
you know,
everybody else
just has an idea
but they have a word
that's come from God.
Like,
George,
don't you think,
well,
okay.
Once again,
all of us have met
people like that,
right?
You know,
with this thing
and the last thing
about aggressive minds,
these are both
human problems.
Many of us
have had professors
far from having
believing in Jesus
who are very aggressive
with their thoughts.
I mean,
what are the new atheists
other than people
who are exceptionally
aggressive
in their thinking?
It's a human problem
and by the way,
human problems
like this
become even more
disgusting
when they try
to cloak themselves
in Christianity
to make it look
like they're not
a human problem
but they're doing
something virtuous.
It even becomes
more foul-smelling
and repulsive
if habits
of aggression
and of always
thinking you're right
are somehow
clothed
within the mantle
of Christianity.
It makes it
more repulsive.
But is that,
in fact,
what happens?
Is that what Paul
is talking about?
Is this what the Bible
is talking about?
Is that type of
divinized,
aggressive mind?
No.
Let's look at
verses 2 and 3.
How does it go?
I beg of you
that when I am present
I may not have
to show boldness
with such confidence
as I count on showing
against some
who suspect us
of walking
according to the flesh.
For though we walk
in the flesh
we are not waging war
according to the flesh.
Just pause there
and it's a bit
of a confusing thing.
Just so you know
it's a bit of a,
you know,
one of the things
the word that,
the original word
that's translated
as flesh,
flesh.
It has two
different senses
and you just have
to know from the context
which one of the two
senses it is.
And here in this case
the Bible is using
the word flesh
the first part of verse 3
in one sense
and in the second part
it's using it
in a different sense.
Sometimes the word flesh
just means
frail
and human
and sometimes
it means
in rebellion
against God.
And you just have
to know from the context
which one of the two
senses it is.
And so here's the point
if you could put it up
and this is borrowing
language from earlier
in 2 Corinthians.
The Christian mind
knows it is a jar
of clay
redeemed by Christ.
The Christian mind
knows it is a jar
of clay
redeemed by Christ.
Christ.
I went to
a presentation
by the Dalit
Freedom Network
in India
under Hinduism
under its cosmology
of Hinduism
it creates
different castes.
Your karma
means that you're
reborn
into certain
stages of life
and
it creates
a lot of
injustice
because
you deserve
where you are.
If you're
very wealthy
you deserve that.
If you're
very very very
poor
you're born
of certain
parents
you deserve
that.
And there's
a sense
that you don't
have to show
justice or
compassion across
these lines
because you get
your justice
of desserts
when you're
born.
And Dalits
are the lowest
of the lowest
of the lowest.
and in this
presentation
on how to
try to
both evangelize
and educate
and empower
the Dalits
for freedom
and human
flourishing
one of the
things that
they gave
out
and I meant
to bring
it but I
forgot
was this
little tiny
thing made
of clay
and a little
tiny drinking
thing made
of clay
and the reason
they gave
this tiny
little drinking
thing made
of clay
was because
if a Dalit
went into
some restaurants
in some parts
of India
they wouldn't
want the
same cup
that a Dalit
had been used
had used
to be used
by somebody
who's of
higher caste
so they had
these special
drinking cups
these little
jars of clay
which are
very fragile
and very
impermanent
so that
after the Dalit
had drank
from it
the owner
of the store
and they
cost virtually
nothing
would just
smash it
to make sure
that nobody
else would
drink
from such
a cup
and earlier
on in the
book of
2nd Corinthians
Paul says
that human
beings are
jars of
clay
but that's
how we are
to understand
we're fragile
so really
in verse 3
what Paul
is saying
is for
though we
walk in
the flesh
in other
words
though we
live our
lives
as jars
of clay
we are
not
waging
war
sorry
for though
we walk
in the
flesh
we are
not
waging
war
according
to the
flesh
and there
it means
not just
from human
frailty
but we're
not living
our lives
and waging
war
as if
we're
in rebellion
against
God
we've
been
redeemed
see that's
that's part
of the
Christian
mind
knows
and understands
that it
is
a jar
of clay
redeemed
by Christ
you know
there's some
very very smart
people here
in the room
who could tell
you a lot
about intellectual
history
and development
of thought
and some
of you
are taking
classes
from really
high IQ
well educated
people at
University of
Ottawa or
Carleton
and they
could talk
to you a lot
about the
history of
thought
but one
of the
things about
the history
of human
thought
is that
on one
hand we
often want
to imagine
that our
thoughts or
our life
are almost
as if we
are gods
I mean
part of the
whole move
of science
is to try
to come
up with
some type
of almost
godlike
knowledge
of the
world
and then
when you
have people
like Nietzsche
and Foucault
and others
who are
very skeptical
about the
claims of
human knowledge
and how much
we actually
know
it's almost
as if
the only
options
before human
beings
are that
our minds
if our
minds
are not
almost
godlike
then we're
garbage
and the
bible says
no
human
beings
are
creatures
and we
know like
creatures
and no
creature
will ever
know
as if
they are
the
creator
and there
are many
things that
human
beings
can only
know
if the
creator
makes it
revealed
to you
and so
the text
here is
trying to
say that
as
Jesus
grips
our
thoughts
as he
comes in
to destroy
to tear
down parts
of how
we think
whether it's
how we
think about
music
or poetry
or art
or dance
or business
or culture
or politics
or philosophy
or physics
that he's
going to tear
some things
down and he's
going to build
some things
up and one
of the things
he wants
to tear
down is
any type
of pretension
that a human
being is
anything other
than a jar
of clay
but at the
same time
that it
makes it
conscious
that we
are jars
of clay
if we
understand
that we
are a
jar
of clay
and our
permanence
is not
something
from within
ourselves
but a
gift that
comes from
the God
who has
created us
who sustains
us
who will
bring all
things to
their proper
end
who in
our enmity
against him
still he
loved us
and sent
his son
to die
upon the
cross
for us
that there
can be a
growing
comfort
with the
fact that
I am a
jar of
clay
I am
not a
God
and I
stand here
as a jar
of clay
in a room
full of
jars of
clay
whom God
does not
treat as
garbage
like a
dalit
who has
to be
smashed
but loves
you and
me
and dies
for you
and me
and Jesus
desires to
be the
savior and
the lord
of your
thinking and
your thoughts
but some
people might
say
okay George
does this
mean that the
Christian mind
only cares
about the
Bible
like it's
just all
about knowing
the Bible
knowing the
Bible
knowing the
Bible
like when
you were
telling us
that story
about the
guy who
was that
you know
Calvinist
hyper
Calvinist
type of
guy
and you
said you
know you
should have
said to
him you
should read
the Bible
ten times
more than
his
theologizing
is that
you know
George
that you
just want
to read
the Bible
read the
Bible
read the
Bible
and you
don't want
to read
economics
you don't
want to
read
you don't
want to
watch
movies
you don't
want to
be involved
in the
world
no
look
again at
what it
says in
verses 4
to 6
the central
verses
but we'll
just look at
one other
thing about
these in
verses 4
and 6
for the
weapons of
our
warfare
are not
of the
flesh
and here
flesh
Paul probably
means it to
have a
double
meaning
that they're
not frail
but more in
particular that
they're not
anything to do
with acting
in rebellion
against God
but
you know
they're not
this but
they have
divine power
to destroy
strongholds
in other words
this idea of
strongholds is
that there's
areas within
our mind
and here
mind doesn't
just mean
logic it can
mean for
those of
us who
are more
like we
like poetry
we write
poetry or
we have
we're very
good with
images we
could maybe
be a
director
or we
could be
like a
fashion
designer or
we could
design
dance or
something like
that and
maybe those
parts of our
mind that are
better towards
business or
better towards
computers or
better towards
just being able
to actually have
that type of
intelligence to
figure out what
a kid actually
wants and
help the
kid
that's
intelligence
you know
but there's
parts of our
mind that are
strongholds and
what this means
is that they're
they're completely
and utterly
keeping God
at bay
and it has to
be torn down
and we tear
down verse 5
arguments in
every lofty
opinion every
pretension
every person
in the CBC
or the
University of
Ottawa or the
Supreme Court of
Canada or the
Parliament of
Canada whose
lofty opinions
mean that God
doesn't matter
that there is no
God that we have
to worry about
or think about
if you happen to
have a view of
God that helps
to give you a
little tiny bit
of peace and
comfort some
people like
Jack Daniel
some like
bridge some
like you know
bird watching
some like
thinking about
God as long
as it's just
private lofty
opinions raised
against the
knowledge of
God and take
every thought
captive to
obey Christ
being ready to
punish make
justice against
every disobedience
here's the thing
which is going on
in this text if
you could put up
the next point
the Christian
mind seeks
and loves
all truth
all goodness
and all beauty
in the creator
and in his
creation
the Christian
mind seeks
and loves
all truth
all goodness
and all beauty
in the creator
and in his
creation
it's not talking
here about Bible
reading
you know if you
have
if you're in
science
and you come up
with a theory
of how science
works
which you believe
means that God
absolutely doesn't
exist
well don't you
think that's sort
of covered under
this text
if you come up
with a system
of doing
organizing business
that in a sense
specifically excludes
God or anything
about how God
is revealed about
human beings
don't you think
that's a stronghold
like if you come
up with a theory
of aesthetics
or beauty
or dance
in such a way
that it can never
point at any way
that we're creatures
or that there is a God
don't you think
that's a stronghold
you see
nothing here
in the Bible
is just calling us
to somehow
think that
the Bible here
is only referring to
okay
on Sunday mornings
this text
is just saying
that you're going
to go
and you're going
to make sure
that people
understand why
Spong is wrong
and Borg is wrong
and you're going
to understand
you know
why Keller
is right
or Piper
is right
and it's just
all about
no no no no
no this text
is not just
talking about
some tiny little
religious or
spiritual part
of our mind
it's challenging
those of you
who are in school
still who are
doing economics
those of you
in social work
it's challenging
how you think
of human beings
and how you
think of human
destiny
and human purpose
for those of you
who are in medicine
it's challenging
you with ethical
things in terms
of how you
treat people
and how you
see the person
for those of you
in dance
or in fashion
design
or in business
those of you
who are retired
or stay at home
those of you
thinking about politics
there's nothing
that this text
doesn't involve
there's nothing
the Christian
mind seeks
and loves
all truth
truth is
never the enemy
of the Christian
truth is
never the enemy
of the Christian
goodness
and beauty
are never
our enemy
why
because God
is true
God is good
God is beautiful
a beauty
that would
unmake us
if we saw it
even a tiniest
sliver of the
beauty of God
if it was to be
revealed to us
right now
without having
our resurrection
bodies
and being
the full
bodies
meant for the
new heaven
and the earth
the beauty
of God
even the
tiniest
sliver of it
would unmake
us
and not just
knowing God
and his truth
and his goodness
and his beauty
but God
is the creator
and sustainer
of all things
and therefore
this text
is asking us
to think through
how we think
and imagine
everything
every area
of human
intellectual
and cultural
endeavor
and political
endeavor
here's a couple
of hints
I'm going to have
to speed this up
to get it done
here's a couple
of hints
in terms of
growing in our
Christian mind
one of the first
things that has
to die
if you want
to take this
text
and pray
it
is die
to oil
and water
thinking
which I've
been sort of
going through
in the sermon
in other words
there's the
spiritual
and then there's
everything else
you know
our culture
says okay
George
you can have
your spiritual
thoughts
you can have
your spiritual
beliefs
as long as
with everything
else
you act
the way
we want
you to act
and think
the way
we want
you to think
you can go
to University
of Ottawa
you can get
your degrees
as long
as
you just
see your
faith
as private
and interior
and emotional
and not
as having
intellectual
consequences
you have
to die
to all
oil and water
thinking
you have
to learn
to say
if this
then this
cannot be
so in other words
if you're in
counseling
when I was
being taught
counseling
the view
in counseling
was that
human beings
are fundamentally
passive
and
it's just as if
these wounds
happen to us
and these things
happen to us
and there's this type
of basically
passiveness
but the Bible
is that what
the Bible says
doesn't the Bible
portray somehow
that we actively
seek out idols
and we seek out
meanings
and we seek out
significance
doesn't that
happen
you know
if you're in
you know
philosophy
or science
and
if you know
if this and that
if the Bible
seems to say
there's miracles
and if they
really happen
then that has
to have some
effect
on how you
think through
sociology
and psychology
and physics
and geology
biology
now I'm frightening
some of you
but it has to
have some
consequence
it can't be
that the miracle
is just true
here
and not in
terms of how
we think about
all sorts of
other things
in other words
you have to
learn to say
okay if it
says this
in the Bible
if this
then what does
that mean
in terms
of this
other area
and the
other thing
about it
is
that it's
not saying
that we have
to have a
Christian
economics
or a
Christian
sociology
or a
Christian
social work
because that
would sort of
imply
that there's
only like
one type
of person
or one type
of culture
or one type
of imagination
but what do
we know
about people
you know
let me tell
you if
we just
took random
groups of
us
and we were
all going
to go on
a road
trip
you know
let's say
somewhere
eight hours
away
by the end
of the
eight hour
time
we would
discover
just how
many
how
different
we all
are
our
imaginations
work
differently
and so
this text
isn't saying
that you
have to
keep
searching
for the
one
Christian
politics
or the
one
Christian
economics
or the
one
Christian
psychology
because
human
beings
all of
the
different
things
in
psychology
all of
the
different
complexity
of a
human
being
and
trying
to
understand
how
human
beings
process
things
and how
they
work
and how
they
act
and so
people
will
come up
with
different
theories
and
different
hints
and
different
practices
and that's
completely
fine
it's not
calling
everybody
to
uniformity
but it's
saying
that as
people
think
those
things
through
that
there's
a
Christian
critique
to it
and in
a sense
the Bible
will both
subvert
part of
all
disciplines
yet at
the same
time
fulfill
the true
and good
and beautiful
insights
within them
I really
have to
I'm just
going to
have to
run
through
these last
points
pretty
quickly
if you
could put
up the
next
point
Andrew
here's
I think
you get
the text
I could
go through
the rest
of the
text
and bring
these
things
out
I'm just
going to
share you
the different
other things
for the
Christian
mind
the Christian
mind
regularly
prays to
God
for wisdom
and knowledge
the Christian
mind
regularly
prays to
God
for wisdom
and knowledge
that's
going to
be
in
this
part
of the
text
about
divine
power
with
its
strongholds
and all
that
it's
that it's
not as if
somehow
we just
become a
mind
and we
just
become
either
an artist
type
or a
poet
type
or an
economist
type
or a
business
type
or a
philosopher
or science
type
no you
pray
I mean
you know
students
when you're
working on
your papers
you should
pray that
God helps
you to
think
you should
pray that
he helps
you to
focus
you should
pray that
he leads
you and
guides
you on
to all
truth
you should
pray that
he helps
you to
write it
if you're
in government
and you know
you're having to
deal with
people or
write reports
you should
pray about
that
you should
pray for
your boss
you should
pray for
wisdom
and knowledge
why
because I'm
a jar
of clay
and there
is a
creator
who's
created
and sustained
all of
us
the next
point
Andrew
the Christian
mind
regularly
reads
all of
God's
word
written
and
bows
to
what
it
says
the
Christian
mind
regularly
reads
all of
God's
word
written
and
bows
to
what
it
says
you
know
I just
want to
challenge
you
if you
haven't
read
all of
the
Bible
and
you've
been
a
Christian
for
a
few
years
you
know
talk
to
me
I'd
like
to
give
you
some
help
and
encouragement
but
you
should
try
to
have
it
a
goal
to
read
all
of
it
or
listen
to
all
of
it
one
of
the
wonderful
things
about
modern
technology
is
if
you
go
to
an
app
like
you
version
you
can
listen
to
God's
word
I
remember
30
years
ago
you'd
have
to
spend
hundreds
of
dollars
to
buy
a
big
thing
that
was
like
this
of
cassettes
to
listen
to
God's
word
now
I
just
have
this
little
app
on
my
phone
and
often
when
I'm
driving
when
I'm
going
home
in
rush
hour
often
I
listen
to
the
Bible
and
I
encourage
you
to
hear
and
regularly
reads
all
of
God's
word
written
and
bows
to
what
it
says
and
almost
second
to
last
the
Christian
mind
longs
to
see
the
gospel
shared
especially
with
new
people
groups
the
Christian
mind
longs
to
see
the
gospel
shared
especially
with
new
people
groups
this
is
a
really
important
thing
for
the
Christian
mind
because
you
see
the
gospel
is
an
offense
to
our
mind
and
it
can
be
an
offense
get
lost
in
a
track
of
trying
to
have
a
Christian
worldview
and
one
of
the
ways
that
the
devil
can
knock
us
up
is
we
get
so
caught
up
with
our
Christian
thinking
but
at
the
end
of
the
day
the
gospel
is
offensive
regularly
to
us
you
mean
God
you
didn't
choose
me
because
I'm
going
to
be
such
a
great
pastor
you
didn't
choose
me
because
I'm
such
a
great
guy
you
didn't
choose
me
because
I
will
be
the
perfect
husband
I'm
not
or
the
perfect
dad
like
all
of
my
apparent
righteousness
is like
a filthy
rag
all
of
my
great
thinking
is like
nothing
unless
I give
myself
to
Jesus
who died
for me
and so
the
Christian
mind
has to
regularly
be
offended
by the
gospel
but not
just
offended
by the
gospel
want to
share
the
gospel
that's
partially
how you
deal
with
the
offense
of
the
gospel
is
want to
share
it
and
not
just
with
your
own
people
group
but
to
the
ends
of
the
earth
that's
what
Paul
talks
about
at
the
very
end
of
2nd
Corinthians
10
to
the
ends
of
the
earth
Andrew
could
you
put
the
closing
prayer
up
and
I
want
to
invite
you
all
to
stand
here's
what
the
thing
is
if
my
whole
sermon
was
around
trying
to
get
us
to
understand
that
Jesus
Christ
is
to
be
the
Savior
and
the
Lord
of
my
mind
from
its
deepest
depths
to
its
highest
heights
to
its
furthest
reaches
and
everything
in
between
and
that
it's
don't
be
afraid
of
this
of
Jesus
capturing
your
thoughts
don't
be
afraid
of
it
like
pray
for
it
take
steps
towards
it
encourage
each
other
towards
it
encourage
the
artists
to
have
a
Christian
mind
the
economists
the
government
types
the
philosopher
types
the
computer
programmers
the
scientist
types
the
ordinary
people
carpenter
types
to
encourage
them
to
seek
this
and
I
try
to
put
it
in
a
prayer
and
I'll
just
read
it
out
loud
you
to
pray
it
with
me
but
the
prayer
is
heavenly
father
you
have
given
me
your
son
to
be
my
savior
here's
the
scary
part
I
give
you
my
mind
please
tear
down
what
needs
to
be
torn
down
and
build
what
needs
to
be
built
so
that
with
all
of
my
mind
I
will
be
a
disciple
of
Jesus
gripped
by
the
gospel
living
for
your
glory
and
praise
in
Jesus
name
amen
for
those
who
have
never
given
their
lives
to
Jesus
this
can
be
your
birthday
prayer
your
coming
to
faith
prayer
and
maybe
when
you
say
mine
you
can
say
not
only
my
mind
Jesus
I
want
you
to
have
all
of
me
and
for
those
of
us
who
are
trying
to
just
become
more
like
Jesus
this
is
a
prayer
to
help
you
so
I
invite
you
now
to
pray
this
be
my
savior
I
give
you
my
mind
please
tear
down
what
needs
to
be
torn
down
and
build
what
needs
to
be
built
so
that
with
all
of
my
mind
I
will
be
a
disciple
of
Jesus
gripped
by
the
gospel
living
for
your
glory
and
praise
in
Jesus
name
amen
Father
pour
out
your
Holy
Spirit
upon
us
help
us
to
give
you
our
minds
on
a
daily
basis
Father
may
our
minds
be
grounded
in
the
gospel
shaped
by
the
gospel
drawn
by
the
gospel
this
we
ask
in
Jesus
name
amen