SPIRITUALLY MINDED
By David J. Riggs
Intro.
A. Rom. 8:6 teaches us to be spiritually minded.
1. We need to have a spiritual mind, not a fleshy, carnal mind.
B. Col. 3:2 teaches us to set our minds on things above, not on
things of this earth."
C. Paul said that the enemies of the cross of Christ set their
mind on earthly things. Phil. 3:18-19
D. We suggest some ways that we might be more spiritually minded.
I. LET US HAVE A CONSTANT AWARENESS OF GOD'S PRESENCE.
A. A constant awareness of God's presence helps us to be
spiritually minded.
B. All through the day, we need to have thoughts about God. Psalm
42:1-2; Isa. 26:8-9
1. Enoch walked with God. Gen. 5:24
2. Noah walked with God. Gen. 6:9
3. We need to daily walk with God.
a. Do we daily live with God in our minds, or is God the
farthest thought from our minds?
C. We need to remember that God controls the affairs of life.
1. Consider James 4:15; Prov. 27:1
2. The rich fool forgot God. Luke 12:17-21
3. The Israelites often forgot God. Jer. 2:32
4. Anything that we achieve is the result of God helping us.
Without Him, we are nothing. Deut. 8:18; Eccl. 6:2
D. Keeping God on our minds encourages us to pray.
1. We fail to pray because our minds are consumed with earthly
things.
a. If we are constantly aware of God's presence, we will
be more mindful to talk to God.
b. Do you sometimes lack things to say in your prayers?
c. This was written by a seventeenth century Frenchman by
the name of Francios Fenelon: "Tell God all that is in
your heart, as one unloads one's heart, its pleasures and
its pains, to a dear friend. Tell Him your troubles, that
He may comfort you; tell Him your joys, that He may
sober them; tell Him your longings, that He may purify
them; tell Him your dislikes, that He may help you to
conquer them; talk to Him of your temptations, that He
may shield you from them; show Him the wounds of
your heart, that He may heal them; lay bare your
indifference to good, your depraved tastes for evil, your
instability. Tell Him how self-love makes you unjust to
others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how
pride disguises you to yourself and to others. If you
thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, troubles, there
will never be any lack of what to say." (From
Strengthening Your Grip, by Charles Swindoll).
II. LET US CONTINUE TO FEED ON GOD'S WORD.
A. Let us continue to have a steady diet of the Word of God so
that we can be more spiritually minded. Psalm 119:97
1. The story is told of a man who, resisting the cost of grain
for his mule, decided to gradually substitute sawdust in the
mule's diet. Everything went well for a while, but by the
time the mule was satisfied with sawdust, he died.
a. Likewise, we need a steady diet of God's word. Filling
our minds with worldly things, rather than the word of
God, will cause our spiritual death.
b. By looking into the perfect law of liberty, and doing
what it says, we will be blessed. James 1:25
B. The one who trembles at God's word is accepted of God. Isa.
66:2
1. "We need to repent of the haughty way in which we
sometimes stand in judgment upon Scripture, and must learn
to sit humbly under its judgment instead. If we come to
Scripture with our minds made up, expecting to hear from it
only an echo of our own thoughts and never the thunderclap
of God's, then indeed he will not speak to us and we shall
only be confirmed in our own prejudices. We must allow the
Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to
undermine our complacency, and to overthrow our patterns
of thought and behavior." (From John Scott)
C. Spiritually minded people appreciate truth even when it
reproves and rebukes.
1. The word of God is an effective sword. Heb. 4:12
2. It is the weak who look for only positive things. "Don't say
anything negative" they say. They want only encouragement;
no rebukes.
a. This sounds like the people in Isaiah's time. Isa.
30:9-10
b. People love to have their ears scratched. 2 Tim. 4:3-4
c. By smooth words and flattering words the hearts of the
simple are deceived. Rom. 16:18
3. "It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in
error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts and then
heals, than falsehood that comforts and then kills. It is
not love and it is not friendship if we fail to declare the
whole counsel of God. It is better to be hated for telling
the truth than to be loved for telling a lie. It is
impossible to find anyone in the Bible who was a power for
God who did not have enemies and was not hated. It's better
to stand alone with the truth than to be wrong with a
multitude. It is better to ultimately succeed with the truth
than to temporarily succeed with a lie." (From Adrian
Rogers, Quoted in The Berean Call, Dec. 1996, p. 3)
III. LET US SPEAK SPIRITUAL WORDS.
A. A spiritually minded person will have a spiritual vocabulary.
One's words show what's in his heart.
1. Let us speak words that minister grace. Eph. 4:29; Col. 4:6;
Prov. 25:11
2. Consider the words of Boaz and his laborers. Ruth 2:4
3. The worthy woman of Proverbs 31 had speech of wisdom
and kindness. Prov. 31:26
B. Through weakness, we fail in this.
1. In our time it is not "politically correct" to mention God,
and especially not Jesus Christ.
2. We have trained ourselves to not have a spiritual vocabulary
around our worldly associates because they might think we
are a religious fanatic, radical, or extremist.
3. We should not be conformed to this world.
C. Let us have the courage to speak spiritual words.
1. Speaking spiritual words will help us to be strong
spiritually, and will influence others for good. Psalm
37:30-31; 71:17-18
IV. LET US KEEP OUR MINDS FOCUSED ON OUR HEAVENLY GOAL.
A. The spiritually minded not only think on spiritual matters now,
but they think about the heavenly reward.
1. The people of this world want to hang on to this world.
2. But Christians confess that they are strangers and pilgrims
on this earth. Heb. 11:13
a. The word "pilgrims" in the Greek is "parepidemos"
which is a combination of three words: para - (alongside
of), epi - (upon), demos - (people of a foreign country
or city).
b. Thayer defines it: "One who comes from a foreign
country into a city or land to reside there by the side
of the natives...in the NT metaph. in reference to heaven
as the native country, one who sojourns on earth..."
c. Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia Of The Bible says
of the word, "One who stays in a place as a stranger or
visitor; to describe Christians whose final citizenship
is in heaven and who are regarded as temporary dwellers
on earth."
d. With reference to life on this earth, we are but
strangers and pilgrims, passing through to a better
world.
3. Christians know that the bodies in which they now live are
only temporary, and some day they must move out.
a. Let us continue to keep the faith, knowing that the
Great Architect of the universe will someday build us a
better house in which to live. 2 Cor. 5:1
Concl.
A. Let us seek to be more spiritually minded.
1. At times in our lives, the spiritual things seem strangely
absent, but not because they no longer exist.
2. We simply have become preoccupied with other things.
a. An avid bird-watcher will notice birds on a daily basis
that the average person would miss. He sees them
because he has trained himself to see them.
b. Brother Jim Hodges said that he once took a biology
course on bugs. They had to do field trips on catching
and identifying bugs.
(1) He said that he never noticed bugs before, but
after taking the course he began to see them
everywhere.
3. Let us develop our sensitivity toward spiritual things, so
that we can be more spiritually minded.
B. Remember: "The carnal mind is enmity against God." Rom. 8:7