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Eastside Church Sermons
These are the sermons of Eastside Church in Madison, WI. We live in a broken world - everyone feels it. We believe we were made to have lasting peace with ourselves, each other, and God. Because of who Jesus is and what he has done, we don’t have to experience the hardships (or joys) of this life alone. We exist to be a church made up of people who love, live like, and speak of Jesus, locally and globally, as the Spirit leads.
Eastside Church Sermons
Romans 8:5-9 by Houston Tucker
Are you ready to explore the transformative power of living a Spirit-led life? Let us guide you through Romans 8 and uncover the profound implications of aligning your mindset with the Spirit. Together, we reflect on past technical mishaps and navigate the complex journey from being ruled by sin to embracing God's guidance. This episode promises an enlightening exploration of how the gospel transitions us from fleshly limitations to divine empowerment, much like a diamond reflects light in countless facets.
Dive deep into the nature of the flesh as described by Paul, where we unravel the sin nature that hinders our alignment with God's will. Discover the cyclical dance between our inner nature and mindset, and learn how setting your mind on spiritual matters can break the chains of negativity. Through thought-provoking analogies and personal reflections, we challenge you to nurture spiritual growth and embrace the incredible transformation the Holy Spirit offers.
Join us as we tackle the struggles of discernment—how to differentiate between actions driven by the flesh versus the Spirit. Through personal stories of internal conflict, we highlight the tendency to act from a place of self-centeredness and the importance of seeking divine guidance. Conclude this insightful journey by understanding the significance of a Spirit-focused mindset in all life aspects and embrace feelings of inadequacy as a sign of the Spirit's active work within you. Let us invite divine assistance to guide you on this path to spiritual alignment.
Good morning everyone. So initially this morning we were setting up in here. Well, I say we, I was doing nothing and Ben and his family were doing everything. As they were setting up. I was like, oh no, what am I going to do? I'm going to joke. What am I going to do without a microphone?
Speaker 1:And I was reminded of the time, if you guys remember, we were at MOCC still and there was a power outage on the block. If you guys remember, we were at mocc still and there was a power outage on the block. Do you guys remember that? Uh, there was a power outage on the block, we had no electricity. So, uh, ben was out that week, yeah, and so malachi was leading worship. Poor malachi, like, we're making plans like minutes before the gathering starts, what we're going to do, and we decided we would do it all analog. So he played on the piano, which worked well in the space, and I just preached in that whole space with no microphone. And even the little old ladies who sat in the back with bad hearing said I heard you just fine. So I think if we hear a child like talking at insane volumes from below us, you know who's kid? It is right, it's like my daughter has inherited my volume, not Kinsey's volume. Pray for her, you know, okay. So yeah, today we're continuing the series in Romans, continuing the series in Romans eight, continuing the series in Romans 8.
Speaker 1:Just to remind you guys, we set out on this series because we wanted to ask a question, a question that we think is really important. We wanted to ask the question what does it really mean to live in the Spirit? What is the life according to the Spirit or the Spirit-led life? What does that really mean? And so what we did is we turned to this chapter in Romans Romans 8, which is like the quintessential chapter on what it means to be a Christian and, consequently, what it means to be in the Spirit. And last week, you know, I introduced the series by outlining the gospel.
Speaker 1:Believe it or not, the gospel is the foundation for this whole life in the spirit. This is the basis, and we saw, essentially, that every person finds themselves being ruled by something. Right, we talked about that. We talked about what does that mean, what does that look like? We said that, at the end of the day, every person is ruled by something. Person is ruled by something. We're either ruled by the flesh and sin and death, or we're ruled by God and his spirit, and so we did a lot to unpack that. But, in short, we saw that one of the big things that Jesus did is take us out from under the rule of sin and put us under his rule.
Speaker 1:And I just want to say as a quick aside, like what we're going to see a lot in this chapter is we're going to look at the gospel over and over. Lord willing, until I die, I'm going to preach about the gospel over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. And what we're going to do every time is what I want is, like so many of us, when we talk about the gospel, like we shortcut what it means. We have a very small description of what the gospel is, what Jesus did, and what I hope that you'll see is, as we keep unpacking this, we're going to keep turning the picture a little bit. I always like to say the gospel is like a diamond. You know, like we all understand the basic shape of a diamond, but when you really look at it, you start turning it. It catches the light in different ways. There's different facets, there's different faces and it's very beautiful. That's what we're going to do, and today we're doing that again. We're going to look at the gospel again.
Speaker 1:Shock, big surprise. We're going to look at the gospel we're going to see in the life and the spirit and, specifically, we're looking at this idea of the first principle of the life and the spirit, like what's the first thing that we think about or talk about or look at when we're talking about life and the spirit? And that is the mindset on the spirit. And so that's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about the mindset on the Spirit, and so that's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about the mindset on the Spirit and what we're going to find and Paul is showing us this what we're going to find is that there's a problem. There's a problem that underlies this conversation. So, like, really, at the end of the day, we can't start by saying, okay, the Spirit-filled life is the mindset on the Spirit, so set your minds on the spirit. We can't start there. We have to start upstream a little bit, so to speak, because what we're going to see is we have a problem, we have a problem as people, and this problem is the thing that we call the flesh, and I'm going to unpack what that means. Ultimately, our problem is that we have an identity problem, a nature problem. So we're going to look at that problem, which is the flesh. Then we're going to look at how Jesus is the solution to that problem and then we're going to see what is the spirit-filled life that comes out of that. What does it mean to set our minds on the flesh?
Speaker 1:So if you have your outline in front of you, I'll just give you a little intro into what we're looking at today. You see the three parts. The problem the flesh is death. It's the solution. Jesus gave us new life. And then the new life, the mindset on the spirit. Really, the bulk of this is that third piece. If I was like super on top of it, I'd have outlines within the outlines. You know that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:First, two parts, short Last part is we're going to spend the most of our time. Okay, so three parts All looking at the first principle of life and spirit. And that first principle is that the life in the spirit is the mindset on the flesh. Sorry, mindset on the spirit. It's a good thing there's not a recording to catch that, and I wore my collar shirt and everything. The first thing we're going to see, the first principle of life in the spirit, is the mind set on the spirit, and we'll look at that in those three parts. The problem which is the flesh is death. The solution, which is Christ, gave us a new nature, and then that new life is mind, sound spirit. So let's pray, we'll jump in God.
Speaker 1:Thank you for this day, thank you for this beautiful weather. Man, I thank you that there's a lot better airflow here than uh at lapham. I just I'm very aware of that right now. Um, lord, I'm also aware of uh, a lawnmower nearby, not worried about speaking louder than the lawnmower, but just aware of it. And guys, I think what that brings to mind to me is that we're in a different place, things are different, and that for some of us, being in different places or different settings than we expected, it makes it really hard for us to get in the right mindset, for lack of a better word to listen to what you have to say, lord.
Speaker 1:I just confess that to me, like I have a hard time adjusting when something is different than I expected and plan, and so I just pray for your grace on us today, lord. I just pray that you would, for anyone here who's like that, pray to help us to get into the right place to hear what you have for us today, god. Most importantly, I pray that you would open our eyes and our ears and our heart to what you have for us, because, god, we believe that you still have really good, really important things to say to us here today. I pray that you'll bless this time of your word. I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts would be glorifying to you, lord, our God and Redeemer. We praise in Jesus' name, amen, all right, okay, first thing I want us to see is let's talk about this problem of the flesh.
Speaker 1:And so I know a lot of you, all of you. You've all spent a lot of time in the church. We've all spent a lot of time in the church. We've all spent a lot of time in the church hearing churchy words, churchy words, like in the flesh. Now, what in the world does that actually mean?
Speaker 1:And here's the first thing that I want us to see? Is that when Paul says in the flesh or really just the flesh in general, that what he's talking about here is the sin nature, it's our sin nature. And there we go Literally already at another churchy word. What does that mean? The sin nature, I'm glad you asked, thank you for asking. The sin nature is that person who I find in myself, that person that I think you often find in yourself, that corrupted person. It's the person who wants the bad things, the person who is sinful, broken and, most significantly, it's that part of ourselves, or really it is ourselves who reject God and that's what we see.
Speaker 1:So what I want you to do is look at a passage, but let's skip to the end, verses 7 and 8. And Paul's going to explain this a little bit. He says for the mindset on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God, submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. So therefore, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. So what's Paul saying? Paul is saying fundamentally, the flesh, again, the sin nature, cannot please God. Why? Because it is fundamentally opposed to God. It is, by definition, opposition to God, it's hostile, and so our corrupt selves cannot please God because we're enemies. In fact, we see that picture a lot in the Bible. Is that our natural, our nature, default nature is being enemies with God.
Speaker 1:So we have a picture of what in the flesh means, and I'll just say this maybe this is apparent to some of us, but in case it's not, I hope you see that when we say the flesh, I'm not talking about that meat that sticks to your bones, okay. I'm not talking about your skin and your organs and your body itself. Paul is talking about the inner self, the person who is supposed to God, okay. So so that's that's worth putting aside, because a lot of Christians we can get in a weird space. We can get into a space where we say, oh, the flesh is bad. We mean, is like the body's bad or something like that. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about. We're not talking about these things, we're talking about this. You know what I'm saying. So now we have a picture of what the flesh is, what Paul means by the flesh.
Speaker 1:Let's look at verses five and six, and what I want you to do is we're going to read this section twice Right now. Let's focus on the fleshy parts. And again, a lot of church experience in this room. My guess is that all, or a lot of you have read this passage many times before, and the risk we run is that these words are going to gloss past us, they're going to slide around us, and what I want us to do is like let's really consider the weight of these things that Paul is saying here, because this is huge stuff, guys. This is huge stuff, all right. So five and six huge stuff, guys. This is huge stuff, all right. So five and six For those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh. For those who lived according to the spirit, set their minds on the things of the spirit. Four to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. And so here we go.
Speaker 1:Here we have the big claim today, like this is the big statement that Paul is making, and that's that who you are determines what you focus on, which then determines who you are. You see what I'm saying. If we were sitting down, if what this was was, instead of church gathering in the living room, and we were actually a bunch of undergrad philosophy students me saying that the room would have erupted into debate, partially because philosophy majors are kind of obnoxious. Are there any philosophy majors here are kind of obnoxious? Are there any philosophy majors here Totally obnoxious? No, I'm just playing, but partially, because what I just said is a huge claim Like this is declaring something about the way the world works that is debated. People don't necessarily agree with this statement, but this is what the Bible says.
Speaker 1:The Bible says that who you are determines what you set your mind on, which then determines who you are. You see, it's a cycle. The Bible says that one way or another, we are part of a cycle. You set your mind on good things, you're in the cycle of good. If you set your mind on bad things, you're in the cycle of bad. Do you see and there's two parts worth mentioning here that connection between our nature and our mindset and then again the way the mindset influences our nature. There's a cycle, and so here's an example. Here's a very simple. Maybe this will feel like an example, but I think this works.
Speaker 1:If you are a selfish person, what do you set your mind on? Thank you, val. Yeah, you set your mind on me. If I'm selfish, if, if, who I am, it's selfish, then I am setting my mind on me and tell me what is the outcome of that mindset? Selfishness, right? You see, it's really clear. When we put it in small pictures like that, it's really clear. This cycle and how it works who I am determines what I set my mind on. What I set my mind on then determines who I am.
Speaker 1:The Bible drives this point home time and time again. And so when we scale that up, when we think about this you know, here's a small picture selfishness, we're making more selfish. When we scale that up and we look at the flesh, the sin, nature, then it is no wonder that humanity has this problem, right? It's no wonder that we have this problem, because who are we in our nature, sinful? So then, what do we set our minds on? We set our minds on the things of the flesh. And what is the result? Bible says death.
Speaker 1:You see what Paul said. He said that the result is death. Why? Because the natural thing that this mindset produces is destruction. And look, I've always read this, I've always read this to say that if you are too fleshy, god's going to judge you. I've always read this to say that if you are too sinful, you will incur the wrath of God. And look, we know we sinful, you will incur the wrath of God. And look, we know, we know that sin incurs the wrath of God. That's true. We know that God will judge, that's true. But what that undermines is that what Paul is saying here is that the natural thing that your mindset produces is death. We are making it, we make this, and so here we have the problem. We have this problem, we have a mindset issue which, underneath that, is really a nature issue. We have a nature issue, and so I think it's again worth stopping.
Speaker 1:I said something like this last week, but you know, our culture is big on the authentic self and yes and amen, they should be. This is good. Being authentic and true to who you are is very good. But I think what we often hear, and what I hear, is I'm going to then look at myself and I'm going to determine which parts of these, which parts of me, are authentic and which parts aren't. And and I don't know about you guys but like, what I'll often do is I'll be like, yeah, you know, told some kind of white lies to cover himself. That's not really who I am, that's not me, right? That's not my nature. That's not me, right? That's not my nature. But I think the picture, the picture we have in the Bible, is that like no, it is. It is Like like we want to say things like like yeah, sure, sometimes I lie, but I'm not a liar, it's not who I really am. And look, before we go any further, like I'm not trying to beat anybody up, I'm not trying to press anybody down. I just want us to think honestly, like let's honestly consider what we find inside.
Speaker 1:No-transcript. They describe what we're like apart from Jesus. They use a lot of these identity words, these nature words. See, they don't just say you lie, you steal, you kill. They call us liars, thieves, murderers, adulterers, idolaters. Do you see, like this is heavy? But each of these words is not just a description of activity, it's like a label, it's like a nature thing, an identity thing. And our problem, humanity's problem, okay, is not that we are good people who sometimes do bad things. Humanity's problem, fundamentally, is that we're bad people who sometimes do good things. Just enough that it obfuscates what the truth is underneath.
Speaker 1:Paul describes it as someone who is according to the flesh. If you look at verse five, it says for those who live according to flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh. Literally, in the greek, it says for those who are according to the flesh, in other words, those who are by their very nature, defined by their sin nature, defined by the flesh, and friends. This is where we have to stop and say that the good news, the very, very good news, is that Jesus came for people who are idolaters, adulterers, thieves, murderers. In fact, he made a very big deal very clear with his time on earth is that he didn't have a lot of time for people who were good but did bad things. What did he spend his time with? He spent his time with the errs. He spent his time with the liars, with the. He spent his time with the errs. He spent his time with the liars, with the adulterers, with the idolaters. Like. Those are the people that he came to save.
Speaker 1:You know, one of the titles that is most often used to describe people who are not saved, who are not with Jesus, who are not God's people, is enemy. We are, by our nature, enemies of God. We naturally rebel against God. Why we just don't? It's our flesh, the sin nature is, by definition, in opposition to God, and so do you understand, do we understand, that when jesus came to earth. He came as son, and he came as god's son and and, and we know that he was infinitely loved before creation, before the beginning of anything. He was loved. And what did he do? He came, became human. He took on flesh, the literal body of flesh, not our sin nature. He took on humanity.
Speaker 1:And, guys, we've heard this, we've heard the gospel before, but, like, do we understand that when he lived the perfect life and he went to the cross, he did it for the forgiveness of sins? Yes, but do you understand that? When he was on the cross, do you know what he said? Do you know what he did? He looked out at the people, the people who were crucifying him, his enemies, and spoiler, alert us. And do you know what he said? He said forgive them, father, for the no, not what they do. Do you hear what he's saying? What he's saying is like is, father, forgive them because they are slaves to their nature. They are slaves to who they are.
Speaker 1:And so what did Jesus do on the cross? He took our nature. He took that sin nature and died. And what did he give us? He gave us his nature. And do you know what the cross was reserved for Do you know what this method of execution is solely for? It's for rebels, for enemies of the state. And so Jesus went and died a rebel's death, so that we could become children of God, so that we could have his nature, so that we could no longer be defined by our sin nature but be defined by his nature. That is what happened on the cross. Is he traded us. He traded us.
Speaker 1:So now, christian, if you are in Christ, your nature is no longer sin nature. Why? Because it died on the cross, Because Jesus gave us his nature, new life. And so that's why Paul, in first Corinthians six, can say one of the hardest things in the Bible. He says idolaters, thieves, adulterers, murderers, drunkards, these will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Murderers, drunkards, these will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. And then he goes on to say and such were some of you. That is not your identity anymore, that is not your nature anymore. Who are you now? You're in Christ.
Speaker 1:New nature, and with that new nature comes the new mindset. And that new nature that again spoiler is in the Holy Spirit. It's this new self that comes to us from Jesus and it is the life in the Holy Spirit. And so we know we just looked at the problem of the flesh and the problem is that we've got this kind of identity nature issue that who we are determines what we think about or we set our minds on, which then determines who we are, and it's a cycle that we need somebody to break, and we saw that Jesus broke that cycle, gave us a new nature as Christians and that produces a new mindset. So let's spend this last chunk of time considering this mindset of the spirit and what that means for us today, and I'll try to tear through this, I promise. Okay. So three things we're going to look at at the end. Here we're going to connect our new nature to our new mindset.
Speaker 1:We're going to talk about what the Bible means by setting our mind, and then I'm going to give a tangible example of what it means to set our mind on the Spirit. So first let's read these first two verses again. Let's focus on the spirit-y parts Five and six. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. Talked about that. But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Those who live according to the Spirit, set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Four to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. And so the first thing I want to address here, the very first thing I want to talk about in this section, is there is a logical order here, there's a logical connection. Here's what I mean. You see, in verse 5, he says those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit.
Speaker 1:And right now, in this room, that is hitting all of us a little differently. We're all hearing something different. When I say that, say that for some, we are hearing a command. We hear paul say something like if you are in the spirit, then set your mind on the things of the spirit. Right, we hear in a statement and then a command. But here's the problem grammatically, this is not a command. Grammatically, this is the you know because you all love Greek and grammar and all this kind of stuff. Literally, set your mind on the spirit is indicative, which means Paul is saying something that is true, okay. He's not saying, okay, now go and do this. He's saying this is true, statement, fact, period, okay. So it's not a command. But here's the problem. He's saying this is true, statement, fact period. Okay, so it's not a command. But here's the problem. Some of us caught that. Some of us caught it's not a command, but where are we going? We've read an indictment, some of us have just read.
Speaker 1:For those who are in the spirit, set their minds on the spirit, and we say, oh great, my mind is not set on the spirit, I must not be in the spirit, set their minds on the spirit, and we say, oh great, my mind is not set on the spirit, I must not be in the spirit. And here's what I want to say. I have a lot of passion about this. We often, when we read the Bible, we take declarative statements that God has made and we turn them into weapons and we bludgeon ourselves and we bludgeon others with them, and and and I think the problem with that is that, yes, sometimes we need to hear these things and we need to say, oh, I don't measure up. Oh, god's standard is very high, oh, this bar is absolutely beyond me, and we need to know, without question, that we will not meet that standard. Okay, but also, man, we need to understand that God is doing more. God is doing more than just shaming us into shape. Okay, god wants to tell us very good and important things that we need to know, not just hit us over the head with truth. So what Paul is saying here is that you, sitting in this chair, standing at this stand, you, if you are in the Spirit, then you set your mind on the Spirit. It is not a question of if, it is not a command, it is not an indictment, it is a statement. You do so.
Speaker 1:The question is, why Is that? Because all of us are so enlightened, we have just learned the truths of the world and man. If only those people out there could know this. Or is it like I'm just so spiritual? It's me, I just like to set my mind on bigger things. Are we so ethical, moral? No, no, no, no.
Speaker 1:What is happening, friends? What is happening is that we set our mind on the spirit, because the spirit of the living God, the creator of reality, the king who sits enthroned above time and space, the guy who said and things happened. He lives inside of us. It is happening, it is changing, and what we need to hear is that what I just said is one of the most outlandish things that we believe as Christians. Because did you hear that? The guy who made everything lives in me? What a crazy thing to say. What an insane idea. And so is it any wonder that, as I go about life, that things are changing. Like, do you understand? This is not an opt in, opt out kind of thing. This is not a no, thanks God, I'm okay right now. Uh, I did a lot of changing yesterday. Today's not a good day for change for me. No, no, no.
Speaker 1:The spirit who raised Christ from the dead is in us. He is changing things. He's making himself at home, so to speak. Okay, so that means that it warps our reality, and we're going to talk next week more about verse nine through 12. We're going to talk about this power that's in us. We're talking more about the power of the spirit, but for now, understand that one of the things that he is definitively doing is he is setting your mind on the things of the spirit. He's setting your mind on his things. He is changing you. He is setting your mind on these things and I love this phrase. He's making himself at home. He is. And so it's not for discussion. Sorry, I don't make the rules. It's not up for discussion, it's not. Some of us are opting in, some of us aren't. It's happening.
Speaker 1:So the question is what does that look like? Ok, because a lot of us think we can get in our heads about this. Well, what does that mean? That the spirit is changing me. Where is that coming from? Does that mean an audible voice is telling me? And I'm responding appropriately, and the answer is that it is very complicated. It just must be very complicated, and what we see is that we're going to hear the Spirit and be shaped by the Spirit when we listen to sermons, when we read the Bible, man, when we do counseling, when we talk to other Christians. Even it can happen when we are just reading fiction or looking at nature and look, not all these things are created equal. Don't hear me say that. But the point is not you and what you're doing. The point is what the Spirit is doing with the world around us and what he's doing with that in us.
Speaker 1:Okay, and I would say this is my experience, my ability to hear the spirit's voice and in all these things, whether it be a sermon or a nice book, my ability to hear that seems to be very connected with how much my mind is set on the spirit, and so I think that that is kind of helpful. It's helpful for us. That idea of how much I'm getting out of this seems to be connected to how much my mind is set on the spirit. It's helpful for us to understand, then, what does it actually mean to have our mind set on the spirit? Like, what does that really mean? And I think that, again, knowing this room, we all have kind of a vague sense of this. Right, we all have a vague idea, but I think that a lot of us shortcut it, and we shortcut it to mean thinking about the spirit. But it's bigger than that.
Speaker 1:If you think about this like illustration illustration, it's a metaphor. Right, we can see that setting your mind on the spirit's a metaphor, because what does that literally mean? Like I'm taking my brain out and and putting it on something, like if I was to set my mind on art, it's like I'm doing brain surgery and and putting it on the canvas and then I don't know, that's gruesome, right, I saw some of the young boys like, yeah, sick, but it's clearly a metaphor. What does it literally mean? Well, in the Bible, it's a common phrase. It's a common phrase to set your mind on something, and I think the best illustration I can muster for this Bear with me is an engine in a car.
Speaker 1:When we think about setting our minds on something, most often we treat our minds like it is the engine and the thing is the car. So if I'm setting my mind on whatever painting, then the painting is the car and my mind is the thing that's making it go. But biblically it's the other way around. The biblical picture is that in this illustration our mind is the car and the thing that we're setting it on is the engine. In other words, what you set your mind on is not just what you're thinking about. It is the thing that is moving your thoughts, driving your thoughts, orienting your life, directing where you go, how you think about things. You see what I'm saying. This is like the framework that we use to process. This is the lens that we use to look at the world. That's what it means to set our mind on something, and really quickly.
Speaker 1:I'll give you what I think is a great example of that, and it's in Romans 12, 16. If your bibles look at Romans 12 16 with me, you oh he says this live in harmony with one another, do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Now here's the deal. Most of us don't catch it in english, we don't really see setting your mind on something, but it shows up three times in this verse, three times. The first time, in the beginning of 16, he says live in harmony with one another. Literally set your minds on each other. So what does that mean? It says my mindset is that I am concerned about you and what you need and how you're doing, about you and what you need and how you're doing. And you have put your mindset on me and my needs and what I'm doing. And so what's this result? I'm thinking through the lens of what does Zach need? How is he doing today? Is there something I can do for him? And Zach is setting his mind on me. How's Houston doing? What does he need? And so what's the result? Well, in English we translate this living in harmony, because it's this really beautiful picture. It's like harmonious, right. The net result is not just knees are being met, it's like a beautiful song.
Speaker 1:And second, do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Literally don't set your mind on exaltation, but be with the humble. What was he saying? Don't set your mind on being lifted up. What does that mean? I'm not walking around saying, well, what's in this for me? I'm not walking around saying, is this going to further my brand? Who am I associating with? I'm associating with the humble, those who are not primarily thinking about themselves. And even this last part don't be wise in your own sight. Never be wise in your own sight. Literally, don't have a big mind about yourself. Don't think I'm the big deal here. What does that mean? I don't set my mind on being important. So you see three examples in this one verse.
Speaker 1:What does it mean functionally to set our minds on something? It means that this is the thing that is organizing and directing my thoughts. This is the lens through which I am considering everything. So what does it mean to set my mind on the Spirit? It means I am constantly asking questions. I am asking things like does this honor the Spirit? I'm asking things like does this align with what he wants from me and for me? Is this something he's given to me?
Speaker 1:You see, saying our minds on the spirit means that we use the spirit as the filter through which we think about everything, the lens we look at our lives, and I think, personally, I think the appropriate response to that is to say, oh, that's a lot, and yeah, I think it's a lot, I think that is a huge thing. It's a big thing and it's any wonder, because this is a lifetime's worth of work. I hope there is not a person here today who is under the illusion that, like, oh, houston preached, I was gonna say great, preached a good sermon about. No, houston preached a sermon about setting my mind on the spirit. I've got it now. No, that's not how it works. That's not how it works. And I think, like, the case study of that is me right, because I've preached this to myself a couple of times and I'm not there yet.
Speaker 1:Okay, and, and what I want to do is I just want to end with, uh, this, this tangible picture, something, something that I found in my life from this last week that that I hope will be helpful, and what I, what I want, like you guys all, to catch, is that anytime I go to a tangible picture like this, this is not okay. Here's your homework, go do this. We're talking about really big things, we're talking about frameworks for being, and so the best I can do is give you tangible examples of how that is implemented, and so I have been chewing a lot this past week or so. What does it mean to set my mind on the spirit? And here's what I found Is that I suck at it Pretty, pretty bad, and I don't think that's what you want to hear from your pastor, but, sorry, pretty bad. And and I don't think that's what you want to hear from your pastor, but sorry, you know, hopefully this is not the the earth shattering moment where you find out that I'm flawed. Uh, some of you, this probably is first time you've ever found a flaw in me, but uh, no, but seriously though, it is hard, it's hard, and you know, I realized.
Speaker 1:I realized I don't have a good mechanism for discerning what is my mind set on the flesh and what is my mind set on the spirit. And here's what I mean. What I found is that in a lot of situations, man, I would see something that I could do, and my immediate response was heaviness, like, like. I would see something that we would all describe as like a good deed type thing, and my immediate reaction in my heart was like shame and guilt and heaviness, like this week. A guy came into our offices our medicine offices looking for help. A guy came into our offices our medicine offices looking for help and immediately, immediately, what happens inside me is that, like rock that sinks down into my gut and I feel heavy. And part of that is my baggage with homeless ministry. Man, a big part of that is my mindset, what my mind is set on.
Speaker 1:A big part of it is that I start going into these thought processes and I start thinking, okay, okay, here's the thing, I'm a pastor, I have to do something, here's the thing that I need to do. It's going to be hard. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to help this guy. In fact, I don't have really many resources. There's not really much I can do. But man, even thinking that way, that must mean that I'm so terrible, that must mean that I really suck, because here's a guy in need and the first thing I'm thinking about is I can't do this. What am I going to do? And then I start to think about that Okay, well'm shaming myself like this is so terrible. I hope someone else comes along, will someone else talk to him? And you see like I'm.
Speaker 1:I'm spiraling, I'm spiraling and what's happening is that I am not being led by the spirit. In that moment, I did not have my mind set on the spirit. My mind is set on the flesh. But here's the deal, here's what I hope you guys hear.
Speaker 1:My mind being set on the flesh plays out in a place that we might not expect it. It plays out in me worrying ultimately about how I'm going to walk away from this, and not him, specifically, in me shaming myself, in me spiraling. I'm in this place where it's like, am I a bad person? And if I can't help him, does that make me a bad person? And do you understand that? That is the mind set on the flesh? Like, like it wasn't that I was afraid it wasn't that, like I couldn't help him. Really, it was, at the end of the day, the thing I was the most concerned about is am I going to walk out of this looking like a bad guy? Or worse, feeling like a bad guy? Do you understand what I'm saying?
Speaker 1:Like that's the mindset on the flesh, and then what that tells us is something really scary, guys, is that you can do a lot of really great things. In fact, you can do a life's worth of really great things and have your mindset on the flesh the whole time. We've seen a lot of people, a lot of people who've had their minds on their flesh their whole life and they do incredible things, incredible acts of service, incredible acts of generosity. And so how we find whether our mind is set on the flesh or the spirit is not necessarily what we do. It's by asking ourselves these really hard questions why am I doing this? What do I really care about happening here? What am I hoping for at the end of this? And so, then, I think having our mindset in the spirit, then is, instead of asking Lord, or like, how am I going to come out of this? Asking things like God, what are you doing here? God, can I do this? God, are you leading me to something here? God, are you leading me to something here?
Speaker 1:And I'm sure, knowing you guys, no one else is dealing with this kind of stuff, right, and I love that, and I love that for all of you. No one else is dealing with this, or all of us are dealing with this. So, look, when we're coming to things like the gathering or MC, or DNA or man in our personal lives, we're in our marriage or at work or parenting. All these things, all of these things we have to ask ourselves what is our mindset on? Because we can do all of these things and still have our mindset on the flesh. You can show up to church every Sunday, you can show up to every MC, you can show up to every DNA. You can do a lot of really great stuff and never get there, never get to your mindset on the spirit, friends, living life in the spirit means first setting our minds in the spirit, and and again.
Speaker 1:What I want to say, last thing I want to say, is the good news that this is not just possible, it is the direction that we are all going. Yeah, and and here's the deal. If that seems hard to believe for you right now, what I would say is that maybe that feeling that like I'm messed up I don't think that I measure up to this is probably the spirit working in you, and there's your evidence. Yeah, you're going, yeah, we're going and it's happening, he's working. So let's, let's end by friday and asking him to keep working. God, I just thank you for staying this time. Help us, god. It's like Paul said we are no longer defined by being in the flesh, but we still wrestle with it and it's hard and our minds can be there really easily and God you know what we see is it's really easy to even do good things.