Enemies of the Mind – Part 5
As we look deep into our minds and study those things that are against our peace of mind, we need to remember who is our peace of mind – Jesus. His character we need to emulate and remember the love He gives us – that we may win the mind control game Satan tries to play!
Jesus is the perfect example of balance.
He emptied Himself for our benefit. Like Artie so beautifully described a couple of weeks ago, Jesus valued your life more than His Godship. He emptied Himself and made Himself nothing and took on the very form of a man and became obedient to death, even death on a cross (Phil 2:7-8)!
Gal 1:3-5
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Are we wise enough to learn from our Master? I do so hope we are. After all, we all are here today to learn and allow His Spirit to transform our lowly minds to His glorious one.
Look at Paul’s state of mind, worthy of imitation:
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. (2Tim 2:10)
If you know you are taken care of in Jesus, then you are ready to be used to serve others and win them over to eternal salvation!
First, though, you need to learn to overcome the enemies of the mind…
VI – The Unforgiving Spirit – Bitterness of the Mind
There’s a situation that happened in
Act 8:19-24
(19) … "Give me this power also, so that
anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit."
(20) But Peter said to him, "May your silver
perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with
money!
(21) You have neither part nor lot in this matter,
for your heart is not right before God.
(22) Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of
yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be
forgiven you.
(23) For I see that you are in the gall (poison) of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity."
(24) And Simon answered, "Pray for me to the
Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me."
Although Simon may have thought he had good intentions for his request, Peter was able to see through that into the selfish desires of the heart. Peter describes Simon as caught in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity.
When someone confronts you with your sin you always have two choices:
1- Get offended.
a) Pretend you don’t need the correction
b) Try to justify what you did.
c) All these are the results of someone who’s been offended.
d) Causes hardness of heart
2- Humbly accept the correction, rebuke, advice;
a) You know you may have been offensive (soberness of mind)
b) Leads to vulnerability before God (You allow the Lord to help you)
c) Transparency (You have nothing to hide because you know God sees all)
It is interesting to see in this passage in Acts 8 how Simon responded to Peter’s sharp rebuke! How would you have responded? After all, don’t we always need to be corrected or reminded? We are not perfect!
Those who get offended completely miss the point of discipline and are at the greatest disadvantage in the body of Christ. Why? We know in the body we are to be taught, corrected, rebuked and trained; it is the order of every day! However, the unforgiving spirit will always want his/her way despite any kind of word given, whether in kindness or sharpness of rebuke.
A resentful spirit that nurses
wounds, real or imagined, for months, or even years; never letting go and
always harboring the grievances of the past is a spirit that is caught in the
bond of sin; a tough bond indeed!
Jesus taught us how we ought to deal with one another when issues arise:
Mat 18:15-17
(15) "If your brother
sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he
listens to you, you have gained your brother.
(16) But if he does not
listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be
established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
(17) If he refuses to
listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the
church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
Some brethren caught up in this process have complained to me that there isn’t supposed to be pressure put on anyone in a loving church. What kind of misguided statement is that!!?? Right here in this passage Jesus describes the very system that will put loving pressure on each of us to make sure we are on the straight and narrow! The only way to remain in the straight and narrow is by being pressured! To not want to be pressured is the surefire way to end up in the wide and easy road to destruction.
It is the pressure in this life that will mature us and purify us – conforming us to Jesus. Wasn’t He perfected the same way?
Heb 5:7-9
(7) In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up
prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to
save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
(8) Although he was a son, he learned obedience
through what he suffered.
(9) And being made perfect, he became the source
of eternal salvation to all who obey him,
Let’s look at another telling parable Jesus shared concerning forgiveness:
Matthew 18:23-35
This parable was shared because Jesus asked Peter how many times you should forgive your brother. This was Peter’s question after Jesus laid the Heavenly rules on dealing with issues between the brethren.
The main point of this parable is: Unless you are willing to forgive from the heart (verse 35), God will not extend forgiveness to you. Consequently, we are taught to pray:
Mat 6:12 and forgive us our
debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
If you are unforgiving, which is revealed by a bitter spirit (lack of joy) and constant criticism, not only do you displease God but this sort of mentality will eat at your gut. I have seen bitter people suffer greatly through devastating diseases, probably caused by this wretched state of mind that internalizes hurt and fear as opposed to learning how to deal with it through forgiveness and humility.
Do you know this is sometimes called the “bovine syndrome”? That is because cows chew their food, regurgitate it, and then chew it some more (chew the cud). This aids in their digestion since they have four stomachs. However, in the human, that would cause gall (which is extremely bitter) and acid to be regurgitated which would burn up your esophagus and mouth and cause ulcers and wear your teeth out!
Remember to replace bitterness with forgiveness:
Eph 4:31-32
(31) Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and
clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
(32) Be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Don’t allow a bitter spirit to get in the way of your transformation. Remember God’s advice to Cain:
Gen 4:3-7
(3) In the course of time Cain brought to the
LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground,
(4) and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his
flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his
offering,
(5) but for Cain and his offering he had no
regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
(6) The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you
angry, and why has your face fallen?
(7) If you do well, will you not be accepted? And
if you do not do well, sin
is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it."
Don’t set yourself against God and master this sinful mindset that you may be free in Christ!
Lord willing, next time I come up here to share with you the Word of God we will explicitly study the symptoms of bitterness and how to master this ugly enemy of the mind.