The Battle for the Mind
By Pastor Matt Black
18
June 2006
Lord's Day morning
Ephesians 1:17
Introduction: Open your Bible to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. In our text this morning, we learn that transformation begins in the mind of the child of God. There is a great battle for the mind, so the title of this morning’s message is “The Battle for the Mind.” Let’s stand together and read Ephesians chapter 1 and verses 15 through 23.
[Stand and read Ephesians 1:15-23]
We will be focusing in on verse 15-18
“15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints…”
Complacency is a disease that every one of us has to battle in our spiritual lives. Things that were once alive and vibrant no longer have the same appeal. We become dull and out of shape spiritually, and we need to sharpen ourselves—to stir ourselves up. That is what Paul is praying for here. He is praying for these believers to be shaken and stirred up at their very foundations. That is what we need this morning.
You see when we come to Christ we call that conversion, regeneration. Conversion is not the end all in salvation—it is only the beginning. There is much ahead—we must “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). Conversion is the point when the new birth takes place, and that is exactly what it is. It is a birth. A child’s birth is not the end, but the beginning of life. Regeneration is that beginning of spiritual life—it is the infusion of spiritual life—and the whole life lies ahead. God wants you to be transformed—changed! He has not just saved you, He is sanctifying you!!
We need to understand something fundamental that is revealed in this text and throughout the Bible. The battle for holiness and sanctification in our lives begins in our mind! We make wrong decisions in our lives and we end up in circumstances continually that we do not want to be, and we wonder how we got here?! You do not have to wonder. Every choice you make begins with the mind. It is vital to understand this. If you can daily be “transformed by the renewing of your mind”, then you would live and walk in spiritual triumph. Paul pleads with believers this way as well in Colossians 3:1ff, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” Paul goes on to say in verse 5 to “Mortify” or put to death the sins that are in their lives. This holiness is what we all want, but it all begins in submitting the mind to the power of the Spirit of God!
This morning we are going to get some training in this battle—we need to be prepared. Paul in the second half of his letter to the Ephesians (chapters 3-6) gives many commands to live a holy life, but it is here that he lays the foundation for their holy living. Listen to what Paul prays for in verses 17 and 18: “wisdom… revelation… knowledge… understanding.” If you can take home one thing this morning it is this: if you want to live that on-fire, sold-out life of holiness for God, you must prepare your mind! You must pray for this! You must do battle royal in the arena of the mind! The difference between change and stagnation is whether you are winning the battle of the mind! Make no mistake though, the mind and soul and heart are all joined in Scripture. This is no mere intellectual or psychological endeavor as we will see. It is a matter of the Spirit of God having influence over our whole being. So let’s begin.
We see first on the journey to holiness and victory in the life, we must have a FOCUS given by the Holy Spirit of God, this transforming knowledge Paul here calls “wisdom”. That is what Paul prayed for these Ephesian believers, and that is what we need.
If we are to win in the battle of the mind,
I. We need to have the FOCUS spiritual WISDOM. Paul prays without ceasing that these people might have the “Spirit of wisdom.” This is speaking of that wisdom which only the Spirit of God can give, this is why Paul is praying for this. It is not just an attitude or a mindset of wisdom. We all certainly need to have that—that’s important. But that is not what Paul is praying for. He is praying that these believers might be given that wisdom which is produced by the Holy Spirit of God. What is wisdom?
A. First we see the Significance of wisdom. Wisdom is that transforming knowledge that informs our mind so that we might have the power to obey God—it is the Spirit of God illuminating the truth of God to you that puts you under compulsion to obey God and do that which is right in His eyes. It carries with it the reality that God is real; He is transcendent and personal, and interested in your eternal destiny. The Holy Spirit is the only one who can do this; He is the “source of all right knowledge.”[1] “The fear [or awestruck reverence] of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). Wisdom always carries with it the fruit of obedience.
Job 28:28 “And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”
Spirit-given wisdom is the seed that is planted, and it always produces in the sinner faith and repentance. When Spirit-filled Scriptural wisdom is planted, the fruit is always obedience. This is what we need to pray for, because without wisdom, you will never choose what is right. If you have made a wrong choice, it is because you chose without the Spirit of God enlightening your heart with wisdom about that choice! So instead of Spirit-given wisdom, you went forward in the wisdom of your own mind. Choices always have their foundation in the mind. Choices do not “just happen.” They are a result of the depraved wisdom of self, of the divine wisdom of the Spirit of God.
B. Then we see the Source of wisdom. How do we get it? Divine wisdom is imparted by God the Holy Spirit alone. Without this wisdom a man is not born again. This wisdom is given as part of God’s effectual calling of His elect to salvation. As God draws a sinner, the Spirit of God imparts this wisdom, this understanding of God’s person, presence, and power. This wisdom is not imparted to everyone, but only to those who are “chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4).
This wisdom cannot be attained naturally by men. “The world by wisdom knew not God” (1 Corinthians 1:21).
God allowed the greatest philosophers to try their best at attaining wisdom before Christ, who is the Wisdom of God, came into the world. Socrates (470–399 BC), Plato (427–c. 347 BC), and Aristotle (384 – March 7, 322 BC) all lived in the Inter-Testamental Period (in the 400 year gap of silence between the Old and New Testaments), and with all their worldly wisdom, they fell woefully short of a life transformed by the Spirit of God. It’s impossible to get true wisdom apart from the Spirit of God!
C. We then see our Salvation is granted through the sovereign giving wisdom. This wisdom is what initially saved us. Paul makes this clear in verses 8-9 of this same chapter. He says we have experienced “the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; 8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; 9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will.”
D. Finally there is a lifestyle of Surrender and living in this wisdom. Wisdom, then, is what the Puritans called “practicing the presence of God.” As Job said (28:28): “the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.” It is a realizing of His greatness and majesty and being in awe of Him. It is always connected to Holy Spirit illumination of truth about God.
When a believer experiences the power of God’s presence and the impact of God’s truth, there is a sense of wonder and awe, a sense of privilege as those who have had an encounter with God. It is an awakening to the truth. It is understanding the precepts of God while basking in the presence of God—that is wisdom!
So we see if we are to win the battle of the mind, if we are to be holy as God is holy, if we are to possess that holiness without which no man will see God, we need to have the spiritual FOCUS of wisdom. Then…
II. Secondly, we need to experience the FUEL continual spiritual REVELATION.
Paul prays not just for wisdom, this transforming knowledge, but for Holy Spirit given REVELATION. He says, I pray that God might “give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him” (verse 17). The Spirit of God not only plants truth deep in the heart and roots it in the soil of your life, he then pours fuel on that truth and sets it on fire! It is not some dead truth, but it is ALIVE, it is something that is making a difference in your life!
Martin Luther put it this way: He says,
“Everything is not accomplished in the mere planting: watering and cultivation must follow. In this case the watering and cultivating ar the Word of God, and prayer against the devil, who day and night labors to suppress spiritual knowledge, to beat down the tender plants wherever he sees them springing up…”[2]
A. This implies that we must have a STUDY of the Word. This revelation is not mysticism! So many times we thing we are gong to have growth and change through osmosis. Maybe if we put the Bible on our night table and sleep near it, then it’s truth will get into my heart. No! You must READ it! You must LOVE it! You must take it into your soul! Without the Inspired Word in your heart you will not experience the Incarnate Word! Without the precepts of God, you will not experience the presence of God!
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God” (2 Timothy 2:15).
How we need to labour in the Word! We need to pursue it with appetite and vigor! As Matthew 5:6 tells us that those who “hunger and thirst after righteousness” are blessed because “they shall be filled.” Are you being filled? You will never change if you do not fill your heart with the Word!
Job said in Job 23:12, “Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.”
So this revelation will not take place out of the clear blue sky. It entails disciplined study of the Word. If you are not studying the Word, the Spirit of God has nothing to reveal to you, for the Word of God is the only source of truth in your life!!
We not only need to Study God’s Word, we need to Submit to it!
B. This revelation also implies a SUBMISSION to the Word!
James 1:21, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” Don’t just hear the Word, endeavor to submit to it!
This does not come naturally. We all want to go our own way, to go off of God’s path for us. We don’t want to submit. As Isaiah 53:6 tells us, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.” Submission is a yielding to God!
Romans 6:13 “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”
Romans 6:16 “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
As Romans 12:1 tells us, we need to present our bodies a “living sacrifice” to God. What we submit to is what will dominate our lives!
What are you yielded to? What is dominating your life? Read the Word of God with a spirit of submission.
Psalm 119:11 “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
C. This revelation finally implies SANCTIFICATION by the Word!
Psalm 119:105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
This is the prayer of Jesus in John 17:17 “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
So we need to have the Focus of Wisdom and the FUEL of Revelation. !
III. Finally, we need to have to Fruit of KNOWING God. Look again at our text in verse 17 of Ephesians 1: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.”
A. This knowledge is first a miracle because the mind is naturally hostile toward God. In order for the mind to accept the things of the Spirit of God, it must be tamed by Spirit of God arresting and reforming the mind through the Word of God. We are by nature enemies of God and “children of His wrath.” We have the wrath of God abiding on us. What a miracle! It is “God who gives the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6) of this knowledge! God must “reveal” Himself to us (Matthew 11:25). He will reveal Himself to some, and hide Himself from others, like those who deem themselves “wise and prudent” in their own estimation. John 6:45 tells us “Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” This knowledge is a miracle!
B. In one sense our knowledge of God is miniscule. It is knowledge, but it is so base and lowly a knowledge of God, yet it is sufficient. This knowledge has to do with the mind, or imagination. We are called to have “the faith of a mustard seed” and the “faith of a child.” Not much is needed. It is simply trust and agreement with what God says. You don’t have to be a theologian or know great amounts of information. In fact if you are the most devoted believer in the world, your knowledge of God is still very small. God is infinite, and you will never plunge the depths of God, but we ought to try. And that brings us to our final point.
C. Our knowledge of God ought to master us. It is not superficial—it is a deep and moving knowledge. Paul could not have used a stronger term. “It means the fullest knowledge that we can think of.”[3]
Let me ask you this morning, Do you have this knowledge of Him? Do you know God?
Look at Genesis 28:16-17, “Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. 17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” Listen, if you’ve walked with God, you know it!
We need to know more than how to EXPLAIN God, we need to EXPERIENCE Him! You see the devils have a lot of information about God (James 2:19) and they “tremble”. We need to experience God.
Look at John 17:2. This knowledge is part of Christ’s master plan for us. Christ prays to the Father and says, “thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent”
Hebrews 8:11 speaks of the results of this prayer. Christ prayed that the His elect might know the Father, and he established the New Covenant—this new relationship that would be established. The Spirit would be poured out to all nations! All the elect would know God. Listen to Hebrews 8:11, “And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
Isaiah 2 and verse 2 speaks of the same thing, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” Are you being taught of God?
1 John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him
Are you practicing the presence of God? Are you being taught by God? This is possible in doing dishes in the kitchen or welding a piece of metal at work! It is possible when there is rejoicing and when there is rioting! It is possible if you have just come to know Christ, or if you have known Him for years. But it is not possible if you are not a Christian.
Conclusion: So let me close by asking you this: Are you a Christian? Do you know God in that way that Jacob did? Can you say that you’ve met with God? Do you need to know Christ? Perhaps you are not being taught by God’s Spirit because He does not abide in you. If you do not have the Spirit of Christ then you have no inheritance with Christ. God has nothing to do with you.
How about you Christian—Are you walking with God? The measure of this teaching is your obedience and living of a transformed life! Are you living with a transformed mind?
Announcement: Fathers, don’t forget to get a special gift as you walk out the main entrance.
Closing Hymn: 333 Open Our Eyes Lord