Giving Our Mind to Christ - Part 2 — Zac Poonen

Selfish Motives for Religion and Church Membership

Is that good for me? Is religion good for me? Fine, I'll take that also. Is going to this particular church good for me? I'll take that also. I mean, you think that fellow has come to your church because he's spiritually minded?

No. It's a basic selfishness that brought him there perhaps. We don't know. I'm sure that a lot of people who join a church for selfish reasons. It's good for me or I think this is a good place we can bring up our children because there are good children in this church.

So this is a good church to join. You think they're coming for the glory of God? A million miles away from the glory of God. It's a good place for our children to grow up. I mean, which godless, atheistic parent doesn't want his children to grow up in a good way?

Cultural Respectability Versus Christian Discipleship

Does anybody? We had examples of unconverted people who would send their children to our Sunday school. But when they discovered that we were preaching discipleship, oh, they took them away. We don't want our children to become disciples of Jesus.

We want them to obey their parents and be well-behaved, all that. You think that's Christianity? That's culture. That's civilization. The world of difference between being cultured and civilized and being a Christian.

Advertising, Materialism, and Selfish Spending

So all these thoughts that we have, you know, we read newspapers and they are telling us you can't live without buying this and you got to buy that, you got to buy the other thing, otherwise you can't live and all that.

I always say, how did man live for 5 ,000 years without all this? It's a deception. The whole advertising world is controlled by the devil. And you see how much it has influenced your thinking that so many Christians buy so many unnecessary things for their home, which they could have given for God's work and have got some treasure in heaven for eternity.

But the devils robbed them of that by saying, no, no, no, don't give it for God's work. God's got enough. You just buy something for yourself. You can't live without this. You can't live without that.

You can't live without the other thing. It's selfishness that controls the way we buy things. And if you don't believe me, ask yourself honestly. On what principle do you buy clothes? I'm talking about necessities.

I mean, most of us have got, I think about five or ten times the number of clothes we need. And we still keep accumulating it because that's the latest style. And this is the latest style of shoes nowadays.

That's the latest style. It's endless. The devil will change the style next year so that you spend some more money getting that. So that what suffers, God's work suffers. You don't think of giving to God.

Religious Language Without Spiritual Transformation

No. When you're in need, of course, we expect the good brothers and sisters to come and help us. It is utter selfishness because we've grown up with these selfish, these are fortresses. We can come here and sing the most wonderful songs that Jesus is wonderful and magnificent and it's all garbage.

It's true. But for us, it's garbage because it doesn't change our way of thinking. If Jesus was really so wonderful, I'd probably be more devoted to him. But if he's as wonderful as you say, you sing, you'd do a lot more for him.

You'd sacrifice a lot more for him and not just think of yourself all the time. You see how the devil deceives us in our mind. He makes us religious and think we are spiritual. Now you heard me speak on religiosity and spirituality for years.

I'll never stop speaking about it because I find that's the biggest problem with Christendom today. So here he says about bringing our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. That means we're going to get rid of these generals called selfishness and pride.

We're going to have one general in our mind controlling all the soldiers, Christ. Every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. That's the meaning of conversion. They got converted from serving these old generals called selfishness and pride and now they're listening to another general.

Every fortress that has been built, they're going to be destroyed so that every thought can be brought captive to the obedience of Christ. You see, this is how we will become more like Christ. The whole purpose of our salvation, you know, there's a word called predestination in the Bible.

Predestination, Divine Sovereignty, and Human Choice

You know what destination is, if somewhere you want to go. Predestination means you determine beforehand where you want to go. I mean, we do it all the time when we travel. You don't get into a train wondering where to go.

You bought the ticket 60 days earlier or nowadays 90 days earlier. You determine beforehand where you want to go. You get into a plane, you know where, you got a predestination. You got a ticket saying I'm going to go here.

And the Bible also speaks about predestination. Now a lot of Christians in through the centuries have got into great arguments about this predestination. You have the Calvinists and the Armenians, you don't need to know about them.

It's all theological people who get degrees in Bible schools and you need to know about it. But they argue about did God predestine you to go to heaven or did you choose God? I say both are true. Because both are in the Bible.

But generally speaking you find Christians divided. One saying no this is true, the other saying that is true. To me it's like the left hand or right hand. You know by the way the left hand and right hand are complete opposites.

But I want both of them. So there's some truths in the Bible which look opposite like the left hand and right hand. But we need both of them to do our work. We need both of them to be proper Christians.

I'm not a favorite of the right hand or the left hand. I need both. A lot of things I can't hold with just one hand. A lot of truths in Christianity you can't hold if you reject the sovereign election of God and also the free will of man.

Romans 8:28–29 and God’s Purpose for Salvation

But predestination is not for heaven or hell. God did predestine his children but for what? I want you to turn to Romans 8 and verse 29. Romans 8 29. Many people know this well-known verse Romans 8 28 that God makes everything work together for good to those who love him, to those who are called according to his purpose.

And in some translations it says God makes it work for the best. Now when God says something is best, we better agree. The best is not to have a better house or a better car or a better clothes or better anything on this earth.

What is the best? The best is not even to go to heaven. The best is not forgiveness of sins. All these things are good. I'm not saying they're bad. Forgiveness of sins, being baptized in the Holy Spirit, going to heaven.

All excellent. But the best, God makes everything to work together for the best. If we love him and we are called according to his purpose. And what is his purpose? All that is described in the next verse.

So if you know verse 28 without knowing verse 29, you're going to have all types of crazy ideas of what Romans 8 28 means. You'll think that God didn't allow you to get this job because he wants you to get a better job with double the salary.

No, perhaps with half the salary. And he didn't allow you to marry this girl because he's going to allow you to marry a prettier girl. No, a more spiritual girl who may not be so pretty. God's ways are not our ways.

Bringing Worldly Thinking Under Christ’s Rule

Most Christians think like worldly people. And that's why they never become spiritual. Thoughts. To bring our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. In every area. How many people, when they consider marriage, think like God wants them to think?

I want a spiritual girl. Whether she's pretty or not is unimportant. A lot of believers who don't think like that. That's why they never become spiritual. They won't become spiritual in a hundred years.

They're not thinking in terms of the way God wants them to think. They're thinking just according to the worldly people with a little bit of Christian whitewash. And Christian language. But their basic thinking is like an enemy soldier who's putting on Christ soldier's uniform.

It's the most dangerous person. He's a spy in your army. Religious language with worldly ways of thinking. Christendom is full of it. And if you look into your mind, you'll see a lot of these soldiers running around in your mind.

Wearing Christ's uniform. But they're enemy soldiers. They are thinking. Those thoughts are exactly like a worldly person. They rejoice when they get a lot of money and not when they become more spiritual.

Whose thoughts are that? Do you have such enemy soldiers lurking in your mind? But they put on Christ's uniform. God has blessed me. What is the mark of God's blessing? That you got a little more money?

Or that you became a little more like Jesus?