The Importance of Thinking (Part 1)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

The Christian Mind and the Call to Think Biblically

There's a song, well not a song, but a book that was written a while ago called The Christian Mind. The thesis in chapter one by Henry Blamers was there's no longer a Christian mind. That we don't think like we should, we emote and we feel.

Today we're going to talk about the importance of thinking critically, thinking biblically. Thomas Watson was the founder of IBM, and since 1914 he had a framed placard in his office with one word, and it was the word, think.

Henry Ford said, thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it. Along those humorous lines, one man said, use your brains. It's the little things in life that count.

The probable reason one man said some people get lost in thought is because it is unfamiliar territory to them. Christianity is a religion that requires your mind. Remember Jesus quoting the great Shema, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and then he adds in mind, not because he's messing with scripture, but because for the Jew, the soul included the mind.

To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Remember the old commercial, your mind is a terrible thing, what, to waste. We need to think. Of course, feelings are fine, but let's turn our Bibles to Romans chapter 12, to focus on Christian thinking.

If I could use the phrase, thinking Christianly, how should a Christian think? When the world touts open minds, is that what we're supposed to do? When the world touts relativism, is that how we're supposed to think?

It is good for us to consider Christian thinking. It might just be the most important thing about you, how do you think about God? Now early on, I've taught you the paradigm that theology, a doctrine about God, leads to proper methodology, practical thinking, practical doing, which then leads to what?

Doxology. Thinking about God, theology, leads to the right methodology, which leads to the right doxology, praise. That's true, but Paul changes it here in the book of Romans. Right thinking about God's word, theology, 1 to 11, leads to doxology, praise, chapter 11, verses 33 to 36, and then we come to a corner in chapter 12, the right practical outflow.

So here, it's theology drives to doxology, and with the right doxology, you live the Christian life, and it starts with your mind. Now let's take a look at Romans chapter 12, let me show you a few words that have the word mind in it, so you'll say to yourself, yes, in fact, this is about the Christian mind.

Thinking properly, Isaac Watt says, we're the whole realm of nature, mind, that we're an offering far too small. Love so amazing, love so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all, and it starts with the mind.

Look at Romans chapter 12, verse 1, and see if you can pick out the words that relate to thinking or the mind. Mind, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your, ESV says spiritual, but the word really is reasonable, our logical service, our worship.

Do not be conformed to this world, verse 2, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Verse 3, for by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober thinking or judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

And then finally, verse 17, almost the bookend of the chapter, repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. Christian thinking is very important, and so now let's take a look at Romans chapter 12.

Thinking Logically in Light of God's Mercies

Let me give you seven ways that you should think in light of the first 11 chapters. To think in a Christian fashion to please the Lord Jesus, and we'll look at seven of them this morning. Number one, think logically, or I could put it this way, think rationally.

It all starts with right thinking. Paul has given us tons of doctrine. Now what are we to do? We're to think properly. I just read it, but let me read it again. Verse 1, think logically or rationally.

I appeal to you, therefore, he doesn't say I order you, I'm an apostle, but this is very pastoral. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, those mercies in chapters 1 through 11, we have no righteousness.

Jesus Christ earns righteousness for us. God, the Father, says his work is so great, he raises him from the dead. Our sin's credited to Christ's account. His righteousness credited to our account. In light of all that, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual, best translation is logical or rational.

It's a word that we get the mind from that, service or worship. And so, here's what Paul does. Just for a second, if you're a Christian, think back for a moment and think about what you really deserve.

Think about what you've earned. Think about the seeds of sin that you've planted and then the seeds of the crop that have sprouted out. And then you think, God is so holy, God is so just, and God is so perfect.

I deserve hell. I deserve his wrath. I deserve perdition. And yet, what has God given me in Christ Jesus? I have forgiveness. I'm no longer a person who is under the condemnation of God, I've been justified by God.

How many sins does it take for you to be banished forever in hell? One and yet, God has forgiven us not just of the one, but the many. And if God has done all that, how should you respond? It would be irrational, it would be illogical for you to go, nah, doesn't affect me.

You'd be more like King Nebuchadnezzar if you thought that way. Now with paganism, paganism says this, there's a God, he's angry with me. There's goddesses, they're angry with me. So let me try to placate the God, let me try to assuage their anger.

Maybe we give them some fruit, maybe we give them some people, maybe it's a sacrifice. And since we're now trying to placate them, maybe they'll be kind. Maybe the God will be okay. But isn't it interesting with Christianity?

It's the exact opposite. We don't say God will earn your favor by us doing something. We could never do anything because our hands are tainted with sin. So it's all God's initiative, it's all God's mercies.

And when you look at the text, verse 1, by the mercies of God, that's just a way of taking all of chapter 11, put it into a couple words and saying, in light of the mercy of God for you, the covenant faithfulness of God to you.

How do you live? How do you think now? What great incentive for holy living, you've been justified by faith alone. That word mercy there is not the usual word for mercy in New Testament Greek. It's the word of someone who, I'll go from lesser to greater.

If there's a dog in the street that's been hit by a car and its legs are broken, you say that's an inferior creature and I feel like I should do something. There's something in my heart that wants to help the dog.

This is that word where there's a superior creature. I shouldn't say creature, superior creator. And we are in need, we're pitiable because of our sin. And God with his big heartedness, with his compassion, with his mercy, stoops down in the person of his son to save us, to rescue us.

Pity at the sight of another's ill fortune. Paul says, I don't command you. Paul says, if you'll just sit and think about it just for a minute. What God has done for you, I think you'll respond with what?

Consecration. I think you'll respond with commitment. Isaac Watts said, drops of grief can ne 'er repay the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away, tis all that I can do. And what does God want?

Take a look at the passage, to present your bodies. This doesn't mean, you know, if I was a kid, I'd think, he wants my ears. Consecrate your ears, he wants my nose, he wants my hands. No, this means the totality of your being, he wants you.

Notice, it doesn't say he wants your money, he wants your time, he wants you. Jesus didn't die for your money and die for your time. He died for you if you're a Christian. He doesn't love your money and he doesn't love your time.

He in Christ loves you. This is great language, present your bodies. Now yesterday I got to officiate a wedding. It's so great to officiate a wedding and my kids used to say when I would go do a wedding, I'd say, I have to go marry somebody, and they'd say, aren't you married to mom?

How does that work? It's another summer Saturday and dad's marrying someone else again. So now I always tell the kids, I'm officiating a wedding. And I have some vows at the end, and one time that the couple are both required to say, I will, when I say, will you do this, that, or the other, by the grace of God, I will, and then there's some other things that they have, and then they have to say, I do, this is that language.

This is marriage commitment, standing at the front of a church, in front of God and these witnesses. Will you promise to forsake all others? Would you promise to love and better, for better, for worse, for sickness and health, I do, that's the language here.

In light of what God has done for me, God, I am yours. Everything that I am, I am yours. Whatever you want to do, I will do. My question is for you this morning, have you said that to the Lord? If you're a Christian, have you said, this is one time kind of a definitive action kind of verb in the Bible.

Lord, I deserve hell and I get heaven. I deserve to pay for my own sins forever and I get your grace. I didn't earn it, I didn't merit it, it's all what you did. You had planted an eternity past, you effectuated it at Calvary, and then you made me born again.

God, I am yours. Can you really call yourself a Christian if you haven't said that? I do. I want your life, I want everything. By the grace of God, I commit. You say, yeah, but if I do that, I might have to leave California and go to New England for 16 years.

That's exactly right, you might have to. But maybe you might get to go to California if you do that. That might not work out too badly. How many people here are in the military or have been in the military?

Several. This is the kind of language. When they enlist you, when they install you, I'm not in the military, so I don't know the name. What is the name? Enlistment, there you go. See, I do know the name.

This is a definite act in light of everything that God has done for you. It would be illogical. It would be irrational. You wouldn't be thinking properly if you said, you know what, I'll give you some of my time, some of my money, some of me.

No, I'm all in. Christianity is you're either a saint or you're an ain't. This is all in. And friends, this isn't just for pastors, elders, I'm going to be a missionary. This is in light of the mercies of God.

Just sit and think for five minutes how bad hell is and you don't have to go because hell was poured out on Jesus. The eternity of hell condensed into three hours, as it were, and just dumped on Jesus.

He did that for you if you're a Christian. Now, the language here makes us think of Old Testament sacrifices. Take a look there again at verse 1 as a living sacrifice. Now, the word is not for a dead animal sacrifice in Leviticus.

It's a word used of the service of priests in the Old Testament. It's not used of a bloody sacrifice where you have to sacrifice a lamb. It's used of the living sacrifice that the Old Testament priest would say, I'm serving you for my life.

Except here, it just isn't for elders and pastors. It's for every person who would dare call themselves a Christian. I place myself at your disposal. Everything that I am, my whole man, my whole body called to live for him.

Could this be harder than martyrdom? Maybe, because martyrdom sometimes only takes hours or minutes. This is for your life. With eagerness, giving up my right to me. My favorite illustration probably of this is when a woman asked a pastor, will you please tell me in a word what your idea of Romans 12 .1 is?

He held out a blank sheet of paper and said, it is to sign your name at the bottom of this blank sheet and to let God fill it in as he will. So my question for you is, have you done that in your mind?

If you haven't done it, how can you call yourself a Christian? Or if you haven't done it, please reread Romans chapter 1 to 11. That's the response, wholehearted consecration to God. It's reasonable, it's rational, it's insane not to.

Another young lady went to a Scottish preacher and she said, I don't know if I can do this. What do I do? Think of all these stories, they all have to do with pieces of paper. So here's the second illustration with a piece of paper.

Write two words on a piece of paper, he said to the lady. Think about it for ten minutes, come back, cross one out. So two words on the paper, cross one out. The woman looked at the two words on the slip of paper and they were no, N-O.

And the other word was Lord, L-O-R-D. It did not take her long, so the account goes, to realize that if she said no, she could not say Lord. And if she wanted to call Christ her Lord, she could not say no.

The sovereign distinguishing mercies of God logically reveal themselves in a person who wants to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Number two, how do you think like a Christian in light of the mercies of God?

Number one, think logically. Number two, think defensively, found in verse 2a. Or maybe you could say think protectively. Verse two is a very common verse, you know this verse? We're moving from a point in time dedication to an ongoing, continual, durative kind of present tense.

Don't ever let this happen. Keep on doing this, in other words. Do not be conformed to this world. Don't let the world conform you to its thinking, and it's trying to. Maybe the first thing we should say is, the world is trying to get me to think like it.

I did some research this week and even checked the Snopes and the Urban Legend sites. This is a true story. I read about watermelons that they grow in Japan that are square. Why would you have a square watermelon?

It's kind of a cool idea. One, because you can. Two, because it fits better in the refrigerator. Three, you can slice it better. So how do you get square watermelons? You have this certain plexiglass box, and at the right time, when the round watermelon that's smaller is just the right size, then you put it inside this glass container, and it's clear, the sun still comes in, there's sterile nourishment, and it perfectly is square.

Square watermelon, I want a piece. That's the language here. The world's trying to put you in its box that says, think like a hedonist, think like a postmodern, think like a relativist, think like an evolutionist.

This has nothing to do with worldly thinking like we used to think worldly thinking. This is about beer. This is about movies. This is about dancing. Has nothing to do with that. This is the ideology, 2 Corinthians chapter 10, that the world's trying to jam you into.

The world, the text says, literally age, the evil age, Satan's ruling evil age, trying to make you think like it does, have its value system, hedonism and materialism. Thomas Watson said, to be godly and earthly is a contradiction.

The world is trying to affect you. Don't let it affect you. In light of everything that's happened, Romans 1 to 11, don't let it affect you. How do you think like a Christian? One, think logically. Think, number two, defensively.

Renewing the Mind through Scripture and Godly Meditation

And now the positive side, found in verse 2b, the third way to think, think offensively, or if you'd like, proactively, found in verse 2b. This makes all the sense in the world because just like Harry Redd, you say, don't do this and do this instead.

Don't steal work. Don't be conformed. What's the positive side of don't be conformed? We have it right here in verse 2, but be transformed, the ESV says, by the renewal of your mind, that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable, and perfect.

That word transformed is metamorphosis. That's where we get the English word metamorphosis. Don't have the world brainwash you. Have the world affect your mind. This is directly related to the word of God, R .C. Sproul's ministry.

What's it called? That's right, right from this verse, to transform your way of thinking. This is godly meditation. People say, well, meditation is bad. Well, Eastern Hindu meditation is, but this isn't, to think God's thoughts.

Why? Because Isaiah 55 says, my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. So what we're going to have to do is we're going to have to get into the word and set our minds on things above.

Colossians 3 .16, let the word of Christ richly dwell within you. So how do you resist the world's pressure? You've got to do something more than just say no. You've got to fill your mind with the word.

I could ask you the question right now, and I will. How's your Bible reading been this week? Is it important for you to read the Bible and let it richly dwell within you? Do you have a plan to read the Bible?

Do you say, you know what? I'm going to get to know this book, and I want it to know me. I want God to use this, and I'm going to regularly read. I don't, I'm not trying to make you legalistic where you can't have breakfast unless you read the Bible, but offline, if that'll help, okay, do it.

The point is not you have to get up and do this or you can't do that, but it's the only way to think rightly is to read the Bible because we think based on our own thoughts, which are A, finite, B, fallen.

And so, the renewing of your minds come through Scripture. You will never, ever, mark this, you will never, ever, ever, ever, ever meet a Christian who's excelling for the Lord Jesus Christ in light of his grace who doesn't know this book well.

You'll never meet one. From Hudson Taylor to Mary Schleser, you won't meet one. So, the good news is we have the Bible. We have lots of Bibles. I got a free Bible in the mail the other day and I just thought, yeah, it's just another Bible.

And I thought to myself for a second, forget that it's this premium calfskin thing and forget that it's this newer translation I don't really care about. I have a Bible in my house. Actually, I have probably thousands of Bibles in my house because of the internet and because of my software.

Thinking Soberly and Selflessly in the Church

You have Bibles to be read. Would you read your Bible? Think about it. Number four, how do you think like a Christian? You think logically, defensively, offensively. Number four, think soberly. Thinking like a Christian in light of sovereign grace, light of Christ's death on your behalf, maybe you want to say think sensibly or maybe you want to say think selflessly.

Verse 3, see all the focus on thinking here? I'm not against emotions. I'm just against emotions that lead us and make us not think. For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, Romans 12, 3, you are not to think of himself, say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Lots of Greek words here with the focus on thinking. Paul is trying to say as he's going to lead us into church life in just a verse or two, make sure in light of the sovereign grace of God in your life that you don't think you earned it, you don't think you're a big shot.

Apart from me, Jesus said in John 15, you can do what? Nothing. Self-conceit is wrong thinking. It's not rational. Denny said to himself, every man is in a sense the most important person in the world.

And we're just not to think that way. I love the man who was really prideful and he asked some questions to his mature friend and he said, will you please pray for me? I just struggle with pride all the time.

Pray for me that I might be nothing, he said to his friend. His mature friend said, you are nothing, brother. Take it by faith. That's right. What we deserve, what we've earned, we're going to stick out our chest before God or we're going to say, we ought to be the most humble people.

That's right thinking. That's sober judgment. We are recipients of grace. We don't originate anything righteously. Number five, he now leads into some talk about ministry. Think corporately. If you'd like to think about Romans 1 through 11 properly, you think logically, defensively, offensively, soberly, and now corporately.

We live in a very individualistic age. So much so that when we read the word Y-O-U in scripture, we think it's singular every single time. If we had the King James, at least it would say ye and then we would know.

Or if we had the Southern translation, the Georgia translation, say y 'all, y 'alls. But when we read you, we just go, yeah, that's me.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m. We're located on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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