Renewing your mind (sermon)

RENEWING YOUR MIND
ROMANS 11:33-12:2

THE PROBLEM OF BIBLICAL ILLITERACY
According to a survey done by the UK Bible Society:
• 30 percent of parents don't know Adam and Eve, David and Goliath, or the
Good Samaritan are in the Bible.
• 27 percent think Superman is or might be a biblical story
• More than 1 in 3 believes the same about Harry Potter
• More than half (54 percent) believe The Hunger Games is or might be a story
from the Bible.
Source: https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2015/july/epidemic-of-bible-illiteracy-in-our-churches.html

THE RESULT OF BIBLICAL ILLITERACY
According to a 2015 study done by LifeWay Research:
• 67 percent of Americans believe heaven is a real place
• 45 percent believe there are many ways to get there—including 1 in 5
evangelical Christians
• More than half of evangelicals (59 percent) believe the Holy Spirit is a
force and not a personal being
Source: https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2015/july/epidemic-of-bible-illiteracy-in-our-churches.html

THE RESULT OF BIBLICAL ILLITERACY
Why is this happening?
• Lack of effort among Christians in intellectual pursuits and loving God
with their whole mind.
• A particular lack of effort in applying that intellectual pursuit to
obtaining and applying scriptural knowledge.

TWO UNHEALTHY EXTREMES
• Blind faith without reason (Fideism)
• Over-reliance on human reason as the ultimate criterion
of truth (Rationalism)

THE SCANDAL OF THE
EVANGELICAL MIND
“The scandal of the evangelical mind is
that there is not much of an evangelical
mind. . . . Notwithstanding all their other
virtues, however, American evangelicals
are not exemplary for their thinking, and
they have not been so for several
generations.” (pg. 3)

THE SCANDAL OF THE
EVANGELICAL MIND
“Most of the original Protestant
traditions (Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican)
either developed a vigorous intellectual
life or worked out theological principles
that could (and often did) sustain
penetrating, and penetratingly Christian,
intellectual endeavor.... all held that
diligent, rigorous mental activity was a
way to glorify God.” (pg. 4)

RICHARD DAWKINS’
DEFINITION OF FAITH
“[Faith is] blind trust, in the
absence of evidence, even
in the teeth of evidence.”
(The Selfish Gene, pg. 198)

DEUTERONOMY 6:5
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (ESV)

LUKE 10:27
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your strength and with all
your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (ESV)

THE LIFE OF THE MIND
AND THE LOVE OF GOD
•“The main reason God has
given us minds is that we might
seek out and find all the reasons
that exist for treasuring him in
all things and above all things.”
(pg. 15)

2 TIMOTHY 2:15
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a
workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately
handling the word of truth. (NASB)

PROVERBS 18:17 & 1 THESSALONIANS 5:21
“The first to state his case seems right, until another
comes and cross-examines him.”
“But test all things. Hold on to what is good.” (CSB)

TWO KINDS OF
FAITH
AN ANECDOTE BY FRANCIS SCHAEFFER, FROM
“THE GOD WHO IS THERE”

ROMANS 11:33
“Oh, the depth of the riches
both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments
and untraceable his ways!” (CSB)

1 CORINTHIANS 1:18-20
“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.
For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will
set aside the intelligence of the intelligent.’ Where is the one
who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the
debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom
foolish?” (CSB)

1 CORINTHIANS 2:14-15
“But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes
from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able
to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually. The spiritual
person, however, can evaluate everything, and yet he himself
cannot be evaluated by anyone.” (CSB)

THE MAN WHO
THOUGHT HE
WAS DEAD

GENESIS 6:4
“The Lord saw that human wickedness was widespread
on the earth and that every inclination of the human
mind was nothing but evil all the time.” (CSB)

JEREMIAH 17:9
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked; Who can know it?” (ESV)

ROMANS 8:5-8
“For those who live according to the flesh have their
minds set on the things of the flesh, but those who live
according to the Spirit have their minds set on the things
of the Spirit. Now the mind-set of the flesh is death, but
the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace. The mind-set
of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit
to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so. Those who are
in the flesh cannot please God.” (CSB)

APPLICATION
1. We must worship God with all our minds
2. To do this properly, we must conform our minds to God’s
3. The way to conform our minds to God’s is to meditate on the
word of God
4. We should challenge others to do likewise
5. The Ultimate Goal: God’s Glory

PSALM 1:1-3
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.” (ESV)

2 TIMOTHY 3:14-17
“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have
firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how
from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred
writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through
faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for
training in righteousness, that the man of God may be
complete, equipped for every good work. (ESV)

THINKING THROUGH SCRIPTURE
•“While all of God’s creation serves to reveal
him in some way, he has willed that the
clearest and most authoritative knowledge of
him this side of heaven come through his
written Word, the Bible. That is why our focus
will be there. The Bible is the main place that
we come to know God, and the Bible is a
book, and a book requires thinking. From the
foundation of knowing God through this
book, it is then possible to move out and
think fruitfully about all of life.” (pg. 42)

ROMANS 11:36
“For from him and through him and to him are
all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.”

Renewing your mind (sermon)

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Similar to Renewing your mind (sermon) (20)

More from Luis Dizon (6)

Recently uploaded (20)

Renewing your mind (sermon)