Gift
of God I: Sound Mind
A Sermon preached 2/2/97
Trinity Covenant Church
Dr. C. W. Powell
II Timothy 1:1-7
The book of 2 Timothy was written by the Apostle Paul, who was in
prison at Rome, nearing the end of his life.
Paul knew that he would be called to lay down his life very shortly for
the Lord Jesus Christ. He had already
appeared before the Emperor Nero, and all men had forsaken him, and he knew
that the time was short.
He writes to Timothy as his own son in Christ, for Timothy had
come to Christ by Paul's testimony (Acts. 16:1-3). Timothy was a giant in the church in the early days after the
martyrdom of the Apostle. Paul exhorts
Timothy to do the work that God had given him and to be faithful. Timothy ministered perhaps at Ephesus, and
his job was the work of an evangelist.
Timothy no doubt had supernatural gifts, imparted by the Holy
Spirit by the laying on of the hands of the Apostle and the elders. But leaving aside the special gifts, which
have now ceased, there are many things which are general and which apply to all
believers. These things are before us today
and will be a help and blessing to you.
I originally intended to bring only one message on this text, but
the subject grew in my hands, and rather than try to cram so much good stuff
into one message, I decided that I would make it into three. This week, the Soundness of Mind given to
Christians; next week, the Power; the following week; Love.
They go together, and belong to all the people of God in terms of their
calling to the work of Christ.
I. The Gift of the Holy
Spirit
Timothy had received the Holy Spirit. As is common in the epistles, the gift is taken for the author
of the gift. We are given the Spirit;
that is, the Spirit is manifested by his gifts. The Holy Spirit is God.
As God He is everywhere present and does not go from one place to
another, for He is the eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent Third Person of the
Holy Trinity. So when it is said that
the Spirit is given, it means that His gifts are manifested and given to
us. In this way the Spirit reveals
Himself to be present in essence with us.
The Purpose for the Gifts
But His gifts are not everywhere manifested, and His work is not
revealed everywhere. Timothy was given
a gift by which he could serve the church.
Notice, "God has not given US". The work of the Spirit is common to all the saints: Ephesians 4:14-16. If you are a Christian, the power of the Spirit is working in you
and has made you one with the body of Christ, the believers. That work in you is for the purpose of
edifying and building up the body of Christ.
It is not primarily given for your benefit alone, but so by your benefit
you can do good to others in the body of Christ.
As Paul tells Timothy in 1 Tim. 4:14-16: His profiting will benefit the whole church. You must first partake of the bread if you
would teach others. Your profiting
will appear to all. Your fellowship
with Christ in your closet will be made manifest to all men, and your gift will
be a blessing and profit to the church of Jesus Christ.
Paul paints in broad terms the nature of the work of the Holy
Spirit in the lives of the servants of Christ. If you profess to be led of the Spirit, here is the nature of
the Spirit's work.
II. Soundness of Mind.
Soundness of mind means a "saved mind," a healthy mind, a mind free from disease, a
mind doing what a mind ought to do.
Just as a diseased hand or foot cannot do what they ought to do, so a
mind is not able to do what a mind ought to do, if it is diseased or corrupted.
The work of the Spirit is to restore, or save man's mind.
A Diseased Mind
The Bible is very clear about the corruption of the mind of the
natural man. You should examine the
following:
Romans 8:5-8
Ephesians 2:1-3ff
Eph. 4:17
Colossians 1:21.
This corruption is the result of the wrath and judgment of
God: Romans 1:28. The mind of an unbeliever
cannot do what a mind is supposed to do.
It cannot rightly discern the difference between right and wrong,
between the true God and idols.
Characteristics of a Diseased Mind
Belshazzar's mind was hardened in pride (Dan. 5:20). He committed
frightful sacrilege and fell into the snare of the devil (1Tim. 3:6). The diseased mind is filled with doubt and worries
over the things of the world (Luke 12:29).
It is doubleminded and vacillates between serving God and serving the
world and is therefore unstable in all its ways (James 1:8) and needs to be
purified (James 4:8). A sound mind is
one that serves the Lord willingly with a perfect heart (1Chron. 28:9).
Notable Passages:
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he
trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26:3).
Paul contrasts a sound mind, which is peaceful and focussed on Christ,
with one that is swept too and fro. The
Spirit gives peace, not unrest and turmoil.
"But there minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth
the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is
done away in Christ." (2Corinth. 3:14)
Jesus is the light of the world, and even the Bible is hidden and dark
to the blind mind until it is enlightened by Him. Because they did not seek Christ in the Scriptures, their minds
were blind.
"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve
through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that
is in Christ." (2Corinth.
11:3) The Spirit has a simple story to
tell: the story of Jesus. We are
complete in Jesus Christ (Col. 2:10); we find God when we come to Christ (John
14:9-11); in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 1:19;
2:9). The Spirit of God does not
promise us perfection or fullness or greater godliness beyond Christ: such a
message is alien to Him.
"And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said unto me,
Speak; thus saith the Lord; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know
the things that come into your mind, every one of them" (Ezek. 11:5). God knows all the thoughts of our hearts
and all the words in our language (Ps. 139:4).
He knows all the distinctions and relationships between ideas that are
represented by our words, for He is the author of both the ideas and the words.
No Irrational Confusion.
"If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome
words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is
according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about
questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railing, evil
surmisings. Perverse disputings of men
of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness:
from such withdraw thyself." (1Tim. 6:3-6) The Holy Spirit does not
lead a man to be contentions and agitated, casting around in all directions,
irrational, opposed to good sense.
"Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are
defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is
defiled." (Titus 1:15) This is why our minds must be purified and healed by the gift of
God's Spirit.
"That [aged women] may teach the young women to be
sober...." "Sober"
means disciplined in mind: the mind
healed from irrational and foolish behavior that so often afflicts the young.
Control of the Body
The mind is to control the body.
A diseased mind cannot do that.
There are diseases that disconnect the mind from the body, but why do it
on purpose? Drugs can help connect
the body to the mind and are a wonderful blessing to those afflicted with
nervous or mental disorders. There
are also drugs that do the opposite.
"Be sober" means to be
disciplined; be in control. Take control of your life; make the hard
decisions that will bring you into control.
When a person's mind loses control of the body, then he must be taken
care of-- institutionalized or incarcerated for the protection of himself, and
possibly of society.
We have an example of such a man in Mark 5. He was a poor demoniac, who had his body
taken over by demons. He was no longer
in control, and wandered in the tombs, and no man could restrain him. But when he met Jesus, the devils were cast
out into a herd of swine, and when the disciples returned from the town they
found him in his right mind, subdued, tamed, at peace, sitting at the feet of
Jesus. (Mark 5:15). What a wonderful
illustration of the work of the Spirit of God.
Love God with All Your Mind
We are required to love the Lord our God with all our mind (Matt.
12:7). This is what the law requires
of you and me, and God has a right to this.
The ultimate disease of the mind is to be alienated from God; to plan
and scheme and dream dreams without Him, to live apart from Him, not to seek
Him and not to long after Him.
III. Getting a Sound Mind
How do I get this mind? It
is a gift. It is the gift of God and is
the work of the Holy Ghost. "Stir
up the gift that is in thee," Paul exhorts Timothy. If you are a Christian, the basic soundness
of mind is there; but it needs to be stirred up. Please follow me in this:
The Gift of the Holy Ghost
The Holy Ghost is the gift of God, and He comes only by faith in
Jesus Christ by the Gospel (Galatians
3:1). Those alienated from Christ
cannot have soundness of mind. It is
Christ who is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and
redemption (I Cor. 1:30). There is no
soundness of mind apart from Jesus Christ.
Putting On Christ
This means to put on Christ, to put off the old man, and put on
the new man. The Christian is one who
has the mind of Christ (1Cor. 2:14-16).
But we are to stir it up. We are
to set our affections--put our mind and heart on things above, where Christ
sits at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1-16).
This means putting off the love of the world, fleshly lusts, the worry
about earthly things, fretting about things, reputation, position, and all the
other things people fret about. It
means letting the peace of God rule our hearts, being thankful, and letting the
word of Christ dwell richly in us, and doing all in the name of the Lord Jesus
with a thankful heart.
Presenting the Body
But having the mind of Christ is more than a mental exercise. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be
ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that
good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:1,2)
As long as the body is out of control, the mind will be out of
control. As long as the body rules the
mind and the mind assents to be ruled by the desires of the body, the mind is
poisoned and corrupt. The body must be
given to Christ as a living sacrifice, for the mind to be renewed, so that it
is possible to discern the will of God.
An undisciplined body is the mark of an undisciplined mind.
"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of god, should shine unto them....
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined
in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ." (2Cor. 4:4, 6). It is through the Gospel
that the renewed mind comes. It does
not come from the law, but from union with Jesus Christ. We are renewed as we give up ourselves to
Jesus Christ, who is our light.
IV. The Mind of Christ.
The sound mind has been taught to think as Christ thinks. The law cannot do this. Those who trust in their works, bring forth
pride and arrogance, to the despising of others. This is a sick mind, not the mind of Christ.
The mind of Christ is described in Philippians 2. Things are not to be done through strive
and vain-glory, but we are to esteem others better than ourselves (vs. 3) We are not to mind our own things, but to
look out for others (vs. 4). We are not
to look out for ourselves first, but trust ourselves to God and look out for
others.
The Humbling of God? (vs. 5-8)
Christ certainly knew who He was: the Second Person of the
Trinity. He never denied it for a
moment, for if He did, He knew He would be a liar like we are (John
8:54-56). But even though He knew who
He is, He humbled Himself.
Think of it. God humbled
Himself to make and take care of this glorious universe, for the glorious light
of a hundred million galaxies of stars is nothing compared to Him. Yet He cares for this world. Not only that, but He carefully watches over
men (Ps. 8). He sees the sparrow fall
and numbers the hairs of our head. He
humbles himself to behold the earth. He
even stoops into the dunghill to lift the needy to set with princes (Ps.
113:5-9). God will never call you or me
to stoop so low that we could ever compare our stooping with His.
The Greatest Mystery
Here is the greatest mystery of all. Although Christ was truly God, yet He humbled Himself to become
a true man. And then as a man, He
humbled himself to die the cursed death of the cross. If God could give Himself
to serve us; then we can give ourselves to serve one another. God never commands you to do anything that
He Himself has not already done.
If the Son of God could do that for you, shouldn't you give
yourself to Him. Isn't this exactly
what you need to heal your poor, diseased, troubled and tormented mind? No wonder He could say to sinners
everywhere, those with diseased and alienated minds:
Write to:
Pastor C. W. Powell
Trinity Covenant Church
6050 Del Paz Drive
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
719-590-1477