Reclaiming the Mind of Christ

Carter Conlin from the historic Times Square Church in New York City. What is the mind of Christ? Why is it necessary that we reclaim it in this generation? This is the thoughts, in my opinion, from the heart of God for you and for me today.

Thank you for joining us here on A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlin. In this week's message Carter reminds you that God uses the ordinary. He uses the simple and the humble, with the world spinning into a chaotic state, people are looking for answers. They're looking for help to comprehend where the world is headed and why.

Dazzling words are not needed. Instead, the answer comes from a simple, clear teaching of the gospel. And that's why we need to reclaim the mind of Christ.

Here's Carter. You and I are living in a generation that's unraveling before our very eyes. Our society is spiraling down very, very quickly. It's shocking, isn't it, what happened in America just in the last two, three years? Things are happening we never thought we'd ever be saying with our lips. On every conceivable level we seem to be spinning into confusion and immorality. I don't want to scare you, but I need to tell you this. There are two very prominent social scientists in Canada, and they've spent a lifetime studying the rise and the fall of societies.

And they're not lightweights either. And these two social scientists have recently written a book, and they're encouraging the Prime Minister of Canada and the government of Canada to prepare for the collapse of America's society. In their estimation, all the variables are in place for a complete implosion of the American society by the year 2025. And they're telling the Canadian government that they need to prepare for the exodus of refugees coming from America into Canada looking for safe haven. Now, I don't know the full, I haven't read the book yet. I don't know the full details of what they're saying.

I just know that these men are not lightweights. They've dedicated their life to this study, and they see the variables at play in this society today that are leading, in their opinion, to the collapse of America as a country as we've known it. So I tell you this for one reason. The only hope for this nation now is a spiritual awakening. And the only hope for a spiritual awakening comes through you and comes through me. It's not going to be a superstar preacher that God's going to raise up. Feathers are not going to fall out of heaven. It's going to be men and women of God, like you and like me, that the Spirit of the Lord gets ahold of, and we reclaim the mind of Christ.

That's what I want to talk about today. This is the thoughts, in my opinion, from the heart of God for you and for me today. Now, by reclaiming the mind of Christ, I'm referring to returning to something which we've never fully understood. It's possible to be in the Church of Jesus Christ for years and years and years, and we're reading the scriptures, and God's trying to speak something, but we're not hearing it fully. We're hearing the edges of it, but we're not fully hearing what it is that God's trying to speak to us.

Not collectively, necessarily, but individually. What is He speaking into my life? What is it perhaps about me that He's thinking that I am not understanding? What is it about my mind that it's not been transformed, in a sense, and I'm still living by my own reasoning? I'm still living by my own thinking? My estimation of myself is based on what I have on my wall or what I look at in the mirror, and I'm not thinking the way God is thinking about me.

Or maybe the mind of Christ is something that we've resisted because of unbelief, like the children of Israel who got to the shores of this incredible promise. They were taken out of captivity, and they were taken out miraculously. There's a lot of people here today that you could say, that's my story. I was an addict. I was hopeless. I was depressed. I was suicidal. I was despairing. My marriage was broken.

My family were destroyed. You were brought out sovereignly by the presence of God, by the power of God, and going through, in a sense, a wilderness experience, now coming to the shores of something that God had for you, the place of promise that the cross actually leads us collectively and individually into, and yet you stood back, and as the children of Israel, once dead, resisted it because of unbelief. You came to the wrong conclusion, not about yourself. Your conclusion about yourself was correct. The wrong conclusion you came to was about God. You concluded that you were too weak. You concluded that you didn't have the knowledge, the strength, the ability to go in to do whatever it was that lay before you, and so you came to a correct conclusion about yourself, but your wrong conclusion was about God because you didn't have the mind of Christ for your life. Or maybe you did know, and you let it slip away because of neglect or apathy or complacency.

It was there at one time, and you did have this realization, but you just let it slip. So I want to start in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, beginning at verse 17. So Paul says to him, Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. So Paul is in effect saying, there's something about the cross and the victory of the cross.

There's a power in this. There's something in it for every person, and so I wanted to be careful that in my speaking I didn't draw to myself, that you start looking at me, Paul could be saying, as the standard. You start looking at my wisdom, because Paul obviously had a brilliant mind. He was probably the most brilliant theologian in the entire writings of the New Testament, yet he in himself, he said, I didn't come, and I didn't use perhaps the wisdom he had, lest the cross in a sense and the power that was made available to every person should kind of disappear from your sight. And you start listening to me, and you start listening to my wisdom, and that becomes your focus.

Paul said, I didn't want that to be your focus. For the message of the cross, verse 18, is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe?

Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For the Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness.

Paul said there's a power in the preaching of the cross. When Christ was raised from the dead, the cords of sin that bound us to the past were completely severed. We were given the same spirit that raised him from the dead, and we were promised that by the Spirit of God we too would be raised from the dead, and we would be made into new creations. That means everything of the past, everything that we were, everything that we think or thought we are, all of those things are gone, and the slate is clean. We're now born again.

That's the reality of it. We're starting life all over again, and God is willing to take us out of our weakness, and out of our nothingness, and begin to do something in us that only he can do for the purpose of bringing his own name to glory. That is the beauty of the preaching of the cross.

The cross is level ground. There's no smart people, no stupid people. Everybody's level. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We've all fallen short of what we should be, and so it's not by wisdom.

It's not by might. It's not by human effort that Christ is glorified in us. It's by the Spirit of Almighty God freely given.

When you and I come to Jesus Christ at the cross, we receive the same Holy Spirit, not a little, here's a thimble for you, here's a bucket for you, here's a little bit for you, here's an eyedropper for you, same Spirit, same calling, same abilities given to, or differings of abilities, but same power of God given to every person that comes to God through Jesus Christ. Paul says the Jews request a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. So there's these two types of people, in a sense, that did hear the message of the cross.

There's a certain group of people who feel that by sheer force of human effort and will. That was what the Jewish religion was all about, making promises to God that they couldn't fulfill, trying to do more, trying to be better, trying to be godly. They were called to be the people of God and the earth, but it was all human effort. So basically the Jews were saying, well, give us a sign that our efforts are not good enough. I mean, we have the robes, we've got the temple, we've got the scriptures, we've got all this stuff.

Give us a sign that it's not, so they require a sign. In other words, we're not going to believe that what we do is falling short of the glory of God. And of course, the Greeks are saying, well, we're going to learn our way out of this dilemma called the human condition. We're just going to learn about all of the ways, and it's through knowledge that we're going to increase. And of course, that's where the world is at today. Through knowledge, we're going to break out of the boxes of our confinement and such like, and we're going to be a better people and a better society. It's so ironic.

It's like an instruction class on wisdom on the deck of the Titanic after it's hit the iceberg. Paul said, but we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews, a stumbling block and to the Greeks, foolishness. A stumbling block. Stumbling block, the fact that you can't gain favor with God through human effort, a stumbling block.

That I can't will myself to be a better person. I am on level ground with others all around me. We're on level ground and the same power, the same redemption is available to all people. But to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Now, first time I read that, I stopped at that verse and say, how could you ever describe God as foolish or weak and consider this part of the inspired text of scripture? It's an easy answer.

You are, I am. We are the foolishness of God. The fact that God in all of his power, all of his strength and all of his knowledge chooses to reveal his glory through you and me. That's the foolishness of God. That's the weakness of God.

That's the mystery. The Bible says that the angels look over the balcony of heaven and desire to look into this, that God, because they live in the presence of God. They're aware of the glory of God. When the words, holy, holy, holy are spoken in the courts of heaven, the place is filled with, but there's a kind of glory of God.

The posts of the door move. They understand his holiness and it's certainly in a greater measure than we do. And then they look down at us.

We look like a leper colony compared to them. Yet the affection of God is upon us and he has made a choice to reveal his glory in the world through you and through me. Praise be to God.

That's amazing when we consider that. Me with all my struggles, me with my inglorious history, me with all the things that I've done wrong, me with all my frailties and weaknesses, yet almighty, all knowing God chooses to make himself known through me in the world. Amazing, amazing grace.

How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Now he goes on, he says in verse 26, he said at first Corinthians, for you see your calling brethren. Now we're talking about the foolishness and the weakness of God.

So keep that in your mind. We're talking about the power of the cross. We're talking about the availability of the power of God to all people. You see your calling brethren. Not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise.

And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty and the base things of the world. In other words, the things that are at the bottom, not the top, but people who are in a place that nobody aspires to be. You know, a lot of people could say that today, where I am, nobody in their right mind would want to be there.

Nobody would ever want to be where I am and be doing what I'm doing. But God has chosen you, even in that place of baseness. And the things which are despised God has chosen. Even worse than that, places that nobody wants to be.

The world despises it. They would not want to be where many of us have been. Some of us may even be today. And the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are. So here's the good news. If you are somewhere on the scale between foolish and nothing, you qualify to be used by God.

Isn't that wonderful? I can just feel it now. Somebody's saying, that's me. Finally, a message for me. Finally, somebody is speaking into my life.

I'm on the scale between, I'm a third of the way down, up from nothing, but I'm a little closer to nothing than foolish, but there I am. I qualify to be used by God. Why does he choose us that no flesh, verse 29, should glory in his presence, but of him you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That means his wisdom is all that we need. His thoughts are the thoughts that we need to reclaim in our generation. Not what we think about ourselves, but what God is thinking about us.

Not what we say our future is going to be, but what God says our future is going to be. He's our wisdom. He's our righteousness. He has declared us clean, no matter our struggles, no matter our inglorious history and past. When we came to the cross of Jesus Christ, just like the prodigal son, the finest robe in the house was placed upon us. We were cleansed from our filth. We were cleansed from our iniquity. We became sons and daughters of God. Hallelujah.

Come on now. The Bible says that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. If that were not in the Bible, it would seem to be blasphemy.

You know what that says? I am as clean as God is because of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Glory to God.

Glory to God. Christ is my righteousness. He is my sanctification. Means he is the indwelling spirit of God that gives me the power to become what he's called me to be.

To leave what I need to leave and to go into what he's got for my life. He is the sanctifier. He is the one who changes my heart, changes my mind, changes my character, changes my destiny. It is God in me that changes my destiny and he is my redemption. He is the one who has cut the cords of my past. It doesn't matter who did what in my family. I am a new creation in Christ Jesus.

Hallelujah. I'm not going where they went. I'm not living the way they lived.

The cords of the past were broken. When Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, my Bible says he took captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Not only did he break the cords that held us to our past and held us to a life of sin, but he gave us giftings of the spirit to become new creations and to do things that we can't do in our own strength if we have the mind of Christ. Paul goes on in chapter 2, he says, And I, brethren, when I came to you, I did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Paul said, I didn't want you looking at me.

That's what he's saying. I didn't want your focus shifted to men. I didn't want you sitting there saying, oh, if I could only be like brother or sister so and so, then somehow God could use my life. Paul's saying it's not about me. And I didn't want the focus brought to me.

Even though he had the capability of baffling people with his intellect and his understanding, he didn't use it. And he goes on and says, I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and power that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Paul had this inner trembling in his life and said, God, please, please don't let the people look at me as if I'm the standard. Let me be weak so that you might be portrayed as strong. God, let me be nothing so that you might be everything. And when people look at me, let them see the spirit of God and the glory of God on a human vessel. That their faith should not shift to the wisdom of man, but be in the power of God.

However, he says in verse six, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing. We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the ages for our glory. In other words, there are thoughts in the heart of God towards you that God had before you were even born, before the world was created. He saw you. He saw you. Just like he said to Philip, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. I saw you before we physically saw each other with human eyes. I saw you where you were.

And I had thoughts in my heart about you. And then he goes on, this is an incredible verse. Verse eight, he said, which none of the rulers of this age knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Now here's what Paul's saying, the spiritual rulers of wickedness and those that they had gripped in this world, if they had known what was going to be released through the cross, they would not have crucified Jesus Christ. If they would have seen the power, if they would have had a long-term view and seen people everywhere being raised out of dust and ashes and the glory of God being upon them and the strength of God being given them, they would not have crucified Christ. In crucifying him, they were releasing the glory of God in the earth through who?

Through who? The weak, the marginalized, the foolish, the nobodies, the nothings of society, you and me. The glory of God was being released in the earth. But as it is written, eye has not seen, verse nine, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed them to us through his spirit, for the spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. You know, the Bible speaks in another place of this inner groaning of the Holy Spirit.

I've always believed that groaning of God's spirit, like interceding, it says, for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. The spirit of God knows the will of God for each life, and I believe the Holy Spirit is groaning inside that we come into agreement with God, that our minds come into agreement with the thoughts of God. But God has revealed them to us through his spirit, for the spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God.

In other words, Paul is just saying it's really simple. Nobody knows what you're thinking right now except you and God. Nobody else knows the thoughts of your mind. In the same way, he says, nobody knows what God is thinking about you except the spirit of God in you knows. The Holy Spirit knows. And Jesus said, when he, the spirit of truth, has come, he will take what is mine, that means the victory that Christ won, and he will show it to you, and he will show you things to come.

Amazing. He will reveal to you, in a sense, the plan that God has for each of our lives. Now we have received, verse 12, chapter 2, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God. That's the mind of Christ. Oh God, would you help me to come into agreement with your plan for my life?

Would you help me to look away from my past and my resume and my weakness and what others have said about me? God Almighty, you're God. They're not.

You are. The people of this world are groaning for the testimony of God. It is church. Through you and through me, my strength does not come from education or lack thereof or success or failure.

None of it matters. The reality is, it's level ground at the cross. It's a whosoever will kingdom can come. As a matter of fact, through Isaiah, the Lord said, it's the lame who take the prey.

Don't you love it? The Pharisees are just doing this, how is it possible that a prophet could come unto Jerusalem? And while they're just playing with the scritchy little beards, fixing all their robes, the prostitutes are touching his feet, the lame are crawling through, the blind are crying out on the side of the road. Wisdom is justified of his children right? The Pharisees don't have a single testimony with all their robes and all they have is a negative testimony. But the blind man's got quite a story, doesn't he?

Hallelujah. Verse 13 says, these things we speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man, verse 14, does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. Nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. That means the person who is trying to serve God in their own strength, and they're trying to reason God with their own minds.

I'm not suggesting we don't study or learn the scriptures, that would be contrary to what the Word of God tells us. But this is their whole sense of being, is living by natural wisdom and natural strength. And so what I'm talking to you about to a natural man is foolishness. It's foolishness.

It's out of reach. It's pie in the sky theology that's not attainable by anyone in this generation. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. So what then is this mind of Christ and how does it apply to me?

Let's bring it home now. It's when we agree that in spite of our present condition, we are the ones chosen by God to display his power and grace in the spiritual crisis of our present day. That's the mind of Christ. When we agree, in spite of our condition, in spite of who I am, you've chosen me. In spite of my weakness, you've chosen me. In spite of my nothingness, you've chosen me. In spite of my powerlessness, you've chosen me. In spite of my lousy self view, you've chosen me. In spite of whatever other people have said, you've chosen me. You've chosen me. You've chosen me. You've given me your promise. You've given me your spirit. You have a plan for my life. You're going to take me through a door and do things through my life that I could never do in my own strength, but you will do it. And when I get to the other side, I'll say glory to God, glory to God.

Only God could have done this. The message today has been brought to you by Carter Conlon from Times Square Church. For more information, log on to tsc.nyc. That's tsc.nyc. Plan to be with us next week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon.