The Mind of Christ [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright.

There are people who may not have had the opportunity to educate their mind like some of the scientists that we're depending on right now to come up with solutions. And yet, the simplest child, an old woman who never had much education, never had much opportunity to simply develop her mind, has the Spirit of God. She has the mind of Christ. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org. Or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But right now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. The discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming, who went on vacation in 1928. He didn't do a very good job of cleaning his laboratory before heading out on that vacation. And when he came back, he began cleaning the Petri dishes on which he'd been experimenting with bacteria. And on one dish, he found a mold that was growing.

In the area around the mold, the bacteria was gone. And that's how we discovered antibiotics. My whole point of this is to say our lives, as we know them, have been shaped by discovery. Another way to phrase that, have been shaped by people who saw what others had not seen. A revelation, a eureka, a light that turns on, something that illuminates what had been in the darkness. However you want to term it, it's about seeing that leads to understanding. And when we can't see, we can't understand. And it leads to uncertainty and fear. So when we find a vaccine or a cure for coronavirus, it is likely that it will come by way of revelation, discovery.

We are hard at work, obviously, for that and praying for it. Now, what does all this have to do with our text? It has this, that Paul is describing something here that is absolutely intriguing. If you look closer at this text, and I want to give you just a little bit of the Greek language that's used because it's one of the most intriguing texts about seeing and understanding anywhere in the Bible. He describes what the text in the ESV says, the spiritual person and the natural person. But that translation, the natural person, does not at all come close to really the meaning behind this text.

Let me see if I can explain. There are two different theological persuasions when it comes to who we are as human beings. There is one school of thought that says we are bipartite, that we are soul and body. And there are some great theologians throughout history and in modern times preachers and others that I respect very much that have that view. There's another school of thought that says the Scriptures teach that we are tripartite, spirit, soul and body. And I've thought a lot about this over the years and for me it makes more sense to see us as spirit, soul and body.

Partly, mainly actually because of Scriptures that indicate such. Like in 1 Thessalonians 5 23 where Paul said, Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. He's talking about you as a person and then he says, May your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So it seems that Paul in his mind is making a distinction. And of course there are other texts like the writer of Hebrews, Hebrews 4 verse 12 speaking of the word of God says, The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow discerning the thoughts and intentions. He's saying there's something so powerful and sharp, incisive about the word of God that it somehow divides even between soul and spirit, which is to say in my mind there's a distinction between soul and spirit.

So the remainder of my comments on this are built upon that. Now let's go to our text and when you come to the word in Greek to describe one's mind or soul, the word that is used is suke. Suke means soul.

And you recognize suke because you see that in the word psychology, which means the study of the mind. The word in Greek for spirit is pneuma. So we have two nouns here, suke and pneuma, soul and spirit. We have in the Greek language an adjective form of the word spirit and the word spiritual in Greek is pneumatikos. So pneuma becomes pneumatikos, which means spiritual, so of or pertaining to the spirit. But there is a Greek word that means of or pertaining to the soul, sukikos. And this is the word that Paul is using here in 1 Corinthians. For the natural person, he's saying the natural man, the natural person, and actually saying the sukikos.

It doesn't mean natural at all. It means in the same way that spiritual means of or pertaining to the spirit, sukikos means of or pertaining to the psyche, to the soul. So we don't really have a word in English for this. We have a word for pertaining to the spirit. That's spiritual. What's the word for pertaining to the soul or to the things of the mind, the suke? We don't really have a word. So some have suggested that maybe the word is soulish.

That's the best I can think of also. Sukikos means soulish. Now this is important because what it does is it describes what Paul's actually saying here. Paul is actually drawing a distinction between the spiritual and the soulish, that which pertains to the things of the spirit and that which pertains to the things of the soul. And most people who study this suggest that the things of the soul have to do with the mind and the emotions, our will. I like to think of the soul, our mind. Just think of this as your mind. And it's so important because Paul is not saying that the soulish is bad.

Not at all. He's not saying that the natural mind is bad. God gave you an incredible mind. What the human mind can do, envision, imagine and think, grow and learn and all, it is wondrous.

And I'm praying right now for our best scientists to have the very leading of God so that their minds that understand things of chemistry and biology and disease and pathology can put their minds all together to work. God gave you your mind. Use your mind. Grow your mind. Learn.

Study. The mind is wonderful. It's the suke.

The suke is wonderful. But the things that refer to your mind or your natural ability to think are sukikos. They are soulish. And what Paul's saying is that you are not limited, Christians, by just having a mind, a natural mind. You also have been born anew. And when you're born again and born anew, what came to life was what once was dead. You were spiritually dead, but now you've come to life and you're spiritually alive, alive in the spirit. I was dead and now I'm alive.

What are we talking about? My spirit was dead, but now it's alive. You had a mind before you were a Christian. Your mind wasn't dead, but your spirit was dead to God and now you're alive in the spirit. So you are a living spirit. Now if the mind is wondrous in all that it can think and the body is fascinating in all of its intricacies, the spirit of a born anew Christian is altogether more wondrous, altogether more marvelous. And you as a spiritual being have the capacity to have a mystical communion with the Holy Spirit. You have a union with Christ. We speak of abiding in Christ. We speak and say things like Jesus is in my heart. What do we mean by this? We mean that in some mystical way that we cannot fully explain with words that we as a living spirit, been born anew, have the capacity to commune with the living spirit of Jesus himself and somehow we're at one with him.

That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Want to give someone a present this Christmas that they'll never forget? Let us help you give a gift that money can't buy this Christmas. Give someone your blessing, a positive, biblically based, faith filled vision for their life. In the beginning, God blessed Adam and Eve and then told them to be fruitful to multiply because in God's design, blessing isn't the reward for productivity.

It's the fuel for it. Now, more than ever, someone you love needs your blessing, and we're here to help you craft it. This month's special offer from Alan Wright is a beautiful booklet that will teach you how to craft a meaningful blessing. The easy step by step instructions are biblically based and even include a worksheet that helps you write your blessing. So this Christmas, give someone you love a present not found in stores, a gift from your own heart that will encourage and empower. Write down the blessing and put it in a package under the tree or put it in your Christmas card.

They'll never forget it. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries this month, we'll send you this booklet as our thank you so you can discover the power to bless. Call us at 877-544-4860 or visit PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. Now what is so wonderful about this and so incredible is that there are people who may not have had the opportunity to educate their mind like some of the scientists that we're depending on right now to come up with solutions. And yet the simplest child or an old woman who never had much education, never had much opportunity to simply develop her mind has the Spirit of God and she has the mind of Christ. And the things that you can see through the eyes of Jesus come spiritually. We do not see through the eyes of Jesus naturally because Jesus lives in us spiritually. We see through the eyes of Jesus because we have become spiritual people. And what Paul is saying therefore, beloved, is that there are soulish things and there are spiritual things.

There is the sukikos, the things the mind and pertaining to the mind in the natural sense and then there's spiritual things. And he's saying the spiritual things are of the higher level and the natural cannot understand the spiritual. Part of what he means by this is don't be too frustrated with that person you love who you want to come to a knowledge of Christ and they don't see things the way you see it and they don't have peace in the way you have peace and they don't have joy in the way you have joy and they hear all the bad news and they don't have any good news to layer underneath it.

Don't be frustrated with people like that in the world. What Paul is saying is that that's what the natural mind has. It can't understand spiritual things. But oh, when you come into the things of the Spirit and when you live and you walk in the things of the Spirit, things start happening inside of you where you go. Well, I know everything is going crazy.

I know this is the saddest time, it's dark and it's dark for the economy, it's dark for the people what they're going through and it's troubling, troubling times. But there's something else I see and that is that God's on His throne, that God has a plan, that God brings good out of that which seems evil, that God is not going to be thwarted and no virus can ever become the king of the world because Christ is king and we crown Him with many crowns and there's something that rises up of worship and peace and joy. This is the thing of the Spirit.

And the natural mind, the soulish, does not comprehend it. And so what we want to do is ask God for His eyesight. And this is what Paul means by saying you have the mind of Christ. He doesn't mean that we understand every single thing that Jesus understands, but what he means is that the perspective that Jesus has as a spiritual one who sees the Father and knows the Father's love and knows the ultimate outcome of all things and that we as Christians share in the very mind of Christ. So what it means is that we have a share in Jesus' own perspective. So when you stop in these difficult days and you say, Jesus, how do you see this? You can be assured of this that He wants to show you. He wants to take you out of worry and show you what He sees.

Isn't this what we all do? When you see something beautiful and higher, you want the people you love to see it also. I remember some years ago when Ann and I arrived at the beach one afternoon and it was at Ocean Isle Beach which in the wintertime by an oddity of the way the coast, the geography of the coast is right there, in the wintertime the sun, though it's the east coast, still sets over the water. And so we got to the beach and my wife, she starts doing what she does.

She starts cleaning up, she starts getting ready, she starts unpacking. I wanted to go straight to the beach and see it and say hello to the beach. I go out and the sun is setting and it's so beautiful. You know how fast it happens when the sun is setting?

It just starts setting down. And it was one of the prettiest sunsets I'd ever seen at Ocean Isle Beach. And I ran in and I said, the sun is setting behind the water, behind the pier, you've got to come see it, sweetie. She said, okay, I'll come. I went back out. She didn't come. I went back in.

I said, honey, it's not going to last much longer. Please come and see the sunset. She said, all right, I'll come. She came out and just stood with me and looked at the sunset.

Why? Why did I beg her to come? Because when you love someone, you want them to see something beautiful that you have seen. Yeah, you want to share it. And I think God's heart is like that. He loves to share the revelation of the beauty of the Son of God with us. He loves to show the revelation of His kindness and His redemptive power in the midst of our uncertain times. The Holy Spirit calls you over and says, come here, come here, child of God, come here. Let me show you something right now. So if you just pause and say, Jesus, how do you see it?

He'll show you wondrous things. You may be going through some of the most difficult times you've ever gone through in your life right now. These are uncertain times. I'm praying for you. I'm praying for all the businesses. I'm praying for everyone's health. I'm praying for I'm praying.

We're praying over and in the midst of it. I want to say you are not limited by just what your natural mind can see, for you are not only soulish, you are spiritual. Call upon Christ and ask Him, what do you see? I think He'll show you.

You know, there's something about walking with God for a long time that after a while, you just begin to think and see the way Christ does. We go to Ocean Isle Beach a lot, and from Ocean Isle Beach, if you want to go to the Walmart, you drive up a back road towards Shalote. And on that back road, there's an old golf course there for many years called Briarwood. Well, back in the day, there were not many golf courses in Brunswick County. Now, between Brunswick County and down into South Carolina, there are over 100 golf courses, gorgeous resort-style golf courses. Briarwood was an old golf course, and it wasn't one you'd go play very often. It usually wasn't in that good a shape, and we didn't play there. Well, one day, we're riding to go to Walmart, and it's just the funniest thing.

The car is completely quiet, kids in the backseat and in the passenger. I'm driving, we're looking on, and we drive by Briarwood, and they had reseated the fairways with some winter grass, and it looked really green, and it looked pretty good. And at the exact same moment, we looked at the golf course, at the exact same moment, just out of total silence, all of a sudden we said, Briarwood. We both said it in the exact same tone of voice, Briarwood, which in the tone of voice meant, maybe that is an option.

It's not so bad after all. I guess after you've been married long enough, sometimes you just see things exactly the same way. One night, some years ago, in the dead middle of the night, there's no chance of this, but Ann and I both woke up briefly, turned towards the middle to turn to our side, and as we did, we turned right into each other and headbutted each other right in the middle of the night.

At first, it hurt, and I was sort of stunned, and I was like, what? And then all of a sudden, Ann said, what are the chances of that? And I said, there's no chance, and we just started busting out laughing.

Maybe if you're married long enough, you just see things in the same way, and you think in the same way, and I think you can grow, therefore, in seeing what Jesus sees because you have the mind of Christ. So as we were riding to go pray for that dear saint, Dee couldn't take it any longer. She just interrupted my prayer, and I was glad she did because she was taking us to a higher reality. I was praying a soulless prayer.

Lord, here's all our limitations. Our minds are so frail. We know so little, and Dee took us to the spiritual, but I thank you, God, that we have the mind of Christ. You have soulless thoughts and spiritual thoughts. The soul's not bad. The mind, in fact, is fantastic, but the Spirit of God, the very living Spirit of God dwells in you, and you in Christ are a spiritual person. Ask Jesus for His eyes, and He'll show you deep things in the Spirit, and that's the gospel. Alan Wright, today's good news message, the mind of Christ.

It's in our series, You'll See, and hey, stick with us. Pastor Alan is back in the studio in just a moment with our parting good news thought for today. Want to give someone a present this Christmas that they'll never forget? Let us help you give a gift that money can't buy. This Christmas, give someone your blessing, a positive, biblically-based, faith-filled vision for their life.

In the beginning, God blessed Adam and Eve and then told them to be fruitful and multiply, because in God's design, blessing isn't the reward for productivity, it's the fuel for it. Now, more than ever, someone you love needs your blessing, and we're here to help you craft it. This month's special offer from Alan Wright is a beautiful booklet that will teach you how to craft a meaningful blessing. The easy step-by-step instructions are biblically-based and even include a worksheet that helps you write your blessing. So this Christmas, give someone you love a present not found in stores, a gift from your own heart that will encourage and empower. Write down the blessing and put it in a package under the tree or put it in your Christmas card.

They'll never forget it. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries this month, we'll send you this booklet as our thank you so you can discover the power to bless. Call us at 877-544-4860 or visit PastorAlan.org. Back here in the studio with Pastor Alan, ask and you shall receive, and that seems to be a parting thought here. It's always good to let the Lord know that you're ready.

I'm ready, Lord, and maybe the simplest and most powerful prayer you could say today is, Lord, I want to see this as you see it, and I don't want to be limited just by my own mind. So we've done some deeper theology with this message, but don't get distracted or lost in that. Don't get distracted by the distinctions that I've made between the soul and the spirit. But take this from it, that there is a way in which we can think, and God gave us a wonderful intellect, and we should use it, but it's limited. But when you find yourselves connected up heart to heart, deep to deep with God, there's a way in which you can apprehend truths that the mind wouldn't simply be able to understand. For example, knowing that God loves you is something you can think about with your mind, but it's something that your heart actually embraces. Well, there's a whole lot of life like that. And so start praying, Lord, thank you that you in your words say that we have the mind of Christ. So show me how you see everything around me. And as you pray that, I think you'll discover more and more that you do have the mind of Christ. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.