Devote Your Mind to God's Truth, Part 3

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Many of us are being pulled in so many directions with life's challenges and responsibilities. It can be easy to put some areas of our lives on autopilot. But are we still paying attention where it counts? Our text from Hebrews 2, 1 through 4 challenges us with this. We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. We don't drift in a positive direction, and spiritual drift leads to destruction. Therefore, we must devote ourselves to God's truth, allowing it to inform our decisions and attitudes. C.S. Lewis pointed out that Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance.

The one thing it cannot be is moderately important. This is the fourth part of a message preached on April 29th, 2012. It's titled Devote Your Mind to God's Truth.

It came to Christ when I was 11 years old, almost 11 years old. Don't remember a time I've not gone to church. You know what the downside to that can be, not is, but can be, is that the things of God in church become commonplace to me. Folks, that's a danger. And you know what happens when they become common? Because that's the idea of neglect. When things become common to me, then yeah, whatever. Heard that before. It's nice.

It's not just nice. It's the infinite inspired word of a living God. When we pursue truth, we can't just put ourselves on cruise control. Okay, I'm on my way to heaven, now let's just get on with life.

That's not why God's word is given to us. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, people wish to be settled. You can agree with that, can't you?

You'd like to be comfortable. People wish to be settled, only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them. Hence my task this morning to stir you up a little bit when it comes to God's word. Because here's an important point, this is C.S. Lewis, okay? Christianity, if false, is of no importance. This is what C.S.

Lewis said. Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, is of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.

Think about that. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important. Oh yeah, the gospel, yeah, that's nice. Do you understand what the message is?

It is of infinite importance. So when I say don't check your brains at the door, here's something, you know, we're going through some transitions here at Grace Bible Church, and typically in the church throughout history, so much, not just this church, but the church, so much of the emphasis and priority has been in the presentation of truth. I'm wanting to change that. Now, that doesn't mean I shouldn't be the best communicator I ought to be when it comes to the word of God. I want to be a good communicator.

I want to become a better communicator. But here's the point. When you come in that door, I'm hoping that you don't just come in and say, boy, I hope Rich has a really good message today. I hope he keeps me awake. I mean, some people say that, you know, Rich, you're going to have to do good today to keep me awake.

I'm okay with that. I saw a man fall asleep once listening to John MacArthur, and I feel better now. I was sitting right next to the guy, you know, he was in his laptop in his lap, and he had his thumb on the E, and he had a whole screen full of E's. I could be the world's best, most polished communicator. And you come in here, having checked your brains at the door, and leave here and say, that was a really nice message, Rich. And what will God's word do for you? It's time that we start transitioning to have high expectations of those who are receiving God's word and engaging God's word. Yes, I want to be a good presenter, but are you a good listener? Are you engaging the word of God?

You look on the back of your bulletin today, there are questions. We have started something, you know this. We did sermon-based discussion groups, and we're going to be continuing those, and long when you're going to be hearing a lot more about that. But as we get together in groups, discussion groups, the idea is for the word of God to be presented with authority, and then you listen for the word of God with expectancy and humility, and you study that, and you take that in and you absorb it, and then we get together in groups and we discuss it and we bring the word of God into our day to day so that God's word actually transforms my life. So that our expectations now are not only for really good presentation of the word of God, but our expectation as a church is for really good engagement of the word of God in your life so that God's word comes into your day to day and transforms you into the image of Jesus Christ. That's our transition.

And that's what the writer of Hebrews is saying. We ought to devote the more earnest heed to the things we have heard lest we drift away. It is so easy to come into church and plop yourself down on a chair and veg. Yeah, feed me, feed me, feed me. I can't do that. I'm not here to spoon feed you.

And I want you to become much better. This is not a castigation, okay? It's not saying, yo, I've been a bunch of lazy nitwits. That's not easy.

It's easy to do. It's easy to sit in church and just... You know how I could prove this? Half an hour after church dismisses today, let me meet you out in the parking lot. What was the message about today? What did you bring away from the message?

What really impacted you that's really going to change your heart and mind and mold you into the name of Jesus Christ? You ever thought of that? Speaking on the phone with somebody up in Pennsylvania, oh, man, somebody in my brother's church up in Pennsylvania, oh, man, his name's Harry. Harry, oh, just an awesome, excellent message.

Yeah, really? What was his message about? Because if you check your brains at the door, here's what's going to happen. You'll become vulnerable to ideas that distract you from the preeminence of Christ. And that's the whole purpose of this book, to show the utter futility of any system that does not recognize the supremacy of Jesus Christ. And if you drift, if you're negligent, you'll become vulnerable to ideas that distract you from the preeminence of Christ, which those philosophies of the world system, a world system meaning a system that does not acknowledge God, is quote from Hebrews, I'm sorry, from Ephesians 4, 17 and 18, the futility of mind apart from the life of God.

Life directions and remedies that have no foundation or meaning. And the way we can drift, we become distracted by other options, which is what the Hebrews were doing. They were teetering on the edge saying this Christianity thing, I'm not sure I signed up for it.

It takes real commitment. And you know what? People get mad at us for being Christians. I think I might just go back to Judaism because I'm safe there.

They just tell me what to do when I do it and I'm okay there. Christianity is not that way. It's life surrender. But today we can be distracted by novelty, by things that are exciting, things that are intellectually in vogue.

Two years from now there'll be a passé. When I become vulnerable to ideas that distract me from the preeminence of Christ, my view of God becomes smaller. And then I start becoming focused on the things that I deserve and I get a whole new set of ideas of things that will make me satisfied and fulfilled apart from the supremacy of Christ. Folks, that's nothing but futility. That is futility.

It's empty, it's vain. The writer of Hebrews says, Devote your mind to God's truth for your good. If you neglect it, you will drift.

And if you drift, you become vulnerable to the ideas that distract you from the preeminence of Christ. And if you do that, you're headed for shipwreck. You are headed for shipwreck. Your faith is headed for shipwreck. You know what that says?

Here's a good picture. Does the word Costa Concordia mean anything to you? If you watch the news, you know this big cruise ship that's over there on its side laying on the rocks? Could that describe your faith, this big beautiful thing that's sitting there useless for everybody to mock because you've drifted, you've been negligent with the truth of God? That's what happens when you drift and you're negligent with God's truth. And when that happens, your faith gets frustrated. You're headed for a frustrated faith. And you see, okay, I believe this, this is how I'm supposed to believe this is what the Bible says, but here's life and I'm not able to put the two together. It's not working.

I've heard people say that. And the reason why it's not working is because they've been negligent, they've been drifting. Devote your mind to God's truth for your good. I have covered the why, but I commission you to discuss and discover the how to devote your mind to God's truth for your good. Devote your mind to God's truth for your good. Listen carefully to the words of the Lord Jesus in John chapter 8 verses 31 and 32 because he says exactly the same thing only using different words. If you abide in me, if you abide in my words, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. That's just another way of saying, devote your mind to God's truth for your good.

That's exactly what it's saying. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace, weekdays at 10 a.m.