You've likely heard the familiar saying, right thinking begins with right theology. Plain and simple. It's a powerful statement, isn't it? But what does it really mean to infuse our thoughts with theological truth? Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindal provides a time-tested picture.
In our study of Romans 12, Chuck explains how transformed thinking revolutionizes three critical areas. how we see ourselves, how we relate to others, and how we understand our spiritual gifts. And the marvelous outcome is thinking with the clarity that Christ intended. Chuck titled today's message, How a Renewed Mind Thinks. I want to read for you from Romans chapter 12.
Verses 3 through Eight. If you have your Bible, please turn to Romans 12, verse 3. For through the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think More highly of himself. than he ought to think. but to think so as to have sound judgment.
as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body, And all the members do not have the same function, so we. who are many. are one body in Christ. and individually members one of another.
Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace, given to us. Each of us is to exercise them accordingly. If Prophecy according to the proportion of his faith. If service in his serving. Or he who teaches In his teaching, or he who exhorts In his exhortation, he who gives.
with liberality. He who leads with diligence. He who shows mercy with cheerfulness. You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into the book of Romans on your own, be sure to purchase our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study workbook by going to insight.org/slash offer.
Chuck titled today's message, How a Renewed Mind Thinks. There are times it helps to have a word picture in your mind when you're approaching a. a book of the Bible or a letter in the New Testament. It occurred to me this past week that a good word picture for the letter to the Romans would be. A crossword puzzle.
where you work both vertically and horizontally. in the project. The first 11 chapters of the letter to the Romans. are for the most part vertical in nature. They speak often of God, of the work of God.
As he reaches his great arms of mercy and Love. Into the ranks of humanity, and by his grace, selects people like you and me. And as we trust in His Son as Savior. He gives us the righteousness of Christ. He declares that we are righteous, as righteous as.
as his son. And we, therefore, in gratitude to him, again, out of a vertical gratitude We live out our lives to please him. We have a peace with God. We have a relationship with God. We begin to develop a walk with God for His great glory and purpose.
Even in chapters 9, 10, and 11, where the Jews are brought into focus. And we learn of our being grafted into that vine, and by his grace, Gentiles being included. In this family of God. Again, we are grateful to Him and our focus is vertical. When you get to chapter 12, all the way through.
Chapter 16 It seems as though the focus turns from the vertical to the horizontal. We learn in these last five chapters twelve through sixteen.
Something of how we relate to one another. who are in the family of God. Understanding our role. Our gifts the purpose for which we are left on this earth And then how to relate to one another in harmony and love. compassion and mercy and forgiveness and always Grace.
The turning point in these two Focuses would be at Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. Where Paul urges us almost as if he's on his knees saying, I beseech you, I urge you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Remember last time we were together, we talked about the role of being believers who Place ourselves, our bodies, on the altar. By that The symbolism includes the senses. That characterize our physical, emotional lives.
as well as the organs. Literally our eyes, our ears, our mouths, our vocal cords. Our hearts. if you will, our stomachs. Our whole being to God.
Some of us have more to offer to God than others, don't we? We lay ourselves before the Lord, and as living, not dead or dying, but as living sacrifices, we conduct ourselves for His great glory and for His purpose. But all of that happens because we have the mind. that's been renewed or is being Renewed. Actions occur because there are right thoughts.
And right thinking begins when the mind has been renewed. And if I were to put Verse two in the simple everyday language, I would say. As we are transformed in mind, we begin to see life through God's perspective. We handle trials as Christ would handle them. We deal with difficulties.
As Christ dealt with difficulties. We approach the challenges that hit us. And sometime Cut our legs out from under us. as Christ handled the challenges in his life. All of that.
ties into how we think. Thinking correctly starts, of course. in the mind. to break patterns of the way we were taught to think. Mm.
Big part of the work of the Holy Spirit. Look how the verse reads: Do not be conformed to this world. But be transformed. by the renewing of your mind.
So that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable. and perfect. In this world, we are barraged. constantly with temptations in four great areas. Fortune.
Fame. Power. Pleasure. Nothing innately wrong in any of the four. Nothing wrong with a great amount of money.
Nothing wrong with fame. Nothing is wrong with influence and power. or even with pleasure. God has given us all things richly to enjoy.
However, From the world's perspective, it will twist those things and turn fortune into greed. Or make fame a dominating force where we take advantage of, even abuse others. We take power that we're given. And we run over others. and pleasures become nothing but sensual pursuits.
that fulfill the sexual drives of our minds and our lives. When we begin to think with renewed minds, we address the fortune, fame, power, pleasure temptations wisely. as Christ would do. It occurs to me when I'm reading verse 2 of Romans 12 that we need a parallel passage out of 2 Corinthians 10. Please turn over there.
Just a couple of letters to the right. You'll get through first and then come to 2 Corinthians. Notice chapter 10, which addresses the mind in verses 3, 4, and 5. I want to suggest to you that the fortresses and the towers and the imaginations and the words used by the apostles, speculations, all have to do with those things in our minds that had been long-standing ways of thinking. And it's the work of the Spirit of God to come through and destroy those things that have been in place all this.
Time through our secular lives and rebuild them as Christ would have them rebuild. Look at 2 Corinthians 10:3. Though we walk in the flesh, Stop right there. We conduct our lives in the flesh. We drive our cars, we go to work.
We deal with life. We handle difficulties. We relate to others. We solve problems. We address issues.
In a flesh sort of way, we do it with our hands, with our minds. And even with our emotions and our wills. Though we walk according to flesh, The real battle is not of the flesh. It is not visible. It is invisible.
See how he reads, how he writes. We do not war according to that same flesh.
Now he explains that. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh. But divinely powerful. For the destruction of fortresses. I want to suggest these fortresses are long-standing.
Habits of thought. At least that's one way to view this. The warfare that goes on is in the mind. Where the Spirit of God comes to terms in our minds with long-standing ways of thinking. Could be negativity.
Could be lust. It could be greed. It could be a power-hungry mentality, but the Spirit of God goes to work dealing. With divine power in the destruction of fortresses that have been erected in our minds. Go further in verse 5.
We are destroying speculations. There's another category we'll not get into. In fact, every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. How eloquent is that? Raised up against the knowledge of God.
And here's our goal: we are taking every thought. captive to the obedience of Christ. If you were to ask me the goal of a believer as it relates to the mind, it is to come to the place where every thought is captive. to the obedience of Christ. The lofty things that have stood up so long and tall in our minds have been removed.
Some of them we learned from our parents. They weren't correct. Most of our parents meant well. But what we learned from them was not God's way of dealing with things.
Some of them were.
So those stay in place.
Some of the things we learned in education.
Some of them in our days in university. or maybe in graduate work. Where we began to build a system of thought that filled our minds through which we interpreted life. and by which we dealt with life. The whole point back in Romans 12, turn back to verse 2, is that we not be conformed to life in those towers and the realm of speculations and all those fortresses, but to allow the Spirit of God to renew our Minds.
I love the way Eugene Peterson paraphrases the Corinthian passage. Listen to these words. The world is unprincipled. It's dog eat dog out there. The world doesn't fight fair.
But we don't live or fight our battles that way. The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulation. But they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God tools for smashing warped philosophies. Tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.
Love the way that reads. Our goal is to bring a new structure of thinking. As we deal with life, this is part of Christian maturity. This is part of training ourselves to think correctly. And as you're in the process of rearing your children, it's a part of teaching them how to do it.
It's all part of that.
Now With all of that as a background, let's understand. When we come to verse 3, down through verse 8, We are turning a corner. toward the horizontal. As we begin to see things correctly, So, I suggest for our time together today, verse 3 talks about thinking correctly about ourselves. Verses four and five have to do with thinking correctly about others.
in the body of Christ. And then six through eight, thinking correctly about spiritual gifts. We'll come to the last two in a moment. Let's start. with ourselves.
Thinking correctly. about ourselves. Look at his initial command. Through the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you. That includes you.
That includes me. Our name is all over every one among you. I say to every believer. not to think more highly of himself. Or herself.
than he or she ought to think. Let's stop right there. What's the command all about? It's about guarding against Arrogance. In fact, I find it interesting and, in fact, intriguing that in one verse.
The Apostle uses the same root word to think. four times. He renders it, I say to everyone among you, not to think, there's the first one. More highly of himself than he ought to think. There's the second.
But to think There's the third.
So as to have sound thinking. There's the four. In two of the four, there are prefixes that deepen the meaning of the word. For example, This word, FRANEO, P-H-R-O-N-E-O, FRANEO, has as a prefix who pair. We get our word hyper from it.
So let's use that. I say to everyone not to hyperthink. About himself. In other words, don't think more highly. Don't think.
of yourself as above anyone else. Don't superthink. Don't overthink. It's a statement against conceit. and arrogance.
How does that come out? How does that work its way out?
Well, a number of ways. People who are conceited focus on how much they have done. and they love to tell you. How well educated they are, and they will frequently drop whatever degree they have. In case you haven't heard in the last three or four hours, they're there to remind you again how intellectually gifted or how quick-witted, how much money they make, how strong they are, how far they've traveled.
Why are they the best qualified to get something done? How they're more gifted, and often it comes out more sophisticated. How they're better read or wider read and better trained, more handsome. More beautiful. Uh You've been around it.
They love to drop names. A great place for this to happen is at pastors' gatherings. It's amazing. You'd think most of them knew Charles Haddon Spurgeon personally. It's remarkable.
If not that, they've hung around with George Bush. privately. Name drop, rule mentioning the jobs they've done or the things they've accomplished or size of congregation. That's always one of those bragging points. You're in a career, you're in a world, you're in a kind of work where you've come across that sort of thinking.
Uh somebody wrote a little piece that helps put everything in perspective.
Sometime when you're feeling important, sometime when your ego is way up, Sometime when you take it for granted that you are the prize-winning pup, Sometime when you feel that your absence would leave an unfillable hole, just follow these simple instructions and see how it humbles your soul. Take a bucket, fill it with water. Put your hand in it up to your wrist.
Now pull it out fast, and the hole that remains is the measure of how much you'll be missed. Following our second morning service this morning, a fellow walked up to me and he said, I heard a great motto this past week. He said it's a very simple one, but you'll remember it. The cemetery is full of indispensable people. You're on your way there, whether you want to admit it or not.
You got to put your pants on one leg at a time. And a half dozen other clichés you've heard most of your life. Please, no arrogance. We can't stomach much more of it.
Furthermore, it's very unattractive. for any of us to feel we are something special.
Now, when you hear that, you think, well, what I ought to do is. Look humble. I need to be lowly.
So that's why it reads: don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but put yourself down a lot, look lowly. Grovel. Become a human doormat. No. doesn't say any of that.
It says, Don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but. Think.
so as to have Sound Judgment. The word means reasonable. Have a reasonable assessment. Of who you are. That's how to think correctly about yourself.
Meaning, You have strengths. To deny them. is to deny the truth. You have gifts. To know what your gifts are and to carry them out is a part of your obedience, your calling.
To act like you don't have such gifts. It's not at all attractive. And it isn't humble. Martin Lloyd-Jones tells of an experience he had at the train. While waiting for his train, a man walked up to him and said, Oh, Dr.
Jones, I am just a chimney sweep in the house of the Lord, worthless to the core. Let me carry your suitcase. I am a nobody, and you are a man of great gifts. Dr. Jones saw right through that nonsense and didn't deal too kindly with him.
In fact, as I recall, he said, You know, I think you're right. That's a wonderful way to bring them down, isn't it, when they're trying to look lowly? You agree with them.
Well, you don't have to go that far. We had a young man who lived with us for a few months that his favorite line to us to impress us was: I just want to be a servant. I just want to be a servant. I just want to serve you and Cynthia. Whatever it may take.
So I'd ask him to do some things and he'd say, Well, now here's another way we might go about it. I'd say, wait, well, I thought you were going to be a servant. I know. And he didn't want to be a servant. He wanted to look like a servant.
He wanted to talk like a servant. When you have a proper assessment of yourself, you serve without calling attention to it. But you don't do it because you're a nobody. You have an eternal soul for which Christ died. You will be rewarded for your good works.
done in the power of the Spirit. God set his affection on you as he saved you and called you into his family. You're not a worthless nobody. You're not an. Uh a worm.
of no value. He's not saying that. He said, Don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but. Have a good assessment. of yourself.
Think correctly. about yourself. He moves from there into our relationship with other believers. Verses 4 and 5 sound at first like a tongue twister. Did you get that when I read it earlier?
Listen to this. For just as we have many members and one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members one of another.
Sounds like those ads you hear on the radio where at the end they tell you 15 things that aren't good about the product, but it's like blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. And you miss it. This is not a tongue twister at all. This is all about the body. Think first of the human body.
Each one of us is made up in a human body with many parts. A number of organs None of them seen. And the limbs that we have are different. They serve different functions. They're different from what the fingers do.
And the fingers' work is different from what the toes do. All of us, though we have many parts, really are made up of one body. And this body, if it functions correctly, works in harmony with itself. If the arm no longer works, it's called a stroke. And it is of no help in the body.
In fact, it In many ways, sort of gets in the way of the body. as we try to go about our work with The part of our bodies that work. The whole point being, every part of our being is important, and the renewed mind remembers that. What is true of the human body? It's true of the body of Christ.
There is no such thing as an unimportant, devalued. member in the body of Christ. Though, as we will see, there are some gifts that are more public and prominent than others. No gifts are of greater importance. Then another gift.
What this seems to emphasize is three particular things about the body. First, the importance of unity. It works together.
So it is in the body of Christ. Second is diversity. Variety. And mutuality. We care for each other.
We notice each other. We relate to each other. One of us hurts, the other one hurts too. One of us is weeping, the other one cares. One is laughing, the other rejoices with them.
This is all part of mutuality.
So we have unity. Diversity. mutuality, and it all works together. When we allow God to renew our minds, this enables us to value others in the body of Christ and to discover the unique spiritual gifts God has given us to serve His kingdom with effectiveness and joy. You're listening to Insight for Living, and we're midway through a message from Chuck Swindahl titled How a Renewed Mind Thinks.
You know, after hearing a message about renewing your mind, perhaps you're inspired to begin the transformational process yourself. To gain a better grasp on what this truly means, we urge you to take a deep dive into Paul's letter to the Romans, using your Bible and a variety of Chuck's companion resources. By doing that, you'll be able to see progress as God's Spirit fills your mind with His truth. First, Insight for Living offers a complete Bible study on Romans in the searching the scriptures format. You can find all the details for purchasing both volumes at insight.org/slash offer.
Next, if you're an audio learner, did you realize that the Insight mobile app provides access to Chuck's sermons on the Roman series for free? Just download the Insight mobile app from your favorite app store and you're ready to listen. And then today we're pleased to offer a special downloadable PDF that features the fifth chapter in Chuck's biography of Abraham. Patriarch of the faith. The book is called Abraham, One Nomad's Amazing Journey of Faith.
And this chapter is called, Can We Talk? In this highly personal chapter, Chuck describes how Abraham cultivated his friendship with God and the blessings that followed. This time-limited offer is available to our current monthly companions and to anyone who decides to become a new monthly companion. As a monthly companion, you agree to give an automated contribution every month. and you set the amount that's best for you.
You can get started today by calling us at 800-772-8888 or go to insight.org slash monthly companion. How do we close the gap between our Sunday morning convictions and our Monday morning compromise? I'm Bill Meyer. Don't miss Chuck Swindahl's Answer Thursday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, How a Renewed Mind Thinks, was copyrighted in 2007, 2010, and 2025.
and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindahl Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
