Transcript & Slides: The Mind of Christ (Part 2)

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The Mind of Christ (Part 2)
By David Feddes

We’re continuing to think about the mind of Christ—the extraordinary, almost unbelievable reality that the Bible says we have the mind of Christ. Just a reminder of a couple of the key passages in the Bible that speak of this: the Bible speaks of the mind of the Spirit. Those in accord with the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit. The mind of the Spirit is life and peace. Those led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. The Spirit Himself intercedes for us whenever we pray. He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit (Romans 8).

1 Corinthians 2 refers to the mind of Christ. God has revealed these things to us by His Spirit. No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God, and we've received the Spirit who is from God that we may understand what God has freely given us. We have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:10-16).

The mind of Christ, as we've seen, is the ultimate mind. Jesus knows His Father's mind. The Spirit knows Jesus’ mind. The Spirit knows the Father's mind and makes it known to us so that we have the mind of the Spirit and we have the mind of Christ. Somehow, we're caught up into that great mind of the Holy Trinity, and something in our mind reflects the great divine mind, so that it can be said that we have the mind of Christ.

What does it mean to have Christ in me? This is one of the amazing and mysterious realities that's taught to us in the New Testament and that we experience in increasing degree as we walk with the Lord. Christ lives in me. Christ in me, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). I no longer live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20). The life of God in the soul of a human being—that’s one of the tremendous realities of being a believer. And among other things, to have Christ in me means that Jesus thinks His thoughts in me, Jesus speaks His words through me, Jesus unleashes His power in me. When Jesus’ Spirit lives in me, Jesus thinks and speaks and acts in me and through me. I think His thoughts. I speak His words. I do His deeds.

This may sound almost beyond belief, but it's part of the Bible's teaching of union with Christ, and it's been part of the Christian experience of being in Christ. And we need to know this. It’s not just what Jesus did for me—when He paid the price for my sins, when He broke the grip of Satan, when He gave us the promises of eternal life. These are tremendous things that Christ has done outside of us and for us, and these are tremendous announcements that the gospel makes. But it's incomplete just to realize what Christ has done for us. We need also to know the life of Christ in us, the mind of Christ in us.

We’ve seen the mind of Christ is a very rich reality. The Greek words nous and phronēma—but just to think of various dimensions: the intellect, your thoughts, your knowledge, your wisdom—the Holy Spirit of Christ, the mind of Christ, gives you thoughts and truths that Jesus knows. You have an identity in Christ. You're a son of God, a child of God just as Jesus is, because you're in Him. And your mind relates to God the Father that way, and you take your stance, your convictions as Jesus does. You have a worldview. You see the world more and more the way Jesus sees it. You focus on heavenly things and on supernatural realities just as Jesus has a mind much bigger than simply the physical world. You have attitudes that are in tune with Jesus' attitudes. You love what He loves. You grieve what He grieves over. You're angry over things that anger Him. You're interested in the things that interest Him—advancing His kingdom, blessing and serving others. You have an inner awareness, a sense, insight, intuition, recognition of what's going on because Jesus is at work in you helping you to understand what's going on. And you're able to sort through and evaluate more and more clearly because you have the mind of Christ.

Those are some things that we talked about in more detail in part one of our reflections on the mind of Christ, and I just wanted to remind you of those. Now we're going to focus on some more things that the Scriptures tell us about the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ is guided by God. It's a Word-shaped mind. It's a mind that's not fully formed but it's maturing. It's a heavenly mind. It's a renewed mind. It's a mind that agrees with God. It's a mind that discerns and sorts through things. It's a mind that's focused on the things that matter and the things of God. It's a mind that's one with a mind that's also in other believers. And it's a mind of peace—a mind that's calm.

Let's look at each of these in more detail. The mind of Christ is a guided mind. The prophet Isaiah was told by the Lord, "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it'" (Isaiah 30:21). That’s God’s message to His people. Jesus said, "It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to me" (John 6:45). And when you come to Jesus, then you're among those who are going to be taught by God. This is a tremendous gift. God promises not just that you're going to hear a voice audibly talking to you, but sometimes, because you have the mind of Christ and you're being taught by God, your very thoughts are going to be thoughts that come from God.

And we'll say more about what this guidance involves as we look at some of the other points. But to just count on the fact that something in your mind is in tune with the mind of Christ—to believe that and then to start looking for how God is guiding you—is very different from saying, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. I'm an absolutely fallen sinner. Nothing good dwells in me" (Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 7:18). Well, those things are true of the fallen person who's not yet redeemed. But the Bible doesn't just say of believers, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." It says, "I will give you a new heart" (Ezekiel 36:26), and "You have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16). So count on it that you have the mind of Christ. Believe it—that you have a guided mind.

Now, this mind is not just guided by the thoughts that the Lord might put directly in your mind (though He might do that), but it's a Word-shaped mind. God promised, "I will pour out my Spirit on all people" (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17). But He also, in making that promise of the Spirit, said what the Spirit would do: "I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws" (Ezekiel 36:27). "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts" (Jeremiah 31:33). So God’s guidance is not completely independent of His Word. God’s work in our hearts is making the Word apply right within our hearts. It helps us to understand what the Word is. He also helps us to desire what God desires as expressed in His Word and gives us power to do what He calls us to do in His Word.

That’s what it means to have the law written on your heart—to know what God wants, to want what God wants, and to be empowered to do what God wants. But all of that is to make you a person whose life reflects the Word of God that the Holy Spirit is implanting in your mind. Jesus put it this way: "Abide in me, and I in you. If you abide in me and my words abide in you..." (John 15:4,7). The indwelling Christ involves also the words of Christ living in you. And so the apostle can say, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly" (Colossians 3:16). And the apostle John could say, "God’s word abides in you" (1 John 2:14).

When you have the mind of Christ, you have a Word-shaped mind, and so your mind is going to think not contradictorily to the written Word of God, but in tune with the written Word of God. In fact, the better you know your Bible, the more you'll experience the mind of Christ. When you study your Bible under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, then when you're going through life, the Holy Spirit will bring to mind truths of the Bible—even words and verses and exact passages of the Bible—that will apply to a particular situation or that are going to help you and guide you and strengthen you for a particular task.

A Word-shaped mind is what’s experienced by somebody who’s truly in tune with the Spirit of God. And you're not going to be guided by God in things contrary to the Word. The Holy Spirit always works in tune with the Word that He inspired to be written.

The mind of Christ is a maturing mind. We talked about that in part one of our study of the mind of Christ, but I'll say a little more about it. The mind of Christ in believers can range from very babyish to quite mature, and so the goal is to grow up so that you can digest solid food. The apostle Paul, as well as the writer of Hebrews, would compare it to being babies who could only drink a little bit of milk or those who could handle solid food. They’d say, “You should be able to handle solid food. In fact, you should be teachers by now, but you still have so much to learn that I'm going to give you just a little bit of milk because right now you're still too babyish.”

Now in one sense, that's a rebuke, but it's also an encouragement, because the apostles are not saying to these believers, “You're just dead. You're a corpse.” Rather, they're saying, “You're alive, but you're a baby.” And so it's encouraging to be alive, and it's a rebuke to say, “Come on, grow up. We need to get beyond where you are right now.”

A maturing mind realizes that Christians can't lose the Spirit, but we can ignore Him. We can stifle His influence. You can quench the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19). You can grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). And so we need to count on Him. We need to pay attention to Him. Just as we need to believe that Jesus died for our sins and took them away and gives us eternal life—and that belief is faith by which we embrace what Christ has done for us—we also have to, by faith, embrace that Christ is at work in us right now, that we have His mind, that we have His Spirit. And therefore, we don't want to grieve Him, and we don't want to ignore Him.

And as our mind matures, what does that involve? Well, it involves getting to know Jesus Christ better. The more you know Christ and His power, the more mature you become. The apostle Paul said:

“I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you” (Philippians 3:10–15).

In that tremendous statement, the apostle is saying, “I haven't been made perfect.” And the Greek word teleios—also translated as “mature”—is the same word which a few sentences later he uses when he says, “All of us who are mature.” That's quite a statement. Paul says, “I'm not mature,” then says, “All of us who are mature...” So he's maybe mature compared to some of these struggling baby Christians, but he's not mature compared to what he wants to be and what someday he will be in the Lord. And that’s true of all of us in varying degrees. No matter how mature we are in this life, we have a long way to go.

And the apostle says whatever degree of maturity you have, it's measured by how much of Christ you have and your fellowship with Him, and suffering with Him, and becoming like Him. That's the measure of maturity. That’s the measure of whether your mind of Christ is a maturing mind.

And notice another thing about a maturing mind: a maturing mind realizes that others also have the mind of Christ, and I don't need to do everything to straighten them out on every detail. The apostle says, “All of us who are mature should think like this. But if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained” (Philippians 3:15–16).

So he's saying, “Okay, this is how mature people think. But maybe you don't quite see things my way yet. That's okay. You have the mind of Christ. I'm going to give you some space, and that mind of Christ is going to make things clear, because God will make it clear to your minds.”

How do you deal with other believers who maybe don't see things quite the same way you do? Do you count on the fact that they too have the mind of Christ? And if you don't push too hard or condemn too quickly and say, “I'm going to let the Holy Spirit who lives in you, and I'm going to let the mind of Christ mull these things over a bit more, and we'll see what God makes clear to you”—rather than saying, “I'm right, you're wrong. Straighten out”—if you're a mature Christian, you don't need to do that, because you're mature enough to know that God's going to do any straightening out that needs doing. And God's going to help their mind to mature more.

The mind of Christ is a heavenly mind. “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:1–2). Now that doesn’t mean that you don’t pay any attention to trees or food or other things that are on the earth. “Things on the earth” here means things that are just worldly in the sense of being disconnected from God.

It does mean that everything on earth receives its true meaning and its true glory from the heavenly Father. And it means that we seek that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10), and we have our minds on Christ, who is at the right hand of God. We have our mind on God reigning—not just on what we happen to see right around us in front of our nose, but on who Jesus is. We look up to Jesus right now, and we look forward to the new creation that’s already begun in our world but that’s going to be made complete when Jesus comes again.

And a heavenly-minded person is thinking about Jesus Christ a lot—Jesus reigning right now—and thinking a lot about Jesus bringing heaven to earth in its fullness. And when you have the mind of Christ, then you’re heavenly-minded. That’s one of the great tests of your maturity in Christ. Are you looking forward eagerly to His coming again? Are your thoughts on Jesus and with Jesus right now, knowing He reigns and longing to see Him again face to face? If you have the mind of Christ, that’s going to be a growing reality for you.

The mind of Christ is a renewed mind. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2). In another passage, the apostle Paul says, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:16–17).

So you see that Christ makes all things new—including the mind made new. And when your mind is made new, and when you're no longer just being squeezed into the pattern of whatever the world happens to think, but instead that different way of thinking—the Christ way of thinking—when you have that way of thinking, then you start to figure out what God’s up to. You can test God’s will. You can approve God’s will because the mind of Christ is operating more and more fully in you as your mind is being renewed by the presence of His mind within you.

The mind of Christ is guided, it’s Word-shaped, it’s maturing, it’s heavenly, it’s renewed, and it’s a mind that agrees with God. The mind of Christ agrees with God and, by faith, counts on divine truth.

“Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?” (Galatians 3:2). The apostle is reminding the Galatians—who were forgetting a lot of things—that there’s a way that you receive the Spirit. You receive the Spirit by believing, by faith. God gave you His Spirit because you trusted Him. And now, you can't have started that way and then go back to relying only on your own efforts or your own abilities to keep the law. You have to keep agreeing with God that the Holy Spirit is given to you, that the Holy Spirit lives in you.

You have to count on the Holy Spirit living in you. “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). I’ve said this before, and I want to keep repeating it because it's so important for us as believers to understand. It's not just what Jesus did for us outside of us, but also what God in Christ is doing in us by the Holy Spirit.

Don’t count yourself simply dead in sin. You count yourself dead to sin—but you're alive to God. You've got to count yourself alive to God. You've got to count yourself as having the mind of Christ. And then you start agreeing with God. When God says of Jesus, “This is my beloved Son” (Matthew 3:17), you agree with God. You don’t agree with those who deny that Jesus is divine or that He’s the Son of God. You agree with God in what He says about Jesus.

You agree with God in what He says about yourself. God says that He created you in His image (Genesis 1:27). God says you are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). These are things that He says in the Bible. God says that He paid the price of His own Son’s blood for you (1 Peter 1:18–19). God says that His Spirit lives in you (Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 6:19). You don’t have the right to say, “I’m worthless,” because God says you are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:10). You count yourself alive to God in Christ Jesus, precious to God, because that’s what God says. And you don’t have the right to disagree with God.

The mind of Christ is an agreeing mind. You agree with God in what He says about Jesus, in what He says about you, and in what He says about so many other things. And you’re going to have other tracks that are at work in your mind—what other people have told you, how others may have judged you, what the devil may want to implant in your mind—but always agree with God.

That means we need a discerning mind, because the same person can have thoughts from God and thoughts from Satan. Here’s a very striking example of that from the Bible. Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they said, “Well, here’s the various answers they’re giving.” And then Jesus said, “Now who do you say that I am?” And Peter—Simon Peter—said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven” (Matthew 16:13–17).

Peter didn’t just come up with that on his own. That wasn’t just a random thought. The fact that he recognized Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, meant that he had a thought given to him by God Himself. And not five minutes later, Jesus is talking about going to the cross and dying and being rejected and killed by the authorities. And Peter says, “Lord, this shall never happen to you!” And Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” (Matthew 16:21–23).

So on the very same occasion, in the very same conversation, Simon Peter has a thought that comes from God—that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God—and Peter has another thought: that the Christ, the Messiah, will not suffer, He will not have to die. And Jesus says, “Now that thought, that I’m the Christ and the Messiah, that’s from God. But that thought—that Jesus the Messiah should not go to the cross—that idea comes from Satan. Get behind me!”

The ideas of Satan are sometimes just the things of men. And so a discerning mind has to recognize that some thoughts in our mind are from the mind of Christ. But Satan is trying to get us to think certain things, and just human ways of thinking are contrasting, contradicting the things of God. We have to discern what those are.

The apostle Paul says in Colossians that Christ is in you, and in Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). And because you have this mind of Christ and all these treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Him, you still need to be aware that there’s going to be attempts to captivate your mind. “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ” (Colossians 2:8).

You see those three “according to”s—according to human tradition (that can be one source of thought: just what people happen to think, or maybe just thoughts you randomly happen to have); there’s thoughts that are “according to the elemental spirits of the world,” the dark powers, the demonic powers, the works of Satan. So you can have thoughts from human tradition. You can have thoughts from elemental spirits—sometimes they’re the same thoughts, because many human traditions have been infected by satanic lies. And then there’s “according to Christ.” And “according to Christ” is very different from what’s just according to human tradition or according to the elemental spirits of the world.

So when you have the mind of Christ, you need to evaluate your thoughts. The Word of God helps you to do that. The Spirit of Christ helps you to do that. And you need to be willing to say, “Now some thoughts in my mind are going to be thoughts from Christ because I have the mind of Christ. But this does not make me infallible. This does not make me all-knowing. I will also have just some thoughts that are clutter from human tradition, that are thoughts that maybe came to me from other people—how they treated me or what they said to me. That are thoughts that the devil has tried to leverage and get a grip on my thinking.” And so those I have to reject. And then I need to accept and recognize the thoughts that are according to Christ.

And we need to realize that these thoughts don’t necessarily come as I’m hearing an audible voice of God speaking to me. But when I have the mind of Christ, then sometimes Christ is speaking to me in my very own thoughts. They feel like my thoughts. Peter had the thought, “Jesus is the Messiah, He’s the Son of God,” but that thought came from God.

When you have the mind of Christ, you’re going to have thoughts that didn’t just come from you. They’re going to come from God. And the test of those thoughts is often whether they’re in line with the truth of Scripture and whether they are helping you to walk with God and with Christ, and to see yourself in the light of God’s revelation, and to see Jesus in the light of God’s revelation.

You need a discerning mind when you have the mind of Christ. The mind is also a focused mind. “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8). Mind such things. The mind of Christ focuses on what’s noble and right and pure and lovely and admirable and excellent and praiseworthy.

Some of the things that people mind are anything but. Even some Christians—we’re ignoring, in that case, the mind of Christ and letting things that are not noble and not pure clutter our minds. So if you really want to live in light of having the mind of Christ, make sure that you have a focused mind—a mind focused on glorious and beautiful things.

The mind of Christ is one. Christ doesn’t have a gazillion different minds—Christ has one mind. And when lots of different people have the mind of Christ, then in one sense, they're still one. This is one of the things that we need to understand when we're dealing with fellow believers.

The apostle Paul says in Philippians 2, “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind” (Philippians 2:1–2). He goes on to say, “Have this mind in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).

He’s talking to people who have sometimes gotten to be a bit at odds with each other, who’ve been arguing with each other, and he’s saying, “Don’t you realize you have one mind?” Near the end of the letter, he says, “I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord” (Philippians 4:2). You’re in the Lord, the Lord’s in you, you have the same mind. That’s a statement of fact. And then there’s a command—now that you have this mind, have this mind in yourselves which is also in Christ Jesus.

You find that the apostle Paul often does that. He’ll say something as a statement or declaration: “You have died with Christ and you live in Christ. Now count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). And in this case, he says, “We have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). Now, have the mind of Christ. You see, he’s saying, “You already have it, but you’ve got to pay attention and start thinking like it and acting like it.”

You have the same mind—so what are you fighting about? Is there anything that you're fighting about that's more important than the fact that you have the same mind in Christ Jesus?

I believe that Christians have divided too often. The church has split way too many times. Christians have bickered with each other way too harshly. Some things are worth arguing about, some things are worth sorting through and trying to get right. But let me just ask you: do you really believe that everything Christians have disagreed about is more important than the reality of the indwelling Christ and the shared reality of the mind of Christ that all believers in Christ share?

The apostle Paul didn’t think so. The apostle Paul said, “Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). He didn’t count equality with God something to be held on to, but He gave Himself to serve others (Philippians 2:6–7). And you need to do the same thing—serve others, love others, realize that they have the same mind you do. Be of the same mind, people, because you already have the same mind. Now be that way.

So the mind of Christ is one mind. And the more you're in tune with Jesus, the more you'll be in tune with His prayer: “Father, may they be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:21–23). That’s the prayer of Jesus—that He wants His people to be one as the members of the Trinity are one. And so, very few things are more important than our oneness in Christ and the sharing of that one mind of Christ.

The mind of Christ is a peaceful mind. “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you” (Isaiah 26:3). Jesus trusted supremely in His Father, and He always lived in the peace of the Father. And we have that same promise—that when our mind is steadfast, then we’re also going to have peace.

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). It goes both ways. When your mind is steadfast and set on the Lord, then you're going to have a greater sense of peace in your heart. And when you have peace in your heart, and God gives you that peace, then it guards your mind.

You see the interaction between intellectual fitness and emotional fitness. When your intellect is focused on God, and when you understand things clearly—when you know who God is, when you know how much God cherishes you, when your mind is straight about that, that you're a child of God, that the Spirit of God lives in you, that you are worthwhile, and that He has great purposes for you—when your mind is clear about those things, then your peace is greater. At the same time, when your peace is greater, then your mind isn't so troubled. It’s not so torn by all kinds of conflicting emotions. You have peace, and so you can think straight. And the peace of God guards your heart and your mind.

That’s just a sample of the fact that we’ve been talking about total fitness, and all the elements of fitness affect each other. Your spiritual well-being is very closely related to your intellectual well-being. And the mind of Christ—when you have the mind of Christ—it spills over into your physical life. It has many benefits.

The mind of Christ is going to change your financial priorities. The mind of Christ, as we've just seen, has a tremendous impact on your peace and other dimensions of your emotional life. The mind of Christ is affecting our oneness and our relationship with others. It affects our relational fitness. The mind of Christ sees the world in a certain way, sees our calling in a certain way, and so it affects our vocational fitness.

And all of these aspects of total fitness are intimately related to the reality of being intellectually fit—and especially having the very mind of Jesus Christ.

So there's a lot that I don't fully understand about having the mind of Christ. That mind is too great for me to grasp, even though I have it in some degree. But here are some of the things that I just want to remind you of.

It’s a guided mind, where God puts thoughts in your mind, and they are precious thoughts—where you're thinking the thoughts of Jesus. And those thoughts are Word-shaped thoughts. And don’t be discouraged if you’ve got a long way to go, because you're maturing in the mind of Christ. Don’t be discouraged if you're not as mature. But at the same time, don’t get complacent where you are, but keep on maturing and seeking to think more and more like Christ and be more and more like Christ—realizing that Christ already lives in you and is already thinking and desiring within you.

It’s a heavenly mind, a renewed mind, and a mind that agrees with God and that discerns what thoughts are coming from God and which ones are from the evil one. It’s focused on noble things—things that are right. It’s a one mind with others. It’s a peaceful mind.

And much more could be said by someone who knows this mind of Christ better than I do. I’ve tried to express what I understand, and even as I do that, I feel a little frustrated because I know there’s so much that I’m missing. But here’s the good news: I’m not the only one with the mind of Christ. You have the mind of Christ. And so many things that I may have missed, the Lord may bring to your mind. He’ll help you understand maybe some of the things that I say, but He’ll also bring to mind some things that were very incomplete or maybe even mistaken in what I had to say.

And so that’s one of the great joys that I have as a teacher—to realize that I have help, because Christ gives me something of His mind. But those to whom I communicate also have something of that mind. The apostle John said, “You do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things... you already know the truth” (1 John 2:20, 27 paraphrased). He had the confidence that this anointing from the Holy One—the Holy Spirit—gave them something of the mind of Christ and gave them awareness of the truth.

And so I can wrap up this talk with confidence, knowing that what I had to say—there was something of the mind of Christ in it. And at the same time, what I said poorly or what I failed to say is not going to wreck everything, because you have the mind of Christ. You can sort it through. Christ may add some things and bring to mind from the Scriptures, or just in your own spirit, things that you need to know as you move forward. And so may this truly be the ultimate in intellectual fitness for you—to experience the mind of Christ, to count on that mind of Christ, to know that He lives in you, and to know that you’re right now thinking thoughts that come from Him.

The Mind of Christ (Part 2)
By David Feddes
Slide Contents

The Mind of the Spirit

Those in accord with the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit… The mind of the Spirit is life and peace… Those led by the Spirit of God are sons of God… The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children… The Spirit himself intercedes for us… He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit. (Romans 8)

The Mind of Christ

God has revealed it to us by his Spirit… no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God… We have received … the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us… We have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2)

The Ultimate Mind

• Jesus knows the Father’s mind.
• The Spirit knows Jesus’ mind.
• The Spirit knows God’s mind.
• We have the mind of the Spirit.
• We have the mind of Christ.

Christ in me

• Jesus thinks his thoughts in me.
• Jesus speaks his words through me.
• Jesus unleashes his power in me.
• When Jesus’ Spirit lives in me, Jesus thinks and speaks and acts in me and through me. I think his thoughts, speak his words, and do his deeds.

The Mind of Christ
nous (νοῦς), phronema (φρόνημα)

• Intellect: thoughts, knowledge, wisdom
• Identity: position, stance, convictions
• Worldview: mindset, viewpoint, focus
• Attitude: outlook, feelings, interests
• Awareness: sense, insight, recognition
• Evaluation: discernment, test, sifting

The Mind of Christ

• Guided
• Word-shaped
• Maturing
• Heavenly
• Renewed
• Agreeing
• Discerning
• Focused
• One
• Peaceful

Guided mind

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21)

It is written in the Prophets: “They will all be taught by God.” Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. (John 6:45)

Word-shaped mind

I will pour out my Spirit on all people. (Joel 2:28)

I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:27)

I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. (Jeremiah 31:33)

Abide in me, and I in you… If you abide in me, and my words abide in you… (John 15:4,7)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. (Colossians 3:16)

God’s Word abides in you. (1 John 2:14)

Maturing mind

• The mind of Christ in believers may range from babyish to mature. Grow up so you can digest solid food.
• Christians can’t lose the Spirit, but we can ignore him and stifle his influence. Count on him and pay attention.

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings… Not that I have already …been made perfect [mature], but I press on… All of us who are mature should think this. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. (Philippians 3:10-15)

Heavenly mind

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Mind the things above, not the things on the earth. (Colossians 3:1-2)

Renewed mind

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)

Agreeing mind
The mind of Christ agrees with God and by faith counts on divine truth.

Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? (Galatians 3:2)

Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:11)

 

Discerning mind

The same person may have thoughts from God and from Satan.

• “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”
• “Get behind me, Satan! … you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” (Matthew 16:17, 23)

Christ in you… in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge… See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. (Col 1:27-2:8)

 
Focused Mind

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)

One mind

… complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind… Have this mind in yourselves, which is also in Christ Jesus… I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. (Philippians 2:2, 5; 4:2)

Peaceful mind

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. (Isaiah 26:3)

The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:7)

Total Fitness

• Spiritual
• Physical
• Financial
• Intellectual
• Emotional
• Relational
• Vocational

The Mind of Christ

• Guided
• Word-shaped
• Maturing
• Heavenly
• Renewed
• Agreeing
• Discerning
• Focused
• One
• Peaceful