Reset Your Mind on Jesus: A Live Lab on Colossians 3:1–4

0:05 on resetting your mind every day, which is what we just heard about. Reset your mind on Jesus daily. phronima is a very provocative Greek word that has no adequate English translation I think but we're going to work on it when I say reset your mind on Jesus I mean that the mind has a set. We call it a mindset.

0:54 What does that mean? Mindset. Mind cast. Mind slant. Mind spirit. Consider this. This is Ephesians 4. Put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and be renewed in the spirit of your minds.

1:27 To pneumati to noos humo. In the spirit of your mind. That's a very strange phrase. Spirit of your mind. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And I'm suggesting that's a way of talking about phronema, mindset. Your mind has a spirit, has a cast, has a bent, has a slant, has an atmosphere, has an ethos. Not just thoughts. It's not just a brain. You don't just have a brain with thoughts. Your mind leans. Your mind wants. Your mind is or is not happy. in the Lord. So what is that? And do we need to reset it every day? Why would you need to reset it every day if you're a Christian? Is it set at conversion? So that's what we're after, and our text is going to be Colossians 3, mainly.

2:45 if you then, being raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above. not on things that are on the earth for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God when Christ who is your life appears then you also will appear with him in glory Father I pray for your help now for these next few minutes to understand what it is to set our minds on things that are above every day and reset our minds every day like Mueller did.

3:54 So teach us these things. Help us to get into this biblical reality of phronema. it is so rich it is so different it is so unusual it is so necessary so show us teach us guide me now and help us to be alert to what's here in your word I ask in Jesus name Amen so first let's get the structure of this text the big picture then we're going to go elsewhere to see the meaning of phronema then we're going to come back here and take about six pieces of this which I think are the things that are above and talk about what it is to set our minds on them and in setting, our minds reset every day. That's the idea. So the structure you see is this if clause here and then the then clause here.

4:54 If you have been raised with Christ, then. so that the if assumes that it's happened and now something is built on the if. If that's true, seek the things that are above. Ta'ano, the above things. This is plural, neuter. This is above. Just the things above, that's all. Nothing magic about Greek. Same problem in Greek as you got in English. It solves very little problems to know Greek. It's just wonderful. seek where Christ is.

5:34 Seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above. So here you have seek the ta'ano, and here you have set your minds on, is that word right there. That's the verb form of phronimo. Strange Greek word, set your mind on, is the way the ESV is translating it here.

6:01 I think it means something like have a mindset. Cultivate a certain mindset. Mind slant. Mind way of being a mind. The things above. So this is the above things. This is the above things. And this is seek. And this is... So I think these are explaining each other. Right? Not on the things that are on the earth. And we're going to come back in a little bit and ask, how in the world do you do that? What is that? And what are the things above? What would you do every morning to obey that command? But right now, we're trying to get the structure. So here we've got a four as the support. When you see four, you're seeing support or argument. So, this is supported in the front by the if clause. If this is true, do that.

6:59 And do that because of this. You can see where my hands are, right? This is probably why I use gestures, because I think this way. Here's the if clause. This is verse 1a. and built on it is 1b right here through 2. And then you've got a ground supporting it and that ground is you have died. So this is 3 and 4. That's the structure of the text. You've got an if clause. If that's true, do that. since that's true, or do that because this is true.

7:49 And it clearly makes sense because here you've died, and here you're raised. Why he put raised first? Not sure. We won't go there. That's for you to figure out. Preach it when you get there. But that's the kind of thing this way of observing raises that question. But he did. If you've been raised, then do this. Seek the things that are above. What I mean is, set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. Because, now he backs up behind you've been raised to you died. And then these amazing statements. Your life, your human life, your glorious, God-given, eternal, never-dying life is hidden. We'll come back to that. what in the world does that mean? It's hidden.

8:42 Your life is hidden. it's hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ, who is your life, in the Greek it's just when Christ, your life. What an amazing statement. Christ is your life. What does that mean? I think that's a thing that is above. appears. When Christ, the one who is your life, appears, then the whole world will know who you are.

9:19 You won't be hidden anymore. You will shine like the sun in the kingdom of your Father, Jesus said, Matthew 13, 43. Right now, you just look as ordinary as could be. You look like every unbeliever on the planet. you don't look like children of God children of God are you kidding me children of the creator of the universe and you look like you That's what he means. I mean, seriously, it's hidden. Nobody's walking down the street and saying, whoa, a child of the Creator just went by. Nobody does that. I'm reading a biography right now of Blaise Pascal by Graham Tomlin. Pascal made a very big deal out of the hiddenness of God. He's hidden. He was hidden in Jesus.

10:11 You look him right in the face, you don't know you're looking at God. Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because my father has revealed this to you. Pharisees don't see anything. this is just Jewish rabbi, that's all they see you look at the nature, you look at the galaxies, atheists just look at it and say it just came into being by itself for it was always there, they're blind as a bat God is hidden. We're hidden. Okay, I'm not supposed to be doing that now. That's later. When Christ who is your life appears, then you will appear with him in glory. So right now, that's the structure of the text as I see it. You've got these supports for why you seek and why you set your mind. And the supports are you died, you were raised, your life is hidden, it's hidden in God it's going to appear someday and you're going to be with him revealed in glory that's what's holding up what you do every morning what is phronema?

11:23 What is this verb? Set your mind. Okay, let's try to let Paul teach us what this is. So let's go to a few texts. Here's what you do. You do this. I do this. We use our computer. We do a little word study. We look up all the places. Even if you don't know Greek, you can do this. Because now you've got computer help. you lock it in and you say find all the places and you put something over here in English and bang you don't have to be stuck because if you look up mind then you get all kinds of Greek words that don't have anything to do with phronema so this is what we do, we look up phronema and you find text here's some really illuminating ones Romans 11 then you will say you Gentiles will say Jewish branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in That's true.

12:18 That's theologically true. Your attitude stinks, but it's true. They were broken off because of their unbelief. You stand fast through faith. So get off your high horse. So, do not become proud. that's a translation of not fronay high things but fear do not become proud is a translation it's the best this is not easy to translate fronay my word group it's just not easy so set your mind on don't set your mind on high things don't have a mind set a mind slant that got your thumbs and your armpits over the Jewish broken off branches.

13:12 Which means the mind has a spirit of humility or pride. That's just one way to talk about the spirit. The mindset. So often we distinguish mind and heart. That's right. Very often it is. But Paul's working with this phronema idea that the mind itself has a set, has a slant. And here it's arrogance. It's arrogance. You've got to fix that. You've got to reset that every morning. If you're bent that way, if your mind is starting to do this Hupsela thing,

13:50 I've got to fix that. I mean, Mueller would say, I've got to fix that. I'm not going to be happy in Jesus. I'm going to be happy in me when they praise me today at the elder meeting. They're going to like me. That's a sick phronema. It's got to be fixed. It's got to be reset. Okay, here's another one. This is just the opposite. Philippians 2. Have this mind among yourselves. Now that's a translation. Or the old King James, have this mind in you, which I think is probably just as good. It's a big argument about how to translate this, but I think it boils down to the same thing. Whether the mind is among you or in you, it's in you.

14:32 It's in you in order to be among you. have this mind among yourselves think this in you same word right there have the slant of mind, what kind? this what is that? this which is yours in Christ Jesus who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of men what's the mindset of Jesus? Humility. Servanthood. Go low. Save people. Die for others. That's the whole mindset of Jesus in this text. So here it's just the opposite of set your mind on high things. Here you're setting your mind on go low. Be a servant.

15:25 Empty yourself. Be like your Savior. So do you have a mindset like that? when you get up in the morning, is your mindset, I'm going low at the breakfast table. I'm serving my wife at the breakfast table. I'm serving my kids at the breakfast table. I am the leader, and I will lead, but I will lead like Jesus led. I will not be arrogant. I will not be pushy. I will not be looking for compliments. I'll be looking for how I can bless the whole cast of mind. That's what Mueller was after. I've got to fix my mind this morning because I don't wake up that way. I wake up proud. I wake up arrogant. I wake up wanting my wife to say nice things about me.

16:06 So that's another one. So we've got a mindset that can be arrogant and a mindset that can be servant-like. Here's the most important text. It's Romans 8, 1-8. I'll read it in two sections. This is just one of the most important paragraphs in the Bible. I mean Romans 8 has a lot of most important paragraphs. So does Romans 3.

16:38 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. How does that four work? That's a very explosive dangerous four. Because if you take that four as cause, you're a heretic. or a Roman Catholic. Meaning, justification is grounded in sanctification. It's not. Well, it says four. It says there's no condemnation because the law of the spirit of life in Christ has set me free from the law of sin and death. That's transformation.

17:33 So justification is based on transformation. That's heresy. so is that what for means and if you study carefully how Paul thinks you know gar for can be an evidence or a ground when you give evidence for something it's not the cause of it it's the result of it let me paraphrase it like this there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus for you can see in a Christian's life that the law and the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. That's the result of and the evidence for you having no condemnation. Now you might say, how in the world do you know that's what it means?

18:27 And my answer is, this phrase right here so follow me for God has done, now he's grounding the fact that there's no condemnation,

18:51 for God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. So he's in the likeness of sinful flesh. He's not a sinner. He brings no sin.

19:15 He condemned sin. Now that's where the no condemnation comes from. This he condemned. God condemned sin in the flesh of Jesus. My sin, his flesh. God condemns my sin in his flesh so that I hear the words, no condemnation, glory. Right? So we get penal substitution. Even N.T. Wright, who I find problems with a lot, says in his big Romans commentary, that's penal substitution in verse 3. Can't get away from it. The father condemned the son in my place. So I hear the words, no condemnation.

20:12 Jesus heard the words of his father on the cross, damned. remember R.C. Sproul with great passion used to say was the cry of the damned on the cross as heavy and glorious. This is the heart of the gospel, the heart of our faith, the heart of our hope. It's the heart of renewal every morning, right? I'm emphasizing this because I don't want you to think you've got to get up every morning and be saved. Sometimes I'll talk that way. I get saved every morning. You know I'm exaggerating, right? Justification is once for all. It's based on something once for all, and this is the heart of it. But look what happens next. He did that.

21:03 Christ took our place. The ground of our justification is His condemnation in order that the righteous judgment or the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. That's this. so what's the relationship between no condemnation and the spirit has set you free it's purpose the condemnation is the purpose in order that the purpose is fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit which is I think according to chapter 13 love. Love is the fulfillment of the law. The Spirit helps us bear the fruit of love. That gives the evidence that we are not condemned, but that Christ has borne condemnation for us. Now, all that to say, wow.

22:10 So, if it took the death of the Son of God in my place, and it took the power of the Holy Spirit to get me where I need to be what's wrong with me I must be in terrible shape. And you are. And that's what the next is about. Four. Those who are according to the flesh have the mindset of the things of the flesh. There's that word. Things of the flesh. mindset, have a mindset, fronio again.

23:04 But those who are according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. The mindset, fronima, of the flesh is death. But the mindset, fronima, of the Spirit is life and peace. Why? Why is the phronema of the flesh death? For the mindset of the flesh is hostile to God. it does not submit to God's law. Why not? It cannot. Why can't it? Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

23:58 That's just the heaviest verse in the Bible. cannot. You preach to people who are absolutely enslaved. They cannot please God. They are hostile to God by nature. that's why we need justification, that's why we need the Holy Spirit, this is all an explanation for, why did God go to the lengths, of killing his son, good night, the most glorious being in the universe,

24:41 dies, and pours out the Holy Spirit so that we might fulfill the law. What is wrong with us? Fronema is wrong with us. We have a phronema of the flesh. phronema of the spirit is what we need because the phronema of the flesh is just anti-God and your people are going to say you need to be patiently teaching over the years about their condition because they won't believe it they're going to say I'm not hostile to God my unbelieving kid isn't hostile to God he's not interested you did. that's not the way Paul thought to say to the God of the universe who made you and holds you in being and has revealed every beautiful thing about himself to you that you're not interested in him is outrageous it's outrageous and deserves hell It doesn't submit.

26:00 Boy, we get our back up, I'll tell you. John Piper does not like to submit. I don't want you to tell me what to do. I do what I want to do. I don't like people telling me what to do. And I'm saved. I've got to reset this thing. I've got to reset this thing. Put off the old man. Put on the new man. Every day. There's an arrogant piece to it. There's a fear piece to it. There's an insubordination. And it cannot please him. and I don't want to please him I want to please me Humanity is in a terrible condition.

27:03 Okay. back to our text let's just take a few more minutes maybe 10 more minutes and talk about set your minds on things that are above not on things that are on the earth and I think things that are above are the same as Romans 8 the things of the spirit and the things that are on the earth are the same as the things of the flesh what are they?

27:43 Well, I think if you just stay with the text and say, Paul, what do you mean by the things above? Seek the things above. Let the things above shape your mindset. What do you mean? I think he would say, I mean you have been raised with Christ I mean You have died.

28:15 I mean your life is hidden. I mean your life is Christ. I mean when he appears you will appear with him that's enough for a morning reset and so what would Mueller do as he stares at this verse across the table let it query him so let's take each of those or the ones we have time for here and just see what Paul means by them you have died nice phrase What does that mean?

29:07 If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. we died because we were united with him. Union with Christ is the key to our death. How did you get unified with Christ? What happened? What made you so united with Christ that his death is your death? And not just in principle, but a real death died, a real thing, and you died. and the answer is given from him XL2 you are in Christ who became to us wisdom from God righteousness sanctification and redemption God united you to Christ just did it he did it it's called new birth it's called divine calling he just said I'm uniting you with my son and that's everything follows from there so what is it like it's like this I have been crucified with Christ there's the death it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live so this dead you is alive no the new you is alive right I'm crucified with Christ no longer I who live but the life I live in the flesh.

30:56 I live by faith. That's the new you. The old you is the unbelieving you. I don't want to be subordinate to him. I don't trust him. I don't want to please him. I don't like him. I am hostile to God. That's my phronema. And when you're united with Christ, that is fundamentally broken. That is fundamentally changed. and the new believing self comes into being with experiences like this.

31:30 You also have died to the law. Died to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. Died to the law. I don't orient on the law anymore. So as I reset my mind, I'm not looking for a list. I need a list. I need a list for today. No, you don't. you belong to another Jesus Christ to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit not list keeping, fruit bearing or we just look at Galatians 2 here's 1 Peter he himself bore our sins in his body that we might die to sin and live to righteousness by his wounds you have been healed so that this is what your mind is doing as you reset in the morning.

32:37 If you just take the phrase, we died. You just go to these texts, you think of them. This is why, if you read the Bible for 50 years, they just tumble to your mind, right? They tumble to your mind and they shed light on the question you're asking tonight. How do I reset my mind with the truth? I have died. What about...

33:04 this new life we have. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the written code. let's go so that's you have died and now you have been raised I think we've seen enough of that perhaps we don't need to look at it again let's go to your life is hidden with Christ in God 1 John, see what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called the children of God.

34:11 And so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it does not know Him. Beloved, we are God's children now. Yes, we are. and what we will be is not, has not yet appeared. John was just so conscious of the disconnect between the claims made for our status and what we look like it has not yet appeared who we are but we know that when he appears we will be like him for we will see him as he is so how do you reset your mind with that You meditate on the fact, okay, my people in my church are hidden princes and princesses. I'm hidden.

35:09 My wife is a fellow heir of the grace of life. I don't treat her that way. I've got to reset my mind with truth. maybe I'll end with these two phrases knowing that we've left a lot undone just because they're all glorious but this one is stunning so the hiddenness here in Romans 8 we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now not only the creation but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit grown inwardly. as we wait eagerly for adoption, as sons, we're waiting. We're waiting, hidden.

36:02 the redemption of our bodies. Paul just felt he was constantly resisting over-realized eschatology. You can hear it in the words, not only the creation, but literally even we, ourselves, even we who have the first fruits of the Spirit, the people that you would expect of all people to look like sons of God are groaning. We just don't look like it as we wait.

36:41 And here, for me, as an 80-year-old... this is sobering and wonderfully realistic so it is with the resurrection of the dead what is sown is perishable what is raised is imperishable it is sown in dishonor that to me is, I mean I'm a pastor right for 33 years I've watched people die like this sown in dishonor A 90-year-old man curled up like a fetal position with a diaper on. His wife standing beside him and saying, just pray that the Lord would take him. Please just pray that the Lord would take him. This is so dishonorable. He was a great man.

37:31 I can't stand people seeing him like this. That's the way it's going to be. Is that so? It's not going to be gracious. It's not going to be beautiful. It's not going to be heroic. It's going to be awful. Hidden away in a nursing home. Outlived all your friends.

37:52 Raised in glory. Sown in weakness. Raised in power. You can see how I reset, right? I get up in the morning. I get a new ache. I say, maybe this is the year. Maybe. I had a heart attack in July. I got these three stints in here. I'm out of breath. When I get up a stairway, I said, one of these days, it's going to stop. It's going to stop.

38:20 And I reset. That's okay. That's okay. So you get the idea. So take Scott's word from Mueller. Take Paul's word that, get the text up here again, that we need to set our minds. This is present right here. This is a present tense verb.

38:45 Continuous. It's not like one time you do it. I got to reset. Good, fix my life. I'm done resetting. No, you're not. Tomorrow morning you need a reset because your phronima, your slant, your bent, your ethos, the set of your mind is under constant attack from the devil and from indwelling sin and from the world. And you get up in the morning and you open this precious Word and you reset your mind with truth. Let's pray. We'll just stand up and we'll take another stretch break and David's going to come and wrap things up for us. Father in heaven, we so much need Mueller's guidance, Paul's teaching on phronema or mindset, and we need the Holy Spirit to come tomorrow morning or tonight all through the conference we're about to enjoy and do this wonderful renewal every day so that we are happy in you and humble in you and courageous in you and unafraid of death in you and can walk into the day and be useful to our people.

40:06 Thank you, and we pray for your help in Jesus' name.