Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Text:

We often think of stewardship as something that we have to live out. But stewardship begins far before it comes down to actually doing anything. God would have us be faithful not only in our actions, but in our thoughts. Someone once said, “Let the mind of the Master be the master of your mind.” Being a good steward of your mind means giving Christ lordship of your thoughts.

“I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ–I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!– I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.” (2 Corinthians 10:1-6)

I want to focus on the train of thought Paul began in verse 3.

Not waging war according to the flesh means at least two things.

1. We do not fight for things that the world thinks are important.

The world considers financial success important. A few years back, a radio station in Chicago asked their audience what they would be willing to do for $10,000. 6,000 people responded, and the radio station selected a man by the name of Jay who stated that he would eat an 11 foot young tree. When it was all over, Jay complained of an upset stomach. Evidently the tree’s bark was worse than his bite.

If a man is willing to eat a tree for $10,000 dollars, what are you willing to do for Christ?

The world considers status and reputation important. Many people spend money they haven’t yet earned for things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like. We should be concerned with our reputation, but only to the extent that it exalts Christ. We should be willing to show ourselves to be fools for Christ.

2. We do not fight using the weapons of the world.

Our battle is not physical, but spiritual. We fight against sin. We fight not with swords or guns, but with prayer and the Word. We fight not in our strength, but in God’s strength.

We will not always be victorious over sin. The degree to which we rely on self will determine what extent we will fail into temptation. So we will always need God’s grace.

I read a story about an oak tree growing in a park. A vine began to grow up along its trunk and started to wrap itself around the trunk. Over time, the vine had grown strong and the tree was in danger of being choked by the vine. If we allow temptation to grow up in our minds, we run the risk of being choked out by it. But Christ cut sin’s power over us, and so we must always rely upon God’s grace.

The degree to which we rely upon the strength of God even in our minds will determine to what extent we will find victory over sin (v. 4). You rely upon God, first of all, by having a heart changed by God. You rely upon God by going to Him often in prayer. You rely upon God by seeking out His will in His Word. You rely upon God by taking every thought captive to obey Christ (v. 5). The question, then, becomes this: what are you filling your mind with? Are you allowing temptation to have a platform in your mind?

But being a good steward of your mind is more than a defensive strategy. In order to win spiritual battles, we must also go on the offensive. Are you challenging thoughts from unbelievers? No argument can stand against God.

Many attempt to create arguments against the existence of God. But every argument is flawed, and the clear evidence all around us points to the truth that there is a God.

Unbelievers do not have a monopoly on logic. They want to claim that science supports their position, but it doesn’t! They want to claim that they can discover truth without God, but they can’t! They are completely inconsistent in their beliefs about morality. Unbelievers appeal to a moral code where some things are obviously wrong. But they have no reason to look down on such behavior. If anything, they should condone it because of “survival of the fittest.”

To sum up: We need to know our faith well, and remain in it. We need to challenge commonly held beliefs of unbelievers. We need to do these things by relying upon the grace and strength of God.