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“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8, ESV)

Pastor Abel’s sermon on this passage is titled, “Behold Him. Become Like Him.”

Paul, in the passage above, makes the connection between what we think about, or set our minds on, and how we live (how we walk). In fact, he goes so far as to say that our peace and even our very lives depend on how we think.

However, if we are not careful, we can fall into the trap of turning “thinking about Jesus” into yet another self-reliant work for our flesh to perform. How do we avoid this?

The Bible teaches that one of the main things that gets us to stop focusing on ourselves and start focusing on God is: the desperate, sinful condition of our souls. For example, think about the story of the bronze serpent in the book of Numbers. The people sinned by complaining against God, so God sent serpents to bite them, poisoning them. Then, God told Moses, “’Make a fiery serpent, and put it on a flag pole; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, and looks at it, will live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on the flag pole; and it came about, that if a serpent bit someone, and he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.” (Numbers 21:8-9, NASB)

The poison of the serpents in their bodies was a picture of the poison of sin that infects all of us. We walk around carrying our own death with us, with all of our sinful thoughts, desires, and actions. And yet, by recognizing this, by seeing how hopeless our situation is and how little we can do to save ourselves, we can, by God’s grace, find the way forward. That is, we look away from ourselves, at the man on the cross. Jesus himself said:

“And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes will have eternal life in Him.” (John 3:14-15, ESV)

Don’t turn ‘thinking about Jesus’ into another chore. Once you see your need, you will look.

 

For Further Study

 

Small Group Questions

  1. In this day and age, there are so many things demanding and competing for our attention. What occupies most of our thoughts throughout each day?
  2. What are some practical “checks and balances” we can (or have) implement in our lives to help us to look up at Jesus regularly?
  3. How can we avoid falling into the trap of turning “setting our mind on Christ” into yet another checklist item to perform to please God?
  4. Read Psalm 1 and discuss how dwelling in God’s word is important for directing our thoughts toward God.