0:07 Dr gford thanks so much for sitting down I want to talk to you about how we renew our mind um we know that the Christian Life is a battle for the Mind Peter says prepare your minds for Action Ephesians 4:23 says that we are to be renewed in the spirit of our mind Romans 12 says do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind I think it would be fair to say that someone is not ready to live the Christian Life unless they've taken a serious inventory of their mind and understands fundamentally that the Christian Life while we are positionally changed by Jesus Christ at the moment of faith we are Sanctified and progressively transformed and that largely has to do with the way that we feed our mind the truth of God's word through his holy spirit so I just want
0:54 to talk to you about the renewing of your mind and want you to react to it why is it so important that we understand that concept biblically explain what that is I've Been Changed My Heart's been made clean but there are still remnants of sin so maybe just explain what it means to renew our mind and why it's so important good well some of it's anthropology that you're bringing up where we're talking about your capacities have changed at the moment of Salvation so you had a darkened mind I had a darkened mind before we were in Christ the scripture says it was corrupt defiled but we had a mind nevertheless it was callous but we had a mind but regeneration actually brings with it a transformation so that your mind is renewed so we could say the Christian
1:41 has the mind of Christ 1 Corinthians 216 or so so what does that mean you actually have a capacity that's changed anthropologically you have this new capacity your mind works but it doesn't mean it's perfect so you just kind of brought up Remnant sin the noetic effects of sin yeah so sanctification means that that mind that is now capacitated at the moment of Salvation it has to grow in being conformed to the image of Christ yeah so why is that so important well I think one thing is important to note you will live out what's happening in your inner person yeah and your actions your behaviors the things we see and biblical counseling will often say those are the fruit issues but the root issue is really
2:28 what's happening in your inner person when you say inner person I think sometimes people get you know even when I was growing up people would say it's in my head but it's not in my heart oh yeah so maybe even before we proceed like you're saying inner person are you using that as a euphemism to consolidate The Head and the Heart into one kind of entity yes yes the reason I I would say inner person if I say mind and heart I understand how a person might say hey I I know that to be true but I don't want that yeah I get that tension yeah but technically the faculties are all part of your inner person your soul your heart your mind I mean your heart is said to think so your your mind is not the only Center even of cognition in that way so you're you don't want to
3:13 separate heart and mind you just say something like the whole inner person so if you ever have those tensions that tension is of an inner person tension so what is it yeah maybe you don't want what you know to be right it's part of sanctification the Lord is changing that we want the right things and we know the right things and then we love the right things and so forth but that leads to some of the importance of renewing your mind yeah if you have a darkened mind it changes everything yeah let's say you have a regenerate mind but it's not growing in transformation the Ephesians 4:23 passage yeah what do you think your actions will be darkened you know callous there'll be an overflow of what's happening in your mind so Renewing Your Mind Is Fundamental to the life of the Christian because
3:59 sanctification is fundamental to the life of the Christian and I would even say one more what is what is Christ sanctifying we know there will be a point when our bodies will be restored there will be a resurrection in the future but what's he currently sanctifying your inner person to grow in Conformity to the image of Christ to include your mind yeah so that is the work of sanctification why does it matter so much that's what sanctification looks like your mind is being transformed not being conformed Romans 12:2 yeah that's helpful yeah even when you you think about sanctification that that is the process by which we're becoming more and more like Jesus Christ 1 Thessalonians 4:3 says this is the will of God it's explicit absolutely this is the will of God your sanctification so therefore if I'm using the same logic which I agree with the will of God for our lives is
4:47 the transformation and renewal of our minds sure because if you're equating those to be one and the same or one is the the root that produces the fruit um so I am a Christian I sense Maybe um I struggle in my mind I I know that I need to have I want to transform my thoughts so that I love Jesus Christ I hate sin what would you say hey if you want to renew your mind here's what the scripture says practical principles for mind renewal what would you say there has to be a level of scripture engagement so hear me out on this when I talk about this at my local church I try to be candid that there are there are people who are just readers yeah and God's gift them they just love to read and so they sit down with a book and
5:33 just get lost in it yeah and it's like man you know like that's such a blessing to be able to be knit towards the intellectual side of things but then you have a group of people that they don't get lost in reading the last time they read a book from cover to cover was like it like high school man like H but you know what that person often is great at serving and behind the scenes stuff so they may not be the intellectual type which is just fine but they have more of the serving gifts and they just like to be a doer I just want to do like help me set up the midweek family dinner all right cool why do I bring that up because scripture engagement means that no matter your own personal Tendencies you're engaging in Renewing Your Mind
6:19 with the scripture but that can look differently for some of us we get lost reading Chapters at a time but others of us like we're going to listen to the scripture as we're driving to our work or others of us were watching a podcast or watching something like dial in to help us be able to work out different things there's others that they're listening to an audio book instead of reading trusting God by Jerry Bridges yeah and each of those if we're engaging in the scripture by watching a sermon or by reading the Bible that morning that is part of what goes into the renewal of the mind and in a media age like ours I mean partly what we're doing is creating cont to help people renew their mind how are they doing that specifically in scripture engagement in
7:05 one of those ways so if I just say only read your Bible which I think you should do every morning in all fairness yeah I don't think that's big enough to contribute to what you should really be doing I don't want you to just read your Bible for 30 minutes and then get up and go on about your day I want you to think like your Bible I want your whole day to be saturated by your Bible I want there to be Post-it notes on your desk at work with Bible verses that's that's the engagement we want to saturate our life with the truth of scripture so if if someone watching this is thinking how do I do that practically sneak in Bible into every crack of your day that's how you do it practically listen to it it's being sung it's h it's a podcast like it's it's whatever it is you're just you're saturating yourself with the
7:51 truth of scripture yeah that's helpful and even thinking through the renewal of our mind you're saying every crack of our day I think part of what maybe could potentially be neglected even in the subject is that some people view the renewing of their mind as individualistic that they're a Lone Ranger in the Endeavor so maybe even talk about what is the role of the people of God how is renewing our minds in a sense a community project because we live our life with people um how do even relationships work in such a way where hey I know if I'm my name is Johnny your name is Greg uh you're a Christian and I'm a Christian therefore we both have the same will of God for our life I know that God's will for your life and God's will for my life is that our minds will be renewed what do
8:36 relationships then look like to go I'm assuming you're reading the Bible but how do I even begin to glean those truths from you so that you can encourage me and I can mutually encourage you in maybe a synergistic fashion yeah well I mean think hm mariology goes into this because if you explain what that means for someone that may not know real yeah yeah sure um if you believe so hmar ology is the doctrine of sin but part of what sin does is deceives you yeah it's almost like sin wants to isolate me Proverbs 18:1 whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire the The Lone Ranger mentality doesn't have a good hology in that way because you're trusting yourself too much to be able to come to the right
9:23 conclusions from the scripture I want you to see the Hebrews 1312 to13 like encourage one another as long as it's called today so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin yeah I need people to help ground me in an accurate interpretation of the scripture yeah so I am not hardened by my own sin and all fairness those that get to the extreme of this the world would say something like the narcissist the the just super self selfish um controlling like they're just hardened you can't break in with counsel and wisdom why because they know everything they know at all you can't instruct them in that way so when we're talking about Lone Ranger and we're talking about renewing your mind you can't Lone Ranger
10:08 you can't Lone Ranger and renew your mind effectively I'm sure there are Pockets here and there but you need the body of Christ to one another you which leads to what you believe about the church yeah you see the church isn't like you know I'm just going to gather together and hear this sermon with these people and that's great the church is the organism it's the body 1 Corinthians 12 speaks of and that body all has a necessary function for us to grow in maturity so I couldn't amputate my leg and think it's going to grow on its own yeah in the same way I I can't be an individualistic Lone Ranger for Jesus and expect that I am going to grow on my own Bon haer You' I know you've read Bon Hofer think part of his dissertation was that you need the body of Christ to be
10:55 able to become the full image of Christ you can't do that individually that's really helpful I think obviously the renewing of her mind is so important and you're saying it's it's really the underlying buttress of all sanctification which would mean that if someone is struggling with worry or pornography or gossip and you know may not even think through it but out of the heart the mouth speaks we're referring to the mind and the Heart Under the Umbrella of the inner person right so if someone has the problem with gossip I just want people to connect the dots here if someone has a problem with gossip what they need fundamentally is not just to learn to tame their tongue yes they need to learn to retrain and renew their mind so that that never even enters their heart in the first place
11:41 yeah I say it I would say it like this some people think of the Bible like the quick reference guide like you just flip open and you're like okay no gossip gossip is bad yeah but instead of seeing the Bible as that see the Bible as a pair of glasses through which you're viewing gossip and then now that be like thankfulness is part of the equation seeing the sovereignty of God and his Providence as part of the equation those start to squash gossip more than the quick reference guide of thou shout not gossip would would actually squash it so you're Renewing Your Mind by actually being engaged in the totality of scripture as the lens not just the one specific verse that pertains to that issue yeah that's even what you're saying regarding the sovereignty of God if someone's struggling with worry and they see the chaos and uncertainty of things in the future and they renew
12:27 their mind with a deeper understanding of the sovereign of God maybe just finally in the process you're talking about the word of God and that we are to not just read our Bibles in the morning but it is to fill every crack and crevice of our life and schedule what does prayer have to do in maybe maybe driving The Nails Home of what we're meditating upon in the scripture you said Post-it notes at our computer on our steering wheel what does prayer have to do with the renewing of her mind what should we be praying someone what you know give me an example God help me as I come to the truth shape my heart know what would you pray yeah and this is not something I'm saying everyone should do as they start but the way I start a morning devotion is Lord open my eyes that I might behold wonderful things from your law yeah 19 yeah so give me
13:15 give me eyes to see what I see yeah and in that way I I want to not just sit here and read but I actually want to understand the world as you see it yeah those types of prayers I was taught in my biblical counseling training to actually take the scripture then pray it back to the Lord yeah Lord would you help me to and then pray the scripture yeah may this be true of me may I love my wife like you love your church and by praying scripture back over time you're both communicating with the Lord but then you're also you're Renewing Your Mind with the truth of scripture yeah and so that that's an easy discipline to get into in all honesty like what what scripture are you working through in your devotions pray that back to the Lord and there's some
14:01 narratival or historical stuff that might be a little bit harder but by and large Lord help this to be true of me and then we pray back the scripture to the Lord is so how does it drive the nail I mean your communication to God comes through prayer which will be an overflow of the way you've renewed your mind in the truth of scripture so how do you pray often as a reflection of where's your mind at in the renewal process yeah and if you're not diving deep and then your prayers will always be somewhat shallow yeah obvious and I think even what you're saying about praying you know praying back the promises of God the truth of God you know even practically you know Jesus says it's a command imperative abide in my love you could read that and then just go Lord help me to abide in your love I think sometimes we over complicate what prayer is but it's what you're saying it's we're repeating the
14:47 prayers we're saying God you're praying the prayers that are in scripture like you're talking about in the Salter Psalm 1918 Lord open my eyes you know because we're um our hearts are callous and we need God's help and this endeavor and I think that's just a really practical thing to pray is God would you shape my affections because and renew my mind as I come to your word and would you surround me with people that do the same and um even what you're talking about the The Lone Ranger element I think part of the ways that maybe men and women come alongside each other in the church is I have a guy an older guy in my life that just sometimes say he'll sometimes ask me is there anything that's giving you Joy that shouldn't and because he wants me to just because that can even become a default position of the human heart is to start having our mind you you're talking about the cracks and
15:32 crevices of our time our mind finds things that'll give it joy and uh even he's his mindfulness of the specificity of the question ask me things like that that's how the body of Christ comes along each other so sure yeah for sure um is there do you talk about this reality in your book heart and habits a little bit in regards to the renewal of your mind yeah what I would put it in as I talk about there's a spiritual sphere where you relate to the Lord yeah and that means that in the spiritual sphere prayer yeah renewing of the mind I would include repentance yeah scripture engagement Church giving all of those are kind of part of the spiritual disciplines but the renewing of your mind that is a personal command that you have like I can't renew Johnny's mind for you you have to renew your own mind you can't renew Greg's mind for I'm like
16:17 I have to renew my own mind so when we think of the personal commands that relate to uh your relationship with the Lord that is where I would couch this idea of the renew of the mind I have to do that you can't do that for me yeah and I think even what you're saying about Philippians 2 is like such a good thing to ground our thinking in because it's a a passive imperative it's something we pursue but God does to us yes and I think sometimes we're either hand bootstraps got to go or let go let God and the scripture is clear that no as we dive deeply it's you know it's God who works I think that's true of the Ephesians 4:23 as well that who's doing the renewing passive yeah God's doing the renewing technically but you're
17:02 you're doing your part submit yes right that's where spirit filled obedience comes well that's so helpful well Dr gford thanks so much for your time and and your perspective on really a needed and often neglected subject in the Christian Life GL to do it
