"Mastering the Mind" by Neal Pollard

The Center for Humane Technology is a project that was started by some people that you might

not think would do so.

These were some of the pioneers, some of those who were formidable in the early stages of

not just giving us the internet, but of giving us apps on our phones, smartphone technology,

and all that has come with that.

They began to see as they were developers and designers that there was an evolution

taking place that has continued to this very day.

That there was this attention-harvesting design in many of the apps and the notifications

that was taking place with the engineers and the programmers and developers on the other

side of your device.

And they began to notice some things about it.

That it began to deteriorate our ability to focus.

Began to weaken our real-life relationships.

And it began to affect our mental health.

Now there's a great many reasons why, and which we won't get into those today, but one

of the things that is driving all of this is a tale as old as time.

As former quarterback and UFL coach Rick Neuheisel likes to say, and I've repeated it before,

the answer is money.

Now what's your question?

You know, he is just repeating something that Solomon said a long time and exposing a belief

system that a lot of people have.

That money is the answer to everything, Proverbs chapter 10 and verse 19.

Proverbs 10 · chapter mention

Now if I haven't thought about this, if time travel was possible and people from 25 or

30 years ago could come to us today and see our daily behaviors with our phones and our

tablets and our computers, they would believe that they had entered into a sci-fi horror

film.

The change would be so radical.

But we would begin to talk with them and we would walk through all of that and we would

say that really there has been an attempt to impact our values and to influence our

thinking that's ancient.

And we'd be right.

In fact, we would be echoing what the Apostle Paul writes a lot about when he writes that

second letter to the Corinthians.

As he speaks to them, he says that we are not ignorant of the devices, the schemes of

the devil.

We don't want him to take an advantage of us.

Second Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11 and that word schemes and designs is the word

2 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

that's ordinarily translated mind or thoughts in the New Testament.

And there's always this message that Paul's giving us this message in second Corinthians

that there is a force in this world, the devil, that would like to influence our minds and

by that shape the direction of our lives.

Why does that matter?

Verse 23 and verse 7, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

And as we consider that, the direction of our minds impacts the directions of our lives.

Jesus often taught this, if you think about it, in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 and verse 21, especially going through verse 32, he says that adultery and murder

begin in the heart as lust and hatred.

He would teach it again in Matthew chapter 12 in verse 34 and 35, he would say that out

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks whether good or bad.

And then in Matthew chapter 15 verse 18 and 19, he says the things that come from within,

Matthew 15:18

from the heart of men, these defile the man.

And we're talking about things like murder and adultery and fornication and evil thoughts

and slanders and false witnesses.

Matthew 15 verse 18 and verse 19.

Matthew 15:18

The apostle Paul fleshes this out for us in 2 Corinthians and he says the one who would

like to shape the direction of your mind and thereby alter your destiny is at work.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 14, trying to harden the mind.

2 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

Chapter 4 and verse 4, he's trying to blind the mind.

Chapter 10 and verse 5, he's trying to capture the mind.

And chapter 11 and verse 3, he's trying to lead the mind astray.

And so since we see that there is this battle going on, whether we find ourselves thinking

of ourselves as engaged in that, as in fighting that, it's taking place all the time.

It's not just a matter of technology and even smart technology.

It's something that has always been a challenge.

But as it always is, when we're facing some challenge that would keep us from living with

God forever, which is what He wants, God is going to give us the counterbalance.

He is going to tell us how to master the mind.

When we consider that the culture is trying to impress us with its message, that religious

error is trying to sell us on its message, that sometimes at our worst we're even selling

ourselves within the body of Christ on a message that's just not so.

And Christ would say, I want to be, as your master, the master of your mind.

How can we master our minds in a world that's trying to do that for us?

I want us to just notice, and we can't be exhausted, but I want to point into a couple

of areas and see how the New Testament tells us that we can master our minds.

In the first place, if we're going to master our minds, we've got to wake up.

Now when we think about this, Paul is going to make that point in 1 Corinthians chapter

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

15.

But he's going to talk about the fact that if we want to wake up spiritually, we've got

to realize that what makes this possible is the fact that Jesus Christ woke.

He came up out of the grave.

He was dead physically, and he lives again.

And Paul says, I deliver this unto you as a matter of first importance.

He says that the gospel which I preached unto you, which you believe wherein you stand and

by which you are saved, if you continue in this message, lest you have believed in vain.

For I delivered unto you that first of all which I received of the Lord, how that Christ

died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again

the third day according to the Scriptures.

First Corinthians 15 verse 1 through 4.

1 Corinthians 15:1–4

This is, this fact is the ultimate game changer.

It spells the difference between hope and no hope.

It's the difference between life and death, and Paul says this ought to make a difference

in your daily life.

If you believe and you live your life on the fact that Jesus is alive, then you're going

to make sure that you don't see life as just one party to go to, and you don't associate

yourselves with folks who think that way, verse 32 and 33.

And he says, in summary, you don't give your life to willful sin, verse 34.

In order to keep that from happening, what he says is, you've got to awake to righteousness,

verse 34.

You've got to awaken from your drunken stupor, the ESV would say.

Other versions say it different ways.

Some might say, return to your right mind, snap out of it.

There is an attempt being made by the great adversary for us to fall asleep, to fall under

the sway and the spell of the evil one, to have our values distorted, and so what Paul

says is, because we want to be raised with him in glory at the end, we want to be a participant

in the victory, we've got to make sure that we are not being rocked to sleep.

When I thought about this and was studying 1 Corinthians 15, I don't know where your

mind might naturally go, and I'm not sure this is the natural place, but I thought about

Aladdin, the movie.

We were young parents when that movie came out, and of all the characters you may be

thinking of, I couldn't help but think about Jafar, Jafar and the sultan, and you remember

how the sultan was being mesmerized by Jafar, he was the grand vizier and he had that snake

staff and he would hold it up and the otherwise somewhat rational sultan would come under

his spell, and it seems to be symbolic, you know, we think about that, and I don't know

how you felt, but as I watched that I was like, come on man, can't you see what's happening?

Break the spell!

But it was others too.

I thought, even today, we can find ourselves under the spell.

We can become mind-numb robots and not even know that it's taking place.

You know, if you think about the device that really, they really figured it out to put

it all in one little small place where you can get everything, do you have some way to

keep up with how much time you're spending on your phone every day?

Do you know how many times you get notifications from the different apps?

How many times have you checked the notifications since the sermon began?

You see, there are ways for us to really dial in and ask ourselves, am I going to sleep?

But this is about more than technology.

The devil doesn't care what kind of way that he does this.

All he wants us to do is to be rocked to sleep spiritually because in the end that's what's

going to matter.

And so what Paul is saying, moved by the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 34 is, snap

1 Corinthians 15:34

out of it, return to your right mind, wake up.

And so Christ can be the master of your mind.

Then we go to a different passage and we see another principle that's given to us and that

is that if we are going to master our minds, we've got, not only wake up, but we've got

to renew our minds.

In Paul's transition in the book of Romans, after he has taught us the facts of the gospel

and what it should mean in our lives, in Romans chapter 12 and verse 2 he says, and be not

Romans 12 · chapter mention

conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds that you may

prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

We often talk about transformation, and we'll say a word about that in just a moment, but

it's a very fascinating word, that word renew.

Did you realize there aren't a lot of these words, but this is one of those words that

doesn't appear outside of ancient Christian literature.

It's a word that's found here and then it's found in Titus chapter 3 and verse 5.

Titus 3 · chapter mention

And Titus in Titus 3 and verse 5 says that you were baptized and you were born again

and then you were renewed by the Holy Spirit.

The word indicates this idea of being new and improved.

And when we become Christians, we are given the opportunity to be new and improved.

So how do we renew our minds according to this passage?

In the first place, we're transformed.

Have you seen the Chair Tachi commercials?

I mean if you're ever on YouTube, it seems like maybe it's just my demographic.

They say these older guys, you know, here's what can happen, is that you give us 30 days,

you disappear for a month, and you spend 7 minutes a day, and when your friends and family

see you again, you're going to be a different person, you're going to be totally transformed.

And I admit to being a little skeptical over the fact that you can have so much change

in so little time with so little effort, and yet it's a principle in a much more deliberate

way what Paul says in Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

He says you can change.

You can become something different by the renewing of your mind.

What a beautiful thought.

We all struggle with something.

Maybe you struggle with using angry words.

Maybe you have an explosive temper, but you can be transformed.

You can become patient, and you can become kind.

You may have a sharp tongue, and you may have a criticism ready.

You may be a negative person.

You think about all the behaviors, and the Gospel has the power to change that, and you

can become somebody different.

Think about people who obey the Gospel who are totally transformed over the process of

time as their mind is renewed.

Paul is writing to some of them in Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

He says, This I say, therefore, in testifying the Lord, that you no longer walk like the

other Gentiles walked in the vanity of their minds according to the darkness or the blindness

of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness, to work

all uncleanness with greediness.

But you have not so learned the Lord, if in fact you have learned and received the truth

as the truth is in Christ Jesus, that according to the old man, that you put away the old

man with a lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new

man who after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Renewing your mind means holiness and righteousness, and the good and acceptable and the perfect

will of God.

It's not just an ideal you read in the Bible, it is a reality that can happen in your life.

You renew your mind by letting the Gospel transform you, but you also prove what is

the will of God.

All these behaviors that we've talked about, that the master of this world would like us

to fall prey to, they just prove what our will is.

But when we live according to the pattern of those behaviors that he calls for, we can

prove what the will of God is.

And when we prove what the will of God is, think about the change that occurs in our

lives.

We no longer have to curate the perfect life that makes the others the envy of us, or we

no longer find ourselves trying to be the envy of others, or we no longer try to play

the comparison game.

We want to prove what God's will is by the way that it's making a difference in our lives.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 4, the God of this world wants to blind the minds

of those who believe.

But when we let the master be the one who masters our mind, and he shows us in Scripture,

we renew our minds.

Second and third, we want to master our minds, we've got to think the best of each other.

This is a phenomenon that has intensified in the last 10 to 15 years.

If you look at social media and internet websites, they will have you believe that we could not

be more different from one another.

They want to highlight how divided we are.

Did you know that study after study and proof after proof have shown us that we are not

nearly as divided as the internet would like us to think that we are.

But as the result of, and listen, here's the point, there is an intentional effort going

on to divide us.

We have kind of dropped into these two silos, these echo chambers, where we hold each other

in resentment and anger.

And we see each other as enemies from one another.

And think about some of the big issues in the last 5 to 10 years.

COVID, elections and politics, immigration, and AI.

Man, the most extreme views, and listen, the answer is money.

Now, what's your question?

There are advertisers who would like to see us divided from one another.

And the more divided we are, the more we are prey to what they would like to do to make

money for them because we're going to have to support our cause and our belief system

is going to be shaped so that we do those things.

But what it's also doing is it's changing the fundamental way that we look at one another.

You know what I've seen through all of this?

In some instances, Christians are just as ready to sling the mud and get as dirty as

the world does and to carry out that battle in such a public way.

We begin to think the worst of one another.

We begin to assume about others.

You know, so often a world that is looking for hope, that feels hopeless, has watched

us as we have fought against one another on things as inconsequential to this life as

what heaven is going to be like.

We label people false teachers without the benefit of facts at all.

We hold one another in suspicion and we carry the idea that you are guilty until proven

innocent.

That's the world.

But if we're going to master our minds, then Scripture tells us, not just in 1 Corinthians

13 and telling us that love thinks no evil of one another, but look at how Paul calls

the Christian community to give the world an alternative.

Be of the same mind toward one another, Romans chapter 12 in verse 16.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Philippians chapter 2 in verse 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

We are to be like-minded, having the same mind one of another.

You know, one of the things that makes it harder for us to be of the same mind to one

another is when we do kind of go off into our own tribes.

If we're not talking to one another, if we're not spending time with one another, if we're

not involved in each other's lives, we begin to draw conclusions about the words and about

the actions, even the facial expressions of one another.

And the way we solve that is by spending time engaged in each other's lives.

And Paul says, if you want to master the mind, stop wondering what other people are thinking.

Engage them.

And by that, we can tear down that barrier that the devil wants to use to keep us divided.

And so, if we're going to master our minds, we've got to think the best of each other.

But then forth, if we are going to master our minds, we need to elevate our perspective.

Colossians also divides in two, and Colossians 3 in verse 1, after dealing with the fact

that Christ is better than all, how does that change my life every day?

How does that change my mind and my thinking?

Paul says, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ

sits at the right hand of God, set your affections on things above, and not on things of this

earth.

You know, there is a British painter by the name of Arnold Hughes who has created a type

of painting known as reverse perspective.

You're seeing an example of it right there.

Reverse perspective has this effect that if you're looking at the painting, the thing

that is actually the farthest away is painted so that it looks like it's the closest to

you.

And the thing that's closest to you is painted in such a way that it seems like it's farther

away from you.

And the way that you can interpret or read that painting is you look at it very closely

and you'll see that it's three-dimensional.

And if you'll look, turn your head just slightly, you can see that there's depth and even sometimes

this seeming movement.

Did you know that the Bible tells us that we've got to live with reverse perspective?

When we look at this life, what we can see, what seems so up close to us is the physical

things.

The things of the here and the now.

And the thing that's harder for us, all of us, to see are the things that we can only

see by faith and by hope.

And so Paul says we walk by faith and not by sight, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

7.

We orient our mind and our thinking, looking for and searching for what we've got to wait

to the end of this life in order to see.

We've got to elevate our perspective and see past this life and to see toward the life

which is to come.

But then if we are going to master our minds, we've got to prepare our minds.

In 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 13, Peter says, prepare your minds for action, keeping sober

1 Peter 1 · chapter mention

and fixing your hope completely on the hope that is to be revealed at the revelation of

Jesus Christ.

Now your version might say, gird up the loins of your mind.

And I found out that this is actually a saying they used in the ancient world.

It was a very simple principle.

It was, before you ever leave the house, make sure that you're dressed.

I wonder sometimes when I go into some of the grocery stores if folks even know that

passage is in the Bible.

But this is talking about something far more important than that.

This is saying, before you leave this life, make sure that you are properly dressed.

And the way that you do that is you prepare your mind for action.

How do you do that, Peter?

He gives two principles there in the verse.

He says, first of all, you keep sober.

And what's remarkable to me is that whenever that idea of being sober appears for us in

1 Peter, it's always connected to the end of all things.

In fact, that's what he says in 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 7.

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

Keep sober.

Again, that idea of alertness in view of the end of all things.

He says, keep sober because your adversary the devil is walking about as a roaring lion

seeking whom he may devour.

First Peter chapter 5 and verse 8.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

And then there's this idea of fixing your hope.

And every time the word hope is found in 1 Peter, it's connected to the resurrection

of Jesus Christ.

Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 3, blessed be the God and Father of the Lord

1 Peter 1 · chapter mention

Jesus Christ who has made us born again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus

Christ from the dead.

And then in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 20 and 21, Christ was ordained from the foundation

1 Peter 1:20

of the world to be the sacrifice for us that our hope may be in God.

That's a resurrection passage.

How about 1 Peter 3.15, be ready to give an answer.

That's tied to the reality that Christ is no longer dead, 1 Peter 3.15 and 18.

And right here is the same idea that by having a hope in the resurrection of Christ, it keeps

your mind prepared for the action that you need to take in this life.

Then as we think about what scripture says, we master the mind by remembering what matters.

Peter emphasizes knowledge in the second letter that he writes in 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

1.

And he says, I want to stir up your sincere minds by way of reminder.

When I consider this, he says, I know I'm about to fold this tent and I want you to

have a remembrance after I've left, 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 13.

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

We all have some system of remembering or either that or we go through life with chaos.

We have to have some way to capture that.

Maybe it's a physical calendar, a planner, or maybe it's on Google calendar or Apple

calendar or maybe you write it on your hand or you have some way so that you remember.

You don't want to forget.

Peter's saying on the thing that matters the most.

If you want to master your mind, you've got to keep thinking about what matters the most.

Some of these things are going to pass away.

A lot of what we worry about is not going into eternity with us, but there are some

things that will matter beyond this life and don't forget those.

And he tells us what they are in verse 2.

He says they are the commandments of the prophets and of us, the apostles of Jesus Christ.

To me, that's the Old Testament and the New Testament.

It's anything that matters, I find it, and we've got to be reminded.

We keep going through the same spiritual disciplines.

We keep teaching the same fundamental subjects because we never grow beyond our need for it.

Because maybe the truth of the gospel hits us at some future place where we're not where

we are right now.

Or maybe we're going to encounter something and we've never thought deeply about what

scripture says about something until we go through that crisis, that thing.

That we maybe become different people and so the truth is going to hit us maybe at a

deeper level.

But if you live for 50 or 75 more years, you're going to have to continue to dig and to study

and to remind yourself of what matters.

I love the song that says, I love to tell the story for those who know it best.

I'm hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest and when in scenes of glory I sing

the new, new songs will be the old, old story that I have loved so long.

Some of the best students of the Bible that I've ever known have gray hair and wrinkled

skin.

They've read it and they've read it and they've read it and yet they continue to hunger for

it because they realize their need of it.

And as we all are at some stage of development, what God wants us to do if we're going to

master our minds is remember what's going to last and what's not.

What means something and what really in the grand scheme of things is irrelevant.

Studies are beginning to expose the idea that the so-called Gary Project started 120 years

ago in Gary, Indiana and it was a fundamental attempt, it was the first of many, to try

to shift the focus in education from reading, writing, and arithmetic to progressive ideology.

Many people say that the internet and social media is just a place to get information and

just to entertain ourselves.

It is not a place that's really having an impact on our thinking and shaping our values.

We could cite all kind of studies that would show the contrary to that, but here's one

thing that we know for sure.

Something will master our minds.

In Romans chapter 8, verse 5-8, Paul sets up the contrast, he says, our minds can be

Romans 8:5–8

set on the flesh or our minds can be set on the spirit, but the mind that's set on the

flesh is death, but the mind that is set on the spirit is life and peace, for the mind

set on the flesh is hostile against God and cannot submit itself to the will of God.

Those that are in the flesh cannot please God.

God's telling us this because he knows that there are forces that would like, and it has

always been that way, to master our minds, and we've got to be the master of our minds

by letting the master master our minds.

You know, I don't know how you think about your thoughts.

There's two theories about that, that the mind is like one big boulder.

If you're going to change your mind, you've got to lift that big heavy boulder and you've

got to put it where it needs to be, but I like the theory that says that your mind is

really made up of millions of rocks, and what you're doing is you're trying to move a pile

of those rocks from one place to the other, and you do that one rock at a time, but we

are slowly becoming the process of what we tell ourselves and what we're thinking.

I know who the preacher is that you listen to the most.

It's not Hiram, it's not me, it's not anybody else, it's you.

You are constantly saying things to yourself in your head.

All of us do.

The question is, what are you saying to yourself?

Is what you are saying to yourself, what you're preaching to yourself, does it harmonize with

what God's will has to say?

When it comes to your spiritual direction, is what you're saying matching up with what

His Word is saying?

And that can go one of two ways.

You can be churning and beating yourself up and saying that you're just not right, you'll

never be good enough when what Scripture says is that Christ was good enough, and as a result

of that, you can be made right in the eyes of God, that you don't need to be held captive

to your past and your sins, because those things have been forgiven.

You can put it behind you and you can be restored and you can begin life anew.

It's dangerous for us to listen to that.

It's also dangerous to listen to ourselves telling ourselves, I'm okay, I can stay here

a little while longer, I've got time, it's going to be okay.

You know what, God loves me, because I'm me, and I'm going to be fine.

The message going on inside of us needs to be His message.

His message is simple.

God did what we couldn't do for ourselves, and having done that, He asks us to do what

all of us can do, and respond to what He did by doing what we must.

And what we must do is be obedient to Him, to believe that Christ is the Son of God and

the Savior, to repent of sins and to be baptized, to have those sins washed away, to be buried

with Him in baptism, to rise, to walk in newness of life, to be added to the body of Christ.

You know, there's a song we used to sing, I don't think it's the song of invitation

today, Only a Step.

It can be very difficult to take that step, but if we're thinking the way we should, if

there's a reason for us to take a step, we wouldn't let anything keep us from doing that.

If you're a child of God who needs to take that step, to make some changes, to make things

right, we want to give you that opportunity.

Jeremy's going to lead the song he's selected to encourage and invite us, if we need to

publicly respond, to do so right now as we stand and sing.