For This Reason 38

[HKHaugan]

Since we opened the door to the idea of maturity the questions have arisen about the specifics. That’s where we are now headed. If we consider the biblical view of what we are as images of God then we want to know three things, the maturity of the mind, the maturity of the heart and the maturity of the spirit. Jesus initiates this when He says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul [spirit] and with all your mind (Mt.22:37).” At another point when Jesus foretells His suffering and death, Peter rebukes Him. Jesus immediately tells Peter, “Get behind me Satan, you are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men (Mt.16:23).”
There is a distinct difference then between the way man and God think as Peter is quickly informed. One of Jesus' main goals is the transforming of the mind from its secular underpinnings to thinking spiritually. Right there He starts with Peter whose first impulse is to take control. That's the main indicator of sin, the need to be in control. Whatever his motivation we know that it is self centered and world conditioned. When you think about it that is one of the things that all human beings share in common, the need to be in control. It could be to make a good impression. It could be to prove loyalty or simply to make one's self feel good.. It could be just plain acceptance but underneath it all is fear, fear of not fitting in. In other words what we think is influenced by the condition of heart and spirit which we will discuss after we delve into Jesus' approach to the mind.
Let’s get right to it.
First, the maturity of the mind.
Paul gives us a quick overview in Philippians 2 (KJV), “Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus (vs.5).” In the NIV it's translated, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus...” Attitude and mind are wrapped together as two sides of the same meaning. In fact the Greek words for mind, mindset, reason, understanding and intellect pretty much reflect the shades of the way the mind is geared for spiritual thinking.
The working model is of course the Lord Jesus. He based everything on His Father's will which He learned from Scripture. How He saw Himself, His purpose, meaning and mission was planted in the pasture of the Word which He called the truth (Jn.17:17). His knowledge of the Word informed His mind which He took to heart and acted upon in faith through the Holy Spirit which is why He said of Himself that He was the truth (Jn.14:6). He and the Word were one thus He also revealed He is the fulfillment of Scripture; The Law, the Prophets and the Writings. The Scripture is the mindset of God lived out in Jesus, especially when He says “I and the Father are one (Jn.10:30)” and “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father (Jn.14:9).” He says further, “I did not speak on my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it (Jn.12:49).”
The mind of Jesus is seen in three situations. The first, His verbal teaching as in The Sermon on the Mount. The second, His reactions to His disciples, His questioners and His enemies. The third, His visible example of personal spirituality. Let's look at each.
First, His verbal teaching
No clearer picture of mind attention comes than in The Sermon on the Mount. Its concepts cause us to ponder, meditate and consider the principles gleaned from them as an intellectual structure to replace our haphazard thinking apart from God. They are a fountain of stimulants for the intellect to reverse itself from internal self-protection to confident external behavior. Just gazing at the 'Blesseds' gives us a complete contrast between the world's alienating 'me-first' indulgence to another dimension of 'God first-others second-me third' attitude. They are both internally and externally challenging. They take our built-in capacity for belief and turn it completely around from being fear-based to faith-based. It's no longer fitting into what the world around me wants but into God and what He wants.

Take, for example, the very first 'Blessed,' “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” It says three things. First, recognize that we are spiritually challenged from birth. We don't think spiritually until we face the fact of our spiritual emptiness. Second, we lean on our own understanding as the means to build a way to relate. We pick and choose what keeps us comfortable in our interpersonal surroundings. It's a 'cat-and-mouse' game where others' attitudes are the cat and we are the mice darting from hole to hole. Third, outside of God we have no ultimate moral context, no perfect persons, no perfect philosophy and no final authority we can count on to give us the kind of wisdom to be right in anything we undertake. Without Him we are ultimately alone as death so conclusively proves.
'Blessed' by 'Blessed,' each builds on the former and all that follows in the Sermon is commentary on them giving us a relational structure for everyday belief and practice. The rest of Scripture serves the same purpose and reveals the mind of God in its vastness. The point of The Sermon is that He is its source. It's His mind at work. God the Son is revealing the mind of God for our mind to embrace.
Second, His reactions to His disciples, His questioners and His enemies.
We have already mentioned His reaction to Peter's brashness. Another example is His reaction to Thomas who, even after long association, doubted Jesus' Resurrection. Jesus commanded Him to touch His body and with his physical senses see for himself. At the same time Jesus lets the entire future of humanity in on the fact that Thomas' obstinate momentary doubt in the resurrected presence of Jesus would serve to assure everyone in the future that faith in the unseen risen Jesus would guarantee their salvation (Jn.20:26-29).
Now look at one of Jesus' questioners, Nicodemus. As a leader in the Jewish community he came in the cover of night to find out what Jesus was all about. When Jesus told him that everyone must be born again he asked how that could be done. Jesus told him it would be a spiritual birth through belief in the Son of God. He elaborated on that by saying that the Son of God came into the world to save it not condemn it and that by faith in Him eternal life would come (John 3).
Another one asked, “But Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world (Jn.14:22)?” He answers what to some may sound cryptic but reveals a very important principle. “If anyone loves me he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him and we will come make our home in him (vs.23).” It's this love that Jesus will call us to experience and extend to others as the “First and Great Commandment.” And it will be the Holy Spirit who will enable this in the believer (Jn.14:25-26). Note the foundation is a on-on-one personal spiritual relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The world is not saved generically. It is saved one heart at a time, individually. It's the shift from the world's principles of salvation through politics, science, knowledge, religion and philosophy to personal heart-to-heart understanding. No one is saved by institutions. Salvation is personal.
Concerning Jesus' enemies they were too many to name here but the command to love those who don't love you, who persecute you and say all manner of evil about you, that command covers how we deal with those who present themselves in a hostile way. These for Jesus were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the religious authorities, the Romans, even His disciples deserting Him and finally the fickle masses drifting with the cultural winds of indifference and apathy.
Third, His visible spirituality.
Here we must note his unique spiritual distinctiveness. He is totally confident from one question, person and situation to the next. He never hesitates or tells people He will ponder an issue but is always immediate. There is never any question in His mind about what the Father is leading Him to do. His prayers center on His desire to honor His Father and that others would come to know Him through His presence. Without reluctance or concerned about what others might think He said in complete self-assurance “I and the Father are One.” This was real for those who came into His presence. There was something about Him that exuded authority but not the kind to be afraid of but the kind that was supreme and humble at the same time. There are so many references to the sublimity of His personality and countenance throughout Scripture that one can only conclude with the centurion at the Cross, “Truly this was the Son of God.” How does your mind perceive Him?
So Scripture becomes the source for bringing our mind into the arena of relational living where its principles are centered in the relationship God has as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The world's fake life is about ego and what you can see and get. Outside of God the mind is used to manipulate, to gratify the self, rationalize and justify selfishness.
Real spiritual life is not about institutions, governments, religion and economics. It's about relationships. We are images of God created to copy His relational nature. We are truly spiritual relational beings having a human experience and Jesus is the reality that makes it possible. The Scripture informs the mind so that it builds a structure of belief that the heart can trust and, through faith, motivate the spirit.
Next, the maturity of the heart.