“Renovating Our Lives By Renovating Our Thinking”
Ephesians 4:17-24
Sermon Series: “New”
Introduction: Ravi Zacharias rightly calls the mind “the command control center of a human being.” An old poem by Samuel Stiles says, “Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a lifestyle. Sow a lifestyle, reap a destiny.” In others words, what our lives ultimately become is determined to a large degree by how we think. Therefore, thinking in a godly way will affect our lives for good while destructive thought patterns will end up destroying our lives. Ephesians 4:23 and Romans 12:2 tell us of the need for our minds to be renewed. The word picture of renewal is renovation. We know what it looks to renovate a house so today let’s learn what it looks like to renovate our minds.
The Principle: We can renovate our lives by renovating our thinking. The New Living Translation translates Romans 12:2, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” According to this verse, we can avoid acting like the world, live like a new person, and know what God wants us to do by changing the way we think. This is the power and importance of renovating our minds.
The Process: This is the process by which God works to renovate our minds:
1. We receive a new, spiritual mind when we are saved (Ephesians 4:17-23, Romans 8:7, 1 Corinthians 2:14-16, 2 Peter 3:1).
2. We must be consistently renewing our minds and thinking like a new person as part of the process of sanctification (Romans 12:2). Remember we are not doing this on our own though. The Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Truth, is our Helper who is guiding us into all truth. What do we need to do to allow Him to work in us and experience the renewing of our minds?
A. Meditate on the Word of God (Psalm 1).
B. Gaze at the glory of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3:16-18).
C. Develop a Christian worldview through knowing the truth and being discerning (Colossians 2:6-10).
D. Have a biblical standard for our thoughts (Philippians 4:8).
E. Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
F. Set our minds on things above instead of earthly things (Colossians 3:2).
Conclusion: How does your life need to change? Do you know that you need a renovation? Do you feel stuck? Does it seem overwhelming? Have you felt like you don’t know where to start? Well, here is the starting place. Start by renovating your thinking. That will renovate your life!
