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Guard Your Mind from Trash · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Well, Thursday, we looked at the pressures of living in
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  Speaker 1: a world obsessed with wealth, status, money, greed, gambling, and luxury.
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  Speaker 1: Today we look at the pressures of living in a
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  Speaker 1: world obsessed with cussing and crude joking. We've studied this
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  Speaker 1: in the past, talking about cussing, whether the Christians can
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  Speaker 1: cuss to make a point, or if using profanity makes
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  Speaker 1: us more culturally irrelevant. Much ground has been covered here,
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  Speaker 1: as you can see in the APJ book on pages
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  Speaker 1: one thirty three to one thirty eight. And the conversation
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  Speaker 1: is back on the table today because of One of
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  Speaker 1: the most asked about Bible texts in our podcast is
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  Speaker 1: entire History. This is one of the I think it's
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  Speaker 1: in the top ten Philippians four eight. It's in our
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  Speaker 1: Bible reading tomorrow in the Navigator's Bible Reading Plan, a
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  Speaker 1: text that looks at the flip side of cussing and
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  Speaker 1: crude joking. Here's the email. Hello Pastor John, and to thank
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  Speaker 1: you for this podcast. My name is Matt and I'm
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  Speaker 1: a twenty five year old trying to navigate the tension
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  Speaker 1: between living wisely in a broken world and being transformed
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  Speaker 1: by the renewing of my mind, as Paul calls us
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  Speaker 1: to in Philippines four eight. Paul urges us to focus
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  Speaker 1: on things that are true, honorable, just pure, lovely, commendable, excellent,
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  Speaker 1: and praiseworthy. But honestly, it's hard to keep my mind
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  Speaker 1: fixed on these qualities when I'm constantly surrounded by dishonor
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  Speaker 1: the news is filled with corruption, entertainment glorifies immorality, and
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  Speaker 1: conversations at work or online often celebrate deceit and impurity.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to be naive or disengaged from reality,
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  Speaker 1: but I also don't want my thoughts to be shaped
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  Speaker 1: by dishonorable influences. How can I protect my mind without
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  Speaker 1: becoming isolated or indifferent to the world around me? What
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  Speaker 1: practical steps can help me align my thoughts with Philippians
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  Speaker 1: four eight, Even when the world's noise feels so deafening,
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  Speaker 1: any wisdom here would be much appreciated.
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  Speaker 2: I am so glad there's a twenty five.
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  Speaker 1: Year old man here yea amen, Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: And wrestling with this very issue of how to keep
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  Speaker 2: his mind holy, even though he must live as we
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  Speaker 2: all must live for now, in an un holy and
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  Speaker 2: impure world. So this is a bullseye question. As far
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  Speaker 2: as I'm concerned, how can I protect my mind without
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  Speaker 2: becoming isolated or indifferent to the world around me? And
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  Speaker 2: here's the text that he's talking about. Finally, brothers, whatever
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  Speaker 2: is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure,
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  Speaker 2: whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence,
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  Speaker 2: if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
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  Speaker 2: That's philipins four eight. So let me see if I
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  Speaker 2: can be of some help to myself, to all of us,
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  Speaker 2: and to this young man. With four observations Number one,
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  Speaker 2: Jesus addressed this very issue of being in the world
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  Speaker 2: and not of the world in the very place where
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  Speaker 2: he points us to one one of the practical ways
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  Speaker 2: of accomplishing the very thing he's describing, for example, in
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  Speaker 2: John seventeen his prayer to the Father. In John seventeen
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  Speaker 2: fifteen seventeen, I do not ask, Jesus says to his father,
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  Speaker 2: I do not ask that you take them out of
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  Speaker 2: the world. So he's granting us right there, you've got
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  Speaker 2: to live in the embattled situation that this young man describes.
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  Speaker 2: You got to live there, but that you keep them
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  Speaker 2: from the evil one. They are not of the world,
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  Speaker 2: just as I am not of the world. And then
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  Speaker 2: he says, sanctify them, that He's keep them holy in
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  Speaker 2: this unholy world, in the truth. Sanctify them in the truth.
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  Speaker 2: Your word is truth. So while that is clear pointed practical,
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  Speaker 2: it says, if you're talking about this issue of how
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  Speaker 2: to be holy in an unholy world, that's how you
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  Speaker 2: do it. That's the basic answer to Matt's question, namely,
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  Speaker 2: use the truth, the word of God to keep your
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  Speaker 2: mind holy. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth.
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  Speaker 2: Those are the words of Jesus, and whatever else. Paul
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  Speaker 2: means by think about what is true and honorable and
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  Speaker 2: just and pure and lovely and commendable, he at least
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  Speaker 2: means fill your mind with the Word of God so
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  Speaker 2: that you will both recognize and value these things when
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  Speaker 2: you see them in the world and in the Word,
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  Speaker 2: and then respond to them appropriately and keep them there.
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  Speaker 2: And I bear witness, and I know that you experience
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  Speaker 2: the same thing, Tony, and I'm sure thousands of our
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  Speaker 2: listeners do. I bear witness that sixty years of saturating
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  Speaker 2: my mind with biblical reaction every day has helped me
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  Speaker 2: keep my mind clean happy in the beauties of Christ
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  Speaker 2: more than anything else. Yeah, that's number one. Fill your
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  Speaker 2: mind daily with biblical reality. The second observation is closely
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  Speaker 2: related to the first. When Paul says, think about these things,
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  Speaker 2: the word for think about is not the word for think.
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  Speaker 2: In two fifty twenty seven, think over what I say.
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  Speaker 2: It's not the word for think. In Philippians three fifteen.
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  Speaker 2: Let the mature think this way, it's not the word
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  Speaker 2: for think. In to Corinthians eleven sixteen, don't think me foolish,
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  Speaker 2: it's not the word for thinking verse Corinthians seven twenty six.
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  Speaker 2: I think one should remain.
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  Speaker 1: As he is.
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  Speaker 2: It's a word that Paul uses thirty four times. Gives
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  Speaker 2: this thigh, which ordinarily means to count or to reckon,
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  Speaker 2: or to think a thing to be something. It's the
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  Speaker 2: word for being counted righteous. God counts us to be righteous,
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  Speaker 2: that is, he thinks of us that way, He reckons
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  Speaker 2: us to be that way. So Paul is not merely saying,
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  Speaker 2: have these beautiful, good, excellent things in your mind, but
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  Speaker 2: reckon them a certain way, count them a certain way,
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  Speaker 2: implying evaluate them a certain way. So the implication is
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  Speaker 2: that you take something beautiful or good or honorable into
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  Speaker 2: your mind, and you reckon it to be beautiful and good.
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  Speaker 2: That is, you esteem it, you value it. You reckon
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  Speaker 2: it to be as good as God has designed it
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  Speaker 2: to be. And Paul is implying it is beautifull, it
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  Speaker 2: is good, it is valuable, it is worthy. That's what
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  Speaker 2: these things are. They have that about them which won't
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  Speaker 2: be just thought about, but thought about in a certain
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  Speaker 2: affectional way. They're not just a thing. They are a
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  Speaker 2: precious thing. I think that's what's implied in Legidze's there.
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  Speaker 2: In other words, build into your mental framework increased capacities. Now,
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  Speaker 2: this is all of us need to do this, especially
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  Speaker 2: young people. Build into your mental framework increased capacities for
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  Speaker 2: delighting in what is true and honorable and just and pure.
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  Speaker 2: Don't just think about them indifferently about the way they are,
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  Speaker 2: but think about how precious they are, how beautiful they are,
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  Speaker 2: how valuable they are. They're like gold and silver, sweeter
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  Speaker 2: than honey. This is what will keep the mind healthy,
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  Speaker 2: not just judgmentally negative, like I don't like dishonorable, untrue things,
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  Speaker 2: but rather cherishing, exulting, and delighting in celebrating the things
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  Speaker 2: that Paul says, keep in your mind. It's a celebrated, valuing,
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  Speaker 2: cherishing mind that he's after. It's a healthy mind in
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  Speaker 2: that way. Number three, this third observation is a very
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  Speaker 2: simple strategy based on on Corinthians thirteen, the love chapter.
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  Speaker 2: Paul says in one Corinthians twelve thirty one, just before
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  Speaker 2: the love chapter, I will show you a still more
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  Speaker 2: excellent way. And that's what we're after, right, We're after
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  Speaker 2: an excellent way in this world of ours. What's an
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  Speaker 2: excellent way through the corruption and immorality and dishonorable falsehoods
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  Speaker 2: of this world? What's an excellent way, more excellent than
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  Speaker 2: anything we see around us? And then Paul answers with
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  Speaker 2: chapter thirteen of First Corinthians. At the heart of it,
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  Speaker 2: and this is my practical suggestion. At the heart of
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  Speaker 2: it is the definition of love. And I just suggest
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  Speaker 2: it's only four verses. Love is patient and kind. Love
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  Speaker 2: does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude.
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  Speaker 2: It does not insist on its own way. It is
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  Speaker 2: not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice it wrongdoing,
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  Speaker 2: but rejoices with the truth. Now that links us with
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  Speaker 2: what I just said about how we are a celebrative
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  Speaker 2: observer of what is excellent and beautiful and true and good.
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  Speaker 2: It rejoices with truth. Doesn't just look at it and
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  Speaker 2: say that's true. Love bears all things, believes all things,
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  Speaker 2: hopes all things, and doers all things. Love never fails.
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  Speaker 2: So that's four verses, and I suggest every Christian memorize that.
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  Speaker 2: Memorize the meaning of love as Paul defines it, prayerfully,
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  Speaker 2: keep these things near the forefront of your mind, and
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  Speaker 2: that will go a long way to helping us practically
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  Speaker 2: see what is true and lovely and beautiful and to
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  Speaker 2: value it. That is, rejoice in it the way that
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  Speaker 2: Tex says, rejoice in it and protect ourselves from being
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  Speaker 2: sucked in to the contamination of the world or to
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  Speaker 2: the jaundice, bitter, complaining attitude about the world. So memorize
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  Speaker 2: the meaning of love and keep it before your mind regularly.
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  Speaker 2: And then finally, the fourth observation is that when you
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  Speaker 2: read or see something dishonorable or impure by all means,
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  Speaker 2: think a disapproving thought. Don't just leave it at that.
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  Speaker 2: Though I disapprove of that, Paul is saying, move beyond
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  Speaker 2: disapproval and set your mind on something that is the
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  Speaker 2: opposite of the dishonorable or impure, or untrue or unlovely.
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  Speaker 2: For example, I'm listening right now to a biography of
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  Speaker 2: Herbert Hoover. He just got off the phone with Warren Harding,
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  Speaker 2: the President of the United States in nineteen twenty. He's
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  Speaker 2: the Secretary of Commerce, and I mean, he's about to
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  Speaker 2: be the Secretary of Commerce. Hoover accepted on the phone
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  Speaker 2: call the invitation from the President to be the next
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  Speaker 2: Secretary of Commerce, and he gets off the phone and
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  Speaker 2: he goes to a news conference and he says, flat out,
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  Speaker 2: I have not yet accepted the job. I was so ticked,
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  Speaker 2: you know, like I'm looking for eros. I was so
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  Speaker 2: angry Herbert Hoover in this biography. I don't like liars,
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  Speaker 2: especially don't like liars who are about to become the
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  Speaker 2: president of the United States, which Hoover did eventually. And
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  Speaker 2: that's the point at which my mind could spiral, Oh
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  Speaker 2: how easily today it could spiral into the kind of
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  Speaker 2: complaining about the present state of political morality and indecency,
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  Speaker 2: or I could at that point. I think this is
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  Speaker 2: what Paul's telling us to do. I could call to
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  Speaker 2: mind that there are still people, there, always have been,
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  Speaker 2: there always will be, people who laid down their lives
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  Speaker 2: for the cause of truth and purity. And I can
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  Speaker 2: think about some of my heroes, dead and living, who
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  Speaker 2: lead lives, lead lives of great integrity and sacrifice. And
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  Speaker 2: I think that's the strategy that we can take when
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  Speaker 2: we encounter impurity and immorality and dishonorable and untruth in
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  Speaker 2: the world. So summary, saturate your mind with the word
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  Speaker 2: of God. Let all your thinking be properly evaluative, so
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  Speaker 2: that you cherish what is good and to just see
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  Speaker 2: it as good. Make the beauty of love your aim,
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  Speaker 2: and replace the dishonorable things that you see and read
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  Speaker 2: with examples of what you know to be honorable and beautiful.
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  Speaker 1: Think of Pastor Don very good and helpful counsel. Here
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  Speaker 1: on the flip side of what's been said on the
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  Speaker 1: podcast over the years, here regarding lying, gossip and cussing
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  Speaker 1: and crude Joe, whether Christians can custom make a point
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  Speaker 1: or use profanity to be more culturally irrelevant. A lot
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  Speaker 1: of ground has already been covered here, as you'll see
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  Speaker 1: in the AVG book on pages one thirty three to
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  Speaker 1: one forty. And speaking of big questions, we return to
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  Speaker 1: the biggest one next time. The unpardonable sin. Is there
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  Speaker 1: a sin? A sin so heinous that to do it
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  Speaker 1: is to have violated God so seriously that you can
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  Speaker 1: no longer be saved. It's the existential dread that tops
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  Speaker 1: every other dread, the unpardonable sin. It's up next time.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Tony Rinky. We'll see you on Thursday.