The Renewed Mind part 6

SEEING THE BIGGER PICTURE Looking forward to Eternity is not a form of escapism; it’s what we’re meant to do – to be effective in this world

“There are only two days in my calendar: This day and that Day.” Martin Luther’s words follow that of the Apostle Paul – and the lead of their Saviour Jesus. Shouldn’t we think the same way in order to be an obedient and effective witness to the One who has chosen us by grace?

So far in our studies in Ephesians, we’ve seen that the purpose of God is that believers are to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove … what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God.” (Rom.12:2). We’ve seen that it is the work of God the Holy Spirit, but requires us to ‘put off the old man’ (the way of thinking of the flesh) and put on the new man (‘minding the things of the Spirit’ Rom. 8:5; Eph.4:22-24).

We’ve also seen how the Holy Spirit is wanting to re-shape our minds by directing our focus towards the ultimate will and work of God, in His purposes for the Universe. This is being worked out through the One New Humanity with its Head, Christ; how the centre of history and its goal is the Person and Work of Christ and how the forces of evil are standing against that in ‘the heavenlies’. The object of these articles has been to show that the primary locus of this battle is in our minds.

A. W. Tozer identified a real danger, when he said ‘May not the inadequacy of much of our spiritual experience be traced back to our habit of skipping through the corridors of the Kingdom like children in the market place, chattering about everything, but pausing to learn the value of nothing.’ 1

The bigger picture

Now, as far as subscribers and readers of Sword magazine are concerned, “beloved, we are persuaded better things of you” (Heb.6:9) – your reading of this magazine demonstrating commitment to a deeper understanding of God’s Word!

But is there not a tendency in many churches and companies of God’s people to ignore the larger picture of God’s purposes, and see the Gospel as simply a way that we can be right with God and ‘go to heaven when we die’? The Gospel is meant to be a life-transforming encounter with the Living God, and enlistment in His spiritual forces for the transformation of the universe! (see Acts 3:19; Eph. 1:9-10, 18-23; Rom, 8:18-21; Col. 1:10-14; 20-21; Rev. 17:14; amongst many others).

In Ephesians, Paul is pointing us towards the same goal that he had as his focus – Christ (Phil.3:10-14). Like Luther, he would say, “There are only two days in my calendar: This day and that Day.” (2 Tim. 4:7-8)

Living for the future

Those who make a study of the theology of history call this ‘living in the eschatological horizon’ 2 and tell us that this has a power to transform our present lives and our view of history:

“One is apt to think that the past influences the present and the present influences the future. But even though for us time flows in this particular direction, comprehension doesn’t follow the same path. Meaning emerges from the future into the present. Even in the structure of language, a sentence achieves its meaning at the moment when the speaker finishes it. In a similar manner, in Christian eschatology, History will achieve its meaning through the final revelation.” 3

We get glimpses of what that final revelation involves in the cosmic mystery that Paul speaks of in Ephesians. He writes of a cosmic Christ and a cosmic Church, wanting to expand our minds like butterflies emerging from a chrysalis! (Eph. 1:17-18)

In Chapters 2 and 3 he expounds something of God’s wisdom, hidden from previous ages but now made known, while going on to speak of the immensity of the Father’s purposes and the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, leading to “glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen!”

He also speaks of our inheritance, looking forward to “the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” (1:14, 18; 4:30) and seems to be continually looking forward to ‘that day’ which Martin Luther had in his calendar.

Too heavenly minded?

Did that make Paul any less effective in his ministry? He was probably the most effective emissary of Jesus Christ that the World has ever known! But how often is the charge laid against those who speak, think and teach about these things, that they are “too heavenly minded to be any earthly use!”. C. S. Lewis observed: ”A continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. […] It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither” 4 (emphasis mine).

We might ask, why should this be? First and foremost, it was the mindset of our Saviour Himself. As the writer to the Hebrews says, “Who for the joy set before Him, endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). He Himself taught us to pray: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is heaven.”

The Disciples’ Prayer begins with the end’’ ! That is in order to give us the right perspective on all that we go on to ask for.

Final consummation

Secondly, our new birth and justification are received in the light of the final judgement – we live in the reality that the final verdict on our lives has already been handed down by the highest court in the Universe, by God, the Judge of all men, Who has appointed His Son as the Executor of His justice (Acts 17:31): “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed [present tense] from death unto life.” (John 5:24)

As Tom Smail puts it in his book “The Forgotten Father” 5:

The Father acts at the final consummation in relationship to Christ. One of the things we can understand in the terrifying scenario of the book of Revelation is that it has at its centre the one who sits upon the throne and the Lamb, and it is in the mutuality of Father and Son, of Ancient of Days and Lamb, that the final consummation in its negative side as judgement and in its positive as restoration, takes place. The Son is the executant of the Father’s judgement and relationship to Him is the norm of that judgement. To believe in Him now is to anticipate that judgement, because in Christ the Judge has already come.

“Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:18). [emph. original]

Thirdly, and with this we draw these studies to a close, the New Testament continually points forward to the consummation of all things as the motivation for our lives now! Peter writes in 1 Pet. 4:7 “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.”

And again, in his second letter:

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God “ (2 Pet. 3:10-12)

The Apostle John makes the same point: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3)

John Piper noted: Yes, I know. It is possible to be so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly use. My problem is: I’ve never met one of those people. And I suspect, if I met one, the problem would not be that his mind is full of the glories of heaven, but that his mind is empty and his mouth is full of platitudes. I suspect that for every professing believer who is useless in this world because of other-worldliness, there are a hundred who are useless because of thisworldliness.6

This is why the renewing of our minds, through the application of Scripture in the power of the Spirit is so vital. Oh Beloved! Let’s claim our heritage – a renewed mind, “That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ“ (Rom.15:6).

1 See “God’s Pursuit of Man” (previously published as “The Divine Conquest”), ch. 1

2 Ana-Maria Petrache “The Transformative Impact of Eschatological Narratives” retrieved from www.academia.edu

3 ibid.

4 ‘Mere Christianity’ C. S. Lewis (widely available)

5 “The Forgotten Father” From the end of ch. 3. The book is now unfortunately out of print, but secondhand copies are available on the Internet.

6 Quoted by Justin Taylor at https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/so-heavenly-minded…