Transforming Mindsets: Choosing Spirit Over Flesh

### Summary

Good morning, Menlo Church! Today, we continue our summer series, "Beyond the Basics," diving into what many consider the greatest chapter in the Bible. We are exploring the profound truths in Romans, focusing on how our mindset shapes our spiritual journey.

We began by acknowledging how we often ignore instructions and warnings in life, much like we do with our faith. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, emphasizes the importance of continually setting our minds on the Spirit rather than the flesh. This isn't a one-time decision but a daily, moment-by-moment choice. Our mindset acts as a map, guiding our actions and decisions. Paul contrasts two types of people: those who live according to the flesh and those who live according to the Spirit. He urges us to examine our mindset, asking whether it protects or infects us.

Paul's teachings align with modern science, which shows that our thoughts create neural pathways, making it easier to follow the same mental routes repeatedly. This can be beneficial if our thoughts are positive and aligned with God's will, but detrimental if they are not. We must be intentional about setting our minds on things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable, as Paul advises in Philippians.

We also discussed the consequences of setting our minds on the flesh, which leads to death and destruction, versus setting our minds on the Spirit, which brings life and peace. Paul uses agricultural metaphors to illustrate that the seeds we plant in our minds will eventually bear fruit, whether good or bad. This isn't just about eternal life but about experiencing God's peace and joy now.

Finally, we touched on the law and its role in revealing our need for a Savior. The law isn't something we follow to earn God's love but a guide to help us love others well. As we set our minds on the Spirit, we become transformed, making the teachings of Jesus our natural way of living.

### Key Takeaways

1. **Mindset as a Map**: Our mindset acts as a map, guiding our actions and decisions. Paul emphasizes that setting our minds on the Spirit rather than the flesh is a daily, moment-by-moment choice. This isn't a one-time decision but a continual process of aligning our thoughts with God's will. [32:13]

2. **Neural Pathways and Spiritual Growth**: Modern science shows that our thoughts create neural pathways, making it easier to follow the same mental routes repeatedly. This can be beneficial if our thoughts are positive and aligned with God's will, but detrimental if they are not. We must be intentional about setting our minds on things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable. [35:23]

3. **Consequences of Our Choices**: Setting our minds on the flesh leads to death and destruction, while setting our minds on the Spirit brings life and peace. Paul uses agricultural metaphors to illustrate that the seeds we plant in our minds will eventually bear fruit, whether good or bad. This isn't just about eternal life but about experiencing God's peace and joy now. [44:04]

4. **The Role of the Law**: The law reveals our need for a Savior and isn't something we follow to earn God's love. Instead, it serves as a guide to help us love others well. As we set our minds on the Spirit, we become transformed, making the teachings of Jesus our natural way of living. [56:18]

5. **Urgency and Transformation**: Paul’s message carries a sense of urgency. We must not waste the time we have but use it to set our minds on the Spirit. This transformation isn't just about escaping the penalty of sin but about experiencing the freedom and joy that comes from living according to God's will. [01:02:07]

### YouTube Chapters

[0:00] - Welcome
[26:56] - Introduction to the Series
[27:15] - Importance of Context
[27:36] - Recommended Resource
[28:20] - Opening Prayer
[29:06] - Ignoring Instructions
[30:25] - The Problem of Drifting
[31:12] - Paul's Message to Rome
[32:13] - Examining Our Mindset
[33:30] - Living According to the Flesh vs. Spirit
[35:23] - Neural Pathways and Spiritual Growth
[36:31] - Choosing What We Want Now vs. Later
[38:00] - Setting Our Minds on the Spirit
[39:46] - Fueling Our Minds
[41:19] - Finding Premium Mental Fuel
[44:04] - Consequences of Our Choices
[45:59] - Sowing and Reaping
[48:15] - Life and Peace
[49:03] - Works of the Flesh
[50:56] - Living According to the Spirit
[52:11] - Deceiving Ourselves
[53:13] - Hostility to God
[54:32] - The Law and Its Purpose
[56:18] - Transformation and Urgency
[58:12] - Following the Moral Law
[59:16] - Teacher Conference Analogy
[01:00:05] - Invitation to Follow Jesus
[01:01:19] - Closing Prayer

### Bible Reading
1. Romans 8:5-6 (ESV) - "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace."
2. Philippians 4:8 (ESV) - "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
3. Galatians 6:7-8 (ESV) - "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life."

### Observation Questions
1. According to Romans 8:5-6, what are the two different mindsets Paul describes, and what are their outcomes?
2. In Philippians 4:8, what qualities does Paul encourage believers to focus their thoughts on?
3. What does Galatians 6:7-8 say about the principle of sowing and reaping, and how does it relate to our choices?

### Interpretation Questions
1. How does setting our minds on the Spirit, as described in Romans 8:5-6, lead to life and peace in our daily lives? [44:04]
2. Why does Paul emphasize the importance of focusing on things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable in Philippians 4:8? How can this focus transform our mindset? [40:01]
3. What does Paul mean by "sowing to the flesh" and "sowing to the Spirit" in Galatians 6:7-8, and what are the long-term consequences of each? [46:14]
4. How does the concept of neural pathways, as mentioned in the sermon, align with Paul's teachings on mindset and spiritual growth? [35:23]

### Application Questions
1. Reflect on your current mindset. Are there areas where you are setting your mind on the flesh rather than the Spirit? What practical steps can you take to shift your focus? [32:13]
2. Think about the media and content you consume daily. How can you ensure that what you are feeding your mind aligns with the qualities listed in Philippians 4:8? [39:46]
3. Identify a habit or thought pattern that you know is detrimental to your spiritual growth. What is one specific action you can take this week to start changing that habit? [35:57]
4. Consider the metaphor of sowing and reaping from Galatians 6:7-8. What "seeds" are you currently planting in your life, and what kind of "harvest" do you expect to reap? How can you start planting better seeds? [46:14]
5. How can you incorporate the teachings of the moral law into your daily life to love others well, as discussed in the sermon? [56:18]
6. Reflect on a time when you ignored a warning or instruction in your life. How did that experience affect you, and what did you learn from it? How can this lesson apply to your spiritual journey? [29:06]
7. The sermon mentioned the urgency of setting our minds on the Spirit. What is one area of your life where you feel a sense of urgency to change, and how can you start making that change today? [01:02:07]

Day 1: Mindset as a Map
Our mindset acts as a map, guiding our actions and decisions. Paul emphasizes that setting our minds on the Spirit rather than the flesh is a daily, moment-by-moment choice. This isn't a one-time decision but a continual process of aligning our thoughts with God's will. Just as a map directs us to our destination, our mindset shapes the path we take in our spiritual journey. By focusing on the Spirit, we allow God to guide us toward a life of purpose and fulfillment. [32:13]

Romans 12:2 (ESV): "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Reflection: What specific thoughts or attitudes do you need to change today to align more closely with God's will? How can you make this a daily practice?


Day 2: Neural Pathways and Spiritual Growth
Modern science shows that our thoughts create neural pathways, making it easier to follow the same mental routes repeatedly. This can be beneficial if our thoughts are positive and aligned with God's will, but detrimental if they are not. We must be intentional about setting our minds on things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable. By doing so, we create mental habits that lead us closer to God and His purposes for our lives. [35:23]

Philippians 4:8 (ESV): "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

Reflection: Identify one negative thought pattern you struggle with. What positive, God-aligned thought can you replace it with today?


Day 3: Consequences of Our Choices
Setting our minds on the flesh leads to death and destruction, while setting our minds on the Spirit brings life and peace. Paul uses agricultural metaphors to illustrate that the seeds we plant in our minds will eventually bear fruit, whether good or bad. This isn't just about eternal life but about experiencing God's peace and joy now. The choices we make daily have profound impacts on our spiritual well-being and the quality of our lives. [44:04]

Galatians 6:7-8 (ESV): "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life."

Reflection: What "seeds" are you planting in your mind today? Are they leading you toward life and peace or away from it?


Day 4: The Role of the Law
The law reveals our need for a Savior and isn't something we follow to earn God's love. Instead, it serves as a guide to help us love others well. As we set our minds on the Spirit, we become transformed, making the teachings of Jesus our natural way of living. The law points us to our need for grace and helps us understand how to live in a way that reflects God's love to those around us. [56:18]

Romans 7:12 (ESV): "So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good."

Reflection: How can you use the principles of God's law to guide your actions today in a way that shows love to others?


Day 5: Urgency and Transformation
Paul’s message carries a sense of urgency. We must not waste the time we have but use it to set our minds on the Spirit. This transformation isn't just about escaping the penalty of sin but about experiencing the freedom and joy that comes from living according to God's will. The urgency is not just for our eternal destiny but for the quality of our lives here and now. [01:02:07]

Ephesians 5:15-16 (ESV): "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil."

Reflection: What is one area of your life where you feel a sense of urgency to change? How can you start making that change today?

Good morning, Menlo Church. So good to see you. Welcome to the second week of our summer series, really our summer Bible study called Beyond the Basics. We are spending time unearthing the basics, buried treasure in what some people have called the greatest chapter in the entire Bible this summer. I'm so glad that you are with us. A special welcome to all of our Bay Area campuses in Saratoga, Mountain View, Menlo Park, San Mateo, and those of you joining us online.

I know that some of us have gotten a little bit of a break from the heat this week, but summer is in full swing, and I know that the choice for you to invest time in this place and this conversation, whether you're here with us in person or not, is a sacrifice. So thank you so much.

You're going to get tired of me offering this clarification over the course of this summer, but if you miss a message, especially the first one last week, I would really encourage you to go back and watch it or listen to it. The context is really key for how we understand the truths of a passage as it continues to build on the conversation we've been having together. That's especially important for last week.

Also, if you're looking for a great resource, maybe this is something that's triggering in you a desire to go even deeper, I would love to encourage you to check out a very understandable resource that was released recently called Into the Heart of Romans by N.T. Wright. I would highly recommend it. If you're familiar with N.T. Wright, he writes kind of two types of books: one that's like you have to be so incredibly brilliant to understand it; it's insane. And then one that, like for mere mortals like us, is so helpful. This is the latter category. I'd encourage you to check it out.

Before we begin today, I'm going to pray for us. And if you've never been here before or never heard me speak, before I speak, I pray kneeling. And part of the reason I do that is to set my mind, as we're about to study together, on the things of the Spirit—what God wants to do in me as well as what I think maybe He wants to do in you as well. So would you pray with me?

God, we have so many competing things for our time, our attention, and our focus. And so right now, God, we set before you our innermost thoughts, our deepest desires. That God, ultimately, you might look throughout the areas of our life and declare yourself Lord over them, and that we would surrender access and control of them. It's in Jesus' name. Amen.

Isn't it funny how differently we all relate to tutorials and warnings in our life? It's kind of based on our individual experience. Some of us know that there are some that are really easy to ignore or just assume. Most of us stopped listening to the safety instructions on airplanes once we didn't have to take out our headphones. Is that a fair assessment? Although I do feel bad about flight attendants, so I will sometimes take my headphones out. I'm still checked out. I'm not listening, but I look like I'm listening just to help them, right?

Maybe for you, it's multitasking when you're on a staff Zoom call because you're like, you know, it's fine. This training is not that big a deal. Or it's assuming the New Year's orientation at the school you've been going to for multiple years is something you already know, so it's not a big deal. But then there are instructions that we definitely don't ignore. If you have a medication allergy, some sort of ingredient you're looking out for, you really pay attention to the ingredients of the medications that you have been prescribed.

If maybe you are leaving the hospital with your first child, you really pay attention to the instructions about how to install the car seat because if you do it incorrectly, they will not let you take your child, right? So there are some that we really pay attention to. If you have ever had to personally administer or have first aid administered to you, all of a sudden, you pay a lot more attention to first aid instructions.

But here's the problem. If it's been a little while since you've had a problem, or maybe you've never had one as it relates to instructions or warnings in the past, it becomes really easy to let our mindset drift. And actually, that happens in our faith too. We made a decision maybe at one point in the past to follow Jesus, but over time, it's easy to let go. It's easy for our decisions to slip that felt like a one-time decision, not an all-the-time position.

Really, that's what we're seeing in the church in Rome too. Like we talked about last week, the Apostle Paul is making up for lost time in his own life as he writes to the church in Rome to help unify them around the good news of the gospel and the implications of what Jesus has done for all of us. Paul is trying to help a group of people that he has never met realize how important their continued love of God is. Their continued focus is not just on what they think, but on how they think.

He's building on the power of God's Spirit that he started explaining last week in our study. And if you sit in the exit row of an airplane, if you're just kind of getting ready, there are lots of instructions you can ignore. There are lots of things you don't really have to pay attention to, but there's one thing that almost feels disconcerting because of how different it is from the rest of your experience. If you're sitting in an exit row, they will ask you this question specifically to you: Are you willing to do this? Are you willing and able to assist in the event of an emergency, right?

And there's always the person—I don't like sitting in the exit row; it makes me uncomfortable to have that kind of confrontation—but I like sitting like one row behind because there's always one person who's like, and they're going to say, "I'm going to need you to say yes or no. Like, are you willing and able?" They will not take your word for it. They will not assume that.

And so I want to ask you a question like that and how you are willing and how you are viewing your life and faith as we consider this passage today. Here's the question I hope bothers you. I hope it sticks with you for the hours and days to come, and that is: Is your mindset protecting you or infecting you?

As you think about the circumstances of your life and where your mind currently is, is it actually an asset for you, or is it a liability? Don't just nod. Don't just assume. Let's really examine our mindsets together in hopes of finding something fresh for our lives, a way that God could challenge us.

Now, Paul uses all of these really careful words to connect from one unit of thought to another, what's called a pericope in the language, and at the end of verse 4, where we finished last week, he sets up where we begin today with the idea that our minds are the maps we follow. Not just the ideas we think about, but the things we are actually living out, good or bad.

We want to blame something or someone else, but actually, our own mindset is controlling the course of our life. And you're wondering, "Phil, that iPad seems a little excessively large." It's as big as we could get. And so what I'm going to spend a little bit of time doing here with us today is examining the next few verses.

In verse 5, right where we left off last week, Paul says it this way: "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh." And then he describes this like second person. He says, "For those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit." And if you remember last week, we talked about how when we see this word "for," it has the idea—it carries the connotation of "I'm connecting as a result, therefore."

And he describes this word here in his translation. He says, "Look at this, people, pay attention because of everything I just said, let's really drill into what happens." And he describes these two types of people. There's this group of people, and there's this group of people. He's not giving us all the manifestations; he's not giving us all the cause and effect, but he is really trying to make sure that we understand through this what's called an adversative conjunction, make sure that we understand there are two choices, two directions that we will make in our life together.

And then underneath that, there are choices that you and I make every single day about what path, what direction we'll take. In other words, where we set our minds is what's creating our maps, not the other way around. Which seems a little weird to say in a sermon; it definitely seems weird to say in a Presbyterian church, right?

Because at the end of the day, here's the truth: you won't learn your way out of your dysfunction. You won't. Learning is important, but actually, you have to let the Spirit of God empower you to live your way into something better and closer to the person and work of Jesus in your life. It's not enough to just know something. We have to do something with it.

Paul's writing this 2,000 years ago, likely during his third missionary journey, to a group of people he has yet to meet in person. But what God revealed to him then, science has shown us today, and we call it neuropathways. Now, at the most basic level, it's like riding my bike through gravel or mud, and the more times I ride through the same path or the same route, the more worn that path becomes and the easier it is to take that same path, to take that same line.

And if it's a good path to a good place, that's a great habit. And some of you have that in your life. You're like, "This is the way that I show up in relationships. This is what my daily routines look like." But I'm guessing that you have some areas where your mind has created maps where that neuropathway that's been created is connected to habits that are not so helpful. Sometimes habits that are actually pretty dangerous, pretty damaging.

To have habits that you want to change, hang-ups that you wish you could let go of. And that's what Paul is referring to when he talks about the things of the flesh. See, in our weakness, like we talked about last week, we choose what we want now over what we want later. We choose what we want over what we ultimately want.

Pastor and author Craig Groeschel puts it this way: "So if both the Bible and modern science teach us that our lives are moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts, then we need to ask ourselves, do I like the direction my thoughts are taking me?" Sometimes we can feel as though we are recipients of our thoughts, that it has nothing to do with us, that we couldn't change it if we wanted to, but this is such an important facet of the way we think about training our minds.

If we've been studying this entire letter together, you'd still have the words from chapter 7, Paul's own words ringing in your ears as we read these verses early on in chapter 8. The struggle isn't a one-time thing for Paul. It wasn't like, "Well, I made a decision to follow Jesus, and now all of my greatest fears, all of my greatest temptations, all of my greatest hang-ups, all the sin of my life is gone." And sometimes I think that's the way we feel like it's supposed to work as Christians today.

But Paul describes this not as a one-time struggle but as an active, daily, sometimes moment-by-moment battle between the desires of his sinful flesh and this renewed spirit inside of him. And we make choices about which one we will gratify, which one we will set our minds on, which one we will allow to control us.

This idea of focus as a repeated phrase, "set their minds," provides a really powerful visual—like where are you and I actually setting our minds in our life? You might know better than to watch that, than to do that, than to listen to that, than to consume that, but is your flesh winning? And if your flesh is winning, I wonder, is your life losing as a result?

Is it easy to justify because of what we have slowly allowed to become the steady diet of our lives? Now, this isn't about only listening to worship music or throwing away our TVs, but don't let the extremes become excuses to avoid examining where you are putting your mind. If this was a visual of your influences, where would I find your mind this week? Where are you setting your mind in your day-to-day choices? Not just for a few minutes together on a Sunday, but Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday, when nobody's looking, where is your mind being set?

Back when I drove a car that took gas, I spent a few years where I could fill it up with the least expensive gas because of the type of engine that was in it. It was a pretty small engine, but the nicer the car you have, the better the fuel you're supposed to put in it. And if you put in premium fuel, I'd love to go for a ride sometime in your car, but it's awesome.

See, the reason that we do it is because if we put lower octane gas in the car than it's designed for, actually, the engine will knock, letting us know that it's designed to operate on higher quality fuel. And I wonder, what are you fueling your mind with? Whether you're a Christian or not, you are created in the image of God with infinite dignity, value, and worth. You should be running on premium mental fuel. So what is it?

What does it look like for us to even know what to look for in our lives as it relates to how we fuel our mind? Well, the good news is the same author that's writing Romans wrote the book of Philippians, a letter written to the church at Philippi, and in it, Paul gives us a pretty clear and specific example of what we should be looking for.

He says, "Finally, brothers," referencing back to the earlier verses of all four chapters that he's been talking about, he says, "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable." And then he kind of widens it, like, "I don't know if that stuff might be hard to find." He says literally, "If there is any excellence," like the bar is above zero, "if there is anything worthy of praise, think about, dwell on these things."

Now, when we look at it, right, we see this idea that is so helpful because we want to look for the thing that we say, "Where can I take everything from someone? Where is something I can buy hook, line, and sinker?" And Paul is communicating this really important principle that just because you and I can't take everything from someone or something doesn't mean we can't learn anything. And so that's why he uses this word "whatever," right? Whatever, literally anybody, anything, anywhere you look, all truth is God's truth.

If there is anything, whatever you can find in your life that meets the threshold that Paul is talking about, even in 2024, where it may feel like these things are harder to find than ever, maybe for you it's a passage from the Scriptures that God has just kept in your mind for years. Maybe for you it's studying something bigger than you've allowed yourself to settle for. Maybe for you it's a book that keeps calling you back to it. Maybe it's a song that God is using to remind you of His love.

Maybe it's a person that whenever you spend time with her or him, you find yourself encouraged and called to be the kind of person you know God wants to grow you into. That's the kind of premium fuel God wants you and me to set our minds on. It doesn't really leave any of us outright. We all have things that we have set our minds on, fuel that we have let seep into the maps of our minds that doesn't look like this.

If we're honest, if this was your mental fuel, if this described the list of the things you are taking in, what would need to change in your life? What would have to shift out of the way, and what are you justifying that's robbing you of peace, this incredible joy that God wants you and me to live with, even when our life circumstances are not perfect?

It is fueled by the right kind of mental map aimed at the Spirit of God. Just like there are meals that we can eat that make us full quickly but lack the nutrients to keep us full, we are being manipulated by our flesh and the systems of a world that in part uses algorithms to deliver a quick dopamine hit without the long-term nutrition that can sustain us.

We have the same choice today. Speaking of cars, by the way, one of those warnings that a lot of us, especially with older cars, tend to ignore is this warning light. It's probably maybe like just an emissions thing. You're like, "I'll deal with that later." And you think to yourself, "Well, the car is running fine." And even if there's something that starts to make a sound or a clunk, that's what turning up the radio is for. It's not that big a deal as long as it's still running.

Well, I hope you know that's a bad idea with your car, and it's a worse idea with your life. Even if you have been getting away with setting your mind on things that aren't good for you, is getting away with really the life that you've been hoping for? Even if you aren't a Christian, even if you're skeptical of faith entirely, do you really want to settle for that? Where you hope today or this week or this month or this year isn't the year that you're going to get found out or the other shoe is going to drop? Is that really the life you aspire to?

And if you're a follower of Jesus, that does not sound a whole lot like the peace or the hope that Jesus died to provide. Paul wants to make sure that we understand the stakes of the choices we are making about where we are setting our minds. And when we jump back to the book of Romans into our next verse, he says it this way: "For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace."

And really, you know, Paul in this section is helping us to understand the stakes that we're talking about, that where we set our mind is connected, just like he did in the verses we looked at before. When we look at these things, this is like, "Oh, there's a problem in your life." And when we think about the warnings that we ignore, we think, "Well, there's like an air filter in my car that the mechanic told me about, and I probably need to deal with that air filter at some point in the future."

That's the way some of us think about setting our minds on the things of the flesh. But actually, when we read what Paul has written to the church at Rome, it's not like you have an air filter that needs to be replaced. He's really taking the posture of a doctor saying, "If you continue to live this way, you have months to live." That actually there is death you are welcoming into your life—death to relationships, death to joy. You're going down a path where you will not find life, you will not find hope, and you will not find peace.

Paul is intentionally walking us through this conversation in an escalating way so that we will stay with him, so that we won't disengage, so that we'll realize he is communicating something to us that he has had to experience himself. Now, before you write this off as hyperbolic language from Paul, we have to understand the directional nature of his words. He's talking about where they take us, not where they've taken us.

He's like a loving parent trying to help us see the eventual consequences of our immediate decision. In the letter to the church at Galatia, Paul is writing to a region of churches, and he's giving them a shorter version of the book of Romans—actually much shorter. But in it, oftentimes he will take concepts like this and give us a little clearer definition of what he's articulating, almost like a paraphrase of the book of Romans.

And so here he says, "For the one who sows or invests, plants seeds in his flesh will from the flesh reap corruption." So you kind of see him saying this is an eventual, this is in the future; it's not today. It's not like, "Okay, because you're getting away with it, you're somebody that figured out how to game the system." This is down the road. He says similarly, "The one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life."

And he's not saying today, if today this doesn't feel true to you, if today it feels like you're sowing to the Spirit but it feels like corruption is all around you, Paul is saying just wait. This is the way the world works; this is the way the kingdom of heaven invades the kingdoms of this world. Continue to lean in, trust God, and be warned that if you think you're getting away with it—even if you think you're getting away with it right now—it will eventually catch up to you.

And so the question becomes, which one do you want? See, in an agricultural society, Paul is using this metaphor of planting seeds that just because they haven't sprouted doesn't mean they aren't growing. For some of you, what Paul says in another letter, he says, "Don't grow weary in doing good in due season." Like, just wait; growth is happening under the surface. Some of you have been setting your mind on things of the Spirit. You've been leaning in, and you're going, "I just don't see the fruit yet." And God would say, "Just keep trusting me. Just keep leaning in."

And some of you, you think you're getting away with it, and you're like, "This just doesn't seem true to my experience." And I would say there's still time for you to turn back. There's still time for you to change. There's still time for God to change you. Your decisions are already impacting you beneath the surface, but they won't stay below the surface for very long.

Between these just two verses from Romans 8 and Galatians 6, we see that a life committed to the Spirit brings eternal life and peace. And it's not about some disembodied future ideas. Sometimes as Christians, we can ask the question in a place like this, "Am I going to heaven or am I going to hell?" It's not really about this life or how I live it; it's just about this sort of binary transactional relationship with God. But it's so much bigger than that.

See, for us, it's about this idea of comfort in the times of trouble and a connection to God that can produce hope at all times for all time, beginning now and lasting forever. On the other side, living according to our sinful flesh in these two verses brings this idea of increasing consequences of death and destruction and corruption that none of us want, whether you're a Christian or not.

We looked at this letter to the church at Philippi to answer what setting our mind on the Spirit looks like, but actually just one chapter earlier in the book of Galatians, we find what the works of the flesh look like when Paul describes it this way: "Now the works of the flesh are evident." This is Paul saying they're obvious, even in 2024. Even when we're going, "Wait a second, do I really know what's helping versus hurting?" He's saying they're obvious.

And then he starts with sexual immorality, which you think like, "Paul, could you maybe work that one in later? Like just start with one that's a little bit more universal." But he says, "Look, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry." Some of these, they don't feel super relevant. I don't know, maybe some of you, we got sorcery going on, but enmity, strife, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions. I don't think he was talking about the presidential debate, but like it feels as though we've got some of this happening—divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies.

And then in case you were wondering, in case you were like, "Well, he hasn't said my thing," phew, "things like these." What things? The obvious works of the flesh—that's what he's talking about. He says, "I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." He's saying pay attention.

Now, Paul isn't trying to talk to you and me about getting into heaven; that's not the subject of the verse. He's talking about access to the same kind of sowing and reaping, the same kind of direction for our lives that he is talking about in Romans 8 and Philippians 4. There are plenty of people hoping for heaven but living like hell because they don't realize that a choice to follow Jesus is about your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven—a decision to walk with Jesus forever.

But that forever starts right here, right now. When we started today, I asked you a question: Is your mindset protecting you or infecting you? Are the choices that you're making ones that you really feel like are drawing you closer to God or further away? What can feel especially hard in a culture that seems to reward us in the short term for living according to the flesh is remembering that we don't actually live for the short term.

That if you're a follower of Jesus, you're a citizen of heaven right now. So even though you may be a citizen of the United States and thankful and appreciative for it, it is actually way bigger than that. That regardless of your earthly citizenship, as a follower of Jesus, the citizenship that ultimately matters, that you will carry into eternity with you, is the citizenship of heaven that God has made you.

Paul gives us one final warning about the dangers of living with our mindset controlled by our flesh, and that is that deceiving ourselves will never deceive God. We can convince ourselves of a lot, especially when we live in a broken world that is run by systems that are deceptive as well. It's actually like trusting a broken mirror and thinking, "Well, I just saw myself." Yeah, yeah, but what you were looking at was not trustworthy.

Think about this for a second. One of the greatest mantras of our moment today culturally is to live your truth and to trust your heart. But the Bible says that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, that His way is defining the reality of His kingdom, that no one comes to the Father except through Him. Again, not just about some disembodied state in the future, right now, today, in relationship with Him.

And that is that our heart is desperately wicked—so wicked, who could even understand it? Who could comprehend it? Talk about a tension that we live in, that we're right in the middle. Even in the time when Paul is writing, this potential pitfall is present when he says these words: "For the mind that is set," remember our mindset, "on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, this is a key phrase: it cannot."

Even if you want to. The more we choose a path that is directed and driven towards the flesh, the less capable we are of listening to and following God's will for our life. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. It's not even a choice of what you want to do.

Remember this word "for." He's pointing backwards in the passage; he's pointing forwards in the passage. He's saying, "What is your mindset?" This mindset of the flesh will put you at odds with God, period. We're going to get into God's law in just a minute. It's more than just more willpower. It's more than just you and me saying, "You know what, God? I'm really going to try this week. I'm really going to muscle my way towards a greater level of affinity and care for you."

What Paul is saying is if you are taking the fuel of your life that is feeding the flesh of your life, you will not desire the things of God. You will not even want to follow God. You can see the path that Paul is highlighting. The life that is set to the flesh is incompatible with God. It can't submit; it leads to death and destruction now and forever.

This is a warning light, but it's not one that we should ignore. It's a safety tutorial for our spiritual lives. Our whole reality depends on it. Look, you can see how an overly simplistic faith can lead us to a life where we overvalue a disembodied future state that's just about heaven, and we undervalue the shaping that God wants to do in our lives right now.

That for followers of Jesus, the kingdom of heaven is about a dimension we live in now and forever, not one or the other. Author and speaker Ruth Haley Barton highlights our choice this way. She says, "True spiritual transformation occurs when we gradually become the kind of people for whom the things Jesus taught and modeled become the natural way we live."

Doesn't that sound like a dream, like a hopeful future? Doesn't it sound like something as we redirect our thoughts, as we set our mind on the things of the Spirit, that the supernatural work God does in us doesn't just make following God possible; it makes it joyful. It makes it become the supernatural response in our life.

When we believe that our faith is only about escaping the eventual penalty of sin, we will see God's ways as stifling. When we see it as only increasingly freeing us from the power of sin, we will justify our fleshly impulses. And when we see it as only freeing us someday from the presence of sin, we will live without any sense of call to live differently today.

It's understanding the now and not yet aspects of our faith that change us. We can't live according to the flesh and the call of God to love Him and to love people at the same time. We are choosing a direction when we set our mind on the things of the flesh. We are choosing the things of the Spirit.

Paul went to great lengths last week to make sure we understood the law of God was not wrong; it was not evil. That the hundreds of laws that comprise the Hebrew Scriptures, that when we think about the law, we think about, he actually talks about, it's our imperfections that get revealed in the law's perfection and our ultimate need for a Savior. The law did exactly what it was designed to do.

But the law can be confusing if you've never examined it, so I want to finish our time quickly with one more idea if you've never seen it. That actually the law gets separated into these three categories a lot by commentators and scholars. That when we go back to those hundreds of commandments in the Hebrew Scriptures, you find yourself looking at the civil law, which is about God's people, Israel.

There’s a specific nation at a specific time of like kind of pre-tribal lawless world where God is trying to help His people survive because out of this group of people, the Savior of the world, Jesus, would come. These laws were unique to the time and people for whom they were written.

The ceremonial law was about cleanliness in the sacrificial system. The sacrificial system under the Hebrew law was the way that God regularly reminded the people of Israel that without the shedding of blood, there would be no forgiveness of sin. It foreshadowed Jesus and the way that He would ultimately be the one sacrifice for all sin for all time.

When we think about the Ten Commandments, that's what we're thinking of when we talk about the moral law. And when we think about the letters to the church that expound on the specific moral law or Jesus' teaching in sermons like the Sermon on the Mount, He's not telling us, "Okay, this is the last one you really need to think about. This is the one you're still under."

You are not under the law. You aren't. As a matter of fact, as a follower of Jesus, what happens is that because God loves you and you choose to follow Him, if you become a follower of Jesus, you don't follow the moral law so that God will love you or so that you'll be saved because you realize God has already done all that work for you.

It's demonstrated by, just like we just read, the supernatural response becomes loving people well. And the moral law, particularly as it is outlined in the New Testament, becomes instructions on how you and I can apply the way we love people around us.

So if someone says, "I can't be a Christian because you all just pick and choose what you follow and what you don't," it may be that some of this is helpful for that conversation. Something that's changed a lot since I was a kid is that when I was a kid, if you got a report card, it came to your mailbox. And my parents both worked, and so I came home. I was the youngest of four by a lot, so I could come home, and for the couple weeks when I knew that report card was going to get to my house, I could just wait for it, take it, and hide it.

Works of the flesh. And so, I mean, I just kept it aside. I couldn't do that with the final one of the year, but I could do it with most of the ones before that. Now, if you have kids, it's actually really helpful. There's a conference that you have partway through the year, through an academic period, with your child's teacher. And so it may be really good, awesome; it may be kind of a combination; it might be really hard.

But the really good news is even if it's really hard, you still have time to correct it. It's not like when I was a kid, right? Maybe today feels a little bit like your teacher conference with your rabbi, Jesus, and He's inviting you back to a life that is pursuing the things that bring life and peace—to reorient your mindset to ask the question: Is your mindset protecting you or infecting you?

The good news is it's not too late. You don't know Jesus; there's time for you to choose to follow Him right now. There's still time. Even if maybe it's been a while since you've tried to follow Jesus, it's not too late. Maybe you've been trying to follow the desires of your flesh, and the world turned out to be a place where lots of the promises that were made were actually lies.

There's still time for you to turn back. There's time. Even if you're a faithful follower of Jesus, for you to bring others along with you. At Menlo, we have lots of people who come from Catholic backgrounds, and a passage like this can feel very shame-inducing if you have that background. But please remember that God loves you no matter what, that He sent His Son to live a perfect life, to die in your place, and to come back from the grave.

And all you have to do is confess your need and trust Him, not just as the Lord of the universe, but the Lord of your universe. And the rest of this stuff that we're talking about, the Spirit of God is so kind to work out as we begin to follow Him with others.

Next week is going to be such an encouraging week if you're a follower of Jesus—so inspiring to get up off the mat of your disappointment, of your setbacks. And if you know someone in your life that needs some of that encouragement as well, maybe for you this week, offer that person this invitation: "Say, this weekend, would you sit with me at church?"

And look, that prompt you have no idea the conversation it may bring about in your relationship. I hope God uses it. But before we go, can I pray for you?

God, there are so many things in our life that we have no idea—the ways that you're working in the background, the ways that you are making a difference to shape and direct our steps. And God, your faithfulness is unbelievably powerful for the path that's in front of us. You've been so kind to us, God.

So many of us have set our minds on the things of this world, set our minds on the areas of the result of flesh that we just studied, and you have been kind and gracious and patient with us. And I pray that right now, God, you would help us to redirect, to choose premium fuel as we pursue you.

God, I love that there is still time. I'm so thankful that there is still time. And God, I pray that we wouldn't waste it, that just like we read the words of Paul with a sense of urgency for what he's telling the church at Rome, help us to hear those words, hear your words with that same urgency for our life as well. Thank you. Thank you for these words. Would you use them to change and shape us? It's in Jesus' name. Amen.

### Quotes for Outreach

1. "Isn't it funny how differently we all relate to tutorials and warnings in our life. It's kind of based on our individual experience. Some of us we know kind of like there are some that are really easy to ignore or just assume. Most of us stopped listening to the safety instructions on airplanes once we didn't have to take out our headphones. Is that a fair assessment? Although I do feel bad about flight attendants so I will sometimes take my headphones out. I'm still checked out. I'm not listening but I look like I'm listening just like to help them." [29:06] (31 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "If you have a medication allergy some sort of ingredient you're looking out for you really pay attention to the ingredients of the medications that you have been prescribed. If maybe you are leaving the hospital with your first child you really pay attention to the instructions about how to install the car seat because if you do it incorrectly they will not let you take your child. Right? So there's some that we really pay attention to." [30:05] (22 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "Whether you're a Christian or not you are created in the image of God with infinite dignity value and worth. You should be running on premium mental fuel. So what is it? What does it look like for us to even know what to look for in our lives as it relates to how we fuel our mind?" [39:30] (18 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "Even if you have been getting away with setting your mind on things that aren't good for you is getting away with really the life that you've been hoping for even if you aren't a Christian even if you're skeptical of faith entirely do you really want to settle for that where you hope today or this week or this month or this year isn't the year that you're going to get found out or the other shoe is going to drop is that really the life you aspire to?" [43:27] (27 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "There are plenty of people hoping for heaven but living like hell because they don't realize that a choice to follow Jesus is about your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven a decision to walk with Jesus forever but that forever starts right here right now." [50:56] (17 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


### Quotes for Members

1. "Paul is trying to help a group of people that he has never met realize how important their continued love of God is. Their continued focus is not just on what they think but on how they think. He's building on the power of God's spirit that he started explaining last week in our study." [31:12] (16 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "You won't learn your way out of your dysfunction. You won't. Learning is important but actually you have to let the Spirit of God empower you to live your way into something better and closer to the person and work of Jesus in your life. It's not enough to just know something. We have to do something with it." [35:07] (18 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "Sometimes we can feel as though we are recipients of our thoughts that it has nothing to do with us that we couldn't change it if we wanted to but this is such an important facet of the way we think about training our minds. If we've been studying this entire letter together you'd still have the words from chapter 7 Paul's own words ringing in your ears as we read these verses early on in chapter 8." [37:07] (25 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "When we believe that our faith is only about escaping the eventual penalty of sin we will see God's ways as stifling when we see it as only increasingly freeing us from the power of sin we will justify our fleshly impulses and when we see it as only freeing us someday from the presence of sin we will live without any sense of call to live differently today it's understanding the now and not yet aspects of our faith that change us." [55:49] (27 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "Paul went to great lengths last week to make sure we understood the law of God was not wrong it was not evil that the hundreds of laws that comprise the Hebrew scriptures that when we think about the law we think about he actually talks about it's our imperfections that get revealed in the law's perfection and our ultimate need for a savior the law did exactly what it was designed to do." [56:18] (24 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)