Louie Giglio - A New Mindset for a Brand New Way of Life
Yeah, man, I just saw what Brad was saying, and I’m sure Cumberland is feeling the same way. We took the whole month of January just to fast and pray for God, for people, for the city, and for the world. I believe we’re already in the harvest of that this season, even though we’re just in February. We’re seeing the place full, and there is a fire in this gathering today. The Holy Spirit of God is in this place today, and anything is possible here. I believe a lot of that is because of the prayer that we sowed into this year. I hope that we won’t stop praying, won’t stop calling on heaven, and won’t stop believing God for what He wants to do in and through our lives and through this day. I’m really, really, really excited about what God is going to do today.
If you have your Scripture, I’d invite you to turn to Romans 8. We are continuing in this journey, this collection of talks called Epicenter. If you missed last week, I won’t say this every week, but we’re calling it Epicenter because many theologians believe this chapter is the pinnacle chapter in all of Scripture, Romans chapter 8. Today we’re going to take verses 1-17. Last week we really focused on verses 1-4, so we’re picking up at verse 5 and going down to verse 17. I’d like to read all of that with you before we get going today. I don’t know if this will come up on the screen or not; maybe it will. So, here we go.
If you don’t mind—or even if you do mind—please stand as we read this today; just because it puts us in a different posture, and I know it’s easier to hold your Bible. I’m going to read through this in the NIV translation, but I want us to keep this mentality that this is the word of God. So, I want you to come under it with me today. We’re not here to look down on the Word of God or voice our opinions and thoughts; we’re here today to come under the Word of God and embrace God’s opinion and thoughts.
Therefore, putting it out there, if at any point it delights you, then let it be so. If at some point it hits you hard, let that happen too—though you might just feel a little like «Oh.» But if it delights you in any way, then let it be so. Let’s not lose sight of the power of it. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Those who live in accordance with the flesh have their mindset on what the flesh desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their mindset on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit if, indeed, the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who lives in you.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh—to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him, we cry, «Abba, Father.» The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. Praise be to God for the power of His Word.
Father, thank You for this word today. Thank You that we don’t have to come into this place today and get people up on this platform to tell us what they think. Thank You that we can open, by Your miraculous grace, the living Word of Almighty God, and we can know the truth, and the truth can set us free. Holy Spirit, as You breathed it out, will You stir it up in us today? In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you; you can have a seat.
Awesome! We talked last week about how the key to this whole proclamation of no condemnation is whether or not we are positionally in Christ. It says there is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So, not just that there is no condemnation; the no condemnation is specifically the benefit and gift of those people who are in Christ Jesus. We ended the gathering last week with such an important question: Are you in Christ? Not «Are you in church?» Not «Are you a part of a denomination?» Not «Did you pray a prayer and raise your hand at the end of a gathering?» Not «Is your name on the role of some church somewhere?» Not «Are you a good person? Are you trying hard?» But «Are you in Christ?» And if you are in Christ, do you see yourself in Christ? Do you understand who you are in Christ?
We bring back today the Gospel According to Tupperware—an oldie but a goodie—for my life. I’ve been sharing this as long as I can remember. This isn’t Tupperware, and some of you don’t even know what Tupperware is, but you get it. This is you; this is your person. Positionally, the goal of faith and the work of faith is to get you into Christ. It’s not just that you believed in Christ, but when you put your faith in Him, it says earlier in Romans chapter 6 that we were united with Christ in baptism unto death, and that we were raised to walk in newness of life. All of that happened because we were united with Christ.
Throughout Paul’s writings, he uses this phrase «in Christ.» What is true of us because we’re in Christ? One of the main things that is true is that there’s no condemnation for us because we’re in Christ. To see that helps a little bit. This is obviously you, but this is Christ. Sorry, I could have written all these before, but I just like writing them, and I love the tension in the room when I’m trying to spell. It’s beautiful; people are like «Dear Lord, help him.» For some of you today, you’re going to want it to be on the top and the bottom.
When we’re saved, we get a new position and a new identity because a lot of us are thinking about all the things that are wrong with us. I mean, Paul said a few verses earlier, «What a wretched man I am! I do what I don’t want to do, and I don’t do what I do want to do.» A lot of us in this gathering today are pretty focused on this part and all the stuff that we do like about it, all the things we don’t like about it, what we’re frustrated about, what we wish were true, what we wish was different. We’re stumbling over our own thinking about ourselves. But in the gospel, something has happened; we are now positionally, by faith, in Christ.
The news is already pretty good because I’m still me, and I’m still in there, and I still have flesh, but I’m in a new position now. It’s not just for a moment; this is me eternally. Unparalleled, this is how he’s going to end chapter 8: that no one can separate me from the love of God because I’m in Christ! I can’t be condemned because I’m in Christ! I’m not going to hell because I’m in Christ! But there’s something else true; it says in Colossians that the mystery of the gospel, Paul writes in Colossians 1, is that it’s Christ in you—the hope of glory. So, not only am I in Christ, but Christ is in me. It’s all the same thing, but it’s nice to say it differently. I’m in Christ, and Christ is in me. That’s where I am right now by faith.
You may be sitting on row 17, but if you put your faith in Jesus, you’re in Christ, and Christ is in you. That’s where you’re sitting right now. Where’s Christ sitting right now? At the right hand of the Father. So, where are you? I’m with Him! I was united with Him in His death, so I’m a part of that. I wasn’t physically there that day, but spiritually, I was because I have been joined to Jesus. I’m united with Him by baptism into His death, and I’ve been raised with Him into brand new life. So when He came out of that tomb, I came out of that tomb! When He came out of His grave, I came out of my grave because I’ve joined my life to the story of Jesus, and He is in me by faith.
So I’m still in this equation, but I’m getting less and less predominant. I’m still in there, but it’s getting less and less about me and more and more about Jesus. Colossians 3 goes on to say that we’re not to set our minds on things on Earth but on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. It says in that little text—we’ll look at it in a minute—that we are hidden. This is the way Paul writes it: with Christ in God. The Trinity is complex, I know, but let’s let it be complex because God is pretty amazing. If we could analyze Him, then He really wouldn’t be worth following.
I love the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—one God, individually but collectively. Our God is God in three persons. Jesus is God; the Holy Spirit is God; the Father is God. Because God is three persons, and we’re hidden with Christ in God, that’s like extra layers of security to be hidden with Christ in God. It’s pretty powerful! I’ll show you what it looks like. If God is for us, who could be against us? Come on! That’s what Paul is writing at the end of this chapter. Some of us have been convinced by the enemy that even though Christ is in us, and we are in Christ, and we’re hidden with Christ in God, that we can’t do it. God is wanting to ask two questions today.
First, are you in Christ? Because if you’re not in Christ, forget all that! Just bear with me for a second because I feel like something’s landing right now. If you’re not in Christ and Christ isn’t in you, then you’re just a free agent. You’re like, «That’s great! That’s what I want to be. I don’t want anybody to tell me anything.» Great—that’s a choice! You’re free floating as a free agent, and you’re 100% in charge of you. But when the end comes—and it’s surely coming—and a holy God, a holy, righteous, just, perfect God, obliterates sin in the world and everything connected to it, when that wave comes, you have nothing to mediate. It’s just you. When the world caves in, when a pandemic comes, when a lying enemy comes, when anxiety comes, when weight comes, when brokenness comes, when death comes, when darkness comes—it’s just you!
But the gospel is the story of a God who loves you and knows that on your own you can’t do it! He knows that if Christ is in you, you surely can. He knows that if you could be tucked away in connection with the One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, then you could be hidden in God in Him. The enemy has no way to convince you that you can’t because you are in a brand new relationship with Him. He tells us in this passage we just read a few things that are true about us because we’re in Christ. I want to go to the end of it, and I’m going to work with this big text that we started with, but I want you to see these really fast.
Obviously, we’re all hopefully reading Romans 8 and meditating on it and memorizing it. He tells us a few things; these are true of you if you’re in Christ. Is anybody in Christ? Let me just ask: is anybody in Christ? Is anybody at Cumberland in Christ today? Okay, if you’re in Christ, these are a few things that are true of you. Go down to the last verse we read, verse 17. It says, «Now if we’re children, here are going to be two of them. We are heirs. If we’re children, then we’re heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.» That’s the first thing that’s true about you because you’re in Christ.
You’re an heir of God. In other words, you’re in the will, and whatever Jesus has coming, you have coming because you’re in Christ. So when Christ comes back in glory, hello! This is a mind-boggling thought. We’re not going to be standing on the sideline going, «Wow, that is so impressive!» We’re going to be with Him because we’re in Him. You’re like, «Is that in the Bible?» Yes! That same passage in Colossians 3 says that when He comes, we will appear with Him in glory. Yes, we’ll be there, but right now Paul writes in another place that we’re seated with Him at the right hand of God. Wherever He is, we are! Whatever He has, we have!
We are not Christ, but we’re in Christ. We’re co-heirs with Him, so whatever future He has coming, we have coming. We’re children. The second thing it tells us is that you are God’s child. Look a few verses up; it says, «The spirit—let’s just look at verse 15—that you received does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again. Rather, the spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.» You’re like, «Does that mean daughtership?» Paul’s not trying to distinguish between male and female in this moment. What he’s saying is he’s using a legal term of a firstborn son’s right in adoption to sonship. In the context of where Paul is writing, that son had all the power of the name of his father and everything that came with it.
He’s saying you got that when God adopted you. You’re like, «God adopted us?» Yes! We’re children of God two different ways. One, Jesus said, because we’ve been born again spiritually. When we put our faith in God, our spirit came to life—not of flesh, not of the will of man, 1 John says, but born of God. Secondly, we were chosen by God, so we’re born children of God spiritually, but He also picked you! It says in one place that He chose us in Ephesians chapter 1. It says that He chose us—check this out—God did—in Christ before the foundation of the world. He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Then when we put our faith in Jesus, we were born again. So, we’re children of God. We’ve received the adoption of sonship, or to sonship and by Him—and the «Him» here is the Spirit—we cry, «Abba, Father.» The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. So the Holy Spirit in us is connecting to the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit and God and the Father, and our spirit is crying out, «Abba, Father.» I’m connected to Him! I’m a daughter of His; I’m a son of His; I’m a child of God.
The beauty of that is it says that the Spirit that’s done this doesn’t make us slaves so that we live in fear, but we know we have a Father, and we can call Him «Abba.» «Abba» is not quite «Daddy,» but it’s moving that way. That’s why we’re no longer slaves to fear. We’re courageous! Not because we are bosses! No, we’re no longer slaves to fear because of our Dad! Whatever you are worrying about or is depressing you or you are anxious about comes from the root of fear. It is something you are afraid of, and the antidote to fear isn’t courage; it’s faith in someone greater!
Yes, than whatever you’re afraid of—namely, «Abba.» «I’m not gonna be afraid of that because of my Dad. My Dad is bigger than that. My Dad will bring me through that. My Dad will provide. My Father has it! I’m in Christ; I know who I am, and I know where I am. I have a brand new position and a brand new identity.» So don’t try to tell me I can’t because I can do all things, hello, through Christ who gives me strength! I got a brand new position, and I am an heir, and I’m a child of God!
I’m in Christ, so I have the Spirit! I am now connected to the Spirit of God. Look at verse 11! It says, «And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who lives in you.» I am an heir; I am a child; I have the Spirit, and that makes this main point a reality. Because I’m in Christ, I know I have the potential to live free from the flesh and to follow the Spirit of God.
I have the potential to live free from the flesh. «You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh,» in the NIV. It says this realm of the flesh. Most translations just say you, however, are not of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. That you can live free!
Notice how he says it a little earlier: «Those who live according to the flesh have their mindset on what the flesh desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.» So how do we move into this reality, this potential, this possibility that we can live free from the tyranny of the flesh in our lives? How do we get in on what Paul was saying? «Who will deliver me from this body of death? Oh, wretched man that I am! Who can help me not do the things I don’t want to do and not do the things I do want to do? Who can help me? Who can set me free? Who can change that narrative?»
Then he says, «Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord,» and then we’re right into Romans chapter 8. In chapter 8, Paul unpacks that reality, and the way he unpacks it is by telling us who we are and telling us, because of who we are, that we don’t have to live under the tyranny of the flesh in bondage to the flesh. But we have an option to live in obedience to the Spirit of God, and he tells us right here how to do it: «Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.»
What he’s saying is that the potential is there because you’re in Christ, but the way that you actualize that has everything to do with your mindset. The mind set on the flesh is death; the mind set on the Spirit is life. It’s a mindset! I’m not talking about the power of positive thinking, except that I am talking about the power of thinking positively. He’s saying, «Where is your mindset? Is your mindset on the flesh or is your mindset on the spiritual world? Who you are, who Christ is, who God is, where you are, what He’s doing in you, what He’s made available to you, who you are because of Him? Or are you stuck over in this fleshly zone over here with your mind set on the flesh?»
That’s going to be the difference he’s saying between whether or not you experience this freedom, this victory that is possible in your life. I’m kind of fast-forwarding a little bit, trying to find this other passage, but I want you to see the reality of what has happened to us. It says in Romans, a few chapters forward in Romans chapter 12, verse 2, it says, «Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.» In other words, what is your mindset on? Because that’s going to be where you find yourself.
So not living according to the flesh and living according to the Spirit doesn’t start with something you do; it starts with something you think. We’ve said this so many times in the last couple of years here, but God is giving you the power through Christ to take control of your thinking because the battle for your life of whether you’re going to live according to the flesh or according to the Spirit does not hinge on how strong you are; it hinges on how good your thinking is, how strong your thoughts are. Paul, even in another place, tells us through the power of God, we’ve got to take every thought that comes into our mind captive through Christ. We’ve got to make it obedient to Christ. We can’t let anything live rent-free in our heads, and we certainly can’t harbor a lie in our minds, dwell on it, and expect to live out the power and freedom and possibility that is ours in Christ.
We have to change the way we think, and this is what he’s saying right here—that we’re transformed by the renewing of our minds. That’s how we don’t conform to the pattern of this world, i.e. living like the flesh wants us to. Then, once you do that, you’ll be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, His pleasing, and His perfect will. This will be the fruit that is coming in your life—the will of God, the perfect things of God, the pleasing things of God, the good things of God. It all happens by this renewing.
I dug around on that word a little bit, and it means renovation. I know a lot about renovation—home renovation—because I watch a lot of HGTV. I know a whole lot about how to open up houses into an open floor plan. The first thing that has to happen is what? We got to take that wall down. But to take that wall down, what do we got to do? We got to figure out if it’s load-bearing or not. If it is load-bearing, we got to get one of those gigantic beams that you have to crank up on the crankers and put that thing up somehow into the ceiling to support all the weight of the house that’s above it, so we can take that wall out and open this thing up and see into the dining room for the first time and watch the kids while I’m working at the sink. They bring these designers in that are amazing, and they have this tablet, and all of a sudden on your TV screen, you’re seeing it all happen—like in a schematic, you know—and the wall’s coming down, and there goes the wall, and we’re going to bring these cabinets over here. Cabinets show up, and we’re moving the refrigerator over here, and here’s the pantry now. We’re losing this window. The window’s gone, and this little door down here is going to turn into sliders that go all the way down to the corner of the room.
Then you turn the corner, and this little fireplace—we’re getting rid of it. Fireplace gone; new fireplace is coming in over here. Whoa! That’s amazing—this wall is moving back; this is happening. All of a sudden, you’re like, «Whoa, amazing!» But then they flash back to real life, and they’re still standing in the real kitchen that doesn’t have an island with the three pendant lights and the cascading countertop. You’re like, «You are watching too much HGTV, bro.» No, they’re standing in the old kitchen. But the schematic shows a whole transformation, and that’s where we’re stuck right now. Some of you are in Christ because you put your faith in Jesus, and He has invaded your life. You were born again, realizing you were chosen before the foundation of the world, but it’s the schematic right now—new cabinets, new wall, window gone, sliding doors, open floor plan, amazing.
Anyone wants to live here, but it’s the schematic right now, and you’re in the old kitchen. Just like every one of these deals, the next thing that’s going to happen after the picture is drawn is that they’re going to hand one of these personalities a sledgehammer, and the way it works on most of the ones I watch is they’re going to poke four holes in the wall. Then we’re going to commercial. Then the real people come in and take the wall down! That’s what God is really wanting us to see is this process.
Don’t be conformed to the old! Don’t get in here and feel like this is me just because your flesh has still got the effects of fallen man. Don’t get into this mindset that this is me, that this is what I do, that this is how I live. You know what? I can’t beat it. I’ve tried; I’ve tried everything; I can’t control it. It gets the best of me a lot of days. He’s saying, «No, don’t be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed.» In other words, there’s going to be some people swinging some sledgehammers, but not just randomly. It’s going to be all according to the schematic, to the blueprint, to the drawing, to the plan. This wall is going to come down, but it’s going down according to what God says He’s done.
Just like there’s a transformation happening in that kitchen, there’s a transformation happening in my kitchen, and I’m getting new countertops because I have new countertops. There’s a window that’s going away, and it’s going away through the renovation of my thinking. It starts, not with something I do; the sledgehammers are the good thoughts of the word of God. The crowbar that’s getting the old countertop off is the good word, the good truth, the right thinking of the word of God. I’m going to renew my mind! I’m going to think differently! I’m going to dwell, as Paul writes in another one of his letters, on the things that are good and the things that are lovely and the things that are beautiful and the things that are praiseworthy and the things that are of good report!
I’m going to set my mind on these things—the discounted things in our culture! I’m going to count them as the most precious things! I’m going to set my mind on them! I am going to align my thoughts with God’s thoughts, and if God doesn’t think it about me, I’m not going to think it about me. I’m going to align my actions with God’s thoughts! I’m going to jettison all other thoughts that are not God’s thoughts, and I’m going to renovate my mind! I’m going to do what Dr. Caroline Leaf says: I’m gonna build a new highway in my mind. All of these neuroscientists say it in some relatively close proximity that you can build a new thought and create a new habit somewhere around 30 to 90 days. Dr. Caroline Leaf says 66 days.
You can create a new habit, and what you do is you consistently think the same thought—a positive thought, a true thought, a right thought about you or about a situation or about somebody. You consistently think that thought for 66 days, and she said you actually build a neural highway in your brain—a new neural pathway in your brain—and that’s the way thoughts travel around in our mind on these freeways that are built over time. Think about it! Some of us have not been focusing on who we are in Christ. We’ve been focusing on who we are in our mindset and in our thinking and in somebody else’s opinion and what circumstances said about us, and we’ve been thinking some negative thought about ourselves—some of us for 20 years! Imagine what kind of freeway you’ve built in 20 years in your brain. That’s how the 18-wheelers come down your brain, hauling all the freight, because there’s a 20-year highway built in there, and you need a new highway! Amen! You need a new highway!
And you don’t build highways overnight. I mean, some of you live up in the area of the 400 interchange, and you understand it takes time! But even after a few days in a field, you can see where your feet went through the grass. After a few weeks on that same direction, you can see the grass kind of losing ground to the dirt, and after time, you’ve got a path. You might one day have a little extra cash and go, «You know what? We’re going to pave that!» That’s what God is giving you the power to do in here! So yes, you’re an heir, but what difference is it going to make if you don’t know who you are in Christ, and you’re not thinking right? You’re going to live like a pauper on Earth and miss out on storing up treasure in heaven, even though you were a co-heir of Christ your whole life!
It’s amazing that you’re a child of God, but what difference is it going to make if you don’t renew your mind to that, and you live like you’re unwanted? You live like you’ve been forsaken? You live like you’ve been left behind when you’re a child of God! What difference is it going to make if you have a Father who’s bigger than everything that you’re afraid of, if your mind isn’t renewed to Him? Then you’re just going to be afraid of everything! He says about us in Christ that we are loved, loved! He chose you; He picked you! You are chosen before you saw Him; He saw you, and He said, «I want him! I want her! I want to choose her! I want to adopt her! I want to bring her into my story! I want to make her my daughter!»
You are loved! You are chosen! You are justified! We talked about last week! How do you live differently when your mind is renewed that you’re justified? You belong! You are secure! You are amply supplied in Christ! You are accomplished in Christ! You are seated with Him at the right hand of God! So yes, do good on Earth, but you ain’t ever getting higher than where you already are! You’re not forsaken! You are not forsaken! You’re like, «Oh, you don’t know me. You don’t know my story.» I don’t need to. Are you in Christ? You are not forsaken! Yes, we’ve all had stuff go wrong—horrible stuff in our stories—but we’re not forsaken! We are healed in Christ! Amen! We are whole! We are victorious! Not a victim! Renew my mind! I’m in Christ! Christ is risen! Christ is crowned! Christ is seated! Christ is reigning! Christ is ruling! Christ is sovereign! Christ is at the top! Christ has the name above every name! He has the title above every title!
Christ is at the pinnacle of everything that’s ever existed in time and space and eternity! Christ is superior to everything, and I am in Christ! I am blessed! If you’re in Christ, you are able! If you’re in Christ, you are purposed! You are royal! You are spiritual! You are led! You are cared for! You are holy! You are a son! You are a daughter! You are destined! You are seated! You are somebody in Christ! You have a new position and a brand new identity in Christ! Oh, come on, church! We are talking about a brand new life! A brand new life! And that’s why this talk is called A New Mindset for a Brand New Way of Life!