19. Changing the Mind

We are gaining a breadth of understanding that will enable us to pin-point the specific thoughts inside the minds of Brother A and Sister B, thoughts of anti-Design that must be replaced with the thoughts of Christ.

In fact, through this exercise of “writing to learn” the Spirit of God has given me what I have been reaching for regarding this question from the start.

How can we impart this word of the revelation of Jesus Christ to our brethren in such a way that they can hear it and receive it with joy?

I can now explain clearly the ONE thing we must do.

The issue is the definition of “word.” What is the Word of God? What is the Bible? What are the words God speaks?

The serpent framed his definition of word in this way – Did God indeed say? By that question, word is then defined as ideas for us to “figure out,” to “debate,” and to “believe” in the form of asserting the “correct” ideas and participating in the “orthodox” practice.

Everything flowing out from that definition of word, as reflected through everything else the serpent spoke as it has worked its way through all the centuries of humans relating to God and His word, lives or dies by the placement of that first definition. You remove the false definition of word, and everything coming out from it simply vanishes.

In other words, there is no need to “attack” anything coming out from the wrong definition of word, even though it is important to us to understand the real meaning of all those arguments. If we can get the true definition of Word into the hearts of our brethren, then all the other stuff will simply slide away.

The true definition of Word, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in Person living as all that God speaks inside our hearts, having entered there through our response to every word in the Bible – Let it be to me according to Your word.

This definition is so inherently true and right, so real and Biblical, that there really is no opposition to it, that is, in any honest heart.

And, of course, these two opposing definitions of word are not just the words spoken, but also the metaphor of the two trees in the garden. Living in the tree of life is nothing other than living inside the true definition of Word. And that is the simplicity of the gospel.

And so our question, in every instance, whether spoken out loud or simply held inside our awareness, is “What are you doing with the Word God speaks?” “Why are you treating God’s Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, in that way?”

And the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? There is no better definition and explanation of the Bible as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, as a response in every way to the question, “Did God indeed say?” that I know of, than R.C. Sproul’s Knowing Scripture. I am so glad I included it in the Bible Institute course with a study guide. Going through it piece-by-piece has enabled me to understand now how all this works.

– The word God speaks as mental knowledge applied by the will and capabilities of the human. – Or, as Paul called it – lawlessness.

Here is Paul’s definition of lawlessness in my own words. – Treating with the word God speaks as anything other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in Person living and written all through the pathways of our human hearts.

The normal human definition of “keeping the law” or “hear and obey” is complete lawlessness, for, as Paul said, they do not hear the law, they do not obey the law, but they use it only for lawless purposes; that is, they hope to prove to God that they are “better.”

Inside of this framework, let’s take another look at the list of four things we must possess in ourselves in order to be that ministry of Christ that nourishes God’s Church in her hour of greatest need. Except this time, we will put them in the right order.

1. Submit to each one in gratefulness for the Love of God outpoured from them to you.

2. Show your brother and sister that every Word is Jesus alive in their hearts.

3. Show where every Word God speaks fits into its place inside of Christ as that word.

4. Show Father to each one by little acts of kindness and gentle words of encouragement.

Number 1, “Submit to each one in gratefulness for the Love of God outpoured from them to you,” must always come first for two very specific, though quite different reasons.

First, we have seen that “go and tell” is not actually anything Jesus said, but rather, “Come and see.” If we are proposing to our brethren that they believe that Jesus Himself lives as every Word God speaks inside all the pathways of their hearts, we ourselves have to believe that first.

And the only way that proves that we actually do believe in Jesus is when we submit ourselves to the love of God poured out in their hearts towards us. How could we teach anything except we know that it is true by whatever cost such a belief requires of us?

The cross is not a hammer to impose on other Christians; the cross is Christ as you on His knees, lifting up this dear and precious believer in Jesus.

And that is the second reason that Number 1 must always come first. What we are proposing is to connect this hard-headed theologian to the real Jesus he or she does know deep inside their heart. In order for us to be successful, there must be no threat coming from us against them.

The current and assertive acknowledgement inside of me that YOU LOVE ME more than I could know even if you were to say awful things against me, is the only thing I have ever known that actually removes threat from my own heart. I no longer have to defend myself against you, for the Love inside of you always towards me is none other than my Father.

So, when I look into the eyes of this hard-headed theologian in front of me and see only my Father poured out in love from him or her to me, I am disarmed. I am no longer threatened. And thus, I am no longer a threat to them.

Point Number 1, then, paves the way for the true word which we hope to impart to them, first by establishing ourselves in the proof of our belief in Jesus and second by removing from us any shadow of being a “threat.”

Then, Number 2 – Show your brother and sister that every Word is Jesus alive in their hearts. This we have already touched on. Upon this one task hangs everything else.

We can explain this task and how it affects everything else, however, by expanding on point Number 3 – Show where every Word God speaks fits into its place inside of Christ as that word. And notice how I have changed the wording just a bit from previous versions. (This is why we are writing to learn.)

Consider where every verse in the Bible, every word God speaks, fits into and connects together inside of the definition of word as mental ideas about God and salvation that are to be asserted and implemented.

Then consider where every verse in the Bible, every word God speaks, fits into and connects together inside of the definition of Word as Jesus Himself alive in our hearts.

Take any verse in the Bible and you will be able to find that verse stuck somewhere inside of either one of these “trees.” Same verse, same words, but where it is placed is the difference between LIFE and DEATH.

Now, we begin with this foundational understanding. The gospel, the good news, is utter simplicity – Jesus lives in your heart through faith. That’s it. But notice that this clear simplicity of the gospel is not actually found in the first definition of word as mental ideas.

You see, it’s not the statement “Jesus lives in your heart through faith.” Both trees contain that statement, but one holds it as an idea poorly defined and the other holds it as Jesus Himself alive in me – “Hi Jesus, I’m so glad You are living now inside my bubble as Yourself and as me as every Word God speaks.”

In the tree of human knowledge and implementation, even this verse, that should be the simplicity of the gospel, is all wrong.

The gospel itself is utterly and sweetly simple. Nothing else is.

God is a beyond-all complicated Being. The Bible is the most complicated book we possess. The universe is complex beyond all measure. Think of all the years we have spent learning about the natural and human worlds, but can you name God’s favorite creature (by number of types) and even 10% of those types? His favorite creature has to be the beetle, of course, because He made more kinds of beetles than any other thing. Can I explain the beetle to you? No, I cannot. I know hardly anything at all about God’s complex creation.

And we humans are complicated all through our make-up and our history. Can you list the primary writings of the Japanese? Neither can I. We know hardly anything about the human.
Yet everything inside of God is Word existing in a bath of Spirit. And everything in the natural creation and in the human experience is coming every moment out from the Words of power that are Jesus Himself, this one who lives as Word in our hearts.

I could never have written Knowing Jesus as He Is unless I had first written all five of the Symmorphy texts. What I mean is that the Bible as an expression of this Word that is God and is spoken through Jesus is also incredibly complex.

There are somewhere over 31,000 verses in the Bible. Let’s alter verse to idea and round it down to around 30,000 ideas in the Bible. Of truth, there are usually several ideas per verse, so it would not be wrong to say that there are 50-100,000 ideas in the Bible or more.

So – 50,000 different ideas is a simple number to use.

Now, take every one of those 50,000 different Bible ideas into your own heart and mind THROUGH the definition of word as mental ideas to assert and to implement.

And here’s the thing to realize. I could discover every one of those 50,000 different ideas, present each one to R.C. Sproul, and he would tell me exactly where that idea should fit inside his definition of word, that is, inside Nicene thinking.

But what a horror in which to live! Because, you see, it isn’t just all the ideas of the Bible in all the wrong places, it’s also the definitions of everything that are utterly wrong.

Now, take every one of those 50,000 different ideas into your own heart and mind THROUGH the definition of Word as the Lord Jesus Christ alive in your heart and fulfilling in, as, and through you every Word that He is.

What a wondrous rest in which to live – the never-ending simplicity of the gospel! Because, you see, He is completely responsible for me and for Himself through me.

Yet that does not mean, then, that I have nothing to do with those 50,000 different ideas all through God’s word. On the contrary, now every one of those ideas is cutting itself free from all the structures of darkness and death in which it once sat and is rushing with all joy into its wondrous place inside of Jesus and written all through my heart.

And I am overwhelmed with the endless riches that are Christ.

Now, I have known all this instinctively from the start. But that knowing did me no good, because I could not in any way have understood this great issue in the simple clarity in which I am expressing it in these letters. The reason is that prior to now, too many of those wondrous ideas that are God thinking were still in the wrong place in my own understanding.

It is only as I completed Symmorphy V: Life, and then subsequently wrote a condensed version of all five texts into Knowing Jesus as He Is, that I now see everything so wondrously in its place inside of Jesus inside my heart.

The simplicity of the gospel will be sending forth a river of wealth in an increase of our knowledge of Word, what it means and where it fits, that will never end. Yet it’s always simple – Jesus in my heart – yet it’s always an active and complex wealth increasing forever.

Because, you see, the simplicity of the gospel does not contain any passivity. We are actively involved in two ways, first, through faith, that is our active engagement with every single idea inside of God coming to us – “Let it be to me according to Your word.” And second, by God’s intention to synergeo with us in the working of every single idea He holds as it actively seeks its place in a universe of life.

Oh, this is so cool. I mean, this is just beyond all.

Step Number 3 is teaching our brethren to sing the Song of the Lamb. Singing the Song of the Lamb does not happen inside the other tree, because such an idea has a very definite PLACE in its thinking. – AFTER Jesus comes back; that is, most definitely NOT now, NOT here, and NOT you.

In the Tree of Life singing the Song of the Lamb is the only thing we are doing in whatever we are doing.

So, before continuing, let’s define the title of this letter – “Changing the Mind.” Or as Paul put it – Be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).

Here is our present definition of “being renewed in our minds.” – Every idea of God fleeing from its horrific imprisonment inside of “Did God indeed say?” – word as mental ideas to be asserted and implemented – and rushing into its place of sheer joy and fulfillment inside of Jesus lives in my heart through “Let it be to me.”

Now this is something we can really get a handle on.

Before looking at Point #4, we must insert two more considerations into our list. These are not things we will add as equals to the four other things we do to win our brethren to Christ. Rather, these are an addendum, something we are fully aware of, yet which we bring into the picture only when it is appropriate.

I am speaking first of repentance. Our brethren have not yet repented. Then, second, we must place the role of loving the world in its ability to prevent our brethren from knowing Jesus as He is.

Let me explain “repentance.” I had never considered the specific phrases of the serpent’s ruling words until now. The one phrase, however, that I had never considered in the past is “your eyes will be opened.” As I was writing about what that might mean, it dawned on me that it means “you will have all sufficiency in yourself – you will know.”

This is the great universal problem in the human race. Look at every individual you might see and consider this fact about them. They know that the way they see the world is the only true and right way to see anything. If you were to ask them how you yourself should think about any current item relevant to them – since you know they see it right – they will explain to you exactly how things are.

Everyone knows that they see all things clearly.

This is what Jesus meant. And Jesus said, “For judgment, I came into this world, that those not seeing may see, and those seeing may become blind.” The Pharisees who were with Him heard these things, and they said to Him, “Are we not also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not possess sin; Since, however, you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains” (John 9:39-41).

God gave the law to prove to us that we are incapable of keeping His word. But few will believe Him. Everyone “sees”; everyone “knows”; and everyone is attempting to present themselves as sufficient in themselves to please God.

I thank God that we are incapable and that we KNOW we are incapable. That’s why we NEED Jesus every moment to be every part of ourselves and by Himself to take all our wayward story lines and join them together as one inside Himself. 

And so, while we are moving in the four points in our list towards our brothers and sisters in Christ, we must also keep in the background the one thing each one must face fully and completely. And that is – I do NOT know. I cannot see. I NEED help. I must have Someone else to be the only life I am.

Here is our text. – That every mouth might be closed, and the entire cosmos brought under judgment before God (Romans 3:19). And again – Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord… The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace (you shall shut your mouth) (Exodus 14:13-14).

All who seek their own righteousness do so because they hope to boast in themselves before God that they have earned His approval and that He now owes them the life for which they have been working. The terrible reality, however, is that they already possess everything they are seeking, but they refuse to believe any of it. They would work for ten million years, possessing all things already but believing none of it, if God let them.

They “see” inside of utter blindness.

Faith is always Today. Now, this moment – believe into Jesus.

The second consideration we must always keep in our awareness is the power of allegiance to this world and to its causes and organizations that always prevents the Christian from knowing Christ as the words of their own life.

Here is how Jesus put it in Matthew 13:19-22.

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

Wow. That opens to us three different things that fit entirely into our discussion as if they were meant to do so! (The words of the Bible rushing with joy into their place.) And so, this second consideration which we keep in the background of our understanding as we seek to plant Christ as Word all through the hearts of our brethren. Here are those three things.

1. Not understanding the word – snatched away by demons.

2. Receiving the word, but shallow of heart – persuaded against that word by difficulty, by things “not working out.”

3. Receiving the word, but full of other things – no place left for the word to prosper.

We have already expanded on these three things in prior letters in this series. Here we are placing them into our consideration as we seek to change the minds of our brethren.

Then, look at the antidote to these three things that prevent Christ as the Word of our design from growing inside the heart of any believer – Matthew 13:23.

But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

“Good ground” is earth fully prepared for seed. And the four things that we have delineated – Receiving Love, Defining Word, Placing Word, and Showing Father – are the very things we do in order to prepare the ground of the hearts and minds of our brothers and sisters.

Finally, we come to Number 4, that is, the cherry on top. – Show Father to each one by little acts of kindness and gentle words of encouragement.

The first point is the Proof of Christ inside of us; the fourth point is the Fruit of Christ going out from us to them. The first point is the source and the foundation of anything and everything that is Christ, that is, “I believe into Jesus.” The fourth point is the consummation and the fulfillment, the capstone and the covering of everything that is Christ, that is, Father revealed, or, shall we say, the normal human life.

Word, then, the ideas of God in both definition and place, finds its true meaning only in between these two, sandwiched within the gentle touch of a real Jesus.

And the ONLY purpose of “no sufficiency in ourselves” is that we might know that Jesus is already all that we are. The moment we truly know “no sufficiency in ourselves” we discover All-sufficiency already living inside of and as us.