What’s the Point of Thinking Deeply About God?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | We close out the week with a question from Aaron,
00:00:06.680 | a podcast listener in Sherburn, New York.
00:00:09.800 | Pastor John, I just listened to the APJ episode number 634.
00:00:13.960 | Is my Bible reading too academic?
00:00:16.400 | It is wonderfully instructive.
00:00:18.020 | I'm the academic type.
00:00:19.280 | I'm no genius, but I enjoy the exercise of thinking.
00:00:22.400 | It's almost athletic to me.
00:00:23.760 | It's food.
00:00:25.360 | But here's my question.
00:00:26.980 | When I'm being academic to the glory of God,
00:00:28.960 | discovering his word rigorously, systematically,
00:00:32.180 | in detail, in a regular, disciplined manner,
00:00:35.480 | and that study is raising my affections for God,
00:00:38.580 | and when I rejoice in God when I'm done,
00:00:40.540 | when I wanna bow down or lift up my voice into him
00:00:43.200 | as a result, when I'm more in love with him,
00:00:45.740 | if all of that is true, how do I help the people
00:00:49.060 | for whom thinking is a turnoff,
00:00:51.660 | that for whom dividing things so closely
00:00:53.780 | leaves them feeling cold, as you say?
00:00:56.840 | What would you say to Erin as she tries to help her friends?
00:00:59.700 | - The first thing I would say is that you should make clear
00:01:04.700 | to those folks, the so-called non-thinkers
00:01:07.720 | that we're gonna talk about, that you believe,
00:01:11.660 | you know, that many non-thinkers
00:01:16.080 | may be far better lovers of people than many thinkers are.
00:01:22.360 | Make sure they know that you don't think thinking
00:01:27.360 | is the one criterion by which a person's worth
00:01:33.360 | or effectiveness or virtue is determined.
00:01:37.440 | So they need to get that.
00:01:39.600 | Then I think the challenge is to find ways
00:01:43.200 | of motivating them to think as clearly,
00:01:47.000 | logically, and biblically as they can.
00:01:50.880 | And my assumption here is that all things being equal,
00:01:55.880 | a person who thinks clearly and logically and biblically
00:02:00.600 | will be more fruitful and more effective
00:02:03.960 | than a person who doesn't.
00:02:05.120 | And of course, I know all things are never equal.
00:02:08.560 | And so less gifted thinkers may be far more fruitful,
00:02:13.560 | far more effective in life and ministry
00:02:17.560 | than some thinkers are.
00:02:20.040 | But that doesn't change the fact that any given person
00:02:24.400 | who has many wonderful personal gifts
00:02:28.280 | will be more fruitful and more effective
00:02:32.360 | if they grow in their ability to think clearly,
00:02:37.360 | logically, and biblically.
00:02:39.460 | So how might we motivate everyone
00:02:44.460 | to grow in this skill?
00:02:48.960 | Now, since non-thinkers are unlikely
00:02:53.040 | to be motivated by thinking,
00:02:54.860 | the most fruitful approach for Aaron, the thinker,
00:03:00.160 | is to show the kind of fruits of her own thinking
00:03:05.160 | which non-thinkers really get excited about.
00:03:08.420 | And it sounds to me like Aaron is really good at this.
00:03:13.000 | I mean, she talks about her affections for God being raised,
00:03:17.480 | about rejoicing in God, loving Him,
00:03:21.720 | wanting to lift up her voice and sing a hymn
00:03:26.520 | because of her thinking.
00:03:28.760 | And all of that, it seems to me,
00:03:31.020 | is exactly what would awaken
00:03:35.080 | an emotionally hungry non-thinker to be curious.
00:03:40.680 | Like, how do you keep the fires
00:03:42.800 | of your emotions stoked like that?
00:03:45.600 | And then you would be able to give some illustrations
00:03:49.480 | of how thinking provides the kindling
00:03:52.880 | that you throw on the fires of your heart.
00:03:57.880 | But it may be that some of the non-thinkers
00:04:02.680 | that Aaron knows would indeed be inspired
00:04:06.800 | to push the envelope of their own thinking habits
00:04:10.640 | if they saw biblical reasons for doing so.
00:04:15.640 | Not everybody, perhaps, but some might be.
00:04:18.040 | So let me mention a few.
00:04:19.680 | These are helpful, I think, for everybody to consider,
00:04:23.160 | especially young people, I think,
00:04:25.200 | who are just getting started
00:04:26.400 | as they discover what their brains are for.
00:04:29.420 | First, the Bible repeatedly shows
00:04:33.760 | that God has given us the power of thinking
00:04:37.120 | as a servant to the power of feeling
00:04:40.480 | or vigorous, proper emotions.
00:04:43.800 | 1 Peter 1:13, "Gird up the loins of your mind."
00:04:48.800 | ESV translates that, "Prepare your minds for action.
00:04:54.240 | "Be sober-minded.
00:04:57.040 | "Set your hope fully on the grace
00:05:00.760 | "that is being brought to you."
00:05:02.280 | So what's the connection between setting your hope,
00:05:06.000 | that's an emotion, fully on God?
00:05:09.360 | Answer, loins of the mind have been girded up
00:05:13.040 | so that the mind can be active and effective
00:05:17.320 | in the use of the promises of God
00:05:19.400 | to throw the kindling of the Word on the fires of hope.
00:05:22.840 | That's the way the Bible thinks about the relationship
00:05:25.200 | between thinking, or the mind, and hoping, or the heart.
00:05:30.200 | Second, I would point out to people
00:05:34.300 | that God commands us to think
00:05:37.080 | about what He has revealed in Scripture
00:05:39.200 | and shows us that this thinking
00:05:42.320 | is the means by which He gives understanding.
00:05:45.240 | 2 Timothy 2:7, "Think over what I say,
00:05:49.440 | "for the Lord will give you understanding."
00:05:52.040 | So God's giving understanding happens through our thinking.
00:05:57.040 | Third, the Apostle Paul thinks that it is fundamental
00:06:02.960 | to the way we are spiritually transformed in life
00:06:10.080 | that our minds are renewed.
00:06:13.720 | Romans 12, 2, "Do not be conformed to this world,
00:06:17.360 | "but be transformed in the renewing of your mind."
00:06:22.120 | So if we're gonna be transformed
00:06:24.240 | into the likeness of Christ,
00:06:26.080 | Paul assumes it comes through a renewed mind.
00:06:29.280 | And what minds do is think.
00:06:32.280 | Fourth, I would point out that when Paul wrestled
00:06:38.720 | with whether he would pray or sing in a rational way
00:06:43.720 | or a less rational way,
00:06:47.560 | he insisted that the best solution was both.
00:06:53.360 | What am I to do?
00:06:54.280 | This is 1 Corinthians 14, 15.
00:06:56.240 | What am I to do?
00:06:57.920 | I will pray with my spirit
00:07:00.200 | and I will pray with my mind also.
00:07:02.400 | I will sing praise with my spirit
00:07:05.820 | and I will sing praise with my mind also.
00:07:09.960 | He's probably talking about tongues
00:07:12.120 | and that means his mind is not fully engaged.
00:07:15.440 | He may not even know fully what he's saying.
00:07:18.640 | And when he has to choose between the emotional overflow
00:07:21.560 | of inarticulateness and the emotional overflow
00:07:24.280 | of mental clarity, he says, "Why should I surrender either?"
00:07:28.800 | I love it.
00:07:30.120 | The fifth observation is the Bible treats
00:07:34.360 | some kinds of thinking as childish.
00:07:37.000 | There's a kind of thinking that we should leave behind
00:07:39.140 | in childhood and move on to mature thinking.
00:07:41.320 | 1 Corinthians 13, 11, "When I was a child,
00:07:43.640 | "I spoke like a child, I thought like a child,
00:07:46.160 | "I reasoned like a child.
00:07:48.160 | "And when I became a man, I put away childish things."
00:07:51.920 | He's making an analogy, but the analogy is valid
00:07:56.200 | to refer to the premise that children think differently
00:07:59.340 | than adults, let's move on.
00:08:00.960 | Or 1 Corinthians 14, 20, "Brothers, do not be children
00:08:04.680 | "in your thinking, be infants in evil,
00:08:07.340 | "but in your thinking, be mature."
00:08:10.540 | Or to put it another way, Philippians 3, 15,
00:08:13.640 | "Let those of us who are mature think this way.
00:08:17.180 | "And if in anything you think otherwise,
00:08:19.980 | "God will reveal that to you."
00:08:22.080 | So if the so-called non-thinkers that we know
00:08:27.720 | are moved by the scriptures, maybe these kinds of passages
00:08:32.720 | would stir them up to apply themselves
00:08:35.380 | in ways they never have.
00:08:38.020 | But I'm gonna end like this, I'm gonna circle back for Erin
00:08:40.540 | and simply say that she should keep on enjoying
00:08:45.540 | the fruits of the emotions and affections
00:08:51.040 | that your biblical thinking is awakening.
00:08:54.300 | Because those kinds of fruits, those robust, proper,
00:08:59.300 | Bible-saturated, truth-based emotions
00:09:04.920 | are the most compelling argument you could give
00:09:09.260 | to non-thinkers for why they should wanna stretch
00:09:13.300 | their minds more than they have.
00:09:16.260 | - Amen, thank you, Pastor John.
00:09:18.100 | And with that, we end our 149th consecutive week
00:09:21.360 | of episodes, and we look forward to launching
00:09:23.300 | week number 150 on Monday.
00:09:26.300 | And we plan to do so with a friend of ours,
00:09:28.140 | Randy Alcorn, who has a new book on happiness
00:09:30.460 | simply titled "Happiness."
00:09:31.940 | And it's one of the year's very best books.
00:09:34.360 | We're gonna talk with Randy about happiness on Monday.
00:09:36.640 | Don't miss it.
00:09:37.940 | And you can keep up with all of our episodes
00:09:40.060 | with our free app for your phone.
00:09:41.180 | And of course, you can get the apps
00:09:42.500 | and send us your questions at our online podcast home
00:09:45.280 | at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.
00:09:49.740 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:09:50.700 | We'll see you on Monday with guest Randy Alcorn.
00:09:53.860 | (upbeat music)
00:09:56.440 | (upbeat music)
00:09:59.020 | [BLANK_AUDIO]