Ugly Thoughts
Ugly Christmas Sweater • Sermon • Submitted
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· 20 viewsThe war of life is fought in the battlefield of the mind. The things we do are first thoughts we think. We are wired for negativity, but God can rewire us for thoughts of joy. When we allow God to work within us, and when we choose to focus on good things, Christmas will be merry and bright.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning and welcome!
As we get started this morning, we are going to be leaving Galatians and we are going to starting a brand new little mini-series.
And the overall idea for this series I found in one of my ministry resources and it seemed the Lord spoke to me and said, this is it!
So for the next four weeks we are going to be looking at the different parts of an ugly sweater!
And we all know about the ugly Christmas sweaters.
And if you have one, I’d encourage you to wear it for the next few weeks!
And even though we are going to try and have a little fun with all of this, we are actually going to be talking about a series subject.
Because we are not going to be talking so much about the sweater but rather what (or who) is filling the sweater.
Namely us.
We are going to be looking at us and what makes us the ugly part of the sweater.
Because you can have the finest of all things and the most beautiful stuff in the world.
You can even be physically attractive, but if what is in you is ugly, people see it, people know it, and people avoid it.
Think about it.
We are in the Christmas season.
The time that we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
“The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” as Andy Williams sung about it.
But it is also a time when some of the most ugliness you will ever see comes out of people.
Pushing and shoving, backbiting and fighting over stuff.
People all stressed out over buying this and buying that, making sure their house looks a certain way.
Running themselves ragged and over what?
Material things of the world.
Folks that is not what Christmas is about.
Christmas is about celebrating the birth of our Savior.
It is not know who first said it but one person put it this way . . .
“If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.”
And we my friends are the bearers of the Good News of that Savior.
But no one is going to be listening to us if everything that comes out of us is ugly.
And that ugliness starts in our minds.
Jesus himself tells us in Luke 6:45 . .
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
And go over to Proverbs 4 . .
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
And Proverbs 10:11 . . .
The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked.
The point is, whatever is in us, is what comes out of us.
And it all starts with ugly thoughts.
Ugly thoughts give way to ugly words.
Ugly words give way to ugly motives.
And ugly motives give way to ugly actions.
Or it can be said this way . . .
but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
But it all starts with out thoughts.
So, what are we thinking about?
What is on our minds?
We can’t control our thoughts can we??
Well, let’s see what Paul has to say about it.
Look at Romans 12, just for a second.
Paul writes this . . .
Scripture Focus
Scripture Focus
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Transformed Mind
Transformed Mind
Now, what I’ve read is a very familiar passage and we will get to it in just a bit, but before we get to it, I first want to take a look at another passage of Paul’s, to put things into perspective, this one out of Philippians 4.
Starting in verse 4, Paul writes this . . .
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
So, at this point you may be thinking, what does the passage from Romans on renewing our minds, and Paul’s passage here have to do with one another.
Well, a little bit of everything.
See, in Romans Paul tells us what to do, but here he tells us one way to do it.
Again, Romans 12 . . .
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.
So, Paul is telling us that one of our main roles and responsibilities to God is to still offer sacrifices to God, just like the Jews did before Jesus came.
But we don’t run around killing sheep, cows, and doves and drain their blood on an altar anymore, do we?
If we do, then that’s another conversation we need to have.
But the reality is that we do not.
However, God still expects a sacrifice from us.
And when we say “sacrifice” what we area really talking about is our gift to God.
What we are willing to give to God.
And this goes all the way back to Cain and Abel.
Remember their sacrifices to God . . .
Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favour on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”
And the whole premise here is that Abel was giving God the best that he had, “the fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock” but Cain on the other hand just from fruits of the soil.”
And the accepted thought was that this fruit of the soil was not the best or the choice fruit.
It was just some leftover stuff.
The stuff that was half rotten and nobody was going to eat anyway.
It didn’t matter to God what the offering was.
It could be animals, fruit, a piece of wood for that matter.
God just expected Cain and Abel to give Him their best.
And God expects the same thing from us.
And our “best” is not represented by all of our stuff.
Our “best” is US.
Our gifts to God is not some sort of material thing that we make or own with our hands.
It isn’t our “trade.”
Our best is the best part of us.
God wants us to give ourselves fully to Him.
Again, in Romans 12:1 Paul points out . . .
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.
But this is hard, this is difficult. How in the world can we do this?
Especially when the world is pulling against us in a completely different direction.
How do we do this when there is so much out there pulling us in so many different directions?
The world is pulling one way and God another way.
What are we to do?
Well, there are two things that come into play here.
First, is what Paul says in Romans 12:2 . . .
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
And there is the key, the renewing of our mind.
Our entire line of thinking has to change.
We have to view the world and everything in the world through the Holy Spirit’s lens and not our own.
We have to make a conscience choice to be different and to think differently.
And that begins at salvation.
Paul also tells us that . . .
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
We are literally made new in Christ.
The old is gone and dead, and the new has come to life.
So that gives us the capacity to think differently, to choose differently.
And the choice we are confronted with is whether we will follow the Holy Spirit or ourselves.
It all goes back to what we talked about just a couple of weeks ago.
Remember in Galatians 5, Paul says . . .
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
And . . .
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
And you put all of this together, and we end up with what Paul is telling us in Philippians 4.
Which in a nutshell is to focus our thoughts.
Look at it again really quickly.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
We rejoice because Christ has delivered us!
We rejoice because Christ has set us free!
We rejoice because we know that there is hope to be found in Jesus Christ!
And rejoicing leads to gentleness, not ugliness. Paul says . . .
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
And because we know the Lord is near we can also calm our spirits and our souls.
Paul goes on . . .
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
And finally Paul says . . .
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Which is only possible trough a transformed mind.
And a transformed mind is only possible through giving ourselves to God.
Which is only possible by yielding our will to the Holy Spirit.
Altar/Challenge
Altar/Challenge
And when we can do that we can really focus on the main thing and keeping the main thing the main thing.
We can focus on Jesus.
And we can focus on the hope that is found in Jesus Christ.
And we can share that hope with other people.
And our ugly thoughts are changed into thoughts of life, thoughts of hope.
And we can share that hope with other people.
So, this morning, what’s on your mind.
Or better yet, what is in your heart?
Does the ugly sweater represent an ugly heart full of ugly thoughts?
Or do you do like Paul says in Philippians 4:8 . . .
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Because remember, ugly thoughts turn into ugly words, which turn into ugly motives, when end up as ugly actions (sin).
Where are you at this morning and where do you want to be?
You can determine that, but you have to work it out with God.
In Philippians 2, Paul tells us . . .
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labour for nothing.
Does this describe you this morning or is there work to do?
You decide.
Let’s pray . . .