Grace Bible Chapel, January 12, 2025, Greg Rhodea PhD
I. Much of the
Involves the
of Controlling our
Proverbs 3:20‒23
20 My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words.
21 Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.
23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Mark 7:14‒23
14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” [16]
17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
Romans 8:5‒9
5 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. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 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.
II. A
Practical
: “The ABCs of Emotional Disturbance and Healing”
Adapted from Kevin Vost, The Porch and the Cross: Ancient Stoic Wisdom for Modern Christian Living, 104‒108.
(See last week’s message for another practical strategy for controlling our thoughts, “The Four-Step Solution.”)
• Romans 12:2 tells us: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Part of this renewal involves replacing our false judgments and opinions about events with God’s judgments and opinions.
• One area in which we especially need to maintain God’s judgment and opinion—and not our own—involves events that bring us anxiety, fear, or some other emotion that can be destructive or lead to destructive behavior. Here is the key principle:
When we have an emotional reaction to an event, we are not really reacting to the event itself, but rather we are reacting to our judgment about the event—and because our judgment about the event belongs to us, it is in our power to change.
• Usually when we think of our emotional reactions to events, we assume it is a two-step process, the Activating Event (A) and our Consequential Emotion (C):
• What this assumption obscures, is that in reality, we are experiencing a three-step process: the Activating Event (A), our Consequential Emotion (C), but also actually our Beliefs (B) about the event as well. In fact, it is actually our beliefs, judgments, and opinions about the event that are actually driving our emotional response. So:
• Because our Beliefs (B), opinions, and judgments about the matter belong to us, they are in our power to change. We can choose to look at the event through God’s eyes instead of our instinctive reaction. This allows us to Dispute (D) any wrong beliefs at play, which will open the door for a different, new Emotional Adjustment (E).
• In practice then, when you are threatened by some overwhelming emotion that has the power to negatively impact you (excessive anxiety, anger, sadness), you need to stop and remind yourself that what you are feeling is based not on the event but on what you believe about the event.
• Examine your beliefs, opinions, and judgments about the event. Is there another way you could assess the situation? Could you choose to evaluate the situation again or believe differently? Some helpful options include:
- God promises that all things work out for my good (Rom 8:28). He has allowed this to happen in part to work for some kind of good for me. I will choose to look for that good.
- The only ultimate hurt I can experience are those things that hurt my character and virtue, or which hurt my relationship with God (See Phil 1:21; 1 Cor 9:27). This event need not hurt my character or relationship with God unless I let it.
- One reason God allows hardships for me is to grow my faith and character (Rom 5:1‒5). I will choose to respond to this event in a way that develops my faith and character. That means this bad event is an opportunity for good to me!
- Even if I lose everyone and everything, I have Jesus, and my future with him is secure (Rom 8:35‒39). Therefore I can lose everything and still have everything I need (1 Cor 3:21‒22; Phil 3:8, 12‒13).
- Though my pain is great, compared to the joys of eternity with Christ, even this great suffering is light and momentary (Rom 8:18; 2 Cor 4:16‒18).
- The opinions of others have no power over me unless I choose to accept their judgments. I choose rather to care nothing for the opinions of others, but only Christ’s opinion of me (1 Cor 4:3‒5).
- I cannot control the actions or opinions of others. The only thing I can control is my own thinking and actions, so I choose to focus on these instead of what I cannot control (see Gal 6:4; Col 3:17).