Scripture Reading: Gen. 2:9, 17; 3:6-7; 2 Cor. 1:12; Eph. 6:17; 4:23; Rom. 12:2; 8:5-6
In the garden of Eden, there were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God commanded Adam saying, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:16-17). This shows us that these two trees are in opposition one to another. On one side, there is the tree of life. On the other side, there is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, a tree that leads to death. We can say that one is the tree of life and the other is the tree of death. When man ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the result was death. The greatest effect on Adam and Eve after they had sinned was that they acquired knowledge. After they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they understood good and evil. In other words, the influence of the fall on man's physiological constitution and the first subjective impact it had on man was that man's intellect became bigger than before. Before man fell, he had a mind and an intellect. But after his fall, his mind and intellect became different from what God had intended them to be at the beginning; they were no longer what God wanted them to be. For this reason, Paul said in Ephesians 6:17 that we should "receive the helmet of salvation." This shows that man's "head" needs salvation. After many people believe in the Lord, their life and their living are definitely changed. But with many people their "head" is not yet saved. In spiritual warfare, if our "head" is not saved and covered, we cannot deal with Satan. Therefore, it is important to put on the helmet of salvation; it is important for our "head" to be saved.
Among God's children, there is a great problem: we can find excellent men, and we can find men with good behavior, but they all have a "head" that belongs to the old creation. In other words, they have the life of Christ, but they still have the "head" of Adam. This frustrates them from understanding God's will. To measure a person's spiritual life, all we have to do is measure his "head." The degree to which a man is saved from his "head" is the degree to which he is saved from Adam and the old creation. The basic difference between living in the old creation and living in the new creation lies in the condition of the "head" before God.
Second Corinthians 1:12 says, "Not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world." All of us who consider ourselves to be clever, shrewd, and great need to look to God for His deliverance. We need to realize that the principle of the Christian life is to be according to God's will and not according to our wisdom. It is trusting in His grace rather than in our wisdom. This is the one thing that we have to learn.
Suppose a matter is presented to you, and you do not know whether you should do it, or you do not know how to do it in the proper way. You consider and reconsider, pondering this way and that. You think if you do it this way, you will have this result, and if you do it that way, you will have that result. If you say this, others will answer in one way, and if you say that, others will answer in another way. You think you should be a little more clever in handling the situation. What does it mean to be clever? It means to face the least difficulty and avoid the most opposition in saying or doing something. But you have forgotten that God's children do not live on earth in fleshly wisdom. Being a Christian is a simple thing. All we need to do is ask what God wants.
We must realize that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that was in the garden of Eden is still growing among God's children today. Many of God's children are still eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil day and night instead of the fruit of the tree of life. They still ask if they should do this or that, and they are still entangled with questions of good and evil. Paul said that it is a simple matter to live before God; we do not live in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God. We are responsible for one thing only, doing His will.
Romans 12:2 says, "But be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect." We must all remember that our responsibility is to obey God's will, while God is responsible for the result of our obedience to His will. We do not have the responsibility of finding a smooth pathway for ourselves. As far as smoothness is concerned, we can say that the Son of God lived the roughest life on earth. He was responsible for obeying God's will, while God was responsible for His "misfortunes." When we say that cleverness is useless to a Christian, we do not mean that we should go and do foolish things. Our cleverness is useless in God's hand, and our foolishness is also useless in His hand. God has no need of our foolishness just as He has no need of our cleverness. We are not saying that foolish things are good; we are saying that whatever is according to God's will is good. We have to differentiate between the two. Purposely saying foolish things or purposely making a blunder does not make a person better. We have to be responsible for obeying God's will. If God wants us to do something, we should do it. The result and effect of that action is God's business, not ours.
We need to ask God to save us from our "head," so that our "head" has salvation and we have on the helmet of salvation. Whenever we encounter anything, the first thing we should do is confess to God: "Lord, my head and my cleverness are not the principles by which I live my Christian life. As a Christian, everything I do is for the purpose of fulfilling Your will." This does not mean that we have to act foolishly or become a fool. I will repeat again that God does not need a foolish man, just as He does not need a clever man. We should not live in this world according to what our mind thinks; rather, we should prove what is God's good and well pleasing and perfect will.
Some people have a commercial mentality. Whenever they encounter something, the first thing that comes into their mind is a calculation of gains and losses. They do this in ordinary matters, and they do this also in spiritual matters. This kind of mentality needs to receive a warning. In spiritual matters, the main thing is not whether one comes out on top; it is not a question of personal gain or loss, but a question of God's will. Brothers and sisters, we have to learn that in this world we live by only one principle: trusting in God's grace and doing His will.
Ephesians 4:23 says, "And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind." This means that man's mind needs to be renewed. Romans 12 speaks of the same thing: "Be transformed by the renewing of the mind." The result is "that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect." If our mind is renewed, we will prove what God's will is. Whether or not a man understands God's will has nothing to do with methods; it has to do with the person himself. Many people know methods for finding out God's will, but they themselves are wrong. As a result, they still are unable to know God's will.
Who will know God's will? Only those who have been delivered by God from their mental strength know His will. Our mind must be renewed before we can prove what God's will is. We have to remember that the strongest part of man's natural life is his thoughts. With some, the strength of their natural life lies in their will. With others, the strength of their natural life lies in their emotion. But with most, the strength of their natural life lies in their mind. As soon as you meet a person who is strong in his mind, you touch his "head." When he comes to you, his thoughts come as well. His thoughts are stronger than his spirit. He seems very clever, and his outstanding feature is his thoughts. But unless the Lord breaks this strength and smashes this power, such a person cannot know God's will. We have to ask God to deliver us from trusting in our mind or our mental ability.
Many people constantly confess that their flesh is wrong and that their natural life is not proper, yet they still treasure their thoughts, their views, and their natural life. They say with their mouth that they do not trust in these things, but their heart is still full of their own ideas and cleverness, and they still think that their views and ways are better than others. Their cleverness has not yet been broken, and their thoughts have not yet been dealt with. Therefore, they cannot know God's will. Many people are full of God's will in their mouth, yet in reality, they know nothing about God's will. We know that a wrong person will never know God's will. God needs to do a fundamental work in us through the cross. In particular, He has to renew our mind. He has to break our old man so that we will no longer appreciate our own cleverness and no longer think that we are better than others. Once our "head" is dealt with, we will prove God's will, and we will know His will. Our problem is that human thoughts often have replaced God's will. Therefore, our "head" needs to be saved. No one who is ignorant of the cross will know God's will. Hence, the whole question comes back to the cross. Do you know that the cross is here to deal with your natural life? Do you know how God deals with you as a person? One day God will grant you grace and lead you to the point where you realize that your self as well as your thoughts are not reliable. Then you will no longer believe in yourself or treasure your natural strength. Then many things will become clear to you. Whenever your natural life is dealt with by God, you will be clear concerning His will.
Romans 8:5-6 says, "For those who are according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace." What is the mind of the flesh? One characteristic of the mind of the flesh is to believe in ourselves, to think that we know everything, and to be confident of everything. The mind of the spirit also has its characteristic, which is to have no trust in ourselves, to be hesitant and fearful in saying or doing anything. The mind of the flesh is always busy and quick; it always considers itself to be very clever. Yet it does not have any rest, and the result is death. The mind of the spirit is not under the control of natural wisdom; it is under the control of God's command. It does not have any confidence in the flesh and does not act according to the idea of the mind. The result is life and peace. Hence, our "head" must be saved before we can be free from the control of the fleshly mind and before we can have the mind of the spirit. Only then will we have life and peace.
Paul said, "Not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you" (1 Cor. 1:12). Please pay attention to the last phrase "and more abundantly toward you." The Corinthians were very wise. But Paul said that he did not conduct himself in the world in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God and more abundantly toward them. Thank the Lord that the more wise and judicious we are, the more we do not need to use our wisdom. We trust in the grace of God. This is all the more true when it comes to the things of God and the affairs of the church; we do not need fleshly wisdom or fleshly cleverness.
We have to learn to never bring our secular mind into the consideration of spiritual affairs. I do not know if your secular mind is useful in other things or not, but I do know one thing, a secular mind is definitely not useful in spiritual things. Your secular ways, tactics, strategies, and cleverness may be useful in other things, but they are absolutely useless in spiritual things. In the house of God, it is not a matter of man's ways or cleverness but a matter of God's will. Only one thing counts here; it is not what man says or thinks but what God has said. We need to ask the Lord, "God, what is the pattern that You want to show me?" Other than the pattern that He shows us, we cannot have another pattern. We have to learn to obey God's will and give up trusting in our own wisdom. While we are obeying God's will, we should look to Him to carry us through all the difficulties that we face in doing His will. From now on, we should look to God so that we can conduct ourselves in the world not in fleshly wisdom but in His grace and so we can obey His will.
