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A few weeks back, when Sharon and I visited our grandkids in Denver, they met us at the airport with a Rubik's cube...

MIND: God and My Mental Self - Proverbs 9: 1-12; I Corinthians 13 - April 20, 2008 - Cicero United Methodist Church - Everett 1. Bassett

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            A few weeks back, when Sharon and I visited our grandkids in Denver, they met us at the airport with a Rubik's cube. They might as well have just shut me off in a little room by myself. I realize that my grandson might have wanted to play with it; but he didn't get much chance. I spent hours at it, and never got as many as two sides done at the same time. If I had one of those things at my house, I'm not sure I would ever eat or sleep.

            So, for this sermon about brain power, I looked up some Rubik's cube facts. A Rubik's genius can solve the cube within 26 moves; I think I got one side after 26,000. The world record for fastest time is a man named Chambon, who solved it in 9.18 seconds. Another man holds a world record for blindfolded Rubik's cube - he is allowed to study the cube for a few moments, then he is blindfolded and solves it from memory - his record is 23 seconds. Forty seconds is the fastest the cube has ever been solved using feet instead of hands. And a young person from China solved the cube in one minute, 28 seconds. He or she is 4-1/2 years old. I don't feel very bright right about now.

            But think about what an incredible instrument the human mind is. A typical brain is the size of a grapefruit; it weighs about as much as a head of cabbage; but it is made up of about ten billion interconnected nerve ceils. And they control every breath, every movement, every thought, every sensation. Your brain is more complex than any computer ever made. It is, quite simply, the most astonishing thing God ever created.

            And it's not about Rubik's cube - that's the brain showing off. Think about a simple mental act like me remembering to pick up a loaf of bread on the way home - okay, bad example. Seriously, think about the miraculous things your brain has already accomplished today in the simple act of getting you up, getting you dressed, and getting you to church. It's nothing short of wondrous. When God said on the sixth day of creation, "Let us make human beings in our own image," He had to make His masterpiece, the human brain - or the rest would not have worked.

            Even beyond that, the brain is the seat of our individuality. So God not only designed the human brain, He designed the six and a half billion different human brains that operate in the world today - every one of them unique. Virtually every part of your body can be replaced, repaired, nipped, tucked - your whole face can be remade; your heart can be transplanted. Every bit of you can be replaced - except your brain. If that were even physically possible, you couldn't change your brain and still be you. You might as well say that you are your brain traveling around in a vehicle called your body.

            So when Jesus said, "You should love the Lord your God with all your mind ..." think about what that means. Your mind is the essence of who you are, and every function of your self. How would you dedicate your mental self to God? I'd like to discuss that by proposing three applications of loving God with all your mind. It's about three different kinds of knowledge, using this amazing instrument of thought that God has given us.

            Application One is book-knowledge. By this, I mean the stuff you go to school for: science, history, philosophy, language, mathematics. The intellectual ventures that have allowed the human race to accomplish technological and medical miracles, to harness the forces of the universe, and conceive complex governments and societies. The success of the human brain in academic pursuits is breathtaking.

            There is a long history of Christian faith opposing such knowledge. And there are Christians today who still deny the importance of scientific and philosophical knowledge. "Too much book-­learin' messes up your mind," is the way one Christian man said it to me. He saw the brain as the devil's instrument to confuse people about the truths of faith. The human mind, after all, is the seedbed for atheism, immorality, and evil thoughts, not to mention the creation of the hydrogen bomb, biological warfare, and genocide.

            Who in the world could argue with that? But to my thinking, that simply makes the brain the same as every other facet of human existence - it can be used for good or for ill. When we put our academic minds in harmony with the One who created them, they are capable of doing amazing good in this world.

            The Book of Proverbs is the Book in the Bible most concerned with book-knowledge. In the verses we read this morning are these words: "Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight." Or, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." As I look at that teaching, it's not that knowledge is bad - it's that it needs the benefit of maturity, wisdom, and respect for the ways of God. To paraphrase a character in the Steven Spielberg movie Jurassic Park, humankind became so concerned with what we could do, that we forgot to ask what we should do. For that, we need guidance beyond ourselves - we need guidance from God.

            And that brings us to Application Two: faith-knowledge. Our minds were not only given to discover the secrets of the universe through science and other academics; they were also given as instruments to study the ways of God through faith. This is a key value in our church. It's why we promote Bible studies and discussion groups so much. There are churches that ask people to check their brains at the door. ‘Too much thinking gets in the-way of what is being taught. We'll tell you what to think.'

            This is not our tradition. Our founder, John Wesley valued reasoning with our minds as one of the essential ways to understand the thoughts of God. Wesley firmly stated that knowledge of God begins with the Bible. But we bring the gifts God gives us to help us understand the Bible. And one of those gifts is the ability to reason.

            Wesley stated it pretty plainly, when someone suggested that Christians should renounce their intellects. "It is a fundamental principle with us," said Wesley, "that to renounce reason is to renounce religion, that religion and reason go hand in hand, and that all irrational religion is false religion." In other words, God's truth makes sense, and if what is being proposed doesn't make sense, then it probably isn't God's truth.

            Somebody might say, "Well, why do you bring reason to the Bible? Why can't you just read what's in the Bible, and take it literally?" That may be the Bible we wish we had - the one where the truth was as plain as day and could be taken literally. For better or worse, that is not the Bible God gave us. The Bible God has left us with requires interpretation. That interpretation requires a lot of prayer, and a lot of faith - but also it requires minds that are dedicated to studying and reasoning out the ways of God. For example, Jesus said, "If your right hand offends you, cut it off." Ever so often we hear of someone who takes that literally, with tragic results. Our God-­given minds tell us that Jesus did not intend that teaching to be taken literally. We need to use our minds to read the Bible. Discerning the true meaning of the Bible is one of the major uses of our God-given brain power.

            The third application of our minds I want to lift up might seem a little odd -It's love-­knowledge. Two weeks ago, I preached about loving God with your whole heart, or with your emotions, and you would think that is where love comes in. But I propose something different. I think we get into trouble understanding what the Bible means by love when we see it only as an emotion of the heart, rather than as a decision of the mind.

            In the original Greek of the Bible, one of several words for 'love' is 'agape.' "Agape' may be defined different ways, but here is one: 'agape' is loving with a God-like mind. We would rather say 'heart'. But I think 'mind' is better. Because 'agape' may be very emotional; but by definition, it goes way beyond emotion. It is a choice of the will. It's like saying, "I may not like everything about you, but I have made my mind up to love you." That's the kind of love Jesus talked about when he said, "Love your enemies." On a purely emotional level, we can't do that. How can we ever have a feeling of love for someone who has attacked us, or rubs us the wrong way, or abused us, or insulted us? We can't help our feelings. But agape-love is something different. It's making up your mind to love because Jesus loves - even when we are unlovable­ Jesus still loves us. That's the kind of love we strive for, simply because it pleases God.

            We read I Corinthians 13 this morning, and we tend to romanticize those words, and read them at weddings. But the word for 'love' in I Corinthians 13 is 'agape', and that means a love that goes beyond romance. This is about a love that is patient and kind; is not envious or jealous or resentful or irritable. This is why I Corinthians is a great reading for weddings - because it is about something more than feelings. There may be exceptions to this, but most any time I've talked with people who have been married for forty or fifty or sixty years, they would say that their marriage many times had to be something more than the feelings of the moment. Make no mistake; there were deep feelings of love for each other. There was romance. But those weren't the only things that held them together. Their marriage bond was built around a love that they simply made up their mind to - and that's what got them through the difficult times, and gave them a marriage bond that was deeper and richer and more satisfying than just emotions.

            Love-knowledge is that kind of deep and rich love. It takes the time to learn how to love well. It is giving your mind in learning how to be in relationships of meaning and joy. It is giving your mind to understanding the needs of your neighbors, and how to respond to those in need in the world. It is giving your mind to learning how to take care of this planet, and learning how to get along with others unlike yourself. Make no mistake - the task of loving well takes just as much brain-power as any other venture.

            I heard someone described once as having a great frame of mind, but no picture in it. When I think about the work of our brains, I think of what a great frame it makes for human life. Then, when I think of the teachings of Jesus, I think that's what provides the picture. A vision of a kingdom of God where love-knowledge is given reality. Unless we learn more of this love-­knowledge, our world may not survive. But with God all things are possible; and once we've made up our minds to love God with all our minds, people like you and me can do miraculous things in this world. Certainly we can be a miracle for someone we'll encounter this week who has not experienced the grace and kindness of a Christian mind at work in the cause of love. So make a difference; love the Lord your God with all your mind.