March 22 Sunday Sermon Manuscript

The Mind Set on the Flesh, the Mind Set on the Spirit

Romans 8:6–11

What Are We Becoming Like?

1. Last week, the Academy Awards took place. For those of us who grew up watching dubbed movies on weekend television specials, the Oscars have always felt like a dream stage—a global festival celebrating the world of cinema.

2. From time to time, we have seen Korean films receive attention at European film festivals, but it seems that this was the first time an animation called Kedeheon won both Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song at the Academy Awards.

3. As I watched the world respond enthusiastically to this animation filled with deeply Korean elements, and as I saw performers in traditional Korean dress and pungmul drummers on the Academy Awards stage, I felt that we are living in an almost dreamlike time—an era in which Korea is exerting one of the most positive cultural influences in the world.

4. Just this past Friday, Netflix livestreamed BTS’s concert in Gwanghwamun. Because of this concert, a private academy in India even sent out a notice to parents, and strangely enough, some students falsely claimed there were no classes so they could watch the performance.

5. What we once described with terms like Hallyu and K-pop to express Korea’s rising status has now expanded into something much broader. We seem to be living in a time when the entire nation is receiving global attention, and in that sense, we have every reason to feel proud to be Korean.

6. It is certainly encouraging that the long years in which we tried so hard to become like the world are now shifting into a time when the world wants to become like us. At the same time, however, nothing lasts forever. Interest and influence always change with the times. For that reason, I do not think we need to become too intoxicated with the present moment or overly excited by it.

7. In a similar way, Christianity in Korea was, for a long time, recognized for the tradition, values, dedication, and service it established.

8. Through the Japanese occupation, the Korean War, the military era, and times of economic hardship, the church devoted itself to the nation and the people. It supported hospitals and schools and labored to strengthen the very foundations of the country.

9. For a season, that devotion appeared in the form of recognition and church growth. But now we are living in a difficult time when the church is being evaluated by the world, and it is not easy to answer the question of what kind of influence the church and Christianity can still have on society.

10. When the nation was struggling, the church received attention and respect. But now that the nation itself is drawing global attention, the church is no longer exerting influence as it once did; in fact, it has become, in some cases, a source of concern. This is not something we can simply comfort ourselves about by saying, “Nothing lasts forever, and of course things change over time.”

11. People naturally try to imitate what they like and what is popular. Even the way we dress and present ourselves is shaped by trends. What we love inevitably influences us, and when many people love the same thing, that influence expands into consumption, marketing, and even entire fandoms.

12. Even though the world changes, one thing does not: we still live by becoming like someone, following someone, and moving with the current of cultural trends. In that sense, when people say the church is no longer attractive or that the church is not what it used to be, it may also mean that people no longer find in the church or in Christianity something worth imitating.

13. Put another way, the shape of faithful Christian living is increasingly becoming something outside the public eye, something no longer seen as compelling. And even within the church itself, we may be living in a time when it is difficult to find models of faith worthy of imitation.

14. The life of a Christian is not a checklist life of simply showing up at a church building on Sunday. It is the process of being clothed with the image of Christ. In today’s passage, Paul emphasizes this point—as he does throughout Romans—and I pray that this would be a time when our gaze, having lost direction in our faith, may once again be fixed on the true and proper direction.

15. To believe in Jesus is not to put on one more garment called religion. It is for the very shape of our being to be made new. Today’s text speaks to us about that transformation through the sharp contrast between “the mind set on the flesh” and “the mind set on the Spirit.”

16. This contrast is not merely an ethical distinction. It is, rather, a matter of survival that determines the entire direction of our lives. I invite you to look at it with that weight and seriousness.

The Mind Set on the Flesh Is a Prison Called Self-Centeredness

17. Verse 6 says, “To set the mind on the flesh is death.” The Greek word translated here as “mind” is phronēma (φρόνημα), which does not refer to a passing idea. It means one’s will, orientation, and deep disposition of the heart. In other words, it is the question of where the antenna of my life is fixed.

18. The mind set on the flesh does not simply refer to instinctive desire. In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis called pride “the great spiritual cancer.” The nature of cancer cells is that they do not live in harmony with the other cells around them; instead, they absorb nourishment only for their own multiplication, eventually bringing death to the whole body.

19. In the same way, the mind set on the flesh is a state imprisoned by self-centeredness. I become the center of life. My satisfaction comes first. My standards become absolute. Paul declares that this isolated condition is precisely what death is.

20. This should sober us. Even if outwardly we appear to be very devout religious people, if at the center we are still fixed on “my righteousness” and “my satisfaction,” then we remain on the road of death that Scripture speaks of—we remain in the mind set on the flesh.

21. A life tuned only to oneself eventually cuts us off from others, isolates the soul, and leads us into death.

The Mind Set on the Spirit Is a God-Centered Life, That Is, Co-Laboring with God

22. By contrast, “the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” The mind set on the Spirit is not simply religious meditation. It is the reordering of the antenna of my life toward God. It is the posture of asking, not first what I want, but what God wants.

23. Paul describes this as a life clothed with the image of Christ, and that connects back to the “image of God” in Genesis. In the ancient Near Eastern background, the image of a king often referred to a statue set up in a territory to represent his rule. In that sense, we are called to be God’s representatives, co-workers who embody His reign on this earth.

24. The mind set on the Spirit is therefore more than a state of inward calm. It is the recovery of the identity that I belong to God, that I am connected to Him, and that I am called to participate in His work.

25. When I no longer see myself as the sole protagonist of my life, but rather as a co-worker keeping step with God within His great story, then a life-force and peace that the world cannot give begin to overflow within us.

The Difficulty of Faith Is Often Found in the Weariness of Daily Life

26. The real crisis of faith does not come beneath the lights of the sanctuary; it comes in the cold realities of ordinary life. In The Burnout Society, philosopher Byung-Chul Han argues that the depression and lethargy of modern people arise from exhausting and exploiting the self under the excessive positivity of “I can do it,” until the self is burned out.

27. Believers also experience this weariness in daily life. When relationships go wrong, when expected results collapse, or when no one responds to the direction that I sincerely believe is right, we feel a deep loneliness.

28. Pastors, too, face moments when they feel as if they might collapse—when people do not change, or when they are indifferent to essential values. That is exactly the battlefield of the mind that Paul speaks about. Faith is not about temporarily lifting our mood through a religious atmosphere.

29. This kind of faith becomes a kind of coat-like spirituality—one that follows emotional atmosphere. It has the outward form of worship, but inside there is no wonder, no transformation.

30. Two years ago, many people across the nation paid attention when students at Asbury University prayed, sang, and worshiped for several days. It seemed as if a great spiritual awakening had broken out. But now, two years later, where is the fire and influence of that worship to be found?

31. True spiritual awakening never remains only at the level of personal conversion. It leads to social transformation as well. And that fact forces us to seriously examine the direction in which the shape of our faith is leaning.

32. In the midst of this daily weariness, we are led to ask: “From what center am I interpreting this situation right now?” and “Have I truly surrendered the lordship of my life to God?”

33. When we wrestle with these questions, we begin to discover that our spiritual journey expands—not only toward ourselves, but also toward the world beyond ourselves.

The Church Is a Tuning Community That Learns to Match Frequencies

34. Faith is not completed through private self-cultivation. For Paul, faith was always communal. The Holy Spirit dwells in the hearts of individuals, yes, but He also works in the space between believers as they gather together.

35. Before an orchestra begins to perform, every musician takes time to tune to the oboe’s “A.” No matter how talented a musician may be, if he insists only on the sound of his own instrument, the performance will become noise. The church is the same. The church is not a comfortable living room designed simply to make me feel at ease. It is a community in which people of different backgrounds and dispositions are being tuned to one reference note—Christ Himself. And through that act of tuning, the church is built up.

36. This is how we come to evaluate whether a church has love, whether it is warm or cold. Therefore, the love we speak of is not merely emotional warmth. It is the strenuous practice of turning down my own frequency in order to tune into another person’s.

37. When I lay down my need to say what I want, and my desire to be the main character, and instead tune myself for the sake of the good of the community, then the church truly becomes a beautiful harmony that reveals the image of Christ to the world. Such a community becomes a truly Christian, Christ-shaped community.

The Holy Spirit Is the Power That Actually Changes Us

38. The text declares that the Spirit of God dwells within us. The Holy Spirit is not some abstract energy; He is personal. He does not simply make us look religious on the outside. He actually transforms us into people who resemble Christ.

39. In recent years, as artificial intelligence has advanced, technologies like deepfakes have become increasingly sophisticated, imitating outward appearances with remarkable precision. Some even predict that robots may replace far more areas of human activity than we once imagined.

40. Just as we once spoke of the Industrial Revolution, perhaps we are now living in what may rightly be called the “AI Revolution.”

41. Yet in the midst of all the attention given to artificial intelligence, one limitation remains clear and widely acknowledged: within it, there is still no life that truly warms the human heart.

42. Simply put, AI can never do the kind of work that carries the scent of humanity.

43. The work of the Holy Spirit is not imitation but essential transformation. He enables us to endure longer, to listen more deeply, and to embrace more broadly. The work of the Spirit reaches into both our present and our future, leading us to what we ought to do and supplying the strength we need.

44. He gives us the power to obey in the midst of present suffering, and at the same time plants within us the assurance of the God who will one day lead us into resurrection. That is why the person who lives in the Spirit is not tossed about by circumstances, but walks steadily according to the law of life.

Conclusion: Beyond the Door of Sunday into a Faith of Daily Companionship

45. Right now, we are trying to do everything we can. Each department is worshiping, raising children, and developing programs for young adults. At the same time, we are investing ourselves not only in the Korean-language service, but also in the English-language service.

46. Next week, as we do every year on our anniversary Sunday, we will participate in the Rise Against Hunger campaign and join in the work of providing food for those who still go hungry in this world. Some may say, “Does that kind of thing still happen in this day and age?” But there are still many who live while facing such hardship. We remember them, and we do the very best we can.

47. And let us gather a bit more strength for one more step: we must move beyond a Sunday-centered faith into a life of walking with God twenty-four hours a day. In other words, we must strive together to move from being Sunday Christians to being Christians everywhere and at all times.

48. The Spiritual Journal Seminar we are planning for May is part of that very training.

49. This is not simply the act of writing a diary. It is a holy practice of examining all of my daily life before God—my work at the office, my conversations at the table, even the thoughts I have when I am alone.

50. Paul painted a very clear picture for the believers in Rome: will we remain trapped in the flesh and die, or will we respond to the Spirit and live? Dear friends, we have already received the astonishing identity of being children of God in Christ.

51. Therefore, our goal is no longer religious satisfaction. It is to be set free from the prison of self-centeredness that confines us, to be clothed with the image of Christ, and to tune ourselves to one another within the community. The Holy Spirit will help us. And when He does, our lives will finally become a landscape of the kingdom of God, filled with life and peace.