The Christian faith is an intimate relationship of the heart and mind, yet we live in a physical world that requires our bodies being brought into subjection and being yielded to the lordship of Christ. The Christian life is a war, and that war must be waged in our bodies (Eph. 6:10-18; 2 Cor. 10:3-6; 1 Pet. 5:8-10). It would help us to understand the basics of spiritual warfare; otherwise, we will be rendered useless in the area of service through our spiritual gifts. The Bible teaches us that there is a battle going on for control of our soul. The center of our being is our soul. Your body, which houses the soul and spirit, becomes subject to temptation of the world and the devil.

That belief predicates behavior is an axiom of truth I learned early on in my ministry. It was a favorite phrase of my mentor. The concept behind the thought is thoroughly biblical. Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Clearly, from a scriptural point of view, what we believe determines the way in which we behave. It therefore greatly behooves us to believe correctly in order to behave correctly.
Justifying Sin
The Scriptures are explicit in their declaration that the properly attuned mind is critical to living the Christian life in a manner that would please God. Sadly, we are living in days where in order to justify certain sins the mindset of some professing Christian leaders has been to dismiss any reasonable responsibility for the way one thinks.
We should consider that within the ranks of the evangelical church there have been a number of leading pastors and theologians who have come to the false conclusion that sexual orientation (a state of mind) is something that individuals cannot control. In other words, they believe that a person who has same sex attraction (SSA) is born with that as an orientation. If this is so then it means that they should not be held accountable for thinking in accordance with their alleged orientation.
Thinking Like Christ
This needs to be examined in light of Scripture which clearly contradicts that conclusion. For example, we know that if we are to follow Christ, we must strive to be more like Him. The key to acting like Christ is thinking like Christ which is one of Paul’s main points in the book of Philippians. He says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (2:5).
Paul was admonishing us to think like Jesus and to develop the same type of attitude that He had. Another version translates the verse, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” (NIV). Bob Utley frames it this way: ““have this attitude in yourself” – This is a PRESENT ACTIVE IMPERATIVE. Believers are commanded to continue to think (phroneō) like Christ. The goal of Christianity is Christlikeness in thought and deed” (emphasis mine).
Renewing Our Minds
The only way we can have the transformation necessary to live in a Christ honoring manner is to renew our minds (Rom. 12:1-2). This is the only way we can fulfill the will of God for our lives.  Paul tells believers here not to be conformed (suschematizesthe) to a worldly standard but rather to be transformed (metamorphousthe) by that renewal.  In Second Corinthians, Paul clarifies that the renewal of the inner man should take place, “day by day” (4:16).
We know that thought precedes action and that is why Paul was insistent on this point: you can never live the life of a Christian until you genuinely have the mind of a Christian. How we think is critical to our success in living the way Paul instructs us to live. The truth is, the only One to ever measure up fully to the standard was Christ Himself, so Paul sets forth the mind of Christ as our supreme example (Phil. 2:1-17). He will follow this instruction by using Timothy and Epaphroditus as examples, showing us that we, too, can live godly lives that honor the Lord (Phil 2:19-30). The excuse that many have is, “Well, I’m not Jesus.” No, you are not, but with the help of the Holy Spirit you can grow to be more like Him. We should never lose sight of the goal, being “conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29).
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The time is ripe to highlight problems too many church leaders do not recognize. And since I do not want to go over ground commonly covered by many others, this book covers new ground by emphasizing these pressing matters. To do this clearly, I decided not to pursue one of the legacy Christian publishers and take a more challenging road to get this work into print.

The following is from the Introduction of ‘Is The Church Pro-Gay?’ by Shawn Mathis.
This book is a work of care and concern for Christian families and churches. I write with a pastor’s heart and real-world experience. I have witnessed up close the misery of the homosexual lifestyle even as those lost in its lies paint a smile on their faces.
To get some matters out of the way from distracting readers, I want to explain a few things.
I have passed over the revisionist history and exegesis of liberals and progressives because other sources refute them.[i] Today’s emerging threat is not as much from them but from those who correctly affirm the Bible’s ban on homosexual acts. We now face a second controversy: whether the church should encourage LGBT identity in areas other than sexual acts.
The time is ripe to highlight problems too many church leaders do not recognize. And since I do not want to go over ground commonly covered by many others, this book covers new ground by emphasizing these pressing matters. To do this clearly, I decided not to pursue one of the legacy Christian publishers and take a more challenging road to get this work into print.
In addition, to avoid the monotony of using too-similar words, I include different terms to describe same-sex sexual attraction (SSA) and related acts and thoughts. Similarly, I use certain words in a less-than-technical sense to describe non-straight people, including the word queer—which some may find offensive (that word is used positively in secular and religious domains.)
My hope is for this book to be a launching pad for further discussion and research. As such, it does not cover everything wrong or everything necessary to proceed on the right track. It is a clarion call that I hope will be heeded.
Finally, I want to thank those who gave me suggestions about this project, especially my ever-helpful editor. My church, Providence OPC in Denver, has been consistently supportive. I especially thank my family, which has been patient and eager for this project to come to fruition.
You can read Chapter 1 here.
Shawn Mathis is a Minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and is Pastor of Providence OPC in Denver, CO.
[i] For example, Robert A. J. Gagnon, The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics (2001).

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The best thing believers can do with divisive persons is avoid them and refuse to give them an ear, recognizing, as Paul said in light of Alexander the Coppersmith, that God will repay them according to their evil deeds. 

As society is presently ripped apart with divisions on every issue, the church is likewise bombarded with divisive people who are using the current cultural divide to mimic the culture and tear apart the body of Christ. Christians have to be acutely aware that Satan uses cultural moments like this in the church to separate the body of Christ. I can’t think of a more appropriate caution at the moment than to call Christians to awareness in who they listen to and how they handle themselves before those who seek the ruin of the church.
This phenomenon is nothing new, of course, and the apostles provide a lot of instruction in how to handle divisive people in Christ’s church. The apostle Paul was constantly under assault by those who wanted to undermine the message of the gospel. In 2 Timothy 4:14, he specifically mentions Alexander the Coppersmith who did him much harm in his efforts to preach Christ. Throughout the New Testament, we find no hesitation by the apostles to warn of those who were undermining the gospel ministry.
With this in mind, it’s important to provide an overview of the warnings we find in the Scriptures, the characteristics of those who seek to harm believers, and the instruction we receive in how to respond.
How to Identify Divisive Persons
First, divisive persons have an obsession and unhealthy craving for controversy and quarreling. In 1 Tim. 6:4, Paul specifies that some people are full of pride, having an unhealthy obsession with fighting as they spend their time quarreling over words. This is a hugely important caution for our times.
In any theological controversy, designations and classifications are made in an attempt to determine the truth of a matter. Some of these labels are certainly necessary to understand the nature of a controversy. The problem is that divisive people use these labels not as a way of working to understand a controversy, or with the goal of bringing brethren together in what are often complex theological disputes, but with the purpose of further separating Christians from each other.
When Paul references the divide between Euodia and Synteche in Philippians 4, he called upon the church and her leaders to come along side these Christians and “yoke them” together in what they had already achieved in gospel fellowship. A key identifier of a divisive person is that he uses labels and designations not with the goal of helping believers to come to the truth of a matter, but instead to separate and conquer those with whom he disagrees.
We should always ask if the person we are listening to has this evident goal of peace and unity in his disagreements. Humility, without an unhealthy craving to fight, is a key identifier as to whether sincerity motivates the interaction.
Second, divisive persons serve themselves in theological dispute. Helping Christians come together in the gospel fellowship they have already achieved is not the goal of their engagement. When Paul helped Christians in dispute, he first told believers to work together in what they had already achieved in gospel fellowship (see Phil. 1). There is a great amount of agreement that has already been achieved in the faith of Christians when they stand back from any dispute. This unity achieved among believers who have walked together in the truth of the gospel and all subsequent points of agreement, should be celebrated in theological disputes.
Divisive persons do not care about the truth already achieved, but instead, they use present disputes as opportunities to wreck the unity that already exists among believers. Pride makes the dispute about winning rather than helping believers walk in the unity of the Spirit (Eph. 4).
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