Hindrances to Meditation, Part 1

Throwing a ball is an activity of the arm; if your arm muscles are uncontrolled you can't throw. Meditation is an activity of the mind; if the mind is undisciplined, no meditation.

Throwing a ball is primarily an activity of the arm. It involves some other things, but of the arm. A man who has no control over the muscles of the arm, they are not disciplined to the orders of his head, he cannot throw a ball. Speaking is primarily an activity of the mind in relationship to the mouth and the tongue.

7:21 - 7:40 Read in full sermon

Martin pictures the painful sight of a stroke victim whose mind is clear as crystal but whose damaged motor center cannot articulate a word — illustrating how every faculty must function for spiritual activity.

Some of you have seen the painful instance of people whose motor control in the brain the part that controls the function of speech. The mind is clear as crystal, but they can't articulate their words and it comes out in some kind of meaningless gibberish. Well, in the same way, though it is not the activity of a set of muscles, meditation is the activity of the mind. And just as surely as a man cannot run who has no control over the muscles of the leg, just as surely as a man cannot speak who has no control of the muscles of the mouth and of the tongue, so a man who has no control over the ac...

7:41 - 8:23 Read in full sermon

A man going down for the third time is offered help and refuses — you would say his rational faculties have snapped. So with the unconverted who refuse Christ — they are spiritually insane.

The mind is blinded. They see no glory in Christ. You see a man drowning against his own will. He's not a deliberate suicide.

16:28 - 16:36 Read in full sermon

Driving home: That which holds your mind is the thing that is molding your life.

A car was made to drive on the road; if it suddenly tried to dance a jig and preach you'd say the thing was insane. So when men live for self instead of God's glory — they are out of design.

But when it comes through that door and starts chancing the jig and trying to preach, that's insanity. A car was never made for that. So when people begin to live to the glory of God, begin to live in the light of eternity, begin to live under the law of God, that's moral sanity. That's the only thing that makes sense.

21:15 - 21:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Wives, mothers, and homemakers: let your hands plan meals and laundry while your mind turns over the words of Christ — meditate while you serve.

Martin re-reads Luke 10 noting that Martha's problem was not bad serving but over-involvement in good service that left no moment for sitting at Christ's feet.

But Martha was cumbered about not serving, but much serving. And it's forceful in the grief. You see, to serve the Lord when he needed a home and needed hospitality, that was an expression of love. That was a legitimate thing, to be concerned about the Lord Jesus and his temporal needs, to put a roof over his head and food on his table.

35:02 - 35:23 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The stuff with which we work is the fabric of men's minds.

Martin recounts the bestseller 'The Hidden Persuaders' which exposes how advertisers consciously target 'the fabric of men's minds' through psychology — and applies the lesson directly to Christians.

I read a book this past week. I've had it for a number of months and been wanting to read it. It was a bestseller a couple of years ago called The Hidden Persuaders. And this man has done an in-depth study of the whole modern technique of advertisement.

41:19 - 41:32 Read in full sermon

The point: Commit to long, systematic, consistent exposure to the Word — public preaching, private reading, family worship — so meditation has material to work on.

Martin admits how undisciplined his mind is and how he is now using the hour and a half he spends mowing the lawn to mutter and meditate on his sermon text rather than wasting it.

I tried to work on it yesterday, cutting the law. And oh, what an undisciplined mind I have. I find it fairly easy to meditate when I'm up in my study and I've got the air conditioner on so it cuts out the noise of the neighbors and the children and I've had a good night's sleep and all those favorable factors.

51:49 - 52:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Refuse to allow your children unchaperoned television exposure — supervise their mental food as carefully as their physical food.

Martin describes himself running from the breakfast table to silence the cigarette commercial — and accepting being thought eccentric for it — out of jealous concern for his children's minds.

I'm sure some people think it's now when I run up from the breakfast table and quick turn the radio down at about six minutes after when the cigarette commercial comes on and about sixteen minutes after I don't want those jingles being fixed in the minds of my children those promoters have their own minds as their object and they say well I'll get those minds and etch our product on their minds Am I going to sit back as a responsible parent and say, go ahead? I'll be broad-minded. Extra product on his mind. Extra thought patterns on the mind.

54:50 - 55:22 Read in full sermon