How to Fight Distraction in a Distracted Age - Don Currin

Well, good evening everyone.

If you would this evening,

let's bow our hearts together
in prayer once again

and ask for God's help.

Now Father, once again,
we pray for weakness.

Why not pray for weakness

when You've ordained weakness

for Your strength to be made perfect?

And Father, we would ask that You

would draw near to us tonight.

You know there is such a dearth

of experiential religion in our day,

and we want to hear from Heaven tonight,

and we want to receive
a dimension of truth

that would make our hearts dance.

I need You.

Your people need You.

Our country is a spiritual wasteland.

We want Christ to rise

and we want His enemies to be scattered.

And we pray tonight that You might speak

in a very definite way to our hearts

that it would go deep into our hearing,

and Father, that our lives

would take on a whole different dimension

of Christ-conformity.

Thank You for Your people,

for those who have traveled far and wide.

We ask, Father, that You would give us

a time of refreshing

from the presence of
the Lord this evening.

We ask these things

in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Amen.

Tonight if you would,
take your Bibles with me

and turn to Matthew 6.

Matthew's Gospel, chapter 6.

I want us to look at a section

of our Lord's Sermon on the Mount.

I really fight when I preach these days

to not have my messages

to come across as scripted.

I really want them to be heartfelt.

I want to preach under the
anointing of the Holy Spirit.

And I say that and also say that tonight

I'm preaching out of the old King James.

It's just that every year
I use a different translation.

This year I'm doing my
systematic Bible reading

and my preaching from the old King James,

so if you have a copy of the
Word of God here tonight,

preferably the ESV or the NASB

or the New King James,

then I think you'll find there'll not be

much change as we read the text

from the old King James here.

Follow with me if you would
in the Word of God

beginning in verse 19.

Matthew 6:19.

"Lay not up for yourselves

treasures upon earth

where moth and rust doth corrupt

and where thieves break through and steal,

but lay up for yourselves

treasures in Heaven

where neither moss nor rust doth corrupt

and where thieves do not
break through or steal.

For where your treasure is,

there will your heart be also.

The light of the body is the eye.

If therefore thine eye be single,

thy whole body shall be full of light.

And if thine eye be evil,

thy whole body shall be full of darkness.

If therefore the light that
is in thee be darkness,

how great is that darkness!

No man can serve two masters.

For either he will hate the one

and love the other,

or else he will hold to the one

and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon.

Therefore, I say unto you,

take no thought for your life,

what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink,

nor yet for your body,
what ye shall put on.

Is not the life more than meat,

and the body than raiment?

Behold the fowls of the air:

for they sow not,
neither do they reap

nor gather into barns,

yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them.

Are ye not much better than they?

Which of you by taking thought

can add one cubit unto his stature?

And why take ye thought for raiment?

Consider the lilies of the field,

how they grow, they toil not,

neither do they spin.

And yet I say unto you

that even Solomon in all his glory

was not arrayed like one of these.

Wherefore if God so clothed

the grass of the field

which today is and tomorrow is cast

into the oven,

shall He not much more clothe you,

O ye of little faith?

Therefore take no thought

saying what shall we eat?

Or, what shall we drink?

Or, wherewithal shall we be clothed?

For after all these things

do the Gentiles seek.

For your Heavenly Father knoweth

that ye have need of all these things.

But seek ye first the Kingdom of God

and His righteousness,

and all these things
shall be added unto you.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow,

for the morrow for take thought

for the things of itself.

Sufficient unto the
day is the evil thereof."

I want to speak tonight on the subject

of the discipline of the mind.

How to fight distractions

in an age of digital distraction.

It's interesting that there is a portion

of the Sermon on the Mount here

that I believe speaks to
one of the great needs in our hour.

You find here that our Lord

underscores the importance

of keeping eternal values in view.

And He shares, it's interesting,

an illustration, an analogy of the eye.

Once again, verses 22 and 23.

"The light of the body is the eye.

If therefore, your eye be single,

your whole body shall be full of light.

But if your eye be evil,

your whole body shall be full of darkness.

If therefore the light
that is in you be darkness,

how great is that darkness!"

You'll notice the word "single" here.

He uses it to describe

the condition of the eye.

The word literally means "well-folded."

Imagine with me for a moment

I had a napkin before you.

And I was very careful, very meticulous

in folding that napkin.

End on end, corner to corner,

everything equal.

And I folded it multiple times.

It would be neatly folded.

This is the idea of the
condition of the eye.

It is well folded.

Vincent says, speaking
of this word "single,"

that "it refers to a piece
of cloth or other material

neatly folded once

without a variety of complicated folds."

But it's interesting,

the opposite of single means multi-folds.

Or, better still, unevenly
folded or staggered.

You see, what Jesus
is warning against here

is a mind that is divided -

now, watch this -

a mind that is divided
by distracting care.

Vaughan says this,

"When the eye is directed
steadily toward an object

and is in health,

everything is clear and plain.

If it vibrates being fixed
on one single thing,

nothing is seen clearly.

Everything is dim and confused.

The man therefore is unsteady.

The eye regulates the motion of the body.

To have an object distinctly in view

is necessary in order to correct

and regulate action."

Now listen to me very carefully

so you might know
where I'm going with this.

In other words, what Jesus is saying,

what the text is conveying

is that when our mind

is darting from one object to another,

it potentially could lead the soul

into a state of peril.

This is important.

Someone asked Tim Keller the question -

and regardless of what
you think of Tim Keller,

don't miss the illustration -

but they asked him the question:

Why does the young generation by and large

have such a difficult time laying hold

of the reality of God?

He said, "noise and distraction.

It's easier to tweet than it is to pray."

According to Tony Reinke in his book,

"Twelve Ways Your Phone Is Changing You,"

we are addicted to distraction.

Regarding our cell phones alone, he says,

"We check our smart phones

about 81,500 times a year,

or once every 4.3 minutes."

Now you may think that is a surprise.

I mean, that's shocking.

Is it really true?

But consider this with me.

It shouldn't come as a surprise

considering that our calendars,

pictures, work schedules,

workouts, reading, writing,

credit cards, bank accounts,

navigating systems, news, weather,

email, and shopping

are all on these digital devices.

The truth of the matter is, brethren,

is that we are addicted to phones.

And like addicts, we need hits.

We need hits.

Now, listen carefully.

In light of what Jesus
says in Matthew 6 here

we should be seriously concerned

about how impulsively our minds

are darting from one thing to another,

from moment to moment

throughout the day.

You see, for example,

we look upon digital distractions

as an acceptable thing,

but fail to recognize the greatest danger

is what they are doing
to our spiritual lives.

This is significant again.

Let me tell you where I'm coming from.

Distractions of any kind if not controlled

can waste our time,

dull our spiritual senses,

divert our minds from
the eternal realities

that are so vital to our
spiritual well-being

and eternal future.

Let me give you a scenario.

Here is a Christian believer.

He has to be at work at 8 o'clock.

He gets up at 6 o'clock

to have time with the Lord,

to do his devotional exercises.

But in route to his living room

where he is to take his Bible

and to open in prayer,

he checks his smartphone.

He notices that he misses a phone call

from the night before.

He listens to the voice message.

Immediately his mind races

to what he needs to do,

what he needs to say

in response to that phone call.

And then he notices before he puts it down

that he has so many likes

on his Facebook account.

And then furthermore, he sees he has

a private message or two.

What's that about?

So he begins to explore those messages,

and one of them is of a serious nature

that demands immediate response.

So what he does, it takes him ten minutes

to formulate a message,

to write it with discretion,

and then to edit it.

By this time, it's 6:30.

He takes his Bible.

He tries to focus his attention

upon the truth of God's Word,

but it's very impossible

because his mind is constantly

going back and forth

as to what he needs to say

or what he needs to do

in regard to these things

that he's read on his smartphone.

It is interesting that
Tony Reinke once again

in that same book,

"Twelve Ways Your Phone Is Changing You,"

said that of 8,000
Christians that he surveyed

54% admitted to checking their smartphone

within minutes of waking.

When asked whether they were more likely

to check email and social media

before or after spiritual disciplines

on a typical morning,

73% said before.

Now brothers and sisters,

you sit there and you say

this has got a tone of legalism to it.

I'm not saying that you're to go out

and throw away your cell phones.

God forbid!

But I'm saying something
needs to happen here.

We need the reign
of the Spirit in our life

to learn how to regulate our cell phones

so that Christ may be
preeminent in our thoughts.

My purpose in this message

is to encourage believers

to protect their minds

from the earthly distractions

that draw the attention

from eternal realities
that promise godliness

and ultimate eternal life.

When I share warnings these days,

I'm not just addressing

the possibility of losing blessings

monetarily in your life

as a result of these things

taking the place of Christ.

But I am warning people

that even something as
harmless as a cell phone

could ultimately lead

to such fatal implications

as the loss of your own soul.

This is serious business.

You see, your exercise of
yourself toward godliness

begins with a discipline of the mind.

Holiness is the fruit

of a well-ordered mind.

Maintaining mental focus
on spiritual things

is essential in our pursuit of godliness.

Therefore, let me share just a few things

with you briefly.

Number one, from our text now,

v. 22.

Consider our Lord's analogy of the eye.

V. 22, "The light of the body is the eye."

Now it's significant to note

that the word "light" here refers to

a source of illumination

such as a candle or a lamp.

And it speaks of a casting light

upon an object for clarity,

for understanding.

When Jesus says the light
of the body is the eye,

He is speaking of the eye of our mind.

Throughout His sermon,

it's interesting that Jesus addresses

how the mind should function

by stressing such things

as the protection of our thought life

from worry, from anxious care.

Or the importance of striving

to remain on the straight and narrow way,

which once again,

solicits the attention of our mind.

The content of His entire message

is filled with exhortations

on the importance of focusing the mind

on the other world.

Then there is the word "body."

Once again, note v. 22.

This has a wide variety of applications

including the idea of a slave.

Let me explain.

It means that the body is governed

by the condition of our minds.

As goes the mind,

so goes our existence.

As goes the mind, the health of the mind,

so goes the direction

in our walk with God.

If the eye of the mind

is oppressed with anxious care,

the soul is negatively affected.

However, if the mind's eye

is spiritually well,

the light becomes a
wellspring of blessing.

Now here's another thought.

The mind is vital to man's
spiritual well-being.

God has created the mind

to provide understanding

for a man's spiritual welfare,

and listen to this again,

eternal destiny.

Eternal destiny.

You see, just as our physical eyes

afford stability, balance, and direction,

so a spiritually healthy eye

provides clarity, discernment,

and godliness.

It's the catalyst, friend.

It's the thing that determines everything,

humanly speaking.

It's important how you think.

It's important what you
subject your mind to.

It's important what you fixate

your mental faculties upon.

For this is the very thing

that determines the outcome

of our life and our future destiny.

Once again, far more serious

than what we glean in just simply

reading the text.

Here's a second thing I want you to note

and that is when the eye is single.

Jesus said once again, v. 22,

"if therefore your eye be single,

your whole body shall be full of light."

Now please note this.

Jesus proceeds in telling us

that the condition of the eye should be

to insure a life that is full of light.

Now what does this mean?

The word "single" means

ordinally or prioritized.

Ordinally or prioritized.

To be disciplined in the mind

suggests to be free from distractions

so as to be focused

on that which is eternal.

You see, brothers and sisters,

to be single-minded involves

pursuing first the Kingdom of Christ.

That's what it all seems to culminate in

is that exhortation:

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God

and His righteousness,

and all these things shall
be added unto you.

So you see, to be single-focused,

focusing on Christ,

means that your whole body

shall be full of light.

And the idea there is
your life is content.

The context is a warning

against materialism.

There are these myriad of distractions

that bombard our mind.

And the key to a disciplined life,

a life characterized by contentment,

is when we learn to fixate our mind,

fighting the good fight of faith,

in our mind's eye

that we might lay hold of Christ

and His Kingdom,

realizing that all these
other material things

shall be added unto us.

He will provide.

But notice a third thing here in passing.

And that is the effect
of the eye that is evil.

The effect of the eye that is evil.

V. 23, it says, "But if your eye be evil,

thy whole body shall be

full of darkness."

Now once again, this is important.

The first thing that we must do here

is to define the word "evil."

It means harmful, diseased, or malicious.

And it speaks of a condition resulting -

watch now -

a condition resulting from
multiple distractions.

The mind darting from
one thing to the other.

It has no semblance of order,

no semblance of structure.

There's nothing of a
single-minded purpose.

One commentator said this:

"If that soul is debased by attending

exclusively to earthly objects,

if it is diseased and not fixed on Heaven,

how much greater, how much darker

and more dreadful will it be

than any darkness of our physical eye?"

Here's the application:

As a diseased physical eye

affords a life of hardship,

a spiritually diseased mind's eye

will cast a dark shadow on one's life.

As a matter of fact,

it can lead him into a whole different

lifestyle of peril.

I remember as a young lad

visiting my grandfather.

He died when I was 9 years of age,

but I remember going from 5

up to 8 years of age

to his home once a year.

He had glaucoma.

He lost his sight quickly early in life.

I remember his frustration.

The seizures of anger.

He would fall. He would stumble.

It was so disheartening

and pitiful to watch

as he would feel his way around the house.

Think about that spiritually for a moment.

That's what a multitude
of distracting care

does to an undisciplined mind.

When the mind's eye is impaired,

the spiritual life is adversely affected.

Control is lost.

The spiritual walk is impaired.

And faith is weakened.

For example, James tells us in James 1:8

that a double-minded man

is unstable in all his ways.

You see, the word "double-minded"

is a revealing word as it is defined

as two-spirited,

vacillating in opinion

or purpose or direction or perspective.

Is that you?

Has that been me?

This is something God's
speaking to me about

in a very profound way, friend.

Here's a fourth thing.

And that is let me underscore

the discipline of the mind's eye.

Because the mind is the
control-center of our life,

we must make every attempt

to guard it against the
flood of distractions

that vie for its attention each day.

It may be a broken relationship.

It may be something in regards

to a financial adversity.

But it may be just these impressions

and impulses and promptings

and little things that just move

through our mind at breakneck speed,

but yet, are there long
enough to distract us.

Brothers and sisters, listen.

It matters what your mind focuses on.

As we have been reminded,

the word discipline denotes order,

intentionality,

or strict regimen.

Therefore to grow in godliness,

we are called to a disciplined mind

that fights distractions

and pursues holiness

and peace with all men.

That's one of the greatest repercussions

of broken relationships

is a clouded mind.

Those who walk the narrow way to Heaven

are narrow-minded

because they have learned to reduce

their imaginations more and more

to a single purpose

and that is Christ first.

Everything revolves around Christ.

So here is the conclusion for application.

Perhaps a very appropriate question

I should ask right here at the end

is this, and I ask you very honestly,

as if I was sitting in front of you

and it was just you and I

and I was looking you directly in the eye.

What's been playing on
the theater of your mind?

What consumes your thought processes?

We come to the end of our day

and somehow in our spirit we think,

man, it's been a productive day.

But when we look back,

all we've done is accommodate
one care after another

and we have not secured

the presence and the knowledge of Christ

which is vital to fellowship.

Consider this,

barren lives can often be traced

to undisciplined people

who waste their life

focusing their mind's eye

on spiritually unprofitable distractions.

Therefore, listen brethren,

brothers and sisters,

in the wake of a world of distraction,

it would do us good to discipline our mind

for the purpose of godly thinking.

The following are a few guidelines

that I've taken from Christ's warnings

here in the Sermon on the Mount.

Listen carefully.

Let me give you these
four exhortations quickly.

This is the conclusion.

Number one, learn to invest your life,

your resources, your time,

and your money in eternity.

Why is this important?

Look once again at v. 20.

"Lay up for yourselves..."

In the context, this is what He's saying.

"Lay up for yourselves

treasures in Heaven."

Why is this important?

Because the mind that runs

from one earthly care to another

is the product of not investing

in the other world.

Our whole life is spent,

your resources,

the hours of your day,

your finances,

you lay up in this life

and no wonder your mind
goes to those things.

Whereas if you were to invest them

in the other world, in eternity,

listen friend,

they're there in the hands of a Savior

for safe keeping,

therefore, I don't have to
worry about those things.

Do you see that?

The more we invest in the eternal,

the less we care about this world.

Secondly, learn to fight distractions

to maximize focus

on what's most important.

Learn to fight distractions.

Don't sit idly by.

Don't let your mind wander.

But discipline your mind to focus

on that which is of paramount importance.

This is important once again.

Jesus said in v. 22,

"If therefore your eye be single,

the whole body shall be full of light."

And it's interesting in that passage

in Colossians 3:2,

he says "Set your mind on things above,

not on things of this earth."

You know what that word "set" there means?

It means to forcibly fixate.

And it takes effort.

But it's interesting in the context there,

do you know what it gives us

the incentive to do?

To kill sin.

Because he says only three verses later

it's a continuous thought -

"therefore mortify your members

which are upon the earth."

The great incentive to kill sin

is to focus on the eternal.

Thirdly, guard the mind

against unnecessary care.

Have you noticed in the context

that I read a moment ago

in our overall context,

three times Christ says,

"take no thought..."

Let me stir up your mind
by way of remembrance.

You'll notice in v. 25,

"Therefore, I say unto you,

take no thought for your life,

what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink

nor yet for your body,
what ye shall put on.

V. 31, "Therefore take no thought

saying what shall we eat

or what shall we drink

or wherewithal shall we be clothed."

V. 34, "Therefore take no thought

for the morrow."

Don't be anxious.

Don't be anxious.

Guard the mind

against distracting care.

But then fourthly, here's
another exhortation of grace.

Cultivate a single-minded focus.

Learn to cultivate a single-minded focus.

Christ says once again

it all comes together,

it's all this summation
statement right here,

"But seek ye first the Kingdom of God,"

like we needed any reminder.

It's what He's been talking about.

So what does this mean?

Let me encourage you with this.

The best thing to do

in cultivating a single-minded attitude,

perspective - don't miss this now -

you have got to learn to think biblically.

Don't think with your feelings.

And don't let yourself talk to you.

And don't see the aid of people

that are very sympathetic,

that pity you.

If you subject yourself
to other people at all,

subject yourself to spiritually-minded,

biblically driven people

that will encourage
you to think biblically.

This can't help but breed
a single-minded focus.

I must think biblically.

Immersing the mind in Scripture -

listen, inclines us to obtain

a single-minded focus

and discipline ourselves toward godliness.

Brothers and sisters, listen carefully.

This is the fruit of that wholeness

that assures us of Heaven.

Heaven is at stake here.

It's not the loss of some reward

or the forfeiture of some blessing.

Heaven is at stake here.

So in an age of relentless distraction,

it calls for a fight of faith

to set the mind,

forcibly fixate the mind

on things above.

Let's pray together.

So Father, I pray tonight

that You would help us.

Lord, I know that the
very tone of my voice

and my spirit

and even the words that I have used

have conveyed sort of a negativism,

but yet Lord, this is a warning

of extraordinary mercy.

It's a mercy for us all, Lord.

If we do not persevere

in the discipline of our mind,

we'll perish.

So help us, Lord, to
take every precaution,

to rely upon Your Holy Spirit,

to seek the mind of our Savior,

to lay hold of Your promises,

to guard our mind from distracting care

that we might lay hold of Christ

and the ultimate outcome:

eternal life.

We ask these things in
Christ's strong name,

Amen.