"The Same Mind"

Philippians 2:5-11

April 17, 2011: Sixth Sunday of Lent (Palm Sunday)

Introduction: Over the last 5 weeks we have talked about the virtues of ‘honesty, purity, loyalty, integrity, and gratitude.’ We talked about how we need to bring these virtues back into our lives, our church, our world. To do this, we have to seek to be more like Christ; draw off the strength and power of Christ.

“Live Science” internet article. Feb 14, 2006 Forget about opposites attracting. We like people who look like us, because they tend to have personalities similar to our own. And, a new study suggests, the longer we are with someone, the more similarities in appearance grow. Researchers set out to investigate why couples often tend to resemble one another. They asked 11 male and 11 female participants to judge the age, attractiveness and personality traits of 160 real-life married couples. Photographs of husbands and wives were viewed separately, so the participants didn't know who was married to whom. The test participants rated men and woman who were actual couples as looking alike and having similar personalities. Also, the longer the couples had been together, the greater the perceived similarities. (By Ker Than)

Studies show that married couples who have been together a long time begin to look more alike, think more alike, and act more alike. In fact, last week Terry Garcia made a comment to me, telling me that her parents had been married 40 some years, and she thought they were starting to look more and more like each other!

This morning, I want to talk about how we can, and need to, look like Christ; become more LIKE Christ. Christ came so that this could happen. In part, this takes time. The longer we follow Christ, the more we will be like Christ. But it can start right away as well because of what Christ got started on Palm Sunday many, many years ago!

I. Not Equal- (Philippians 2:5-6; 1 Peter 1:16; Romans 3:23)

a. Like God- In Genesis 1, as the Bible describes God creating all things,

including people, there is a wonderful verse, verse 27 which says: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” We are created in the “image of God.” This is a wonderful truth.

We can be like God in many ways. We have the capacity to love, to forgive, and to show compassion. We have the capacity to be in relationship. We have intelligence and reason and can “know” many things. We are called to oversee all of creation; to be lord over it. But probably the greatest way we are like God is that we have the ability to create and be creative.

I wonder what it was like for God to create. It must have been great fun to think about what He would put on this earth. All the different kinds of trees and plants. The clouds that bring rain. The mountains and the land. The sea and the other bodies of water. Just making some water fresh, and other water salty!

And then he got to the more complex life. He began to make the animals. Think about all the different kinds of animals there are, and how these animals all fit into a structure that works together….. But he wasn’t done yet.

God then saved His best for last; man and woman… Man and woman were to be in relationship with each other, but they were to be in relationship with God as well. And man and woman were given the great privilege and responsibility of being able to create more life. TO CREATE LIFE. I have to tell you, that when Tyler and Tiffany were born, it was two of the most incredible moments of my life. Tami and I had created life that was in our image.

b. Unlike God- But just as we are created in the image of God, we are

not exactly like God. There is indeed quite a difference between us, and God. In more theological terms it is called transcendent and immanent. Immanent qualities are those qualities that we have that are like God; as I said before qualities like loving, kind, fair, and so on… Transcendent qualities are those qualities where God transcends (goes beyond) anything we could be. These qualities include loving unconditionally, being omnipotent (all-powerful), being omniscient (all-knowing), and being omnipresent (all-present).

It is pretty evident that God is above and beyond us. In fact, we have trouble even being able to conceive our thoughts in a manner similar to God.

These Sunday School funnies remind us how we can be short sighted:
The Sunday School teacher was describing how Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt, when little Jason interrupted, "My Mommy looked back once, while she was driving," he announced triumphantly, "and she turned into a telephone pole!"
A Sunday school teacher was telling her class the story of the Good Samaritan, in which a man was beaten, robbed and left for dead. She described the situation in vivid detail so her students would catch the drama. Then, she asked the class, "If you saw a person lying on the roadside, all wounded and bleeding, what would you do?" A thoughtful little girl broke the hushed silence, "I think I'd throw up."
A Sunday school teacher said to her children, " We have been learning how powerful kings and queens were in Bible times. But, there is a higher power. Can anybody tell me what it is?" One child blurted out, "Aces!"

But another way that we are not like God, is our sin. We are told in the Bible that we are to seek to be holy like our God is holy. But we are also told that we have “all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.” And yet, we can try and have the same mind of Christ. We can try and live a virtuous life, which leads us to seek to enhance those qualities we have that are in the image of God. This attitude, this same mindset, leads us to our second point of being a servant.

II. Being A Servant- (Philippians 2:7-8)

a. Doing His will- Example- In a Peanuts comic strip, Linus is eating a

peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and in the middle of a bite, he says to Lucy: “Hands are fascinating things! I like my hands…I think I have nice hands…my hands seem to have a lot of character…these are hands which may someday accomplish great things…these are hands which may someday do marvelous works! They may build mighty bridges or heal the sick, or hit homeruns, or write soul-stirring novels! THESE ARE HANDS WHICH MAY SOMEDAY CHANGE THE COURSE OF DESTINY!!”

Lucy comes over and looks closely at Linus’ hands, and then says: “They’ve got jelly on them.” (The Gospel According to Peanuts, p.36)

In Ecclesiastes 2:11, this verse says- “Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was in vain and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.” We can easily feel this way, because all too often, we are not seeking to fulfill what God created us to do and be, but we go off chasing our own dreams.

The first thing we have to understand, is that to be a servant, we have to

desire to do God’s will. This is important, because, since God created the world, and created you and me, we will really only be happy, and bear fruit, if we are doing the will of God in our lives; if we are serving God.
To do this we have to create a habit of listening to God; and God speaks to people who listen. God uses people who desire to be used. God blesses people who have the attitude of a servant. That is why the apostle Paul said in Philippians 2:7, in regards to Christ, “But (He) made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant…” Christ Himself knew that this was what was important; to be a servant.

So, if you want to be truly useful in life, you need to be useful for God. If you

want to do something significant with your life, if you want to be chosen by God, then you need to seek to listen to God, and seek to follow God’s plan. You probably need to stop thinking that you have all the answers, and realize that so often we feel like so much of life is in vain because we are chasing after the wrong things. We are trying to satisfy ourselves with things that won’t satisfy. We need to gain a new perspective on life (as we talked about last week, learning how to be grateful for what we have), and believe that God can come to us and speak to us, and choose to use us. Being a servant isn’t a negative thing; it actually frees us to truly live.

b. Four steps to being a servant- Example- “Four Steps to Your Dream,”

Illus. Unl., p. 26, #2…Years ago a young black child, growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, had his school visited by a famous athlete named Charlie Paddock. At the time Paddock was considered the fastest human being alive. Paddock told the children that if they could dream it, then God could help them to be it. That young boy decided on that day that he wanted to be the fastest human being on earth. He then and told his track coach what his dream was, and his coach told him to achieve his dream he had to build a ladder to it. He coach then gave him the four steps of the ladder: determination; dedication; discipline; and attitude. The result was that this young man went on to win four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, including breaking the world records for the 100 and 200 meter dash. The name of this boy? Jesse Owens!!

Just like there is a cost to be a top-notch athlete like Jesse Owens, there is a cost in being a top-notch servant of Christ. Phil. 2:8 says- “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death…” For Christ, the cost was His death. For us, it is determination, dedication, discipline, and attitude.

1. Determination- First is determination. In anything in life, if we

don’t have determination, then we will get frustrated and decide to quit. Why? Because determination is the act of deciding firmly to do something. Without determination, we will not apply ourselves and not gain the second quality, which is dedication. Dedication is next.

2. Dedication- Being committed to something. It doesn’t matter if it is easy

or hard, if you are committed to doing it for the long haul. In fact, when things get hard, those who are determined work even harder. Third there is discipline…

3. Discipline- Discipline is training in a way that molds and perfects

an individual for a particular task. If we want to be the best servant of Jesus, then we have to be disciplined in the things of God. We have to be disciplined in prayer (talking & listening to God) and we have to be disciplined in living our lives in a way that honors God. Discipline is what will help us in being a servant. Last is attitude.

4. Attitude- The attitude we are called to have is humility. This whole

passage in Philippians 2 shows us the humility that Christ had; “(He) did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.” Now this is talking about the Son of God, God in the flesh, who knew the importance of humility. If Christ could have the attitude of humility so as to become a servant, shouldn’t you and I?

You probably know someone who when they talk, it is out of arrogance and boastfulness, and their words are as empty as a clanging cymbal. Or you probably know someone who might seem generous, but it is all an act to make others think more highly of them. Without the attitude of humility, we make ourselves nothing, and we will accomplish nothing important for God!

III. Lifted Up- (Numbers 21:1-9; Philippians 2:9-11; 1 Peter 5:6)

In the Old Testament, there is the story of how the Israelites were wandering

in the wilderness, being prepared by God for the promised land, when some of the people got bit by venomous snakes and died. The people cried out to God, and God provided a way for them to be saved. Numbers 21:8-9 tells us- “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.’ So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.”

This passage was a way to teach the people to look to God for life. And it prepared the people for Jesus’ coming and how Jesus would be “lifted up.”

a. On the cross- And so we see that first of all, as a servant, Christ is to

be “lifted up” onto the cross. This lifting up of Christ is a divine necessity, meaning that God planned all along to save us from our sins by having Christ crucified on the cross. By doing this, not only does Christ pay for our sin, but He becomes sin on our behalf so that death and sin no longer rule over us. We will talk about this more on Friday at our Good Friday service.

b. To the Father- But after His death, Christ had to be “lifted up” to the

right hand of the Father where all things were put in subjection under Christ’s feet.

As Philippians 2:9 says, “Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.” From an earthly standpoint, Jesus suffered the ultimate humiliation by dying the death of a common criminal. However, when seen through the eyes of faith, this humiliation becomes the throne of glory and a life-giving act.

In Matthew 21, as Jesus entered Jerusalem, and people shouted “Hosanna! Hosanna!”, Jesus knew that this was to be short lived. Jesus knew that His destiny was not to be put on an earthly throne, but that soon He would be killed on a cross. Jesus knew that He needed to do this so that we could have the ‘same mind’ as Him. Jesus knew the extent of His mission, and that He would be raised from the dead. As the Apostles Creed tells us- “He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.” Being lifted up to the Father was part of His reward for being a servant.

c. Lifting up Christ- And this is where our path as servant crosses the

path Jesus took. It is now our privilege and responsibility as the Church, and as a people of God, to “lift up” Christ in our lives. When we “believe” in Jesus, it is a verb, which suggests throwing oneself onto Christ. We are called through faith and trust to abandon ourselves to Christ. This is the role of a servant, to abandon oneself to their master. As we received the spiritual life we so desperately needed, we, in serving others for Christ, lead them to receive Christ as their master.

As we exercise this faith and trust, we get a taste of true life. This true life is experienced here on earth, but even more fully when we get to heaven. In humbling ourselves, we allow God to use us, but also bless us. 1 Peter 5:6 says- “Humble yourselves, therefore under God’s might hand, that He may lift you up in due time.” When we are proud we will be in opposition to God; we will fight against God; we will judge God. When we humble ourselves, God is all the more willing to bring us blessings and comfort and joy.

Isn’t this true with us and our children? When they are demanding of us, the last thing we want to see, is for them get their own selfish ways. But when they are humble and loving and giving, we want to lavish blessings upon them!

Conclusion: In the old comedy show “Everyone Loves Raymond,” there is a scene where he starts to tell some friends about this experience that he and his wife had. But he realizes that as he starts the story, he won’t be able to finish it, because usually when the story gets told, he tells part, and his wife tells part. But since she isn’t there, he doesn’t know the parts of the story she usually tells. It is almost like they have one mind, and apart they struggle.

The goal of Lent season, and Palm Sunday, is to recognize that Jesus is to be both our Savior (the one who saves us from our sin), and Lord (the one who directs our path). The goal of Lent season is for us to seek to develop the same mind as Christ, so that we might think and act more like Christ. Jesus started the journey of His last days on Palm Sunday. He did this so that we could begin our days of serving and following Him. Let us continue our journey to this end, this day, and every day God gives us on this earth. Amen.