Change Your Mind!

(Sermon on video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDt2MeTF2M8&list=PLiDGyLnX22byqvMzzu_Fn3RdMdZrOTPUO&index=3&t=11s)

Philippians 2:1-11

Change your Mind!

Good morning church! At the end of today’s message, I’ll take Communion, as we would if we were gathered physically together on this Palm Sunday. So I’ll ask you to take whatever you have at hand: a cracker or piece of bread, a small cup of juice or milk or water or iced tea. And we’ll take it “together.” Our scripture today is from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, chapter 2, verses 1-11:

1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Amen! Today’s message title is, “Change Your Mind.” Sometimes it’s easy to change your mind. I’ve often gone back and forth on a subject before settling on a course of action. Other times it’s really hard. For whatever reason, you find yourself quite stubborn.

For the Christ follower, God calls us to a radical change of mind, for our own good and for the good of the church family. Today’s passage contains three ways to change your mind. First, it says,

1. Be like-minded. Paul begins chapter 2 with a plea. It’s a poetic plea, punctuated with four uses of the word “if”: “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion...” Paul knows they have these things, so he really means “since.” “Since you have all these things...” He continues in verse 2, “Make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.”

Paul says we need to be like-minded. Note he DOESN’T say to be “same-minded,” because that would be pretty boring and useless. He says “like-minded,” which means to be united around one purpose. We need to overlook petty differences and agree on the big stuff. And the big stuff here is that we are the body of Christ. We have the same love. We are one in spirit. We are one in mind. What unites us is greater than what divides us.

Think about basic training: When you go to boot camp, the drill instructor or training instructor is there to chisel out of you all that background stuff that makes you unique, and instill in you a new group identity. It’s not about you anymore; it’s about your unit, your platoon, your flight. What unites you is greater than anything that might divide you.

And so it is with the church. When you become a believer, you are linked not only to God as his child, but also to brothers and sisters across the globe. You are part of the family. That’s why you can read about a Christian on the other side of the world and feel a kinship to them.

Blue Skies East needs to see a healthy church family, not a dysfunctional family. We need to be a family that first and foremost works hard at getting along. We need to overlook the small stuff, to work through conflict, to become quick repenters and quick forgivers, so other residents can see the love of God in the way we treat each other, even while we are “social distancing.” When that happens, people are drawn to God. As the old song goes, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”

Paul says, “Be like-minded.” And then he builds on that to say,

2. Be humble-minded! Listen again to verses 3-4. They contain a great definition of humility:

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.