Having The Mind Of Christ.

First Church of God in Harvey

Sunday Morning November 25th, 2012

Let us pray

Welcome......

"O Give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever." (Psalm 118: 1) “Oh, thank the Lord, for he is so good! His lovingkindness is forever.”

Last Sunday we said we should praise God anyhow. We should praise God continually; we should praise God openly, and we should praise God heartily. We should praise God, “At all times,” in every situation, under all circumstances, before, in and after trials in bright days of glee, and dark nights of fear..” They call the day after Thanksgiving “Black Friday,” it is time shoppers go looking for a bargain, if we were out looking for a bargain last Friday and did not get a bargain, we should still praise the Lord. The question is, how well did we praise the Lord during the course of last week? On Thanksgiving day in our Thanksgiving service we were told to bless or praise the Lord, and that we should not forget what God has done for us. The question is, how well have we been praising God since last Thursday?

Today is a new day, and once again we are called upon to praise the Lord. As the year 2012 rapidly draws to a close, we are called upon to praise the Lord. Let our praise not be one day of praise, but be a constant time of praise. Today we will be talking about having the mind of Christ, and if we truly have the mind of Christ, we will find the time to praise the Lord.

Our scripture reading for today will be taken from Philippians 2 verses 5 through 11.

Our topic for today is, Having The Mind of Christ. We will consider the following; Number 1..He humbled himself as a servant; Number 2..He appeared a man among men and Number 3..Exaltation is the reward of humiliation.

Just supposed for awhile you were on death row; you were charged with the crime of being a Christian, and you were asked if you had any last words to say. What do you think your last words would be? Would it be a call for mercy? Would it be a call for I don’t want to die? Would it be a call demonstrating your faith in Christ? Really, what would your last words be? Maybe this will never happen, but the possibility do exist. It would be a great thing to give some words of encouragement. Words such as, trust in the Lord; be faithful unto death; don’t give up; hold on; don’t be discouraged, and have the mind of Christ.

As the apostle Paul was nearing the end of his life he said, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” As Stephen was being accused and finally stoned for the crime of being a servant of God, he got a vision of heaven, and he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. As stones came hitting him, this man of God knelt down and prayed, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” The question we might ask ourselves is, can we really forgive those who have wronged us? The answer can only be yes, if we truly have the mind of Christ.

In verse 5 of our text it says, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. If you and I have been called to be servants, then we must have the mind of Christ. What is Paul talking about, or what does it mean to have the mind of Christ? Christ did not try to please himself; he sought not high places of the world; he did not choose a life of ease, comfort, pleasure. He lived for others; he went about doing good; he cared for the temporal needs of the sick and the poor. He cared for the souls of all men. As Christians, as followers of our Lord, we are called to mind the things which our Lord minded; our thoughts, wishes, motives, should be thoughts, wishes, motives which filled the sacred heart of Christ our Lord.

To have the mind of Christ is to love what he loved; and to hate what he hated. Every day, we must try to imitate our Lord, reproducing His image, being more and more like him, not only in the outward, but even in the inner life. When we have the mind of Christ we just can't help ourselves, we have to show love to each other. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 13 verses 4 through 7, and read from the screen. As God's child, do you really love your brother and sister? When they hurt, do you really hurt? To have the mind of Christ is to love each other. There are so many Christians who are saying I love you, I love you, but when things get rough, you wonder what has happened to all that love. We cannot have the mind of Christ and hate our brother and sister, it just will not work.........Let me this again, we cannot…