INTRODUCTION
Blessed are they who are too tired and too busy to go to church on Sunday, for they are my best workers.
Blessed are they who are bored with the minister’s mannerisms and mistakes, for they get nothing out of the sermon.
Blessed is the church member who expects to be invited to his own church for he is part of the problem instead of the solution.
Blessed are they who gossip, for they cause strife and divisions that please me.
Blessed are they who are easily offended, for they soon get angry and quit.
Blessed are they who do not give their offerings to carry on God’s work for they are my best helpers.
Blessed is he who professes to love God but hates his brother and sister, for he shall be with me forever.
Blessed are the trouble makers, for they shall be called children of the devil.
Blessed is he who has no time to pray, for he will be easy prey.
Douglas Parsons, Pulpit Helps
We have many people within the church that hurt today, we have many churches where the church has divided or is on the verge of division.
In her book The Key to a Loving Heart, Karen Mains includes a parable about the church titled "The Brawling Bride". It tells about the most climactic moment in a wedding ceremony. The families have been seated. The groom and his attendants are in their places. The minister is waiting, Bible in hand. The bridesmaids have come down the aisle. The organ begins the bridal march, and everyone rises. A gasp bursts from the guests. The bride is limping. Her gown is ripped and covered with mud. One eye is purple and swollen. Her hair is mussed. In the parable, the groom is Christ. "Doesn’t He deserve better than this?" the author asks. His bride, the church has been fighting again.
Ridiculous? Not when we hear of churches with factions that sit on opposite sides of the aisle. Not when one part of the congregation meets upstairs at the same time the rest meet in the basement.
What causes the church to hurt?
Lack of love?
Lack of Unity?
Pride?
All of these things are symptoms of a larger problem. The real sickness is the fact that a lot of people in the body of Christ, have not transformed their mind to the mind of Christ. Romans 12:2 tells And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
The key to the healing of the hurting church, is that each person in that body have the same mind or attitude that Christ had.
SERMON
READ PHILIPPIANS 2:5-8
Have this attitude or mind-set (an attitude is a state of mind)
THE MIND OF CHRIST…..
WAS UNSELFISH Verse 6
A. Prior to the incarnation Jesus:
1) Existed in the form of God. He existed as one with God. John 1:1-3 backs this statement.
2) Jesus was equal with God. He shared glory with God.
B. He did not consider equality a thing to be grasped. Something to be laid hold of selfishly.
1) The things that he possessed in heaven were not something that He had to hold on to, heaven did not keep him from coming to fulfill His mission.
2) How many times to we hold on to things?
3) How often to we consider our standing before others something to be held on to?
C. If we have the mind of Christ, then we will not operate from selfish ambition.
1) We will put our personal agendas aside for the call of Christ.
2) Too many people are hurt in the church because folks are too busy being selfish.
3) We want power and position in the church. Verse 3 says not to do anything from selfishness or empty conceit.
a) How many times to we get offended because we do not receive the recognition that we feel we deserve? How many times are we offended because someone hurt our feelings?
b) If we posses the attitude of Christ, we will be working to please Him and Him alone!
(As we look further in our text we see that the mind of Christ…..)
WAS WILLING TO SACRIFICE Verse 7.
A. When Christ became flesh.
1) He emptied Himself. He voluntarily divested Himself of the glory that He had with the Father. JOHN 17:5 "And now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
2) He took on the form of a bond-servant. He did not come as a King, or a rich, man, but came as the son of a carpenter.
3) The Second Person in God, the Son, became human Himself: was born into the world as an actual man -- a real man of a particular height, with hair of a particular color, speaking a particular language, weighing so many stone [pounds]. The Eternal Being, who knows everything and who created the whole universe, became not only a man but (before that) a baby, and before that a fetus inside a woman’s body. If you want to get the hang of it, think how you would like to become a slug or a crab. C. S. Lewis.
4) Jesus came as a man, He was tempted like we are, He had to eat, He felt pain, needed to sleep.
5) Jesus was not some Superman. Jesus emptied Himself, even though He knew what was going to happen to Him, that He would die the worst kind of death that a person could imagine.
B. Jesus sacrificed the glory of heaven for our us. Paul tells us that we are to have the same attitude. In verse four of the passage he tells us that we are not only to look out for ourselves, but for the interest of others also.
1) We are not to ignore or needs, but we are to make sure that we make room in our lives for the need of others. That will require us to sacrifice at times.
2) If Jesus could sacrifice the glory of Heaven for us, then we can sacrifice time and money for Him also when we need to.
(The mind of Christ was one of …)
HUMILITY. Verse 8.
A. The passage not only says that Christ was found in the appearance of a man, but humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.
1) Humility will lead to obedience. Throughout the ministry of Jesus, He said that He was here to do the will of the Father who is in heaven.
2) In verse three of the passage, Paul says that we are to have a humble mind.
3) His humility allowed Him to take the punishment that He did. Jesus could have called God to rain fire down on those who were about to kill Him, but He did not.
B. The opposite of humility is pride. How many times does our pride get in the way of admitting that we are wrong, or keep us from doing something for another person when we think that the job is below us?
1) At Central we have maintenance men who have degrees in Engineering and Psychology. We have had other men with masters degrees who did the same thing. NOTHING WHRONG with work, but most people would wonder why a person who could make more money somewhere else doesn’t.
2) Our lack our humility will keep us from being obedient to God.
C. We must be humble when we deal with other people. We never will know how we will affect people by our spirit toward them.
1) ROMANS 12:16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.
CONCLUSION
If the church is going to be healthy, then each one of us must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Our minds need to be renewed to reflect the mind of Christ.
When we are immersed into Christ, we are a new creature (2 Cor 5:17) READ CLOSSIANS 3:8-11.
We have an active part in the renewing process. We are a product of what we put into ourselves. Are you filling yourself up with the Word of God. You will never be transformed by the renewing of your mind unless you are filling it with God.
Can the church experience healing? Yes it can, but only when we have the attitude or mindset of Christ in us. Will you allow yourself to be changed?
