INTRO.- ILL.- A man named Al Smith was a presidential candidate in 1928. Surely you remember him? Al Smith was making a speech when a heckler in the audience yelled, “Tell ‘em what’s on your mind, Al. It won’t take long.”
Smith grinned, pointed at the man and shouted back, “Stand up, partner, and I’ll tell ‘em what’s on both our minds. IT WON’T TAKE ANY LONGER.”
What’s on your mind? Hopefully, the Lord is on your mind every day. It does seem, however, that some days we don’t think too well or can’t seem to think at all. EVER HAVE ONE OF THOSE DAYS?
How important is the mind? Very important.
ILL.- To give you some idea of what is going on continuously in the brain and spinal cord, please try to imagine 1,000 telephone switchboards, each big enough to service a city the size of New York, all going at full speed, receiving and transmitting requests, questions, and orders. AND ONLY GOD COULD REDUCE SUCH COMPLEXITY TO THREE PINTS OF GRAY MATTER and put it in something as small as a human skull. Miracle and miracles!
ILL.- Dr. Gehard Dirks, holder of some 15 patents on the IBM computer, once said that he got most of his inventive ideas from studying the human brain. He said, if we could invent a computer that would duplicate the capabilities of the human brain, it would take a structure the size of the Empire State Building just to house it. Well, perhaps not today, not in our day and time.
The human brain or the mind of man is utterly amazing. But what is even more amazing is how the mind controls the life!
Prov. 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart (actually mind), so is he…” What we think is what we are!
Matt. 15:19 “For out of the heart (mind) come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”
Why do people commit murder? Generally, it’s because they think that way, etc.
THE MIND DOES MATTER! It matters big time in life! It matters in the way we live, good or bad, and it matters in our relationship to God.
Matt. 22:37-38 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.”
ILL.- Clifford Williams in THE LIFE OF THE MIND wrote, “To love God with our minds does not mean that it is our minds that actually do the loving. Rather, we love God by using our minds. The situation is analogous to a surgeon who loves God with her hands—she uses her hands to express her love for God. Her hands are not doing the loving; she is doing the loving by using her hands.” WE LOVE GOD BY USING THE MIND. And I might add, by using it properly.
ILL.- Someone said, “Five percent of the people think. Ten percent think they think and the rest would rather die than think.” Perhaps true.
The Christian person must think and think well. The mind does matter. The thinking does matter a great deal.
PROP.- Our text speaks of the mind of Christ. Some versions use the word “mind” instead of attitude. “Have this mind in you…” Or “Your mind should be the same as that of Christ.”
We all could use a “mind change” at times or at least, a better mind. We all need the mind of Christ. Our text actually gives us a look at three different minds.
1- The mind of Christ
2- The mind of God
3- The mind of man
I. THE MIND OF CHRIST - HUMILIATIOIN
V. 6-8
ILL.- Ronald Reagan, recalling an occasion when he was governor of California and made a speech in Mexico City: "After I had finished speaking, I sat down to rather unenthusiastic applause, and I was a little embarrassed. The speaker who followed me spoke in Spanish -- which I didn’t understand -- and he was being applauded about every paragraph. To hide my embarrassment, I started clapping before everyone else and longer than anyone else until our ambassador leaned over and said, ’I wouldn’t do that if I were you. He’s interpreting your speech.’"
We all have a tendency to toot our own horn. Humility is not our strong suit, but it was with Christ.
- Christ was in the very nature God. His innermost nature was God.
ILL.- Roses, daffodils, tulips, chrysanthemums, dahlias all have the same form or nature. They are essentially, unchangeably flowers!
Even though Jesus lived in a human body like ours, His innermost nature was essentially, unchangeably God!
Col. 1:15 says of Jesus “He is the image of the invisible God. V. 19 “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in him.”
Jesus was God in the flesh! Some people find that hard to believe, but we should not. We dare not!
II John 7 “Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.”
- Christ did not consider Himself equal with God.
V. 6 He “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.” Here we see the humility of Christ.
ILL.- Prophet Jim Jones of the Guyana tragedy, Nov. 1978, claimed to be the reincarnation of Christ. David Koresh of the Branch Davidians said, “If the Bible is true, then I’m Christ.”
If you or I or any other human being would claim equality with God and demand to be worshipped, THAT WOULD BE HIGHWAY ROBBERY! But not for Jesus.
Even though Jesus was God in the flesh He did consider equality with God as something that belonged to Him. WHAT A MIND OF HUMILITY!
- V. 7 He became a servant, made in human likeness.
ILL.- Hudson Taylor was scheduled to speak at a Large Presbyterian church in Melbourne, Australia. The moderator of the service introduced the missionary in eloquent and glowing terms. He told the large congregation all that Taylor had accomplished in China, and then presented him as "our illustrious guest." Taylor stood quietly for a moment, and then opened his message by saying, "Dear friends, I am only the little servant of an illustrious Master."
Taylor was a humble servant as we all should be. I am amazed at what some people are willing to give up in order to become missionaries on foreign fields. It takes a true servant’s heart to give up our American luxurious living to go to certain fields of service.
And yet Jesus gave up more! It’s hard for us to imagine how much Jesus gave up in order to come to earth in the form of a man and be a servant to mankind. JESUS LEFT HIS HOME IN HEAVEN. Beauty, comfort, security, love. If heaven were anything like we think it is going to be, not many of us would be willing to leave it once we got there! But Jesus did this for us! What humility!
Jesus not only gave up His home to come to earth, He also gave up any pride that He might have had to become a servant to people.
Jesus was a big enough servant to wash the dirty feet of His disciples. What about us? What kinds of things have we done, which indicate a servant’s heart in us? How low have you stooped in being a servant to others?
- V. 8 Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.
ILL.- A missionary translator was endeavoring to find a word for “obedience” in the native language. As he returned home from the village one day, he whistled for his dog and it came running at full speed. An old native, seeing this, said admiringly in the native tongue. “Your dog is all ear.” Immediately the missionary knew he had his word for obedience.
Jesus was “all ear” when it came to the will of His heavenly Father, even when it meant death. And, of course, the death that Jesus experienced was the worst kind. HE EXPERIENCED THE WORST KIND OF TORMENT OF ALL.
I Pet. 2:24 “He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree…”
II Cor. 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Jesus traded places with us on the cross. We should have been crucified. We should have tasted death. We should have been separated from God. We should have cried out in anguish, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” But instead of us, it was Jesus.
The mind of Christ was that of complete humility before His Father.
II. THE MIND OF GOD - EXALTATION
V. 9 “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.”
ILL.- A man accompanied his friend home for dinner and was impressed by the way he entered his house, asked his wife how her day went, and told her she looked pretty. Then, when they’d embraced, she served dinner. After they ate, the husband complimented his wife on the meal and thanked her for it. When the two fellows were alone, the visitor asked, "Why do you treat your wife so well?" "Because she deserves it, and it makes our marriage happier," replied the host.
Impressed, the visitor decided to adopt the idea. Arriving home, he embraced his wife and exclaimed, "You look wonderful!" For good measure he added, "Sweetheart, I’m the luckiest guy in the world."
His wife, amazed, burst into tears. Bewildered, he asked her, "What in the world’s the matter?" She wept, "What a day! Billy fought at school. The refrigerator quit and spoiled the groceries. And now you come home drunk!"
We are often very slow when it comes to dishing out sincere compliments. In fact, we are so slow at commending others that they are shocked when we actually do it. However, God is in the commending business, the praising business, the patting-on-the-back business. God loves to elevate people by commending them. He believes in us.
The Father most certainly believed in His Son and commended Him.
Matt. 3:16-17 “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’”
Why was Jesus baptized? Certainly not for the same reason we are baptized. He was baptized by John to “fulfill all righteousness” or to do everything that was considered right in the Father’s eyes. Jesus hadn’t sinned, never sinned and didn’t need baptism for the forgiveness of sin, but He certainly wanted to please His Heavenly Father in every way. And when He did, God the Father commended him, saying, “This is my son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased.”
What a commendation! Wouldn’t you like to have those words being said about you? In a sense, that can happen and does happen as we please the Father. In a very real sense, the Father says, “You are my child and I am very pleased with you because you have been baptized.”
It may be that the Father says similar words every time we seek to please Him in life, regardless of how we please Him. For example, being baptized, witnessing, serving others, ministering to the needy, giving money to further the cause of Christ, etc. I am sure that all these things and more please the Father and His desire is to commend us for such.
Rom. 12:10 “Honor one another above yourselves…”
The business of honoring may well mean to commend one another, praise one another, or exalt one another.
ILL.- A British publisher finally decided to retire at age 70. He was given the usual dinner. Associates praised him generously. When the time came to respond, the old gentleman got up and said, “I had no idea I was held in such esteem. I think I will stay on.”
Commending people for their good work can do wonders for a person: Keep them working, keep them serving and serving well. It can encourage them in ways we never thought possible.
Praise always does more good than criticism and condemnation. We all need to look for the good in others and commend that good. The greatest commendation, however, will come at the end of time.
Matt. 25:23 “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. COME AND SHARE YOUR MASTER’S HAPPINESS!”
The mind of God is that of exaltation. He exalted His Son Jesus for what He did and some day He will exalt us for our surrender and service.
III. THE MIND OF MAN – SUBMISSION
V. 10-11 “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
ILL.- In Greenville, Mississippi, a radar device set up in a speed zone quickly caught three persons. The first was the Mayor. He paid a fine and commented, “The only way to avoid fines is not to speed.” The second person arrested was a policeman. The third was a local disc jockey, who went to his radio station and broadcast the location of the speed zone.
That disc jockey was bound and determined to get revenge for the speeding ticket he got. Revenge is just another way of saying, “I will do my own thing.”
All of us are guilty of doing our own thing in life. We often do our own thing at work, out shopping, while socializing, at almost everything we do.
ILL.- I was pulling into the Park St. Wal-Mart one day last week, going in the right direction of the parked cars. There is a right direction and a wrong direction, don’t you know? And wouldn’t you know it, some young buck in a big pickum-up truck (pickup truck) was coming down the parking lot the WRONG direction! It was a one-way parking section and he driving the wrong way and had that parking lane all congested and I was a part of that congestion!
I figured that he did that either out of ignorance or just plain rebellion, thinking, “I will drive where I want.” Some people are that way. They don’t care what anybody says or thinks, including the law. But someday they will care about what SOMEONE thinks and says!
Our text reads, “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow.” Any and all rebellious people will someday bow before Jesus.
ILL.- Do you remember that old Fram air filter commercial on TV? The Fram man says, “You can pay me now or you can pay me later.” Of course, what he meant was this. If you don’t keep a clean air filter for your fuel injection system then later on you may have to spend money to overhaul your motor. YOU CAN PAY ME NOW (for this filter) OR YOU CAN PAY ME LATER (for a motor overhaul).
God says, “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow.” Every knee will bow, either now or later. But if a person doesn’t do it now and willingly, they will do later and unwillingly! Either way, all people will bow before the Lord!
The mind of man should be that of submission to the will of God. It’s a “should be” thing.
Heb. 12:9 “We have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!”
ILL.- J. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission once said, “The greatest mission in the world is SUBMISSION.” He was right. Where there is SUBMISSION, God’s mission will always be accomplished.
Luke 6:46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” Powerful question. All of us need to learn to submit to the Lordship of Jesus.
ILL.- A distinguished French officer asked the mother of George Washington at a banquet how she managed to raise such a splendid son. She replied, “SIR, I TAUGHT HIM TO OBEY.”
The mind of man should be that of submission and obedience to the Lord. Not easily done, but it can be done. Obedience is a learned thing, but we often learn the hard way.
CONCLUSION--------------------------------------
ILL.- A train engineer was asked by a passenger what he thought about as he sat in his cab, speeding along at 70 mph. He replied, “I am thinking about a half mile ahead.”
It always pays to think ahead. And it always pays to think the way God wants. The mind does matter. The mind controls the life and actions.
Rom. 12:2 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
ILL.- Someone said it this way, “Let the mind of the master be the master of your mind.”
When the master’s mind masters us, we will have the mind of submission. The mind does matter.
