The Mind That Matters

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.”