The Same Mind As Jesus | Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (ELCA) Manchester MO

Pastor:

Pr. John Gerike

Sermon audio:

Sermon: “The Same Mind As Jesus

Philippians 2:1-13; Matthew 21:23-32

September 24 and 25, 2011

These Bible readings raise a lot of questions.

A lot more questions than we will answer today.

We can keep wondering together.

But there’s one question

in the Gospel reading

that isn’t answered in the Gospel reading—

--but I think it’s answered in the Philippians reading.

The question—

--the chief priests and the elders asked Jesus (second part of verse 23)

“By what authority are you doing these things,

and who gave you this authority?”

Now, let’s switch over to Philippians,

verse 6 and following:

(talking about Jesus)

“who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death—

--even death on a cross.

Therefore, God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.”

Okay,

so you answer the question.

Who gave Jesus authority?

God—the Father.

And by what authority does he do these things?

Well—it’s God’s authority.

And the authority seems to come from

Jesus emptying himself—

--obedient even to death on the cross.

Authority—

--by becoming a slave.

Authority—

--by obedience.

Authority—

--even in death,

death on a cross.

Not usually what we think of when we think of authority.

I read a story about Mother Teresa—

--one of my heroes.

She happened to be in Pennsylvania

working with a Sisters of Charity dedication.

And there was a city nearby,

where they have a state hospital

for the emotionally and psychologically disturbed.

And the directors of the hospital

wanted to start five halfway houses

in the neighborhoods of the city—

--where people on their way to full recovery

could be nurtured from the hospital back into society,

by first going to these halfway houses,

then get jobs,

and then, little-by-little,

their own residences.

But this idea needed city approval.

And when the idea came before the city council,

the room was packed.

More than 500 people packed into a little room.

They may have been okay with the idea in abstract.

But not in their neighborhood.

And after hearing that sentiment again and again,

the city council voted unanimously against the proposal.

But right after the vote,

the back doors of the auditorium opened,

and in came—Mother Teresa.

She was in town.

She’d heard about the meeting.

She came down the center aisle.

And there was a gasp—

--and the room went silent.

And she got down on her knees

in front of the city council,

and raised her arms and said:

“In the name of Jesus,

make room for these children of God.

When you reject them,

you reject Jesus.

When you affirm them,

you embrace Jesus.”

And then, with her arms upraised she said:

“Please, please, please, please, please.

In the name of God,

make room for these people.

Make room for them in your neighborhoods.”

Now, you’re on the City Council.

The television stations have followed Mother Teresa.

Their cameras are rolling.

The newspaper reporters are there.

What are you going to do?

One city council member said:

“I move we change the decision.”

And another seconded.

And the motion passed unanimously.

And the room full of people,

so animated in opposition before,

was silent.

Why?

Because of Mother Teresa.

Where did she get that authority?

On the streets of Calcutta.

Loving sacrificially for the poor and oppressed of the world.

Emptying herself for others.

Her service.

Her love for others.

Her self-sacrifice—

--gave her authority

among those people.

She was following Christ.

Christ,

who emptied himself for you and for me.

A slave for you and for me.

Dying on the cross—

--for you and for me.

So how are we to live our lives?

Philippians, chapter 2, verse 5:

“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”

Let the same mind be in you

that was in Christ Jesus.

That’s what we’re called to do.

That’s not what we actually do all the time.

We all sin and fall short of the glory of God.

We mess up again and again and again and again.

I do.

You do.

The Philippians did.

One of the reasons Paul was writing to them,

was to encourage them to do better.

What does it say in verses 3 and 4:

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,

but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.

Let each of you look not to your own interests,

but to the interests of others.”

That’s not what we naturally do.

We naturally focus on ourselves.

We hear it in our little children.

“Me first.”

“Mine.”

“Look at me.”

We get more refined about it as we get older.

But the tendency is still there.

We still think of ourselves first.

And Jesus pushes us

to look beyond.

And works in us to change us.

We sing:

Change my heart O God,

Make it ever true.

Change my heart O God,

May I be like you.

Look at the last 2 verses of our Philippians reading,

starting with verse 12:

“Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me,

not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence,

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”

You know the phrase that stands out to me

as I hear that verse:

“…work out your own salvation…”

That doesn’t sound right.

Doesn’t sound like grace to me.

And I’m tempted to just skip over it.

But I wonder if it can be helpful.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

was one of my favorite philosophers

that I studied in seminary—

--and all because of one idea that he shared

that made sense to me.

He talks about language.

And how words mean different things

for different authors

and in different contexts.

And so,

remembering Wittgenstein,

I wonder what Paul means be salvation

in this passage.

And so I found some seminary professors

talking about that.

And they said—

--and I found it helpful—

--that Paul isn’t talking about justification here.

He is clear again and again

that we don’t earn salvation through our works.

Instead,

what Paul seems to be talking about here

is how we live our lives.

Salvation,

in this context,

could very well be talking about how we are saved

from our own sinful selves

for our lives right here,

right now.

And our choices that we make

right here and right now—

--make a difference.

Your choices make a difference.

You are still justified by God’s grace.

God’s love never changes.

But your decisions are important.

How you live your life is important.

And then,

in verse 13,

Paul reminds us

that even those choices are from God:

“for it is God who is at work in you,

enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

Where do we get the strength to follow Christ?

From God.

And not only that,

where do we get the strength to want to follow Christ?

From God.

God at work in you.

We can’t follow by our own strength.

And we don’t even want to follow—

--by our own strength.

But God is at work in you.

So that you can follow.

And when we do,

when we have the same mind as Christ Jesus,

when we empty ourselves,

when we put others first—

--we have the authority of love.

And it’s a great thing.

We hear stories in the news.

The motorcycle was on fire.

Caught on the front of the car—

--and the car could be burning or explode at any moment.

And Brandon Wright, 21 years old,

who’d been riding the motorcycle,

was caught underneath the car.

And people looked beyond themselves,

and lifted the car.

And saved his life.

In Reno, Nevada,

at the airshow.

When the plane crashed into the spectators.

One of those who died--

--it appears that he put himself between the crash,

and his son and son’s friend.

They lived.

He died.

Or—in everyday life.

A cross-country runner,

ran the first ½-mile of the race,

and came across a runner from another school,

who had accidentally been spiked in the ankle,

and was lying on the ground,

in pain and in need of help,

as the other runners ran past—

--and no one else was around.

And Josh Ripley stopped to help.

The other runner couldn’t even walk.

So Josh picked him up.

Carried him back the ½-mile.

He ended up needing a trip to the hospital

and 20 stitches.

And then Josh took off,

and ran the race.

I’m pretty sure he came in last place.

Or did he?

Let the same mind be in you as in Christ Jesus.

God is at work in you.

May you love as Jesus has first loved you.

In each moment of each day,

may we follow Christ.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen