Sermon Thoughts on the Mind of Christ

A couple of passages immediately came to mind when I thought of the mind of Christ. The first was the Sermon on the Mount. The second was the Philippian hymn of Philippians 2.

As I try to think of what three points might be (I'm old school), here's what I come up with. Sorry it doesn't rhyme or begin with the same letter or form an acronym.

1. The mind of Christ is a servant's mind.
2. The mind of Christ is a suffering mind.
3. The mind of Christ is a perfect mind.

1. For the servant's mind section, I might talk about Philippians 2--having the mind that is willing to stoop down and play the role of a servant. Here Jesus was God and he not only became human, he stooped to the lowest death of the low. What status do you have that you're not willing to give up? BUZZ. Sorry, doesn't measure up. If Christ can be a servant, you have no excuse. I might bring in the foot washing story too.

2. For the suffering mind, I might bring in 2 Corinthians 4 where Paul basically compares his sufferings for the gospel as something like "carrying around the body of Jesus," suffering like Jesus suffered for the gospel. I might bring in Hebrews 12:2 where Jesus is an example for us to run the race of life with patience, despising the shame. You might bring in Jesus' turn the other cheek stuff from Matthew 5, doing good to those who persecute you, Romans 12 and not rendering evil for evil.

3. For the perfect mind, I might bring in Matthew 5:48 and mention that biblical perfection here is about going the whole way rather than half way. It's not just loving your neighbors, but your enemies as well. It's not just about not committing adultery; it's about not plotting adultery.

I might also bring in Philippians 3 and what Paul says is the mature (same word: perfect) attitude is. It's working together to reach the Day of Salvation and the resurrection. It's not falling from the point we've reached and pushing forward to new points in our striving toward the resurrection.

You might also bring in James 3 and the perfect person as someone who can control their tongue, although that's a little tangential.

You could of course make a whole series out of this and make this entry three different sermons.