September 20, Outdoor Worship, Church Picnic at Village Park

Lessons: Philippians 2.1-11

Sermon Title: One Heart, One Mind 

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INTRODUCTION

Mystery

One day during cooking class, our teacher, Mrs. Jones, was extolling her secrets for preparing perfect sauces.

When she ordered us to the stoves to prepare our assignments, she said, "Don't forget to use wooden spoons."

As I stirred my sauce, I contemplated the physics behind the mystery of the wooden spoon and decided it must have something to do with heat conduction.

I approached Mrs. Jones to test my theory. "Why wooden spoons?" I asked.

"Because," she replied, "if I have to sit here listening to all your metal spoons banging against metal pots, I'd go nuts."

I.        LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) – Laugh and the whole world laughs with you. Give out free tickets and the whole world will come.

Comedian Jay Leno says the free shows are meant for those having a tough economic time in the Detroit area.

Comedian Jay Leno has added a second show after tickets were given away Monday for the first installment of "Jay's Comedy Stimulus Plan" for the unemployed in Detroit, Michigan.

"Eighteen thousand seats like that, so we are adding another show," Leno announced on "The Tonight Show" on Monday night.

The shows are scheduled for April 7 and 8 in Auburn Hills, a suburb of Detroit.

The free tickets were instantly in high demand. So much so that a set of four soon appeared on eBay for more than $800, the comedian said.

"You're out of your mind to pay $800 to see me....My mother wouldn't pay $800 to see me. This is why we're adding another show," Leno said. "There's nothing for sale here. It's just totally free."

He said the shows are meant to entertain those caught in the economic crunch.

          A.       My mother would not pay $800 to see me.

          B.       Your out of your mind to pay $800 to see me.

                     1.       People are out of their mind to wish for what cannot be had.

                     2.       People are out of their minds to dream for what cannot be attained.

                     3.       People are out of their mind to believe that, well, you fill in the blank.

II.       How would you like to be out of your mind?

          A.       Not certifiably insane, just a person with a different mind.

          B.       It is possible.

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MAIN BODY:

I.        It is all here

          A.       The First If then there is any encouragement in Christ?

                     1.       Encouragement is exhortation

                               a.       The Spiritual Gift Analysis book defines exhortation as “the ability to help others reach their full potential by means of encouraging, challenging, comforting, and guiding.”

                               b.       Exhortation comes from the same Greek word translated “Helper,” “Counselor” and “Comforter” in John 16:7.

                               c.       Author Chuck Swindoll explains that the gift of exhortation is “the ability to bring encouragement, to help others see the relevance of Scripture, to give insightful counsel, to motivate, to comfort, and to offer hope that prompts action. “

                     2.       Is there anything that is encouraging in Christ?

                     3.       Have you passed on the encouragement that you have received?

          B.       The Second: Is there any consolation from love,

                     1.       Consolation is providing comfort

                     2.       Is there consolation in Christ?

                     3.       Have you experience the consolation that is in Christ?

                     4.       Have you shared the consolation that you have received from Christ?

          C.       The Third: Is there any sharing in the Spirit?

                     1.       Is the Holy Spirit part of one’s life?

                     2.       Is the Spirit shared?

Walter Maris, “A helping hand,” illustrates the sharing of the Spirit,

I was headed down the highway to a conference when I noticed a farmer walking down the median. The man was striding purposefully along. I was going in the opposite direction, and I inwardly wished him well and kept driving. Then I came upon an old grain truck with a flat tire. I realized that the farmer was going for help, and he had about a three-mile walk ahead of him.

I began to feel uncomfortable with my decision to go on my way. I felt that I had no choice but to turn around and help the man. Locating a median crossover, I headed back. The man accepted my offer of a ride, and I took him to a truck stop where he was able to make arrangements to get his tire repaired.

I had invested 30 minutes of time and effort in another person’s life. Rarely are emergencies convenient; but if we are to give aid and comfort, we must make ourselves available when others need help.

          D.       The Fourth: Is there any compassion and sympathy (better empathy)?

                     1.       What do you feel?

                     2.       What do you feel for other people.

Noah benShea, in Jacob's Journey tells a wonderful story of compassion:

"All of us are magicians," said Jacob. "With great skill we shift who we are as if we were peas under walnut shells. Soon, we ourselves have no idea where we are hidden. Soon, pride in our camouflage causes us to become caught in our own sleight of hand."

"Well," said the young man, "at least I'm not old like my grandfather. He sits with his chin resting on his cane, doing nothing for hours. I have my whole life in front of me."

"You do have your life in front of you," said Jacob, "and yet life is an experience not only of breadth but of depth. As you grow older, the game of life goes inside, makes room for memory. This interior life is no less real, and in some ways is more private, more yours."

"But," said the young man, "what do you think my grandfather spends so much time thinking about?"

"Maybe he is thinking about you," said Jacob.

"About me?"

"Yes," said Jacob, "maybe he's worried that his grandson is living only on the surface of life, and he wonders when you'll come inside."

                     3.       Jacob does not have the same feelings for his grandfather as his grandfather has for Jacob.

                     4.       We learn to share people’s emotional lives.

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II.       Make my joy complete: be of the same mind?

          A.       having the same love,

          B.       being in full accord and of one mind.

          C.       Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.

          D.       Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.

Insert Watchwords of Congregationalism

III.      Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

          A.       Jesus Christ is in the business of mind replacement.

          B.       This is not a transplant.

          C.       This is a renewal of mind with a different mind set.

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IV.      How does one acquire the mind of Christ?

          A.       But now, here comes the apostle Paul, writing to the Philippians, and by extension, to all who are trying to serve Christ, and he says, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” In other words, reset your mind-defaults — reset the way your mind works — to the way Jesus views things.

          B.       As we already asked, how?

                     1.       One way is by direct experience. A Jewish man who was the only member of his family to survive the Nazi death camps explained that before the camp, he had been a happy person with a positive view of life. Afterward, though, his outlook was never the same. His mind now defaulted (though he didn’t use that word) to sadness, pessimism and a sense that life had no meaning. The death camp had reset his mind.

                     2.       In case we miss it, however, he does say that when we live with humility, we get close to a Christ mind-set. He “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” (Philippians 2:7-8).

                               a.       Here a study or discussion of the heart of this “kenosis” passage might help. Go for it. Paul’s message is clear: No one can have a mind that defaults to Christ unless he or she has learned how to live selflessly.

                               b.       There’s no button to push to reset the humility default. It’s tough. It requires the “practice” of putting others’ interests above our own. It means that we put others first, rather than ourselves.

                     3.       Another way to reset the mind-defaults is by conscious override of certain gut reactions. There are recent studies on racism, for example, that offer hopeful information about our thinking processes no matter to what race we belong. They challenge the older idea that racial prejudice is hardwired into all of us.

                     4.       A fourth way to reset mind-defaults is through prayer. There’s a reason we call accepting salvation through Christ “repentance,” because the Greek word for repent means “to think differently” or to “reconsider.” But repentance is not a once-and-done-with experience. There is the ongoing need to ask for God’s help in how we think about things. When Paul wrote to the Christians at Philippi about overcoming their disagreement by having the mind of Christ, he did not spell out how to do that. But very likely he meant the persons involved need to pray together — to pray something like, “O God, guide our thinking on this matter. Help us not to view it only from our differing perspectives, but instead, help us to see it as Christ would. And then help us to respond as he would.”

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CONCLUSION:

I.        The mind of Christ produces freedom

          A.       I remember sitting in the the Middleborough Theater in 1942 when the first showing of a Leon Schlesinger Bugs Bunny cartoon, titles Freedom.

          B.       It was promoting War Bonds and Stamps.

"Any Bonds Today?"

The tall man with the high hat and the whiskers on his chin
Will soon be knocking at your door and you ought to be in
The tall man with the high hat will be coming down your way
Get your savings out when you hear him shout "Any bonds today?"

Any bonds today?
Bonds of freedom
That's what I'm selling
Any bonds today?
Scrape up the most you can
Here comes the freedom man
Asking you to buy a share of freedom today

Any stamps today?
We'll be blest
If we all invest
In the U.S.A.
Here comes the freedom man
Can't make tomorrow's plan
Not unless you buy a share of freedom today

First came the Czechs and then came the Poles
And then the Norwegians with three million souls
Then came the Dutch, the Belgians and France
Then all of the Balkans with hardly a chance
It's all in the Book if only you look
It's there if you read the text
They fell ev'ry one at the point of a gun
America mustn't be next

Any bonds today?
All you give
Will be spent to live
In the Yankee way
Scrape up the most you can
Here comes the freedom man
Asking you to buy a share of freedom today

                     1.       We wanted to be free and. create freedom for the oppressed people of Europe.

                     2.       So we bought bonds and stamps.

II.       Jesus is not promoting bonds or stamps.

          A.       Jesus is the freedom man.

                     1.       Jesus provides freedom from prejudice.

                     2.       Jesus provides freedom from worry.

                     3.       Jesus provides freedom from want.

                     4.       Jesus provides freedom from fear.

                     5.       Jesus provides the freedom to believe, to act., and to achieve.

          B.       Think of the bonds as the freedom that Jesus is offering.

Any bonds today?
Bonds of freedom
That's what I'm offering
Any bonds today?
Invest the faith you can
Here comes the freedom man
Offering you a share of freedom today

Amen!

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