LOSING YOUR MIND

Philippians 2:1-15

Sunday, April 1, 2007

You’ve no doubt said it yourself. I’ve said it, too, but rather than quoting you or me, I also read this on a bumper sticker: “Of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my mind the most.”

I remember when our first child was born, helpful and experienced parents offered the encouraging advice—at least, I supposed it to be encouraging at the time, “You’ll get your mind back when your children turn eighteen.” Is that true? It would be nice.

It is interesting that while we spend a great deal of time and energy as parent to help develop the minds and the personalities of our children—and public education has this as the goal of every curricula, I understand—that when those same children demonstrate this development, there is a clash. How often have you said about your child, “they have a mind of their own”—not meaning it as a good thing?

With all of this focus we have on developing minds and the value we place on the individuality of the mind, how strange Paul’s words must sound in our ears. He speaks about having the “same mind” as Christ Jesus. He speaks of a shared attitude and perspective—a common frame of reference with Christ. While we would emphasize having our own mind, he calls us to one mind. He speaks of losing our minds to find ourselves in Christ.

You and I live in a culture—a society—that places a high value on independence. We emphasize the individual and all that he/she can become. Sometimes, we punish that individuality when the self-direction of his/her development becomes eccentric or sociopathic—when he/she develops their own morality and that morality is dangerous to others.

Generally, though, we reward self-development and individuality. We encourage people to become all that they can be. As I mentioned, public school curricula and most American democratic principles value the individual and self-direction.

Of course, that development doesn’t happen in a vacuum. I always am amazed when I meet parents who have decided that they won’t teach their children any religion, any doctrine with the explanation that, when their children are old enough, they can decide for themselves. With no foundation, you can guess what those children will choose: nothing. Actually, they will choose what they’ve been taught—all of those voices crying for influence in our culture and society will have spoken to that child.

Don’t be fooled. There is a battle going on for influence in your mind. Marketing plays a big role in that battle. Did you notice with all of this in the news about pet food and possible poisoning, that one company supplies the basics for about twenty brands? Pet owners have been influenced by marketing to value one above the other—and they all have the same origin. Why do you think you pick the brands you pick? Be honest.

Speaking of this battle, Randy Lowe—the superintendent of the Colorado High School Association—asked this question of pastors at our recent circuit meeting—“Who’s shaping your children’s minds?” I’ll throw that question out to you parents to think about. With whom does your child spend the most time? What about you—who shapes your mind?

Lots of influences—the voices of media, the voices of friends, the voices even of strangers in the grocery store—shape our minds and our choices. Our minds—you and I—are products of all of these influences and experiences. Most of these influences would lead us to developing our own mind—choosing our own direction. Since most of these influences are out of a world that has turned its back on God, our minds end up that way, too. We end up with a mind of our own—turned away from God.

That is not a direction to be heading if we want to hear Paul today. This is not a direction to be heading if we want to stand with the crowds this Palm Sunday and shout “Hosanna” as Jesus enters the city. This is not a direction to be heading if we have any hope of heaven or of forgiveness or of any kind of relationship with God at all. Paul encourages us to have the same mind as Christ Jesus. How do we get there?

Jesus has a mind turned to God. Paul describes the pattern Jesus sets. He set aside His position and His glory. He emptied Himself, setting aside equality with His Father and was born into our flesh. He left the glory for Bethlehem. He took upon Himself the form of a servant. Time and again, Jesus told His disciples that the Son of Man came to serve, not to be served. He told them that He came to give His life as a ransom for many—He came to lose Himself in the plan of salvation, to give Himself up. This is the opposite of what we would expect or choose.

Jesus came to be more than just a pattern for us. If we see Him only as an example to follow, something to strive for, then we’ve missed the point of His coming. Such an attitude sees being like Jesus as a possibility we can achieve and makes everything about ourselves again. Self-actualization accomplished on a large scale—be like Jesus. This is to see Jesus from the outside—to see Him as something other than Savior. Actually, this is to not see Jesus as Jesus at all.

Jesus comes to be Savior. He changes everything. By His death and resurrection, He changes everything for us. He changes our address. No longer are we on the outside, looking in, trying to figure it out. Baptized into Him, we are “in” Christ. We no longer understand things apart from Him, we are given His Word and His Spirit and understand things “in” Christ. These become the voices that shape our minds.

In Christ, we see things differently. Our lives aren’t a series of random events and coincidences, we see God’s plan unfolding through them. Faith helps us grasp that there is a “big” picture, that there is plan that God is working all these things through towards His love for us.

Being “in” Christ changes our minds and the directions we’ve chosen. No longer do we simply see things in terms of ourselves. People aren’t just there for us to interact with or take advantage of or get something from, they are there for us to love as Christ has loved them. We’re no longer in life just for what we can get or for our own good. We are here as servants, not masters. Love in Christ changes everything. We choose what serves our God and what serves our neighbor—even sometimes those “neighbors” we may not have chosen to like, but Christ has chosen to love. We lose ourselves only to be found in Christ.

So, this Palm Sunday—this Lenten season, this Passion Sunday—don’t just let the story of Jesus’ Passion and death and resurrection change your moment—realizing you might have to come to church a couple of times this Holy Week. Don’t just let it change a behavior—a number of people give up something “for” Lent in devotion, only to pick it up again Easter Sunday afternoon. Let Jesus’ story change you.

Don’t lose your mind, let Jesus have it. Let Jesus change your mind, your behavior and your moments. Let Him work in you His mind and change how you see everything. Let Him change how you understand everything and how and who you are. Let Him change your mind to bring you “in” Him.