Having the Mind of Christ

The sun emerged from an overcast weekend to make brilliant the beautiful maples and other trees that line our rural roads, especially colorful in our Northland autumns. We had a guest minister this morning, so the initial portion of the service was conducted by Chuck Vanderscheuren who welcomed us warmly and shared announcements.

Announcements
1. Adventure Club will begin this Wednesday night, 5:30 – 7:00. All kids welcome for fun, food, and fellowship.
2. Building Committee will meet Tuesday evening.
3. Women: be sure to fill out the survey in the back of the church pertaining to women’s Bible study. If you have additional questions, contact Joanne Winship.

Following a brief introit by Darlene, the quartet led us into worship with singing.

Today’s Scripture Readings
Exodus 17:1-7
Philippians 2:1-3

During our praise and prayer time it was apparent that there are some real needs and hurts among us and much to pray for. We are grateful to have a God who hears and is not indifferent to our pain.

Having the Mind of Christ
Our guest speaker this week was the Rev. Ben Larson who began by expressing his being grateful to be here. In 2008 he has held issues that kept him from the pulpit and even this week he was uncertain as to whether he’s be able to join us, noting that for fifty years he has had difficulties caused by a disease called French polio.

He opened his remarks with an anecdote told by T. Boone Pickens this past Monday at the National Press Club. The billionaire oil man was addressing wind power and alternate energy issues, but during the Q & A was asked what he thought about the presidential race. He replied by telling a story about ninety year old man who had recently been honored in his own community. Some one commented to the old man, “You must have seen a lot of changes these past ninety years,” to which the old man abruptly replied, “Yes, and I was against all of them.”

The text for today’s message was taken from Philippians 2, specifically verse 5 where Paul writes, “Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…”

It is interesting to note that God has a mind, and that we, being made in God’s image, have a mind, the mind of the Son of God.

In one place Scripture notes that God searches the minds and hearts of all. In Romans 12 Paul admonished us to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Today’s message, therefore, was an outline of what it means to have the mind of Christ.

A Mind of Love
Rev. Larson shared how there was a black velvet banner with gold letters on it in the church where he grew up. The letters spelled out the verse in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His son…”

“I didn’t always love God,” Rev. Larson noted as he told us the story of how he came to encounter God during a Bible camp. He said it was there that he learned that the many of the stupid things he had done were sin, and when he couldn’t sleep one night he went out and prayed. There were no lightning flashes, but there was a blanket of peace that came over him.

He shared, too, his brother’s testimony, how he came to find salvation while a sailor. God loves us and pursues us.

A Mind of Wisdom
Wisdom comes from having the mind of Christ.

Rev. Larson told an anecdote about an African American minister he once knew names S.M. Lockridge. Rev. Lockridge said to him, “When you get angry, you get red. And when you are scared, you get yellow. When you are cold you turn blue. So how is it that you call us colored?”

Lockridge offered this practical advice regarding wisdom. “Get some learning so people don’t look down on you. Then get more learning so you don’t look down on others.”

God emptied Himself of his deity. He didn’t come to be served, but to serve others.

The Cross is follishness to the Greeks, Paul said, and a stumbling block to the Jews. But it’s central in our faith because it reveals the wisdom of God.

A Mind of Compelling Strength
The letter to the Philippians was written while Paul was imprisoned in Rom. “Have this mind in you…” he wrote. There are actually two meanings for this word in the New Testament. In this instance it encompasses both: intellect and knowledge.

Paul had spent time with the Philippian church (as well as time in the Philippian jail) and had a deep love for this church. He had evidently gotten word that there was trouble there between two women in the church and he appeals to them to work out their differences. Small things can get under our skin and fester, becoming big things.

The Holy Spirit was given to be our comforter and our strength, as well as our coach.

“I’d rather attempt something great and fail than to do nothing and succeed,” Norman Vincent Peale once said.

Jesus said, “I lay down my life…”

The Mind of Glory
It is a mind that understands glory, that understands God and His orientation. It’s a wonderful mind. It is not by imitating Him that we obtain this, but by yielding to Him who dwells within us.

He then told a story about Aunt Selma. Aunt Selma was a dear Christian woman who loved everyone. She was wise, and never condemned. Everyone loved her. She knew what was right and lived it. One day, she asked the pastor to come over, and after visiting a little said she wanted to discuss her funeral arrangements with him. She said when she was in her coffin she wanted a Bible in her left hand and a fork in her right.

The pastor understood the Bible in one hand, but was confused by the request to have a fork in the other. She explained. “At church dinners as they clear the tables after you’ve eaten, they sometimes say keep your fork. When they say ‘keep your fork’ then I always know the best is yet to come.”

So it is that when we have the mind of Christ, we know… the best is yet to come.

He Really Does Love Us And We Really Can Love Others

The Third Sunday in Lent

This morning Pastor Brad Shannon opened by declaring, “No matter what road you’re traveling, no matter what you’ve carried in here today, Jesus loves you indiscriminately.” His sermon theme today would be, “He Really Does Love Us and We Really Can Love Others.”

After Darlene's introit we enjoyed music by the trio, which included a reading of Philippians 3:7-11 by Chuck Vanderscheuren. We all felt blessed when they sang a heartfelt rendition of On the Jericho Road.

Today’s scripture reading was from John 4:5-42, the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well.

He Really Does Love Us & We Really Can Love Others

Pastor Brad shared how in his reading of the Gospels he has been amazed by Jesus’ emotional strength. In addition, Jesus showed great physical strength as well, walking all day, often teaching late into the night, pouring Himself out with seeming tirelessness.

Drawing from the seventh chapter of Luke, today’s message unveiled three incidents in which Jesus is revealed as not only strong, but also empathic. Luke 7 begins after Jesus had shared His great sermon on the mount. He was undoubtedly tired, yet when he was approached by a Roman centurion, Jesus gave his full attention. This Roman soldier had not come on his own behalf, but to make a request on behalf of an acquaintance’s servant.

Despite the low station in life of this servant, for Jesus there were no nobodies. Jesus’ love was universal and unconditional, whether it be for a prime minister or prodigal son. To Jesus, every man, woman or child matters. And Jesus healed this servant boy.

After leaving the Centurion, Jesus got held up by a funeral procession. All too often, our focus is inward, on our own needs. But Jesus, by being sensitive to the situation in front of him, recognized that this woman who had lost her husband previously was now grieving at the loss of her only son. Her despair at losing his son now left her all alone in the world, and Jesus’ heart went out to her.

Jesus steps forward and instructs the dead youth to rise, and he sat up. They were all filled with awe and praised God. When Jesus’ sensitivity was stirred, his power was unleashed.

From here the Lord went to dinner at a Pharisees house, a gathering of A-list persons in the community. An inappropriate woman shows up and begins weeping on Jesus’ feet. She then begins to pour perfume on him, anointing him with expensive oil.
The host is thinking to himself, “If Jesus were really a prophet, he’d know what kind of person this was and would not allow it.”

But this was a woman who had made great mistakes in her life, and had great regrets. In coming to Jesus, she recognized that he had massive amounts of forgiveness for this kind of person, and her response was reciprocal, for one who has been forgiven much loves much. (vs. 47)

Who should be the greatest lover? The one who has been forgiven the most. You have been renewed in Christ and should become increasingly indiscriminate lovers.

Why are Christians often seen as the most judgmental? We ought to be recognized as the most loving. I want to be one who spills love over shoeshine kids and all who are need.

As the dinner party ends, the guests are abuzz with the question, “Who is this man?” It is a question people have been asking for 2000 years, and it is a most important question. Who is this man in your life? Have you decided who Jesus is in your life?

If you’ve been forgiven much, then love much.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.