The Mind of Christ

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

January 20, 2013

The Mind of Christ

1 Corinthians 2:6-16

“We have the mind of Christ.”

That’s a pretty bold statement for Paul to make.

especially because he’s making it about himself –

the “we” Paul speaks of is not a group,

he is speaking of himself.

It is all part of his attempt to tell the Corinthians

that he thinks they are rather immature in their faith,

while he has the mind of Christ.

“The mind of Christ”.

The very words sound incredibly boastful.

If we were to hear someone in this church say,

“You know, I’ve got the mind of Christ,”

we’d probably struggle not to laugh,

as we think to ourselves, “Yeah, sure,

and I’ve got the mind of Albert Einstein”.

But Paul isn’t being boastful;

he’s exhorting the Corinthians, telling them

that while they may be immature in their faith,

they can have the mind of Christ;

all the faithful can have the mind of Christ.

If Paul were to stand here in this pulpit

right here and now,

he’d say the same thing to all us:

 we too, every one of us,

can have the mind of Christ.   

Now there is no shortage of people

in churches of all denominations

who are quick to claim

that they do indeed have the mind of Christ,

that they know the mind of God,

the will of God,

in a way that no one else does.

But then they demonstrate

what they claim to be the mind of Christ

through actions and words infected with the virus of

profound self-righteousness,

arrogance, judgment.

That’s not at all what Paul is talking about.

So what is it to have the mind of Christ?

Is it to exhibit the gentleness of Jesus

whenever he was surrounded by children? 

Is it to have the tempestuousness of Jesus

when he kicked over the tables in the Temple

and drove out the money-changers?

Is it to eat with the sinners and outcasts?

Is it to see the neighbor in each person,

friend and stranger alike?

Yes to all of the above.

To have the mind of Christ is to act and react

in love,

in grace,

in compassion,

in patience,

in acceptance,

just as our Lord did.

It takes work to develop the mind of Christ.

Just professing faith in Jesus isn’t enough;

that’s only a start, and even then,

it is truly a life’s work.

Paul himself wrote in his letter to the Romans,

of his struggles with trying to maintain the mind of Christ,

a letter written some years after

his letter to the Corinthians:

“I do not understand my own actions.

For I do not do what I want,

but I do the very thing I hate….

….I do not do the good I want,

 but the evil I do not want is what I do.”

(Romans 7:19)

How do you know whether you have the mind of Christ?

It’s more than just coming to church on Sunday,

or saying your prayers,

or reading the Bible –

even though those are all necessary building blocks

to having the mind of Christ.

To have the mind of Christ

is to spend more time thinking of others,

than thinking of yourself,

spending more time focused on addressing the needs of others,

than in worrying about what you want,

trying to get your own way.

The mind of Christ is a selfless mind,

recalling our Lord’s words that he came not to be served,

but to serve.

The gospel of John tells us

that the resurrected Jesus’ final words to Peter

as the two of them ate their breakfast of grilled fish together

on the shore of the sea of Galilee were:

“Feed my lambs;

Tend my sheep;

Feed my sheep.”

(John 21:15-17)

To have the mind of Christ is to keep those words in our own minds,

and in our hearts

to let those words guide us in how we live our lives.

To have the mind of Christ is to care for others,

look after others,

welcome the stranger,

feed the hungry,

befriend the lonely,

look after the sick.

It is to forgive even the unforgiveable,

just as our Lord did to those who

hammered the nails through his hands

before hoisting him up on a cross to die.

To have the mind of Christ is liberating, freeing,

for it is to live in joy—

to live in joy that comes from giving ourselves

completely to God,

completely to Christ.

To live in joy, though, is not to live in

some artificial “happy land”

where everything is always smiley faces;

it is instead, to live in confidence and trust,

even in times of struggle and turmoil.

Our Lord himself was able to speak of his joy to the disciples

even as they were gathered for the last meal together,

our Lord aware of the shadow of death looming.

(John 15:11)

The Reverend Frederick Buechner has written,

“God created us in joy and created us for joy,

and in the long run not all the darkness there is

in the world and in ourselves

can separate us finally from that joy;

we have God’s joy in our blood.”

Yes: we have God’s joy in our blood

and we can know that joy through the mind of Christ.

To live in joy with the mind of Christ,

is to live in the possibilities that lie before us as children of God,

and disciples of Christ,

endless possibilities,

limitless possibilities:

that someday we will live in a world

in which no child goes to bed at night hungry,

no elderly person dies alone,

no man or woman lives in fear,

a world in which people attach more importance to

the needs of others, than to themselves.

It is a world in which we don’t debate over guns,

because we have learned to live in peace;

we have heard the Word of the Lord

calling us to live by love

and not by the sword or any other weapon.

Naïve, mawkish sentiment?

Unrealistic in the cold, cruel world we live in?

No, not at all, for with God, all things are possible;

If this is a cold, brutal world,

it isn’t because God made it that way;

it is because we’ve made it that way through our minds;

our choices, our lives.

A new world awaits if only we’d work to have the mind of Christ.

For with the mind of Christ,

even the impossible becomes possible.

Paul’s hope for the Corinthians was his hope for himself,

his hope for all followers of Jesus,

It is his hope for you and me as well:

And so in his timeless words:

“If then there is any encouragement in Christ,

any consolation from love,

any sharing in the Spirit,

any compassion and sympathy,

make my joy complete: be of the same mind,

having the same love,

 being in full accord and of one mind.

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.

[And] Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,”

(Philippians 2:5)

Words to live by, all of us.

To God be the glory.

AMEN