Philippians 2:5-8 (Pentecost 18)
St. John, Galveston 9/27/26
Rev. Alan Taylor

+ In Nomine Jesu +

Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

    The message this morning is based on the Epistle reading from Philippians 2. You heard the passage read a few moments ago, but I would like emphasize just a few of the verses read earlier. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

    “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” This is an astounding calling and admonition from the Scriptures. I say that, because who can even begin to comprehend the mind of Christ? God, after all, says of Himself, “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” The psalmist too considered the mind of God. “How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep!”  “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!”

    And, of course, we have each had own struggles in trying to comprehend the mind of God. What does God think when evil is perpetrated in the world? Why does God allow evil to happen? Why does He allow sickness and death? If He has redeemed us to be with Him in the glory of heaven, why does He leave us here to struggle through this veil of tears? Why doesn’t He call us home now?

    Who can begin to comprehend the mind of Christ? And yet, we are called this morning to “have this mind among (ourselves).” Fortunately for us, in this passage, the Apostle directs us, not to the totality of the mind of Christ, but to one particular aspect. He refers to Jesus “as not counting equality with God a thing to be grasped, of Him emptying Himself, of Him taking on the form of a servant and being found in the likeness of men.” The mind of Christ, of which the Apostle speaks, is more specifically defined in the passage, although the narrowing of the focus doesn’t make it any less daunting for us to comprehend and model.

    Humility is, of course, central to mind of Christ, as spoken of here in Philippians 2. “Being found in human form, (Jesus) humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Since pride was man’s first sin, and since it inheres in all of us to this day, and since it is often the underlying sin that motivates other sins, the call to have the mind of Christ is the call to “deny ourselves,” both before God, as well as, before our neighbor.

    A very practical way of bending ourselves away from pride and into the humbleness to which God calls us, is through a proper perception of who we are as sinners redeemed by God’s grace. “If you want to know how to become holy and do good—(says Luther) which is a common question—I have said in answer that the first and foremost thing to know is that a man cannot become holy or do good of himself but that he must despair of himself, forget about his own actions, deplore his own worthlessness in the eyes of God, and call upon divine grace, in which he should firmly trust.”

    If I may, I’ve always found Luther’s Sacristy Prayer to be a helpful model of acknowledging who we are before God and how that applies to our relationship to our neighbor. This would be the prayer that Luther prayed each time before he lead and preached at the Divine Service. “Lord God (he prayed), you have appointed me as a pastor in your Church, but you see how unsuited I am to meet so great and difficult a task. If I had lacked your help, I would have ruined everything long ago. I call upon you: I wish to devote my mouth and my heart to you; I shall teach the people. I myself will learn and ponder diligently upon your Word. Use me as your instrument — but do not forsake me, for if ever I should be on my own, I would easily wreck it all. Amen.”

    Certainly, Luther’s Sacristy Prayer needn’t be the daily prayer of all of us. Luther had a different vocation than most of us. Still, his prayer can help us form our own prayers in terms of having the mind of Christ. As we approach God in prayer, we do so in great humility, acknowledging that, whatever our station in life, we are absolutely dependent on Him, that we not bring everything we do to utter destruction.  

    Though Jesus had no sin for which to repent, to have the mind of Christ, a mind free of sin and death, a mind set on the needs of our neighbor, you and I continually implore God to forgive our sins and to move our hearts in love toward Him and toward one another. We ask Him to help us die to self that we might live unto others. That attitude of the renewed heart in Christ was so beautifully spoken of and confessed by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Churches in Galatia. He said, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

    While it sounds as if “having the mind of Christ,” is a continually struggle for us, the bar always set higher than anything we could ever attain, or achieve, ultimately, having the mind of Christ is not an achievement on our part. As it is with your faith, so it is with a heart of humility, it is, as the passage before us this says, “Yours in Christ Jesus.”  “Have this mind in you, which is yours in Christ Jesus.”  

    The transformation that take place in you as a child of God, though it is never perfect this side of heaven, is nonetheless, a transformation worked in you by the Spirit of God. In this regard, Paul’s letter to the Churches in Galatia is very helpful once again. “It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness?”

    “Being found in human form, (Jesus) humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” The humility of Jesus is what enables all of us who have been baptized into His death and resurrection, to stand before God and before our neighbor with a heart turned away from ourselves. And where we fail in having the mind of Christ, God credits the righteousness, even the mind of Christ to us.

    Frankly, this is a part of the Gospel we often forget, and that is that we are viewed and received by God as holy and righteous in His sight, both because of Jesus’ death on the cross, which is credited to us in and through our baptisms, but also because of the righteous and holy life that Jesus lived in our stead, in your stead. He life too, is credited to you, such that when God sees you, He sees you through the fullness and holiness of the life of His Son. It is in this sense, that the Apostle says to you this morning, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus”

“Renew me, O eternal Light,
And let my heart and soul be bright,
Illumined with the light of grace
That issues from Your holy face.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.

+ Soli Deo Gloria +