Think Like Jesus, Act Like Jesus.

Philippians 2:5-11

April 5 MMXX + Palm/Passion Sunday

I.

In this supremely important reading from the apostle Paul’s letter to the gospel community in Philippi, scholars believe he is probably quoting an ancient hymn of the early church.  That means that he is giving us something basic, elemental, primal, and fundamental about Christian faith.

First, this is not just a doctrinal statement like a creed to which we are supposed to adhere; it is, rather, pastoral encouragement, reminding the Philippians of something with which they would already be familiar from their worship life.  He is instructing the sisters and brothers in Philippi about how they need to think and behave.  He says, “Let the same mind in you that was in Christ Jesus, as we regularly sing about him.”

In other words, think like Jesus, so that you may then act like Jesus.  That, in short, is the basic point of our whole life: that we think and act like Jesus Christ.  If we were to reduce Christian faith to its bare essentials, it would probably be this.  Christians are people who want their lives shaped and governed by Jesus.

It seems obvious, but unfortunately this will come as news to too many Christians today.  The bumper sticker that was popular in the 90’s still sums it up: WWJD?  What Would Jesus Do?  Here Paul begins with what Jesus would think, what his mind would be about.  But the results are the same.  We are put on this earth to be members of his body, agents and extensions of Jesus Christ.  “You are Christ in the world,” is the way one Catholic priest colleague of mine used to say it.  We are to do what Jesus would do.  

The Theological Declaration of Barmen, from our Book of Confessions, has this marvelous and powerful affirmation: “Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death.”  We are here to obey, follow, trust, and embody in our own lives the mind and work of Jesus.

Which means that we need to be asking ourselves all the time how to do that.  Which means that we need to invest a lot of our energy first of all in studying the gospels, the New Testament, and the rest of Scripture, because we can’t pretend to be doing what Jesus would do if we don’t know who Jesus is and what does.  

Our egos are so powerful and convincing that we can easily pretend that of course Jesus would do whatever we want.  We can and do build in our minds a case for Jesus wanting us to be rich.  We imagine that Jesus wants us to be happy according to our own desire.  Jesus wants us to have power and be popular.  Jesus approves of whatever we have to do to get these benefits for ourselves.  I mean, that Barmen statement was written in a time when most Christians in Germany imagined that Jesus wanted their race and their nation to dominate the world! 

That is why careful, self-critical study of Scripture is so important, especially the gospels.  That is why having a relationship with other Christians, especially some who are farther along the journey and who have some experience and wisdom, is also important.

II.

In case the Christians in Philippi have the same confusion, Paul then reminds them of what they already believe about the mind of Christ Jesus, as revealed by his life as expressed in their worship.  

First, “[Jesus Christ] was in the form of God,” but he empties himself, “taking the form of a slave,” obedient to the point of death, even execution by the Romans.  The mind of Christ, then, is not in any way about getting, keeping, having, or holding on to anything! 

So the mind of Christ is not focused in any way on what we can get for ourselves, on what we consume, on what we own and control.  Any human impulse and behavior in this direction is utterly opposed to the mind of Christ.  Christ’s mind is the opposite of the acquisitive mentality that always wants more of everything.   

Rather, his identity with God is expressed in his obedience, his willing self-sacrifice, his offering up of himself, first in his teaching, healing, and feeding needy people, and finally consummated in his giving of his life and shedding of his blood.  In other words the mind of Christ is about, frankly, losing.  It is about what we give, donate, contribute, offer, and let go of.

The mind of Christ is the polar opposite of that other bumper sticker I used to see: “Whoever dies with the most toys wins.”  Indeed, Jesus is the One who says the first shall be last and the last shall be first.  For him, whoever dies with the fewest “toys,” or possessions, assets, whoever owns for themselves the least amount of stuff, is the one who really wins.  Because that is the person who is the most pure, clear, empty vessel or channel for the love of God to pour through them into the world.

Jesus Christ empties himself for others.  In doing this he proves his divinity, for this is precisely what God is about.  The superabundant love of the Trinity overflows and pours out into the universe in the form of the creation, and then in the entrance into creation in Jesus Christ, and finally in the infusing of the whole creation with the Holy Spirit, God’s own Breath of life.  

If we are going to have the mind of Christ, this is what it means.  We have to share in the same blessed and divine losing, the same kind of self-emptying, the same generosity that we see in Jesus.  Which is to say the same compassion, forgiveness, humility, and love for all, even for enemies.  The same refusal to hold on to the fear, anger, greed, lust, gluttony, and negativity that characterize the normal human mind.

For to have in us “the same mind” “that was in Christ Jesus,” means first to lose, relinquish, let go of, and release this normal, small, limited, temporary, self-centered, self-righteous, self-obsessed fragmentary way of thinking, and allow the expansive mind of Christ to fill us as he pours through us.

III.

This is the only way to God.  This is the only way to be real.  This is the only way to life and salvation:  To make ourself nothing, so that we may be filled with everything!  To realize that we — that is, who we think we are — are nothing, so that God may emerge to be everything in us.  To make ourselves clear and open vessels, so that God’s grace may flow in and through us.

So when Paul talks about the exaltation of Jesus, where his name is lifted up and worshiped by everyone “in heaven and on earth and under the earth,” it is not some triumphalist fantasy about our particular religious institutions coming to dominate the world, wiping out all other faiths even by violence if necessary.  Tragically, that is how this verse has been exploited historically by some in the church, and it is how it is too often heard, with good reason, by others.

But Paul is not talking about a religion here.  He is talking about a person: Jesus Christ, and the Truth he reveals about God.  It is that the destiny of all is to participate in the ultimate reality he reveals.

The One whom God exalts, lifts up, is the One who empties himself.  The One whose name is above all others, is the One who reduces himself to a slave.  The One before whom every knee will bend, is the One who comes into the world “not to be served but to serve, and to give his life… for many.”  

Until we have been through the way of self-emptying, the way of loss, the way of sacrifice, the way even of death, we have no business even imagining our exaltation.  In Jesus Christ, this exaltation and triumph happens in the self-giving.  His “defeat” is his victory.  His service is his Lordship.  His humility, his obedience, even his death on a cross, is his triumph.

We have his mind in us when we are looking around for what else we can give.  We have his mind in us when we find ways to give and even lose ourselves, as many crisis workers are doing today.

IV.  

This is a scary time we live in.  It is a time when we are tempted to think primarily about how we can keep what we have: our health, our life, our food, our toilet paper.  It is a time when many of us may be worried about our security, our jobs, our income, our pensions, our medical coverage.  Do we have enough ventilators?  Do we have enough masks?  Do we have enough ICU beds?  

It is a time when we are tempted to hoard things we think we might need.  People are buying up a drug called hydroxychloroquine based on a quack rumor, and thus depleting the supply for people suffering from Lupus who really need it.  And so on.

The mind of Christ is not about any of that… if we’re following the Christ we see in the Bible, and not one we invented for ourselves.  With Jesus Christ, it’s not about what we keep and gain; it is about what we give and lose.

Ironically, that is even how the church grows: by giving away its life.  By giving away what it has received from God.  By offering up itself as a living sacrifice, and demonstrating the great love that is to give life for others.

In these difficult, surreal, unprecedented, and challenging days, which will certainly become more so before they get better, from which we will emerge into an unknown new normal that will be very different from what we knew before, we who follow Jesus Christ need to have in ourselves his mind, the mind of giving, losing, donating, and serving, a mind of humility and joy, indeed, even a mind ready to identify with God the Creator, who self-empties that all may have being and life.

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