These recent days have been a time of remembering people, places, and opportunities. I’m grateful for every day—some days more than others, but every day I can remember is special. 

I’ve been asking myself recently what matters the most. Of all the preaching, caregiving, and leading, what matters the most?

This is not an original question. Businesses ask the question.  Stephen Covey has made millions asking it. Consultants always want to know the answer. Rick Warren tapped into deep hungers in the world by a simple phase, The Purpose Driven Life.

Ten years ago, when we were writing our first strategic plan, Jerry Bryant pushed us to answer first two questions: Who is our audience? What is Wilshire’s mission? The first question is a one-word answer. Our audience is God.   By now you surely know that our mission is to “become a fellowship created by the spirit of God.”

What is the center of our lives? What drives, compels, and defines us? Paul instructs us as individuals and as a church to do nothing out of selfish ambition, desire for personal prestige, or looking out only and always for ourselves.  These are the things that will, over time, break our lives and the life of a church.

I know people who live like this. I’ve seen them up close and personal, especially when I look in the mirror!

Paul’s antidote for self-destruction is simply, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”

The mind of Christ? This is about turning losoe, empting self, becoming a servant, humility, and obedience even to the cross. Some would disagree, but this passage tells me what matters the most!

This is our song, this is our story.  Jesus gave up what was clearly his, emptied himself that he might take on sinful humanity and redeem us. He humbled himself and became a servant. He washed the dirty feet of men, cared for the women of the streets, touched lepers, and accepted the liars and cheaters.  Jesus did not live as a spectator or as an actor. He really did live like we live so that he could do for us what we cannot do for ourselves— save us from sin and self-destruction. In humility and self-renunciation, he did not desire to dominate us but to serve us. He did not seek to do life his way, but to the glory of God. Jesus did not seek fame and fortune, but became poor that others might have a clear picture of God.

Jesus was “obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.” In contrast to our natural selves, Jesus found life by obedience to the Father—“I have come to do the will of the father…thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven… nevertheless thy will be done.”  This is clearly what mattered most to Jesus. 

It is because of this great love made fully known in human flesh that we are drawn to Jesus for forgiveness of sin and restoration of life. The incarnation is the reason we come to Jesus to heal our broken hearts, give us strength for living each day. Because of his humility and obedience, Jesus is the source of light in our darkness, hope in the midst of our hopelessness, food when we are hungry for that which will last.

What really matters? The incarnation matters the most. This is who Jesus is, and this is who we are to become. “Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” This is dangerous!! This is what it means to be saved, to be baptized, to become a Christian disciple, a follower of Jesus. This is what it means to live as a kingdom person in our world.

This is not about upgrading our lives. This is about having our lives transformed “by the renewing of our minds.” The implications are staggering. It means looking at politics with the mind of Jesus, which reminds us that Jesus is neither a Republican nor a Democrat. Anyone who tries to tie Jesus to one political party is missing the mind of Jesus. 

Having the mind of Jesus means practicing economics in a different way. Tithing is only a small part of this issue. The deeper issues require us to look at poverty, hunger, medical care and war through the mind of Jesus. It is easier to tithe.

Having the mind of Jesus means we are to become obedient, humble servants for him to others.  We are called to live as the incarnation of Jesus in our day.

Obedience to Christ means loving as he loved, forgiving as he forgives, and serving as he served without regard for our position, power, or privilege. In fact, when we have these things, we are held accountable as to how we use them for others. 

Have you ever noticed that Jesus was not anxious about his reputation? He was anxious to see people healed and set free from the sins that bound them. He was not concerned with a prestigious guest list; he wanted to serve those that were living on the edges of society. He was not concerned about cost; he was willing to sacrifice his life that all may live.

I have seen this in others during the last forty-seven years. I can still call their names and see their faces with my mind’s eye. I could walk up and down the aisles of our sanctuary and tell you how I see this in you. But let me go back to the beginning of my pastoral ministry. The good people of the White Hall Baptist Church in Coryell County called me as pastor on that Sunday in October 1958.  There must have been all of 25 or 30 people there. I had three sermons, and I preached two of them that day and night. I stepped outside the room, they called me as pastor, and I accepted. They had no idea what they were doing. I had never had a class on preaching, pastoral care, or leadership. I only knew to do two things—preach the Word as best I could and love the people. They were a tolerant people. There was no one that I knew of who had even seen the inside of a university. My first check was for $7.50, and they rushed to the bank on Monday to cover it. 

It was here that I met Clara and Jim Morgan. They had been sharecroppers, and they were poor.  Both were in ill health, and Jim had what we called hardening of the arteries. They had sent three children to Howard Payne University by bartering produce and scraping together every penny they could find. Their son became a Baptist pastor and attended Southwestern Baptist Seminary.  She only had one Sunday dress.  When we wanted to start a children’s Sunday school class, she volunteered to teach. She could barely see, but she found some printed Bible stories, and every Sunday she taught the three or four children who came. When I baptized one of the men in the community who was in his sixties, Clara said, “I’ve been praying for him for forty years.” I wish that I had time to tell you more of her story. There was nothing about her that was beautiful, significant, and prestigious in our world, but she was the most beautiful servant of Christ I believe I have ever known.

How does one receive, know, and experience the mind of Christ? Paul said that “it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (v. 13)  Earlier, Paul wrote to the Romans, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (12:1). Our minds are bent away from God, and thus we sin. This transformation begins with a simple confession: “Jesus is Lord.” In those three words is our confession of sin, our acceptance of Jesus as our Lord, and our commitment to follow Him with all of our lives. 

The transformation continues as we open our hearts and minds in worship. It is as we worship together that we can take our focus off our self-preoccupation. It is here that the power of the gospel story is rehearsed every Sunday in hymns, preaching, and praying. In worship we gather together and are reminded that each of us is equal in the sight of God. It is in worship that we are compelled by the love of Jesus Christ to see the hurt, pain, and sin of our lives and in the lives of others. It is here that we gain hope and faith to believe that the mind of Christ can transform us. 

Paul gives us another clue to transformation in Rom. 5:5: “This hope is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” Transformation requires my availability, willingness, and participation, but the real transformation is the work of grace in our lives. We open our lives to this work as we pray, study, and meditate on Scripture.  The Spirit does the transformation.

Having the mind of Christ in us is not an end within itself. … The goal is that every knee shall bow…. The thing that matters most is that we incarnate the love of Christ in our world.

I’ve seen this happen in Wilshire people. I’ve seen people share their journey of illness, surgery, and grief. I’ve seen you celebrate healing, birth, hope, and recovery.  When the mind of Christ is operative in your life, you cannot ignore people who need your word, touch, or gift.   I’ve seen you discover your gifts and move step by step toward sharing your gifts with others. When I see this I celebrate and let out a big YES!  That is the work of the mind of Christ in our midst.

It is not just amongst us that I see the mind of Christ at work. It is beyond us in our community and world. When we are in sync with the mind of Christ, we can’t help sharing our selves, our money, and our energy with others. Your outpouring during Katrina is but the latest example. It happens at the Stew Pot, in the sewing group, and in Habitat for Humanity. It happens on mission trips to New Mexico, San Diego, and Florida.  It happens in the Amazon and Central America.  

The event or the place is not the point. The trigger is the mind of Christ that is at work in you and compels you to give, go, and act so that som day “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

The mind of Christ transforming us into his likeness is the heart and soul of all that we do. Worship, Bible study, gift discovery, lay ministry, and missions all find their origin, strategy, and goal in this gospel of incarnation. There are many important or even urgent things in life. But in the final analysis, this is the thing that matters most; this is the only thing that lasts. 

This is the call to every one of us.  Jesus calls us to a life of servanthood, ministry, and joy.  It’s a call that never expires. Let this mind be in you, and you will be challenged every day of your lives. Confess that Jesus is Lord; make yourself available, and the Spirit will do the rest. AMEN

09-25-05
WBC
Retirement Sunday Celebration