Believe “Christ-mindedness” RUMC January 29, 2017

Believe “Christ-mindedness”

RUMC January 29, 2017

 Zoad in the road video by Dr Seuss 

  Adults make 35,000 decisions a day. Children about 3000. Teenagers somewhere in between. That is a lot of decisions! There is no getting around it. It starts with, “Am I going to shut off the alarm?” And doesn’t end until you decide whether to go to sleep on your back or your side.

About 34,999 of those decisions are inconsequential. They won’t change our lives or anyone else’s life: like what TV show to watch, which route to drive, whether to have a second cup of coffee. Most are not difficult decisions, but there are a few that are really hard.

When we get to those hard decisions we may be tempted to be like that young man from Zoad and try to go both directions down the road, but the Bible has a name for trying to have your cake and eat it too…  it is called double-mindedness. When Christians begin to focus the worries and priorities of the world, or their own worries and priorities instead of Christ… the Bible calls us double-minded.

One of the places we see the term is in Matthew 6. The English word “Worry” is used 6 times in the passage, but that Greek word really beans to SPLIT THE MIND: to be double minded.

So listen to this

 “I tell you not to split your mind about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. …Can all your mind splitting add a single moment to your life? “And why split your mind about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. …“So don’t split your mind about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else.” 

Do not split your mind, Jesus says. Do not split your mind between God and the world. Between heavenly things and earthly things. Do not be double-minded. KEEP YOUR MIND ON THE KINGDOM OF GOD ABOVE ALL ELSE.

Jesus uses examples of the very practical needs food of and clothing to get at a bigger issue. I think the bigger issue is priorities. What is it that is most important in our lives?

            God is very clear about proper priorities throughout the Bible beginning with

•           “You shall have no other God’s before me.”  Single-minded worship.

•           “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”  Single-minded love.

Jesus expected the same

•           Jesus said, “He who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God.”  Single-minded obedience.

•           Peter began to sink beneath the waves because he was not singularly focused on Christ.   Single-minded focus.

Then in our lesson this morning, Paul takes it one more step.

•           “ Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,”

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

 In other words, Paul is saying that single-mindedness is not really enough. We must be Christ-minded God calls us not just to single-mindedness, but Christ-mindedness.

The 4th Spiritual practice in the Believe series- Answering the question “how do we become more like Jesus.” Is by being CHRIST- MINDED. Which might not seem like a spiritual practice to you, but I believe it is. Just like the other practices, it is not one I have mastered so I am preaching to myself today as well.

Most of us are here because somewhere along the way we decided to make God our number one priority in life. But no matter how hard we try, No matter how well intentioned we are, our minds keep sliding backwards from our top priority, They

•           keep sliding backwards, away from Christ, and

•           back to thinking about ourselves,

•           back to thinking about our problems,

•           back to worry, and

•           anger, and

•           lust, and

•           all kinds of evil.

But, you say, “I can multitask.”

•           I can read my Bible, and gossip about my neighbor at the same time.

•           I can sing hymns and judge the clothes of the person next to me at the same time.

•           I can rely completely on God, and worry about money at the same time.

Research says you can’t. The latest brain research says that multitasking is an illusion. We convince ourselves we are doing two things, but we are really switching back and forth. The part of our brain called the medial prefrontal cortex keeps track of two things, so we can switch back and forth, but it can’t perform two complex functions at the same time.  It just doesn’t work. Either we are Christ-minded or we are double minded switching back and forth.

I’d like to propose to you that there are three keys to being Christ-minded in our discipleship.

 First… Christ-mindedness means KEEP YOUR EYES ON JESUS. The best way to illustrate this is with the story of Peter walking on the water. Peter had enough faith to say Lord, let me come to you. He got out of the boat and was strolling across the waves toward Jesus … then he got distracted. He looked down at the churning water beneath his feet and began to sink.

We have spiritual attention deficit disorder. We want to focus on Jesus but then

•           we get worried by the water churning under our feet.

•           Or something shiny gets our attention over there.

•           Or we lose our focus because the cell phone rings, beeps, and tweets incessantly.

•           Or we begin to think we can do this all ourselves, forgetting that it is Jesus who called us out of the boat to start with… and keeping our eyes on Jesus is all that keeps us from drowning.

Therefore, the first step in being Christ minded is to keep your eyes on Jesus every day. Every morning when we get up, we have to remember why we are here in the first place. We are here because we Jesus called us out of our lives of sin and asked us to go for a walk on the water with him. If we get up and the first thing that fills our mind is the stuff we have to do that day, or the pain we have in our back, or the worries of our day; we are forgetting why we are here. We are not here to get things done. We are not here for our own comfort and enjoyment. Our worry will not add one minute to our lives. We are here to be like Jesus.

Being Christ-minded means keeping our focus on Christ. So when we get up the first thing that fills our mind should be Christ, during the day the thing that should be on our mind the most is Christ, and the last thing before we go to sleep is Christ. Being Christ-minded means keeping our eyes on Christ.

  Second, Christ-mindedness means that we know IT ISN’T ALL ABOUT US. Jesus says don’t worry about what you will eat or what you will wear. Jesus is not denying that we need food and clothes. He is simply saying that our food and our clothes should not consume our minds.

  Jesus goes on to say, God takes care of the lilies and aren’t you more important than the lilies? Jesus is telling me that I don’t have to be the most important thing on my mind because I am already the most important thing on God’s mind. Let me say that again I don’t have to be the most important thing on my mind because I am already the most important thing on God’s mind.

See what I mean? Since God is looking out for you, you can spend your whole life thinking about number one… and that is not you. It is Christ. You can afford to be single-mindedly in love with Jesus. You can afford to be completely Christ-minded.

 Therefore, I want you to get out of yourself. Instead of thinking about your needs and problems, get out of your own heads and lives and be Christ to someone else. Serve them, love them, treat them the way Jesus would treat them.

•           Volunteer to help at the lock-in or the parent’s morning out.

•           Clean out your closets and take the goodies to a homeless shelter or somewhere that can distribute them to needy people.

•           Give up some of your precious time (because it isn’t really your time anyway) and make a difference in the lives of those who are the least in the eyes of the rest of the world.

•           Write a check… not an easy check… write a check that hurts just a little

o          to support one of our kids going on the mission trip,

o          or to help families who have had disasters

o          or to dig a well in Nigeria.

It doesn’t really matter what you do as long as you get out of your own head, stop worrying about your own problems, and be Jesus to someone. .

The second thing to remember if you want to be Christ-minded disciples is that your life is not all about you. Jesus says it a hundred different ways, but we seem unable to get it through our heads. Life is not about us. Life is about loving God and loving neighbor with the heart and mind of Christ.

 Finally, to be Christ-minded means to Trust God. That might seem simple, but trust is among the hardest of things we as human beings do. We are born implicitly trusting, but after we have been dropped a couple of times, ignored a few times, betrayed a few times, used a few times and it gets harder and harder to trust.

Being Christ-minded is to wholly trust in God. Sometimes the voice of God seems very far away … in human terms God is an unknown. Being Christ-minded, is to have enough faith to trust God and completely let go of who we are so we can fall into the unseen arms of an unfailing God.

. Therefore, the final task for today is to take a chance. If you trust God… if you really trust God…take a risk

•           Maybe it is trying a new ministry.

•           Maybe it is inviting a new person to worship.

•           Maybe it is signing up for Emmaus or an academy retreat.

•           Maybe it is asking me if there is any way I can coach you in your spiritual practices.

•           One of the risks I took recently (and it might not seem like a big deal to you but it was to me) is volunteering to be a preacher at the academy. Preaching in front of you is great--- you are my friends. Preaching in front of other preachers and our instructors is frankly terrifying.  I decided, however, God led me to the academy I was going to take whatever risk came my way. I’ll tell you it was terrifying… but ultimately very good to be able to share my witness with my new friends.

To have the mind of Christ, is to trust God completely. To take a risk, to pass up safety and step out for God. Christ-mindedness is not easy and safe. It is risky and scary. If being a disciple does not regularly stretch you and scare you at least a little, you are not really filling yourself with the mind of Christ. Take a risk and trust God.

 Keep your eyes on Jesus…from morning to night.

It isn’t all about you…Serve someone.

Trust God. ..Take a risk.

What’s the bottom line? It all comes down to a few words. We have seen over and over the WWJD stickers and t-shirts. “What would Jesus do?” Let me tell you asking, “What would Jesus do” is not being Christ-minded… Being Christ-minded is not about asking what would Jesus do.

   Being Christ-minded is making a decision. Am I going to live like Jesus or not? Am I going to think like Jesus or not. Am I going to love like Jesus or not. That is the one decision out of 35.000 decisions you will make today that will shape your life. And the lives of everyone around you. Christ-mindedness means deciding to live and love like Jesus. Christ mindedness is to

•           live as Jesus lived,

•           do as Jesus did,

•           love as Jesus loved.

I’ll be the first to say that is a lifelong pursuit. It is what John Wesley called going on to perfection. So go, and as Paul wrote, let the same mind be in you that was in Jesus. Go be Christ-minded. Go, Live and love like Jesus. AMEN.