Having the Mind of Christ

Shepherd of the Mountains Lutheran Church, Pinetop, Arizona

Rev. Michael “Mick” Mathews

The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 27, 2026

Sermon:  “Having the Mind of Christ”   Philippians 2:1–18

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

St. Paul was guided by the Holy Spirit to write the things that he wrote to the Philippians, just as the Holy Spirit guided the writing of all the letters of Paul that have been handed down to us in the New Testament. Paul was guided to write not just for the original recipients of the letters, but also for all others who would hear their words later on – and that includes us. The letters of Paul are not just his personal opinions on religious matters. His letters are God speaking to us through Paul. So we do well to listen to what he says.

Paul told the Philippians, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). It’s easy to misunderstand these words and to think that we have to do something to achieve our own salvation: we have to work for our salvation. But that would go against everything that Paul writes about how we are saved. Paul told the Philippians that as God had begun a good work in them by the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, God would also bring that good work to completion at the day of Christ Jesus’ return (Philippians 1:6). So “Work out your own salvation” is not about how to get salvation. It’s about how to live in the salvation that God has given us. It’s about putting God’s gift of salvation into action now.

And Paul encourages us to put our salvation to work “with fear and trembling.” It is not that we are to live in constant fear that God is just waiting to drop us into the fire of hell if we mess up. For God assures us through the prophet Ezekiel: “I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live” (Ezekiel 18:32). God’s ways are just. When a wicked person turns away from wickedness and turns to God, that person will be saved. But if a righteous person turns from righteousness, that person will die for it. (Ezekiel 18:26–27). So when Paul says to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” he is telling us by the Holy Spirit to keep living in the salvation God has given us in Christ, striving to honor God and His gift to us by the way that we now live, rather than disappointing God by falling back into disobedience.

So what does it look like to work out our salvation, to put our salvation to work? Paul pleads with the Philippians: “complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind” (Philippians 2:2). In light of the salvation that God has given to each of us, we are to strive to live in harmony with one another. We strive to think about things the same way, to be united in our thinking and united in love for one another. Can we really say that that is the way that we deal with one another here in this congregation? Paul also says, “Do all things without grumbling and disputing” (Philippians 2:14). Is that how we interact with each other. Or are we more likely to hold onto old grievances and old disputes rather than working to resolve our differences? Are we more likely to talk about other people than we are to talk to them? Are we truly working to be of the same mind, or do we just walk away from each other thinking that we’ll just “agree to disagree”?

Paul warns us that problem behind our disagreements often boils down to pride and selfishness: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit” (Philippians 2:3). We all love to have things our own way, don’t we? We tend to think, “Things would be so much better if other people just saw things my way and did things my way.” But that is not a path that leads to unity, to being of one mind as God’s people. When everyone wants to do things their own way, it just leads to division and separation.

Paul says the remedy is humility, to “count others more significant than yourselves,” to look “to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3–4). To put others first, in other words. When we have a dispute with someone else, our goal should not be to get our own way but to try to help the other person get what they need. It requires a shift in the way that we have conversations with each other. Too often, we’re so intent on pressing our ideas on the other person, that we don’t really listen to what they’re saying. While they’re talking, we’re really only focused on what we are going to say next – and the truth is, it’s because we don’t really care about what they say or think. But God calls us to look at the other person as someone that God also loves and saves. So our goal in conversation should be first of all to understand the other person – to listen so closely to what they have to say that we can repeat back to them the point that they are making. We may not agree with their point, but only by understanding the other person first can we try to find a solution that satisfies everyone – so that we can be of the same mind and have the same love for one another.

This is not the way that people naturally deal with one another. Our sinful nature makes all of us self-centered and prideful. Only God is able to give us a new way of thinking, a new mind. He gives us the very mind of Christ, the pattern of thinking that Jesus has had toward us. If anyone had a reason to put Himself first, it was the Son of God. All glory and power belonged to Him as God. But He didn’t consider His position as God as something He had to hold onto at all costs. When He saw our need to be rescued from sin and death, He was willing to humble Himself for our sake. He set aside His power and glory for a time in order to live among us as a fellow human being. He experienced our pains, our temptations, our needs, and He even experienced our death – and not just any death, but most humiliating and painful death that has been devised – death nailed to a cross. In humility, Jesus considered us as more important than Himself. We were more important than His own dignity, than His own comfort, than His own life.

Because Jesus obeyed His Father’s will to save us by such a death in our place, the Father showed His pleasure with the Son by raising Him from death and giving Him honor above all things in heaven and earth. “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11).

In gratitude to Jesus for what He endured to save us, and in order to honor Him above all things, we now want to have the mind of Christ. We want to look at other people as Jesus has looked at us. We want to put others first as Jesus put us first. And we want to do this not out of a sense that it is something that we must do in order to save ourselves. How can we add a single thing to what Christ has already done to save us? No, we simply want to be like the one who has saved us. We want His help to be like Him. We want others to see the difference that Christ has made in us, shining as light in the world, in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation.

To be able to do this, Paul by the Holy Spirit tells us to “hold fast the word of life” (Philippians 2:16). God uses the message of what Christ has done to center us in Him. As we hear how Christ Jesus humbled Himself for us, even to the point of death on the cross, we are empowered to humble ourselves and to look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others. As we hear how Christ united Himself to us by taking on our human form, we are empowered to be united to one another in the way that we talk to one another, in the way that we think about things, in the way that we love one another.

So hear the word of life from Jesus again today, and hold onto it. In Holy Communion, Jesus promises you once again that He gives you His body and blood along with the bread and wine. He promises you that He gives you the forgiveness of sins that He purchased for you by the shedding of His blood on the cross. He makes Himself one with us so that we may be one with Him and one with our fellow believers who also share in His body and blood. He gives us salvation, and empowers us to live out that salvation to the eternal glory of His name.

And the peace of God which passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Ezekiel 18:1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? 3 As I live, declares the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. 4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.

Ezekiel 18:25 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? 26 When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die. 27 Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life. 28 Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 29 Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?

Ezekiel 18:30 “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.”

Philippians 2:1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Philippians 2:14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

Matthew 21:23 And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

Matthew 21:28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.