Video of the Divine Service is here. The sermon begins around the 22:45 mark.

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

I can barely imagine the sort of situation to which Paul encourages the Philippian Christians: if there is any encouragement in Christ, in consolation from love, any communion in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in harmony (being of the same spirit), thinking the same. Can you imagine? Thinking the same things? Being of one mind? You know the joke: get two Lutherans together and there will be at least three opinions. Or, if that’s not the joke, it should be. It took Martin Chemnitz and others after Luther around 50 years to get Lutherans to agree on the Formula of Concord.

Further, Paul says that the Philippians—and presumably all Christians—are to do all things without grumbling and complaining. We are to do all things without the negative complaints that take the form of murmuring, the “behind-the-scenes” talk about things we don’t like. All things. And that is because the children of God are to be blameless and pure in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which we are to shine like stars. And all of this comes down to what we think; the things on which we set our minds.

Jesus and Paul are pretty clear on the differences between the children of God and the children of this crooked and perverse generation. In Matthew 16, which we just heard a few weeks ago, Jesus tells Peter—who had tried to get Jesus not to do what He said He was going to do—get behind Me, satan; you are not thinking the things of God, but the things of men (16:23). In Romans 8, Paul says that those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit (8:5). In Colossians 3, Paul directs the Colossians to set their minds on the above things, not on the earthly things, because they have been raised with Christ (3:1-2).

All these things are opposites: the children of God and this crooked generation; thinking the things of God and thinking the things of people; thinking the things of the Spirit and thinking the things of the flesh; thinking the things above and thinking the things below. In Colossians, Paul reminds them that they are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells within them. But he still has to remind them. Why is it that we look so often like this perverse generation, rather than like the children of God? This world is full of bitter, angry, cynical people. They never see anything good, only what is bad or negative. People who are always looking for something wrong, somebody who’s wrong.

And yet, can you imagine the children of God, shining like stars in this dark world, refusing to look out only for our own interests, but instead considering others more significant, more important than ourselves? The children of God, doing all things without grumbling or complaining? Exhibiting the love of which Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 13: patient and kind, no envy or boasting, no arrogance or rudeness; a love that does not insist on its own way; a love that is not irritable or resentful; a love that does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but instead in the truth? A love that bears all things, rather than fighting for every inch and every bit of my way?

I have trouble imagining it. It is hard for me to imagine a church that is not like Israel, who had been delivered from slavery, given bread from heaven and meat from nowhere, water from a rock, and still complaining and grumbling, both against God and against Moses. Mostly, I have trouble imagining it, because it is in my own heart. I know myself too well to think that grumbling and complaining and disagreement are far from my own heart and mouth.

So how can Paul call the Philippians to such a faith and love, to think the same thing, since their hearts were no different than ours? Well, the difference between the Philippians and the crooked and perverse generation around them was not that they decided to just agree for the sake of agreeing; to compromise so that there would be no conflict or arguments. They didn’t just get their act together and start seeing things all the same way. In the same letter, Paul exhorts two women, Euodia and Syntyche, to agree in the Lord (4:2). That hints at the real source of their agreement. Euodia and Syntyche didn’t just start agreeing. They didn’t suddenly have different opinions or different preferences or different ideas. But Paul says: in the Lord, think the same.

This goes back to chapter 2, in the verses that are covered by the ellipsis in the bulletin, verses that are probably familiar to you: have this mind among you which is yours in Christ Jesus; that is, think the same according to Christ. What did Christ think? When Christ, the man, appeared in the world, He did not consider His eternal, divine equality with the Father something to be grabbed at or seized. That’s what Adam and Eve did when they wanted to be like God. They seized that apparent equality for themselves. And that’s what the devil tempted Jesus to do, to take that equality for Himself by turning stones into bread, or leaping from the temple, or bowing down to the devil. Instead, Jesus humbled Himself. He made Himself low, like a servant, serving His own creatures, who certainly did not deserve it. He made Himself so low, it was as if every other person was better or more significant than He was. Not in Himself, of course, but He considered everyone else to be greater than Himself in need, in the burden we bear, in our sin. He humbled Himself even to death on a cross, as a criminal, for all the criminals who inhabit this world. Criminals, who have nothing better to do than tear each other down, look out for their own interests, preferences, and concerns. Criminals, who put to death the only human who ever lived who was not implicated in their crimes. You and me, with our selfish hearts and our grumbling and complaining and disagreements and arguments. For you and for me, Jesus did all of this.

And the Spirit of Jesus has made us children of His heavenly Father, by pure, unmerited grace. He has put us where only Christ belongs by right. And He keeps us there, keeps shepherding our wayward flesh and complaining hearts back to Christ, in whom we are all exactly of one mind: His. Our opinions and preferences and ideas are not going to go away, but the repentance to which the word of God brings us makes our agreement, not on human terms of mere compromise, or agree to disagree, or to avoid conflict. Instead, Christ’s humility and the blood He shed for each and every one of us causes us to think differently about other people. To view others as greater, either in need or in wisdom or in love. To exchange every complaint for thanksgiving. To exchange grumbling, murmuring, behind-the-scenes talk for some constructive purpose of building up the body of Christ, rather than tearing it down. To look for an opportunity to show compassion and love, rather than cynical suspicion. To let love cover a multitude of perceived and real offenses, to put the best construction on everything, to refuse to spread in rumor what we do not know for a fact. You are not of the flesh, but of the Spirit of God! You are the children of God, shining like stars in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, clinging to the word of life, because it is all we have.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation in love, any communion in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy—and there is—make my joy complete, make your joy complete, and agree in the Lord; think the same in the Lord; believe and love in the Lord. And that same Lord will bring to completion what He started, and give us His own humility, and, finally, His own exaltation.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, ESV). Amen.

– Pr. Timothy Winterstein, 10/1/23