What is a human being?  What's it like to be human?  Interesting questions, considering that's what we all are.  The theme of today's service is, "The Mind of Christ."  It comes from the words of St. Paul who wrote the Christians at Philippi, "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus."

          Jesus was a true human being, the best of all humans.  He had the heart and mind God intended for all humans.  There's a slogan: "To err is human, to forgive, divine."  Whoever said that has it all wrong.  It's meant to be that sinning is the same as being human.  It equates humanness with sinfulness.  But to understand what it's like to be truly human, an authentic human being, we must look at the first man.  Adam was created in the image of God, the first genuine human being.

          God created Adam and Eve sinless, perfect.  In the beginning, everything God created was good, the earth, animals, sky, planets, and also Adam.  Nothing was out of place.  Everything was perfect, except for one thing -- Adam was alone.  And God said, "That's not good.  Man shouldn't be alone.  I will make him a companion." (Genesis 2:18)   So God made woman for man and man for woman, and together they worked and loved each other.  Then life was very good, perfect.  Imperfection came later - when sin entered the world.

          Sin diminishes life.  Sin causes people to be less than what God wants them to be.  To say it another way, a sinful person is less than human.  To err is not human -- it's to be inhuman.  The best example of authentic humanity are man and woman before the fall, not after it.  The fall into sin is what started humanity down the slippery slope to inhumanity.

          Sin separates us, from God, from each other, and even from nature.  Most of us share a fear or at least a wariness of many kinds of animals, especially the wild ones.  Creatures of the earth and sea fear us and we fear them, and our separation from nature also causes us to misuse nature's resources.

          Sin also separates us from God.  He makes us nervous, sometimes even scares us.  There are times we don't want God around.  He's demanding -- He expects perfection!  We who are sinful usually just wish He'd not be around so we could do what we want.

          And of course, sin separates people from each other.  It's what causes wars, arguments and separates men and women in relationships.  Women and men may love each other, but the differences and sinful quirks we have often drive each other a little crazy.

          Sin also brings competition between men and women.  Ever noticed how our greeting cards pick this up?  One I saw in the store reads, "If you have a job for a few good men, find one good woman."  Another one reads, "Know why God created man before He created woman?  An artist always has to make a rough draft before he gets it right."  Some of those cards are a bit tough on guys, but we can handle it!  Point is, people have made a whole industry out of the separation between people, the separation caused by sin.

          Both men and women are like the little boy I saw at a furniture store.  He was with his mother waiting for a delivery, and she had told him to stay within two yellow stripes on the floor.  This little fellow caught on quickly.  He'd run over to the one stripe and look at his Mom, then he'd run to the other one and look at his Mom again, as if to say, "See how close I can come to crossing the line?"  Soon he did cross the line, and the look on his face got more and more mischievous.  As I watched, I wondered who taught him this?  How did he learn to be so sneaky?  Fact is, he didn't - that kind of learning comes because of our nature.  Take away all laws and every one of us will end up acting like rioters in the streets of Baghdad.

          I wonder how people of His day perceived Jesus.  He lived life the right way.  The women must have all loved Him, and men might well have distrusted Him.  The Bible tells us when people saw how loving He was, it moved some to follow Him, but it also moved others to hate Him.  It must have been difficult being a perfect man.  It may have been why quite a number of men resented Him.  Some of those who hailed Him as a hero coming into Jerusalem on Sunday may well have called for His crucifixion on Friday.  Resentment and envy do that to people.

          One thing is certain in this discussion, men and women don't always see things the same.  A college professor was once overheard telling her class there are three primary elements in the universe -- hydrogen, carbon and stupidity.  I know this to be true from personal experience.

          About ten years ago Carol had her first auto accident.  It happened on the way to church and totalled our Buick.  I had just spent some money on it the day before, so you can almost anticipate my reaction.  Now it should have been, "Are you okay, honey? -- Oh, I'm so glad you're not hurt!"  No, not me.  I pretty much lost it.  "What! It was your fault?  Why didn't you watch where you were going?"  Later on a friend told me, "Don't feel bad -- my wife has had several accidents and I think I said the right thing only once."  In the intervening years, I have said it right a few times, but I still think guys get a bum rap about this.  As someone has asked, "If a man is alone in the woods and speaks, and there's no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?"

          The humanity of it all is what makes it funny.  Thank be to God Jesus Christ is a true and complete human being for us.  He did everything right.  He said it right, and He loves us right.  We can cast all our cares on Him because He cares for us.  He gave Himself on the cross for you and me, so that when we're wrong, He can make it all right again.  When we fall, He's there to pick us up.  When we say or do dumb things, He's there to forgive us and show us the right way.

          So how can we have the mind of Jesus?  Try to think like Him or act like Him?  It means we submit to the Father like He did, to live in humility and service like He did, loving as He loved us, and serving as He has served us.  The mind of Christ is the attitude of Christ.  He didn't come to be praised, He didn't seek importance or wealth.  Rather, He was a model of servanthood.

          Christ is my model of servanthood.  There are times when some members of my churches have said I don't act like they think a pastor should act, that I do menial tasks others should do.  But then I look at the life of Christ and see the Carpenter, or I see the teacher, or the one who visits the sick or feeds the crowd or touches the leper.  To me, that's having the mind of Christ - to be a human being like He was.

          Jesus Christ is truly human.  He became a human to live under God's Law, to suffer and to die for the sins of all.  He was also true God, so He could keep God's law perfectly.  He died as the son of Mary, but He rose again as the Son of God.

          The mind of Christ is ours when we follow the Lord.  We do not obey so we can be saved - we are saved so we can obey.  We obey because we're grateful.  We are saved because Jesus has obeyed the whole Law already.  The grace of God in Christ Jesus is bigger than all our mistakes.

          The grace of God is the umbrella under which God's children live.  So long as you and I have faith, God places His umbrella over us so that nothing can harm us.  No matter if we're in the very middle of the umbrella or we're out on the edge, so long as we have faith, we're under God's protection of grace.

          Dear friends, we are forgiven.  And because we are, Christ urges us to trust Him and serve Him.  He was the true and authentic human being who took our places on the cross.  Even when we do something really dumb, God will still love us.  Even when we say the dumbest thing, we are still forgiven.

          On the first Palm Sunday Jesus entered Jerusalem to shouts of praise and thanksgiving.  Today He seeks to enter our hearts and hear our praises.  May we all be given the mind of Christ to live as His saints and His servants.  Amen

Copyright © 2003 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.