The Upside Down Mind

We are glad that you are here with us at bcsm and we want you to know, more than anything, that you have a community of people here that love and care about you, you have a purpose or a place within this community which means we are better off with you than without you and you have a mission outside of this community. All of that rests on this one foundational truth that we want you to hear and want you to share: God wants to have a relationship with you.

I am Eric and before we start, let me pray.”

*Pray for God to use what you have to say to move someone further along in their journey towards Jesus.*

We are starting a new series today based on a letter that a guy named Paul wrote to a church he started in Philippi. He is writing to them while being under house arrest, probably in Rome, because it seems like the Philippians are having a couple of problems. The first is that they are anxious and concerned about Paul and his well being, partially because they kind of seem to be unsure of what they should be doing in his absence. AndThe other problem is that there is some division that is happening in their church. So Paul is writing to them to kind of answer some of those questions and provide the solution which is what we are going to talk about today.

Teaching

So I don’t know if you have noticed or not, but there is a whole genre being built as we speak. It is infecting the books we read, it is in plays and movies and tv shows. And I think it started here. With jar Jar Binks.

(Picture of Star Wars 1)

I call them revisionist movies. Here is the formula. You take a familiar villain and show their backstory to try and make them a sympathetic character. You watch it and you are supposed to be like, “Oh. I see how they ended up so bad.” So it went from Darth Vader to the Wicked Witch of the West to Maleficent. And the list goes on. But the idea is you get a few pieces of vital information about your favorite baddie, so you can see that the story you were told was wrong. These stories flip the traditional narrative on its head and try to challenge you to think differently about these characters.

But nothing is new under the sun. Jesus, way back in 30 AD and Paul a little bit after him, were doing, essentially, the same thing. They kept saying, you thought reality looked like this, but if you can hear, understand, process this other thing, this piece of information, everything you currently think about reality will be different. When you start to say the Wicked Witch of the West isn’t that bad, what does that mean about Dorothy?

So Jesus and the writers of the New Testament are doing this all the time and I think that in the book of Philippians, this is most clear in Philippians 1:21. Paul says,

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

He goes on to expand this idea in the following passages, but the basic idea is this. When Paul says, “To live is Christ,” what he is saying is, “If I go on living it is a self sacrificial death on my part, it is a cross that I am picking up daily for you guys. If I die, that would be much better for me because I will be with Jesus. Death is really where life lives.”

He is taking our categories and turning them upside down. He is making us rethink everything we thought we knew. If even something as oppressive as death is seen as life and life is a self-sacrificial death, what does that mean about everything else?

But where does he get this idea? From Jesus, of course. Look at Philippians 2:5-8.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus, the source of all life died. Jesus, the king of the universe, became a slave. The gospel, the good news, message of Jesus is upside down and when we embrace it, the world flips for us. And all of a sudden we become aware that actually we have been upside down this whole time. What we thought was right side up is actually broken.

It is like this picture. (Adele- Thatcher Effect photo) Who is this? It looks like Adele, right? What if we flip it?

This is the same picture I just showed you. It is easy to see the brokenness of this picture if we flip it. But when we had it the other way, we could not see it, right?

Just another example of this thinking appears in Romans 8:36-37

As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

And so Paul’s answer to the Philippians' anxiety and concern, to their confusion and their disunity is the upside down message of the Gospel. Where death is life and being slaughtered is conquering.

Tension

What is the rub? Create some questions and feeling.

Now it is easy to say, if we can just change our perspective on things, everything will be hunky-dory. But maybe for you, things are not ok. Or maybe you have experienced things that were not ok. Maybe you are trying to adopt an upside down worldview based on the good news of who Jesus is and things are still hard, you are still hurt, or anxious, or confused, or your relationships are still strained. Maybe you have not experienced what Paul experienced. I hear you because I have been there. And just because you know that the world is broken, just because you know that in Jesus there is hope, does not mean that you won’t experience the reality of the brokenness.

So, please hear me, that is not what I am saying. This is not about a change of perspective. It is deeper. It’s more than that. This is about acquiring a whole new mind. And here is the thing, no one understood this more than Paul himself.

In chapter 3 of Philippians, he goes through this list of who he was before he met the risen Jesus. One of the things he lists is that he was once a persecutor of the church. He was so convinced that his view of the world was the right one that he went out and, at the very least, beat up Christians and approved of their murder. Like he was for that. But then he met the risen Jesus and Paul’s belief system was turned completely on its head. He had to process through all of what all that meant. And it did not just take a day. It took several days. Like at least three years worth of days.

And still, years after that he says in Philippians 3:12

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

He is still working on it, this resurrection mentality, forming this upside down mind. Paul has mastered some of it, to be sure. He is talking about being in prison, being a slave, possibly facing death in a book that many characterize as a book of joy. But he has been working through it for probably twenty to thirty years at this point.

So this is not just a flip of a switch. We are not just swapping out our brains for an upside down one. We are in the process of forming our minds around this deeper reality. It won’t happen all at once and, in fact, because we are so completely surrounded by the brokenness of this world, we may never fully form this upside down mind in our lifetimes. But the hope is that we can make in-roads. That we can slowly step into this new world that Jesus has opened to us. And as we do, we will start to see the brokenness for what it is, we will fight it because through Jesus we have the power and the knowledge to fight, we will find supernatural peace and joy in the midst of suffering, and we will find a community of other individuals who are striving towards the same mission… to open the eyes of the world to what it means to live in the upside down kingdom of God.

Response

This is the response portion. Everything you want your students to Do should be touched on here, but you should have at least one immediate action that can be taken.

Now Paul does not just give us this ideal and tell us, “Ok go form your minds.” He gives us a practice that will help us to form our mind around the reality of the gospel of Jesus. In Philippians 4:8-9 he says,

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

So if you are a believer in Jesus, if you want to turn your mind upside down and start to form your mind around the perspective that Paul has told us about through out the book of Philippians, where slavery, suffering, imprisonment and death become badges of honor and hope and peace and life, it is all about using the time you have here on earth to contemplate the things that come from God. Truth, Justice, Honor, Integrity or Purity, Beauty, Goodness, Things that we like… spend time thinking about those things. And I know that sounds too simple of a concept. But it is not just about forming neural pathways. Paul says that we need to practice these things as well.

So what does truth look like in light of who Jesus is and what he has done? I need to put that truth into practice. What is Justice in light of who Jesus is and what he has done? I need to be an agent of that kind of Justice in this broken world.

This is so hard to do. When I try to think about something like justice, my temptation is to start thinking about the opposite. We try to think about Justice, but we just see so much injustice that we can not seem to focus on what justice truly looks like. That is why we need to, not just think about these things, but Paul says to practice these things. To do them. When we do, we get to see a little piece of the world flip over, if just for a second. And the more we see that happen, the more we begin to believe that Jesus, who has a habit of doing the impossible, can do the impossible in and through our lives if we just let him.

Maybe you have just started to form your mind around this idea of the gospel and you need to commit. You need to say today, I am a citizen of the upside down kingdom. Jesus is the king of my life. If that is you, the way to make that commitment, to mark yourself as a follower of Jesus is to be baptized, to, in a way, participate in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. We can do that today.

Maybe you are not there yet. That is ok too. You don’t have to believe to belong here. We are better off with you than without you. But obviously, if this is true, if there is truth, justice, peace, unity, freedom from death through Jesus, we don’t want you to miss out. We want you to experience it too. We want to help you to see the world flip upside down. So, if that is you, stick with us for the rest of this series. Maybe try and think about the things Paul mentions in Philippians 4:8- 9. See what happens. Try to practice them in your life. Experiment.

But right now I am going to play a song as we go into our time of Communion. This is something we do every week to remember the event that turned the world as we know it upside down. Feel free to move during the song. If you want to take eat the bread and drink the juice to remember Christ’s broken body and spilled blood, just make your way up here to do that. If you need prayer or want to make a decision today, let one of us adults know. If you want to listen to the words of the song or pray or read Scripture, you can do that too. But I am just going to read Philippians 2:1-11 once more as we get ready.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore 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.

Song- My Victory by Crowder

Discussion

Start with Prayer

Do you have a favorite revisionist movie?

Read Philippians 1:21-26

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

It is important to note that Paul is not depressed here. He says over and over in this letter that he is full of joy and rejoicing. So this is not a death wish or like suicidal ideation. There is a very real threat on his life as he sits in house arrest waiting for his final judgement from the powers and authorities.

Paul is taking our categories and turning them upside down. He is making us rethink everything we thought we knew. If even something as oppressive as death is seen as life and life is a self-sacrificial death, what does that mean about everything else?

Eric said that to form this new mind we must do what Paul said in Philippians 4:8-9.

Which of these things do you think the world is lacking the most?

Which of these things do you think would be the easiest to keep on the top of your mind this week? How can you make that happen? What could you do to practice that thing in your life this week?

Related Media

Related Sermons