Dear Christian friends:

Man is different from an animal because He can think. You can think! Truly a wonderful ability which God has given us! But since man fell into sin he thinks wrongly. Jesus said, "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemes." (Matthew 15:19) However, praise God! We Christians have been given a new heart through faith in Jesus our Savior, and we can now think good and holy thoughts, too. We still have the old heart, and we often still think evil thoughts, but with God's help we can improve our thinking.

As a man thinks in his heart so he does, Jesus says. If our thinking is good and right, then our deeds will also be good and right.

In our text St. Paul admonishes us Christians to think like Jesus thought. (verse 6) We can do nothing better, so


Think about yourself as Jesus thought about Himself.

What did Jesus think and feel about Himself? Did Jesus have a bad idea or picture of Himself? No! Jesus thought good and right about Himself. He did not apologize to anyone. He was not afraid of any man, He knew who He was. He knew that He was the almighty, holy and wise Son of God. He was not lying when He said He was equal with God. (verse 6) Although He knew that men would kill Him for saying it, He said it. (John 8:12-59 and Luke 22:16-71)

And although Jesus thought right and good about Himself, He did not think in proud, selfish ways or brag about it. And He did not use His high position and power in wrong ways. He hid His glory and power and became a man. "He made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men." (verse 7) If Jesus had been interested only in Himself, He would not have become a man. But because He was interested in us, interested in helping us, He used His good image of Himself for us.

We should think of ourselves as Jesus thought of Himself. Do you? What do you think of yourself ? What kind of self-image do you have?

Often people have a poor or bad image of themselves. They do not think good of themselves. They are shy and afraid of others, because they think they are worse. They say, "I am no-good person. Nobody likes me! I can't do anything. I feel like hiding." But really we Christians should have a good image of ourselves. True, we are not as good and wonderful as Jesus. True, we are sinners, but no-matter, God loves us anyway. In Jesus God has called us to faith and forgiven all our sins and calls us His dear children again. Jesus is our older Brother. In Jesus God is very pleased and satisfied with us. We are special chosen ones of His. So we should think good of ourselves. But at the same time we should not be proud or brag and think ourselves better than others and use our position or power to hurt others, Remember! It is only because of God's grace that we are good people; it is not our own doing! We have no reason to boast or to look-down on others.

Now if we think good and rightly about ourselves as Jesus did, we will also think good and rightly about others, as did Jesus also.

Jesus thought good about others, He loved them and helped them, although they really were not worthy of His help and love. That is why Jesus came from heaven to earth, and became a true man, born of the woman, Mary. Jesus loved all people. He felt sorry for them although they were not worthy and really deserved His eternal anger and punishment because of their sins. (Romans 5:6-10)

Jesus thought good about people and loved them and helped them in their need. "He fed the hungry, healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf." He defended the helpless and He preached the Gospel. Jesus' greatest service was that He offered Himself upon the cross for the sins of all men, that all men might have forgiveness of sins and life through faith in His name. (verses 7-8)

As Jesus thought good about others and loved them and helped them so we should think good about others and love them and help them. What do you think of others? Do you feel sorry for them? Do you help them? Yes, we often help some people. We help those who help us, and we are nice to those people who are nice to us. But do we help those who are not nice to us? Do we help those who are not worthy? Jesus did! He even helps us, and we are not worthy before God because we are sinners.

In our text Paul tells us how we should humbly think about others and help them: "Love each other and agree with each other. Work together with one heart and mind and purpose. Don't be selfish; don't live to impress others. Be humble. Think of others as better than yourself. Don't always think about your own plans and needs. Listen as others share their plans and needs." (verses 2-4)

We have many opportunities to serve others today. Here in our church we can help one another. Many of you are doing that. You take turns cooking and serving. Some of you sing in the choir. Some of you are ushers. Some of you help type and print the bulletins and newsletters of our church. Some of you help keep the church records. Some of you are officers in the various organizations. This is fine and good. When you accept duties and responsibilities here in the church you can show that you think good about others. Also as individual persons you can show love and concern for others in their needs. When someone is depressed or ill, you can visit him and cheer him up. Maybe you can read to him a poem, or a hymn or a good lesson from the Bible to cheer up that person. Maybe you can offer to say a prayer with him or just listen to him and be there.

At Pilgrim Towers I often see someone help another one who is sick or just come home from the hospital. That is fine! When you help someone in need you are thinking good about others, same as Jesus thought good about others.

Now, you know that is not always easy to do. Sometimes we don't feel like helping someone in need. And sometimes we need someone to help us. Therefore in order to think good about others and really help others, we need to think rightly about God, same as Jesus thought rightly about God.

How did Jesus think and feel about God? He wanted to give glory to God! Jesus loved God, the heavenly Father! (John 17) Jesus obeyed God from A to Z! Jesus even obeyed God who asked Him to die on the cross for us. (verse 8) Then Jesus trusted God to help Him do that most terrible and difficult work. And while suffering and dying to do God's will, Jesus waited with great patience to receive salvation and honor and glory from God. (verses 9-11)

Yes, Jesus thought good and rightly about God. Do you? What do you think about God? Do you think about Him any? Many don't want to think about God. They fear Him or hate Him, because they know they are sinners and don't know or believe His love and mercy in Jesus. But we Christians can think good about God as Jesus did. God is now our dear Father in Jesus. (verse 1) We can love God and try to please Him and bring praise and honor to His name as Jesus did. True, we can't die for the world. Only Jesus could do that because He only is holy and almighty. But we can serve God and praise Him as we are doing today here in the church service. Also when we support world mission work and when we tell our friends and neighbors about God's love and salvation in Jesus, then we really help to bring honor to His name. Also when we serve others and help others we serve our wonderful God and Father in heaven.

Really we need to think like Jesus! God doesn't care about our names and positions whether we are a pastor, teacher or lay person. God doesn't care if we have a high position or a low position in life. But He does care about how we think. He wants us to think like Jesus, then we will leave the church service today and find many opportunities to serve.

Amen.