Have This Mind Among Yourselves

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Nate Devlin. July 26, 2026. Philippians 2:1-11.

Summary

Americans today struggle with a crisis of identity. In 2015 the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology published a study of identity in young adulthood. The more coherent a person’s sense of who they are, the better their mental health and behavior; those with identity confusion fared worse. It is nice when studies confirm what the Bible teaches. People need to know who they are and how their lives fit in their families, in history, and in the world God made.

One recent contributor to the confusion is retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. In Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) he wrote that liberty includes the right to define and express one’s identity. That pales beside Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992): “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.” It is breathtaking and staggering to read that opinion. Kennedy is saying it is at the very heart of liberty for you to be God, and if you have defined the meaning of existence for yourself in a way that means you want to murder your child, then you have the liberty to do that. But that responsibility is too great for the human mind to bear; people crack under the pressure. Kennedy’s opinion is bad news. The Word of God has good news, and it is the big idea: human identity is not self-determined. Identity is God-conferred. So the church must decide. Is she pro-choice, or is she biblical?

Identity is both described and prescribed by Scripture. Genesis establishes it: God makes mankind, male and female he created them. You do not have to labor under the uncertainty of, am I a man or a woman, how do I decide this for myself? Biology and the created order help us, but even better, the Word of God, which is true, says you are born a man or you are born a woman. As much confusion as there is about gender, there is a greater confusion between Creator and creature. Am I part of the creation, or am I the Creator? Justice Kennedy says you are the creator. God says, I am the Creator, and I have purposes for you. Jesus conferred an identity on Peter: “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). Christ gives us his name: Christian. In our text Paul urges the church to have the mind of Christ, “which is yours in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). Christ clarifies who we are, and we enjoy that stability when we are of one mind with him and one another.

That is why at Beverly Heights we make Christians, helping you live into the identity Christ confers. If you remember one line today: the church is culture. Its shared language, customs, beliefs, and commitments say, this is your life. Your identity in Christ is comprehensive, controlling, and ultimate. You have a nature: made in the image of God, male or female, fallen through sin, and in Christ rescued and renewed. You are adopted: “you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15). You are purchased with Christ’s own blood, so you are not your own and not free, as Justice Kennedy says, to do whatever you want. You are loved: “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). You are under orders. And you are preserved: “do not be anxious about your life” (Matthew 6:25-26).

But as Americans we are fundamentally pro-choice in our self-conceptions. We have too many choices, and it is paralyzing. Living contrary to our nature, contrary to the identity God confers, causes psychological disorientation. It creates cognitive dissonance. It produces emotional distress. When we deny our identity we cannot make sense of the world, and so we try to cope, or we medicate ourselves, or we lock up. It reminds me of the old story of Southerners trapping raccoons with a Coke bottle of peanuts tied to a tree: the raccoon grabs a fistful, cannot pull his hand out, and will not let go even as the farmer walks up with a bat. How often have we built a sense of self, life comes at us with a baseball bat, and we will not let go? Christ has come to set us free.

How do we learn who we are? It starts with honest self-assessment. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in prison a poem, Who Am I?, that ends, “Whoever I am, thou knowest, O God, I am thine.” Start with a biblical anthropology: what the Bible says about being a man, woman, husband, wife, father, mother, neighbor, friend. Discipline your language; take a ruthless inventory of what you say about yourself. Only say true things, and say them over those nearest you. Know the story you are in; that is why we worship each Lord’s Day. Budget for the noetic effects of sin; the only way to clear the mind is to confess honestly, like the tax collector rather than the Pharisee, then run to Christ and give yourself away. Stop holding the peanuts. Calvin said that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God’s face. Christ has told you who you are. You are a Christian. That is your name. That is who you are.

Key texts: Philippians 2:1-11; Genesis 1:27; Matthew 16:18; Romans 8:15; 1 John 4:19; Matthew 6:25-26; Luke 18:9-14

For reflection

• Where have I been trying to define my own identity, and what weight has that put on me?
• If I took a ruthless inventory of the things I say about myself this week, which of them would turn out to be untrue?
• What handful of peanuts am I refusing to let go of, and what would it mean to give myself away instead?