The Mindset of Christ
Recap: Paul is in Jail. He has been taken from jailhouse to courtroom to jailhouse again. He has been shackled to criminals and to roman centurions. While n prison, Paul wrote letters to the churches that he had planted. Leaving words of encouragement and reminding them of who they are now that they were saved and in Christ. Along with application as too how our lives in accordance with the will of God.
Recap: Paul is in Jail. He has been taken from jailhouse to courtroom to jailhouse again. He has been shackled to criminals and to roman centurions. While n prison, Paul wrote letters to the churches that he had planted. Leaving words of encouragement and reminding them of who they are now that they were saved and in Christ. Along with application as too how our lives in accordance with the will of God.
In the first part of the chapter, we discussed how Good God. And we left off With verse 4
provides another participial restatement of the nature of this Christian humility, and the final modifier of the call for like-mindedness in verse 2. To regard others as better than oneself means to look out for their rights (lit. ‘the things of others’), and not just for one’s own: to invest one’s best creative effort and energy in securing and maintaining other people’s best interest.
Picture what it is talking about in real-time in your head.
He chose to humble himself.
He chose to live among us.
Paul encourages the Philippians to be united in their outlook, in love, in spirit, and in compassion.
This unity will become more and more difficult the more circumstances turn against them.
Pressure causes cracks, fissures and divisions.
The same happens to our faith when circumstances turn against us for professing Christ.
The cracks begin to show.
Paul knows that if they are going to hold it together, they could not rely on favorable circumstances.
Circumstances are never good ground for Christian unity.
Since unity isn't found in circumstances they are to find their unity as their lives are shaped by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Related verses
and
“Let this mind be in you”
Have this mind among yourselves, Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. Let your attitude toward one another be governed by your being in union with the Messiah Yeshua:
“Which was also in Christ Jesus”
What was Jesus like while here on earth? What message did Paul preach in the church at Phillip-pi? He preaches the Gospel of Jesus of how he would save the lost, heal the sick, raise the dead back to life. He would give his testimony of how God changed his life.
Humility. Christ also chose humility! of Jesus Christ. We look at the mindset of Jesus
“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:”
“Who, being in the form of God”
Jesus is the son of God he is God in human flesh
He is a third of the Trinity. He is the creator of the universe. To put it in a smaller scale, Jesus is the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. He is on the same standing with Almighty God If you looked at Jesus, you saw God.
Had the glory of God, in the beginning,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God:”
What Does the word Robbery mean in this case?
a thing to be grasped to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what.
something to be possessed by force.
Take advantage of it.
Exploit,
Jesus did not view his standing in heaven as a reason to be spoiled. He did not come and say I am God you will serve me and you will do as I say. Jesus was not a snob, He was not stuck up. high on himself.
For Jesus came not to be ministered unto but to minister. The Verb
That word minister is not really a fancy word or a high title word or powerful Job. The word minister in this context is the verb means to do service, to serve. Jesus did not come to this earth to be waited on hand and foot by men and women. Now that is what happens at times. But that is not why he came. Jesus came to minister to us.
He did not need servants on this earth but he came to be a servant.
“But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:”
but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;
Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human!
On the contrary, he emptied himself, in that he took the form of a slave by becoming like human beings are. And when he appeared as a human being,
“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.
he humbled himself still more by becoming obedient even to death— death on a stake as a criminal!
“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:”
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever,
Therefore God raised Him to the highest place and gave him the name above every name;
UNITY AND HUMILITY
Paul knows that they cannot be united if they are not humble.
Any unity manufactured apart from humility is a fraud.
True Christian unity is rooted in our humility before Christ, in our awareness of our need, and in the fact that he meets that need fully and faithfully.
Paul also knows that they cannot be humble if they are not following the way of Christ by putting on his mind and being led by the Spirit.
TRUTH #7
Rely on God even in suffering.
The example and love of Christ should encourage the Philippians to continue relying on God and rejoicing in him, even through times of suffering.
The difficult and dangerous situations in our lives provide an opportunity for the working out of God's plan on salvation.
We are to persevere in not living for ourselves but for others.
We are called to be a light in the darkness but it is impossible to do this unless we are in dark situations.
The way that Paul views his struggles is radically different from the way most people view hardship.
Even if it finishes in his death he is ok with that.
Paul says I want to present the gospel of Jesus Christ to you, and I want to see your heart completely won by it.
Paul is concerned about their fear but in a whole different way.
He says NO NO NO!! He walks over and grabs hold of the very things they are scared of, he doesn't try to hide those issues, he sets them down right in front of them and says.
Now, this is what it means for you to be a Christian. Don’t worry about it, expect it. It is going to happen and that is OK!!!
Look at these things and then look to Christ and ask how he is going to use this in your time so that you can live the gospel.
Christians should continue relying on God and rejoicing in him even through suffering.
In fact, suffering provides the very occasion for our reliance and rejoicing.
Conclusion:
William Law called humility "nothing else but a right judgment of ourselves."
In Philippians, we see that true humility is realizing at the core of your being that you exist for the pleasure of God's glory.
And our suffering doesn't surprise him.
Our difficult circumstances that come our way serve to clarify our allegiance, our purpose and our love for him.
Have you ever been to an optician to get your eyes checked?
You press your face up to a device that allows the doctor to flip through what feels like 300 lenses.
As he flips from one lens to the next your sight gets sharper bit by bit.
I think this is what God does in our lives.
Like an expert optician, he flips the eyes of our faith through the exact combination of circumstances.
One lens after another to gradually sharpen our spiritual sight.
With each passing circumstance, each flip of the lens we learn to rely on him a bit more.
Can you learn to display my sufficiency and my glory with this circumstance in your life?
One lens and then another.
Will you display my glory to my creation even if I take that thing you love away from you?
What if I never give you this other thing that you desire?
Flip
Flip
What if I ask you to go through these difficulties?
On and on and each flip sharpening the eyes of faith a bit more.
In order to follow him through this, we need humility.
If not how could Adoniram Judson have been in prison for seventeen months in Burma as a missionary?
How else could John Bunyan survive in prison for `twelve and a half years in Bedford and write Pilgrim's Progress during his captivity?
How could Paul sing hymns in ancient prisons all around the Mediterranean world?
How else could Jesus himself endure?
Dare we think our own circumstances are so dire and deadly, so challenging to the faith, so discouraging to our own spirits that God cannot be in control?
We must turn our mind's eye to the cross of Christ and think.
Surely not this! Of all people! Of all trials!! On the cross? Bearing all sin?
But even on the cross, God glorified himself supremely.
He proves that with the resurrection.
Paul writes to the Philippians because he does not want these young Christians, who were concerned about him to sell out in order to avoid persecution.
Their "price" so to speak had already been found and paid.
Their price had been paid by Christ himself.
So what is your struggle right now?
Is it circumstances?
Frustration with those around you?
Fear of the future?
Fear of being rejected?
What are you holding onto that stands between you and God?
You must trust him and be willing to lose what you are trying to grasp because in Christ you have all you need.
How in the world will you ever be able to endure today's trials?
Tomorrows?
The next?
How will you embrace suffering and sing in a prison at midnight?
Only by being deeply humble before the goodness of God that is shown through the humility of Christ.
May our lives be characterized by that kind of divine humility.
Listen to the cries of the people of this world.
What are they?
The successful business person cries, "To me to live is wealth."
The scholar cries, “To me to live is knowledge.”
The soldier cries, “To me to live in victory.”
The young man cries, “To me to live is a pleasure.”
The man desirous of recognition cries, “To me to live is fame.”
The high school student cries, “To me to live is recognition.”
We could go on and list all the voices of the world, but one is heard over them all:
“To me to live is not wealth or knowledge or fame or glory but Christ. Christ first, last, in the middle of everything, and always Christ”:
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