Have the Mind of Christ Jesus
Please stand with me as we go over our current memory Scripture:
Matthew 5:6-8
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
And our memory Scripture “refresher” verse is:
1 John 1:5-7
“This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.”
Today we will be reading from Philippians 2:1-11
Do you like clear, concise directions?
Generally men and women give directions differently. A man might say, “Go down the road for two miles and turn right onto Main Street and then take the third left onto Temple Street. Whereas as woman might say, “Keep on going the way you’re headed until you see a Tops grocery store and turn right. Then, turn left right after you pass the Burger King that’s on your right.”
One set of directions may make more sense to you but less sense to me and vise versa. Both could be right and both could get you to your destination.
Do you suppose that the Lord was thinking about how different people process information from one another when He inspired the writers of the Bible? I imagine that the Great God of Heaven and Earth considered every option when He communicated His Word to us.
That is why He was making a clear and direct point when He gave this instruction to us through the apostle Paul in Philippians 2:1-11
(prayer for help)
Let’s look at verse 5,
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus …”
Here, the Holy Spirit is speaking to all believers when He says, “In your relationships with one another …”
Here He is setting up the target audience. He is not just speaking to men and He is not just speaking to women; He is speaking to all believers.
If you are a believer in Jesus, this following command is directed to you and it is directed to me.
On the surface it looks as if this command is directed for interaction between believers and it truly is. But when we place it in the full context of the Bible we understand that it is also a command that should be in place when we interact with unbelievers as well.
So we have a command that is for all believers. It is a blanket command covering all believers in all situations.
So what is that command? The command is this, “we should have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.”
So what does it mean that we should have the same mindset as Christ Jesus? It seems rather ambiguous doesn’t it?
I mean Jesus had a lot of different emotions for different situations right? Sometimes with His disciples He was exasperated. Sometimes with the Pharisees He was angry. We see that when He entered into Jerusalem He wept and He wept when Lazarus died. We know the He loved of the apostle John.
Yes we know that Jesus had a lot of different emotions. But are these the mindset of Christ Jesus or the mind of Christ? No they are not, but what we see throughout Jesus’ life is one consistent mindset. What was His mindset?
Let’s take a look at verses 6-8 to find out.
“(Jesus), being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient (to the point of) death - even death on a cross!”
His mindset was this, “He humbled Himself”. Jesus was humble. Just try to imagine this, the God who spoke everything into existence, the God who said “Let there be light” and there was light, the God who raised up a nation from a pair of 90 year olds, the God who caused a sea to be parted so that a nation could pass through on dry ground, the God who is worshiped and adored by ten thousand times ten thousand angels at one time; this God humbled Himself and became obedient to God the Father to the point of death - even death on a cross.
But, before we can see the magnitude of Christ’s humility we need to see the exaltation of His eternal glory before the incarnation.
There is a creed that works very hard to capture Jesus’ pre-incarnate glory; it is called the Athanasian Creed. Let me read a small portion of it to you …
“[W]e worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons; nor dividing the Essence.
For there is one Person of the Father; another of the Son;
and another of the Holy Spirit.
But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is all one; the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal.
Such as the Father is; such is the Son; and such is the Holy Spirit.
The Father uncreated; the Son uncreated; and the Holy Spirit uncreated.
The Father unlimited; the Son unlimited; and the Holy Spirit unlimited.
The Father eternal; the Son eternal; and the Holy Spirit eternal.
And yet they are not three eternals; but one eternal.
As also there are not three uncreated; nor three infinites, but one uncreated; and one infinite.
So likewise the Father is Almighty; the Son Almighty; and the Holy Spirit Almighty.
And yet they are not three Almighties; but one Almighty.
So the Father is God; the Son is God; and the Holy Spirit is God. And yet they are not three Gods; but one God.
So likewise the Father is Lord; the Son Lord; and the Holy Spirit Lord. And yet not three Lords; but one Lord.
For like as we are compelled by the Christian [faith]; to acknowledge every Person (of the Trinity) by Himself to be God and Lord; so are we forbidden… to say, there are three Gods, or three Lords.
So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.
And in this Trinity none is before, or after another; none is greater, or less than another.
But the whole three Persons are coeternal, and coequal.
So that in all things, as said before; the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be worshipped.
He therefore that will be saved, let him think of the Trinity in this way.”
Wow! That’s quite a statement, isn’t it!
What do we see in that Creed that is said about Jesus the Christ?
He is … eternal, majestic, uncreated, unlimited, infinite, almighty, Lord and God! And, all of these attributes attributed to Jesus are fully supported by Scripture.
So, what did this eternal, majestic, uncreated, unlimited, infinite, almighty Lord and God do?????
Philippians 2:7-8 says,
“He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to (the point of) death - even death on a cross!”
OK. Now let’s think about this a little. We’ve already taken a look at the Holy Trinity. In the eternally existent Trinity there has always been complete unity and harmony.
When Yahweh, the Holy Trinity, created the rescue plan for the salvation of sinful humanity it was perfected in complete harmony and unity.
It was not as if God the Father said, “OK. We are going to draw straws. The one who gets the short straw is the one who is going to have to go to earth, live there for thirty-three years, be mocked and ridiculed, die a shameful and excruciating death on a cross, go to hell for three days, be raised from the dead and then, He can come back and be with the two of us who stay here while He’s gone!
OK, are you ready? Close your eyes and draw a straw …”
It wasn’t like that at all. This magnificent plan of salvation was created by the One God in Three Persons in perfect harmony and unity. And, the plan was that God the Son would “make Himself nothing and take on the nature of a servant (slave)”
Yahweh the Father did not have to force Yahweh the Son to do it; it was part of His plan!
And why did Christ do that? Why did He come for us?
One reason was so that He could demonstrate the attitude that we all should have. He did it so that the Holy Spirit could speak through the apostle Paul and the apostle Paul would write it down and we could read it and we could know that we should “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus”.
Many of the translations, including the Young’s Literal Translation, say it this way, “let this mind be in you that [is] also in Christ Jesus”.
This is much more than having a “Christlike attitude” or even a “Christlike mindset”.
When it says, “let this mind be in you that [is] also in Christ Jesus” it means that we should have His mind IN us.
1 Corinthians 2:16b says, “We have the mind of Christ.” and Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
And the mind of Christ Jesus for our example was this, “[He made] Himself nothing and [took] on the nature of a servant (slave)”
CAN WE ACTUALLY HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST?
If God’s Word says we can, then Yes, we can!
How can we do that? We can do that by following Jesus’ example. And, what was His example? He “made Himself nothing”, “took on the very nature of a servant” and “became obedient even to the point of death.”
When Jesus took on the very nature of a servant He became a servant to the will of the Father even though He was, and is, coequal and coeternal with the Father.
In the same way we are to take on the very nature of a servant.
We are to lay aside our will and concede our desires to His desires. Jesus did that, shouldn’t we as well?
When Jesus made Himself nothing He set aside His attributes that He had had for all of eternity.
Some people find it difficult to understand that "set aside" does NOT mean giving up any attributes, it does not mean losing any attributes, it does not mean discarding any attributes of His God-ness.
This obviously does NOT mean "gave up", "surrendered", "disposed of" or anything of the sort. What it DOES mean is, as it says in the Amplified translation of the Bible is, "... [Jesus] emptied Himself [without renouncing or diminishing His deity, but only temporarily giving up the outward expression of divine equality and His rightful dignity] ..."
Let me give you an example. If I were a contractor and had a backhoe and a shovel I would possess both. And if I was going to dig a basement I would naturally use the backhoe because of the great power it has compared to me with a shovel. However, I might for some reason, decide that on this project I would "set aside" or "lay aside" the backhoe and use a shovel. That would not mean that I no longer possess the backhoe it means that I simply would not be using it for that project. I would still be as much of a contractor as before and I would still possess the backhoe in every aspect as before. I however, would be setting it aside for this one project.
Another example would be the forty days of Jesus' testing/tempting in the wilderness. In that case He "laid aside" and "set aside" the function of eating. That did not mean He had lost the ability to eat or that He could not eat. During those days He was still a fully functioning man. None of His abilities had been lost or discarded.
In the same way, Jesus temporarily laid aside the use of some of His attributes when He condescended to humanity in the glorious Incarnation.
Did I actually mean that Jesus had lost any of His God-attributes when I wrote the words "laid aside" or "set aside"? Of course not because then He would not be coequal and co-eternal with the Father and that would be heretical.
In the same way we are to lay aside everything that we consider to posses as our own.
We may think we have natural intelligence. If we have the mind of Christ we will lay aside that intelligence He has given to us, not for disuse but to be used for the Father at His direction, for His purposes and for His glory.
We may think we were born with natural physical strength, natural kindness, or natural judgment, or a natural ability for music or art, or it could be anything else that we might take pride in. But, if we have the mind of Christ we will lay aside those abilities and only use them for the Father at His direction, for His purposes and for His glory.
And, also, we will become obedient to the Father just a Christ Jesus did.
How do we know He did that? Did Jesus give us any examples?
In John 5:19
Jesus gave this answer (to the Jews who were plotting to kill Him): “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”
In John 8:28 it says,
So Jesus said (to the Jews who were challenging Him), “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I Am He and that I do nothing on My own but speak just what the Father has taught Me.”
And, in John 12:50 Jesus says,
“For I did not speak on My own, but the Father who sent Me commanded Me to say all that I have spoken. I know that His command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told Me to say.”
And, this is the same God the Son who became a servant and prayed to His Father saying, “… not My will, but Yours be done.” Luke 22:42b
Here, in Jesus, we see a perfect example of one of our memory verses from the past three months, Matthew 5:5, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
It has been said that “meekness is not weakness” and Jesus is the perfect example of this.
Jesus, God the Son, was eternally omnipotent. He was and is able to do whatever He desires to do. How do we know that?
John 1:3 says, “Through Him (Jesus, the Word) all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.”
And Psalm 33:6 says, “By the word of (Yahweh), the LORD, the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of His mouth.”
So, here we have Jesus, the One we refer to as the Second Person of the Trinity, the One who spoke all things into existence and the One who could destroy all things by His will as well. And, HE has laid aside that power in order to serve His Father, the One we refer to as the First Person of the Trinity.
THAT is our example. So, when we REALLY have the mind of Christ Jesus we will not just lay aside what we think we have and all that we think we but we will actually give up all we consider our own and “do whatever we see the Father doing” and we will “say whatever we hear the Father saying.”
Are you willing to follow Christ’s example?
Are you willing to open your hands and surrender all you have to the will and direction of the Father?
Are you willing to open your heart and surrender all your wants, wishes and desires to the wants, wishes and desires of the Father?
Are you willing to go where He tells you to go instead of where you want to go?
Are you willing to do what He wants you to do instead of what you want to do?
Are you willing to say to the Father, “Empty my heart of the worldly me and fill it with the Holy Spirit. Make my desire to please you greater than any other desire I could possibly have. Live in and through me for You and You alone.”
John Wesley said it this way,
“I am no longer my own, but Yours.
Put me to what You will. Rank me with whom You will.
Put me to doing. Put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by You or laid aside for You,
Exalted for You or brought low by You.
Let me have all things, Let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
You are mine, and I am Yours. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.”
So, what do you say? Are you willing to do what it takes to apprehend the mind of Christ Jesus? It won’t just float down from Heaven, you will need to pursue it.
God wants you to have it. He has made the way for you to have it.
Let that be the main pursuit of we who make up the family of the Crossroads Church of The Nazarene here in Arcade, NY.
Let us have the mind of Christ Jesus.
Final thoughts and prayer.
