The Mind And Lifestyle Of Christ
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The Mind of Christ |
The Mind And Lifestyle Of Christ
Philippians 2:1-5 (ESV)
1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,
2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
When God created Adam and Eve, intending to give them His image, He gifted them with a beautiful organ called the brain. In His design, this brain functions as the control center of the body. In other words, the brain directs all human functions. Out of the brain come millions of neurons that send messages to the different parts of the body.
It has been said that one of the higher functions of the brain is the human mind. It functions as the thinking, understanding, desiring, or judging of all humans. However, for Christians, the human mind is so much more essential than simply being the seat of our thoughts, memories, and emotions. The Baker Theological Dictionary defines the mind as “the part of the human being in which thought takes place, and perception and decisions to do good, evil, and the like come to expression.” I want to emphasize the part of this definition referring to perception and decision to do good and evil. Why? The mind allows us to make value judgments and make decisions on the rightness or wrongness of our behaviors. Therefore, our mind directly connects to our values, personality, and spirituality.
Nevertheless, with the essential function of the mind in our lives, one specific challenge that we must all overcome is the corruption of our minds because of sin. The apostle Paul talked about this in Titus 1:15 (ESV):
15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
Sin has limited our capacity to understand spiritual matters; it also affected our value judgments and ability to make the best decisions in life. Most definitely, left on our own, it would be impossible for us to determine the best value judgments or the rightness or wrongness of behaviors.
This predicament, I believe, is the reason why we must study together the mind of Christ. When you consider Paul’s writing to the Philippian church, he specifically challenged the believers in verse 5, saying, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” To help us understand what Paul was trying to drive across when he said these words, perhaps, these questions could help us:
Do you think with the mind of Christ?
Do you see the world with the mind of Christ?
Do you make choices with the mind of Christ?
As we prepare our church for the yearly celebration of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, I wanted us to spend the next four Sundays talking about the mind of Jesus that we, as believers need to develop in our lives. If you are familiar with the Philippian church, it was a church very close to Paul’s heart because they faithfully supported his ministry. And so, when Paul had the opportunity to write them, the theme in his letter was about “Joy in Christ” with the key verse found in Philippians 4:4 (ESV)
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
Thus, Paul intended to provide them with some basic guidelines on how they can experience greater joy or happiness in life. And it is safe to say that one of the keys that would unlock this greater joy in our lives is by adopting the mind of Christ. So the question now is: How do we adopt the mind of Christ? From our chosen text, allow me to share with you at least three essential areas we need to focus on:
I THE MERCIES WE RECEIVED (v.1)
As the apostle Paul instructs the believers to have the mind of Christ, he started magnifying the fact that God gave us sufficient graces to make it possible to adopt the mind of Christ. The words in verse 1 say, “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy.”
The word “if” in verse 1 does not suggest a conditional clause. Instead, it introduces four specific blessings that Paul assumed to be true because they were believers in Christ. And so the word “if” should be translated appropriately as “Since.” Thus, they were already recipients of the following graces:
Encouragement in Christ – We have the assurance that Jesus Christ is always rooting or cheering for us to win.
Comfort from Love (Loving Care) – We are always guaranteed that His loving care will come alongside us to strengthen us.
Participation in the Spirit (Active Help from the Holy Spirit) – The second person of God is present in our lives to guide and protect us.
Affection and Sympathy (Loving Mercies) – God assures us that He extends His compassion to us even when we fail instead of condemning us.
In our Christian life, the over-arching principle that we will always find in the Bible is that God’s expectations of His people are well supported by His provisions. This text is a perfect example for us. God knows that it is not easy to live out the life of Jesus Christ, and so, He provided us with sufficient help to assist us in what He expects from us. As believers, one of our greatest privileges is that we are never short of graces whenever we need to cope with our challenges in life. This truth is precisely what Paul reminded believers in this text and even reinforces it in the latter part of his letter to them by saying:
Philippians 4:13 (ESV)
13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Are you conscious of these graces that He has given you already? You have been given the capacity to live them out. Let them inspire you as you adopt the mind of Christ in your daily life.
II THE MANIFESTATIONS WE NEED (vs. 2-4)
The following three verses will enumerate three directives to manifest the mind of Christ. But before we consider them one by one, we need to have some context about the ongoing problem Paul was trying to address in the church of Philippi. It is found in Philippians 4:2-3 (ESV):
2 I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord.
3 Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Although Paul said many positive things about the Philippian church, one problem he addressed in the church was the continuing conflict between Euodia and Syntyche. Both of these women were actively involved in advancing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But their personal conflict has been affecting their entire church negatively. It would be helpful to keep this in mind as we examine the three mandates in verses 2-4:
A. Be Likeminded (v. 2)
Reading verse 2, I would like to use the New International Version for emphasis:
Philippians 2:2 (NIV)
2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
The apostle wanted to impress on these believers that He would be so happy to see the church being like-minded in love, spirit, and purpose. It doesn’t mean that we need to copy one another, copying how we dress up or speak. That would be weird.
However, living out the mind of Christ as a community of faith, we need to have the same love, spirit, and purpose. If you notice, what should unite us is not pressure from without but the love, spirit, and purpose from within. In other words, why are we doing what you are doing? For example, why are you doing discipleship? Why are you serving in the ministry? I trust that the answer is because we love the Lord Jesus, and we want to advance His purposes on earth. If these were not our reasons, the quality of our service would always be affected.
B. Be Humble (v.3)
Now, let’s read verse 3 – “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” With this verse, the apostle Paul breaks down humility into two specific actions:
1. Don’t do anything out of your desire to gain the praise of others.
This command is the literal meaning of selfish ambition. We are often tempted to do something simply because we want to show off our egos. This warning is beneficial because pride can always hurt us. Listen to these verses:
Proverbs 16:18 (NIV)
18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 13:10 (NIV)
10 Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.
We should always take these verses to heart because they tell us that pride can only lead to our destruction and many conflicts in life. Some people often wonder why they seem to have a lot of enemies all the time. Following the verse, the root cause of having enemies may be pride in our lives.
Here is an excellent word about humility from F. B. Meyer:
“I used to think that God’s gifts were on shelves – one above another. The taller we grow, the easier we can reach them. Now I find that God’s gifts are on shelves and the lower we stoop, the more we get.”
2. Count others more significant than yourself.
This appeal is challenging for a prideful people to do. Why? For them, they will always be better than others. By the way, the words “more significant” do not mean “more superior.” It simply means, “more respect.” The idea is that believers don’t look down on other people. Instead, you try always to treat them better than you treat yourself. Treating others without looking down on them but with great respect can help us establish a great witness for Jesus Christ before the world around us. One verse that reinforces this truth is Romans 12:10 (NIV):
10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.
Again, the only way we can honor others above ourselves is when we truly set aside our pride.
C. Be Others-centered (v. 4)
The last verse in this section reads – “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” When you examine the sentiment of this verse, it is pretty evident that the mind of Christ is living a life of being devoted not to oneself but others. The comment of Dr. William MacDonald explains this truth:
“The cure of troubles among the people of God is to be more concerned with the interests of others than with the things of our own lives . . . It is as we give our lives in devoted service for others that we rise above the selfish strife of men.”
Are you willing to pay attention to the needs of other people? Again, since our emphasis is on the mind of Christ, it is apparent that Jesus Christ left heaven because of His desire to meet the need of others. In return, we who are recipients of His grace should be willing to put others ahead of ourselves. So, again, the key to living the mind of Christ is serving others.
III THE MATURATION OF CHRISTLIKENESS:
The Bible is quite clear that God’s ultimate goal in our lives as believers is to conform us to the image of God. This truth is plainly stated in Romans 8:28-29 (ESV)
28 And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
We need to focus first on verse 29, which says that all of us whom God has predestined are being conformed to the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is comforting to know that God is actively shaping believers so we can conform to the likeness of Jesus.
So then, in verse 28, God is effectively using our circumstances in life to mold us. They are His tools to smoothen our rough edges. But I just want to emphasize that this process will take a lifetime. So we have to be patient with one another. John wrote about this truth in 1 John 3:1-2 (ESV):
1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is.
John’s statement in verse 2 is what we need to emphasize. We will only be like Him when we see Him face to face. It will surely take the rest of our lives to adopt the mind of Christ. However, we should never lose sight of our goal – Let’s continue to do our best to live out the mind of Christ. Again, with Paul writing the Philippian church, he knew that the only way could experience great joy in life is when they have live out the mind of Christ.
-Bishop Jeremiah Lepasana