Having the Mind of Christ

When I was a young boy I grew up on four kinds of stories: Bible stories, baseball stories, Dr. Seuss and Disney stories. One of the best known Disney stories then was Cinderella. We had the album – for you youngsters, that is a flat black circle with a small hole in the center that you play on a machine called a record player. Having two older sisters, I identified with the heroine. Anyway, we used to listen to the album and knew all the songs, I particularly liked the one with the mice singing, “We can do it, we can do it, we can help our Cinderelli, we can make her dress so pretty, there’s nothing to it really.”

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September 23, 2012
Philippians 2:1-11, Having the Mind of Christ
Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church

 

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It’s amazing how words from your childhood stay in your head isn’t it? We all know how Cinderella turns out, she goes from being the servant who is treated harshly and unfairly and not as she deserves and she ends up happy, well-dressed and with a worthy prince. That kind of upwardly mobile, everything works out great in the end story is one we all like and know. Interestingly, the story of Jesus is the opposite. He is the worthy prince who gives up everything to be a servant who at the end of his life is treated harshly and unfairly and not as he deserves. However, the servant is ultimately vindicated by God. Listen to Philippians 2:1-11,

“If then there is any encouragement in Christ,

any consolation from love,

any sharing in the Spirit,

any compassion & sympathy,

make my joy complete;

be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,

but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.

Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.

⁵ Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

⁶     who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

⁷     but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

⁸     he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death—

even death on a cross.

⁹     Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

¹⁰     so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

¹¹     and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

 

Three times Paul stresses that the followers of Jesus should be of the same mind, meaning not that we agree on every single thing, but that we have the same mindset, the same attitude, the same approach to life and that is the mindset, attitude, and approach that was in Christ Jesus. Forty years ago there was a slogan for the United Negro College Fund, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” That phrase has had real staying power. For Christians, our mind and our mindset are vitally important.

Many scriptures remind us about the importance of what we think about and where we set our mind. Psalm 26:2 encourages us to engage in intelligent self-reflection, “Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and mind.”  Proverbs 15:14 reminds us of the importance of continuing to learn. “The mind of one who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly.”  Isaiah 26:3 shares a beautiful promise about peace of mind. “Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace – in peace because they trust in you.” In Jeremiah 17:10, God warns us, “I the Lord test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.” 

Our mind involves at least four major areas: ideas, images, information, and our ability to think. In a sense, the greatest battlefield in the world is located between our ears and the stakes are incredibly high. When Jesus was tested and tempted by Satan in the wilderness, Jesus was able to be victorious because he had meditated upon and thought about the scriptures so much that he could think straight and not be deceived.  Meditating on and memorizing scripture is one of most crucially important things we can do to think properly and to have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus. We can’t have the same mind as Christ if we don’t know he is, what he taught, what he did, and what he sacrificed.

In Philippians 2, Jesus is presented as loving, obedient, self-sacrificing, and humble. This is the mind we are to have as Jesus’ followers. The necessity of believers being of one mind or the same mind is so important to Paul that he mentions it in every chapter of Philippians. In 1:27, “Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel.”

Then three times in 2:2 and 5, “be of the same mind, of one mind, let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” 

In 3:15, “Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind.”

Finally in 4:2 Paul urges two women who had been disagreeing over some issue “to be of the same mind,” which is the mind of Christ. 

            Paul describes the opposite of the mind of Christ in Philippians 2:4 –  selfish ambition or conceit, regarding ourselves as better than others, looking only to our own interests and disregarding the interests or needs of others, and arrogantly looking down on other people. Paul has reason to believe that the struggles among believers in the Philippian church are because of this kind of thinking shaping behavior – people insisting on getting their own way and not being like-minded is leading to discord. These issues continue to plague human relationships both inside and outside the church, but they don’t need to have the final word; we can change our mind about what is happening.

Transforming our mind toward the mind of Christ comes through making key passages of scriptures permanent fixtures of our thought life.  When we continually read and reflect on and take into our minds passages like Philippians 2:1-11, Colossians 3:1-17, or 1 First Corinthians 13 it will truly begin to change our life.  God has made our mind and it is entirely possible for any of us to do this – all of us have memorized huge amounts of information.

Transforming our mind comes from the images we watch and listen to as well. The entertainment industry bombards us with many images that aren’t helpful or positive. Historically many churches and cathedrals have used stained glass windows, carvings, statues, and the architecture itself all to provide images that are intended to direct our thoughts and lead the worshiper into the presence of God. More recently churches have used screens, photos, and video clips for the same purposes. What we look at or listen to shapes us all the time. Just think of the power of music to shape your mood and you know how true this is. Many scholars believe that Philippians 2:5-11 are part of an early Christian hymn that Paul is quoting and recalling to the church in his letter.

The importance of what we think about is clear in the following example.  You are walking down a sidewalk by Boston Common at 10:30 at night when you notice a group of about 12 big young people talking rather loudly coming right toward you on the sidewalk.  What do you think?  What do you feel?  If you knew they were leaving a Bible Study and were talking about Philippians – what difference would it make to what you thought and felt?

Whether we realize it or wish to admit it or not – what we think about, what we read, watch, and listen to shapes our mind and who we are and who we become. If God is only an occasional presence in our mind, we shouldn’t be surprised that our thoughts, feelings, behavior and relationships reflect that fact. The more God occupies our thoughts, the more preoccupied we are with the mind of Christ, the more the Spirit of the Lord will shape our thoughts, feelings, will, behavior, and relationships.

Thomas Watson wrote years ago,

“The first fruit of love is the musing of the mind upon God.  He who is in love, his thoughts are ever upon the object. By this we may test our love to God. What are our thoughts most upon? Can we say we are ravished with delight when we think on God? Have our thoughts got wings? Do we contemplate Christ and glory? How far are they from being lovers of God, who scarcely ever think of God!  A sinner crowds God out of his thoughts. He never thinks of God, unless with horror, as the prisoner thinks of the judge.”[1]

            “The transformation of our thought life by taking on the mind of Christ – his ideas, images, information, and patterns of thinking – opens the way to deliverance of every dimension of the human self.”[2] So the question is, are we taking on the mind of Christ? Some of you may be thinking, “I don’t know this sounds like it may require some effort and changes on my part.” As you think about what having the mind of Christ may mean for you, remember this; we learn in Philippians 2 that Jesus was willing to give up all claim to title, rights, privilege, recognition, and personal glory, and sought simply to be obedient to God without fanfare, without applause, without glorifying himself and without promise of reward. He did that for you, for me, for all the people of the world. Paul says, this is the central defining act of the Christian faith and it is the attitude, the approach that all Christ followers are to demonstrate. It may go against our human nature, it goes against the tide of popular culture, but it is the way Christians are supposed to be in having the mind of Christ.

God and Jesus have done something for us that we could never do. What they are looking for now is what we will do in return. Will we seek to follow and to obey and to live lives that give glory and pleasure to the Lord? Oswald Chambers wrote in My Utmost for His Highest (May 10), “We have to do something.  We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save or sanctify ourselves – God does that. But God will not give us good habits or character, and he will not force us to walk correctly before him. We have to do all that ourselves.”

Joe was a drunk who was miraculously converted at a Bowery mission.

Prior to his conversion, he had gained the reputation of being a drunk for whom there was no hope, only a miserable existence in the gutter. But following his conversion to a new life with the Lord, everything changed.  Joe became the most caring person anyone associated with the mission had ever known.  Joe spent his days and nights hanging out at the mission, doing whatever needed to be done. There was never anything that he was asked to do that he considered beneath him.  Whether it was cleaning up the mess left by some violently ill client or scrubbing toilets in the men’s room, Joe did what was asked with a smile on his face and gratitude for the chance to help. He could be counted on to feed feeble men who wandered off the street into the mission, and to undress and tuck into bed men who were too out of it to take care of themselves.

One evening, when the director of the mission was delivering his evening evangelistic message to the usual crowd of still and sullen men with drooped heads, there was one man who looked up, came down the aisle to the altar, and knelt to pray, crying out for God to help him to change for good. The repentant drunk kept shouting, “Oh God!  Make me like Joe!  Make me like Joe!  Make me like Joe!  Make me like Joe! 

The director of the mission leaned over and said to the man,

“Son, I think it would be better if you prayed, ‘Make me like Jesus.’”

The man looked up at the director with a quizzical expression on his face and asked, “Is he like Joe.”^[3]

What a tremendous credit to Joe’s faith in Jesus. Many people don’t have a clue about Christ, but they know our mind, habits and our character and they can tell whether we’re serious about following Jesus.  Oswald Chambers observed, “No one is born either naturally or supernaturally with character it must be developed.  Nor are we born with habits – we have to form godly habits on the basis of the new life God has placed within us.  If the majesty, grace, and power of God are not being exhibited in us, God holds us responsible (May 16, June 15).”^[4]

Like with the end of Cinderella, Paul says there is going to be a change at the end of history that is unmistakable and clear for everyone to see. Jesus the servant will be shown to be Jesus the Lord. Paul says the day is going to come when, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

If we confess Jesus as Lord now, that means we will need to change some of our habits if we want to experience or demonstrate the mind, life and power of Christ. As we seek to live with the humble, obedient, self-sacrificing mind of Christ, God’s Spirit and power will be increasingly evident in our life and we will imitate Christ’s humble, obedient, service.

Blessing

 “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,” Philippians 2:5