Sermon Series = “Visiting Philippi”
Philippians 2:1-13
“The Mindset of Christ Jesus”
I had a couple of you say to me last Sunday, “You gave us a lot to chew on this morning. I filled up the margins in my Bible.” So, before we begin our lesson for this morning let’s recap how we got here.
Paul and his companions [Silas, Timothy and Luke] planted this church in Philippi while on Paul’s second missionary journey between the years 49-52 A.D. This brought the Christian gospel to Europe for the first time. This letter, considered by some to be Paul’s “joy letter” was written around 61 A.D from prison in Rome, about six years before he was beheaded.
Paul wrote, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” He didn’t have a death wish but a profound vision of eternal life; reminding us that it’s not about going to heaven when we die but to get a little heaven into us while we are still alive! If you’re not ready to die—you’re not ready to live.
The gospel is about becoming a new creation, a profoundly humble, pure-hearted, radically embracing person of extraordinary, holy love. It’s not so much about what we don’t do but who we are becoming together.
I shared something that I’ve shared before: The first half of the gospel flows from John 3:16. To believe is more than to give intellectual agreement that Jesus is God. It means to put our trust and confidence in Him that He alone can save us.
The second half of the gospel flows from 1 John 3:16. How can we lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters? By serving others with no thought of receiving anything in return. C.S. Lewis said, “Doing the right thing when no one is looking in the true definition of personal integrity and moral character.”
Though we don’t naturally consider suffering a privilege Paul consider suffering for Christ to be a privilege. We should use suffering to build our character and draw us closer to our Savior.
Philippians 2:1-13
Philippi was a cosmopolitan city. The composition of the church reflected its great diversity, with people from a variety of backgrounds and walks of life. Acts 16, which I shared from last week, gives us some indication of the diverse making of this church. You may remember that Paul and his companions, on the Sabbath, went to the river expecting to find a place of prayer and they met Lydia, the Jewish convert from Asia and wealthy businesswoman. She asked that her family be baptized and then persuaded Paul to stay in her home.
Then there was the slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. Paul commanded the spirit to leave her and her handlers, who were making money off of her attacked Paul and Silas and had them thrown into prison.
And finally, the jailer. Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns about midnight when there was a violent earthquake, and the foundations of the prison were shaken; the prison doors flew open and everyone’s chains came loose. “Is anything too hard for the Lord” [Genesis 18:14]. The jailer was was about to off himself when Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” The jailer took Paul and Silas to his home, and his entire family was baptized and converted.
With so many different backgrounds among the members, unity must have been difficult to maintain. Paul encourages us to guard against any selfishness, prejudice, or jealousy that might lead to dissension. Showing genuine interests in others is a positive step forward in maintaining unity among believers.
Many people—even Christians—live only to make a good impression on others or to please themselves. But selfish ambition and vain conceit bring discord. Paul begins our lesson today by asking the Philippians to love one another and to be one in spirit and purpose. When we work together, caring for the problems of others as if their problems were ours, we demonstrate Christ’s example of putting others first, and we experience unity.
Jesus is building a different kind of community in the world than what we are accustomed to. It’s a community founded in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, a group of people who are mysteriously caught up in and illumined by the interrelationships of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” [vs. 5]
Verses 5-11 of our lesson this morning probably came from a hymn sung in the early Christian church, and they form the central focus of sacrificial love and humility for Paul’s entire letter. This passage holds many parallels to the prophecy of the “Suffering Servant” in Isaiah 53.
Imagine having the same mindset as Jesus—learning to see like He sees, listen like He listens, think like He thinks, imagine like He imagines, and do things like He does.
To have the same mindset of Jesus means to be filled by the same power that filled Jesus—who is the person of the Holy Spirit.
The great theologian Karl Barth wrote, “The doctrine of the Trinity is what basically distinguished the Christian doctrine of God as Christian.” Marshall Shelley, Doctor of Ministry at Denver Seminary wrote, “Within the Godhead there are three ‘persons’ who are neither Gods not three parts of God, but co-equally and co-eternally God.”
So, how does this work? How do we acquire the mind of Christ Jesus? If Paul is calling us to have this mindset of Jesus Christ, then we must be possessed of another mindset. Consider the instruction that we saw in our study from the Book of Romans: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” [Romans 12:2].
I read about a minister in Texas who used a very creative visual aid to start his message. He brought on to the stage a beautiful Golden Irish Setter that belonged to his youth minister. The youth minister loved this dog so much that when the dog had been sick and had to be at the vet kennel overnight, he stayed all night with him. Needless to say, this dog loved his master.
The senior minister brought the dog on to the stage and he rolled a ball across the platform and said, “Fetch, Josh, fetch.” But the dog just sat there and would not fetch the ball. The minister then had one of his friends, a large body builder, come up on the platform. This huge muscleman stood over the dog scowling and growled, “Fetch, Dog, Fetch!” But the dog would not fetch the ball for power.
Then a banker came on to the platform and took out his wallet and waved a handful of bills in front of the dog’s face and said, “Josh, if you get the ball, I’ll reward you,” but the dog wouldn’t fetch for money.
Then the preacher said, “Let’s try some peer pressure, and he had all the people stand up and join in unison, “Fetch Josh, Fetch Josh!” But the dog didn’t yield to the peer pressure.
The pastor then had a beautiful young woman with auburn hair about the color of the dog’s hair, come on the platform. She patted Josh on the head and with a sultry voice she said, “Josh, please get the ball…for me.” The dog did flinch just a little…but he would not fetch for the wiles of a woman.
Finally, he called the youth minister on to the platform, the young man who owned the dog. The youth minister said, “Josh, go get the ball>” And the dog bolted from his stance and retrieved the ball and gave it to his owner. After everybody had settled down, the preacher began his sermon by saying, “Now, let me ask you…who are you fetching for?” Pretty good question. Who are you fetching for? Who’s your master?
Verses 5-11 of our lesson this morning are some of the most important and inspiring words contained in the entire Bible and might be a hint as to whom your Master should be.
Paul wrote, “Who, being in very nature God.” Jesus was God. You can’t have the nature of God and not be God. Both John 1:3 [“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made”] and Colossians 1:16 [“For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him”] emphasize the role of Jesus as the agent of creation.
And then Paul wrote, “He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”
The Greek term behind “made himself nothing” is kenosis. It means to empty oneself. Why did Jesus empty Himself? He did it for love. The one who was made full made Himself empty so that we who are empty could be made full.
Jesus rejected the common and popular view of power and instead deliberately chose to pour Himself out, to be humble, and to be submissive: “Did not consider equality with God something to used to his own advantage.”
In Mark’s gospel, he writes about a man who ran up to Jesus, fell on his knees, and said, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus answered, “Why do you call me good? No one is good—except God alone.” Jesus chose and knew his place.
The Message Bible puts it this way: “Jesus had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantage of that status no matter what. Not at all.”
Jesus never emptied Himself of anything, He was still omnipresent [being present everywhere at the same time], omniscient [knowing everything or having unlimited understanding and knowledge], and omnipotent [having complete, unlimited power or the ability to do anything]; but He chose not to access His power. Choosing humility instead.
Our humility begins when we become obedient to God. As we learn to obey God from a posture of humble love, we will grown humble in our relationships with others.
Jesus Christ was humble, willing to give up His rights in order to obey God and serve people. Like Christ, we should have a servant’s attitude, serving out of love for God and for others, not out of guilt or fear. Remember, you can choose your attitude. You can approach life expecting to be served, or you can look for opportunities to serve others.
In closing; we find ourselves in the midst of football season. Every football coach has a game plan for his opponent. Did you know that God has a game plan for the world? It is that one day the kingdom of God will reign in every heart. It is that one day every child on earth will know God’s love and God’s peace. His game plan is that one day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. For that to happen it means that every person who says he or she follows Jesus will buy into His plan and live their life accordingly. It means living a life of love for all people. It means inviting friends and family to join you in the worship of God. It means doing all you can to make this church the kind of place that is inviting to strangers. It means doing all you can to make this community in some small measure a reflection of the kingdom of God.
Can you do that? Will you do it? Will you buy into God’s game plan? When you have a great mission or purpose in life, you learn to obey the voice that tells you what needs to be done.
Remember Josh the dog? He responded in obedience to his master’s voice and I asked, “Who are you fetching for?’ In other words, “Who is your Master? To whom are you obedient?
If you’ve bought into God’s game plan that answer is easy!
