Get Your Mind Right

Turn in your Bibles this morning to:

Philippians 2:5-11

Philippians 2:5–11 NKJV

5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Prayer

Message

This morning we study what is referred to as the “Christ hymn” of the Bible. This ranks as one of the top Scriptures that remind us of the humility, incarnation and exaltation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Being that it is a hymn, it is so poetic in style. You might want to read Colossians 1:15-20 which is another powerful text with Christological emphasis. I was asked by Dr. Dale Huff to memorize this text in the HCSB as He was teaching the Spiritual Disciplines and to learn new translations. So, vast Christological richness.

John Calvin is quoted as saying:

“He stripped Himself, not of His divinity, but of His glory, and voluntarily submitted Himself to be despised, to be hung upon the cross, and to suffer the most shameful of deaths.”

Calvin was stressing that the passage demonstrates the profound humility of Christ, which serves as a pattern for Christian living—living a life of humility, service, and obedience.

J. I. Packer stated this:

“Here is displayed, for all to see, the mind of Christ: self-giving, self-denial, self-humbling for the sake of others. In that mindset, Christians find their own calling to serve and sacrifice.”

Packer underscored the passage's challenge to us believers: to adopt the mindset of Christ in our relationships and service.

That’s exactly what we want to do this morning. The title of the message is “Getting Your Mind Right.” Getting our Minds Right.

May we be challenged as Paul challenged the church at Philippi to use our very Lord and Jesus as our best example. Let’s look into the mind of Jesus. That in and of itself is overwhelming to know that God gave us Jesus, God-Incarnate that we might get a glimpse of how God thinks. Wow! We will look at the mind of Jesus today for our example for daily living.

We know the letter to the church was a synergy of joy and what is rooted in Jesus to have Joy. We are challenged in this letter about our attitudes and what we keep our minds stayed on.

I love Philippians to keep my mind right. To keep me from stinking thinking.

Philippians 4:4–7 “4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:8–9 “8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”

And for good reason. Her is how our dear Lord works. The Holy Spirit assigned Paul the task of writing this letter to minister to the church at Philippi. But, I want you to know it was this letter among the others that sustained Paul in the imprisonments, beatings, shipwreck, etc. This letter kept Paul’s mind right, yes, even in prison.

The letter to the Philippians is namely a positive encouraging letter, but the church at Philippi had not reached perfection no more than any of us has. There was something brewing. They had no issues that even remotely compares to the struggles the church at Corinth encountered, but there was discord brewing on the horizon.

Why? When two sinners come to church together than can be issues if we are not extremely careful.

You will remember there were two ladies that planted the seed of discord among the members. You can read of those two ladies in Philippians 4:2 “2 I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.

Paul knew this from the visit of Epaphroditus when he brought him gifts and ministered to him. And so, Paul sent a letter to minister to the Philippians.

Listen to what he stated in the prior verses.

Philippians 1:27 “27 Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,”

Paul challenged the Philippian church as a people, as God’s people, as God’s church, to function in that capacity and have an unified spirit our minds must be right, focused on right thoughts, right things, and the right person.

Listen to Proverbs 23:7 “7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.

The fact that when God’s people, us, His church are struggling, we must address our minds.

What do I mean when we I say struggle?

Our struggle can be evidenced in our sheer motivation, our countenance, our pizzazz, our attitudes.

We become cynical, we exploit the negatives rather than seeing the positive. We become whiners. We push people away rather than draw people to us.

We do not want to come to church

We do not want to participate

We do not want to tithe

We do not want to read our Bible or find that when we do read it, that we do not get anything from our study.

We go through the motions of worship but our hearts are not really here.

Simply put, our minds are not right when it comes to the things of God. And so Paul brings a case that our minds must be transformed to be unified, to bring back that fire and be Christ centered.

Paul wrote these same thoughts to the church at Rome:

Romans 12:2 “2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

In Philippians, Paul speaks of the mind 11 X

The mind is the very core of our being, our soul, our motivation, the very drumbeat of our lives.

The Greek Word is psyche. For example, we get our English Word psychic.

Mind

Lexham Theological Wordbook ψυχή

ψυχή (psychē). n. fem. life, soul, person. Can refer to a person’s inner life or to the life-principle

Lexham Theological Wordbook ψυχή

This word may denote that which gives life (the life-principle) or life itself

Lexham Theological Wordbook ψυχή

The word psychē is also used to denote the inner life of a human—the soul or the heart that produces a variety of internal human processes

The word psyche means what is our life about, what motivates us, what is our driving force?

I lead my third cousin’s funeral, Donna Stewart yesterday and we were not real close. I spent some time discussing with her husband, her daughter, and her sisters to find out her psyche, what was the heart beat of her life, what was her driving force, what motivated her, etc. We could say “what are you passionate about?”

Matthew 6:21“21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Mark 12:30 “30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.”

There is a drawing when we live in that state. There is a radiance in our lives and we can in some very samll way behold His glory in us and people are drawn to it.

When we do that it is so very apparent in our lives and it manifests itself in everything we are, everything we do, and everything we think.

Colossians 3:23 “23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,”

Paul continues:

Philippians 2:1–4 “1 Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

Again, Paul is writing to the believers of Christ at Philippi. Paul is recanting their journey and history in the first verses. Firstly, he says therefore as he begins to answer how you regain the proper mindset.

If there have been times in your past that you enjoyed the comfort, the fellowship of Christ in your life,

if you have felt His love and the love of fellow believers,

if you have enjoyed times of refreshment of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life,

if you have felt the affections of the body called Christ and

people have been merciful toward you in your low ebbs,

if you want that again, if you are in a spiritual slump, you need to seek the mind our very Jesus has.

Your mind has not been centered on the right things. You have drifted and I want to offer you the greatest example of getting your mind right. I want you to have the mind of Jesus. Let’s look at Jesus and see where His mind was stayed.

In verse 5, simply put Paul states to look to Jesus’ example of how we fix our minds.

Firstly, we see a mind stayed on:

Humility

Philippians 2:6–7 “6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.”

As we gander today at Jesus in this text we quickly see that Jesus stooped down to us. When Jesus comes to us its always a descent from where He is to seek us. In other words Jesus exemplified humility for our sakes. Paul clearly communicated the stooping journey Jesus took to pursue our souls and the soul of all mankind that would accept His gift of salvation.

Three focal words come to mind as I read these two verses.

Firstly,

Jesus gave up the respect.

Respect

“who being in the form of God”

John 1:1 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

We must clearly understand that Jesus never gave up being God at any point in time.

Satan stands for glorying in himself rather than glorying in God.

Jesus however, was no about serving Himself, but serving His heavenly Father.

John 4:34 “34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”

John 5:30 “30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.”

Relinquish

“did not consider it robbery to be equal with God”

When we think about His mind we must attempt to understand that even though Jesus relinquished the benefits of God state, He never once dropped His God status.

What did He give up for you and me? He left the throne room of heaven. He left the place of sitting at the right hand of the Father. He left the glory and all of the angel’s glorying over Him.

Reputation

“but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant.”

What we learn from these verse is that in order for our minds to be right, we must be humble servants of the Lord. What in turn does that accomplish?

Listen dear brothers and sisters, Jesus left the respect of heaven, the throne of all glory to come to earth for our sakes. Jesus relinquished the respect, the reputation in order to be able to approach humanity and meet our need.

The greatest battle you face and I face is worrying about saving our faces or the face of Jesus. You and I are in a battle every day as to whether we need to defend ourselves and lash out, whether we need recognition or to see that our rights are recognized or to be more concerned and focused on the common good of representing Christ in right fashion. We have to ask the question of every moment of the day, not what I should do or act or think or respond, but how would Jesus act, say, think or respond. That’s mine and your daily assignment.

At every juncture our dear Lord and Savior was more concerned about the Father and His will and His mission that what people did to Him, thought of Him, and He fought for the greater good of leading the lost to salvation.

Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve and make His life a ransom for many. Amen.

Think about this:

If your life loses undue time over what other people think about you, or whether they respect you? Our mission needs to be:

What does the Lord think of me? Are my actions pleasing in His sight? Am I living a life that glorifies Him?

Jesus rose above all the distractions of that that His Father would be glorified.

May our lives be a greater testament of Jesus than a testament about ourselves.

So, in considering humility, consider placing Jesus above ourselves.

What must I relinquish of my concerns that Jesus be number one in my life?

I ask the question, why was this lyric of this hymn written so perfectly, so majestic in its nature.?

Yes, because God wrote it. I get it. But I believe that in Paul’s own personal experience when He considered how God-Jesus stooped down to come to Him, it blew Him away. It literally blinded him in His tracks and He was never the same.

Paul discovered his humility as Christ in form of Deity met him on the road to Damascus. He was blinded by the light of Christ's deity. He, like Moses, could only take in a small amount of all the majesty and glory of Jesus.

We are to have a humble attitude. We should respond as a servant

Vs. 6- 8. The Genesis account of Eden and Revelation 21 provides a small taste of what Jesus left in the glories of heaven to come to this earth as the God-man, God Incarnate, Jesus to save you and me. Try to imagine for one moment in the best that we can fathom to leave God's presence and participate in a human birth in the mother Mary (a lowly Jewish peasant girl) and a father Joseph (a lowly Jewish man) as parents. I am not discrediting or taking away from Joseph and Mary in any way. God used them in His divine plan. They are recorded in the Bible for all eternity. They are God’s creation.

They were simply commoner people of that day, peasant people to be more exact.

Scriptures says that Jesus was born of the root of Jesse. It doesn't state that he was born of the root of David. David represented kingship. Jesse was a Bethlehem farmer. Furthermore, Jesus was born in a manger.

Christmas cards make the scene so quaint and peaceful. The reality is that Jesus was born in dark, cold, and filthy conditions. A manger was a place where livestock lived. When we look at the story of the lowliness of the prodigal son when He hit bottom; we are reminded that He was with swine. Our Lord and Savior was born into that environment. He experienced work, physical work like you and I. He toiled by the sweat of His brow. He was a carpenter. He went home tired. His feet hurt, his back ached. He had all of the ammunition as God to snap His fingers and could have changed His course at any moment, but chose to followed the will of His Father.

"Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us." 2

Matt 1:23-24 (NKJV)

God, Jesus, did come down to be with us. He came from the heights of Heaven and all its glory to come and save you and me.

For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Isaiah 53:2-3 (NKJV)

Jesus came from a place where the Angels worshipped him to a place where people spat upon him, ridiculed Him, mocked Him, and denied Him.

Why, for you. He loves you so much. What must you give up to come back to Jesus?

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. 1

2 Cor 8:9-10 (NKJV)

Jesus humbled Himself, and became impoverished for our sake so that we may life abundant in Him.

When we see that Jesus came to serve, and not to be served, what is the message for the church today?

We need to come to church today on the premise of not what the church owes me, but what I owe the church. What do I owe His ministry? What area of service can I offer up today? Whose life can I make a difference in today? Whose life can I make a little easier today because I have been with them?

"For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.

Luke 22:27 (NKJV)

Jesus shared the example of service at the Last Supper when He washed the feet of the disciples.

People the attitude we should exhibit is humility. The action should surface in servanthood.

As I consider that the Nominating Committee will offer up a slate of names to serve consider this:

You have not been offered a position in the church. You have been offered a ministry opportunity.

Henry Blackaby states that "it is not about us." Folks, it is not about you and me. It is about them.

Firstly, we must exhibit humility, but secondly Jesus was obedient.

Obedient

Philippians 2:8 “8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

We read of Jesus from age 12 and a gap until He is 30 years of age. Every encounter we read of is a testament of obedience on the part of our Savior.

Luke 2:49 “49 And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?””

When Jesus faced His stark number one enemy in the wilderness, Jesus was found obedient and referenced the Scriptures to be the darts to pass the test.

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Heb 12:2 (NKJV)

“Obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

Today, if we were to consider the electric chair, the gas chamber, hangman's noose, or guillotine of that day; all would be a better circumstance than the cross. The death on the cross was the ultimate in humility, but also the ultimate in honoring His Father's wishes.

Jesus asked God to let the cup pass from Him in the garden of Gethsemane, but said that His will would be done. What Jesus did for us was the ultimate price in obedience to the Father.

Isaiah 50:6 “6 I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.”

Isaiah 53:3–7 “3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.”

Psalm 22:16–18 “16 For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; 17 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. 18 They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.”

Is that vivid enough to know the price of obedience our Savior committed because of you?

Jesus went through total humiliation and embarrassment aside from the fundamental pain for you and me. Here was the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords having a crown of thorns on head. He was used as a mockery by the sign being placed above the cross "King of the Jews" when He was King of the Universe. He was at the right hand of a thief and a murderer, rather than the right hand of God. He experienced the ultimate pain of separation from His father when it went dark on Golgotha’s Hill.

He suffered dehydration, yet He was the living water. He experienced darkness even though HE was the light of the world. He experienced torture and pain, even though He is the prince of peace. He experienced death, even though He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

How could we not be obedient when Jesus was obedient to the point of death for us?

"If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.

John 15:10 (NKJV)

The Lord Himself commands us to keep His commandments. We will discover that our hearts and minds will be right when we are stayed on Jesus and His teaching for our lives.

WE will not only find God's greatest blessings on us in our obedience, but we will have a more effective ministry to others. People will watch your walk, rather than listen to your talk.

If you speak about giving, but do not tithe, your words will fall on deaf ears.

If you speak about honesty, but cheat on your taxes your words will be fruitless. If you speak of love, but do not show love, it will not be felt. We must be obedient to God's word for our lives and model after Jesus in our actions.

Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Titus 2:14 (NKJV)

Exaltation

Philippians 2:9–11 “9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

When we realize the indescribable sacrifice Christ made for us, the only attitude is gratitude exemplified through our praise to Him and of Him. Amen!

May I ask you a question that should just make you giddy? Our own pilgrimage of renewal in Christ is a quest to bring us up with Him from the depths.

There is a reason Jesus stooped to reach us. IN our former life, we were all in the pits of sin. We literally needed someone to help us up because we do not within ourselves have the ability to overcome our sin nature. Oh by golly, we all have tried. We have tried everything that brings us peace, but the things we try just come up empty.

But oh that day, Jesus reached down to the bottom depths of your heart and had you confront that nasty sin and you were broken. Oh yes, that is a tough bottom, but when He loved you in spite of your past, He forgave your past, He washed Your sins away, oh the future is glorious, it is upward, it is uplifting, it is liberating, and not only is upward from a past, but is upward from any where you’ve been.

Consider where you are today? Consider for those that have never accepted Christ, where do you want to be?

Let’s all read Philippians 2:9-11 together.

Philippians 2:9–11 NKJV

9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

There is coming a day anytime now. We are definitely in the last days. There are too many signs pointing to it.

Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed

Dan 7:14 (NKJV)

The scriptures remind us that there is coming a day when Jesus will reign in Glory. We will all be called up in the twinkling of an eye to be with Him. The question we must all ask ourselves is what do we do today?

We live a life of exaltation and praise of Him and it becomes contagious in the lives of others. Our praise and adoration in a time such as this is the glue that pulls us together in one accord. Amen.

Revelation 5:12 “12 saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!””

Scripture also reminds us that "If we confess the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in our Hearts, we will be saved." That is what one must do to take upon themselves the mind of Jesus is to be joined to Jesus.

Let’ pray.