The Mindset of Jesus

Intro

Last week we finished chapter one of Philippians and we see Paul expressing something that is very familiar to each of us. He was in a situation he had no control over. We all know what thats like. but in the middle of his situation Paul made choice over the one thing he could control himself. He declared that Christ will be lifted highly in my body by life or death.

Our lives will be full of things we can’t control, but the one thing we can always control is if we glorify Christ in our situations or not. Last week several of you came forward and confessed to God your desire and commitment to glorify God each situation. I pray that is decision that we all continue to make each and every day as we strive to do through the power of the Holy Spirit what Paul challenged us to do at the end of the chapter which is as citizens of heaven live of a life worthy of the Gospel of Christ.

Today we are going to see what can make that a reality in our lives as well as look at the the Gospel through the mindset of Jesus which will cause us to treasure him even more.

Philippians 2:1–4 CSB

If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.

I want to remind you of something very important when it comes to studying God’s word. every single word is inspired by the Holy Spirit meaning every word in it comes straight from God. the words are inspired but the numbers aren’t. what I mean by that is the chapters and verses. chapters werent added to the Bible until 1205 AD and verses werent added to the new testament untill the 1500s. So when someone tells you Jesus is coming back because a verse and chapter line up with a certain date. Stop listening to that person. why am i telling you this. because sometimes the people who put chapters in the Bible put a chapter division right in the middle of a train of thought.

so if you start reading from where the chapter starts you miss what had just come before and the thought that is being communicated is incomplete. Like if you start watching a movie an hour an in you will miss all the important context of what came before.

And we defintely see that in this passage. a clue of that is the phrase “if then” or your bible may say “therefore” whenever you see that you got ask yourself what is the therefor there for. learning all that may not be catchy. its not the part of our time together today that Alysa will make into a facebook reel. but its important because I want to do my part to equip you to study the word on your own more effectively and not just depend on me or your small group leader to interpet God’s word.

so here even though the new chapter has started Paul’s train of thought really starts in 1:27 and and goes through 2:2.

I would sum his whole train of thought through those verses by paraphrasing it like this “Above all, I want your lives to be worthy of the gospel you have received. When you live that way, you'll be able to stand strong in a hostile world—grounded in God's work, united with one another, and striving together for the cause of Christ.

The thing that would make Paul’s joy complete isn’t just that they would live a life worthy of the Gospel but that they do it together. Philippians 2:2

Philippians 2:2 CSB

make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

thinking the same way, having the same love, united and in spirit and have one purpose.

Here is what Paul is making clear

1. Unity is Essential.

Unity of believers is not some optional benefit to the Christian life that you can take or leave. Unity is not a luxury for the church; it's a necessity. It's not leather seats on the car—it's the engine. You can drive without the heated seats. You cannot drive without the engine. Paul is not saying It would be nice if you all got along." He's saying, "If you're going to live worthy of the gospel, stand firm against opposition, and strive side by side for the faith, unity isn't optional. It's essential."

Unity is not some useful weapon against the world. no it belongs at the very essence of the Christian life. It is the way that Christians display outwardly what the Gospel is and what it means to them. Unity is one of the clearest pieces of evidence that the gospel is real. When people who have different backgrounds, preferences, personalities, and opinions genuinely love one another and move in the same direction, the world takes notice.

The life worthy of the Gospel is a life of unity. and Paul doesn’t leave this concept of unity abstract he defines it clearly the unity he is talking about is clearly laid out in verse two. Its a church that has one mind, one love, one spirit, one purpose.

going over those four could be a whole sermon but here’s the real question that probably came into your mind, cause it came into my mind when I studied this.

If Unity is so essential why is it so hard? Why do we lack it so much?

in our churches, in our country, in our families. It feels like there is no unity anywhere.

I believe Paul tells us why in verses 3-4.

Philippians 2:3–4 CSB

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.

How do we have more unity?

2. Humility is the Key

You cannot have unity without humility. A group of people cannot be in unity if their all focused on themselves. If we are serious about wanting to live a life worthy of the Gospel of Christ it will be marked by unity with those also striving to live a life worthy of the Gospel of Christ and the only way to have that unity is to have a posture of humility.

I want to paint a picture of what Biblical humility is because there is certainly unbiblical humility. unbiblical humility is when people say things to appear humble as a way to gain more praise or followers or build their brand they are saying the right things for the wrong reasons, Unbiblical humility is also looking at yourself and believing the lies of the enemy that you arent worth anything. That you cant do anything right, and people would be better off without you around. That is not humility that is self hatred which we are not called to.

Biblical humility is not thinking less of yourself. It is thinking of yourself less.

you are created in the image of God. God looked at you and said you were worth dying for so that you could be with him forever and we live in that confidence. In order to be humble you don’t need to think worse of yourself, what you need to do is raise your opinion of other people.

Because what is true about you that you were created in the image of God and God declared that you were worth dying for so you could be with him forever is also true of them.

I dont need to lower my opinion of myself to humbly serve people what I need to do is look at not just myself through God’s eyes but also everyone else. and I can then put their interests above my own?

Easier said then done right how do we do that? because heres the problem if everyone is differing to everyone else’s interests what exactly how do we have any direction, how do we move forward. Jesus modeled it for us.

Philippians 2:5–11 CSB

Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

These verses are so special because they sum up the Gospel not from our perspective but they show us the perspective and mindset of Jesus. And it shows us that for all we have been talking about how to have unity as a result of humility we have a model for it.

3. Jesus is the Model

This passage shows us that Jesus has always been. Before Christmas there was Jesus before the earth was formed there was Jesus. and when he came to this earth he did not remove himself from membership in the Godhead he simply concealed it for awhile he didnt lessen himself he just concealed his glory.

He who already was fully God also became fully man. and in doing so he humbled himself. He who is most high with no reason to humble himself chose to humble himself. How much? even to the point of death. He chose to take on the one that without his consent had no power over him. death itself.

Death was the mode but not the master of his obedience. he obeyed his father by dying a humble death but his obedience wasnt to death it was to his father.

You look at depictions of Jesus on the cross and you think what was he thinking.

This was the mindset of Christ. He looked at himself, at his father, and at us and for obedience’ sake and for sinners sake he held nothing back.

That’s Jesus, thats our model for humility and unity.

We are to look at ourselves, look at our father, look at the lost and dying world around us and for their sake and the sake of obeying our father hold nothing back.

again how do we do that? how do we show that type of humility so we have unity.

Paul told us the church needs one mind, one love, one spirit, one purpose.

This is what it looks like.

we all have different ideas, different things we love, different spirits about things and different purposes. How can we be unified.

We become unified when each of us give our ideas, our loves, our spirits, our purposes over to God.

And instead of saying I know I have all the right ideas you say God accept what you think about this situation over what I think about it, when you do that you just humbled yourself. and when you and another person both do that you become unified because what holds you together isn’t what you think or what I think. you become unified around what God thinks.

Same with the things we love. when we humble ourselves and we start loving what God loves we become united with others who love the same thing and instead of being unified around your love for a sports team, a political party, or a band. You become unified around loving what God loves, serving in the church, sharing the Gospel, feeding the hungry, caring for those others overlook.

with spirits. through Christ we are able to up give up our spirits of fear, or spirit of doubt, or spirit of this world and instead we are each individually given the Holy Spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. freedom to be united with others who have the Holy Spirit.

Lastly with our purpose we all hunger for a purpose. we want our purpose to be the most important. and each and everyone one of us have an important purpose but we find it by humbly laying what we think our purpose should be over and accept the purpose God has for us. If we all do this then we become united around God’s purpose.

Conclusion

If we are going to let Christ be glorified in us like we all want, unity with other believers is essential. You cannot fully glorify Christ while refusing to be united with His church.

But unity doesn't happen by accident.

Unity requires humility.

And humility becomes possible when we fix our eyes on Jesus.

Paul's argument is actually very simple.

If you want to live a life worthy of the Gospel, you need unity.

If you want unity, you need humility.

If you want humility, look at Jesus.

Look at the One who had every right to be served but chose to serve.

Look at the One who had every right to hold on to His position but willingly laid down His rights.

Look at the One who held nothing back for the glory of His Father and the good of others.

And then ask yourself:

What am I still holding on to?

What preference?

What offense?

What pride?

What agenda?

What desire to be right?

What desire to get my way?

What is standing between me and the unity Christ died to create?

Because the call of this passage is not merely to admire the humility of Jesus.

The call is to adopt it. Paul says

"Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus."

Not someday.

Not when everyone else changes first.

Not when people finally agree with you.

Today.

Final Landing

And church, imagine what God could do through a people who were truly united.

A church where everyone is not fighting for their own way but surrendering to God's way.

A church where everyone is not demanding to be served but eager to serve.

A church where everyone is not protecting their own kingdom but advancing Christ's kingdom.

That kind of church stands out in a divided world.

That kind of church displays the reality of the Gospel.

That kind of church glorifies Christ.

So this week, before you ask, "What do I want?"

Ask,

"What would most glorify Christ?"

Before you ask,

"How can I get my way?"

Ask,

"How can I serve someone else?"

And before you look at everyone around you and wish they were different,

look at Jesus.

Because when we humble ourselves before Him, we discover that what unites us is far greater than anything that could ever divide us.

And when Christ becomes our mind, our love, our Spirit, and our purpose, we can truly experience joy anyway

This morning I want to invite each of you to humble yourselves.