Mindful Joy
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Intro
Intro
Good evening! Welcome to Harvest Students! My name is Junior, one of the Pastor’s here at Harvest, It is my privilege to teach you the bible. Because the bible is God’s word to us, apart from a clear understanding and application of what it teaches we will spend eternity in hell, and when understood and applied it brings eternal life and joy. True Joy, that’s the name of our series through the book of Philippians.
Dictionary of Bible Themes 5035 mind
The seat of human consciousness, thought and desires. Scripture stresses that the minds of believers must be shaped by the knowledge and love of God, as their ways of thinking and acting become more like the pattern set out in Jesus Christ.
Today we are going to talk about the Mind, how we should think, what are the results of a healthy thought life, and how we can be a better thinker.
The Bible refers to the mind as the place of human consciousness, thought and desires. What christians think must be shaped by the knowledge and love of God, our ways of thinking and acting should be more like the pattern set out by Jesus Christ.
The seat of human consciousness, thought and desires. Scripture stresses that the minds of believers must be shaped by the knowledge and love of God, as their ways of thinking and acting become more like the pattern set out in Jesus Christ.
So turn in your bibles to , we will be looking at the first 18 verses.
Let’s read together:
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being 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 count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
If we are supposed to be thinking and acting like Christ, here are 3 things we need to keep in mind:
Maintain a Unified Mind
Maintain a Unified Mind
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.
Phil 2:1-
The main idea in this passage comes from the phrase “complete my joy by being of the same mind”. Now when he uses the word complete here, he is not talking about finishing something, but to fulfill it. He wants the Philippians to be unified, chapter 3 talks about false teachers and we know whenever they are present they bring disunity, chapter 4 talks about disunity between Euodia and Synteche which means the false teachers got some influence into their relationship. Knowing all this Paul, as with any loving Pastor calls for unity. “The Philippians must be united not only against their common foes (False Teachers) but also unified in heart and mind and in mutual regard for one another. (with one another)”.
What you don’t realize is that the devil wants us to hate each other, dislike each other, but he is the devil after all, he wouldn’t just come overtly and say “hate that person”. He says “my spirit nah tek da person dey”, “She think she dey in something?”. And guess what? That’s the seed of discord right there, the person who you never had a problem with, suddenly in prideful defense “Me nah like you neither”, and so the feud goes, you tell your friends, she tell her friends, and you have beef to feed a whole nation.
Hughes, R. Kent. Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon (2 volumes in 1 / ESV Edition): The Fellowship of the Gospel and The Supremacy of Christ (Preaching the Word) (Kindle Locations 1154-1155). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
But God wants us to be of the same mind, think unity, think loving thoughts of each other.
When you’ve been thinking wrongly for a while it’s hard to break out of it, so here’s 3 ways you can have and maintain a unified mind.
Be thankful - Vs 1 indicates that they’ve received encouragement, comfort, fellowship, affection, and sympathy. He’s asking them to remember these things and be thankful. The best fuel for thanksgiving is a good memory. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! 5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
5 For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
Be humble - always think of others as more significant than yourself. Vs 3, - It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
Be humble - always think of others as more significant than yourself. Vs 3, - It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Be Selfless- Vs 4 we should always be looking out for others, not just ourselves, what we want and what we desire, but lovingly putting others first, and you have a perfect opportunity for that every time we meet together, you get to show that “I’m not selfish.”
27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,
28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Maintain a unified mind. Point no.2 on your outline....
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.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
Model a Christlike Mind
Model a Christlike Mind
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
If you have been a Christian for a while, reading and Studying scripture, one of the things you will notice is that Jesus never commands us to do something that He has never done.
Phil 2:
This passage of scripture gave clarity to somethings ages ago, in the 1800s some people came to believe something called the Kenosis - from the word here in verse 7, when it says Jesus emptied Himself. This teaching said that Jesus in His humanity emptied himself of some of his divine attributes/Characteristics. The Kenosis theory is a dangerous doctrine because if it were true, then it would mean that Jesus was not fully divine. If Jesus was not fully divine, then His atoning work would not be sufficient to atone for the sins of the world.
The correct doctrine is the Hypostatic Union--that Jesus is both fully God and fully man () and did not give up any divine attributes while as a man on earth.
So here it is Jesus is asking you to be humble, why because he humbled himself by leaving the perfect, clean, righteous, and sinless estate of heaven to come and live, suffer, and die with and for us. Something that we would never understand because we have never been to heaven. But he has always existed in this environment, and he gave it up for us.
What will you not give up for him? Is it a relationship with friends, a boyfriend, a few minutes a day for devotions, avoiding sin? What is it? What can be more precious than Him? Holding on to anger, resentment, sexual pleasure, pretending to be what you’re not? Tell me! If He would do this for me, what can I not do for Him?
Please think of what you’re giving up here! Cause no matter what can come to your mind, nothing is worth more than being with Him and like him.
Manage an Obedient Mind
Manage an Obedient Mind
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing,
15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.
18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
Phil 2:
Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. This is a very popular verse, it means that after you have become a christian,
you have a responsibility to pursue Christlikeness with a healthy fear of not offending God, and a righteous respect for Him
This is your job everyday, to wake up thinking I want to be more like Jesus, how can I be more like Jesus? And it’s not like God leaves you on your own to do all this, verse 13, he says “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. So in other words, when you think that it is by your power that you’re being obedient, it is God who is giving you electricity.
God is working in you so that every time you do a good work it’s not your work but it’s God’s work working in you for God’s glory and your good.
He is not just out there looking on, he is actively involved in your obedience, and actively opposing your disobedience.
So here are some ways to manage an obedient mind:
Trust God’s commands. Vs 14 do all things without grumbling and disputing. One of the reasons we disobey God is that we don’t trust that what he is telling us to do is the right thing to do. But He wants you to trust Him! He’s got it covered, He’s been doing this thing like forever! Don’t you think he knows what he’s asking you to do?
Trust God’s process. Vs 15. God wants to move you from a twisted and crooked generation into a blameless and innocent children of God, shining as lights in the world. That’s His process, you dig it?
Trust God’s plan. Vs 16. The plan of God is that on the day when Christ return, he will say about you well done, good and faithful servant.
Trust God’s plot. Vs 17. In a movie/book theres always a plot e.g. boy meets girls, boy get’s girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. Or Guy encounters villain, villain makes him suffer, guy gets training, guy takes revenge on villain. Same way in life there are times of ease, times of suffering, but through it all God is working in you to make you more like Christ.
Trust God’s results. Vs 18. God is aiming towards your joy, not happiness, but Joy, true joy, joy that faces the death of a loved one with courage, joy that says no to the sinful pleasures of this world, Joy that stands up to friends when they slander, mock or defame your God. That’s the result of an obedient mind.