Adjusting Your Attitude

Power struggles exist in every part of our society. In the family, spouses argue over their own rights even as they together meet their children’s struggles for their rights (and power).

Society in general mirrors the family even as the family mirrors society. The same is true in the political arena. Tensions continue as they always will.

However, Christians have another alternative—a different mind. Holy week calls us to have the mind of Christ. Instead of thinking of our rights, we think of the needs of others, for Christ thought first of ours.

The Mind of Christ

He did not assert himself.

Note his attitude when on trial

He served the needs of others, even to death on a cross.

Even in the garden He submitted to His Fathers will

He could have called a legion of angels to rescue Him

Even as His Father turned away from Him on the cross

He relied on God to vindicate and exalt him.

Our Mind

Our natural—and sinful—tendency is to assert ourselves.

Unless our minds are transformed, we always watch out for number one.

Let Christ change your mind.

Your mind is changed through your fellowship with him. He conforms our attitude to his, so that we adopt his servant attitude.

Illustration: Albert Schweitzer, the great medical missionary, eagerly served in his small African hospital, often doing the most menial jobs. He had every qualification to seek what people considered prestigious positions. He held degrees in philosophy, theology, and medicine. He was also a great organist.

One time, when Schweitzer came home on furlough, reporters waited for him at the train station. They almost missed him because they looked for him in the first-class section. When asked why he, such a great man, rode third class, he replied, “There was no fourth class.”

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” Look to the needs of others, not yourself. Serve them in Christ’s name and with his attitude.

The comfort of his love enables us to take risks by caring for others instead of watching out for ourselves.

Conclusion: Let this mind be in you. Become what you are in Christ, looking to the needs of others in the family, in the work place, in the classroom, and in the political arena. Love others not as you are loved by them, but as you are loved by God in Christ Jesus. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time” (1 Pet 5:6). As surely as God has exalted his Son, so will he exalt you.

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Textual Notes

V 5: Theologically, God’s indicative always precedes his imperative: God has done this for you, therefore respond in this manner. The action called for here in v 5 is predicated upon the content of vv 6–11.

The thought begins in v 1: If your unity with Christ (him in you and you in him) is of any value to you, then be united and care for each other. How? By drawing on the power of Christ so that you operate with the same attitude, the same set of principles as he did. God calls us to have a mind-set; phroneō means “to have thoughts or [an] attitude[s], be minded or disposed” (BAGD 866b).

Vv 6–11: This may be a liturgical hymn (TDIVT 4.750), using parallel clauses to describe the form of Christ.

V 6: The word morphē denotes the “form, outward appearance, shape” (BAGD 528a). Here the word refers to Jesus’ preexistence as God from eternity, not to his physical appearance (in contrast to v 7). We see the heavenly Father in Jesus in his forgiveness toward sinners, his compassion toward the hungry multitudes, the authority of his teaching, and his power over sickness and death.

The word arpagmos means “robbery” or “something to be snatched or grabbed away” (cf. BAGD 108b). During his state of humiliation, Jesus did not use his divine powers to assert himself over others, even though he was God.

V 7: Rather, Jesus “made himself nothing.” Literally, eauton ekenōsen means “emptied himself.” As a bond servant, his miracles were not to impress or overpower but to point to his messianic role and to lead people to salvation (cf. John 20:31).

V 8: The repetition of thanatou, “death,” emphasizes how far Jesus went in emptying himself—even to the death appropriate for wicked slaves. As regarding his divine nature, he was our perfect substitute; as regarding his humanity, he was our substitute in punishment.

V 9: This verse is the contrasting parallel to v 8. See also Rom 4:25. The Father’s acceptance of Jesus’ sacrificial and substitutionary death is shown by the resurrection.

V 10: All creation will bow—those now in the church militant, as well as the church triumphant, the angels in heaven, the devil and his hosts, and all those condemned to hell. “Some people will serve God willingly and some unwillingly, but all will serve God to his glory” (attributed to Martin Luther).

V 11: The Greek word order emphasizes kurios, “Lord.” Jesus, the man born of Mary and executed on the cross, is more than what he seemed—he is the Lord God (Yahweh). “Jesus is Lord” is often regarded as the earliest confession of the church (cf. Rom 10:9).