The Mind of Christ
Philippians • Sermon • Submitted
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Up to this point the emphasis of Paul’s letter to the Philippians has been largely application.
Answering the questions:
What are we to do and how are we to live?
We are to partner (fellowship) together for the advance of the gospel.
We are to defend the gospel.
We are to grow in love through knowledge and discernment.
And above all we are to live a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
While all these things are true and incredibly important, there is one thing lacking from all of this:
The motivation to actually do these things.
Verses 5-11 focus our attention on the why question.
Why should we do these things that we have learned?
What is the driving force that is motivating us to live a life worthy of the gospel?
It is only through understanding what Christ has done for us that we will be motivated to do the things we have already talked about.
We can know what we ought to do, but if there is no desire to do it then it doesn’t matter.
This is where Paul turns our attention to Christ.
Christ Himself provides the motivation to live a life in humble submission to God.
V. 5-11 Take us into the very mind of Christ. These verses are full of theological truths.
Theology Matters!
Not just for the pastor, teacher, and missionary but for the mom, dad, husband, wife, student, construction worker, accountant.
Theology matters for every Christian because theology impacts every area of our lives.
There is nothing more important about you than what you think about God.
Our ideas about God can either be right or wrong, but they will have a dramatic effect on the way that we live our lives.
For this reason we must deal carefully with the text before us and not read our own ideas into it but rather draw out only what can be clearly known.
V. 5
What could be more obvious than this?
That those who call themselves Christians should follow after the example of Christ.
But so often we do not follow the example set for us by Christ, instead adopting that which is acceptable to our family, our peers, and our culture.
We can hardly call ourselves Christians if we do not adopt the attitude that Christ Himself had.
What was the attitude of Christ?
Paul doesn’t leave us wondering, but under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit, takes us deep within the very mind of Christ.
V. 6
First and foremost we must understand that Christ was and is in every way God.
This is a purely sacred doctrine that must not be tampered with because of its solid grounding in Scripture.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Existing in the form of God meaning: being in very nature God.
Jesus is not a created being!
Jesus is eternal and infinite in power, in knowledge, and in glory. He is not lacking in anything that the Father has, He is completely equal.
This is why Jesus is able to say:
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
But Jesus being in every way equal to God, did not consider this equality with God something to be grasped.
The idea being, not something to be used for His own benefit or His own interests.
V.7
Here we have a very controversial verse with a lot of debate around exactly what it means by “He emptied Himself.”
Here is was it does not mean, what it can not mean:
He did not empty Himself of His deity, Jesus did at no point stop being God as God does not change.
He did not give up any of His divine attributes, as this too would mean that Jesus at some point ceased to be God.
This “emptying” most likely refers to the giving up or laying down of His divine rights and privileges as God.
Any such speculation is a departure from the original purpose of this verse as Paul goes on to tell us in what way He emptied Himself.
By taking on the form of a servant.
Here we have addition not subtraction.
Christ did not take anything from His divine nature but rather added to Himself a human nature.
So it really is not what did He empty Himself of but into what did He empty Himself.
Into the form of a servant.
Between these two verses we see the wonderful doctrine of Christ’s dual natures. That He is bot 100% God and 100% man.
Christ did all this of His own choice.
He willingly takes this task upon Himself.
What incredible depths God was willing to go to redeem and restore humanity to Himself.
14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
How could this be? That the creator and sustainer of the universe would come as a servant.
45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
This is a great and wonderful mystery that we can only marvel at for now but one day we will understand it fully.
But this is not all.
V. 8
As if it were not enough that Christ would come as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.
He chose to take upon Himself that one thing, that without His consent, had no power over Him. Death.
Christ possessing immortality, subjected Himself to death, holding nothing back.
Death was the mode, not the master.
Christ does this out of obedience to the Father.
11 At that, Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword away! Am I not to drink the cup the Father has given me?”
12 Therefore I will give him the many as a portion,
and he will receive the mighty as spoil,
because he willingly submitted to death,
and was counted among the rebels;
yet he bore the sin of many
and interceded for the rebels.
We can learn much from the humble submission of Christ to His role.
That though He was equal to the Father in every way He submitted Himself to the Father in willing obedience.
We tend to think that differences in roles means differences in value.
But there is no such distinction made in Scripture, in the roles of the Trinity or in the roles that we have been given.
But that’s not all.
Not only did Christ become obedient to the point of death, but even to death on a cross!
The Cross has become domesticated to us but not so to Paul’s original audience.
This statement would have been shocking.
The ultimate symbol of death, the form of death reserved for the worst of criminals, so dehumanizing that roman citizens were not subject to this form of death.
Christ subjected Himself not just to death but to death on the cross.
The cross was not only the most brutal and inhumane form of punishment but to the Jew it was the sign of being cursed by God.
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.
Christ redeemed us from the curse that we were under by becoming a curse for us!
21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
What good news we have indeed!
How could we know this and not proclaim it!
How could we experience this and not share it!
This wonderful mystery has been revealed to us and we can not be silent!
Because of the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ, to accomplish all that the Trinity had planned before the beginning of time, Christ has been highly exalted and given the name above every name.
This is more than the name Jesus, it is the name LORD, YAHWEH. The name above all names has been given to the God-Man Christ Jesus!
Let us have this same mind that was in Christ Jesus!
A mind of humility and obedience.
A mind of self-sacrificing service to others, especially those who do not deserve it.
A mind of considering the needs of others above our own.
And why do this?
How can we not when we understand what Christ has already done for us?