Perseverance of the Saints - Philippians 2:1-11 - Mind of Christ

If you guys would please turn to Philippians chapter 2 as we continue our journey on the

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

perseverance of the saints.

Like I said, many times we think about perseverance from just the perspective of making it through.

But God perseveres us not only in His return and being with Him.

We persevere every day in His faithfulness to His people.

He brings us through.

So today we're going to be dealing with the issue of the mind of Christ, Philippians chapter

Philippians 2:1–11

2 verse 1 through 11.

I think a lot of times we read verses 1 through 11 and we kind of take what's being said here

in a very, we miss the picture I think.

So I'm hoping as we go through this it will clarify a little bit more about His faithfulness.

And you see Christ from a much more holy perspective is the term I want to think about.

So principle number one, principle number one, to be in spirit and in one mind we must

have the mind of Christ.

So let's pray.

Father I want to thank you so much for your word.

Thank you for your faithfulness.

Thank you for the truth.

Help us Lord as we go through Philippians 2, 1 through 11 that we see you and we understand

you and your character and the truth of this passage for your glory in Jesus' name, amen.

To be one in spirit and one in mind we must have the mind of Christ.

You can't be in unity with each other.

You can't be in one mind with one another unless we have the mind of Christ.

You must understand Christ's mind.

You must understand Him.

Encouragement, comfort, fellowship, affection, and sympathy must come from being united and

having the mind of Christ, okay?

Philippians chapter 2, verse 1 and 2.

Philippians 2:1

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in

the spirit, any affection and sympathy, make my joy complete or make my joy, complete my

joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one

mind.

That's what the ESV says here.

Interesting enough, in order for us to kind of grasp what Paul is saying here to the church

of Philippi, we've got to go back a little bit.

So I want you to go to chapter 1.

Now I want you to hear, see if you hear the same idea of what he's going to be clarifying

in chapter 2, in verse 27.

Chapter 1, verse 27, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ,

so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm

in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.

And not frightened in anything by your opponents.

This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God.

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe

in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and

now hear that I still have.

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 of cord and of one mind.

You see why he would continue this conversation.

He's really just repeating again, verse 27, that if we are living in a life that is in

a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, when he comes, he wants to make sure that they

are in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ and any comfort from love and any participation

in the spirit, any affection and sympathy for our suffering, then complete my joy by

being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full of cord and of one mind.

You see the thought here.

A lot of times we read chapter 2 and we think it's got this own little thought.

No, he's just carrying on a thought that he's saying, if we're going to suffer, let us do

it with joy.

Let us have the attitude that Christ had.

And he clarifies this in verses 5 all the way down to 11.

So I want you to hear something here.

This whole idea of being of one mind and being united comes from the same attitude by which

Christ had when he was one in oneness with the Father in heaven.

That's what he's implying here.

I want you to kind of see this.

Doesn't mean that Christ stopped being one with the Father and one with the Spirit.

He did not stop being one with the Father and one with the Spirit.

I and the Father are one.

That's what Jesus said.

But it's this idea that he was willing to do something in order for him to bring to

us what we needed, desperately needed.

Now, so if there's any encouragement in Christ, comfort, participation, affection, and sympathy,

he says complete my joy by being of the same mind.

This word mind is the word understanding.

That's what this word mind is.

This word mind is actually used several times in a couple of verses.

So he's saying make my joy complete by being of the same understanding, having the same

understanding of Christ.

How can we be united if we don't understand Christ, if we look at Christ differently because

of our denominations, if we look at Christ differently because we're not willing to submit

to the full counsel of his word because we think we're right or they're right, then the

whole point is there's no way we can be united in the Spirit of God because we're not united

for the purpose of Christ.

We're united for our own ideologies.

So we have to be united in Christ.

Understanding his word is the final authority in all things.

Now, that's the first thing.

First word is the mind.

There means understanding.

Having the same love.

This word love is agape, and it literally just means brotherly love.

Isn't that interesting?

It's not gapo.

This is agape, love for the brotherhood, love for the brothers of the faith, brothers and

sisters of the faith.

So I want you to see this.

Complete my joy by being of the same understanding, having brotherly love, and then he says being

in full accord and of one mind.

Now, what's interesting, if you're in accord with something and you're of one mind with

something, it means you're in harmony.

So this word mind here is to be harmonious.

Very important to understand this because in the ESV, it uses two words here that literally

mean to be harmonious.

According, be in full accord, and one mind.

Have we ever thought about what it means to be harmonious, to be in harmony with Christ

and with his word and with myself?

That I'm in full accord with him, that I'm in one mind with him.

Why ESV translators chose to use full accord and of one mind makes I don't understand because

the translation literally means harmonious.

But it makes sense when you think about the word harmonious here.

But if I'm going to have the same understanding as Paul concerning Christ, if I'm going to

have the same brotherly love as Christ has for us, then I'm going to be in harmony with

him and his people.

Makes sense.

Principle number two, the mind of Christ is to live selfless and humble, to please God

and to love him supremely.

There's a term out here, out there in the world that John Piper coined called Christian

hedonism.

Hedonism.

Hedonism means that everything that pleases me makes me happy, I will do.

Christian hedonism is this idea that I will find my full pleasure and desires in him.

Have we thought about Christian hedonism?

Everybody's a hedonist.

We all love something dearly.

Christian hedonism is loving God supremely.

Christian hedonism, biblical, here we go.

Love God with all your heart and obey him in everything.

Or he is your true pleasure and joy in all things you desire to please him.

Or God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him, John Piper.

Or only be very careful to observe the command, the commandment and the law that Moses, the

servant of the Lord commanded you to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways

and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all of your heart

and with all of your soul.

Joshua 22, 5.

And as he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all

your soul, with all your mind.

This is the greatest and first commandment.

And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus, Matthew 22, 37 through 39.

So Christian hedonism is a biblical truth.

How many times have we really thought about that?

Well that's what we end up reading in Philippians chapter 2 verse 34, this idea of Christian

hedonism, that I'm not living to please myself but I'm living to please him.

That my full pleasure, my full joy, everything that I have in my entire being is to love

him supremely.

And it's seen in what Paul says here in verses 3 through 4, which is the opposite of that.

Look what he says, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit.

In other words, it's not about you.

But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interest but also to the interest of others.

There it is, Christian hedonism in practice.

Have we ever thought about that?

So when you think about your life, how much of you are you willing to sacrifice?

Are you really willing to be a hedonist when it comes to Christ?

Is he your full pleasure in everything you need and desire?

Nothing else matters in life.

We live for him and him alone, not for our temporary pleasures.

And God in his goodness and faithfulness reaches down because he loves us and does for us.

Christian hedonism, what an amazing thought.

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

Love that term, the John Piper states.

Third principle, to love God supremely, you must have the mind of Christ.

You cannot love God like Jesus loves the Father unless you have the mind of Jesus.

Romans 12 verse 2, do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal

Romans 12:2

of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and

acceptable and perfect.

A lot of times we think about having this mind, that this renewing of the mind is something

that I actually, that actually I do on my own.

It's this transformation in Christ.

But be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

Transformation can only come by Christ and renewal can only come from Christ.

Now how do we prove this out?

Philippians chapter 2 verse 5 through 7.

Philippians 2:5–7

Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus.

Have you ever thought about that?

It's like how do I have the mind of Christ?

You already have it, it's yours.

Think about that.

How do I learn to live this Christian life?

You already have it, it's in Jesus.

Well I don't know if I want to go that direction.

I think my ways are a little bit easier.

I think I got this figured out.

How many of you guys can say you got this thing figured out?

I don't think any of you guys got this thing figured out.

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 something to be grasped but emptied himself by taking

the form of a servant being born in the likeness of man.

This verse, these verses are so distorted in many teachings for a lot of us it's frustrating.

It's frustrating.

I mean because many of us have read this and go see Jesus emptied himself.

It's not the word.

I don't know if there's a good translation there in the English.

It could have just actually said it the way it should have been said because Jesus did

not empty himself of anything.

You're like but that's not what it says.

Remember it's English.

English kind of messes up everything sometimes.

So let's look what it says here.

Have this mind.

Cherish the same views or strive for.

In other words when we are cherishing the same views as Christ if we're striving to

have the mind of Christ which is among yourselves which we have in Christ that kind of makes

a little bit more sense.

So it says cherish the views of Christ strive for the mind of Christ among yourselves.

Are you striving to have the mind of Christ among yourselves.

How much of Christ do you want to be like.

How much of you does Christ have and people go well I give him my heart but does he have

your mind because he can't have your heart if he doesn't have your mind.

People take we take the opposite.

He has my heart but he doesn't have your thoughts but he has my heart.

He doesn't have your actions.

He has my heart but he has my love.

But how much do you think about the person you love.

Now for some of you who probably sit next to the person that you love the most.

I remember when I met my wife I couldn't stop thinking about her.

Like why are you always on my mind.

Always on my mind you know.

That's what it means that we that our minds are fully on God all the time.

I think about him I like I think about him all night.

I woke up for 430 this morning.

I'm like why can't I sleep.

He's on my mind.

You're on my mind.

So strive for the mind of Christ which is yours.

It's yours you already have it.

The mind of Christ is there for you.

Not only does he live in you in the person of the Holy Spirit it's written for you.

You want the mind of Christ it's right here.

I just dropped something that's alright.

Okay now let's keep reading here.

Look what it says here.

Who though he was in the form of God.

This word it means that he existed as God.

He always was God always was God always will be God.

That's what this literally means.

Now think about that.

Not that he was in the form of God but that he actually exists and existed as God.

He always was existing.

That's what this means.

So if we are striving for the mind of Christ which is ours in Christ Jesus and we can have

it then Jesus who has always existed as God did not deem anything a prize or anything

to be held fast to or to retain in quality and in quantity.

In other words his godness was not something that he demanded that he retain full total

uttered unrestricted power.

No he covered that in the skin in the body.

Now I want you to think about this this word to be grasps or to not to count equality with

God something to be grasped that term there literally means to deem anything a prize to

be held fast to or retained in quantity or quality.

In other words it's not something he demanded.

Now if I'm going to do this I need all of it.

No what it means is he willingly veiled it.

He veiled it.

If you have any questions about that read the gospel.

How in the world could a God who was omniscient when scripture says that Jesus knew what was

in them and in their heart why would we think that that's not a God character.

If he emptied himself of these things how could he know what's in man's heart.

If he says I'm the resurrection and the life and he raises a man from the dead then how

in the world if he is the power of the resurrection the resurrection himself if he emptied himself

of it how in the world did he do it.

It's an oxymoron it makes no sense.

Of course he veiled it.

He used it when it was necessary and used it to the quantity and quality that was necessary.

Trust me if God was to be here in his full unadulterated power we would not be existing.

He even veils himself now.

The only reason why the earth is not destroyed is because he's choosing not to destroy it.

We always try to make Jesus more human than he is divine when he is fully divine and fully

human.

Well now he's fully divine in a resurrected body which is kind of amazing.

We'll get on that another day.

This word emptied.

This word emptied means to cause a thing to be seen to be seen to be empty.

That's literally what this word emptied means.

It's to make it look like it's empty but it's not.

Doesn't that make more sense now?

Because that's literally what the word means.

Look it up in your BLB.

I'm not going to give you all the Greek words today.

It's too many.

Literally translation.

Calls the thing to be seen to be seen to be empty.

It's not empty but it looks like it is.

So he calls himself to be seen as empty by taking on the form of a slave.

Dulos.

It's the one I gave you.

Why do I use this word Dulos?

The slave term.

Some translations have bond servant.

No.

It's not what it means here.

He was a slave.

The lowest of the low.

You cannot get more low than what Jesus brought himself down to be.

A slave.

A slave to the Father.

A slave for our sake.

He even slaved over his own disciples.

I'm going to wash your feet.

No.

You shouldn't wash my feet.

Wash my whole body.

Yeah.

I don't have enough water for you buddy.

Right?

I mean it's kind of nice that Peter would say don't wash everything.

But the point is Jesus became a slave even to his servants.

Even to the slaves.

And he was born, being born in the likeness of man.

He was born looking like a sinful people.

Now do you see, you grab the concept of the mind of Christ here.

Why Paul uses these terms that we should strive for and cherish the same views as Christ.

We should not consider ourselves more highly, not think of ourselves more highly than we

ought to think.

No.

He was God.

And yet, even though he existed as God, he didn't deem it as a thing to hold onto, a

prize that he must contend for.

But he caused himself to be seen as empty.

So you didn't really see the divinity of Christ if you were to just watch him walk by you.

What you would see in the divinity of Christ is the work of Christ.

Jesus says, judge me by my works.

You've seen what I've done.

You've seen the divinity.

And they still rejected him.

Isn't that amazing?

Here we go.

Fourth principle.

The mind of Christ requires a heart of sacrifice.

Romans chapter 12 verse 1.

Romans 12:1

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a

living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Isn't that interesting?

One of the most important Bible verses that you can use to clarify and understand Philippians

Philippians 2:5–11

chapter 2 verse 5 through 11 is Romans 1 and 2.

Romans 12, 1 and 2.

So the first part you see here is the sacrifice, the mind of Christ, having this understanding

that I must die to myself.

I must be transformed and changed.

And my transformation and change by the renewing of my mind is to have the mind of Jesus, is

to strive for those things.

And if I have the mind of Christ, then my heart should be sacrificed.

I should sacrifice everything that I have.

Philippians chapter 2 verse 8.

Philippians 2:8

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point

of death, even death on the cross.

If God of all creation put on flesh to die, how much more should you die?

Not for me, but for him.

How much are you willing to sacrifice on the altar as a living sacrifice every day that

you're literally alive and walking and well?

What are you willing to give, surrender for Christ?

If he gave us his all, how much more should you give?

That's the point.

That's what he's saying here.

So I appeal to you, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living

sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

If Christ did it, why aren't you?

I mean, it's pretty simple.

What's the scripture say?

We must deny ourselves, take up a cross daily and follow him.

Last principle.

God the Father exalts the Son because of this reality, because of them, because of his mind,

because of the mind of Christ, because of his attitude, because of his commitment, because

of what he was, where his heart was, because of everything he is, his commitment to honoring

the Father.

Christ's commitment to honor the Father and to do the Father's will brings glory to the

Godhead.

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.

Guess what?

Even though we have the mind of Christ, even though we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice,

even though we are being transformed by the renewing of our mind and committed to walking

in the mind of Christ, there is only one thing.

There's only one person, let me say it this way, that deserves this kind of exaltation

and it's not you.

It's him.

Only one receives this honor and God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that

is above every name, that at the name of Yahshua, every knee should bow.

Trust me, every knee will bow.

Every single person.

And that day will come hopefully soon.

So God, Christ has given us an example.

If you want to have the mind of Christ, strive for it.

Strive to know it.

Let me say it that way.

We have it, it's yours.

Strive.

Look out your salvation.

Don't hold on to anything that you would consider as a prize, but in the same way, surrender

your entire life to him and be a slave as he was.

That's the mind of Christ.

So I want to leave you with this last thing.

So if there's 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, be harmonious.

Commit your ways to him.

Lord, we thank you and praise you for your faithfulness and goodness.

Thank you for our time together.

Lord, as we sing this last song for your honor and glory, I pray that we really reflect on

the realities and the truths of having your mind and that we walk in the newness of life

for your glory.

Amen.