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Perseverance of the Saints - Philippians 2:1-11 - Mind of Christ · Mount Eaton Church

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  If you guys would please turn to Philippians chapter 2 as we continue our journey on the
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  perseverance of the saints.
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  Like I said, many times we think about perseverance from just the perspective of making it through.
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  But God perseveres us not only in His return and being with Him.
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  We persevere every day in His faithfulness to His people.
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  He brings us through.
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  So today we're going to be dealing with the issue of the mind of Christ, Philippians chapter
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  2 verse 1 through 11.
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  I think a lot of times we read verses 1 through 11 and we kind of take what's being said here
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  in a very, we miss the picture I think.
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  So I'm hoping as we go through this it will clarify a little bit more about His faithfulness.
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  And you see Christ from a much more holy perspective is the term I want to think about.
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  So principle number one, principle number one, to be in spirit and in one mind we must
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  have the mind of Christ.
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  So let's pray.
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  Father I want to thank you so much for your word.
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  Thank you for your faithfulness.
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  Thank you for the truth.
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  Help us Lord as we go through Philippians 2, 1 through 11 that we see you and we understand
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  you and your character and the truth of this passage for your glory in Jesus' name, amen.
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  To be one in spirit and one in mind we must have the mind of Christ.
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  You can't be in unity with each other.
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  You can't be in one mind with one another unless we have the mind of Christ.
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  You must understand Christ's mind.
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  You must understand Him.
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  Encouragement, comfort, fellowship, affection, and sympathy must come from being united and
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  having the mind of Christ, okay?
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  Philippians chapter 2, verse 1 and 2.
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  So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in
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  the spirit, any affection and sympathy, make my joy complete or make my joy, complete my
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  joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one
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  mind.
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  That's what the ESV says here.
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  Interesting enough, in order for us to kind of grasp what Paul is saying here to the church
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  of Philippi, we've got to go back a little bit.
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  So I want you to go to chapter 1.
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  Now I want you to hear, see if you hear the same idea of what he's going to be clarifying
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  in chapter 2, in verse 27.
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  Chapter 1, verse 27, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ,
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  so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm
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  in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.
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  And not frightened in anything by your opponents.
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  This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God.
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  For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe
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  in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and
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  now hear that I still have.
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  So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in
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  the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the
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  same love, being in full of cord and of one mind.
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  You see why he would continue this conversation.
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  He's really just repeating again, verse 27, that if we are living in a life that is in
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  a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, when he comes, he wants to make sure that they
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  are in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.
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  So if there is any encouragement in Christ and any comfort from love and any participation
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  in the spirit, any affection and sympathy for our suffering, then complete my joy by
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  being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full of cord and of one mind.
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  You see the thought here.
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  A lot of times we read chapter 2 and we think it's got this own little thought.
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  No, he's just carrying on a thought that he's saying, if we're going to suffer, let us do
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  it with joy.
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  Let us have the attitude that Christ had.
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  And he clarifies this in verses 5 all the way down to 11.
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  So I want you to hear something here.
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  This whole idea of being of one mind and being united comes from the same attitude by which
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  Christ had when he was one in oneness with the Father in heaven.
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  That's what he's implying here.
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  I want you to kind of see this.
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  Doesn't mean that Christ stopped being one with the Father and one with the Spirit.
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  He did not stop being one with the Father and one with the Spirit.
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  I and the Father are one.
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  That's what Jesus said.
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  But it's this idea that he was willing to do something in order for him to bring to
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  us what we needed, desperately needed.
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  Now, so if there's any encouragement in Christ, comfort, participation, affection, and sympathy,
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  he says complete my joy by being of the same mind.
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  This word mind is the word understanding.
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  That's what this word mind is.
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  This word mind is actually used several times in a couple of verses.
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  So he's saying make my joy complete by being of the same understanding, having the same
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  understanding of Christ.
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  How can we be united if we don't understand Christ, if we look at Christ differently because
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  of our denominations, if we look at Christ differently because we're not willing to submit
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  to the full counsel of his word because we think we're right or they're right, then the
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  whole point is there's no way we can be united in the Spirit of God because we're not united
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  for the purpose of Christ.
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  We're united for our own ideologies.
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  So we have to be united in Christ.
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  Understanding his word is the final authority in all things.
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  Now, that's the first thing.
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  First word is the mind.
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  There means understanding.
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  Having the same love.
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  This word love is agape, and it literally just means brotherly love.
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  Isn't that interesting?
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  It's not gapo.
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  This is agape, love for the brotherhood, love for the brothers of the faith, brothers and
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  sisters of the faith.
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  So I want you to see this.
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  Complete my joy by being of the same understanding, having brotherly love, and then he says being
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  in full accord and of one mind.
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  Now, what's interesting, if you're in accord with something and you're of one mind with
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  something, it means you're in harmony.
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  So this word mind here is to be harmonious.
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  Very important to understand this because in the ESV, it uses two words here that literally
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  mean to be harmonious.
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  According, be in full accord, and one mind.
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  Have we ever thought about what it means to be harmonious, to be in harmony with Christ
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  and with his word and with myself?
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  That I'm in full accord with him, that I'm in one mind with him.
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  Why ESV translators chose to use full accord and of one mind makes I don't understand because
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  the translation literally means harmonious.
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  But it makes sense when you think about the word harmonious here.
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  But if I'm going to have the same understanding as Paul concerning Christ, if I'm going to
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  have the same brotherly love as Christ has for us, then I'm going to be in harmony with
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  him and his people.
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  Makes sense.
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  Principle number two, the mind of Christ is to live selfless and humble, to please God
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  and to love him supremely.
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  There's a term out here, out there in the world that John Piper coined called Christian
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  hedonism.
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  Hedonism.
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  Hedonism means that everything that pleases me makes me happy, I will do.
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  Christian hedonism is this idea that I will find my full pleasure and desires in him.
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  Have we thought about Christian hedonism?
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  Everybody's a hedonist.
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  We all love something dearly.
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  Christian hedonism is loving God supremely.
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  Christian hedonism, biblical, here we go.
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  Love God with all your heart and obey him in everything.
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  Or he is your true pleasure and joy in all things you desire to please him.
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  Or God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him, John Piper.
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  Or only be very careful to observe the command, the commandment and the law that Moses, the
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  servant of the Lord commanded you to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways
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  and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all of your heart
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  and with all of your soul.
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  Joshua 22, 5.
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  And as he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all
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  your soul, with all your mind.
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  This is the greatest and first commandment.
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  And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
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  Jesus, Matthew 22, 37 through 39.
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  So Christian hedonism is a biblical truth.
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  How many times have we really thought about that?
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  Well that's what we end up reading in Philippians chapter 2 verse 34, this idea of Christian
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  hedonism, that I'm not living to please myself but I'm living to please him.
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  That my full pleasure, my full joy, everything that I have in my entire being is to love
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  him supremely.
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  And it's seen in what Paul says here in verses 3 through 4, which is the opposite of that.
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  Look what he says, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit.
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  In other words, it's not about you.
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  But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves.
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  Let each of you look not only to his own interest but also to the interest of others.
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  There it is, Christian hedonism in practice.
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  Have we ever thought about that?
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  So when you think about your life, how much of you are you willing to sacrifice?
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  Are you really willing to be a hedonist when it comes to Christ?
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  Is he your full pleasure in everything you need and desire?
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  Nothing else matters in life.
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  We live for him and him alone, not for our temporary pleasures.
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  And God in his goodness and faithfulness reaches down because he loves us and does for us.
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  Christian hedonism, what an amazing thought.
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  God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.
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  Love that term, the John Piper states.
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  Third principle, to love God supremely, you must have the mind of Christ.
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  You cannot love God like Jesus loves the Father unless you have the mind of Jesus.
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  Romans 12 verse 2, do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal
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  of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and
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  acceptable and perfect.
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  A lot of times we think about having this mind, that this renewing of the mind is something
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  that I actually, that actually I do on my own.
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  It's this transformation in Christ.
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  But be transformed by the renewal of your mind.
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  Transformation can only come by Christ and renewal can only come from Christ.
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  Now how do we prove this out?
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  Philippians chapter 2 verse 5 through 7.
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  Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus.
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  Have you ever thought about that?
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  It's like how do I have the mind of Christ?
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  You already have it, it's yours.
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  Think about that.
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  How do I learn to live this Christian life?
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  You already have it, it's in Jesus.
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  Well I don't know if I want to go that direction.
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  I think my ways are a little bit easier.
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  I think I got this figured out.
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  How many of you guys can say you got this thing figured out?
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  I don't think any of you guys got this thing figured out.
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  Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus who though he was in the form
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  of God did not count equality with God something to be grasped but emptied himself by taking
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  the form of a servant being born in the likeness of man.
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  This verse, these verses are so distorted in many teachings for a lot of us it's frustrating.
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  It's frustrating.
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  I mean because many of us have read this and go see Jesus emptied himself.
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  It's not the word.
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  I don't know if there's a good translation there in the English.
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  It could have just actually said it the way it should have been said because Jesus did
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  not empty himself of anything.
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  You're like but that's not what it says.
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  Remember it's English.
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  English kind of messes up everything sometimes.
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  So let's look what it says here.
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  Have this mind.
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  Cherish the same views or strive for.
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  In other words when we are cherishing the same views as Christ if we're striving to
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  have the mind of Christ which is among yourselves which we have in Christ that kind of makes
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  a little bit more sense.
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  So it says cherish the views of Christ strive for the mind of Christ among yourselves.
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  Are you striving to have the mind of Christ among yourselves.
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  How much of Christ do you want to be like.
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  How much of you does Christ have and people go well I give him my heart but does he have
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  your mind because he can't have your heart if he doesn't have your mind.
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  People take we take the opposite.
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  He has my heart but he doesn't have your thoughts but he has my heart.
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  He doesn't have your actions.
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  He has my heart but he has my love.
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  But how much do you think about the person you love.
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  Now for some of you who probably sit next to the person that you love the most.
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  I remember when I met my wife I couldn't stop thinking about her.
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  Like why are you always on my mind.
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  Always on my mind you know.
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  That's what it means that we that our minds are fully on God all the time.
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  I think about him I like I think about him all night.
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  I woke up for 430 this morning.
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  I'm like why can't I sleep.
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  He's on my mind.
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  You're on my mind.
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  So strive for the mind of Christ which is yours.
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  It's yours you already have it.
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  The mind of Christ is there for you.
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  Not only does he live in you in the person of the Holy Spirit it's written for you.
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  You want the mind of Christ it's right here.
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  I just dropped something that's alright.
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  Okay now let's keep reading here.
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  Look what it says here.
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  Who though he was in the form of God.
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  This word it means that he existed as God.
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  He always was God always was God always will be God.
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  That's what this literally means.
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  Now think about that.
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  Not that he was in the form of God but that he actually exists and existed as God.
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  He always was existing.
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  That's what this means.
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  So if we are striving for the mind of Christ which is ours in Christ Jesus and we can have
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  it then Jesus who has always existed as God did not deem anything a prize or anything
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  to be held fast to or to retain in quality and in quantity.
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  In other words his godness was not something that he demanded that he retain full total
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  uttered unrestricted power.
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  No he covered that in the skin in the body.
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  Now I want you to think about this this word to be grasps or to not to count equality with
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  God something to be grasped that term there literally means to deem anything a prize to
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  be held fast to or retained in quantity or quality.
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  In other words it's not something he demanded.
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  Now if I'm going to do this I need all of it.
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  No what it means is he willingly veiled it.
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  He veiled it.
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  If you have any questions about that read the gospel.
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  How in the world could a God who was omniscient when scripture says that Jesus knew what was
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  in them and in their heart why would we think that that's not a God character.
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  If he emptied himself of these things how could he know what's in man's heart.
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  If he says I'm the resurrection and the life and he raises a man from the dead then how
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  in the world if he is the power of the resurrection the resurrection himself if he emptied himself
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  of it how in the world did he do it.
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  It's an oxymoron it makes no sense.
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  Of course he veiled it.
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  He used it when it was necessary and used it to the quantity and quality that was necessary.
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  Trust me if God was to be here in his full unadulterated power we would not be existing.
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  He even veils himself now.
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  The only reason why the earth is not destroyed is because he's choosing not to destroy it.
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  We always try to make Jesus more human than he is divine when he is fully divine and fully
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  human.
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  Well now he's fully divine in a resurrected body which is kind of amazing.
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  We'll get on that another day.
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  This word emptied.
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  This word emptied means to cause a thing to be seen to be seen to be empty.
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  That's literally what this word emptied means.
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  It's to make it look like it's empty but it's not.
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  Doesn't that make more sense now?
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  Because that's literally what the word means.
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  Look it up in your BLB.
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  I'm not going to give you all the Greek words today.
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  It's too many.
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  Literally translation.
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  Calls the thing to be seen to be seen to be empty.
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  It's not empty but it looks like it is.
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  So he calls himself to be seen as empty by taking on the form of a slave.
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  Dulos.
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  It's the one I gave you.
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  Why do I use this word Dulos?
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  The slave term.
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  Some translations have bond servant.
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  No.
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  It's not what it means here.
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  He was a slave.
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  The lowest of the low.
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  You cannot get more low than what Jesus brought himself down to be.
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  A slave.
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  A slave to the Father.
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  A slave for our sake.
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  He even slaved over his own disciples.
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  I'm going to wash your feet.
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  No.
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  You shouldn't wash my feet.
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  Wash my whole body.
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  Yeah.
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  I don't have enough water for you buddy.
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  Right?
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  I mean it's kind of nice that Peter would say don't wash everything.
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  But the point is Jesus became a slave even to his servants.
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  Even to the slaves.
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  And he was born, being born in the likeness of man.
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  He was born looking like a sinful people.
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  Now do you see, you grab the concept of the mind of Christ here.
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  Why Paul uses these terms that we should strive for and cherish the same views as Christ.
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  We should not consider ourselves more highly, not think of ourselves more highly than we
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  ought to think.
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  No.
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  He was God.
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  And yet, even though he existed as God, he didn't deem it as a thing to hold onto, a
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  prize that he must contend for.
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  But he caused himself to be seen as empty.
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  So you didn't really see the divinity of Christ if you were to just watch him walk by you.
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  What you would see in the divinity of Christ is the work of Christ.
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  Jesus says, judge me by my works.
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  You've seen what I've done.
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  You've seen the divinity.
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  And they still rejected him.
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  Isn't that amazing?
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  Here we go.
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  Fourth principle.
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  The mind of Christ requires a heart of sacrifice.
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  Romans chapter 12 verse 1.
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  I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a
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  living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
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  Isn't that interesting?
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  One of the most important Bible verses that you can use to clarify and understand Philippians
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  chapter 2 verse 5 through 11 is Romans 1 and 2.
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  Romans 12, 1 and 2.
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  So the first part you see here is the sacrifice, the mind of Christ, having this understanding
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  that I must die to myself.
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  I must be transformed and changed.
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  And my transformation and change by the renewing of my mind is to have the mind of Jesus, is
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  to strive for those things.
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  And if I have the mind of Christ, then my heart should be sacrificed.
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  I should sacrifice everything that I have.
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  Philippians chapter 2 verse 8.
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  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point
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  of death, even death on the cross.
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  If God of all creation put on flesh to die, how much more should you die?
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  Not for me, but for him.
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  How much are you willing to sacrifice on the altar as a living sacrifice every day that
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  you're literally alive and walking and well?
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  What are you willing to give, surrender for Christ?
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  If he gave us his all, how much more should you give?
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  That's the point.
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  That's what he's saying here.
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  So I appeal to you, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living
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  sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
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  If Christ did it, why aren't you?
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  I mean, it's pretty simple.
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  What's the scripture say?
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  We must deny ourselves, take up a cross daily and follow him.
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  Last principle.
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  God the Father exalts the Son because of this reality, because of them, because of his mind,
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  because of the mind of Christ, because of his attitude, because of his commitment, because
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  of what he was, where his heart was, because of everything he is, his commitment to honoring
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  the Father.
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  Christ's commitment to honor the Father and to do the Father's will brings glory to the
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  Godhead.
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  Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
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  so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth
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  and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
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  Guess what?
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  Even though we have the mind of Christ, even though we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice,
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  even though we are being transformed by the renewing of our mind and committed to walking
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  in the mind of Christ, there is only one thing.
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  There's only one person, let me say it this way, that deserves this kind of exaltation
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  and it's not you.
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  It's him.
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  Only one receives this honor and God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that
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  is above every name, that at the name of Yahshua, every knee should bow.
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  Trust me, every knee will bow.
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  Every single person.
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  And that day will come hopefully soon.
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  So God, Christ has given us an example.
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  If you want to have the mind of Christ, strive for it.
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  Strive to know it.
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  Let me say it that way.
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  We have it, it's yours.
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  Strive.
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  Look out your salvation.
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  Don't hold on to anything that you would consider as a prize, but in the same way, surrender
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  your entire life to him and be a slave as he was.
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  That's the mind of Christ.
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  So I want to leave you with this last thing.
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  So if there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in
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  the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the
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  same love, being in full accord and of one mind, be harmonious.
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  Commit your ways to him.
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  Lord, we thank you and praise you for your faithfulness and goodness.
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  Thank you for our time together.
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  Lord, as we sing this last song for your honor and glory, I pray that we really reflect on
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  the realities and the truths of having your mind and that we walk in the newness of life
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  for your glory.
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  Amen.