The Mind Of Christ- {Part 1} – {Phil 2:5}

“THIS MIND {attitude} in yourselves which was also IN Christ Jesus,”-{Phil 2:5}.

All Believers already have”the mind of Christ,”{Read 1 Cor 2:16}.In Philippians 2:5, it’s a Command,…Paul wants the believers to continually THINK more and more like Christ in their thought patterns, to influence their choices in the way they view others and how they live! So,how do we do this? Through His Word which reveals His mind! It is to be the habit of their living as well as yours and mine! The way it is grammatically is “This be constantly be thinking in you which was also IN Christ Jesus.”

“let mind be” are the translation of one Greek word which means, “to have understanding, to be wise, to direct one’s mind to a thing, to seek or strive for.” The word seems always to keep in view the direction which thought of a practical kind takes. The expression could be translated in a number of ways, each of which while holding to the main idea, yet brings out a slightly different shade of meaning. For instance: “Be constantly thinking this in yourselves;” “Be having this mind in you;” “Reflect in your own minds, the mind of Christ Jesus” (Lightfoot); “Let the same purpose inspire you as was in Christ Jesus” (Way).“-{preceptaustin}. Paul is urging the believers to think habitually, hold before themselves, remind themselves to think and live out the same purpose the LORD Jesus had, one of humility of mind, sacrificially thinking, preferring others and living it out, for their ultimate benefit and the Father’s Glory- all the way to the cross. Sacrificial Thinking expressed not in mere wishes, but in Sacrificially living!

“THIS MIND”-
“…Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with HUMILITY OF MIND
regard one another as more important than yourselves;
do not merely look out for your own personal interests,
but also for the interests of others.”-{Phil 2:3-4}

“Humility of mind” means “lowliness of mind,” while we hear much of self- esteem where we are to exalt ourselves ultimately, yet Scripture says “Deny Self…”to Disown self,…do NOTHING out of selfishness or vain, empty glory.” Look at Christ’s coming into this world, His incarnation, His birth in a manger, no exalting His coming with legions of angels to Triumph His Coming to all. NO Parade for His birth. No worshiping by sinful yet grateful sinners. He came to His own and His own received Him not. He was rejected and despised, Consider His trial, His mocking while on the cross, the accusations. Consider His death, burial in a borrowed tomb. Consider His humility. Consider His love for sinful people. Consider His thinking, His Mind to do all this and more! Surely this should help develop our own humility of mind in light of His Mind and actions. Consider The Perfect Man Jesus, who laid aside His glory and as a servant came not to be served but to serve and give His life a ransom for many… Consider Jesus… the God – Man,

A Submissive Mind
A Serving Mind
A Selfless Mind
A Sacrificial Mind

{Read Phil 2:3-11 and trace how Jesus exhibits the above traits.}

A “Mind” that seeks to serve others sacrificially out of a mind submissive to His revealed will ; looking out for others selflessly and the Life of Christ, His Sacrifice our pattern to sacrificially through love serve others!- {2:3-5}

Our THOUGHTS determine our Choices..
Wrong Thinking, wrong choices, Christ aligned THINKING, Christ aligned Choices! – {THINK Right -{Phil 4:8}; DO Right-{Phil 4:9}

A Servant’s Mind is taken up with the wishes, desires and will of the Master, Our Master is the LORD Jesus who empowers us by His Spirit to work out our salvation – living it out …{Phil 2:13}. “The greatest among you is …the servant…” {Read Matt 23:11}. Submit your MIND to him, let Him renew it through His Word and SEEK TO SERVE OTHERS TODAY FOR JESUS SAKE…”…Ourselves your SERVANTS…FOR Jesus sake”-{2 Cor 4:5}

Most of the problems we have in our relationships are due to our unwillingness to align our mind up with “the mind of Christ” and choose to seek the highest good for others… and to do so we must continually lay aside our “rights” to seek their highest good, for Jesus sake! It is to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him daily…
We fight, argue, want to be served, appreciated, have “the final word,” we show forth selfishness, sinful, inconsiderate actions, words, deeds, because of wrong thinking. It is the opposite of “THIS Mind” – the mind of Christ! While the world’s ways are “You have to look out for number one- self”- Christ’s way is to also look out for the needs of others, preferring them…{Phil 2:3-4}. At times many of us do Not want to submit and serve, because of the inconvenience, cost to…ourselves! But instead, we want to be noticed, elevated and be above it all. Or at least to be recognized, exalted as “a servant,” that have people notice and applaud us…which is just like the Pharisees, it’s another form of Selfishness! All due to a lack of “humility of mind” which is manifested in failure to lay down your preferences, lives, and instead to live selfishly and egotistically, “vain glory!”

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others…Have THIS MIND {attitude }in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,”-{Phil 2:3-5}

“Nothing”– The word,”Do”is not in the original. It begins with “Nothing by Selfish ambition.” Nothing, not one, no not one. Eliminate “selfishness and vain glory,” from your living. This does not mean you are not tempted, for you have and will be but you have the power not to yield to the temptation, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.”- { Phil 2:13 NLT}

“Selfishness,”– {Eritheia } -“Selfishness is an inordinate self love, prompting one, for the sake of personal gratification or advantage, to disregard the rights or feelings of other men. It is a negative quality — that is, it consists in not considering what is due to one’s neighbors through a deficiency of justice or benevolence. Selfishness is contrary to the Scriptures, which command us to have respect for the rights and feelings of others, and forbids us to encroach thereupon.”- (Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature) “Selfishness” -connotes strife, contentiousness, extreme selfishness, intriguing for office, a desire to put one’s self forward, a partisan and factious spirit, self-seeking…

Many commentators feel that from the nature of Paul’s exhortation (against selfishness) one can infer that there were budding factions among the saints at Philippi. In a gracious way, Paul is saying to the church, “Your disagreements reveal that there is a spiritual problem in your fellowship. It isn’t going to be solved by rules or threats. It’s going to be solved when your hearts are right with Christ and with each other.”

Paul wanted them to see that the basic cause was selfishness, and the cause of selfishness is pride.-{preceptaustin commentaries}

Pentecost explains that the word selfishness “has to do with a party spirit; it has to do with a faction in the church that wants to promote its aims and ambitions as opposed to another group. When the assembly is divided into different groups, following different men, then there will be a party spirit, and the first party is competing with the second party for power and prominence. There is competition in reaching the same ends and the same goals. The apostle says that, if his joy is to be filled up, there cannot be factions and divisions and party spirit or competition within groups in the assembly. (Pentecost, J. D. The Joy of Living: A study of Philippians. Kregel Publications)-

“EMPTY CONCEIT. VAIN GLORY.”

“Empty conceit (kenodoxia from kenos = empty, vain, hollow, groundless + doxa = glory, praise or opinion) is used only here in the NT and literally means “vain glory”, “empty praise” or “hollow opinion” all describing in essence something which has an appearance but lacks the reality.

It is a graphic description of the glory this world affords us which to the natural man appears “beautiful” and desirable, but which is literally devoid of any good or any eternal value. Kenodoxia describes the person who is conceited without reason, deluded, ambitious for his own reputation, challenging others to rivalry, jealous himself and willing to fight to prove his idea is right.

The idea of kenodoxia includes a highly exaggerated self-view. It is a passion for empty personal glory which contrasts sharply with humility. It is that attitude of personal vanity and self-promotion, as might be seen for example in someone in a position of leadership, who is trying to build a personal following for their own faction, and by so doing does not manifest love of the brethren or love of Christ but to promote themselves. John gives us an example of such a person writing that “Diotrephes… loves to be first (he sought preeminence) among (the church and) does not accept what we say (his desire for preeminence led him to discount the doctrine taught by John)” – (3John 1:9) “-{preconception}

” Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God.“-{John 12:42-43}

“Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places. “-{Luke 11:43}.

“”Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets.”- {Luke 20:46}. They sought position, prominence and to be exalted, honored by others. They Loved to be the center of attention! They were motivated by “Selfish ambition and vain glory.” Pride! Devoid of “The Mind of Christ!” devoid of the spirit of Christ, powerless, captives to sin. Can a follower of Christ behave so? Yes! But you have the power not to succumb to the temptation. You know the “MIND OF CHRIST” IN THE MATTER ….

“Look “( from skopos = distant mark looked at, goal or in view; cf our English word “scope”) means to look at and is not just a casual glance but indicates a fixing of one’s attention upon with desire for and interest in. It means to regard as one’s aim. Look is in the present tense which means we are not to make this the habit of our life (to look after our own affairs to the exclusion of everyone else’s). The verb form in context conveys the force of an imperative or a command. One could paraphrase it

Don’t continually let your care and attention be wholly absorbed by your own concerns“. Don’t fix your focus on your needs and importance but on that of others”-{preceptaustin commentries}

Jesus “….did not come to be served, but to serve and give His….“…what?… “LIFE... a ransom for many…”- (Read Matt 20:28} He lived His life for…Others…a servant lays down their LIFE to benefit others… No, we are not called to a physical cross but we are called to lay our lives down, for others by the choices we make to continuously “…regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”-{Phil 2:3-4}. This is part of having “THIS Mind…” which is “…IN Christ Jesus,” caring for OTHERS!

“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.”-(Gal 5:13 NLT)

What a great passage , Philippians 2:3-5,to memorize, meditate,PRAY, Practice… You can PRAY for others putting their name at the start of the verse and praying God to renew their mind, and remind them…”This mind,” is Christ’s mind they are to live out, as are you and me by the empowering of the Holy Spirit…{2 Peter 1:3; Phil 2:13 NLT}

PRAY… THE SCRIPTURES; Placing someone’s name at the start of the verse and replacing the words, “you” and ” your,” yourselves” with their name… as well as praying it for yourself… and PRACTICE living out,“This Mind” …

The Difference between The Negative versus the Positive in the verses are…

The Negative – selfishness, vainglory way is –SELF BEFORE OTHERS– Don’t live like this!

The Positive Is -The Mind of – Christ is –OTHERS BEFORE SELF! – Live Like This.

THINK CONTINUALLY LIKE CHRIST.

TRUST HIS SPIRIT TO EMPOWER YOU TO LIVE IT OUT -{Phil 2:13 NLT}

LIVE OUT THE MIND OF CHRIST HABITUALLY, – And WHOM HE HAS CALLED YOU TO BE – HIS SERVANT…Sacrificially Serving…Others!