The Mind of Christ - Philippians 2:5–11

Many of you are probably familiar with the classic Christmas movie “Home Alone:” the story of an eight-year-old boy accidentally left at home when his family leaves town for Christmas. By himself, the little boy cleverly and hilariously defends his home from two burglars by setting a series of traps to ward them off. Very funny movie. In fact, I never saw my grandfather laugh harder than he did at that movie. The boy anticipates every move the burglars will make to enter the house. He basically manages to think like a burglar. To “think like” them. 

Do you know that phrase? To “think like” someone or something? I’m sure you’ve set a mousetrap in or near your home. What a simple and yet amazing invention. The inventor managed to think like a mouse. So you can think like a burglar, you can think like a mouse. 

Here’s a question: how do you think? You have a way of thinking.

The Scriptures tell us that much of our thinking is not naturally godly but worldly; counter to godly thinking. Sinful thinking. We naturally have the mind of the world. But Jesus Christ, though he lived in the world, thought differently. He thought humbly. He thought in an others-focused way. He thought in a truly God-centered manner. We see here in Philippians 2 that before he came to earth to do what he did, he “thought” in a certain way, and he continued that way of thinking as he saved His people from sin.

But in living according to this way of thinking, not only did Jesus perform the necessary work for salvation, but he also set an example for how his followers should think. Those who are born again should have what Scripture calls “the mind of Christ.” Believers should “think like Jesus.”

But what does it mean to have the mind of Christ? You can find the outline there in your Worship guide. Paul explains that thinking like Jesus involves three things: resisting the temptation to exploit every advantage, making the sacrifices necessary for humble obedience, and looking ahead to a God-given reward.

Of course, Jesus is not our example in every way. Jesus performed the work of redemption.

Only he could do that. But, as William Hendriksen, one of the Bible scholars I study, puts it, we can and should copy the spirit that was basic to Jesus’ redemptive acts (suffering and dying vicariously, satisfying divine justice). 

For example, in the NT book of Ephesians Paul says that husbands should love their wives as Christ loves the church. Jesus physically died for the church; a husband should copy that spirit and think like Jesus, laying down his life to love and serve and build up his wife. And here we see that all believers should think like Jesus in certain ways. So, let’s look at each of these together.

As we’ve seen before, there was conflict and division in the church in Philippi. So Paul urges them toward humility. In verse 3 he said be “of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” If they would act differently toward one another, they must think differently. They must think like Jesus. 

How did Jesus think? Well, notice verse 6, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,” or this could be stated, “a thing to be held on to for advantage.” Equality with God is something Jesus did possess and had the opportunity to seize it and not let it slip from his grasp, but instead, he chose not to exploit his divinity for his own benefit. 

From eternity past, the eternal Son of God was omnipotent. He had absolute power, but he laid it aside willingly. When Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, he tempted him with power. When Jesus was unjustly arrested, he went willingly rather than wielding the power of God. When Jesus was dying on the cross, he was ridiculed for not exercising his divine power. He would have exercised power in each of those situations if it would have benefitted the mission of God and the people of God. But that was not the plan.

Doesn’t it make sense, in our natural minds, that Jesus would come to earth making the most of every advantage at his disposal in order to get the job done? There’s a problem with that, though. That’s not how the job gets done. Salvation was to come via the Suffering Servant. These are two things no one really wants to be: suffering, or a servant. That’s how you and I naturally think. But in 1 Peter 4, the apostle Peter told the churches, “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.” Think like Jesus. Have the mind of Christ.

Is it possible? Well, look again at verse 5. Paul says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” In other words, if you are unified with Christ, it’s proper for you to think like him. Jesus did not exploit all of his advantages for his own benefit. Neither should his followers.

There’s a story of a golfer who played professionally but also liked to hustle amateurs for money on the side. One day he was approached by a man wearing dark glasses and walking with a cane. The man offered to play him for $100 a hole. The pro golfer said, “I can't play you! You're blind, aren't you?” “I am,” the man said. “But that's alright. Before I went blind, I was a state champ. I think I can beat you.” Now it turned out that the pro golfer needed the money. So he said, “Ok, but don't say I didn't warn you--you'll lose your money. When would you like to play?” The blind man replied, “Any night will do, any night at all.”

We like to use our advantages to our benefit, don’t we? If life is a game, that’s how you play it, right? You leverage every advantage. That’s how you win. But not if you follow Jesus Christ. For example, we are naturally concerned primarily with us and ours. We care most about our own lives and families. We care about our own goals and dreams. We want to live good lives and see our children and grandchildren grow up knowing Jesus and living good lives as well, right?

So we should take advantage of everything at our disposal to ensure this, correct? 

But there’s something to keep in mind. When Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment of God, he said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Are you as concerned about the salvation of your neighbor’s children as you are your own? Are you as concerned about your neighbor’s marriage and family as you are your own? Do you care as much about your neighbor as you do about yourself? You have dreams; what about your neighbors’ dreams? You have problems and hurts; what about your neighbors’ problems and hurts? Are you exploiting every advantage at your disposal to protect and build up you and yours but with little or no concern for those without Christ who languish around you?

Should you do right by your own family? Well of course. But to join God on mission - to think like Jesus - means not exploiting every advantage you have in life for your own benefit. Back in verse 4 of Philippians 2, Paul tells the church, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” And this involves personal sacrifice. We must sacrifice in order to obey God. Look at verse 7.

Jesus, “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”  Jesus did not stop being fully God, but he added to his divine nature a human nature. He lowered himself. He became like a slave. He surrendered his rights. And notice verse 8, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” He obeyed the will of God the Father. He humiliated himself. Notice it says, “even death on a cross.” The idea is not just death, but death on a cross. To the typical first-century person, this was plain foolish.

You know, if you are going to obey God, sooner or later someone will think you are an idiot. Even professing believers may think so. Of course, that’s not a ticket to do anything you want 

in Jesus’ name, but living in accordance with the Scriptures is foolishness to the worldly mind.

Think about your life. Where is the sacrifice for the kingdom of God? Where is the risk for the name of Jesus? Where is the humiliation? We cannot be so focused on blending in with the lost world that the world can’t tell the difference between us and them.

Jesus made necessary sacrifices in order to fulfill God’s mission for his earthly life. What are the sacrifices you must make to fulfill God’s mission for your life? Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Jesus had the high ground to make this claim because he did it himself. Is this how you think about your life? The Scriptures tell us to think this way. Sometimes obedience to God requires sacrifice. Sometimes it requires self-denial. Sometimes it requires foregoing a temporary reward in the present for a permanent reward in the future. Notice verse 9. 

As a result of what Jesus did, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, [10] so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

It’s not as though God calls us to sacrifice and obey with no reward in the end. Having the mind of Christ also means looking ahead to a God-given reward. Jesus fulfilled the greatest mission, he exercised the greatest humility, made the greatest sacrifices, resisted the greatest temptation, and so the Father installed him in the greatest place. In Romans 15, Paul says, “Christ did not please himself.” Do you think Jesus is pleased now? Absolutely. He knew that his time would come. He had to diligently obey the Triune will of heaven. 

Are you able to see your life this way? Do you have an anxiety, or a sense of fear or frustration that is rooted in a longing for this world to give you something that it is not able to give you? The more we labor to exploit every advantage to our own benefit, the more anxious and fearful we become, and the more we treasure present comforts over future glory.

But this is how the people of God carry out His will. Even the Lord Jesus himself cried out to God the Father to let the mission be carried out another way. But there was no other way. The way that things are going right now, in your life and in our country and the world, this is the way it must go. There are many things we cannot change. Paul basically tells the Philippians, 

“You change. Think like Jesus. Sacrifice now - reap the reward later on.”

Maybe you’ve heard that when it comes to real estate and the desirability of a property, it’s all about three things: location, location, and location. Augustine of Hippo, who was a church leader in the 4th century, wrote something similar about the Christian life. When it comes down to what the Christian faith is all about, he said, “First, second, third, and always I would answer, ‘Humility.” It’s all about humility. 

Who among can say that he or she is humble through and through? No one can. But we can look to the One who was humble in our place. How then could we ever pursue the mind of Christ? Because Christ did all that was necessary to secure it for us. Those who are born again possess the righteousness of Him who displayed absolute humility. All we must do is humbly receive.

Have you humbled yourself and placed your faith in Jesus alone? And do you humble yourself each day before him? Do you bow your heart before the King who humbled himself for your sake? Let’s pray together.