Having the Mind of Christ

Philippians 2:5-8 ESV

 

“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 a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

 

When we believe in Jesus Christ with genuine God-given faith (Eph 2:8-10; Jn 6:44; Heb 12:1-2), we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and we are raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Our old lives of living in sin and for self are put to death with Christ so that we will no longer be enslaved to sin but to God and to his righteousness (Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24). And Christ now is living within us by his Spirit, and we have the mind of Christ  (1 Co 2:16).

 

But having the mind of Christ within us and putting it into practice in our daily lives are two different things. Yes, the mind of Christ is within those of us of genuine faith in Christ, but we need to apply that to our daily lives. We need to put into practice the mindset and the thinking of Christ which is within us. We must practice humility and death to sin and denying self and obeying our Lord. And we must be willing to suffer for the sake of the name of Jesus and for the sake of his gospel and for the salvation of human lives.

 

So, what did that look like for Jesus? Well, Jesus Christ is God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And he willingly left his home in heaven, came to earth, and was born as a human baby to a human mother, conceived of the Holy Spirit. And so he was now living in a flesh body, and so he was fully man and yet also fully God when he lived on the earth, but he did not sin even though he was tempted to sin as we are. And he suffered like we suffer, too, because he was in a flesh body.

 

Now none of us can ever be God and so we can never know fully what it was like for God to take on human form and to suffer like we do. But we can understand letting go of what we believe are our rights, and we can comprehend what it means to humble ourselves and to be willing to suffer even unjustly for doing what is right. We can understand what it means to be in the right and to have people believe we are in the wrong, and we can comprehend what it means to be accused falsely of what we did not do.

 

For Jesus Christ went through that for you and me, and as his followers he says we will be treated like he was. He was all the time being hounded, and his opponents were continually laying traps for him to fall into so that they could accuse him falsely of wrongdoing. They were always trying to trip him up with his words because they hated him without cause. For they were jealous of him and his temporary popularity among the people, so they tried to discredit him so that the people would stop following him.

 

And when they could not trip him up and they could not get him to fall into their traps, then they plotted and carried out his death on a cross. They had him falsely arrested and given a mock trial and he was beaten beyond recognition and he was spat upon and mocked, and the people turned against him and yelled “Crucify him!” And his closest companions deserted him and one betrayed him to death and another denied him three times. And he was hung on a cross to die as though he was a common criminal.

 

And he did all that for you and for me for our salvation from sin and so that we can have eternal life with him. He died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. And he died that we might live for him and no longer for ourselves. And he shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) so we would now be his possession and so we will now honor God with our bodies. And he put our sins to death with him on that cross so that we might be delivered from our slavery to sin (1 Pet 2:24; 2 Co 5:15,21; 1 Co 6:19-20; Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24).

 

So, when we have the mind of Christ and we apply that to our daily lives, we will also humble ourselves and be willing to be thought of as evil when we are doing truly good, and in order to see people believe in Jesus with genuine faith and to see them die with Christ to sin and to live to him and to his righteousness. We will give our reputations over to the Lord and do what he commands us to do because we love him and because we love the people of this world and our fellow Christians and we want to see all of them have genuine salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

 

[Matt 5:10-16; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Matt 28:18-20; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; John 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Acts 1:8; Acts 14:22; Acts 26:18; Rom 5:3-5; Rom 12:1-8; 1 Co 12:1-31; 2 Co 1:3-11; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27; Phil 3:7-11; Col 3:16; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; Heb 3:13; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 2:9; 1 Pet 4:12-17]

 

‘Til The Storm Passes By

 

By Thomas Mosie Lister

 

In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face

While the storm howls above me, and there's no hiding place

'Mid the crash of the thunder, Precious Lord, hear my cry

Keep me safe till the storm passes by

 

Many times Satan whispered

There is no use to try

For there's no end of sorrow, there's no hope by and by

But I know Thou art with me, and tomorrow I'll rise

Where the storms never darken the skies

 

Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more

Till the clouds roll forever from the sky

Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand

Keep me safe till the storm passes by

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_obOSQoOpQ

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