It’s All in Your Mind

] ] i I ' ] has taught in verses one through four. Is it possible for believers to think the same way, to have the same love, to act in one accord? Is it possible for believers to not have competition, not to be concerned about themselves? _Is it possible for believers to think of others? Now he says, "Let me give you an example." How did Christ think and act? He does not ask us to feel like Christ felt. He does not ask us to have Christ's heart. No, he says, "I want your mentality, your thinking. to be like Christ's." Dr. Sidlow Baxter gives an excellent phrase about the normally designated paragraph on the humiliation of Jesus Christ. He calls this paragraph, "Christ's Gracious Voluntariness." Gracious means "not really deserved or needed" and voluntary means that "one decides to do it." Christ said, "No man takes my life. I lay it down, and I pick it up,. (seeJohn 10:18). From the human mental standpoint, the Lord Jesus Christ had to wrestle with the very problems that you and I wrestle with mentally. He is our highest example of gracious voluntariness. Voluntariness always comes through our thinking. What did Christ think about? Paul starts at the top. "70/w., lmng in flu /Nm tJ./, -lµd., lhmujJd i1 noi ~ la be «µJDi w1Jh fµ,.d" (vs. 6). In the eternal councils, the Trinity decided that there was the need of a Savior. Christ could have said, 'Tm going to stay in Heaven and cling to my privileges in the Godhead." He could have selfishly clung to that decision. Christ decided, and He graciously volunteered to become manifest on earth. That was His decision. So, we as believers manifest the mind of Christ when we graciously volunteer by the Spirit- controlled mind. Now, having said Who Christ was, Philippians 2: 7 says, "[He] mmh lunuJI. tJ./, mJ. ~ .. " Christ decided to do this. It is also translated, "He emptied himself" He laid aside something of His rank and dignity. Here is the illustration of doing something without strife or vainglory. We are to decide that we will do something apart from contention and pride. Christ did this. He, "70/w.. hd.NJ, m du /_o,m, tJ/ .(j.,,d," did not stay this way even though He could have. He made a decision. "[He] nuuh lunuJI. 6/ 11.b- ~" He was not forced into this decision but He decided to become a servant. Here is the ministry of Christ in Luke 22 and John 13. He not only came to serve. but He performed the functions of a servant. He washed the disciples' feet. Here is Philippians 2:3, "J2d. eaeh tJ.lttnt "'1tn I,~ lluut fiu.nu.tdo.u.,, Now, this form of a servant was in the likeness of man. In this paragraph Christ goes from God to man, from man to slave, and from slave to criminal. Having been born and taken on this fashion of man, "Ju lw.m.b/.ed hi.mH/J." He had to decide to do it. Biblically this is always the way of humility. "'J& unh.le y,oa,.ulJ in du ug./,1 o/ du .&nL and lu JwlL li/1. ,µa up," Oames 4:10). "fBt./bll h.Mt.M. u lw.mi.li.b,J" (Proverbs 15:33). Christ's humbleness started in His mind. Christ never aspired to high honor. This is verse three, "l.o-t.ol.inn.t o/ mind." We are back to thinking again. Christ never asked for praise. He never paraded Himself. So He fits into the category of doing "nothing for vainglory." Christ did not work through strife or pride. He worked through biblical humility, which could 55