seeking once again the help of God I would like you to turn with me to the chapter that we read of Philippians chapter 2 and the text you will find in verse 5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. It goes on to say who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found fashioned as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

At this time of year our mind is always drawn again to the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ and as we have sang already today it is incomprehensible to the human mind to fully grasp all that had to take place for Christ to descend to us, to be made a little lower than the angels, to put on flesh, a body was prepared for him.

But it tells us that not only are we to try and grasp and comprehend all that had to take place for the Lord Jesus Christ, to come to earth and to put on flesh and to live a life under the law of God and then to die in the place of his people. And not only are we to try and grasp and comprehend that, but we're also to try and have that mind. the same mind of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let this mind be in you. It is something which is to be sought after by those who believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We know that salvation itself is not just a one-time event that takes place in the life of a Christian, but it is an ongoing path through their life as they live a life seeking to glorify God. And as we live, day by day, the apostle writes to these Philippians that, you know, you're to have this mind, to have this mind of the Lord Jesus, not to deem each other greater than each other, not to have that self and that pride and that number one, but to be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind, that nothing be done through strife, or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man to his own things, but every man also to the things of others.

And as we consider the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we consider Christmas time, often it is a time of indulgence, where we seek to indulge ourselves, but really that is contrary to the whole thing of of the mind of Christ. It is not about self, it is not about me, it is about others.

Sometimes, especially when you're young and you want to give presents, sometimes you try and, you know, you buy the cheapest present and you're hoping that when you give that present to somebody else, in the back of your mind, you're thinking, well, I hope they, you know, they get me a better present than I've given to them. And there's always this selfish undertone in the way that we give by our nature. by our makeup, that we are always on the outlook for number one, always on thinking about me, what I am going to get, what I am going to achieve, where I am going to go, and especially in the culture that we live. We live in a me culture, Me time, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, it's all about me, what I can show everybody what I am doing.

So I looked at this, you know, you've heard about me time. And it was unheard of before the 90s. The culture was different. It consisted of families and communities. But as we become more isolated and indivisible, individuals in our culture, so me and I becomes bigger and bigger and bigger and everybody outside of our selfish bubble just pales into insignificance, but Christ must come. and he must come and he must pop that selfish bubble and we must be brought into the unity and the community of the church and made one with Christ Jesus.

And so as we come to Christmas time and we come to consider the Lord Jesus Christ, we can come to consider the greatest gift that has ever been given to this world. Not only was it the greatest gift, but it's the greatest demonstration of humility and self-sacrifice that there has ever been. That Christ, who existed before all eternity, before the world was, with the Father, when the fullness of time came, He put on flesh, born of a woman, We have read, my God contracted to a span for me, made himself of no reputation for me, made himself a little lower than the angels, his created beings, his messengers for me.

And he says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Think about that for a moment. How much of the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ do we have in us? By our nature, our human nature, we don't. We have a non-existent mind of Christ. It's all to do with me.

The Bible speaks of the mind and the heart as the inner man. So we've looked at the other week that man is different from the beasts. God created man in his own image. He created he them both male and female. He breathed into Adam and he became a living soul, the breath of life. And so Adam and Eve, you and me, we are distinct from all of the animals. We have a soul, we have a will, we have a mind. The inner part of us which will exist beyond the death of our body. The heart is described as the wellspring of life, the seat of our emotions. Jesus, when he was on earth, we can see that his emotions were touched. He had compassion. He expressed compassion for the multitude and that compassion in his heart moved him to act and to feed the multitude. We see him at the grave of Lazarus and as he saw those Jews weeping, he was moved with compassion. And his body wept tears. His heart was stirred by what he saw. And he wept.

Also the Bible speaks about our mind. We have the soul which incorporates mind and spirit and heart. But it speaks about the mind. The intellect of a person. It doesn't mean that we need to have the brain of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it means that we need to have the way of thinking, the way the Lord Jesus Christ thought. What was it that brought him down to earth? What are the thoughts that had to be processed in his mind to bring him down to earth? And what compassion was stirring within his heart? It was love. It was love that brought the Lord Jesus Christ down to earth. love not for himself but for his people that he came to redeem from their just punishment in hell. It was love that brought the Lord Jesus down to earth.

The Bible makes a distinction between our physical body and our spiritual inner man. The Bible tells us that, excuse me, that what takes place within the spiritual man, what takes place within the heart is manifested on the outside. And the way that is processed, it comes through our brains. Our brains, the brain of the Lord Jesus Christ, it was totally pure and without sin. Our brains, they have been corrupted by the fall. None of us are different. We vary in intellect, we vary in ability, yet we all have a functioning brain and that brain has been created by God to take the spiritual workings, invisible workings of the human mind and mind and will and manifest it into the physical world.

You see, if you have a thought, if you have a choice, then that thought and choice takes place in your mind. But for it to manifest itself, it must go into your brain. And your brain must process it and enable you to walk out those things that you are thinking and doing. And so the dealings of our soul, the dealings of our heart, the dealings of our will, it comes through our brains.

And so when the Bible tells us, let them have the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's saying to us, have the thought process of Christ. If you've ever seen the soil after it has been raining very, very heavily, you'll notice that there are those channels that are grooved into the soil. where the rain comes down and then gathers and it makes little rivers through the soil. And our brains are something like that.

You know, what takes place within our hearts and within our inner man, as it works its way through our bodies and manifests itself on the outside, it's flown through our brain. And our brain is that conduit which channels those thoughts and emotions and those desires and those choices to the physical world. And even the Lord Jesus Christ had a physical brain just like you and I.

And I think the greatest demonstration of his body buckling under the weight of the spiritual turmoil by which he was going through is in the Garden of Gethsemane. You see in the Garden of Gethsemane we see Christ wrestling with the Father, his will seeking to be bent and broken to the will of the Father. He says, my will Thy will, not my will, be done. We see this inner turmoil taking place, this battle in the spiritual realm, but having to pass through a physical human body.

And as the thoughts are taking place in the mind of Christ, we see that he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground, as the spiritual is trying to overtake the physical. I was always considering this, you know, sometimes no way to the extent of what Christ went through. But sometimes we have to overcome our fears. And it can literally demonstrate itself on our bodies. We can begin to shake. We can begin to sweat. We know that this is the right thing for me to do. And there's this conflict taking place. The flesh is struggling. The mind is saying, no, this is dangerous. This is fearful. This is wrong. It's trying to protect the body. But the spirit is pushing, no, we must go forward. No, we must overcome. And then you begin to sweat. You begin to feel fear and anxiety. And it portrays itself on the body. as the mind and the brain is struggling to comprehend all that is taking place.

And, you know, sometimes when we were younger, we used to go to Germany and we used to go to these high diving boards, 10 meters, and you're looking down and your brain is saying, no, this is dangerous. But the will in you is saying, do it, get on with it. It's only water. It's not going to hurt. But the fear is there in the body and the will has to overcome the fear. And you either give up and climb back down the stairs in shame or you jump. And so here we see in the Lord Jesus Christ, that battle, that spiritual battle taking place and the flesh is buckling under what Christ's will is forcing the flesh to do. And it sweats, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground. And to our minds, They are our brains, sorry. They are amazing instruments, organs that God has designed.

And I was trying to do it yesterday. You know, you can sit there. Just sit there and think. You can cast your mind back for years and you begin to think about the experiences that you had when you were a small child. And you begin to process all the way that the Lord has led you. And your mind is able to bring about things that you've forgotten. Your brain is able to bring about things that you've forgotten years and years ago.

But the brain itself can become sick. The brain is an organ like any other part of our body, kidney and liver, heart and our brains. People can have brain damage. People can have Alzheimer's when they are old and we see it with my great auntie and with Ted in the old people's home, their brains become tired. They're unable to think fast. They're unable to process things as speedily as they would have used to.

But what is amazing is that that does not affect the spiritual standing of that person. That does not affect the spiritual work that God has done upon the will and upon the heart. It just affects the ability for that to manifest itself on the physical realm, because it has to pass through a mind, a brain that is tired, a brain that is damaged, a brain that is sick.

So Jesus himself, all that he went through, His thought processes all took place in the human brain. It was sinless. And yet it possessed the limitations that you and I have. And we see that especially as he enters into the Garden of Gethsemane, the limitations of the human brain to comprehend all that is before the beloved Son of God.

So it says, let this mind be on you. If it's not, it's the brain of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not talking about taking his brain and putting it into your head. but it's to take the way of thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ, to let that rain that falls upon that earth and makes those channels and rivers run, let it do the same. Let your mind, your brain be so shaped and channeled and governed by the way that the Lord Jesus Christ thought.

The Apostle says that I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me. You see, the believer doesn't have to walk this pathway alone. We don't have to shape our brains alone or crucify our flesh alone. We've been given Christ. We've been given his spirit to indwell in us. And his spirit in us is to manifest itself on the physical realms of our bodies.

Out of the abundance of the heart, Jesus says, the mouth speaks. And so our lives are to be shaped by selfless humility. Selfless humility. And that is so contrary to our culture. That is so contrary to human nature. Yet the believer has been born again. Born again of the spirit of God.

The Bible tells us if you don't have the spirit of God, you don't belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant was made in the likeness of men. He made himself, was not forced upon the Lord Jesus Christ to come to earth to put on flesh. He made himself. He emptied himself of what he was or what he had to become a man. In Isaiah it tells us there in verse chapter 9, verse 6, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end and upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform his unto us a child is born the government will be upon his shoulders his name wonderful counsellor the mighty God the everlasting father the prince of peace

in the Gospel according to Matthew and chapter 2. Verses one and two. And when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east saying, where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him.

What was he? What is he? He is the wonderful counsellor, the mighty God, Emmanuel, the God with us.

Where is he that is born king of the Jews? He made himself of no reputation. He humbled himself. And nobody naturally likes to do that by our nature. We like to be seen, to being number one. Nobody likes to come down the ladder of success. Everybody likes to go up the ladder. People like to be seen as a successful person. They don't want to be seen as somebody who has struggled and found life difficult. We are in awe of those who succeed in life.

Yet the Lord Jesus Christ demonstrates what it truly is to love God and to love your neighbour as yourself. It's to climb down to the bottom of the ladder, not for anything to do with yourself, but to do for others. The King, the King became a slave.

In the Gospel, according to Luke, And chapter two tells us there about Mary in verse seven, and she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Can we get any lower? This king of kings who was unrestricted by a human body, who was omnipresent, contracted to a span, housed in the womb of the Virgin Mary, concealed in clay, then laid in a manger, a food trough, wrapped in swaddling bands, completely helpless. As the hymn says, he's held in Mary's arms. He also held up heaven and earth or something along those lines.

Think of the humility of the self-sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Made himself of no reputation, born into a poor family, laid in a manger because there was no room for him or them in the inn. and took upon him the form of a servant. You know that this word servant is actually slave. And if you look up what one of the meanings of the word slave can be, it means completely devoted to another at the disregard of one's own interests. And does not that sum up completely the life of the Lord Jesus Christ? Completely devoted to another at the disregard of one's own interests.

He says my will is to do the will of my Father which is in heaven. Completely devoted to his Father that is in heaven. At the complete disregard for his own glory. For he condescended, made himself a little lower than the angels and put on flesh. This is what true love is. This is what true sacrificial giving is like. It's to give and not expecting anything in return. It's not to, you give your present and you're hoping, you know, you're checking the hand to see, oh, have they got a present for me? Or you give them 20 pounds and you're hoping that maybe they're going to give you 100. It's to give and to walk away, not expecting to receive anything whatsoever. Why? Because you don't deserve it. And Jesus says that is the true way to give. The true way to give is to give not expecting to receive anything again. Just like the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't come to earth because we deserved Him. He came because we needed Him and there was no other way for us to be redeemed and it cost Him so much. that even today at the right hand of the father, he's still housed in a human glorified body with the marks in his hands and a hole in his side as he intercedes for his people as their great high priest.

True love. There was no greater love than this, than a man lay down his life for my friends. And so he says, let this mind be in you. The mind that I have just described, the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ, let it be in me. Let it be in you.

By nature, that is totally impossible. Our human nature is so corrupt that we have no desire whatsoever to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. Bible tells us in Romans 8, for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit do mind the things of the spirit but to be carnally minded or worldly minded or fleshly minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace because the carnal mind is eminently against God for it's not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be.

So he tells us by our nature that our minds are carnal, our will, our heart, our emotions, our affections, they are carnally earthbound. We have no concern for the law of God, we have no concern for Christ, God or spiritual things. But he says you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, born again of the Spirit of God. The believer has seen and experienced an inward change. Their hard, rock-like heart has been softened by the Spirit. They've been given a new heart. They are now spiritually aware. They are now spiritually attached to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. They are alive. And therefore, because they are alive, spiritually alive, they're able to seek after these spiritual gifts, this spiritual estate.

It is the Christian who can fully understand and try to grasp Christmas. As the world seeks to draw attention to me, Yet the Christian is reminded that life is not about me. Life is about others. Life is about living for the Lord Jesus Christ. The world bury Christ in all its tinsel and lights and presents, but the believers have come once again to focus on what it truly means to be a Christian. What it truly means to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. What it truly means to worship the incarnate God.

Self-denial and humility. The apostle tells us in verse 16 it says holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. What was his motive for living? He says, for me to die and for me to live is Christ, but to die is gain. And yes, and if I am offered on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I'm happy. that the mind of Christ was so in the mind of the Apostle Paul that he was willing to live his life with the abandonment of self. And his only desire and his only object was to glorify Jesus Christ. And the same as Timothy. Timothy also from verse 19. But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state. For I have no man like-minded, no man who is like me, no man is seeking to be like the Lord Jesus Christ, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ.

He says everybody else is seeking their own. Everybody else is seeking to glorify themselves. not Timothy. Timothy will live for you and he will die for you because he has the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's willing to completely lose sight of himself, to live with disregard to his own interests and to have Christ and the advancement of his kingdom as his object.

In Romans Again it tells us there in Romans 12, I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy, except the one to God, which is your reasonable service. This is to be the norm for the Christian, that his life is to be so consumed on the altar of sacrifice. that is to be totally given up to God.

He says, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And so how is this transformation to take place? How is the believer to present their body, a living sacrifice unto God, is to flow through the brain, by the renewing of our minds, that our minds and our brains are to be so altered, that our life is so transformed, so different to the lives of everybody else around about us, that you may prove that you will be not conformed to this world, But be ye transformed, how? By the renewing of your mind.

How are we going to renew your mind? If we are honest with ourselves, our minds, there are things that take place in our minds or brains that we want anybody else to know. There are thoughts and thought processes that take place which are so wrong that if they were to be known, we wouldn't have any friends. And the Bible tells us we are to renew our minds, just like that rain that comes down upon the earth and channels those grooves into the soil. So our brains are to be so renewed, so washed over by the word that our thought processes are changed and altered.

You know, our brain is actually pliable. It can be altered. It can fall into right habits. And so the apostle tells us in chapter four Philippians, from verse six, be careful about nothing. Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and request, supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

See, as I said, worry, fear affects the body. But the scripture says, be careful for nothing, but in everything, prayer, supplication with thanksgiving, that your requests be made known to God. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, Whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think. Think on these things.

If we were to get our brain and we were to deal with the percentages of our thoughts, What percentages would go to carnality and worldliness, uncleanness, immorality? And what percentage would go to prayer, a supplication and thanksgiving and things that are true, things that are honest, just? How would it work out? And we can see why so many Christians are so discouraged. Because there is so much that goes on in our brains that is so contrary to the Word of God.

You see, as we live, as we live, we see. And what we see goes into our brain and it sticks there. What we hear goes into our brains and it sticks there. And it's so easy for our brain, because it loves sin, to trawl up the filth. rather than to meditate and to think about the word.

Remember that our brain is an organ. It's corrupted by sin and it desires that carnal nature. And so it's stimulated by uncleanness and filth. But the Bible tells us you have to renew your mind, renew your thought processes by meditating upon those things which are right and just and pure. Cut out those things in our lives that cause us to think immorally and unrightly and impurely. And to focus upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ's thoughts were selfless. And those selfless thoughts affected his actions. And our thought processes, they will affect our actions because the spiritual, the unseen part of us must pass through our brain and it must be, it will be seen by those people round about us. So you know, you will know. You will know what a Christian thinks about, what a Christian looks at, what a Christian hears by the way that they talk, by the way that they act, by their conversation and manner of life.

If we are so shaped by the pure water of the word running through our brains and our conversation and our way of life, we'll be edifying and encouraging to those round about us. What does Jesus say? If any man will come after me, deny himself, take up his cross and follow me, you cannot continue in the world. You cannot have one foot in the world and one foot following Jesus Christ. You cannot have a mind that is saturated with impurity and uncleanness and then expect to walk a worthy Christian life. It can't happen.

It says, deny yourself, take up your cross, crucify yourself. Put to death the lust, the uncleanness, the lies. Nail it to the cross and follow Jesus. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. So as we look at Christmas time and the excess Let us remember the Lord Jesus Christ and that perfect gift, the cost of our salvation.

God himself contracted to a span, laid in a manger, held in the arms of the Virgin Mary, but then grew, was crucified upon the cross, rose again the third day. Now God has highly exalted him. and given him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of things in heaven, things on earth, and things under the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father.

Well, may we each this morning fall down and worship the Lord Jesus Christ, abandon ourselves, be devoted to another, to the disregard of our own interests and to live a life for the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Let us sing in conclusion, number 60 from Hymns for Worship. Number 60.

As with gladness men of old did the guiding star behold,
as with joy they held its light, leading onward, beaming bright,
so most gracious Lord may we evermore be led to Thee.

Number 60. In the guiding star behold. And with joy they held his light, Thee he onward be made bright. So most gracious Lord, may we Evermore be led to Thee. Joyful steps they spread, ? Keep us in the narrow way ? ? And when earthly things are lost ? Now His light is joyous crowned, Now His sun-beach goes all down. Therefore let the babies sing, Alleluia to our King.

Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit to be with you each now and forevermore. Amen.