Alright, let's take our Bibles
now and turn to the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter 2. And let
me read verses 5 through 8. 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. but made himself of no reputation,
took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross." Verses 6 through 8. Paul just
tells us briefly of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ as He came into this world to
save sinners. And he gives us these things
to teach us something about the mind and character of our Lord
which has everything to do with our daily walk or with what he
calls here the mind. the mind of Christ. You've heard
people say, well, what's on your mind? What have you got in mind? Well, here he tells us something
about the mind of Christ. And he tells us that because
it has everything to do with that mind with which we walk. We have to deal with things on
a daily basis. How do we deal with the mind
of Christ? We have to walk on a daily basis.
How do we know how to walk? With the mind of Christ. And
so on. And it has everything to do with
our daily lives and our service in the Kingdom of God. And in
these few short verses, he tells us five things about the coming
of our Lord into this world as the Savior of chosen sinners.
And these five things apply directly to how we think and how we make
our decisions and how we live our lives out daily. And these
five things applied by the Holy Spirit of God to the believer's
heart are sufficient to motivate him and counsel him and instruct
him in all that he's commanded to do. So what are these five things?
Well, first of all, he tells us this. He tells us that the
coming of our great mediator into this world was condescending. That's the first thing he tells
us. It was condescending. He who thought it not robbery
to be equal with God made himself of no reputation. Can you imagine? This is the preeminent one. This
is the one chosen of God. This is the one who was with
God in the beginning, who knows all things and sees all things,
controls all things, has all glory in Him. This is the preeminent
one. He's the only one with a reputation. And he made himself of no reputation. It's hard to wrap your mind around
that, isn't it? this condescension when God become
a man, when God came down and robed Himself in human flesh
and lived in this world. It was condescending. This was
very God of very God. John stresses that all the way
through his Gospel. This is the Word which was in
the beginning with God and who was God. All things, Paul tells
us, were created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. It pleased the Father that in
Him should all fullness dwell. He laid aside those royal robes
of His majesty and glory and took upon Him the form of a servant. He made Himself, the Scripture
said, of no reputation. From the highest to the lowest,
from top to the bottom. He whose presence caused the
seraphims to cover their eyes, wraps himself in swaddling clothes
and lies in a manger. You can't imagine such a thing,
can you? The condescension of Christ who came into this world
to save ourselves. He who thought no sin and spoke
no sin and did no sin came into this world through the womb of
a sinner, walked and talked and lived among sinners, ate their
food and drank their wine and wore their clothes. I remember
one time Brother Mahan talked about going to the Ivory Coast.
And while he was over there, he was out one morning drinking
his coffee and walking down the coastline there, down the beach.
And the missionary there came and began to talk to him and
walk with him. And it was time to go back to
the camp. And he said, well, we'll just
cut through here and go. He said, no, you can't cut through
here. He said, that's a leper colony. And he said, can we go
through there? And he said, no. He said, you
don't want to go through there. Yes, he said, I do want to go
through there. And they walked through that leper colony. And
the missionary himself was just trembling all over at the thought
of walking through that leper colony. Christ came down in our
leper colony and lived 33 and a half years. He lived. That's what it would be for the
sinless one to live among sinners, like walking through a leper
colony. Let this mind be in you that
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. The Son of God became the Son
of Man. The Son of God made himself the
son of a carpenter. And my friend, if you and I are
ever going to serve God, we're going to have to come down. That's
what this is teaching. We're going to have to come down.
Whatever lofty views we have of ourselves, whatever lofty
ideas that we have of ourselves, we're going to have to get rid
of them. We're going to have to condescend. This is what Paul
is teaching us here about the mind of Christ. It's a condescension. If you're going to serve God
in the salvation of sinners, you're going to have to come
down. You're going to have to condescend. Humble yourselves, the Scripture
said, under the mighty hand of God. And if we're going to be
used of God to further His Kingdom, we're going to have to come down
where sinners are. So that's the first thing I know
about serving God. When I look at the mind of Christ,
I see a condescension. A condescension. And then the
second thing He tells us about our Lord's work is that he came
as a representative. It was a representative work.
We don't just work. Every day of our lives, we represent
God. Believers do. They represent
God. We represent God out on the job. I represent Him behind the pulpit.
You represent Him sitting in the pews. You represent Him if
you're an employer and you have employees. We represent Him. It took me a long time as a child
to realize that all the things that I did reflected on my Father. It took me a long time to realize
that. But when I realized that, it
had a change in how I acted and what I did. And this is what
He is telling us here. He took upon Him the form of
a servant. And all that the Lord did, He
did as Jehovah's righteous servant. Well, who did he represent? Well,
he represented both God and men. One mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus. He represented both. He tells
us in John 6, verse 38, I came down from heaven, not to do my
own will, but the will of Him that sent me. This is the will
of Him that sent me, that of all which He hath given me I
should lose nothing. He came as a servant. He came
to serve. God the Father blessed the people
in Him, made provision for them in Him, and sent Him into this
world. Listen to the Scriptures. Then
said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it's written of Me
to do Thy will, O God. I came as a servant. I came to
serve. I came to fulfill and accomplish
the will of God. Jesus of Nazareth came into this
world as Jehovah's servant. But He also came as a representative
of His people. His obedience was for them. His sacrifice was for them. His resurrection was for them.
He presently reigns in glory for them. We're seated with Him
in the heavenlies. Oh, I tell you, if the Spirit
of the living God could just make us to see and understand
this one thing, just this one thing, that Christ is my representative. He represents me before holy
God. Listen to these scriptures. When
the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the law. Now listen, to redeem them
that were under the law that we might receive the adoption
of sons. And then over in 2 Corinthians
5.21, God hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And if you and
I are sin of God, servants of the King, we're ambassadors for
Christ. Isn't that what Paul said? As
though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in his stead,
be you reconciled to God. We're not left in this world
to serve ourselves, but to do the will of our Father. Brethren,
our walk will change and our attitude and spirit will change
when we realize that we represent the living God. When we begin
to understand and think, and this is applied to our hearts,
that we represent Him in all that we do. We're His children. His children. His servants. You
are, Paul said, to whom you obey. Whoever that is. That's who you
serve. So the coming of Christ was condescending. And it was representative. And
then thirdly, it was out of loving obedience. Out of loving obedience. Being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself. and become obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross." There are two great commandments,
our Lord said, and upon them hinge all the law and the prophets. On these two commandments, thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and
strength, and your neighbor as yourself. Love is the fulfilling
of the law. So when you're talking about
service, when you're talking about obedience, when you're
talking about working in the Kingdom of God, living out our
days, honoring the King, we're talking about a work in love.
In love. Love is the fulfilling of the
law. To love the Lord our God with
all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is what it is. You do that, you won't have no
problem with the rest of the law. But you can't do that. You can't do that. But obedience
necessitates love, and we strive to do these things. Actually, I'm going to tell you
something. The man who loves obeys. He obeys because obedience necessitates
love. Listen to the Scriptures. By
this we know that we love the children of God when we love
God and keep His commandments. What are His commandments? His
commandments are to repent. His commandment is to believe.
And His commandment is to love one another. And Christ's obedience
was loving obedience. He loved His Father and He loved
all those given to Him by His Father. Now, he said, let this mind be
in you, which was also in him. And then, fourthly, the coming
of our Savior into this world as a servant was self-sacrifice. There's only one way to serve
God, and that's total surrender. That's it. Total surrender. You give yourself to him. When
you give yourself, you give all that you have. That's what he's
going to have. That's the only way you can serve
God. You give yourself to Him. That's by putting yourself and
yours into the hands of our Lord. It's so easy to say, well, I
believe, I believe. But it's a whole other story
when it comes down to it, isn't it? When it comes down to it. Giving yourself. Giving yourself
into His hands. Actually, everything you have
is His anyways. But His disciples, His servants,
His children are going to willingly acknowledge that. My family,
my children, my grandchildren, my wife, my husband, my job,
my place of residence, my future, everything. Let this mind be
in you. which was also in Christ Jesus
our Lord. He gave Himself. Isn't that what the Scripture
says? He gave Himself. Well, what did that mean? Well,
that mean He gave His life. I can't find anywhere in the
Scripture where the Lord even had a hobby. Can you? I can't find anywhere in there
where he ever even had a day of recreation. All I see in here is obedience
and service to perfection. To perfection, he gave himself. Will you serve it? then learn
what it means to sacrifice yourself, give yourself. Well, does that
mean I can't have any time with my wife and children? No. No. No, it don't. Does that mean
I can't ever go fishing? No, it don't mean that at all.
But it means you don't live for those things. You live for this. Me and I, and I'm talking about
myself, we like to play it safe. We like to be conservative. My
friend, give yourselves. Give yourselves. We serve a God
who knows all, sees all, directs all, who's almighty and all-wise.
And do you know how silly that is to preach that and then worry
over little things? Philippians 4.19, Paul said,
My God shall supply all your needs. according to His riches
in glory by Christ Jesus. All your needs. He that spared
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not with Him also freely give us all things? There are no accidents, no uncontrolled
circumstances, no chance, no luck. Christ said, not even a
sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father. And He said,
does your Father take care for sparrows, or did He say that
for your sake? And exactly as we've committed
our souls unto Him, commit everything else. Serve Him with the mind
of Christ. Christ held nothing back. And
then last of all, when our Lord came into this world as Jehovah's
Servant, His coming was uncompromising. Uncompromising. He became obedient
unto death. His obedience cost Him His life. Our Lord lived as a man and served
God as a representative for man and God for 33 1�2 years without
compromise. He would not compromise the Word
of God. Let God be true and every man
a liar. He did not compromise the preaching
of the Gospel. He would not compromise the will
of God. I tell you, we live in a self-serving
generation. We are going about to promote
self-will, free will, man's will, and their will. God has revealed
His will concerning the salvation of His elect. And if we're ever
going to be saved, it will be according to the good pleasure
of His will. His will is going to be done.
So let's find His will. The Pharisees, the Sadducees,
and scribes, they were not willing to submit to God's revealed will
concerning anything. Not the Christ, not preaching,
not baptism, not the resurrection, nothing. They would not submit.
They followed what seemed right unto them. They followed traditional
wisdom. They followed established religion,
and they followed these things right into hell. And those who
followed them were made twofold more the child of hell than they
were. And then thirdly, Christ would not compromise the glory
of God. the glory of His justice, the
glory of His righteousness, and all these things. That's what
brought Him into this world, to manifest the glory of God.
And that's what salvation is. It's to see that glory manifested
in Christ. All of these things He manifested
as our Savior. And He tells us now, let this
mind be in you. Let this mind be in you, in your
daily lives. You do everything in your power
to keep peace, to be at peace with all men, but be uncompromising. Do not compromise the glory of
God. Do not compromise the Word of
God or the Word of His Gospel. Don't compromise those things.
He was uncompromising. He was self-sacrificing. He came
in loving obedience. You see what I'm saying? This
is what Paul's telling us. And all he did was sum up the
life of Christ. And he said, now let that mind
be in you. Let that mind be in you. May
God establish that mind in us and cause us to walk and serve
him. Thank you.