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THE MIND OF CHRIST

Joy for the Journey, Part 4

May 18, 2008

Pastor Bob Sanders

We continue in our series on Paul’s letter to the Philippians and this morning we come to one of the most profound passages of all Scripture.  If the Bible were a mountain range like the Cascades, then the passage we’re about to read would be Mount Hood or Mount Rainier – one of the loftiest peaks in the entire range.  It contains perhaps the most concise and comprehensive statement of Christology – that means the study of who Jesus is and what he has done – found anywhere in the New Testament. 

It’s printed on the cover of your bulletin, and this week I’ve chosen to use the Revised Standard Version of the Bible (instead of the Today’s New International Version we’ve been using), mainly because this is the version I used when I memorized this passage many years ago, and so this is my default setting.  And let me just say that if ever there was a passage worthy of memorization it’s this one – especially verses 5 through 11.  Write this one on a note card and memorize it while you’re walking or working out, while you’re shaving or fixing breakfast.  It will, I promise you, change your life.

One more comment by way of introduction.  Most New Testament scholars today believe that Paul is quoting a widely-known hymn of the early church.   The language, the meter, the structure of the text all suggest this is poetry, something the Philippian Christians knew by heart and probably had sung many times in their worship services.  What I’d like to do now is read this magnificent passage, and then have us join together in singing a version of it found on the hymn insert in your bulletin – a paraphrase of Philippians 2:5-11 entitled At the Name of Jesus, written by Caroline Maria Noel and put to music by the great English composer Ralph Vaughn Williams.  It’s one of my favorite hymns, but it takes a little practice to get it right.  So let’s pray, then listen, then sing.

Philippians 2:3-11

3Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others as better than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

6who, though he was in the form of God,

did not count equality with God

a thing to be grasped,

7but emptied himself,

taking the form of a servant,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

8he humbled himself

and became obedient unto death,

even death on a cross.

9Therefore God has highly exalted him

and bestowed on him the name

which is above every name,

10that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11and every tongue confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

An Unforgettable Portrait

The renovation work on the sanctuary has begun.  As folks were removing stuff last Sunday night, they came across some interesting odds and ends from the past – a pledge card from last year’s stewardship campaign left under a pew cushion, an old shopping list made out during a less-than-spellbinding sermon, even a couple eighth graders last seen in game of Underground Church back in 1993 (just kidding!). 

I think I’ve told you before the true story of a church in Richmond, Virginia that was doing a sanctuary remodel, and in the process they had to tear down an interior wall and discovered just behind it another wall with a beautiful stained glass window of Holman Hunt’s “Christ Praying in the Garden.”  It had been covered over for some reason many years before and pretty much everyone had forgotten this magnificent portrait of Jesus was ever there. 

That reminds us how easy it is for the central reality of the church – the Lord Jesus Christ – to get blocked from view.  Lots of other concerns and agendas – some good, some not so good – can crowd our attention and block our ability to see Jesus at the center of our life together.  And when that happens, when Jesus Christ is no longer at the center of our church’s life, we begin to divide and fragment. 

Last week we heard Paul describe the importance of unity in the church as well as prescribe some ways to bring about a greater degree of oneness.  As everyone knows, the best sermon is a good example, and so Paul presents us a powerful example, this unforgettable portrait of Jesus Christ.  “Have this mind among yourselves” – have this way of thinking and acting – “which is yours in Christ Jesus.”

 Let’s take a look first at what Paul means by the mind of Christ, and then ask ourselves what having the mind of Christ means for us.

The Mind of Christ

Notice first the shape of this hymn.  It’s been described as a parabola.  Think back to geometry class.  A parabola is a line that starts at the top then curves downward to the bottom, then swoops back to the top again.  That’s the pattern described here.  It begins in eternity past with Jesus in the form of and equal to God, then descends as he empties himself and becomes human and dies on the cross.  Then it curves back up as Jesus is exalted and crowned Lord of all.

I love the way C. S. Lewis describes this parabola in his book Miracles:

In the Christian story God descends to re-ascend.  He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity…down to the very roots and sea-bed of the Nature He had created.  But He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world up with Him.  One has the picture of…a diver, first reducing himself to nakedness, then glancing in mid-air, then gone with a splash, vanished, rushing down through green and warm water into black and cold water, down through increasing pressure into the deathlike region of ooze and slime and old decay; then up again, back to color and light, his lungs almost bursting, till suddenly he breaks the surface again, holding in his hand the dripping, precious thing that he went down to recover. 1

Look at the details.  In verse 6 it says Jesus Christ was “in the form of God.”  The Greek word is morphe, and it refers to the essential nature, the very being of God.  This is one of the clearest, strongest statements in all the New Testament of the full deity of our Lord Jesus.  He wasn’t just like God.  He was “in the form of God,” possessing the very nature of God – uncreated, eternal, all powerful, all knowing, all loving. 

But it goes on to say he was not only fully God, he was also fully human.  Verse 6 says, “Though he was in the form of God,” Jesus “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.”  He didn’t hold on to his divine power but, according to verse 7, “emptied himself”  of his glory and become human, with all the limitations and struggles you and I deal with daily.  Jesus poured out his privilege and power and became fully human.  He “emptied himself…and was “born in human likeness.”

He could have become fully human and chosen to be a conquering king, but instead he chose to take “the form of a servant.”  In Mark 10 Jesus put it this way: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” 2  In John 13 Jesus rises from the table and lays aside his outer garments, just as he had laid aside his divine prestige.  He wraps himself in a house slave’s towel and, taking a bowl of water, washes his disciples’ feet. 3  He “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.”

And still the parabola descends.  Look at verses 7 and 8: “And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.” 

Who would have imagined it?  God takes on human form and comes to this world he created as a servant, only to suffer rejection and injustice, hatred and betrayal, pain and death.  The incarnate God nailed to a cross.  And why does this happen?  Not because he was a helpless victim.  You understand he could have called down legions of angels to rescue him from the cross.  But he obeyed the will of his Father and became the God-forsaken one, the suffering Servant, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  He not only lived the life that we should have lived, he died the death we should have died.  He goes to the cross so that we can be redeemed from sin and death, reconciled to God and one another, released from the chains of futility and hopelessness.

“And…he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.”  But that isn’t the end of the story.  God raised him from death, and in the glorious language of this great Christ-hymn,

has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The parabola is complete.  This Jesus who was in the form of God came all the way down to death on a cross.  And now this same Jesus is highly exalted, bearing the name above all names.  And please notice this hymn assures us that the day is coming when every person who has ever lived and who ever shall live will bow the knee and “every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”  Some will confess “Jesus is Lord” with gratitude and joy.  For others, it will be with shame and disappointment.  Whether we confess his Lordship with gladness or regret on that day depends largely on how we respond to him today, right now.

Have This Mind Among Yourselves

We have this powerful portrait of Jesus our servant-Lord, and if we see it clearly we are led to examine ourselves.  Paul says we are to have this same mind, the mind of Christ, toward others: the mind that didn’t count equality with God something to be grasped.  The mind that emptied himself of power and privilege and came down to be a servant, obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

What does that mind look like on us? 

Maybe Jesus said it best in John 13 when he stooped to wash the disciples’ feet: “For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” 4 

He didn’t say, “I’ve given you an example that you should listen to a sermon about it on Sunday morning.” 

He didn’t say, “I’ve given you an example that you should form study groups to discuss it.”

No, he said, “I’ve given you an example that you should do likewise.”  See, it’s not about esoteric theology.  It’s about everyday living.  It’s about letting go of your rights and prerogatives.  It’s about becoming humble enough to put others first. 

It’s about improving your serve. 

To start with, it’s learning to serve the people around you – beginning with those nearest and (mostly) dearest: your spouse (if you’ve got one), your kids (if you’ve got some), your extended family, your brothers and sisters in Christ.  It’s in these relationships where we learn best what it means to be a servant.  It’s not on a mission trip to Senegal or Zambia.  It’s right there in your own home, your own family, your own circle of relationships, all those crazy, wonderful people you’re stuck with.

What does it mean today, this week, to empty yourself and be a servant to these folks?  What specific attitudes and actions are called for?  What dreams and goals might have to be set aside, or at least postponed, so you have the time and energy to serve? 

At the risk of meddling, I’ll press this a bit harder when it comes to our marriages.  I used to think the key to a good marriage was communication.  Just keep talking to each other and you’ll make it.  Then I thought the key to a good marriage was compromise.  If you give a little and your spouse gives a little, you’ll do just fine.  And I still believe in communication and compromise.  But neither of those is the key to a successful marriage.  You want to know what it takes?  It takes sacrifice – sheer sacrifice.  It takes the willingness to give up my rights, to empty myself of my agenda, and to become a servant.  Imagine what that would look like in your marriage – both of you giving up your rights, and both of you out-serving the other.  Or, as Paul puts it:

Let each of you look not [only] to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus…

I’ll tell you something I’ve learned over the years.  And that is I cannot do this on my own.  I cannot let go of my goals and be a servant by just telling myself to do it, or by just trying harder.  It doesn’t work.  There’s too much selfishness in me, too much neediness, too much insecurity.  I cannot be that kind of man, that kind of servant, without the help of my Lord.  He has to heal and transform me.  He has to take away my weakness and self-absorption and replace it with his compassion and power.  I can’t do it on my own.  I have to have his mind in me, and you have to have that same mind in you.  The mind of Christ . . .

who did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in human likeness.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

Let’s ask him for that same mind – in our home and family, in our life together as a church, and in our professional life – the mind that is ours in Christ Jesus. 

1. C. S. Lewis, Miracles: A Preliminary Study (Macmillan, 1947), pp.115f.
2. Mark 10:45.
3. John 13:1-17.
4. John 13:15 (RSV).