Text: Philippians 2:5-9 “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, and 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. Wherefore God also has highly exalted him, and
given him a name which is above every name.”
Have you ever felt like you were about to “lose your mind”? There have been times when I
thought I was losing mine. It would truly be a blessing if we could lose our minds. Lose them,
that is, and replace them with the mind of Christ. We are to have the mind of Christ abiding in
us. Have you ever considered exactly what it means to have the mind of Christ? That’s exactly
what we are going to do today. As we consider the mind of Christ, I want you to examine your
mind to see if it is the same. If it’s not I urge you to lose your mind for the mind of Christ.
My prayer for you today is this: Let the mind of the master be the master of your mind. Consider
the following thoughts about the mind of Christ:
NUMBER ONE: The mind of Christ is a Submissive mind. The mind of Christ is not a selfcentered mind. It is not a stubborn mind. It is a mind of surrender. It is a mind of submission.
Christ was submissive to the will of God the Father. He was submissive not just when He felt like
it, or agreed with it, or found it easy to go along with. He was the “lamb slain from the
foundation of the world” according to the book of revelation. He knew that the eternal purpose
of God the father was for him to robe himself in humanity. He was to become the sacrifice that
would win salvation for a fallen human race. He never once argued with God the father
concerning his eternal purposes. Or anything else for that matter. Instead, he was submissive to
the will of God for his life. He was submissive unto death, even death on a cross.
How submissive are you to the will of God? The measure of your submissiveness to God will
always be directly proportionate to the amount of your mind that Christ has.
A Christian woman once asked her pastor, "tell me, what is your idea of submission?"
Holding out a blank sheet of paper he replied, "this is my idea of submission, I sign my
name at the bottom of this blank piece of paper, and let God fill it in as He will."
That’s a submissive mind. That’s the mind that says “God wherever you lead me I will follow.”
That’s the mind that says, “God I have no life outside of you. You are my life.
Take my life and let it be.
Consecrated Lord to Thee.
Take my moments & my days.
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Martin Luther wrote, “The life of Christianity consists of possessive pronouns. It is one
thing to say, "Christ is a Savior"; it is quite another thing to say, "He is my Savior and
my Lord." The devil can say the first; the true Christian alone can say the second.”
Let the mind of the master be the master of your mind.
It is just as Andrew Murray wrote, “God is ready to assume full responsibility for the
life wholly yielded to Him.” The mind of Christ is a submissive mind.
NUMBER TWO: The mind of Christ is a Self-abased mind. Our text tells us that Jesus
"made himself of no reputation …" The mind of Christ is not a self-exalting mind. It’s quite the
opposite. The person who always seeks to put themselves up on a platform for all to see is not a
person that possesses the mind of Christ. In all that He did, Christ pointed people to God. He
never bragged on himself for anything that He did. Instead, He made himself of no reputation. If
you possess the mind of Christ you will be a self-abased person instead of a self-absorbed one.
When the wife of missionary Adoniram Judson told him that a newspaper article
likened him to some of the apostles, Judson replied, "I do not want to be like a Paul or
any mere man. I want to be like Christ. I want to follow Him only, copy His teachings,
drink in His Spirit, and place my feet in His footprints. Oh, to be more like Christ!"
That’s our goal. Our desire is to grow up in every way unto Jesus Christ. We want to be like
Christ in every way. With Paul we say: “I only want to know one thing & that is Christ crucified.
John Wesley said, “Give me 100 men who hate nothing but sin and love God with all
their hearts and I will shake the world for Christ!"
A group of tourists were once visiting a famous village. One tourist asked, "Have any great men
been born in this village?" To this an old man replied, "Nope, just babies." There are no instant
saints. No one is born with the mind of Christ. Growth takes time. You don’t mature overnight.
It takes study and prayer. It calls for worship and devotion. It involves a seeking after the Holy
Spirit. It’s an opening up of your life to the will of God and the needs of your neighbor.
NUMBER THREE: The mind of Christ is the mind of a servant. Our text tells us that Jesus
“took upon himself the form of a servant.”
The life of our savior was a life of absolute service. He came not to do his own will, but the will
of him that sent him. His life was a life of complete servitude. Is this the mind that you possess
today? Do you have to be begged and prodded into service? If you do, then you do not possess
the mind of Christ. At least not as completely as God would have you to possess it. Someone
who possesses the mind of Christ is someone who willingly serves.
Our English word "Servant “comes from the Greek word DOULOS which means slave or the word
DIAKANOS which means to minister. These words are synonyms. Both words denote a person
who is not at their own disposal. They are someone who has been purchased by a master to
whom they belong. They have been bought to serve their master's needs. It is their duty to be
at his beck and call every moment. The slave's sole business is to do as they are told. Christian
service therefore means, first and foremost, living out a servant relationship to one's Savior.
St. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:19: “do you not know that your body is a temple of
the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you
were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
What work does Christ set his servants to do? The way that we serve him, he tells us, is by
becoming the servants of our fellow-servants. It is by being willing to do literally anything,
however costly, irksome, or undignified, in order to help them. This is what love means. This is
what he himself showed when he played the servant’s part and washed the disciples' feet.
When the New Testament speaks of ministering to the saints, it means devoting time, trouble,
and substance to giving them all the practical help possible. The essence of Christian service is
loyalty to the king expressing itself in care for his servants.
That’s why Jesus says, “as you did it unto these the least of my brothers you have
done it unto me.”
Only the Holy Spirit can create in us the kind of love toward our Savior that will overflow in sympathy & practical helpfulness towards others. Unless the spirit is training us in love, we’re not fit
to do the Lord’s work. Gifted leaders who are self-centered & loveless hurt the cause of Christ.
African explorer David Livingstone wrote, “The supreme test of service is this: 'For
whom am I doing this?'
Much of what we call service to Christ is not service to Him at all. If we are doing something for
Christ, we won’t care for human reward or even recognition. Whatever is done for God, without
respect of its comparative character as related to other acts is service. Only that is service.
Service is, comprehensively speaking, doing the will of God. He is the object. All is for Him. It is
all for His sake. It is done unto the Lord, not as unto man. That’s why even the humblest act of
the humblest disciple acquires a certain divine quality. Why? Because it is being done for Him.
NUMBER FOUR: The mind of Christ is a Sacrificial mind. The mind of Christ is a sacrificial
mind. It is a mind that is willing to sacrifice whatever the cost of the sacrifice may be. Consider
the sacrifice of Christ. He made himself a sacrifice by dying on the cross for us.
What are we willing to sacrifice in our service to Him? Do we possess a sacrificial mind? If we do
not, then we do not possess the mind of Christ.
Again David Livingstone wrote, “People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending
so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply
acknowledging a great debt we owe to our God, which we can never repay? Is that a
sacrifice which brings its own reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing
good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny? It is emphatically no
sacrifice. Rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, danger, foregoing the
common conveniences of this life--these may make us pause, and cause the spirit to
waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing
compared with the glory which shall later be revealed in and through us. I never made
a sacrifice. Of this we ought not to talk, when we remember the great sacrifice which
He made who left His Father's throne on high to give Himself for us.
A chaplain was speaking to a soldier on a cot in a hospital. "You have lost an arm for a
great cause," he said. "No," said the soldier with a smile. "I didn't lose it--I gave it."
In that same way, Jesus did not lose His life. He gave it purposefully. Do you hear Jesus
speaking to you today?
I GAVE MY LIFE FOR THEE, WHAT WILL YOU GIVE FOR ME?
Philosopher Soren Kierkagaard once wrote: “I went into church and sat on the velvet
pew. I watched as the sun came shining through the stained glass windows. The
minister dressed in a velvet robe opened the golden gilded Bible, marked it with a silk
bookmark and said, "If any man will be my disciple, said Jesus, let him deny himself,
take up his cross, sell what he has, give it to the poor, and follow me.”
NUMBER FIVE: The mind of Christ is a Successful mind. The mind of Christ is a rewarding
mind. The exaltation of Christ is the reward of his humiliation. Consider what the Bible has to
say about humiliation:
Jesus says in Matthew 23:12 “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and
he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”
I Peter 5:6 reads, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may
exalt you in due time.”
If you possess the mind of Christ you are on the road to ultimate success. God will exalt you in
due time.
How needful it is that we lose our minds and replace them with the mind of Christ. I would go
so far as to say that it is probably the greatest need of our time. Do you possess the mind of
Christ? If your answer is no I would urge you to lose your mind for his.