The Mind of Christ

So, as we continue through this letter together, Paul has already shown us what gospel-shaped love looks like.

So, just to kind of give you a recap, in chapter 1, we watched it overflow in Paul's prayers and anchor his joy in suffering and fuel his partnership with the church.

But now, as we step into chapter 2, Paul lifts our eyes even higher. He moves from his example of humility and love to this supreme example of Christ himself. Everything he has been urging the Philippian church toward finds its perfect expression in Christ Jesus alone.

So Paul wants us to see that the unity and the humility and self-giving love that he commands do not come from sheer effort or personality. They come from beholding Christ. They flow from having the mind of Christ formed in us by his grace.

So, when we step into Philippians 2, we find ourselves in one of the most breathtaking sections of the New Testament. The hymn that follows has captivated the minds and hearts of believers for centuries, and rightly so.

In just a handful of verses, Paul carries us from the eternal glory of the Son existing in the very form of God, down into the humility of his incarnation, where he willingly takes on the form of a servant. And from there, we descend all the way to the shame and agony of the cross, only to be lifted with him again as he is exalted above every name in heaven and on earth.

So this is our Savior. This is Christ. This is the one we worship.

John Calvin reminds us that if we can read this passage and fail to behold the deity of Christ and the radiant majesty of God displayed in his saving work, then we are, in his words, blind to the things of God.

So in other words, Philippians 2 is meant to open our eyes. It calls us to see Jesus as he truly is. Fully God, fully Savior, and worthy of all our worship.

So we're in chapter 2, we'll be doing verses 1-11 again. Chapter 2, verses 1-11.

So there's, again, three points that I want you to see. Verses 1-2, the appeal, verses 3-4, the command, and verses 5-11, the pattern.

So let's begin with The Appeal, verses 1-2.

Paul says, "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy of being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind."

So look closely at how Paul opens chapter 2. He begins with an if-then appeal. Not because he's doubting anything, but because he is shepherding hearts here.

He's saying, in effect, if these comforts are truly yours in Christ, and they are, then let them shape the way you live in love. That is why he states so tenderly in verse 1.

"So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy," see Paul is gathering the sweetest realities of the Christian life and setting them right before the church. Like a pastor placing warm hands on weary shoulders.

So as the ESV Study Bible notes, these if-clauses function more like sense statements. So Paul is appealing to blessings they already possess in Christ, not possibilities that might one day attain. If you are in Christ, you have these realities. That's what he's saying. Our union does not reflect future possibilities, but they are now realities.

So and each phrase is loaded with comfort. Do you see that? Even those two simple words, in Christ, are meant to steady you. This is one of Paul's dearest ways to describe a believer because it tells you where your life is anchored.

To be in Christ means you are not left to carry yourself. You're not defined by your failures, your fears, or your weakness. You're not defined by your sin. You are not defined by anything but Christ. You are joined to him. His victory is counted as your victory. His death has broken sin's rule and power over you. His resurrection has brought you into new life.

And God has taken out the heart of stone within us and given us a heart of flesh. He's began a real work in you, and it's not a fragile one. And the day is coming when what you now possess by faith will be yours by sight. You will share fully in the glory of the new heavens and the new earth.

Martin Lloyd-Jones helpfully reminds us that Paul always begins with what God has done for us in Christ before he turns to what we must do toward one another.

So when Paul says, in Christ, he's not giving you a theological label. He's giving you a place to rest. He's comforting you, or he's reminding you that every blessing of salvation, every encouragement, every comfort that we have, every help of the Spirit, every tender mercy from God comes to you through Christ.

And it's meant to shape you, not only in private faith, but in public love. This is where Paul is leading, from gospel comforts received to gospel shapes lives lived.

So notice how Paul assumes the Christian life is lived inside a real personal relationship with a triune God. In Philippians 2:1, he speaks of encouragement in Christ and participation in the Spirit. Do you see the trinity there, how triune that is? And the comfort of love most naturally points to the Father's love.

Paul thinks this way elsewhere too. Recall 2 Corinthians with a distinctly Trinitarian blessing, 2 Corinthians 13:14, "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit."

So taken together, these texts reveal a Trinitarian pattern, the Son who encourages, the Father who loves, and the Spirit who creates fellowship. It's a Trinitarian work.

So Paul is calling the church to live out that reality. We are to live that reality. In God, there is encouragement, love, and fellowship because we have been brought near by Christ's blood. We are to live as citizens of His kingdom from the inside out. The more we consciously draw on these divine resources, the more we will be able to embody the unity, shared love, and the like-mindedness that Paul pleads in verse 2.

So let's look at verse 2. He says, "complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind."

Paul's appeal comes as four tightly woven calls, a single plea for unity expressed in four phrases.

So Paul's theme is plain, love and unity. But notice the warmth in it. See, this is not merely a command to obey. It's a joy to pursue it. Paul says this unity would complete his joy.

So in other words... He's not barking out orders at them. He's pleading to them like a father in the faith, longing to see the family walk together in peace and in unity. And it's not only right, it's beautiful. Psalm 133, "behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity."

And we need to hear this in our own day. Division and distance in the church have become so common that we can't forget how much they grieve the Lord. God does not save us into a lonely faith. He gathers us into a family.

One commentator reminds us that if we are saints in Jesus Christ, our lives have been supernaturally and extremely woven, interwoven. In other words, unity is not a necessary accessory to the Christian life. It's part of what the gospel produces and part of what we must guard.

So why does Paul press this so strongly in this passage? See, it's more than a pastor's concern for his spiritual children. Paul knows that unity is one of the clearest evidence of Christ's power before a watching world.

Jesus said in John 13:35, "by this all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another." See disunity tarnishes Christ's name. It makes it seem as though he changes nothing. They fight like everyone else. Why should I listen?

See beloved, may this not be so with us. May we not tarnish the name of Christ, but we show the watching world our unity and our love towards one another.

So that is why scripture speaks with such an urgency. Ephesians 4, "I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. There's one body and one spirit. Just as you recalled to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is overall through all in all."

See this unity is not something we manufacture. It is something Christ has purchased and we are called to guard it with humility, patience and love.

Since pride is the fastest way to fracture this unity, Paul now goes straight for the heart in verses three through four. So with unity set before us in verses one through two, Paul now shows what guards it in everyday life. Humility over self-interest and a steady concern for others.

So let's look at The Command in verses 3-4.

"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourself. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others."

So Paul moves from talking about the foundation we share in Christ in verses one through two to encouraging humility in verses three through four. He tells them, "do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourself."

In other words, Paul is going after the inner motive before he talks about outward action. If the church is going to walk in one mind and one love, then they cannot be driven by self motive.

See this is the opposite of what Paul had already seen in Rome. Recall some were preaching Christ out of envy and rivalry. They were seeing Paul's imprisonment as an opportunity to elevate themselves.

And it was the opposite of what threatened the Philippians as well. And Christians are not to live with competitive spirit that uses people as stepping stones or treats ministry as a platform. But we're not called to use each other as Christians.

In plain terms, selfish ambition is the urge to advance yourself, your name, your preferences, your advantage, even when it just disminishes others. But Paul's language reaches even deeper. The word carries the sense of working for self-gain, like a hired hand in this context. It leans toward vanity, empty glory, the craving to be noticed. That's exactly what these preachers were after.

And Paul calls it out as a poison to the church's unity. It is the very opposite of the mind of Christ.

So what is the antidote? Paul gives us two positive commands. First, in humility count others more significant than yourself. The word for humility here is not a false modesty. It's not thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less. It's a true assessment of your own standing before God and others.

And the second command is a practical outworking of the first. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others.

See, this is not a call to neglect your own needs. It's a call to expand your vision. The Christian life is not lived in a vacuum. It's lived in community. And the humble person is not self-absorbed. They are others-absorbed. They are actively seeking the good of their brother and sister.

And this is the daily work of unity. It's the quiet, unseen choice to prefer another, to listen to another, to serve another, to let go of the need to be right, to let go of the need to win. This is where unity is either guarded or eroded in countless small choices to die to self. We are to die to ourself and to count others more significant.

So the pattern in verses five through 11 anchors all of this in Christ Himself. And the mind that we are called to have is the mind we already share in Christ Jesus.

So let's look at The Pattern, verses 5-11.

"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."

The one who had every right to cling to glory chose and said to empty Himself and take the form of a servant and obey to the point of death, even death on the cross. That means no act of humble obedience, God ask of you will ever take you lower than Christ has already gone for you. Whatever He calls you to stoop, to forgive, to reconcile, to serve quietly, He has stooped further and He goes with you.

And the way down is not a dead end. The pattern of the Christian life follows the pattern of Christ. And it's costly obedience now and glory later. You may be misunderstood, overlooked, or taken advantage of, but the God who exalted His Son will not forget His children. He will complete what He has begun.

So the expression, in the form of God, is not casual wording on Paul's part. It is a clear and careful chosen statement of doctrine. This is a clear affirmation of Jesus' deity and preexistence. Before creation, before time, before the Son took to himself a true human nature in the womb of the Virgin, he already shared the Father's glory within the life of the triune God.

Hebrews speaks of this way, calling him "the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power." See the Jesus that stoops in humanity is the very one who shares God's glory and sustains all things. So when he descends, we are meant to tremble with wonder at how far he chose to come for us.

You see, the suffering, shame, and humiliation of the incarnation must come before the exaltation described in the hymns' final verses, 9-11.

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

See because the Son willingly descended because he took the form of a servant, he obeyed to the point of death, even death on the cross, therefore God has highly exalted him. You see, the Father responds to the Son's humiliation with exaltation. The one who stooped so low for us and for our salvation is the very one whom God has now publicly lifted up, confirming by his resurrection and his ascension the rights and titles and privileges that were his from all eternity, but are now openly acknowledged in the light of his suffering and obedient self-giving.

And the ESV Study Bible rightly notes that this exaltation does not grant Jesus a status he previously lacked. It proclaims and vindicates the status that already belonged to him as the eternal Son.

So Paul goes further, "God has bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."

See here, Paul is not simply saying that Jesus is important or influential, he is locating Jesus with the very identity and worship of the one triune God. And he does this by deliberately echoing Isaiah 45, one of the clearest Old Testament declarations of God's absolute uniqueness, where the Lord declares, "to me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear allegiance."

And any faithful Jew in Paul's day would have gladly affirmed that homage belongs to Yahweh alone. But Paul does something staggering. He takes that language of exclusive divine worship and applies it directly to Jesus.

Stephen Lawson notes that Paul writing from prison under accusation does not soften his Christology. strengthens it. The God who says, "to me every knee shall bow" is the same God before whom every knee will bow at the name of Jesus Christ.

So when you hear these words, every knee and every tongue, you are hearing more than poetry. You're hearing Paul's pastoral courage. See in prison and under accusation, he anchors the church in the strongest possible truth. The crucified Christ is the Lord of Isaiah's vision, and that means his humiliation was not a detour from glory. It was the path into glory.

So in other words, in this hymn, this hymn is not simply a beautiful poem about humility. It is a clear and resounding declaration that Jesus is truly God. The one who went down to the cross is the one before whom every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth will one day bow to.

Every knee and every tongue includes joyful worshipers and defeated enemies, angels and demons, kings and commoners, all acknowledging willingly and unwillingly that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

And this universal confession does not compete with the Father's glory. It fulfills it. When every tongue confesses Jesus as Lord, it is to the glory of God the Father. The Father is glorified precisely in the honoring of the Son whom he sent and exalted.

So seen in this context of Paul's imprisonment, this is deeply pastoral. Remember, he's in chains because he proclaims the very Lordship of Christ. Opponents may accuse him of blasphemy. Rome may treat him as disposable. And even some preachers may envy him for his influence, but none of that alters the reality he holds out to the Philippians. The crucified Christ is the Lord of Isaiah's vision. His humiliation was not a detour from glory. It was the divinely appointed path to glory.

This is why Paul can rejoice in prison and call the church to humble and cast the obedience. The story does not end at the cross, it ends at the throne.

And beloved, this is meant to leave us both humble and hopeful. Humble because the one before whom every knee will bow is the one who went lower than we will ever be asked to go. It's to leave us hopeful because the path that he walked down into costly obedience and then up into glory is now the pattern God uses in our life and the life of his people.

You and I are not saving anyone by our humility, but we are following in the footsteps of the one who saved us by his.

So when Paul goes on to say, "therefore, my beloved, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," he's not shifting topics. He's drawing the invocation in the light of Christ, his humiliation and his exaltation. This is what your life must look like now. You are to live out what he has already worked in, to put into practice the mind that he's given you, to walk the downward road of love, resting in the confidence that the God who has exalted his son will also sustain you and keep you to the end.

And this is meant to do more than move our minds and stir our affections also. It is meant to reshape our lives. If this is who Christ is and this is the path that he walked for us, then Philippians 2:1-11 cannot remain merely a passage that you and I admire from a distance. It must become the pattern that we live out.

So the question before us is, how is the mind, or how should the mind of Christ and his humility, his self-giving love, his obedience unto death actually show up in our attitudes, our relationships, our service? our life together as a church.

So with that in view, let's turn from exposition to application.

After I get a drink.

So, taking seriously, this should reshape how we see ourselves in one another. To really know our identity and union in Christ.

See, Paul's appeal in verses one through two reminds us that the Christian life is not powered by our own resources, but by encouragement, comfort, and love, and fellowship we already have in Christ. Our starting point is not guilt, but grace.

A church that remembers it is love and comforted and carried by the triune God will move toward unity and not away from it. And we are to find ourselves withdrawing, if we are to find ourselves from withdrawing in nursing resentment or assuming the worst of others, this passage calls us back to the fountain. Encouraged in Christ, comforted by his love, sharing in his spirit and extending that same posture to brothers and sisters.

And Paul's command in verses three through four then brings that grace down into the daily details of our relationship. "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, count others more significant, look to the interest of others."

You see, this confronts all the subtle ways we put ourselves at the center. Selfish ambition and empty glory show up in the need to be noticed and to be right. So we must ask, where am I driven more by my own advancement than by love? Whose interests do I never seriously consider?

Obedience here is usually very ordinary, right? Listening more than speaking, listening more than speaking, rejoicing when God uses someone else, serving where no one applauds you, letting go of the need to win. This is where unity is either guarded or eroded in countless small choices to die to self. We are to die to ourself and to count others more significant.

So the pattern in verses five through 11 anchors all of this in Christ Himself. And the mind that we are called to have is the mind we already share in Christ Jesus.

The one who had every right to cling to glory chose and said to empty Himself and take the form of a servant and obey to the point of death, even death on the cross. That means no act of humble obedience, God ask of you will ever take you lower than Christ has already gone for you.

Whatever He calls you to stoop, to forgive, to reconcile, to serve quietly, He has stooped further and He goes with you. And the way down is not a dead end. The pattern of the Christian life follows the pattern of Christ. And it's costly obedience now and glory later.

You may be misunderstood, overlooked, or taken advantage of, but the God who exalted His Son will not forget His children. He will complete what He has begun.

So Philippians 2 presses very concrete question upon us. Where do you need to pursue unity rather than maintain distance? Where is God calling you to confess pride, to stop clinging to your own way or to move towards someone you have avoided?

Above all, will you keep your eyes fixed to Christ and letting His descent and exaltation shape how we think and what you value and how you treat one another?

Beloved, the more that you and I behold Him, the more we will resemble Him. And the more our shared life will quietly proclaim to watching world that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Would you pray with me?