Mitton, Harry: The Philippian Epistle-04-Philippians 2:1-4

Looking this morning at Philippians chapter two and um, it's verse verse We we've done in chapter one Christ our mind, uh, Christ our life. And now in chapter two it's Christ our mind. And uh, when we start thinking of Christ our mind, I don't think Paul has in his heart the idea that this is some mystical thing that's open to just a few. What Paul, I believe, is, uh, going to be bringing out in these chapters is that Christ our mind is the basis for every believer. Because it's when we have the mind of Christ that our lives begin to recommend themselves to other. Uh, uh, what does recommend us to others? Uh, is it the fact that we're successful, or the fact that we're able to, uh, uh, to talk in public, or is it the fact that we're able to have some external thing? I don't think that is. I think the thing that really recommends us to others and causes others to take note of our lives is the fact that the mind of Christ is the mind with which we think with. It's the mind of Christ that recommends us to other people. Uh, we were out yesterday, uh, with our Bible schoolers. Once a month we go out on a, uh, on a social outing, and uh, because we have many, uh, students who are not from New South Wales but come from other places in Australia. We often do things that, uh, uh, to help them see some of the districts and some of the places around here, and yesterday we went for a sail up the Hawkesbury River. And, um, uh, we hired this boat, and this poor guy who was the driver, he he wasn't a believer. Uh, and I don't know what he really thought about us, because we must have been the only group that have gone t- gone in his boat, and we haven't had to get drunk to sing. And we didn't have to get drunk to appreciate one another. And you could see him, he was driving the boat with one, and he was looking at us all the time, and he was wondering, how come these people have got, are so happy, and they they're able to join together and sing songs and just relax and enjoy one another's company. How come they're not fighting each other? They're still sober. How come they're not fighting one another? And, uh, I think it's because of the way that that minds and hearts work. Now, that recommended Christianity to that man. Uh, he sees something in Christianity which he's never seen anywhere else before, that you don't have to get drunk to be able to sing praises or sing and enjoy one another's company. But it's the mind of Christ that is, it recommends each, my life to you and your life to me. Verse one: if there be any consolation, if there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels of mercy, and in verse one he's saying this, if there's any consolation, any encouragement, if there's any comfort, if there's any words of love, if there's any fellowship, if there's any partnership to be had, if there's any bowels of mercy, tender affections, if there's any of these in Christ, then fulfill ye my joy that you be like-minded. Now we know that there is encouragement, words of life, there is a partnership, there is, there is, uh, tender affections. So he says now, fulfill ye my joy that you be like-minded, having the same love of one accord and of one, of one mind. And, uh, Paul now is telling them that, uh, he wants them to be of one mind and of one accord. Why? Because the mind of the mind is where God always makes his appeal to. He's not going to appeal to your abilities, and he isn't going to appeal to my personality. I might have a rotten personality, or I might have a good personality. God never. And he never appeals to your knowledge. And he doesn't appeal to our opinions. God, when he makes his appeals to human beings and to believers, always makes it to our minds. Now, we place so much emphasis upon the heart, don't we? And what we've done in, in our way of thinking, and we've divo- we've divorced the mind from the will. Now God says, I'm going to make my appeal to the mind, which is the dictate of the will. No, but... And you'll find in scripture that when God wants to get across or wants to make, uh, his presence felt in the life of believers, he appeals to the mind. In Romans one— uh, in Romans 12 and verses 1 and, and two, of course, he's appealing to people, uh, about the need of service. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed. How? By the renewing of your mind. So he's saying, if you want to serve me, have your mind renewed, not your abilities expanded, but your mind renewed. When he wants to comfort the, uh, the Thessalonians, when he wants in two Thessalonians, uh, chapter two, he wants to comfort them. They- they'd heard that there was going to be some that had died, and they were going to miss the resurrection. Somebody had said the believers which have died have missed the resurrection. So here we have people that are sorrowing because some believers have died, and there's, there's no one, uh, uh, somebody's come and said, now these believers who've died, they'll never be resurrected. So now Paul, uh, says to these believers in, in chapter two of two Thessalonians to see where God makes his, uh, appeal. He says, uh, in verse one, now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him, that you be not soon shaken in mind or troubled, neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us, that the day of Christ is at hand. So he says, listen, uh, you're sorrowing over those that have died because you don't think they'll be involved in the resurrection. Now I want to make my appeal to your minds, not your hearts, but your minds. And you'll find in, uh, one Corinthians, he warns us. There's a warning to our minds when God wants to warn us. One Corinthians chapter ten verse eleven. it says, now all these things happened unto them for examples that they are written for our admonition, upon whom the end of the world, uh, sorry, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, let him that thinks he stands, take he, least he falls. And again, God says to us, I'm making my appeal to your mind, just if you think you're standing and able to stand against all that's going to come upon you, then you be careful. Then, of course, in two Corinthians verses three to five, for we, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and brings into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. And now God always makes his appeal to the mind. It's the mind that gets us into trouble every time, isn't it? Uh, you know why your children sometimes can't sleep at night? Because their minds have been running wild, and they've got themselves believing all kinds of things are in. That's why it's careful that you need to be careful what your kids read in comics and watch on TV, uh, because things implanted in their minds can disturb their lives, uh, in more ways than one, but it's the imagination of our mind. We, we at the Mission, though, we go through many periods of, uh, we go through different times where we get things stolen. Uh, in the last, uh, twelve months, we've had, um, bikes stolen. Uh, people come round at night and lift, take our bikes, uh, kids' bikes. Uh, we've had, uh, last, uh, couple of weeks ago, uh, somebody had the washing on the line and somebody stole somebody's washing, and we thought it was a practical joke until we realized there was more than one person's washing had just been lifted off the line. Uh, and then last week, somebody who, uh, one of our staff members who has, uh, his, uh, somebody walked off with his aerial. So people are always stealing things. Anyway, one day this girl came to us and said, somebody's come into my cabin, my my apartment, and they pinched my handbag. And, uh, I'm going to the police right now. And we said, just just a minute, just go home and make sure you go through the house and go through all the house and make sure that you, it has been stolen. Oh no, she said, it has been stolen. So we said, well, just for our sakes, would you do that? So she went, and uh five minutes later she said, no, I've been right through the house. So we said, I said, uh, now where did, where did you last have it? So she retraced her steps, she had it in the car. So we said, okay, you go and look in your car. Uh, she looked in the car, and it wasn't there. And she said, and I'm going to the police. I said, no, just wait a minute. Let's make sure that we don't just let the imagination of our minds run off. And, uh, I said, would you mind if me and another man go through your apartment to see if we can find it? She said, no, you look. So we looked in our apartment, couldn't find it. And it was lunchtime, and we said, well, look, if it hasn't turned up after lunch, you w- we'll go to the police. She said, well, I'd like to go now because it has been stolen. And we said, uh, we're not quite that sure. We'll just give, make sure that we're not being, using the imagination of our mind. So she said, all right, and uh, lunchtime comes, she prepared her lunch, and as she took her the chair out, there was her bag. She put it on a chair and pushed the chair under the table. We didn't look there, but you see the imagination of her mind? It does run wild, doesn't it? That's why God makes his appeal, because our minds need to have stability, direction, comfort, and warning. That's what he's asking us. Now, the mind of Christ here in verse, in chapter two. might as well leave that on, and verse two, uh, Paul brings out that the mind of Christ will bring those things. In chapter two and verse two, the mind of Christ will give us right thoughts. The mind of Christ will give us right feelings. The mind of Christ will give us right direction. He said, if there be any words of comfort, any words of encouragement, any partnership, any affection, then be of the same mind, have the same love, be of one accord. Then the mind of Christ will bring those things into our lives. It'll bring right direction, it'll bring, uh, right feelings, it'll bring right thoughts. Verse two: fulfill ye me my joy that you be of the same mind, uh, uh, be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. Uh, verse three: let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem the other better than himself. Uh, what is then the mind of Christ? In verses three and four, uh, the mind of Christ, I believe what Paul is trying to get across to these, uh, Philippian believers, the mind of Christ is seen in verse three. and seen in verse four, let look not every man on his own thing, but every man also on the things of others. The mind of Christ, first and foremost, is one of humility, humbleness. Humbleness. And Paul brings this out. This is the mind of Christ. Humbleness. Uh, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory. And you see the mind of Christ, everything he did, he did, uh, uh, without strife or without self-ambition. He, everything he did was, wasn't for his own glory. Now, I wonder if you and I would have done what Christ did. Um, if you wanted to be popular and you wanted people to accept you, if you did something good, what do you do about it? You usually want to tell somebody so they can see what you've done, don't you? Man, I want to be accepted. If Warren wants to be known as a good mechanic, um, he just wants to tell everybody how he can fix engines, and engines don't fix him, he fixes them. Uh, if you want to be known as for, for something good and want to be accepted, you go around and every opportunity, that's what salesmen do, they tell you, this is how good this is, this is how good this is. But you notice Christ in the word of God never did that. He healed the leper. And he says to the leper, now whatever you do, don't tell anybody. Man, that's bad salesmanship. That's wrong. Uh, if he wants to be popular and he wants to be accepted, he should have said to the leper, go and tell everybody. You go and advertise for me. But he says to the leper, there's no self-glory in this for me. There's no strife or self-ambition, so I've healed you. Now don't tell. He did it with his disciples. Uh, Matthew, uh, verses sixteen and verse, uh, verse 20, uh, verse 16 and and verse twenty. And, uh, it it says this in Matthew sixteen twenty: It says, then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. He just asked them the question, oh, who do you, who do you say I am? Who is? And uh, and Peter said, thou art the Christ. Thou art the, the, the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus said, Peter, upon that statement will I build my church. Now, whatever you do, don't tell anybody. Well, that doesn't seem right to us. Why? Because if somebody has made a statement that he's going to use that which has just been, uh, worked out in someone's heart, that that's the, we say, now go and tell everybody. This is the basis for entering into the Church of God, that Jesus is the Son of the living God. But Jesus said, don't you tell anyone. Why? Be- because I don't think he was after self-glory or self ambition. And then again in Matthew seventeen and verse nine, uh, the on the Mount of Transfiguration, on his way down the Mount of Transfiguration, he says to those disciples who've been with him, and don't you tell. Whatever Jesus did, he did without the strain or without any, uh, essence of self. He was humble in that he would let God direct his path. Uh, he wasn't ambitious and trying to achieve something he really, uh, uh, something for himself. He was interested in doing the will of God, and so he tells his disciples, I don't want you telling people how good and how, how what I really am. I want them to discover it for themselves. Man, and I was glad, you know, that I discovered that truth before I got a phone call last week. I got a real good phone call last week. A man rang me up and he asked me if I would be willing to do a missionary conference at his church. And I said, look, I'd be willing to come. He said, now it's in Newcastle, uh, would you come up when you're doing something else? I said, no, I'll come, I'll come anytime to fit in with you as long as I've got enough notice. And the man said, well, that's great that you're coming. So he said, in which mission field have you been with? I said, and I've given my life for missions, and I've been with New Tribes Mission on the staff now for over fourteen years, and uh, and I've always been in the, the missionary, the, the training schools. And he said, now, but, but, but which mission field have you been to? And I said, I haven't been to the mission field in that sense, but I said this summer I took a team and we went up to New West New Britain, and we were involved there for a number of weeks. He said, but which mission field have you been? I said, I haven't. Oh, he said, I've made a mistake. He said, now, have you spoken at anything big? I said, I might have. He said, didn't you speak at a Warwick convention? I said, yes, I did. Oh, he said, I think I've made a mistake. Thank you very much. And he put the phone down. Now, I was glad I'd learned that truth, because I think in the flesh I could have, I could have really convinced the guy that I was the man, and I don't want to go there. God doesn't want me there. I mean, that's what is, that's, that's what Jesus is saying. The mind of Christ is humble, willing to let God work out his work within our lives. We don't have to advertise ourselves, and we don't have to be pushing for ourselves to be put wherever God wants us to be put. It's a mind of humbleness, willing to just say, God, you're the one who can lead and guide, and you're the one who'll work things out for us. It's a mind which it says here, um, uh, it's it's a mind with no self-ambition. It's a mind with no self-glory. It's a mind with right thoughts of others, uh, esteeming, but is in lowliness of mind, esteeming others better than themselves. Now, the Pharisees didn't. The Pharisees said, man, I thank God that I'm not like those Gentile sinners. Uh, uh, that's not a low esteem. That's putting himself above someone else. Lowliness of mind, esteeming others better themselves, is the attitude of humility where we consider or regard others as more excellent or superior than ourselves. Not in the sense that we're willing always to say he's better than me, but in the sense where we do what Jesus did. Jesus didn't say to any one of his disciples, you're better than me. Never once did he confess that he was, they were better than him, but notice how he esteemed them higher than himself because he took a towel and he washed their feet. Now, you couldn't pay anyone a better or higher respect, but here's the master, he's willing to look on other people in a higher regard than himself, and he goes and washes, washes all their feet. Now, their feet must have smelt because they've been journeying all day. They would have been full of tan. Now, we haven't got any idea what feet are like that have been out on the trail all day because we always wear shoes. But I tell you, go into some of those countries, and your feet sweat, and they get the get the sand and the dust, and you might walk through a puddle, and your feet can be absolutely filthy. And here comes the master, and he esteems others better than himself. He didn't sit down and say, now I'm here, wash my feet. He said, man, where are you? Let give me a towel, give me a basin. And while others, while all the disciples were looking after themselves, here comes the master washing their feet. He took a towel and he washed their feet. The Last Supper. He says to his disciples, you know, you go and prepare the room. Off they go, prepare the room, they get it all there, and uh, they're waiting, and uh, and uh, who's gonna do it? Oh, Jesus said, give me the bread, I'll take it. And you notice, even in his moment, when he's just about to go to Calvary, he doesn't think about himself. When he's just about to be betrayed by one of the men that's sitting in the upper room, he isn't thinking, nah, that that guy, I'm going to give everyone else one except him. I'm going to make sure that everyone else knows that it's him. Nobody knew who it was that was going to betray him. Even when the man went out the door, they didn't know what he was going to do, but Jesus did. But you notice him in his moment of, of, uh, of need, when he was, uh, in just about ready to be, uh, um, uh, betrayed. What did he do? He took the bread, and he began to break it. And ins- instead of him being the served, him being served, he began to serve others. Uh, true humility or humble heart is having no self-ambition, no self-glory. A heart that has, uh, right thoughts about other people. Uh, a heart that doesn't think other people are insignificant or superior. Uh, one of our girls, uh, from our, our ladies dorm came the other day, and, uh, she wanted to know what, what is it to be faithful? Um, uh, she wanted to know whether she should be faithful to this other girl who had a problem. And, uh, and I said, yeah, you should be faithful. So she said, well, I'll go and tell her. I said, no, that's not faithfulness. I said, faithfulness is going to helping her. And I, I had said, now, what is her need? So she told me a need, and I said, now, this is what you really need to do with it. That's faithfulness. It's getting alongside and saying, you've got a need, and I want really to help you. And this is the way that I can help you. Uh, I can help you settle in. I can help you feel at home. I can help serve you. That's humbleness. And really, true humbleness is the only thing which is going to break, uh, uh, true humility breaks down the barriers of envy, self, jealousy, and, uh, self-interest. It's the only thing that breaks those down. And I tell you, the church needs to be humble. The church needs people who are going to take the mind of Christ and begin to be humble and to break down those bel- ba- barriers of, uh, of envy and jealousy and self-interest. They need to be broken down. So that God might be seen, and we might recommend what ourselves to each other, and we might be a blessing to one another. Uh, in verse four he says, and, and look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Now, the second, uh, thing about the mind of Christ is not only is it one of un- of humility, it's one of unselfishness. One of unselfishness. Uh, what does the word of God seem- mean about unselfishness? I think what the word of God means is not that we do everything others ask us to do. See, some of us are good at getting involved in at everything. We just like to get involved at everything that's going on. We have a lot of students like that who come to us and say, man, I haven't got time. This program's too busy. And you say, well, what are you doing with your time? Well, I'm, I'm fixing his car, I'm painting his car, I'm, I'm doing this for this guy, and you find out there's a million and one things going on, and you say, now, now when was the last time you ever said no to anybody? Oh, you can't say no. Unselfishness is not, is, is not doing everything everybody else asks. Unselfishness is not running the legs off ourselves. Now that's not unselfishness. We don't have to wear ourselves out and run ourselves dust, uh, under the guise that, well, I'm, I'm being unselfish. You be really selfish. Many, uh, some guys get a lot of thrill out of doing a lot of things for other people, and they might begin, we might begin to be doing those things because we get such a great thrill out of it. That's selfishness, not unselfishness. Some people are the other way around. They need to get a move on, eh? Um, so selfishness is not always saying, uh, unselfishness is not always saying yes to everything that's asked of you. Uh, but in verse four it said, and he looked not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. And unselfishness is when we look on other people and we're either, one, to be able to get involved praying with them, or two, God might open the way for us to be the one who gets involved with them physically. I think whatever it is, it's unselfishness is identifying with whatever God brings along in our way. Uh, Jesus wasn't, wasn't slow in identifying with people that didn't have a good reputation. He, he's the savior of the world, he's the son of God, and he didn't say, man, I've got to be, I've got to watch who I get involved with, I can't get involved with too many buddies. But what you find that men say of him, he's the friend of publicans and sinners, of wine bibbers and drunkards. And I believe he was unselfish with his reputation. Whatever God wanted to be involved with, he was involved in. He didn't think about his reputation. There was times when he was, uh, he sent his disciples off, and there they are in the water. There comes the storm, and as he's in the storm, suddenly, uh, he finds that the disciples began to fear, so he says, okay, I- I need to go now. It's time for me to go. So he's walking on the water, and he's coming towards them, and, uh, if only they'd have all stayed in the boat. But you always get one out of every pack that wants to be different, don't you? Now, if they'd all stayed in the boat, there'd have been no problem, but here comes Peter. Oh man, I can do that. And off he comes. You know, if it had been me, I'd have said, oh, get back in the boat, you know, like the children. What have you done that again for? Get back in the boat. I'm coming. If you just stay in the boat, Peter. But you see, Peter wants to walk on the water, and he wants to be the first there, and there would have been many things that Jesus could have put him right with at that moment, uh, but he simply, with the inconvenience, picks him up, puts him back in the boat, and he begins to teach them about the Son of God. Now, I think unselfishness is not being inconvenienced, uh, being willing to be inconvenienced, rather. Uh, selfishness, unselfishness is when we're willing, uh, not to think of our reputation, when we're willing not to, uh, think of being inconvenienced, but we will allow ourselves at different times to be inconvenienced. And then in the Garden of Gethsemane again, you know, here he is, they know something's up because he's beginning to teach them that he's going away. And in the garden, he, he takes them and he said, would you just mind praying with me just for an hour? Just pray with me. And the disciples were there, and of course it must have been a hot night, and they had a hard day, and he couldn't really blame them. Their eyelids began to shut as they watched the say. He didn't seem to do much, he was just praying. Well, there's nothing really exciting about watching somebody pray, is there? Not like, uh, not like, uh, watching TV, and there's all this action going on, but here it was, and the disciples found themselves with their eyes beginning to get, get, get, uh, dimmer and dimmer, and suddenly they find themselves asleep. He asked to come. Do you know being unselfish is being willing to accept whatever the outcome is? He said, wake up, pray again. And the next time they fall asleep. Now, I'd have blown my top. I'd have really got upset. I'd have said to these guys, don't you know that I, in another hour or two, I'm out of this place? You're on your own. But he said, sleep on, and he left them. And I think inconvenience, I think unselfishness is, is not seen in how active we are, but I think it's seen in that verse. Look not every man on his own things. Willing for our reputation to be somewhat tarnished, or our reputation to be less than what we thought it will. Willing to be inconvenienced, willing that the outcome might always not be what we'd wanted it to be. And isn't that what's needed? The mind of Christ? Don't I need that mind? I know I do. I need the mind of Christ, uh, to begin to take over in my life. And, and in verse five, that's, that's really what, uh, what Paul is exhorting these believers to do. Let this mind, let these thought patterns that were in the life of Christ become our thought patterns. Let this way of thinking be in you. Let this thought pattern be yours. Uh, uh, this thought pattern of humility and unselfishness. Let this become the way that we begin to think about every situation and about every circumstance we, we come into. Uh, and I've just written a few things there that I think oftentimes we need, well, we need to, uh, begin to let this thought pattern, uh, take its course. Uh, first in our choices. How many of our choices that we make in our mind are made, uh, out of, uh, where we were thinking of ourselves? Uh, how many of our choices are made where God would have worked in our hearts and maybe humbled us? But our minds have said, no thanks, I don't want humbling. See, when God begins to work in our life, if we haven't got the mind of Christ, you know what, usually, what always happens? When God begins to speak to me and I haven't got the mind of Christ, the first thing I say, God, you might be wrong. Imagine me saying that to God, but you say it too, don't you? You're wrong there, God. It's this way. It's this way. This is, this is how we see it. And when the mind, when you haven't got the mind of Christ, you have a tremendous battle day after day, week after week. And some Christians have gone on year after year battling with God. Every time he speaks, there's a big argument. You know, that's right, God, but. Yes, Lord, uh, but. And we have buts and ifs and all these things, but but when the mind of Christ is ours and we think humbly, you know what happens? God speaks and we say, yeah, you must be right. You must be right. Please show me, help me to see what it is that you want me to see. Yeah, you must be right, Lord, because you're God, and I'm just a sinner saved by grace. Yes, you must be right, without any ifs or buts, and in our choices, and in our desires, and in our wills and activities and, and motivations, God wants to get involved. And when we have the mind of Christ, there's that humbleness where we don't have to fight God. There's that unselfishness where we're willing to pay the price of discipleship. I think that's one of the biggest needs, uh, that I see in, in, in, in our student body right at this moment. I think many people come into our Bible school, uh, to learn, and they come to realize that if you come to new tribes, you just don't come to learn in your head. You come to learn in your heart, and the battles that go on with people that are unwilling to pay the price that God asked them to pay about, uh, in the life of discipleship. But you see, if you have the mind of Christ, you don't mind paying. You don't mind paying because every battle I have in my heart about discipleship usually comes from selfish. But when my heart, I've got the mind of Christ, I don't mind paying what it is. Whatever the cost is that God's asking me to pay to follow him, I don't mind, because I've got the mind of Christ. So in these first few verses, and it looks like we're going to have to end there this morning, time just flies away. Uh, we're just going to have to finish there this morning, but I think what Paul's trying to say to us, let this mind be yours. This can be my experience, and it can be yours. That the mind of Christ, that of humility and unselfishness, is the thought patterns which has to run round our minds, and everything that goes into our minds must go through these two gates, that our hearts might learn to submit themselves unto the will of God. Uh, how do you get the mind of Christ? Well, very briefly, let me just say, it's by simply trusting, isn't it? Trusting that God's trustworthy, believing that he's able to minister to our hearts. But I believe it's necessary. Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. We'll go on next week to see how the mind of Christ does affect our everyday life. But let's just sing today, as we come to the end of this part of our service, and we're going to go into, uh, the Lord's table. Uh, let's just sing a, a verse of, uh, of seventy three. Just we'll rise and sing just one verse of number seventy three and then we'll close our time this morning with a word of prayer, and then go into the Lord's. And we do invite any who love the Lord or are meeting with us this morning to take part in this time of remembrance as we minister and, uh, around the Lord's table and have our hearts encouraged. Seventy three, My faith has found a resting place.