LAWTON CHURCH OF GOD, LAWTON, OKLAHOMA

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55 HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS

TEXT: 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. Philippians 2:5 –7.

Not only is it ours to believe on Christ, but to be indwelt by the very mind of Christ. Whoever is willing to have his own carnal mind destroyed (washed away by blessedness) may “have the mind of Christ.”

The text urges the mind of Christ with particular reference to His humiliation. In order to have a proper appreciation of His condescending love, we need to apprehend some of His glory before His humiliation.

I. WHO AND WHERE HE WAS

He was one with the Father. John 10:30, 38 . He “was with God:” Yea He “was God.” John 1:1 . “All things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” Colossians 1:16, 17 . “God . . . hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power.” Hebrews 1:2, 3 . He could say, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” He was in the bosom of the Father, “heir of all things,” attended by angels, “upholding all things by the word of His power” encircled with light and glory unto which no being could approach, but emptied Himself, laying aside the effulgence of His glory, became a servant, and humbled Himself even unto the death of the cross.

II. HIS HUMILIATION

“He, who was the Son of God, became the Son of man, that we who were the sons of men might become the sons of God.” The babe of Bethlehem , the man of Galilee , the Lamb of Calvary—how marvelous and overwhelming the contrast. “Of no reputation,” despised and rejected of men; a wanderer, with no place to lay His head; washing the disciples’ feet—the servant of all; buffeted, spit upon, in the hands of a mob-crucified. “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living and He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death: because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.” What a picture of the omnipotent, eternal, infinite God! And all this to save a poor sinner.

III. “LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU”

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Out of the heart are the issues of life. Resolutions, and will power can never change a heart that boasts and glories in its very shame. While the self-life remains, a man will become “vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.”

Before we can manifest His outward lowliness and meekness and humility the “carnal mind,” which “is enmity against God” must be utterly destroyed. It is death to all self-will, self-seeking, selfish ambitions and self-exaltation. Instead of being in the service of God for what we may be able to get out of it, we shall then be in the service of God for what we may put into it; to serve rather than to be served. A holy heart, made so by the blood of Jesus Christ, and the transforming power of the gospel, alone can bring the individual where “this mind is in you.” “He that saith He abideth in Him, ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.”