Presented By on December 1, 2007
Perception is Reality. People’s perception influences their actions. Our goal, as Christians, is to have our perception be as close as possible to the mind of Christ.
Media Download Options
[ Download Media: right-click on link ] Audio
MP3 Audio 
Well brethren its been stated and I know its been said from this lectern, I've said it myself, but it's a statement that we sometimes hear and we're not necessarily focusing on, what does that really say? The statement is this: Perception is Reality. Perception is Reality.
There is a Professor of Marketing who teaches at a major college, who every year when he comes into his class, he always does an exercise to enforce this principle: Perception is Reality. Here's what he does. He comes into his Marketing class, a brand new class, doesn't really know his students, they don't him, first time they've met. He walks into the class with an egg carton and he has it opened up so all the students can see there are twelve eggs in this carton. He has a towel along with him as he wraps around the carton and brings the carton in. He puts the carton down on the desk as he's about to teach the first class. He takes one egg out, cracks it open, puts the contents of the egg into a glass and then he suddenly grabs this egg carton and he picks it up and throws it into the audience and everybody shrinks and there are eleven fake eggs, there was only one real egg. He swears all of his students to secrecy so that each year he can do this and he follows up with this statement: He says: "Why did you behave the way you did? Was it reality or was it perception?" He goes on to say: "Strictly speaking perception is whatever your eyes see and your mind perceives is the reality for you and those things which are perceived similarly are by the majority are claimed reality. The way you perceive things to be is factual in your mind."
That's really interesting the way the human mind works. Obviously there are huge studies done on how this happens. You think about it though, the one thing that you can produce without it seemingly any limit would be thoughts. In fact you could sit here right now and you could be thinking of anything but the sermon. You know it can go on, you're capable of that. It is possible within the human mind and the ability to think and the ability to have thoughts.
I found over the years that there are a lot of unusual things that take place in working in ministerial services and working with the ministry. I found that I can sometimes talk to one person who will tell me about a minister and say he was the greatest minister we ever had, the most loving, the truest servant of God I've ever met and then someone else would say he was the most self centered and abusive person I think I've ever met. Same congregation, same person involved. Different perceptions often based upon one experience or a couple of experiences over time.
This afternoon I want to give some more examples of this principle but I want to come really to a point in talking about how we think. I want to discuss the issue of how we think. Actually the title of the sermon is "Philippians 2 and the Mind of Christ." We're going to come to Philippians 2; the majority of the sermon will be spent there. What does it mean to have the mind of Christ? Can we not agree that having the mind of Christ means we think like Christ? What is that all about, what does that mean and what does that have to do with perception? Human beings perceive things, right or wrong as they perceive them to be factual, even if they're not factual that becomes reality and causes us to behave in certain ways because of that perception.
I'll give you some more examples of how perception causes us to act in a certain way. How the way we think. The way we think causes us to react, causes us to do things in a certain way at a certain time. Here's another example. I have a couple, three for you.
There's a basketball coach (this is a high school team I believe) who every year worked very, very hard with his team. He required his guards to learn to dribble with their left hand all the way down the court, even though they were right handed. He would require them to become proficient at dribbling with their left hand and then as the game would begin he would have his guard dribble all the way down the court left handed and when he would get to the free throw line he would quickly switch to his right hand because he was right handed, and go in for a lay up and he said they would get as many as 20 points a game on that rouse because the other team perceived that this was a left handed person and his best shot would be left handed because he's dribbling with his left hand but their perception was wrong and the individual would be able to make the shot with his right hand.
You probably heard the story or maybe you've heard the story of Betty Crocker. There really wasn't a Betty Crocker; it was a combination of names that was created by General Mills back in the l940's. In fact, in 1947 the brand Betty Crocker introduced instant cake mix. They thought we have a real winner here; all you have to do is add water. Now remember this is post War World 2 generation. Just add water and put it in the oven and you have a cake and that is a great thing, people are going to love it, we won't be able to keep it on the shelves. No one would buy it in 1947. They rejected it and as they did their marketing final, why are they rejecting it? Anything that easy could not be good. It can't be good, it's too easy. That was the perception of the people. So Betty Crocker had a great idea, even though it won't make any difference we will remove the dried eggs that are in the mix and we will say you must add real eggs, fresh eggs, two fresh eggs and everything will be fine. They put it back out, they marketed it again as instant cake mix with the addition of fresh eggs and it sold like crazy. It was incredible, made them multi-millionaires off instant cake mix because now it was perceived that there's some work involved, therefore it is a better product. Now one could argue whether fresh eggs would make something taste better than the dry eggs, that's a question maybe for discussion but clearly it was the perception that was different, not the reality. Both had eggs in them, one came with it, one was added and yet the perception was because some work was involved it was a very successful product. Perception created the reality.
Then one more, you may have heard this story before; it's called the jack story. It's a story of a guy who was driving through the desert when one of his tires blows out. He gets out of his car; pops open the trunk to look for a spare tire and jack. He sees the spare but there is no jack. "Oh no he yells, no jack, what am I going to do? The nearest house is 5 miles back and I'm going to have to walk back to the nearest house to try to get some help." So he starts walking, it's hot, he's in the desert, he says: "Well you know I really hope that when I get there that this guy has a jack. What if he doesn't have a jack? Well he walks a little further and he's thinking in his mind and he says: "But he may have a jack but it may not fit my car. Then what will I do if I walk 5 miles, he has a jack but it doesn't fit my car." Then he walks along a little further, he's kind of mumbling and talking to himself and thinking about it and he says: "You know what if he's an evil man who won't let me borrow his jack even if he has one. You know maybe he's just a real nasty person and I'll have walked all this distance and he'll have a jack and it will fit my car but he won't even let me use it." So he's walking along with his flashlight and its getting dark by now and he finally gets to the home. He comes up and knocks on the door and the man shows up. By this time he is hot, he's frustrated and he's fuming. He throws his flashlight down and he says: "Keep your old jack, I don't want it anyway." He turns around and walks back 5 miles to his car. He convinced himself. A perception of reality, a perception of what was going to happen which of course was all made up in his mind. The human mind is so capable of wrong perceptions, missed perceptions and of not being consistent even at times with reality.
How does all of this come into the church? How does this relate?
The most corrective sermon I think I've ever heard, maybe not the most corrective, but one that I clearly remember hearing in church goes back to about 1963 or 1964. I'm a little kid; I'm barely a teenager at that time. I'm sitting in services; this is a long time ago and we had a few corrective sermons in those years but this one really stood out in my mind. The week before, I didn't know this, but I found out in a sermon. The week before the pastor's sister had visited our congregation. This is the only church I've ever attended. This is the greatest church, people are the most warmest and friendly, they're great people, I love them all. I visit with them all and our pastor gets up and he says this church is cold and unfriendly. He proceeded to tell us that his sister had visited and not one single person spoke to her. I think it was a shock and then for the next hour we were told all about it and how terrible it was and the perception she left of that congregation was cold and uncaring, cold and uncaring. I can assure you that people today still form impressions and perceptions of you and me based upon what they perceive. Right or wrong it is their perception. We are all human beings and there's something fundamental about who we are, what we are and how we think.
This afternoon I want to address this issue of how we think. As a Christian, surely we can all submit to the fact that we know we must think differently. Christianity isn't simply a matter of action; it's also a matter of thought. Now of course thought leads to action. We have misperceptions, every single one of us. We may have misperceptions of each other, misperceptions of ministers, misperceptions of administrators, misperceptions of whomever and sometimes we never even spoken to these individuals. That perception is based upon what we've heard, maybe what we've seen or any number of things. But is this the way God would expect Christians to think? Now what, again talk about thinking? What does the bible say about the way our minds work? What does the bible say about they way our minds work and how they should work and how we should think?
The United Church of God began back in 1995. It wasn't long into the history of United until we came to a stark realization; a stark maybe for some, maybe not so stark for others. We realized that it's a whole lot easier to be against something, organized against something than it is to be organized for something. It is so much harder. We also realized that we had all come from a culture that had some issues and problems for a number of years. So early on in the history of United we made a statement, we studied, we talked about; we went all around and discussed this issue over and over again. What is there that we need to do, that we must do as Christians? Of course the statement came out of actually quite a bit of discussion; we've not always treated each other in a Godly manner. We've not always treated each other in a Godly manner. A few years later a concept was also studied and was certainly presented to the entire church; the concept of Servant Leadership; Christ centered Servant Leadership. Now in both of these cases we've not only treated each other in a Godly manner and the concept of Servant Leadership leads us all the way back to how we think; what our perceptions are, how we reason and how we see things.
The bible uses the term "heart" but it isn't speaking about the organ that's beating in your body. It's speaking about what's going on in your mind, how you think, how you reason, how you see things and the perspective. Is there not a perspective that God wants us to have? Is there not a manner or a way of thinking that God wants us to promote? Again if you recall, as I said the title is Philippians 2 and we will end up there, that's where the primary part of the sermon will be; I believe God does. I think its one thing to profess to be a Christian, I don't lie, I don't commit adultery, I keep the Sabbath, but does that make me a good Christian? I've done a good bit of research at times in church history and looking back over the years and the Sabbath is the key. I always emphasize it is a key, look for the Sabbath, look for the Sabbath. Is it not true that you can be the most dedicated Sabbath keeper; you don't compromise anything on the Sabbath, you are so diligent? I knew an individual in college years ago who was so diligent with the Sabbath he actually locked himself in his bedroom at sunset on Friday and wouldn't come out until sunset Saturday because he was sincerely motivated and he was afraid he would speak his own words to someone on the Sabbath and therefore he didn't want to do that. He was that sincere, but a dedicated Sabbath keeper, does that make you a Christian? Is that really all there is to Christianity?
You know you think about the ApostleAn exclusive ecclesiastical role historically held by very few; literally "one sent," but for a particular purpose: to deliver a message. In the New Testament this refers to a special envoy or messenger of the gospel; a special messenger from God (Luke 11:49; Revelation 18:20); more specifically the original 12 (Peter, John, Andrew, etc.) plus Paul, Barnabas and a few others. Jesus Christ is called the Apostle (Hebrews 3:1). Paul's writings and today they get twisted around and Paul's doing away with the law when really Paul is not doing away with the law, but Paul is emphasizing the concept of what's going on in you mind. What are you thinking? What's happening there? That is also a part of it, a very important part of Christianity in what God wants from us. You can force people to keep the Sabbath; you can force people not to commit adultery. You can create all kinds of laws and rules and things that can stop these things. Man has proven in some cases where you certainly can at least diminish that. But you can't control, I can't control what you think about. You have that opportunity. What is it that God wants us to think about? What is it that God wants our minds to see and perceive? You know the bible has from the beginning to end one concept or one quality that is always praised. You never find anything negative. It's called humility. There's one role, one role or position that is extolled from the beginning of the bible to the end as well and it's that of a servant. So you have humility and you have the concept of a servant that begins where? It has to be from the heart or from the mind; it has to be the wellspring of your thoughts. That's what we see defined in scripture.
Let's begin in Deuteronomy 17. Deuteronomy the 17 th chapter is an interesting chapter in that it documents Israel entering the Promised Land. We have the nation of Israel blossoming on the scene after their aborted attempt and they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, you come to Deuteronomy and now they're coming into the Promised Land and God warns them about a number of things. God sees the future, God knows these things are going to come up and in this particular section of scripture it addresses the issue of the king. Now if you're going to have a king, or if you have a king, these are some principles that you need to abide by. Now I want you to notice a couple of pertinent aspects here.
Deuteronomy 17:14 "When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you and possess it and dwell in it and say, 'I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me.'
You know God knew that Israel would be impressed by all the nations about them, that it was enviable they were going to ask for a king. It isn't going to be some great surprise. Now later on God said to Samuel: "They haven't rejected you, they've rejected Me." It wasn't that God wanted them to have a king, but He knew the way they were thinking. They would be impressed by their neighbors and they would want a king. God addresses that here.
Verse 15: You shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you who is not your brother.
He gives them some direction.
Verse 16: But he shall not multiply horses for himself nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the Lord has said to you, 'You shall not return that way again.'
God said that chapter is closed, we're not going back, you crossed the Red Sea. Then verse 17:
Verse 17: Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, (Notice and here this is introduced and we'll see it again in a few more verses) lest his heart turn away; (that his heart turn not away, again I simply emphasize that when the bible mentions the heart in this particular case it isn't speaking about the organ of the heart, it's speaking about your mind, it's speaking about the way you think. Don't let him think in this way; don't let his thoughts be turned away from Me. I'm sorry the multiplying wives will turn his thought away from me) nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.
Verse 18: Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites.
Verse 19: And it shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes,
Here it is again:
Verse 20: that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, (that he not be elevated in position to the point that he thinks; now he does have a position, we'd all recognize that a king has a position of responsibility and authority. But God says don't have someone who thinks in those terms; that is who thinks of himself as someone great or important. There is a problem when you begin thinking in that way. There is a thought pattern that is going to be destructive and God warns Israel about this) that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel."
Notice Psalm 78. We all know the story that God selected DavidKing of Israel, killed the giant Goliath with a sling and stones, a man after God's own heart, only turned from God in the matter of Uriah the Hittite (1 Kings 15:5), had an affair with Bathsheba, Messiah would come from line of David, main author of Psalms and highly musical. and DavidKing of Israel, killed the giant Goliath with a sling and stones, a man after God's own heart, only turned from God in the matter of Uriah the Hittite (1 Kings 15:5), had an affair with Bathsheba, Messiah would come from line of David, main author of Psalms and highly musical. had certain characteristics. What is the one thing that is said of DavidKing of Israel, killed the giant Goliath with a sling and stones, a man after God's own heart, only turned from God in the matter of Uriah the Hittite (1 Kings 15:5), had an affair with Bathsheba, Messiah would come from line of David, main author of Psalms and highly musical. in the New TestamentThe 27 authoritative books of the apostolic writings: the four Gospels of Christ, Acts (a history), 21 apostolic letters and the book of Revelation., obviously more than one but one thing that we all can quote from memory: "DavidKing of Israel, killed the giant Goliath with a sling and stones, a man after God's own heart, only turned from God in the matter of Uriah the Hittite (1 Kings 15:5), had an affair with Bathsheba, Messiah would come from line of David, main author of Psalms and highly musical. was a man after God's own heart." Now think that one through. It's the heart we're talking about, the mind and what you think. We're told that DavidKing of Israel, killed the giant Goliath with a sling and stones, a man after God's own heart, only turned from God in the matter of Uriah the Hittite (1 Kings 15:5), had an affair with Bathsheba, Messiah would come from line of David, main author of Psalms and highly musical. thought like God; thought like Him, had a thought pattern that God was impressed with. There's a thought here, there's a thought pattern, there's the way God thinks and we're told DavidKing of Israel, killed the giant Goliath with a sling and stones, a man after God's own heart, only turned from God in the matter of Uriah the Hittite (1 Kings 15:5), had an affair with Bathsheba, Messiah would come from line of David, main author of Psalms and highly musical. was a man like that. Notice what it says here in verse 70.
Psalm 78:70 He also chose DavidKing of Israel, killed the giant Goliath with a sling and stones, a man after God's own heart, only turned from God in the matter of Uriah the Hittite (1 Kings 15:5), had an affair with Bathsheba, Messiah would come from line of David, main author of Psalms and highly musical. His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds.
We know the story of DavidKing of Israel, killed the giant Goliath with a sling and stones, a man after God's own heart, only turned from God in the matter of Uriah the Hittite (1 Kings 15:5), had an affair with Bathsheba, Messiah would come from line of David, main author of Psalms and highly musical. and his brothers and DavidKing of Israel, killed the giant Goliath with a sling and stones, a man after God's own heart, only turned from God in the matter of Uriah the Hittite (1 Kings 15:5), had an affair with Bathsheba, Messiah would come from line of David, main author of Psalms and highly musical. is a young man out taking care of the sheep. You know the stories about him taking care of the sheep and protecting them, he was a shepherd at heart. His brothers were beyond that, his brothers had outgrown that. His brothers had gone to other things but this is where DavidKing of Israel, killed the giant Goliath with a sling and stones, a man after God's own heart, only turned from God in the matter of Uriah the Hittite (1 Kings 15:5), had an affair with Bathsheba, Messiah would come from line of David, main author of Psalms and highly musical. was.
Verse 71: From following the ewes that had young He brought him, to shepherd Jacob His people and Israel His inheritance.
So DavidKing of Israel, killed the giant Goliath with a sling and stones, a man after God's own heart, only turned from God in the matter of Uriah the Hittite (1 Kings 15:5), had an affair with Bathsheba, Messiah would come from line of David, main author of Psalms and highly musical. was taken from the sheepfolds and made the leader of Israel to take care of God's people.
Verse 72: So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
There are two things certainly prominent here about DavidKing of Israel, killed the giant Goliath with a sling and stones, a man after God's own heart, only turned from God in the matter of Uriah the Hittite (1 Kings 15:5), had an affair with Bathsheba, Messiah would come from line of David, main author of Psalms and highly musical.; two critical factors for DavidKing of Israel, killed the giant Goliath with a sling and stones, a man after God's own heart, only turned from God in the matter of Uriah the Hittite (1 Kings 15:5), had an affair with Bathsheba, Messiah would come from line of David, main author of Psalms and highly musical. being in a position he was put in. He was motivated by the integrity of his heart and he was guided by the skillfulness of his hands. We've often said that someone can have a good intent and a person can be of a good heart let's say, but if he isn't skillful but you can also have problems.
It's interesting in Stephen M.R. Covey's book, Speed of Trust; he says there are four essential core principles for creditability. One is integrity, second is intent, three is capabilities and four would be results. Two of those deal with the mind or the heart of what the person is; integrity and intent. What are you thinking? What is going on in your heart? What is going on in your mind?
DavidKing of Israel, killed the giant Goliath with a sling and stones, a man after God's own heart, only turned from God in the matter of Uriah the Hittite (1 Kings 15:5), had an affair with Bathsheba, Messiah would come from line of David, main author of Psalms and highly musical. is called in Acts 13, verse 22 "A man after God's own heart"; God's own thoughts, God's own planning; you know you can keep adding that come from God. That DavidKing of Israel, killed the giant Goliath with a sling and stones, a man after God's own heart, only turned from God in the matter of Uriah the Hittite (1 Kings 15:5), had an affair with Bathsheba, Messiah would come from line of David, main author of Psalms and highly musical. was a man on that same pattern, that same wave length so to speak. He was a man after God's own heart.
If you think this through and you think the concept of perception or what people perceive as often being problematic then how would God, or how does God deal with that? What does God think about? What goes on in God's mind and how does that translate to us as Christians? There is no more important text in the entire bible that identifies this principle clearly and succinctly as Philippians the second chapter. In fact there are theologians that have made their whole career on studying this one section of scripture. It's an incredible section of scripture that just scratches a way or wipes away some of the dust or some of the vision and provides a look see. It provides an opportunity to understand in principle what we mean when we talk about the mind of Christ and what we mean when we talk about the thoughts of Christ or the thoughts of God.
A little background. Let's go to Philippians, but a little background to the book of Philippians. Philippians was written by the ApostleAn exclusive ecclesiastical role historically held by very few; literally "one sent," but for a particular purpose: to deliver a message. In the New Testament this refers to a special envoy or messenger of the gospel; a special messenger from God (Luke 11:49; Revelation 18:20); more specifically the original 12 (Peter, John, Andrew, etc.) plus Paul, Barnabas and a few others. Jesus Christ is called the Apostle (Hebrews 3:1). Paul while he was in prison. As in the case of virtually all of Paul's or at least most of Paul's epistles, he often addresses a problem. Now Paul is writing letters to the congregations. The first century church was a bit different from what we can imagine today. You have churches that are certainly more isolated during the first century than they would be today when it comes to communication. So Paul often wrote letters or Paul did write letters to give instruction, to give correction, to address issues and problems. We all know I Corinthians, you know Paul; it's a very corrective letter, very strong letter on things that were wrong. He says in chapter 3 you are still carnal. Now while that reads very harshly today, the concept of carnality is fleshly, physical. We all have a carnal or physical body. It is clear that Paul is addressing not the body but what's going on inside that body. He said because of these things, he says you are still carnal. You're still carnal and he addresses them very strongly. In Ephesians Paul addresses the issue of unity and oneness as Mr. de Campos talked about today and in Philippians scholars will say that Paul was addressing a particular problem in Philippi.
Now on the surface the Philippians were a wonderful congregation. They are called generous. Paul writes to the Corinthians and said: "You promised a year ago and you've done nothing and the Philippians haven't ceased to provide things for me." So they were a very generous people; that was to their favor. But there appears to have been a problem and scholars will say because whether they are right or wrong (you try to read between the lines) Paul address the issue of strife, vanity and position and honor in Philippians. So the consensus is that there was a problem in Philippi with honor, people feeling they deserved more and there's a tension or an underlying strife that's going on in this congregation. Paul is addressing that and he addresses it through the principle of the mind of Christ. We'll see that as we go along.
But again the book of Philippians, let's go there. Verse 1, notice how Paul begins and Paul begins several of his books in this way. He says:
Philippians 1:1 Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ.
That's an interesting word here. The word for servant is not the word diakoneo. Diakoneo is a word for serve or servant, it's also translated deacon, it's also translated minister. Diakoneo can be a position in the church; deacon or minister. Paul didn't choose that word at all. In other places he does say Paul an apostle. Here he says a servant and he uses the Greek word doulos. There's no question Paul is very deliberate in his choice of words. We are not servants we are slaves of Jesus Christ. A doulos is a step below a servant. A doulos is a slave who has no position at all. So Paul says Timothy and I are the slaves of Jesus Christ.
We find this phrase doulos used in a number of occasions in Paul's writings. Romans 1, Paul refers to himself as a doulos. Titus 1, he refers to himself as a doulos. James 1, James refers to himself as a doulos. II Peter 1, Peter calls himself a doulos and Jude 1, Jude refers himself also as a slave of Christ. This is no doubt quite deliberate, especially as you will see Paul is addressing a problem of honor, a problem of thinking you deserve more. Paul says: "Here I am writing to you (Certainly Paul would have some creditability since he began the church in Philippi ) as a slave with no position. I'm writing from that perspective." I believe that would have a great impact upon a congregation, reading that from Paul and Timothy. We are slaves of Jesus Christ. If you have a congregation that's arguing and debating over positions, who receives the most honor; is it this position or this position? If that's the case then for Paul to begin his epistle by saying I'm a slave of Jesus Christ. Obviously, we know he's an apostle, they know he's an apostle but he appeals to the position of a slave when he writes or begins his epistle. I think that's rather profound, it identifies something of great significance in Paul's thinking as well as the point that Paul wants to make very clearly.
There are other places in scripture where Paul actually takes it a step further, refers to himself and the Greek term is under-rower. You know under-rower, we are I think it's translated fellow laborers I believe is the term translated other places, but it comes from a Greek word that actually means under- rower. It's used very rarely but it's actually referring to the slaves who on the Roman ships were actually beneath the deck. They never came above deck when they were out to sea. They were chained below to an oar and all they did all day long was row and they were called under-rowers and Paul uses the terminology that would apply to that, referring to Christianity later on. So Paul uses the term slave, Paul uses the term under-rower to make the point when you have individuals who are debating or arguing over position, honor and things that we may deserve. It's an interesting approach to the letter.
Now notice verse 27; now he gets into some of the issues that are prevalent in Philippi. Now Philippi actually began interestingly as a church. You find the beginning of Philippi back in Acts 16 where Paul meets Lydia and her household and he baptizes them and later the jailer, baptizes them. So it's kind of interesting how the church even began in Philippi. But now we're a few years later, the church is established and issues are beginning. To begin to start with such a humble beginning and then to be where they are evidently when Paul writes is also intriguing. How did they get there? What was going on? What were they thinking about? What was important to them internally? You see, maybe there was a bit of a shift of focus that was going on here as well.
Verse 27: Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,
Paul wants to focus their attention back on what's important.
Verse 28: and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation and that from God.
Put your focus on salvation, not on what the enemies around you can do or are trying to do to you.
Verse 29: For to you is has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for His sake,
Verse 30: having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.
So he said I go through the same thing that you're going through. Don't let it deter you, don't let it cause you to be thinking in a wrong way; to get your focus off what is important. And then chapter 2 Paul introduces what is considered some of the most significant literature in the bible, some of the most significant and deep statements in the bible; and as I said, there are theologians who made their entire careers off Philippians chapter 2 over a few verses, in fact there's a whole group of theologians that have made their entire careers off one word in Philippians 2. There's a Greek word there called keno or kenosis and there are a group of theologians from the middle ages called kenotic theologians. Their entire lifetime was spent studying this one Greek word and what it means and it comes from this section of scripture.
But Paul begins in verse 1 to lay the groundwork for what he's going to say in verses 5 through 8. There are 4 critical verses in this section, in fact there are scholars who will tell you that verses 6 through 8 actually form a hymn or a piece of poetry that has 3 stanzas to it and addresses the issue of the mind of Christ. Now I'm not saying they're correct. I don't know if Paul was a composer and writing music. I don't think he was a composer. I don't think he was writing music, but whether he intended that section to be poetry or that section to be in a hymn form, evidently in the Greek it comes across as a hymn style with 3 verses; primarily verses 6, 7, and 8. But it identifies a thought pattern that is so significant, it identifies the core of Christianity and what we should be and how we should do it as Christians today.
Let's read the first 4 verses leading into this.
Philippians 2:1 Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy,
Verse 2: fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Again scholars saying, well there were issues of division, there were issues of honor, there were issues of strife. There was tension in this congregation; there was tension going on and Paul addresses it head on in verse 3.
Verse 3: Let nothing be done through selfish ambition of conceit, (don't do anything to stir up strife, don't do anything to elevate yourself that leads to more vanity for you) but in lowliness of mind (now here it is, Paul goes right for the jugular here where he says) let each esteem others better than himself.
Paul is saying love your neighbor as yourself. Paul didn't say do unto other as you would have them do unto you, he took it a notch higher. He said esteem others better than yourself. Is that possible for a human being? It isn't possible without the mind of Christ and it isn't possible without God's Holy Spirit. As a human being you may be able to love others; maybe you can say you love them as yourself but to esteem other people better than you is very, very difficult and requires a profound and fundamental change in the way we think because we normally do not think that way. Paul goes as I said for the jugular; he goes right to the core of what is significant for every Christian to do; esteem others better than yourself.
Verse 4: Let each of you look out not only for his own interests but also for the interest of others.
Be considerate of others. Just don't think of what you have and who you are, think of others. Now if you think about it and reflect on your day, what are you thinking about from the morning until the night? What's going through your mind? Are you thinking about obviously plans that you're involved in, things that you're doing and all of those things? Do you think about others and it's a question, it's not a condemnation? I think most of us do but how much thought do we think about others and in what form do we think of others? Is it negative, is it something of sort of an evil in the sense of bad or not good or do we esteem others better than ourselves? Now again, that's a question.
Now we come to verse 5. Verse 5 is considered the transition or it's actually considered the summary for the 3 verses that are going to follow. So in a sense if this is a song, if this is a hymn and again I am not contending that it is, but I'm simply saying if you isolate these 4 verses, 5 through 8, verse 5 becomes the summary statement the title of the hymn. Now this is the title, the summary title of the hymn that's to follow. Again if you go down that line of reasoning and I keep emphasizing, I'm not saying necessarily it's true or not, I don't know the Greek language well enough to know if this is written in sort of a hymn fashion or written in poetry fashion but again that's what is said. So the summary or the title then is this:
Verse 5: Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
This is the title then of a hymn let's say that is going to follow. That's a pretty powerful statement, pretty powerful statement. There are other translations that actually have something interesting to say about this. Vincent's Word Studies, not a translation but a Greek word study says this: Literally, Paul is saying, let this thought be in you, let this thought be in you. Vincent goes on to say the correct reading of this verse is: Think this way in yourself. Think this way; let this thought be in you. What thought? Well the last phrase or the last phrases we see right above that, esteeming others better than yourself; thinking about other people. So now he comes, he's given that as just leading up to this, contextually, he provides this information, then he gives the title or summary: Let this thought be in your mind. Let this be the driving force behind your thoughts because if it is then your conduct will follow. But you can have conduct for various reasons, people can be actors. You can have conduct that belies true thought or proper thought. You can have the conduct without the thought, but if you have the thought you will have the conduct, it will follow and I think that's very, very important as to what's being said here. You must change the way you think, that's what Paul is saying. You must think like Jesus Christ. Christianity is as much the way you think as the way you act. Sometimes all of this gets lost in the translation and then again as I said earlier, if I'm keeping the Sabbath, if I'm not a thief then I must be a good Christian. A good Christian is one who thinks like Jesus Christ and therefore the acts will follow like Jesus Christ. So you know that's not an easy thing to do; that's a lifelong struggle for every single one of us.
Then you begin in verse 6 what again the scholars refer as to 3 verses of a hymn. The first is in verse 6, the second is in verse 7 continuing through the first part of verse 8 and the third verse is the last part of verse 8. This little song or this little section of scripture follows the summary or the title; let this mind be in you that was in Jesus Christ. Look at verse 6, the first verse and again looking at it from that prospective.
Verse 6: who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
A rather interesting statement. The word being there is present progressive. It simply means existing. This describes the eternal state of the word. Wherever you go in time, He was there existing or being in the form of God. Wherever you go in time, the Word or the one who became Christ is always there existing, not just in an angelic form but in the form of God. God was His nature, or He was by nature God at all periods of time. Scholars say that this is the strongest statement made anywhere by the ApostleAn exclusive ecclesiastical role historically held by very few; literally "one sent," but for a particular purpose: to deliver a message. In the New Testament this refers to a special envoy or messenger of the gospel; a special messenger from God (Luke 11:49; Revelation 18:20); more specifically the original 12 (Peter, John, Andrew, etc.) plus Paul, Barnabas and a few others. Jesus Christ is called the Apostle (Hebrews 3:1). Paul of the divinity of Jesus Christ, that the heresy that Christ was a created being Paul addresses straightforwardly by making this statement and does not allow any wiggle room for who Christ was. He was God in the flesh. He pre-existed His human birth. He was in the form of God at any time you want to go to. He was in the form of God and He was God by nature.
Other translations: Philips translates this: He who had always been God by nature. Waymith translates it: From the beginning He had the nature of God. William's translation: He was existing in the nature of God. The New American Standard BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ. translation: Although He existed in the form of God. So Paul makes his statement here very clear and as I said, scholars say that this is the most direct statement made by Paul anywhere regarding the nature of God or regarding the nature of Christ, His divinity.
Later on we note toward the end of the first century heresies developed and continued on into the fourth century that led to the development even of the trinity at that particular time but also leading to ideas such as Modalism, Docetism. Docetism was a doctrine or a teaching that Jesus Christ was not human; that Jesus Christ was a ghost because carnal flesh is evil; that was their theory. So Christ our Savior could not be in the flesh, He had to be a ghost or something, an apparition that people saw, that He really didn't walk this earth. That developed toward the end of the first century along with several other heresies. Paul no doubt seeing the beginning of some of these heresies says very plainly He always existed in the form of God; He always was God by nature. Even when Christ walked this earth we're told He was God in the flesh. He was worshipped and performed miracles. He was God in the flesh.
Now the second part of this verse is quite interesting. It said He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. This word translated robbery is the Greek word harpagmos. This is the only place in scripture that it is used. Whenever a word is only used once in scripture it always becomes controversial because you have no other scripture to go to see how some other author used the word. You're stuck with going to other Greek writers to find out how the word was used. It's translated robbery in the King James. The New King James has a marginal reference that says something to be held onto to be equal. It's an unusual word. Rather than robbery it most likely means misappropriation. It is more like a concept of embezzling where someone has a position of authority and he is stealing or taking or grasping something else. Modern translation would read something like this: Something to be taken advantage of. The meaning is much clearer when you add part of this understanding. Paul is saying that Christ is in the form of God but that it is not used that position to take advantage or to serve Him to an advantage. In other words He's equal with God but He doesn't hold onto that position as though it's a prize that He will not let go. In fact the concept of robbery has in it one of the meanings of robbery is a prize, a position that Christ has but He's not using it to His advantage; He is using it for something else. Now this fits in with the next verse that's going to say that He puts Himself into a different form. He has this position, this authority, He's in the form of God but He doesn't consider it robbery to be equal with God. He doesn't consider it something to take advantage of; something to brow beat someone with. I am God and brow beat someone or lord it over someone; that's not the way God is and so we see this here. Christ by nature is a servant we're going to see. God by nature then therefore is a servant. When we think about it God did not have to create human beings. Why did God create human beings? Because by nature God wants to share what He has. I think we would all understand that He did not have to do that but He did. This verse could properly be translated in this manner:
This is from Vincent's Word Studies: He did not regard His divine prerogatives as something to be used for His own advantage.
Another commentary by Wright says: The pre-existence Son regarded equality with God as not excusing Him from the task of suffering and death but is actually uniquely qualifying Him for that vocation.
In other words, the nature of God is that of a servant so that the mind of Christ that we see in the title of this short section is that of a servant, it's that of a slave, a doulos and Paul is making this abundantly clear that even though He is God He did not use that position for Himself but He uses it for us and for everyone else. It's a profound, significant principle.
Vincent's goes on to say: Christ did not regard His divine equality as a prize which was to be grasped at and retained at all cost but on the contrary gave up position and did not use His position for personal gain.
Read the newspapers and how often do you read of individuals who use position for personal gain. You read about Enron. We were living in Houston during all of that and there was a big headline that said the leaders of Enron lacked one significant thing and in big letters it said ETHICS. There was one thing missing at Enron. They had all the money, they had all the employees, they had everything but they had no ethics. They took advantage of their position to gain for themselves.
Paul is saying Christ does not do that and the mind of Christ doesn't even think about doing that. The next is verse 7. So he doesn't use his position to gain for himself.
Verse 7: but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant and coming in the likeness of men.
Verse 8: And being found in fashion as a man (So it actually ends there, the last verse begins with:) He humbled Himself.
So He made himself of no reputation, took upon the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man. So you'll see there are 3 clauses; all three connected by the word and. Christ did what? What describes what He did? He didn't take advantage of His position but what did He do? We don't want to just say what He didn't do, what did He do? He took on the form or being in the form of God in verse 6 we read that and now what did He do? He made Himself of no reputation, He took upon Himself the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of man and being found in fashion as a man. So He made Himself of no reputation, took on the form of a servant, made in the likeness of man and found in the fashion of man. This describes what He did. The famous Greek word that's found imbedded in this context is found in verse 7.
Made Himself of no reputation is a phrase in Greek that has been debated for hundreds of years. It comes from one simple Greek word keno or kenosis. Keno or kenosis is translated: Made Himself of no reputation. It's translated in different ways. Philips translates it: He stripped Himself of all privilege. Warren says: He poured Himself out. Now we do have in the word keno, we do have other places that Paul used it so it does give us an idea. Here are the other places you'll find the word keno: Romans 4:14 where Paul talks about being void, that's the Greek word keno. I Corinthians 1:17, something of none effect, keno, I Corinthians 9:15, void and II Corinthians 9:3, vain. Essentially to make yourself of no reputation means to put aside your privileges or stated another way Christ nullified His privileges. He stepped down from His position, He laid aside His privileges and then you find the next 3 phrases: Took upon Him the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men, being found in fashion as a man. There are 3 clauses here that identify what Christ did and they're all connected with and. The 3 verbs are taking, made and being found. He took the form of a servant, He was made in the likeness of man and he was found in the fashion of a man.
Vincent's says this: As a form of a servant, a doulos, exhibits the inmost reality of Christ's condition as a slave, became reality at essentially the servant of man. Christ was not only in thought a servant; He was in reality a servant, a slave. The phrase likeness of man, Vincent's says, we are told that He was tempted as we all are. Satan understood this and that's why he worked on Christ in Matthew 4. He was in the likeness of man and then of course it goes on to say Christ resembled men in appearance but His true form was that of a servant, fashioned as a man, that's the third clause.
Christ was not comely we are told, He was average or ordinary looking so He looked like a man, He worked like a man; that is He obviously could be tempted as any human being could, but He was in the form of a servant, He was in the form of a servant. Now the 3 rd and final verse begins with He humbled Himself.
Verse 8: He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
The Greek word for humble is quite interesting, it's tapeino, its a little different word for humbled than you'll find normally. It means to assign a lower rank, to abase oneself, to accept a lower position. Here we have an oddity. We introduced Christ as a slave and we're told a slave was the lowest position. How could Christ go lower than a slave?
Well you read it in the rest of the verse, the death of the cross. Even though Christ was a slave, He took a step below even what a slave would be thought of and that is the horrible death of the stake. He was crucified. Crucifixion was reserved for the worst of the worst. Crucifixion was not acceptable for a Roman citizen in the first century. For the members of the Roman colony in Philippi, Paul's remark would be striking to talk about crucifixion. Crucifixion was considered a barbaric form of execution of the utmost cruelty. Origin called crucifixion the utterly vile death of the cross. Cicero referred to it as that most cruel and disgusting penalty. It was the worst possible death of that day. It was called a curse in the Mosaic Law. Jesus did not die a gentle death, much less passing on old and full of years, rather He died like a slave or worse than a slave, a common criminal in torment on a tree of shame. So He was a slave, and even went one step below. This is the mind of Christ. This is the origin of Christianity. This is the Genesis of who we must become and what we must become. I would suggest that we all acknowledge that we've only begun to scratch the surface of true Christianity and then even after a lifetime all of us working and understanding some of these concepts, there is still so much more we have to do to have the mind of Christ.
I suggest to you that there are 3 simple lessons found in Philippians II. Two of them pertain to Christ and things we can learn about Christ and the third one pertains to us.
Lesson Number 1: Christ emptied Himself of privilege. Christ gave up position to become our Savior. That implies that He thinks this way. This is His nature. This is how He is. This is the real Christ. This is the real God who has such deep love for all of us that He gives up position to become our Savior. It is an incredible thing but that's the way He thinks. That's what goes on in His mind. He is God by nature and by nature He is a servant, a slave. That's the way He thinks.
Lesson Number 2: Christ died as a slave. He died a terrible death. He was obedient and He did not deserve to die. Why did He die? John 3:16 - He so loved the world. We're told God so loved the world. This is the way He is. He is a God of love, undying love, willing to provide for us an avenue for salvation that we do not deserve, but He sets the standard of how we think. If your thoughts can be brought into line with Christ, the actions will follow. Yes you will make mistakes, yes you will fall short but if your mind is in line with Christ, and this is the way you think, then your actions will follow.
Lesson Number 3: This is a lesson for us. We must learn to think like Him. To have the mind of Christ means to think like Christ. It means to take Christianity a step further by esteeming others better than yourself. How can you do this as a human being? The only way you can do it is by gaining the mind of Christ and the only way you can do that is through the Holy Spirit. The greatest miracle, I've always said this so many times it's almost as though we can repeat it by rote. The greatest miracle is the conversion of a mind. The greatest miracle is receiving God's Holy Spirit and being transformed. Do we really understand that? I think of the term conversion. If you can convert water into ice, the ice doesn't look anything like the water; it's a completely different substance. It may be made up of the same things but it's a different substance. If you convert the carnal mind to the mind of Christ, it is very different. One of the greatest pleasures in the ministry over many years is seeing someone dramatically changed and you know it started in their mind and their heart. It wasn't as though one day they became a Sabbath keeper, one day they became this or that. Now one day they did, but the change must occur in the heart; the way we think. Paul describes it very clearly here. As Christians we're all striving to be servants or slaves just as Christ was. None of us are perfect, none of us are perfect. We have perceptions of individuals, we have perceptions of things that may be right, may not be right. We build them based upon what we think when reality we must build upon what Christ thinks; how He sees things, how He feels. The feelings, the thought pattern of Jesus Christ which says I am a slave and I will esteem others better than myself.
I believe we all have to look in the mirror every day and say we have much to do. Christianity is an endless struggle and work to become like Christ. It never ends. When you've been at it for 2 years or you've been at it for 50 years, you still have a way to go; so do I, so do all of us. The fact that Paul talked about Christians who argued and debated and thought doesn't mean that's the mind of Christ. Paul refers to the Corinthians as carnal because of what they were doing. If we look at ourselves today, if we do those things today, are we reflecting the mind of Christ? We must make every effort to esteem others better than ourselves. We must look for ways to think like a servant, like a slave. We can't serve to be seen. We must serve because it is who we are. Christ did what He did because it was His nature. It is the nature of God.
We must ask if we will ever learn that the God we serve must often look down upon all of us in a bit of anguish because He desires us to be in His family so much. He wants us to be there. He wants us to change our nature. He wants us to change the way we think and we come to what Paul said: "Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus." This is the way we should think.
