Be Gifted in the Mind of Christ

That's the 10th, 2019, today's date. Right up to this date, in all history, all the universe, all happenings, all experiences, to this date, who is the most gifted being that has ever been created? Who do you think? You can't say Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ is not a created being. He's pre-existing, eternal, always, no beginning. So you can't say Him. He's not a created being. Who is the absolute most gifted being that has ever been created? You should know the answer. It's Lucifer. It's Lucifer. Ezekiel 28, verse 12. Ezekiel 28 and verse 12. Son of man, take up the lamentation upon the king of Tyreus. Now, he started off talking about the prince of Tyreus, verse 2, which is talking about the flesh and blood human, and then the one that's possessing and running that flesh and blood human. And verse 12, it switches to the term king, showing a greater power, and this is talking about Lucifer. Because God says something about him that He would never say and can't say about a human being. And say to him, Thus says the Lord God, You seal up the Son, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You seal up the Son. Let's read on.

You have been an Eden, the Garden of God. Every precious stone was recovering. The sardius, topaz, the diamond, the barrel, the onyx, the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, the carboxyling gold.

Gorgeous, beautiful, brilliant. The workmanship of your tibraes, of your pipes, was prepared in you in the day that you were created. You are the anointed carob that covers. And I have set you so. You were upon the holy mountain of God. You have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created until iniquity was found in you.

You seal up the psalm, the psalm total of beauty, grandeur, splendor, all of that.

But he did not keep love, humility, and gratitude. He did not keep love, humility, and gratitude.

Verse 17, your heart was lifted up because of your beauty.

You have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness. You lifted up, corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness, pride, and vanity.

What was his downfall? Self-generated pride and vanity was his downfall.

These are the opposites of gratitude and humility. They're the opposites of it.

Pride is the condemnation of the devil. In 1 Timothy 3.6, when Paul was instructing Timothy, and of course the books of Timothy and Titus are called pastoral epistles, giving them instructions as pastors, and of course the spiritual principles that apply to them, apply to all of us. But in 1 Timothy 3, in verse 6, when Paul is talking about ordination, and talking about those who would be ordained, and in giving that instruction, he says in verse 6 here, 1 Timothy 3, he says, not a novice. Not one, if you have a margin, it will show what the Greek can render, not one newly come to the faith. Because what happens? You give responsibility, you give opportunity, and sometimes it goes to the head. That's a problem. It says, not a novice, not someone newly come to the faith, lest being, and look, there's that term again, lifted up.

It was applied to Lucifer. That's being lifted up with pride, because pride lifts one up. He fall into the condemnation of the devil, because the condemnation of the devil is pride. So I go back to Lucifer a moment and ask this question, what are all Lucifer's gifts now good for? Think about that for a moment. What are all the good gifts he was given? What are all Lucifer's gifts now good for? What do they accomplish? In other words, what true service, what truly spiritual service, what true peace and happiness do they bring? I can't think of any. I don't think you can either.

And that brings me to this point. See, gifts never trump character. It's not the way it works in this world. Gifts trump character in this world, the way this world runs. But in God's world, and in what's truly spiritual, gifts never trump character. Gifts held in love, gifts held in humility, gifts held in gratitude, serve, and help others. But gifts that are held in pride and vanity only magnify carnality. Think about that. Gifts held in pride and gifts held in vanity only magnify carnality that hurts and that harms others. Starting with the one who holds, who has, those gifts in pride and vanity. This is why Paul said what he did in 1 Corinthians 12. And let's go there. 1 Corinthians 12 verses 27 through 31.

In 1 Corinthians 12 verses 27 through 31. And I think we all are familiar enough with Corinthians to know that the Corinth church, the church check Corinth, had problems. And Paul had to address one thing right after another. He says to them, he says beginning in verse 27 of chapter 12, of first letter to them, now you are the body of Christ and members in particular.

And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers. After that, miracles, gifts of healings, helps governments or administrations, diversities of tongues. Is everyone an apostle? Are all apostles? Of course not. Are all prophets? Well, of course not. Are all teachers? No, not officially. Are all workers of miracles? Obviously, no, not everyone. Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? And then he says this, he says, but covet, but covet or desire earnestly, sincerely, the best gifts.

You don't really have to encourage people to do that that much. I don't know how many times I have heard people say to me over the years in one form or another, oh, if God just gave me the gift to be able to do this or that, if I just had this gift or that gift, if God just empowered me to...

Well, okay. Paul says, desire earnestly the best gifts. And when he says desire earnestly, desire it sincerely, yes. But notice what he goes on to say. He says, and yet I show to you a more excellent way. Focus on that a minute, a more excellent way.

And he reaches with his quill, reaches right on end to what we've broken down by organization as the 13th chapter. Though he's telling him, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not agape, what is translated from love, I become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains and I have not charity, have not love, I'm nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not agape, have not love, it profits me nothing.

What is that more excellent way? He gets to it in verses 4 through 8. He gets to what is that more excellent way. He says, love suffers long. It hangs in there. It endures. It's not easily snuffed out.

Agape suffers long, and it's kind. Agape envies not. Agape is not rash. Vont's not itself. It's not puffed up. Again, you're dealing with the opposite of pride and vanity, not puffed up. Because if you read from 4 through 8, to the degree that you have pride and vanity that you work by, you can't fulfill the more excellent way. It cannot survive in you. It cannot take root in you. It cannot grow in you the more excellent way. Because the more excellent way suffers long. It endures. It's kind. It doesn't envy. It's happy for others. It doesn't try to just get itself out front and center stage and promote itself, and it's not puffed up. It doesn't behave itself unseemly.

Doesn't seek her own. Well, you get mine and you can go hang. It's not easily provoked. Feelings aren't worn on the sleeve. And it's not thinking and automatically just assuming evil.

Thinks no evil. Rejoice is not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Just a very positive approach, perspective, and outreach. And even taking negative situations and trying to maximize them to the positive. And then verse 8, charity, love, never fails. But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. The more excellent way, gifts encased in character will do great good.

And I wonder if we ever stop to think about when we're changed to spirit beings and God gives us permanent composition for eternity. That He can include in that any and all gifts that He wants to make a part of our makeup. But whatever He gives us, however He gifts us, at that point, it's all going to be encased in the character that's developed in this life that will carry through without end eternity, eternity, eternity. Gifts encased in character will do great good. Gifts that are encased in love and humility and gratitude will render safe, solid service. Gifts are forgiving, not for self-promotion. Love, humility, and gratitude is what safeguards the use and the effects of those gifts. I'll repeat that. Love, humility, gratitude is what safeguards the use and the effects of those gifts. And I go back to what I said that gifts never trump character, period. Not in the world that was, not in the world that is, as far as the spiritual world that God's producing with ecclesia, or the world to come.

This is a healthy spiritual perspective. And as Paul said, earnestly desire the best gifts, but make sure that what is desired, because whatever measure or level of gifts we have now, is just a small portion of what we're going to be given at the resurrection. But make sure they're set in the more excellent way. You know, over my years in the church, over what's now becoming a lifetime, spanning a lifetime, I had a kind of a, at least personally in my life, this past week, on Thursday, August the 8th, that was kind of a significant marker in my life, because August the 8th was the length of life that my mother was given in this age. I was exactly the age this Thursday that my mother was when she died. She was 68, and the number of days that matched to me being 68, and the same number of days, August the 8th.

In 2020, before 2020 is out, I will be 70. And you get up to a certain point in time, and there's certain things like that that really cause you to focus on some things and really works on your perspective. And I realize that according to God's Word, that I'm reaching that age where, not that I'm promised to reach 70 or 80, but I'm reaching that age that basically is the allotted lifetime. And of course, it doesn't mean I won't live on out beyond that. But again, it puts a different perspective over it, on it. But over my years in the church, over what's now becoming a lifetime, spanning a lifetime, I have seen through the years and still continue to see a great challenge and a great frustration.

I don't see it in some regards now as much as I once did. You know, again, spanning back over the lifetime and going through years of booming growth and so many being called to the church and all of the spiritual wars we've dealt with and all of that.

But I've seen and do still continue to see, to a degree, a challenge and a frustration. Why is it so hard? And we ask ourselves this, why is it so hard for some of the membership and some of the ministry to walk in humility? Why? When United began in 1995, we began on a consensual basis. We began on the basis of a multitude of counselors. We established a system with checks and balances. We established a council of elders with 12 men that would be appointed with certain terms and rotation for oversight and a conference of ministry. We put into place a system that is extremely dependent upon humility, working together, mutually submitting to each other, subjecting ourselves to a multitude of counselors. And you know what? It has worked pretty good. It's not been without flaws because it's human, but it has survived two big shake-ups.

It has worked, but the success of it is based on humility. And why is it so hard for we human beings, for some of the membership at times and some of the ministry at times, to walk in humility? I mean, ask myself this question. What is so unclear and cloudy about Philippians 2.5? Read it! Let's go there. Philippians 2.5. What is so unclear and cloudy about this verse? Philippians 2.5. Let this mind be in you. I want you to notice something. The first word there is let. Christ doesn't say, God doesn't say, I'll force the mind of Christ into you. He doesn't and He can't. It has to be a cooperative effort. The individual has to say, I want it. I need your help, Father, to have it. But I yield to you. Help me to have it. I want it.

Let this mind, let, is a word that speaks to us seeking it, yielding to it, desiring it, warning it. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. So I ask myself the question, what is so hard to grasp about that? Why does it just not seem to sink in with some?

Why with some does it not truly show up in operational manner, operational behavior with others? Think about it. You and I, in every human, we have our thoughts and we have our words and we have our actions. We have our MO. We have our operational behavior. People develop, let's say, they become known for the way they operate. They become known for the way they handle themselves, conduct themselves, for the way they talk, how they talk, what they say, what they do, etc. operational behavior.

Why? Why with some does it not truly show up in their operational behavior? Because the question, the issue is if the mind of Christ is truly there. And this is something that can't be faked. It can be faked for a moment or a little bit of time, but it can't be faked over the long run. It can't be faked very long. And for those really astute with God's Spirit, it can't be faked at all. They see through the front. If the mind of Christ is truly there, it will show up in operational behavior with others. It will show up on how one treats others. And it's not just how we treat our brothers and sisters in the church whom we love. It's how we treat our families. It's how we treat our neighbors. It's how we treat people we don't even know at the grocery store.

It's really interesting sometimes. You can be with somebody here, there, in congregation. And you can see how they treat each other. They're nice to each other. And you go out to eat with them, and you see how they treat the waitress. And the real self comes out with how they treat the waitress.

And it's a dead giveaway. And then you see those who treat people nice here. And you go out, and you see how nicely they treat the waitress and how nice they are, even when the food wasn't fixed like they were supposed to be fixed. You see how nice they are. But let me just give a point of advice, folks, for self-preservation. Don't get the cook mad. Don't get the cook mad. Oh yeah, that's exactly the way I like it. No, no, you don't need to take it back. This is fine. This is fine. Just like it is. Anyway, it's going to show up in how we treat others at the personal level. So look here at Philippians 2. Philippians 2, verses 3 and 4. Previous to Paul writing, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, he's prefacing that with other statements. And he says in verses 3 and 4, he says, Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory.

It's not that the membership is doing that all the time. It's just that that's carnal. It's what we humans tend to do. We fall prey to it. And so that's one of the things in terms of spiritual battles and warfare that we have to fight that we've got to counter again. Let nothing be done. Don't be motivated by strife or vain glory. But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Treat the other person. I'd say as a starter, at least consider that they have the same worth you do and treat them as though they have greater worth for that matter. And then it usually balances out pretty good. Notice, look, and I'm reading from the King James, Look, not every man on his own things, but on every man also on the things of others. Talking about being concerned for their welfare, not just their own, but being concerned for their welfare. Romans 15 and verse 2. Romans 15 and verse 2.

What you find out with Christianity, true Christianity, is that the challenges that God puts before us are challenging. It takes effort on our part and it takes supply of God's spirit. It takes a joint cooperative effort to really make it work and us be spiritually successful. But we're told in Romans 15 and verse 2, let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. And edification is just an old King James word that means to build up, building up, helping, serving. Let every one of us please his neighbor. Now, I want to go back to Ephesians 4. Or let's say, go to Ephesians 4. And verse 32.

Ephesians 4 and verse 32. Be you kind one to another. Again, we're talking about operational behavior. And, brethren, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying this because we've got some kind of major problem here. We don't. We don't. We don't have any major problem with this that I'm talking about in Gadsden or Chattanooga. And as I've said, I'm very thankful to be the pastor of these three congregations. It's a wonderful opportunity, a wonderful responsibility, a wonderful group of people to work with. But I'm human, and you're human, and we're human. And there are things that we need to really realize very deeply and be on guard against. And it is true that even in a good, wonderful congregation, there can be elements of this. And sometimes you can have, I mean, again, looking back over my lifetime, I have known members and I've known ministers that fell prey to this.

Their operational behavior was not healthy, not good for them or the others that were around them.

And Paul says here, be kind one to another. Tender-hearted. This world hardens the heart. This world calluses the heart. You know, we've got people constantly being desensitized with all of the stuff that's around on the silver screen and the smartphones and the computers and all the tragedies and the violence. We've got many people that are becoming very calloused. And, of course, we're developing more and more a calloused element in this society. And here we are. We're supposed to go against the tide. We seek God's way. Be kind one to another. Tender-hearted. Forgiving one another. Even as God, for Christ's sake. For Jesus Christ's sake. Truly, literally, He's forgiven us. And Colossians 3, verses 12 and 13. Colossians 3.

Verses 12 and 13. Put on therefore as the elect of God. Now, you notice, in writing different congregations, there are certain things, whether Paul words it slightly differently or whatever, there are certain things that he addresses with the various congregations and various letters he's written. Put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, also do you. Having that spirit. The more excellent way. 1 Corinthians 13, verses 4 through 8. What he laid out. The more excellent way. Yeah, the gifts are good. And the gifts are designed for service and for help. But there is a more excellent way. And if you take on that more excellent way, then those gifts that you do have, or whatever you're given, will be encased in that more excellent way and will truly serve and help. But again, 1 Corinthians 13, verses 4 through 8, that more excellent way expresses and defines our operational behavior with each other.

It defines it. It defines how we are to treat each other. And if we don't treat each other that way, we're kidding ourselves. I will say this, and I said it's one of the greatest challenges and it's one of the greatest frustrations. I have had as a pastor to try to deal sometimes with some cases where a baptized member, or two or three, in a congregation that I pastored, just couldn't grasp this. They hurt people's feelings. They were insensitive to them. It's almost like they would go out of their way to be abrasive. And they just couldn't capture the vision. And no matter what I did and what I spoke on and what I said, couldn't capture the vision.

But the way they were treating others and operating just wasn't the mind of Christ. It wasn't the way.

And they had themselves, I guess, self-deceived and I couldn't break through the self-deception.

You know what? I might say or claim, or you might say or claim, or anybody might say or claim, up to a point, yeah, that matters, but why would it matter if it doesn't match what we show? Back in Philippians here, chapter 2, if you notice, I keep backing up in this chapter. I probably picked up on that. I read verse 5 and then I wound up backing up into verses 3 and 4, and now I'm backing up into verses 1 and 2 because the backup is where the prelude is to letting this mind begin you which was in Christ Jesus. And so verses 1 and 2 of chapter 2, if there be, therefore, any consolation in Christ. If any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies. Paul says, fill full, that's what fulfill means, fill full you. You fill full my joy. It brings me joy, he's saying. And I do understand what he meant and I think you do too.

Because he was willing to give his life for those people that were his brothers and sisters in Christ. He loved them and he loved them dearly. Fulfill you my joy that you be like-minded, having the same love being of one accord of one mind. Anyway, the Passover service each year in the springtime, we will usually...

I can't say that it's not without fail, because maybe it's failed to be read.

The verses I'm about to turn to in John 13 and John 15.

But I know that each year when we read some of the scriptures as part of the ceremony, that I don't think without fail read John 13, 34, and 35.

John 13 verses 34 and 35, where Christ said, A new commandment I give to you. Now, it's interesting.

The commandment he's about to give to them is quoted back in the Old Testament. So that's not the new part, that you love one another. That's not the new part.

What's new is what follows, as I have loved you.

When you look at how Christ loved us and how he gave himself for us, it is a depth of love that I am still striving with God's help to reach. It is a deep order, not just a tall order, a high-set bar. It's a deep order.

That's the newness that we shoot for, that we work toward, that we ask and pray God to help us to attain through his Spirit, as I have loved you. That's the clarifier, the qualifier.

That sets the bar, that you also love one another. And again, that's a tall order. And by this shall all men know that you are my disciples. By what? By that level of love, by that depth of love, if you have love one to another. And then companion to that is John 15. And I always like to turn over and read John 15, verses 12 and 13.

John 15, verses 12 and 13. This is my commandment.

See, he's repeating it for emphasis, because it means so much that you love one another. Again, where's the bar set? What do we shoot for? As I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends.

And even in this world, if you've got soldiers on the front line, and the front line is a dug-in line, whether it's the Battle of the Bulge or wherever, and you've got foxhoes, and you've got men in them, and a grenade comes flying into the foxhoe, and while the guy throws his body on top of the grenade, knowing in the tremendous speeds of the mind and how it can think so quick in those circumstances, knowing that he's dead, knowing he's about to be blown up, killed, but his buddy will be saved, or his buddy's there will be saved. And that's happened. And that's the greatest sacrifice that he can give, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

And what's your life made of? What's my life made of? Well, so far, my life is in made of 68 years of time with so many months, and so many weeks, and so many days, and so many hours, and so many minutes. Time, in other words, and whatever measure of energy is inside that time. So in 1 John 3, 16, the same apostle writing in the same basic time period says in 1 John 3, and verse 16, "... hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us." He literally laid it down. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He's not saying when he says we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren, we try to find a way to go out and get ourselves killed for the brethren. Of course, in periods of martyrdom, you have that kind of situation to a degree. We're not in a period of martyrdom. And in spite of the fact that brethren, when you read the history of the true church and you read scriptures, and you could kind of get the feeling that, well, they're just going from one period of martyrdom to another. No, they're not.

They're periods of martyrdom, and there's a period of martyrdom coming again.

But there are stretches of time where there's no martyrdom going on. There are stretches of time where life is going on. Oh, there's persecution, yes. Never totally, totally 100% free of that.

Because Satan hates the truth, and we're targets, and all that. There is persecution.

But what about during the times when there's no martyrdom going on, and you're not laying your life on a literal chopping block or whatever, putting your neck on a chopping block?

He says we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. How do you do that? Time, energy.

When we take of our time and our energy, what makes up our life? When you're totally out of time, you're dead. I mean, the dead have no more time until the resurrection. They have no more energy. I mean, time and energy is really what our life is composed of. So when you give up your time and energy, you are giving up your life. Back in Philippians 2, some of you may wind up just putting a marker there. Philippians 2, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, verse 5. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, to be the pre-existent, eternal, life-self-inherent, everlasting One, which is the definition of Yahweh, YHWH, Jehovah.

The Father and the Son both carry that name. They're both eternal, everlasting, without beginning, without end, life-self-inherent. For Him to come to this earth, become flesh and blood like us, dependent upon air and food and drink, to live sinless, to walk in the dust, and live as part of the dust of the earth, God in the flesh, but to take on our composition, and then to die. And not just die, be killed, not just be killed, be killed through all that He went through, and hung on the rough wood, nailed to it in a spear. Where the mind of Christ is present and active in a person, a person will put out for the brethren.

I repeat that. Where the mind of Christ is present and active in a person, that person will put out for the brethren. And the putting out can come in two ways. I'm not saying it's the only two ways, but the putting out, putting themselves out. You know, have you ever heard somebody say, I'm not going to put myself out for that, or I'm not going to put myself out for her, I'm not going to put myself out for Him, they're not going to put out their time, they're not going to put out their energy, they're not going to, they're not going to inconvenience themselves. I mean, we hear that, and our society is full of that.

The putting out comes in two ways. Number one, and again, you could come up with more proudly, but I want to focus on two ways. Number one, doing for them in a positive, proactive way. Again, Philippians 2, verse 4, Look not every man on his own things. Ah, well, as long as everything is good in my life, who cares about what's happening over in their life? That's not putting out. But it's like, well, I'm thankful for how things are going in my life, I'm really thankful for the blessings of God and how well things are going and how good they're going and that I'm being taken care of. But so and so doesn't have quite the same blessings. They're having, you know, a tough time. I feel bad for them. What can I do to help them? To uplift them. You know, I want them to also be doing well. And how can I go about helping them? You don't have to flip back with me to Romans 15, where we were.

But remember Romans 15 and verse 2, we read it where it says, Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good, edification. But again, you have to put out to do that. And that's a very positive and a very positive proactive way. What can number one include? If you're putting out for somebody in a positive proactive way, what can number one include? Let me be very specific. It can include not looking down on others. Our society is filled with the attitude of looking down on others.

You're not as good as me. You don't have what I have. You don't live where I live. You don't drive what I drive. You don't dress like I do. And you could add a lot more to that list. Not looking down on others. How many people look down on others? If Jesus Christ had the mind of, quote, looking down on us, do you think He would come and die for us? No. God the Father knows we're flawed. And He's willing to work with us. He and Christ are. And they love us. But they don't look down on us. There's a difference. And whether you've seen it in your family growing up, or you see it in your family, or you see it in the neighborhood, or the workplace, or whatever, it's common to look down on others. Period. It's just something in the carnality that's too much a part of the human makeup. Not looking down on others. See again, Philippians 2 and verse 3. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory. Notice. But in the loneliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Let me ask you this question. Let's ask ourselves this question. If that is practiced, it's not possible to, at the same time, be looking down on others, and at the same time be esteeming them better than yourself. Unless you're looking down on yourself worse than you're looking down on them. I guess you could get into that. But otherwise, you've got a conundrum. You've got a contradiction. It's oxymoronic. Because you cannot esteem others better than yourself in the way that God means it here. God means it through Paul. And be looking down on them. And in Romans 12 and I'm coming back here. Romans 12 verse 10, it says in Romans 12 and verse 10, Be kindly affectioned one to another, kindly affectioned with brotherly love. And it can be rendered, be kindly affectioned one to another, in the love of the brethren. There are things that pastors will not do. There are things that elders will not do, if they love the brethren. There are things that ministry will not do to the brethren, if they really love the brethren. Just like there are certain things if you really love your children. There are certain things you won't do to them. You'll do for them. But there are certain things you won't do to them. And so when it says, Be kindly affectioned one to another, in the love of the brethren, in honor preferring one another. So crucially important.

Okay, I said the first point, putting oneself out, you know, doing it in a positive, proactive way.

The second way that one puts out for others is this. Number two, one restrains oneself.

One restrains oneself. It's kind of like, and I think we all tend to do this, which is good.

Think about it. We come through that back door. We come through this front door. And we may not be in the best mood, depending on what just happened to us that morning, what happened to us yesterday, this past week, what we've dealt with. We may not even feel the most like being here.

We may feel awful. And sometimes people feel awful, and they get down, and the devil will play on that and try to keep you from the fellowship that you need. But what do we tend to do?

Even if we know, well, you know, I'm not in the best shape, we come through that door and we try to put on a good face, happy face. We try to put on a smile. We try to restrain ourselves, which is good. We don't just come in and dump on somebody. But at the same time, if we have a close friend, we might sit down with coffee back there at a table and say, you know, and our close friend says, you know, something's bothering you, because I know you will enough to know what's going on. And we share it. We share the burden. We share the load. The person really cares about us, and it uplifts us. But we know people. We've all known people, and probably do know some people. And again, I'm not saying just congregational-wise, and I'm just saying just family-wise, and I'm not just saying job-wise, co-worker-wise, neighborhood-wise. I'm just saying, period, with people. We know people, and I've known people, and know people who don't restrain themselves.

If they're not going to put themselves out to restrain themselves, they're not going to put themselves out to control their own carnality. They're not going to rein in their own nature.

If they feel a certain way, or something's going on with them, they're just going to share it negatively. They're going to put it on everybody else around them. And of course, you learn those kind of people, and you kind of learn to shy away from them. But see, it takes love. It takes the mind of Christ to restrain yourself for the sake of others. And again, Philippians 2 here speaks to that so much. Ephesians 4 and verse 31. And again, think about Paul writing to the membership, and he says in Ephesians 4, 31, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put from you with all malice. These are the deadly things that will kill you spiritually. These will kill me. These will kill anybody carrying God's Spirit. If they let these things take hold, and they don't get a hold of it and do something with it, it will crowd out the mind of Christ. Whatever amount of the mind of Christ is there, bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, malice, those are deadly. You have to rein those things in with God's help. And as it goes on to say, move from that into kindness and tenderheartedness and forgiving. I'm not going to turn to James 5.9, but in James 5 and verse 9, it talks about not grudging one against another. I said the second way that one puts oneself out for others, expends energy and effort and all, is to control oneself, to restrain oneself, to rein in one's own human nature. And one of the most common things with human beings is to hold grudges and to seek to satisfy those grudges.

So here's the truism. You will treat others according to how you see them.

You will treat others according to how you view them. Your view of them will show up in your words and actions. If you feel above others, if you look down on others, it's going to show to others especially those who are being looked down upon. A scripture that I read years ago and it made its mark on my mind and memories, Deuteronomy 17.

It's one of those which I've gone back and read many a time through the years.

Deuteronomy 17 verses 18 and 20. It's instruction as well as admonishment and warning and regards to when they would have a king. Well, you and I are in training to be kings and priests in the kingdom of God. We're in training for that.

We're going to be working with people. Some of these kingship principles here absolutely do apply to us even though we're not kings right now, but it's in our future. Notice Deuteronomy 17 beginning in verse 18. It shall be when he sits upon the throne of his kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book and out of that which is before the priests of the Levites.

And I've said that the king would be required to write with his own hand those five books of the Bible, those first five, he would be required to write with his own hand so he would not only know what was there, but he'd have no excuse for saying, I didn't know that was in there.

And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord as God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them. And what else? Let the mind of Christ be operational in him. Verse 20. That his heart be not...look, there's that phrase again, lifted up. That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, whom he has been given opportunity to serve. Let his heart not be lifted up above his brethren. Again, why is it so hard for some to capture the mind of Christ and how they view and how they treat others? Why is it so hard to grasp about scriptures such as Micah 6-8? You just write it down. I'm not going to turn there. But Micah 6-8, O man, what does the Lord require of you that you do justly, that is, you do fairly, you love mercy, and you humble yourself before your God, you humble yourself to walk before your guide. And when you do justly and you love mercy and you humble yourself before your guide, you're humble with your brothers and sisters, and you do justly with them.

The only real answer is, and the obvious answer is, there is a lack of love. There's a lack of humility. There's a lack of gratitude that becomes obvious. And the only real answer is, the obvious answer is, there's too much pride. There's too much ego. There's too much vanity.

And it's a challenge to switch out of one to the other. You know, the surest way, and there have been some folks that I've loved over the years, a few here and there, that just never could seem to get through, that the surest way to prevent the mind of Christ, to block the mind of Christ, to lose the mind of Christ is pride, ego, vanity. Lucifer lost every bit of his relationship with his Creator. He lost every bit of relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Pride, ego, vanity, these are the killers. They're the killers of the proper and full use of the gifts that God gives us.

Because you and I have gifts. You might not know fully what they are. That's not really a big issue, not a deal breaker one way or the other. But every one of us has been given something. And most of all, at the resurrection, we're all going to be extremely gifted. But these killers, these are the killers of the proper and full use of the gifts that God gives. And it's only with and through the mind of Christ can God's gifts be truly and properly utilized. God's gifts are for serving and sharing. As we wrap this up, let's just look at a couple of more scriptures or so.

God's gifts are for serving and sharing. Notice Romans 15 verses 1 and 2. And these are scriptures that have been some of the mainstays in my thinking over the years. And as long as God gives me a mind that is at itself, and I think you will continue to do that, and a good memory, they'll continue to be mainstays. Romans 15.1, We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. See, that precedes what I read previously. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves.

It requires putting out, and it comes out of love, humility, and gratitude. I'm not going to turn to Proverbs 3.27, but if I remember correctly, that one says, Withhold not good to those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it. But Galatians 6.10, Galatians 6 and verse 10, Paul said, As we have therefore opportunity, because we don't always have opportunity, but as we therefore have opportunity, let us do good unto all.

And see, that includes the congregation, but that reaches out beyond the congregation. That reaches on out a spillover effect. As we have therefore opportunity to let us do good unto all, men's and italics, it's not in the original, it doesn't really cloud the issue or anything. But he's saying, let us do good to all. But he says, especially to them who are of the household of faith, there's a priority there.

Anybody remember Peter? Sure you do. We all know Peter. Peter had certain gifts, and he didn't use those gifts too wisely before he was converted. He was a man of boldness, he was a man of initiative, he would step forward. We all know the accounts. He had great leadership potential, but he also broke things. He did a lot of breakage. But once he had the mind of Christ, when he took on the mind of Christ, those gifts were utilized tremendously for serving and sharing.

And one of the things that Christ told him, and I'm not going to turn there, but in Luke 22, if you just want the reference, in Luke 22, verses 31 and 32, he told him, when you are converted, which he wasn't until Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost, but when you are converted, strengthen your brethren. Peter, there are certain gifts you have that can be put to a good use. And one of the things, based on the gifts you have, you can be a real strength to your brethren. And again, you notice he was the one that would step out to the front very boldly, and the others looked to him to take those steps first.

It didn't mean that he was the chief apostle. There was not a chief apostle, but he was a very dominant personality, and he was gifted in that way. And with the mind of Christ, it served a great purpose. The gifts.

Paul said, desire them earnestly, but I show you a more excellent way.

Lucifer was gifted. I used the past tense.

I'm going to put it in the present tense. He is gifted. That hasn't changed. He was created gifted. He is gifted, but now because of his pride, his arrogance, he is simply, guess what, as you know, a gifted devil. He is a gifted adversary.

May we each and all truly learn from his example and not repeat it. Walk in love, walk in humility, walk in gratitude before your God and with your brother and with your sister, with all your brothers and sisters, because this is the mind of Christ. And to sum it all up, and to tie it all together with talking about gifts and talking about the mind of Christ, now at the very end of the sermon, which is unusual for me, I will give you the title, which you should be pretty well aware of. It sums it up, Be Gifted in the Mind of Christ.