Philippians 2:5-6 - How A Unifying Person Thinks

I. Unifying People Have The Right Mind

KJV - "Let this mind be in you"
NASB - "Have this attitude in yourselves"
NIV - "Your attitude should be..."

INPUT - what do you make of the fact that the Lord focuses this
discussion of unity on the important place of the mind?

(You don't preserve unity simply by making behavioral rules.)

- Can you imagine walking into a church business meeting filled with
people who's heart are wicked and divisive
- then the moderator puts a transparency up that says:

1) Be nice to each other.

2) Smile while speaking.

3) No booing when others are talking.

"OK, now let's conduct business."

- it’s not going to be too long into that meeting until the divisive and
wicked hearts of the people involved begin to manifest themselves.

- unity is a matter of the mind.
- you don't change someone's behavior by simply imposing exterior
standards upon them.

- now, aren't you glad that as believers in Jesus Christ, we have the
ability to change on the inside?

- A couple of hot items in the news the last few weeks have been the
Amendment to Ban Flag Burning and the possible changes to
Affirmative Action Legislation.

- I don't want to enter those discussions from a political
perspective
- but I would like to stand back from a distance and make at
least one comment.

- Can you imagine what it would be like if believers in the
church of Jesus Christ could only effect changes through
behavioral legislation?

- again, that’s a not a statement for or against either
political issue----I'm simply saying that that would be a
very hopeless and frustrating way to try to foster love for
one's country or love for various people's of the world.

- Paul makes it very clear that unity is an issue, first and foremost, of
the mind.

- now that’s a two edged sword.
- there's great hope because we can examine ourselves, see habits of
thinking that violate these principles, and make concrete changes.

- Psalm 139:23-24 - Search me, and know my heart. Try me, and
know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in
me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

- the other edge of the sword is that God has given us all the tools to
put off sinful divisiveness---if we're not growing in these areas and
we need to---it's no one's fault but our own.

- now, let's think through three quick but important questions:

1) INPUT - Other verses that stress the importance of changing our
thinking?

Eph. 4:23 - ...and be renewed in the spirit of your mind

I Peter 1:13 - Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind.

Isa. 26:3 - Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is
stayed on thee.

Matt. 22:37 - Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment.

Rom. 12:2 - And be not conformed to this world, but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind.

(recommend a concordance study on the word "mind")

2) How does a person change their thinking?

- take time to identify what's wrong
- put off/put on

3) The overall point is -- divisive people have divisive habits of
thinking.

- let's working on that one for a minute.
- we think in phrases or sentences.
- INPUT - what habits of thinking might a divisive person have
developed that will need to be put off?

- now the great news is -- we don't have to blaze a new trail.
- we don't have to "bravely go where no man has gone before."
- that’s what the second half of this verse is about

II. Unifying People Have The Right Model

- Let this mind be in you...which was also in Christ Jesus.

- Principle is -- the more you and I are seeking to become like Jesus
Christ, the less divisive we are going to be.

- now let me mention something we've been saying all along in this
study.
- we're not talking about situations where clear issues of doctrine
are involved.
- we don't want to misapply these verses and start sounding like
theological liberals.
- that would violate what Paul has already said in chapter 1:9

(in that vein, I've copied a couple of articles for you from
this week's WORLD magazine on the importance of being
discerning.)

- but the point is -- unifying people have the right model in that they
want to think like their Savior and Lord thought.

- let's contrast that to our adversary, the devil for a moment. (Wiersbe)

A. Satan said "I will," Jesus said "Thy will."
- our Lord's thoughts always focused on doing the will of the
Father.
- just like John the Baptist who said, "He must increase, but I
must decrease."
B. Satan was not satisfied being a creature; he wanted to be the
Creator. Jesus was the Creator, yet He willingly became man.

- a good question for all of us to ask this morning is...
- when it comes to the issue of me having a unifying effect//or a
divisive effect at church, marriage, family, work, etc....
- have I modeled my thinking after Jesus Christ, or after my
adversary the devil?

- the thrust of the passage comes in verse 6:

III. Unifying People Relinquish Their Rights, Privileges, and Preferences

- read verse 6 from various translations

A. Jesus possessed the position and privileges of God because He
was/is God.

- John 1:1 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God.

- Col. 1:15 - Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-
born of all creation.

- John 10:30 - I an my Father are one.

- Heb. 1:1-3

- the NIV translation there is very good - "Who, being in very
nature God..."

- but Paul's point here in Philippians is:

B. He did not count His position and privileges something to be
grasped.

- Warren Wiersbe said of these verses:

"Certainly as God, Jesus Christ did not need anything. He had all
the glory and praise of heaven. With the Father and the Spirit,
He reigned over the universe. But verse 6 states an amazing
fact: he did not consider His equality with God as `something to
be selfishly held on to'. Jesus did not think of Himself, He
thought of others. His outlook (or attitude) was that of
unselfish concern for others. This is the mind of Christ, an
attitude that says; `I cannot keep my privileges for myself, I
must use them for others; and to do this, I will gladly lay them
aside and pay whatever price is necessary'."

- (if time -- hit Wiersbe's illus. of job counselor - p. 60)

- a person who has the mind of Christ is in the habit of thinking:

1) Just because I have a "right" doesn't mean I have to
exercise it.

2) Just because I have a preference doesn't mean it always has
to go my way.

- let's work this out together:

1) INPUT - what are some things a Christian might tenaciously cling to
that limits their ministry to others?

2) INPUT - How would the "mind of Christ" (as defined in these verses)
affect:

a) making financial decisions in the home?

b) decisions around the church?

c) issues at work?