Hymn 390: I Need the Mind of Christ
Some verses in Philippians 2:5 that would have inspired that hymn or whoever composed the words, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God But made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” He made himself of no reputation; that says a lot to me. It mentions He was in the form of God – He had been with God in Heaven; a familiar setting for Him and think of God saying, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased,” that is a good reputation. But to come to this earth and be born a baby with no reputation was according to scripture. He descended from David, the family tree. Joseph and Mary were far removed from royalty, they could look back to David as an ancestor, but Jesus was in the form of God and He had a good reputation in Heaven. Think of God saying, “This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.” The angel Gabriel felt good about Jesus and the heavenly host said, “Glory to God in the highest, peace towards men.” They had a good feeling about Jesus, He had a good reputation with them and yet He came and was born as a baby. Think of that in what we know.
Look in Revelation 12:9 when there was a war in Heaven, that seems awesome, for Heaven is the ultimate of peace and order and there was war in Heaven, and the devil and his angels were cast out! Isaiah 14 tells what the devil was like, where he exalted himself to be like the Most High, “I will exalt my throne above God.” No wonder he was cast out and it took a war to cast him out. But the fact was that he and his angels were cast out. There were other angels who had been offended by things, were attached to him and were more like him, and they were cast out with him. How did that come about? How did this come about in heaven? Angels that were devoted to God; what kind of interaction and what kind of things were going on? How did Jesus fit into all that? It says He was made better than the angels. Whatever went on, some angels were more devoted to Satan than to God. I would like to feel part of the background to that was during whatever happened in Heaven, Jesus had a good reputation. He was above that; a perfect influence and example to angels of what it meant to be devoted to God, to be true to God. That’s why Gabriel felt so good about it; because he had a good reputation. Then He made Himself of no reputation by coming to this earth. He did have a reputation!
Remember when He was 12 years old, it says He was subject to His parents; and that’s a good reputation. What about as a teenager? We love to talk to young people and tell them one time, “Jesus was your age and He understands and He would be a role model.” “Lord Jesus, teach me how to choose.” How many things does it say about Him? That shows what kind of a young person He was, but there’s nothing really recorded. How about His neighbourhood? There’s nothing to say what kind of work attitude or His workmanship was; but He was of no reputation. He came to His own and they received Him not. This expression that says, “He made Himself of no reputation.”
In John 6, they took Him by force to make Him a king; this was going to lead up to having a reputation. But you know what He did; He just went away; made Himself of no reputation. A beautiful thing to think about. We are thinking this with, “I need the mind of Christ, let this mind be in you.” He made himself of no reputation as an example for us; let this mind be in us that was in Him. How does that play out in our lives? Our hymn is about us having “No reputation” – I love it and it would have been a beautiful hymn to sing. But that’s not talking about Jesus having no reputation, it’s talking about us. I don’t know if I want to sing that. How does it play out in our lives? Having no reputation doesn’t mean having a bad reputation. There are several verses in the Bible about having a good name; which is rather to be desired than great riches. We appreciate people who have a good name in their Sunday morning meeting and in the community. But how does it fit with having no reputation and a good name? Does it mean to bring some disgrace into your life? It’s possible to have a good name; and yet to follow Jesus in the example of no reputation. The way I see that – to be the same, you aren’t seeking a reputation. But it means this – don’t be promoting yourself. Don’t try to grab the attention. Don’t feel you have to be the focus. But be content to be in the background. It’s right to do all things in having a good name in being faithful in attending meetings, having bread for others. But you can do that without promoting yourself and without trying to get attention. To me, that’s having the mind of Christ and no reputation.
Verse 7, “He made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” There are 2 references there: His having no reputation covers both of these things. The previous verse says He was in the form of God when He took upon Him the form of a servant. Right away, you think of Him washing the feet of the disciples. But there were so many things where Jesus lived for others. He was busy when the centurion came in and said His servant was sick. Jesus said, “I will come and heal him,” taking upon Himself the form of a servant. All through His life, He was like that. What would you say was the form of a servant? Humility? The form of a servant is reliability, obedience, cooperation. The form of a servant is to be more concerned with what pleases the master than what pleases yourself.
It came to my attention a few years ago: that’s that as a servant, you have no time of your own! At our convention, someone told us that they had toured this castle and saw how glorious and comfortable it was in the castle. Then they were shown the servants’ quarters. One thing was outstanding – on the wall of their quarters was a clock but the clock had no hands. Everybody on the tour asked why the clock had no hands. They were told that a servant has no time of his own! It’s not a case of working from 8 in the morning and finishing at 5pm! Isn’t that typical of Jesus? Think about the time in Mark 6 when there was so much was happening and Jesus said to His disciples, “Let’s get into the ship and go across to the other side and rest awhile.” You know what happened when the disciples got into a boat, the multitudes went around to the other side, what a disrespect. But He had compassion and saw them as sheep not having a shepherd. You would think they would say, “This is our time, please leave us alone.” But a servant has no time of His own. Be ready to help, be ready to serve but we sure need our own time and we feel very protective about time.
“Made in the likeness of men,” is also in verse 7 – there’s a difference to be in the likeness of God and to be in the likeness of men. Things that He hadn’t experienced before. He could be hungry, weary, uncomfortable, experiencing pain; He could be tempted in the likeness of men. But He made Himself of no reputation. He took upon Himself our nature. One of the first things that comes to my mind; in the likeness of men, He couldn’t be in 2 places at the same time. In the resurrection body, He could go into the room when the door was shut, but in the likeness of men, He made Himself of no reputation and took upon Himself the form of a man.
Verse 8 tells He became obedient unto death even the death on the cross. Does that imply that He had been disobedient? Of course, it doesn’t refer to that at all. If he had never been disobedient, why would He use that expression? It’s like this: in the likeness of man, disobedience took on a different significance, a different dimension. He had never been disobedient with His Father but when He came as a man, obedience meant something different. Think of a child, you may have a good child that’s never been a problem. But when the child starts school, they learn obedience in a different situation, different dimension. He learns to be obedient to the school. Then when he’s old enough to drive there are different aspects, he has to obey the road rules. Then when he gets a job, he learns another aspect of obedience in his job being obedient to the boss. So that’s how it was with Jesus. In a human body, He learnt obedience, “I do always the things that please My Father.” He was obedient in each aspect even unto death. That was a new aspect, a new dimension of obedience. That’s where our lives should concur with his obedience. Where that all leads to is our redemption. That’s what we think about on Sunday morning and that’s what means so much to us. It’s really a benefit of what we experience most because of His obedience.
Verse 9, ”Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a Name which is above every name.” He was true to God, had a good reputation with the angels, made Himself of no reputation, learnt each phase right to the cross. Then God exalted Him, gave Him a Name above every other name, an exalted reputation. But what I have enjoyed this morning is that Jesus went through this humiliation, no reputation; He didn’t go through all that but with the thought of the joy set before Him. We heard, “Looking unto Jesus for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross.” He had that before Him – the joy of being back with His Father and also the joy of thinking if He was obedient unto the death on the cross, it would be for a redeemed family, and would give people a hope where there was no hope! His motivation of going to the cross wasn’t thinking of glory but just doing the Will of His Father and because of that, giving us a chance. Let this mind be in you. Why do you do sacrificial things? Why do you serve? Jesus did it in thinking of others.
For example, sometimes there is a young person, or a young family who really serves, sacrifices. An older couple needs help; and they will see the opportunity and they help with yard work, take them to meetings and you know there’s something in it. If the older person is generous and has the means, to give something to help the young person or couple, it’s fair enough if you are financial, there’s nothing wrong with that. But what about the case where the older couple didn’t have the means? I know a real case where this couple had an adopted son, and it was a case of elderly abuse and the adopted son got everything and they had nothing, they were left destitute because this son had been dishonest. This couple really needed help, and there was this couple with children who were in their twenties, who were free of their responsibility with their children, but they saw the need, to help that older couple, and there was absolutely nothing in it for them, everybody knew that, that was charity with its boots on. They helped those people get to meetings, helped them in their home, with shopping. But this is serving, giving and helping, with no thought of getting any glory, not thought of recognition, just doing it because of the love of God and charity and because you care. To me, that’s the example of having the mind of Christ and it ties in with this thought of having no reputation.
Truth Archive 