Have this mind among yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus…
Philippians 2:5
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…
Romans 12:2a
When considering the sanctification process, this ongoing cooperative effort between the Holy Spirit and the Christian to be made holy (aka: christlikeness), the Christian’s fundamental obligation must be directed at his/her thought life. The mind is the most directly-impacted piece of the sanctification puzzle. And so often, we can neglect our Christian duty to ensure our thinking aligns with that of Christ. Perhaps even more dangerously, we can erect a phony Jesus made in our own image and then celebrate our way of thinking as one we have received from Christ Himself. But the God of the Bible is not mocked, nor is He a God who conforms to our sinful wills. He has made Himself known in the Scriptures…and in the person of Jesus Christ…and without ongoing study of His Word, we cannot obey the command found in Philippians and Romans to think a certain way.
Now, obviously, not everyone is a Bible scholar. Not everyone has the benefit of a seminary education. Not everyone reads with equal aptitude. But when we see the transformation of individuals in the Bible, we aren’t let off the hook. Fishermen (hook…get it?!) like Peter, who suffered from a nearly incurable “foot-in-mouth” disease, becomes the leader of the early church, full of wisdom and apostolic teaching authority. The apostle John, once committed to calling down fire from heaven to consume a couple of haters who weren’t part of Jesus’ posse, became one of the most tender and pastoral men of the early church.
I would argue that they were studious men who fought tooth and nail to change a pattern of thinking and ultimately a mindset that was contrary to the person and teaching of Jesus. Of course, their hearts were changed, and the Holy Spirit worked powerfully in their lives, but they didn’t have an entirely different mindset downloaded into their skulls like Neo learning Kung Fu in The Matrix. They scrapped after it, because they believed Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah who came to save His people from their sins…and they weren’t willing to go on thinking antagonistically to the living Word, the Lord Christ.
But we prove to be idolaters when we refuse to repent of godless thinking. We reject Scripture’s teaching for faux consolation (so and so is in a better place and at peace now…even though they never bent their knee to Jesus). We blame shift and refuse to accept responsibility for our own sin (the Devil made me do it!). We excuse unbelief as a lack of calling (I could never live in THAT neighborhood). These are all different symptoms of the same reality. We are willingly rejecting the Lordship of Jesus in favor of our own way. Our minds have not surrendered to Jesus.
We see it showing up in partiality at church as we welcome some and distance ourselves from others. We see it in a double standard when we condemn #BlackLivesMatter while we praise an immoral president. We see it when our American values of safety, comfort, and success square off against the Kingdom values of self-denial, sacrificial servanthood, and suffering.
Where is hope to be found?
With that said, let me change gears. I refuse to be a doom-and-gloom guy, because the God of the Universe speaks a better word to His people. The Bible is so crystal clear about who Jesus is and what He calls the redeemed to pursue with our whole being as we wait the appearing of our Blessed Hope, the Lord Jesus:
He calls us to pursue godliness,
to esteem christlikeness of more worth than gold,
to make righteousness our unending dream destination.
He calls us to be like Jesus and then supplies us with the ever-present Spirit of Truth to radically transform our being from the inside out.
We will always be stunted in our Christian growth if we fail to use our minds to the utmost of our abilities. We can apply our minds to sports stats, to song lyrics, to careers, and any number of other endeavors…we must have the mindset of Jesus Christ if we want to grow steadily into His image. And make no mistake…it is disobedience to ignore this task. God commands us to exert ourselves to adopt and develop a mindset that is pleasing to Him…the mind of Jesus Christ.
This is why I love Philippians 2:5-11 so much. Paul commands the Philippian church to think a certain way and then uses Jesus as the benchmark. He then pens what is one of the most glorious descriptions of the incarnation, God taking on flesh, and frames it all in the context of humility. The all-knowing, all-powerful Creator of the universe becomes a man…emptying Himself of privilege and equality and safety, comfort, and all the glories of heaven…all the way to a horrific execution reserved for the worst of criminals…to become the willful target of the wrath of God poured out against sin…so that condemned rebels like me might be forgiven of sin and find life in Jesus.
This is boundless humility. The humility of Jesus roams free. It is untamed and possessed with but one aim: the glory of the Father. And it is the standard set for all of God’s people. Freedom from entitlement. Freedom from vindication. Freedom from retaliation. Freedom from self promotion. Freedom from self importance. Freedom from a phony worldview that prioritizes safety and comfort. Freedom from false gods who can never keep their petty promises.
If we are convinced that Jesus’ humility is to form our mindset, which we should be because God says it is so, then we must exhaust all available resources for day after day pursuit of this way of thinking! This is our call as disciples.
Discipleship is not a passive, meandering lifestyle. It is an aimed life lived on purpose for Jesus. And it must be a life of engaging the mind and conforming it to Christ’s way of thinking: humility.
Let me try and wrap up by speaking practically. It’s already been pointed out, but it bears repeating. The Christian mindset does not develop overnight. It isn’t acquired through osmosis. There are no short cuts. It requires daily commitment to at least three things.
First, we must continue to grow in our knowledge of the Scriptures. We must relate with God and learn what He is truly like. We must come to understand our wretched condition apart from Christ and regularly flee to the safety of our Savior. We must constantly be reminded of our calling. Either Scripture is our authority and we continually return to its well for our very lives or it’s just another dusty book on our dusty shelves. Pursuing a God-pleasing mindset is done through devotion to the Scriptures.
Second, we must let the teaching of Scripture shape our thinking. This seems obvious, but we have many blindspots and we are prideful people. We either can’t see the areas our thinking differs from the Word of God or we lack the humility to allow God to change our beloved mindset in various areas of life that we cherish. It is not possible to seek both the glory of God and maintain godless ways of thinking. Who is my Lord?
Third, we must act upon the clear teachings of Scripture even before our minds are fully made up. If we are submitting to the Bible as God’s Word, then we mustn’t wait to perfect our thinking before we take action. Faith means we submit our thinking to the Lordship of Christ AND we step out actively to serve others even when our minds argue against it. We don’t confuse calling for obedience. God calls some people to Africa. God commands all of us to be merciful and show no partiality and to love as Jesus loved. We love our neighbors as ourselves in deed and in truth.
The Christian has an obligation to adopt and develop the mindset of his Master, Jesus. Not only is this commanded in Scripture, but it forms the backbone of our sanctification. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
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