The Mind of Christ

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. Phil. 2:5

From Guest Blogger Jim Wiebel:

Now we come to what is one of the most breath-taking passages in all of Scripture. You might say this is the Mt. Everest among the mountain peaks of revelation concerning the person of Christ — the amazing story of how the eternal Son of God stepped out of eternity into time and became a man, as God always intended man to be. These few short verses capture some of the most amazing truths that have ever been written.

Lest we be tempted to remove this passage from its context, however, we must never forget that it’s set against the background of two quarreling ladies in the church at Philippi. That quarrel was threatening to destroy the unity of the whole church. The apostle has made it clear that the secret of maintaining unity is humility. Wherever there is contentiousness, it’s a sure sign that pride is at work. Pride — whether in a person’s life, or a family, a church, a government, or a whole nation — always divides, destroys, and perpetuates conflict of every sort.

Paul’s antidote to quarreling — the only path to peace, in fact — is to seek the path of humility. When tempers are hot, passions are aroused, and patience is strained, how can you get people to calm down and start thinking about a humble attitude? How do you stop the urge to defend yourself, and the stubborn insistence of what we call our “rights”? The answer is in this marvelous passage concerning Christ.

Unlike cult heroes of every age, whose success stories follow a pattern from “rags to riches,” Jesus’ “success story” was just the opposite: “riches to rags.” And in that story of “downward mobility,” Paul is challenging us to rethink our whole picture of God around Jesus. This is a God who is known most clearly when he abandons his rights for the sake of the world. Yes, says Paul; and that’s “the mind of Christ” — that pattern of thinking that belongs to you because you belong to him! And if you are truly living “in him” and by his kind of life, the exhortations of verses 1-4 (yesterday’s post) suddenly make a lot more sense!

Prayer: Forgive me, Father, for insisting on “my way” and “my rights” so much of the time. Give me the mind of Christ, so that I might live to serve others in his name and so fulfill my calling as your dear child, just like Jesus. Amen.


#Uncommon

Glorious Freedom

In the Middle Ages, they had a type of prison cell called the "spitting cell." It was made for maximum humiliation. The cell was just big enough for one person to stand up in it. You could never sit down. And you couldn’t even raise your arms up — they were constantly down at your side. The door on the cell only came up to your chin, so the jailors took the opportunity, as they walked by, to spit in your face. So, of course, it was appropriately named.

They also had a cell known as the "little-ease cell," or the "cell of little ease," made for maximum discomfort. This was a one-person cell where the floor was built at an angle ... and the walls were all built at an angle. You would always feel "off-center." To make it worse, this cell wasn't tall enough for you to stand up in, and it wasn't wide enough for you to stretch out in. You could never get comfortable in this cell. If you wanted to be upright, you had to squat. If you wanted to sleep, you just had to let your body collapse and sink into a corner all scrunched up. Again, it was appropriately named.

Ever felt like you were trapped in a prison cell like that — maximum pain, maximum humiliation?

I know all kinds of people (some you would never guess) who are living in a prison of addiction, or a prison of regret and shame. Their past, with all their choices, has them locked up, captive to the devil, who works day and night to make them uncomfortable and humiliated. Maybe you're one of those people.

I've been digging into the book of 1 Kings in the Bible; and today I was reading part of King Solomon's prayer when he was dedicating the temple for the Lord. These words hit me:

"When [your people] sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near; and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their conquerors and say, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly'; and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you ... then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause." (1 Kings 8:46-49)

A couple thoughts:

1) I believe that God has both the desire to save us from the captivity of our sin and the power to release us. He does not want us to suffer; although He will give us over to our enemy when we continue to choose bad over good. I believe God will allow us to be held captive, in order to turn us away from that "sin that so easily entangles" (Heb. 12:1).

2) We are never so boxed in that God is boxed out. I hear people saying that God could not forgive them and would not listen—they feel they've strayed too far. The truth is, however, that whether we are captive "far away or near," it is never too far that God cannot hear and respond.

3) You do not have to live in prison anymore! Here is the good news: Jesus Christ came to rescue us from the grip of the enemy, the devil, who tortures and kills. "The Spirit of the Lord is on me," Jesus says (Luke 4:18-19), "because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners ... to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Maybe you've spent this last year as a prisoner. Perhaps it's been the better part of a decade ... or most of your life ... that you've been captive to addiction, imprisoned by your own choices and the consequences of your actions. Have you had enough of the pain and humiliation? Call out to Jesus: "Set me free from my prison, O God, that I may praise your name!" (Psalm 142:7). Cry out to heaven, where God is never far away. He WILL hear your prayer and your plea. It won't all be better overnight. But God WILL respond. And He will begin to set all things right. "Behold," says Jesus, "I am making all things new" (Revelation 21:5).

**Thank you, Pastor Dean Nadasdy, for telling me about the medieval prison cells. Your illustrations always have a way of sticking with me.**

Getting Dirty

I really don't think it's easy to get dirty.

My kids might disagree.  Like all kids, they attract dirt like a magnet.  They love getting dirty.  Even  our daughter, Elise.  She can be a total princess.  But she can also dig in the dirt, chase after toads, and get into mega-messes like all the boys.  Ask any of the kids, and they'll tell you:  It ain't hard to get dirty!  And it's a whole lotta fun!

But then that's not the kind of "dirty" I'm talking about -- the dirt, slime, grease, muck kinds of dirty.  I'm talking about getting down into the messiness of other people's lives.  That's not easy.  In fact, most of us avoid it at every cost.  It's really not easy to talk to someone who just lost his job and who's nearly in tears wondering how he's going to provide for his family.  It's really not easy to sit and listen and encourage the young mom whose baby is dying.  It's really not easy letting a coworker cry on your shoulder because she just learned her husband was cheating on her ... or to care for the couple who are grieving because their grandson was just put in jail.

Our first tendency is either to AVOID ... or to FIX.  I once talked to a mom whose 20-year-old daughter, serving as a missionary in Africa, was killed in a car accident half a world away.  A couple months after the accident, I asked her to tell me how she was feeling.  She told me:  one of the hardest things to deal with was friends -- even church friends -- who avoided talking to her.  She said:  "They don't know what to say to me, I think.  They're afraid of saying the wrong thing.  So they don't say anything.  What they don't realize is that it hurts more to say nothing than to say something wrong or stupid."  This was a mom who just needed someone else to STEP INTO HER WORLD ... and HURT WITH HER.

I've also seen people walk up to give someone a hug.  And their first impulse is to pat this person who's grieving on the back and say:  "It's okay.  Don't cry."  We avoid or we fix.  But sometimes, more than anything, we JUST NEED TO GET DIRTY.  Get into the mess of it all.  Cry with them.  Hurt with them.  Suffer ... with them.

This is where I am struck by the spirit of Jesus, true Son of God ... who left the comfort of heaven ... to dwell in the darkness and cold and among those who were suffering and fearful and alone and outcast.  INCARNATION.  That's what we call it -- the Son of God taking on human flesh.  "Incarnation."  "In the flesh."  And IN THE FLESH Jesus Christ had COMPASSION on the brokenhearted.

That's one of my all-time favorite words:  COMPASSION.  That English word is a combination of two ideas from the Latin:  com (= with) ... and passion (= to suffer).  Literally, to SUFFER WITH someone.  In the Greek (the language of the New Testament) the word is splanchna (with a real gutteral, sorta German-esque 'chk.'  Splanchna is technically your guts, bowels, the inner part of your core.  The idea being that if you have "compassion" for someone, you are literally HURTING WITH THEM IN YOUR GUT.  Your gut hurts along with theirs!  Compassion.

Often we avoid hurting with someone ... because ...... well, duh! ... IT HURTS!!  You have to feel their pain.  And most of us avoid pain.  So whether consciously or subconsciously ... TOO OFTEN, WE LEAVE HURTING PEOPLE ON THEIR OWN ... rather than getting dirty.  Because getting dirty is hard.  It requires letting go of our desire to fix it all.  In fact, it requires that we surrender to the reality that we CAN'T fix it all.

Instead, Jesus calls us to imitate Him -- to stoop down into the muckiness, the hurtfulness, the uncertainty of others' lives ... and bringing love, encouragement, understanding, sympathy ... and most importantly, BEING CHRIST FOR THEM -- bringing the gentle, compassionate presence of Jesus with you.  We are not Jesus.  But we embody Him for others ... when we stoop down ... and get dirty.

So what do you think??  How have you seen this played out in your life?  Either on the giving end or the receiving end.  How have you seen Christ at work through the compassion of people?

Content

Some have argued that Americans cannot be content.  And I think it may be true.

Think about it:  we are bombarded every day -- thousands of times every day -- with advertisements.  TV, radio, internet, billboards, newspapers, magazines.  Everywhere you look from the sidebar on Facebook to the side panels of cars and trucks on the road ... our culture is built on companies vying for your attention.  And every single ad has as its goal to CREATE DISCONTENTMENT in your mind.  Something is missing in your life.  You NEED our product or service to be more complete.  I can't even begin to count the amount of stuff I've bought ... not because I NEEDED it ... but because I wasn't content enough, so I THOUGHT I needed it.

This is some of what I pointed to in my last post -- that we try to fill the void in our souls with stuff that is totally incapable of filling the void.  Advertisers know that we all naturally lack contentment because we're always searching for more.  So the whole system is built on convincing you that THEIR product will fill the void.

Now, this is not a slam on companies and advertisers.  It's simply a statement about our broken human nature.  Our souls are always going to crave more ...... unless they are filled by the only One who can fill them:  Jesus Christ.

I love the book of Philippians in the Bible.  I love the example of Paul, who wrote Philippians.  At a time WHEN HE WAS IN PRISON, having been falsely arrested, stripped of his freedom and all possessions ... at a time when he didn't know if he would get out alive ... Paul wrote this:  "Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS.  I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Phil. 4:4).  "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do everything through HIM who gives me strength."

If you want to REVOLUTIONIZE the health of your SOUL, SEEK CHRIST.  Listen to HIS VOICE, not the voice of the advertisers.  HE knows what you need.  And He is FAITHFUL.  He will supply your needs.  "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these other things will be given to you as well" (Jesus, in Matthew 6:33).

Find TRUE CONTENTMENT in JESUS.