Worship at Home - The Mindset of Christ

Even though we aren’t gathering to worship as a church in person, that doesn’t mean we stop worshiping as a church. This is a guide for your in-home worship on Sunday 4/19/20.

You can consider lighting a candle to set the environment for worship and to symbolize God's presence with you.

Families with little kids: There are questions in here to help your kids engage.  You may need to reword content, depending on the age of your kids.

Introduction

We all love a good story. Whether it's a good book or a good movie, stories not only entertain us but let us experience things we would never experience otherwise. We would never know what it's like to be a pirate or an astronaut or a knight if it weren't for good stories.

• What's your favorite story - book or movie?

We all have a personal story. We have a story that tells us how we got to where we are today - a story that tells who we are. It has ups and downs, twists and turns.  There's a cast of characters with good guys and bad guys. There are battles we fight, obstacles we overcome, journeys we travel, and quests we complete. Like many good stories, we have a group of close companions who've gone through it with us.

Stories shape who we are. Stories about what we have done and stories about what has been done for us and to us. We are people with one big story about our lives which is made up of many little stories.

We have just spent the last four weeks focusing on the Easter story of Jesus' death and resurrection. Jesus lived the life we ought to have lived, died the death we should have died, and then rose again as King of the world. Then he sent his disciples to tell the world this story of good news so that our lives can be changed by it. God invites us to be shaped by this story.

Today, we are going to look at a portion of a letter written by the apostle Paul whose life was changed by Jesus and this story. In this passage of Scripture, he invites us to have our lives shaped by the gospel story as well. The passage is Philippians 2:1-11. But instead of starting in verse 1, we are going to go through the passage backwards by starting in verse 6 where Paul rehearses the gospel story.

Jesus' Story (Philippians 2:6-11)

6 [Christ] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-11)

• Where does this story start?
• What happens in the middle?
• Where does it end?
• What's true of Jesus in the beginning?
• What's true of Jesus in the middle?
• What's true of Jesus in the end?

There are a few phrases that need explanation but most of it is quite clear.

The story starts by telling us Jesus was God and was equal with God.  It starts in the same place John 1:1 starts: "In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Jesus is divine and equal with God. As the Son of God, He shares all of God's attributes: eternal (there was never a time that Jesus didn't exist, he wasn't created) all-powerful, all-knowing, present everywhere, holy, righteous, completely good, etc.

But we are told he "did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped."  The NIV has a good translation of this phrase that makes it clearer: he "did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage." In other words, Jesus didn't use all the legitimate privileges and rights that come with being God for himself. He didn't say, "It's my right to have this or that" or "this is below me" or "that task is beneath me" or "I'm above that."

What did he do instead? Verse 7 says instead of using equality with God to his own advantage, he "emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." This doesn't mean he emptied himself of equality with God.  He didn't empty himself of his "God-ness."  He emptied himself of the rights and privileges that come with being equal with God. He gave up his rights. He gave up his privileges. He poured himself out. He was completely and totally self-less. This in no way takes away from his "Godness." In fact, this puts the nature and character of God on full display in Jesus. Because in Jesus, it puts God's selfless, self-giving, sacrificial love on display.

In these verses, we see Jesus before there was ever a universe when he was equal with God. Then we see him born in the likeness of men in a manger at Christmas. We see him live a perfectly humble and obedient life before God. We see him die on Good Friday for our sins. We see him rise again on Easter Sunday and exalted to God's right hand. We see him come again in glory when every knee will recognize his authority as King to judge. That's Jesus' story. That's the gospel story. 

Our Mindset (Philippians 2:5)

• Kids: When someone isn't kind to you, how do you treat them?  Why?
• Deeper discussion: When someone isn't kind to you, what are the options for determining how you treat them?

There are many options and many reasons. What's important to realize is that each one tells a story. If someone were to ask you about this incident the next day or a week later or a year later, what story would you tell them?  You might say:

• Someone was mean to me and I was mean to them back because that's what mean people deserve.
• Someone was mean to me and I was kind to them because that's what my parents taught me.
• Someone was mean to me and I did nothing because when I do that they leave and I don't have to deal with them.

These all reveal a mindset, an attitude, and an outlook on life that determines our actions toward others. The question is: where did that come from? Did it come from God?

Let's back up to read verse 5:

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, (Philippians 2:5)

What "mind" or "mindset" are we to have? Paul says that it's the mindset of Christ Jesus. And he says it is already ours if we are in Christ Jesus.  What sort of mindset did Jesus have? What sort of attitude did he have? We've already heard it in the gospel story of verses 6 through 11. 

What story shapes our mindsets? What story shapes our attitudes? What story shapes our outlook on life, other people, and God? In other words, what story determines your actions?

What story are we going to let shape our mindset, attitude, and outlook? When we were kids and our sibling hit us then we hit them back and they went crying to mom or dad, what story did we tell them when we got in trouble? "They hit me first!" That's the story we lived by. It's the story of what they did to us that determined our actions.

Or maybe we didn't hit them back because we remembered the story of how our parents took toys away or yelled at us last time we hit them back. It's the story of what our parents did to us so we don't want that to happen again.

Or maybe we did nothing because we remembered the story of how last time we did nothing and our sibling just left us alone. It's the story of what we did to survive.

But what if we remembered the gospel story instead? What if we remembered the story of how Jesus, though he was God, gave up all the rights and privileges that came with being God? What if we remembered the story of how he humbled himself to become a servant of others? What if we remembered how he obeyed God at great cost? What if we remembered how he died to himself? What if we remembered how God then exalted him afterwards?

The Fruit (Philippians 2:1-4)

If Jesus' story shapes our mindset, what fruit would it grow in our lives? Paul started with telling the Philippians what he'd like to see in their lives and in their community then told them how that would grow in them. We started at the end and have now come back to the beginning. In verses 1 through 4, he lists what we should see in our lives and in our community if we have the mindset of Christ.

1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:1-4)

• Make a list of what we'd see in our lives if we have the mindset of Christ.

The story of Easter - of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection - is not a story to be remembered once a year.  It's a story that is to shape our entire lives. Every part of who we are - our entire mindset and attitude - is to be shaped by this story. All of our actions are determined by a story. It's either the gospel story or some other story. When we trust in Jesus, his story becomes our story. We die to sin. We are raised to new life. We become God's sons and daughters. We humble ourselves as God's servants and look forward to the day of exaltation in God's presence.

Response

Last week we considered these words of Jesus to his disciples: As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you (John 20:21). We are sent on God's mission as a community of Jesus' disciples who are to be shaped by the gospel story. Our life as a community and our mission as a community will be hindered if our mindset is not shaped by the gospel story. If our actions are determined by some other story, we will have an unhealthy community and we will not live for God's mission.

• Community: do you have the mindset of Christ toward those inside our church family? Does the gospel story determine how you treat and interact with people inside our church community? Or does some other story determine your actions? (Example: the story of how they treated you, the story of how you were treated in the past)
• Mission: do you have the mindset of Christ toward those outside our church family? Toward those far from God? Toward those hurting? Does the gospel story determine how you spend your time, money, and other resources? Does the gospel story determine how you interact with lost people or does some other story?

There are many stories that we can let determine our actions besides the gospel story:

• The latest news story
• The story of a painful experience from our past
• The story of a relationship that went bad
• The story of a bad evangelism experience
• The story of a failure
• The story of how our parents treated us

Then whether we realize it or not, those shape our mindset and determine our actions. "I act this way because this person hurt me in the past."  "I won't try that because I failed at it in the past." We need to let the gospel shape our mindset and determine our actions.

Worship with others:

As a church this month, we want to encourage one another every Sunday by worshiping together on WhatsApp (check out the video about encouraging one another here). Take a few minutes to post in the Encouragement group on WhatsApp.

Here are some examples of what you could post:

• how God spoke to you through your time of worshiping at home
• a verse that stood out to you
• a song that touched you from the worship playlist
• a truth that God reminded you of that you needed to hear
• what God is teaching you
• a prayer
• thankfulness to God - who he is, what he's done
• and more!