WRITTEN BY MICHELE HANSEN
1Therefore if you have any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being united in spirit and purpose.
3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:
6Who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God
7but emptied Himself,
taking the form of a servant,
8And being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled Himself
and became obedient to death—
Philippians 2:1-8 (Berean Standard Bible)
At the beginning of this passage of scripture, the first word is “therefore”. That’s our cue to go back to the previous passage and see what it’s “there-for”. This particular passage is talking about the church, the people in relationship with Jesus, being like-minded. That means, we as children of God, should have the same motivations, desires, thoughts and conduct as He does.
Therefore…(see what I did there?) This passage speaks to the kind of unity we should have as God’s children. Did you see in verse 2 how this behavior causes Paul to have joy? God has joy, as well…in us.
Unity of spirit and purpose. That’s what the Lord desires for His church. Jesus said, “A house divided against itself will not stand.” (Matthew 12:22-28). He was talking to a group of people who were trying to bring discord to Jesus’s ministry. They said Jesus was casting out demons by Satan’s power, thus making Jesus a demon. Jesus basically said, “Now that’s just dumb. If Satan casts out demons, he’s weakening his own plans to be in control…”
Unity. It isn’t unison…like every Christian is a cookie cutter image of the next. No, God created humans to be individuals. But He gave the exact same Spirit to each as they made decisions to follow Christ. That means, when we are thinking how Jesus would, acting like Him, surrendered to His leading and will, we will be “like-minded”. Not in our own minds, but with the mind of Christ.
That also means that unless we are walking in Christ-mindedness, our individuality fueled by our flesh is going to be causing a ruckus in the church. The flesh is at odds with the spirit. Romans 8:7 says, “because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so”. Believers will battle the flesh’s desires for control until we leave this plane of existence for heaven.
Jesus knows how hard it is to battle the flesh. He had flesh. But His mind was “steadfast on His Father” (Isaiah 26:3). And because we have been given the mind of Christ in our relationship with Him, we can learn to rely on the Holy Spirit to help us keep our mind in the right place.
Will we bugger it up? Yup, we sure will, but the Lord has given us everything we need for life and godliness.(2 Peter 1:3-4). That means we have the tools to stand strong and to walk in unity as brothers and sisters in Christ even when we go stompin’ around in our flesh making a mess of things.
The power of God in the church, as the Bride of Christ, is multiplied when the people of God come together in the unity of heart and mind through Jesus Christ our Lord.
