Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

Arguably the most basic thing to a church culture is the shared mindset or attitude of its members. It is not so much the stated mission or strategy of a church that matters as much as the vibe its members give off, especially as they gather. This vibe flows from the shared mindset—the deep often subtle beliefs and feelings that each person has toward themselves, others, and ultimately God.

Now, the gospel calls us to have a peculiar mindset. Paul exhorts the believers in Philippi saying “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus…” (Philippians 2:5). And what is that mindset? To do “nothing out of selfish ambition (politicking for status) or vain conceit (self-glory). Rather, in humility value others above yourselves….” (Philippians 2:3 NIV). We are to understand and value the perspectives and preferences of others above our own.

Now, this is deeply counterintuitive and fraught with the challenge of self-justification. We tend to flatter ourselves we are doing the “others-centeredness thing” better than our neighbor—that our self-sacrifice in loving others is greater than their self-sacrifice in having to love us. But, of course, this is the very opposite of the gospel mindset.

This is why our minds must be saturated and shaped by Jesus’s shocking sacrificial love for us. We need to be daily struck in the gut by this truth (gut could be another possible translation for “mindset”). If Jesus, who is in very nature God, did not think highly of Himself, how in the world can I?

And that’s something to think about, daily, from The Kingdom Perspective.

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.”

~Philippians 2:1-11 (NIV)