Hello, welcome to Scattered Groups, Season 3, Session 3. I'm Pastor Steve, and you are in our Scattered Groups, a great time for Bible discussion, mutual and personal accountability and encouragement, and then an awesome time to pray together and to lift each other up all the prayer requests together in prayer. Thank you, Host, for hosting, and all the leaders that are out there, thank you for your help. If you need to right now, go ahead and press pause, and then we can have the announcements. I'm sending out announcements that you can share in your group each week, and so please check your inbox before your Scatter session begins. We're in the Book of Philippians, so if you would, go ahead and find that in your copy of Scripture. Maybe you have it on a digital device, or you have a hard copy like like I prefer, like I use. And so you're welcome to find Philippians chapter two. I hope things are going well for you. And I'm looking forward to this session and the next few weeks that we get to study together. Let's go ahead and pray at this time. Father, thank you for this time to gather into fellowship, to encourage one another, to meet, to pray, and to study your word. We pray that you would teach us your scriptures tonight to encourage every heart. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Philippians chapter 2. It's on the wall in the golfer Arnold Palmer's office. This was on his wall. If you think you are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don't. If you think you'd like to win, but you think you can't, It's almost certain you won't. Life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can. Certainly there is some truth in this statement. How we think affects how we do and what we do. So we're going to talk about thinking like Jesus, thinking like Jesus. So there's several words that I'll kind of define as we go down through this passage, and then we'll bring the remainder of our message. And let's just begin in verse one. Paul is writing to these Philippian Christians. We've been talking about joy and how we can have a confident joy, a joyful confidence. So he continues with the mind. If there be any any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any boughs and mercies." The word fellowship has to do with, it's the word koinonia, and it means community, or communion, or participation. And boughs has to do with affection. We'll talk about these words here in just a moment. He says, "...fulfill ye my joy," or kara, or delight, fulfill my joy, my delight, that ye be like-minded." The word fulfill means complete. So how can Paul have completed joy and fulfillment? It's when he hears that the believers in Philippi are living with the same mind. He says that you be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, and of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife, that means rivalry, or vainglory, that means conceit. But in lowliness of mind, that's one word, lowliness of mind, it means humility. But in all lowliness of mind or humility, let each esteem other better than themselves. The word better means to rise above, to place above, to be superior to, to hold above. So I'm going to hold other people above me. I'm going to esteem them better than myself. Look not every man to his own things, or his own interests, but every man also unto things, or the interests of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form," that's the word morph, morph or shape, who being in the form or shape of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. The word made is the key verse or word in these verses, verses six through eight, which have to do with the self-kenosis or the self-emptying of Christ. The word made here is the word keno, keno, or keno, Canoe and it means to empty so that's the word kenosis comes from that He made himself he emptied himself of and made himself of no reputation But took upon him the form of a servant do laws or slave a servant and was made in the likeness of men This is a different word made. It's like it's already happened. It means to come into being and It's the word genomai, and it means to become. So he made himself, he emptied himself, and then he became someone of no reputation in the likeness of men. This is a fabulous chapter. Great doctrinal theology comes from this, that Jesus Christ left eternity, left heaven, left the perfection of being in the presence of the Father, and he put on flesh. He became one of us. 8 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory, the doxa, the glory of God the Father. What an amazing 11 verses in the scripture. Christians, friends, I'd like to encourage you with this, that we can have joyful confidence. And to have joyful confidence, Christians must start thinking like Jesus. Notice here the word consolation in verse 1. It's the word that we get the Holy Spirit from. It's paraklesis. The paraclete is the Holy Spirit who comes alongside. And what a great start to this section here. If there be any consolation in Christ, or any encouragement, it means to call to one's aid. If you've experienced Jesus coming to your aid, if you've trusted Christ for salvation, He did save you, He came to your aid, then this passage is for you. And he says, if you've been saved, if there's been consolation, Jesus has come to your rescue, then you need to have this encouragement in Christ. He talks about a comfort of love. Have you experienced and known the love of God? Absolutely, if you're saved. There's fellowship in the Spirit. The word koinonia is that word. It was used to describe the Koine Greek, the language that everyone spoke in the New Testament era. And so he's talking about this is something that's a common thing that you have as Philippian believers, that you have this spirit, this fellowship of the Spirit, you have the Spirit of God in you. Then he says, if there's any bowels, that means affections, that you have in response to Christ. And if you've experienced any mercy, He said, if there be any mercies, then fulfill you my joy. If you're a Christian, you're a member of the Philippian church, the church of Philippi, you're faithful there. You're serving the Lord there. You are a follower of Christ. He says, fulfill or complete my joy by being like-minded, by thinking alike. This would cap off his pleasure, one person wrote, if they would work together harmoniously and clear up any petty quarrels. Paul particularly had in mind the division caused by two women, Uriah and Syntyche. We'll look at them more in just a little bit. To have joyful confidence, Christians must start thinking like Jesus. That word like-minded, alto is like and minded is froneo and it's kind of like one person is going to assimilate his thinking to the thinking of the others. And this word, phreneo, means to have understanding, to think or to adopt. It means to adopt the view of the others. I'm going to adopt the view of somebody other than myself. And so this includes thinking the same way about Jesus, thinking the same way about serving Jesus. By the way, when Christians come together to establish a local church, they agree on doctrine. That's why there's doctrinal statements. And that's why when church members where Christians come and say, we want to be part of this church. That's why we'll ask them, read our doctrinal statement. Do you agree with what we believe? You're welcome to be part of our church. And so he's talking about some agreement in their thinking about how they're thinking about Jesus. and if they're thinking biblically and thinking like Christ Himself, of course, who is the Word made flesh. The Apologetics Study Bible says, To adopt the same attitude as that of Jesus Christ means to value what Jesus values. Since Christ gave Himself for us, we give ourselves to one another. Now, how do we start thinking like Jesus? That's what I'd like to answer in this message. And first off, let me just say, do you always think like Jesus? Do you always think like Jesus? There are areas in my life and times in my life that I don't think like Jesus does. This is a struggle for all of us. and for all of those in the world that we would struggle with because of our personal pride, our sinful flesh, and our wrong thinking. These things can get in the way. So how do we start thinking like Jesus? Three ideas. Number one, avoid fighting. In verse three, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory. Rivalry is that word strife. Vain glory, so an empty glory, and it has to do with conceit. In contrast to that, he says to have humility or lowliness of mind, and in contrast then, seeking to esteem others better than themselves, to elevate them, to see them as more prominent or superior, to hold them above. There was some division in the church in Philippi. And it was caused by two women, Euodia and Syntyche. Philippians 4, verse 2 talks about them. And Paul says that he would like to see them be of the same mind in the Lord, that they would start to have agreement, that they would think the same way, or adopt the same mindset, about whatever it is they were fighting about. And so, Christians, we need to avoid fighting. Fighting, bickering, fighting over meaningless things is a posture of arrogance and know-it-all-ness. I made that word up. Know-it-all-ness. You can write that down if you want. Know-it-all-ness. It has dashes in between. And we can lift it up with pride, and this gets in the way. We don't know what the issue was for these two ladies, but the idea of them being in disagreement is clear. They did not have the same understanding about whatever it was they were lifted up with pride about. Again, the word mind is the word for neo, to have understanding, to think, and to adopt a view. They refused to adopt the view of the other lady, and they didn't even come to some kind of a compromise between them to adopt that view, and so there was fighting. and a rivalry. He says no rivalry. Who do you know that's always in disagreement besides Republicans and Democrats? You and your spouse? Is it a parent and a child? A teen and her parents or parent? A co-worker and a boss? A student and a teacher? I mean, we see conflict every day. That's part of our fallen nature in humanity. And so a balance is needed for us to recognize here. Notice verse four. Look, not every man to his own things, but every man also on the things of others. I underline three words, their own and others, and right in between is the word also. Of course, we're gonna think about ourselves, but we also need to think about the interest and the things of other people. So there's a balance of caring for self and also caring for others that's needed. But where does the fighting come from? Well, Proverbs, here's a verse that's always been a help to me. Proverbs 13, 10, only by pride cometh contention, but with a well-advised is wisdom. When you see two people fighting, it's either one or the other, but mostly it's both, is the cause for the fighting. And there's contention that's caused by pride. So avoid fighting if you want to think like Jesus. Number two, avoid emptiness, or adopt rather, adopt emptiness. Verse five. Let this mind, the thinking of Jesus, be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made or emptied himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made, or become, in the likeness of men. Jesus became us, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Now, for many of us, and for most people, our worlds and our kingdoms revolve around us. Me, myself, and I is a false idol that a lot of us set up in our life from time to time. We overestimate ourselves, we overvalue ourselves, and we overlove ourselves. Now, when Jesus empties himself, the self-emptying or kenosis, and maybe it even says something like that as a header in your Bible. This is the self-kenosis or self-emptying passage. It cannot mean loss of deity or divine attributes, because God cannot become less than God. But rather, Jesus emptied himself of divine privileges by becoming human. Think about how Jesus left heaven for this earth, this sinful earth. He left the form of God and took on the frail form of man. Now, doing so limited Jesus in some ways. When He put on flesh, He limited himself in some degree, in some ways. For example, his physical body was in one place at one time. Now he could heal people that were miles away, not being physically present, but his body was in one place at one time. His body was subject to sweat, to hunger, to hunger pains, for the need for sleep. It was subject to the weather. He subjected himself to interaction from other people. He endured foolish questions, stupid people, and intense persecution from moral and religious people. He willingly let others hang him on the cross. You see, He subjected Himself, subjected Himself, or was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And Paul emphasizes that, the death of the cross. Now the word death is used twice here. It's the word thanatos, thanatos, for you Marvel comic fans You know a character named Thanos. And Thanos, it's in Greek and Latin, it has to do with the personification of death. Thanos was an evil character in one of the Avenger films. Well, here the Bible talks about Jesus subjecting himself to death. He subjected himself. He was obedient. to death. Well, how could that happen? Because He was made in the likeness of man. He willingly emptied Himself to do this. Now, how do we adopt emptiness as Christians today? We should seek character, not reputation. And that's why Jesus does here, he made himself of no reputation. Seek character, not reputation. Reputation is what others think you are. Character is what you really are. I'll say it again because it's part of our discussion. Reputation is what others think you are. Character is what you really are. Number two, become a servant or a slave. We're servants to God. We're slaves to God. We're servants to other people. And number three, live with humility. Just ask the Lord, help me to live with humility today. Confess any pride to God. How do we adopt emptiness, seek character, not reputation, become a servant or a slave, and live with humility? Number three, we have avoid fighting, adopt emptiness, and finally, acknowledge Jesus. Verses nine through 11, some of the most beautiful verses in all of scripture, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory, or doxa, of God the Father. Jesus is exalted by the Father, he is worshipped and recognized in heaven as the ruler of all, and at his name one day every knee will bow. Romans 10 9 says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved let me encourage everyone listening right now confess Jesus Christ as your savior if you're not yet born again if you have not yet believed in Jesus as the resurrected Lord believe the gospel today The pre-existent Jesus came to this earth, lived and died on the cross, shedding His blood for you, and rose again in three days. And He is coming back for us one day. And so believe the gospel. Trust Jesus as your own Savior. And number two, for Christians, give a good opinion of God to others. The word doxa means good opinion. We use the word glory, and you've heard me teach to give the credit to, and these are all true things. But think of this word doxa here, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory or giving a good opinion of God the Father. There are many times in my life that I reflect, have you ever reflected? Sometimes there's moments in my life where I think, I did not give a good opinion of God to those people. It could be my actions, my attitude, or the words that I've said. Have you ever self-reflected and thought about that? A decision that you made, something that was done, that was not worthy, have you reflected and said, well, that wasn't really worthy of my Lord. Or I did not give a good impression of God to others with those actions. We don't want to be like that. You know, one day everyone will bow down and confess Jesus Christ is the Lord. Today's the day, if you've never trusted Christ. And then Christian, give a good impression to others so that their opinion of God would be positive and they would see Jesus Christ really for who he is. Now let's be thankful for the example of Christ. Moses Matzohor was a Hebrew philanthropist And he had a motto that he gave to his family. It was, think, like think with your mind, and think, as in thankfulness. In the old Anglo-Saxon language, thankfulness means thankfulness. thinking of all of God's goodness. And that really brings us then to a heart of gratitude. For the Philippians and for us, thinking like Jesus is something that is a conscientious decision and something that takes time for us to grow into. You're not gonna get this perfect overnight. But with the help of God, as you pray, as you seek the Lord, you can start to think like Jesus and with his grace, continue to think like Jesus. Please take some time to answer these questions and have good discussion, and then pray with your group. God bless.