Let This Mind Be in You

In one paragraph

This was the first Sunday of Advent, and Pastor Matt preached from Philippians 2, his self-described favorite passage in the New Testament. The sermon centered on what it looks like for Christians to get along with one another, using Jesus' humility as both the pattern and the power for that kind of life together. Communion followed the message. Paul opens Philippians 2 with four questions: Is...

Read together

1. Isaiah 49:6 quoted at the opening as the basis for celebrating Christ coming as a light to the Gentiles
2. Romans 15:13 read during the Advent candle lighting as the hope of God filling believers through the Holy Spirit
3. Philippians 1:15-16 referenced to show that some preach Christ from selfish ambition and some from good motives
4. Philippians 2:1-4 the four rhetorical ifs about consolation, comfort, fellowship and affection leading to the command to be like-minded
5. Philippians 2:5-11 the early church hymn describing Christ's descent from equality with God to death on a cross and His subsequent exaltation
6. Romans 14:11 cited as a parallel to Philippians 2 on every knee bowing and every tongue confessing
7. Isaiah 45:23 identified as the source of the every knee shall bow language, God swearing by Himself that it shall not return void
8. Isaiah 45:18-25 read at length to show God as creator, exclusive savior, and the one to whom every knee shall bow
9. Isaiah 14 Lucifer's five I will statements quoted and contrasted with Christ's humility and subsequent exaltation
10. 1 Peter 5:5-7 quoted to call all believers to be clothed with humility because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble

Talk about it

1. Pastor Matt opened with the story of Jason and the angry customer at the airport. He said neither Jason's passive-aggressive response nor his own aggressive response was the right way to handle that situation. What do you think a genuinely humble response would have looked like, and why is that so hard in the moment?
2. Paul opens Philippians 2 with four questions he expects Christians to answer yes to: Is there consolation in Christ? Is there comfort in love? Is there fellowship of the Spirit? Is there affection and mercy? Pastor Matt said Paul was 'needling' them with the fourth one about tender and compassionate hearts. What do you think the difference is between knowing those things are true and actually feeling them deeply toward other believers?
3. Pastor Matt walked through multiple translations of verse 6 to make the point that Jesus had full equality with God and chose not to hold on to it. He connected that to disagreements between Christians, saying we sometimes grip our own rightness the way someone might grasp a prize. Can you think of a time when being right mattered more to you than the relationship? What did that cost?
4. The sermon drew a direct contrast between Christ's path downward to the cross and then being exalted by God, and Lucifer's attempt to ascend on his own and ending up in the pit. Pastor Matt asked who we are going to be more like in our relationships with other believers. What does choosing Christ's pattern actually look like in a practical disagreement inside a church?
5. Near the end, Pastor Matt said that without God's presence in your life it is impossible to have the mind of Christ, but that 'it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.' How does that change the way you approach the hard work of humility in your relationships, knowing it is not entirely on your own effort?