Christ-Minded Body
Philippians 2:5-8
By Sean Kelly

Matt, would you open us up in prayer? Amen. Okay, Philippians two. Let's have somebody read verses five through eleven.

Nathan, your hand popped up really quick. Go ahead. Let this mind be in you.

Which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant, likeness of men. As a man, he humbled himself, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God has also highly exalted him and given above every name that the name of Jesus.

Every knee should bow, those in heaven, every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. Okay, so Paul, as he is explaining and commanding that our mindset should be unselfish, he gives three commands for us to have the right focus. He commands us to think of others, to focus on others, which is what we covered last week.

Then he commands us to consider Jesus Christ's mindset and to think the same way that he does this morning. We're going to look at Christ's mindset to understand how we think. Now, this passage here, a lot of times is taught in the idea of being a theology.

It's teaching about Jesus Christ, and I think that's true. It tells us a lot about who Christ is. But you look in the context here, the context is, what are we to do with this? And so what we often see, and I'm just going to put this up here because I was thinking about this this morning, you have your theology often leads to practice, and it should lead to practice.

As we know who God is, as we know what his desire is for us, it ought to affect the way we live. We can say that the truth leads us to doing the truth. And so we're going to look at this and we're going to talk about this passage and what it teaches us about Jesus Christ.

But what we want to keep in focus here is that it's not just to know, well, this is cool about what Christ did for us, about his sacrifice for us, about how he's glorified. Now, that's great, but it also ought to affect the way we live. And this is how Paul is using this passage here, not just saying, here's some neat things about Jesus, here's some cool things about who Jesus is and what he's done, and now he's glorified.

And now every tongue will confess and every knee will bow. That's great, and it's true, and it's good that we learn that. But we want to make sure, we take it beyond that and we're putting it into practice, and that's kind of the focus of this passage.

And even when we go into next in two weeks, when we finish this up here, there's idea here, verses nine through eleven, that this actually applies to us somewhat. It's not just about Jesus being glorified, but there's some practical application for us which we'll talk about in a couple of weeks. So anyway, because this is a whole passage and because I'm breaking apart, because it's so big and a lot in here, let's go back and review verses one through four.

So I'll have a reader for verses one through four. Who would like to do that. Go ahead, Josiah.

Therefore, there is any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love, any counsel of the Spirit and mercy. Fulfill my joy by being like minded, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind. Let nothing be done.

Let each esteem others. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. So last week we talked about there was a firm position in verse one.

Paul gives these ifs, and these ifs are expressed in a way that tells us these things are true and that we're to consider them to be true. So there's comfort of love that we have in Christ. There's fellowship of the Spirit we have in Christ.

There's affection, there's mercy. And I missed one. If there's any consolation, all this stuff, this is all true of us.

These are affirmed. Then as he goes into verse two, his command is to fulfill his joy, but it's by doing something. And there's a unity that talks about that.

We need to be like minded, have the same love, have one accord of one mind. And so that's how he introduces this section here. These Things are true.

So therefore you guys do this. And then he gives us three lets, which you can kind of take as three commands here, even though they're not directly commands, that's how they're expressed. So the three lets in verse three are the command to think of others.

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition, conceit. This is thinking greatly about ourselves, but a lowliness of mind. Let each esteem others better themselves to think of others, because we have a right view of who we are.

Verse four is the command to focus on others. Let each one of you look out not only for his own interests. And there is the idea that you do look out for your own interests.

That's something that happens even spiritually. There should be some looking out for your own interests, but that's not the only thing. That's not even the focus of it.

But you're supposed to be focusing on the interests of others, and so you think of others, you focus on others. In verse five, we get the third let, and this is let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. So he tells us that we need to think of others, we need to focus on others, and then we need to have Christ mindset.

So as you try to think of others, as you try to focus on others, how are we to do that? Well, let's look at Christ is what he's saying. Let's look at what Christ's mindset was. Let's think the way Christ thought.

That's how you are to think. So let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ in verse five. Let this mind be in you.

Here's an example of the mindset we're supposed to have. If I come to a new job and I try to figure out what I'm supposed to do, I might look to what somebody considers a good employee and see how they're doing their job, what they're doing, how they're acting, and say, I want to focus on being like that person because that's my example. Christ is our example here.

He's given us how we're supposed to think. So this mind, which is awesome. Christ, Jesus.

So in the same way that Jesus Christ thinks we ought to think. Well, how did Christ think? Well, we're going to look at a little bit more in this passage, but let me show you some other things here about how the way Christ thinks. First, John two six.

Who would like to read? Go ahead, Lynn. So here, Christ is an example for us. If we abide in him, we ought to walk just as he walked.

Well, how do we walk? As he walks, we have to know how he walks, and it's based on how he thinks. And we need to have that same mindset so that we will walk the same way. John 13, three through five.

Matt, go ahead. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and spoke to God, those who supper after that. This is going to fit in so much with what we talk about this morning.

This passage. What did Christ do? Well, Christ had the mindset that he was going to serve, and how he showed that was even though he's God, even though he's the master and these are his disciples, he went to serve them by washing their feet. In fact, washing somebody's feet was a very lowly job.

It was a very dirty job. It was a bad job to have. But Jesus is the one who does this for his disciples.

And then if we drop down to verses twelve through 17, we see the lesson he's trying to teach in this. So another reader here. Go ahead, Jonathan.

So when he had washed their feet, taken his garments and sat down again, he said to them, do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you say, well, for so I am. If I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet. You also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have also given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

And you see there in verse 15, says, I've given you example. This was his example to them. You have this kind of mindset.

You're not greater than your master. You need to act like him. If your master acted like a servant, you need to be a servant to others.

If your master is going around washing people's feet, then you ought to serve others in their needs and meet whatever basic needs they are having. And so Jesus is giving an example. He's an example to his disciples.

He's an example to us. One more passage. Romans 15, one through three, we'd like to read.

Nathan. We then who are strong, ought to bear with the scruples of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification.

For even Christ did not please himself. But as it is written, the reproaches of those who approached you fell on me. So verse two reminds us that we're not to please ourselves.

We're to please those around us. That kind of reminds us what we talked about last week, that we need to think of others. We need to focus on others.

Right? Same kind of idea here. Then it goes on to verse three. He said, for even Christ did not please himself.

So again, even there, Paul's pointing to example of Jesus Christ and saying, look, the reason why you're to do these things is because you have an example in Jesus Christ. You didn't please himself. In fact, the reproaches of others fell on him.

Even though he didn't deserve it. He took our sin, our reproaches upon himself, and paid that price for us. Because it needed to be done, because he was serving us in that.

And so that ought to be our mindset to look to Christ. So this mind that is in us needs to be like Christ's mind. We need to think the way that he thinks, acts the way that he acts, and do what he wants us to do.

Well, Paul's going to go on this passage and explain, what does that look like? So this is all kind of introduction so far. Verse six. Paul writes, who, being the form of God, did not consider robbery to be equal with God.

So I call this a selfless mindset. This was a hard one. The other two points I came up with very much easier.

But this title for this point was kind of difficult for me because I was trying to think, how do I say this in the right way? And I thiNk, this is right. So the SElfless mindset. So it starts off by sAying, who this referring to Jesus Christ being in the form of God.

So what does it mean to be in the form of God? Well, form is like shape, nature, outward appearance. This word. There's two words for like appearance or image.

One is Kind of a ChanGeable one. This one's an unchangeable image that Jesus Christ is God. He was God.

He always will be God. It's always who he is. And so the nature of Jesus Christ has not changed.

He's in the form of God. He's always been God. He's always been a part of the Trinity.

He always will be. Even when he was on earth and serving as a man, he still is in the form of God, because that's who he is. It's unchangeable in him.

Let's look at a few verses about Jesus Christ. Colossians 115. Lizabelle, is your Hand going up? Okay, good.

So he's the image of the invisible God. The fiRstborn, the first, the primary, the most important overall creation. He sits over all creation.

So he is the image of the invisible God. John 114. Lynn, Go ahead.

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld his glory. GLoRy as of the only Begotten, the Father, full of grace.

And we Know you've probably heard me teach this passage enough. The word here refers to Jesus Christ. He became flesh and dwelled among us.

And here JoHN even says, we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten, the Father, full grace and truth. That Jesus was Full of that glory. They Beheld him, and they beheld who God Was.

So he is God. HeBREws one, one through three. Another reader AbigAil.

Go ahead. God by his son, through whom office remains, who being the brightness of his glory and the express in the Jehovah's person, and upholding all things by the word of his power. And verse three here talks about that.

Jesus Christ talks about this whole preamble about him, but he's the brightness of the glory and the express image of God's person. So Jesus Christ is God. There's no Separating that.

He always has been, always will be, always was, no matter where he was. And when he came to earth, he was in the form of God. But then you get this phrase here.

He was being in the form of God, but did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Now, what in the world does that mean to be considered robbery? The idea to be considered robbery is something to be grasped after, something to hold on to. It's something that he would demand.

He did not come to earth demanding that people recognize and that people worship him and give him the glory as God deserves. He came for a different purpose. Now, I guarantee you, when he comes back the second time, he's going to get what he deserves here.

He's going to get the glory, he's going to get the honor, he's going to get the recognition as God. But he didn't come the first time with those kind of demands. So that's kind of the idea here.

It's not something that he held on to, that he needed to have the glory he rightfully deserved. So he did not consider robbery to be equal with God. The best way I could explain this was to quote John MacArthur, so I'm going to do that, he writes in his commentary, because Jesus already possessed equality with God.

The meaning of to be grasped is not taking hold of, but holding onto or clinging to. He has all the rights and privileges of God, which he can never lose. Yet he refused to selfishly cling to his favored position as the divine Son of God, nor view it as a prized possession to be used for himself.

So I think that kind of sums it up pretty well. Right? And you look at the life of Jesus. He didn't go around say, here I am.

I'm God. Bring me some good food. Come and entertain me.

Come and worship me. He didn't go around doing that. What did he do? He came around and he served people, he taught people, he healed people.

He proclaimed the Gospel to people. Nathan. Right.

And I think you could say that because he came to do the will of the Father, that if he chose to not do that and do that, it would be a selfish act on his part. It's very confusing, the whole Godhead thing. But I think maybe that's where he's coming from.

But, yeah, if you want to take selfish out of there, you can do that. He refused to cling to his favored position as divine Son of God interview as a prized possession used for himself. I think the idea of using it for himself and for his glory, instead of glorifying the Father might be how he could think of that, maybe reconcile that.

So he has this selfless mindset. He has this position that he is God. He always has been God, he always will be God.

He deserves glory, he deserves honor, he deserves praise. But when he came to earth, he put that all aside and said, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to seek to serve those around me.

Now, what does that mean for us? Because remember, this all goes back to applying to us. Right? Let this mind be in you. That was also in Christ Jesus.

Well, none of us deserve the praise, the honor, the glory, the worship that God deserves. So whatever we think we deserve, it's much less than what God deserves, right? So if Jesus comes and his mindset is, I'm not going to demand that people recognize me and serve me and worship me, even though I deserve it. I'm going to come and serve then for us, even at times, the very few times when maybe we deserve a little recognition or we deserve a little honor or something like that, we don't use that for ourselves.

Our mindset ought to be like Christ, that we put that aside and say, no, I'm going to serve others. I'm not going to do this to glorify myself, to put myself in a position to make things better for myself. A lot of times when we think we deserve something, we really don't, right? We get a high opinion of ourselves.

We think, oh, man, those people should be driving better because I'm a good driver and they're messing up my day by driving bad. I deserve better than that. Well, no, you don't deserve better than that.

But even if you did, Christ's mindset was, he's not going to demand that. He's going to put that aside. Our mindset should very easily be, I'm going to put aside what I want to do, to do what Christ wants me to do, because I have that same mindset that Christ has.

So a selfless mindset. Verse seven gives us another aspect of it, the mindset of a servant. And these all kind of fit together.

I understand that there's a reason why they're in the passage together, because they all do go together and fit together. But he made himself a no reputation, taking on the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men. So he made himself a no reputation.

This is to make empty or make void. It's where we get this idea of the kenosis passage that's this term is kenosis, to make empty or void. So Jesus emptied himself.

And I was wondering, in what way did Jesus empty himself? Because we could say, well, he emptied himself of all the things that God has, but he didn't actually, because there were times where you read and you say, God's omniscient, and yet Jesus, if he would have emptied himself of all that, he wouldn't be omniscient anymore. But he was. He knew the thoughts of men at different times.

He knew what people were thinking, and so he had some of that omniscient still. So he emptied himself of some things, but not other things. What did he empty himself of? And to bring up kind of a side point, there's a song we sing, which a song I love.

It's one of my favorite songs. And can it be? But there's a line in there that says he emptied himself of all but love. I think that's an erroneous line.

Some hymnals have changed it to he emptied himself and came in love, which is probably more accurate. I'm not saying when we sing it that you can feel bad about singing it, to go ahead and sing it, but just understand that he didn't completely empty himself of everything that pertained to being God. So I did some research and used some commentaries to help me, and we came up with five things here.

So what did Jesus empty himself of? Well, first of all, I think he emptied himself of his divine glory, that he came down and was not the glorious God that he always had been in the past and always will be in the future. He came down as a man, and he lost some of that divine glory. In fact, if you look at the Transfiguration, we see that Christ is glorified to the state where he really deserves.

And it's so frightened and confused, Peter, that he started saying stuff like, let's build tabernacles for you guys, because I don't know what else to do. Peter kind of gets weird and stuff, and they want to honor him and glorify him because they see his glory. So we know that he came down and lost them that glory.

John 17 Five shows us in his high priestly prayer, how he asks God to glorify him, which means that he's not being glorified right now. So somebody read John 17 five, please. Go ahead, Eric.

So here, the idea he had this glory with God, he doesn't have it now. He's asking God to glorify him again with that glory. So it shows that he put off some of that glory.

He emptied himself of the divine glory that he previously had. So what else did he empty himself of? Another thing is the independent divine authority. What does that mean? Independent divine authority? That means that he could do what he wanted to when he wanted to, how he wanted to, because he's God.

Well, we see that he didn't do that when he came to earth. John 638. Go ahead, Johnson.

Not to do my own will, but the will of him. He sent me. So he came down, he submitted himself to the Father to do his father's will, which was actually to go to die on the cross for our sins.

That's what God wanted him to do. So instead of being God and saying, I'm God, I can do what I want to here. I can hang out and be glorified.

I can sit in the temple, have people worship me. He said, no, I'm going to do the will of the Father. I'm going to do what God, the Father wants me to do instead of what I want to do.

Yeah, he was obedient to his parents, his father and his mother. And only times he disobeyed was when he was obeying God instead. I'm sure like the incident at the temple, where he was at the temple doing the will of the father, his parents were like, you should come along with us.

He's like, no, I need to do the will of my father. But yeah, for the most part, he made himself obedient to his parents. So that was another way we might see that number three here.

He emptied himself, a voluntary exercise of some of his divine attributes. So I talked about it. He still had his omniscience at times.

He still had great power, that he could heal people, that he could raise people from the dead, stuff like that. But some of the stuff he, some of his divine attributes. And the example that I'm giving here is that as God, he's omniscient.

He knows all things. Right. Well, here's a case where he brings up something that he doesn't know the answer to, and that's Matthew 24 36.

So, Abigail, go ahead. But so here he's kind of saying, I don't know when the time of my coming back is. Well, he's God.

He should know all things. But because he emptied himself of some of that, and again, there are other times he knew men's thoughts, so there's other times where he showed some omniscience. But here, while he was a man on earth, he did not know the time or the hour that he was going to return.

And so he emptied himself of some of his divine attributes. He emptied himself of eternal riches. Two Corinthians eight, nine.

Who wants to read that? Go ahead, Elizabeth. So here, very clearly, that he was rich. How is he rich? Well, I think this was in spiritual richness, right? This was him in heaven, him being worshiped, him being honored by the angels.

And he emptied himself. He made himself poor. He became a man, even by our standards, a very poor man, in order that we might become rich, that we might benefit from his death and resurrection, that we would have those spiritual riches that he had.

So he emptied himself of some of his eternal riches. And then, number five, he emptied himself of his unique, intimate and face to face relationship with his father. Matthew 27 46.

Nathan, go ahead. And about 9th hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, eli Eli Lama Sabach Thani. That is my God, my God, why have you perceived so here? There's actually a point in time where him and the father did not have fellowship with each other, and that's part of his emptying of himself that he was able to, his relationship with his father was able to be broken.

He lost that unique face to face relationship that he had because of the sin that was upon him. So those are five things again, using help from commentaries and stuff that I came up with that ways he emptied himself. And it's all what we're going to talk about next, that he's taken the form of a bond servant.

And this form here is the same word as in verse six. It's this shape, nature, outward appearance, a form that never alters. So he takes on this form that he is a bond servant.

The word bond servant. If you've been around here enough, you probably know that this is the word slave. He took on the form of a slave.

He served others. He met their needs instead of his own. Matthew 2028.

Who wants to read? Ted, go ahead. Just as the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, to give his life a ransom, so this is from Christ's own mouth. He didn't come to be served.

He came to serve, to give his life for others. He came as a bond servant, and he came in the likeness of men. And that, that's part of it, too.

That he took his divine nature, his infinite presence, his great power, and he came in and became a man, became a person. It was all contained in there, which is, you think about eternal, omnipresent, omniscient God, all of sudden a becoming very stuck in time in one point in one body. That's an amazing thing.

Hebrews 217 and 18 gives us a little bit of explanation of that. Who would like to read these verses? Matthew, go ahead. Therefore, in all things.

So he had to be made like his brethren. He had to be made a human being. That was part of what was going on here.

And that he could be their merciful and faithful high priest, that he could make propitiation for them, that he could take away the guilt of their sins, that he himself would be suffered and being tempted, and then he would be able to aid us and being tempted. All these things had to happen. He had to humble himself and become a man so that he could experience these things, so that he could accomplish these things for our benefit.

And that's what he chose to do. He had the mindset of a servant. He was seeking to do what benefited us.

Now, again, this passage talks about, let this mind mean you, which is also in Christ Jesus. So our mindset needs to be mindset of servants, ourselves, that we are seeking ways to serve others. We're seeking ways to help others.

We're thinking of ourselves not as, hey, I'm in charge here, doing my way, but that I'm a slave to those around me, just like Christ was. That even though Christ, as Nathan said, probably not even selfishly, could have demanded glory, commanded that people worship him, he put that all aside so he could serve and meet our most basic needs. And we're going to talk about that just a little bit more here, because our greatest and most basic need was that our sin needed to be taken care of before a holy God, and only he could accomplish that.

And so he put aside everything he could have had in order to be our servant, to meet our most basic needs. So we have to have that mindset, too. When we look around, we say, okay, I'm going to put aside what I want, what I think I deserve, and see what others need and help them.

In that mindset of a servant, number three, there's a humble mindset, verse eight says, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death. Even the death of a cross. So again it says here.

And found an appearance of a man. So it goes back to the verse, before they're connected. He came down and became in the likeness of men and being found in appearance.

This is the other word that the one, the more changeable one. But he came, and he was a man. And so because he did that, he was able to humble himself.

He humbled himself. Isaiah 53, seven. I could have probably most of Isaiah 53 in Here, I think.

But we'll just look at verse seven this morning. Nathan? Go ahead. He was oppressed and he was afflicted.

Yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep he poured shearers silent. So he opened not his mouth.

So he was oppressed. He was afflicted. He was going through great pain, great derision, great humiliation here.

And he didn't bother to open his mouth. He let it happen because he knew it had to happen. He knew that this was the plan.

He didn't make a case for himself. He didn't argue for himself. He didn't show his glory to the people that were persecuting Sam and say, look, you're wrong here.

I'm God. All things that he probably could have done. But he humbled himself.

He became obedient. And as we're going to look at that, he became obedient to the point of death. Let's look at Romans five, six through eight.

Ted? Go ahead. For when we were still without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly, or scarcely for a righteous man, when one died. Yet perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare die.

But God demonstrates his own love towards us. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So here it talks about Christ's death.

In due time, Christ died for the ungodly. And then, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He hummed himself to that point of death.

He saw that this was where the need needed to be met, was the death that he suffered. John 1018. Let's read that, Abigail, go ahead.

And even here, it was his choice to die for us. No one takes his life from him. He lays it down himself.

He's the one who's choosing to do this. It's his plan. It's his father's plan.

He's going to follow that. So Christ became obedient here. This command I received from my father.

Even there, you see that he became obedient to the Father. And what God's plan? God the Father's plan was for him. So he lays down his own life, and it says here in this passage, even the death of a cross.

Why did he say even the death of a cross? Let's look at Galatians 313. Go ahead, Nathan. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.

For is written curses everyone who hangs on a tree. Christ has become a curse for us. So the death of the cross, as painful and awful as it was, and believe me, it was painful and awful, this is one of the worst ways to die ever in all of human history.

Even that's little, because it's cursed to hang on a tree. And Christ became that curse for us. He suffered for us.

He took our sin on himself for us. And you think about that, the sinless, perfect Son of God who's never known sin, who's never experienced sin. He took our sin upon him and took the punishment for that.

That's what Christ suffered. That's why being obedient, even to the point of death on the cross is so significant because of what it accomplished, of what happened there, what Christ did for us. It's just an amazing thing.

And that's his humble mindset that he said, it's not important for me. I'm going to humble myself and do what's best for others. Matthew 23, eight through twelve kind of sums up this whole passage, too.

So I wanted to read this. It's in the other box there. Who would like to read? Josiah? Go ahead.

But you do not be called Rabbi, for one is your teacher, Christ. You are all brethren. Not call anyone on earth your father, for one is your father.

Do not be called teachers, for one is your teacher, Christ. Whoever exalts himself will be exalted. Whoever is the greatest among you shall be your servant.

That's what Christ taught us, that you want to do what God wants you to do. You want to be who God wants you to be. You need to be a servant.

And then whoever exalts himself will be humble. But he who humbles himself will be exalted. And I think that this builds into the next section because after this in verse nine, it talks about, therefore, God has highly exalted him.

And again, this is about Christ. This is theology. This is the teaching of who Christ is.

But if this is, our mindset ought to be the same as Christ. There's a point here that he's talking about that Christ was exalted and that's that God's going to recognize that when we're humbling ourselves when we're being servants, when we're having a selfless mindset and we're doing the things God wants us to do, there's a reward for that along the way. There's a benefit to that.

A lot of people would say, well, if I do that, people are going to walk all over me, people are going to take up all my time. I'm going to be spent just serving people and I'm not going to be able to meet my own needs. Well, God says, that's not true.

That's not how it works. Christ humbled himself and then he was exalted. And I think I'm going to try to show next week, as we teach about Christ, that there's a point that works in our advantage too there.

So that's kind of my three points. And this is actually going to be a much shorter Sunday school lesson than it has in the past. So you're welcome.

Let's look at some takeaways here. I do not know that's true. So I think three aspects of Christ's mindset we need to consider, and these coincide with my points.

Number one, while we don't have the position of Christ or the glory he had, are we willing to lay aside our rights, privileges and needs to serve those around us? And that's the idea of having that selfless mindset. Are we going to lay aside especially our rights and our needs to serve those around us? Second point, do we seek to be servants to all? Do we look for ways to serve and meet the needs of those around us? Do we have the mindset of a servant? And then the third one, are we willing to sacrifice our time, possessions, wants, mental capacity, and even our lives to meet the needs of others and added lives here, Christ's mindset was he was willing to sacrifice himself for us. John brings that together in one.

John 316. Does somebody want to read that? Nathan Lizabel. Go ahead.

Nathan's wrote a lot today. So here again we see Christ's example. He laid down his life for us.

And if he did that, then what do we need to do? We need to be willing to lay down our lives for our brethren. Now, does that mean that you're going to walk out of here and somebody's going to say, hey, we're going to kill Sean? And Lynn jumps up and says, nope, I'm gonna lay down my life for him because that's what I'm supposed to do. Just learned on the Sunday school lesson and they kill Lynn instead.

No, you're probably not going to be able to prove that right away out of here. But the idea is we give our lives for others. We sacrifice what we have for others.

We serve others and meet their needs, even sometimes what might hurt us or might not be beneficial for us. We lay down our lives for the brethren. And so I have this note.

Next week we will look at the results of Christ's sacrifice and see that God rewards those who sacrifice of themselves. So, any thoughts or questions this morning? I know sometimes it's hard for me to tell how long these are going to take. This one's pretty quick.

So we have lots of. Ted, I just had the thought comes up every time. Yeah.

So it's one of our sins and it's Mike. That's incredible that he would die for just that. But when you think about the expansion of it, really even more amazing than the whole scope of it.

A lot of times I think just kind of take really one time. There's also think of that. I just think that's amazing.

I don't know. It was a big deck. It reminds me of the verse.

We read it in Romans Five, where someone may die for a good man, perhaps someone would die for a righteous man. I think like the Secret Service people, they'll take a bullet for the present or whatever. I don't think most of our presence have been great men as far as all times their morality or what they were doing was right or whatever.

But this idea that this is a really important guy and somebody would take a bull for them, and we think of that as like, wow, they take a bull for the president. They're pretty loyal. Well, think of us.

We're not the president. We're actually people who have offended God, who have shaken our fist at God, who have been enemies of God, and he went and died for us anyway, like you said, the whole scope of it, even the whole thought of that is like, it's tremendous. Yeah, it's hard to comprehend.

And then when Christ says that, okay, I laid down my life for you, you lay down your life for others, that should be a no-brainer for us, because we ought to look at what Christ did and said, well, that's just amazing. I can do no less. A little bit.

Yeah. Maybe that'll change my mindset. Well, again, that's the whole theology leading to practice.

As we study who Christ is, what he's done for us, it ought to change the way we live. So that's a focus on him and focus on what he's done and who he is. Lynn, go ahead.

Think about how we can serve others, help them well. And many of us have family that are not saved, that are needing to hear the gospel. And what better way can we show our love and thankfulness to them than to share the love of Christ with them? Even if it cost us their hatred.

Even it cost us, like, they don't want to have anything to do with us because we're the crazy Christians that believe this Bible garbage. That's a sacrifice we should be more than willing to make with those people and talk about being with family. Some of you are going to be in that situation where you have family that they don't know Christ and you can be a minister to them.

You can be an example to them, even if you're just by being example of who Christ is in your life. Dori, did your hand pop up? I saw your hand. That line always gives me God.

Yeah, I know that. The physical punishment. Yeah, I know.

Yeah. Imagine that you've been with somebody for all eternity and you will be with them. And perfect fellowship, no sin, no beating of heads are all working together and stuff, and then all of a sudden you're not fellowship with him walking on earth.

It was good thought. Thank you. Anyone else this morning? Okay, let's go ahead and close in prayer.

Eric, would you close us in prayer? Father allowed you help us with being around the family members, show our love.