Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8.
There are three ways the gospel ought to be shaping or influencing our heart. They all come from this divine picture of the gospel. If we adopt the same mindset as Christ, there will be three critical concepts that ought to be motivating the way we live.
- Surrender – Christ did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped after. Of all that this could mean I believe that Jesus surrendered all the rights, privileges, freedoms, and entitlements of dwelling with the Godhead.
- Servant – only because Christ surrendered those personal rights and freedoms could he then embrace the role of a servant who was to carry out the mission of the gospel, in life and death.
- Sacrifice – ultimately, Christ made the perfect sacrifice that satisfied the wrath of the Father in order to provide the opportunity for sinful human beings to be reconciled with God. Only when He surrendered His rights could He become the Servant that would carry out the full implications of the demands of the gospel – that Christ become the perfect and sufficient sacrifice for sin.
These concepts need to shape the life of every believer. The first priority of the gospel is that God’s people must fully surrender their own rights and freedoms to God in order to be the kind of servant who, like Christ, was willing to make whatever sacrifices necessary for the gospel to become available to every person. If we reverse engineer this it sounds like this: the only people who will share the gospel to those around them, are those who have truly surrendered all their rights and freedoms in order to become the kind of servant who understands and commits to the mission of the gospel in a lost world.
We would all like to think we are those kinds of servants. But what are the things that keep us from having this same mindset as Christ? The easy answer is that we have not surrendered our rights in such a way to become a true servant of Christ with the kind of commitment that ensures the communication of the gospel. Only when the gospel shapes our heart will we be successful in this mission.
The gospel is not just a concept or propositional truth, the gospel is a person – namely Jesus. What keeps us from full surrender? What prevents us from truly being a servant of Christ? Why are we “unable” to make the proper sacrifice to ensure the communication of the gospel? Let me draw on an unusual text, Luke 14 to give a couple of illustrations to show when the gospel is clearly not shaping the hearts of people.
Luke 14:1-6 – Legalism vs. compassion. Nothing shows misalignment with the gospel more than a legalistic approach to life. Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath and the Pharisees are watching to catch him “breaking the law”. Clearly when an individual or a church relies on the law, or rules and regulations to shape how they care for people – it is clear evidence the gospel is not shaping their heart.
Luke 14:7- 11 – Self-importance vs. humility. The guests at the house were sitting in place of honor, thinking they were the most honored people present. Jesus principle lesson is whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. When the gospel shapes our heart, it always produces humility. Clearly, when people have a sense of their own self-importance, the gospel is not shaping their heart.
Pastor Brad
