The Mind of Christ

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus... (Phil. 2:3-5)

​The only self-description Jesus ever gave of himself is when he said, “I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matt 11:29).  But what does it mean to be gentle and humble?  What does that look like?  These are important questions because we are talking about a man who, on several occasions, severely rebuked the religious leaders and made a whip and drove people out of the temple for violating it.  So then what does it mean to be gentle and humble?  If our desire it to be like Christ, to live as he lived, then we need to understand what it means for Jesus to describe himself as humble.  Paul provides an answer for us in Philippians 2:3-5 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus…”  In other words, this is what it means to have the mind of Christ, to think as Christ thought and, thus, to behave as Christ behaved.  And what is that mind?  He says in v.2, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility [1] count others more significant than yourselves.  [2] Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”  Thus, humility—the humility of Christ—is not having a meek and mild and pliable personality, but rather is treating others as being more important than yourself and looking out for the interests of others before your own.  And is this not what Jesus did for us?  Jesus said, "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28).