Characteristics of A Christ-Like Mind

Philippians 2nd Chapter

Key Text: ⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: ⁶Who,
being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, ⁷
but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in
human likeness. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!

Study Text: ¹ If you have any encouragement from being united with
Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness
and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having
the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. ³Do nothing out of
selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ⁴
Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of
others. ⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: ⁶
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
⁷ but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being
made in human likeness. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, he
humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!

If you told someone, "You need to change your attitude," what do you think
their response would be? They would probably tell you, "You don’t know me well
enough to know my attitude" or "I don’t need to change anything; maybe you
need to change your attitude?!" As many of us know, others can become really
defensive when discussing their attitudes, but there is a good reason for this.

The word attitude is defined as a manner of acting, feeling or thinking that
shows one’s mindset. In other words, your attitude is an outward
expression of your innermost being. The reason people are so touchy about
their attitudes is because they reveal to others what has been going into
their spiritman. If these people have been putting ungodly things in their
spirits, then ungodly actions and words will come out. There is an acronym
in computer lingo to describe this process — GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out).
What this acronym tells us is that if we want the correct results to come
out, we must put the correct data in. However, if we put garbage in, the only
thing we can get is garbage out.

This is why our key text tells us our attitudes [that within us which makes
us who we are] should be the same as Christ’s attitude: a self-sacrificing
humility and love for others. We see examples of this attitude in the 6^th
through 8^th verses. The 6^th verse tells us that Christ,
being the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something
to be grasped (in other words, held on to.) Instead, he became made a servant
in human form (7^th) and humbled himself and became obedient to
death on the cross (8^th). So what we have here is God himself,
not holding on to His status and saying, "This sacrifice is beneath me."
Instead, He humbled himself out of love for others so that we who were poor
could become rich.

So we can say that the Christ-Like attitudes consist of

(1) Sacrifice – Ephesians 5:1-2 "Be
ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;  And walk in love, as Christ also
hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a
sweetsmelling savour."

(2) Love – 1 John 4:21 – "And this commandment have we from him, That he
who loveth God love his brother also."

(3) Obedience – 1 Samuel 15:22 – "And Samuel said, Hath the LORD
as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice
of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than
the fat of rams."

(4) Humility – James 4:10 – " Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."

However, if we lack these "good" attitudes we could wind up with the
following bad (Anti-Christ) attitudes and results:

(1) Pride – Proverbs 16:18 – "Pride goeth before destruction, and an
haughty spirit before a fall."

(2) Rebellion – Proverbs 17:11 – "An evil man seeketh only rebellion:
therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him."

(3) Self Exaltation – Luke 14:11 – "For everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Also, lucifer had these same "bad" attitudes
when he said in his heart that he would exalt his throne above God’s and we know
where that got him.

One reason many people don’t get deliverance is because they never acknowledge
that they need deliverance. We all have things that we need to let go, but we’ve
grown so accustomed to the garbage that it doesn’t stink anymore, at least to us. We
expect others to conform to us, instead of changing. I
tell you the truth, a stinking attitude is just like bad body odor. If you don’t believe me, just look at the facial
expressions of others as a person with a bad attitude enters the room. You would have
guessed that person were wearing "3-day old cat fish" for deodorant. (Now that’s
stank!!!)

So examine your attitude. And if you really want it improved, let Christ examine your
attitude. Trust me, there is nobody better to do it than Him, the model of excellence. Our
Christ-Like attitudes not only touch lives, but also win souls, and that means deliverance
for those who are lost in darkness and sin. That also means deliverance for us over those
old devils we’ve battled for years. Today we proclaim victory over jealousy, envy,
strife, misery, hatred and over all the "bad attitudes" the enemy has tried to
throw on us. Instead, we are empowered to prosper with a new attitude — A Christ-Like
Attitude!!