A Mind Transformed by Christ

In this week’s message from Philippians 1, we see that the joy found in this epistle is the fruit of a mind transformed by Christ. We are called to have the humble mindset of Jesus and to set our value on the right things.

Transcript

That was good singing. It’s really glorious to sing some of those hymns. I love those hymns. I love that last hymn. People have been singing that last hymn for more than a thousand years. That’s pretty remarkable to think about.

This version was translated for us somewhere at the beginning of the 20th century. I don’t remember, I didn’t look it up, but somewhere around 1910, 12, somewhere along there. But it’s just a glorious, beautiful hymn.

Some of the things that we just sang is what I want to talk about. The thoughts, thinking our best thoughts. What does that mean? That hymn says, God himself, our Lord Jesus himself, is our very best thought, the most precious, the best thought.

So we’re going to do something this morning that I do very rarely, but occasionally. I want us to consider the book of Philippians, and I want us to think about the entire book this morning. So I better get started. It’s not a big book, but it’s a book with loads of content. And it’s a beloved book.

Joy Runs Through the Book

Of the epistles of the Apostle Paul, he has extraordinary and wonderful letters. Nothing compares to Romans. Nothing really compares to the book of Ephesians. But of all the books in the New Testament, I think more people love this book, the little book of Philippians.

It’s a book that you can’t help but notice the joy that flows through this book. In fact, the word joy or rejoice comes up in the book of Philippians 16 times. I know that because years ago, too long ago, I took a course in a Bible college, and I had a truly excellent professor who taught the Pauline epistles.

And one of the exercises that he had us do was write out an entire book in chart form. You’d structure it based on the outline that you came up with. You’d have at the very top the theme of the book, and then it was broken down by sections, and you’d write out all the words or summaries of the words throughout that whole chart. And that was the beginning of your study.

Then you trace through all of the words or ideas that repeat through the book, and you do that with multiple words, and you had the key at the end with the symbols that you’re using to trace those things. And so I know that joy and rejoice comes up 16 times. But there’s something else that comes up through the book far more often.

The Mindset of the Spirit

I know you think of joy. We think of joy. Joy is important when we look at this book, because that’s one of the products of a mindset of the Spirit. One of the fruits of a mindset of the Spirit is joy.

The fruit of the Spirit is love.

That’s a fruit of the Spirit, and it breaks down into joy and peace.

And so, pray for me because I want to go through this book today. I usually spend long periods of time on a single verse. Often we’ll spend a long period of time on a single verse. In fact, what we’re doing today is an extension of a study of a single verse that we’ve been looking at for several weeks.

And that is Romans chapter 8 and verse 6, which I’ve repeated so many times everybody should have this particular translation memorized by now, which is

For the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is life and peace.

Life and peace is the product, the fruits of a mindset that is produced in you by the Holy Spirit of God, a mindset that is shaped. Everybody who is saved is born again, given new life by the Holy Spirit, and God begins a work in them, and it changes them. He uses his own holy word to change and transform their mind. And we’ve been thinking about that, and in thinking about that, I couldn’t help but think about the book of Philippians.

Thinking Runs Through the Book

Because the book of Philippians is filled, about 28 times at least in this short book of four chapters with not that many verses. This is one of those books, if you want to memorize, it’s not a formidable task to do, the whole book. Short book.

At least 28 times, references to thinking. It runs through here: the way you think, what you know, cognitive functions of your brain, all those things. It flows through this book. How you think is important. How you think is important. Do you realize how important it is the way you think?

God Knows Your Thoughts

God knows your thoughts. God knows my thoughts. All of them. All of your thoughts. Hebrews 4 says that

nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before his eyes to whom we must give an account.

God knows what you’re thinking.

David, after his sin with Bathsheba, he repented. Nathan confronted him with his sin. He repented. He turned back to the Lord. And among the things that he prayed right after that was in Psalm, he prayed,

Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any offensive way in me, and lead me into the way everlasting.

That’s what we’re talking about now. The Holy Spirit of God changing the way you think. Leading you into the everlasting way that God has.

So in this book, just to give you the summary message, Paul’s message to the Philippians is not just that they’re going to be joyful. I don’t know of a commentary that doesn’t use joy in the title of the commentary. I think Wiersbe has a good commentary on this, but the title of it is Be Joyful.

And it’s easy to be attracted especially to that. It’s easy to be attracted to that because it is such a focus. It is a theme of the book, but it’s a fruit of the book. It’s not what Paul is instructing them to do.

It’s not just, how are you going to be joyful? You’re going to be joyful by doing what Paul instructs us to do here, which is to set your mind by the power of the Spirit of God, to have your mind set on Jesus Christ. A godly Christian life, a life that has those fruits of joy and unity and perseverance and endurance, is the direct result of a transformed, Christ-like mind.

When God saved you, he gave you the Spirit of God, and God is working in you every day through his word, if you’re reading it or thinking about it,

• to change the way you think,
• to change who you are,
• to give you a Christian mindset,
• to value the right things,
• to make the right judgments,
• to look at the things around you and know what is truly good, and to set aside those things that are not good,
• to make the right judgments.

We want the fruit. We want to be joyful. We want to have peace. We want to be able to get along with people. We want all those things.

That’s the fruit of what Paul is instructing us to do and encouraging us to do. And it is, first and foremost, a work of God in us.

So in chapter 1, verses 1 through 11, the focus is that a mind transformed by Christ changes its purpose. It finds joy not in the circumstances that come to us in life. That’s the way we expect to find joy. Not through the circumstances.

No, but through the Christ-focused mind, in pursuing those things that Christ loves. For example, the progress of the gospel throughout the world, the unity of believers, those kinds of things, the glory of the kingdom of God is what produces joy. We think too often that it’s in our circumstances, but you need to be reminded that when Paul wrote this book, he’s writing this book to these people he loves, the people in Philippians.

The Founding of the Church at Philippi

If you remember back in Acts 16, Paul founded this church. He goes to Philippi, and he meets a lady there. Her name is Lydia, and she’s from another city, from Thyatira.

And she is a business lady. She produces purple dye, and she has a dyeing business. Didn’t sound quite right. I’ve had some of those. No, she has a business in fabric, and it’s a very successful business. She’s a wealthy lady.

He preaches the gospel. She hears it. The text says that the Lord opened her heart to hear Paul’s words. He opened her heart.

She put her trust in Jesus Christ, and as a result, over the entire continent of Europe, she was the first convert. She was the first European who became a believer. So that’s Lydia.

And then there was a slave girl who was following Paul as they went along, and she was demon-possessed, and she was saying all kinds of stuff, and Paul kind of got irritated with it, turns around and prays that the demon would be cast out. The demon leaves her. I presume she is saved too.

Her owners didn’t like it. And so what happens? They complained about it. The authorities don’t like Paul’s preaching because it’s too upsetting and it hurts commerce, obviously. And so they put him into prison. He’s put in jail.

And that night as he and Silas are singing hymns in the jail at midnight after being beaten, they’re beaten and they’re joyful. They’ve been beaten and they’re joyful. And they’re singing hymns. God sends an earthquake. The earthquake breaks their shackles. It opens the prison.

And so the jailer thinks, well, my life is forfeit because these guys must be gone. And they call out to him and say, we haven’t gone anywhere. And the man who’s been listening to them for hours comes to them and says,

What must I do to be saved?

So that was the formation of this church at Philippi. These people, the foundation of the church was probably a girl who had been demon-possessed and Lydia, the wealthy lady, and this jailer and his family. They come together and they form a church, the Church of the Philippians. And Paul loves these people.

Filled With Joy in Nero’s Prison

And now Paul writes this letter to encourage them and to bless them. They have shared in his ministry. They sent a gift to him. He’s in prison in Rome. All this song, this message, this beautiful, beautiful book talking about joy, the joy that Paul has, and he’s filled with joy.

He’s chained to prison guards. He’s in prison, Nero’s prison, and he’s waiting his death. He doesn’t know whether he’s going to die or not. He ultimately is executed by Nero. Nero has his head cut off. And he’s filled with joy.

Why is he filled with joy? Well, first of all, in this book, he’s filled with joy because he can see the progress of the gospel in the church at Philippi. He can see the love of God and how God has shaped their mind to agree with him. Not everybody agreed. Not everybody could do that.

He’s in prison, and they sent a gift to help him in that ministry. I guess it was a prison ministry. To help him in his circumstances. He didn’t need it, he says, but he took great delight in it because it showed the heart of the Philippian church.

He took joy in that. These people are doing right. They’re following the Lord. They love the Lord Jesus, and it gave him great joy. Great joy.

He Who Began a Good Work in You

And he took joy because he was certain of certain things. He says,

For I am confident (in verse 6) of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

I know this is certain, he says. God has begun this work in you, and he’s going to complete that work. He has a plan for you, and he’s going to shape you into something truly beautiful, a beautiful work of art that brings glory to God.

Last week, like we do on road trips, we went to Kentucky to visit Vicki’s aunt and uncle, and as we traveled, we often listened to audiobooks. I don’t know if you do that, but we did. We were listening to an audiobook that was a biography of Leonardo da Vinci. I’m not sure exactly how we stumbled on that, but we did.

One of the things that I found really interesting is that Leonardo da Vinci was considered the greatest artist in his time. He was valued as an artist. In fact, he was incredibly influential to other artists, but he didn’t get nearly as many commissions as other artists who were much lesser than him. They would give the commission to somebody else, not to Leonardo. Why is that? Well, because Leonardo was a perfectionist.

He had a vision for his painting, and he would hold on to that painting for years and years so that he could work every tiny detail so that it would express that idea that he had. He wanted it to be perfect, and as a result, there are lots of paintings that Leonardo never finished. So if you give him that commission, you don’t know if you’ll ever see it again. You don’t know whether you’ll see that painting or not.

Well, there’s something in that that we can learn, I think, about God. God has a vision for you. He has a vision for how he wants you to ultimately be. And that vision is perfect.

But God, unlike Leonardo, finishes what he starts. He began that work in you and he will complete it. He will complete that work. You can count on it. Paul is certain of it.

I’m confident of this very thing.

It Is Only Right for Me to Feel This Way

And he says in verse 7,

It’s only right for me (in my text) feel this way about you all.

This is an interesting verse, and this is the first mention of a verb that I want to call attention to, because I’ll just tell you, in Romans 6:8, we’ve been looking at the word translated mindset. It’s a noun there, phronema, mindset.

And we’ve been talking about it. It’s a mindset that is not produced by the world. It’s not produced by you. It’s a mindset that you have that is produced in you by the Holy Spirit of God. It’s the shaping of your mind and the way you think.

Well, this is the verbal form of that, that word feel. He says, it’s only right for me to have this mindset about you all. And that’s the first time that word is used in the book of Philippians. It’s used 10 more times in the short verse, that same word, same word that we’ve been studying, that we’ve been thinking about. The verbal form of that word is right here. He says,

It’s right for me to have this mindset about you because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you share in that work.

You share in it. So it gives him joy. It gives him great joy.

So there’s a lot here that I’m not going to be able to talk about, obviously. I’d like to. But the idea here is that he is concerned about them having this mindset, and when he sees it, it gives him joy. They’re to cultivate it. They’re to develop this mindset that shares in the gospel ministry.

The Gospel Advances Through Difficulties

The gospel advances through difficulties. Paul, the next thing he’s talking about are his circumstances. He’s in the prison in Rome, and as a result of being imprisoned, something kind of surprising happened with some fellow preachers, some people who had been sharing the gospel, and that is they put distance between themselves and the Apostle Paul once he was arrested.

He’s imprisoned and he may forfeit his life. And if they identify with him, guess what might happen to them? See, they would put their lives at risk to identify too closely with the Apostle Paul. They maybe feel jealous of his ministry and his great impact. They are selfish, clearly, in their ministry.

But you know what? They’re still teaching the gospel. These aren’t people who are teaching a false gospel. They’re teaching the true gospel, but they’re not right with the Lord. That’s clear.

What does Paul say? He says, praise God. He says, praise God. Those people are still preaching the gospel, and the gospel is going out. What he took joy in there was the fact that God’s kingdom work is going forward. Even if it’s being done with wrong motives, and their hearts aren’t exactly right, he’s still blessing that work.

We should do that. Preachers are often extremely jealous of other good ministries. It should never be. It should never be. We should be fellow workers and take joy in each other, but very often that happens. I know.

So when people are jealous of your ministry and put you down to other people or something like that, what should you think? Well, you should think, well, I know they’re preaching a true gospel. Thank God for that. That’s what Paul did. That’s the kind of mindset that Paul has. He says,

My circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel.

They chained him to some Roman guards, not just any Roman guards, but the very guards that guarded the emperor, Nero. Those guards he was chained to, and all day long he was able to share the gospel with these people, different ones chained to him at different times.

As a result, the palace began to become Christian to that degree, to the people who gave their heart to the Lord. Paul says that even in this, his ministry is being blessed.

Blessing Even Through Imprisonment

It’s been true over the years. John Bunyan, preaching was really powerful. And when he would preach, hundreds and hundreds of people would gather around to hear him. Large, large crowds would gather. And the leaders in England didn’t like it at all.

And so they put him in prison for preaching. They told him he wasn’t allowed to preach, and he preached anyway. And so they put him in jail.

And that didn’t stop him because he was preaching in the jail and all the prisoners could hear him. Not just the prisoners, but people began to gather. People from that town of Bedford began to gather outside the jail so that they could hear the sermon. And so they’re listening to John Bunyan preach, and so they had to do something about that. So they forbid him to preach and they put him in an inner place where he couldn’t be heard.

And that’s when he began to preach his greatest sermons. Not audibly, but he wrote that book, Pilgrim’s Progress, who influenced thousands and continues to do so. And so God brings great blessing even through imprisonment.

I know people feel imprisoned at those circumstances in lots of ways. Sometimes I know young mothers who feel trapped at home with children, and they feel a little bit imprisoned, and yet there’s a great blessing in that work. God can use that for great and wonderful things. Great and wonderful things.

Susanna Wesley was trapped with 19 kids at home. Think about that. And she had a powerful ministry. Powerful. John and Charles Wesley have made a great impact throughout Britain for the Lord, and God blessed their ministry.

So don’t get caught up with the circumstances. God is greater than those. He can use every circumstance for his glory if we submit to him. Our joy is in the circumstances. It’s in God.

For Me to Live Is Christ

Verses 19 to 26, Paul is saying,

For me to live is Christ.

I don’t know whether I’m going to be executed or not, but I know this, if I live my life as Christ, for me to live is Christ. That’s what it means to have a mindset of the Spirit. Your focus is to live for Christ. Christ is everything.

It’s not just that he’s the thing you value the most. It’s that through Christ and your purpose in Christ, everything else is valued in light of Christ. It’s more than just putting him first in that kind of a way. Everything is valued through him.

To live is Christ, to die is gain.

I know that this will turn out (he says) for my deliverance through your prayers and provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

and it did. He was faithful all the way to the end, to the execution block. Paul was faithful. He was victorious. He was delivered. He persevered.

Stand Firm Together Without Fear

In verses 27 to 30, he calls us, the Philippians and us. He urges us to stand firmly together in one spirit, contending for the faith without fear, without fear of opponents.

And because there are sufferings that are a shared experience with him, with Christ, for Christ’s sake. But don’t worry about what you’re going to suffer for naming Christ. We’re not to do that. We’re to be confident and be willing to take risks for the Lord.

Chapter 2, that word phroneo, which means mindset, is mentioned three times in this chapter.

Make my joy complete by having a mindset intent on one purpose,

the one purpose and the same mind that’s mentioned in verse 2. Both of those times is that Greek word phroneo. It’s the mindset, the work of the Spirit of God that we agree with, that we help along in order for our mind to be cultivated in this way. So,

Have this attitude in you.

I’m going to read this section. I didn’t read earlier because I’m dealing with so many separate verses, but I’m going to read and stop abruptly in chapter 2.

The TextPhilippians 1:1–2:30

Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind (that’s that word), maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose (the same word again). Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

And I’m going to stop abruptly here.

Having this attitude in yourself, which was also in Christ Jesus.

Having this mindset, literally, in yourselves that was in Christ Jesus. Having the mindset of Christ. That’s what we’re talking about.

Christ Set Aside His Rights

And then the example there is Jesus in glory, setting aside all the trappings of glory, all the things of glory. He’s the Lord of the universe. He’s the Lord. And he comes to earth with all his lordship and glory veiled.

He’s born as a baby. He grows up as a servant. He submits himself to suffering. He submits himself to the cross, and he’s crucified.

And all of that for you. All of this he did for us. Set aside all of the things that he deserves, all of his rights.

One of the things, if you have a mindset that is like Christ, is that you set aside your rights. You know what you get if you really got your rights, if you really get justice, if you really get what you deserve? Everybody today is concerned about their rights, what they deserve. They get angry because they shouldn’t have been treated that way.

Jesus came to this world not to see that he gets his rights. He came to experience all these wrongs, all this suffering, and he did that for you. He did that for me.

And there’s two examples in this chapter, and I’m not going to get through. I’ve got 10 minutes left, so I’m going to decide where to stop here in a minute.

After this incredible example of what it means to be Christ-like, giving all this glory to Christ. He sacrificed. He humbled himself. And for that very reason, for the way that he humbled himself, God exalts him and gives him a name that is above every name.

Timothy, a Faithful Example

And after he gets to that section, in verses 19 to 30, he begins to talk about two people. Timothy, whom he’s sending. He says,

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn your condition.

He’s going to send Timothy to them. Timothy was Paul’s unique disciple and minister, and he was gifted to be able to go to the church at Philippi and build them up in the Lord. And Paul’s going to send him to them.

Timothy is a great example of a person who is faithful. He’s a great example of a person whose mindset is on Jesus Christ, shaped by the Holy Spirit of God. He’s an example to us. And so he calls attention to Timothy.

Epaphroditus, My Brother and Fellow Worker

And then he had already sent. He says,

I thought it necessary to send you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need.

So Epaphroditus brings this letter to them. He’s the one who is there with them right now. He sends Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus, interesting name, isn’t it? Epaphroditus.

Aphrodite is a goddess, a Greek goddess. And his name, you can tell what his family’s faith is when he was born. It means like blessed by Aphrodite. That’s what his name means, Epaphroditus.

But he is saved. He is a fellow worker with Paul, and he is there with Paul, and he wanted to come back to them because they had heard that in coming to minister to Paul, he’d become violently ill. His life was actually put on the line, because look at verse 26.

He was longing for all of you and was distressed because you had heard he was sick. For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I wouldn’t have sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore I’ve sent him all the more eagerly to you, so that when you see him you may rejoice, and I may be less concerned about you. Receive him then in the Lord with all joy. Hold men like him in high regard.

Why? Why?

Because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life.

He Gambled His Life

Now that’s an interesting little word I wanted to point out to you. Risking his life. It’s a word that means to gamble.

He gambled his life. He bet on his life in order to minister to the Apostle Paul. He came in there risking his life to that end.

I want to tell you something. I don’t know if you’re shocked by this or not, but the Bible doesn’t tell you not to gamble. You can’t find that anywhere. In fact, the Bible tells you to take risks. It does. Absolutely.

Here’s one example. That’s what this word means. It means gamble. Take my word for it.

In fact, when they would gamble, it’s kind of interesting. When people would throw lots back then, one of the things that they would say is the name Aphrodite, because Aphrodite is the goddess of gambling, chance, as well as the goddess of love. So it’s interesting his name is tied up with this. He took risks. He took risks.

The Lottery Is Not the Answer

Last week when we were visiting with family, you know what the conversations were about? $2 billion lottery. $2 billion. I mean, I said, if you actually won that, that would be an awful lot of problems with that. I mean, that’s the way I think about it. Just think about all that responsibility, what you have to do with $2 billion if you want to be a steward of that.

One person said, those are problems I’d like to have. You know why that is? Because we think that if we got $2 billion or $10 million or some number, that’s going to solve all our problems. You think that way.

Paul has something to say about that in the next chapter. Something kind of harsh. But just look at it.

Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever looked up and said, is that true? Are the lottery winners so much happier? Well, if you do, I’ll tell you what you’re going to find. The vast majority of them are not happier.

70% of lottery winners are broke after a few years. It’s hard to imagine that. I don’t know how you do it, but they do. They end up broke.

In fact, a third of them file bankruptcy. And I don’t think I put it in my notes. Probably didn’t. But anyway, you invest in these things and it comes to nothing.

I read about one lottery winner who won $14 million, and then everybody wanted some of the money. He told his family, I’ve been better off broke. And so he entrusted his money to this lady that he hired. She stole millions of it and murdered him. Murdered him. Bless your life with that, your lottery winnings and the stuff and the material things of this world.

And that’s just one example. There are many, many, many more. One poor fellow won several million dollars and ended up homeless, literally. It’s not the answer. You’re not going to find joy here. You’re not going to find that here.

And we believe that because we value these things in this world around us. We value it. We count that so precious and important, and we’re going to do that.

The Parabolani

Well, anyway, this is the way Epaphras bet. He gambled his life for the work of Christ. That’s what he did.

Early in church history, there was a group of Christians who called themselves the Parabolani. Get that out. It’s a tongue twister. The Parabolani.

And Parabolani is taken from this text, and it means to gamble, the gamblers. And they took Epaphroditus as their model. They shaped their lives, as Paul instructs us to, count them worthy, live your life this way.

So what did they do? Well,

• they visited prisoners,
• and they ministered to sick people, especially those with dangerous illnesses,
• and they boldly proclaimed the gospel wherever they went.

That’s in Barclay’s commentary, if you want to look that up, the full story about that. When the city of Carthage and the Mediterranean coast of North Africa had a plague in AD 252, the pagan inhabitants were frightened of the contagion and they wouldn’t touch anybody. They isolated themselves. They wouldn’t even take the dead bodies out to bury them.

And Cyprian, the bishop, one of the church leaders there, led the Christians in the dangerous task of ministering to the sick and the dying. You know what they’re doing when they do that? They’re gambling their life for this ministry, you see.

There’s things that are worth the gamble. That’s why God doesn’t tell you not to do it. What he does tell you is, don’t value the wrong things. Set your value and heart on the right things.

If you value what is precious and good, take risks for that. Because if you’re gambling for the stuff of this world, you’re going to give it all up. It’s worthless ultimately.

Paul gives us some examples later on of the things that he valued in his life that was empty. He counts it all garbage. I think we’ll talk about that and pick it up and finish the book next week.

But a big part of having a right mindset is this. If we value rightly the right things, if we know good from bad, it can only come to us by the Holy Spirit of God, this right mind. We’ve got to value the right things. We’ve got to have our minds set correctly.

What Are You Thinking About

Now, what are you thinking about? What shapes your thoughts during the day? The prophet Isaiah said,

Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts.

His thoughts. You’re not going to be able to work it up yourself. You’re not going to be able to set your life in order and live a godly life yourself. This is a work that God begins in you. And Paul says,

Work that salvation out, for it’s God who’s working in you.

That’s what we’re doing. That’s what we’re to do. By the power of the Word of God applied to us by the Spirit of God, our thinking must change, and our values must change. We must set our value on the things that God values.

And if we can do that, then we will have the fruits that this kind of thinking offers, which is joy and peace and unity. It’s life in Jesus Christ forever.

Let the Word of God Change Your Mind

We need to spend time in God’s word. The very thoughts of God is the word of God. God’s very thoughts are in here. We can spend time in the word of God and the Holy Spirit will use that to change our mind about things, to be sanctified.

When Jesus, just before he was crucified, he prayed for his disciples, he prayed for us, and he said,

Sanctify them, make them holy, through the truth. Your word is truth.

Let’s take the word of God and think about it, meditate on it, and let the Spirit of God use it to change our minds, to transform us, to make us more like our precious Savior. Let’s pray.

Father, thank you for your kindness and your blessings. We praise you that you have begun a work in us and you will complete it. You will give us unity of mind. As our minds are set on Christ, we can come into agreement with one another and have a precious unity that’s unlike any other kind of unity in a church.

We thank you, Father, for that precious gift. We thank you, Father, for all that flows, the joy that finds joy no matter what our circumstances are, the peace that comes from being rightly related to you, the great hope and purpose that we have in life that has so much significance, eternal significance, because of the grace at work in us. We ask, Lord, that you bless us this morning as we commit our way to you.

Lord, I know the failings of my sermon this morning, the pace that I’ve taken and all the things that can be distracting. But Lord, I know you. And I ask you, Father, as we’ve read from your word today, as we’ve focused on the word and paraphrased your word, as we’ve thought about your word, and looked at this exhortation that Paul has for us through the Philippian church, I ask, Father, by the power of your Holy Spirit, that you make this real in us, to change us, to transform us, to give us a mindset on Christ. I ask this in his name, for his glory. Amen.