Let us Experience Christ as our Crucified Life by Letting His Mind be in us Today

Although the Lord Jesus was equal with God and had the highest rank in the universe, He became a person on the lowest level of society – He became not only a man but He emptied Himself and humbled Himself to become a slave, being obedient to God and serving God and man, and died on the cross to fulfill the Father’s purpose.

He was God: He could have done a lot of things as God in His form, His expression, but He put the form of His divinity aside (yet retaining its essence), and He came as a lowly man, a slave, to serve God by fulfilling His purpose and dying for man on the cross.

This One is now the life-giving Spirit in our spirit, and in His life in us we have the crucified life of Christ; in the church life today we need to live and experience the crucified life of Christ so that we may also be slaves of God, serving God by laying down our soul life so that others may receive God and grow in life.

Because we love the Lord, the church, and the saints, we give up our rights and serve God and man as a slave, being one with Christ as the Slave of God.

We need to be impressed with what Christ is, what He passed through, and what He did as the Slave of God, so that this same mind would be in us. Like the Lord Jesus, we need to humble ourselves and empty ourselves and be one with the Lord in His crucified life to serve God and man as a slave, realizing we have been redeemed by Him with a high price and therefore we serve Him out of love for Him.

Experiencing Christ as our Crucified Life by Letting His Mind be in us today

The foundation and background of Christ’s ministry was His work in His human living to build up the fashion of a man and to take on the form of a slave.

Christ as the Son of God didn’t come in power and glory to do a great and majestic work for God so that all may see and worship Him; rather, He put aside the form of His divinity and His splendor, and He humbled Himself to be a slave, taking the form of a man and being as low as a slave.

Although He had the expression of deity, Christ laid aside this expression; He laid aside the form of God and took a much lower form – even the lowest form, the form of a slave. He emptied Himself, and being found in the appearance of a man, He humbled Himself even unto the death of the cross. He lived a crucified life all throughout His days on earth, and now He is the crucified life within us in our spirit.

The pattern presented by Paul in Phil. 2:5-8 of a crucified life is now in us, and there’s an urgent need among us in all the local churches to experience Christ as our pattern. We desperately need to experience Christ as our crucified life; when we do this, there will be no more rivalry, vainglory, boasting, or ambition.

We need to let this mind be in us, which was also in Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:5); this is the mind that was in Christ when He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, and humbled Himself, being found in fashion as a man.

Our mind governs our daily living and activities; we need to think this in ourselves by letting the mind of Christ become our mind to govern our views, opinions, decisions, motives, desires, actions, and attitude.

The Lord Jesus came as the Slave of God, and He stood on the position of doing nothing on His own but always acting only according to the word of the Father (see John 5:19, 30, 36; 6:38; 7:16; 8:26; 12:49; 17:4).

He truly brought His ear to the doorpost and had it bore through (Exo. 21:6), that is, He listened to the Father in every step and action.

He did only what He heard from the Father; He didn’t initiate anything from Himself but listened to the Father and did His works, doing the Father’s will, seeking the Father’s glory, speaking the Father’s words, and coming in the Father’s name. His food was to do the will of the Father and to finish His work.

This kind of thinking, mind, attitude which was in Christ when He emptied Himself (to be a slave) and humbled Himself (to be found in fashion as a man) needs to be in us today. We need to be one with Christ in His inward parts (Phil. 1:8) and take His mind as our mind and HIs tender inward feelings as ours, so that we may think the same thing as He did and have the same kind of life as He did.

In working for God we have no right to initiate anything but we should rather stop, contact the Lord, and have thorough fellowship with the fellow members of the Body. In our daily living we need to experience Christ as our crucified life to live the life of a slave of God as He did.

Lord Jesus, let the mind which was in You be also in us so that we may empty ourselves and humble ourselves to be slaves of God and of Jesus Christ. Lord, thank You for presenting such a pattern of a Slave of God to us in Your living; we urgently need to experience You as such a pattern. May we experience You as the crucified life, standing on the position of not initiating or doing anything except what we hear and see from You. Lord Jesus, we depend on You, we need You, and we want to be one with You in Your inward parts so that Your mind may be in us and we would live a crucified life!

As the Slave of God, the Lord Jesus loved the Father, the Church, and the Saints

In the New Testament we clearly see the Lord Jesus as the Slave of God who loved the Father, the church, and the saints, and therefore gave Himself up for them to fulfill the Father’s purpose.

As the Slave of God, the Lord Jesus was obedient unto death; He learned obedience through the things He experienced, and His death on the cross was the supreme act of obedience (Exo. 21:5; John 14:30-31; Phil. 2:8).

According to John 14:31, the Lord Jesus loved the Father; according to Eph. 5:25, Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her; and according to Gal. 2:20 and Eph. 5:2, Christ loves all the believers, all the saints. Motivated by such a love for the Father, the church, and the believers, Christ was willing to be a slave. We can be a slave of God only when we are motivated by love; love is the prerequisite of being a slave.

Because He loved the Father, the Lord Jesus came into the world, humbled Himself to be a man, emptied Himself to be a slave, and fulfilled all that the Father has commanded Him.

He kept the Father’s word not only as a Son but as a slave; He listened to God, did God’s will, spoke His word, did His works, and died on the cross to redeem God’s chosen people – He did all these as the Slave of God, not merely as the Son of God and the Christ (John 5:19; 12:48-50; 17:8, 14).

The Lord Jesus obeyed the Father as a Slave and accomplished His will by going to the cross to redeem man. The Lord Jesus loved the church so much that, for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and laid down His life for the church as His wife; it was for her, the church, His bride, that He willingly died on the cross as a Slave.

The church has been purchased with the Lord’s precious blood, and she was gained by His dying love for her as a Slave. The Lord Jesus loved ME and gave Himself up for ME – He didn’t just love all men in general, but He loved me and you, each one of us, and came as the Slave of God to die for us out of love (Gal. 2:20).

When we see how much the Lord loved us, we can’t but simply love Him back and desire to be one with Him both as His counterpart and as His fellow-slaves. As we love Him and open to Him to be one with Him, the Lord will train us over time through much shepherding and gaining inwardly, until we are brought to the point that we don’t want anything else but what He wants!

Lord Jesus, thank You for loving us and dying for us on the cross. We love You, we receive You, and we want to be one with You to be slaves of God and of Jesus Christ in the church life. Lord, do in us whatever is in Your heart concerning us. We say Amen to Your word, we seek You, and we trust in You. Lord, don’t let us have our preference, our way, our feeling, or our intention being carried out; may it be Your preference, Your way, Your feeling, and Your intention being infused into us and carried out through us!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of Philippians, msgs. 10-11 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on,Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2), week 5 / msg 5, Christ as the Slave of God and the Believers as Slaves of God and Christ Jesus in the Chuch Life.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
  # Take my life, and let it be / Consecrated, Lord, to Thee; / Take my moments and my days, / Let them flow in ceaseless praise. / For me, You were mocked and crucified; / For me, willingly You bled and died. / Lord, my life and love I willingly outpour / And will serve You evermore. (Hymns #1359)
  # Renew my mind, oh Lord, day by day dispense Your life; / My wandering thoughts purify completely; / Replace my will, oh Lord, with Your will that I would say / “Oh Lord, Amen,” always trusting You, following You. (Song on Living a Crucified Life)
  # It was for her the church — His bride / It was for her, willingly He died / She is the joy deep in His heart / His masterpiece— / His counterpart. (Song on Christ loving the Church)