For us to experience Christ, we need to know Him as the pattern; we need to have Him as the pattern infused into us, realising that Christ emptied Himself and humbled Himself, and later He was exalted and glorified by God.
Oh, may this mind be in us – the mind of Christ, the same mind that He had when He went through the process of humiliation and death so that He may become our Savior, our Lord, and our King!
If we would know Christ as the pattern, we should let the mind of Christ be in us, the same mind as He had.
This means that we need to not only exercise our spirit but also turn our heart to the Lord and allow Him to transform our soul, make His home in our heart, and infuse us with His mind.
We may have a good church life, and there may be a good order and atmosphere in the church, but we may simply think differently, that is, we may have a different mind.
The source of all the problems is our mind; if our mind is not the mind of Christ, it will be difficult for us to be one in soul with the saints, and we will cause problems in the church.
In Phil. 2 Paul says that the antidote to not thinking the same thing and not being joined in soul is having this mind, the mind of Christ. We need to let the Lord’s mind enter into us, be infused into us, and be mingled with us so that His mind would become our mind.
Paul was such a one – he let the mind of Christ become his mind, and he was joined to the Lord not only in spirit (1 Cor. 6:17) but also in soul, yearning for the saints in the inward parts of Christ Jesus.
How about us, what is our motivation for doing things and saying things? What is our way of thinking – is it the same as the Lord’s, or do we have a different mind?
The disciples, who were with the Lord for three years, did not have the same mind as the Lord in many things; when they saw someone casting out a demon, they forbade him because he didn’t follow them, and when the parents brought the children to Jesus, they stopped them.
Again and again in the gospels we see how the Lord thought in a certain way, while His disciples had a different thought; even after revealing to them that He was about to be crucified and leave them, all that the disciples talked about is who will be the greatest after the Lord leaves.
May we allow the living mind of Christ to be in us, that is, may we take Christ as our person so that His mind may be in us and we would think the way He thinks.
As our Pattern, Christ Emptied Himself and Humbled Himself, and He was Glorified by God
For us as believers in Christ to experience Christ, we need to know Him as the pattern, as revealed in Phil. 2:5-9.
Christ is not only our objective pattern as revealed in the Gospels; rather, He is our subjective pattern who lives in us and has been infused into us.
As the Lord was passing through the experiences of His human life, He had a certain mind; this mind can now be in us, and the pattern that He established and is can be reprinted and reproduced in us.
In Phil. 2:5-9 Paul presents Christ as the pattern; we need to have this pattern infused into us. May we prayerfully consider these verses and ask the Lord to infuse Himself as the pattern into us so that, as we do this and that, we may live Christ and express Christ.
The pattern of the Christian life is the God-man Savior, who emptied Himself and humbled Himself and who has been exalted and glorified by God.
Our pattern, the pattern of the Christian life, is the God-man Savior; He took two steps – He emptied Himself and then He humbled Himself, and then God did the rest. We should have this mind in us, allowing Christ as our pattern to be infused into us and live in us.
When Christ came, He didn’t come in His majesty and glory as God; although He was equal with God, He didn’t consider being equal with God a treasure to be grasped and returned but rather, He emptied Himself.
Christ emptied Himself, laying aside what He possessed – the form of God (Phil. 2:6-7). We need to precise and accurate when we consider this, for Christ did not empty Himself of His divinity to become a man – this is a heresy; rather, He emptied the form of God, the expression of God in His glory, and He took the form of a slave.
Christ went from the highest form to the lowest form. He didn’t alter His divine nature; rather, He only changed the outward expression, from the form of God to the form of a slave.
It’s interesting that He didn’t just change His form from the form of God to the form of a man, but to the form of a slave; from the highest form to the lowest form, this is how He emptied Himself.
This is the same attitude that Paul had when he wrote to the Philippians; he introduced himself in Phil. 1 as “Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus”.
The Lord Jesus became in the likeness of men; He changed the outward expression, and He became in the likeness of men. This shows that He didn’t change His essence in any way – He only changed His state.
The form of God implies the inward reality of Christ’s deity; the likeness of men denotes the outward appearance of His humanity. He came as a genuine man, so much so that the people who saw Him were veiled to not see the divine reality He had within Him.
Christ was God on the inside, but He was not revealed on the outside; many crowded around Him, but they only saw a man, the likeness of men. He appeared to men as a man outwardly, but as God, He had the reality of deity inwardly (John 1:1, 14, 18; 3:16; Rom. 8:3).
Christ entered into the condition of humanity, and He was found in fashion as a man (Phil. 2:8a). He didn’t do this just for a few hours or for a weekend or for a couple of years; rather, He was found in fashion as a man for the entire duration of His human life. What a pattern He is!
When He was with His family, He was a man; when He came out to minister, He was found in fashion as a man, and in all things, He took the standing of being a man.
Before He went to the cross, during His last meal with His disciples, He took out His outer garment, girded Himself with a towel, and stooped to wash their feet; oh, may this mind be in us! In His human life from start to finish, Christ emptied Himself and humbled Himself, and He became our pattern.
Christ humbled Himself by becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of a cross; humbling Himself was a further step in emptying Himself, and His self-humbling manifested His self-emptying.
The death of a cross was the climax of Christ’s humiliation; He died a shameful death, being put to death by sin-making and mistake-producing people, and Christ emptied Himself and humbled Himself before God and man. Oh, what a pattern!
This One God has exalted above all, and gave Him the name above all names! Christ took care of the matter emptying and humbling Himself, and God glorified Him!
Lord, infuse us with the pattern of Christ in His emptying and humbling Himself when He was on earth. As we do this and that, Lord, we want to see You and be infused with You as our pattern. May we experience You as the crucified life, and may we empty ourselves and humble ourselves to live the same kind of life that You did. Lord, May Your organic pattern in us become real in us and to us, and may You live in us the same kind of life that You lived when You were on earth. We love You, Lord Jesus our pattern, for You emptied Yourself and You humbled Yourself to the uttermost, and God exalted You and glorified You to the uttermost!
Experiencing Christ as the One who Emptied Himself and Humbled Himself in our Christian Life
We need to not only know and understand the pattern of Christ as One who emptied Himself and humbled Himself; we also need to enjoy Him and experience Him as such a One in our Christian life.
Christ had the highest position in the universe, but He humbled Himself and He emptied Himself, and He became obedient even unto the death of the cross; as such a One, He is our pattern for our experience and enjoyment.
He is not a pattern for us to outwardly imitate but to inwardly enjoy and experience. In the church life we should not seek a position or a title for ourselves but rather live according to Christ as the pattern of a crucified life.
We need to turn to the Lord, enjoy Him and experience Him in His humiliation, and experience Him as the One who emptied Himself and humbled Himself.
This doesn’t mean that we should seek to be humbled or emptied, but that we need to have much prayer before the Lord according to what He has revealed to us in His word so that He as the pattern of our Christian life would be wrought into us and lived out of us.
Even though He was God, Christ emptied Himself, took the form of a slave, and became in the likeness of men; He subsisted in the form of God, yet He took the form of a man, putting aside His outward expression of God.
And even more, He humbled Himself, being found in fashion as a man, and He humbled Himself even further by becoming obedient even unto death, and that the shameful death of a cross.
We are not self-crucifying people or ascetics, but we need to pray over these matters to the Lord, and we need to inwardly open to Him that such a pattern would be infused into us and lived out of us.
May this mind be in us, which was also in Christ Jesus, the mind of humbling ourselves and emptying ourselves; if we have such a mind and attitude, then God will also bring us into glory and victory.
Our job is to simply enjoy and experience Christ as the One who emptied and humbled Himself, and the Lord will have a way to be lived out in us.
When Christ emptied Himself and humbled Himself, the Father exalted Him highly and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name (Phil. 2:9).
Christ brought His human nature into the form of God, into the glory of God; now He is a God-man in glory, a God-man on the throne! Praise Him!
Lord Jesus, may we experience You as the One who emptied Himself and humbled Himself in our Christian life. Thank You Lord for setting up such a pattern before us; may we be infused with this pattern, may we see Your pattern, and may we have this pattern wrought into us and even lived out of us. Hallelujah, Christ is the pattern of the Christian life; He emptied and humbled Himself, and He has been exalted and glorified by God. Praise You Lord, as such a One You now live in us! Hallelujah!
This article can also be read in the Romanian language / Citiți acest articol în limba română vizitând următorul link, Ca modelul nostru, Cristos S-a golit de Sine, S-a umilit și a fost glorificat de Dumnezeu.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ricky Acosta for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Philippians, msgs. 10, 43 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Experience of Christ (2019 Memorial Day Conference), week 2, Knowing and Experiencing Christ as the Pattern.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Glory divine was put away / Under the tent of flesh to stay, / No outward beauty to display; / Lord, I remember Thee! (Hymns #86)
# But, Lord, when Thou wast here on earth, / How scarce were those Thyself who knew; / A veil there was ‘twixt Thee and them; / They crowded ‘round, but saw not through. (Hymns #490)
# “Consider Him,” and thus thy life shall be / Filled with self-sacrifice and purity; / God will work out in thee the pattern true, / And Christ’s example ever keep in view. (Hymns #656)
