Philippians 2:5 The Mind of Christ

The last 20 years or so has seen a real rise in what is called Christ-Centered Preaching. In
addition to an emphasis on expository preaching, the goal in Christ-Centered Preaching is to
ensure that Christ as the heart of the gospel is found in every sermon. The goal is of course
to preach Christ as the Savior of sinners so that unbelievers will be saved. But there is also
a deep conviction that Christians need to get back to Christ and the gospel for motivation
and instruction in the Christian life. This is not just a clever strategy that modern preachers
have come up with but the shape of preaching utilized in the Bible. For example when Paul
wants the Corinthian church to excel in the grace of giving he points them to the example of
Christ, 2 Cor. 8:9, ‘For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was
rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.’ Or
when Paul wants to encourage husbands to love their wives he talks about how Christ loved
the church, Eph. 5:25, ‘Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave
himself up for her.’ Or when Paul calls the Ephesians to walk in love towards one another,
5:1-2, ‘Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
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And walk in love, as Christ loved
us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.’ Not only does what
God did for us in Christ dying on the cross for our sins save us, it also instructs us. We have
in Christ the greatest example of love, of service, of holiness; and for our purposes today as
we look at Phil. 2:5-8, of humble servanthood. ‘Have this mind among yourselves, which is
yours in Christ Jesus,
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who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with
God a thing to be grasped,
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but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being
born in the likeness of men.
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And being found in human form, he humbled himself by
becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.