Mind of Christ.
Imagine starting a church based on an attempted suicide and an arrest. That is the church in Philippi. The apostle Paul had received direction from God to go to Macedonia and preach. He and Silas were going continually to a place of prayer near the river in Philippi, a city known for the Roman legionnaires who retired there. On one occasion they were met by a young girl who was demon possessed and predicted the future (Act 16). This girl kept following Paul for days and he finally got so tired of it that he told the spirit to come out. The spirit came out of her.
Paul helped her. But now the problems come. Her owners were angry and had Paul and Silas arrested. They were thrown into prison and bound in stocks; they were stripped and beaten. In the prison, with their backs all shredded from the beatings, they were singing hymns. That is a marvelous and insightful look into Paul’s life. He was clearly at a low point, being imprisoned, but was singing hymns to God. The book of Ephesians heralds hymn singing as a way to encourage each other: “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:19-20).
At low moments in our life (and joy-filled moments also) it helps to place our focus back on the Eternal, loving God. Hymns have that ability to make us focused on Jesus. That’s why we have hymns on a Sunday morning. Hymns that announce the sure foundation of our faith. Hymns that become for us a confident tune that arouses the human spirit from its sin-laden, sad and mournful ballad. Hymns lift us to the heights of heaven and we can almost hear the angels proclaim that our God, OUR God, is holy.
We need such hymns because the tune of life is not always rosy. Life is complicated. Life is messy. We need hymns because there are times when we make a mess of things and the only fix is from a forgiving Savior who says, “Father, forgive them.” Life is not always what we have hoped for. Life is full of mistakes. Hymns awaken the Scriptural truths of man’s redemption found in Christ Jesus.
Paul and Silas were singing hymns. The book of Acts says, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened” (Acts 16:25-26). There was hymn singing; then there was a great earthquake so violent that it shook the foundations of the prison. All the prison doors were opened. The jailer saw that the prison doors were opened and assumed the prisoners were gone. He drew his sword and was about to kill himself because the penalty for losing prisoners was death. Paul and Silas yelled out and caused him to stop. Here’s how it unfolded for them:
“And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ 31 And they said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God” (Acts 16:29-34).
Through demonic possession, imprisonment, hymn singing, an earthquake, a hindered suicide, this man and his family came to faith in Jesus. Incredible! God had orchestrated a very unusual set of circumstances to bring this household to faith.
What can we take from this? The power of God in Jesus Christ is quite evident. We can take from this that God is very unique and creative in His approaches to mankind. In love, He will use all circumstances to call out “Jesus Christ as Lord.” What might God be doing around us right now? He is doing the same thing but in a different context.
Philippians 2 tells us this:
“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:4-8).
What is the mind of Jesus? His mind was swimming with intelligence and wisdom, understanding, knowledge and fear of the Lord. What did he understand? He understood and even memorized what his death was going to be like. At one point on the cross we hear him reciting Psalm 22, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1).
He knew Isaiah 52 and Isaiah 53. His mind grasped the horrendous concept that he would be the Lamb led to the slaughter. He knew that he was the Exodus 12 lamb that was chosen by God on Palm Sunday to ride into Jerusalem as a king and as a sacrifice. He knew and he didn’t turn away. He knew that there was going to be difficulty and he stuck to it. In the book of Hebrews Chapter 10 it says the reason he stuck to it was you and I and our eternal destiny. Our eternity was on the line and He would not accept such defeat. And he could not handle the thought and the reality that his safety meant our peril.
His mindset was to stay focused and trudge to the cross for us. He kept forging on. It must’ve been an incredible weight on his shoulders to ride into Jerusalem knowing that he would be ambling down one of Jerusalem‘s streets, going from Pilate’s court with a wooden beam on his shoulders, and literally being cast out of the city to die. That’s the mind of Christ. That’s a mind focused on the hurt that was going to come to him as well as the grand benefit that was going to come to us. That is the mind of Christ Jesus, forging our way into everlasting paradise.