The Attitude That Jesus Had — Zac Poonen

Unity in Mind, Love, Spirit, and Purpose

I'd like to share something from Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2, especially the first few verses are some of the most wonderful verses in the entire episodes of Paul. So let me just go through some of those verses.

He says here, I'll start with verse 2. Make my joy complete by being, and read carefully, this is one of the most powerful statements on unity in the church that you can ever find in the New Testament.

The same mind, the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Same mind, same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. He says that's what will make my joy complete. Paul says, when I look at you Christians in Philippi, if you really, I mean, Paul says, I planted your church, but if you want to make me happy, I want to see you united in mind, purpose, spirit, etc.

And so that's what he's talking about, how to make a church united, and not only a church, it could be a husband and wife in a home. There's a tremendous need in all of our Christian homes for greater unity between husband and wife.

It's not easy to find. Most Christian homes, there is conflict, and disagreement is one thing, but disunity is different. I want you to know the difference between disagreement and disunity. You can disagree with a brother and still be united in spirit with him.

You can disagree with your wife or husband and still be united in spirit, because disagreement is a matter of the mind. We're not perfect in understanding, so we may see things in a different way. But unity in spirit is a matter of the heart.

So this is what I have sought to do in CFC Bangalore with my fellow elders. I don't mind disagreeing with them in different ways. For example, we arrange a conference, and they could be discussing about how to do various things, and there can be disagreement, because we have got different views on what is the most efficient way to do something.

But it does not disturb our unity in spirit. In the same way, as husband and wife, I say, I don't mind disagreeing with my wife in something, but never must it affect our unity in spirit. So you know, until we become perfect, one day when Christ comes again, we will disagree on certain things.

It doesn't matter, provided it doesn't bring a disunity in spirit. Don't wait till you become perfectly agreed with your husband and wife in everything. That will never happen, till heaven. But unity in spirit you can have.

And you can see this, for example, in Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians 4. It says here, Ephesians 4, verse 3, Be diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit. That we must be diligent, hard work, work hard to preserve the unity of spirit with your fellow believers, with your husband, with your wife.

Work hard. But you preserve that unity of spirit until, verse 13, until we attain the unity of the faith. So put those two verses together, verse 3 and verse 13. Be diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit between both of you, until you both attain to the unity of the faith, where your understanding of doctrine and understanding of so many aspects of the faith is exactly the same.

That will happen only when we come to, verse 13, the full knowledge of the Son of God, and we become a very mature man, and the stature of the fullness which belongs to Christ. That's only when Christ comes back.

When Christ comes back, and we come to the fullness of His stature, then we will have perfect agreement on everything in heaven, there will be no disagreement. But as long as we are here on this earth, I'm not disturbed that I disagree with a brother on something.

That's because his mind is imperfect, my mind is imperfect. We cannot agree, and don't be disturbed if you and your wife have a different viewpoint on something. Make sure the unity of the spirit is never disturbed.

Preserve the unity, be diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit until you reach the unity of the faith. Many people don't see the difference between this, and they think there's disunity just because you disagree, not at all.

In fact, agreement, sometimes, you know, supposing a husband can be like a dictator, and say my wife agrees with me on everything. What does that mean? She's just a yes woman, yes sir, yes sir, yes sir, yes sir.

That's not unity, that's dictatorship. There's no fellowship in a dictatorship, where a husband is such a tyrant that the wife doesn't dare not disagree. It's much better to have a wife who disagrees with you, because he can help you to see some places where you're wrong.

But preserve the unity of the spirit. Very important. So, turning back to Philippians in chapter 2, unity is a very, very important thing in the home or in the church. And Paul says, you'll make my joy complete, not when you know the Lord of the Bible, not when you sing well or preach well, but when you are united.

Humility Against Selfishness and Pride

Okay, and then he tells us in Philippians 2 .3, the two sins which are our greatest sins and which prevent unity, selfishness and pride. Selfishness and pride are like two huge onions with many, many layers.

And he says here, don't do anything from selfishness or empty pride, but with humility of mind, let each of you regard one another as more important than himself. Again, you've got to read carefully. Some people read it like this, you must consider others as more spiritual than yourself.

That's a lie. It is impossible to consider other people as more spiritual than yourself when they are not more spiritual. Jesus did not consider all his disciples as more spiritual than himself, yet he was the humblest man that walked on the earth.

It says here, more important than yourself. And Jesus considered his disciples as more important than himself. That's why he washed their feet as a slave. So, when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he didn't say, you guys are more spiritual than me.

He said, no. He said, I'm a spiritual man, you Corinthians are all carnal. That's the truth. So, a lot of people misquote this and they foolishly say, okay brother, you are more spiritual than me. That's not a spiritual thing to say.

Consider everyone as more important than yourself. That means be willing to let the person go ahead and have a preference in so many things. Don't push your way. And be willing to be a servant. If somebody treats you like a servant, it's okay.

It's perfectly okay. Because you don't want to consider yourself as more important than anybody else. I believe a really spiritual man, the most spiritual man in the church, and like Jesus, he'll be willing to take the lowest place and be a servant of everyone in the church.

He doesn't want position or honor or anything. And if we can get elders like that, you have a really spiritual church. Through the years we've seen in CFC churches, I've had the sad experience of not many, but a number of churches where somebody's appointed as an elder and it goes to his head and he begins to think he's a very important person.

He destroys himself, he destroys his family, and he destroys the church. And so very often we have to remove such a person from eldership. I mean, when I look back over the last 41 years, there are not many, less than 10 elders I think we have had to remove from eldership.

But almost invariably it was because of pride. Pride got puffed up and they began to think that I'm very important. Pride and God withdraws His grace. So as long as we consider everyone else is more important than ourselves, we are safe.

So it says here, don't do anything from selfishness and pride. If you just take that one exhortation that I must never do anything in my life from selfishness, and I must never do anything in my life out of pride.

Never say anything in a way that makes other people feel small. And you'll find that it's a goal that we must aim for. It's not something you hear it, okay? From tomorrow onwards I'll never do anything with selfishness and pride.

I'll tell you, till the end of your life you will do things in selfishness and pride, but it can become less and less and less and less and less. I'm telling you from my own experience. When you become like Jesus 100%, you will never do anything from selfishness or pride, but we haven't got there yet.

But we should press towards the mark. That's important. So as I said, selfishness and pride are like huge onions. And if you judge yourself, like I said the other day, God's people are people who judge themselves every day.

God will show you in different situations. You did that out of selfishness. Or that thing which you said just now is just totally selfish. Don't fight with the Holy Spirit. Bow your head and say, Lord, that's right.

That is absolutely selfish of me to behave like that or to talk like that. And the place where you see maximum selfishness is in the home. When you get married, you'll discover what a selfish person you are.

How you think only of yourself and not your partner. And as you discover it, you can peel off that one layer. It doesn't mean you got rid of all selfishness. You peeled off one layer. There are another thousand layers underneath that.

And as you get light, little by little by little, that onion can become smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller. Do nothing from selfishness. I'm working towards a goal to get to the center of that onion when I do nothing from selfishness, where I do nothing from conceit or pride.

But it's something you've got to work towards. It doesn't happen overnight. We have to work out our salvation. It says later on here in verse 13, to work out our salvation, verse 12 rather, last part of verse 12, we got to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

Work out our salvation from pride. Work out our salvation from selfishness. After you have overcome all other sins in your life, you will discover that you're still left with selfishness and pride. Those are the last two.

You know, you overcome your anger. You never get angry now. You overcome dirty, lustful thoughts. You never get involved with pornography. And you're careful with your speech. You're free from the love of money.

You don't grumble or complain. You're free from anxiety. And many, many things like this you've conquered. At the end of it all, you'll still find, if you ask God to give you light, selfishness and pride.

And that's what keeps us down on our face before God. Lord, after I've conquered all these external sins, I still find little, little areas where I'm behaving selfishly, speaking in a selfish way, seeking some honor for myself in some comment I make, some testimony I give, just to get some honor for myself.

And I'm to do nothing with pride. Lord, I'm determined to peel this onion completely. And what is the goal? Thus we will become united. Then we come to this place of, like we read in verse 2, same mind, same purpose, same...

The unity of the Spirit comes when every brother and sister in the church is working out their own salvation from selfishness and pride. You get a husband and wife in a home, working out their own salvation from selfishness and pride, that husband and wife will become more and more united as each year goes by.

They won't be perfect. Nobody is going to be perfect till Christ comes again. But the greater unity in the home. And then, expanding on that, he says in verse 4, don't look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

Living by the Attitude of Christ

That is freedom from selfishness. Don't think only of your personal interests, but the interests of others as well in the church. And then we have this wonderful verse, verse 5. Have this attitude in yourself which was in Christ Jesus.

I've often said that if you don't have a Bible, or you lost your Bible and you are in some prison where you don't have access to a Bible, this one verse is enough to live your entire life. Have the attitude in you which was in Christ Jesus.

You don't need anything else. With that one verse, you can live your whole life. If you have read the Gospels, and you see how Jesus lived, reacted in different situations, how he acted and how he conducted himself, and what was his reaction to different situations, then only one verse I have to live by.

Have the same attitude in yourself that was in Christ Jesus. I only need that one verse to live my whole Christian life. I can close the Bible and go home. That one verse is enough. And I'll see how Jesus, it's not just growth in holiness, that's one aspect of it, growth in humility, growth in love, also in service, ministry.

Have the same attitude that Jesus had towards ministering, ministering to others. It won't be a selfish type of life, like I lock myself up like a monk in a monastery or something. No, Jesus didn't have that.

He had a life of service. So have the same attitude that was in Christ Jesus. If you make that your life's motto, I want to have the same attitude that Jesus had. I want to have the same attitude to sin that Jesus had.

I want to have the same attitude to money that Jesus had. I want to look at women the same way Jesus looked at women. I want to look at little children the way Jesus looked at little children. You could expand that to so many areas.

I want to do my job the way Jesus did his carpentry shop job when he was in Nazareth. Have the same attitude that Jesus had in every department of life. That's all you need, one verse. If you take it seriously, that's the secret of the Christian life.

Christ’s Humility: From God to Servant

And then, notice in verse 6, 7 and 8, the main thing he stresses, of all the attitudes Jesus had in different areas, what he stresses is his humility. Learn from me for I am humble in heart. So, step one, there are three steps here.

Step one, though he was God, he did not consider that equality with God as something to be held on to, but gave it up and became a man. See, that itself is a, when you think where God is and where man is, it's a tremendous coming down.

This is how salvation came. Salvation came by God becoming a man, giving up his right to be respected as God, to be treated like God when he was on earth. No, he didn't want to be treated like God, he wanted to be like a man.

You know, you can't spit on the face of God, but they spat on his face. He humbled himself and became a man, showing us that this is how salvation came. This is the opposite of how the highest angel became a devil.

The highest angel became a devil when he decided that being the highest angel is not good enough, I want to be like God. His desire was to go up, and he brought sin into the world. Jesus came down and brought salvation.

So I see something there. The root of sin is really wanting to go up, and the root of salvation is wanting to come down. And these are the two spirits that are operating all over the world today. Most people are instigated by the spirit of Satan, which is always wanting to go up.

To be esteemed by others is important, to have a higher position in the church, to be respected and recognized, and people must know what I am, and people must know what I have done. It is 100 the spirit of Lucifer, of the devil, when you want to draw attention to yourself.

And you know there's plenty of that, even in Christendom. Plenty of that. Drawing attention to oneself. See what a big man I am. See what I did for the Lord. I don't know whether all Christians see it.

If God gives you light on it, it's a great thing. Somebody once asked me, Brother Zach, what is the mark of God's blessing upon your life? I said, that's very clear to me. I know God's blessing my life when he gives me light on myself.

When God gives me light on the corruption in myself, I know he's blessing me. To me, that's very clear. Because then I can cleanse myself from that and become a little more like Christ in that area. So I've understood this for a long time.

The mark of God's blessing in my life is that he gives me light on myself. And I see myself. See, other people don't see me very little on the outside. Other people see you on the outside, they don't know 99 of your life.

But God, who knows everything, points out something. So, I see there's a little desire to exalt myself there and I can humble myself. Not go the way of Lucifer, wanting to go up in the eyes of others, but go the way of Jesus to go down.

So, God became man. He didn't hold on to his position. So often we can hold on to our position of authority. I'm a husband in the home, you better listen to me. Or, I'm the elder in the church, you better respect me.

Rubbish! I don't want anybody to respect me. I'm a follower of Jesus who went all the way down. So, God became man. That's how salvation came. Humility. And second step. Verse 7. Now, becoming a man itself would have been good enough.

Christ’s Humility: Becoming a Slave

For God to become man, this is such a massive step downwards. But after becoming a man, he went another step down and became a servant. A slave. See, a slave is lower than all other men. And that's what it says here.

He emptied himself and took the form of a slave. He didn't have to be a slave. Coming down from God to the level of man itself was enough. But no, he went still further down to be like a slave. I've often thought, why did Jesus, why was Jesus born in a stable?

In a cow shed. Born in that little trough, little bowl, in which the food for the cows is kept. The straw and the hay and all, in that, you know, what you call a manger. That is a place where the food for the cattle was kept.

And Jesus was born and kept there. I've never heard of any poorest person who was born in a cow shed. I've never come across such a person in my life. Or who was so poor that they didn't even have a small sheet but put a cattle, cows eating trough.

Why did he take that place? Because he had come to save people. And he knew that if I am to save people, I must come underneath them. Underneath everybody. God has called us, as believers, to be a blessing to others and to save them from sin.

But I'll tell you something, if you want to save them, you must be willing to come underneath them. You must be willing to take a low place and not be offended if they insult you. That's what Jesus took.

He was a man, then he, second step was humbled himself and became a slave. A slave was one who had no rights. I don't have a right for people to respect me. Do you feel that people should respect you?

You're not a slave then. A lot of your problems in your Christian life may be due to that. He said, learn from me for I am humble in heart. So he became a slave. Even that was not enough. So the first step was humility, the second step was more humility and the third one, in verse 8.

The Cross and the Lowest Place

Now you think slave is really the lowest. No, it isn't. There's something lower than a slave and that's a criminal. Criminal. Someone who is a crook. A criminal means worse than a crook. Someone who is convicted of a crime.

See, the Roman government did not crucify slaves but they crucified criminals. Slaves were low but they don't have to be crucified. Criminals were even lower and they had to be crucified. So Jesus came and became a man then he humbled himself and became a slave then it says he humbled himself even further and accepted the death of a criminal on the cross.

You couldn't go lower than that. So that is the first step and the second step and the third step. That's why if you heard me say the three secrets of the Christian life are humility, humility, humility.

And it's here, it's right here. He became a man, he became a servant and he became a criminal. Not became a criminal, took the place of a criminal. So, therefore, that means he didn't bother whether other people misunderstood why is he being crucified.

They saw him being crucified along with some other thieves. In Jerusalem, a lot of Jews saw that very frequently. The Romans would get people crucified and people who didn't know would have thought, ah, he's just another criminal, that's all he is.

What do you do when people misunderstand you? It says here in Isaiah 53 and verse 12. The Lord says, Isaiah 53 verse 12. This is about Jesus. The Lord says, I will allot him a portion with the great people.

He will divide the booty with the strong because he poured out himself to death and he was numbered with the criminals. He was numbered with the criminals. Oh, he was just a criminal there. That's what it says in Isaiah 53.

And because he was willing to take that place, God says, I will allot him a great portion. So, when we are willing to follow Jesus in his humility, to be misunderstood by others, to be called, you know, they call us, some people call us a cult.

Let them call us whatever they like. I know that in the early days in CFC, people called us all types of bad names. We would just shut our mouth and keep quiet and say, Lord, what they say about us makes no difference to us.

What we are before you, that's all that matters. And do you know the Apostle Paul was also called sort of a cultist and sectarian. You read in Acts 24, when Paul is standing before Felix, who was the judge there in Acts 24, Paul is standing as a criminal there.

He tells him, Acts 24 verse 14, I admit to you that according to the way which they call a sect or a cult, according to that, I serve the God of my fathers. They can call me a cult leader or sect or whatever it is.

It's true. But what I do is I serve God. I believe everything written in the Bible, that is the law and the prophets. So this, Paul says, they can call me a cult, but I serve God. And I believe everything written in the Bible.

And I also believe that there will be a resurrection, verse 16, 15, of the righteous and the wicked. And because of this, I do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience before God and before men.

So Paul was not bothered whether people called him a cult or a sect. Not at all. A lot of people are disturbed if people call them bad names. Every godly man in the history of Christianity, everyone, particularly if they started something for God, was called a heretic.

Paul's teacher called every single one, starting with Jesus. They said, this guy's a false teacher. He's not teaching what Moses taught. Then Paul, they called him a false teacher. And everyone through the generations, Martin Luther, who started the Reformation movement, he was called a tremendous false teacher and a heretic by the Roman Catholic Church.

But today we call him a great prophet, but in his time he was called a heretic. John Wesley was called a heretic. Everyone, because that's part of the reproach of following Jesus Christ. So Jesus also was considered a criminal.

Bearing Christ’s Reproach Outside the Camp

Now, you know, we have something to learn from that. If you turn to Hebrews in chapter 13, we read here, Hebrews 13, verse 11, the bodies, Hebrews 13, verse 11, the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place before God in the temple, the bodies of those animals are burnt outside the camp.

They had to take it outside Jerusalem because it was considered so unclean. The blood is offered in the temple, but the body is taken outside the camp and burnt. And it says that's why Jesus also went outside the gate and suffered.

Do you know that Jesus was crucified not inside Jerusalem? The hill of Calvary is outside the city and that's where he was crucified and he compares it to the way the Old Testament animals, their bodies were just thrown outside and Jesus was in the same way killed outside the camp.

And then it says, verse 13, let us, now he's referring to us, let us also go to him outside the camp bearing his reproach. How does that apply to you? Have you had any reproach being called part of a cult or a heretic or a criminal?

Or have you always been considered a very respectable person? You don't like to be called bad names. Let us go to him outside the camp bearing his reproach. A lot of Christianity today has no reproach because they don't say anything that will offend people.

They're all diplomats who will always say the right thing to please people. I never in my life want to be in that kind of situation. I want to go outside the camp and bear the reproach of my savior. If he was numbered among the criminals, I am also happy to be numbered among the criminals.

Even though he was not a criminal and I'm not a criminal either. So, humility, humility, humility is the secret of the Christian life and if you're willing to go all the way down with Jesus to recognize yourself as a nobody and to be willing to be misunderstood and rejected, then you can be happy about it.

See, Jesus said that in Matthew 5. We shouldn't have a long face about this. It says in Matthew 5 and verse 11. This is one of the blessings which Jesus pronounced. Blessed are you. That means you'll really be blessed and we want to be blessed.

Well, here's one way to be blessed. When men cast insults at you, not for any other reason, persecute you, say all kinds of evil against you falsely because of me. It's not just that they call you bad names, but because you're associated with Jesus Christ and you want to live for Christ and you want to obey all of the word of God, because of that, they cast you out and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely because of me.

You're blessed. What should you do then? Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great because they persecuted the prophets exactly like that. This is true Christianity. True Christianity is never a very popular thing.

If the world rejected my savior, why should they accept me? If religious people rejected my savior, why should they accept me? I don't want their acceptance. I want to go with my bridegroom outside the camp.

So anyone who's seeking to be popular in the world or popular with carnal Christians and popular with worldly Christians, there's something wrong with this Christianity. We want to be popular in heaven, not popular with carnal Christians.

We don't want anybody to respect our church and think we are great guys. No. If our savior was rejected, we will be rejected too and that shouldn't surprise us. So these are the areas in which the Lord, we can meditate more with the words of Jesus saying, learn from me for I am humble in heart.

It was an inward thing. It was not external. Jesus' humility was not seen in hanging his head down. His head was always up and he spoke boldly. But there was a humility of heart which made God be with him all the time.

And that's the way we are called to live. Every one of us, if we ask God to give us light on it. Let's pray. See, there's a lot more than what we have heard today and you can meditate on it and ask God to give you light.

But God gives grace to the humble and we all need grace more and more. Heavenly Father, help us to see more clearly the way that Jesus walked on this earth and the path of humility all his life. Never disturbed by what people said about him or thought about him.

Help us to walk like that Lord in that calm serenity of heaven in our inner hearts. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.