I remember when they started asking me to preach in big church. If you ever heard of a big church before, that's what the church kids call it. Raise your hand if you grew up going to a church where they preach the Bible. Anybody grew up going to church. All right now, everybody else, it's just church. But if you grew up going to church, it's like, whoa, big church. Right? Because if you were a kid, that's where the moms and dads went. That's where the preacher preached that was very serious. And so, being a church kid growing up in the church, when they start asking you to preach at church, you're like, this is a serious responsibility. And I remember down at Compass Bible Church in Aliso Viejo, they started asking me to preach more and more, they wanted me to preach from the book First Thessalonians. And I was like, Okay, I'm going to go preach in big church. Right? And then we came to the passage that says, in 1 Thessalonians 4 abstain from every form of sexual immorality. And I was like, okay, I'm going to go tell the old church, that God doesn't want them to do anything outside of marriage. How's this going to go? This seems like a big deal. And nobody, like booed me off at church, like the mob didn't come for me later in the night. In fact, there were people who were like, preach it, man. Yeah, let them have it, bro. You know? And it was like, oh, I survived.
And then I remember, the next time I came to preach, it was about loving one another. And it was like, hey, God's taught you how to love one another. Do it more and more excellent. Still more? Hey, have you been loved? Do you love one another? Let's go love each other more. And I was like, I was feeling comfortable in big church. And now, I was like, this will be easy. Everybody here will want to love each other. This will be nice. I was like, you know what you should do at church? You should go talk to somebody you don't know. You should be friendly to them. You know what you should do at church. You should invite somebody out to dinner, go have dinner with them, get to know them. Love. This will be great. People were looking at me like what's wrong with you, man? This is Orange County, that ain't what we do around here. People were looking at me like, how dare you come into big church and tell us to love one another. It was like, I'd gone over to their house, and they told me to take my shoes off. And I just walked all over their house with my shoes on. That's what it was like. It was that level of awkward. And I realized that we had a big problem at big church, because people the church knew how to be friendly, but they didn't know how to be friends.
I realized, wow, you can't go to church and tell people to love one another. They get offended by that. So, I want to invite you to open up your Bible with me to Romans chapter 12. And I want to read for you Romans 12:1-5. And we're going to do something a little bit edgy here in Orange County, big church, because we're going to talk about how the scripture says that we should be towards our one another's here in the Church of Jesus Christ. And I want you to really hear what God has to say to us now, from his Word. And so, once you get there to Romans 12, I invite you to stand for the public reading of Scripture. And I want to encourage you to give this your full and undivided attention because this is God's Word. This is God teaching you what church is. And so please follow along with me as I read. I'll start in Romans chapter 12. And I'll read verses 1-5. This is the word of God.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
That's the reading of God's word. Please go ahead and have your seat. And the first thing I want to preach on is that little header there, right there above verse three. Does everybody see that little header there? At least. Who's got that. I've got one of our Bibles that you can grab on the back counters whenever you're coming in. If you don't have a Bible, you can always pick up one of these I have the ESV translation. There are a lot of good modern English translations you can read; we use the English Standard Version. Who else has a header, “Gifts of Grace” above Romans 12:3. Okay, if you’ve got a different translation, and it's got a different header, show it to me after the service, I'd love to see it. But you'll notice I didn't read that header when I was reading through Romans 12:1-5, because the header is not inspired. Paul didn't write it when he wrote the book of Romans. When they translated it, when they want to make it so we can read it, they break it down into different sections, and they put these headers in there. So, you can see, it creates a feeling that there is a distance between verse 2 and verse 3 here in Romans 12. For example, in this Bible, it's like Romans 12:1-2 fit real nice on this page 947. And then you’ve got to turn to a whole another page. And it looks like “Gifts of Grace” makes you think, oh, I'm reading now on a whole another section. And maybe even if you don't have to turn the page between the verses, you might have this blank space there between verse 2 and verse 3. And you might think, oh, well, we learned about sanctification from verse 2. Last week, we learned about how to have our minds renewed so we could be transformed. Well, that was last week. Now we're going to learn something totally new this week that that is not the case. Romans 12:3 comes right from verse 2.
In fact, there's a handout there in your bulletin if you want to take some notes. And if you are taking notes, the first thing I want you to do about our text is I want you to circle the word “For” right there at the beginning of Romans 12:3. If you're taking notes, circle the word “For” at the beginning of verse 3. And then if you're still there with me, go down to verse 4. And what is the first word there in verse 4 in English, everybody? It's “for” as well. So, circle that one as well. So, what we have in our text right now, and we're going to look at verses 3, 4, and 5, coming off of Romans 12:2 last week, I want to make it very clear, there is no blank space between verses 2 and verse 3 and verses 4, and five. In fact, verse 3, for you’ve always got to look, when you see a “For,” that means it's referring to what was there before it. So, verse 3 is making a comment based on what verse 2 said, and then verses 4 and 5 is even another comment based on verse 2. So, verse 2, a couple of people told me that's my favorite verse, and they were very excited to hear the sermon about it. Last week, do not be conformed to this world, but be what, everybody? Be what? We're supposed to, we're commanded to be transformed. And it happens when our minds are renewed. As we think the right way from the Scripture, we're able to stop living according to the world and the schemes of this age, and we're able to be transformed into a new life of righteousness, to be more like God and less like ourselves. Okay? You're transformed by the renewal of your mind. Now look at verse 3, “For by the grace given to me, I say that everyone among you not to” … what does it say there, everybody? “Think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment,” which is also the word “think.”
So, this is what's crazy, that we've kind of lost in translation is, it tells you in verse 2, get your mind renewed. And then you think Romans 12:3 is something different when it tells you how to think four times in that verse. It's clearly a follow up thought to the previous verse. So, in Romans 12, these verses that we're going to, they're going to talk about your sanctification. That's what verse two is about, that you need to be set apart from your old way of sin, from the world's way of sin. And you need to be set apart for the purpose of Jesus in your life, to walk out the righteousness that you have in Christ, that sanctification. It's the ongoing progress of the Christian life to be less like the old you and more like Jesus. And sanctification, what we're going to find out here, it's a team sport. In fact, in verses 3, 4 and 5, it starts talking about how we interact with one another. And we might think, okay, my sanctification, that's my business. My sin. That's personal. That's about me. Now, how I interact with other people at church, that's a new topic. That's a different thing. Turns out that sanctification and how you interact with your one anothers is actually the same topic. And we've been compartmentalizing them; we've been acting like, well, you get to decide what to do about your sin, and you get to decide how you're going to be with other people here at the church, when actually it's like, no, maybe the reason you still have that sin is you're not getting real with the other people at church. It's all one thought. How are you going to think? How are you going to think as an individual? Well, no, it actually said by the end of verse 5, look at the conclusion of our text here. So, we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually, we are members what? One of another. Oh, wow. So, it's not about what you're going to go do as an individual. It's how all of us as individuals are going to be members, one of another.
So, let's just start with this thought from the context here of the fact that we're going into Romans 12:2-3, and they all flow together. Let's get this down for your first point there the “Context”: “Don't separate your sanctification from your one anothers.” Don't separate your sanctification from your one anothers. This is what we're learning in our “Be the Church” series, as we spend these eight weeks going through Romans 12. You need to be transformed. And you need to be with your one anothers, and that is actually the same thought. No spaces needed. No headings needed. All flows together. Look down at Romans 12:9. I really think that verse 9 of Romans 12 summarizes our entire series that we're doing: “Let love be genuine.” Hey, how do you really care about the other people at your church? Do you really love your one anothers? Let love be genuine? And then what does it go on to say? A poor what is evil? Hold fast to what is good? Hey, how you treat other people, how you think about your own life, how you make decisions, whether you should do it, or you shouldn't do it? Hey, let's put those two thoughts back together. Let's not separate them. Like you get to figure your own life out over here. And then you can treat people at church however you want over here. No, it all flows together. Okay? The sanctification process that we're all involved in is meant to be a team sport. You can't put on the new life of Jesus by yourself. We’re meant to all put on the new together, go with me to Colossians chapter three. I really want to show you this in the Scripture. Hopefully, you'll see it here and how Romans 12 flows.
But here's another passage. Colossians 3, that is about our sanctification. Since you've been raised with Christ, how should you now then live out your new life? Well, if you know Colossians 3, it tells you, you’ve got to put to death that sexual immorality, you’ve got to put away that anger, you got to put off that lying, hey, here's some sins you need to be done with. You need to put those away, step away from those. And then when it starts saying, Now, here's what you’ve got to go put on. Here's the new you. Here's the righteousness of Christ now being worked out in your life. Look what it says in Colossians 3:12. “Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved.” Okay? Look at what it says you should put on, “compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience.” In fact, here's what you're supposed to put on, bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive and, above all, these put on what does it say there, everybody? “Love,” You’ve got to put on love for other people.
See, here's the truth. Sin exists in isolation. Sin exists in secret. Sin exists in the dark, where it can stay hidden. So, when you're putting off all of that, and you're putting on the new, you're stepping into the light as he is in the light. And guess what? We all have in the light together, fellowship with one another. We all get to be in the light together. And so, I have to put on. This isn't just a me-thing. This isn't just like me trying to do less bad stuff and do more good stuff. No, I'm putting on love. And I'm bearing with people who are bothering me, and I'm forgiving people who are sinning against me. And I'm learning a whole new way of Jesus.
And Jesus didn't come down here to save himself. Jesus came down here to save all of us. So, if you're going to put on the new life, guess what putting on the new you involves? A relationship of love with other people. People, you can't be the new you without the other people that Jesus saved. You can't do the new you in isolation, alone, independent from other people. No, you have to put on love for others. So, we have to be done with this privatized faith, we have to be done with this idea that you get to decide if you're going to deal with the sin in your life or not. And you get to decide who you're going to talk about it with. And when you're going to bring it up. And it's all kind of up to you to deal with sin. There are people in this room right now, the reason you're making no progress with your sin, the reason you're not able to put it off and put on something new in your place is because you're trying to do it by yourself. And it was never designed to work that way. It was never designed to be just you sanctifying yourself. It was meant to be us, the saints, coming together to be sanctified.
Go over to the book of James chapter 5. Let me now show you another great example of this. James has given us a book of wisdom for the church. Here he's writing in the tradition of Jewish wisdom. James, he says so many hard-hitting things here, so many boom kind of moment, hard-hitting. And in chapter 5, he starts talking about people who might get sick and people who might be in sin and they need to confess their sin. And he's saying, hey, maybe if you're sick, you should even call for the elders of the church, and they'll come and pray for you. Hey, maybe if you're sick, you should really check, is there any sin in your life that you need to confess is your father disciplining you? And then when he's talking about dealing with your sin, he doesn't act like you've just got to figure it out? He says this In James 5:16. He says, “Therefore, confess your sins to…” Who does he say there, everybody? “Confess your sins to…” who does he say? It doesn't just say confess your sins to Jesus. It doesn't just say confess your sins to the Lord. Now, let me just make this very clear, because it has gotten confusing. The only person who can forgive you for your sin is God. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? Okay, so the only person you need to confess your sins to, to be forgiven for your sins, is God. He's the only one. You don't need a priest. You don't need a middleman. Your mediator between you and God is Jesus. And because of Jesus, you can confess your sins to God. And if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Okay, so when you confess your sins to God, in the name of Jesus, He will forgive you. But James is saying, hey, have you considered confessing your sins to one another? And he's not just saying it, like, maybe it'll help? Or it could be a good idea, or let me give you a nudge or a weak wink. He's saying it like, do it. Confess your sins to one another? “And pray for one another, so that you may be…” what is the promise there, everybody? Do you really want to stop your sin or not?
Do you really want to stop your sin or not? That is the question. Do you want to just make yourself feel like you really want to stop your sin? Or do you actually want to stop the sin? Do you want to deceive yourself into thinking that you're trying harder about the sin? Or do you want to be healed from it? See, I think when people are considering sharing the secret sin, that they're in there when they're thinking, man, I should probably talk to somebody about this. Unfortunately, a lot of people are not realizing that. Yeah, James 5:16 is commanding us to talk to one another about this. People act like it's optional if they're going to talk to somebody else about their sin. And so, what I have observed here at this church is people will come and confess their sin, and the number one reason that people will come and confess their sin to a pastor or somebody who works at the church or a friend that they have at the church. What is the number one reason that people confess their sin these days? Anybody know? Because they got caught. That's the number one reason people confess their sin. Because somebody found out about it, not because they wanted to be done with it. Not because they were really fighting against it. Not because they were ready to deny themselves. No, somebody saw what they were doing. Somebody saw where their money was going. Somebody saw what they were looking at. Somebody observed how they were treating other people around them and then they were busted. That's why they confess their sins. And then another time, sometimes people are like, Okay, I'm really feeling bad about this and this has been going on way too long. Like even I know this is way past the point of what is normal Christian behavior, like, this is not good. I need to talk to somebody. And then guess who they'll choose to tell if they do decide they want to tell somebody, guess what? They'll do that look around and they'll be like, I think that guy has the same sin as me. I'll go talk to him. I think that lady, she probably has the same problem with her husband that I have with my husband. I think some ladies think and she's like, oh, go talk to that lady. And what we look for then is somebody who will tell me that my sin is, it's okay. It's normal. It's fine. I mean, we all sin, right? Who here is ready to honestly share with their one anothers? Hey, I'm tempted to think this way. Hey, I'm tempted to do this. Hey, I’ve got something going on in my life that you guys don't know about. And I want to bring it out in the open. I want to step into the light. I want you guys to really know me, the person you should go and confess your sin to is the person that you think is righteous, the person you should go confess your sin to is the person you look them. And you think I bet they don't do this sin like I do this. And that's the person you want to go talk to. Look at what it goes on to say here in James 5: 16. “Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed the prayer of a” what kind of person, everybody? A “righteous person has great power as it is working.” Man, I'm struggling with this sin. I'm not getting anywhere. My sanctification, I'm not making progress. I feel burdened. I feel like giving up, I feel overwhelmed. Yeah, you want to go find somebody that you think is putting on the new life of righteousness in Jesus Christ, somebody that you think does know how to say no to that sin, somebody who has set apart from that, and you need to grab on to that brother or sister and say, hey, will you pray for me? I’ve got to tell you about this. And the power of the righteous person praying for you, well, there's great power in that prayer. And I have seen people step into the light, confess their sins.
I remember, one time a man from this church came to me and he said, I’ve got to tell you something. And I was like, Well, I'm not like a priest. You don't have to tell me you can just tell God in the name of Jesus. No, he's like, I’ve got to tell you. And he told me his sin that day. And he confessed it. And we prayed about it together, and he was crying, and I was crying. And we asked God, to heal him from his sin. I've never seen that guy the same way since. He's not the same guy. I'm not saying he got saved that day. But something happened in that guy's life. Something happened in his sanctification because he stopped trying to do it by himself. And he confessed it to the one anothers. He brought the church in. And he realized sanctification isn't something where you go solo, it’s something we do together.
Now, go back to Romans, chapter 12. With that, understanding that the verses we're going to study right now, flow, right, with this concept of sanctification, what we're supposed to do with one another, and what we're supposed to do to be sanctified, to be set apart from sin. It's all working together here at the church. So, I'm praying that some of you will hear this sermon, and you will go confess your sins to your one anothers. That sin that you're like, well, it's just normal to struggle with that sin. Well, it's normal for Christians to share their struggles with one another, have you confess that sin to your one anothers. Maybe that's the thing that will help you to be healed, maybe even tonight, you could confess it to someone before you leave here. Because look at what it goes on to say here, after this whole verse, about being transformed by the renewing of your mind, here in verse 3 of Romans 12. Paul says, “For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you…” So, because of that phrase, I mean, the word “For” clearly points back to verse 2. But then Paul, he's kind of saying something here. He's kind of introducing what he's about to say. And he says, “By the grace given to me, I want to say to each one of you,” or every one of you. So, I think Paul knows what he's about to say. Could be a little bit like I'm inviting myself over to your house, could be a little bit like, I'm going to step on your toes here. And so, before he says something to people at church, who may be need to hear it, he gives this phrase, “by the grace given to me, I want to say to each one of you…” This isn't just for somebody in the room. This is for everyone in the room. Now when he says that, “by the grace given to me,” that sounds very nice. That sounds good. Yes. But we all have received God's goodness in Jesus Christ. Yes. I like that, Paul.
Let's talk about grace. We’ll go back to Romans 1:5. Let me show you specifically what he means by the grace given to him. Because when Paul says, “by the grace given to me,” that's a little bit of a flex that just happened right there that I want to make sure you see. Because here, back in chapter one, when he was introducing himself and talking about the power of the gospel through the resurrection of Jesus, that can change your life, that can give you a living hope, that can change your horizon. So, death is not the end. But you see eternal life when he got into the beginning of the gospel in Romans 1. Look at what he says in verse 5, about Jesus. He says, “through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,” So, yes, by the grace given to me, which is kind of a low key way a wink wink way to say, as an apostle of Jesus, as somebody who saw Jesus with my own eyes on the road to Damascus, as the one who has been sent to the Gentiles.
Go over to Romans 15:15 and look at how he uses this phrase, “by the grace given to me” again, so we're just looking at how is he writing the book of Romans? What does he mean when he says, “by the grace given to me,” what is he referring to? Well, here in Romans 15:15, he makes it very clear. This is later on now from our text 15:15 on some points, “I have written to you very boldly, by way of reminder,” and then notice how he says it, “because of the grace given me by God,” which we're learning is code for, because I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ. Right? Because I'm one of the guys he sent to speak to the church. So, you notice what Paul's saying, hey, where he's wrapped, he's towards the end. Now here in chapter 15, verse 15, he's kind of reviewing, hey, on some points. I understand that some of the things I said in this letter, yes, they were bold in the way I spoke towards you, I understand I was stepping on some of your toes. I understand. I was inviting myself over to your house. But I did that because of the grace given to me. Because Jesus sent me. So, go back. Now understanding that's kind of how he uses that phrase. Go back now to Romans 12:3, “For by the grace given to me,” so basically, as an apostle, ready to tell you how to obey. And then “by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you.” So, there's this thing, when you hear a sermon, and you're like, this is such a good sermon. I can't wait for so and so to hear it. Have you ever thought that before? Right? Where you were you give like an amen. And your amen, he's like you're elbowing the person next to you the whole sermon? Have you ever heard about that before? Okay, so what Paul is about to say is not for the person, that is not you. This isn't for somebody else who needs to hear. Paul is an apostle of Jesus. Paul had a particular grace that was given to him, a particular gift that was given to him. And he wants to say something to every single one of the saints in the church of Rome. And he wants to say it to every single one of us here right now. Look at Romans 12:3, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” Is it possible that as you come here to church tonight, that you think of yourself more highly than you ought to think of yourself? Because that's what Paul, the apostle wanted to say to everyone in the church. One of the ways you can mess church up, is make it about you. If you think church is all about you, you think more highly than you ought to think of yourself.
So, the word here is phroneo, and it doesn't just mean “to think,” it really is like to “set your mind.” It's to have a mindset. And it actually uses this word four times in this one verse, it's like don't huperphroneo. So, don't think hyperphroneo. You might say, don't think too highly, more than you ought to think. But think with it translates to sober judgment. Do you see there at the end part of verse 3, you can say or think with sound thinking, think with right mindedness? No, don't think of yourself too highly. Think the right way that you should think you need to make sure your mindset is not focused on yourself. You need to have a mindset. That's the sound mindset, the sober mindset.
Go back to Romans 8:5. Let's see how he's already used this idea in the book of Romans. We've already seen this two times and it'll help you realize it's not just do I ever have a proud thought? Do I have a proud mindset is really what he's getting at here is the whole way that I'm thinking wrong, because it's too much about myself. You can see that in Romans 8:5, this gave us two possible ways of thinking, two possible mindsets. It says, “For those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.” So, this isn't just talking about a thought you might think over here, or this one thought you had over here, this is talking about the ongoing way that your mind is set. And, how your mind is set is how you're going to live.
Go over to Romans 11:20, where it also use this same idea. And it's in this was when we talked about the olive tree and how some of the branches that were the Jews were broken off, because the Jews did not believe in Jesus, and Gentiles, people of other nations, people who are not from Israel, but they're from all the other nations, they're being grafted in, because they're believing in Jesus. And so, it said, to all the Gentiles, who are believing in Jesus and becoming a part of the people of God, hey, that is true. This is Chapter 11;20, “that is true.” Hey, that's great that you've been brought in, and they've been broken off. It's sad that they've been broken off, great that you've been brought in. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through what? Why have you been brought in faith? So do not become what does it say there everybody? Proud. And he says, same idea of don't have a mindset, where you now think you're somebody because you've been saved or because of your faith. there's a way that you could even know salvation is not by works, but by grace. And it's all based on what Jesus does. It's not based on me. So, I'm not going to do anything, I'm going to trust in Jesus, not make it about myself. I'm going to trust in Jesus, great, you got saved by faith; watch out, you could still become proud. You could still think more highly of yourself than you ought to think. You might start thinking that you're fine. You can do it by yourself, you don't need everybody else. Or you might even start thinking something like, well, these people are really blessed that I go to this church, because I'm really bringing something to the team around here. And they should all be happy that I've decided to come here. You might be thinking something like that.
But go back to Romans 12:3 now. Right? It's saying, hey, there's a way where you could think too highly. There's a mindset where you make it about yourself, or there's a mindset that is sound, that is sober. That is right. And this mindset, look at what it says at the end of verse 3, here, “we each should be thinking each according to the measure of…” what, everybody? Faith that God has assigned. So, I need to understand this. This has been the whole point of the book of Romans, the whole point of the book of Romans is through the works of the law, no one will boast through the works of the law, no one will be justified based on what we do. No one is getting right with God, we are not saved by works. We are saved by grace through what? Faith. So now you want to make it about what you do. When God appointed to you or God separated to you, or God divided to all of us a measure of faith, like we responded to the Gospel in faith, but now we're going to walk around like we're really doing something. Now, we responded about faith in Jesus loving us so much he laid down his life for us, and we're believing in the sacrifice of Jesus. And now we're going to walk around and make it about ourselves. No, we’ve got to really reconsider. How do you measure yourself? How are you thinking about yourself?
Let's get that down for point number one: “Reconsider how you measure yourself.” Reconsider how you measure yourself. Are you thinking about yourself more highly than you ought to think? Or are you thinking about yourself the right way, the sober way, the sound way? This verse has presented two possible ways of thinking. And that makes a lot of sense after a verse that told us “Don't be conformed to the schemes of this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Well then, let me present to you in the very next verse, a wrong way of thinking where you think more highly of yourself, or a right way of thinking where you still measure everything according to your faith. Which way are you thinking? With the measure that you measure others, it will be measured to you. That's something Jesus used to use this word “measure” all the time. Hey, what kind of thoughts are you thinking now? And Jesus, he's the ultimate ex. Jesus, he's the master teacher.
Go over with me to Philippians 2:5. And let's let Jesus make it very clear to us how we ought to think we don't want to think more highly of ourselves than we are. So, what is the right way to think about ourselves? What is the sober and sound way to think, to think in the way of this measure of faith that God has given to each one of us? Well, here in Philippians 2, it talks about the mindset in verse 5. And it says, this is Philippians 2:5. And it says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, the mindset you need to have is the mindset you can now have in Christ, the new mindset, right? The righteous mindset, have this mind which is yours, in Christ Jesus.” Now, then it goes on to give us the glorious gospel. Look what it says in Philippians 2:6-11, “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. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” And all God's people said, amen. We love that part. Yay. Think about what Jesus did. But notice how quickly we make it what Jesus did for me. But look what it says before verse 5. See, in Philippians 2:5, it says, “you should have the mindset which is yours in Christ Jesus,” and then it goes to give you the full mindset of Christ. But before verse 5, it was already commanding what this mindset should look like. Go back to Philippians 2:1-2. “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” What is this passage about? Not just what we think about Jesus, but what we think about one another. And then it says things you don't hear a lot these days, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” I mean, according to verse 3, I'm supposed to do nothing from selfish ambition, or conceit, or pride. And in humility, I'm supposed to consider others more significant than myself.
So, if I'm thinking of myself more than I'm thinking of others, am I thinking of more myself more highly than I ought to think? Wow. I remember one day I was talking to this guy. And he was like, well, I want to preach on humility. I remember he was going to preach in big church, and he was going to preach then, with the high school students that I was working with at that time. So, he was going to fill in for me. And he said, well, I want to preach on humility. And when he said, humility, and then he said, I want, I want to preach about how we put others as more important than ourselves. And he was referring to Philippians 2, but when he said, humility, I realized that until he said that that day, I always thought of humility as like, God is up here, and I'm down here, and therefore I'm a humble person, because I believe in God and I know God is awesome, and God is perfect. And I know I'm not, and I'm a sinner. And so, I'm humble because I see who God is. And I'm a humbled before God. But when that guy talked to me that day, I realized there was a kind of humility that wasn't as clear to me. It wasn't my mindset. It was when other people are up here, and I'm down here, not just that God's above me, and God's awesome, he's perfect. I'm okay with being beneath him. But this is actually talking about humbling yourself. Look back at Philippians 2:3, “in humility count others more significant than yourselves. It doesn't say in humility, think about how awesome God is and how lowly you are. Man, that helped me so much that day, just talking to that guy, and just realizing that I needed to change my mindset, because humility was not just about me and God, humility was about me and you. Do you ever think to yourself, I’ve got to get to that fellowship group? I‘ve got to get to that service, I’ve got to get to that women's event on Friday night, not for me, but because so and so is going to be there. And I’ve got to be there for so and so. I'm considering that person as more significant than myself. I think if we can be honest here, I think if we could use the measurement of Scripture, we would have to admit that some people here tonight, think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think.
So how are you measuring your own mindset? Are you putting on the mind of Christ? Look at verse 4, here in Philippians, 2, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” So yeah, I'm not just doing it because it's working out for me. I'm considering others. I'm considering how I could spur them on to love and good deeds. There's a lot of selfishness in big church. It just listened to the way people talked. How was that sermon for you? How was that service? I really liked it. I mean, just their immediate response is not well, I think it was biblical, or well, I I'm really there. Their first response is, how did I think about it? A lot of people they judge church based on how they think about it, not what God thinks about it Not does it help other people? No, God, they make it about themselves. That's not the Christ mindset we're supposed to have. You need to have the mindset which is yours, in Christ Jesus.
So, every one of us we have to measure. Man, am I thinking more highly of myself than I? Or am I thinking sound? Am I thinking silver? Am I thinking, right? Go back to Romans chapter 12. Because there's now another “For.” So, it's not just here's a way to think about verse 2. Once you get to verses 4 5, it's like, here's another way to think about it. And we’ve got to see that Romans 12:4-5 are clearly meant to go together; two verses, but one thought here. And I want you, if you're taking notes, I want you to get back to your handout here. And I want you to go to verse 4, and right after the word “For” there in verse 4, I want you to underline the word “as,” okay, so we're going to set up kind of a comparison here, a common use of language that we might do when we say something is as something else, or something is like something else. Right? So, here's Paul's analogy that he wants to use here to help us think about how our sanctification should affect the way we think about other people. And so, he's going to do this analogy in verse 4: As in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function. And then underline this word in verse five. “So.” So, as is verse 4, and then so in verse 5. He's setting it up in verse 4. And then he's given you the comparison now, in verse 5. So, just like you've got a body and your body has many members your body has many parts to one body that you have. Well, so we, though we are many, look at all of us many individuals here this evening, so we, though many, we are one body in Christ, and individually we are members. What does it say? They're one of another “we are members of one another.” This is this Greek word, all alone, all alone in the Greek and it's this idea of we are one another's. Like we're in this together. It's throughout any of these letters to the churches. It's always like, pray for one another, confess your sins to one another, love one another, greet one another, encourage one another, bear with one another, forgive one another. All this idea that you now live in a community. You now live in the church. It's no longer about you alone in the dark. We're all here together now in the light. That's what he's saying. So, your body, let's just think this through. Your body has many parts, and a lot of the parts of your body you never even notice them until they break. Anybody ever experienced that before? I didn't even ever think about this part of the body until it came up on an X-ray or a scan, until the doctor said some word that I could not even pronounce. And that's inside of me my whole life. Right? I mean, just go ahead. Shake your arms, everybody. How is that working right now? Okay, how does that work? And nobody shaking their arms with me. I'm the only one up here shaking my arm. Look at your right arm as you shake it. Look at that. Observe that, see that. How is that happening? I mean, that's like my head's thinking something. My eyes are looking at something. My arms doing something, my fingers are even doing something. That's okay. That's how we're supposed to be. That's how we're supposed to be. Who is the head of the body? That is the church, who's the head? Christ. He's the head. What are we all, we're all parts of the body. We're all parts of the body. That means we're all in it together. Everybody here is a member, everybody here is a part. And you don't get to separate from the other parts of the body. You don't get to dismember yourself and be like, well, yeah, I'm just going to be a rug finger over here. I'm just taking the ride here. And I'm going home with it. Right? That's when people act like people act. I will use a sports analogy. I will be a free agent. I will enter the transfer portal and get out of this church anytime I want to. And I will decide who I sign with, who I play with. That's not what Paul's saying here. He's saying we're a team. And everybody here you're a member of the team, everybody here, you're a part of the body and we are all a part of the body right next to each other. And when Jesus is giving us commands, when Jesus is telling us the way to live, when Jesus is speaking to us, the words of eternal life, we all need to move together. You are no longer just yourself when you are in Christ, you are a part of the body of Christ. This is the analogy. Paul uses this analogy on a regular basis. In fact, go back to Romans 6, he already gave us this idea earlier in the book of Romans, “As your body has many different parts that all work together to be one body, so we are many different parts, many different people. But we are all one body in Christ. That means we're all one anothers. We're all in this together. And back here in Romans 6. Look at verses 12 and 13 and 14 of Romans six because he said, don't let sin be in your body to make you obey its passions. And then he talked about don't present your members to sin, think through, don't let the parts of your body sin. Don't let your eyes look at that. Don't let your feet go there. Don't let your ears hear that. Like, Hey, you can't have sin in your body. And so, you’ve got to control all the members of your body to make sure you don't sin
So, he loves this idea. He talks about this all the time, where you could go read about the church being the body of Christ. In many of the letters of Paul, this is something he felt like we could all relate to. You are. You have one body, but there are so many different things going on in your body. We are all one church, we are all one body of Christ, and we are all a part of it. There are so many different people here that are a part of it. Yet we're all one a big problem that some of you have in your Christian life is you're trying to be a ring finger, or you're trying to do it by yourself, dismembered from the rest of the body. And Paul's teaching you to think differently than that. Go over to Ephesians chapter 4. I love how he says it here in Ephesians chapter 4 and, and Ephesians 4, Colossians 3, Romans 12. These are all classic sanctification texts. Classic. Are you a Christian? Well, let's talk about the new you. Let's talk about how you're going to live out your new life. And if you look at Romans 12, Ephesians 4, or Colossians 3, they all talk about sanctification. They also all talk about how we're in this together, and a part of putting on the new you is embracing us, the church, the Body of Christ. And that's what he gets right to hear in Ephesians 4:1. He says, “I, therefore a prisoner for the Lord, I want to encourage you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called. You are in Christ, that should change your life. Walk out your new life in Christ, with all humility, gentleness, patience.” And then what does he get right to bearing with what one another in love? Yeah, if you're going to live for Jesus, it's going to involve other people, you're going to have to love people when they bother you. You're going to have to keep going with brothers and sisters, who don't seem like they want to keep going with you. If every, I mean, there are so many Christians, once they have one problem with one person in a church, they leave the church. That happens all the time in Southern California. Where is this bearing with one another in love? Where is this? No, we're all in this for Christ together idea. Look at what he says here, in Ephesians 4:4-6. “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” So yes, we all have a measure of faith, we all have a measure of grace.
If you come back next week, we all have different gifts that we can use, by the power of the Spirit, for the glory of God. We all have our own part to play, but we are all a part of one body. That's what Paul wants the church to know. That's what he wants you to think. Like, these are my people. This is my tribe. These are my brothers and sisters. As they go, I will go. That's what he wants you to think. He wants you to have this all-in mindset, like there's no other option. You can't go and be your own body. You're a part of the body. Go over with me to John 17. Let's not even just read about Paul saying it. Let's hear Jesus talk about it. When Jesus is praying to the Father in John 17. If you were here last week, he prayed for us to be sanctified. “Sanctify them, by the truth, your word is the truth. I want them to be set apart, set apart from the world, set apart from my purpose that I've called them to.” Well, then Jesus says this after he prayed for our sanctification, he says here in John 17:20. John chapter 17, verse 20, he said, “I do not ask for these only.” I'm not just praying for the disciples that were there with him in the upper room on the night before he died. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.” If you have believed in Jesus, through the gospel preached by the apostles, well, you raise your hand right now if you believed in Jesus through the word of these apostles. So, Jesus is praying for you. This is Jesus, who's the high priest, who intercedes for you. This is what Jesus prays for you. Verse 21, “that they may all be one, just as you father are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me the glory that you have given me, I have given to them that they may be one even as we are one, I in them, and you in me that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and love them, even as you loved me.” They will know we are Christians by our love, by us being one. We're not doing a very good job of that these days. We're coming across the world, not really knowing that we are the people of Jesus. Because there's so much division, so much people thinking of themselves more highly than they ought to think, so many people kind of doing their own thing. Yeah, they go to church, but there's a difference between people who go to church and people who want to be the church. Are you a part of the body? Are you a member of the body? Or do you get to decide and casually kind of connect or disconnect yourself from the body of Christ as much as you want to?
Let's get this down for number three: You need to “consider yourself a member.” You need to consider yourself a member, just as you have a body with many members, so you are one of the members of the Body of Christ. And that makes us all members, one of another. So, I want to really encourage you to embrace this mindset that you are the church, you are the body, you are one of the one anothers. And so how should you act toward the church? Not how is the church acting towards you. If you go to church long enough, and you start making it about yourself, everybody will want to leave a church at some point. If your evaluation is how is everybody here at church towards me, well, that's you thinking of yourself more highly than you ought to think. And so, what am I doing? I mean, don't get me wrong, there might be a time to leave a church because they're not preaching it, or they're not practicing what they preach. But any church you go to, there will be people you need to bear with, there will be people you need to forgive, there will be people that you're going to love them, and you're going to be like, man, loving these people sometimes feels like I'm dying. Sometimes it feels like I'm laying my life down. Sometimes it feels like I'm sacrificing myself. Yes, that's exactly what it is like. That is the mindset. That's the mind of Christ. Because I will die for these people, because these people are more important than me. But their life is more significant than my life. And yeah, even if the church people kill me while I'm dying for those church people, because that's what Jesus did for me. I'm so thankful that Jesus didn't care about himself more than he cared about me. Anybody want to say amen to that?
See, here's the problem, brothers and sisters. Sometimes, you let the care of other people set the tone for you. The care of Jesus is meant to set the tone for you. And if you feel like everybody abandons you, and it's just you and God, and you're laying down your life for everybody else, you might be on the right track, brother. You might be thinking the right thing because that was the mindset of Christ. And if Jesus, the Son of man, who's going to come riding on the clouds, and get all the praise, all the honor, all the glory. If he considered you more significant than himself, then surely sinners like us, we should be able to consider one another, as more significant than ourselves. Does the love of Jesus define how you're going to love the other people at church? Or do the other people at church find how you're going to love the other people at church? Because if you only love people who love you, you don't need to go to church. The world does that. Even the tax collectors who are stealing from people do that. Even the Gentiles who don't know God, they scratch the back that scratches them. But the mindset of Christ is I'm a part of this body. And I'm so thankful that Jesus saved me. I'm so thankful I get to be one of his people, that I'll be happy to die as one of his people. See, he goes from this idea because Jesus gave his life for me, does it make sense for me to give my life for Jesus? Yeah, but see what we don't always think through where our renewal of our mind doesn't always take us where our mindset doesn't always go, is Jesus. He didn't just give his life for me. Jesus gave his life for us. And therefore, it makes sense, not only that I would give my life away for Jesus, but I would give my life away for you. Because that's what Jesus did. That's how Jesus thought, what did Jesus cry out on the cross when he was in so much pain and agony, and the darkness had descended upon the land? And when Jesus was taking the wrath for your sin, and people were mocking him, what did Jesus say? “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Jesus knew he would lay down his life for people that didn't even fully understand what he was doing for them. And here we are at church and we want everybody to really appreciate the sacrifice that we're making for them. Jesus was very unappreciated on the cross. And He was willing to go all the way to the end. He loved us to the very end. So, we need to evaluate, are you thinking of yourself more highly than you want to think? Or do you honestly think that I'm a part of this body, I'm a part of this team? I'm one of the members of the Body of Christ. And that means I'm connected to my one anothers. And that means when it comes to Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Thursday night, or when I told so and so I was going to pray for them, but I'm so tired. Or when I was told so and so I was going to meet for them, but now my schedule is busy. And now it's no longer convenient. Do I just casually say, can't make it today, casually say, can't pray for them today. Oops, I guess I didn't have time for anybody else. Or do I go no matter what. Unless I'm out of state or unless I'm throwing up, I'm going to be there. Because I'm a part of the body. And I want to see so and so. I want to look them in the eyes. I want to see how they're doing. And I want them to know when I see them that I care about them. Because Jesus cared about me. Are you a part of the body? See here, I've done it again. I've gone to big church, and I've walked into your living room with my shoes on like I belong there. And I've stepped on everybody's toes. Are you going to be offended? Because I'm not sorry for saying any of this. I'm not sorry for telling people at church that they think way too highly of themselves than they ought to think. And I'm not sorry for telling you that. If you're a part of Christ, you are a part of his whole body. That means everybody that he saved. What I am sorry about this, when people at church act like they're better than other people at church. That's what I'm sorry about. When people have no problem of plotting the evil of this world, but won't look in the mirror and face their own evil, their own selfishness, their own self-interest, that's what I'm sorry about is that they don't know very clearly that we're Christians because they don't see love. And I'm sorry that we don't love one another like we should at church these days.
And I want to love you. I want to be the body of Christ with you. I want to be the church of Jesus. And so, we've got some questions there on the back of your handout that you can think through, like Question number one, and I want you to answer these questions with somebody, I want you to talk about this with your fellowship group. Look at this question. After hearing the sermon, how would you measure your mindset towards your one anothers? I really hope you will not just hear this, but you'll really think this through? Have you been thinking more highly of yourself than you ought to think? If you have been thinking soberly or soundly, what Scripture helps you measure yourself? How do you know if you're thinking right or not? If you feel offended, like, wow, I felt like he was telling me I think more highly of myself than I ought to think. Well, how do you know that you don't think that way? What scripture would give you the confidence that you're thinking the right way? And there are people here at this church, you are laying down your life, you are being the body, you do have the mindset of Christ, I am so encouraged by many people here who come to church not just for themselves in their own family, but they come for the one anothers. Thank you for being the church. And if you know somebody like that down at the bottom, there's a personal application. Let that person know how blessed you are to be the body with them. Let them know you can see that they love in a sacrificial way. Let them know that you know, they're one of your one anothers. Encourage that person, let them know, hey, I heard that sermon, and I took it to heart. I thought about myself, but I did also think about you not in a negative way, like you needed to hear it, but like in a positive way, like you are what that was sermon was about. You have the mindset of Christ; you are the body of Christ. And I'm so thankful to strive side by side and rub shoulder to shoulder with you for the gospel of Jesus. let that person know. Encourage them, build them up because people at church should not just be friendly people at church should actually be friends who love one another to the very end. Because that's what Jesus did for us. You know, what I've learned about big church is you can't even tell people take one out. We'll take each other out to dinner because they won't do it. They'll get offended. So, what we've learned is we've got to bring dinner here. That's what we've got to do. We've got to bring dinner here. Now what you're going to do, right we're going to we're going to offer everyone in this room free dinner. That's how much we want people at church to talk to each other, and not just run to the car, because churches aren’t supposed to be a building that you go to, or a service that you attend, church is supposed to be people that you love the way that Jesus loved you. And so, I want to encourage you if you want to, there's free dinner, we'd love to have you stick around. Because I can go home and I can sing, I love you, Lord all by myself. And I can cry, and I can worship the Lord Jesus. But let me tell you, it's a lot better. when we all sing, I love you, Lord together. So, let's stand up right now. And let's hear nothing but the voices of the people of this church, all of us who have been saved by Jesus. I'm going to pray. And then we're going to sing this song together.
Father, I just come before you and I pray that we would stop with the separation of I'm going to go work on my sin over here by myself. And then I'll selectively share with people at church when I want to. I pray that you would give us a new way to think, that you would teach us to think with the mindset of Christ, soundly, soberly, rightly, that everybody here just as we have one body with many parts. So, we are all one in Christ. We're all members then of the Body of Christ, and we're all in this together. We're all parts of the body of Christ together. And that means we're one another. So that means we're all in this. And I pray that we would think that way. I pray that we would act that way. I pray that we would weep with those who weep, and we would rejoice with those who rejoice. I pray that when other families that were infertile have babies, that it would bring such joy to our hearts. And when this family loses that precious loved one, that we would cry real tears because their pain is our pain. Because we're in this together, I pray that that would be true of this little church in Huntington Beach, California, that this would be a place where people don't just know we're Christians, because we preach Jesus. But people would know that we're Christians because we care about other Christians. So, Father, please convict us if we need to be convicted. humble us if we need to be humbled. And when we think selfishly, show us that's a wrong way to think. And that's not the way Jesus thought about us. Father, we want to thank you so much, that Jesus cared about us that he considered us as more significant than himself, that he humbled himself and became obedient even to the point of death on a cross. So, Father, I pray that the love that we have for Jesus would also be a love for one another. And I pray that when we sing this song together, that it will be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.