Have This Mind in You

“…and having put on the new man, having been renewed in full knowledge according to the image of the One creating him, where there is no Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, foreigner, Scythian, slave or freeman, but Christ is all things and in all”
Colossians 3:10-11 (LITV)

It is the “new man” that is being renewed in the knowledge of Christ, freed from racism and bias. Christ is come; He has died for the sins of the world. His sacrifice knows no limits. His offer of Life and Salvation extends to all, with no regard to nationality. It is incumbent upon all who carry His Name to live and walk in harmony with His Heart.

The nature of fallen man is to exclude and to cause separations to elevate and promote one’s self. This fallen nature that ever seeks recognition and dominance over others. This ethos of the world invades the religious world with the same end in mind. Men segregate and divide the ONE Church into factions to hold pre-eminence among God’s people.

The spirit of Diotrephes

“I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence among them, receiveth us not…”
3 John 1:9

Self-promotion is the curse and the damnation of the Church of Jesus Christ. The wickedness of a self-seeking, self-promoting serpent nature is alive and very prominent in the Body of Christ today. Men pretend to be walking in the Spirit of God yet their works reveal the factious ways of the world (the Greek relates such works to the political factions of the world). The result is division and strife. We see these secular and isolated groups throughout the history of the Church inflicting great pain and sorrow on the people of God while bringing damnation and eternal judgments upon themselves.

“Because of this, if I come, I will recall his works which he does, ranting against us with evil words. And not being satisfied with these, neither does he receive the brothers; and those intending it he prevents, and thrusts them out from the assembly”
3 John 1:10

John goes on to say:

“Beloved, do not imitate the bad, but the good. The one doing good is of God, but the one doing bad has not seen God”
3 John 1:11

It is what people DO that reveals the spirit in which they walk,
not their profession!

“They profess that they know God, but by their deeds they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work”
Titus 1:16

For this infection to stop, God’s people need to grow in discernment. It is not what men say but what they do that reveals the spirit in which they walk. We see much of the spirit of Diotrephes across our land. The cry for people to join an organization or sect, follow a teacher or a movement, is heard far more prominently than the true Call of God to “Come unto Christ”. The waning influence of the Church is partially a result of the horror of calling people to something other than Jesus.

“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men unto me”
John 12:32

The Gospel today is one of setting forth the ambitions of men to “grow” our churches, our fellowships, and our teachers (or teachings) in competition with the other “churches” who also promote themselves in the same spirit of rivalry. Somehow, we convince ourselves (despite our carnality) that we are representing the Spirit of Christ and the work of His Salvation on the earth.

“Now I exhort you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all say the same thing, and there be no divisions among you, but you be united in the same mind and in the same judgment”
1 Corinthians 1:10

This Word from Paul is aimed forcefully at those in the Church at Corinth because of their carnality:

“For concerning you, my brothers, it was shown to me by those of Chloe that there are strifes among you. But I say this, that each of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ”. (Or in our day – Pentecostal, Baptist, Alliance plus thousands of other names.)
1 Corinthians 1:11-12

Paul then asks the powerful question which we need to hear:

Is Christ divided?

1 Corinthians 1:13

Our unbelief and carnal ambitions are the cause of this unholy and defiling spirit at work amongst God’s people. We have “churches” that deny the Baptism of the Spirit; what does the Word of God say? We have “churches” that propagate a myriad of their own teachings that are not consistent with His Word yet declare that they are representing Him. How can the message of the Love and the Purity of Christ be declared accurately to the world around us? The Word of God is NOT ours to interpret, it is ours to believe and obey. We are always to be open to correction and enlargement through other members of the Body of Christ.

It is a Day to repent of the despite we have done to His Glorious Name! Those who walk in the spirit of Diotrephes need to be confronted. Those who espouse a ministry over another as the Church at Corinth did, need to be challenged. Ministries that promote themselves against other ministries in the Body of Christ need to be exposed as Heretics! The Greek Word for heresy means to cause factions and sects within the Body of Christ. It is the spirit of Satan working through man’s ambitions and carnal desires that allows this malignancy to continue.

Can we not hear the Spirit of Christ pleading through Paul to the people of God?

“If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit if any tender mercies and compassion, make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself…”
Philippians 2:1-3

Paul concludes this plea by saying,

“Have this mind in you,
which was also in Christ Jesus”
Philippians 2:5

Σ

“And have put on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him”

Ω

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another”
John 13:35

Related Post: The Renewed Mind

“The Church is everywhere represented as one. It is one body, one family, one fold, one kingdom. It is one because pervaded by one Spirit. We are all baptized into one Spirit so as to become, says the apostle, one body.”
– Charles Hodge

Brian Troxel