Philippians 2:5-7 says “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men”
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I have wondered what it means to allow Christ’s mind to be in me. I know for a fact that I can’t explain all the nuances of it, but I certainly can give you an example of what it looks like in the life of a spirit-filled person. I have seen the mind of Christ demonstrated several times. One incident sticks out in particular:
It was during a week of discipleship training at a teen camp in Alberta, Canada. I was a part of a junior counsellor program called “Ten Forty-Five.” This name was a reference to Mark 10:45 which says “For Jesus came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.” The point of the week was to give us as teens an opportunity for practical Christian service.
I remember one particular day I was in the staff room with one of the other junior counsellor as well as the assistant camp director, Matt and some others. Unbeknownst to me, Matt’s wife set her computer down on the couch and got up to get something. Without looking, I threw myself down hard on the cushion, only to feel something solid and hear the sound of crushed plastic beneath me. The computer was destroyed.
I remember leaping to my feet expecting to be screamed at for my foolish behaviour. To my surprise, there was no screaming, no anger. Although obviously disappointed, Matt dealt with the incident with calm compassion. He forgave me and even refused to let me pay for it. I was incredibly impacted by the demonstration of patience and compassion.
Looking back on that week I remember little. I don’t remember any of the messages that the speaker preached. I don’t remember the meals and very little of the games. I don’t remember what we learned in cabin devotions. However one incident sticks out in my mind: That of the incredible love and patience of a disciple-maker who cared more about me than he did about his broken computer. He didn’t have to say another word about being a servant. He didn’t need to exegete the servanthood of Mark 10:45 or explain Christ’s servanthood in Philippians 2 for me to understand what it meant to be a servant. I understood what it meant because I saw it before me. For a moment in that dining hall, I didn’t just see Matt, I saw Jesus loving me when I least deserved it.
During the Christmas season we have just gone through, we are all drawn to to the manger scene. The scene looks so clean, so sanitized, so quaint upon our mantles, in front of our houses, and on the covers of our Christmas cards. Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, we can forget what actually happened in that manger in Bethlehem. We forget, as we don our sherpa sweaters and sit on the sofa, grasping our mugs of cocoa that on that first Christmas the infinite God stooped so low as to empty himself. God became not just like us, but he became one of us. He was born on a cold night, in a putrid stall, far away from the golden silk and rich spice of a kings or palace paradise. From the very moment he was conceived, He was Emmanuel, God with us, with the lowest of us, resonating with our humanity, our weakness, our frailty, our dirt, our deep poverty. He took upon himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man. (Philippians 2:5)
In this classic passage of Scripture, we are called to model that kind of holy emptiness, to die to our personal rights and serve others, especially when it costs us something.
As I look back at the broken computer and the forgiveness I experienced over a decade ago, I am thankful for a disciple-maker who didn’t just talk about being a servant. He walked it. In the moment of his personal self-emptying, I saw Christ and how he served. It changed my life.
How I desire my own ministry to model that kind of self-effacing love!
Will Esayenko is an evangelist from Alberta, Canada. He was trained at Baptist College of Ministry in Menomonee Falls, WI. He traveled twice with Bobby Bosler as a team captain doing youth evangelistic work during his college years. It is his goal to see a new church planting movement established in Western Canada.
