What Does It Mean to Have the Mind of Christ?

Paul doesn’t just tell the Philippians to serve. He tells them to think differently first. Because if you get the mind right, the service follows. That’s the spine of Philippians 2 — and it’s the spine of this episode.

This week, Pastor David Chauncey and Pastor Richie Baldwin go deep into Philippians 1:27–2:11 — Paul’s call to live as citizens of heaven, the Christ hymn and the kenosis doctrine, and what George Washington crossing the Delaware River has to do with the incarnation.

Citizens of Heaven | The Foundation

The sermon’s launch point is Philippians 1:27 — “Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Paul is writing to a predominantly Roman church. These were Roman citizens. Suffering and humility were not virtues in their world — they were signs of weakness. Paul’s reframe is radical: you have a different citizenship now. And that citizenship comes with a different code.

Richie connects it directly to service: the vertical relationship with Christ enables horizontal service to people. If you know the encouragement of Christ, the comfort of His love, the fellowship of the Spirit, then you can have the same mind as Jesus toward others. The vertical affects the horizontal.

The Mandate, the Method, and the Models

Pastor David structures Philippians 2 around three movements. The mandate: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Phil. 2:4). Most problems, he says, are a counting problem — we’re counting abuses to ourselves instead of the needs of others.

The method is a transformation of the mind. Paul doesn’t say try harder — he says change what you count. Count others. Die to self. The models are Christ himself, then Timothy (“there is no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare”), and Epaphroditus, who traveled to Philippi simply because he heard they were worried about his health.

The key insight: we don’t want people to fill a slot of service. We want people to develop a mind. If you have the mind of Christ, the slots fill themselves.

The Christ Hymn and the Kenosis

Philippians 2:5–11 is believed by many scholars to be one of the earliest hymns of the Christian church, an oral tradition encapsulated in poetic form before the Gospels were written. It is among the most theologically significant passages in the New Testament.

The passage describes three stages of humiliation: Jesus existed in the form (morphē) of God in full equality with the Father. He did not grasp at that equality but voluntarily emptied himself — the Greek word is kenōsis. He took on human form. And then he went further: obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Pastor David notes something critical: the Greek says he emptied himself — not that the Father emptied him. This was a voluntary act of submission between equals. You cannot be coerced into the mind of Christ. It has to come from within.

The hymn doesn’t end with the cross. It ends with exaltation: God gives Jesus the name above every name, and at that name every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Suffering unto death — then glory. That’s the pattern. And Paul says, "Have this same mind."

Also in This Episode

• George Washington at the crossing of the Delaware — how his voluntary laying down of power illustrates the kenosis
• King George III: “If Washington gives it all up, he’ll be the greatest man in the world”
• The Mandalorian’s code and what “This is the way” means for the kingdom of God
• Why Paul only made tents in Corinth — and what the Philippians’ financial partnership actually meant
• The Council of Nicaea and why the kenosis was debated for centuries
• Why “every knee will bow” doesn’t mean universal salvation
• Baptism as identification with Christ’s emptying and exaltation
• Mother’s Day: Why a mother’s job description is the purest picture of servant leadership

Scripture Referenced

Philippians 1:27 • Philippians 2:1–11 • Philippians 4:13 • Hebrews 12:2 • 1 Corinthians 15 • Colossians 1 • Romans 1:18

Part of the SERVE series at Westside Baptist Church, Gainesville, FL. New episodes of What We Didn’t Say on Sunday drop every week.

What does it mean to have the mind of Christ?

In Philippians 2:5–11, Paul commands believers to “have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” Having the mind of Christ means adopting his posture of voluntary, selfless humility — counting the needs and interests of others above your own. The passage describes how Jesus, though equal with God in every way, did not grasp at that equality but emptied himself (Greek: kenōsis), took on human form, and became obedient to death on a cross. This was not compelled submission but a voluntary act of love. To have the mind of Christ is to make the same voluntary choice — to lay down status, comfort, and self-interest in service to others — motivated not by obligation but by the same love that sent Jesus from heaven to earth.