Philippians 2:5-7 - “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”

1 Corinthians 11:1 – “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.”

In many areas of his life, Paul set a pattern of behavior that he was not ashamed to urge other believers to imitate.  Depending on the power that the Holy Spirit gave him to overcome his fleshly nature, Paul worked hard to imitate the Lord Jesus.  Paul understood that during the years that Jesus walked as a man in His earthly ministry, He constantly refused to do or say anything except what pleased the Father.  In this way, as Jesus took on Himself “the very nature of a servant,” He gave us a perfect example of what it is like to focus completely on serving God.  Jesus spoke only the words that came from the Father.  He performed only the actions that pleased the Father, and He never allowed His human nature to direct what He said or did.

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Philippians 4:12 – “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

A heresy of modern Christianity is the notion that material wealth is a sign of God’s approval.  God indeed blesses his faithful servants, and the Bible promises provision (Matthew 6:33).  Even so, there are churches today that preach a gospel of greed, and teach that the pastor’s wealth signals the strength of his spiritual anointing.  The Bible teaches riches are spiritually neutral.  Both the evil and the righteous accumulate riches, and poor people can be either wicked or upright.  Wealth or poverty is never a reliable indication of God’s approval of the person.

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“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus…” (Philippians 2:5, KJV)

Our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.  We should adjust our mentality and thinking to align with that of Christ Jesus.  This passage is not talking about copying some of the actions of Jesus, like religious people do when they mimic a few outward deeds that Jesus did.  The point here is an inward change that will affect all our behavior. We need to adopt the same attitude or way of thinking that Jesus had. Paul then delineates exactly what he means by the “mind” or “attitude” of Christ Jesus. 

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“All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.” - Philippians 4:22

Paul wrote Philippians from prison, apparently awaiting trial.  (See Philippians 1:13-14).  Roman prisons were very harsh, dangerous places – probably much worse than prisons today.  He must have been physically uncomfortable.  In addition, he faced false accusations from the religious leaders in Israel, which had caused his imprisonment – and false accusations are very frustrating.  While in prison, he had to worry about the churches he had planted falling under the control of self-centered preachers who would turn the new convert’s Christianity into a competition for keeping religious rules, elevating man, and abandoning revelation for dead traditions. He worried every day about these nascent churches, hoping they would continue in the correct doctrine and practices.  He was unable to visit them and remind them of God’s Word and their previous experiences. 

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Philippians 2:20-21 – “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

At the end of a chapter where Paul discusses the contrast between religion (rules and traditions) and the true Work of the Holy Spirit (Philippians 3), he contrasts the attitude or mindset of people in each category about where they belong. The false Christian has a “mind set on earthly things.”  They belong to this world, to the worldly system that goes its own way and ignores God’s revelation.

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