Thank you for joining me, this is the 4th part of this series. We have been studying the Mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5) and what learning we can apply to ourselves as Christians.

Essentially we’ve seen that the mind of Christ is a mind of great reverence for the Father, it’s a humble and selfless mind and it is a mind conscious of the God-status as well as its attendant privileges and advantages.

Hebrews 1:5-10 showed us how God the Father sees Jesus Christ; importantly, we saw that Christ is God’s Firstborn. Then we tried to locate ourselves (Christians) by asking the question, ‘who are we?’

Galatians 3:26-29 provided us with answers to that question;

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

So Christ is the firstborn. We are all sons of God. We are Abraham’s seed. We are heirs of the promise.

Next, we have a bunch of questions to answer; What privileges do sons have? What advantages are there in being Abraham’s seed and/or heirs of the promise? What promise are we talking about?

I’d like to jump in and start exploring the scriptures for answers to these questions but first, the story of the prodigal son has been on my mind since my last publishing on this series. In my notes, I dropped some leading questions around this story; who is a father and what are his duties? How much of his father’s possession was the prodigal son entitled to? What is the Father’s (GOD) Will for His children and how would we find it?

From Luke 15:11-32, a narrative of the story of the prodigal son, we find that Jesus did not tell the story of the prodigal son solely from the son’s perspective. In fact, the story goes to show more about the heart of God the Father than the behavior of the prodigal son (which really is a regular occurrence with man).

So what do we see about The Father from Luke 15:11-23;

1. The Father has ‘goods’ (possessions) reserved for his children.
2. These goods/possessions are always available to the sons (the Father doesn’t withhold or hoard them).
3. These goods/possessions are limitless, they don’t run out, and we can draw from them over and over again.
4. The Father is compassionate.
5. The Father’s love is unconditional; He loves us irrespective of our shortcomings.
6. The Father is not afraid to let us ‘roam’ sometimes because even from afar, His love and compassion can reach and save us.
7. The Father is not afraid to allow us to be exposed to challenges sometimes, because these would build our faith and confidence.
8. The Father knows that all that He has belongs to His sons and He is not threatened.

Brethren, we are sons/heirs of God through Christ (Galatians 4:6-7), the Father has ‘goods’ reserved for us which we can access at anytime and in any dimension without it running out. We have a compassionate, merciful and loving Father and all that The Father has belongs to us.

Now, remember we’re trying to answer the question of our rights and privileges as sons of God. So what are these rights and privileges? What goods did the Father reserve for us? What’s our inheritance as heirs?

1. We are God’s children, therefore we are gods. Just like Jesus Christ, we have the God-status. We are not God The Father, We are not God The Son, we did not exist in the beginning, we did not create the world in any way or form, but we are God’s children, we are His heritage, we have the genes of God and we have the God-status.

Psalm 82:6 calls the children of the Most High; ‘gods’.

“I said, “You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High.”

Don’t let me lose you now to religious thinking; possibly thinking; ‘hey Grace, this is blasphemy, why say we are gods?

Maybe one easy way to understand this is this; I have 3 children, they are all OBOMANU 🙂 They can claim all rights and privileges and carry out any duties of an OBOMANU anyday, anytime.

Now, Jesus actually got this same ‘blasphemy’ reaction from the Jews;

“Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming’?, because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him” John 10:34-38 NKJV

Question: Why do we have the God-status? …..To flaunt it around? To feel good about ourselves?…..or why?

Again, Jesus provides answers to this from John 10:34-38;

“…..If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him”.

So we have the God-status to do WORKS. We express the God-status by doing the Works of The Father. We have power, authority, dominion, we can create things, we can move mountains, we can bind and unbind stuffs, etc, all so that we EXPRESS the power of God by doing His Works.

The next rational question to ask is- what are the works of God that Jesus spoke of?

John 14:10 answers this for us;

“Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you I do not say on My own initiative or authority, but the Father, abiding continually in Me, does His works [His attesting miracles and acts of power].”AMP

Answer: Works of miracles and acts of power.

And in verse 12, Jesus tells us that our REACH, COVERAGE, in doing these Works would be more;

“I assure you and most solemnly say to you, anyone who believes in Me [as Savior] will also do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these [in extent and outreach], because I am going to the Father.”JOHN 14:12 AMP

What’s the scope of the authority of the name of Jesus?

“.…..So God raised Him up from the most important place and gave Him the name that is greater than any other name. God did this so that every person will bow down to honor the name of Jesus. Everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth will bow“. Philippians 2:9-10.

With the authority we have in the name of Jesus, forces from the different spheres/realms bow to us. Therefore there is no feat we cannot achieve.

Greater Works…..because He goes to the Father. Because He’s finished His Works, defeated the Devil, reclaimed power and authority and secured a Name higher than any other. So that anything we speak, declare or ask in His Name, will get done. Hallelujah!

We are God’s sons, we are gods and like Christ, we have Works to do…greater in reach, extent and coverage, because we have The NAME to which every knee must bow, all prayers will be answered, every victory will be won.

Thank You Father.

Thank You.

When we read Philippians 2:5, we see without much brainstorming that the mind of Christ is a mind of humility, selflessness and great reverence for The Father. We’ve discussed these 3 attributes of the mind of Christ in the first 2 parts of this series.

Is there anything else we see about the mind of Christ in Philippians 2:5?

“Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of Himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of Himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, He set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. he didn’t claim special privileges. Instead He lived a selfless, obedient life and then dies a selfless, obedient death-and the worst kind of death -a crucifixion.” ERV.

Well, I see something else;

4. A mind conscious of the God-status

5. A mind conscious of the privileges and advantages of the God-status.

So we see that Christ had equal status with God the Father, then we are admonished to have same mind as Christ

Question: Should we think of ourselves as having equal status with God the Father?

To help answer that question, we need to understand what the scripture mean by ‘Christ had equal status with God’?

In Blogpost 1, we mentioned that Jesus Christ did not misunderstand His position in the Godhead. He was the Son, there is God The Father (the supreme head) and the Holy Spirit. The 3 existed in the beginning having EQUAL status, power, authority, but their roles and interactions with man is distinct.  One of the things that fascinated me as a young Christian was getting to understand the person of the Holy Spirit. I’d read a book by Benny Hinn on the Holy Spirit (not about miracles) where he said that Christians were currently in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit; The Teacher & Comforter. I loved the revelation so much I started writing a book on the Holy Spirit ……don’t ask me where my notes are 🙂

Colossians 1:15 describes Christ as the firstborn;

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation”. NKJV.

In Hebrews 1:5-10, we see a very interesting narrative of the Father-Son relationship;

“….You are My Son, today I have begotten You? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son”? But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says; “Let all the angels of God worship Him” And of the angels He says: ‘Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire” But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of  Your Kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore, God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions”. And You Lord in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands…” NKJV

We can tease out a lot about Christ Jesus (and His status) from Hebrews 1 {referenced from Psalm 45:6-7};

He was in the beginning. The heavens are the works of His hands. He laid the foundation of the earth. God is His God. The Father God calls Him both God & My Son. He is the firstborn.  He has an everlasting throne, etc

Now, we see how God describes Christ. How do we (Christians) fit in? Who are we?

Galatians 3:26-29;

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Christ is the firstborn.

We are all sons of God.

We are Abraham’s seed.

We are heirs of the promise.

Question: What privileges or advantages do we have as sons? What’s our status? What does scripture mean by ‘we are Abraham’s seed and heirs of the promise?

We’ll look into the scriptures to provide answers to these questions in the next part.

What have we learnt so far?

We should have a mind of great reverence for the Father, we should stay humble, remain selfless and never attempt to usurp the position of the Father, nonetheless living in the consciousness of our status as sons of God, being fully aware of the privileges and advantages we have as sons.

My first draft on this blogpost was 3 weeks ago. Isn’t it interesting how God’s Spirit works?; this was a sub-theme discussion in Church last Sunday! Ordinarily I wouldn’t bother publishing this again but for this reason; I am interested in doing a personal study on this scripture. I hope we can together gain some insights as we draw from the wisdom of Christ (Colossians 2:3).

My notes 3 weeks ago reads;

The real identity of a person is revealed in not always what we see them do or the way they act but in the way they think which they eventually voice out. The Bible tells us that ‘out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks‘ (Matthew 12:34)- Interesting that that came from Jesus Himself! Little wonder Jesus said, speaking about the Pharisees; to listen to what they say but never to act the way they do.

Focus scripture for this blogpost is Philippians 2:5 and I love the Message translation;

“Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of Himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of Himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, He set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. he didn’t claim special privileges. Instead He lived a selfless, obedient life and then dies a selfless, obedient death-and the worst kind of death -a crucifixion.”

So how exactly is the mind of Christ?

1. A mind of great reverence for the Father (The Supreme Head).

Many times we misunderstand and misinterpret the Godhead. Jesus didn’t. On more than one occasion, He clearly reverenced the Father….don’t let me lose you now 🙂 – the Godhead consist of 3 ‘persons’; The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The 3 have EQUAL status, power, authority, but with distinct roles in their interaction with man. I believe that while Jesus walked on earth, he clearly identified the different characters of the Godhead. The Father as the Supreme Head, Himself as the Messiah and the Holy Spirit as the Comforter/Teacher.  Need we do same? ………

I used to wonder why Jesus repeatedly admonished His disciples to ‘make their requests to the Father in His name’ (e.g The Lord’s Prayer), why He’d pray to the Father at Lazarus’ grave before calling  him out of the tomb, why He’d ask the Father to take away the cup of His death from Him, why he said He’d pray the Father to send us the Comforter, why he’d say ‘in my Father’s house (not His house) are many mansions’….and many more why’s. The Father is just that….THE FATHER. Did He give birth to the Son? We’re not told, but we’re told the Son existed in the beginning with The Father with same God status (John 1:1-3).

Does it then mean that every time we call ‘GOD‘ we’re referring to the Godhead? Would we get the attention of all 3 of them or would they work in unison to respond? (Selah).

Certainly, we can be specific (just as Jesus always was) in clearly identifying the deity we’re referring to by calling on their specific titles; The Father, The Son (Jesus Christ) and The Holy Spirit. While they remain ONE and can do All things, but can our knowledge and familiarity of the Godhead be of added benefit to us, especially when we pray?

Back to our discussion on reverence……..

There is a particular tribe in my country Nigeria, where ordinary word greeting (good morning, evening etc) is unacceptable, especially for elders; any greeting unaccompanied by full physical prostration is considered disrespectful. Can we describe physical prostration, kneeling, bowing etc as reverence? Depends on how you look at it. Did Jesus have to do any of these to communicate His reverence for The father? (Selah).

What does it mean to reverence someone?

Dictionary definition: Simply to regard or treat someone with great respect, to think highly of someone, to hold someone in high esteem, to value someone, etc.

My all-time personal definition for reverence as relates to my faith walk?: What would God have me do (in every given situation)?  Like it or not, I tell you that this personal understanding of reverence have kept me on the right track, kept me away from trouble and given me peace.

There is a strong relationship between reverence and obedience/submission. I find that because I answer the simple question of ‘what would God have me do?’ in very challenging life situations, I am compelled, against my natural and preferred inclinations, to give a divine response to such situations and circumstances . It always pays better!  🙂

So first question to answer for ourselves: Do we have the mind of Christ as regards reverence for The Father? Do we often follow our flesh and personal inclinations, often ignoring God’s word and Spirit?

Jesus could have walked away from the cross. But He submitted to the Father’s Will (Mark 14: 36; Luke 22:42, Matthew 26:39).