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Romans 12:16, "Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits."

This morning, people continue to "look for answers" in their lives. Sadly, many are looking in the wrong places and listening to the wrong spirits. The Bible has the source of answers for daily living, and most of the exhortations are easy to comprehend and difficult (for the old flesh) to follow. Romans 12 is one of the places that contains simple, easy to be understood lessons that we can spend the rest of our lives trying to follow. One of the important things to remember about this chapter is that Paul "sets the  stage" for all the lessons in the opening verses. We are exhorted to not be conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of our minds. As we have mentioned before, a transformation is a two-fold concept. For a transformation to occur, something must go up, and something else must go down. In my work (electrical engineering), we have transformers that transform two elements: voltage and current. In every transformer, the voltage does the opposite of current. If one goes up, the other goes down. In this chapter, we see this theme occurring over and over in the realm of the spirit and flesh.

For us to live more spiritual lives, a transformation requires that we live less carnal lives. There is an old saying, "You cannot live with one foot in the world and the other in the church."  These two things are not compatible. Now, we must say here that there is a difference between being "in" the world and "of" the world. We must live in the world, and I would even say that there are things in the world that are not spiritual in nature (purely natural) that are not sinful. If a father takes his family out for entertainment (of a non-sinful nature), there is nothing spiritual about that yet at the same time, it lacks the carnal sinfulness that is a stench
in the nostrils of God. But, we need to understand that living by faith means forgoing the pleasures of sin. (Hebrews 11:24-26) So, let us examine the verse above in the frame of reference of transforming the
spiritual up and the flesh down.

When it comes to our fellowship that we have with each other, it is always prudent to look at the Perfect Example to see how He has fellowship with His brethren. By looking at His steps, our course is mapped to follow. When we look at each phrase above, Christ shines forth in brilliant fashion in each one.  The first phrase speaks of having the same mind. This will be crucial to our examination of the other two phrases, for we cannot begin to perform the other two without performing the first. To have the same mind with someone else these days seems to require a lot of compromise. Politicians play this game quite often, and sadly, some churches and their members do as well. To have the same mind in the reference Paul is using is to be together in thought about the purpose and course of our lives. Many times, churches will use a term to bring this out called "same faith and order."


What a church means by that is that the church of same faith and order is seeking a course that they seek as
well in both doctrine, practice, and order as is found in the Holy Scriptures.

When Christ walked this earth, He took upon Himself the nature of a man (sin excepted). He felt the sorrows and pains of life. He knew what it was like to hunger, thirst, be weary, and experience death. We have something in our Lord that other religions cannot speak of. We have a God that knows what humanity "feels." He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15) Therefore, when we are seeking to follow after the precepts of the Lord, our High Priest knows what that is like, for He has taken part of the same. When we desire to follow after godliness, we have the same mind that Christ Jesus has. (Philippians 2:5) Therefore, knowing that our Saviour has been where we are, we can take great courage in seeking the mind of Christ. When churches seek to make decisions, it is good to seek the mind of Christ, for then it is that we have the same mind one with another. This mind is not given to compromise, for the mind of Christ seeks the good and refrains from the evil. Therefore, if brethren are divided, then either one or both parties have not the mind of Christ (in that action). The reason that both cannot be following the mind of Christ is because He is not a god of confusion, but rather, He is a God of Peace.

Now, having laid that foundational point, let us examine the meat of this verse. Paul exhorts us to condescend to men of low estate. There is a negative perception of the word "condescend" in today's vernacular based on arrogance and pride. But, the condescension that Paul speaks of is not one of doing so pridefully or grudgingly. Rather, the most basic definition of the word is to leave a state of superior position to an inferior position. Again, our Example in this left a superior position (heaven and immortal glory) to come here and be found in fashion as a man.


While we understand that His Divinity was manifest in fleshly form, He did lay aside much superiority
(glory) to condescend to men of low estate. Whenever someone sees himself as high and lifted up, one thing
is certain. No matter how high they are, they are never as high as heaven and immortal glory. Christ left that to come here. So, there is no man that could offer any reason not to condescend to men of low estate, for his condescension will never be as far as Christ's was.

When Christ came, He was willing. When Christ came, He was joyful. When Christ left heaven, there was no
grumbling. So, when we seek to help others that are less fortunate than we are (or think we are), let us be willing, joyful, and without grumbling. True condescension carries a willing spirit as much as an actual traversing from plane to plane. If we mind high things (which Paul exhorts against), we are thinking ourselves too important to fulfill this command. Someone who minds high things (houses, cars, money, and fame) will never condescend as that action is "beneath him" (no pun intended). The opposite of condescend is to ascend. When Christ condescended to men of low estate, it was not forever, for He is now ascended back into heaven with all things put under His feet. When He ascended back to glory, there are two texts (Acts 1:9 and I Timothy 3:16) that use the word "received" to describe His ascension. A cloud received Him out of their sight, and glory received her victorious King.

The word received bears connotations of being placed in superior position from inferior position. What a contrast to the condescension! The Lord will receive His sons in due time, and no matter how far we condescend to our brethren in this life, we will never equal the condescension of Christ. But, while we will
not ascend like Christ did (by our own power), we will ascend to where He is. His power will draw us away
from this old world to be with Him forevermore. So, until that day, let us not be wise in our own conceits. If any man thinks highly of himself, he knows nothing as he ought to know. (I Corinthians 8:2)

Let us follow after our Example, for He has shown us how to live. If we lift up self (flesh), we cannot but put down (at the same time) the spiritual. Remember that transformation is two-fold. To exalt Christ, we must put down self. To think highly of Him, we must think lowly of ourselves. To condescend to men of low estate, we must put down pride and conceit. Let us therefore mind higher things (spiritual), follow after His wisdom (not our own), and seek to help our brethren out here in this life. By doing so, we are following His mind, unified in thought, at peace with the kingdom, and will find rest for our souls.
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In Hope,

Bro Philip