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.
In Hope,
Bro Philip
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