Day 27

Three times Jesus made the astonishing claim that He, Himself, could do nothing!  “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself…”

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

The ‘mind of Christ’ that Paul tells us to have is explained in the following verses where he writes of Christ, “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, … he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8)

It is this ‘making himself nothing’ that is the crucial issue! But ‘nothing’ in what sense? In the sense that recognizing a man was created to function in dependence on God, and apart from Him, he is capable of accomplishing nothing. Three times Jesus made the astonishing claim that He, Himself, could do nothing!  “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself…” (John 5:19); “By myself I can do nothing ….” (John 5:30); and “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am [the one I claim to be] and that I do nothing on my own …” (John 8:28). 

What then was the explanation for the remarkable things that Jesus clearly did do? He tells us in John 14:10-11, “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” The only explanation for the remarkable works of Jesus was not His intrinsic ability as a man to do these things, but His Father working in Him, doing His work.  

This is to be the pattern of our lives too. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)  Apart from Christ, we can do as much as He could do as a man apart from His Father – for this is the nature of true humanity. We were created to live and function in dependence on God.  

Therefore, to have this ‘mind’ which was in Christ is the mind that ‘made himself nothing’ in his disposition of complete dependence on His Father. This is liberating for us. All God expects of us, by our own strength, wisdom and resources, is ‘nothing’ of lasting value. Therefore, we are to live our lives on the common ground of recognizing our inability, and placing our dependence fully on Christ, so that He can be the source of all that happens in our lives. Then it becomes not about us at all, but about our willingness to trust the Lord Jesus Christ to be Himself in us, and do His work through us.