Pastor FortunatoWelcome to the podcast ministry of Pilgrim Baptist Church. Wherever you're listening from, welcome. We pray that the truth from the Word of God speaks to your heart during today's message. Romans chapter number 12, verse number 16. The Bible says, 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 is chock full of practical application. Be of the same mind. You know, we look for people, our carnal hearts look for people that will benefit us. We look for people that will respect us. And we'll look down on people if they don't. And our carnal hearts and our carnal flesh, we constantly need to be reminded of that, because that's not true biblical Christianity. Be of the same mind one toward another. Well, that can't mean we don't all have the same thoughts, we don't think the same things at the same time. So what does this mean, be of the same mind one toward another? 1 Peter 3 gives us some more insight. 1 Peter 3 verse 8. The Bible says in verse number 8, finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another. Love as brethren. Man, how are we of the same mind? How are we of one mind? We suffer with each other. That's what compassion is. A compassionate person isn't the one that's suffering. A compassionate person is the one who sees someone else suffering and they step into that suffering to help that person walk through it. They're fine. And the world says, yeah, just be on your own. Christianity says, I'm compassionate. I will enter into that with you. That's the same mind we should have, one for each other. And then obviously love. We see that as well in verse number 8. Compassion one another. Love as brethren. We're brothers and sisters in Christ. And then be pitiful. Now, it's not, this word pitiful has a few different meanings. It doesn't mean, man, you're a pitiful sight. It's not that. It's, James 5 describes our Lord as very pitiful and of tender mercy. And the context in James 5 was how he dealt with Job. Remember Job? He needed some of that. And that one mind is we're able to enter into the feelings of others. And someone that's full of pity, it says, I am able to feel sorrow, and I am able. To express sympathy when you are distressed. Our Lord's very pitiful. He will enter into that. And so as brothers and sisters in Christ, he asks us to enter into that with others. It's not, man, you're pitiful. It's no, I can be pitiful. I can have a heart that's full of expressing that I care what you're going through. That's Christianity. And in the fourth chapter of 1 Peter, watch what it says. For as much then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the, here's the phrase again, same mind. Man, I'm ready to take up arms. Okay, well God says take up arms with this. I'm not saying throw away your arms, your guns and your swords. Keep them too. But, what I'm saying is, God says, hey, let's arm ourselves with some other things too. This isn't a carnal battle, this is a spiritual battle. And I know that I want to have some brothers and sisters, and you probably want some brothers and sisters in Christ who are armed with the same mind of compassion and are willing to get into a situation and walk it through with you. That's Christianity. Philippians 1, what else should we have the same mind in? Go to Philippians chapter 1, Galatians, Ephesians, then the book of Philippians, and we'll look at the 27th verse in the first chapter. Watch this. Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent. I may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of what? The gospel. And when God says in Romans 12 we are to have the same mind one toward another, that same mind is this. We are not moving from the faith of the gospel. That is our primary emphasis and we all have the same mind. What are you doing Friday night? We're going to go out and preach the gospel. What are we going to do as a church when we go out in the community? We're not going to talk about all these conspiracies. We're not going to argue about politics. We're not going to do any of that. What we're going to do is try to get that thing to line up with where someone can see the cross of Christ and can come to know him in a saving and trusting way. See, mine is the gospel. I want to know if that person knows the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because I know from personal experience, when God saved me, all that other stuff started working itself out. Now it took some time, and it should, because that's what growth is. But we can't put the cart before the horse. We need to be gospel focused. Philippians 2, look at the second verse. Here's another one. There shouldn't be any miserable Christians. The Bible says in Philippians 2, 2, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Does that bring joy to your heart? Man, I got brothers and sisters in Christ that are focused on the Gospel, they have compassion, and they want to love me. I'm full of joy. Now, you get rid of people, it's going to be a lonely, lonely road. Joy comes with our brothers and sisters in Christ. You see the word says in Philippians 2, 2, being of one accord. How many of you play a musical instrument? Okay, well, okay, so in a guitar or a piano, a stringed instrument, you would, if you hit all of the strings together and you have your fingers in a certain way on that fretboard and you strum all those strings, that's called a chord. And in a piano, it's not just one note, it's a bunch of notes that are all different notes, But all of those notes when they're hit at the same time, They're all in harmony and they all work together. So you know what God says? He says having the same mind being of one accord. And you know what? All of our opinions may be different on some things, but if we all sound the same thing, love and compassion and gospel focused, we're all going to be like accord. We're all going to have our minds being put together and when they are, they all work in harmony. But it's all of us coming together to make that harmony work. How does that work? Well, it says, verse 3, Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory. Sour note. Somebody miskeyed a chord on that piano, man. But in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Well, I'm number one. There's another sour note. We're not in one accord. We're playing a bunch of notes, but they're not in harmony. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. We've got to sound together in harmony. That's what God would have us to do. Philippians 4, one more on this same mind idea. Look at Philippians 4, look at verse 2. You've got some names I'll try to say. I beseech Euodius and beseech Synthache. I don't know if that's the way you say it, but when it's your time to read the Bible, you can try to do better than me. But here's what the point is, that they be of the same mind, period. No, because… We all have different minds about different things. But it says, be of the same mind in the Lord. You see, in the Lord, we can all strum harmoniously and be in one accord. If we are all in the Lord, our minds might be on different things, different hobbies, different careers, all of that. But in the Lord, we should be able to all strum on that guitar harmoniously. and and so that's the idea okay so go back to Romans 12 look at the next thing Romans 12 we're only going to cover this one verse this morning verse number 16 be of the same mind one torn another mind not high things. You know, Diotrephes in 3 John, he loved the high things. He wanted the preeminence. Diotrephes, man, he always had to be the smartest guy in the room. Absalom, he loved the high things. The Pharisees, in the Bible it talks about they loved the chief seats, the uppermost seats in the synagogue. You know where their seats were? The highest places. Those Pharisees loved the high place. They loved the high things. You know, in our hearts, we want to associate with who the winners are. Do your kids play sports? Have they had any type of awards where it's a competition? Okay. In the newspaper, do they put the three guys that lost? No. They put the first, second, and third place winners. Look at these winners and we put them up on a podium and we say, congratulations. And you know what we want to do? We want to associate with the winners. Yeah, my son's a doctor, my son's a lawyer, my son's... I'm not saying there's nothing wrong with being proud of our kids and their accomplishments. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is, if somebody is successful, if somebody has worldly wealth, or is a winner in the world, the human heart tends to be attracted to that because we want to be associated with that. And God says in Romans 12, practically for us as Christians, mind not high things. Because it's the pride of life and it's not of the Father, it's of who? The world. Get your mind off of it. Go to James. I'll show you this in James. Right after the book of Hebrews, you'll come to the book of James. We'll do chapter number 4, James 4. There's some name calling going on in verse 4 of James 4. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Woo! That's fiery hot on a Sunday. God says if you love the world, you're an adulterer. Man, you're cheating on God. You're unfaithful to God. You love the world. You ain't my friend. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. mind not the high things. Back in the Old Testament, it was all about, in Numbers 23, that molten images, you know, all those molten images, they were in the high place, made by man. Leviticus 26, it says, I will destroy your high places, that's what God says, and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols. Man, God ripped into them in the Old Testament. Isaiah 16, the Moabites worshipped idols, you know where? In the high places. In 2 Kings, King Ahaz, who is probably the worst king of Israel, and all of the kings, sacrificed his own son in fire. And people say, man, this abortion, I've never seen anything like it. King Ahaz was killing kids. He killed his own child. How can a mother murder her child in her womb? The same reason that King Ahaz can have his own child be sacrificed in a fire. Because they're wicked, idolatrous sinners who got their eyes off of the high exalted one and put their eyes on a self-man-made high place. And God just is sick to his stomach over it. Jeremiah 23, they built high places for Baal worship. In 1 Kings 11, Solomon, horrible story. He had everything. He took on pagan wives and he built high places, the Bible says, for his pagan wives to worship their pagan gods. It cost Solomon his kingdom. My not high thing. Finally, King Josiah comes along and he burns every single one of the idols down, stomps it to powder, and he burns the grove that they were found in. High places will hurt us. There's one name that is above every name. James 2. James 2, practically what does that mean for a preacher? I'm not going to have no idol in my yard. Alright, well let's read James 2 and let's hope this isn't any of us. James 2, look at verse 2. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come also a poor man in vile raiment, and there come also a poor man And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool. Practically, if we show favor or respect to the quote unquote winner, the quote unquote successful, because they have the good clothes, they have the expensive clothes, man they got the Bentley, they got the Corvette, man. God says that we are minding high places and we need to quit. It's no respect of person. It doesn't matter the clothes that you wear. What did we sing about in our hymns? Are you clothed in the righteousness of Christ? Then you're welcome. Are you not clothed in the righteousness of Christ? Well, I'm not going to take you down to Macy's and try to buy you some expensive clothes. I am going to try to invite you to come to Christ so that you can have His righteousness as your clothing. Praise the Lord. Mark 10. Mark chapter 10. Mark 10 verse 44, mind not the high place. Here it says, verse 43 of Mark 10, but so shall it not be among you, but whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister and whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be who? Servant. Who? Servant of all. Find your place, pick your lane, grab multiple lanes if God has so gifted you, but find a place and a way to serve. That's what Romans 12, 13, and 14 is all about. Serve, serve, serve. Find a place to serve. Get as low as you can get. and serve. Is there a floor to sweep? I'll do it. Is there a toilet to clean? I'll clean it. Is there a puke to clean up? Wait, let me get back on. You see what I'm saying? It's serve. It's being ready to serve no matter what. Is there trash on the floor? I'll step over it. The preacher will get it. If there's trash to pick up, pick it up. We just look for ways to get ourselves lower and lower and lower, because if not, our hearts will just continue to puff ourselves up. Romans 12. Take a little, I want you to think through this with me. Verse 16, be of the same mind one toward another. We talked about that, mind not high things, comma, now the next phrase is, but condescend to men of low estate. A proud man will just get rid of you when you don't suit his or her needs. In other words, you're just expendable to a proud man or a proud woman. You don't fit my agenda, they're in high places, they find a way to get rid of you. That's not Christianity. But you know what a lowly man will give you? Loyalty. Humility. honesty. That's what Christianity is about. Brothers and sisters in Christ, we want to be the lowly person, not the proud person. So it says, but condescend to men of low estate. Psalms 136 talks about all of God's mercy enduring forever. And in verse 23, it says, who remembered us in our low estate. God, remembering how low we are, comes down from His highly exalted place, lowers Himself and comes down. Why? Because He remembered our lowest state. Psalm 138 talks about, though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly. You can't be any more higher than being in Christ and being set and being seated in heavenly places. Can you get any higher than that? Well, like Christ, we cannot forget we need to make sure we go out to the lowly who aren't seated in heavenly places and give them the truth of the gospel. But the word condescend has been much attacked. through modern translators and scholars, and they don't like the word, but condescend. They don't believe that it's a correct translation because they say that it's wrong to say condescend because no Christian would recognize someone else as inferior. And that is true. We shouldn't recognize someone else as inferior. But these modern minds miss the point and they miss the meaning. I don't, and I shouldn't, and if I do, I'm wrong. I don't speak condescending to my wife. Parents, we shouldn't be condescending to try to humiliate our children. So that word can have a negative connotation. But condescend means to come down with. Con. What does that mean? With. Chili con carne. That's chili con with what? Meat. Con means with. Descend means to come down. It's with descent. So when the Bible talks about in verse number 16, but condescend. two men. You're not condescending at men. It says condescend to men of low estate. When you see those men, you come to them and you come down to their level. We come off of our high place. I have the privilege of a high social status. You know, it's like a doctor. You can't get to him unless you make an appointment four months out. Well, if that doctor is going to condescend, he's going to open up his schedule and anybody can come see him. That's the idea. You don't need an appointment four, five, six months out to see the specialist, the great physician, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was willing to come down and lower himself. We should be willing to come down and lower ourself. That is what it means to condescend. In the military, the higher rank... Doesn't yield to the lower rank. The private is saying yes sir to the general and that's just the way it is. That general tells that private what to do, when to do it, and how many times a day to do it. but that's not christianity we have the highest rank we're in christ and he says i want you to condescend to men of low estate why because we need to be like christ and he was not full of any pride whatsoever we are to submit and yield ourselves as inferior now jamin i want you to imagine friday night We go out witnessing and you tell somebody about Jesus. And they beat you up so bad that you have a broken nose. And then the police come and unjustly arrest you. And then they throw you in prison. And me being the great Christian than I am, I say to myself, I don't say it to you, because I don't want you to think ill of me. I just say it to myself. Whew! I'm glad that wasn't me. That's why we read Romans 12, 16. We condescend to men of low estate. You know why? Because he just got beaten up and wrongly imprisoned for the cause of Christ. The true Christian that condescends, that comes down, that condescends to men of low estate, you know what he does? He goes to jail with them and he's there to pray with them. He's there to encourage him. He doesn't say, I'm glad our doctrinal statement doesn't have a requirement for that. No, but the Bible does. and we should condescend to men of low estate. Jesus, no reputation, form of a servant, likeness of men, humbled himself, obedient to death, even the death of the cross. What was Jesus found doing to the disciples? Washing their... He came down. Little children he'd see, he'd stoop down on one knee, And he'd come down. You know in John 4 when he met that woman at the well, the disciples were like, hey, why don't we go get something to eat? Jesus said, I'm not eating. I've got my mind on the lowly woman at the well. I don't eat food right now. Matter of fact, the meat I have, you know not of. He came down to that woman's level. He condescended. And that's our Savior. Come, Christians, join to sing. You know that hymn. We've sung it here. He is our guide and friend. To us he'll condescend. It's right. That's a right word. That's our Savior. And then lastly, I'd like to look at this morning. Romans 12, 16, mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Oh boy. There are some people that there is absolutely no gray area at all. There is no room for misunderstandings. There is no room for an honest mistake. It doesn't exist. Why? Because they're just so conceited. It has to be their way, and it didn't go the way. God says, whoa, whoa. Be not wise in your own conceits. Be okay with the gray, okay? It's all right. It's all right. Man, you got to tolerate. some honest mistakes and take into account maybe there's some immaturity here. Try to condescend a bit so that we don't get too high and wise in our own ways, in our own conceits. Go to Proverbs 26 because we've got to sometimes... Parents, you know this proverb is going to really bring it home for you. Raising kids, sometimes you've got to expose their foolishness. Foolishness is bound up in the heart of the child. Watch what Proverbs 26 says. Is that right? No, that's not the right proverb. Proverbs 26, evil the congregation, evil doers are not to sit with the wicked. Let's answer a fool not to his folly. lest to be wise in his own conceit. Alright, that's the verse. I don't know where it's at. If somebody finds it, let me know. What is it? Is it? Oh, I'm in Psalms. That's why I don't have it. Psalms. Proverbs. Thanks, sister. Alright, Proverbs 26, verse number 5 says, Answer a fool according to his folly, lest... lest... He be wise in his own conceit. So, this proverb talks about when do you give an answer to a fool and when do you not give an answer to a fool. Well, if you don't give an answer, and that means you risk that fool getting so wise in his conceit, God says, it's probably a good time to answer that fool. because you don't want him to get puffed up in his own conceited wisdom. You've got to answer him and expose him and show him his shame. And sometimes kids need that and sometimes adults need that. We need to be exposed because if not... Oh, oh dear child, I don't want you to walk away thinking that what you said actually had some worth. And so God says, answer that fool, lest he be wise in his own conceit. Dear Christian friend, or you would say to your Christian brother, look, I got to give you an answer. Why? Because if I don't, you're going to walk away thinking that what you said wasn't dumb and it just was. And so there's a time when we just have to expose the fool. In the same chapter, look at verse 12. Look at verse 12. than of him. At least a fool, if he realizes that he lacks wisdom, can get some help. But somebody that is conceited, that conceit, it causes him to never see that he's wrong. He's always right. That is what conceit is. A conceited man sees himself or herself as perfect. They're above correction. Young people, you might not be thinking about getting married now, but one day you will think that that's a grand idea. And if you marry a conceited person, have fun with that because you are not going to be able to tell them anything because they don't love you, they love them. That's what conceit is. Let's look at one more and we'll all get a good dose of this and we'll be able to expose it in others, except not ourselves. Look at verse 16, chapter 26, verse 16, the sluggard is wiser in his own conceit. than seven men that can render a reason. Man, that sluggard, he don't have time to reason anything out, talk through anything, or study anything out. He's a sluggard. And his reason is better than seven men. Why? Because he's him. You can get seven guys, and all seven of those guys will say the same thing. And it'll be different than that conceited sluggard. And that sluggard still won't concede. And you say, man, we got seven different people that have given you the same answer and none of them have talked to each other. Why won't he get off his high horse? Because of conceit. So God warns us, if we're going to live right, we cannot be wise in our own conceit. Job's friends sat silent for seven days and seven nights and they listened to Job. They didn't talk. By the time they opened their mouths, that's when Job said to them, you guys are just miserable comforters. We don't always have to have something to say. We should be like Job's friends the first seven days. Just sit and listen. That's enough comfort. But he was miserable after they started with him. We need to be careful. Be not wise in thine own eyes. Be not wise in thy own conceits. And recognize all of us are just as vulnerable to the wiles of the devil as anyone else. We need help. We need instruction from others. How are we to be wise? in Christ. That's what Corinthians talks about. So on that verse, we'll finish up where we started. Romans 12, verse 16. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be willing to get down low, and be not wise in your own conceits. If any of us are above doing for others what Christ would have done for us, We're wise in our own conceits. We don't need to die on the cross. Christ did that one time sacrifice. But Christ does ask us to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice and sacrifice our lives, that's how the chapter starts, with serving others. Let's be like Christ, not be wise in our own conceits. Let's be wise in Him and do what He would do.
