Be of the same mind one towards another.
Unity
I. What it implies.
1. One spirit.
2. One aim.
3. One way.
II. How to secure it.
1. Suppress ambition.
2. Be condescending to inferiors.
3. Be modest in the expression of your own opinion. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Mind not high things
I. What high things?
1. Negatively--not the highest or heavenly things (Colossians 3:1-2; Matthew 6:33).
2. Positively--of this world (Jeremiah 45:5). Great--
(1) Riches (Timothy 6:19);
(2) Honours;
(3) Power and place (Acts 5:36);
(4) Employments;
(5) Pleasures.
II. How not mind them? Not so as--
1. To think of them (Psalms 1:2).
2. To desire them (Colossians 3:2; Psalms 73:25).
3. To hope for them.
4. To admire them (Luke 21:5-6).
5. To labour after them (John 6:27; Matthew 6:33).
III. Why not mind them?
1. They are below you.
(1) As ye are rational creatures.
(2) As believing Christians.
2. You have higher things to mind (Philippians 3:20).
3. Minding of earth and heaven both is inconsistent (Matthew 6:24; 1 John 2:15). Conclusion: Mind not high things.
Consider they are--
1. Uncertain.
2. Inconstant (Proverbs 23:5).
3. Unsatisfying (Ecclesiastes 1:8; Ecclesiastes 4:8).
4. Dangerous (1 Timothy 6:10).
5. Momentary (Luke 12:20). (Bp. Beveridge.)
Mind not high things
I. The import of this prohibition. It forbids--
1. Pride.
2. Assumption.
3. Foolish ambition.
II. Its importance. These evils are--
1. Very offensive to God.
2. A source of misery to ourselves.
3. A cause of serious evil both in the Church and the world. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Condescend to men of low estate.
Condescension
I. The conduct enjoined. A behaviour--
1. Humble.
2. Affable.
3. Condescending.
II. Its excellencies. It is--
1. Magnanimous.
2. Christlike.
III. Its importance. It is essential to the Christian character.
IV. Its motives. Differences of condition are accidental, temporal, designed to afford opportunity for the development of this spirit. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Considerateness towards inferiors
Knowing how anxious the troops in Cabul would look for their letters, Captain (afterwards Sir Henry) Lawrence and his wife--because the Government could not afford a post-clerk!--would sit up half the night sorting them, after the multiform duties of revenue collector, engineer, commissariat officer, and paymaster, had been discharged. But this was only one instance out of many of Lawrence’s exquisite regard for others. (H. A. Page.)
Be not wise in your own conceits.--
I. As to rational wisdom or knowledge.
1. Of natural causes.
(1) You know not the first constitution of them (Job 38:4-6).
(2) Nor God’s present disposal of them (Acts 17:28).
(3) Nor their own working and nature.
2. Future events (James 4:13-14.)
(1) You know not the causes that must concur to produce them.
(2) Nor whether God will set them on work or no, or hinder them (James 4:15; 1 Corinthians 4:19).
3. The providences of God (Psalms 139:5-6).
(1) To the evil (Psalms 73:3; Psalms 73:22).
(2) To the good.
4. The intrigues of state (Proverbs 20:3).
5. The spiritual estate of others (Matthew 7:1).
(1) You know not your own condition (1 Corinthians 2:11).
(2) There is no way in the world whereby to know others.
6. The interpretation of Scripture (Mark 12:24).
(1) Prophecies (Acts 8:30-31).
(2) Mysteries (Romans 11:33).
(3) Difficult places (2 Peter 3:15-16).
7. Determination of theological controversies.
8. Be not then wise in your own conceits.
(1) It is a sin (Isaiah 5:21; Proverbs 3:7).
(2) You are not wise (Job 11:12).
(3) This will hinder you from true wisdom (Proverbs 26:12).
But--
(1) Have low thoughts of your own knowledge.
(2) Labour each day to know more--
(a) Of God;
(b) Of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:2).
II. As to practical wisdom.
1. Wherein?
(1) We must not conceit ourselves to be saints (1 Timothy 1:15; Isaiah 65:5; Luke 18:11).
(2) Nor that we are holier than others.
(3) Nor that we perform duties aright.
(a) Beading the Scripture.
(b) Praying (James 4:3).
(c) Hearing (Acts 2:37).
(d) Mediation (Philippians 3:20).
(4) Nor that we exercise graces aright.
(a) Repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10). We may repent of some sins, not of all: and our repentance in proportional to none of our sins.
(b) Faith. It may be only historical, or partial (John 1:12), or upon wrong grounds--education, not Divine testimony (1 John 5:10), or, not on Christ only (Philippians 3:8-9).
(c) Love. We do not love God with all our hearts (Matthew 22:37), nor constantly.
(d) Trust. It may be only for spirituals (1 Peter 5:7), and not with all our heart (Proverbs 3:5).
(e) Thankful-nest. Not proportional to our mercies, or not for all things (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
(f) Charity. It may be from wrong principles (Matthew 6:1-34.), or in a wrong manner (Romans 12:8).
2. Why not thus conceited of ourselves?
(1) We know not our own hearts (Jeremiah 17:9).
(2) We are too apt to have too high thoughts of ourselves.
(3) This will keep us from looking after true holiness.
3. Uses: Be not wise in your own conceits.
(1) Many have been mistaken (Matthew 7:22).
(2) The less holy you are, the more you are apt to conceit yourselves to be so.
(3) These conceits of holiness are not consistent with true grace (James 4:6).
(4) Therefore, so long as you conceit yourselves to be holy, you may conclude yourselves to be sinful.
(5) You shall not be judged by your own conceits, but by the law of God.
4. Directions.
(1) Oft consult your own hearts (Psalms 4:4).
(2) Compare your actions with God’s laws.
(3) Still remember what a fearful thing it is to be mistaken in a thing of this weight. (Bp. Beveridge.)
Be not wise in your own conceits
I. The conduct condemned
1. An undue estimate of one’s own opinion.
2. The immodest expression of it.
II. Its prevalence. Even among Christian professors.
III. Its origin.
1. Ignorance.
2. Pride.
IV. Its impropriety.
1. It is offensive to others.
2. It destroys unity.
3. It is utterly opposed to the Spirit of Christ.
4. It exposes a man to merited humiliation. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Be not wise in your own conceits
I. The temper described. The persistent assertions of your own--
1. Opinions.
2. Judgment.
3. Plans.
II. Its folly. It assumes--
1. That you have nothing to learn.
2. That you are incapable of error.
3. That you are wiser than everybody else.
III. Its evil.
1. It offends others.
2. Generates strife.
3. Is inconsistent with the Christian spirit. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Self wisdom v. Divine wisdom
The text repeats the warning of 11:25, and recalls Proverbs 3:7. But it is not to be understood of speculative opinion. It refers to the practical “prudence” which guides men in business and in the ventures and contingencies of life. It might be rendered--“Become not prudent by yourselves.” The accepted translation is unfortunate, suggesting a sense the word never bears. Note--
I. The special danger Christians are in with respect to this prudence.
1. It is the result of a natural instinct. The general source of it is the tendency to make “self” the measure and end of everything. The selfish man is short-sighted and self-opiniated; or he gives undue weight to the maxims of earthly prudence.
2. It is confirmed by the general opinion and practice of men. The proverbs of the world are for the most part mercenary; the moralities of heathen philosophy, so far as practical, are but a refined selfishness.
3. The nobler life of man is thereby prevented. In modern times the recognition of the independence of all nations in regard to the highest interests has been wondrously fruitful. For a man or a nation, therefore, to shut out wilfully the consideration of others, and to “become prudent, merely for or by itself,” is for it to lose its place in the commonwealth of knowledge, civilisation, and true progress.
4. The gravest dangers threaten within the sphere of religion. How common is the error “Save yourself” as a religious duty. Let us beware lest we have but exchanged the honest “competition” of the marketplace for a “consecrated selfishness” baptized with the name of Christ! The Gentile converts were in danger of despising the “cast off” Jews, and of thinking the grace of God was henceforth to be their own monopoly. Paul warned them against the error (Romans 11:33-36). Because of similar prejudices, missions to the heathen have been obstructed. Only when we rise to the height of this conception of Christianity can it be a perfect salvation for ourselves as individual Christians.
II. How this danger is to be averted.
1. By constant and prayerful study of the Word of God.
2. By considering the examples of holy men, especially of Christ Himself.
3. By remembering that we are all members of the body of Christ, which is His Church. The good of all men is to be sought. Each must labour towards the universal ends of Christ’s kingdom as a “member in particular.”
4. By giving heed to the voice of God’s Spirit within us. It led Peter and Paul to wider fields of usefulness. The “mind of Christ” will ever lead us to deny ourselves, and take up our cross and follow Him. But in so doing we shall discover a Diviner wisdom. In losing our life we shall find it. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God,” etc. (St. John A. Frere, M.A.)