Living a Crucified Life

Bible Verse

Phil 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ 

Jesus, (6)  Who, existing in the form of God, did not 

consider being equal with God a treasure to be grasped,  (7)  

But emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming in 

the likeness of men; (8) And being found in fashion as a man, 

He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and 

that the death of a cross. (13) For it is God who operates in 

you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.

Words of Ministry  

The pattern presented in these verses is now the life within
us. This life is what we call a crucified life. The seven
steps of Christ's humiliation are all aspects of the
crucified life. Although Christ had the expression of deity,
He laid aside this expression. However, He did not lay aside
the reality of His deity. He laid aside the higher form, the
form of God, and took on a much lower form, the form of a
slave. In this, He emptied Himself. Surely this is a mark of
a crucified life. Then, after becoming a man and being found
in the appearance of a man, Christ humbled Himself even unto
the death of the cross. This was the crucified life lived out
in a full and absolute way.

Christ is not only an outward pattern for us; He is also the
life within us. As this inner life, He would have us
experience Him and thereby live a crucified life. In this
crucified life there is no room for rivalry, vainglory, or
self-exaltation. On the contrary, there is self-emptying and
self-humbling. Whenever we experience Christ and live Christ,
we automatically live such a crucified life. This means that
when we live Christ, we live the One who is the pattern of a
crucified life. Then we also shall empty ourselves and humble
ourselves.

If we did not have the crucified life within us, we could
never live according to the pattern presented in Philippians
2. Only the crucified life can live such a pattern. If we
still do things out of rivalry and vainglory or are still
ambitious to be leaders or elders, we are not living a
crucified life. We are not emptying ourselves or humbling
ourselves. However, we have a life within us that truly is a
self-emptying and self-humbling life. This life never grasps
at something as a treasure. Instead, it is always willing to
lay aside position and title.