Emptying Ourselves (Philippians 2:5-8) Series

EMPTYING OURSELVES:

Making Room for the Fire

A Morning Lent Prayer Worship Sermon

Week 2: Stripping Away (Self-Denial and Surrender) — Day 13

Philippians 2:5-7 (ESV) — "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men."

INTRODUCTION

Good morning, church!

Before I say another word, I want to welcome the presence of the Holy Ghost into this place right now. Father, we open the doors of our hearts. We open the windows of our souls. Come in, Lord. Come in and have Your way.

Now somebody told me this is Lent. And I know what some of you are thinking. You are thinking: forty days, sacrifice, somber reflection, maybe give up chocolate or social media. And while there is nothing wrong with that, I need to tell you something this morning.

Lent is not a funeral. Lent is a FIGHT.

This is a season of spiritual warfare. This is a season of chain-breaking. This is a season where God strips away everything that has been suffocating the fire in your belly, so that when the Holy Ghost shows up, there is ROOM for Him to move.

We are on Day 13. Week 2. The theme is "Stripping Away." And I need you to hear me clearly: this is not a punishment. This is an invitation. God is not taking things from you because He is cruel. He is making space in you because He is generous. He wants to fill you with something so much greater than what you have been holding onto.

1. ADOPTING THE MIND OF CHRIST

Philippians 2:5 (ESV) — "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus."

The Apostle Paul writes in Philippians 2, verse 5: "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus." Now I need you to stop right there. Before we get to what Jesus did, Paul tells us to have a certain MIND. Not a certain behavior. Not a certain church attendance record. A certain MIND.

Why does that matter? Because actions flow from the mind. Every single thing you do today, you will first think. You cannot behave like Christ until you think like Christ. You cannot walk in the Spirit if your mind is still running on the flesh.

Let me give you an image. Think about your phone. When you first pull it out of the box, it comes loaded with a factory operating system. And that factory OS determines what the phone does by default. Your flesh, church, came out of the womb loaded with a default operating system. That OS is called Self-Preservation. It says: protect yourself, promote yourself, position yourself. It runs in the background every single minute of every single day.

But the Holy Ghost wants to install a new operating system. He wants to replace Self-Preservation with Self-Sacrifice. And that upgrade does not happen automatically. It requires your cooperation. It requires surrender.

Philippians 2:3 (ESV) — "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves."

Now I know somebody in here wants to argue with that. You are sitting there thinking: if I count everybody else as more significant, what happens to me? But here is what C.S. Lewis said, and I want you to write this down in your spirit. He said humility is not thinking poorly of yourself. Humility is thinking of yourself LESS. There is a difference. God is not asking you to despise yourself. He is asking you to take your eyes off yourself long enough to see Him. He is asking you to get your hand off the steering wheel long enough to let Him drive.

This is what Lent is for. These forty days are a re-installation. The Holy Ghost is doing a deep clean on the operating system of your mind. Let Him in.

2. RELEASING OUR GRIP ON STATUS

Philippians 2:6 (ESV) — "Though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped."

Now watch where Paul goes next. Philippians 2:6: Jesus, "though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped." Did not count it a thing to be GRASPED.

I need you to feel the weight of that word. To grasp something means to clutch it, to white-knuckle it, to hold it so tightly your hand cramps. Jesus was God. He had every right to hold onto every privilege, every honor, every title that came with that. And He CHOSE not to. He opened His hand.