IT’S ABOUT JESUS!
Philippians 2.5-11
S: Jesus
C: Salvation, Communion
Th: Toward the Goal
Pr: EMBRACE JESUS AND LIVE HUMBLY AS HE DID.
CV: “We will relentlessly reach out to people with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ.” We will do this by sharing the life we have found in Jesus.
Type: Inductive
I. APPLICATION (5)
II. CONTEXT (6)
III. HIS BURDEN (7-8)
IV. THE RESULT (9-11)
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Live humbly like Jesus.
• Realize that the way up is down to servanthood.
• Seek out the best for others.
• Embrace Jesus as your Savior and Lord.
Version: ESV
RMBC 22 June 08 AM
INTRODUCTION:
Our theme for the year is “Plan to Win.”
We chose that theme because we want to win when it comes to being the church God is calling us to be.
We have been doing that this year, as we have determined our core values, and now as we continue in developing a philosophy of worship, hold a spiritual health retreat for the leadership, sort out a better structure and develop a plan for outreach.
We are moving “Toward the Goal,” our theme for our study in Philippians.
You will have to forgive me for the soccer theme in this slide (but you know it is the sweet sport and a favorite of mine).
The object in soccer is to put the ball in the net, and to do it more often than your opponent.
We have goals as a church as well.
We have ways of putting the ball in the net so to speak.
One of the ways Paul is expressing it in Philippians 2 is to have unity in our relationships.
We are getting the ball in the net when we are right in our relationships with each other.
But when we are characterized by criticism, differences, jealousy, ambition, and negative feelings, then we are not scoring.
We are not even moving toward the goal.
This is why we are to…
1. Live humbly before others.
That was our theme last week when we studied the first four verses in chapter 2.
We are not to think too highly of ourselves.
Rather, we are to look out for the interests of others.
ILL Humility (H)
Former President Bush commented on how his wife had not changed toward him since he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. “I asked her how she liked being married to a knight,” President Bush said, “and she said, ‘Sir George, make the coffee.’”
Ouch!
So, even former presidents need to learn humility.
2. The superior example of humility is Jesus.
If we want to follow the direction of this passage, then we follow the example Paul gives us.
It is Jesus.
If we agree that unity is important, then humility is the way.
And it is the humility of Jesus that we need.
OUR STUDY:
I. APPLICATION (5)
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus…
We are to…
3. Think like Jesus.
To do this, we need to let Christ live in us.
We need to let the example of the humility of Jesus Christ flow in and out of our minds.
Then, we need to take what is in the mind and apply it.
We need to walk in His humility.
In other words, we live humbly like Jesus.
Paul sets the goal before us.
Think like Jesus.
And now, in the following verses, he shows us how Jesus accomplished it.
But first, he gives us the…
II. CONTEXT (6)
…who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped…
4. Jesus is God.
Paul is very careful here.
He wants us to understand how great the humility of Jesus is.
For, before Jesus arrived on this earth, He existed!
He existed in the pleasure and joy as the second person of the Godhead.
The gospel of John explains this well, when it is written (John 1.1-2, 14)…
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
In time past, Jesus was the Co-creator with the Father and Holy Spirit.
Life in heaven was characterized by all that was perfect, including the ideal relationship they had with each other.
It was a way of life characterized by true joy.
Jesus had a limitless existence with all the glory and privilege at His disposal.
I have often wondered what the conversation must have been within the perfect fellowship of the Trinity before Jesus came to earth.
It must have been difficult for the Godhead to watch from heaven and see the mess we had been making.
Our relationships with each other and with the rest of creation are marred by selfishness.
Not only that, the creation has consistently ignored its Creator.
I wonder if the Godhead thought, “Enough!”
“It is now time to go and do something!”
“It is now time to straighten out this mess!”
So, because it was…
III. HIS BURDEN (7-8)
…the Word became flesh.
…but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
5. Jesus becomes human.
This is the humiliation of God.
He lays aside the glory of heaven.
He sets aside His self-willed use of Deity.
And He accepts the limits of a physical body.
As the text says, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.
For 33 years, the privileges of being God in glory were set aside and He became limited by space and time.
In the person of Jesus, God experienced flesh and bones.
He suffered and grieved.
He got thirsty and hungry.
He was frustrated and disappointed.
He could no longer be everywhere at one time.
He had to have clothes to wear.
If you hit Him, it would hurt.
If you cut him, He bled.
If that was not humble enough for you, Jesus was born a Jew in an occupied country.
His parents lived in the backwoods of Galilee, from a small town that hardly anyone ever heard of.
He came as a nobody.
He came determined to be a servant.
Jesus came not to be served but to serve.
Jesus came all the way from heaven to start the process at the bottom of the order of things.
Jesus did not come to be recognized or praised.
He did not seek accolades or the prestige of this world.
He was not about self-promotion.
No, He made Himself no reputation.
But instead of appreciating this and embracing Him, He was rejected.
The people of His day wanted a king, not a servant.
No one really listened.
The leaders rolled their eyes, insulted his family, and attempted to find holes in His theology.
His mission as an adult was to communicate God to people.
But He had only measured success.
For Jesus championed a cause, so just, yet so radical, He was hated and condemned by every major, traditional religious authority.
Then He was betrayed by His closest friends, brought up on false charges, tried before a prejudiced jury and a cowardly judge.
Is that humiliating enough for you?
But there was more!
He obeyed the plan.
He took that human body to a cross and willingly died.
And it was the worst kind of death.
It was the kind of execution that was saved for non-Romans and the worst criminals.
It was the most painful and the most degrading, for the criminal would hang for days, naked before a mocking crowd.
Paul says, when we think that kind of humility, we are beginning to make progress.
For we need to…
6. Realize that the way up is down.
The way of Christ is a downwards movement.
Often, what we think of as spirituality is exactly the opposite.
We think it is an upwards movement.
It is our attempt to lift ourselves up.
It is our attempt to grow.
It is our attempt to become a good person.
And it is all about ourselves.
It is all about how I can be spiritual, how I can be a good person.
That sounds so Oprah.
Christ shows us a different way.
He shows a way of spirituality that has nothing to do with lifting ourselves up and trying to climb on a spiritual ladder.
We do not have to do that.
There is nowhere for us to climb for Christ has come down to us.
There is no need for us to try to become a better person, for the only way to become a better person is to accept that we cannot.
We need to humbly accept that the only way to receive the blessing of God is to accept that we cannot reach Him by our own efforts.
It took, instead, Christ’s effort.
He came down.
He became poor so that we might become rich.
He died for our sins so that we might be righteous and holy and perfect before God.
7. Why?
Why did Jesus do it?
Why did Jesus leave the comfort of heaven?
For how do you get from uninterrupted, eternal fellowship from eternity past with the Godhead to a stable where you are messing your diapers and you’re completely powerless?
You see, that is real humiliation!
So, how do you get there?
You get there when you have a purpose (Romans 5.8)…
…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
It was love!
It was love!
You see, when you love someone, you seek their best.
And that is our assignment as well…
8. Seek out the best for others.
Paul asks us to live the example of Jesus, to discover that the way up is down.
We are called to a downwards journey.
And we do not take this downwards journey in order to make ourselves better..
But it is in seeking other people.
Jesus teaches us to seek other people, not as a means to make ourselves more popular or even to make ourselves better people, but to seek other people for their own sake.
We go low so that we can lift others up.
ILL Service (H)
It has been said…
"Everybody wants to save the earth; few want to help Mom do the dishes."
The truth is, “others” is a key word in the vocabulary of the Christian.
We are to prefer one another.
We are to bear each other’s burdens.
We are to edify one another.
The good news about Jesus is meaningless if we don’t get this right!
Here is a great thing, though.
God does not leave Jesus down.
IV. THE RESULT (9-11)
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The humiliation did end!
Jesus received what was coming to Him – the position of dignity and honor.
Jesus is Lord!
All categories of people and beings recognize now or will recognize His rule.
This is why the assignment is to…
9. Get down!
Bow before Jesus now.
Recognize His Lordship now, and receive His salvation.
Or…bow later.
For you will recognize His Lordship someday, but instead of salvation, the result will be judgment and condemnation.
CHALLENGE:
In the baptism today, Victor fulfilled one of the goals of our core values reaching out to people with the life changing message of Jesus.
He did this by sharing the life he had found in Jesus.
And for many of us, that is all we want to do.
We just want to describe our Jesus to you!
ILL Video: “That’s My King”
10. Embrace Jesus as your Savior and Lord.
It is possible today for you to bow and confess today.
It is possible to receive His gift of salvation.
It is possible, if you have not done so, to embrace Jesus as your Savior and Lord.
Will you do so?
For (Romans 10.9-10)…
…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Let’s pray.
With heads bowed…
The journey of a thousand miles begins today with a single step.
Give as much of yourself as you know, to as much of Christ as you know.
It will cost you nothing, and it will cost you everything.
But there will be wonder after wonder, and every wonder true.
If it is your desire to follow Jesus today, pray something like this.
"Lord, thank You that You loved me so much that You sent Your Son to die for me.
I know that without Him I would be separated from Your love forever.
I embrace Jesus this day as my Savior and my Lord."
For Further Study: Matthew 23.11; Mark 10.45; John 1.1-2, 14; 8.58; Acts 1.9; Romans 8.17; 10.9-10; II Corinthians 8.9; Colossians 1.15; Hebrews 1.1-8; I Peter 5.6; Revelation 5.11-12
BENEDICTION:
If you prayed the prayer at the end of the message, or it is on your heart today to follow Jesus, please come and see me at the end of the service.
Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
RESOURCES:
SermonCentral:
Decker, Paul Doing What Is Unnatural
Drake, James Humbling One’s Self
Grindheim, Sigurd God Incognito
Other:
Barclay, William. The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians. The Daily Study Bible Series. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1959.
Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament. Cook Communications Ministries, 2000.
Keener, Craig S. The Ivp Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993.
MacArthur, John, Jr. Philippians. The Macarthur New Testament Commentary. Chicago: Moody Press, 2001.
Muller, Jac. J. The Epistles of Paul to the Philippians and to Philemon. The New International Commentary on the New Testament, ed. F. F. Bruce. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1976.
Wiersbe, Warren W. The Bible Exposition Commentary: New Testament. Colorado Springs: ChariotVictor Publishing, 1989.
