Title: Attitude and Altitude
Text: Philippians 2:5-11
Thesis: If Jesus is our model, the way up is down.
Introduction
On March 13 the Roman Catholic Church elected Pope Francis who is now Head of the Church and Sovereign of the Vatican City State. He became a priest in 1969 and made his way to Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and Cardinal in 2001. And now he is Pope Francis.,
He rose as high as one can rise in the Roman Catholic Church and yet he has been known throughout his life and ministry as a humble and simple man who is committed to social justice. He recently unveiled his vision for the Church as “a poor church working for the poor.”
He chose the name “Francis” in honor of Francis of Assisi who never rose to any ecclesiastical heights, in fact he chose to live a life of extreme and total abject poverty.
Our text today is about the extremes of highest high and lowest low.
Our text begins with an admonition and/or exhortation. An admonition is generally in the form of gentle or friendly reproof or scolding. An exhortation is generally an urging or encouraging that is in the form of a convincing argument. An admonition is one of those “don’t do this because” and “here is an example” conversations.
I think the text is both an admonishment and an exhortation, I think there was something of a disunity problem in the church at Phillipi and God, through the Apostle Paul, is in a nice way, getting at that. And it is also an exhortation in which he argues that their attitudes and behavior is totally opposite that of Jesus Christ… so he wrote:
“You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” (NLT and NIV) You may be more familiar with the “Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ.” (KJV) Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase puts it, “Think of yourselves the way Jesus thought of himself.”
Whenever we read Scripture we cannot simply pick out a verse without considering the context from which it comes. So we ask, “What prompted Paul to write, “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had?”
So we briefly look back at Philippians 2:1-4 and there we see the makings of conflict and disunity. He is urging the Christians at Phillipi to play nice. He wants them to agree whole-heartedly with each other and to love one another and to work together with one mind or purpose.
As if disunity is a malady or sickness that needs curing he suggests a series of good old home remedies to restore the church to health.
First, the Don’ts…
The Don’ts…
1. Don’t Be Selfish trying to have your own way and trying to impress everyone.
2. Don’t Be proud and think of others as better than yourself.
3. Don’t Think Only of Yourself and your own interests.
The don’ts really don’t work unless you turn them into do’s…
The Do’s…
1. Do Be Selfless
2. Do Be Humble
3. Do Be Considerate of Others
Then Paul argues why they/we should be selfless, humble and place the interests of others before one’s own interests, He says: “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” (NLT and NIV) You may be more familiar with the “Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ.” (KJV) Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase puts it, “Think of yourselves the way Jesus thought of himself.”
So then, what was the mind or attitude of Christ who, as Matthew wrote in his Gospel, “did not come to be served but to serve others and give his life as a ransom for many?” Matthew 20:28
The idea being conveyed is, in Christ there was a willingness to condescend from being a person who was at the very apex of honor, power and prestige as God of the universe, to the lowliest position on the planet… a human slave.
I. From Godhead to Manhood - Jesus went from being in morphe/form/essence – God, to being in
schema/form/appearance – man.
“Though he was God… he took the humble position or a slave and was born a human being and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” Philippians 2:6 and 8
Similarly, to the church at Corinth Paul wrote, “Although Jesus was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor.” II Corinthians 8:9
The first thought was/is to establish who Jesus was/is. The text says, “He was God.” Some say he was by “very nature in the form of God.” The word “form” may be understood in a couple of ways and our text uses the word “form” in both ways.
The first word for form is morphe which describes the essence or inner form of someone. A person’s morphe (who he or she is) is unalterable… it does not change.
In humans it has to do with maleness or femaleness. We are born infant boys or infant girls. That does not change. A baby boy is an infant. He becomes a boy child, a pre-pubescent boy, a teenager, a young man, a middle-age man and eventually an old man. He is always a male in form and remains so all through manhood. That’s morphe.
In person of Christ it means he cannot stop being God. That is his morphe. The Bible says, “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.” Colossians 1:15
However throughout the process of manhood he is constantly changing in form as well. The infant boy bears little resemblance to the old man. The changing form is schema.
The second word for form/schema describes the outward form of someone. A person’s schema has to do with appearance.
Last year I read one of those “strange news or weird new” stories. The story came out of China where a man was suing his wife for giving birth to an ugly baby. (Some babies are ugly. In my first pastoral methods class the professor told us that when proud parents show off their new baby and it’s not a cute baby you say, “Now that’s a baby!”) But back to our story, he was handsome and his wife was beautiful so it was impossible for them to have an ugly child. He suspected an affair, filed for divorce and demanded a paternity test. He said, “I married my wife out of love but as soon as we had our first daughter, we began having marital issues. Our daughter was incredibly ugly, to the point where it horrified me.”
The wife then confessed she had cosmetic surgery in South Korea prior to their marriage, but the man was undeterred. He then sued his wife for duping him into thinking her stunning beauty was natural. The court awarded the man $120,000.
Now… this man’s wife was in the unalterable morphe/form a woman. But in schema/form she changed in appearance not only in the normal process of womanhood, but also radically through cosmetic surgery.
Jesus went from being a stunningly regal God, Creator and Sustainer of the universe to being the lowliest and ugliest (so to speak) human slave on Earth. This is neither the attitude nor the actions of a person who is prideful, ambitious, self-serving and fully focused on his own wants and wishes. A slave (Greek doulas) is a person who is totally devoted to another without regard for his own interests.
Not only is the example of Jesus about being willing to be humbled and selfless in condescending from the lofty heights of deity to the lowliest lows of humanity, it is about going from riches to rags. (We can all relate to that…)
II. From Riches to Rags - Jesus went from riches to rags.
“…he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to or clutch. Instead he gave up his divine privileges to embrace the humble position of a slave and was born a human being.” Philippians 2:6-7
In further defining the attitude of Christ he expands our insight into the mind of Christ by speaking of how Jesus thought of his position in the Godhead and in the universe.
While humanly speaking, the tendency among us is to cling to our status or our place in the world… in fact if we are fully human we are not the least averse to bettering our status at every opportunity. We like raises and promotions. We like nicer homes in nicer neighborhoods near nicer schools. None of us car-shops for the most embarrassing looking and unreliable clunker we can find to park in the driveway. We want our kiddos to aspire to great educational opportunities. We like being fast-tracked as long as it is in the direction of upward mobility.
We like upward mobility but we dislike downward mobility. I think that, more notable than our desire to move up, is our reluctance to go backward. We like climbing higher on the ladder of success but very much dislike demoted to the lower rungs on the ladder.
A. The attitude of Christ does not clutch in order to keep.
In this context, the first thing we see about the mind of Christ is that he did not think of his position in the Godhead or in Heaven or the Universe or wherever, as something to snatch at to get or clutch to keep.
Bonnie and I often speak of our lives in terms of being servants of Christ and others and of how we really do enjoy being servants… but we have found it is a lot easier to be servants when we want to, than when someone demands we be. When someone demands or forces any one of us to be a servant we want to cling to and clutch our freedom and our independence. We don’t like letting go or of our freedom or our independence or our time or out resources… but that is exactly what Jesus did. He let it go.
But more than that the text says, “He gave up his divine privileges.” This is an even more vivid image.
Bonnie and I recently received a phone call in which we were informed that the caller was the new owner of our mortgage and they needed to verify our identities by giving them our address and Social Security #s. We said, “Yeh right!”
Identity theft is huge and we’ve all become increasingly wary of potential scams and scammers because if they get your Social Security #, your user names and passwords, you account numbers or whatever they can piece together, they can literally empty your bank account in a moments time. When that happens we have not given up our rights, privacy, privileges or possessions, they have been taken from us.
When Evan Spencer Ebel allegedly murdered and robbed Nathan Neon and later murdered Colorado State Prison Chief, Tom Clements… he took from them all that was theirs. Everything!
The lastest lottery news is that someone in New Jersey just won $338 million. I often hear people musing about how much good they would do if they won the lottery… meanwhile Warren Buffet has pledged to give away 99% of his $50 billion. In fact, as of 2012 he has given away 65% of that $50 billion. Bill Gates has also given away 48% or $28 billion of his net worth to charity. These are incredibly wealth and willingly generous people. Regardless of how much they willingly give away… there remains an unimaginable amount of discretionary spending potential. But they still have not emptied their pockets. Jesus emptied his pockets… he divested himself of all that was rightfully his.
The Attitude of Christ…
A. The attitude of Christ does not clutch in order to keep.
B. The attitude of Christ willingly gives up everything. He gave it up… all of it!
When I was a kid I started school in Lorimor, Iowa. During the noon recess you would see boys in all the elementary grades out on the school yard shooting marbles. I loved playing marbles and eventually collected quite a few marbles that I kept in my dresser drawer. Some were really special and I didn’t play with those because didn’t want to lose them But I did have my regulars which I carried to school in a little stringed tightened tobacco pouch. I did not mind losing a marble here and there but the thought of taking my dresser drawer full of marbles to the playground and literally pouring them all out on the ground free for the picking was unthinkable. (In which case I would have lost my marbles.) But that is what Jesus did. He literally poured all his marbles out on the cross… grace free for our picking.
This passage speaks to what theologians call the kenosis of Christ or the self-emptying of Christ. His attitude was that of thinking first and foremost of our needs and he was willing to take a big loss of altitude in order to meet our needs.
In John 10:18, speaking in the context of Christ being the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep Jesus said, “No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily.” Our text says, “You need to have that same attitude that Jesus Christ had.” Philippians 2:5
Conclusion:
It’s Palm Sunday. It’s the day we commemorate at the day Jesus rode on that donkey down off the Mt. of Olives into the city of Jerusalem on his way to his crucifixion. “[Jesus] did not come to be served but to serve others and give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28 So before we get to the Easter celebration we must make our way through Passion Week and the betrayal and crucifixion of Christ.
And on our way to Easter may we remember the attitude of Christ who placed no value on the lofty heights of deity and the privileges of highest heaven. We remember how he placed immeasurable value on our lives but none on his own life. And we remember how he poured out all of his marbles and emptied himself of absolutely everything in order to condescend to the lowest level of humanity, humbling himself in obedience to God, dying a criminal’s death on a cross. Next week we will get a taste of the outcome of his self-emptying for our sakes… our text ends today with these words:
“Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
It could be said that Jesus’ career, so to speak, began in highest heaven – that’s as extreme in altitude as altitude gets. From there Christ descended into the depths of humanity and death… the opposite extreme in loss of altitude. But now, God has elevated him to the place of highest honor because…
Jesus Christ gave his life that we may have life both now and forever more, but ultimately for the glory of God. The attitude of Christ is one of total selflessness for the good of others and the glory of God. And that is the attitude or mindset to which we are all called to live out as his followers.
