Up and Down the Ladder
Philippians 2:1-11
January 20, 2013
(this sermon uses a ladder on stage. This is not an original idea, but I can't recall where I heard of this.)
We’re always trying to get ahead. There's always a ladder to climb (get ladder) and the higher up the ladder we go, the more status we gain.
We rent a one-room apartment with a roommate to share costs. When we get married, we scrape enough money to buy a fixer-upper. Years later, we trade up for a home with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Somewhere in the future lies a 3,500 square-foot house or that luxury apartment within a block of the ocean.
Or we make the team; we get in a few games as a sub; then we're first string; we're all conference; we get a scholarship to college; we're All-American; first round draft pick; All-Pro; Hall of Fame.
There's always some ladder to climb; the higher up we go, the more status we have. The status feels good. It makes us feel important. It gets us attention.
We want status. We want to climb the ladder and get to the highest spot—for self-importance, to be thought of as somebody, to have others pay attention to us. It feels good to be looked up to, to be catered to, or to be thought of as special.
But that concern for status is dangerous, because it tends to put "me" first. We become tempted to say, "I'm higher up, so do it my way. I matter more, so please me. I'm more important, so serve my interests."
And if we find that attitude in the church, the result is disastrous, conflict, arguments, and dissension. To save his friends from that, the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Philippi, and basically said: Don't be concerned about how far up the ladder you can go. Instead, think about how far down you can come. Your aim is not to climb up, but to climb down — and Christ is our example.
Paul wrote, 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Each of you should care most of all not about yourself, but about others. Then he gives them an example.
Your example is Christ. He went down the ladder for the sake of others. He went to the lowest level possible.
As we live with each other in this church, our model is not someone who ascended the ladder or went from the bottom to the top — the mailroom boy who became CEO, the Grocery clerk who became MVP. As we live with each other and learn how to act toward each other, our model is one who descended the ladder. He went from omnipotence to obscurity, from stardom to slavery, from riches to rags. Our example is Christ. He descended to the lowest level because He loves and cares about us. And that's the attitude we should have toward one another.
In Philippians 2:5, Paul tells us ~ Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.
You see, Paul begins to describe how Christ came down the ladder. Christ started at the highest spot: equality with God. He was equal with God.
(Climb ladder to highest rung) Paul says this about Jesus, 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
He sat on the throne of heaven with the Father. The angels adored him and bowed before Him. In His very nature, He was the same as God. Jesus was and is God. He created the stars and galaxies. He was the one who created the earth, and people to live on it. The Father and Jesus wanted to love us with the same love they have for one another and to share heaven with us.
But when people sinned, their sin brought such sorrow to God, that we were no longer fit to be brought into the glory of heaven. When that happened, Jesus looked at the Father, and He realized that His equality with God wasn’t something to hold onto. He knew His equality with God was something to be used for us. The very nature of God is not to be a getter, but a giver. To be equal with God means to be one who goes and gives. The only way for God to get rid of sin was to send Christ to live with humans and pay their penalty for them.
Only God could do that, only God could live among people and not sin Himself. Only God could live perfectly with us. Only God could live free of the penalty of death, and therefore take our penalty on Himself.
The Son looked at the Father and did not consider His equality with God something to be grasped to serve His own interests.
So He made himself nothing by stepping into our world to serve us. (Climbs down a rung). Paul continued, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
Jesus didn't come as a king into His own creation. He didn't birth himself into the ruling Roman class. He didn't choose a middle-class family with the financial means to give Him a head start in society. He made himself nothing. He put Himself in the hands of a poor couple, in a conquered nation, in a backwater town — Nazareth. People wondered, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?"
He made himself nothing, because He became a servant. Just as He was equal with God, so too He became a servant. He took on our likeness. He got hungry and tired. He hurt when splinters went into his palms. He felt the pain when his friends betrayed him. He understood their weakness and served them anyway. When the disciples thought they were above washing dirty feet before a dinner, Jesus got the towel and knelt on the floor. He made Himself nothing.
(Climb down) 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! Christ died
How far would Jesus go to serve our interests? What would He do? How much of Himself would He give? Would He die . . . so we could live?
(Step down to the floor) Jesus followed through on what He came for — He died for us. If His service were to matter, it would have to go that far, because His death was the only thing that would remove our sin. He would have to take it on Himself and have it crush Him instead of us.
Christ knew He would die in the a humiliating and painful. The cross was humiliating because it was used only for foreign terrorists, notorious criminals, and rebellious slaves. It was painful because large nails severed tendons and splintered bones; the body sagged; hour after hour it became harder to breathe as you slowly suffocated.
Jesus died because we are sinners, and because He loved us and did not want us to perish. He cared for us ahead of Himself, and He died for us.
When His downward descent had reached the furthest depths; when He died a criminal's death and was buried in a borrowed grave; when Jesus became a forgotten servant, abandoned and ignored by most; when His caring for the interests of others had taken His life — — but had brought the people to God; when it looked like the grave would keep Him forever, God raised Him up and exalted Him.
(Climb one rung for each verse as it is read)
9 Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus descended to the lowest level, and God exalted Him to the highest place. God gave Him the name that is above every name: Yahweh. God gave Him His own name, the most honored name in all of creation, by which God refers to Himself. And as Jesus stands in His glory, every knee will bow in submission, all the angels in heaven, all the races on earth, all the seething demons under the earth — and every tongue will confess, "Jesus Christ is Lord," to the glory of God the Father.
My friends, if we will share His humility, we will share His glory. If we go down the ladder, God will raise us up.
(Descend one rung for each verse as it is read)
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves."
"Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus."
