TO BE LIKE CHRIST
Philippians 2:1-2:11
Philippians 2:1-14 (NIV) Imitating Christ’s Humility
1.Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
2. then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
3. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
4. not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
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 acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing,
Introduction:
There is a true story about a man who hired somebody to record all the life of Hudson Taylor especially the negative sides. The hired man kept on following Hudson Taylor daily to record everything with him and after three months this guy became a Christian. I believe with all my heart, that as we study the life of Christ, we can gain many things about him and live like Him.
“To be like Christ is to be a Christian. And to be a Christian is to become like Christ!” – William Penn
Ill. A story of a soldier serving as a guard through out the night. Early in the morning this soldier reported to his commanding officer who demanded, “Did you sleep well while on duty?”
He replied , “ What made you think that I fell asleep while on duty asked the surprised soldier?”
Look in the mirror the officer replied. As a guard stood before the mirror he saw the Mercedez Benz Logo from his truck steering wheel.
In Philippians 2,Paul tells us that there should be a trademark on us as well.
This trademark should be the something that others will see and recognize because our attitude should be the same as that of Christ. V.5-8
l. To be like Christ we must make Christ as our pattern. Phil.2: 1-4
V5. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
V5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (KJV)
Let’s make Christ’s life as our pattern.
The pattern here to be copied by the saints characterizes the beautiful Christian virtues of Unity, Humility, and obedience.
V1.Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
Let’s make Christ’s life as our pattern.
A. The exhortation to these virtues.Vv.1-4
1.They are available( Phil.2:1) Harold L. Willmington- in his personal translation of the text. “ Since therefore there is an encouragement in Christ, since there is consolation of love, since there fellowship of the Spirit, and affection and compassion”
2.They are attainable( (Phil.2: 2-4) v2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. v3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. v4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
B. The Example to all virtues. ( Jesus Christ) There is unity in the Godhead. He said, “ I and my Father are one.”
1. Unity is a key ingredient for success and fulfillment in life.
• To have a successful business the employees must get along and work together.
• To have a successful Basketball team the players must work together.
Ex. Our Smart Gilas, Philippine basketball team got the silver medal during the newly concluded FIBA Asian tournament against the tallest players of Japan, Hongkong, Taiwan, China, Kazakstan and Arab player because of team work.
• To have successful government the congress and the president must cooperate.
Ex. Philippines is now no longer a “ Sick man” of Asia but a “Rising Tiger” of Asia, and enjoying the investment status upgrade. It is because almost everyone is cooperating with the President Aquino in his program daan matuwid, “Kung walang kurap walang mahirap.” ( No corruption, no poverty).
• To have a successful family the members must work together.
• To have a successful church we must work together. Very little is accomplished in life by yourself. Very little is accomplished without cooperation. When there is unity there is tremendous power and potential.
“The problem is people don’t always get along – they don’t always co-operate”.
In Philippians chapter two Paul talks about how to have unity and co-operation with others.
Vv. 1-2 “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” Philippians 2:1-2 (NKJV)
As Christians we are to have unity in Christ.
We are supposed to get along with one another. There ought to be fellowship among us. Paul says we are to be like minded. We are to show the love to one another – because Christ has loved us. We are to display mercy and grace – because that is what God has shown us. We are to put on the mind of Christ and if we did that we will be like-minded – in unity and harmony.
Unfortunately – unity and harmony does not happen very often. But Paul gives us in Philippians chapter two – mentions the practical steps of building unity.
The steps found in v. 3
“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteems others better than himself.” Philippians 2:3 (NKJV)
1. Stop having selfish AMBITIONS
I like the way the Message Bible translates this verse. It says:
“Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead.” Philippians 2:3 (MSG)
To often we compete with people who are supposed to be on our team. What type of team will ever win if they a busy competing with themselves – rather than working together? Stop fighting one another.
As a child you may have been involved in sibling rivalries. You competed with your brothers and sisters.
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” Philippians 2:3 (NKJV)
2. Stop being conceited
How many of you like conceited people? Pride can affect us all. We should not do things just to show off ourselves. An egotist is an "I" specialist. He is full of himself. When this happens there is very little room for anyone else – including God. All he can see is himself. Self- centered pride or arrogance is the result of conceit. The Bible says "Pride goes before destruction".
Proverbs chapter thirteen verse ten tells us: “Arrogance leads to nothing but strife.” Proverbs 13:10 (HCSB)
The first cause of conflict is selfish ambitions. Selfish Ambition can ruin a church. The second cause of conflict is personal pride – when I’ve got an ego and refuse to admit it when I’m wrong there is bound to be quarrels. If you could eliminate conceit you would solve most of the people problems in today’s world.
Verse 3 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility consider others better than yourselves."
What are practical ways to do if we consider others better than ourselves
• Simple things like letting others go first.
• Giving up the biggest piece of dessert (or the last piece).
Or get a small amount of food and when everyone had eaten you can take more food.
• Like keeping your promises and showing up on time to appointments with others.
There lots of practical things to do to show preference of others.
Our focus isn’t on us – it is on others. Your focus is on other people. You are people centered – rather than self- centered. The person that thinks he’s humble – isn’t. The humble person doesn’t even know it because he’s focusing on everybody else. The book of Proverbs tells us:
“A man’s pride will bring him low, But the humble in spirit will retain honor.” Proverbs 29:23 (NKJV)
We like to criticize and pick out faults of other people because it makes us feel superior.
We think we build ourselves up by putting other people down.
But the Bible teaches the exact opposite. Treat others better than you would your-self.
ll. The Example of Jesus in Humility Vs 5-7
In vs. 5 Paul says, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” In other words you should think those thoughts that Christ thought. You should have the mind of Christ that was expressed in the incarnation. By incarnation we mean when Holy God became man. That is the attitude we should have, an attitude of humility that makes us willing to give up what we have for the sake of others. We tend to think of our own self-interests. We tend to think of our own rights. We have created a “me generation.” Everyone thinking of his or her own needs and not about those of others.
1 John 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
This is a day when we need to look to the example of Jesus Christ who is the ultimate example of true humility. There was no limit to the amount of humility that he demonstrated. Despite his divine majesty he took off those heavenly robes and came down in the form of humanity.
GENUINE HUMILITY (5-8a)
"But made himself nothing (He made himself empty)
...Taking the very nature of a servant"
When asked what the three most important Christian virtues were, Augustine replied, "Humility, humility, and humility."
Someone has said, humility is that, when you know you have it, you have lost it.
But look what Jesus did.
In Middle Eastern countries, it was the slaves who washed the feet of guests; but Christ took the place of a slave. He makes this clear to His disciples: if their Lord and Teacher has washed their feet, then they should wash one another’s feet, that is, serve each other in humility. This must have been a striking rebuke to the Twelve, for just that evening they had been debating who was to be the greatest! (See Luke 22:24–27)
Paul wants to communicate a message to the Philippians. He wants to communicate a message of humility. He is telling them they need to put their own selfish interests aside and follow the example of Jesus Christ in humility. It is the ultimate illustration of humility. Jesus humbled himself. Won’t you heed the message of Paul and live in humility? Won’t you put aside your self-interests and live by the example of Christ who humbled himself more than anyone else? Humility is the example of Christ.
If you say, “I want to be a good Christian,” you must follow Christ in the attitude of humility. Only if you will humble yourself and allow Jesus to be your example and motivate you to the service in humility will you truly be able to be the Christian that you would like to be and that God would have you to be.
lll. The Example of Jesus in Obedience. Vs 8
We see that Christ set an example of humility. In verse 8 we see a further example of Jesus Christ. We see the example of obedience. Jesus Christ was obedient. His example extends beyond humility to obedience. Jesus placed himself as a servant to do God’s will and he never shrank from that. Jesus was human like other men, yet he was different in that he was perfectly obedient. He never was disobedient at any time to what God would have for him. He lived always in the will of God. Jesus obedience went to the ultimate, that of death. He was obedient unto death. There is the ultimate test of obedience.
Illustration: Obedience
I have heard about those who travel in the north Yukon who use dogsled teams. The key to the whole team is how the lead dog is obedient to the master who is driving the sled. One man was saying that his lead dog was more obedient than any dog before. He was arguing with another man about the obedience of his dog. They were on the side of a cliff and he gave the dog the command to jump. As he did the dog leapt over the cliff. He caught the dog and pulled him back. Never again did anyone question the obedience of that sled dog. This dog was obedient unto death. He was willing to die for the master.
Here we see Jesus set the ultimate example of obedience. He was obedient to the point of death. His whole mission in coming to earth was about that death on the cross. He came to die. He was obedient and never shrank from his mission, which included death. He went beyond merely death, but he died a shameful death. A death by crucifixion is the most degrading death known. It was torturous and shameful. It was to be a curse to die on a cross. Jesus was willing to go to that extreme of death on a cross.
III. COMMITMENT TO OBEY (8b)
“Became obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
Commitment (Webster dictionary) “The act of committing, putting yourself into prison”
• Most Christians don’t know how to commit their lives!
• Jesus is committed to do everything that the Father had told him, even the death of the cross!
"One act of obedience is better than a thousand sermons."
Illustration:
A Roman Centurion was instructed to deliver a message by his commanding officer. In order to deliver that message, he had to go through some dangerous territory. Now, one of the soldiers approached him and said, “sir, if you try to deliver this message, you could be killed.” The centurion looked at the young man and he said, “Soldier, it’s not necessary for me to live. It’s only necessary for me to obey.” Quotation: Some people serve because the law requires it, others serve because love desires it.”
Illustration An elderly Christian lady, who was crippled with arthritis, used to hobble to the services of the church on crutches. It was a great ordeal and required of her a considerable amount of toil and pain. A friend of hers observed her regular and faithful attendance and asked, "How do you manage to be at every service?" Her answer was, "My heart gets there first, and my old legs just follow after."
Conclusion
In verse 9-11 the Bible says: “God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
If we live according to Christ life, God will also bless us.
Yes, my beloved brothers and sisters! The Lord wants us to learn his life and follow Him.
