“”Living a Joy-full Life: Develop A Healthy Attitude”
Phil. 2:5-11
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale once walked by a tattoo parlor in Hong Kong. In the shop window there was a display of decorations that could be imprinted on one’s skin – flags, patriotic slogans, anchors, daggers, skulls, cross-bones and mermaids. There was one, however, which caught his eye. It was the somber phrase: “Born to Lose.” Being curious, he went into the shop and found the proprietor spoke a little English. He asked if people really did have that message permanently imprinted on themselves. Yes, was the answer, and in fact the last customer who wanted it had it emblazoned across his chest. Dr. Peale asked, “Why on earth would anyone want to be branded with a gloomy slogan like that?” The old Chinese man shrugged his shoulders and replied, “Before tattoo on chest, tattoo already on mind.” (i)
Our attitudes flow from what is in our minds; our mindset is critically important. So once Paul exhorted the Philippians to strive for unity he moved on to instruct them how to develop the right mindset for doing so. (5) “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus…” JESUS’ MIND IS TO BE OUR MIND. As John Henry Jowett pointed out, “When we have the mind of anybody we share the very springs of their being…(we) have their way of feeling, their way of doing things. It is to be like them in the pattern-chamber of the life, where conduct is originally fashioned, and where all the outside issues are finally determined.” To think like Jesus, to see like Jesus, will put Jesus into the pattern chamber of our lives.
And what will that look like? First, WE WILL BE SELFLESS. (6) “Jesus…who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing…” Jesus was co-equal with God. He was not a junior partner or an assistant; he was co-equal. Jesus was the Creator of the world; “For by him all things were created…All things were created by him and for him.” (Col 1:16) As co-equal and creator Jesus was all powerful, full of and surrounded by divine glory. He was worshiped and adored by all creation. But Jesus did not cling tightly to being equal with God. Jesus set aside his position of glory and possession of power; He refused to clutch it. He stepped down. HE RESIGNED HIS POSITION AND LET GO OF HIS POWER.
But that was just the beginning. Jesus stepped down further: (7) “…but made himself nothing…being made in human likeness…” JESUS EMPTIED HIMSELF of his divine trappings and all desire and personal ambition, and took on the appearance and likeness of a human. He was born in human flesh; and he was not born as a king in a palace but as a baby in a manger, and not into a royal family but to a carpenter, and not to a married couple but to a virgin. ”The Son of man came…to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mk. 10:45)
Think about it – Jesus gave up glory, riches, authority, status, and power – for your sake! As someone put it, “The only person in the world who had the right to assert his rights waived them.” (ii) He waived them because He loves you. It’s what love does – it sacrifices self for the sake of the beloved. As Paul reminded the Corinthians (2 Cor. 8:9) “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” Mother Theresa once travelled to Washington DC – but not to the Capitol building or White House. She went, instead, to the Anacostia section – a ghetto of hunger, war, crime, rugs, and hopelessness. She didn’t speak to a joint session of Congress, hold a press conference, or speak at one of the great cathedrals. Instead she went to a troubled and neglected corner of the city to establish an outpost for nine of her Sisters of Charity. Since she did not go to the power brokers they came to her with press and media in tow. “What do you hope to accomplish here?” someone shouted. She replied, “The joy of loving and being loved.” Another reporter pressed her, “That takes a lot of money, doesn’t it?” Mother Theresa shook her head. “No, IT TAKES A LOT OF SACRIFICE.” (iii)
How willing are you to sacrificially empty yourself? To let go of glory, riches, authority, status, or power? To become poor so others can become rich? To stoop down so others can step up? To have Jesus’ mindset is to be selfless.
In addition to being selfless we WILL BE SERVANT ORIENTED. (7) “Jesus… made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” He became like us. He did not come to earth as a stock broker, investment guru, or millionaire land owner – He came, in the words of Bill Hybels, “as a fetus born in a stable to a blue-collar, Jewish worker….The omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent second person of the Trinity, Jesus, was fully God…Now Jesus feels the binding confines and restrictions of the flesh. He’s got skin around him now. He must use doors, ride animals, eat, and sleep.” (iv)
And He did it voluntarily; He became a servant of that which He created. He CHOSE TO BE THE SERVANT OF THOSE HE CREATED AND RULED. (Lk. 22:27) “I am among you as one who serves.” There’s another great story about Mother Theresa. Shane Claiborne, who spent a summer in the slums of Calcutta with Mother Teresa, wrote the following about one of his experiences there: “People often ask me what Mother Teresa was like. Sometimes it's like they wonder if she glowed in the dark or had a halo. She was short, wrinkled, and precious, maybe even a little ornery—like a beautiful, wise old granny. But there is one thing I will never forget—her feet. Her feet were deformed. Each morning in Mass, I would stare at them. I wondered if she had contracted leprosy. But I wasn't going to ask, of course. "Hey Mother, what's wrong with your feet?" One day a sister said to us, "Have you noticed her feet?" We nodded, curious. She said: "Her feet are deformed because we get just enough donated shoes for everyone, and Mother does not want anyone to get stuck with the worst pair, so she digs through and finds them. And years of doing that have deformed her feet." Years of loving her neighbor as herself deformed her feet.” (v)
So we see Jesus, the Lord of glory … with a towel around his waist, pouring water into a basin, washing the feet of his disciples, and then saying to them: “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say (this) correctly, for (that is what) I am. If therefore, I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash each other’s feet, for I have given you an example, in order that just as I did to you, so also you should do” (John 13:12–15). And that is exactly Paul’s point. He is saying to the Philippians and to us, “Follow the example of your Lord.”
To do so we need to fully understand Jesus’ style of servanthood; one which led Him not to deformed feet, but to a cross upon which He died, because His Master – His Father – told Him to go. We, however, prefer to choose when, where, and how we will serve. WE ARE SERVICE ORIENTED – BUT NOT SERVANT ORIENTED. Jesus calls us to be servants and that means giving up control to our Master, who is Jesus. We let Him determine when, where, and how we will serve.
To do that WE MUST BE SUBMISSIVE. Jesus, said Paul, took the lowest step of all. “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” HE BECAME SUBMISSIVE UNTO DEATH – even a death on a cross. The 12th chapter of John’s Gospel poignantly portrays this for us. Verse 23 is the pivotal verse: “Jesus replied, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.’” Finally Jesus’ “moment” had arrived; He could head for the cross. Following Palm Sunday, the Greeks want to see Jesus. He knows the time has come to redouble his energies and refocus his sights towards His saving death. So Jesus immediately speaks of it. He offers the analogy of the kernel needing to die in order to bear fruit. He alone knew the application of this for Himself - He would die! Out of his death would come life! That’s why he agonizes, “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” What to do! THE ISSUE FOR JESUS WAS HIS WILL.
Jesus had come to a fork in the road - a fork not unfamiliar to us. He could either opt for “Save me” or for “Glorify your name.” It was this ferocious struggle in his soul that sent him to Gethsemane where he seat drops of blood as he prayed to his Father. Palm Sunday had worked. His procession was His announcement that He was the promised of God, sent to die. He could have arrived in a carriage, portraying royalty; He could have come on a horse, proclaiming victory; He could have come quietly, prompting no one to do anything. But He rode the donkey; He did what Scripture prophesied! He did what He came to do. JESUS CAME TO DO HIS FATHER’S WILL - TO DIE.
And sandwiched in between his announcement of his death and his admission of struggle, Jesus teaches all who will hear: “Love your life and you will lose it; hate it, lose it for my sake, and you will keep it. My attitude is to be yours. You cannot die to bring salvation, but you can die to the world and produce life.” And Philippians chapter 2 looks back and proclaims, “He did the Father’s will!” He chose to die and allowed himself to be crucified as the lowest of criminals. He allowed Himself to experience separation from God as He bore the sin of the world; as we say in the Apostle’s Creed, He even descended into hell. Jesus went from a being a full-fledged member of the Holy Trinity seated in the heavens to a being a baby in swaddling cloths in a manger to dying the lowliest of deaths. JESUS WENT FROM RICHES TO RAGS – all in obedience to His Father.
The parable of the eagle puts it another way. One day a large golden eagle flew upward in the sky. He was a picture of beauty and grace. But all of a sudden the eagle began to fly around in circles, unable to fly higher. Soon its’ wing beats weakened; then he fell to the ground. He was dead. Upon examination it was discovered that the eagle has caught a little weasel and had held it in its talons rather close to its body while flying. But the weasel had grabbed the neck of the eagle and had sucked out its blood until it was too weak to fly. As we cling to our desires, we choke ourselves and die. IF WE LOVE OUR LIFE, WE LOSE IT. BUT IF WE LOSE OUR LIFE, WE FIND IT.
A sad but powerful commentary of our world today is that one of the major reasons ISIS and other terrorist groups hold an upper hand is that their members are willing to die for their cause. You might, perhaps, be willing to physical die for Jesus if need be – but are you willing to die each day for Jesus? Of what do you need to let go? Where do you need to submit to Jesus? To what do you need to die? “And being found in appearance as a man, (Jesus) humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!”
Like Jesus, through our selflessness, our servant orientation, and our submissiveness WE WILL BE SUPERIOR. (9-11) Jesus was promoted to highest place, and given the highest name: “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name…” Here a verb is used which in the New Testament occurs only in this one instance and is here applied only to Jesus, namely, the verb “SUPER-EXALTED.” God the Father elevated the Son in a transcendently glorious manner. He raised him to the loftiest heights. Paul elsewhere says Jesus even “ascended far above all the heavens” (Eph. 4:10). He received the place of honor and majesty and is accordingly “seated at the right hand of Gods throne” (Rom. 8:34), “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come” (Eph. 1:20–22). (vi) For Jesus, down was up.
So great is Jesus’ superiority that we are not the only ones who will praise Him. “…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.” Everyone, everywhere, in heaven – on the earth – in hell, everyone will confess that Jesus is Lord. Even those who denied or rejected Him will, in their misery, admit that He is Lord. It will not save them; it’s too late for that – it will only serve to glorify Jesus as the living, reigning Lord.
And we, too, through a healthy attitude, through having the mind of Christ, will be lifted up; WE, TOO, WILL BE EXALTED. We will go from rags to riches. Jesus promised (LK. 14:11) “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Carl Jung told of a man who asked a rabbi, “How come in the olden days God would show Himself to people, but today nobody ever sees God?” The rabbi said, “Because nowadays nobody can bow low enough.”(vii) Let this mind be in us which was in Christ Jesus, let us bow low, step down, empty ourselves, and become servants submitting to God’s will—then we will see and know and share with God!
A farmer lived in the middle of Kansas and raised two sons. Both sons joined the Navy. The farmer’s brother was a psychologist, and he came to visit. At dinner the farmer said, “You’re a psychologist. I want you to tell me how a farmer living in the middle of Kansas, where there’s almost no water, can raise two sons who join the Navy and love it.” His brother said, “That’s a good question. Let me think about it.” That night he slept in the boy’s room. The next morning he told the farmer that he thought he had an answer. He said, “Come up to this room with me.” They walked into the boy’s room, and the first thing they saw was a picture on the wall – a beautiful picture of the sea, and in the middle of the sea was a ship. The psychologist told his brother, “I want you to lay down on the bed and tell me what you see when you get up from the bed.” The farmer said, “I see the picture.” The psychologist said, “The first thing you see when you walk into this room is this picture. The last thing you see at night is the picture. And the first thing you see in the morning when you get up is the picture of this ship on the sea. Did the boys have this picture for a long time?” The farmer said, “Yes, since they were about three years old.” The brother said, “If you think about a picture like that long enough, you might become a sailor.” (viii)
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face – and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” Look at Jesus long enough, and you will become like Him. Think about Jesus long enough, and you will think like Him. Survey the cross of Jesus long enough and you will give him your soul, your life, your all.
(i) Charles DeHaven, “Holiday a Time to Receive Gift”, New Braunfels, TX. Herald-Zeitung, August 30, 1985
(ii) Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of Philippians (Vol. 5, pp. 109–110). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.
(iii) Charles Colson, Loving God, Judith Markham Books-Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI., © 1987 by Charles W. Colson, p. 125-126
(iv) Bill Hybels, The STroy of Seven Demotions,
(v) Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution (Zondervan, 2006), p.167-168; from www.preachingtoday.com
(vi) Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of Philippians (Vol. 5, pp. 113–114). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.
(vii) Dunnam, M. D., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982). Galatians / Ephesians / Philippians / Colossians / Philemon (Vol. 31, p. 279). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.
(viii) Scott Wenig, Preaching Today #182
