Sermon 3 Adopt the Same Attitude as That of Jesus Christ
Scripture: Philippians 2:1-5 “Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. 3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.”
Our mindset can be a positive or negative influence on our behaviors and feelings toward others. By changing our mindset, we can change the way we see others, their behavior and the hope we have in our future relationships.
Introduction: Paul wrote this letter from a prison cell. He was persecuted for his faith in Jesus Christ. Yet, he was writing to encourage the church in Philippi. How many of us can encourage others when our own circumstances are grim? Paul was that kind of person, because he had a mindset or attitude like that of Jesus Christ.
In life, our mindset or attitude will determine our ability to overcome unfavorable circumstances, negative personalities and a history of hurts.
Chuck Swindoll wrote, “Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It’s more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company … a church … a home.”
This lesson is important because each one of us as believers will need encouragement, comfort, fellowship and Tender-hearted compassion. All these things become available in our relationship with God and other believers. I know we all experienced different upbringing that shaped our attitude, but we all can change and adopt our attitudes more like that of Christ Jesus’. The correlation between developing a Christ-like attitude and having a happier life is clear in this text. There are four attitudes in Philippians that Paul identified as Christ-like: living in love, living in harmony, living in humility, and living lifting others. When Paul emphasized the importance of “being like-minded,” he is not telling Christians to think alike, to love the same things or to accomplish the same goals in life. What Paul is telling us is that we are to be concerned about the same things: love, unity, humility, and others. Let’s consider these attitude adjustments that are available to us if we allow them.
1.The attitude of love is an attitude that brings out the best in another. An attitude to bless others at the expense of self. Most people don’t have an attitude of love. Most have an attitude of self-righteousness. When they argue with others, they automatically want to be right. That automatic response is an attitude or a mindset. To change our attitude from self-righteousness, defensiveness, or self-protection to love requires a change in our habitual response. An attitude of love will bring out the best in others. It moves us from criticism to consideration, from confusion to understanding and from injury to comfort and care. Allow this attitude to be in you.
2. The attitude of unity or harmony which means to be considerate of and allowing for the preferences of others. I know I have the best phone, I know the best way, and I chose the best color, but what you think? The next time you push your preferences on others, remember that God only gave us 10 commandments, and it has nothing to do with what phone we use, colors we choose, how you clean the bathroom, what pot you use for cooking or where you store away the dishes or the groceries. Many things that warp our attitude are just personal preferences. Walking in harmony is more important than what I like. An attitude of unity or harmony means explaining your stand, while not demanding your way. With this attitude, you will lovingly support the majority decision. Don’t leave or cop an attitude, make an adjustment. Jesus practiced an attitude of love and harmony. Let’s consider His attitude of Humility.
3. An attitude of humility is the practice or habit of seeing others as important too. Self-importance is prideful and destructive in relationships. Self-importance is as faulty as believing the sun revolves around the earth. But this is a very subtle attitude, nevertheless, a destructive one. Yes, we are all special, important, talented, and blessed, but we called to humility instead of pride. To humble oneself is hard when you got it going on! Yet, true humility, one of the keys to living at peace. Humility is coming into agreement with what God says about you. Humility is an attitude of spiritual modesty that comes from understanding our place in the larger order of things. It entails not taking our desires, successes, or failings too seriously. It’s knowing who we are and appreciating what God has done. Though Jesus was King of kings and Lord of Lords, He took on the form of a servant and became obedient to death. Walking in humility allow God love to shine through us. If you think humility is hard, what about esteeming others above our self?
4. An attitude of Esteeming Others means putting the needs of another before my own. When you develop this attitude of esteeming others above us, we will spend less time arguing, and more time enjoying the fellowship and meeting each other’s needs. This attitude moves us towards selfless love and humility instead of pride and selfishness. The attitude of selfless love is completely foreign to most. To love like this, we must take on the same attitude as Jesus Christ, who humbled himself and became a servant to others. We must die to our selfish ambition. You might be thinking, “I want these attitudes to be a part of my life, but how do I develop these attitudes?” There are at least two ways in Philippians 2.
First, we develop Christ-like attitudes by the company we keep. We see this in verses 1-4. Paul points out that who we spend time with influences our mindset. In 1 Corinthians 15:33, Paul wrote, “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’” The principle applies to attitude, “Bad company corrupts good attitude.”
Parents are always concerned about negative peer pressure from other children influencing our children, but we rarely recognize negative peer pressure from the adult company we keep. We think we are capable of standing our ground, but like a river cutting a path by its constant flow, the people we spend regular time with cut the path for our mindset to flow. If the person you’re associating with don’t have healthy attitudes, disassociate from them and you will be better for it.
Second, we develop Christ-like attitudes by the model we seek. We see this in verses 5-11. Paul calls us to develop our attitudes by modeling after Jesus Christ. It’s one thing to define the attitudes of love, harmony, humility and esteeming others, but seeing these attitudes in the life of another has a powerful influence on our lives. The influence of the company we keep impacts us because we are passive. But the influence of the model we seek impacts us because we are proactive. We choose our models for what we want to have in our own lives. When we choose a model, we are valuing certain characteristics and attitudes over others. When Jesus Christ is our model, we are valuing love, harmony, humility and Esteeming others better than ourselves. Over time, we become what we value. So be careful and be intentional about what you value. Let me close with this, and you might want to write it down: “We become like those we associate with and those we admire.” Adopt the Same Attitude as That of Jesus Christ. Amen.
