If you want to follow along, we are going to be looking primarily at Philippians 2:5-11. How many of you got your fill of Thanksgiving? How many of you when you were finished eating that Thanksgiving dinner went out and went to the pre-Black Friday sales? My hand is raised. We actually went out there. What about the Black Friday sales? Small Business Saturday? Anybody anticipating participating in Cyber Monday? Thanksgiving is behind us and Christmas is coming pretty quickly. In fact, too quickly for some. Although it is a very joyous time of year obviously when you celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, for many adults it can be a stressful and anxious time. Particularly because we have to deal with a lot of people that can be a little bit obnoxious. The sales clerk who doesn’t honor the sales price of an advertising insert. I had to deal with that last week. You get that obnoxious relative. The uncle who takes the last slice of pumpkin pie instead of asking if anybody else wants that piece of pie. Or you have the insensitive Christian who takes your favorite pew seat on Christmas Eve. All those people can be a little bit difficult to deal with. It is sad because this is one of the most sacred times of the year. It is so easy to cop an attitude toward certain people. In today’s passage out of the book of Philippians, we see that the apostle Paul has a remedy for that attitude. The remedy is this. That we would simply take on the attitude of Jesus Christ. The attitude that is expressed in his willingness to step out of heaven and come to earth and become man only to be crucified on a cross for our sake and salvation. That is what we are going to look at today.
As most of you know, we have been going through the series called The Story: God’s story as told through the people, places, and events of the Bible. We are getting very close to the end. We have about two more weeks left and we should be through that series. We have been going through the portion of the story that is referred to as Paul’s letters. As we said before, Paul went on several missionary trips where he planted churches. He did not abandon those churches. Ideally, he would visit them. If he couldn’t visit them he would send delegates. When he couldn’t visit or send delegates, he would write a letter. In the book of Philippians is a letter written by Paul from a prison cell in Rome. Even given the circumstances, if you have read the book of Philippians, you can see that it is really one of Paul’s happier and more joyful letters. He really seems to be upbeat in the letter. In fact, he uses the word joy or rejoice several times throughout the entire letter. You wonder what was Paul so joyful about. I think he is joyful because in the midst of the severe persecution that the Philippian church is dealing with at that time, they seem to be able to be steadfast in their faith and steadfast in their love of Jesus Christ. If there is a church that is a favorite church of Paul, I would say it is probably the church of Philippi. It really is the Philippian church. Even though we get the sense that it is a very happy letter and in some sense people are getting along with each other well, you really pick up from a few lines that might have been some internal conflict going on. Not quite as extensive as we saw in Corinthians but still some conflict where people didn’t agree with each other over certain things. We see that very clearly farther on in chapter 4 of Philippians where Paul writes “I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord.” By reading that, we get the sense there might be some internal conflict. We don’t know exactly the situation there, but some suspect that these two women were very actually very good friends but somehow had a falling out. We do not know the source of that disagreement, but we do know that Euodia and Syntyche are never mentioned again in the Bible, so we really don’t know whether they ever did get along again. But we do know that these two women have been forever immortalized in the Bible simply by the fact that they could not get along with each other. That is not a very good legacy to have.
Although the letter to Philippians does not have the primary theme of disunity, when Paul picks up on disunity of any nature he is one to immediately try to nip it in the bud. In this particular situation, he doesn’t seem quite as combative as he did back in Corinthians. He does it in a very creative way. He addresses the situation in a very creative way by reciting what would be considered an historic Christian hymn. If you have your Bibles, you might see that that particular passage from verses 5-11 is actually indented because some believe that was actually a Christian hymn that might have been passed around from church to church and people would memorize it. It would be a way of summarizing the gospel in a very easy and creative way. Paul used this passage to help the people who were in disagreement to filter their attitude through. We are looking at Philippians 2:5-11. In this particular passage, Paul is saying to the people in the letter that I want you to have the same attitude as Christ Jesus. Then he goes on to say “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped; but instead he made himself nothing. He took on the very nature of a servant and he was made into the image of man. Being found in the image of man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on the cross.” The passage goes on to say that because of this “God raised him up above all things and gave him a name that was above all names. In the name of Jesus Christ every knee would bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” That is a beautiful verse that is worth memorizing for everybody. It summarizes the gospel. It summarizes the Christmas story and the Easter story all in one. We know that the Christmas story is really about the incarnation. Remember I talked about the carnal nature. Incarnation basically has to do with taking on flesh. That is really what the Christmas story is about. God, who was above everything else, took on human flesh and became a baby. We know the Easter story. It begins with Good Friday where Jesus, in obedience, went upon the cross and following the death of Jesus, soon he was resurrected up and ascended up into heaven. In these few verses, we have a nice recap of the Christmas story and the Easter story.
Having said that, Paul is really using this hymn as a lens for the people to view their own attitude towards each other. You see that the people picked up some sort of an attitude toward each other. When you think about the word attitude, Webster’s defines attitude as a manner, a disposition, a feeling, a position with regard to a person, thing, tendency, or orientation, especially of the mind. An attitude is often what we think about a person. As Christians, we are supposed to think like Christ. If we look back in 1 Corinthians that we went through a few weeks ago, it says that Christians have been given the very mind of Christ. That is a mystery, but it also gives us a clue that we are able to actually think like Christ. We are actually to begin to process like Christ and Paul knows that. That is why in verse 5 he says your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ. In other words, you should think like Jesus Christ in all your actions. You should behave and think just as Christ would think in this particular situation. Then he goes on to unpack what that attitude might look like. He says “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.” He is talking about Jesus. Jesus, who being in the very nature God. This is one of those passages that would be very easy for us to just skip over. I am sure in your readings, you don’t even think about it. To not think about it is to miss the significance of what Paul is communicating here. Jesus Christ is God. He has the same attributes of God. Attributes of being all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent, and even pre-existent before he was born on earth. That is a really true belief that characterizes Christianity from a lot of the other religions that didn’t see Jesus as God. We know what Paul is doing. He is just affirming really what the gospel writers had said earlier. You may be familiar with John 1:1 where he says “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.” Later in verse 14 it says “The word became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us.” Who was the word of God? Jesus. In the beginning Jesus was with God. Jesus was God. Jesus became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us. What Paul is doing is affirming the reality that Jesus in all respects is God just as much as the Father is God and just as much as the Spirit is God. When you have the Father being God and the Spirit being God and the Son being God you have what is called the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity. As Christians we believe not in three gods. We believe in one God eternally existent in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That is a basic Christian belief. No matter what your background, if you look at the historic creeds, it is spoken there. As difficult as it is to explain, we believe it by faith because there is evidence throughout the entire Bible that there was one God. We are a monotheistic people that eternally existed in three persons; a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Again, it is difficult to explain, but it is even more difficult to deny. It is wise to heed the words of St. Augustine who said “If you try to understand the trinity, you will lose your mind; but if you try to deny it, you will lose your soul.”
This is what Paul is getting across from his very first few lines. Jesus was in the nature of God. I don’t think he is trying to put out some theology or some God-way of thinking that they didn’t already know. They knew this. What he is trying to say is that even though Jesus was God, he was coexistent with the Father, what is more remarkable is that he was willing to set those rights and privileges associated with being God aside for the benefit of the people. He goes on to say “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.” This is a passage that I have always struggled with. I think a lot of you, if you are honest, struggle with this because it just doesn’t seem to make sense. What does he mean “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped”? You have the idea of trying to grab at something when really probably a better interpretation is cling to or hold on to. That is why it is very helpful in these particular passages to use a paraphrase version such as The Message because Eugene Peterson who wrote The Message kind of puts it in pretty plain language. He translates it “He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what.” He didn’t have to hold on to it. He had all the status of God but was willing to set it aside for a time being. So much so that the passage goes on to say that he made himself nothing. This is another heavy passage because the underlying word here is the Greek word kenosis which can be translated in a number of ways. It can be translated nothing. It can also be translated emptying or void of something. The scholars don’t really know the best word. More importantly, they don’t know what it is that Jesus exactly emptied himself of when he came to earth. One thing they can agree on is that he did not stop being God. When Jesus became man, he was still God. That is another basic doctrine of Christian faith. Jesus was fully God and fully man. We don’t understand how it works, but that is a basic belief in the Christian faith that Jesus was fully God and fully man. What did he give up? Some believe that he gave up the independent use of his powers, the all-knowing, his omniscience, and all that kind of stuff. Some might suggest if you read the gospels you definitely see that Jesus was doing miracles. He was calming the waves, healing the sick, he was casting out demons. What is up with that? He basically gave up the independent use of these things. If you know your gospels, you know that everything that Jesus did was dependent on the Father’s will. That is why he was always in communication with the Father. Nothing was self-directed. It was all directed by the Father. That is what some people believe when it says he became nothing.
He not only became nothing. He not only set aside the independent use of his power. He went even lower. He took on the very nature of a servant. This is the king of the world who has existed for all eternity is now coming not to be served but to serve others. In the gospel of Mark he talks about that. Jesus said “I came not to be served but to serve others as a ransom for the world.” He came as a servant. To be a servant he had to be made in human likeness. He had to be made like us. We know if we read the gospel that Jesus was just like us. We see situations where he slept. I think it is in the calming of the storm where he was asleep below deck on a pillow. We know that he ate. We know that he was eating with the tax collectors and sinners. We know that he experienced raw emotions like we experience. We see that when his friend Lazarus died. We see it in the poignant two-word line that says “Jesus wept.” We see that he was like us in many ways. Also we see that he was tempted just like us. He was tempted in the same way that man is tempted today. The difference being that he was tempted yet we know he did not sin. If there is a difference between Jesus as a man and us as men, the difference is that Jesus was tempted but he did not sin. He was the model man. The perfect man.
As a side note, sometimes when we mess up or do something wrong and somebody criticizes us for it, sometimes our excuse is I am only human. Really what that person is saying is I am only a sinful human. Jesus was the model person. Jesus was the model human. Jesus was the human that God intended us to be for all eternity when he designed us. But again, sin pulled us away from that and changed who we are on the inside. Through the coming of Jesus Christ and especially through the spirit of God that comes within us that is made available in us, we are able to be shaped and molded into the very image of Christ. I talked about that last week. I used the word spiritual formation. It is nothing that mystical. The idea is we believe that if we work with the spirit, we are being formed into the very image of Christ. So much so that we begin to do the things that Jesus would do if he was living inside of us. There is a possibility for real change. We may not see it because we see ourselves only as a sinful, fallen human being. But God the Father sees Christ within us, which means we can change our behavior. We can change our attitude. Even though at times the change of the attitude requires that we might have to die to something. We see that really in the next line where it says “Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross.” This is an amazing passage if we were to meditate on it because we see the God who existed before all eternity. The co-creator of the universe, Jesus Christ, not only came down and became a man, became a servant, but was willing to, in obedience, allow himself to be crucified on a Roman cross. At that particular time was believed to be the most excruciating form of execution. In fact, we get the word excruciating from the word cross. They invented a new word because of it. He was willing to take that excruciating pain upon himself for the sake of the world. It was a form of punishment that was intended for the dregs of society. He went from being the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. We know that God did not leave him in the grave. God did not leave him to die on the cross. The last few lines are the picture of the resurrection reality. “Therefore, 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 would 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.” We see this as the descending down and the ascension back up. We see these passages as really a very nice summary of the gospel.
The question remains; what does it have to do with attitude? What does it have to do with the clerk who refuses to honor the advertising sale insert? What does it have to do with mean Uncle Billy who always takes the last piece of pie? Or the person on Christmas Eve that takes your favorite pew seat? I think if Paul was here today, he would say everything. It is all applicable to today just as it was way back then. Why is Paul giving these words? He is giving it because there is a situation in the church where people can’t agree with each other. When you think about it, when you try to trace the source back to reasons why people can’t agree with one another what does it usually pertain to? It pertains to the fact that you are not getting what you think you deserve. Isn’t that really it? I think there is a passage in James that speaks of this. Why are there quarrels? Why are there fights amongst you? Because you ask a desire you want and you do not get what you want. That is the source of most of the quarrels. What Paul is saying just as it worked way back then with two women who can’t get along, it works today. It works if you are willing to take your desires, your attitude, your perceived rights, your perceived entitlements and take them through the filter of this passage. Take them through the filter of what is called collectively as the kenosis; the coming down of Jesus Christ. If you are willing to come down like Jesus Christ came down, you may find your life begin to change. If you were to meditate on this passage, you would begin to see that maybe when you think about it, you really don’t deserve what you want. You don’t deserve anything in comparison to what Christ deserved. You don’t. You begin to realize if Christ had all this preeminence, Christ had all this kingly glory, and he was willing to put all that stuff aside to come down to earth to die on a cross in the most miserable way, do you think I could set my perceived rights, entitlement, pride aside for the benefit of myself and the benefit of the people around me? That is really what he is saying here. It pertains today just as much as it pertained 2,000 years ago.
In closing, I was thinking about how to end this up. Maybe I just come up with this list of all these situations that we are going to encounter during the holidays and the rest of the year with the surly clerks and the rude relatives and the Christians who make us mad or whatever and then we can basically say how it would work if you were to filter those things through the lens of this passage. But I realized that is not a very good idea. That is probably the same reason Paul didn’t do it. Because he knew that if he did that, there would be somebody in the crowd who would say I didn’t hear anything that really pertained to me so I am off the hook. That is why he didn’t do it. What he wants you to do in the quietness of your own space in your own mind begin to think about any attitudes that you may have towards people this Christmas. Any attitudes that sometimes you carry with you when you go to the store. Any attitudes that you carry with you when you go to that family function and you just really don’t even want to be with the people. Or the attitudes you might even carry towards other Christians in the room. What he is saying is take this passage and meditate on it and by the time you are done thinking about it, I guarantee you are not going to be able to think yourself more highly than you are. You are going to be willing to probably do away with that attitude. In closing, what I would like to do, just simply as I go back through this passage, if you are willing close, your eyes and if you are not, leave them open. I don’t really care. But I would say think it through. Think about anybody that you are copping an attitude about. I guarantee that most everybody in this room including myself have an attitude towards people that is un-Christian-like and that in no way resembles the attitude of Jesus Christ. That is why Paul said your attitude should be the same as Jesus Christ who, being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, something to cling on to. No. He was willing to make himself nothing. He was willing to take on the very nature of a servant. Being made in the image of man. Being found in the appearance of a man, he even went father. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death – death on the cross. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place. Gave him a name that was above all names. In 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. Let us pray.
