When concert artists do a concert, they usually present a rider, which spells out what they expect from their hosts. Beyonce has such a rider, and several years ago (2013), The Daily Star obtained a copy of her rider. It includes the following demands:
• All crew members must wear 100 percent cotton clothing.
• Alkaline water must be chilled to 21 degrees and served with $900 titanium straws.
• Bathrooms must have new toilet seats and red toilet paper at every venue.
• Hand-carved ice balls should be made after each show to cool her throat. &
• The host must provide newly refurbished, luxury dressing rooms with enough space that's typically used to accommodate entire sports teams (“Beyonce’s ‘Diva’ Demand Revealed in Alleged Tour Rider,” Huffington Post, May 2, 2013; www. PreachingToday.com).
Beyonce wants to enjoy the privileges of her superstar status. She is very popular, so she demands and gets what she wants.
In sharp contrast, when Jesus came to earth, He demanded nothing. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Philippians 2, Philippians 2, where we have Jesus’ “rider” (so-to-speak) for coming to this earth.
Philippians 2:5-7 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped [or held onto], but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men (ESV).
Jesus, who is God Himself, the King of the Universe, did not hang onto the privilege or prestige of that position. Instead, He let it all go. He emptied Himself, verse 7 says. In other words, the King became a servant!
Now, don’t get me wrong. Jesus did NOT cease to be God when He became a man. No! He simply ceased to enjoy the privileges of that position. He was still omnipotent: all powerful – but He chose to live in dependence upon the Father. He was still omnipresent: everywhere present at the same time – but He chose to dwell in a single body. He was still omniscient: all knowing – but He chose to know only what the Father revealed to Him. Jesus was still Lord, but He chose to become a servant.
Josephus, the 1st Century Jewish Historian, talks about a king who took off his kingly robes and put on the clothes of a beggar to live among his people (Antiquities 10,11). Well, that’s exactly what Jesus did when He became a man. He took off His Kingly robes and put on the rags of a beggar. He made Himself nothing in this world’s eyes.
In his best-selling book, The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey describes a London auditorium, where he saw the royal box in which the kings and queens of England sat. There, he caught a glimpse of the… way rulers stride through the world: with bodyguards, a trumpet fanfare, and a flourish of bright clothes and flashing jewelry.
At the time, Queen Elizabeth II had recently visited the United States, and reporters delighted in spelling out the logistics involved: her four thousand pounds of luggage included two outfits for every occasion, a mourning outfit in case someone died, forty pints of plasma, and white kid-leather toilet seat covers. She brought along her own hairdresser, two valets, and a host of other attendants. A brief visit of royalty to a foreign country can easily cost twenty million dollars.
In meek contrast, God’s visit to earth took place in an animal shelter with no attendants present and nowhere to lay the newborn king but a feed trough. Indeed, the event that divided history, and even our calendars, into two parts may have had more animal than human witnesses. A mule could have stepped on him (Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, Zondervan, 1995; www. PreachingnToday.com).
Jesus did not demand the trappings of His exalted position when He came to this earth. Instead, He emptied Himself. He let it all go!
And He made Himself low. He humbled Himself to the lowest position a man could go.
Philippians 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (ESV).
Jesus hung naked on a cross, where He died a horrible death. This was a punishment reserved for the worst of criminals, among the lowest of the low, in the scum of humanity.
In September of 1940, Witold Pilecki, a Polish army captain, did the unthinkable and snuck into Auschwitz. Pilecki knew that something was terribly wrong with the concentration camp and as a committed Christian he couldn't sit by and watch. He wanted to get information on the horrors of Auschwitz, but he knew he could only do that from the inside.
So his superiors approved a daring plan. They provided a false identity card with a Jewish name, and then Pilecki allowed the Germans to arrest him during a routine Warsaw Street roundup. Pilecki was sent to Auschwitz and assigned inmate number 4859. Pilecki, a husband and father of two, later said, “I bade farewell to everything I had known on this earth.” He became just like any other prisoner—despised, beaten, and threatened with death.
Then beginning in 1941, prisoner number 4859 started working on his dangerous mission. He organized the inmates into resistance units, boosting morale and documenting the war crimes. Pilecki used couriers to smuggle out detailed reports on the atrocities. By 1942, he had also helped organize a secret radio station using scrap parts. The information he supplied from inside the camp provided Western allies with key intelligence information about Auschwitz.
In the spring of 1943, Pilecki joined the camp bakery where he was able to overpower a guard and escape. Once free, he finished his report, estimating that around 2 million people had been killed at Auschwitz. When the reports reached London, officials thought he was exaggerating. Of course, today we know he was right. A Polish Ambassador to the U.S. described Pilecki as a “diamond among Poland's heroes” (Rob Eshman, "The man who snuck into Auschwitz," JewishJournal.com, 12-5-12; www.Preaching Today.com)
The captain became a criminal in the eyes of the Germans. And that’s exactly what Jesus did for us when he snuck onto our planet. The King became a servant. But more than that, the King became a criminal in the eyes of the world. And so Jesus suffered and died on a cross to rescue us from the prison camp of our sin. He took the shame and humiliation of our sin, so we could be clothed with the glory of His righteousness.
All He asks is that you believe in Him. All He asks is that you trust Him to save you from your sins. How about it? Won’t you call upon the name of the Lord today? Won’t you ask Him to save you right now?
Jesus didn’t come to tyrannize you. He didn’t come to stomp you in the ground and make you feel bad. NO! He came to earth so He could take you to heaven. He made Himself low to lift you up. Please, trust Him today. Trust the One who did not hang onto His privileged position. Trust the One who let it all go and made Himself low.
Then follow His example.
HUMBLE YOURSELF LIKE JESUS DID.
Embrace His attitude. Adopt His way of thinking.
Ramez Attalah, who is now the general director of The Bible Society of Egypt, recalls the time when he attended the Lausanne Conference for Christian leaders way back in 1974. As a young leader, he was thrilled to be with top-notch leaders from around the world, but the real impact on his life did not come from the conference itself. It came on his flight home.
It was a long flight back to Canada, and Ramez had a lot of papers to go through. He had taken a bunch of business cards from all sorts of [important Christian leaders] that he had met. And as he looked through his cards from Lausanne, he noticed one that was not very well printed. He looked at it carefully, and he says, “I still get emotional when I remember this story. It broke me.”
At Lausanne, they met in groups of ten every night in the dorm rooms to pray and share together. The first night the leaders in Ramez’ group introduced themselves: president of a seminary, pastor of a church with 2,000 people, and so on. Everybody was showing how great they were. Ramez told the group he led the InterVarsity movement in the province of Quebec. It was actually a very small ministry, but it sounded good. One African man in the group simply said, “I'm a pastor in Kenya.”
During the week they all listened to each other. “I didn't pay much attention to the pastor from Kenya,” Ramez recalls. “I wanted to get close to the important people.” But Ramez was moved by the Kenyan pastor's stories of how God had touched him as a school teacher during the African revival and changed his life. Ramez thought he was a deep man and pictured him working in a humble little village in Africa.
But when Ramez picked up his business card on the plane back to Canada, he discovered that it said “Festo Olang, Archbishop of Kenya.” Olang was a man who could pull rank on anybody in the group. He was a bigwig, but no one knew it. He didn't tell them. He did not use his position to secure his identity. Instead, he presented himself as a simple pastor who loved Jesus. Ramez says, “I am still moved to the core when I remember this incident [forty]-two years later. I said to myself on the plane, that's the kind of leader I want to be. That's leadership, Jesus-style.” (Ramez Attalah, "Lausanne: A Personal Narrative", www. PreachingToday.com)
Jesus made it very clear when He said, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but serve, and to give his life as a ransom for ‘many’” (Mark 10:43-45).
Don’t demand respect. Instead, let it go and make yourself low. Humble yourself like Jesus did. Then, and only then, you will…
FIND TRUE HONOR.
Then you will earn real respect. Then you will gain the admiration of others. That’s because you find the highest respect only in the lowest places, only in the place of humility and service.
That’s where Jesus found it. When Jesus lowered himself to the lowest place He could go, God exalted Him to the highest place in the universe. God gave Him the highest power.
Philippians 2:9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name (ESV).
Your name carries with it some authority. When you sign a check, your name authorizes the payment of certain funds. The president’s name carries even more authority. When he signs a bill out of congress, it becomes law! Your name or my name on that bill wouldn’t mean a hill of beans. Well, Jesus has been given a name (or authority) that is above all other names – above your name, above my name, even above the president’s name. Jesus has the highest name. There is no one who has more authority and power than He.
Ephesians 1:20-22 says, “[God] raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he placed all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things…”
God gave Jesus the highest power, and God gave Jesus the highest respect, as well.
Philippians 2:10 … so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth (ESV).
No creature is exempt. All the heavenly hosts, angels and demons, will bow before Jesus. All those who dwell on the earth will bow before Jesus. Even those who have died and are buried under the earth will one day bow before Jesus. There is coming a day when every created thing will submit to Christ. It’s not a question of IF they will do it. It’s only a question of WHEN.
How about you? Will you bow before Christ today, voluntarily? Or will you wait until you are forced to? Let me tell you. If you will humble yourself in His presence today, He will lift you up. That’s His promise to you. But if you wait until you’re forced to submit, that can only mean pain and great sorrow for you in the future.
Count on it – You, along with every other creature, will bow before Jesus, either now or in the future. Because God gave Him the highest power. God gave Him the highest respect.
And God gave him the Highest praise.
Philippians 2:11 … and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (ESV).
That word for “confess” means that they will emphatically agree (ex-omologeo). They will confess openly and out loud that Jesus Christ Lord.
When Jesus lowered Himself to the lowest place He could go, God exalted Him to the highest place in the universe. God gave Him the highest power. God gave Him the highest respect. And God gave Him the highest praise.
Jesus found the highest honor in the lowest place, and that’s where you find it as well. You find honor in the place of humility. You find respect only in the place of service.
Saul and Pilar Cruz, a married couple who founded Armonia Ministries in Mexico City, launched their ministry by planting a church on the edge of a vast garbage dump. Starting the church had its challenges. In particular, the people had a difficult time trusting Saul's leadership. Although Saul is a gifted strategist and thinker, he often appeared aloof. By his own admission, at that point, Saul was unwilling to plunge into the pain and poverty of his people.
But all of that changed one Sunday morning when someone burst into their worship service with a frantic need: the local sewage system had started leaking and then flooding the street. As the sewage continued to gush, the street was on the verge of collapse. The crisis also threatened to sweep away dozens of nearby homes. To make matters worse, the city wouldn't respond for at least three days.
Saul and a local engineer organized the onlookers and church members to stop traffic and make sandbags. After working frantically for nearly fifteen hours, by three o'clock the next morning they had finally stopped the flow of sewage. It was cold and drizzling, and Saul was shivering. Exhausted, covered with mud and sewage, Saul and his church members emerged from the pit and walked back to the church. Some of the women had heated water so the volunteers could wash off the filth.
As they gathered together, Saul started to cry. “I'm sorry,” he said, “but I need to pray. I need to thank God, because he just saved us. He saved you. He saved me. Can we pray?” Then Saul put out his hands as they all held hands and knelt to pray. By the time they had finished praying, Saul had earned their trust, becoming their leader and their friend. Later on, Saul would comment, “People need to see you're for real—that you really care for them, that you're even ready to put your life on the edge for them.” (Leadership Journal, “Dumping Ground: An Interview with Saul Cruz”, October, 2007; www.PreachingToday.com)
Saul gained respect not on the stage, but in the sewer. Men, do you want your wives to respect you? Serve them. Leaders, do you want followers to respect you? Serve them. Anyone, do you want people to respect you? Serve them.
Find the highest honor in the lowest place. That’s where Jesus found it, and that’s where you will find it, as well.
George Bailey has big dreams in Frank Capra’s classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life. He prclaims, “"Mary, I know what I'm going to do tomorrow and the next day and the next year and the year after that. I'm going to leave this little town far behind, and I'm going to see the world. Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Coliseum. Then I'm coming back here, and I'll go to college and see what they know, and then I'm going to build things. I'm going to build airfields. I'm going to build skyscrapers a hundred stories high. I'm going to build bridges a mile long.” George Bailey wants to “lasso the moon.”
As it turns out, George ends up doing tomorrow what he did today, nothing extraordinary, just loving and serving people as owner of the Bailey Building and Loan in Bedford Falls. If you’ve seen the movie, you know that his absent-minded uncle misplaces $8,000 dollars, which could put George in jail.
George wishes he'd never been born. Then he meets Clarence Oddbody, an angel, who shows him what the world would have been like had he never been born. George discovers that in spite of his financial woes, he is a wealthy man because of the investments he made all his life in other people.
In the end, those people come together and collect enough money to keep Geroge out of jail. George's war-hero brother then proposes a toast: “To my brother, the richest man in town”—not because he has money, but because he has friends.
Basil, the 4th Century Bishop of Caesarea had arranged for his brother Gregory of Nyssa to be made bishop of Cappadocia. Gregory objected, because He didn't want to be stuck in such an out-of-the-way place. Basil told him he didn't want Gregory to obtain distinction from his church but to confer distinction upon it.
Pastor and author John Koessler says, “Is this not what Christ wants for us as well? To lower our sights and put away our lasso? To seek the good of the small places in which he has placed us and to confer distinction upon them by serving him with humility there? [For] the path of glory is often an obscure one. It is the way of the cross (John Koessler, "George Bailey Lassos the Moon," on his blog A Stranger in the House of God, 3-18-10; www. PreachingToday.com).
My dear friends, as we get ready to start a new year, follow Jesus and take the way of the cross.
