The Great Change
Philippians 2:5-11
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Today, I’d like to share with you, my vision. A vision for myself, and hopefully for the church, but the church cannot really have a vision without that vision being a part of those who call the church their home.
Further, I cannot ask of others, what I am not allowing to happen in my own life.
When thinking about what the title of this message would be, the first thing that came to mind is the word “Great,” and I thought about some various aspects of what we would consider to be great. What came to mind was a movie and a couple of sports figures.
The movie was “The Great Escape.” It was a 1963 war movie starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn just to name a few. They were all POW’s in Germany during WWII when they planned the greatest escape of that time.
I also started thinking about those we consider the best at their sport in football names like Norm Van Brocklin from its early days or today, Tom Brady, Michael Jordan in basketball, Pelé (from my generation), or today Lionel Messi in soccer, and then as far as baseball is concerned, it’s always been the Babe, that is, Babe Ruth. But another has been Jackie Robinson. Today these and others are referred to as “The GOAT,” that is, “The Greatest Of All Time.”
But there is another great that can happen in everyone’s life, a great that can happen in all of our lives, which is why I am entitling this message and vision as “The Great Change,” or “The Great Exchange.” It’s what the Bible calls, “Transformation,” that is, a change that happens within the heart, soul, mind, and spirit of an individual when they enter by faith into a relationship with Jesus Christ, and then into the presence of God.
It’s the great change that happens when the greatest change maker of all times, Jesus Christ, gets ahold of our hearts.
Looking at Jesus’s life and message, Jesus gave a lot of not so popular messages. As I see it, Jesus wasn’t about winning friends and influencing people, as Dale Carnegie would like to say. You see, Jesus never watered down or sugar-coated the message, or what it meant to be a disciple, just to have larger crowds and greater attendance.
Instead, Jesus said to those wishing to follow, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head…Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God…No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:57-62 NKJV)
Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is more than merely reciting a creed, stating a belief, or belonging to a church. Jesus made sure that those who follow Him understood the costs.
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23 NKJV)
Jesus wanted to make sure that those who would be His followers would be willing to be living sacrifices for the furtherance of the kingdom of God.
I think it’s safe to say, therefore, that Jesus wasn’t trying to garner popular support; rather He was after men and women who would be found trustworthy in times of crisis, and who would be unwavering in their devotion to God.
The Apostle Paul said it like this to the church in Rome.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2 NKJV)
And so, when I got to what Paul said about himself, and how he put himself out there as an example, I thought, would I ever have the guts to say something like this, and by my actions live it out?
Paul said, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1 NKJV)
This truly is the hardest thing that we as Christians can say. But as believers we are to be followers of Jesus Christ, not posers trying to look and sound like Him. Being a believer in Jesus Christ is about letting Jesus live in us and through us. That is when others see Jesus in our actions and speech.
Now, this has been ruminating within me recently when the Lord brought me once again to what Paul said about Jesus to the Philippian church and how it should dictate our actions and response to the world around us.
What Paul tells us is the very heart of Jesus Christ towards us, why He came, and what His attitude was to His mission and purpose while He was here upon the earth, and then it looks at the glorious ending when such an attitude is kept, when such an attitude is ours.
Read Philippians 2:5-11
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11 NKJV)
It's difficult for us to imagine taking on someone else’s mind or having a mind transplant.
When thinking about this my mind goes back to the movie with Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman called, “Young Frankenstein.” In the movie, Marty Feldman plays the part of Egor, and he’s sent to the local brain depository to get a brain for Frankenstein. However, when taking the brain of a great scientist off the shelf, he drops and shatters it, and so he picks up the one next to it. After realizing that it wasn’t the brain that he had asked for, Wilder asked what the name on the jar was, to which Feldman said, “Abi,” and Wilder asked, “Abi who,” and Feldman said, “Abi Normal.”
A heart transplant is one thing…but having the mind of someone else is something entirely different, and it can be a somewhat scary thing. But this is exactly what we’re asked to do, and Paul tells to have the same mind within us that was within Jesus, and then precedes to tell us exactly what that mind looks like.
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5 NKJV)
More literally it is saying what our attitude should be, in other words, what we say we believe, is what we need an attitude adjustment in.
When thinking about this I wondered, “What did Jesus have in mind,” or “What was Jesus thinking about, leaving behind His heavenly dwelling to come down to this earth and being born in a stable, a place where cows and sheep and other critters live, along with seeing and smelling its wonderful sights and aromas. And then living as a human being, that is, living in an earthly body of flesh and blood with all of its aches and pains, not to mention needs. And on top of all that, He lived in poverty.”
Well, what I can say, is that He wasn’t thinking of Himself, that’s for sure as it goes on to say that He emptied Himself. This points to something Jesus did voluntarily. It wasn’t something that was required; rather it was self-imposed. Jesus chose this path of self-emptying, self-humbling, and self-sacrifice for the purpose of setting us free from the power of sin and death.
So, what was on Jesus’s mind? What was His attitude? I believe Jesus looked at us, and obeyed the Father for our sake, giving freely and willingly His life on the cross, to forgive our sins and to redeem us, that is, to make us right with God. He was thinking of us, not Himself.
But saying that I think maybe it was even more or greater than what I can imagine. That is, Jesus was also thinking of Himself, in that He wanted us so badly to be with Him for all eternity as His bride that He willingly died upon the cross so that we can live with Him forever.
Therefore, if we are to have the mind of Christ in all the things we encounter, if we are to have the same attitude about what we do in this life as Jesus had when He left heaven to become one of us, what we need is a complete overhaul, or what we need is God to get into our chassis, our engine, and give our attitude a complete adjustment, and that’s because we’re all out of alignment with God.
And what we see though Jesus’s example, laid out for us here in Paul’s letter, is exactly how we can get our attitude adjusted the right way. And I see this in three distinct areas.
1. Jesus Emptied Himself
“Being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.” (Philippians 2:6-7 NKJV)
Now, we all know what it means to empty something. Like when we empty a pitcher of water. You see, to empty a pitcher of water, there first has to be water in the pitcher.
Notice it says that Jesus “being in the form of God,” and then being “equal with God.” Jesus, prior to His coming to this earth as a human being, was no one less than God, the second person of the Godhead or Trinity. Jesus was God, even though He was man.
Notice what the Apostle John said about Jesus, that He was always God from the very beginning.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (John 1:1-3 NKJV)
And then we’re introduced to the incarnation, that is, God taking on the form of a man. This is seen in verse 14 where John said, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14 NKJV)
Now, Jesus never promoted this reality of Him being equal with God, but He never shied away from it either. In John 10:30, Jesus said, “The Father and I are one.” And the Jewish leaders knew exactly what He was saying, so much so that they picked up stones to put Him to death, to execute Him because He made Himself equal with God (John 10:33).
And here’s the point, Jesus didn’t give up or get rid of His divine nature, but rather He gave up the prerogatives of His Deity. Jesus gave up that which was his right and privilege to hold onto seeing that He was and is God. These prerogatives include things like being worshiped, proclaiming judgment, and taking vengeance.
So, how did He empty Himself? He did so by taking on the form of a human being, but not just any human being, but that of a servant, or more literally, a slave, the lowest position of servitude. This attitude is seen in His washing the feet of the disciples at the last Passover prior to His death. (We’ll look at that further in our next point.)
And while He was still God, seeing that He never gave up His divine nature; instead, what Jesus did was that He displayed the nature of God while He took upon Himself the nature of a servant.
Jesus’s attitude in this was to abandon His heavenly prerogatives freely and willingly to accomplish a greater and more cherished purpose, and that is, our Salvation.
He took upon Himself the form of a servant. Now, this doesn’t mean external features, but rather the characteristics and qualities of a servant. Therefore, being in the form of God, having the characteristics and qualities of God, He made the Great Exchange, and took upon Himself the form, or the characteristics and qualities of a servant, without giving up the other.
Further, Jesus didn’t count his godly status and authority as something to be exploited. The Greek word being used here speaks of seizing something like a prize.
The point of this verse is that Jesus did not consider his godly status and authority something to be grasped for his own personal benefit. He understood their value, but He was willing to sacrifice them in the service of a greater or higher value, and again, that is our salvation.
How then does this relate to you and me?
It says that Jesus, “being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,” that is, equality with God was not something to be grasped at. It was this very thing, trying to be like or equal with God that got humanity in trouble in the first place. Adam and Eve were deceived thinking that they could be just like God if they ate from the tree of good and evil.
In thinking about this attitude of emptying oneself, King David, one of the greatest kings spoken of in the Bible, a king by which all the other kings were measured by. What was His attitude?
“I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” (Psalm 84:10b NKJV)
Even Christian leaders are called to the type of leadership displayed by Jesus, and that is a servant leader. Jesus led by serving, and if we are to lead others to Christ, then we must empty ourselves, by becoming servants to those who we are sharing the good news with.
And so, this is the first thing we need to do to have the mind of Jesus, and have our attitude adjusted to the attitude of Christ.
2. Jesus Humbled Himself
This humility is seen in verse 7 where it says that He made Himself of no reputation, that is, He made Himself nothing. In other words, Jesus deliberately and willingly humbled Himself, to become one of us, a human being.
Paul goes on to say, “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:8 NKJV)
Jesus’s whole life, His existence here upon this earth, from being a baby who was laid in a manger to dying upon the cross and laid in a borrowed tomb was marked by genuine humility.
We first see this humility in His birth, as He was born, not in a palace, but in a barn and laid inside a manger, a feeding trough for animals (Luke 2:12). And then this humility is seen in the way He lived. He said, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Luke 9:57 NKJV)
We also see this humility on the part of Jesus when at Passover he picked up a water basin and towel and began to wash the disciples’ feet, a position that only the lowest servant of the house would occupy. And then He said, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.” (John 13:14 NKJV)
But probably the greatest example of humility is seen in His becoming obedient to death, especially the death of the cross. Now, death on the cross was a tortious death (The word, “excruciating” is the term that describes it today, it means, “From the cross.”) It was the most degrading way a person could die. Hung out there for all to mock and see. In Galatians 3:13, according to the Jewish law, anyone who was crucified was under God’s curse, which was taken from Deuteronomy 21:23.
He made himself of no reputation, that is, He made Himself nothing. The humility came not only in the incarnation, that is, coming as a newborn baby, poopy diapers and all, but also at the cross.
He came from the throne of heaven to a cold hard feeding trough for animals, to bowing down and washing the disciples’ feet, and then being hung on the cross for all to see.
In the same way, to have the mind of Christ, to have this attitude adjustment, we need to humble ourselves, that is, we’re not to think that we’re all that.
Earlier, Paul said, “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)
But it is in Jesus’s willingness to go to the cross, as He said to the Father, “Not my will but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42) that we come to our last point in getting our attitude adjusted and our minds in tune with Jesus.
3. Jesus Sacrificed Himself
“And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:8 NKJV)
This was the ultimate sacrifice, and it was seen in the prophecy of the coming Messiah as the suffering servant of Isaiah 53.
God says, “I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:12 NKJV)
Jesus willingly and voluntarily emptied, humbled, and sacrificed Himself for us, therefore, can we then do any less?
Paul tells us, “Therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1 NKJV)
We are to offer up ourselves as those living sacrifices, willingly and voluntarily sacrificing our needs, wants, and desires. And this Paul says is what is acceptable to God. (This is our reasonable service that is acceptable to God.)
And this is what Jesus calls us all to do if we truly want to be His disciples.
Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23 NKJV)
Please understand that the cross isn’t some inconvenience that we’ve been saddled with. We see this when we say things like, “It’s the cross I have to bear.” (That has nothing to do with the cross.) Rather, when someone was carrying the cross, it meant that they were going to their death.
Conclusion
Therefore, to have the same mind, the same attitude as Jesus, we are told that we need to empty, humble, and sacrifice ourselves. Now, this doesn’t look all that appetizing, and it is not something that is sought out. But what we have missed is the upside, because up to this point it all sounds like one big downer, but God has other plans when we do it His way, and that is our exaltation.
Our Exaltation
When Jesus, emptied, humbled, and sacrificed Himself it says that God exalted Him and gave Him a name that is above everything else in this universe.
“Therefore, God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11 NKJV)
And so, it will be with us, when we follow these steps and possess the mind of Christ.
The Apostle James says, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” (James 4:10 NKJV)
Jesus said, “But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:11-12 NKJV)
Jesus didn’t try to grasp His divinity as a human, but rather He emptied Himself.
Jesus gave up His place in heaven, to come down to this earth to be a servant. You might say, He started at the very top of the ladder, and descended to the bottom rung, or for that matter, below the bottom rung.
Jesus gave us His all, and that was His life there upon the cross. He ended up as low as a person could be, first as a babe lying in a manger, and then in the lowest position of servitude when He washed the disciple’s feet, and finally dying upon the cross for our sins. And as a result, He then ended up at the top of the ladder, sitting next to the Father in heaven.
And it was through His poverty and humility that He could then offer to us the riches of forgiveness for the poverty of our sins.
And so, this year I am going to try and let this mind be in me that was also in Christ Jesus. Hopefully you’ll follow me on this quest.
And before I make the final wrap up, can I just say that God expects us to change every day more into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. But if we don’t commit and begin to make the changes that are necessary, nothing will change. Nothing will ever change in our lives if nothing in our lives changes.
Let me just quote a definition that has been used of insanity, and that is, doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting something different to happen, or a different result.
And so, on this quest to change as God desires, we need to empty, humble, and sacrifice ourselves, and when we do, then we’ll see God move in our lives and in our midst, and in the end, we’ll be exalted with Him for all eternity in heaven.
Now, nothing that I have brought forth today in this vision is going to be easy. But to help us on this quest, this journey, there are two things that I think we need to know and appropriate. And they describe who we are in Christ, the first will look at next week, and that is being a child of God, and then the week following we’ll look at being betrothed to God.
