I was heading back, a few weeks ago, from a week of teaching in Paraguay with OM. I had had a great week and was heading to the airport. I got to the airport in Paraguay, which isn’t a huge airport. My broken Spanish met the desk attendant’s broken English and what I thought he said to me was, “When you get to Buenos Aires, you’re going to be flying out of a different airport than you fly into.” This was news to me, because it was not on my itinerary that I was suppose to change airports. Evidently, Buenos Aires has two airports — one of them is for more local and commercial flights, the other one is for international flights. He told me it was about an hour away from one airport to the other. I looked at him and said, “Am I going to make it?” He paused and that made me feel that he didn’t think I would and then he said, “Oh, yeah, you’re going to make it.” I asked if my flight was on time and he said it absolutely was. I text my wife — Good news: flight’s on time. Bad news: I might not make said flight. I get on the plane in Paraguay, fly to Buenos Aires; I run through customs, broken Spanish, I get in a cab that I think is going to take me to the right airport; pay a lot of money and he gets me there. I run in there about 8:30 and at 8:40 I’m standing in front of the attendant in front of their desk and I said, “Am I going to make my flight?” She looks at me and said, “Oh yeah, you’re going to make your flight.” I said, “What do you mean?” She said, “It’s delayed nine hours!!”
Have you ever had a day that just didn’t go the way you thought it would?!? {Beautiful Buenos Aires — I got to spend a whole extra night there!} If you have kids, you know that feeling, right? If you have this vision of the way that the day’s going to go, and you get the kids all ready….. If you’re anything like me, I’d get them ready and the youngest one would be walking out of the door and…”what is that awful smell!” And the day is off to a bad start. OR…it’s hard to get anywhere in Denver on time, isn’t it? It’s so crowded. Those little things have the ability to change the way our entire day goes, don’t they? Those little things that throw us off and change our attitude, they change our mindset. They become this lens that we see the entire day through. I don’t know about you, but it’s easy for me to have something throw me off and to have a bad attitude for the rest of the day. Then I read something like this from Nik Vujicic (he was born without arms and legs): “We may have absolutely no control over what happens to us, but we can control how we respond. If we choose the right attitude, we can rise above whatever challenges we face.” Okay, so in a moment of absolute transparency, I feel a little bit convicted. Anybody with me? Yeah, a delay in a flight; a diaper blowout; a delay because of traffic, or anything else that’s come about in our day, in your day, in mine is nothing compared to what he goes through on a daily basis. And yet, some way he can find the resources deep down inside of him to say listen, the thing that’s going to shape my day is the attitude that I’m going to choose to have.
{Look up at me for a moment.} You are 100% in charge of your attitude. You can CHOOSE to have a better, different outlook and attitude on life and it WILL shape the life that you live. They’ve been doing all these studies lately and what they’re finding is that there’s no greater determining factor on the quality of life that you have than you’re attitude. If you’ve traveled abroad at all and you’ve seen the people that have far less than we do and yet they have this happiness in them, this joy in them, this attitude in them that’s just unbelievable, you know that’s true — that your attitude shapes the quality of life that you have. They’ve also determined that your relationships, by and large, whether they’re quality relationships and healthy relationships, are NOT determined by how people respond to you, but by your attitude and the way you respond to them. They’ve determined that the main determining factor if you’re successful in your work place is the attitude that you bring to it. I don’t know about you, but I can come up with a number of excuses about why I’m right in having a bad attitude! Anyone with me? Just turn on the news; hey, just watch the debate tonight!!
Listen to the way the great pastor and author Chuck Swindoll put it: “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes. It is more important than what people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or scale. It will make or break a company….a church….a home {…a marriage}. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play the one string we have and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent of what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it, and so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.” Have you ever tried to change a bad attitude though? Have you ever recognized in yourself, “Man, I have a bad attitude.” I’m what I call a grumpy napper. If I take a nap (it can be a great nap), I’m waking up grumpy. I recognize this in myself so I try not to nap, but…. When you try to change a bad attitude, don’t you find yourself just getting a little bit more frustrated? Man, my attitude’s bad and it’s getting worse!!! And I’m the problem!! What do we do? Are we suppose to self-talk? Are we suppose to try to encourage ourself? What should be do when we have a bad attitude….because it shapes our life?! {That’s a great question, I’m glad you asked that.}
Turn with me to Philippians 2:1-2. The entire first eleven verses of this chapter are going to be focused on one primary thing: Our mindset, our attitude. Our attitude impacts everything about it. The first thing Paul is going to do is answer that question: What do we do when we have a bad attitude? What do we do when life doesn’t go the way that we want it to? How do we respond in a way that will allow us to have a mind set that influences the way that we live that’s for God’s glory, our joy and the good of His world? Here’s what he says: So if there is any encouragement in Christ {The word “if” in the Greek carries with it, not a hypothetical but “because” or “in light of the fact” that there is encouragement. He’s assuming that it’s true.} …any comfort from love, and participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. The NIV uses the word attitude….have this attitude amongst yourselves. It’s interesting that before he ever addresses their attitude, he addresses the reason that they’re empowered to have a different type of attitude, an attitude that is not shaped by just their temporal circumstances, but rather by their eternal reality. Here’s what he wants to say: Okay, you guys, because of the fact that you’re encouraged in Christ, because of the fact that you have comfort from his love….follower of Jesus, do you recognize that the love of God is over you like a tidal wave? That you are enveloped into it? That the King of kings and the Lord of lords—his heart is good towards you. Do you recognize that? If you’ve participated in his Spirit or sense his Spirit lives inside of you….it says the Holy Spirit pours out the love of God into our hearts…..if you’ve participated in that, His affection, literally from the very bowels of His being, is good over you. Any sympathy—he’s going hey, you can try to change your attitude by trying to change your attitude or you could change your attitude by reflecting on your reality. The truth of the matter is, friends, we are people who have experienced the love of God in an amazing way. We are people who have been encouraged by God, who have been loved by God, who have the affection of a good Father over our lives, the sympathy of our God for us and we’ve been invited to participate in the Spirit. For Paul that’s earth-shattering, crazy, mind blowing type of reality. Isn’t so much of what you hear of Christianity “try harder, do more?” With Paul in his writing from jail to the church of Philippi, it’s “remember what God has done for you!” So many people I meet are trying to live in the way of God without experiencing the heart of God. We run up against a brick wall and we wonder why and we default to “I’ve gotta have a better attitude. The Bible tells me I should have a better attitude.” The Bible also tells you how. Remind yourself that you are loved. Find encouragement in the heart of God for you and towards you. The Spirit of God lives in you, friend. He has affection for you, he’s good towards you. This is the first building block Paul wants to lay down.
Listen to the way he goes on and expands from there. So in light of this, after you’ve experienced all this….just a quick aside, in modernity we’ve often reflected poorly on experience. You hear followers of Christ say, “Well, it’s not all about experience.” To that I would say yes and amen. That being a follower of Christ is always, always, always about more than an experience, but look up at me, it’s never less. You’ve been encouraged, you’ve been loved. His Spirit lives inside of you. THAT’S experiential. All of these words in these first two verses are (experience). In light of that: Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interest of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, {Is that not a great line? None of us get to cop out and say well, I just can’t do that. Paul responds and goes, “No! You’re in Christ, you can! By His Spirit, you can, as you recognize his love, you can.} …who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbles himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Here’s what Paul does—-Paul lays out the reality that you are found in the love of God, that you experience his Spirit and that you’re encouraged by Him. Then he says, in light of that reality, you can have a mind changing shift. In verse 5 he says: Have this mind or this attitude among you. That experience and that reality leads to a different type of attitude. Throughout this passage he’s going to say in light of that new attitude, live in this way. Let that reflect your actions. How much of Christianity have you heard that just focuses on this? (Holds up box labeled ‘Actions.’) Try real hard not to do that. There’s a whole list of things you should do, things you shouldn’t do. Everything we do flows from who we are. The Scriptures express that. You can’t live in the way of the Father unless you have the heart of the Father. Here’s what Paul would say to the church at Philippi and here’s what I want to say to you today: What happens in you will always (every single time) determine what happens through you. What happens in your heart, what happens in your mind determines what happens with your hands. It always does.
Paul, in the book of Romans, after eleven chapters of theology and laying out the fact that we are sinful people in need of the grace of God and that he has, by his grace, provided that, says: Therefore…..in view of God’s mercy {As if to say, “Read the first eleven chapters again. Look at his mercy towards you. Experience it! Taste it.} …offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. (Romans 12:1 NIV) He wants to remind us that what happens IN you is always going to determine what happens THROUGH you. Every. Single. Time. With the rest of our time together, I want to ask the question, “Where does the power lie? Whose power is it? How do we live with an attitude that reflects the heart of our Father?” How do we live with an attitude….because attitude shapes our day, it shapes our weeks, it shapes our years, it shapes our lives. How do we live with an attitude that’s reflected, as Paul says, as the same as that of Christ Jesus? Sort of a high bar, yes? That’s quite the height to shoot for. But I want to remind ourselves that the attitude that we’re called to live leads to the actions that we’re invited to have. But underneath it all the question is are you experiencing the good heart of your Father?
Jump back in to verses 3 and 4 and we’re going to look at this first shift in attitude that Paul’s talking about. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. This idea of “Do nothing out of selfish ambition,” could also be viewed as “Do nothing with prideful motives.” Trying to lift yourself up. The great reformers, Martin Luther and John Calvin, both said that at the heart of every sin is pride. One thing lies underneath it all — pride! A self-exultation. We all know people who have, at their core, selfish ambition. They’re dangerous people to be around, are they not? We’ve seen selfish ambition ruin families. We’ve seen selfish ambition ruin companies—-you remember Enron and selfish ambition and the way that drove them to the edge. We’ve seen selfish ambition play a part in our political atmosphere. We’ve seen selfish ambition determine the way we look at the refugee crisis in our world. There isn’t anything we see in our world that has not been touched by this idea of “I’ve gotta get mine.” Here’s the reason that selfish ambition is so dangerous in you and in me—-we will run over whoever is in our path to get what we want, if this is our M.O.
So in contrast, Paul says no, that’s not the attitude that you’re called to have. The attitude that you are called to have is one of humility. It’s this first attitude shift or attitude change. It’s reflective of what the great pastor John R.W. Stott said: “Pride is your greatest enemy; humility is your greatest friend.” So in light of the experience you’ve had with your good Father, the attitude that you’re called to embrace is one of humility, not of haughtiness, of pride, of arrogance. {Attitude: Humble, not haughty.} Humble or humility is two Greek words put together. The first word is ‘lowly’ and the second word is ‘mind.’ To be lowly of mind. It’s bringing these two ideas together.
I went to a Global Leadership Summit this year, put on by Willow Creek. One of the speakers there was talking about the three characteristics that they always look for in employees. One of those characteristics is humility. Do you know why that’s fascinating? Before the Scriptures came around and when Paul was writing to the church at Philippi, in this day and this time, humility was viewed as a very negative thing. They would have looked at somebody who was humble and said, “What a loser! That guy is so humble.” So if we have a positive view of humility now, we have the Scriptures to thank for it. It’s a distinctly and uniquely Christian characteristic, in its positive form. Here’s the most shocking part of it all—it’s not that we are called to be humble or lowly of mind, it’s that God himself is reflective of this characteristic. That’s who He is at his very core. Your God is a humble God. That’s crazy! Jesus says this when he’s speaking to the crowds, inviting them to come and follow him: Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly (or humble) in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matt. 11:29) I think Andrew Murray, the great author, in his book Humility, captures it well: “Christ is the humility of God embodied in human nature; the Eternal Love humbling itself, clothing itself in the garb of meekness and gentleness, to win and serve and save us.”
Let’s chat for just a moment. Humility is probably the slipperiest of all graces. Just when you think you have it, you’ve lost it! Right? Have you ever met anybody that was like, “Hey, my name’s Ryan Paulson. I am the most humble person you are ever going to meet.” Right when you think you’ve nailed it, “Man, I am really humble”…..you’ve lost it, right? The question becomes if we’re called to be humble, how in the world do we go about this? Christian humility is simply a reflection of recognizing who we are in light of who God is. All you need to do to be humble is go outside at night, look up at the sky, and remember that you made NONE of it!! And the God who did make it is holding it all together and you are included in that ‘all.’ And if he took his hand off it for a second, you would spin out of control! If that doesn’t humble you, I don’t know what will.
Paul goes on. He goes listen, we’re called to be humble and we do that by reflecting on who we really are, but listen to the next thing he says. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Anyone want to go, “Yeah, nailed that one?” Me neither. The NIV would say “consider others.” It’s impossible to be others-focused if you are self-obsessed. You know this if you’ve ever walked in that prison of being self-obsessed, and you know that if you’re around other people who are self-obsessed. You don’t exist, because they’re so focused on them. Here’s the invitation: Have an attitude of humility that reflects itself in an action of being considerate of others. To be considerate simply means to focus on someone or to give them their due attention. Let me push into that for a second, because I think there’s something here for us, guys. Considering others—I think there’s three aspects to that. Number one means that we actually see the people around us. It means that we see their pain. It means we see their joys. To be considerate means that we are aware of other people, people other than ourselves. The human heart is often tied up in pride. It’s only Jesus who releases that, without Jesus we are a radio station in our mind that’s ‘All Ryan, All the Time.’ But the invitation of the Scriptures is consider others. See other people, number one.
Secondly, hear other people. Hear their story. Hear their pain. One of the least appreciated commodities in our day and our time is undivided attention. When was the last time that you went out to dinner with somebody you cared about and didn’t put your phone right in between the two of you? What if we actually did this, you guys? To live it out. Number three, what if we sought to understand before we demanded to be understood? Here’s the thing: It would change your relationships, it would change your marriage, it would change your home, it might change your neighborhood; the ripple affects of that would be unbelievable, but it only happens if you know you are loved by the King. If He’s for me, I can be for you.
Here’s how Paul continues in verse 6, after saying that we have this mind of Christ, this attitude of Christ: Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. Just a little bit of theology we need to unpack here because this is a dense verse. “Form” literally means to have all of the characteristics, to embody or to reflect in reality. Paul is NOT saying that Jesus was a human and became God. Paul is saying that Jesus has always been God and that he clothed himself in humanity; those are two very different things. Paul is unequivocally and crystal-clearly declaring, in this passage, that Jesus always has been God, always will be God and his name will be praised throughout all the ages. That’s what he’s saying. (He) did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. Literally this word in the Greek means “to chase after something, to try to seize something or to wield it for your own power.” So, put it together — Jesus was God, but he did not consider equality with God a thing that he needed to chase after, a thing that he needed to grab for, a thing that he needed to reach out for and take. Why? Because he already had it. It was his from the beginning of time.
But he EMPTIED himself…..of all. (He) emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. “Emptied” in the Greek is the word “kenosis,” it literally means “to empty.” {There you go!} {Will you look up at me for a second.} In emptying himself, Jesus did not lose what it means to be God; He revealed what God is like! God has it all and yet is the greatest giver, the most generous being that you could ever possibly imagine. When Jesus clothes himself in humanity, he empties himself but he declares to you and to me what God is like. He doesn’t cease to be God; he REVEALS that God is the ultimate giver, the emptier, not one to be exalted and to chase after and grasp after that, but one that loves to give. Here’s the attitude we’re called to have if we’re going to follow him: Pouring ourselves out, not filling ourselves up or not lifting ourselves up. That’s not what being a follower of Christ is about. Can we all agree that if we don’t know that we’re loved, if we haven’t participated in the Spirit, if we aren’t aware of the affection of our Father towards us, if the experience isn’t there, this is impossible. Yes? It is. It’s absolutely impossible, because if we feel like we need to define ourself and defend ourself, we will never be willing to give ourself. Equality with God (or revealing God) finds its truest expression in Jesus pouring himself out. Friends, this is what God is like.
I don’t know about you, but I find myself wrestling for this one; this does not come natural and it does not come easy. Maybe the litmus test for us is: Am I willing to, at times, admit that I don’t add up. Am I willing to admit in a world that’s filled with competition and wanting to get one step up on everybody else and if I can get one step up on them and put them down then I feel a little bit better about myself. If I’m living that way, I cannot be living in the way of Jesus. The other thing I’d say is we cannot live pouring ourselves out, not lifting or filling ourselves up, if we can’t celebrate everybody’s successes. Have you ever been around somebody that cannot admit that somebody else did well? Have you ever worked with somebody like that, been in an office with somebody like that? Unless their name’s attached to it, it’s a terrible idea. Or—-my kids have started to like watching reruns of America’s Funniest Home Videos. This whole show is built around laughing at other people’s pain! But often do we live in that same way? We want to lift ourself up; the way of Jesus is to pour ourselves out. Here’s the way it’s epitomized: ….but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant.
The attitude is I am pouring myself out, not lifting myself up; the action is I am looking for ways to serve other people. This is the way of Jesus. In Mark 10:45 it says: For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve… {We’ve been around church for so long that that probably doesn’t shock us anymore. That should shock us!! That God himself is saying, “I’ll take up the towel; I’ll wash the feet. I’m not here that you’re going to serve me, I’m here to serve you.” CRAZY!} ….and to give his life as a ransom for many.
A few hundred years ago, there were a few men and they were digging out this huge stump from the ground. They couldn’t move it. A man came by on a horse and asked the corporal, who was standing there next to his soldiers, what they were doing. He told the man they were trying to dig out this big stump from the ground. The guy on the horse asked the corporal, “Why aren’t you helping?” The corporal looks at him and says, “I’m the corporal. I give the orders.” At that point, George Washington got off of his horse, took up a shovel and started to dig it out with these soldiers. They got it moving. He got back on his horse and said to the corporal, “If you ever need any help, just ask for the commander-in-chief. I’d be happy to come help.”
That’s the way we’re suppose to live, not just having responsibility or privilege that we use for ourself. Here’s the big question, you guys: Do you leverage what you have to help the people you have influence over? THAT’S the way of Jesus. Not using it to power over them and to domineer, but using it to build them up and to serve them. One of the things I absolutely LOVE about this church is you GET this!! This week, there will be, roughly, fifty people who are helping to open this space so that five homeless families can come and can live here this week. I love that we have a church that does that. Every single week, forty to fifty of you work at our food bank; you make runs to pick up food, you help package food together, you help distribute it on Saturday morning so that 70-100 people every single week can have food. That’s awesome!! That reflects the heart of Jesus, you guys. There’s somewhere between 60-70 who serve on a given Sunday morning to make sure that our worship services happen. Did you know that you would not be able to see me or hear me if people did not get here at 6 A.M. to get this space ready? To make sure all the lights come on (which sometimes they do). There are over fifty of you that are actively participating in Children’s Ministry. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for partnering with my wife and I to make disciples out of our three little rug rats!! I love you!! I just want to say thank you, because I haven’t been around a lot of churches that reflect THIS heart of Jesus in such a beautiful way. And I love being a part of that.
Here’s how Paul ends this section: And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. I think one phrase could epitomize and embody the way that Jesus lived every single day on this earth. One phrase: Not my will, but yours be done! He knows that he’s the son of God and deeply loved. His attitude is: I don’t need to control everything that happens around me; I just simply need to be obedient to the God who has called me. I’ll admit to you guys, I am not great at that. I love to control things. I love to be in charge. The invitation from the Scriptures is not to control, but to be obedient. If there is a footnote at the end of your “Jesus, I will follow you….(1) See footnote…..Only if…..” it’s not true obedience. I want to say this as clearly as I can, obedience is an attitude before it’s ever an action. It’s saying back to the God who created you, “God, you have my life; I lay it down and you can use it for whatever you want for the glory of your name.” God, I’m willing to share my faith with the people that you bring me in contact with. God, I’m willing to stand up for the things that are right in a workplace where I know I’m going to get lambasted for it. God, I want to follow you with my whole heart and everything that I am. No footnote. No qualifiers; you’ve got me. Obedience is an attitude before it ever an action.
When it turns into an action, here’s what it looks like. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death…. It’s a self-giving, sacrificial love. The attitude is God, I’m willing to follow and whenever somebody says, “God, I’m willing to follow,” God says, “Well then, it’s time to get loving.” Because that’s what He looks like, that’s who God is. It’s the way of Jesus; He doesn’t kill him enemies, he dies for them! This is sacrificial love. It’s the way of the Lamb…that Jesus is the Risen Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. He wins victory by giving himself away. His invitation is pickup your cross, come and follow me.
In the quietness of your heart {in the bulletin outline you have right now}, I just want to ask, “What does love demand of you this week? What does love look like? Who are the people around you that God has brought into your path that you can be recklessly, ruthlessly generous to? Maybe it looks like being vulnerable and saying, “Listen, this is what’s really going on in my heart and my life.” Maybe it looks like just noticing people and valuing them. But if our attitude is Jesus, we want to be obedient, He says okay, if you want to be obedient, then live in the way of love. Friends, we always, always……what goes on inside of us always determines what happens through us. It’s why hurt people hurt people. But it’s also why loved people are freed to love people.
This passage ends with this great hymn or song that they would gather around in the first century to remind themselves of who Jesus was. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so 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. Friends, there will come a day when every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord. There is not one square inch around his globe where Jesus Christ does not cry out “Mine!” It’s all His! Because of the sacrifice that he made, the love that he displayed and the Spirit that he’s put inside of us, you and I don’t have to wait for eternity someday to start worshiping and lifting high the name that stands above every single name. Your day is TODAY!!! I just invite you to step into it. You have been loved by the King, therefore you can have the mind of Christ and when you have the mind of Christ, you can live in the way of Jesus. Friends, the world needs more followers of Jesus who aren’t trying really hard to get it right, but who are reminding themselves that they are deeply loved and then living out of that. Friends, in the kingdom of God downward mobility always leads to an upward trajectory. Let’s pray.
Before you go rushing out of here, I want to give you a moment to pause. And I just want to say to you, because you have been encouraged by His love, because you have participated in his Spirit, because the affection of the Father flows over your life, and because He looks upon you with sympathy….because that’s all true, would you lay down your pride and receive the humility he’s calling you to walk in. Instead of lifting yourself up would you pour yourself out and would you say back to this King of kings and this Lord of lords today, “God, I want to be obedient wherever you lead, whatever you say, I’m willing to go because of all you’ve done for me.” In light of that, Lord, please help us be people who see other people. Help us be people who serve other people. Help us be the type of people who sacrifice in the way that you’ve sacrificed for us. Help us live in your way with your heart. It’s in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
