Christ’s Example
Philippians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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INTRO
INTRO
Have you ever struggled with pride?
Maybe you don’t call it pride but you
always feel like you need to be noticed
always have to have the last word
always need to be praised when you do good or do something good
always need people to think you’re important
That is pride
Pride is believing life is all about you
All of us struggle with pride
and we know others who do too
teammates who only care about themselves and their stats
friends who expect you to only make decisions based on how they affect them
coaches or teachers who believe they are the best so when you fail it’s never their fault
Why is it that pride is so popular?
so normal?
TENSION
TENSION
Because we live in a world/culture trains us to be prideful
The world tell us:
“Stand out”
“Be the best”
“Build your brand”
“Gain the followers”
“Be the main character”
We live in a world that treats life like
a ladder
Every rung of the ladder boost your pride
making good grades or having the highest GPA
being the best on the team
getting the star role or solo
being the smartest, funniest, best-looking, most talented, most popular
Every rung you climb feels like success…
yet the higher you get two things begin to happen
First, the higher you get the more you start to measure yourself with others
you begin to realize you are higher than others
start thinking things like:
“I’m better than them”
“I deserve more than them”
“I matter more than them”
Second, the higher you get the more you realize the ladder never ends
there is always someone higher than you
there is always another rung to climb
more success to be had
more money to make
more followers to gain
more things to accure
The ladder never ends
and yet the higher you climb
the more insecure you get
the more isolated you get
and the more you realize your pride is never going to be satisfied
but here is the good news for us
Tonight, Paul is going to show us something completely different
He’s going to point us to Jesus
the only One who ever had every reason to climb the ladder yet He didn’t
Paul is going to show us that
that the world says, “Go up,”
But Jesus went down
Down to serve
Down to suffer
Down to save
So grab your Bible, and let’s see what Paul has to say about Jesus and pride
TRUTH
TRUTH
Now, remember last week
Paul called the Philippians to live as citizens of heaven worthy of the gospel by
standing firm
advancing the gospel
and staying calm when the world or culture attacks
But now transitions to asking them 4 rhetorical questions
If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy,
Paul asks
Is there any encouragement in Jesus?
Is there any comfort from His love?
Is there any fellowship in His Spirit?
Is there any affection and mercy in Jesus?
The obvious answer to these questions is
yes, yes, yes, and yes
Knowing that will be the Philippians answer he continues and says
make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.
Paul says, “if those things are true…. then complete my joy and have the same mind.”
but what does having the same mind mean?
Well he tells them
having the same mind means
having the same love
being united
working together
But what does that actually look like
well he tells them
considering others more important than yourself
not looking to your own interest but looking out for the interest of others
Paul is calling them toward humility
the opposite of pride
if pride is believing life all about you
then humility is believing life is all about others
they are more important than you
their interests matter more than yours
Now can we be honest for a second…
that sounds great but it’s hard
like really freakin hard
Like, I don’t know about you but for me
it is hard to live a life putting others first instead of myself
making sure their desires are met before mine
Trying to put Caroline and the kids first
thats not the other people around me who i don’t like because they have been mean to me or disagree with me
And Paul knows how difficult this is
which is exactly why he writes what he writes next
Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,
Paul knows that on our own we will never live a life of humility
so he takes our eyes off our self and points them to Jesus
telling us that if we are to live a life of humility we must have the same mindset as Jesus Himself
And in the next 6 verse Paul writes what is called the “Christ Hymn”
a masterpiece of a song that encompasses the greatest example of humility to ever exist
Jesus
who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God
as something to be exploited.
Here in verse 6 Paul focuses on what Jesus did not do
he did not count equality with God as something to be used for his own advantage
Jesus who we know is God and always has been God
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
What Paul is saying here is that while Jesus remained God
He set aside the rights and privileges of being
He did not selfishly grasp hold of his position as God to be used for his own advantage
Understanding who Jesus is and what He didn’t do
makes what He did do even crazier
Instead he emptied himself
by assuming the form of a servant,
taking on the likeness of humanity.
And when he had come as a man,
he humbled himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death—
even to death on a cross.
Paul says a lot in these two verses
Paul says Jesus “emptied Himself.”
This doesn’t mean He stopped being God.
It means the eternal Son of God
the One who spoke galaxies into existence
chose to set aside His position and privileges to become one of us
Think about that…
The Creator stepped into His creation
The One who made oceans had to learn how to swim
The One who created language had to learn how to speak
The One who designed the human body got hungry, tired, and hurt
Isaiah prophesying about Jesus said
He grew up before him like a young plant
and like a root out of dry ground.
He didn’t have an impressive form
or majesty that we should look at him,
no appearance that we should desire him.
The God of the universe walked this earth for 30 some years and never stoodout because of His looks or power
He wasn’t the kind of guy people took selfies with
Or the girls were glazing over
He was ordinary
the God of the universe looking completely normal
But it doesn’t stop there...
See, Jesus could have come as a powerful king
Descending down on the clouds
commanding armies
demanding worship
ruling from a throne
But instead, Paul says He took on “the form of a servant.”
That means serving wasn’t just something He did
it was who He was.
He washed His disciples’ dirty feet
He healed lepers when everyone else avoided them
He spent time with sinners and outcasts when everyone else ignored them
He fed the hungry, comforted the broken, and cared for the forgotten
The one who deserved to be served more than anyone else who ever walked this earth came to serve
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Imagine this for second
the God who deserved every bit of praise chose to put others first
The same hands that shaped the stars were the hands that wiped tears, broke bread, and washed feet
Yet, as if becoming human wasn’t low enough and becoming a servant wasn’t humbling enough
Paul says Jesus kept going down
He “humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.”
That’s the lowest rung on the ladder…
Back then, the cross wasn’t something to be hung on a necklace as a symbol of hope or faith
that would be like today walking around with an necklace that has an electric chair on it
The cross was the ultimate symbol of shame
It was reserved for slaves, rebels, and the worst criminals
It was meant to humiliate you just as much as it was to kill you
And that is where Jesus would take his last breath
The Son of God
mocked,
crowned with thornes,
beaten to the point of being unrecongizable,
stripped naked,
and nailed to a cross
And yet, that’s exactly where His humility shines brightest
why?
Because He wasn’t even dying because He did something wrong
He was dying for the prideful,
for the selfish,
for sinners,
for us
Do you get it?
*Go to the top of the Ladder*
This right here is where Jesus started
The very top
He is the Creator of all things,
the Sustainer of all things,
the Ruler over all things,
God Himself
He spoke galaxies into existence
He rules over heaven and earth
Every angel bows before Him
Every star moves at His command
There is no one higher than Jesus
Rung 1: But “He did not count equality with God something to be grasped.”
He didn’t use His power or position for Himself.
In other words, He didn’t hold on tightly to the glory He rightfully had
He let go
and He stepped down
Rung 2: Then “He emptied Himself.”
He, the Creator, became part of His creation
He traded the throne of heaven for a feeding trough
He traded angelic praise for human crying
He traded glory for humility
Think about how insane that is:
the One who made the sun got tired
The One who shaped your heartbeat had His heart broken
The One who breathed life into humanity… had to breathe through human lungs
Rung 3: But he didn’t stop there because He also “took the form of a servant.”
He could’ve come as a conquering King but instead He came as a servant
He washed dirty feet
He touched lepers
He loved outcasts
He ate with sinners
He came not to be served, but to serve
The hands that carved the mountains are now cleaning the feet of fishermen
Rung 4: And lastly “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross.”
And if becoming human wasn’t low enough,
and becoming a servant wasn’t humbling enough,
Jesus went even lower…
He obeyed His Father all the way to death
not just any death, but death on a cross
The Son of God
mocked, beaten, spit on,
whipped until His back was torn open,
a crown of thorns shoved into His head,
nailed to a piece of wood for the world to laugh at.
There on the cross
The One who hung the stars was hung on a cross
The One who gives life breathed His last breath
The One who rules over all creation was killed by His creation.
Not dying for His own sin but for ours
He went all the way to the bottom so that we could be lifted up to God
But here’s the best part of the story
Jesus didn’t stay at the bottom
He didn’t stay dead on the cross
He didn’t stay sealed in the tomb
On the third day, He rose from the dead.
For this reason God highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow—
in heaven and on earth
and under the earth—
and every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
The Father lifted Jesus back to the top of the ladder
not because He demanded it but because He deserved it
His humility led to His exaltation
Now the One who went all the way down
reigns over everything once again
The hands that were pierced now hold all power
The head that was crowned with thorns is now crowned with glory
The voice that was mocked is now worshiped by every tongue in heaven and on earth
Jesus goes:
from heaven to earth,
from God to man,
from King to servant,
from life to death,
and because of that the Father raised Him all the way back up
Here’s wha that means for us tonight…
BOTTOM LINE: In God’s kingdom, the way up is down and the lower you go, the closer you get to Jesus.
BOTTOM LINE: In God’s kingdom, the way up is down and the lower you go, the closer you get to Jesus.
APPLICATION
APPLICATION
So what do we do with that?
Paul doesn’t say, “Try harder to be humble.”
He doesn’t say, “Look inside yourself and fix it.”
He says, “Look to Jesus.”
Because the more you look at Jesus
the more you understand who He is and what He’s done
the more you start to see pride for what it really is
And the more clearly you see Jesus’ humility,
the more you start to become humble yourself.
Humility isn’t something you can force
It’s something that grows the closer you get to Christ.
You can’t make yourself humble;
you just look at Jesus and then you can’t be anything else.
So what does that look like this week?
It looks like stepping down when everything in you wants to climb up.
Step down by serving someone who can’t pay you back.
Step down by celebrating someone else’s win instead of needing your own.
Step down by apologizing first, even if you weren’t the only one wrong.
Step down by praying, “Lord, make my life more about You than about me.”
Because in God’s kingdom, the way up is down and the lower you go, the closer you get to Jesus.
CLOSE
CLOSE
*Go to ladder*
We started tonight talking about pride
how the world tells us to climb the ladder
to go higher,
to be noticed,
to make life all about us
But we’ve seen tonight that Jesus did the exact opposite
He had every reason to stay at the top but He stepped down
down to serve,
down to suffer,
down to save.
And because of that the Father raised Him back up
Now He’s not just at the top of the ladder
He’s on the throne of heaven reigning as King of kings and Lord of lords
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow—
in heaven and on earth
and under the earth—
and every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
That means one day, every person who has ever lived will find themselves at the bottom of this ladder
bowed before the One who went down for them
The question isn’t if you’ll bow
it’s when and why
You’ll either bow
In salvation
confessing Jesus as Lord because you’ve trusted Him and surrendered your pride
In defeat
when it’s too late to climb down
Jesus came all the way down the ladder to lift you up to God
But you’ve got to stop climbing your own
If you don’t know Jesus tonight is the night to stop climbing and start trusting
Confess that He is Lord
He stepped down for you
now step down into His grace
But if you do know Jesus tonight is a reminder of the humility you’re called to live in
It’s a wake-up call to stop climbing the ladder of pride that the world tells you to chase,
and to start following Jesus’ example
to climb down by serving others, by putting their needs before your own,
by living like Him
Because for all of us, believer or not, the truth is the same:
BOTTOM LINE: In God’s kingdom, the way up is down and the lower you go, the closer you get to Jesus.
BOTTOM LINE: In God’s kingdom, the way up is down and the lower you go, the closer you get to Jesus.
