Philippians 2:5-11
Philippians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Scripture Reading: Isaiah 45:18-25
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 45:18-25
This is David Foster Wallace
Author & Professor of creative writing
Maybe you’ve heard of him
I hadn’t until yesterday
I ran across him due to something he said…
In a commencement speech at Kenyon College in Ohio
To boil it all down…
He was teaching them to think selflessly
To not allow fallen human nature, society…
And the everyday problems of life…
To lull us into self-centeredness
It’s so easy to go through life with a:
“I’m the center of the universe” type of mentality
He was teaching them not to think that way
David was not a Christian
But that foundational teaching does belong to Jesus
We’ll see that exemplified in Jesus in a moment
But before we get there…
I want to read a quote from David’s speech that I think is important:
“In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism.
There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships.
The only choice we get is what to worship.
And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship—be it Jesus Christ or Allah or Yahweh or the Wiccan Mother Goddess or the Four Noble Truths or some inviolable set of ethical principles—is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.
If you worship money and things—if they are where you tap real meaning in life—then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough.
Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly.
Worship power—you will end up feeling weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear.
Worship your intellect—being seen as smart—you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out.”
David was tapping into a very important truth
We all worship something
We all prioritize something
We all adore, long after, & dedicate ourselves to the pursuit of something
Throughout history, people have worshiped gods…
Who demanded everything from them…
But offered little to nothing in return
They’ve demanded sacrifices, obedience, & fear…
Promising even just a moment of favor or blessings in return…
But never actually delivering
They sat in their temples we built for them on their high mountains…
Not understanding or caring about the pain & suffering we experience…
Demanding that we earn their favor through service…
But never loving or serving in return
Nothing has changed over the thousands of years
We still worship the same gods
They just wear different outfits
Money, pleasure, power, success, knowledge, fame
We prioritize them
We adore, long for, & dedicate ourselves to the pursuit of them
But, without exception, they always fail
And they always turn around…
And bite the hand that is serving them
They demand our time, energy, & devotion
But when our lives inevitably begin to fall apart…
They do nothing to save us
All they offer is silence
They take & take & take…
But never give
We all need to think deeply & be honest with ourselves:
“Who/what am I worshiping?”
“Who/what am I prioritizing, adoring, longing after, and pursuing?”
Once we’ve come to that answer…
We then need to ask ourselves:
“Is this god worth worshiping?”
And we can arrive at that answer by asking:
“What is this god willing to do for me?”
If a god always promises but never delivers…
It’s not a god worth worshiping
But what if there was a God who does keep His promises?
A God who doesn’t just demand service from His subjects…
But who actually stoops down to serve those beneath Him
A God who chooses to feel our pain…
Understand our suffering…
And heal our hurt
A God who isn’t proud, arrogant, & indifferent…
But humble, selfless, & loving
That would be a God worth worshiping
And that leads us to our text
Philippians 2:5-11
Philippians 2:5-11
This is one of the most powerful passages in all of Scripture
It’s all about Jesus
It begins with His eternal past…
And ends with His eternal future
But the heart of the passage is what happens in between
It shows us why Jesus is the only God worthy of our worship
He’s the only God who doesn’t take & take & take
He’s a God who gives & gives & gives
He’s not a God who demands that we earn His favor
He’s a God who graciously gives his favor
He’s not just a God who commands humility, obedience, & selflessness
He’s a God who exemplifies it
Last time, we looked at verses 1-4…
Where Paul was asking the Philippian Christians…
To make his joy overflow…
By being united together
And the way he prescribed for them to do this was:
3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
Humility & considering others as more important than ourselves…
Is the only way to the unity that God wants us to have
That leads us to our text:
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
If you want to know what having a mind of humility & selflessness looks like…
Look no further than the standard of humility & selflessness Himself
Jesus shows us that it is God’s character to be humble & selfless
And that is the mindset Paul is calling the Philippians & us to have
To be truly human is to bear the image of the Divine
To live as humans were created to live…
Is to live humbly & selflessly
To encourage the Philippians & us to live this way…
Paul calls us to think like Jesus
To share His mindset
Then he goes on to show us…
That everything Jesus did for the world…
He did out of humility & selflessness:
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Here is one of the earliest accounts of the Deity of Jesus
Paul doesn’t mince words:
Jesus is God
Before creation Jesus existed in the form of God
But, He “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped”
That’s a deep concept
At first glance, we see a major difference between God’s 2 sons
God’s 1st son saw the fruit that would make him “like God”…
And he grasped/seized it for himself…
Not recognizing that He had already been made in God’s likeness
God’s 2nd son, being equal with God…
Did not consider that equality to be something to be grasped/seized
I like the way some other translations put it:
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.
6 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.
There’s no doubt about it…
Being God comes with an infinite amount of privileges
But Jesus didn’t consider those privileges…
As something he should exploit, cling to, or keep for Himself
Unlike most kings & lords with great privileges & power…
Jesus didn’t see His privileges & power…
As something He should cling to or exploit for his own benefit
We already see the humility & selflessness of Jesus/God
He doesn’t see the benefits of His status as God…
As something to be selfishly hoarded for Himself
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Instead of using His equality with God to benefit Himself…
He emptied Himself & became human
That doesn’t mean he emptied Himself of His deity
He didn’t stop being God
He emptied Himself of His glory, privileges, & benefits
Instead of having “selfish ambitions”…
Jesus took the form of a slave
Instead of “empty glory”…
Jesus chose to empty Himself of His glory
Jesus chose to humbly & selflessly empty Himself…
By becoming like His slaves, a human being
But He didn’t stop there
He didn’t just become like us…
Experiencing our pain, suffering, and weaknesses
He humbled Himself even further
In obedience to God, He surrendered His life…
To the enemy that could never touch God:
Death
But He didn’t stop there
Not only was God willing to die…
He was willing to die the most excruciating & humiliating death:
Crucifixion
A death only experienced by slaves & the lowest of society
Out of humility & selflessness…
Jesus chose to demote Himself from:
Strength & power ~to~ weakness & powerlessness
Infinite rights & privileges ~to~ no rights or privileges
Being eternal ~to~ experiencing the horrors of death
Why did He do it?
Notice how Paul puts it to the Corinthians:
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
He gave up His riches so that we could be made rich
He came down to bring us up
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Jesus is the greatest example of what Paul was asking the Philippians to do:
3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
But it’s important to recognize…
That Jesus didn’t do this:
Because He’s the especially nice version of God
Because He was in a good mood 2,000 years ago
Because He had anything to gain from doing it
Jesus did it because that’s Who our God is
It’s His character to be humble & selfless
It’s His character to put others’ interests ahead of His own
It’s His character to sacrifice for the good of others
Our God is a paradox:
Nothing is less like God than being a slave…
And yet, nothing is more like God than being a slave
If you were to ask the world to describe God…
No one would picture a lowly slave
Yet, when God showed Himself to the world…
That’s exactly what He was
And those who bear His image…
(Christians who have been reborn through faith & baptism)…
Are expected to:
Think as He thinks
Serve as He serves
Love as He loves
Humbly & selflessly regard others as more important than ourselves
Because Jesus did this:
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Because of Jesus’ humble & selfless obedience to the Father…
God exalted Him to the highest place of honor
“Those who humble themselves will be exalted”
God resurrected Jesus from the dead…
And placed Him at the right hand of the Throne of God in Heaven
Now Jesus reigns as Lord of Heaven & Earth
And there’s coming a day when everyone who ever has & ever will live…
Will bow before Him & acknowledge Him as Lord
Some will do it by choice…
Choosing to give Him their allegiance…
And live lives of worship & loving service for His glory
Others will be forced to their knees…
When our Lord & King returns to deal out judgment…
And make all things new & right
“Those who exalt themselves will be humbled”
When we see Jesus on the cross…
We see God saying:
“This is how far I’m willing to go to love, serve, & save you”
Now the ball is in our court
How are we going to respond to His act of humility, selflessness, & love?
If you haven't been born again in baptism…
Being washed clean of your sins…
And entering into God’s saving grace…
Then why don’t you consider doing that today?
We have water available
Respond to Jesus’ humility & selflessness…
With humility & selflessness of your own
Surrender your life & allegiance to Him
You can come forward when we sing…
Or if you’d feel more comfortable talking privately afterward…
I’m available to you
And those of us who are already Christians…
Let’s be true disciples of Lord Jesus
Let’s follow Him by walking in humility & selflessness
Because He is a God worthy of our sacrifice
He is a God worthy of our total allegiance
He is a God worthy of our worship
Let’s bow to Him now & confess our allegiance to His name
