The Attitude

Good morning church!

(Guest Card info)

Today we wrap up our Bring It In series. We didn’t get a video this week because we didn’t improve enough I guess. We plan to have a wrap up video next week. Sorry about that!

If you have a Bible open up to Philippians 2

Professional sports have changed so much through the years in a lot of ways. But one way in particular involves ATTITUDE. There was a day that every team you saw play no matter what sport had this very noticeable personality. Maybe it was a basketball team of clean cut, fundamentally sound players who had that “good guy” attitude. Or maybe it was a football team like the 1986 University of Miami who ranked number one on Sports Illustrated’s Most hated teams in sports history. It was said of them in an SI writer years ago...

"Miami may be the only squad in America that has its team picture taken from the front and from the side."

Apparently they were a rough bunch. But I feel like in the past every team had an over the top reputation!

Though they are arguably not as drastic and overstated today, the same rings true…

EVERY TEAM HAS AN ATTITUDE.

Today, we are gonna see how Paul described the attitude we should have as the church.

I want to read the first two verses we will look at, I’ll pray and then we will break it all down.

Philippians 2:3–4 CSB

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.

PRAY

Paul has been building a case for a while that there is great need for unity in the church. And he really drives that home in these two verses and the ones that follow by showing us the attitude we are to have.

Paul is painting one consistent picture of this attitude for the church in Philippi. He is telling the church as a whole to be humble, and he does so over a whole paragraph or two. Let’s try and follow the train of thought here...

Paul says...

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, BUT in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.

This two part command has the negative followed by the positive. This is a common way that Paul writes in his letters. Don’t do this… Instead DO THIS!

1. Don’t act in selfishness

Selfishness is a tricky bird. It’s easy to spot isn’t it? Hang around someone for a while and you will discover quickly if they are selfish. All their decisions and conversation revolve around THEMSELVES, right?

But the tricky part is that it is almost imperceptible when WE are doing it! Someone almost always has to point it out in us. We are so naturally selfish that we can act that way without even thinking! It can be very hard to stop something that is so hard to detect!

But Paul doesn’t just say “DON’T DO THAT!” He gives a different focus to our actions.

He says, “Don’t act in selfishness” instead...

2. Act in humility

Paul says that instead of acting selfishly, we should act in humility!

We can spot humility too can’t we? One of the most humble men I have ever been around was a man named Billy Cox. He was a deacon at the first church I served in. He was a hoot to be around, but never once did I see him puff his chest out. He was always making other people look good and giving them the credit.

You have probably known people like Billy before!

So, we want to be humble instead of selfish… But how do we do that?

Paul says, “I’m glad you asked!”

Philippians 2:4 CSB

Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.

Do you see this? Paul is being very clear about what humility looks like...

3. Don’t worry about yourself

Don’t look to your own interests. “What can I get out of this?” What can I do to make this easier on me?”

Again, this is very easy for us to call out in others, but harder to stop doing ourselves, so Paul gives an opposite action to take...

4. Worry about others

That guy I told you about earlier, Billy, He was so good about this! Even as he was dying with cancer, he was more concerned about other people in the church or in our community who had needs. It would have been easy for him to turn inward when that diagnosis came along, and no one would have faulted him. HOWEVER, Billy didn’t worry about his own interests. He looked out for the interests of others.

So, Paul has said the same thing four times now, right? Be humble! He has said it over and over. But this isn’t just a message from Paul. It was how Paul lived his life! Because Paul had put others’ spiritual interests before his own, he had been beaten, stoned, and now imprisoned. Paul exemplified humility!

But Paul doesn’t use himself as an example here. He takes it up a notch. He shows how Jesus himself set the standard for what humility should look like among his followers.

Philippians 2:5 CSB

Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,

5. Have the attitude of Christ

Do you see? Paul challenges the church to be humble. He gives them ways to do that, and then he gets to the heart of it. We need an attitude adjustment.

When I was in school, teachers could still paddle you if they felt like you deserved it. I had one teacher who left his paddle hanging in the classroom. It was his tool for attitude adjustments. You guys have a teacher like that?

God doesn’t use a paddle to change our attitudes though! The Holy Spirit changes our hearts to this new attitude! We need to ask God to do this work in us and then cooperate with him to develop it in us!

Paul then goes into some detail about what this attitude of Christ looks like. These verses are revered as some of the most beautiful in the New Testament about Jesus. Let me read the verses beginning with verse 5.

Philippians 2:5–8 CSB

Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 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.

There is so much to get caught up in here. Everyone that studies Philippians chapter 2 finds themselves in the theological depths of “What does it mean that Jesus ‘emptied himself?’ Does that mean he gave up part of his nature and wasn’t fully God?” And “Why does it say that he took on the ‘likeness of humanity?’ Does that mean he wasn’t fully man?”

And those are not questions we shouldn’t seek answers to, BUT when we focus on those things we miss the point, right?

Why is Paul telling us this about Jesus? To build out a theology of Jesus? Not directly, NO! He is using the humility of Christ to spur the Philippians on to humility! Remember where this all first started!?

Don’t act in selfishness

Act in humility

Don’t worry about yourself

Worry about others.

Followed by… ADOPT THE SAME ATTITUDE AS THAT OF CHRIST JESUS!

Listen church, if we study Phil 2 and come out only with a robust understanding of Jesus as fully God and fully man, we’ve missed the whole argument! Paul is driving home one command: BE HUMBLE

As he builds out this example of humility, he uses 9 phrases to describe Christ as this example...

Philippians 2:6–8 CSB

who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 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.

Each one of this is important to Paul’s argument, but none more important than the bookends.

Existed in the form of God.

Listen to me… Jesus was God. Jesus IS God. FULLY! There is no attribute that the Father has that the Son doesn’t. Jesus is fully and completely GOD!

And notice the last one

Death on a cross

Jesus endured one of the most excruciating deaths the world had thought of up until the first century. And he felt every bit of it.

So, how did Jesus go from “existed in the form of God” to “death on a cross?” How could that happen?

HUMILITY!

Jesus allowed himself to be taken, beaten, ridiculed then nailed to a cross and hung up to die of suffocation. And all the while he is perfectly and wholly God.

Why does Paul give us this example?

Hasn’t he proven his point by now?

It seems to be me, Paul is driving home another aspect of this.

Church, if Jesus can humble himself to the point of death, what is our excuse for not? The Son of God was not willing to pull rank in the world, why do we live in that attitude?

You see, we have a need for a new attitude! But you can’t force it and it probably won’t happen overnight! You need to God to make you new by the work of the Spirit.

Invitation

What are you struggling with on this topic?