Christlikeness.

Having the attitude of Jesus!

Philippians 2:1–11 NLT

Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

I consider myself a fairly mature Christian man. I don’t drink, smoke or chew and I don’t run with those who do. I careful about which movies I watch and what music I listen to. Most of my friends are Christians. I don’t cuss.... too much. I feel like I’m doing really good as a Christian. Then someone cuts me off, or doesn’t know how to use a round-a-bout or worse. They use self checkout without knowing how to use self checkout. Am I the only one in a hurry here?

It’s in these moments I realize a painful truth. It is easy to act like Jesus. It’s a lot harder to react like Jesus. And the only way to be sure to react like Jesus is to have His attitude. What does that look like? Here is it...

Philippians 2:3–11 NLT

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

How does t his play out in our lives? What does humility look like for us? There is one thing in here that I want to clarify before we break into our small groups. In vs 3 it says “think of others as more important than yourselves.” There is a difference between importance and value. Never under value yourself. Jesus died for you. But remember that as children of God we are to think of others more often than we think of ourselves.