God's promises in Philippians

Let this mind be in you

During the 1860’s and 70’s London England was a very powerful city. In West London, there was much wealth and luxury. In the Center of London which was the Financial District, approximately 1/4 of the world’s money was being handled and traded, but a mile or two to the east, in East London, there was much poverty.

Two million people were living in terrible darkness. Human trafficking was rampant. Alcoholism was causing squalid conditions for families. Pubs, or also known as the Public House, got much money that should have fed families. The poor were uneducated and children were forced to worked in inhumane conditions and occupations, such as chimney sweeps because they were small and could do tasks that nobody else could do.

In all this, God spoke to the heart spoke to the heart of a man who could have settled for a pastorate, but that wasn’t his calling. God called William Booth to start a ministry with those who were down and out. He called a family to minister to those that seemed too far from God to reach. He laid such a burden on William and Catherine Booth to care for the outcasts and to share God’s love that sent Christ to die on the cross for us all.

In 1878, they gave their ministry a name. It still bears this name today:The Salvation Army. (Salvation Army History)

About 2000 years ago, God the Father sent His Son.

John 3:16 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Tonight, I want to talk for a few minutes about the mindset or attitude that William Booth had that God wants each of us to have.

Let’s read Philippians 2:1-8

Philippians 2:3–8 NIV

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

What was Jesus like?

Have you ever asked yourself that question, “What was Jesus like?”

Jesus said that it was the sick that needed a doctor not those who are well. Jesus cared for those that society looked down upon. He easily could have spent all of His time with those who were the leaders of society, but He humbled Himself to care for the lepers. He took time to go to the house of Zacheus, a tax-collector who was despised by His own people.

He surrounded Himself with uneducated people even though He could have hand picked the best of the best. He took time for the crippled, blind, bed-ridden people so that they could experience life, and even a Samaritan woman that came to a well. Jesus gave her eternal life.

What was He like?

He loved the unlovely. He showed compassion to the needy. He set the spiritually captive free. He healed the broken hearted.

What did He do?

Philippians 2:8 NIV

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

The story of Christmas is that God became one of us. The story of Good Friday is that He died to pay for our sins. The story of Easter is that He is alive forevermore!

The God of the universe humbled Himself and became one of us so the He could feel what we feel. When you are happy, Jesus knows what that feels like. When we lose people we love, He knows our sorrow. When we are tired or hungry, Jesus gets it.

He not only became like us, but He died to satisfy God’s demands for sin. Jesus said in John 15:13

John 15:13 NIV

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

What should we do?

Philippians 2:5 NKJV

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

What does that mean for us in LeRoy in 2022?

Good Samaritan

Jesus told a story in Luke 10, about a Samaritan that helped out a helpless man.

He told the story because He was asked about who we should consider our neighbours. In town, we might think that the people that live on our street or those across the back alley are our neighbours. On a farm, we might look at a 5-10 mile radius as our neighbours, but Jesus wanted us to look at it a little different.

A man went on a trip to Jericho. It was a dangerous road where thieves could hide out and take advantage of unsuspecting travellers, so he fell among thieves that robbed him and left him for dead.

A priest and then a Levite, religious people, came upon him and went to the other side of the road and kept on trucking. Maybe they were too busy, or they didn’t want to get dirty and become unclean according to their customs, but they left him too.

Finally, a Samaritan, who was despised by Jews came and cared for this Jewish man. He cleaned him up and bandaged his wounds. He even paid for his care in Jericho.

He was the neighbour.

Will you be a neighbour?

When we believe in Jesus, we have been promised eternal life. That’s God’s grace! Because of this grace, we are called to show grace. We are called to humble ourselves and care for those in need.

Will you be a neighbour to someone in need? Will you be Jesus’ hands and feet to those who are less fortunate?

I started with the story of William Booth because he was a great example of this. We may not see the need that was in East London in the 1870’s, but let’s be like Jesus and lay down our lives for each other.

Let’s pray!