5
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! 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 confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(Philippians 2:5-11 NIV)
If there was ever a time when we needed a positive role model, it is today. In our society, our role models have become the rich and famous, simply because they have money and fame. It really doesn’t seem to matter whether they have good character or not. For some strange reason many people in our society have come to value money and fame over goodness and integrity. Money and fame have come to symbolize a happy and exciting life. And everyone wants to have an exciting life.
Even Christians need to be reminded how we should live. I suppose this is what is intended by the little bracelets and necklaces with the initials WWJD imprinted on them. The initials stand for "What would Jesus do?" and are to remind us that we need to ask ourselves that question before we make decisions in our lives. It is a good question to ask, provided we really think through its implications.
You see, you can’t simply decide one day to do what Jesus did and succeed in doing it. Being able to do what Jesus did presupposes that you are in fact a Christian and that you are truly following Jesus. Even as Christians we must understand that we can’t do as Jesus did unless we begin to live as Jesus lived. In other words, following Jesus is a process of growth into his image. He is our example for life. He should be our role model.
In our text today, Paul exhorts us to be more like Christ in our thinking and attitude. And he uses Christ’s work in redemption as the example we are to follow. He is basically telling us to look at what Jesus did. Look at the inner qualities Jesus displayed. Look at how he lived his life. Do you want to know what Jesus would do? Do you want to follow his example? Well, let’s look at that example and ask ourselves another question–– What would Jesus have us do?
If you’re really going to follow the example of Jesus, you’re going to have to identify those inner qualities and characteristics that he had and do the things that will create those same characteristics in your life. Our text reveals several attitudes of Christ that we are to emulate. Firstly, we must...
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (vv. 6-7)
Just think about the position Jesus was in. According to what the Bible says, before Jesus came to this earth he was in very nature God and lived in equality with God. In other words, he was in fact God. There is nothing else this could mean. That was his position. There was no higher position in the universe.
Yet, look at what he did. The Bible says that he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing. This could literally be translated that he "laid aside his privileges." Christ surrendered his position in glory. What he did was a supreme act of selflessness. He gave up his position in heaven with God for our sake. Listen to 2 Corinthians 8:9 (NIV):
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
He selflessly laid aside his privileges for you and me. It was for our sakes that Christ left heaven’s glory. He gave up his riches for us. He gave up his glory for us. He emptied himself and made himself nothing–– all for us. He took upon him the very nature of a servant so that he could meet our needs.
Are you and I like that? Are we selfless servants for the sake of others? Do we even want to be? We must be if we are to have the same attitude as Christ. And we need that attitude if we want to be used of God to minister to others.
This attitude is counter-cultural. We live in a society filled with selfish people–– just like us! We look after ourselves first. We make sure that we get what we think we deserve. We demand our rights. Greed is good. If we’re not selfish, we won’t get our share. This is how our culture thinks.
This is also why our culture is in so much trouble. The problem with this kind of thinking is that it is the opposite of love. Love is what motivated Jesus to leave the glory of heaven. Love caused him to look to our needs. When you love someone, you are willing to make sacrifices for them. Think of a society in which people truly loved one another and sacrificed for one another. Think of a society where people looked out for one another’s interests. That’s the kind of society where I want to be.
What difference would a little more selflessness make in your life? How would it change your relationships? How would it enable you to make a difference in the lives of others? Would it make you more like Jesus?
Selflessness is one of the quality characteristics Jesus displayed in leaving his throne of glory. If we want to be like Jesus, we must also have that attitude. But there’s more. We must also...
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself … (v. 8a)
As God, he emptied himself. As man, he humbled himself. Jesus didn’t simply stop his selfless behavior when he became a man. He was here for a purpose. In fact, his mission was nothing less than the redemption of all of humanity. He was on the highest mission possible, but the only way it could be carried out was through a spirit of humility.
What we see here in Jesus is a recognition of the plan of God. He understood that God’s sovereign plan for the redemption of the world could only be carried out by total surrender on his part. And humility is recognizing that you are a part of something bigger than yourself. Humility is seeing yourself in proper perspective. It means that you don’t exalt yourself. And humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is simply not thinking of yourself.
Humility is absolutely essential to the work of God. You see, the work of God is all about touching the lives of others. Paul told us, in the verses preceding our text today, that we were to in humility consider others better than yourselves. Of course, the whole reason for this is that ministry is all about relationships. And without humility, genuine humility, our relationships will not be strong or abiding. You will simply never have productive relationships without humility. Pride destroys relationships, but humility builds them. Humility makes you accessible. Humility makes you vulnerable and approachable. Humility enables others to identify with you, because you’re not hiding your struggles and pretending to be something that you really are not.
Humility is the opposite of pride, and it was pride that brought Satan himself down. He said, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:13-14). Satan lifted himself up in pride and was cast down as a result. God always has and forever will oppose the proud.
The path to personal humility is found in your personal devotional relationship to Jesus. As you spend time reflecting on his glory and on his life, you will begin to see yourself from the right perspective. In light of who Christ is, you will find it difficult to exalt yourself.
Jesus exemplified selflessness and humility. But we need to look at one final area. If we are to follow his example, we must...
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! (v. 8)
After Jesus had emptied himself of all of his divine prerogatives, and further humbled himself in total submission to God, he became completely obedient to God’s will for his life. And his obedience caused him to make the ultimate sacrifice–– the sacrifice of his very life on the Cross in payment for our sins.
Obedience is a direct result of selflessness and humility. Obedience is an outward act that is predicated on an inward attitude. True obedience is always a result of our desire to please God. If we obey for other reasons, selfish reasons such as a desire to look good in the eyes of others, or even to feel good about ourselves, we’re simply playing a game. This is why simply having rules and regulations is never enough. Rules and regulations never foster obedience, because they are outward and you can keep them without being right on the inside. In other words, you can look right without being right. On the other hand, when you are right on the inside you will become right on the outside as well.
An indication that you are right on the inside is that you have a genuine desire to obey God. This does not mean that you are never tempted or that you never desire to sin. You will be tempted and you will not only desire to sin, you will sin. But while we are not perfect, our standard is not imperfection. We should have a genuine desire to please God and we should endeavor with all our strength to do just that through obedience to his Word.
And this obedience will not always be easy. As we see from the life of Jesus, obedience can require great sacrifice. Jesus gave his very life. And throughout the history of the church, many have done the same. This is not to say that God is calling you to die a martyr’s death. Rather, he is calling you to live for him, which may be harder.
Where is God calling you to obey him? What is it that God is calling you to do? Are you resisting that? If so, why? Look to your relationship with the Lord for the answer to that question. If you will rekindle that relationship, you will find that the desire to obey will return.
Often, when people say that they are not enjoying a close and intimate relationship with the Lord, I will ask them to think back to that place where God last spoke to them and they did not obey. Then go back and do what God has asked you to do. You may find God waiting for you there. And when you obey, the relationship is restored.
Jesus is the perfect example of selflessness, humility, and obedience. These things marked the attitude that we are to have in ourselves. He is our example for life.
But the story does not end there. Because of Jesus selflessness and humility, God was going to exalt him. And if we follow Jesus example, we will experience the blessing of God as well. We will...
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (vv. 9-11)
Jesus was exalted as Lord of all. He is enthroned on high. His name has been exalted above every other name. There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we can be saved. Every knee will bow before the name of Jesus. Every tongue will one day confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Now you and I will not be exalted in the same way Jesus was. Obviously, we are not Jesus. But if we will humble ourselves, God will exalt us in his own way. We read in James 4:9 (NIV): Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. The principle is this–– if you exalt yourself, God will humble you, but if you humble yourself, God will exalt you.
Now which do you want to do? Do you want to do the exalting and let God do the humbling, or do you want to do the humbling and let God do the exalting? I don’t know about you, but I would rather humble myself than have God do it. And I would rather have God do the exalting as well.
The bottom line is that God wants what is best for us and he knows what is best for us. He knows that the only way for us to experience the fullness of what this life has to offer is for us to become more like Christ. The Christ-like life is the life of fulfillment. There simply is no other way to experience true joy, peace, and contentment. That is why he tells us to have the same attitude in ourselves as we see in Christ. And as we become more like Christ, we will experience more of the blessing of God, which he delights and desires to give us.
Copyright © 2001 J. David Hoke. This data file is the sole property of the copyright holder and may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice.
This data file may not be copied in part (except for small quotations used with citation of source), edited, revised, copied for resale or incorporated in any commercial publications, recordings, broadcasts, performances, displays or other products offered for sale, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Requests for permission should be made in writing and e-mailed to J. David Hoke, at David@JDavidHoke.com.