back to index2019-09-18 Wed Bible Study Lesson 5
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Alright, we're going to start in a little bit. 00:00:06.360 |
Just a quick apology for those of you guys who messaged me asking specific questions. 00:00:17.080 |
If you do ever message me for questions specific to the passage, I'll try to take a look and 00:00:26.960 |
Let's take a moment to pray as we jump into our study tonight. 00:00:34.560 |
Lord, you give to us such a high calling in scripture as you command us to not simply 00:00:43.680 |
to do, but also to think, to believe, and to be. 00:00:50.520 |
And we realize, God, that all of that, not just part of that, but every single aspect 00:00:56.040 |
of that high calling is impossible by our flesh. 00:01:01.000 |
We really do pray for the work of your spirit, the work of your spirit working through the 00:01:06.280 |
power of your word and your presence in our lives. 00:01:10.280 |
We ask, God, that we would all the more reflect Christ, truly proclaim him with everything 00:01:20.720 |
We really do pray for a fruitful time of Bible study tonight. 00:01:27.360 |
So, let's begin with just reading our passage. 00:01:32.680 |
I know you guys just spent 30 minutes walking over it and things like that, but it's really 00:01:36.920 |
good to just review, review, review, because the whole process of observation requires 00:01:44.920 |
So I read for us here, it says, "Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, if 00:01:48.960 |
there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the spirit, if any affection 00:01:54.720 |
and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, 00:02:04.800 |
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another 00:02:12.440 |
Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 00:02:17.960 |
Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed 00:02:23.440 |
in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied 00:02:28.760 |
himself taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. 00:02:33.840 |
Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point 00:02:42.360 |
For this reason also, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above 00:02:48.720 |
every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those who are in heaven 00:02:54.640 |
and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ 00:03:05.680 |
There's just so much to ask and glean from it. 00:03:09.300 |
One of the very first things that we typically do with Bible study is try to outline the 00:03:17.920 |
It's so important to not get lost in the details, but to really appreciate the flow of thought 00:03:24.160 |
that Apostle Paul and the Word of God is teaching us. 00:03:27.440 |
So the way I've phrased it is verse one, it clearly shows condition. 00:03:37.840 |
If A, then B. And that's pretty much how verse one reads. 00:03:42.840 |
"Therefore if, if there is this and if there's any of that," and so that's why I say verse 00:03:47.840 |
one is a condition or a basis or a foundation. 00:03:52.240 |
Verse two through five is very clearly the exhortation and command. 00:03:56.040 |
"Make my joy complete by being humbly united. 00:04:01.080 |
Same mind, same love, same spirit, one purpose," right? 00:04:05.760 |
And that's why I sectioned off verse two through five because as he gave the condition, then 00:04:13.440 |
And then verse six through 11, it's the prime case, meaning the highest example we could 00:04:22.880 |
As he gives us the command, you have this attitude in Jesus who, although he existed 00:04:34.480 |
That is the case that we're supposed to follow. 00:04:41.960 |
Now let's get into some of the details then and look at verse one. 00:04:46.560 |
Paul says, "Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of 00:04:51.480 |
love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion." 00:04:58.200 |
As we take a look at that, I do want to first start off with the "therefore." 00:05:09.200 |
But it's important because it is important to know how does this awesome section where 00:05:15.380 |
clearly he's giving you the foundation, the command, and the example, where did that come 00:05:21.640 |
How does it connect with the previous passage, previous section that we read? 00:05:30.600 |
And recall that Apostle Paul was giving this grand explanation of his worldview. 00:05:38.520 |
He was giving a grand explanation of how he saw it. 00:05:42.080 |
You guys might think that I'm imprisoned and all these other creatures and so-called individuals 00:05:47.520 |
and they're just taking this opportunity to be all self-willed, arrogant and stuff. 00:05:55.560 |
And Paul says, "Well, let me explain my worldview. 00:05:59.680 |
Because regardless of the circumstance, Christ is proclaimed. 00:06:05.640 |
And whether life or death, Christ is exalted. 00:06:12.640 |
And what he was teaching us was that his proper perspective in the faith and his devotion to 00:06:16.920 |
Christ, then his whole operating principle is that to live is Christ and to die is gain. 00:06:26.320 |
And then the way that he ended chapter one was to say, "And you, you do realize you've 00:06:31.920 |
been given this incredible privilege, that you've been given the grace, granted, right? 00:06:37.960 |
Charisma, granted this incredible privilege to not only just to believe, but to suffer 00:06:51.760 |
And essentially Apostle Paul is saying, "You too." 00:07:02.000 |
And then so if you recall back, one of the passages that we read that was important was 00:07:08.440 |
in chapter one, verse 27, Apostle Paul said, "Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy 00:07:16.080 |
of the gospel so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I'll hear of you that 00:07:20.800 |
you are standing firm, one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the 00:07:28.640 |
And so as just a quick summary of all that we just said right there, we realize that 00:07:33.160 |
there is a connection and a flow of thought that Apostle Paul is thinking. 00:07:37.640 |
There is a same spirit, same mind, same faith, not only just amongst yourselves, but all 00:07:48.160 |
There is this connection as he's explaining his worldview of the joy that Christ has exalted 00:07:53.800 |
in me, in my life, in my body, and even my death. 00:08:05.600 |
And so therefore, he starts to ask all these conditional, not ask, but state these conditional 00:08:14.040 |
Now remember that whenever we do Bible study observation, if you see a list, if you see 00:08:19.880 |
some repetitive thought, it's very important for you to think like, "Okay, clearly he's 00:08:24.320 |
taking one thought and then he's putting all these different statements to support that, 00:08:30.280 |
or at least examples of it, or at least the nuances of it." 00:08:33.440 |
Well, what's really interesting is he says, "If there is any this, and if there is any 00:08:37.240 |
that, and if there is any of this, and if there is any of that." 00:08:40.840 |
And clearly when you see that, what you should be thinking is, "Hmm. 00:08:45.720 |
When I think of the if this, then that, he is laying just a simple basis and foundation. 00:08:56.220 |
This should be kind of like the condition upon which we operate." 00:09:00.920 |
That's the kind of thought that comes to mind. 00:09:03.080 |
The way I'd like to put it is this is the common powerful condition for all of us. 00:09:11.680 |
This is the powerful foundation on which he's going to give the exhortation. 00:09:16.840 |
And so one of the questions that I have for you there in the observation is that we should 00:09:20.160 |
be asking was, "Okay, I do see the statements that are repetitive. 00:09:27.520 |
And I hope you guys got to kind of think through that a little bit. 00:09:35.080 |
Sometimes it's just like a litany of commands like, "Do this, do that, do this, do this." 00:09:42.600 |
Now one of the things kind of interestingly is this. 00:09:45.560 |
If you're about to give some really heavy commandments about, you know, there's so many 00:09:50.720 |
commandments in there about not being prideful, like empty conceit, not being selfish, not 00:09:56.160 |
being so self-interested and looking out for yourself, that kind of stuff, you know, you 00:10:00.840 |
would think like maybe he was saying, "You know, we committed to this. 00:10:06.160 |
You know, like, but actually the kind of terms that we see here are a little bit more, I 00:10:12.960 |
It's a bit more, there's a sense of emotive kind of sentiment to all this. 00:10:18.080 |
Because look, he says, "If there is encouragement, if there is consolation," or, you know, in 00:10:23.960 |
other translations, "comfort, fellowship of the Spirit, affection, and compassion." 00:10:31.560 |
So as you guys thought through, what are some of the similarities in this? 00:10:34.680 |
You know, take a moment to think about that even further. 00:10:39.640 |
If you're about to exhort people to, you know, "Let's do this," right? 00:10:45.840 |
So as we think about this, we do recognize, we recall back that the Philippians' church, 00:10:52.400 |
many of them, clearly Apostle Paul said, "I'm proud of you because you are experiencing 00:10:59.720 |
Are they experiencing different kind of persecution and suffering? 00:11:06.040 |
So here and now, we start thinking, okay, for the believer, for the people who have 00:11:13.120 |
if this is true of you, one of the defining marks of a Christian is that even in the midst 00:11:20.880 |
In life, I got all my stuff that I was working for taken away. 00:11:26.880 |
I actually tried and tried and in the end, everybody thinks I'm just like pitiful. 00:11:36.120 |
For the Christian, you should be able to have your mind and heart still yet be encouraged, 00:11:45.560 |
If you come to a point where you look at your life and you realize, like, "I'm not where 00:11:49.680 |
I'm not where everybody else is," and your mind can't get to, "Well, if I have Christ, 00:12:02.120 |
If your heart and your mind can't get there, then there should be a question like, "How 00:12:06.480 |
can you say then you actually have faith in Christ?" 00:12:11.880 |
So although that might be a little bit, maybe some people might think a little bit insensitive, 00:12:16.800 |
we do, again, live in a generation where people are looking at their lives and feeling incredibly 00:12:22.040 |
unsatisfied, incredibly disappointed, and very, very jaded. 00:12:25.620 |
But if we as Christians buy into that narrative, we're, "Oh, goodness. 00:12:31.680 |
It's just going down the drain and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah," without a sentiment of 00:12:35.280 |
hope and joy that I can pull out, not because a circumstance has anything, but because my 00:12:43.120 |
That is the genuine kind of blessing, the powerful basis, and the condition that we 00:12:52.040 |
So then, in summary of that, I'd like to say there is this common powerful condition, and 00:12:57.320 |
what's more, we then have a genuine Christian affection. 00:13:01.480 |
We have the commonality of the comfort of Christ to those who do live in a broken world. 00:13:10.340 |
So then, from that, I do want to make a quick, quick challenge, a quick, quick kind of perspective. 00:13:22.880 |
I think that one of our common tendencies is to naively think that certain things can 00:13:35.960 |
be accomplished without just simply some of these, like, personal affection experiences 00:13:45.100 |
In my mind, as an executive pastor, there are a lot of times where people send me articles 00:13:49.280 |
about how to do church, what church should be like, and people have lots of opinions. 00:13:53.800 |
I appreciate that because I want to regularly be thinking about how to improve our community. 00:14:02.760 |
Now, as I set that up, sometimes, however, people have all these advice of how to organize 00:14:09.360 |
people groups, how to make sure that, you know, the like affinity are held together, 00:14:16.000 |
All that stuff is actually pretty good stuff. 00:14:18.920 |
But I do want you to remember that not just church, but even your work, even your club 00:14:26.800 |
sports, even your social clubs, even – like, whatever it is you're involved with. 00:14:32.520 |
My personal belief is without the affection of Jesus Christ, without the power of Christ's 00:14:39.200 |
comfort in your heart and the eternal hope that he's giving you, not just church, none 00:14:47.360 |
Every single one of you, if you do not have that kind of comfort, encouragement, consolation 00:14:52.840 |
of love, fellowship of the spirit, and affection in your heart, you're not able to do anything. 00:14:58.860 |
After the honeymoon – I mean, for those of you guys who have been in work for a really 00:15:02.280 |
long time, you guys know, all it takes, even at work, if – let's say you found the greatest 00:15:07.800 |
job that fulfills your sense of like, this is my skill and trade, like, I get to flourish 00:15:13.880 |
Maybe you are working super hard to get to a certain position. 00:15:18.700 |
All it takes is like one jerk co-worker to ruin it all, okay? 00:15:23.160 |
All it takes is one moment where you fail, you mess up. 00:15:26.000 |
It just – it doesn't take much for a group to just unravel. 00:15:30.880 |
Even social clubs that are based on commonalities, whether it be sports, like I'm in part of 00:15:34.880 |
basketball club, I'm in part of like, I don't know, recently there's a ping pong club, right? 00:15:41.160 |
You can come together on one common purpose or whatever it may be, and everyone feels 00:15:45.440 |
like I have ownership in this, I'm responsible, I have a title, I have this and that. 00:15:52.840 |
But without this affection for Christ, not just church, any organization, it's impossible 00:16:04.720 |
Because soon even within sports clubs, you realize that guy is not in the community, 00:16:10.280 |
Soon you'll realize the commonality that you have in work, everyone's trying to accomplish 00:16:17.280 |
Those of you who have been in work, you see it. 00:16:21.380 |
People have their own agendas, they have their own ambitions. 00:16:24.560 |
Only when there is a powerful work of Christ that is a supernatural embedded hope in your 00:16:34.740 |
And that's why I think when Apostle Paul is ready to give the command, "I want you to 00:16:40.160 |
be united and sane in mind, spirit," he doesn't base it off of, "You know, it's so glad that 00:16:46.540 |
you guys are in close proximity, and I'm so glad you guys have satellite sites." 00:16:51.040 |
You know, like satellite locations where you guys can come together. 00:16:55.640 |
I get all this advice about how to structure everything, but in the end it comes back to 00:17:02.800 |
The ground basis of our Christianity in my affection for Jesus. 00:17:08.800 |
All the other advice, great, it's good advice. 00:17:11.720 |
It does not compare to the powerful commonality we have in Christ, amen? 00:17:17.520 |
Okay, then we can move on to the command section. 00:17:20.720 |
Okay, then we can move on to the command section. 00:17:24.520 |
Apostle Paul says, "Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same 00:17:33.520 |
love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose." 00:17:38.840 |
Now what's really interesting about this is, again, you're like, "Oh gosh, I want to challenge 00:17:44.960 |
I can't go through every single one of these things." 00:17:46.600 |
As a matter of fact, even in verse one, I want to encourage you guys, sit there and 00:18:01.040 |
For every single element, but we just don't have time for that. 00:18:03.440 |
Here and now too, we don't have time to go over every single element, but we clearly 00:18:10.960 |
And the way that I would like to describe it is a little bit, it takes a little bit 00:18:20.680 |
Apostle Paul uses this interesting phrase, which is called phreno. 00:18:27.560 |
When Apostle Paul says, "Be same minded," be like minded, that is the command. 00:18:34.440 |
He's saying, "Make my joy complete," that's the more explicit command, and every single 00:18:38.800 |
phrase after that is just a participle supporting that, but the commonality is trying to encourage 00:18:44.960 |
you, "I want you to have the same perspective and worldview. 00:18:53.520 |
What's really interesting about this is within this passage, Apostle Paul uses it in nuanced 00:19:00.880 |
For example, this word here, "one purpose," this one purpose right here, that's actually 00:19:10.920 |
And so, in some of your ESV translations, it'll actually say that, "I want you actually 00:19:15.880 |
to be really in accord with each other in one mind," right? 00:19:22.880 |
Well, here I want to share with you just the definition of it from one of the lexicons, 00:19:29.280 |
the dictionaries, and it says, "This idea has the concept of thoughtful planning, to 00:19:35.040 |
employ your faculty for thoughtful planning with emphasis upon underlining disposition 00:19:39.760 |
or attitude, to have this attitude, to think in a particular manner." 00:19:45.000 |
And so, even later on when the command comes in verse five, "The attitude you should have 00:19:49.760 |
is the one that Jesus Christ has," meaning you need to think like Jesus, right? 00:19:57.800 |
So, what I am trying to actually try to communicate to you guys is, Apostle Paul's command here 00:20:04.440 |
to be unified, one may think, it's like, "Oh yeah, we need to be really united. 00:20:09.520 |
What a beautiful thing that everyone's here together." 00:20:12.680 |
He goes deeper than that in his expectations for us. 00:20:16.400 |
He wants us to work together to have actually the same interpretation of the circumstances. 00:20:23.040 |
He wants us to have the same understanding of how God is working these scenarios. 00:20:27.720 |
He wants us to have the same perspective of what's going on, our role, our purpose. 00:20:44.600 |
The other parts of the command come in negative and positive form. 00:20:50.320 |
The command I think I'd like to summarize as regard one another, but here, let's focus 00:20:58.280 |
Apostle Paul says, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit." 00:21:05.960 |
There's nothing necessarily like nuanced and confusing about it. 00:21:10.040 |
It's just explicit, like, "Don't be selfish, man." 00:21:14.920 |
And he says, "Do not merely look out for your own personal interest." 00:21:19.560 |
You know, as I think about that, I just took a moment to reflect, and I asked a question 00:21:23.840 |
like, "Hmm, those things too I know kind of go together as a package." 00:21:30.400 |
Meaning, when we think about our struggles with sin, when we think about our own struggles 00:21:34.640 |
with conflict, where there's disunity, typically selfishness and pride go together hand in 00:21:41.480 |
So for example, you know, the way that selfishness goes hand in hand is that if I were to define 00:21:52.280 |
Whenever you catch yourself say, "What about me?" 00:21:59.040 |
So for example, if you're on a team, how come that guy gets to shoot? 00:22:05.600 |
Even though maybe you think in your interpretation, it's like, "No, I have proof. 00:22:15.960 |
When you're on a board meeting, and you have like a, you know, you're at your work, and 00:22:19.520 |
everybody's chiming in, and you start saying, "Hey, you guys have all these ideas, and you 00:22:34.080 |
Maybe in a family, you start thinking like, "How come that guy gets to decide where we 00:22:38.480 |
And then in your family, "How come that person gets to da-da-da-da-da?" 00:22:41.120 |
The moment you start saying, "What about me?" 00:22:48.720 |
Because someone can ask you, "What about you?" 00:22:53.920 |
Why do you get to start sitting there thinking like that you deserve the opportunity to shoot? 00:23:02.640 |
Why is it that everybody asks me to listen to you in the board meeting? 00:23:07.480 |
Why is it that in the family, everybody has to eat what you say you have to eat, like 00:23:15.200 |
Now you're going to reply, "No, no, I never said that. 00:23:23.160 |
But clearly you think, "But I don't deserve this." 00:23:29.160 |
Clearly you think, "I deserve more than this though." 00:23:32.360 |
See, I think the reason why pride and selfishness go together is because there is clearly an 00:23:40.140 |
Someone could look at you and say, "But seriously, who do you think you are?" 00:23:50.680 |
And then the Christian, mature Christian, will look at you and say, "But didn't God 00:24:01.840 |
Didn't Christ tell you that you'd be blessed when you place others before you?" 00:24:10.080 |
And so here I think it absolutely makes sense that in contrast to selfishness and then conceit, 00:24:17.280 |
like pride, Apostle Paul gives the command in a positive form, "You have to do this 00:24:22.320 |
with humility, regarding one another as more important than yourselves. 00:24:27.160 |
And you have to not merely look out for your own interest, but look out for the interest 00:24:33.160 |
And the exhortation has its full form in have this attitude that is Christ, that is in the 00:24:40.480 |
And here I want to highlight something for you. 00:24:46.760 |
That attitude, I mean the word phroneo actually has this mentality of disposition or attitude. 00:24:56.360 |
So earlier I mentioned to you that phroneo is used multiple times. 00:25:00.680 |
Apostle Paul employs it to kind of encapsulate his exhortation. 00:25:05.000 |
A lot of people think this passage, it's the passage on unity. 00:25:08.720 |
I would like to say actually it's the passage on a united mentality that's like Christ. 00:25:16.240 |
Apostle Paul is challenging you to think, to have a posture like Jesus. 00:25:21.360 |
The command is not, "Hey, just put your differences aside. 00:25:29.440 |
There is something deeper than that where the prerequisite for you to come together 00:25:34.680 |
is that every single one of us would die to our arrogance and conceit, would die to our 00:25:40.440 |
selfish interests and have the heart of Christ. 00:25:44.440 |
For us to be united, it requires an incredible level of sanctification. 00:25:49.840 |
It requires an incredible level of putting our own self aside at the back burner so that 00:25:58.160 |
And so I want to challenge us that when it comes to even the hopes of unity, when it 00:26:04.880 |
comes to the hopes of having a united church, I hope you realize there is an incredible 00:26:13.280 |
I put in there that there has to be a renewing of the mind. 00:26:18.240 |
You guys remember in Romans chapter 12 where it talks about our acceptable sacrifice unto 00:26:24.240 |
God, right, that there should be a constant renewing of our mind? 00:26:29.480 |
I want you to understand if ever you've complained about, let's say, superficiality of the church 00:26:34.240 |
fellowship, if ever you complained about how there's cliques in this church, if ever you've 00:26:38.960 |
complained about how people or there's this weird hierarchy, maybe it's because, you know, 00:26:43.400 |
I don't know, like people just love that stuff or whatever it may be, I want you to understand 00:26:48.680 |
that no just simple twist of the structure, no simple like, "You know what I'm going to 00:26:54.280 |
I'm going to mix you all up and put you in different small groups," right? 00:26:56.680 |
None of that kind of small tweak in the church is going to fix a renewing of the mind that 00:27:04.560 |
It requires for every single one of us a constant sanctification where we put aside our selfishness 00:27:11.240 |
and continue to put on the attitude of Christ, amen? 00:27:17.200 |
So as we think about that, I definitely want you guys, one of the application questions 00:27:22.800 |
for all you all is simply the question, how is this applied? 00:27:27.000 |
Because man, this is such a huge broad calling, it's a huge broad command and challenge for 00:27:32.280 |
And again, we don't have the time to go over every single one of these things. 00:27:34.840 |
When we think about the word, command, regard others, I want you guys to start thinking, 00:27:40.960 |
"Okay, in this specific scenario, how do I apply that?" 00:27:45.800 |
Whether it be in your work, do you currently have some conflict at work and you're sitting 00:27:51.000 |
there thinking, "You know what I would like to do? 00:27:54.640 |
You know, if you're starting to think like that, perhaps God might open the doors for 00:28:00.280 |
But did you start thinking of how do I exercise though a humility and a regarding of other 00:28:06.640 |
If it's in your family, if it's in your husband and wife relationships, if it's in your friendship, 00:28:14.160 |
Does it mean that all of a sudden I just like, "You know what? 00:28:25.640 |
There can be such an extreme where now all of a sudden you're not a slave of Christ, 00:28:33.240 |
We're not talking about that kind of extreme when we say the negative and positive here. 00:28:36.880 |
So I have to ask you, what is a tangible scenario of how this is applied, right? 00:28:43.440 |
Okay, with that being said, here again, I want to emphasize this idea that Apostle Paul 00:28:51.280 |
uses these various terms with the same Greek word to challenge every one of you. 00:28:58.600 |
For those of you who are frustrated in a current circumstance, remember, the solution is not 00:29:06.200 |
Remember, it's not always the fault of the circumstance. 00:29:09.760 |
Remember God desires to strengthen you in the inner man by strengthening your perspective 00:29:18.720 |
We go on to the last portion, moving from the commandment, Apostle Paul gives us the 00:29:25.640 |
And I have two questions to separate the two parts that I see, which is this. 00:29:33.920 |
And this part, you guys, I feel so bad because I'm going to have to go over pretty quickly 00:29:38.280 |
just for the sake of time and that you guys can discuss, but I'm confident that you guys 00:29:43.080 |
are going to have a lot of fruitful conversation in this because there's so much. 00:29:47.040 |
What do I mean that there is a what do you think and what do you do, right? 00:29:50.920 |
Because as we look at Jesus, we first look at what he thought. 00:29:56.580 |
If Apostle Paul's commandment was for us to think differently, believe in our minds, and 00:30:03.120 |
have a renewal of how we interpret the world, think about how Jesus thought. 00:30:17.320 |
Who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to 00:30:27.800 |
I want you to think about that because a lot of people think like, "Oh, yeah, you know, 00:30:38.760 |
What I'd like you to do is think, "How do I appreciate the massive contrast Apostle Paul 00:30:47.440 |
How do I appreciate the degree, okay, the incredible degree that God is trying to reveal 00:30:55.660 |
Because clearly, Apostle Paul, through this passage, is highlighting and contrasting the 00:31:08.760 |
But then he took on the form of a bond servant. 00:31:19.960 |
I want you to think about everything we've been talking about tonight about the perspective, 00:31:27.520 |
What kind of crazy, transformative thinking, powerful thinking did Jesus exercise to show 00:31:40.280 |
Notice how he says, "Christ did not regard the equality that he had with God as something 00:31:52.040 |
If you guys look at your translations, like your Bible has that little letter you click 00:31:58.600 |
Jesus did not think in his mind that it was good for him in that moment to hold onto his 00:32:06.480 |
right, to hold onto his equality, and to exercise that equality. 00:32:16.400 |
If you guys have ever, ever been offended by somebody a lot younger than you, let's 00:32:22.280 |
say 10 years younger, if you've ever been talked down to and diminished and confronted 00:32:27.080 |
and just, you know, attacked by someone way younger than you, you know what that feels 00:32:36.800 |
And then there's that moment when you, you know, we don't never, ever say this, but sometimes 00:32:40.520 |
you have those moments like, "Do you know who I am?" 00:32:43.720 |
And that's why those like, dramas that we see where these individuals like undercover 00:32:48.720 |
boss or people have this crazy conflict and all of a sudden they reveal like, "I'm the 00:32:54.040 |
You know, like those moments are really like dramatic and it's fun to watch because we 00:33:00.520 |
To be able to just own somebody, "Do you know who I am?" 00:33:09.060 |
But you realize like what this passage is talking about. 00:33:11.960 |
Jesus did not regard the quality of God as something to be used and preserved and held 00:33:25.520 |
And so when I think about the degree to which we should appreciate the model, the example 00:33:30.440 |
of His humility, I'm almost not able to even describe it right now. 00:33:34.120 |
You know, like I don't know how to put that into words. 00:33:37.440 |
And then we start thinking about the actual action. 00:33:41.000 |
That not only would He empty Himself, I mean, some of us are really proud, it's like, "I 00:33:46.280 |
I bit my lip and didn't say a word to that fool that, you know, he thought he knew better 00:33:53.440 |
You're all proud of your little humble accomplishment. 00:34:01.320 |
He took on the form of a man, appearance of this flesh and then He became obedient to 00:34:12.240 |
Most shameful statement of the criminals who would be deserving of such shame, right? 00:34:20.480 |
I mean, just think about the degree and the chasm that we're supposed to appreciate in 00:34:28.200 |
And so for us, when we think about the example of humility, I mean, understand that the heart 00:34:34.240 |
of appreciation for this is going to have the sufficient power to humble ourselves. 00:34:40.880 |
And what's more, Apostle Paul says, oh, I'm sorry, I just went over all that stuff. 00:34:45.800 |
In verse 9, "For this reason then, to what Christ has thought and did, God has highly 00:34:54.600 |
exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of 00:35:01.640 |
Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 00:35:06.320 |
and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." 00:35:12.000 |
And I ask you this interesting question on the observation part of the beginning portion. 00:35:18.960 |
Clearly, Apostle Paul said this is the condition and the basis of the command I'm giving. 00:35:24.720 |
You better have the attitude of Jesus, this humble, sacrificial, emptying heart of Jesus, 00:35:31.160 |
And then he says, "And this, to this, therefore God is exalted." 00:35:40.800 |
The only way you are going to empty yourself is for you to have the same thought of Christ. 00:35:47.720 |
Let me ask you, did Jesus Christ know that God was going to exalt Him? 00:35:54.240 |
Do you guys remember the Hebrews chapter 1 portion? 00:35:58.640 |
Did Jesus Christ entrust Himself to God every time He was being persecuted, whipped, and 00:36:04.440 |
Scripture actually explicitly says Jesus Christ did not reply in vengeance. 00:36:13.480 |
Because He kept entrusting Himself to the Father. 00:36:18.360 |
Likewise for every single one of us, the only way we're going to be able to humble ourselves 00:36:26.600 |
Do you trust that when you empty yourself, that in the heart of God, what God desires 00:36:32.240 |
to see, what He honors, is this kind of noble humility? 00:36:36.840 |
The kind of humility He sees in His own Son, Jesus Christ. 00:36:41.360 |
As a reference for you, I want to turn to 1 Peter chapter 5. 00:36:46.840 |
Scripture says, Apostle Peter says, "And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive 00:36:53.720 |
You younger men likewise be subject to your elders, and all of you clothe yourself with 00:37:01.640 |
How are we going to do that when that guy is incompetent? 00:37:04.120 |
How are we going to do that when he acts like he knows more than me when clearly I know 00:37:08.200 |
How are we going to do that when that guy has malicious intent and here I am just receiving 00:37:13.560 |
How am I going to do that when all this stuff is going wrong? 00:37:19.360 |
Well, he says, "God, God is opposed to the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. 00:37:27.120 |
Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you at the proper 00:37:34.920 |
Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you." 00:37:39.960 |
The challenge today was for you to exercise the mentality and the attitude of Jesus Christ. 00:37:46.340 |
It is incredible that Christ would humble Himself to such a degree where Christ Himself 00:37:52.720 |
depended and trusted on His Father to this level. 00:37:58.160 |
And that's the exact same path and example we should follow as well. 00:38:09.120 |
God, Lord, words cannot express because truthfully speaking, our limited minds cannot comprehend 00:38:17.940 |
the incredible degree to which You humbled Yourself, the incredible degree to which You 00:38:24.860 |
purposely intentionally loved, and how You volitionally sacrificed and emptied Yourself. 00:38:32.620 |
But God, we see in part, we want to see in full, but we see in part, and we thank You 00:38:40.260 |
And we know, Father God, that You call us, that You desire and command for us to have 00:38:48.020 |
And Lord, we want to respond with, "Yes, Lord, we want to." 00:38:51.300 |
We pray, Father God, that by Your Spirit and by Your Word, You would help us. 00:38:55.460 |
And Lord, we pray that through that, through the sanctification of our hearts, God, that 00:38:59.420 |
You would continue to build this church to be a powerful proclamation of Christ because 00:39:05.160 |
of the wonderful unity born out of a fruit of humble hearts.