It's great to see you. Thanks for having me.
Let's pray and ask the Lord to help us. Our Father
in heaven, we pray that through your word, by
your spirit, you would help us now to see the
Lord Jesus more clearly. To love him more dearly.
and to follow him more nearly. Help us, we pray,
for Jesus' sake. Amen. What is the secret of
unity? Take an ordinary local church, take the
church that you belong to, take the church that
I... I belong to and serve an ordinary church
made up of all sorts of different people, different
ages, stages, different backgrounds and cultures,
different outlooks and interests. Be so easy,
wouldn't it, for those differences to get in
the way. So easy in a church like that, different
people for their relationships to break down.
And what if an ordinary local church like that,
with all its differences, what if a church like
that comes under pressure too from outside? What
if people take issue with what's being preached?
What if stories start to appear about it online?
How intolerant, how unloving the church is. What
if... The members, what if you and me, we start
to face opposition from our family, from our
friends, our acquaintances? What then? How does
an ordinary local church like that, with all
its differences, with all that pressure, how
does it stand firm? How does it strive together
for the faith of the gospel? What is the secret
of unity? That is the issue for us here in Philippians
chapter 2. Paul says the secret of unity is to
share the same mindset, the same attitude, a
mindset of humble, selfless love. Just listen
to what Paul says. Chapter 2 verse 1, he says,
Therefore, if you have any encouragement from
being united with Christ, if any comfort from
his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit,
if any tenderness and compassion, Then make my
joy complete by being like -minded, having the
same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
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 others. And Paul then
gives us the ultimate example. of that mindset.
Verse 5, in your relationships with one another,
have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. And in
the verses that follow, he paints the most stunning
portrait of the mindset of Christ Jesus. And
the point is really simple. Paul says, look at
Jesus. And adopt the same mindset. That's the
secret of unity. Look at Jesus. And adopt the
same mindset. This section is at the very heart
of the letter. But not just the letter. In many
ways, the very heart of the New Testament too.
One Christian writer puts it like this. He says,
this is one of the most beautiful and rich descriptions
of the person and work of Christ in the New Testament.
Let's have a look at that beautiful, that rich
description. There are two lessons for us. Let
me show you what they are. Here's the first one.
Look at Jesus and see how low he humbled himself.
Look at Jesus. See how low he humbled himself.
This is verses 6 to 8. The story of these verses
is the story of a journey. It's the story of
a journey from the very heights of heaven to
the very depths of death on a cross. It is a
shocking journey, an extraordinary journey. It's
full of wonder and mystery. Listen again to Paul.
Verse 5, 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. is the eternal Son of God, equal with
the Father in every way, equal in honor, equal
in glory, equal in power, fully and truly God.
In the memorable words of the Nicene Creed, God
of God, light of light, very God of very God,
begotten, not made, being of one substance with
the Father, fully. equally truly God. And yet
Paul says he didn't exploit his status or his
position. He didn't use it to his own advantage
the way that I so often do, the way that I try
to use my status, my position to improve my lot,
or at least to get out of something that I think
might be beneath me. He never did that. Look
at verse 7. Rather, he made himself nothing by
taking the very nature of a servant, being made
in human likeness. You will know that Paul literally
says he emptied himself. He emptied himself.
And yet you will also know how easy it is to
get the wrong end of the stick with that. I love
Charles Wesley's hymn, And Can It Be? I love
the way it captures the wonder and the awe of
being a Christian. I love the way, have you noticed
that first verse? The way that every line finishes
with a question mark. As though you just can't
quite get your head around what the Lord Jesus
has done for you. And can it be that I should
gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Died
he for me who caused his pain, for me who him
to death pursued. Could that really be true?
I love verse 1. Verse 3 always makes me really
uneasy. He left his father's throne above so
free, so infinite in his grace, emptied himself
of all but love. I don't know what he meant by
that. I don't know what was going through his
mind when he penned those words. But it sounds
like he is saying, in that journey down, Christ
gave up some or all of his godness. We know that's
not right, don't we? That the point is not that
he gives something up. The point, Paul says,
is he took something on. Look at the next line.
He took on the very nature of a servant. And
you will know too that that word servant is the
word slave. In other words, can you get your
mind around this? That the one who is truly,
fully, equally God with the Father, willingly
became a slave. No rights. No status. No privilege.
Isn't that remarkable? But notice something.
He doesn't do that despite being God. He does
that precisely because he is God. In other words,
he empties himself. He makes himself nothing.
He takes on the very nature of a servant because
that is what he's really like. That is his, if
I can use these words, that is his heart. In
the words of the song, this is our God, the servant
king. Let me ask you a question which I heard
somewhere else but found really helpful. It's
kind of stuck in my head. When Jesus grew up,
it is not in any way surprising, is it, that
he went around doing the most extraordinary things,
things that only God himself can do. He was,
after all, fully and truly God. But when you
look at his earthly life, what do you think is
the most God -like thing he did? Walk on water?
It's pretty impressive. Heal the sick. Raise
the dead. Calm the storm. Feed the hungry. What
is the most God -like thing he did? Paul says
that the most God -like thing he did was to make
himself nothing. To empty himself. Why? Because
that is who he is. That this is our God, the
servant king. Isn't that remarkable? That the
God of the Bible is a God who lacks nothing.
He needs nothing. He is gloriously and wonderfully
perfect in every way. And therefore, the God
of the Bible, he is not a God who takes. He's
a God who gives and who gives and who gives again.
He's a God who made himself nothing and humbled
himself and poured himself out. As the creed
says, for us and for our salvation, for me and
for you. And Paul says, look at him, look at
him and adopt the same mindset. Literally, Paul
says something like this. He says, have the mindset
which you have in Christ. Christian, he says,
you are united with him. You are united with
the one who made himself nothing for you. He
has taken hold of you and you now belong to him.
And if that is true, which it is, and if that
is his mindset, then how on earth can you and
I possibly act out of selfish ambition? Or vain
conceit. Look at Jesus. And adopt. The same mindset.
But there's more. At the first Christmas. He
came down from heaven. In the words of the apostle
John. The word became flesh. He became a real
human being. Without in any way ceasing. To be
fully and truly God. How did Gregory of Nazianzus
put it? He remained what he was and took up what
he was not. But he wasn't done there. At the
first Good Friday, he comes down further still
to the lowest point imaginable. Verse 8. And
being found in appearance as a man, he humbled
himself by becoming obedient to death, even death
on a cross. You and I, I think we tend to put
limits. We tend to put limits on how far we're
willing to go for the sake of others. How far
down we will stoop. We go so far, but then we
draw a line and we won't go any further. If it
gets too hard, if it's too costly, if it just
feels like too much, then that's it, we're done.
Look at Jesus. He never drew a line. The cross
shows the lengths that the Son is willing to
go to in loving obedience. To the Father, there
is no line there. Nothing is beneath him. Nothing
is too much for him. Not even, Paul says, death
on a cross. The cross has been described as the
cruelest, the most shameful and painful death
ever devised. As you know, victims were usually
stripped of their clothes. They were typically
nailed to the cross through their ankles and
their wrists. They would die from suffocation
when they could no longer lift themselves up
to breathe. And yet Jesus' suffering on the cross
is utterly unique, unlike the suffering of any
other. Because as he hangs on the cross, not
only does he endure that horrendous physical
pain, but worse, far worse than all of that,
he absorbs the awful, terrible, dreadful wrath
of God that you and I deserve for the way that
we have treated him. It's very appropriate that
as we began earlier, we had those words of Isaiah
53. Because that surely is what is in the background
as Paul paints this portrait of the Lord Jesus
here. Isaiah speaks of a servant. A servant who
stoops down and down and down. A servant who
is pierced for our transgressions. A servant
who is crushed for our iniquities. And the punishment
that brought us peace was laid on him. And by
his wounds we are healed. And Paul says, look
at Jesus. Nothing was beneath him. Even the lowest
position was not too low for him. Someone has
put it like this. He was not too proud to wear
our skin or bear our sin. And Paul says, look
at him. Look at Jesus. See how low he humbled
himself. And adopt the same mindset. But what
does that mean, do you think, for you and me?
It certainly means being willing to give up our
position, our rights, our privilege for the sake
of others. Of course it does. It means being
willing to pour out everything we have, our home,
our stuff, our money, our time, our effort, our
energy in humble, selfless love for others. It
means being willing to lose out. to suffer, to
bear shame and die so that others can gain and
flourish and live. But what does it really mean?
The cricketer and missionary C .T. Studd famously
said, I'm sure you know these words. If Jesus
Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice
can be too great for me to make for him. The
problem is all too often we, I, grumble and complain
about even the smallest sacrifice. Let me give
you an example. Try this on for size. How do
you respond when people interrupt you? You have
your day planned out. You know what you want
to do. You know what you need to get done. And
then you get a knock on the door or you get a
phone call or a message. And someone needs your
help. In his book, Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer
talks about the ministry of... helpfulness. He
describes it like this. He says, this means initially
simple assistance in trifling external matters.
There is a multitude of these whenever people
live together. That's true, isn't it? There are
always demands on your time and not all of them
feel very important, let's be honest. How do
you respond when someone interrupts you when
they want your help and it feels like something
really small and really unimportant? What do
you do? He goes on, nobody is too good for the
meanest service. One who worries about the loss
of time that such petty outward acts of helpfulness
entail. is usually taking the importance of his
own career too solemnly. We must be ready to
allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God
will be constantly crossing our paths and cancelling
our plans by sending us people with claims and
petitions. And then he presses it home like this.
It is a strange fact. That Christians and even
ministers frequently consider their work so important
and urgent that they will allow nothing to disturb
them. They think they are doing God's service
in this, but actually they're disdaining God's
crooked yet straight path. I'm sure that raises
questions for you, it does for me. You may want
to discuss those later. But is he not right in
what he says? It is so easy for the Christian
worker to think that their work is too important
to be disturbed. Paul says, look at Jesus and
adopt the same mindset. Can you and I really
look at him? And then grumble and complain when
somebody asks for our help. Even in small, trifling
little things. Firstly, look at Jesus and see
how low he humbled himself. Secondly, we'll be
briefer, look at Jesus. And see how high God
exalted him. Look at Jesus. See how high God
exalted him. This is verses 9 to 11. If verses
6 to 8 are about the example of God the Son,
then verses 9 to 11 are about the response of
God the Father. Have a look. 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 acknowledge
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father. Because the Son humbled himself to
the very lowest place, it was fitting and right
for the Father to exalt him then to the very
highest place. After dying on the cross, the
Father raised him from the dead and exalted him
to his right hand in heaven. He gave him the
name that is above every name. Take it that that's
the name of Lord. And one day this same Lord
Jesus will come again to judge the living and
the dead, to judge me, to judge you. And on that
day, everyone who has ever lived We'll bow before
him. And we will acknowledge that the one who
poured himself out in humble, selfless love is
Lord and God. And some of us will do that willingly
and gladly. We will sing, this is the God that
we love. And others will do this in great shame
and fear. Because this is the God they reject.
And Paul says, look at Jesus and see how high
God exalted him. How does that help us to live
lives of humble, selfless love? I think it helps
in two ways. Let me finish with these. Here's
the first. Serving others. Serving others often
feels like wading through treacle. It can feel
more like a burden than a joy. And if we're not
careful, we end up feeling resentful. But here's
the thing, as we serve others in humble, selfless
love, we can be absolutely sure that God loves
and rewards. That attitude. God sees it. He loves
it. He will reward it. Do you remember what the
Lord Jesus said? He said, for those who exalt
themselves, what will happen? They will be humbled.
Everyone who humbles themselves will be exalted.
The point is, those who lower themselves, who
go down and down and down to serve others in
this way, they never lose out in the end. Because
God sees and he loves and he will reward that
attitude. One day, one day God will say to us
those wonderful words, well done, good and faithful
servant. And when he does, it will dawn on us
that every act of humble, selfless love, it really
was worth it. Paul says, look at Jesus. And see
how high God exalted him. But all of this, it
helps in another way too. Because the Christian,
we belong to Jesus. He's taken hold of us. We
are united with him. Which means that we go the
same way that he went. Our lives will reflect
this pattern. That the Christian life is a life
of stooping down and being lifted up. It is a
life of suffering and glory. It is a life of
loss and gain. It is a life of death and life.
And that is true in terms of its overall shape.
We live a life of suffering now and glory to
come. But it's not just the overall shape I think
that Paul is talking about here. That pattern.
will be seen and lived out and reenacted in countless
smaller ways throughout the course of our lives.
And that shouldn't surprise us, I don't think.
Tis the way the master went, should not the servant
tread it still. The thing is, so often, even
in ministry, suffering, And loss and death take
us by surprise. That they shouldn't do. That
the Bible is replete with those warnings. But
so often they do. And when we experience them,
we think that something is wrong. But it's not.
In our happiest moments. We must remember that
suffering and loss and death, they are normal
in Christian life and ministry. And therefore,
I think we hold lightly to the good things that
God gives us. We mustn't ever think that God's
good gifts are things to cling onto and to be
used for our own advantage. And yet in times
of suffering, loss and death, we must also remember
that this is not the end of the story. It never
was. And it never will be. Glory and gain and
life are coming. So look at Jesus and take heart.
And in those moments, Of death and loss and suffering.
Don't despair. What's the secret of unity? Paul
says it is a mindset of humble, selfless love.
Look at Jesus and adopt the same mindset. See
how low he humbled himself. See how high the
Father exalted him. Let's pray. Our Father in
heaven, we thank you so much for this stunning
portrait of the Lord Jesus father we we are astounded
that he should be willing to go to stoop to such
depths for us and for our salvation how humbling
to think that the one who was in very nature
God should be willing to make himself nothing
and pour himself out for us. Father, we pray.
We pray that you would help us to look at him,
to see how low he humbled himself, to see how
high you exalted him, and then to adopt the same
mindset. Help us, Father, please. Not to put
our own interests first, but the interests of
others. For Jesus' sake we pray.