9/29/19 Philippians 2:1-13 “A Wretch Like You and Me”

27 Sep 9/29/19 Philippians 2:1-13 “A Wretch Like You and Me”

9/29/19     Philippians 2:1-13      “A Wretch Like You and Me”

In our area it will not be too long before we have our harvest or fall festival celebrations.  Most churches in rural North Dakota are split between farmers and non-farmers.  But even the non-farmers grow gardens and enjoy the fruits of the season of harvest.  I used to have a garden and we grew peppers and tomatoes because that was all the room we had.  I remember when the picking season was over; I would always have a good and contented feeling about the harvest.  I hope that all of you, who grew or grow something, whether it is crops or just a garden, have this same kind of feeling.  Growing food has been around since the beginning of time.  After all, we cannot live without food.  God has been blessing us ever since in our farming operations.  The passage today has Paul talking once again to the Philippians.  Paul had started this church and he loves this church because they have been so good to him.  God has given him this contented feeling for the church he began.  And Paul is passing it back to the church at Philippi.  Let’s take a look at this reading and find out what it means to love Jesus and see if there are any improvements that we can make in our own lives.

There was a story several years ago that came from a magazine called Today in the Word by the Moody Bible Institute that tells of the famous Polish composer-pianist, Ignace Jan Paderewski, who was to perform at a great American concert hall for a high society event.  In the audience was a mother with a nine year old boy who was like any 9 year old boy anywhere, very fidgety.  The boy slipped away unnoticed and was soon sitting at the Steinway on the stage.  He sat down at the piano and started to play “Chopsticks.”  The startled crowd began to murmur, “Get that boy away from there!”  When Paderewski heard the noise, he grabbed his coat and hurried unto the stage.  From behind the boy, he reached around and began to improvise a countermelody to “Chopsticks.”  As the two of them played together, Paderewski kept whispering in the boy’s ear, “Keep going.  Don’t quit, son, don’t stop.  Don’t stop.”   This is kind of like what Paul is telling the Philippians in this letter.  Don’t stop.  Don’t ever stop being a Christian.

Today we will be talking about the beauty of humility.  Paul was a very humble man.  More than once he tells us that he was nothing on his own.  All things that he has are due to his faith in Jesus Christ.  Paul is still in jail in Rome when he wrote this.  He didn’t know his own fate at this time.  He could be set free or he could be killed tomorrow.  And still he writes out of his love for others and not about himself.

We don’t live in a world anymore where there is much humility.  If you turn on the TV, you will find most things are about the ‘me’ of the program.  The stars love to get up on a podium and yell out, “Look at me!  Look at me!”  Look at our politicians and you will see that they are all talking about ‘me.’  I would like you to conduct a little experiment this week.  The next time you are talking to someone that you don’t see very often, count how many times they say the words ‘me’ or ‘I.’ I think that you might be surprised.  And then try to count the number of times you say ‘me’ or ‘I’.  You might be even more surprised.

So how do we go about being humble in a world dominated by ‘me?’  One of the first things that Paul tells us is that we should consider others better than ourselves.  We should treat everyone as if they were better than us.  I think that we all know someone like this.  A few years ago we had Sister Teresa who ministered in India.  From the accounts that I read about her, she was totally selfless.  And because of this and her work with the poor, she is considered to be a saint in some circles.  Of course in our circles, we consider all believers as saints but I think you know what I mean.

We used to have a pastor that would come to be in charge of our annual meetings who was very humble.  It was easy to notice how she always considered everyone else first.  When she was my pastor, I got to see this close up, first hand.  No matter what you said, her head would be nodding in affirmation.  I also worked with a man for many years that was rather selfless.  He would always put you before himself.  People found it to be a joy to be around him.

Here are three different people who all have some bad traits because they are human.  They would be the first to tell you that they are sinners, even Mother Theresa.  Yet look at the wonderful good traits they have and maybe we can overlook the bad ones if indeed there are any bad ones worth mentioning.  Now let’s look at our presidential candidates.  Most of these people have a lot of good and admirable traits.  So why is it that we only look at the negative side of each person?  Or how about the guy or gal we ran out of town a few years back because of this reason or that?  Why do we only look at some trivial negative trait when people have so many positive traits?  As Christians, we owe it to Jesus to forgive the negative and look only to the positive.  I am sure that most of us wouldn’t dare to be in public again if the only thing our neighbors knew about us were our bad sides.

The three people I just named have a couple of good things in common.  They are not only thinking of the next person first, but the people around them love them.  These three would do just about anything for the people around them because they are humble.  And in return they are loved.

We have talked about this principle before.  It doesn’t make sense to a lot of people because they don’t know how God works.  If you make God first in your life, God will make everything else first in your life.  In the same way, if you humble yourself before God and do God’s work, then God will make you great.  The least shall become the most.  The shepherds will become kings.  This is how God works so don’t be afraid to follow Jesus when it doesn’t make a lot of sense to you.

In the same context we are not to be concerned about our personal stature.  Have you ever noticed one of the things that Jesus did when He was confronted by a situation?  He remained silent.  He was calm.  He bent over the sand and drew a picture in it.  He would never insult someone in return.  He would always seem meek.  Jesus was the king of all kings.  He was the ruler of all.  Yet He never tried to escalate his position.  He knew that He came to be a servant.

We always seem to like to flaunt our so-called “superiority.”  If you go to a doctor’s office you will see a diploma on the wall.  There are a lot of people who love to have all kinds of plaques on their walls.  Even some clergy will do this.  Why don’t these people just do the very best they can all the time and they wouldn’t need to flaunt anything?  They would be loved and considered to be wise.

Joel Santos tells the story of two men who lived in a small village.  One day they got into a terrible dispute.  They decided that the only way to settle it was to call on the local wise man.  The first man went and presented his case to the sage and the sage replied, “You’re absolutely right.”  The second man went and told his side of the story and the sage replied, “You’re absolutely right.”  He left and the wise man’s wife came out as she had heard what he had told the two men.  She scolded the husband and said, “These men came to you and told you totally different stories and you told them they were right.  There is no way that they could be both absolutely right.”  The wise man replied to his wife by saying, “You’re absolutely right.”  You see, you don’t have to say much to defuse a situation.

And finally Paul is telling us to be Christ-like.  Then he starts in on this beautiful piece of Scripture in verse 6.  Jesus, who was by his very nature, God, did not seek to be equal with God.  I know that there are some new age cults, new age religions out there where they strive to be equal with God or even more powerful or better than God.  Their cult is not Scriptural.  We are to be the opposite.  Paul goes on to say that Jesus made himself into a nothing.  He was a servant.  He obeyed God to the very end.  He obeyed God to the death and was silent at the same time.

This is a tough concept for us humans.  Jesus was God walking on earth in human form.  He was three in one, which is another concept we struggle with.  He was all-powerful, all-knowing.  And yet, He was all loving and gentle.  This is what He came to show us.  He came to show us how to live a more perfect life.  This life includes our love for each other to the point that we love even our enemies.  Jesus had no hate.  He had no malice.  He was the perfect being.  Yet He allowed himself to be killed by us.  It was our sin that killed Him.  How could Jesus ever let this happen when He was that powerful?

This happened because Jesus was obedient to God.  Great things happened because we put Jesus to death.  Death couldn’t contain Jesus and He rose from the dead.  This is how the war was won.  Satan has been defeated.  Each and every one of you has the power over Satan to cast him out of your lives due to the fact that Jesus defeated sin through the cross and resurrection.  We forget that we have this power and I am reminding you today that you have it.  Use it and use it as often as necessary to rid yourself of this terrible being of destruction.

Then Paul commands you to worship.  God has exalted Jesus to the highest place and gave him the name that is above all names.  There will be a time when the name of Jesus will be spoken and every knee shall bow in heaven, on earth and under the earth.  Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  Notice that he does not say that this will happen if you believe.  This will happen period.  You can be a Muslim, a Hindu or an atheist and you will bow down to Jesus and confess that He is Lord.  Everybody in the world will know.  Everybody who is dead will know.  All heaven will sing out in joy.  This is something to shout to the ends of the world.  This is the Good News.

This is why you are so important to Jesus.  It is up to you to carry the Word of Jesus to everyone you know.  You can begin by inviting your neighbors to join you to see this broadcast or bring them to a church.  You can invite people to Bible study.  You can invite people to youth group.  Or if you have been living in doubt, you can begin by inviting Jesus to live in you now.  Confess your sins to Him and ask Jesus to rule your life.  Then you can begin your celebration.  Please don’t wait until it is too late because it may be too late before you even know it.

Jesus Christ changes lives.  He changes lives for the better and that is a proven fact.  Paul is telling you that today.  You are to be humble.  You are to obey.  You are to follow the Lord in whatever He says.  God will in return bless you in ways that you have never thought of before.  Jesus wants you to have all that he has and he has given you the plan to accomplish this.  All you have to do is obey.

I would like to close with a true story told by Rodney Buchanan.  Tom was a young businessman who owned his own company.  He and his family had moved to the area and started to come to church at the invitation of some friends.  They started to attend regularly and Tom became part of the church.  He started to think about things he had never thought of before.  He heard about a personal relationship with Jesus and wanted to know more about it.  Tom was not a bad person.  As a matter of fact he was quite good.  He was active in the church, he believed in Christ and he attended regularly.  But he didn’t have the assurance that Jesus Christ was actually part of his life.  He didn’t know Him personally.

One day he was driving along and thinking about this.  He told himself, “This is ridiculous.  If I am not sure, then why not be sure.”  So he pulled off the highway and sat at a picnic table and asked Jesus to come into his life and give him assurance.  The change in Tom was dramatic.  There was a new joy, a new enthusiasm, and a new confidence.  All he did was open his heart.

So today I ask you, “Are you sure that you know Jesus?”  If you cannot answer this question with a definite and resounding yes, then do what Tom did and invite Him into your life.  Jesus wants the very best for you and for me.  He wants you to have everything He has to offer.  About 28 years ago, He saved a wretch like me.  He wants to save us all.  He loves us that much.  He has done all the work.  All we have to do is say ‘yes.’  Thank you Jesus for your love and your patience.  And thank you for first loving us. Let’s pray.