- Well good morning everybody it's great to be with you in worship. We're gonna have a time where we jump into God's word. Again, we're in a new series called, Choose To Rejoice and it's a study in the book of Philippians. We're gonna open up and start with Philippians 2:1-11 and then follow up our time with communion. Now if you haven't had a chance yet to download the notes that are on our website, you can do so and you can also click on the link that is on the livestream, grab a pen, have the notes ready to go and then open up your Bibles right now to Philippians chapter two and locate verse one if you haven't done that already. And I'm gonna pray for us and then we're gonna get started. Father, thank you for this time together and we ask that you give us eyes to see your truth and hearts willing to obey and serve one another. It's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen. You know there is so much joy when we decide to serve one another because when we do, we're actually like Jesus Christ and the byproduct is unity within community. And I realize that it's tough right now in the midst of this COVID-19, we feel like we're under house arrest like the Apostle Paul was but I'll tell you what, there's no better opportunity to set aside yourself and begin to serve one another. And when we serve one another, we understand that it's worth it because ultimately, we're serving Jesus Christ and when we serve, he supplies his incredible joy for us. And so today we're gonna take a look at this subject of understanding what it means to serve one another but do so with humility. Now before I even begin to read, let me just mention a couple of things here. First, Paul is writing to a group of believers up in Philippi. He's in Roman prison, actually it's a house arrest in Rome. And he's writing to them to communicate how thankful he is because of their partnership in the Gospel and the good news sharing Christ around the world, but he's also writing them at least we find that out in this passage today, to help them begin to live in unity. There's some conflict, there's some divisions that are going on and so he wants to get right down to the essence of giving them some practical handles on what it means to serve one another in humility and he does so by focusing on the example of Jesus Christ. Now this is one of the premier passages in the New Testament where we begin to understand Jesus Christ and what he actually did for us becoming a servant and then going back to the Father. However, even though Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit of God to record the exact words and letters that are given to us this was a passage that was not initially given to unpack theology for us. The focus was not doctrinal, the focus was moral. Yes, there is some incredible truths about Jesus Christ that are communicated but Paul's primary concern was to teach us how to serve one another. So let's begin, I'll start reading in verse one. "So if there's any encouragement in Christ, "any comfort from his love, "any participation in the spirit, "any affection and sympathy, "complete my joy by being of the same mind "having the same love, being in full accord "and in one mind, do nothing from "selfish ambition or conceit, "but in humility count others more "significant than yourselves. "Let each of you look not only to his own interest, "but also to the interest of others." Paul begins by encouraging them and encouraging us to reflect on our unity in Jesus Christ. If you go back up to verse one, so if, circle the word if and then write since above it. Paul is saying this since you have encouragement in Christ, since you've experienced his love, since you've been united really by the Spirit of God in a relationship with Jesus Christ, since you've experienced affection and sympathy both from him but also they have communicated affection and sympathy already to Paul, then Paul is saying, based on all of that make my joy complete by getting along with one another. But it begins by reflecting on who we are. We've been given a relationship with Jesus Christ and it is from that transformation on the inside we've been given a new heart so that we can now start living out this new life. So if this has happened, then start living out the new life. Now when our kids were younger, we had some wonderful, incredible parties at our house. One time we mowed a baseball diamond in the backyard so that we could have a birthday party and we had water wars and we had air soft wars and the kids were up on the roof and probably neighbors are wondering what on earth is going down over there in that house? Now when you as a family have wonderful events, especially parents who are putting on those events for birthday parties for kids. What is the natural thing to do right after the event is over with? You say to the kids, hey, look, we've put on this great party, now let's all pitch in and let's begin to clean up. So in other words, if this has happened for you, then here's what I want you to do. And Paul is simply saying, since you have a relationship with Jesus Christ now in humility I want you to put others first. That's the idea that he's getting at in verses two or verses three and four. In other words, don't be like this, don't have selfish ambition, or conceit, which means pride but in humility start putting others first. That's the idea that he has here. See it's ridiculous to think that wow you know, God has given me all of these things, but then I can't get along, he served me but I'm not willing to serve other people. It's kind of like going on a road trip with your kids in the backseat. Let's just imagine if you're not there right now but some of you parents are actually right there, you've got your seven year old and your eight year old in the backseat loaded with toys and all kinds of stuff and you're traveling down the road and you pull into Culver's and you grab some hamburgers and you throw them back there and they have plenty of food and plenty of things to do but after about an hour into the trip, all of a sudden you hear some commotion in the backseat and you turn around as a parent, not the driver, but the other parent that's riding along and as you look into the backseat, or if you're driving by yourself, you look in the rearview mirror and you notice one kid has a book and the other kid wants the book and all of a sudden they're fighting over it. You wanna turn around and say look at everything you've got. You've got all these things back there to do can't you just wait and serve your brother or your sister until it's your time to have the book. This unfortunately begins to show up later on in life. We get to the point to where when we don't like their music, we don't like the way that they've done this and all of a sudden even within the church we have people having conflict and actually leaving churches over some of the most petty things in life. So how do we put others first? Well he tells us, he says it's in humility. He says serve one another, put others first. He says don't consider them more significant than yourself and then he says look out for their interest and not simply yours. Now humility is totally counter cultural to us. He tells them to do it and in a minute he's gonna use the same word describing Jesus Christ. But we're oftentimes told we got to think about ourselves, it's about us in life. Well humility is one of those attitudes that when you think you possibly have it, you've actually lost it at that point. And I'll tell you what, it also does not mean that you're a doormat that you simply do things to please people, that's called enabling if you're simply doing it to please them in order to keep peace that means you're enabling them. No humility doesn't mean that you're a doormat. It doesn't mean that you simply serve them to keep the peace, no there's got to be a deeper seated desire to serve them because you love them and you want the best for them. Humility begins with a proper estimation of yourself there's nothing wrong with understanding your strengths, Jesus did and he leveraged his strengths for us. As a matter of fact there's a great word that's used in the New Testament of Jesus, he was meek, it simply means strength under control. And humility is best defined by putting others first. Now is there an example that Paul gives us? Absolutely we are to love like Jesus. So look down at verse five. He says, have this mind or attitude that's the idea among yourselves. So that means in community this isn't just an individual thing which is yours now that gives reference back to chapter two verse one, you have been changed. You've been given a new heart, you have the power of Jesus Christ living in you now and Paul is trying to teach them how to step out in faith and let Christ live his life through them. "This is yours in Christ Jesus "who though he was in the form of God "did not count equality with God "a thing to be grasped but emptied himself "by taking the form of a servant being born "in the likeness of man "and being found in human form, "he humbled himself by becoming obedient, "obedient to the point of death "and then he repeats it again, even death on a cross. "Therefore God has highly exalted him "and bestowed on him the name that "is above every name, so 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." Serving and giving our lives to other people can be really, really difficult at times, this is not easy it is totally it's a paradox really, when you think about it, that somehow you give your life away and then you get joy back and it's counterintuitive. And it's tough because even if you've got young kids and you're a parent and you're doing it over and over and over again trying to take care of and serve these messy little kids which I oftentimes refer to as glazed donut monsters, or, you know, little knee biters running around, it's hard to keep on doing it and yet studies tell us that the people that are the happiest in life are the people that serve others. The people that are happiest are the ones that are so generous with their time and their talents and their treasures. Let me show you a couple of things here before we jump in and I'll give you some handles on what Jesus did for us so that we can use them to serve other people with. He says that Jesus was in the form of God and he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped in verse six. The word form simply means this it is the outward expression of inner nature. That's the idea. So Jesus Christ existed, pre existed as God in whatever form that was, but he was fully God. Okay? And it says here that he was and Paul qualifies it right? He says that he was equal with God and therefore in that pre existence state, Jesus was God, that's all he's saying there his inner nature, he was one with God in essence and nature, he was God. Now look down and he uses the same word again in the middle of verse seven and he says, "But Jesus who is fully God "also took the form of a servant." Again, it's the outward expression of inner nature and when Jesus served us, that was the outward expression of the fact that he's a servant. Now why did Paul use the same word? Because he's trying to teach us and show us that Jesus Christ was a servant before he became a man and Jesus Christ is a servant now, that's part of who he is, those are his divine attributes. Now you might say, as you look down at this, okay, so when he served, that was a way for him to express his true natures. He didn't just act like a servant he just didn't do it some of the time, his very nature, the character quality inside of him was that Jesus was a servant. So flesh that out for us a little bit well Paul actually says, okay, let me flesh it out for you. It actually happened when he was born in the likeness of men. In other words, when Jesus Christ was a man, he was born into this world as a baby and he became a boy and he grew up to be a man and when he served that demonstrated to us that he was a servant. So what's the link between before he became a man and after he became a man and served us, well, it's this word in verse seven that he says. "But Jesus made himself nothing, "taking the form of a servant." The word nothing simply means this Jesus came to serve. Jesus came to make himself nothing or give himself away. Some translations actually have he emptied himself. What does that mean? Well, it doesn't mean that he somehow set aside his attributes he was always God, fully God. what he's talking about here is that when he wrapped himself in flesh, he veiled the brilliance of his glory. And it also means that he set aside the self willed use of his attributes. Why? Because it says here he learned obedience to the Father. He came to be obedient and subject himself to the will of the Father so that he could complete the mission to save us, to set us free, to go to the cross. Now the path to greatness is found in the road called servanthood and it is a paradox. It's tough. It's difficult and that's why Paul says but you can do it because of your union with Jesus Christ. You've been transformed. He's given you his power to pull it off. So what does that look like for us? Well first, it means to set aside your rights for the benefit of others. That's exactly what Jesus Christ did. His attitude, his mind was one of humility, putting others first and he set aside his rights. He was the king of the universe, he deserved to be served and yet he came to serve us and he, it says here that he did not hold this as something to be grasped at the end of verse six. That means hung on to. No, instead he took his privileges as the Son of God and decided to use them for our benefit to leverage them for you and for me. I love this verse 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," Grace means gift, "that though he was rich," here's the gift, "yet for your sake "he became poor so that by his poverty "we might become rich." The idea there is that Jesus Christ became poor for you and me, so that we might have the spiritual riches and everything we need for this life and into eternity. Now the word poor is important to understand, it doesn't simply mean that Jesus was poor here on this planet. Now, was he poor? Absolutely, especially in comparison to our standards, he didn't have some kingly palace or throne. And yes, he didn't even have many of the things that people had back then. However, I wouldn't classify him as being poor in the sense of he didn't have access to things because he was able to feed over 10,000 people just at the drop of a hat, he was able to really pull into a net a boatload of fish which I'm sure helped him and the disciples at that point to live. He was able to find a coin in a fish's mouth in order to pay a tax. The idea here is that Jesus became poor meaning he emptied or poured out his life in service for you and me, he became nothing. That's the idea here. Now why do we oftentimes demand our rights as individuals and this goes back up to verse three when he says do nothing from selfish ambition or selfishness. Why are we selfish? Because we're still trying to meet our own needs. But when we've come to a relationship with Jesus Christ and we find our meaning and our purpose in him both for eternity and also we turn to him to depend upon him for our needs in this life, then all of a sudden, we're able to turn our attention to serve other people. This is why we said last week that the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ actually severs the root of selfishness in us. And the reason is because then we can begin to focus on other people. Here's the practical point here, no more keeping score. If we wanna begin to set aside our rights for the benefits of others, we really establish the principle no more keeping score as is perfectly illustrated in a marriage relationship. Our culture today oftentimes teaches that it's a 50, 50 arrangement. Well the 50, 50 arrangement means I'm gonna keep score, you do this, I do this, but that's never been God's purpose for marriage and it's never been God's purpose for our relationships. It's 100%. 100% I give, 100% you give in this relationship, in our marriage relationship, we've decided not to keep score anymore. Now whenever someone comes along in your life you may deserve something from them or they may deserve what you really wanna give them but the goal here is I'm gonna give them what they need for their needs and best interests. I'm gonna serve them and score keeping poisons a servant's heart and quite frankly, it breeds complaining. Now my wife lovely Lynette is the perfect example of a servant to me. When I married her, I married way up and she infused this value and quality not only within our marriage, but within our family and she will drop everything immediately to serve you. Why? Because that's one of her gifts. She just loves to serve people and use what she has and she's an incredibly gifted woman, very talented and she's able to give to other people and you know what, that's been cultivated in the lives of our kids because they're servants now. Well, here's the other handle, we need to serve everyone regardless of who they are. Jesus came and he served tax collectors, he served sinners, he served harlots. Why? Because he came to give his life as a ransom for all of us. Now here's a next step for those of you right in the middle of our message, I want you to write down this passage. It's Matthew 20:20-28 and I want you together as a family, I want you to take some time in your living room, around the kitchen table, around your dining room table and I want you to open up your Bibles together and I want you to read Matthew 20:20-28. It's a great story. Now if you're new to the faith or you're really not sure about how to begin to do this, just take your Bibles out and have somebody in the family read these verses and talk about what it means to be a servant. Jesus was really clear here, it's not about me, it's about someone else. And again, we begin to leverage what we have for the benefit of others. And it happens because we've experienced his unconditional love. You go back up to verse one again, it's tied in. We have comfort from his love the word love there is agape. The best definition of that word, agape is the Greek word, it means unconditional acceptance of an imperfect person. Why? 'Cause we're all imperfect. We're all quirky. We all have odds and ends as a part of our life. And quite frankly, we're different. And love says when I serve you, I am going to choose first to accept you with all your differences and all your quirkiness and everything about you and this is especially true because the differences and the quirkiness stuff of life shows up especially in the midst of being quarantined in a house. So it means we first say wait a minute, I'm gonna accept people for who they are and then I can begin the process of serving and serving even when it is hard. And when it is hard I keep in mind this verse 2 Corinthians 4:5 "For what we proclaim is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord with ourselves," that means through our life, "as your servants." Jesus Christ is showing up in me in my life, in ourselves, in community, as your servants for Jesus sake. That means ultimately, I serve Jesus Christ. I serve him. It's not about me, it's not about what I have, it's not about, you know, you serving me, it's about me serving you regardless of who you are. And yeah sometimes it is difficult to serve other people but ultimately, I'm serving Jesus Christ. I realize that oftentimes I can move into a situation where at work I've got a difficult work meeting all of a sudden it's difficult to work with that person and that never happens at the church, but it might happen with you in your work environment, what do you do in that situation? You realize that ultimately, you're serving Jesus behind that person. You're loving Jesus Christ through loving this person who is hard. And while selfishness is cut off at the root by the gospel, so is our pride. If you look back up at verse three, he says do nothing from what, selfish ambition but also conceit. That's a word for pride. When I come to know Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord, I realize how much he's given to me and so all of a sudden, I embrace this concept that I'm here to serve everyone regardless of who they are because of everything that God has given to me. And therefore I begin to look at myself not as an owner of the things that God has given to me but as a manager. He's given me everything. He's given me time, talents and treasures to serve other people. And so another practical way to do this one is be intentional about finding ways to serve one another especially this week. And the reason is because I'm able to cultivate servanthood, I can put effort here let somebody else go first. Now kids, here's a great one for you find one way to serve your brother and sister this week, do their chores for them. If it's a brother don't clean their room, they need to learn how to clean their room for themselves just kidding but look for ways to serve and here's a great one kids don't tell your moms and dads right now they can't hear me 'cause I'm only speaking kid language right now through the television, you're the only one that can hear this in the house, okay? Why don't, if you can handle it, okay, now that's a big deal so keep that in mind. If you can do it why don't you serve dinner, cook dinner, make dinner, do whatever you can, depending on your age again, do it for your mom and dad this week just as an act of serving. You know it's a great way for us to learn how to serve. However, oftentimes as a parent, we step into roles as a great example and we serve our kids and some of you right now, it's not just work, it's being at home, it's locked up trying to figure out under house rest how do I do this? How do I just take a little act of service and by the way, just start small, it's all I want you to do this week, find one thing that you can do but oftentimes, it's really tough and we're struggling to take care of the kids and that's because it's a cost and so we have to remind ourself of this one, sacrifice regardless of the cost. Jesus Christ gave his very life, he gave it all for us. Then why would I in some prideful, arrogant way think that I'm better than Jesus and I need you to serve me. No, I need to have his attitude of putting you first, that's what humility is and then serving you. And I know it's hard right now and it's not just hard because we make one sacrifice, here's where I find it's difficult it's when you have to do the same thing over and over and over again even if it's just a little thing, that's when it becomes difficult. Well remember everything that he's done for you remember, he's given you the ability to step out and start serving. I'm reminded of the incredible cost that those within our medical community and our first responders are actually embracing and running in the direction of helping people in the midst of this crisis. It's a perfect example for all of us and we need to pray for them. What are again some practical ways, find an act of service that is small, it might be a small sacrifice and then the next opportunity for you to serve someone just pick a second thing this week that cost you a little bit more and you are gradually moving from if you've been changed, now you can begin to serve other people. And quite frankly as I said, there are some situations though, that are just really tough. I mean you might find yourself with a bunch of toddlers in the house and you're just going star crazy. Now fortunately, it's a beautiful weekend, you're able to get the kids out, the temperature is warming up and I get that but sometimes we just need to encourage one another and we need to encourage one another with this final handle that helps us understand to live and to serve and to love like Jesus. Remember, it's all worth it. It's all worth it in the end. You know I am reminded that Jesus Christ gave his life for me because, because he loved me. And I love Proverbs 18:12 where it says, "Before destruction a man's heart is haughty," that means prideful, "but humility comes before honor." It was Jesus Christ that was given incredible honor. Why? Because he humbled himself. He became one of us. And he says, we need to have this mind in verse five, or attitude among ourselves, among all of us, which is yours in Christ Jesus. And then he took the form of a servant. He left his heavenly throne, in verse six and he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and then he humbled himself and he went to a cross. And then if you look down at verse nine again just as a way of reminding us, "Therefore based on that God "has highly exalted him, bestowed on him "the name that is above every name." Now that name is given to us in verse 11, he's the Lord. He's the Lord of the universe, he's the Lord of this world, he is the King of kings and the Lord of lords so that every knee will bow to him. Paul is actually referring to a wonderful passage in Isaiah 45:23, which speaks of every need bowing to the Almighty God and that is Jesus Christ and ultimately he lived for the glory of God because he had his eyes focused on doing what we could never do for ourselves so that he could be our Savior and he could be our Lord. And all of it was done for God's glory and it was worth it. It's worth it for you to make the sacrifice to serve. How is it worth it? Well it proves that everything you live and everything you believe is true. You see the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, it's the resurrection that proved that God accepted his sacrifice and that everything he said was true and when he's exalted as Lord of lords and King of kings, the idea there is that everything he said is true, he really is our Savior. He really was God. And therefore when I live out this new life, it was not only worth it because he became our Savior and he lived for us. He wanted us to be in a relationship with God through what he had done on the cross. It's also worth it for us to serve as well. How so? Well it proves that everything I believe is true. It proves it, it proves it to me yes, of course but it also proves it to other people. They're beginning to see that Jesus is real and maybe it leads them to know Christ as Savior and Lord. And for parents, for parents especially it's worth it because you're touching the lives of these kids and in the process you're being transformed by the very character of Jesus Christ. Think about it this way. When you live as Christ, which Paul talked about last week in chapter one, verse 21, you are finding meaning and purpose in him. So it severs the root of selfishness, it's severs the root of our pride, he now begins to live out his life through us, his attributes and as we step out and serve, it's his power living in and through us serving other people but not only do we get his power to live as a servant like he was a servant, we get that attribute lived in and through us of serving other people in humility, but we also get his joy, don't forget that. He brings with him his joy and we begin to experience as we live for the glory of God to honor him, to point to him, we begin to experience great joy and it's worth it in the end. And for those of you you're loving that person that's really, really hard and it's tough, well maybe that glory is not gonna come this side of heaven maybe it's gonna be when you finally look into the presence, look into the face of Jesus Christ in his physical presence and you hear the words well done my good and faithful servant. It's worth it. Now some of you are saying, man, it's just really tough right now. I mean it's hard being in the house, it's hard to love people, just start somewhere, pick one thing that you can do, just pick one thing that you can begin to offer service to someone else. Go back and remember how fortunate you are to be a follower of Jesus Christ and remind yourself that it's worth it. You know we've had the incredible experience as many of you were made aware of last week of being grandparents for the first time with our grandson, Brandon Jacob and I had forgotten you know, those days when you only get two hours of sleep and you're up again and then you get two hours of sleep and you're up again. And I look at my wonderful daughter and my wonderful son in law and I've never seen them yawn so much in all of their lives and yet when you look at the face of that little beautiful child, you're reminded in the midst of the sacrifice of no sleep and in the midst of the messiness of life and in the midst of serving that child over and over and over again, gaze into their face and remind yourself over and over and over again it's worth it. You know that's what Jesus did for us. Hebrews 12:1-2 verse says that for the joy that was set before him, he endured the suffering. What was the joy? The joy was to come to be a servant to serve you and me so that he could go to a cross, he could die for our sin so that each and every one of us by turning from our sin and ourself, acknowledging before God that you're a sinner and then turning to Jesus Christ as the one who paid the price for your sin and rose from the grave and embracing him as Savior and asking him to lead your life you can do that right now. You can right now in this moment, regardless of where you are listening, right now, in this moment, you can say, wow, I can't believe what Jesus Christ did for us. He left the throne of heaven to serve you and me. Why? Because for the joy that was set before him, he went to a cross, he paid the price for your sin and if you will acknowledge your sin before Almighty God, I mean, you just simply say a simple prayer, God, I know I've sinned. We all have. And then say God, I believe that I'm a sinner and I deserve to be punished. And then turn to Jesus and tell him you believe he died on the cross for you and rose from the grave. You want him to be your Savior, take you to heaven and you want him to help you follow him for the rest of your life. And when that happens, you engage in this relationship of finding joy and experiencing it and now that you've tasted that grace, you can offer that to someone else. And so now we're gonna turn our attention to a time of communion, whereby we take the bread and the cup together in our homes to remind us of what Jesus Christ has done. And if you have asked Jesus Christ to be your savior and you're following him as the Lord of your life, I invite you to take communion with us because it reminds us of everything we just read, that Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross and so the bread represents his body and the juice or wine, whatever you're drinking right now, that represents that his blood was shed, that his life was given for you and for me and we are to reflect and remember everything that he has done. So let me pray for us and then I'm gonna read a passage together and then we'll take communion. Father, thank you for the gifts of your one and only Son and Lord, we ask that you would remind all of us even within our homes of the incredible sacrifice that Jesus gave, you would remind us yes, that we need to serve one another this week and find some simple way of doing so but it's all based upon the incredible good news that Jesus Christ left heaven, you Lord Jesus came here to serve and to give your life so that we could be forgiven and follow you and leave a different life and live a different life so that we can have joy and we can serve other people. And so now as we turn our attention towards what you have done, we ask that this truth would speak into our heart in a new and fresh way. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Well over in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul, the apostle says this, "The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, "he took bread and when he had given thanks, "he broke it and said, "this is my body which is for you "do this in remembrance of me." And so take the bread right now that you've got laid out before you and let's go ahead and take it together. And then he said, "In the same way also "he took the cup after supper saying, "this cup is the new covenant in my blood "do this as often as you drink it "in remembrance of me." Let's drink together. You know we can choose to rejoice by serving others and living for Jesus Christ because he loved us and he gave his life and now we have the incredible joy of proclaiming that truth until he comes again.