| October 3, 1999 | United with Christ to Serve | Philippians 2:1-11
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Especially: "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant"
The need for companionship has been described as one of the most basic of human needs. The most recent issue of National Geographic reports how, in 1975, a geologist spent six months alone in a cave. He suffered psychological wounds that he does not understand. We see that we don't do well alone. This is why the Lord created a helper for Adam so that he would not be alone.
The need for companionship is also reflected in our need to be close to our God. We need His company and fellowship. Yet, sin separates us. When Adam and Eve sinned and God came to talk to them, they hid from Him. Sin had separated them from God. The good news was that God came to seek them, and ultimately, God seeks us through His Son, Jesus. He came to seek and save the lost.
[(baptism at Trinity) He came this morning to seek little Rachel to be His own. By God's powerful Word, He took Rachel from being a lost and helpless sinner to being His holy and righteous child. ]
Now that God has sought us, He blesses us. Our text then starts out with a conditional statement. It asks the question: have we received blessings from our Lord? It says, "If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion..." In other words, "Have you received any of these blessings?" If encouragement, comfort, fellowship, tenderness or compassion have come to you from Christ, then the condition is met. If you have any of these blessings from Christ, and you do, then follow His commands says the next verse.
Here we hear how the Philippians could make Paul's joy complete. He was joyful that these people knew the good news of Jesus Christ and were blessed by Him. Now, he longs for them to go on and respond to the blessings they have received. This is always the way it works, we respond by loving God as a result of His blessings given to us, when He first loved us.
So, the theme of our service today is "United with Christ to Serve." We are united to Him through the Gospel. We are united as He saves us and gives us wonderful blessings. Now we are to respond and serve Him.
Our text gives us the ways in which we can serve the Lord. We serve Him by serving others. How are we to serve others? Do we do it by looking for what is to our own advantage? No, rather we are given the high calling to have the same attitude and mind that Christ has. "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." That word "nothing" is a tiny word. Do nothing out of selfishness or conceit. We are not to have the attitude that our needs and interests are the only important ones-that would be selfishness. We are also not to have the attitude of conceit, that we have such a high opinion of ourselves that we thereby put others down. Instead, have the attitude of humility, which would consider others better than yourself. Our Lord does not command us to consider others of equal value, but rather that we consider them of greater value. Their worth is higher than ours.
"Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others," says our text. We are, while not being concerned about our own needs and interests, instead to consider the needs and interests of others. We are to put ourselves in the other guy's shoes. We are to think of him.
In all of this then, our attitude is to be like the attitude of Christ. This, of course, makes it more of a challenge. We need to change our attitude and not just our external actions. We must modify our inner desires, will, and intention.
The Lutheran Women's Missionary League has the motto: "Serve the Lord with Gladness." This does not call us to simply serve the Lord, but, rather, to serve Him with an appropriate attitude. How should we feel when we are serving the one who so generously served us and continues to serve us? Our attitude ought to be gladness. What a privilege to serve Him. What a joy to have that opportunity.
When we take on the attitude of Christ we will serve others as Christ serves others. There is even more than this included in the idea of being "like-minded" that the second verse mentions. We are making Paul's joy complete "by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose." This carries along with it the idea of unity of faith and belief. It carries the idea of fellowship.
We are called to be united in believing and accepting what Christ teaches. This means true agreement, not a decision to disagree. How can we determine what Christ teaches? Simply through His Word, which is the faithful standard which is objective. Only through immersing ourselves in God's Word can we learn and believe what is taught there. So, we seek to be like-minded by taking-in Bible Studies so we can learn and grow in our faith, We seek after Christ's mind when we attend Divine Services regularly where we learn and grow in our faith. We become like-minded by study at home, by ourselves.
We also become like-minded by our attitude towards God's Word. We humbly submit to the authority of God's Word. It may make not make complete sense to us or agree with our fallen reason, but we bow in submission to God as He speaks to us in His Word. Rather than thinking we can come up with better ideas, our prayer is: "Lord, I don't understand all the details of what you teach us in Your Word. I ask you to grant me a humble and willing heart to fully accept what you say, simply because you say it and you are the Lord."
Our Children are also to be trained in like-mindedness to Christ. We serve Christ by bringing our children to be baptized by Him. Then we serve Him by bringing our children regularly to services at God's house and provide instruction so that they might mature in their understanding and depth of their faith.
God's strict requirements are placed before us. We may often wonder if this really is what God expects from us because it is so hard. As I heard recently from one who couldn't understand, God does demand perfection out of us. Being honest about ourselves, we will see that we do not reach perfection. In our natural state, when we allow the old Adam to take charge, we are selfish. We will, because of our sinful nature tend to look out for our own interests first and foremost and neglect those of others.
We are called to be like Christ and He, of course, was without sin. We find ourselves, however, failing at the tasks that are laid before us. We find ourselves faltering when it comes to the Lord's requirements. If you have any doubts about this, look again at the absolute: Do NOTHING out of selfish ambition. Doing NOTHING requires perfection-that is that we never fall into the pattern of doing anything selfishly.
Examining our lives closely, we might even find ourselves doing what Christ did not do during His earthly ministry. We find ourselves trying to grasp after the nature of God. This is certainly true when we elevate ourselves up and consider ourselves better than others. It is also true when we fall into the sin of making our faith be about our own inclinations and thinking, rather than giving up in humble submission to God's Word.
Though our lives are polluted with such sin, we have comfort from our Lord that the problem has been resolved. We have encouragement to know He did something very special for us. So the text says, Christ: "made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." God came in the Son and took on our human nature. He stepped down and made Himself lower than God just to save us. He did not stop at taking on human nature. No, "being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!" This was the extreme our God went to for us. To become a humble servant to fallen human beings. What a blessing we have been given!
To ponder this gift, consider the story of The Visitor. One day, a man went to visit a church. He arrived early, parked his car, and got out. Another car pulled up near him, and the driver told him, "I always park there. You took my place!" The visitor went inside for Bible Study, found an empty seat, and sat down. A young lady from the church approached him and stated, "That's my seat! You took my place!" The visitor was somewhat distressed by this rude welcome, but said nothing. After Bible Study, the visitor went into the church sanctuary and sat down. Another member walked up to him and said, "That's where I always sit. You took my place!" The visitor was even more troubled by this treatment, but still said nothing. Later, as the congregation was praying for Christ to dwell among them, the visitor stood, and his appearance began to change. Horrible scars became visible on his hands and on his sandaled feet. Someone from the congregation noticed him and called out, "What happened to you?" The visitor replied, "I took your place."
Of course, the one who took our places, who was given the marks upon His hands and feet for us, is Jesus Christ. He was a humble servant for us. He paid for all the times when we failed in behaving humbly, unselfishly towards others. Jesus demonstrated His love for us by putting our interests above His own. Rather than running from the cross, He went gladly, serving us all the way.
This work of Christ for us is of such great worth that Christ is lifted up, exalted to the highest place because of it. This gift of forgiveness and eternal life is more precious than any other, and so we thank our Lord for earning it for us. Indeed, Christ is so worthy of praise that even the mention of the name of Jesus brings to mind all that He has done. All people ought to bow in reverence to Him. Every person ought to speak of, that is confess, this tremendous gift He gives us for free. All this brings glory to the Father, for our God loves us enough to do all these blessed things for us.
We are United with Christ to Serve. The Ladies of the Lutheran Women's Missionary League are serving, together with all Christians. Our service, however, fails to always be the pure, unselfish response that God wishes. It is so wonderful that we have our Lord's service already completed for us, a service which He did on the cross and which cancels all our sins. Our Lord humbled Himself just for us, as He served us, unselfishly, by going to the cross to die. Now we are blessed with the encouragement, comfort, fellowship and tenderness of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.