A Synopsis of the Sermon on January 9, 2011

Pursuing the Gospel-Character of a Servant of Jesus Christ

Philippians 2:1-11

 This passage is one of the most wonderful texts on the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The phrase translated in the ESV and NIV “made himself nothing” is literally – ‘he emptied himself. We will see later in the message exactly what that means, but for now let me say that this is the heart of a Gospel-character is to be emptied of self.

 Interestingly, philosophers and cultural analysts talk about the empty self.  By ‘empty self’ they actually describe something that that is the opposite of being ’emptied of self. To psychology the ‘empty self’ is a condition to be remedied but here it is a condition to be pursued. Actually the ‘empty-self’ of psychology is a life that is full of self. The cure for an empty self is to become emptied of self.

 Are you someone who is characterized by an empty self that needs to be emptied of self? Listen to Christian philosopher J. P. Moreland’s[1] seven fold description of the empty self (http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/emptyself.html). Don Closson, an apologist, summarizes these traits:

 Inordinate Individualism (acts on the basis of what is good for me rarely considering what is the effect on others.)

The empty-self derives life goals and values from within their own set of personal needs and perceptions, allowing self-centeredness to reign supreme. Rarely does the empty-self seek the good of a broader community, such as the church, when deciding on a course of action.

Infantilism (focused on demanding my needs be met rather than meeting the needs of others) 

… seeing an infantile demand for pleasure pervading all of our culture. The result is that boredom becomes the greatest evil.

Narcissism (focused on self-interest rather than serving others)

Narcissism is a keenly developed sense of self-infatuation; as a result, personal fulfillment becomes the ultimate goal of life. … Education and church participation are evaluated on the basis of personal fulfillment. They are not viewed as opportunities to use one’s gifts for the good of others.

Passivity (focused on being entertained or amused rather than giving to others)

The goal seems to remain in a passive state while someone else is paid to amuse you.

Sensate Culture (focus on the senses not the mind)

It follows naturally that the empty-self syndrome encourages the belief that the physical, sense-perceptible world is all that there is. The resulting sensate culture loses interest in arguments for transcendent truth or in ideas like the soul, and the consequence is a closing of the mind…. 

No Interior Life (focused on acquiring not being)

Moreland claims that in the last few decades people have become far more concerned about external factors such as the possession of consumer goods, celebrity status, image, and power rather than the development of what he calls an interior life.

 Busy-ness (focused on activity rather than reflection)

 Many pack their lives with endless activities in order to block out the emotional emptiness and spiritual hunger that fills their souls. . .. The empty-self attempts to replace God with things God has created, a life that’s too busy for God is missing out on life itself.

We see the empty self all around us in contemporary culture and in the church. The empty self does not produce servants – those who serve God, serve the church, and serve a needy world.

 What psychologists call the ‘empty self’ is ironically ‘being full of self.’ What is the Bible’s answer to the ’empty-self’? Become emptied of self (through repentance and faith) and devleop the character of a servant.

 In Jesus’ words. “Whoever will save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake and the gospel, the same will save it.”

 How do we become servants in a culture of narcissism?

This text offers us three directions to pursue in developing the gospel-character of a servant, i.e. being emptied of self.

KNOW WHO YOU REALLY ARE IN CHRIST!

1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 

 The ‘if’ clauses in the Greek text are really questions with implied answers. “If” and “there really is” is the understanding of these sentences. Do I have the interior, inner experience that is described here? Do I have capacity for anything other than an ‘empty self’?  The answer is ‘yes’ if I have submitted to Jesus Christ as Lord.

Am I encouraged in Christ? Am I comforted by the love of Christ? Do I enjoy the fellowship of the Spirit? Do I know the deep feeling that God has for me? The Character of a Servant is one that is encouraged by Christ, comforted by love, fellowshipping in the Holy Spirit, and experiencing affection and sympathy from God.

The call to gospel character is not a call to moralism. It is not merely the discipline of doing the right thing by the power of the human will compelled by the external force of propriety. It is call to live out all that the gospel brings into the life of a Christian.

God’s call to servanthood is not a call to become what you are not!

Last week I made this statement about the Gospel-cause: The Gospel which brings us the most passionate love, the deepest mercy, the most magnificent grace, the most underserving forgiveness, and the greatest transforming power is to be the defining cause of our lives.

 This week I will tweak it by changing one word. The Gospel which brings us the most passionate love, the deepest mercy, the most magnificent grace, the most underserving forgiveness, and the greatest transforming power is to be the defining character of our lives.

 The second direction we pursue in developing the gospel-character of a servant – being emptied of self is:

 CHOOSE GOSPEL VALUES NOT CULTURAL VALUES!

 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 

If these things in verse one are at work in your heart, then you have capacity and power to choose differently. All of the church – every Christian is called to share the same virtues described here. As JP Moreland would say: Choose to have an interior life of integrity, virtue, and morality. 

  • Choose humility and the significance of others over competition and conceit. Competition and conceit display themselves in different ways, People who are comparing themselves to others and thinking too much about themselves either end up in conflict with other believers or in isolation from other believers. We easily recognize the conceited person who is always pushing to the front to be noticed, but the one who shrinks back in isolation and timidity is no less self-centered and conceited.

The gospel calls us to humble engagement with others.

  •  Choose to be concerned also about the interests of others. The cultural value is ‘take care of yourself first.” Look out for number one, no one else will. The Bible balances that out. Yes, there is a legitimate concern for one’s own interest – we need to provide and care for ourselves – but also for the interests of others.

How much do we think about others and do for others? Prayer, visit, encourage, meet their needs, assist.

The empty self is a life that consumed only with one’s own interests and finds that self is a bottomless pit that can never be satisfied. The heart of service and mission is we care about and want to do something for others. 

  • Choose to display the mind of Christ which is yours.

Redemptive thinking denies one’s own right for the redemptive benefit that might come to others. What’s good for me may be different that ‘what’s good for the gospel? And, what I think may be good for me may only bring about the ‘empty self.’ In Psalm 106 it says this about the Israelites: Psalm 106:14-15   14 But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.  15 And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.

 A particular career, a place of employment, a place to live may be good for me but not necessarily good for others or good for the gospel.

Why would you choose gospel-values? Only because you value the gospel. These choices for gospel values flow out of the experience of the gospel (vs 1).

PURSUE A GOSPEL-MODEL (JESUS CHRIST) 

Keep the person and work of Christ always in your mind.

Who do you really want to think like and be like – an athlete, celebrity, a successful business person? Do you wish you could be a Jessica Simpson, a Donald Trump, an American Idol, a super athlete, etc? Do you want to live your life vicariously through a TV character, a soap opera, a video game? Do you want to experience life that is simulated or real? Whom do you think about becoming?

who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,  7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,  10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

 Think about the flow of this text for a moment! In what sense was Jesus “being in very nature God” and what is meant by the phrase “equality with God?”

 “being in the form of God” – refers to the form of appearance;

“to be equal with God” – refers to the internal nature

Combining these two phrases tells us that prior to His incarnation, Jesus was God and lived as God.

Four statements are necessary in order to have a truly biblical view of Jesus Christ:

1. He was truly God (deity);

2. He was truly man (humanity);

3. He was truly God and truly man in one Person;

4. His deity and humanity remained unmixed and distinct.

 How did Christ regard the quality? – not as something to be seized as in a robbery or taking booty, but as something that was essentially and inherently his own possession. Nor did he hold on to his ‘divine mode of existence’ selfishly but rather left it all behind to become our Savior.

 Of what did Christ empty Himself (ESV – ‘he made Himself nothing’)? This phrase is actually explained by the next two phrases:  “taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” He took slave-from and adopted human existence. In his incarnation, Jesus came to possess human characteristics that were an addition to the divine. The divine did not cease to exist. The divine and human were not mixed together. Jesus became LIKE MEN IN THEIR HUMANNESS, NOT IN THEIR SINFULNESS.

“he humbled himself” – This was an act of self-deprecation. Let those words sink in. Jesus the eternal son of God humbled himself. HE HUMBLED HIMSELF.

“becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.” This phrase actually explains the self-humbling of Jesus. ‘Even ‘until’ death – explains the culminating point of this self-humiliation. The extreme height of his obedience is brought about by the extreme depth of his humiliation – even unto the most shameful and painful death known to the world of that day – the death of the cross.

“Wherefore God also has highly exalted him” – Based upon the emptying and self-humiliation of Jesus, God the Father responds with exaltation.

 What are the driving themes of these verses? Self-denial, humility, obedience, sacrifice

This is not the empty self – but the emptying of self.  Christ calls you not to fill the empty self – but to put self aside in service to God and others. It is only when you lose your life that you find it! (Mark 8:35ff). This is what the cross calls us to. This is what Christianity is. This is the character and the heart of a servant.

Let me reword something that Thomas Manton, a 17th century Puritan Pastor, said about overcoming a life of self-centeredness.

  1. We overcome self-dependence when we love Christ as the first cause of all things.
  2. We overcome self-will when we love Christ as the Highest Lord over all things.
  3. We overcome self-love when we love Christ as the Chief Good above all things.
  4. We overcome self-seeking when we love Christ as the last end, the ultimate goal of all things. http://www.newblehome.co.uk/manton/vol15/self-denial.html

 Thinking about protecting and satisfying self will yield radically different thoughts and actions than thinking about loving and serving Jesus Christ.

Conclusion:

Earlier Paul had said this: 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Phi 1:20-21 ESV)

“Paul reads his own life constantly in the light of the story of Jesus (1:20-26). He wants them to read theirs similarly. The great treasure of this passage is that it challenges us to do the same.”

When Dr. David Livingstone was asked about the physical and financial sacrifice he made in becoming a missionary to Africa, he replied: “Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blessed reward?”

 Find your life by losing it in Christ. Christ fills your life when it is emptied of self through repentance and faith.

Know who you really are in Christ!

Pursue gospel values!

Choose Christ is your ideal!

 


[1] For more suggestion on the cure for the empty self read J. P. Moreland, Love Your God With All Your Mind (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1997),

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On September 10, 1970 I came to understand the great love of God for me, a sinner and a rebel. That evening I received God’s forgiveness and a new life through Jesus Christ, who died in my place and rose again to offer forgiveness and new life. I have been senior pastor for over 30 years planting two churches in Buckingham, PA and Queens, NY and serving two other churches in Brooklyn, NY and Roslyn, PA. I am currently the lead pastor at Grace Church of Philly.

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