The Village Church
"A Joy-Filled Life - Christ's Example" - Philippians 2:3-8 - 2024/08/25 - 2024/08/25 - Audio
[BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] Heavenly Father, we thank you you are faithful to meet with us. We thank you for even this time where we pause and we just reflect on how great you are. On how much you've done for us, on just the purity and the faithfulness of your love towards us. And may that just made us service, may our interactions with each other just be an overflow of that knowledge and that experience of how much you have accepted us and do you care for us. Bless this time as we gather and as we sing together and we grow in community and we hear what you have to say. Even through the other people in this room and I just ask that you just prepare our hearts for that, that this will be a time where we can know your peace more fully and we can know your love more completely and experience your acceptance of us because of the finished work of Jesus Christ and it's in your name, we pray Amen. All right, if you're able, we'd invite you to stand now as we say our call to worship. So I'll read where it says leader and I would love for you all to participate with gusto where it says people. So this comes out of Revelation 15, 4, and 5, and to the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped to God who was seated on the throne saying amen hallelujah. And from the throne came a voice saying praise our God, all of you, his servants, you do fear and small and great. All right, please remain standing as we sing. Good morning, family. Praise the Lord, everybody. Praise the Lord. Good morning, family. This song just opened the eyes of my heart and I know that one day as the verse just said we will see God face to face, not just with our heart, not just with our mind, but we will be in this presence to see praises to his name hallelujah. Open the eyes of my heart. Open the eyes of my heart. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. I want to see you. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. I want to see you. To see you high and lifted up, shining in the light of your glory, pour out your power and love as we sing holy, holy, holy, I want to see you. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. I want to see you. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. I want to see you. To see you high and lifted up, shining in the light of your glory, pour out your power and love as we sing holy, holy, holy, I want to see you high and lifted up, shining in the light of your glory, pour out your power and love as we sing holy, holy, I want to see you high, see you high and lifted up, shining in the light of your glory, Lord, pour out your power and love as we sing holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy, holy. Come on, stick it out. Holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy, I want to see you. Holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy, holy. We cry, holy, holy. Holy, holy. I want to see you. Amen. Let's put our hands together for Jesus. One day we will see him to worship him to give him our true praise. This next song, this next couple songs, it's here I am to worship. And we're worshiping an indescribable God, amen? I said we worship an indescribable God. There's nothing we can say. There's nothing that we can do to explain his greatness, his power. We're here to worship him. We're here to give him praise. Hallelujah. [Music] Once again, the family, light of the world, you step down into darkness. Open my eyes, let me see. The beauty that made this heart adore you. Hope of a light, spread with you. You guys know what? Let's just stick it all together. Here I am. So here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you're my God. You sound good. You're all together, lovely. All together, worthy. All together, wonder. For to be king of all days, king of all days, oh so highly exalted, glorious in heaven above. I'll be you king to the earth in green. All for a love same, he came forth. Let's just worship this man together, family. Here I am. Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you're my God. You're all together, lovely. All together, worthy. All together, wonder. All to be king of all days. Now here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you're my God. You're all together, lovely. All together, worthy. All together, order. All to be. Indescribable, uncontainable. You place the stars in the sky and you know the light, hey. You are amazing God. As you imagine this morning church, sing a praise now sing, all powerful, untainable. As long as we fall to our knees, as we humbly proclaim. You are amazing God. The most biggest praises our time is indescribable, uncontainable. You place the stars in the sky, if you know them by name. You are amazing God. How to do you? Yeah, all powerful, untainable, husband, we fall to our knees, as we humbly proclaim. You are amazing God. You are amazing God. You sometimes just have to say I'll never know how much it costs you. I want to stick it out, to see my sins. I want that. He's an amazing God, stick it out church. I'll never know how much it costs to see my sins. I want to stick it out church. I want to stick it out church. I want to stick it out church. You are amazing God. Now let's lift it up here I am to worship family. So here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you're my God. Hallelujah. You're all together, lovely. All together worthy. All together, wonderful to me. Place the name of Jesus this morning. He's lovely, he's wonderful. He's an indescribable God. Hallelujah. You may be seated. Good morning, TBC family. It's time for the prayer of praise. If you will bow your heads and open your hearts and reverence to the Lord which shall begin. Father, we thank you for your goodness in the mercy Lord. We have sang these songs to you Lord to open the hearts of our eyes. Father, we come here to worship you Father. But sometimes we're just burdened by the things that are within our lives. Lord, the distraction, the noise. Father, that keeps us from remembering who you are. Father, be it situations that arise between us and our families. Be it work. Be socially between us and our friends, our neighbors. Father, we just want to thank you Lord. We're reminded by your Spirit Lord that the heart is deceitful and that's really wicked Lord. And Father, we just want to take this time to be reminded Lord that you are good to us. The Christ died for us Lord. You died. You chose to do this before the beginning Lord. And we just want to be reminded of that. And Father, we thank you for your mercy and grace Lord. It is in Christ Jesus' name that I pray for. Amen. Amen. So now we'll go on to the confession of sin that comes from G14, B and 15. It says, "Behold, the Lord comes with 10,000 of His holy ones to execute judgment on all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way. And of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. And if you will, we'll take a moment just for silent meditation to reflect on God's Word." [Music] [Music] Okay, thank you. Now we'll move on to the assurance of pardon that is from Jude. 20 and 21. But you beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. Thank you. [Music] Our song of reflection this morning is make room. We sing this song together, it might be a new song for some of us, but when we sing this song together, I want us to imagine just making a room, not just in our lives, but in our mindset, in our hearts. Leaving away the sickness, leaving away the stresses, leaving away just everything that just besets us and making a room for Jesus. Amen. [Music] I find space for what I treasure, and I make time for what I want. I choose my priorities. Jesus, you're my number. Jesus, you're my number. So I will, Jesus, make room for you. I will dream up for two, so you don't feel that you can't live here. Please never meet. That's the whole song, Church. Let's make room for Jesus this morning. Hallelujah. Let's hop together so I find space for what I treasure, and I make time for what I want. I choose my priorities. Jesus, you're my number. Jesus, you're my number. Let's sing it out, so I will, make room for you. I will, dream up for two, so you don't feel that you can't live here. Please never meet. I will, hallelujah. Just sing it out to God. Make room for you. I will, dream up for two, so you don't feel that you can't live here. Please live in me one more time. I will, make room for you, Jesus. I will, dream up for two, so you don't feel that you can't live here. I will, dream up for two, so you don't feel that you can't live here. Please live in me. Oh, please live in me God. This next part just to move it over, just move it over. My ego, you can move that over. You can move that over, no matter what it is. You can move that over. You can move that over. Come on, sing what you say. You can move that over, because I will make room. You can move that over, because I will make room for two, so you don't feel that you can't live here, so you don't feel that you can't live here. You can move that over, because I will, will make room for one more time. Oh, whatever it is, you can move that over. You can move that over, no matter what it is. You can move that over, just give it to God. You can move that over. One more time, you can move that over. You can move that over, because I will make room. I will make room for one more time. I will make room for one more time, so you don't feel that you can move that over, because I will make room for two, so you don't feel that you can move that over, because I will make room for two, so you don't feel that you can move that over, because I will make room. I find you, run what I said, die, take time for what I wanted. I choose my priority. Jesus, Jesus, you're my number one. Yes, you are. Jesus, you're my number. Who just in the chorus for one more time, they grew me here, because I will, yes, Jesus, I will make room for you. I will, hallelujah, prepare for two, so you don't feel that you can't live here. Stick it all together, please live in me. Hallelujah. If you will, please join me for our prayer of supplication. Heavenly Father, we just come to you and ask that you just help us to make room for you, just as we just sang. That was such a beautiful song, a convicting song. And I just pray that you would convict each and every one of us where we need to make room for you, that you would make it clear, and that we would just loosen our grip on whatever it is that we're holding on so tight to that's taking the place that you belong. Look, we just want to give ourselves to you in every aspect of our life, so just show us where we may not be doing that. We would also just want to pray for our church and our congregational meeting after the service. I pray that we would have good attendance there, and just that the members would all be able to hear about all the things that our leadership has been working on, and we just thank you for our leadership and pray for wisdom for them. As there are some changes coming, and we just thank you for the sacrifices that they put in to lead our church, and whether that's Pastor Alex, the worship team, the elders, the deacon assistance, women's shepherds, all the people that make so many sacrifices to make all of this happen. We just thank you for them and ask that you would give them wisdom, and I pray for anyone in our congregation that's struggling with sickness right now, or that you would heal them. I pray for those in our congregation that are dealing with grief, or we know that grief is not just a one-time thing, it is something that comes back time and time again, and that is a hard thing to deal with. Lord, we need you especially in those moments. Lord, remind us of who you are and your goodness and your grace, and pray that we would just be led back to you in those moments where we're fighting it, and remind us that you are good, even on the days where we struggle to believe it. And so Lord, we just bring all these things to you, and finally just ask that you would prepare our hearts for the sermon, and just give Alex the words, and just pray that we would receive them while we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Now if you would please stand for the reading of God's Word. This is Philippians chapter two verses three through eight. 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 interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which 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 men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death, on a cross. This is the Word of God. Thank you. Are you all? All right. If you have your Bible, please open to Philippians chapter two. As brother Russ said, the sermon test today is chapter two verses three through eight. My mom tried to kiss me goodbye before school today. So cringe. You still post on Facebook? So cringe. You still playing robot? So cringe. You actually prefer an Android phone? So cringe. Cringe is a term that means something that can be embarrassing, awkward, or uncool. Teens use it all the time. Your teams do, but everything's cringe to a team. Everything is cringe. And like teenagers, the Philippians will use this phrase "so cringe" in response to something that Paul is going to write to them today in Philippians chapter three verses, sorry, Philippians chapter two verses three through eight. They are going to say "so cringe" to the Apostle Paul. So before we move forward and the sermon will you please join me in asking the Holy Spirit to bless the preaching of God's Word. Holy Spirit, I pray that you will continue to God our time, continue to minister to each of us supernaturally in the ways in which you move inside of us. For you are the deposit that guarantees our inheritance. And so you are the one that leads us into all truth. You are the one that helps us understand Scripture. You are the one that's moving in guidance. And so Holy Spirit, will you please take these words that I preach and apply it to my heart and my mind and also to the hearts and minds of the congregation. And pray for all of these things in Christ's word of name, amen. In verse five here in our text, the Apostle Paul commands the Philippians to continue to have a certain mindset among themselves. Continue to think a certain way in your relationships with one another. This mindset is to influence how they think and how they feel and how they behave. And so this mindset is supposed to be in their head, it's supposed to be felt and it's supposed to be done. And this is the mindset that the Philippians consider to be cringe. This demands it and the cringe is felt in verses three and four. Do nothing for selfish ambition or conceit. But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. So cringe. Let each of you not look only to his own interests but also to the interests of others. So cringe. Walk in humility, you Philippians. So cringe. Why will Paul's friends consider these words cringy? Why? Seems awesome, seems to be innocent. It's because their understanding of humility is different than our understanding of humility. You know how Zeni kept saying inconceivable in the princess bride? We're like him when we bring our understanding of humility to verses three and four. And the Philippians, they're all Montorian and they're saying to us, y'all keep using that word, but we don't think it means what y'all think it means. So for us, humility is a virtue, it's a Christian virtue, it's an honorable virtue, it's a cool virtue. But for the Philippians, that is not the case, it means something totally different. The Greek term for humility is tapon, tapinas, and it means crushed, debated, loneliness, loneliness. In Greek and Roman culture, humility was not a virtue. It was not a virtue, it was seen as weakness, poverty or character, insignificance. It was something that was shameful and embarrassing and despised. One commentator puts it this way, he says, humility was used negatively in ancient literature to describe the mentality of a slave or the cerebral nature of inferior social classes. Now there's one exception, humility before the gods, that's acceptable in Greek and Roman culture, but humility before other people not accepted, cringy. Now remember, Philippi is a Roman colony. The citizens in this colony, they're up to their eyeballs in Roman culture, that includes the Christians in Philippi, Paul's friends. Who remembers Philippi's nickname? What's his nickname? Ludor Rome. It was Ludor Rome, for crying that loud. And this is a shame and honor culture. And so the Philippians, they don't have a Western understanding of humility, they have a Roman understanding of humility and it's not a virtue. It's shameful and it's damaging. And the Philippians are like, you want us to lure ourselves before one another? That's Chris, bro. I don't know about that. You want me to count others more significant than myself? Hold up, hold up, hold up here. You want me to put other people's interests before my own? I don't know about that poem, hold up. So you want me to take on the social status of a slave? I don't know about that poem. I don't know about that. And so if you're reading this letter, and if it's been read out loud, you are moving uncomfortably in whatever chair you're setting on. You're not, you're not like, man, that's good. Oh, you're like, wait, you lost me at humility. The pill is hard to swallow. And honestly, Paul is like, and he's like Morpheus right now. And the Philippians are neo and they like, just give us the blue pill, please. We don't want to know how deep the rabbit hole goes. Ignorance is bliss. We're fine being in the Roman matrix, just like some of us are fine being in the American matrix. It's Christians. Even as Christians, we don't really want to unplug from a system that promises us privilege, power, and prosperity. Man, let's just be honest. We enjoy America's individualism and exceptionalism too much. But often, those things bring out of us the very things that Paul is telling the Philippians not to do, do nothing from selfish ambition, that is self-seeking, do nothing from conceit, that is vain and glory, do nothing from these things. You know how it is when you're sharing something with a friend? And somehow, I don't care what you're sharing, that friend has a way to make it about himself or herself. I mean, I don't care what it is. You're coming to them because you're struggling, before the end of conversation, you're comforting them. That is an example of self-seeking, vain glory. In reality, that's cringey. That's cringey. So Paul challenges the Philippians' Roman mindset, and for some of us as Christians, we need to have our American mindset challenged. Because in honesty, we think more like Americans than we think, like this, if we're honest. And sometimes, we need the Bible to challenge that thinking. When was the last time the Bible asked to challenge your politics? Or do you think your politics dictate the Bible? What is it? What is it? So Paul, he takes a culturally negative quality, and he turns it on his head. He rescues this term, this quality of humility from Roman culture, and he reshapes it into something that's dignified in an honorable virtue. So humility is used positively as an acceptable mindset within a community that's trying to live in harmony. I don't have the sign anymore. Humility has been used in a positive way as an acceptable mindset within a community that is striving to live in unity with one another. So humility is really self-forgetfulness is what it is. Self-forgetfulness. And I love the way the late Tim Keller's defines it. He says, "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less." So counting others more significant in yourself is thinking of yourself less. Let each of us look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others that's thinking of yourself less. So as Christians, we ought to walk humbly before one another and before our neighbors. That's humility of thought, that is humility in our emotions, that is humility in our actions. In humility, put the American rights of other citizens before your arms. In humility, let your sibling play with the toy first. Let them have a turn to watch something on TV. In humility. In humility, look to the suggestions and ideas of your coworkers and classmates for a change. You ain't always, right? Other people got good ideas, too. In humility, count your friends' desires and riches more significant than your own. Consider what they want. Maybe they don't want to go to cheap. Maybe they don't want to see that movie. Yeah, maybe they don't want to go just love coffee. Maybe they want to go to turbo. Consider what they want. Maybe they want to go down to Bitch Brain Park and listen to the music. Maybe they want that. Have you ever asked their opinion and their ideas? In humility, be quick to listen and slow the speaker. In humility, be quick to read and reflect and slow to post and repost. In humility, keep short accounts with people. In humility, count the person on the other side of the political aisle more significant than yourself. In humility, consider that your tribal group may have blind spots. They ain't always those people. Remember, the first shall be lax. And the one who wants to be first would be serving of all. That's not cringing, that's honorable, but if we're honest, it's difficult. It's difficult because it's hard. I mean, it is hard to count someone more significant than yourself. When you know that person, actually show you they don't care about you. And that's real talk. So you can get up here and I can give you this nice sermon about, oh, count your neighbor more significant than you. And y'all go walk down and mix brain part together and just sit around and share all the wonderful things about how you love Jesus and they love Jesus. And everybody loves Jesus. But what if that person don't love you? What if that person shows you they don't care about you? Am I supposed to consider that person more significant than myself or only the people I get along with? Because if he's talking about those people, then I'm like, hey, Jesus, hey, Paul, I don't know if I can do that. Why should I count, why should I take into account the interest of other people when they don't take into account my interest? Why? Paul, this is a bunch of words salad, just all words much together, it ain't making no sense. Because if we're honest, if we're honest, some people make us feel like James Baldwin. I can't believe what you say because I see what you do. Who are those people in your life? And could those very people be the ones that Jesus said I want you to be humble before them? And if you say I can do that, you're lying to yourself. You're lying to yourself. Walking in humility is scary. When you've been hurt, when you've been abused, when you suffered loss, when you've been rejected, when you've been hurt, it's hard, it's scary. And if you haven't addressed any past relational trauma and pain, you definitely ain't going to walk around and humiliate with people. A lot of us have the walls of Jericho built around our life, definitely around our heart. Can't let people get close, brother. Can't let you get too close. Now, we can keep things superficial, but you ain't getting too close to me because you may hurt me. And there's no judgment here because some people don't need to be that close to you, but it can't be for every single person in your life. Having only superficial connection with people can lead to a lonely existence. Only having relationship with people and all you talk about, "Hey, you see the game today?" "Hey, I was the brother today." "Hey, what you having for dinner today?" "Hey, did your kids have fun at school?" "If that's the depth of your relationships with people, you will live in a lonely existence." Because you're not known. You're not known by anybody. We're not known. And oftentimes, and where's the hope? That's the hope is that the spirit, when you become a Christian, he marches around your life. And your Jericho walls begin to fall one brick at a time. One brick at a time. One brick at a time. One brick at a time. It may take months. It may take years. It may take a whole bunch of councilmen. It may even take some anti-depressants and anxiety pills. But he used all that means of grace to break down those walls with your letters. There's a baby out in Arizona named Sonny. And Sonny became this year's Gerber baby. I'm pretty sure you know, if you grew up, you know the little picture on the Gerber food. There's a little baby there. And so, when was the last time you thought of yourself as God's Gerber baby? That when you became a Christian, that's what you became. The day you confess Jesus, the day you receive Jesus in your heart. And so, bring your life to him. God has a little bottle of Gerber food up there with your face on it. And here's Gerber baby. And here's the thing, as his babies, we can grow and mature. Like little Sonny, he's not going to stay up baby forever. He's going to grow and mature. And when we grow and mature as Christians, that's what theologians call sanctification. We might not be what we want to be, but we're not what we used to be either. And there's hope. The Holy Spirit grows Christians into people who can walk in humility. He does that. How does he do it? He uses what Christ has done. That's how he does it. We grow and walk in humbling because Jesus walked humbling. His story of humility empowers your story, my story. And where did his story begin? When did Jesus' story begin? His story began in Bethlehem. That's when his story began. Jesus' story began a long time ago in a galaxy for you Star Wars. In eternity. In his pre-incarnate existence. That's when his story began. So when you look at verse 6 and Paul is saying that Jesus is the former God and he did not equality God, when did Jesus exist in the form of God in eternity? Where at what point did Jesus not count equality with God in eternity? When did Jesus not use his equality with God for selfish ambition and pride for interest in eternity? In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God. And the word was God. Long before the virgin birth. Jesus walked in a pre-incarnate humility. There is a divine humility within the Trinity. Within the God here. Again the late Keller puts it this way. His book Kings Cross. He says the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are pouring love and joy and adoration into the other. Each one serving the other. They are infinitely seeking one another's glory. That's within the Trinity. And for the Father's glory. The word that was God. And the word that was with God became flesh and dwelt among us. Humility. Humility. The Son. The third person within the God here. Jesus was born into an incarnate humility. The song about it. And here I am the worship. This is taken from the first Corinthians verse eight, eight and nine. For you know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich. For your sake he became poor. So that by his poverty you might become rich. His poverty was a way he emptied himself. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was wealthy. Though he was rich. Yet for your sake he became poor. So that you by his poverty might become rich. His poverty was a way he emptied himself. Okay. Jesus made himself poor. He made himself powerless. I'm going to create another word here. He made himself privileged lists. Of his own real. Of his own initiative. He took the form of a slave. He took the form of a slave. He took the lowest class in a social caste system. He took that form. He did become an actual Roman slave. And in order he emptied himself of his divine nature. What he did is he became an actual human being with a human nature. I say amen state. He became an actual human being with a human nature. The text says he was born in the likeness of men. He was born in the likeness of men. The Greek text does not have a definite article before the term that translated likeness. So another reading of that would be he was born in a likeness of men. While you think that's important. This is important. You see, he's like us in our humanity, but he's also other. He's not born with a sinful nature. He's not born into a state of sin and misery. We are. He's not born broken. We are. He's not born with an information towards evil and sinfulness. We are. We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with us in our weaknesses. But one who is in every respect tempted as we are yet without work. So he's like us in our humanity, but he's also other. So he was born in a likeness of humanity with a human by with a human nature. That love beloved is an incarnate humility. The incarnation is a demonstration of Jesus's humility. He's practicing what he preached. He walked in. Next the text says he was found in human form. He was found in human form. When I was studying this, I was like, what does that really mean? He was found in human form. He was in the parents of human form. And then yesterday, last night, it hit me. What Paul is saying is Jesus had a real body like you. He had a real human body. He wasn't a matter human. He had a real body. He had hands. He had hair. He had a nose. He had feet. He had the human anatomy. He had a nourish his body like us. He had the hell liquids. He had the hell food. Jesus had the sleep. He had a digestive system. So where does that mean? Well, Jesus did number one and he did number two. Just like us. The anatomy. He didn't have the anatomy of a dog or a donkey. He had the anatomy of a human being. So his humility, his incarnate humility is seen in him having a human nature and him having a real human body. Don't miss that. But there's a conflict that Jesus cares about your body. Not just your soul. He cares about both. Because he had both. Finally, his incarnate glory is seen in his obedience. In his obedience to who? His obedience to the father. Again, humility to the point of death. What kind of death pastor? Death on the cross. Death on the cross. You see, Jesus knew we knew the Redeemer. He knew blood had to be shed to satisfy God's wrath towards him. He knew the broken relationship between the father and humanity needed to be reconciled. He knew sin, death and the evil one had to be defeated. So in humility, Jesus was obedient and fulfilled. The work the father gave him to fulfill. In humility, he counted others more significant than himself. In humility, he looked to our interest before his own. In humility, he laid down his life for his enemies. For the people who did not consider his interest. For the people who did not put him first. For the people who looked down on him. For the very people who yelled, crucified him. And so we say, why should we do that for other people? Because that's what Jesus has done for you and continues to do for you. That's why. None of us would be saved if Jesus didn't do that for us. He took the shame of the cross and turned it into a symbol of victory, your victory, your salvation, your redemption, your righteousness, your hope, your peace. He did that. He took the term of humility and made it into the virtue. Paul, didn't Jesus did that? He turned it into a virtue. So we ought to walk in humility because Jesus walked, did it before us and for us. But for us in his pre-incarnate humility, for us in his incarnate humility. He did it all before you and for you. He already has walked the path. And here's the thing below this, through the power of the Spirit, we walk in the footprints Jesus has left behind. Because he's not calling you to walk a path. He didn't already walk. He already walked. So you're not creating your own footprints in the sand. You're like, well, Jesus walked there. I'm going to walk down. Jesus loved his enemy. I'm going to love mine. Jesus served the least of these I served. Not creating your own footprint. It's his footprint. It's his footprint because he gets to glory, not us. And so there are things in our life that there are people I just can't love. There are people I just can't get along with. Then there's something about Jesus and your relationship with him that you do not understand. Then you put it this way. As American Christians, a lot of us were capitalists. You work hard, you earn your money. I hope you understand in God's Kingdom, it's a welfare system. Do you realize that? You didn't earn any of it. It's a welfare system. And without that welfare system, you ain't going to heaven. Okay, how hard you work? Okay, what capitalist resume or Smith's resume you got? When you stand in for the following, it's like, that's impressive, impressive, denied. Because it ain't good enough. There's nothing you can do to make it good enough. You got what Jesus told Paul, "If I don't wash you, you have no part of me." And what the Peter said, "But don't just wash my feet, wash all of me." That's what he had to my talk. That's what he's done. So when that gets inside to your soul, when that gets inside of you, and when you go back to verse 5, and Paul says, "Continue to have this humble mindset among yourselves." He says, "Which is yours in Christ Jesus?" This humility belongs to those who are Christians, those who are in union with Jesus Christ. And you're union with him. You walk in a relationship with Christ in ways that are humble. You walk before God humbly, because you realize you didn't do anything to put you into that relationship. He snatched you out of the depths of hell. He snatched you out of the depths of hell, and placed you into this relationship. And all the days we walk with him is one of humility. And that humility we have with him is supposed to work itself out here in these relationships before our neighbor. As I'm growing in my relationship with God, it's working this way out in how you deal with other people. Oh, we love in people well. Oh, we love in those that get in our nerves well. If we're honest, we'd be like, "Not all the time." And that's honest. That's why there's repentance. That's why there's repentance. The vertical humility before and before Jesus must be reflected in a horizontal humility before and before other people. That's an overflow. That's an overflow. That's an overflow. What we ought to do is make possible because of what Jesus has done. What has he done? We've already read it. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Know he was rich in heaven. Living it up. Yet for your sake, he became poor. So that by his poverty, you might be convinced. You are rich in Christ. Not talking about all finances and all that, but in terms of spiritual richness, you have it all. You have it all. It overflows. And let it overflow in our relationship with one another. Let's pray. Holy Spirit, thank you for Christ's example. And as I said, these are, we're just simply walking in His footsteps. We're not creating our own. And so because of you, I pray that you will give us the humility that we need in our relationship with others. In our relationships with our families, relationships with church family, relationship with a student family, relationship with our neighbors, relationship with coworkers and classmates and teammates, and teachers, coaches, give us that humility. We can't produce it in ourselves, but you can. So when you do that, for our good and for the glory of Christ, it's in His name that I pray. Amen. Please stand as we close our service. Our closing hymn will be praise him. Jesus, our blessed Savior is worthy to be praised. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Jesus, blessed Savior. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Jesus is worthy. Oh, he's worthy to be praised. Come on, praise him. Church and praise him. Hallelujah. Praise him. Bless his name. Praise him. Come on, praise him. His name is Jesus. Bless his name, Lord. He's worthy to be praised. Praise him, Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Jesus is worthy, amen. Amen. If you are a guest today, thank you so much for being with us. Thank you for worshiping with us today. At five minutes after I give the benediction, we will have the congregation meeting. I guess you're all welcome to stay. We're going to be talking about some new initiatives that we're going to be rolling out after Labor Day. So, five minute break, and I want everyone to come up front for the congregation on meeting. Now, here's God's benediction to his beloved. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit and all God's peoples to him. Hey, amen. Please greet one another thanks. (music playing) (music playing) (music playing) (music playing) (music playing) (music playing) (music playing)