Becoming More Christ-like

Philippians 2:5-11

Introduction

When you encounter someone, whether it was someone you knew a long time ago or someone you are meeting for the first time, there is something common that happens, at least among those people who are parents. They will start bragging about their children. They will start listing the accomplishments of their children, sharing all of the things they have achieved. It does not matter if they are three years old or thirty years old. They will talk about their athletic or educational success. They will talk about the prestigious job they got or the size of the house they built. I actually do not think there is anything wrong with being proud of the achievements of your children, I know that I am happy to talk about how gifted my children are.

My point is more that there is a certain kind of measurement we use to talk about the success of our children. They are athletic awards, scholarships, university degrees, getting a promotion in their chosen career. Very rarely do we have parent bragging about their child’s gentleness or humility or kindness.

Perhaps that is because as adults, we often see outward measures of success as important to us. What is the size of our house or the number of acres of land that we own? What kind of vehicle do we drive? Do we have the latest electronic toys or investments in the right stocks? It is natural for us to want to measure how successful we are in life and these outward measures are the easiest to quantify. What else can we do but tally up our accomplishments?

There is a benefit to measuring the quality of life but we should wonder about the reliability of the traditional methods. The Bible does encourage self-reflection but offers a different way of measuring it. It will not surprise you that the measurement is actually the way of Jesus. That is what we are going to look at.

The Emptying of Christ

The passage we are going to be looking at has long been an interest of mine. I have often found myself in discussions with skeptics that have argued that the divinity of Jesus was a later  invention and that originally, the church understood Jesus to be a mere human with some prophetic gifts. I would frequently point such skeptics to Philippians, one of the earliest books of the New Testament, which clearly describes the divine nature of God. My interest in this initially was to show that Christians believed Jesus to be divine right from the beginning. It was not something that was added at the council of Nicaea. As I read it more, I came to appreciate the picture this gives of how Jesus is. The point Paul is making is not just that Jesus was divine but that he put aside all of the privileges that went along with that divinity in order to become more like us. This seems to be completely counterintuitive. Everything within us says that we are to strive to become more than what we are right now. In fact, remember how the serpent tempted Eve in the garden? The promise was that if Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, they would become more like God. It was the temptation to grow beyond themselves. And yet Jesus seems to do the opposite. Jesus sets aside the privileges of divinity to become a human being. And not even a rich and powerful human being but rather one who would know hunger and fatigue and even betrayal. Why would Jesus want to do something like this? It was for the sake of humanity and obedience to the Father rather than focusing on himself. It was about being selfless and humble. It is not that what Jesus experienced as the second person of the Trinity was unimportant but Jesus was so secure in his identity that he could put aside his divine privileges. As I said, that is much closer to the point Paul is trying to make but it is not quite his main point. Even though personally I am much more interested in the dynamic of the incarnation and what it meant for Jesus to become a human being, Paul has a different point. 

The main point Paul is trying to make is not so much what it meant for Jesus to put aside his privilege but rather what it means for us that Jesus put aside his privilege. Not just that we would be impressed by what he did but that we would be inspired to emulate what Jesus did.

So we cannot transform ourselves like Jesus did but we can have the same mind as Christ. What this comes down to is a battle that we all have going on within ourselves. That battle is between the part of us that is focused on self and that that is focused on denying ourselves for a greater good. This is ultimately what Paul is trying to get across. He wants the Philippians to look at the sacrifice that Jesus made in the incarnation and to be challenged to embrace that same selfless mindset.

Fighting Self

How important is this message to the church today? I would love to report that this struggle was limited to the ancient church in Philippi and that the church has never had the conflict coming from demands to protect personal privilege. But I cannot.

I have been a pastor for twenty-five years. What I have seen in every church that I have been a part of is that there are those who become unhappy because they want things their way. Do you remember the Burger King motto “Have it your way”? For many Christians, that is their motto for how church should be. I want the music to be this way. I want the preaching to be that way. I want the programs to look like this. I want the building to look like that. Of course there is nothing wrong with having personal preferences. We all have them and they are innocent in and of themselves. Where things become a problem is when we demand that others submit to our preferences. By the way, this is true both for people who insist that things must change and those who insist that things must stay the same. Again, it is not wrong to want either change or not want change. It comes down to what we will do if we do not get our way. Can we accept it if the church does not do things the way we prefer? 

Here is where the problem is. Everything about our society reinforces the idea that we have the right to have things our way. We are taught that we are entitled to have things the way we want them. I just watched a video of a well known figure talking about what they should do if their upcoming election does not go their way. He insisted that people be prepared to fight to make things go their way.

The church has adopted this mindset as well. There was a time when people chose a church by that which was closest to their denomination and that was closest to their home. Now people church shop. They will visit different churches and grade the quality of the preaching, the music, the programs, and pick the one that can give them the most of what they want. And church shopping is not just for people who move. It is for anyone who feels that their current church is not doing things the way they want it. By the way, I am not suggesting that there is never a good reason to leave a church, nor am I trying to shame people who have switched churches. My point is only that we need to recognize that we often begin by looking what is the best for ourselves rather than what is best for others or what God might want. We are hardwired to put self before everything else and this shapes how we do everything. Again, I am not saying everyone is selfish, but there can be great discomfort if things are not done our way. Paul wants us to recognize this tendency within us and then to look to Jesus.

Conclusion

You might be wondering how this has anything to do with Palm Sunday. It actually has everything to do with Palm Sunday. We often refer to Jesus entry into Jerusalem as the triumphal entry, celebrating the King of kings victoriously entering Jerusalem. But that is not quite right. The crowds are there not to support Jesus but because it is the time for pilgrims to travel to Jerusalem for the Passover. Jesus comes not on a horse as a conqueror but humbly on a donkey to receive what will happen to him. And Jesus is very well aware of what will happen if he enters Jerusalem. Imagine if Jesus had put self first? He would have stayed safe and comfortable in Galilee. Instead he put the needs of humankind and his Father’s will before his own needs before his own. 

The last thing I would want to do is to use the example of Jesus to guilt everyone to give 150% to the church, burning yourself out as a sign of how unselfish you are. I would prefer that we, and I mean we, reflect on what we will do if things are not exactly the way we like it. Can we shift our mindset to put the needs of others before ourselves? We will naturally have those personal preferences but it is okay if things turn out differently. Let our minds be like that of Christ Jesus.