Philippians 2.5-8

The following is the script I wrote and used for a five-minute devotional thought at Metro South Church on Sunday April 3, 2011. My actual presentation was nowhere near word-for-word. There were two services, and unfortunately I was only confident in my sharing the second time around (that's what nerves do to you, I guess). Comments, criticisms, and trolling are greatly appreciated.
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God has consistently been dragging me back to this scripture lately. It’s in Philippians 2:


In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross! Philippians 2.5-8 NIV

I have been meditating lately on what Jesus Christ suffered in order to save us. He, who is the eternally-existent perfect Son of God, stepped from the highest position in the universe to the lowest position possible. He created everything and he has all authority over creation, but in obedience to the Father, he was born into the lowest station, and lived the life of a servant. He voluntarily put himself into our situation, taking on our weakness and frailty,in order to push us up out of our mess. He came and served to the point of giving his life for us. Here Paul, the writer of Philippians, makes the point that not only was Christ obedient to the point of death; he suffered death on a cross, the worst kind of death. In ancient Rome, this was a death that was reserved for the lowest of lows (it was really only used for slaves or enemies of the state) because it was the most shameful and disgraceful way to die. The condemned was beaten, stripped naked, ridiculed, and taken outside of the city to signify that he was unwanted garbage. It was so slow that the crucified sometimes took days to die. It was such a humiliating practice that many sought to have it banned. Cicero, the Roman philosopher, said “the very mention of the cross should be far removed not only from a Roman citizen’s body, but from his mind, his eyes, his ears”. He’s saying that crucifixion is so bad, even though it was hardly ever used for Roman citizens, a Roman should never have to see, hear, or even think about death on a cross. So Christ went from glory, not just to a life of servant-hood, but was put to shame, suffered such a humiliating, brutal death in order to save us while we were still enemies of God. His life of service and suffering, the birth, life, and death of Jesus, is what theologians call the humiliation of Christ.

But we always talk about these things, and I even find myself growing cold to these concepts sometimes. But this is something God keeps impressing on me. Paul, here in Philippians, is telling us to “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” in our relationships. This is the question that God has been pressing into me lately: how willing am I to be humiliated, like Christ was humiliated, to glorify God and to save others? I think about all the times I passed on helping somebody in need simply because it was awkward, uncomfortable, or inconvenient for me. As a follower of Jesus, I ought to have the same attitude, the same mindset as Christ. This means living a life centered on humility. One of the ways God has been showing this to me is in what Paul (again) says in Romans 12.15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn”. I ought to never see myself above taking on anybody’s situation. In a practical sense, this means I celebrate with that friend who got the job or promotion that I deserved, or I invite that neighbor of mine over for dinner even though I am 98% certain that it’s his dog that keeps pooping on my grass; it means I ought to weep with somebody else, taking on their grief; it means letting God break my heart for all of the poverty and injustice in our world, or sharing in the suffering of disaster victims and doing everything God enables me to help lift them out of their situation. It means speaking life into circumstances that bear nothing but death and despair. It means God wants me to live like Christ, who made himself nothing so that the Father would be glorified through our salvation.