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Well today. If you have a Bible with you, I want to encourage you to open up to the book of Philippians in chapter two. We’re actually going to end begin at the end of chapter one and dive into chapter two. And today, uh, what I want to share with you is something very simple, something that we should all be aware of as believers in Christ. Probably most of us, if you’ve read the book of Philippians, have come to this portion of Scripture. You know this like the back of your hand if you’ve walked with the Lord and studied this book, um, but this is this is one of those passages in the Bible that it’s it’s so simple. And I think a lot of times we come to church and we’re looking for the next thing that God could tell us to do, when in fact, what’s really important for us is to live out what we already know God calls important. And when God shares something with us and it’s significant, we should hold it to our lives and seek to live it within our lives and not necessarily just be diving in for the next best thing, but be be diligent and seeking after the Lord and the things that we already understand. And I want to go through something simple with us together as a church, because there’s something that I believe about what God has called our church to do. And that is, um, I think the Lord wants to do great things through us.
And to grab a hold of the passage that we’re going to look at this morning in order to get where the Lord can use us and to work through us, we have to get rid of us. Because it’s not about us. Bible tells us, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. It’s about him. And so in order to live out this passage, as simple as it may seem, and in order to see the God move in, in you and through you in powerful ways, what it requires of us this morning is just simply let go of self. And we started this church. The the idea and the premise behind what Alpine Bible Church is about, as we want to do anything. Well, let me rephrase that. We want to do anything short of sin. To see people come to know Jesus and growing in him. In order to do that, we’ve got to be willing to let go of self. To allow the Lord to work in us and through us. We’re at a place in our church right now where we’re about to go through a transition, and it’s been a very hectic, time consuming, diligent opportunity that we’ve had since October when we bought the new building. We’ve been working on it. And so, you know, before we got into this facility, which should be happening in the next few weeks, um, I thought to myself, you know, what we need is a church family is we want to be encouraged in what God is doing, not just not just focus on, you know, getting the job done, but be encouraged to see what God’s bigger hand is.
And so last week we talked about not losing heart. How do we not lose heart when we’re serving the Lord and and we really ultimately and not losing heart and looking what Paul says, we we fill our hearts with God’s joy and sing his worth. And through seeing the worth of Christ in our lives, it compels us to then express that joy. Do you guys know we’re creatures created for for worship? You will worship something in this world, whether it be God or not. You’re designed to worship something. But when you gather the idea of worship and the fact that we’re created to worship, and you look at the the glory and goodness of God as it’s lavished on your life, and you fill your cup up with that, the joy of the Lord consumes your heart. And from you the Bible says, flows living water. Do not lose heart. Second this morning. And this is what we’re diving into in the book of Philippians is this week, we’re going to talk about how to live like Jesus and lead like Jesus in this world. See, God’s called us to a responsibility in this world and representing him. We’re creatures created for worship set to proclaim his glory.
There’s no greater glory through which we could proclaim in the goodness of God. And and we know the Bible verses that we we can, uh, quote or think of from memory that where God calls us to as a church, the responsibility we carry, like Matthew 28, 19 and 20, if you ever go to a missions conference at a church or they talk about discipleship and evangelism, they always quote that verse go into the world, make disciples right? Baptizing in the name of the father, son and the Holy Spirit, doing all things that I teach. You are observing all things that I have taught you. God looks at his disciples and says, go into the world and make disciples. Coincidentally, that’s the purpose of the church. So whenever I asked you, why does the church exist? The church exists to make disciples or followers of Jesus. That’s what we’re about. Because we believe ultimately there’s no greater goodness, no greater thing in this world worth pursuing than the one who has created us. Go make disciples. The second of that, maybe one of the famous verses you could think of as far as man’s responsibility comes in Mark 12 and verse 28, when the ruler, a rich young lawyer, comes to Jesus, I just mixed it up with another story. But this guy comes to Jesus and he says, what’s the greatest commandment? And Jesus says, it’s simple love the Lord your God with all your heart and love others.
If you love the Lord the way that God has created you to love him, all things that God desires for you to do in this world will be accomplished. All you’ve got to do is love him. And if you truly love God, you’re going to love the things that God loves, which is people. Jesus has given everything to love the people of this world. He’s given his life loving God and loving others. Life is about relationship. When you get to the book of Philippians in chapter one, Paul kind of piggybacks those same things he he’s saying to believers, only conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, saying, go into this world, Matthew 2819 and proclaim the gospel. He’s saying to us in this verse, if you love God, you’re going to share his message. If you love others, you’re going to share the love of God with other people. Go into this world and conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel. When I think about. Jesus. And the way that people have spoken of him throughout history. No one has more drastically changed the course of history than Jesus. I mean, we write our dates on our checks every week according to the expected birth of Christ, right? He literally split history in two in its time. People, when you ask them about Jesus, generally have a positive thing to say something about the character or nature of Christ.
And if you, being a believer in Christ, knowing of the infinite worth that Jesus brings in to your world, the joy of just sharing that becomes significant for you. Because that same joy that you have in your life, you want others to experience with you in him. And so when Paul says in the book of Philippians, conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, when you read those words and you see the value of Christ in your own life, it begs the question, well, how do we do this? Go into this world and make disciples for Christ. Love God, love others. Conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel. How do we do that? For the sake of the Lord? And Paul then begins to tell us how. He shares in the opening passages of the end of chapter one and the chapter two. The explanation for us as believers, to understand how we go into this world and proclaim the name of Christ and help people see the beauty of who Jesus is in their own lives. How do we do that? Paul writes the rest of this passage this way, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you, that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel in no way alarmed by your opponents. He then goes on to say this.
Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the spirit, if any affection and compassion make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Paul’s about to share with us the how to live this out in our lives. But before really, he gets to the detail of the personal implications for you. He starts in the community. God is all about unity in the community. Meaning today. If you say to yourself, you know, the joy that I have in Christ is the joy that I desire to share with the world. And if you’re serious about that, then Paul is saying to you, then you need to be serious about it in your own community. Right talking about the church community. Because if you can’t live out the practical nature of the gospel in the church, you can’t live out the practical nature of the gospel in the world. And this should be the place we’re living. For Jesus comes the easiest because we all understand we’re sinners. We all understand. We need his grace. And we all look to that. We don’t expect perfection out of each other, but what we do expect is that we encourage one another to seek his face. The book of Ephesians says this be diligent or be fervent in your love with one another. And the idea of the text and the scripture is saying this to us, that you, you sweat, you labor, you strive to keep the unity of the bond of peace for the sake of Christ within your local body.
Paul’s recognizing something for us as believers in this passage of Scripture that when you’re serious about sharing Jesus and you want to see God do big things within your own church, you’ve got to let go of self. And the way that you let go of self is that you let go of vengeance. You let go of anger, you let go of frustration, and you think about the good of what Jesus wants to do through your own community. If you’re serious. This evening or excuse me, this morning, we’re going to take communion. Communion, as Paul talks about in the passage of First Corinthians, is to be done in a place in our lives where we don’t. We don’t do it with sin. We’ll do it in a place in our lives where we recognize we need the forgiveness of the Lord, because this communion is all about his forgiveness. And we extend that forgiveness to the church, that God can work with us in unity. So the Lord can move through us. To see the beauty of Christ working in your lives. It’s about letting go of self. It’s about thinking about the needs of the church and what Jesus wants to accomplish in us collectively. You can’t have Christ moving through us without us.
And so Paul gives us the example and he says in verse two, listen, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose, meaning our goal is Christ and making him known in this world. We do it together. And then Paul goes on and describes for us it’s it’s not it’s it begins in the unity of the church, but the practical implications of how you begin to do this in your life personally. He says to us in verse five, he says, have this attitude in yourself, which was also in Christ Jesus. Have the same attitude that Jesus had. There’s a term that’s been coined from this passage of Scripture that’s called servant leadership. This is the only type of of leadership that Jesus actually affirmed to us. You talk about going into this world and living like Christ, and living for Christ, and representing and leading like Christ in this, in in this world, in your community, in those around you. The Bible’s thought of that is all about servant leadership, which is a completely backwards thinking from the way that we’re used to in our society. Right? I climb the pyramid, and when I get to the top, you bow to me. And while Paul is about to explain that when we talk about reaching this world for Jesus, it’s flipped. The higher you get in this pyramid, the lower you bring yourself to serve the needs of the community, to serve the needs of your church.
If you’re interested in what Jesus can do through you, you get with those who are weak and in Christ, you help them become strong. Jesus affirmed it over and over. He said multiple times within the gospel, he who is first shall be last, and he who is last shall be first. The Apostle Paul said, when I am weak, then I am strong. I would rather boast in the goodness of Christ, that his power may be made known in my life. Paul saying, to be effective in this world, to reach this world, that the way that Jesus has designed you to reach this world, it starts through servant leadership. Interesting thing about this passage of Scripture is that this passage of Scripture begins a song. You read beginning in verse five down to verse 11, Paul begins to explain this doctrine of Christ and how he lived his life out for us as a servant leader, that we may duplicate it in our lives. But Paul writes to us a song about it. I don’t know how it goes. I’m thinking maybe it’s like a Gregorian chant or something. He goes, how this attitude in yourself, which was also in Christ Jesus. Amen. Who, although he exists in the I don’t know, I don’t know how it goes, but it was a song which this is the unique thing about what Paul is writing here is that this song, many historians believe, didn’t come from Paul.
He was not a poet. Paul was like straight to the fact. Hit you in the heart. Let’s get over it and move on. We got something to do. And then all of a sudden you come to this writing of Paul and he’s writing poetry. Paul, you’ve got this sensitive side we’ve never seen. Right. And so the thought about this passage of Scripture is that Paul didn’t come up with this on his own, this this song that Paul is writing to us is actually a song that the church had begun to to sing in its early days, that people would understand what Jesus desires for their lives. And so you can imagine when Paul is telling us, if you’re serious about reaching this world with Christ, just remember this song. Uh, no. Right, right. It’s the song. It’s the song. Sing the song to yourselves. It sticks within your mind when Jesus is calling you into this world. Be a servant leader for him. When it becomes difficult, lower yourself that you may lift up the body of Christ and bless it, because when they are strong, we are strong. And you yourself are blessed. So this was important to the church. This was so important to the church that this has a song that they had been singing for years. Jesus has called us into this world. Jesus desires for us to make an impact in the world. How are we going to do this? Well, we’ve written this song to remind us from young to old, what Christ desires for us to do in this world.
Become a servant leader. Servant leaders. Primary interest for us is to simply ask the question, what can I do for you to see God’s best given to you in your life? Walks with an understanding that God has blessed us all with particular gifts and serving him. But the beauty of the gifts that God has blessed you with the purpose of a gift is to give itself away. And when you give that gift away, it blesses the lives of those around you for the sake of Christ. And so then Paul begins to describe, listen, there’s this song for us that’s so important. We sing it to remind ourselves of the attitude that we carry in this world for Christ. But this is the content of the song in verse six, who, although talking about Jesus, he existed in the form of God. Jesus was God come to earth. He says he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself. He took the lower form as a king. He took the lower form as a servant. Taking the form of a bond servant says, I’m being made and the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself. By becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, so that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
And what’s Paul saying to us in this passage? A couple of things I think we can gather for this when we talk about. For living out Philippians chapter two and one is this it comes at a sacrifice. When you desire to live for the Lord in this world and to make his goodness known in this world, you’ve got to be willing to sacrifice. You’ve got to be willing to lay yourself down. In fact, when you read Philippians chapter one and verse 21, I think is is one of the theme verses of this entire book. Paul writes to the believers and he says, for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. And the interesting thing for that, for me, when I look at this portion of Scripture and I look at chapter one and succinct with chapter two, is that there is no way Paul could ever get to chapter two and say the things in chapter two, unless he is adamantly believing what he says in chapter one. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. When I talk about being a servant leader for Jesus and making an impact in him, for him in this world today will never happen. It will never happen until you see the goodness and worth of Christ in your own life. Paul would have never communicated this to us unless he wholeheartedly believed in chapter one, that to live is Christ and to gain is just to see his worth before his face.
To live this way. According to the example that Jesus has given takes tremendous sacrifice. But when you consider the sacrifice that Jesus is talking about, for you see, I believe in our lives that we live for the Lord in two ways one, when we see his goodness and his worth, and then we see our identity in him. If I told you we’re all going to jump on a plane and we’re heading to, I don’t know, Detroit, I don’t know why we’re going. We’re going to Detroit. Okay. And then I tell you, you know, we got two choices here. Um, we can only fit half of you in one plane. Half the other. This one plane, the motor broke down five minutes ago. We just got found this dude off the street to fix it. You guys get on that one. Everyone else, we’re getting this new this new plane right now, okay? It’s brand new right off the lot. They’ve tested it. It’s good to go. All of us that get on that plane. When we ride that plane this way, we’re going to be riding that plane. Man, this is awesome. Right? We’ll be looking at our window at the other guys, and they’ll be freaking out. Oh the motor. Oh, yeah. There’s no confidence. What are we going to do? But it’s the same thing in your relationship with Christ.
When Jesus talks about this sacrifice without the confidence of his worth and his promises and your identity in him, the way that you serve Jesus is the same way you ride the plane. I don’t know if it’s going to work. I don’t know if it will fulfill what it’s called to fulfill. I just I kind of hope. And so the attitude you carry into the world. Doesn’t proclaim the goodness of God because you’re not even confident in yourself. But to rest assured in Jesus. Let’s see his worth in your heart and your life. Serving Christ in this way comes at tremendous sacrifice. In the way that it happens for us, is to take the time to honor his goodness in our world. And seeing the sacrifice that Jesus made for you. This is what it communicates to us. That in your darkest, ugliest. Most hopeless moment. Jesus still loves you. Being a servant leader for this world doesn’t say to people, you know, before I serve you, you have to prove that you’re worthy of my service. If that were the case for Jesus, he would have never loved you, and the goodness of God would have never been made known in your life. Because Jesus loved you in your sin, and he extended his grace to you. Great things happen in your life because of Christ. In your darkest, ugliest moment. Jesus still loves you and he goes to the cross.
And as a king who didn’t deserve any of it, he lays down his life for you. Living for Christ is about mimicking his example. The last thing that Paul tells us in these verses comes in verse three and four. And so we’ve looked at the example of Jesus, and we kind of jumped ahead a little bit. And now we’re going to bounce back and look at the practical part of living it out in our lives. It says this. Do nothing from selfishness, which is the opposite of servant leadership or empty conceit. But with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. God’s not about individuality. God’s about community. God’s not completely interested in what he specifically can do just in you, but interested in what he can do through you to bless the lives of others. The greatest miracle we say from time to time here at church is God has put His Spirit in you, that your spirit may magnify him into this world. What God does in your heart to transform you, to display his image is the the miraculous hand of God at work. Living as a servant leader in this passage of Scripture. It’s telling you to take off things that are self-focused and start asking questions and saying, God, what do you desire to do in us and through us? And Lord, where is my part in this that I can enhance the Body of Christ in pursuing you? And it requires us to take on humility.
Because it’s an attitude of service where sometimes we’ve got to lay ourselves down for the sake of Christ. You’re interested in reaching this world for the King. When you’re interested in doing what it takes to bring the message of the king to this world. I like this quote. It comes from Tony Evans. Faith is how we get to heaven, but your works is how heaven comes to earth. If you want people to see the goodness of God being displayed in you and through you in your life, it’s a matter of living this life for the sake of Christ that it becomes evident you are God’s spokesman called into this world to display Christ. Huh? This is how I’m going to conclude today. William just with five thoughts related to this. Five helpful thoughts for us as people in order for us to become good servant leaders in Christ. I was reading a story this week, going through some devotional thoughts, and I got to the life of Elijah and Elisha. Second Kings chapter two is where that story starts. If you know the story of Elijah and Elijah. Elijah was this incredible prophet follower of God. Miraculous things happen through him. There comes a place in chapter two when Elijah is carried off in a chariot of fire, and and Elijah is about to take over for the Lord and fulfilling the ministry that Elijah had been called to.
Elijah. The Bible tells us, comes before Elijah and asks him to go with him on a journey. They’re going on a journey together. And and while they’re on this journey, Elisha knows that it’s his last moments with Elijah. And the Bible tells us that as he’s walking on this final journey with Elijah, that these prophets of God or these excuse me, these false prophets continue to come out and they continue to say to Elijah, don’t you know, this is this is your last time with Elijah before he leaves? And Elijah’s response is the same time. I think it happens three times in the chapter and his response is the same every time. Shut your mouth. I mean, it was a little bit more harsh than that, right? But that’s the PG version. Shut your mouth. Right. I don’t even want to think about that. I just want to enjoy these final moments with him. And and the Bible tells us Elijah comes to Elijah and says, what? What one thing can I do for you, Elijah, before I go and and Elijah says, give me a double portion of your spirit, that same spirit that moves in you. I want to experience that twice as powerful. Give that to me. And Elijah says, okay, well, if you see me taking off in a chariot of fire, then the spirit and double portion will be given to you.
And Elijah is walking with Elijah. They get to the Jordan River, which is always a a place of transition for the nation of Israel. Elijah pulls out his cloak and he hits the river with the cloak and it parts, and they just walk across like nobody. Nothing’s going on. This is a normal day. Watch. Let’s go. Right. And I can imagine Elijah sitting on the other end thinking, man, if I want to go back home, I got to cross that river back. If you desert me on this, I don’t know what I’m going to do. And Elijah and Elijah go across the river. Gets to a place where on the other side of the river and in the Jordan, that. The chariot comes and Elijah is taken away and Elijah sees it. And he’s living now on this promise. He saw what God told him. If he had seen, he would have the double portion of his spirit. I’m not going to tell you. Where Elisha went after that. As a place that all of us have to go in our Christian faith. Bible tells us that Elijah picked up the cloak. He turned around and he went back to the Jordan River. A place that always stood as a time of transition for the nation of Israel. This is the place that Joshua crossed, and they built this monument to honor the Lord. As the people of Israel went to Israel for the first time, the Jordan holds a significant place in the hearts of Israel.
They they know as a place where they came to make a decision and following after God and just simply trusting in him. And Elijah comes to that river. And the quote in the Bible says this where is the God of Elijah? And Elijah gets ready to lift up his cloak and hit this river. And he. And right before he hits it, he says, where is the God of Elijah? And I don’t know about you, but I kind of read into the context when I saw that and I and I saw this Elijah or Elijah saying to God, God, I hope this works. Oh my gosh, I hope this works. I want to get back home. Lord, I know what your promises is, but I hope this works. And he pulls out the cloak and he hits the river and the Bible tells us the water parts. Well, the story for us. It’s the same story that continues throughout all the scripture. You ask yourself, why are these stories in the in the Bible? God’s always the hero in Scripture. It’s always about him. But he gives us story after story about the way he works in this world to tell us if God wants to do it, he’s going to accomplish it. And if God gives you the promise, he’s going to fulfill it. All you have to do is to be faithful to him.
We all come to this place in Scripture in our lives when we see the promises of God, where we’ve got to allow the rubber to meet the road. And the way that we get there in our world is if you fill your cup up with Christ, then you have the opportunity to share Christ. When your cup is full in Jesus, then you can offer to this world Jesus simple way of saying to us, take the time to grow in your confidence with the Lord. Come to understand who he is. And who you are in light of him. Unless you fill your cup up in Christ. You won’t have any of Christ to offer to this world. So fill your cup up in Christ. Elijah coming to that river. He saw the beauty of God working in Elijah. And so he comes to the river, understanding all that Jesus has done in him, living in the promise that God is going to continue to work through him. And so Elijah strikes the river. When you have confidence that God will do the job, you will enjoy the ride with him. Second is this don’t be simply a doer. Be a beer, right? I was going to. I think I spelled that in your notes and I put a hyphen there. It turns out that the word beer spells beer. So don’t be a doer. Be a beer. And this is what it means when you hear servant leadership.
Here’s here’s my tendency and my flaw as a human being, I immediately think, what task? What task does God want me to accomplish? What job do I need to finish? Let’s get in there. Let’s get in there and do the task. But do you know God isn’t a God that’s primarily interested in just accomplishing a task? What is interested is moving in your life. And so when you go into an opportunity to do something for the Lord, and all you seek to do is accomplish the task, you miss the blessing of enjoying the ride with with each other. It’s not about just being a doer. It’s also about being a beer. Beer, right? When Moses was called out by God, God repeatedly said to Moses, Moses, come up with me on the mount. Moses, come up with me on the mountain. Moses, come up with me on the mountain. And what God was saying to Moses in the Hebrew context is literally just be. Just be and enjoy that moment with me. Look at what I’m able to do in you and through you. It’s not just about the task. Listen, I can give you the Ten Commandments. We can get off the hill at any moment. But it’s about being. It’s about being with me. When we talk about servant leadership, it’s not just about, okay, what do you need done? Okay, I did it. See you later. It’s about stepping in to love that heart, to meet that need.
I mean, Jesus could have just come right down, died on the cross and got out of here, right? But he spent time with his disciples. He exercised for us, not about just doing, but also being present with them as they were doing. Enjoying and seeking after what God wanted to do in them and through them. Third is this remember, you’re not the Holy Spirit. You talk about being a servant leader, you’re not the Holy Spirit. Only one person has that job. And what I mean is that when when you come to serve someone, you can encourage them in the Lord. You can teach them in the Lord, you can help them in the Lord. You can even rebuke them in the Lord. But it’s not your job to guilt them. It’s not your job to convict them. It’s not your job to to to change them. Jesus has called you to serve them. And in serving him, you share the goodness of the Lord and you allow the Lord to work in their lives. Fourth is this respond in love for God in community. We talk about being servant leaders. You can’t do that without community. As a matter of fact, when you talk about the fruit of the spirit that God gives to all of us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness you can’t love without having someone to love. You can’t be patient without having someone to be patient over.
You need community. You need community for relationship. You need small groups in order to be open with. And God has called us to a community that we may exercise and display the beauty of Christ. Last is this to be a servant leader? Remember, you’re not perfect. If we. Can’t think of something. We did wrong yesterday. You probably lie about other things too. Right. Huh? We don’t come to church expecting people to be perfect. Matter of fact, when you weren’t perfect, it gives me more to do so for the glory of God to serve you right. We don’t expect people to be perfect. And we don’t hold you to the standard of perfection. But what we do desire is for you to walk in the light as he is in the light, and to be close to the Lord. And so whatever that takes in your life, God’s calling not just on the pastor of a church, but on each member, is to come alongside of one another as a community and encourage each other to that. You think when someone frustrates you, there’s nothing more in this world that you can do to display the love of Christ and to give them grace. And to say, you know what? I’ve been thinking about myself. And this verse obviously says, if I want Jesus to be made known in us, it’s not about me, it’s about us. It’s not about getting my vengeance because it doesn’t display Christ. It’s not about making you hurt the way that you made me hurt.
It’s not about guilting you to change you. It’s about giving you grace and love and saying there’s nothing more important in us than the community and unity. Walking in truth for the sake of Christ. If we want Jesus to move in us and work through us, it’s about letting go of self. And so whatever I hold on to, I’m letting go that Christ may work in us, and the beauty of him be made known in this world. Paul. This passage of Scripture for us. He writes a song. And we don’t know how it goes, so we can’t sing it any more. But the important part is, is that we see the significance of this passage. Since the early church began. They had a theme that they would gather and rally around together in unison, singing, clapping their hands maybe who knows? Or Gregorian chant. Whatever it is to say to ourselves, we understand that Jesus has called us into this world and we’ve seen the worth of Christ in our lives. And so when we ask the question, how do we do it? The answer is it’s about servant leadership getting beneath someone to lift them up, that they may see the beauty and worth of Christ in his own and their own life. If you desire. To make an impact in this world for Christ. You got to let go of self. Let go of self. And let Jesus move in you and through you.