Radiant Basics 2026 - Week 3 - Ben Widman

God's Word from Philippines this morning, so

I just want to give a warm welcome to Pastor

Ben. Well, good morning. Love that. You guys

respond. Well, it's great to be here with you.

I just want to give a little bit of an introduction

for myself just so you can get to know me a little

bit. I have a picture of my family, I believe,

from the slides. That is my wife and my 13 -year

-old daughter. My son just turned nine years

old. And I'd love to be able to say that that

picture was taken on the first try, but I hear

you guys have large families. And if you're like

my family, you're not perfect. And sometimes

to get a photo takes many times because your

kids are acting out of control. And when I was

at Radiant Juno last week, the thing I want to

encourage you in is that it's okay to actually

own the fact that we are a mess. And that's why

Jesus had to come down and save us. I want to

share another little bit of a story. I met Caleb.

17 years ago, up in Fairbanks, Alaska. This is

absolutely incredible, is that next year, Radiant

Fairbanks will be celebrating its 20th anniversary.

And I want you guys to hear that. We're circulating

right now as the lead elders amongst all the

Radiant churches. 20 years ago, this whole thing

started in a living room where God did a work.

And you guys are now the fruit of that work that

has begun. And one of the benefits I get to experience

as I'm going around to all these churches is

to step back and say, look what God has done.

This wasn't by any sort of plan or charisma or

anything that we could bring to the table. It

was Jesus doing a work through his people. So

I love that. And for me, it's special because

of the relationship that Caleb and I have to

finally come here to be able to preach. It's

just an incredible joy. Well, we've been in the

Radiant Basics. Maybe you grew up like I did.

I grew up in the church. I was homeschooled.

Some of the ways I would describe myself would

be I'm the Christian that everyone loves to hate

because I was the guy who did the right thing.

all the time. I was kind of annoying in one way.

And sometimes when you grow up with that, you've

read, you've been in the Bible your whole life,

and then you hear something like Radiant Basics,

where we're going to talk about things like the

gospel and talk about things like family and

being a servant. You can hear that and be like,

come on, can we like get into the meat? Can we

like go a little deeper than maybe the basics?

So what I was telling my church is I gave them

this example. from the coach Vince Lombardi.

Are there any Green Bay Packer fans? No? Okay.

All right. Fair enough. Maybe I shouldn't use

this example. So he was taking his team to the

championship. That's the point, right? Get your

team to the Super Bowl, win the Super Bowl. They

didn't make it. And so as they come into spring

training, I mean, these are guys who have spent

their entire life. playing football. So I imagine

if I were one of them, I'd hope my coach would

come in with some fantastic plan or play or something

to defeat the other teams. Instead, what he does,

and this has become infamous in many circles,

is he starts out training. He holds up a football.

He says, gentlemen, this is a football. Why would

he do it to these experienced players because

what he knew is if they were not experts in the

basics They wouldn't be able to do anything beyond

the basics The reason then that he became one

of the best coaches of all time wasn't because

of the fantastic plays that he did. It was because

he drilled the basics into his team, and that's

how they were able to win championship after

championship. You can study other coaches. You

can study other leaders. What's going to define

them is how well their teams know the basics.

And how much more should that be the case for

us as followers of Jesus? If you think you've

grown past the gospel, then you haven't grown

at all. The gospel is simple as believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, and

it is as deep as this entire book. Never give

up on going back to the basics, reminding yourself

who you are. And this is the thing that we say

at Radiant Churches. Because of who God is and

what God has done defines who I am and how I

live my life. So as we've gone into this series,

using that as kind of a framework, we start with

the gospel. We understand who God is. We understand

what God has done. We think about God as the

triune God, Trinity. God the Father, God the

Son, God the Holy Spirit. And from there... We

begin to understand our identity. So if you've

ever wondered, like, man, how do we get this

identity statement that we are a family of missionary

servants sent to be and make disciples? It's

based on the Trinity. Because God is Father,

I'm an adopted son and daughter of the King.

Because Jesus the Son came not to be served but

to serve, I then am a servant. Because the Holy

Spirit was sent into my life to empower me to

be on mission, I am then a missionary. So last

week, James Marchetti came here, and he preached

on this identity of being family. And I get the

privilege of being able to speak to you guys

on the identity of servant. So if you haven't

already, turn over to Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

And let me just pray for us before we jump into

the word. Father in heaven, God, I just beg you

right now, would you go right to the very deepest

parts of our being as we go into your word? Jesus,

I pray just over the people who are in front

of me right now, my brothers and sisters, for

any... visitor who is coming in, whatever walls

have been built up in their hearts over this

last weeks, maybe over their whole lifetime,

would you be loving enough to just crush those

walls down? Speak to us because we desperately

need it. Pray this in your name. Amen. We went

through the book of Philippians as a church last

year. There's three themes in the book. Paul's

writing for them to recenter themselves on the

gospel, to unify in Jesus, and to find joy in

every circumstance. And right at the center of

this book is the passage that we're looking at

today. So if you're wondering, like, man, how

do I... Understand the gospel. How do I find

unity in Jesus as a church? How do I find joy

in every circumstance? It comes right from this

passage, this beautiful hymn, as some expositors

have described this, a hymn describing Jesus

in the framework of a servant. Now, if you're

note -takers or you like to highlight, I just

want you to scroll down to verse 6. Look at verse

6 and 7. It says, 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. I want you to highlight in verse 6 the

word grasped. Grasped. And then I want you to

underline or highlight two words over, emptied.

The main point for today is simple. Empty yourself.

Empty yourself. Don't grasp. Instead, empty yourself.

When I was a young man, I liked to... read books

like Where the Red Fern Grows, and they all seem

to be set in the same time period, like the 50s

and 60s backwoods America. And I forget what

book or movie that I had watched, but it described

how you catch a raccoon, which growing up in

Alaska my whole life, I didn't really know what

a raccoon was, but I knew how to catch one. And

so you would have like some sort of a cylinder,

like a hollowed out stump or log or something

like that. And you'd put a shiny piece of glass,

some sort of trinket down at the bottom of it,

and then you have nails that are driven in at

an angle. The idea behind it is the raccoon reaches

its little paw down in there, and it's a scavenger.

And he grabs hold of that trinket, and the thing

with raccoons is they will not let go. They will

just hold on to that thing. The irony behind

it is... Because they're grasping onto it, they

can't pull their arm out without getting stuck.

If they only let go, they'd be able to escape.

Don't grasp. Instead, empty yourself. Spiritually,

we can be like little scavenger raccoons, ready

to grab what's shiny in front of us. And hold

on to it without realizing that it's causing

us harm. It's causing us to remain trapped. And

eventually it will kill us. Don't grasp. Empty

yourself. Jesus spoke to his disciples in Matthew.

And it's probably a verse that many of you are

well familiar with. It's easy to remember and

it's hard to live out. In Matthew 16, 25. Matthew

16, 25, Jesus would say, For whoever would save

his life will lose it, but whoever loses his

life for my sake will find it. Don't grasp. Empty

yourself. See, Paul sees a danger in the Philippian

church. Later on in the letter, he will describe

two women who are at odds with each other. They're

having arguments. There's dissension. When dissension

comes into a community, it begins to break people

apart. When we have issues with one another within

the church, our instinct is to grasp. It's to

pull back away because we don't want to... get

hurt anymore. We want to preserve ourselves.

The more you pull back, the more the fracturing

occurs. And before you know it, there's a church

split or the life that once was in the church

has now become death. So if we really want to

understand what it means to be a servant, how

we live out that identity, a servant doesn't

grasp, a servant empties themselves. So empty

yourself, Radiant Matsu. And we're going to look

at two aspects of this text. We're going to look,

first of all, at the destruction of grasping.

And then we're going to look at the power of

emptying. But if we're going to understand the

destruction of grasping and the power of emptying,

we have to understand what the stakes are. And

it fits right in with the family identity we

looked at last week. So if we just look at the

first two verses in Philippians 2. It says, so

if there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort

from love, any participation in the Spirit, any

affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being

of the same mind, having the same love, being

in full accord and of one mind. Simple way to

put this and what Paul is describing for them

is all that you have in Jesus. provides every

reason for unity. All that you have in Jesus

provides every reason for unity. And so Paul,

in many ways, he's using himself. He does this

throughout the whole letter. He uses himself

as an example to be able to encourage the church.

So he's like, man, if you have found any goodness

from a relationship with Jesus, complete my joy.

This isn't Him being self -centered. This is

him helping lead the church to understand where

they're going to find joy. They're going to find

joy in Jesus, and it's going to be found in how

they live that out in life together as they live

as a family. It almost be like me coming from

Radian Fairbanks, coming to you guys and saying,

Radian Matsu, complete my joy. By being unified

in Jesus Christ. Don't lose sight of Jesus. As

soon as you lose sight of Jesus, the cracks begin

to form within our family. Now, I imagine you've

been in organizations or you've been in churches,

let's say. Even this church, right? We have it

in our identity statement. We are family. I remember

talking to someone at one point describing this

identity of family. And they kind of looked at

me and just a smirk on their face like. Yeah,

sure. Everyone says that. Oh, we're a family.

Oh, yeah, we're so tight together. And it's like

this deep. Sure, we say we're family, but do

we actually live it? Do we actually live it?

This is the stakes, is our family unity that

Paul is talking about. If we're to go beyond

just this deep, saying we're family but not actually

living it, we have to walk in these other identities.

We have to actually walk as servants towards

one another. We have to be on mission together.

So just like Paul's joy is attached to the unity

of the church, so is our joy. When our unity

fractures, so does our joy fracture as well.

Jesus prayed over you. He prayed over the church

in his prayer in John 17. And he prayed for unity.

In John 17, 23, he said, I in them, and you in

me, that they may become perfectly one. so that

the world may know that you sent me and love

them even as you loved me. And what does that

perfect unity look like? Well, that's what Paul

describes. You're of the same mind. Our minds

are unified. We have a knowledge of the gospel

that's more than just head knowledge. It's more

than just facts about Jesus. It's a real knowledge

that penetrates down to the deepest parts of

who we are and it changes our life. You have

the same love. There's an ancient church father,

Marius Victorinus. He said this, what does he

mean by the same love? That you should have the

same love for one another that the other has

for you. Not a divided love, but a love embedded

in the life. In Christ. Paul emphasizing this

need for this kind of perfect unity then repeats

himself. He's like he's double underlining the

need for being of the same mind, of being of

the same love. So he says, be in full accord

and of one mind. He's repeating himself. He's

trying to help the church see what the stakes

are. When we understand what the stakes are,

then we can understand the destruction of grasping.

So let's look at the next two verses. Philippians

2 says, 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. One way I would sum up the danger

that Paul is looking at, our tendency to grasp,

is the danger of self -preservation. It's when

we put our preservation, our way of life, our

will, how we do things, the things we own, the

things we're responsible for, we see that as

our highest good. We see that as the ultimate

thing that needs to preserve and we'll preserve

it at any cost. So, Paul hits hard against this.

He's like, don't grasp for what's best for you.

That selfish ambition, that drive within us that

says, I'm the most important one. I have to get

ahead. And he's saying, no, no, no, no. Instead

of trying to get ahead, lower yourself. He speaks

against grasping for conceit. We're grasping

for your own status. We can be conceited with

how we rank. We can compare ourselves to those

who are in front of us or compare ourselves to

those who are behind us. It consumes us. It brings

anxiety into our life as we're constantly comparing

ourselves. This is why things like social media

is so destructive because it opens up the whole

world to us to be able to compare ourselves to

everyone. And Paul is saying, don't grasp for

status. He also says, don't grasp for your own

interests. He says, having your own interests

isn't a bad thing, but don't do it at the cost

of having an interest for other people. When

you become the top priority, you're walking the

road of death. And so he encourages them, instead

have interests for others. So like the church,

we can easily act like that raccoon, grasping

onto trinkets of this world that don't matter,

that will not last for eternity, thinking that's

our whole life, and we don't let go of it. Instead

of grasping onto Jesus, grasping onto what is

eternal. Let's move the example to something

a little more serious than a large rodent. The

destruction of grasping is seen in some of the

most awful events that we've seen in history.

Take the Holocaust. One of the major events that

started the Holocaust in Germany happened in

November of 1938. It was called Night of the

Broken Glass. Let me just read a description

of what happened. This was encouraged by the

Nazi party for people to go after Jews in their

local areas. From the Holocaust Encyclopedia,

it says this. They vandalized thousands of Jewish

-owned businesses. Thousands. They desecrated

Jewish cemeteries. They broke into homes, smashed

furniture, and terrorized Jewish families. Following

orders given by Nazi leaders, police forces and

fire brigades did not intervene to stop the destruction.

Policemen did not protect the Jews or their property.

Firemen did not put out fires in synagogues.

Hundreds would die. 30 ,000 men were arrested

and were sent to the death camps, to the concentration

camps. How could anyone stand by and let something

that awful happen in their community? Why didn't

anyone stop it? Self -preservation. My world,

my home, my family, my nation above anyone and

everything else. That seed of self -preservation,

of desiring that above anything else would lead

to... passively standing by, turning a blind

eye to the neighbor, allowing them to suffer

because I don't want to get in the way and I

want to preserve my own world. I tell my kids

sometimes when they're going at each other and

they're arguing, I'm like, just remember, arguments

start wars. Arguments ultimately lead to death.

It may seem small at the time, it's just them

going after each other, but you look at the seed.

And what sin does in our life, what happens when

we try to preserve our life above everything

else, it brings destruction, just like Jesus

said. If you try to save your life, you're going

to lose it. But if you lose your life for my

sake, you will save it. So I'm wondering what

you are grasping onto today. And maybe you're

coming in here. And you're wondering about this

relationship thing with Jesus. You are grasping

onto something, whether you like it or not. Or

as other people have put it better than me, you're

worshiping something. The question is, what is

it? And is it actually worth your worship? What

are you grasping onto that's keeping you from

a relationship with Jesus? What are you grasping

onto? If you're a follower of Jesus, I would

ask the question, what are you grasping onto

that's keeping you from serving others? What

are you grasping onto that maybe keeps you holding

your hand out to other people like, hey, you

can come this close, but no further. You can

be this much family to me, but no more. We've

got to be aware of the destruction of grasping.

And the way to solve that problem comes from

the power of emptying. So if we look at the next

few verses, in Philippians 2 verse 5, it says,

Philippians 2:5

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 and 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. So Paul, he instructs

the church. He instructs them, have the mind

of Christ. If you're going to live as a church,

if you're going to be the church, you have to

have the mind of Christ. Let's just sit for a

moment and consider this incredible reality of

what Christ came to do for you. He didn't grasp.

what was rightfully his. You see, we grab onto

all sorts of things and we don't even deserve

it. Like, we're kind of arrogant in that way.

Jesus actually did deserve. He could actually

claim superiority. He could claim ultimate status.

He is the interest of the universe because he's

God. He has the right to this. But what does

he do? He empties himself. He came down into

our neighborhood. He stepped into human flesh.

Instead of grasping for equality, he became unequal

by stepping into a disadvantaged place for you

and for me. Instead of grasping onto the form

of God, he took the form of a servant and stepped

into our broken reality. Of a king, he humbled

himself and became obedient. Instead of grasping

onto life, he died. And why would he ever do

that? Because of love. Because of love. Because

he knows exactly where you're at. He knows the

broken mess that you're in. He knows the broken

mess that I was in. And he would care so much,

he would love so much to come and die the death

that we deserved. And he would rise again so

that we could have access to life for eternity.

A scholar, David Garland, put it this way. He

said, since he humbled himself, how can they,

the Philippians, be proud? Since he took the

form of a slave, how can they seek to dominate

others? Since he accepted the greatest dishonor,

death on a cross, how can they strive after honors?

This is the kind of power that will change the

world. Look, I grew up studying history for seven

years and there's this cute little phrase like

those who don't study history are doomed to repeat

it. It's complete garbage. Because of sin in

our world, we will keep repeating history no

matter what because we're that broken. Trust

me, if we haven't figured it out after thousands

of years of trying to hack it out on our own

and we just keep coming up with greater ways

to destroy ourselves. We're not going to figure

it out. It's because we're grasping on to that

self -preservation. But what Jesus does in emptying

himself and bringing his love directly to bear

on our lives, that is the kind of power to change

the world, living in our identity as servants.

So this is what Paul does. It's so brilliant.

If you move a couple of verses later. Down to

verse 17. Listen to this. He says, even if I

am to be poured out as a drink offering upon

the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am

glad and rejoice with you all. He's looking at

the church and he says, I will give it all for

you to see your faith increased. Are you guys

willing to do that for each other? The people

who are sitting next to you, the people you've

been going to church with for maybe years, are

you willing to pour out your life to see their

faith increase? This is what changes the world.

When you get a group of people who have this

kind of mind towards each other, this is why

the church is God's plan. Jesus emptied himself

so we could come back into a relationship. So

we respond by emptying ourselves to glorify God

and to love others. So then I have another question

for you. How is Jesus calling you to empty yourself

so you can serve others? If you answer the first

question about what you're grasping onto, what

you need to let go of, Then you need to ask the

question, well, how is God calling me to step

in and serve and lift up my brothers and sisters

in Christ? And this is where I want to speak

directly to the men in the church. You set the

tone. You set the tone for your families, and

you set the tone for the church. If you go all

the way back to Genesis. You remember what Adam

was doing when Eve was going for the fruit? He

was standing to the side. He wasn't stopping.

He wasn't stepping up to lead. Instead, he's

preserving himself. And too much in my life,

in other men's life, this is where Satan goes

after you, is that self -preservation. When you

start thinking about my wants, my desires. And

you pull into yourself instead of leading your

family, leading your marriage, and leading in

the church. And so I'm wondering what you're

grasping onto, maybe. It can be all sorts of

things. We have so much self -interest in this

state, it's sick. Because we're so independent.

And we think our way of life is the most important

thing and we've got to maintain it and have this

death grip on it. Men, we have to step out and

empty ourselves for the sake of the gospel. We

have to empty ourselves. And this is the thing

I would challenge you. Are you treating the church,

are you serving the church in such a way that's

worthy of what Jesus would call his bride? Meaning

this. If you aren't treating the church in a

way that you would treat your wife or you would

hope for someone else to treat your wife, maybe

you need to rethink about how you're living your

life. Maybe you need to think about what you're

grasping onto. Because what I've found in my

life and in the life of so many people who come

into the church is they're like, I'm going to

grasp onto the things of the world, and then

I'm going to try and grasp onto Jesus at the

same time. And it doesn't work. Best case scenario,

you're going to burn yourself out because you're

trying to do everything at once. But most likely

what's going to happen is the church, the bride

of Christ, gets a short end of the stick. And

we can't do that. God has called us to something

greater. He has called us not to grasp, but to

empty ourselves. And it can seem completely daunting.

There was one point where... Jesus called my

wife and I into a season where we had to serve

someone. We had to take in an infant unexpectedly,

and it was for someone who honestly didn't deserve

it. It would be someone that is more like an

enemy than a friend. And when you leverage yourself

that way, at first it seems impossible, but when

you do it with Christ at the center, while you're

holding on to Christ and finding your identity

and your purpose and your power in him, it can

be the absolute best thing in the world. It's

the only way you can do it. And where we see

the beauty and the power of emptying is in exaltation.

So look at verse 9. Therefore God has highly

exalted him and bestowed on him the name that

is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bow in heaven and on earth

and under the earth, and every tongue confess

that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

In lowering himself, Jesus knew he would return

to the highest position. In giving up his status

as a king, he knew that every knee will bow and

confess him as Lord. In emptying himself, he

knew there would be joy set before him. And this

is why in Hebrews 12, Hebrews 12, we see a beautiful

passage. Where it says, looking to Jesus, the

founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the

joy that was set before him endured the cross,

despising the shame, and is seated at the right

hand of the throne of God. If we grasp onto everything

in this world, we lose it all. We have nothing.

But if we... ourselves, we get all that God has

for us. Consider this, when we empty ourselves

for God and for others, we will also be exalted,

not as the king, but as friends of the king.

Our privilege and status are held in Jesus, and

it's worth everything. It's worth emptying yourself

for. So instead of grasping for everything, Empty

yourself for God, his glory, and for the sake

of his church. Let me close this out just pointing

us to communion. We take communion every week

at Radiant. They do it at Radiant Juneau. They

do it at Radiant Fairbanks. I know you guys do

it here. I don't want you guys to pass over it.

The reason we do it every week is because it

centers us. It reminds us of what Christ did

for us. And when we think about Jesus emptying

himself for us, it's pictured perfectly in communion.

So followers of Jesus will take that bread and

they'll break it because it reminds us that his

body was broken for us. We dip it into the juice

to remember his blood was shed for us. It's a

powerful moment for us to remember everything

that God has done for us in Jesus Christ. So

what I want to encourage you in before you go

to communion is just take a few moments. Take

more if necessary. Consider what am I really

grasping on to? And maybe there needs to be a

time for you to go before Jesus and to surrender.

Say, I'm done grasping onto that. And then ask

the question, how are you calling me to empty

myself to serve others, to serve this church?

And if you're in that place where you've been

running for Jesus, maybe you have been emptying

yourself, maybe you're weary, maybe you're tired,

use this time. to remind yourself of where the

real power lies, which is in a relationship with

the king. He is with you, and he does love you,

and I would encourage you, run to the communion

table and find peace with him. Let me pray. Jesus,

what a profound miracle that you would do for

us, that you would step in my place. when I was

grasping onto all these trinkets of the world.

Thank you that you would come and you would empty

yourself out for me. Jesus, I pray that this

would not sit lightly in our hearts, but that

it would change us. That the truth and reality

of who you are and what you've done would change

us. that it would radically change us and it

would be seen in how we live our life. I pray

that Radiant Matsu would be known as servants.

Servants who are emptying themselves out, bringing

a real change to this world because of your love.

Father, I'm excited to hear of the good news

of what you're going to do through this church.

And as they move into a new location, I just

pray a blessing over Radiant. Matsu, Jesus. I

pray they would be blessed in their identity

as family and of servants and as missionaries

sent by you to change the world. I pray these

things in your name, Jesus. Amen.