A Theology of Jesus: Who is Jesus and Why Does It Matter? | Part 1

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

It is great to be at Awakening.

We're going to start a two-part series called The Theology of Jesus, who He Is, and Why It Matter.

And if you think theology, you know, various backgrounds.

I didn't grow up in the church.

I'd never opened the Bible.

Think of lots of other words like geology, right?

Ology study earth or sociology.

Theology is the study of God.

And we spent this year at Awakening examining the life and the teachings of Jesus.

And so what I wanted to do this week and next week was to do a theology, the study of God.

In fact, we might even be more specific.

It'd be called Christology, a study of Jesus.

Who is he, according to his greatest disciple?

And that's the Apostle Paul.

And the Apostle Paul happened to be, he wrote 13 of the New Testament books, had this radical conversion, but prior to that was a Jew among Jews.

Secular historian Will Durant, probably the biggest picture, he wrote the whole history, he says the Apostle Paul was the greatest intellect and the greatest mind of the first century.

And so you have this person steeped in Judaism, you have this great intellect, and then you have him being the one to take the gospel to the Gentiles or non-Jews.

And sometimes when you study theology, the basic way, if you've been to Bible school or seminary, is they take these very key passages about Christ and you study each one of them, and then you make principles of them, and it's a really good study.

But we're not going to do it that way.

What I've learned is each time the scripture teaches us about who God is, and specifically Jesus, it's in a context.

In other words, there were some problems, there were some struggles.

People were getting persecuted by the government.

Life was changing.

They had a lot of conflict within.

Jews hated Gentiles, Gentiles hated Jews.

The ethnic issues, I mean, it was on steroids the kind of problems inside the church and externally.

And yet it was that group of people that when they understood who Jesus was and what he did, and as they each began to follow him, their world changed because they changed.

And so we're going to look at the Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

You want to go ahead and open your Bibles.

And Paul finds himself historically in a real dilemma.

There's some notes, I really encourage you to pull those out.

I'll use them.

And he's in prison for what?

Talking about Jesus.

It's 62 A.D.

Nero will take over very shortly, if it's not a persecution like never before.

About 49 A.D., there was another emperor who literally persecuted and dispersed all the Jews.

And so Paul ends up on a missionary journey and he goes down by a I don't know where the river was, and there was a lady named Lydia.

And he shares that Jesus is the hope of the world, and Lydia comes to know Jesus and invites Paul into her home.

And as he does that, the kind of the whole, this is a Roman colony.

I mean, this is like they've got geographical arrogance.

We're a colony, we're Roman citizens, we have the same rights, all this stuff.

And so when Paul starts to talk about Jesus being this other Lord, at that point Caesar was being demanded to be called Lord or God.

So things are getting bad.

He ends up in prison with Silas.

They start to pray, they start to sing, the earth shakes, there's an earthquake, the bar doors come open, and this little church in Philippi starts to grow and make a difference.

And so Paul's writing a letter to thank him.

They gave him a financial gift through one of their church members Epaphroditus.

And he finds himself in prison, and there's two things going on.

And we're going to look at the passage that is most central, the big word incarnation, in the flesh.

God in the flesh, who is Jesus?

The clearest New Testament passage, Philippians 2, verses 5 through 11.

Philippians 2:5–11

But it comes out of a context where here he is in prison, and what he knows is they get extreme pressure from the government and persecution.

And he happens to know they got some conflict inside the church.

Some people are not getting along.

A lot of disunity.

And so he shares with them that his circumstances, even though they think it's really bad, you know, God's going to use it for good.

And he has this dilemma.

And his dilemma, chained to this guard, is okay, there's a good chance I'm going to die.

They're going to kill me for following Jesus and preaching.

But maybe not, and maybe I'll live a little bit longer.

And so follow along.

I want you to get the context because what we're going to study is not just about academically understanding Jesus is fully God, fully man, without confusion.

It's changed the course of history.

That truth comes out of a time where people are trying to figure out how do you do life.

Here's his dilemma.

He says, I know that it'll turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I shall not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness Christ even now is always shall be exalted in my body, whether by life or death.

Now listen to this.

For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Now think of that.

If I get killed, great, gain.

If I keep on living, actually, that'll be good too.

Well, why?

He says, I'm hard pressed from both directions, having the desire to part and be with Christ, for that is very much better.

Yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.

Convinced of this, I know that I'll remain on, continue with you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again.

So basically what he says is, you know, I've been torn inside, I've been praying about it.

Am I gonna die?

Am I gonna live?

If I die, how many Christians have you met who said, it'd be better to die sooner?

That's how clear he was on who Jesus was, the reality of heaven.

And to live, there's only one purpose.

I live for him, he lives his life through me.

And then he gives him this command only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Why?

So that whether I come see you or remain absent, I can hear that you're standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, in no way alarmed by your opponents, which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too from God.

Notice these early on pounding about unity.

And then here's a couple verses that a lot of Christians, we, you know, this is a little different from American Christianity.

For to you it has been granted.

This word granted means grace.

Like God has given a gift.

Not only for Christ's sake, to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now here to be in me.

So he says, you have this gift in a this little time thing called time for all eternity, not just to believe, but you get to suffer for him.

I don't the where's where's the raw?

Where's the yeah?

Hey! See, we don't think that way.

It reminds me of a dilemma that uh a young man, you know, everyone's starting to look like a young man to me, but he's 32-ish, maybe 33.

I'm in Germany.

This is uh 10 days ago.

Uh we partner with a group called Steiger, then in a hundred major cities around the world, and they reach the global youth that is literally far, far from God, would never walk into a church.

They do outdoor drama, they go to gay pride parades, they um uh where there's riots, they go, they have a heavy metal band that does concerts and and talks about the angst that's in life, they share Jesus, they pray for people, and God does miraculous things through them.

And we partner with them, and I went to, they bring their staff from all around the world, and I spent a week doing some teaching all morning and uh getting to know them.

Then we would meet with all their international teams from all the different countries and just kind of talk about strategy and how we can work together.

So we're there all week, and uh it's an amazing group of people, all very, very, very young.

All, if you saw any of them on the streets, you would probably not pick them out as followers of Jesus.

They came out from the streets, so they look like people have been on the streets.

And um, a young man, I'll call him Uri in case this would ever get into Russia or Belarus.

Uh, Uri had the number one band in Russia uh a number of years ago, and um had had a contract to do a world tour here in America, and he was a believer, and uh, you know, much like a couple popular bands, at the end of his uh big concerts, fill stadiums, everything, he would share his relationship with Jesus.

He met Steiger, went to their mission school for about three or four months.

God did something in his heart, and since then he has been full board with how do I reach the global youth in Russia and all Russian-speaking countries.

And um, they just passed a law in because of the war with Ukraine in Belarus now.

If two people are caught reading the Bible outside of a church building mandatory, three years in prison.

Uh, he happens to be a leader, so his would be much more years.

And three of his team, just I mean, sounded like eight or nine weeks ago, three of his team were caught outdoor sharing their faith, three years in prison, they're in prison now.

And I had taught kind of all morning, and you know, sometimes when you teach the Bible and you know you're older, he thought I had a lot more wisdom than I obviously do.

And he said, Chip, I know you have the answer to this.

Can I ask you a question?

I said, Sure, Yuri.

He said, I have three small kids, and um I lead the ministry in Belarus but all of Russia, and he gave us some specifics.

And he said, Um, I just don't know where to draw the line.

I said, What do you mean?

He said, Well, if I keep doing what I'm doing, especially how we're doing it, I'll get arrested and I'll get a minimum of three to ten years, and my my children won't have a father, and the ministry won't have a leader.

But I'm commanded and I long and I want to share the gospel, and so what should I do?

Should I do that and trust that God will be a good father to my children and lead the ministry through someone else somewhere, or should I figure out a different way and I'm gonna teach the passage rather than tell you what I told him?

And what I'd like you to think about is not just what you would tell him, but what do you see how that reframes your faith?

I was supposed to go there to help them.

I came away with whoa, gosh, Jesus isn't just a little part of your life.

It's not just like, you know, I hope he'll really help me, etc., etc.

And so what I want you to get, if you got your Bible with you, let's let's look at Paul's plea first for missional unity.

He picks it up, and in verse uh one and two, he's gonna say to them, in light of the external problems and especially the internal ones, he says, if therefore there's any encouragement of Christ, of course there is, any consolation of love, any fellowship of the Spirit, or any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintain the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

Do you hear that?

Same, same, united, one.

In other words, there's problems in the church, and he's trying to, hey, you know what?

We're gonna learn chapter four, there's a couple ladies that are at each other.

And this is what happens in families, in networks, and at work, and at churches.

When two people with strong personalities and are leaders, here's what happens: one of the leaders goes over here and talks to her friends or his friends.

You know, can you believe what they're doing here?

Can you, you know, my supervisor, is he a jerk?

I mean, right?

And you get a bunch of people, or you know, my husband, you know, like you go have coffee with some friends.

Just, I mean, what a jerk, and he's doing this.

And then over here she's talking about, you know, my wife, or you know, you know, you know, at church, you know, I'm in the small group and so and so.

And so we get a bunch of people that'll agree with us to attack them, and they get a bunch of people to agree with them, and it happens at work, it happens in churches, it happens in groups, and it's toxic.

And Paul understands there's a lot on the line.

He's wondering whether he's gonna live or die.

He's met the risen Christ, he understands God's agenda, and he understands this can't happen.

And so his first appeal is positive.

Think about how much love you've experienced.

Think of what God's done in your life.

Think of the fellowship and the connection you've had with people.

And then the command is hey, people, other-centered relationships.

You gotta focus on other people.

You gotta not think about yourself, don't go down this path.

And then he gives the command in verse three and four about how.

He states it negatively in verse three do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, let each of you regard one another as more important than himself.

Literally, it's stop being selfish.

See, at the heart of relational problems is selfishness.

I'm selfish, you're selfish, in this church, they're selfish, at work, people are selfish.

And I mean, we cover it like, you know, I want my way on my terms, on my timing.

I think my perspective is the perspective.

Any of you like that?

There's a problem, you think this is what he ought to do.

This is what's right, this is what's wrong, and all of a sudden you're the expert.

And so we we think people are less than, less intellectual, you know, less wisdom, less loving.

And so he says to them, stop being selfish.

Do nothing from selfishness.

And then the next word is empty conceit.

You know, sometimes you read that old King James Bible and you think, man, I'm alive, who can understand that?

The translation in that old Bible is do nothing from selfishness or from vain glory.

It's a very good translation.

You know what vain glory is?

Look at me.

Look at me.

Aren't I wonderful?

Look at how many likes I have.

Did you notice how I dressed?

Do you know how nice I am?

Me, me, me, me, me, me, me.

I'm a consumer.

What did Jesus do for me regularly?

I want to be the star of my small group.

I want people to know what I've done.

I'm gonna post all the pictures of how wonderful my life is.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna.

And you live in a world that is filled with vainglory.

You know what celebrities are?

Celebrities are people that we glorify.

They call it, they don't call it American humility.

It's American idol, right?

And and have you ever thought about what in the world is the appeal of reality televisions?

People will do things that aren't most of us looking, think, what a fool.

I mean, seriously.

12 good-looking guys who are gonna act like idiots for one girl that says you're out, you're in, you're at, you get a rose, you're good, you know?

I mean, really?

Or you got 12 or 15 really good-looking women that ought to have some level of self-worth who go, I'm just a fool.

You know, like this artificial world, like this is real relationship.

You think this is gonna work?

But anybody will do anything to what?

I'm on TV.

It's called vainglory.

And it's in the water system, and it's in your soul, and it's in my soul.

And we just learn to say it in different ways and in sophisticated ways, and we reframe it, and it is toxic and lethal for relationships.

And so he says, that's that's the negative.

So let me let me put it positively.

Look at verse four.

He says, Don't do anything from selfishness or empty conceit, but leech let each of you regard one another as more important than himself.

Don't merely look on your own personal interest, but also the interests of others.

In other words, what Paul is saying is, look, I've been at the pinnacle, right?

I'm the intellect of my day, I was the most religious person, I had fame, I'm a Roman citizen.

You know, he wouldn't say it, but I'm smarter than all of you, I have more education than all of you, he came from a wealthy family.

If all of that, and he says, all of that I consider as dung, or literally the word is poop, compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ.

That's chapter three.

And what he's gonna say is what I've learned is there's an upside-down kingdom.

And if you want love and if you want connection, and if you want joy, and if you want a life of meaning and purpose, the way up is down.

You descend into greatness.

It's considering others as more important in your group, in your family, in your marriage, at work, especially the ones you don't like, especially the ones that you think you're smarter than and better than.

You actively say their interest you put ahead of your own, and you say to yourself, that's nuts.

That's anti-American, that's anti-what makes the world go round.

You gotta look out for you.

This is about me, right?

The Apostle Paul is gonna say, this upside down, the way that God makes life work and love work and relationships work and meaning work and anything of value is the very opposite.

And then what he does, rather than appealing to guilt or get with the program or look at me, he takes the greatest picture in the universe of the Lord Jesus Christ, of what he did that reveals who he is.

Notice verse five have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus.

And then verses six through eleven are gonna say, what attitude did he have?

Who, although he existed in the form of God, put a box around that phrase, form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, underlying equality with God, but emptied himself, put a box around, emptied himself, taking the form of a bond servant, put a box around form of a bond servant.

And being found in appearance, put a circle around appearance as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

And you're saying, What's all this?

Boxes around here and lines under here and circles around that.

You're holding in your hands the greatest piece of theology about the person of Christ written in the New Testament.

But here's what I want you to remember.

Why?

This isn't just theology, this isn't just a study.

This is the answer to the dilemma of what do you do when you're torn between God's way and your way?

What do you do when there's internal conflict in relationships that really matter?

Like you happen to be married to them, or they're one of your kids, or they're your parents, or it's someone at work.

This has to do with what do you do when you're getting flack from the exterior that they're saying to you and treating you in ways that you can't be a follower of Christ unless you keep your mouth shut or you'll get canceled.

And down deep in your heart, you're more afraid of what people think than what God thinks.

And you might be a Christian, but boy, you hide it well.

Because at the end of the day, what really matters is does your life work for you?

So, how do you how do you help ordinary people like us live the kind of life like my friends in Russia and the Ukraine and Christians all around the world?

And he says, you know what, it's not guilding people to things.

Have this attitude in yourself.

And he says, This is the pinnacle of all examples, who, although he exists in form, the word is morphe.

And when we hear the word form, we think of it some exterior.

I used to do a little construction, and they would the form would be you put the wood like this and you pour concrete, or you create a form and it would be the outer part.

This word form means the very essence and nature of that which is described.

In the form of God, it means Jesus was fully, completely equal and God.

Although he had pre-incarnate glory, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, co-equal, he is a part of the Godhead.

Although he's in the form of God, he did not regard equality a thing to be grasped.

The word literally means he didn't think it robbery for him to step down from receiving that glory and to take on human flesh so that he could come and reveal to us how much we're loved and what God the Father is really like.

It says, notice not only did he think equality of God, but he emptied himself.

If you Bible students, if you've been to seminary, this is the big theological, the word is kenosis.

The word literally means to empty or to veil.

And what it means here is that Jesus in his pre-incarnate glory was worshiped.

And so he covered his glory so that when people saw him, they wouldn't just fall down and worship.

You might remember the passage in the Gospels where Jesus was talking to the disciples and he said to them, You know, none, some of you will not die without seeing the kingdom of God.

Jesus as king.

And it says, six days later he went up onto a mountain.

It's often called the mountain of transfiguration.

And his face is shining, as bright as the sun, his garments are wider than anything that could have been bleached.

Isaiah or uh Elijah shows up, Moses shows up, Peter is blown away, like, what's going on here?

A cloud comes down, they hear the Father's voice, this is my beloved son, listen to him.

And for years I thought, like, wow, like, I mean, maybe like this huge light came down from heaven on Jesus.

But the text says he was metamorphosized.

The word is in English, transformed.

Metamorphosis is the inside out.

The Apostle Paul uses it when he talks about don't be conformed to this world, be transformed.

Same exact word.

What happened is with these three who would all die for him and who would lead the church and would be the key leaders of the disciples and the apostles, basically that he went up on that mountain and he unveiled his glory, and it was the light coming out of him.

And that's what he veiled.

And that position of rightfully being worshipped and praised and honored, he stepped back and didn't think it robbery or any quality for a season to humble himself.

And notice how did he humble self?

Taking the form of the very essence of a bondservant.

Not just pretending, not posing, but doing what bondservants do, the very lowliest of all the jobs.

And a bondservant, when you come in, he has no rights, no privileges.

You do whatever the master says.

He says he's obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

And to the Romans, those, the dregs of society is who we killed on crosses.

The most painful way to kill people ever invented.

And to a Jew, a cross was someone, anyone hanging on a cross was cursed by God.

So he goes as low as you can go, even in the human world.

But he's come from as high as you can be.

Creator.

We'll learn next week that all things came into being through him, visible or invisible, thrones, dominions, rulers, powers, all things that have been created, how they were created, for him, by him, King of kings and Lord of Lords.

And what he did is he, Paul's gonna take this picture and say, here's the most dramatic picture of humility.

Have that attitude in yourself if you want a marriage that has intimacy, if you want to have a life that has purpose, if you really believe that you want to be loving, then this is what love looks like.

Love isn't a feeling, love isn't an emotion, contrary to Hallmark, romance novels, and most of all popular culture.

The goal of life isn't finding the right person.

The goal of life is becoming the right person who will attract the kind of person you really want in the future.

It's true.

I didn't pay him to say that.

I think that was a spontaneous moment of the Spirit of God.

See, what Jesus described is this is what love looks like.

And he descended, and then notice, notice, he takes all the initiative in this.

Then notice the text takes a dramatic turn.

Verse 9, put a parentheses around it.

It's called a purpose clause.

For this reason.

For what reason?

Jesus leaves heaven, takes on a human body, and notice in the likeness of men, some of you architects, you schematic drawings, we get a that's the word in Greek.

The schema.

In other words, he appeared as a man.

And here's the only difference.

He was fully, fully human, yet without sin.

And so he has this, the theologians call it a hypostatic union.

Perfect humanity, undiminished deity, in the person of Jesus Christ, in one body forever.

And at this moment, he is at the right hand of God the Father, seated, making intercession for you.

And this wasn't sort of a little moment.

When you meet him, if you're a follower of Jesus, you will meet him in a resurrected body, and you will be able to see the holes and you will see the hands on his side because his perfect humanity and his undiminished deity is a forever moment.

And he did that for you and for me and whosoever would believe in him.

Therefore, God highly exalted him.

When God sees proud, selfish people, he crosses his arms and steps back and says, You want to do your life, your way, about you, high control, go for it and see where it gets you.

And when he finds humble people who are willing to put the needs of others and willfully choose to do what often we don't feel like it at all, God highly exalts him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, result, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow.

Those in heaven, angels.

Those on earth, all people of all time.

Those under the earth, demonic spirits and powers, and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God.

See, when the apostle Paul is looking at what's at stake to this little Philippian church who had a lot of esteem because of their city, it's kind of like we're in the Silicon Valley.

It's the richest place on the world.

We're the innovators, we are cool, we write code, we change the world.

You think we have any geographical arrogance?

The smartest people in the world come here.

We be cool.

And I'm one of them.

And people don't know it, but I got an idea.

I'm gonna go public someday.

I know only one out of ten startups make it, but bo.

Down deep I know.

And I love Jesus.

I want Jesus to make me happy, I want Jesus to help me find the right person, I want Jesus to give me a happy marriage, I want Jesus to give us some kids.

I'm hoping Jesus will give us a second house too, and of course I'll be generous with all that.

I want Jesus to really, really, really, you know, when I'm a big star and I have zillions of followers, I don't want millions, I don't want billions, I want zillions of followers.

I'm gonna say, it's all about Jesus.

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

We are so deluded.

God says to those Philippians, there's a lot of pressures, and it's easy to shut up and be silent and kind of have a private Jesus relationship, but we've been commanded by that one who came and gave his life for us and rose from the dead to make sure every single person that breathes on this planet both sees and hears the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is the power of God to salvation.

And there is no plan B.

It is us, my church.

And the word church means us believers, not buildings, not organizations, it's us.

And secondly, the only way they will ever understand the reality is not by what we say or our buildings or all the cool stuff that we can do on the internet and videos and podcasts.

They got to see us love each other.

They got to see us love each other in ways that are radical and sacrificial and costly, in ways that we lay down our lives for one another.

That's what I got to see in Germany and the Ukraine.

The young lady who led the ministry in Ukraine.

Her parents are here.

Her husband, because of another issue, was needed to get out of the country, all of her children but one.

And we met with her team, she goes, I can't go.

So what do you mean?

I mean, this is your family, your parents, and you could get out.

Of course.

The gospel has to go forth.

We're at war.

We're in bomb shelters.

We've got community groups.

We're seeing young people who are in despair and have no purpose and no hope all across the country.

They're coming to know Jesus and we're loving them and their lives are changing.

Of course I want to be with my husband.

Of course I would like to be in America.

Of course, of course, of course.

How can I go?

Because to me, to live as Christ and to die is gain.

That's not the American Jesus make my life work out.

That's not, oh gosh, I feel really persecuted.

I I I said I I believed in an absolute truth, or I said something, and everyone said, oh, shame, shame, shame, politically correctness, shame on you.

And we cower.

Instead of kindly, lovingly, not angrily, you have beliefs, I have beliefs, we all do.

Um I believe in one who changed the course of the world.

Uh he was the most loving person in all the world and has become one of the most hated.

He changed world history.

What he teaches is what I follow imperfectly.

But we lay down our lives for one another.

You give your time away, you give your money away, you give your life away.

Your life isn't about you.

See, that that verse three, do nothing from selfish or empty conceit.

That's just the me.

That's the consumer culture.

And the thing is, it doesn't deliver.

God's grace, this isn't like the feud, the proud, the marine Christians, get with the program.

This is, if I could picture, I don't mean to be irreverent, but if Jesus is sitting on the in the throne room of the Father, he is leaning forward and looking at you and saying, My way's best.

Do you want real life?

Do you want this faky stuff, this crap that you're following?

Do you want to just keep doing the same things, seeking for yourself, you know, playing the same games, telling, telling me that you're too busy.

I have relationships and meaning and purpose, but but here's what I tried to show you.

In the divine economy, Jesus goes down so the Father could exalt him.

And he says, That's how it works for you.

What we want is we want God just to make us go up.

And he goes, Well, here's how it works you must descend into greatness.

You need to consider others as more important than yourself.

You need to think not just you think on your interest, but also on the interest of others.

You need to look at your time and your gifts and your money and this little thing called time inside eternity and say, What do you want me to do?

The worst thing in the world is not that my three kids would not have a father for 10 years.

The worst thing in the world is not to get arrested.

The worst thing in the world, he just looked at me, and I mean, uh what was scary was he, you know, because I'd been there for a while and I know it's shocking.

I look older than 40, but I really am.

Uh you know, he just thought I was this kind of wise person who's been around.

Well, the been around is the accurate part.

But he he asked me this question, like, should I have strawberry ice cream or chocolate ice cream?

And whatever I told him, it'd be okay.

Should I die?

And it was such a matter of fact, I came home thinking, Lord, I don't know what the big agenda was.

And I I'm I'm glad that we were able to help them some.

But as I rubbed up next to those believers, it was just like a purification of my own faith.

It was like a get, you know, because I'm like you, right?

You know, I want to love Jesus with all my heart and be comfortable and be healthy and be upwardly mobile.

And I've, you know, I got four grown kids.

I want them all to be happy.

And I've got 12 grandkids, I want them all to be safe.

Comfort, safety, me.

That's the exalt, exalt, exalt.

Now, God's a kind and loving God.

But the idols of comfort and safety and me and self-focus are a recipe for superficial Christians who nod their head about the things of Jesus and whose lives have little to no impact.

Because the followers of Jesus that changed the world are the followers who don't consider themselves more important than others and who ask with honest hearts what would you have me do?

Regardless of the price or regardless of the consequences, I want I want to give my life away.

And so in a church like this, you know, I'm I don't some of you are in the process of doing that, and right?

It's baby steps, it's incremental.

We we just, you know, I've been at this 50 years, and I was sharing in the earlier service.

I had a sort of some prolonged time, you know, away with the Lord and um and left to myself, you know, I'm in my old days, I screamed and yelled and got angry at people and you know, used less than five fingers waving at people who cut me off in traffic.

You you'll get that in a couple minutes.

Um and over time God's changed my life.

But inside, you know, I've just I had a couple days alone with the Lord, and it was just like, how after 50 years of walking with you internally, how I so still, gosh, am I thinking, I want life my way, I want to be in control.

You're asking me to do some things, that just feels like too much sacrifice.

And I'm so bombarded by the comfort of American Christianity that I just have to fight it all the time.

I just have to take steps with my money that are bigger than the steps I used to take.

I just have to take steps with my time that are bigger than the ones I used to take.

I just have to go to places around the world that are a little bit more dangerous than I'd like to at this point, because kind of had this grandfatherly deal.

I like to see all my grandkids grow up.

But you know what?

I really want is my grandkids to have the kind of faith that basically, whether I live a long time or not such a long time, I want my grandkids going.

You know what?

My grandpa was 69 years old, man.

He was trucking.

He was, he was, he was, he was going for the next mountain.

I want to be like that.

And so if I get three years or 10 years or whatever God gives me, I would rather become who God wants me to become than to do and enjoy some things that I think from my little world will really make my life work out.

How about you?

The application of this great passage is what I love, is he just doesn't leave us with these great truths that he's fully God, that he's fully man, that he has this union, that he humbled himself, that he rose from the dead.

Look at verses uh 12 through 16.

He says, Since this is how life works, if we choose to go down, God will exalt us because the way he did it with Christ.

So here's the application.

So then, and notice he's not angry at anybody.

So then, my my beloved or dearly loved children, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence.

Work out your salvation.

Notice it's not work for your salvation.

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

For it's God who's at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

In other words, have a reverential feel of like, wow, is my life counting?

Am I doing what he wants me to do?

And then this is one that my wife will say, Chip, I'm gonna remind you of this.

Do all things.

All things without grumbling or disputing.

Well, why?

So that you could prove yourselves to be blameless.

That means holy.

Holy in what we rot watch, holy in what we think, holy in our sexuality, pure before God, pure before men.

That you could be blameless and innocent, children of God, above reproach, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among who you appear as lights of the world.

Literally, the word is luminary, stars, the kind of people that they would see you and even with your imperfections would say, someday, someway, I want to be like you.

You've shown me the truth.

I was bombarded by all this stuff and all this culture and all these voices, and everybody telling me all these kind of things, and then I met you and the way you lived and the way you loved, it showed me.

There's life because you showed me Jesus, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ, Paul says, I may have cause to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.

Basically, you Philippian church, there's a good chance I'm gonna die before any of you.

But it'll be all worth it if you become the kind of Christians that have the attitude that was in Christ Jesus.

What's that look like for you?

And maybe you're visiting and maybe you think, you know, that part you kind of went pretty fast on every knee's gonna bow and every tongue's gonna fast.

That happens to everybody.

It happens voluntarily while you're living when you trust Christ as your Savior.

You can say, I don't believe in any of this Jesus stuff.

You don't have to believe it.

You don't have to believe in gravity either.

Just step off about a 15-story building.

You can believe in gravity, not believe in gravity.

The results are roughly the same.

You don't have to believe in Jesus in this life, but you will bow your knee, you will confess him as Lord and King, and then he will say in his graciousness, there's only two kinds of people in all the world.

Those who say to the Father, Thy will be done.

And those to whom the Father says, Thy will be done.

We can have our own way, we can reject Christ.

He's not a God that forces relationship, he loves us.

So I would just encourage you to say yes on this side of eternity, that you might spend forever and ever and ever and ever with him and live for him now.

Lord Jesus, thank you for bringing this group of people in this room on this day.

And thank you that what the Apostle Paul spoke to that little church in Philippi is true of us.

And I I confess to you, I'm I'm still on the journey.

But being older than most people, I can say that as I have by your grace chosen to break setting my mind and my heart all about me and considering others more important than myself, you have given a life that's truly life.

Lord, I pray for uh anyone here that might need to just say, Lord, will you forgive me?

I don't understand all this, but I wanna I want you to be my savior.

And I'm asking you right now, make that really clear.

And there's people here I'm sure that you can talk to.

Lord, help us to be the kind of followers of you who have the attitude of Jesus, that you might lift us up and exalt us in ways that bring life to us and through us to others.

In Jesus' name, amen.

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