Philippians Series Pt. 4 - Young Adult Pastor Jared Farley - September 29, 2024

Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.

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Thank you for listening.

All right, well, good morning, church.

I'm excited to preach to you today.

I've learned a lot from this passage.

We're just going to be continuing our series in Philippians.

So if you have your Bible, I'll have some stuff on the screen for us as well, of course.

But Philippians chapter 2 is where we're going to be at.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

We're just going to be in those first 11 verses.

But before we get there, I always like to connect my passage and the truth of what I'm learning to some real life examples.

And so something I've found out over the years is that there's usually two types of people in any relationship.

Okay?

This can be a marriage, this can be a dating relationship, this can be a friendship, anything, right?

Two types of people.

And I break them down into two ways.

There's one type of person who's always willing to share the food that they have.

You with me?

Right?

Some of you in the room, you go to a restaurant, you sit down, or you're at home, you have your plate of food, you're ordering something off the menu, and you're thinking, man, this is an incredible moment because I'm gonna order what I want to order, but then I also see some other plates around the table that I'm gonna get to pick from.

Right?

Like, like not afraid to use the fork to just reach across the table and grab something else that you might want.

And then, right, so there's that type of person.

And then there's people like me, who, when I go to a restaurant, I order what I order because that's what I want to eat.

And just to be transparent with you, I don't want to share anything that's on my plate.

Okay?

Like I ordered this, right?

If I wanted something else, this is my logic.

If I wanted something else, I would have ordered that something else.

But because I ordered this, I'm expecting this, all of this, to eat it, okay?

Right?

That's my confession.

So two types of people, right?

Those are the two types of people in the room.

You might be nudging who's ever sitting next to you, right?

This might might come true later on when you eat today.

Uh but I'll tell you what, I have to admit as well, I've grown a lot in this area because there's one person in my life, uh, a tyrant, if you will, that uh always demands my food.

Okay, and I've got a picture of this person on the screen right here.

From the youngest age.

From the youngest age, my daughter, right?

I mean, that's a donut, right?

I love donuts, and so does she, apparently, right?

From the youngest age, I've had this monster staring at me, grabbing and reaching for my food.

Okay, it doesn't stop there.

As they get older, it just gets a little more aggressive.

I I've got another uh example or moment here that just just happens even more, right?

This this was not staged, this happens regularly in my household.

We stopped at Brahms, of course, a favorite of ours.

And uh the ice cream, right, was was undeniable.

And so she you know, wanted her own cone.

So she's gonna get that sooner than later.

Alright, so she just wants this food, right?

I've got these big brown eyes that just are staring at me every time I'm taking a bite of something, and she knows, right, that usually uh I can't resist it, right?

And so a lot of times a tactic in our household is uh we we might take turns eating something and hiding in the bedroom, you know, where she's not there.

So uh so we can enjoy a few bites of food without having to share.

Um and so I I've had some chances to grow in this area of sacrifice and service.

And if you're like me, and I think you are, many of you, and many of us in the room, have opportunities all the time to grow in an area of sacrifice, to grow in an area of service, to grow in an area of what we would call today what we're gonna look at as humility.

To say, you know what, there's moments that God gives us all the time in every area of our life to take an opportunity to say, you know what, I'm gonna set aside something that I prefer, something that I desire, to take interest in the other person.

But the challenge is for us, we often miss these opportunities.

The challenge for us is in our in our own fleshly ways, we fight against the opportunities that God gives us.

Right?

That we're often more consumed with our own preferences, our own desires, our own needs, to the detriment of that around us.

And so the internal battle that happens within us is a real issue, a real problem that we need to face.

And today in our passage, Paul is actually gonna give us the answer.

He's gonna say, Yes, I realize that you have these internal battles that you don't want to naturally sacrifice.

Our tendencies are not to naturally give away to others, but here's how we can actually live that out.

So if you're with me, we're gonna start right there in Philippians chapter 2, verse 1.

Philippians 2:1

And so I'm gonna read off some of the scriptures here, and we're gonna stop along the way, so I'm gonna take this little chunks at a time, just so we can get the full weight of Paul's argument here.

And so here's where we're gonna get to, and we're starting here in verse 1.

This is what it says.

I've got it on the screen as well.

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, let's pause there just for a second.

So Paul, at the beginning of chapter two, is launching into an argument here.

He's launching out from the first chapter, right?

We talked about a lot of those themes the past two weeks, but now he's gonna get into a point where it's more practical application.

So Paul's actually here gonna tell us very soon how to start living what we would say is our theme worthy of the gospel.

What is a way that we can begin to do this even more directly?

And so Paul's gonna tell us, but first he wants to remind us of some things that we have in Christ.

So when you look at the passage here, and if you're taking notes, you might want to circle or underline the word if.

If then.

If any consolation, if any fellowship, if any affection, Paul actually here doesn't really mean if, because he's actually kind of begging the question.

So Paul is asking something that he already knows the answer to.

So this word if would be better translated as since or because.

So the idea that Paul is getting at is since there is encouragement in Christ, since you have consolation of love, since you have fellowship with the Spirit, right?

He's reminding us of some of these things that we have in Christ, that we have number one, encouragement in Christ.

That if you are a believer in Jesus, you have this fact that you are found in Jesus.

And so the idea is should anything encourage you, should anything lift your spirits more than being found in Jesus.

This should be a constant source of joy for us, that we know Christ.

Not that we know him, but that he actually knows and recognizes us as well.

He says, since we have comfort in his love, the idea of consolation here, that's what it means, that we have comfort, that it's provided through us through the love of Christ.

It's comforting to know that in this moment, if you have trusted in Christ, that Jesus, God, loves you as much as he ever will.

There's nothing more that you could do to earn God's love.

There's nothing that you could do to earn less of God's love.

That's the beauty of the sacrifice of Jesus.

That right now, in this moment, that love can be so overwhelming in your life that it should provide you comfort.

That he says, since we have shared in fellowship with the Spirit, that the Holy Spirit actually lives in us, takes up residence in our body.

There's no nothing, uh no other closer fellowship that we can have.

And then we also share in the affection and the mercy.

So, right, you get the argument.

Paul here is saying, okay, before I get to the practical stuff, before I tell you how to live out your life worthy of the gospel, remember these things.

And then in verse 2, if you follow along with me, this is what he's gonna say.

Since you have all these things, verse 2, make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent, on one purpose.

Paul is gonna start into his commands here.

He's gonna say something here to say, hey, if you do this, right, if you actually start to do these things, then you can make my joy complete.

He is concerned with a key feature that we're gonna see in this passage, and that feature is unity within the body of Christ.

Paul is gonna link unity in how we get along with one another and how we treat others to the joy that he's saying he wants to see completed.

As a pastor, it makes sense that you see the words here.

Uh think the same way, have the same love, united, intent on one purpose.

These descriptor words here all describe unity.

Like if we find people that are thinking the same way, have the same love, they're united and they're intent on one purpose, you're gonna find unity.

Right?

There's no question about it.

And so Paul is saying, as a pastor, he longs for the church to be unified, and it makes complete sense that any pastor that's worth their salt is concerned about the unity of the body.

Paul here is telling us that for us to be unified, we need to have the same mindset.

Think the same way.

The idea is that envy, rivalry, and selfishness will destroy the unity that we should find within a church body.

Paul is redirecting people to get their head on straight, to remember their common mission, their common identity, and this comes from pursuing the humility of Christ.

And we're about to see very clearly what Paul is going to mean by that.

But the point here in verse 2, I think, overall is that Paul seems to point out that when any issue becomes more important than the gospel of Jesus, then unity is at risk.

Let me repeat that.

When any issue, no matter how great or small, no matter how good you think it may be, when any issue becomes more important than the gospel of Jesus, his life, his death, his resurrection, his forgiving nature, when any of that becomes secondary, then unity is in danger in the church.

And we're about to see that very clearly.

Move on with me to verse 3 and 4.

A passage that many of you have maybe memorized, maybe you know this, one that's very challenging to us, but nonetheless, let's take a look.

It says, Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility.

Consider others as more important than yourselves.

Everyone should look not only to his own interest, but rather to the interest of others.

And so we see here in these few verses a further description or depiction of what it looks like to live with one purpose.

Christ-like humility, Paul is saying that we must pursue that with our actions.

You might remember back in chapter 1, Paul spoke about preachers who were preaching out of envy and rivalry, that they were doing things for their own benefit, they were doing things to stir up Paul and his time in prison.

And so Paul seems to point back to that, but to say that as a church, we should completely avoid this attitude that rivalry will divide us in terrible ways.

Paul is doing all he can to challenge us to ruthlessly eliminate any forms of pride, envy, and rivalry from among ourselves.

That we should seek the glory of Jesus over our own glory and our own preferences.

We should rejoice when we look around us in our city, in our country, in our world, when God uses others to also advance his gospel message.

Paul is giving us a renewed mindset, a renewed way of looking at the world.

He's saying, do nothing.

He's saying, take no action out of this attitude.

And so, based on just that verse in verse 3, you might ask, well, well, Jared, I'm not sure.

Like, of course, what can I do to think about if I'm actually doing things out of selfish ambition or conceit?

Well, some easy, I say easy, some natural questions that we might want to begin to ask ourselves to evaluate the body of Christ, to evaluate our own motives and actions and intentions.

Some of those questions might be, man, do I find myself competing for people's approval?

Do I find it difficult to rejoice in the success of others?

Do I find myself seeking positions of power and prestige?

Do I think I am superior to others?

Do I think my way of doing church is the only or the best way?

Am I concerned about the needs of others?

Am I willing to give up my own preferences, my own desires, so that others may join in and be included?

Alright, these are the natural questions that we must ask from this passage.

Is that here's the truth there will never be unity in the congregation in the body of Christ apart from people walking in humility.

Paul's very clear on that here.

And so we do this, we walk in humility by modeling what this passage says, that we must be sensitive to the needs of others.

Look at verse 4.

Right?

He gives us a command.

He says, everyone should look.

Everyone should look, right?

If you're looking for something, let's say you've lost your keys, right?

You're gonna intensely look and search for your keys or your wallet or fill in the blank with whatever it is.

So in my mind, this is the idea that Paul's getting, right?

Is that, man, to actually begin to do this, we've actually got to lift our eyes, take our focus and our gaze off of ourself and our own priorities, and begin to actively look around us and be interested and actively involved in serving the needs of others.

We all have a natural tendency to look inward, to be more consumed with our own self, our own desires, our own needs above others.

And so here's an idea that you probably heard before, maybe.

It's a quote from C.S.

Lewis.

He says this humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less.

Humility is not a self-deprecation of your own life, not thinking your needs aren't important, right?

Paul doesn't say never think of your own needs, because if our needs aren't met, then it's gonna be pretty hard for us to help others as well.

But what he's beginning to try to say is just thinking of yourself less.

So in any situation, any moment, any opportunity that you have, to try to focus on others.

A humble person thinks of others, but an arrogant, self-absorbed person only thinks of themselves.

Here's another quote that I find helpful from John Stott.

He says, at every stage of our Christian development and at every sphere of our Christian discipleship, pride is the greatest enemy, and humility is our greatest friend.

We know elsewhere in the Bible it says that God opposes the proud, that God is actually actively working against people who are consumed with their own needs and their own desires.

And yet he says, the humble, he lifts them up.

Therefore, for the good of our souls, for the unity of our church, and for the benefit of a watching world, we need to grow in humility.

Jesus connects this discipline of unity to one of the greatest things a watching world can see.

You know, elsewhere he says, people will know my love by how you love one another.

Jesus says that when people look inward at our church, they can tell pretty quickly if Jesus is actively working by how we're caring, loving, and serving one another.

By how we don't do anything out of selfish ambition, by how we consider others as more important than ourselves, by how we are sensitive to the needs of others around us.

Our world does not need churches that are standing above, high and lofty, shouting from a megaphone about the brokenness and the wrongs of the world.

Instead, what this passage I think is saying is that our world needs people who enter the brokenness of people's lives and will walk humbly beside them.

Our world does not need a church that is full of selfish ambition, but one that is emptying itself of pride and being filled with the humility that comes from recognizing who we are by the grace of God.

This is an attention that we need to constantly give this attitude in our life.

And so if we stop there, right, if that's where the passage stopped, that would be uh one thing, that would be pretty intimidating.

Because if you're like me, when you read a passage like that, you think, man, there's no shot I can do any of that.

And for most of us, if we're honest with ourselves in our daily interactions, we probably fail at that couple verses quite often.

And I think Paul knows this.

And so, right after he gives this command, Paul is actually going to redirect us to an example, the perfect example of humility, and remind us that, man, you actually can't do this on your own, but I'm gonna give you the power to do it.

And so here's what happens in verse 5.

Look with me.

He's gonna say, now, adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus.

Let's pause for a second.

Here we're gonna transition again, as I just told you, that there's an incredible passage of scripture here that actually, uh, when you read about church history, this next few verses that we're gonna read was actually an early church hymn that they would sing.

That when believers would gather together, they would sit around the table, take the Lord's Supper, fellowship together, and they would sing these next verses that we're about to read.

Singing, oftentimes, in early church history, was a reminder of great foundational doctrines of the Christian faith.

Right?

This is how they would remind themselves, and this is how, again, we should model today that when this hymn was sung, they were reminding themselves about Christ's example.

They were reminding themselves about the incredible truths that we find in this passage.

And so we're gonna start to see very quickly why Paul wrote and penned this example here.

Paul says in verse 5 to adopt, some of your translations might say to take on.

To, I like this phrasing especially, some of your translations might say to have the same mind.

So all these are pointing to the same way, is that Jesus is actually the perfect example and the perfect embodiment of what we just studied.

In verses three and four.

So as a result, get this out uh of adoring Christ, of emulating his behavior, we as a church can become more unified.

I want you to write this down if you're taking notes as well, that this is a pattern to follow, but also a reminder of the power that we possess.

Not only do we look at the example of Jesus, but we realize that he actually, by his death and resurrection that we're about to read about, empowers us to live this out on a day-to-day basis.

We need the example of Jesus, but more than that, we need his death and resurrection because we fail to serve God and others perfectly, but Jesus died for people just like that.

And so we're about to see this exact attitude that Jesus has.

And so I want to help us here think in terms of what we're about to read.

So there's four basic movements that happen within these next couple verses, and I've got a picture on the screen here.

So it's it's really uh forms itself in a V shape, okay?

And so you're about to see as we read this passage, this is the flow of the passage.

So you start at the top uh left here, so there is an emptying, and as you read the passage, we're gonna see about the incarnation of Jesus.

We're gonna talk about at the at the bottom of the V the crucifixion, and then the passage is gonna end by ascending back up to worship.

And so this is just an idea for you to have some handrails to hold on to.

So as we read this passage, this is the general outline of what we're about to read.

And you'll see why that's important here in a second.

But Jesus starts in one place, his life takes a trajectory to the cross, and then Jesus, God exalts him back up to worship.

So we're about to talk about that more in depth here, but I thought that was a helpful illustration for us.

So let's read verses six and seven together.

Keep that image in mind as we talk more about this.

Here's what it says.

I'll look at five again.

Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, and then he goes into verse six.

Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.

Instead, he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity, and when he had come as a man.

Okay, let's pause there for a moment.

We don't want to get too far ahead because there's so much truth packed into just these few short verses.

You can see why this was a hymn.

Uh, we're getting to some foundational beliefs of the Christian faith.

So you see the first part of the passage starts with an emptying of himself.

Uh that we see that Jesus existed.

Right?

That's a very important phrase to understand that Jesus was not created, that he existed 100% God before time existed with God the Father, Jesus God the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Right?

We have had to contend for this belief over the years as a church, as Christians throughout history, that there have been several points along our history that people have come to say, well, you know what?

Actually, maybe Jesus wasn't really fully God.

They tried to reduce him to something else, but here in this passage, we see Paul is saying very clearly that Jesus existed 100% God.

And that's important because we begin to see the ultimate model of humility here, that even though Jesus was 100% God, he did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited or something to be taken advantage of.

And so the picture is clear.

Here's the idea that anyone in the world that could have and should have taken advantage of their position, their power, their authority, out of anyone, who would that person be?

The passage clearly tells us that Jesus could have been that person.

He could have been the one to use his position for his own desires and his own gain.

It would have been perfectly within his right to refuse the cross.

To refuse to empty himself.

To refuse to leave heaven and come to earth.

But instead of doing what most people in the world would do, instead of doing what you or I would do, he emptied himself.

And he assumed the form of a man.

And so we see the emptying, but we see the next trajectory here.

We see the incarnation.

The idea that Jesus took on flesh.

That's what that word actually means.

Incarnation means to make flesh.

That Jesus actually didn't stop with the emptying, but he took on the likeness of a human.

It's central to our faith.

The incarnation makes sense of everything else in the New Testament.

Here's a question that I often interact with on the campus and in my world when I'm sharing the gospel with young adults and really anyone is the idea and the question of what do we do with our wrongs?

What do we do with our sins?

You know what?

I've never met a person that I can remember that said, you know what?

No, I've never done anything wrong.

Or didn't believe in sin.

This is an internal, intrinsic belief, I believe from God.

And so all of us have to answer that question.

What do you do with the wrong you've done?

What do you do with what we call in church the sin in your life?

Our sin nature.

What do we do with that?

And the question is answered in the incarnation.

We might ask, well, how could, if Jesus was just a man, put away the sins of the world?

How could that be any different than any other man who died throughout history with some sort of belief system?

But the incarnation says this, yet if he was God in the flesh, then he is able to remove sins by dying a sinner's death that he did not deserve.

This is the incredible model of humility from Jesus.

In the incarnation, Jesus did not become God minus something.

He emptied himself not of divine attributes, but of divine glory and dignity.

He was not lacking in divine power and knowledge, but Jesus in the incarnation was restraining them.

Here's an image that I think might be helpful for you.

Shout out to Bobby who found this for me.

It's a bodybuilder, okay, holding a baby.

Okay, now you might think, man, looking at this guy, he's got all the strength in the world.

Right?

He could lift anything, he could win any competition, but he's holding one of the most fragile things that we know of, which is a baby.

And so, in this image, in this picture that we're seeing, this is, I think, a decent image to think about the incarnation, that when Jesus came, he was not lacking in his power or his knowledge, but what he was doing was restraining them, just like in this picture, just like when anyone might hold a baby, whether you're that jacked or not, you must restrain your strength.

You must restrain the power in your body to hold this baby.

And so Jesus did exactly this, not the perfect analogy, but one that I hope might help you understand more of the beauty of the passage.

And so, as we've seen, we get to the next verse here.

If you would read with me in verse 8, we've seen the empty and we've seen the incarnation, and now we're going to see the crucifixion.

Verse 8, he says, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even to death on a cross.

If you think about it, Jesus' entire life was marked by humility.

Think back with me that Jesus was not born in a noble city.

He was born near a feeding trough and spent 30 years of his life, the majority of it on earth, in obscurity and relative unknown behavior.

He was a common man, he worked with his hands, he did not attend a famous religious school, and he did not walk in the traditional ways that a rabbi might have walked during that time.

His followers were common working men and women for most of his ministry.

When he was arrested, he didn't put up a fight.

And then we see he died next to two criminals on a cross.

We see the word here, even, is emphasizing the point Paul is trying to make about Jesus' humility.

That the cross, and the reason why the crucifixion is at the bottom of that V shape that I showed you is that at the cross, this is the rock bottom of Jesus' humility.

That in the picture of the cross we see the ultimate humility of God.

That he would come to the cross, one of the most gruesome forms of death.

Roman citizens could not be crucified.

Jewish people thought that you were cursed if you were died this way, yet Jesus humbled himself to receive death like this.

No one could force him to, no one compelled him to.

Jesus willingly received the wrath of God in place of sinners.

He satisfied the justice of God as he hung on the cross.

Friends, the gospel is not making you feel so guilty that you must turn to God or any form of emotional manipulation.

The cross is an ultimate example of the humility of Jesus and God offering to you the greatest gift in the world, the most joy that you could ever experience, the thing that you were created for, which was relationship with God and enjoying God for eternity.

That's what the crucifixion is.

And that's what we should rejoice in.

That through the life of Jesus, he went to the cross to actively restore relationship with God.

So as we're moving to the end of the passage, we've seen the emptying, we've seen the incarnation, we've seen the crucifixion, but now we're going to see the raising back up to a place of worship in verses 9, 10, and 11.

This is what it says.

For this reason, God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

There in verse 9 you see it.

For this reason.

Because of the humility of Jesus, because of his conquering of death and his willingness to God, God the Father now is going to exalt him.

When it says highly exalt, another way we might think of this as God super elevated Jesus, meaning that now Jesus is in a class of his own.

No one thing or one person is higher or can to ascend to the level of where Jesus is, that he actually receives the name that is above every name.

And I submit to you that this name is Lord or Yahweh in the Old Testament.

Jesus was the name given at birth, of course, for his mission in the world, but Lord is the title he rightfully receives as he conquers death and the grave.

Lord had a significant meaning to the Philippian people as well.

To hear about anyone other than Caesar being Lord was a shock.

And usually was a death sentence if you would confess that.

Of course, Jesus was Messiah and Lord before his resurrection, but we see through the cross that that title in full actuality, that Jesus came and he accomplished his mission.

He fulfilled what God had always designed throughout history to fulfill.

He didn't waver from his mission, he didn't delay, he didn't shun it, but in humility he came to the cross.

While all hope was seemingly lost, while the world was still in the grip of the evil one, he trampled over death and sin through his perfect submission.

And what we see in the passage is that in response to the Lordship of Christ, every knee will bow, every tongue confess.

And this is a confession that Jesus Christ is Lord.

To state this again, as I mentioned earlier, in the early centuries of Christian history meant that if Jesus was Lord, Caesar was not Lord.

And so this meant persecution and death, which is still true for many around the world today who claim to be Christians in other parts of the world.

And this fact remains true that one day every knee will bow in heaven, earth, and under the earth.

That phrase there in the passage covers all the basis that every person now and throughout history will bow either voluntarily and humbly to confess Jesus as Lord, or they will confess him with despair and anguish.

Friends, let me tell you, if I may take a moment here, for many it will be too late.

After you die, there's no chance to do this.

And so if I could take a pause here and say, if you're listening today and you've seen the remarkable humility of Jesus in this passage, don't wait.

Humbly bow and confess and make this confession with your life that Jesus is Lord.

There's no better day than today to make this decision, to be united with Christ.

After what we've seen in the passage, after he's being super elevated, after we've seen his death on the cross.

What other worldview, what other religion, what other answer in life might you have but through the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus?

So I plead with you today, don't wait.

The world and history as we know it is coming to an eventual end every day that we live.

It's coming closer to the time that Jesus is going to reign as Lord and King throughout the entire earth.

And every eye will see him, and every tongue will confess.

And so today, don't delay.

Bow and worship in reverence to Jesus as Lord.

I want to close today as we wrap up our time together with two applications very quickly for us.

The first one would be this: number one, to reflect on the humility of Christ.

So if you want to actually begin to live out this passage, if we want to, as a church, unite together more so in unity and love for one another so that a watching world can see, the first thing we would do is the encouragement to look at the example of Jesus, to reflect on the humility of Christ.

You know, I mentioned this to you earlier.

The early church did this.

And they did this by singing these verses, this hymn, quite consistently.

Probably most times that they met together, they would sing, and in their singing it was a reminder.

It was not just a reminder, but it was also a confession to these things that we just talked about who Jesus was.

And so the good thing for us is that Jesus doesn't expect perfection, but just different direction, meaning that over the course of time we should be growing in our humility and shrinking in our pride and our selfishness.

And so for us, we must reflect on the beauty of this passage.

Let it change us, meditate on the truth of this passage.

Read it, memorize it, discuss it with your family around the table.

Pray that Jesus would empower you to follow this example daily.

And the second point of application I would say, as we reflect on the humility of Christ, as we see his glory in this passage, the other thing that we must do that the passage describes for us is to serve others humbly.

Serve others humbly.

If we want to grow in humility, there's a great chance to do so.

Serving is at the core of the passage.

As we have our minds set on Christ, then hopefully our actions should naturally follow.

That we should be actively looking for opportunities to serve others, moments to lay aside our desires and our preferences, to serve others around us, not looking for moments to be recognized, but seeking in humility means expecting nothing in return.

This can look a variety of different ways that for you and your stage of life is going to look different.

But over time we can make this truth apply to our own situations.

But the point remains, and I think the point rings true.

The more that we look to serve others without the need of being recognized, without keeping score, without looking to be rewarded, without looking for something in return, the more we do those things, the more we grow in humility and in unity.

So, church, let us look to the ultimate example of Christ.

Let us go out of our way, looking for opportunities to serve others for the glory of God, for the sake of our church, but also to the benefit of a watching world.

Would you pray with me this morning?

Before I pray, as your head are bowed, your eyes are closed, we're gonna sing a song here in a moment, a song of invitation.

And so at our church, we always want to offer an opportunity for someone or some people in the room, if you haven't trusted in Jesus, if you said, you know what, Jared, I've never made a commitment to follow Jesus.

I've never, as I've talked about in the passage, if you've never come to a place in your life where you've said, you know what, you've confessed Jesus as Lord.

If you're sitting there thinking, man, I don't have a relationship with Jesus, I don't know what to do with my sins, I don't know how to be forgiven, then this moment is for you.

There's going to be pastors waiting in the aisle to talk to you, to help you understand what it means to enter into a relationship with Jesus.

So as we sing, I would encourage you if you have questions, if you have moments where you say, you know what, Jared, man, there's just so much sin in my life, I don't know what to do with it.

You know what, Jared, I don't have a relationship with Jesus, but I want one.

Man, we would love to talk to you.

Please take a moment to come down whenever you're ready.

And for the rest of us in the room, let's take this challenge to look at the example of Christ and to grow in humility by serving others.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you again for this morning, this word, that we have this ultimate example in Christ.

God, I pray that we would not grow tired of thinking and understanding and realizing the example that Christ has given us, but that we would let it change us.

That we would soak this truth in to radically transform us so that, man, we might look more like you.

So help us, God.

Take your example to heart, empower us to serve others humbly in every moment and every day in our families, in our church, and in our community.

And we just pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus.

Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you.

Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.

Thank you for listening to chapter and first, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith First Baptist Church.