Read Philippians 2:1-13
In the nineties there was not a more dominant
basketball player in the world then Michael Jordan. In fact Jordan is arguably
the greatest player to ever play the game. This dominance on the court and the
grace in which he did it, led to many all around the country looking up to
Michael Jordan, trying to emulate him, trying to be like Mike. In fact this
phrase “be like Mike” became a craze in nineties as well. Companies such as
Gatorade used the slogan to convince people that if they practice and drink Gatorade
they too can be like Mike. In the late nineties a kids movie called “Like Mike”
was even made playing on this popular phrase. I guess it is just normal as
human beings when we see greatness, to want to be like it.
As Christians we are called to greatness, we heard a
couple weeks ago Paul telling us to live our lives in a manner worthy of the
Gospel. We learned about the great privilege it is to serve God, and in
responding to this great privilege we are called to greatness. We are called to
strive towards Christian perfection, and yet as humans we need an example, we
need something to strive towards, something to emulate, something to help us
understand how it is we are supposed lead our lives. For us as Christians, we
have to look no further than Christ for that example.
Our passage for this morning is the essential point to
understanding all that Paul has to say here in his letter to the Philippians.
Sometimes called a hymn for its poetic language, this passage has inspired and
baffled Christians for centuries. In fact many of the early church fathers used
this passage in their defense of the divinity of Christ. Paul tells us here in
the second chapter of the book that Christ was in the form of God prior to his
existence on Earth but emptied himself and became human. Throughout the Gospels
we hear of Jesus referred to with many titles, Son of Man, Son of God, Messiah,
but other than maybe John’s prelude in which the Word becomes flesh we do not
see many texts talk about the divinity of Christ as explicitly as it is
discussed here. Christ is both human and divine.
Which then might give us a bit of a shock then when we
hear Paul’s words, “ Let the same mind be in you
that was in Christ Jesus.” Paul
reminds us that we are not only supposed to be like the Son of Man, we aren’t
only supposed to be like the savior of humanity, the one in which we are to
emulate is God, we are supposed to be like God. Being like God, wow, what an
amazing call, but what an amazing challenge. There are so many characteristics
of God to try and follow. God is love. God is just. Maybe we know it from one
of our dinner blessings but God is great and God is good. When we as humans
begin to dream of following those characteristics, when we dream of being like
God, too often it has turned into failure. I mean the fact that we are even
here in this state of sin is because Adam and Eve couldn’t resist eating from
fruit that would make their minds more like God’s. Again later in Genesis we find the people
trying to ascend to the lofty space of God building a tower in Babel to reach
the heavens, and from it a once united people we scattered across the globe
with different languages unable to understand one another. We as humans have no
troubles trying to ascend to greatness, we have no trouble picturing ourselves
being like God, Our need for power and control lends itself perfectly for these
aspirations, as I said it is what got us in trouble in the first place.
But there is a reason I do not call our sermon series on
Philippians “Being like God” for while Jesus is fully God, he is also fully
human. Christ gives us the example of how as humans we can be more like God.
That is why Paul calls us not to have the same mind as God the father, but
instead to have the same mind as Christ. Whereas we as humans strive to be
greater and greater, to ascend closer to God, Christ, who was already clothed
in honor, descended, emptied himself and became human, taking on the role not
of a great God but that of a slave, one obedient to death, even death on a
cross. Adam and Eve’s reach for divinity and immortality led to the fall of
humanity, but by lowering himself, Christ has raised humanity back up. And later in the story we hear of the power
of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost restoring the broken cause by the arrogance of
the people of Babel. It was not some grandiose act of supreme power in which
God’s people were saved, it was through the humility of Christ.
When we are called to be like Christ, when we are called
to strive towards having the same mind of God, we are not calling ourselves
into the arrogance of our forefathers but into the humility that was shown to
us by Christ. If we want to be like Christ we must first recognize that Christ
humbled himself and sacrificed himself for our behalf. Our discipleship, our
march towards Christian perfection must begin with that same sort of humility.
We can not afford to begin our journey looking out for our own personal
interest, for our journey of
discipleship is not primarily about us. We are not disciples so that we may
obtain something, we are not even disciples so that me may be saved. When we
begin to think like this we begin to make the same folly as Adam and Eve, the
same folly as the people of Babel, the folly that we can build something, that
we can do something to make ourselves greater, to make ourselves like God. There is great irony this, that the more we
strive to make ourselves great like God, the more we fall away, but when we strive to humble ourselves as
Christ did, when we put God before ourselves, when we put the needs of others
before ourselves, when we see injustice
and oppression in the world and would do whatever it takes to change it, even
at the cost of our own lives; then in lowering ourselves, we may be raised with
Christ. When we stop putting ourselves first and put God first, when we take on
the role of a disciple of Christ, when we empty ourselves as Christ did, then
we find we gain more than we ever had to give. Maybe we do not gain money,
maybe we do not gain an easy life, but we gain in becoming perfected in love,
we gain in becoming more like Christ, and yes like Christ who was obedient to
death, even death on a cross, but on the third day rose again, we too shall
gain eternal life.
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