More Like Jesus

Introduction

I’ve got a question for you for those who were fortunate enough to have been raised going to Bible class as a kid. Did you have a favorite song from Bible class? I bet you did. What was that song? As probably because being a boy, my favorite Bible class song was I’m in the Lord’s Army. Because we did those hand gestures of being in the army. That was one of my favorite ones. I guess second to that would be to show you that I’ve got a soft spot.

And third to that was a song, interestingly enough, that we never even sang. But my mom, my mom was a Bible class teacher, and my mom had a songbook for Bible class songs. And so I would look at that song book from time to time. And my third favorite Bible class song was actually a song we never even sung, but it was in that Bible class songbook that mom had. It was called Bible Songs for Children. And it was simply called the Booster Song.

Booster booster, be a booster. Don’t be grouchy like a rooster. Not just anybody can write lyrics like that. Don’t be grouchy like a rooster, booster booster, be a booster. Boost our Bible school. As Jared indicated in the leading of that last song, this weekend’s been our vacation Bible school. And I want to say just a few words about that, and then we’ll have a lesson that kind of corresponds as we wrap up this wonderful weekend for our vacation Bible school. The word I want to start with this morning is just thanks. Thank you to all who participated in the vacation Bible school this weekend. Thanks to the kids who came and so enthusiastically participated in the Bible school. You did so good participating in the activities and in the lessons.

Thanks to all of the volunteers, and I use that term maybe loosely, but all of those who stepped out of their comfort zone and played a part in helping the children to learn the lessons from the life of Jesus. That was the theme of the Bible school, studying the life of Jesus and how they and we can learn from the life of Jesus and to imitate and to walk in his footsteps. We had so many, I lost count of how many participants we had, how many adults that were participating in costume and learning their lines, or like me, maybe not learning your lines so much, but but trying to deliver those lines. And those who made all the props and the crafts and all of that, I was just blown away by all of the volunteers and the participants.

And I want to give a special thanks to Krista and Michaela for their hard work and diligence and planning and working for all of this and all of the work that was done. But everybody who participated, oh, and I don’t can’t forget the parents who brought their children to this and made that sacrifice of time and effort to be at at the vacation Bible school. We had a great turnout, a great event, and it was wonderful. I think, and somebody tell me that I’m wrong, there’s still some of it is still set up in the classroom, but some of it’s been taken down. But if you want to go, if you weren’t able to participate in it in the classroom annex and some of the classrooms, some of the uh things are still set up.

It’s not all out there, and so don’t judge it just by that. It was, but there’s some pictures uh and videos available uh of that. But it was a wonderful learning opportunity uh for our children. Just an extension of our Bible classes and the Bible uh studies opportunities uh that we have uh for our young people. But it wasn’t just for the kiddos. It was it was a wonderful, encouraging uh weekend for the adults uh that participated in this as well in our vacation Bible school. And so I wanted to kind of continue that and kind of wrap it up this morning as we talk about being more like Jesus. That was kind of the theme of the vacation Bible school. And we certainly need to follow that advice to be more like Jesus in our everyday life.

And so, will you finish this Bible study weekend with me this morning by turning to Philippians chapter two as we talk about our Jesus? You know, if we were to use single words to describe Jesus, there’s a lot of words that we could use. Uh we could use the term God, he was God in the flesh. John 1, verse 1 tells us that he was God Himself in the flesh. We could use the word son. Not only God, he was the Son of God and that intimate relationship that he had with the Father. We certainly couldn’t make a list of words that would describe Jesus without using the word Savior. He is our Savior, our Redeemer. He is the Christ, the Messiah. But the word I want to use this morning is that He is our pattern.

He is our example. Yes, He’s all of those things. He’s God, He’s the Son, He’s the King, He’s the Savior, but He’s also our pattern and our example, that we are to mold our lives after Him. And so one reason that we study the life of Christ as often as an extensively as we do is, yes, to marvel and to appreciate what He did for us, but that’s not the only reason we study the life of Christ. We study the life of Christ so that we can imitate it and have it as our pattern. And that’s the point that the Apostle Paul makes here in our text in the book of Philippians, chapter two. Jonah read the kind of the preamble to our study this morning, and when he read the last few verses of chapter one of Philippians, but that leads right into chapter two.

And so let’s read, let’s take the time to read the first 11 verses of Philippians chapter 2, and then we’ll use this as the basis for our study this morning. Therefore, if there’s any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each other esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interest of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Therefore, God has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. In the apostles’ discussion of unity and humility, it comes as no surprise to good Bible students that if he’s going to talk about unity and humility, when he sets forth the pattern for those two characteristics, that Jesus is the name that comes to the forefront of the Apostles’ inspired mind. Jesus is the pinnacle of examples of unity. He is the apex of patterns when it comes to humility. And so he says, have this mind in you.

1. The Key to Our Unity

Have this attitude, this mindset that was the attitude and the mindset of Jesus Christ. And if you do that, you will excel in unity and humility. And so let’s talk about being more like Jesus. As we’ve already hinted, the apostle is saying, this is the key to unity. The key to our unity. Notice what he says again. Let’s back up and go through this text together. Therefore, if there’s any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, you know this, but sometimes when a writer or a speaker uses the word if, that is either a statement of a possible condition, if, if that’s a possibility, if you have this, maybe maybe you don’t have that.

Maybe you do. But other times a writer or a speaker can use the word if, not with the possibility that it may or may not exist, but really with the idea that it does or it should exist. And so he’s not saying that these things are optional. And if you have these or if you want these, then do this. But he’s saying if in the sense that if you’re going to be like God, if you’re going to be a Christian, you’re going to be a child of God, if you’re going to have go to heaven, then these things are going to exist. This consolation in Christ, this comfort of love, this fellowship of the Spirit, this affection of mercy. And he goes on to say, since, really what he’s saying, since those things should exist and be a part of our Christian life, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind.

That’s unity. Now, what’s important for us to distinguish here is that what the apostle is putting before us in verse 2 is unity, not uniformity. Now, uniformity is defined as we just believe the same things and we practice the same things. Now, don’t misunderstand me. The New Testament emphasizes that. We should have some agreement on what we believe and what we practice. But that’s not really the type of unity that he’s talking about here.

He’ll talk about how we need to share these beliefs and share these practices. But here in Philippians chapter 2, the type of unity that he’s talking about is the type of what we may call emotional unity, of connection. That you are like-minded, that you be of one accord. Literally, that means you be joined in soul. That we we feel this connection. The end result of this will be what Paul will talk about in other places like Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians chapter 12, that we are so joined together, Paul would say, that when you weep, I weep. And one time Paul will speak of that as being a command, a directive, but other times he’s going to talk about that as just being the way it is.

You don’t have to command me to weep when you weep. It’s just going to happen because we’re joined together. I illustrate it this way. We are to be so connected, so the language Paul uses so joined in soul that when you rejoice, I rejoice. When you weep, I weep. Here’s the perfect illustration, if you’re willing. You got to be brave to illustrate this with me. But as you leave this morning and you go to the parking lot, if you want to see the perfect illustration for Paul’s point here, and in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12, before you get into car, in the car, try this. Put your finger in the door and slam the car door against your finger. You’ll illustrate this point perfectly.

But guess what? The rest of your body is going to join in.

Get involved. Your tear ducks will join in the chorus. Now, you didn’t slam the door on your lungs or your tear ducks. But they were so closely connected because they’re part of the same body that when the finger suffered, the whole body suffered with it. They were so closely connected. And that’s what Paul in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 is saying that we, like here, we’re so joined together. We’re joined in soul. That when one member suffers, although it wasn’t me that suffered, I didn’t lose my loved one. It’s it’s not my loved one’s funeral I’m going to. But I’m still suffering. I didn’t lose my job. My source of income still intact. But I still hurt when you lose your job. Whatever the case might be, we’re a body.

2. Humility: He Thought of Others, Not of Himself

We’re joined in soul together. That’s the unity that he’s talking about here emotional soul type of unity. Let each one, he would say, here’s that how that is achieved in verse 4. Look out not for his own interest, but also for the interest of others. Jesus is that illustration, that pattern of unity, and that unity, he says, is achieved through being joined together and through humility. And let’s understand the principle of humility and really the definition, the true working definition of humility. Humility is not, and sometimes we try to define it this way humility is not thinking less of myself. Humility is not saying you’re good at something, I’m terrible. You’re a good person, I’m a bad person. That’s not really humility. It’s not thinking less of self, it’s thinking of self less often.

And so I’m putting you first in the things that I do, in my attitude and my actions. Hold your finger here in Philippians 2 and look at a real life illustration of that in Romans chapter 15. Here’s what that humility will look like in this relationship. Romans 15, verse 1 says, We then, we then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak and not to please ourselves. There’s the recognition that in this example at least, I’m the strong one. Someone else is the weak one. But humility demands not that I see myself as weak and the other person is strong. I still see the differences in that relationship. But humility is born out when I don’t seek to please myself. When I don’t put myself and my interests and my needs and my wants before yours, but I put yours before mine.

And that’s difficult. But that’s going to hit on one of the points we’re going to make a little bit later. Another thing he says about Jesus and how we are to be more like Jesus in this text is that, and this is humility personified, is that he thought of others, not of himself. And when it comes to Jesus and what he did, thanks be to God, that he didn’t think of himself and put himself first, but rather thought of us and put us first. And as Romans 15 said, that he sought not to please himself, but to please others. Look at the text again, back there to Philippians chapter 2. He says, beginning in verse 5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

This mind or mindset or attitude, who being in the form of God, I’m reading from the New King James, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Now your translation probably says that a little bit different. Did not consider it robbery. The word rob that’s translated robbery in King James and the New King James means, and kind of think about robbery, what robbery is. Robbery is the idea of selfishly grabbing a hold of something. Really, in robberies, grabbing hold of something that’s not yours. And so, really, what the apostle is saying here, that Jesus didn’t grab hold of the existence and the blessings that he had with his father in heaven, that he didn’t selfishly grab a hold of that and say, I’m not going to give that up for them.

I’m not going to leave these glories, this presence, this location, these things for those people. He did not selfishly grab a hold of that and hold tenaciously on to that, he says, to be equal with God, but instead made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant and came in the likeness of men. So this is the mind. This is the attitude of Christ that I am to have. That there’s nothing. There’s nothing that I have that is not willing to be sacrificed for others. That I’m going to think of you rather than to think of me. What’s best for you, not what’s best for me. You know, we have an interesting practice here in this country in our culture. Maybe you don’t do it this way, maybe you don’t view it this way.

But but I think we’ve got holidays all turned around. And I know I’m not the first one to say this. This I’m not bright enough to have this idea myself, but I know you’ve heard this like about Thanksgiving. That we have one day that we’re to be thankful. Wait a minute. That’s backwards. That’s backwards. That’s not right. We need to be thankful every day. And we do that with other holidays, don’t we? We do that with birthdays. It’s your birthday.

You get to choose. You get to be first. It’s all about you today. Well, according to this text, that’s the way I’m to treat you every day. That I’m going to put you first. We have this mindset that every other day of the year I’m putting myself first, but when it’s your birthday, then you get to choose what restaurant we go to. Every other day, we’re going where I want to eat. We’re going to do what I want to do. You get one day where I’m going to put you first. But what the apostle is saying is, Jesus didn’t selfishly, he had all of those blessings with the Father. He was equal with God. And he didn’t tenaciously and selfishly hang on to that. He was willing to let that go and to come and to suffer.

We’re going to talk about that as we go further into this text. Why? Because he thought of us and not himself.

Get your church directory. And please don’t misunderstand. It’s not limited to your brothers and sisters in Christ that meet at this location. Here’s just a starting. Here’s a jumping off place. Get your church directory out. And just scroll through that or flip through it if you’ve got a printed copy of it. And just ask yourself what can I do for this family? What can I do for this brother in Christ? What can I do for this sister? How can I serve them? What can I use my time to help them? How can I use my money? My talents. How can I help and serve them?

3. Jesus Served

Jesus did not hold on to those things that he had. He emptied himself of those things to serve others. Am I like Jesus? Or am I sitting at home in my easy chair, selfishly, like a robber and a thief, holding on to the things that I have and unwilling to let them go to think of you. He says there’s another way that I can be like Jesus. Jesus served. We said that if you could make a list of just one-word descriptions of Jesus, King, God, Son, Savior. Here’s one. Servant. Servant. The gospels tell us that he did not come to be served, but to serve.

That’s a mind-blowing affirmation about the humility of Jesus Christ. He did not consider being equal with God something to be selfishly grabbed onto. He let go of that and came down here not just to come and to be God. He came down here to be a servant. Not to be served, but to serve. Read that in our text in verse 7, but made himself of no reputation and taking the form of a servant and coming in the likeness of men. It would have been utter humiliation for God Himself to come into the flesh to be Caesar. Or to be one of the Herods, to be a ruler.

But he didn’t choose that. He came to be a servant. One of the exercises that the kids did in the vacation Bible school was the washing of feet.

More than that.

Maybe suggesting to the elders that we do that in an adult Bible class. How would that go over? If we set up a tarp here and had one of the members sit here barefooted and asked the adults to come and wash feet. It’s just something about feet. They smell, they’re dirty. First century feet would have been worse. But Jesus, who was God, who just a few years before was enjoying the bliss of heaven. The cattle got on his knees and took in his hands, dirty, sweaty, smelly, feet. By the way, that included the feet of the man that was going to betray him. The feet of the man who was going to deny him three times, cursing and swearing, saying, I don’t know the man. That was the feet that he watched.

He served.

In the VBS, I don’t think we had this scene. I wasn’t involved in all of it, but I know Jesus turned over tables.

4. Jesus Sacrificed

But when the inspired apostle tells me to be like Jesus, he doesn’t tell me to turn over tables like Jesus. He tells me to wash feet like Jesus. Serve like Jesus. Serve. Am I like Jesus? Another way that he tells me that I can be like Jesus is that Jesus sacrificed. Look at verse 8. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. The layers of humiliation, the layers of humility, the layers of sacrifice. He came to this earth in whatever form he chose. That would have been a level of humiliation that we cannot experience. But he let go and came. But he didn’t just come to this earth.

He came and died.

But he didn’t just come to this earth, and he didn’t just come to this earth to serve, and he didn’t just come to this earth and serve and then die. But you know as well as I do, there’s better ways to die than others. And we’ve all made the offhand comment. We wish we could choose how we die. We would choose that peaceful exit, wouldn’t we? To just die peacefully in our sleep. But God through Jesus Christ chose how he would die. And he chose the worst way. Because the text says to the point of death, even the death of the cross. That wasn’t just death. That was death with pain attached to it. Very quickly, I know you know this, and so we’ll go through it quickly.

Nails through his hands and feet. But it wasn’t the nails and the loss of blood through his hands and feet that would kill him. Historians and scholars tell us that somebody crucified on the cross would really die just from being drowned in their own bodily fluid. That they would get so weak that they couldn’t breathe, they couldn’t push up, and their lungs would fill up and they would literally just drown though they were on dry ground. Painful, excruciating way to die.

Not just a death of excruciating pain, it’s a death of horrible humiliation. His clothes were stripped from him. It was made a mockery. I don’t know how many states still practice corporal punishment today, but even those who in our country practice corporal punishment, it’s done in the most humane way possible. We’ve refined it. Try to make it as peaceful and as painless as possible, as quick and as instant. And we do it behind closed doors. You can’t just go and say, hey, I want to watch somebody be executed. I’m going to kick you out. You can’t do that. We’re not going to humiliate this guy who raped and killed 43 people. We want him to have a dignified exit. The Romans didn’t practice that. They said, What’s the worst way?

What’s the slowest, most torturous way we can kill people? And let’s put it on display. So people can mock. Ridicule and spit upon them. Add to the degradation and humiliation. That’s not just the death that Jesus suffered. That’s the death he chose to suffer for us. But I won’t go out of my way. Or be inconvenienced. Or adjust my budget or my inherited attitude to change to better your existence then I’m not like Jesus and here’s certainly a way I want to be more like Jesus. The text concludes, therefore God has highly exalted him. If I want the exaltation that Christ experienced, then I have to experience the humility and the suffering and the serving. Lord help me to be more like Jesus. I want to submit to God, be obedient, to be obedient child is Jesus was an obedient child.

Conclusion

I want to be more like Jesus. Would you follow in his footsteps this morning by obeying the gospel, believing in him, repenting of your sins, confessing your faith openly, and being baptized into his life and into his death this morning, vowing to be more like Jesus. Can we help you in that or help you in any way? Let it be known this morning as together we stand and sing.