Today’s message is from Philippians 2:1-18. This passage is about imitating Christ. (I always like to bring up the “what would Jesus do” question of a few years ago. They were selling bracelets, pins, pens and al sorts of odds and ends that said on them “WWJD”—what would Jesus do. That all faded away like a fad. There may still be some of it around, but I haven’t seen it. Maybe people have decided that it’s impossible to do what Jesus would do. I hope not.)

Remember as we read the passage that we are reading the word of God, given by God’s Holy Spirit (and, in this case, through the apostle Paul). “The word of God is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path.” (Psalm 119:105) Without it we stumble around in darkness.

¹If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, ²fulfill my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal. ³Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. ⁴Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

¹²So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. ¹³For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to will and to act for His good purpose. ¹⁴Do everything without grumbling and arguing, ¹⁵so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world. ¹⁶Hold firmly the message of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run in vain or labor for nothing. ¹⁷But even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. ¹⁸In the same way you also should rejoice and share your joy with me. (Philippians~2:1-18)

What would Jesus do? Today’s passage summarizes what Jesus did, what he did do—and not only that, but also what he is going to do. (It’s in the middle of the passage.) The passage starts out by telling what we need to do to imitate Jesus. Do you want to imitate Jesus? Here’s what you have to do:

Let’s look at the first four verses: “If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal. Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” In the original Greek language, these verses are all one sentence. The translators broke the one sentence up into three sentences because we (that’s us present day Americans) don’t like to deal with long sentences. But all of the thoughts of these sentences go together as one statement. Let me repeat it as one sentence: “If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal, doing nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility considering others as more important than yourselves with everyone looking out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” It all goes together.

Is there any encouragement in Christ? Is there any consolation of love, any fellowship with the Spirit, any affection and mercy? Paul is certainly assuming that the Philippians know that there are all these things—that they do exist. But do we have these things—encouragement in Christ (encouragement through Christ, from Christ, because of Christ)? Do we have the consolation—that means comfort or encouragement—do we have the comfort and encouragement of love? Do we have the fellowship with the Holy Spirit? Really, if we didn’t have these things, I doubt if any of us would be here.

“Affection” and “mercy” that Paul mentioned go together with all these other things—encouragement in Christ, consolation of love and fellowship with the Spirit. “Affection” is sometimes translated as compassion. Literally, it refers to your insides. It has to do with emotions—what you feel. How do we feel about each other? Do we have theses things? Again, if we didn’t have them, we wouldn’t be here. I suppose there might be some other reason for someone’s being here. But we have these things and we are here because of Jesus.

Do you know what? Paul wanted to be sure that the Philippians had the same thinking and feelings that he did. Then his joy would be fulfilled—filled up. How do you feel when you see someone who is enthusiastic about Jesus, someone who truly loves Jesus, someone who loves and serves people with joy and thanksgiving, rather than with grumbling or complaining or—not at all? How do you feel? Do you rejoice? Paul would rejoice—and God rejoices, too.

“Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.” Remember, this is all part of the same sentence. Paul wanted to rejoice because the Philippians were doing these things, too—having the same love, sharing the same feelings and in humility considering others as more important than themselves.

“Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.” It all starts with humility. The word translated humility is literally lowliness of mind. It has to do with how you think of yourself in relation to others. Lowly means of little significance, undistinguished. This is how you have to think about yourself. Humility is the opposite of pride (which, by the way, is the sin of the devil – 1 Tim 3:6). Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” (Matt. 5:3) Poor means destitute. It means that you are helpless to do anything for yourself. You have to depend on someone else to help you. And, in fact, you can’t come to Jesus without humility. Without humility, you can’t be saved. Pride says, “I can do it myself. I can make myself righteous. I don’t need anyone else.” You can’t do it. You can’t make yourself righteous. “All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23) Only Jesus can save you.

“In humility, consider others as more important than yourselves.” According to the lexicons, the word translated more important than also means above, better than. We are being told to consider others to be better than us, above us, more important than we are. (Of course, each of us can’t be the least important person in the world, but that’s what our attitudes should be.) The apostle Paul (the Holy Spirit speaking through the apostle Paul) says, “Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” (verse 4) I think most of us have a long way to go, but God is committed to making us like Jesus.

Let’s look at verse 5: “Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus...” This is the key verse of today’s passage. What would Jesus do? That’s what you need to do. You do the same thing. Make your attitude like that of Christ Jesus. (I thought about talking about this next section about Jesus first, since we are talking about imitating Jesus. But I decided to keep it in the same order that Paul wrote it in.)

What would Jesus do? What did Jesus do? Let’s look at verses 5, 6 and 7a: “Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men.”

Jesus was God (and still is, in fact). The text says that he existed in the form of God. That doesn’t mean that he just looked like God, but really wasn’t God. It means that, before he came to earth as a man, he was in his normal form. He had all the attributes that we normally associate with God. He was almighty, all knowing and all loving.

Verse 7 says that Jesus emptied himself and assumed the form of a slave. He emptied himself and became a man. Charles Wesley’s hymn, And Can It Be, says that he “emptied himself of all but love”. Jesus emptied himself and became completely dependent on God the Father and on the Holy Spirit, just as we are completely dependent on God the Father and on the Holy Spirit and on Jesus.

Jesus assumed the form of a slave. What does that mean? It means he took the nature of a slave. A slave is constrained to do his master’s will. Jesus said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” (John~6:38) Can you say, “I am not here on earth to do my own will, but the will of Jesus?” Can you say, “I am not here to do my own will but the will my Father in heaven?” Jesus said, “I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.” (John~8:28~NIV) Don’t you want to do God’s will? Don’t you want to say just what God has taught you? We are not there yet, but we will see in just a little bit that God gives us both the desire and the ability. (And I usually say at this point that if you think you are there already you can go directly to heaven. But I decided not to say it this time.)

Let’s look at verses 7b and 8: “And when He had come as a man in His external form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.” Jesus was willing to suffer and die on our behalf. This is what it’s all about. Charles Wesley’s hymn says, “Emptied himself of all but love, and bled and died for Adam’s helpless race.” (You see, Charles Wesley recognized that we are helpless—that we need Jesus’s sacrifice.)

Jesus was willing to suffer on our behalf. He died for our sin. He is also the Judge. It’s like the judge finding you guilty but then saying that he has the authority to take the punishment you deserve on himself in your place—and doing it—and not only that, but then declaring you innocent because he has paid what you owed. That’s what Jesus did! How much are we willing to sacrifice?

You know, there are people, lots of them, who have sacrificed their own lives so that someone else could live. And there are missionaries who have been willing to die—and have died—in order to take the gospel to those who are dying—actually, those who are going to hell. There are many who have been willing to die and who have died in order to save others from hell. But how many are there who are willing to die for someone they don’t even know or maybe who hasn’t even been born yet? Jesus knew everyone while he was still in heaven. But when he came to earth, he emptied himself of all but love. And yet he died not just for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)

¹⁶This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers. ¹⁷If anyone has this world's goods and sees his brother in need but shuts off his compassion from him—how can God's love reside in him?

¹⁸Little children, we must not love in word or speech, but in deed and truth; ¹⁹that is how we will know we are of the truth, and will convince our hearts in His presence, ²⁰because if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things.

²¹Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us we have confidence before God, ²²and can receive whatever we ask from Him because we keep His commands and do what is pleasing in His sight. ²³Now this is His command: that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as He commanded us. ²⁴The one who keeps His commands remains in Him, and He in him. And the way we know that He remains in us is from the Spirit He has given us. (1 John~3:16-24)

Now, let’s look at verses 9 through 11: “For this reason God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow—of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Verse 11 starts out, “For this reason....” For what reason? Verse 8 says, “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.” Jesus obeyed God the Father—even to the point of death on a cross. Jesus was obedient! For this reason, when the time comes, every creature in the whole universe will submit to him. There is no one who will not acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. For some it will be with rejoicing and thanksgiving. For others it will be in terror and loathing. This will all be for the glory of God the Father. (Be sure that you are among those who meet Jesus with rejoicing and thanksgiving.)

Let’s look at verse 12: “So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” This is a matter of life and death. In fact, it’s really a matter of very much more than life and death. I usually don’t use the word “infinite” very much. It means “large without limit”. It means that no matter how big something is, “infinite” is always bigger. The matter of your salvation is infinitely important. It’s a matter of eternal life or eternal judgment and punishment. “Eternal” means no matter how long a time you may think of, “eternal” is longer. We have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

But look at the next verse: “For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to will and to act for His good purpose.” Do you remember that I said, “We are not there yet (we are not like Jesus yet), but we will see in just a little bit that God gives us both the desire and the ability.” Well here it is. We are helpless in ourselves, but God is working in us through his Holy Spirit. In fact, he says (through the apostle Paul) that we are sealed for the day of redemption by the Holy Spirit. (Eph. 1:13, 4:30)

By the way, If you have not been sealed for the day of redemption by the Holy Spirit, don’t delay. It really is a matter far greater than life and death. And how easy it is to put things off because we tell ourselves that the consequences are in the distant future. Or maybe it’s not really a matter of life and death. Maybe there’s some small possibility of that. After all, there are people who say that we’re only physical beings, so that after death we go out of existence. We can’t do anything about it. Or there are people that say we get another chance—there is reincarnation. Or, even better, there are people who say that there is universal salvation. No one will be lost. After all, Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. Well, Jesus did die for the sins of the whole world, but you have to make the decision to accept his sacrifice. That’s what the truth is. Everything else is a lie. It’s from Satan the devil who is a murderer and the father of liars. (John 8:44) Don’t put off your salvation. Why would you put it off? It’s because the “father of liars” tell you that the sacrifice is too great. Don’t believe it.

Let’s look at verses 14 through 16a: “Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world. Hold firmly the message of life.” Again, although the translators made this into two sentences, it’s really just one. It says, “...among whom you shine like stars in the world as you hold firmly the message of life.” Holding firmly the message of life (literally, the word of life) is what enables us to shine like stars in the world. This certainly is a crooked and perverse generation—I think maybe quite a bit more crooked and perverse than in the time of the early church. We shine as stars when we act according to the message of life instead of acting according to the teachings of the world (which are, basically, how can I benefit myself, rather than how can I help someone else).

(By the way, It says, “Do everything without grumbling and arguing.” Please pray for me to do everything without grumbling and arguing. We have to confess our sins to each other and all that we are struggling with and then to pray for each other. We need to pray for each other to hold firmly the message of life.)

Let’s look at verses 16b through 18, the end of the passage: “Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run in vain or labor for nothing. But even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. In the same way you also should rejoice and share your joy with me.”