For the sake of our church, we felt it necessary for us to weigh in on John MacArthur's comments on Beth Moore. We had a charitable but pointed discussion on this whole ordeal. We strove to hold firmly to truth and love without diminishing either. *We're confident some will feel we went too far and others, not far enough...

In this episode we cover:

-What happened and who are the players

-What's a false prophet?

-Should women preach on Sunday?

-What makes something heresy (Theological Triage)

-What do we make of MacArthur's comments?

-How do we biblically respond to those we disagree with?

Sam Choi

Sam Choi

Here is a family Talk Welcoming Daniel as a New Pastor of All Peoples Church!

We are finishing our series on identity.

Whatever you believe you are, you will do.

Our being precedes our doing.

And if we miss the order, we are doomed for legalism, frustration, and failure.

And the order we have gone is important.

Beloved Family

Servant

Missionary

As the Father has loved and adopted us into his family, we can now love one another as a family.

As Jesus has served us, we can serve one another.

And the result of being a beloved family and servants is that we become a loving, compelling community that proclaims and display the gospel in everyday life.

__

If you were to poll the average Christian, when words like evangelism and mission come up, often people feel regret, shame, and frustration.

If you were to poll the average pastor, the two hardest areas to lead our people in is evangelism and the second, I’ll let you guess that one...

Today we’re diving into this third identity. It is the most controversial.

If you are a Christian, you are a missionary.

Some of you may disagree but I hope to show you this is God’s truth.

In a world searching for purpose, Jesus has a grand purpose for us that many Christians are missing.

God’s word has life and joy for us.

›    Here’s where we’re going.

•    Our Pattern: Jesus, the missionary

•    Our Purpose: We’re Sent like Jesus

•    Our Power: Jesus’ Spirit

•    How do we now live?

We will be in John 17.

The Context

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,

Jesus is moments from being arrested and experience immense suffering. For about 24 hours Jesus will be treated like all he ever did was ever wrong when all he ever did was right. And Jesus knows all this is coming and so he is praying to the Father on behalf of his disciples. There is much you can learn from a person’s last prayer. You often pray about what’s most important and you sum up your purpose and life. 

But I want to address one common pushback that comes from this passage. Because I’m going to unpack some heavy truths we all have to reckon with and the implications for our lives are far-reaching. Here’s the objection,

“Well Sam, this is all well and good but that was for the 12 apostles. I’m not an apostle.”

And you would be right.

However, Jesus has YOU in mind when he’s praying this prayer.

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

So the truths and principals applied to the apostles, is ultimately applied to you if you believe.

Our Pattern: Jesus, the Missionary

18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

Remember, Jesus is speaking to his Father. So the father has sent Jesus in the world. *We will talk more about the next part of this verse shortly.

The word mission is from the Latin word missio, which means to send.

So a missionary is a sent one.

So Jesus is a missionary.

So Jesus left his throne to come to?

The world

Notice this word, “World.”

It’s important to note that whenever you consider any word in the bible, you have to consider the context it is in. So in one part of the Bible, world means generically everyone and sometimes world is referring to all those aligned against Jesus’ kingdom and his ways. The word, “world” is used in both ways in this chapter and you can only tell by carefully looking at the context.

Jesus came for us. He rescued us. He crossed the chasm that separated heaven and earth. He crossed over cultures to a world that was the opposite of all that he held dear.

This is a great point to consider for us,

This is important to note because we expect unbelievers to do the opposite in much of our evangelism. We ask them to cross-cultures to meet us. Come to our church. We may alter things a bit to make it more comfortable and appealing but we are still asking them to do what we often feel uncomfortable to do.

I mean, how  many of us would be uncomfortable visiting a Hindu temple or a Mosque?

Sent for what?

Purpose?

›    We within the immediate context of John 17, there are some clues but let’s go back further in the Gospel of John to one of the most famous verses in the Bible.

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Unlike many who make empty promises and proclamations of their love, God demonstrates his love by giving his most valuable treasure, his only son.

Why did he give his son?

So that whoever believes in his son should not perish but have eternal life.

FOR God did not SEND his son to the world to condemn the world, but for the purpose that the world might be saved through him.

So because the Father loves the world he sent his son to save the world.

What is the world being saved from?

Perishing. in other words, eternal death and separation from God.

Instead of death, they can have life!

Gospel Invitation

Let me take a moment to address anyone in this room who has not put their life in Jesus’ hands. There are only two types of people in the world. Those who are saved by Jesus and those who are condemned to perish.

But God made a way to ensure that anyone, WHOEVER, wanted to be reconciled to him, would not perish but have eternal life in Christ.

Note the word, “whoever.” It means, ANYBODY. ANYONE.

But I’ve messed up… WHOEVER!

But I don’t have my act together… WHOEVER!

But I don’t come from the right background… WHOEVER!

But you don’t know what I’ve done… WHOEVER!

If you want to be right with God, if you want to be forgiven of your sins and be with Him, you can have it. But you have to have his son. You have to receive his forgiveness and put your trust in his life, death, and resurrection for you. If you trust him, you will be saved from the just punishment to come.

If you want to know more, please speak with one of us today.

›    Now let’s get back to our pattern in Jesus back in chapter 17. Look at v. 19.

Consecrated

19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Consecrate is the same word family as this word, “Sanctified”

›    What does this word consecrate and sactify mean? Sounds super religious.

Sanctify is part of the “Holy” word-group. So if someone is sanctified in God’s truth it means that they are set apart. Wholly committed to it.

Scholar DA Carson puts it this way,

if someone is set apart for God and God’s purposes alone, that person will do only what God wants, and hate all that God hates. That is what it means to be holy, as God is holy (Lv. 11:44–45; 1 Pet. 1:16).

So Jesus committed his life wholly to his Father’s agenda and he does it so that his people can be sanctified in truth (We’ll talk about this more shortly).

›    So the first point is that Jesus is our pattern. Because Jesus is our pattern, our purpose is to follow his example.

Our Purpose: Sent like Jesus

Back to v. 18,

18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

So Jesus was sent to us and now he wants to send us to the world.

Jesus gave us the way, now we are witnesses of the way. We don’t have to die for the sins of the world because Jesus did.

We are now simply witnesses, testifying that Jesus made a way for the world to be reconciled to the Father.

The Son now sends us into the world to continue what he did.

The mission of the church is not our own but Jesus’ mission that we are continuing.

Why don’t we just get beamed up to heaven the moment any of us becomes  Christian?

Some of you don’t believe this.

YOU have been sent. Every Christian has been sent to cross cultures into the world and be a witness of the way.

But how in the world do we accomplish this?

It’s like being at a pool and lining up behind the diving board and the person ahead of you does like 50 flips and performs a perfect olympic dive.

And then it’s your turn.

And the person ahead of you shouts out from the water and says, “Just do what I did!”

›    What Jesus is calling us to is impossible. So we need power. So our second point is that we are sent like Jesus, which leads us to our third point,

Our Power: Jesus’ Spirit

Let me share four passages that all tie mission and the Spirit together. Bear with me, since we are going to fly over them to get the main point of them.

Look for the repeated themes,

26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Do you see the repeated themes here?

You can’t fulfill the mission unless you have the Spirit which is his power and presence. 

So if you feel inadequate to be sent into the world like Jesus was, good! Now, the Spirit can be your power.

Some of you have put yourself out of the game. You have looked at yourself and concluded, God can’t use me.. I can’t be a missionary. That’s for those other Christians.

We have the same Spirit that empowered Jesus and the same Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead.

The most powerful being in the universe is with us and empowering us.

›    The third point is that our power is Jesus’ spirit.  So let’s move on and ask,

First of all, do you believe you are sent to the world like Jesus was?

Are you committed, or consecrated to continue the mission Jesus started.

Will you obey?

I say, “Obey” because this is not optional. It’s commanded from our Lord. And it seems like many people in the church in our country believe that being sent into the world is optional.

If you call upon Jesus as your lord, you are a missionary.

Pastor Charles Spurgeon is super convicting here,

If Jesus is precious to you, you will not be able to keep your good news to yourself...Every Christian here is either a missionary or an impostor. Recollect that. You either try to spread abroad the kingdom of Christ, or else you do not love him at all. It cannot be that there is a high appreciation of Jesus and a totally silent tongue about him. - Spurgeon, 1873 “A Sermon and a Reminiscence”

Let me ask you this, if you don’t consider yourself a missionary like Jesus, would you be surprised if you still felt that way 6 months from now? What about a year? 2? 5?

See what this exercise reveals is that some of you have decided that being a missionary is just optional for you.

That is not okay. 

Will you follow Jesus’ example and purpose?

The question is not, “IF” you’re a missionary but how will we live out out this identity?

Every decision you make ought to be made through the lens of being a missionary,

Where you live

Where you work

How you work

Where you play

How you spend your money

What people you spend time with

What church you’re committed to

Everything goes through this lens.

You may think, “This seems like too much, Sam.”

I agree. It is a lot. It’s your entire life. It’s a complete abandonment to Jesus’ mission and his ways over your own.

But that’s why we talked about the power comes from the Spirit. The Spirit progressively helps us walk into this reality.

›    Here are a few points on what to do if you embrace this identity,

1. You’ll Figure it out...

But know that if you get this. I mean, really embrace this. And own it as fundamental to who you are and what it means to be a Christian, you will figure it out.

I know that can sound irresponsible as a preacher, but if you get this, you will figure it out. Let me give you an example,

If you were to get an official notice from the US Government that you have been appointed to be the ambassador of the US to the Central African Republic (I didn’t even know that was a nation. I googled, “Random nation” and found a website that generates random nations for you learn about).

What would you do?

You’d buy books, watch documentaries, talk to any African you know who would know more, you would visit, you will ask questions, you would take classes, you would do whatever you could to understand their culture and how to be a good ambassador. ]

Now, that illustration does break down a bit. However, I think there is a real point there. If you embrace this identity, you will figure it out with the help of the Spirit and your community.

This is also the case for being a beloved family and a servant. If this is something you own, you’ll figure it out.

›    So the first point on if you will embrace this identity is that you’ll figure it out. The second,

2. You Learn On the Job

You may hear all of this and think, maybe one day Sam but that’s not me. I know too little. I struggle with too many things. I’m too broken.

Look at Jesus’ model. He grabs a rag tag group of nobodies to follow him and teaches them on the job.

He has them watch and listen.

They talk about it.

Then he has them do it and then they talk about it.

Then, once he ascends to the Father, they do it with the Spirit.

I think most of us know this intuitively. We learn best on the job. We learn when we MUST apply.

For example, if I were to tell all of you that one of you, at random will be leading the Lord’s Supper next week, would not each of you perk up and pay attention more than ever?

Pastor and author Daniel Im put its well,

In my experience pastoring, leading, and consulting with churches, I’ve discovered that when you focus on developing mature disciples, you do not necessarily find yourself with an army of missionaries. However, when you focus on developing missionary disciples, you will always get mature disciples. - Daniel IM

If you wait to be a missionary when you “arrive” you will never arrive. But if you take steps of faith with the help of the Spirit and community, you will discover yourself as a mature Christian in no time.

Some of you today need to reject the lie that you cannot make disciples and never will. You must reject the lie that you have to be good enough or smart enough.

But take a step towards it and own this calling and identity.

›    So the 2nd point on if you will embrace this identity is that you’ll learn on the job. Now to the 3rd.

3. Re-Imagine Missionaries

I think when many Christians hear the word, “Missionary” they think of a scruffy, hardcore Christian who is venturing into unknown tribes, risking martyrdom. While that is true of some missionaries and we need more of those, missionaries are much more broad.

However, for the majority of us, being a missionary is being sent into the world living, working, and playing with gospel-intentionality. What I mean is that everything is done in light of the gospel. We are proclaiming and demonstrating the gospel in our home-making, parenting, our jobs, our schools, our neighborhoods, our exercising, in everything.

This is actually what many missionaries do overseas. They, like Jesus, incarnate themselves into the culture, without compromising. They seek to utilize everyday activities as gospel-opportunities.

It may look like being a business owner overseas and being the best boss ever, and creating an incredible product. All which you can point to the kingdom of what Jesus and his reign is like. And utilizing this demonstration of the kingdom as a springboard for proclamation of the gospel.

We must both demonstrate and proclaim the gospel. You are not living out your missionary identity if you ONLY demonstrate the kingdom.

›    Every Christian is a missionary, but it will look different for each of us and that’s a good thing. We’re gifted differently, we’re wired differently, and God will use that in profound ways. Which leads to our 4th point in embracing a missionary identity,

4. Utilize the Missionary Community

We have to continue to re-imagine missionaries. For many of us, we imagine the lone ranger going out to the ends of earth. But again, look at Jesus’ pattern. He does it with a team. And when he sends out the disciples, they go in pairs. When the apostle Paul goes out, he does it with a team.

Having a mainly solo mindest of missionary work and evangelism has hurt us greatly because we are a body. No one person has all the gifts. We need the whole church to fully reflect Christ to the world.

I want to commend to you another way of looking at evangelism and mission work.

Three Strand Evangelism

›    There’s a graphic on the screen,

 1) building relationships 2) sharing the gospel 3) introducing people to community.

These are three strands that work beautifully together. They’re not in order and you will see different ones in action at different times.

Steve Timmis and Tim Chester, two pastors from the UK  help us here,

However, not all of us are eloquent or engaging. Not everyone can think on their feet. Some people are simply not good at speaking to strangers and forming new friendships. One of the practical benefits of the three-strand model of evangelism is that it gives a role to all of God’s people. By making evangelism a community project, it also takes seriously the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit in distributing a variety of gifts among his people. Everyone has a part to play—the new Christian, the introvert, the extrovert, the eloquent, the stuttering, the intelligent, the awkward. I may be the one who has begun to build a relationship with my neighbor, but in introducing him to community, it is someone else who shares the gospel with him. That is not only legitimate—it is positively thrilling!

-Steve Timmis and Tim Chester

Remember, they will know we are Christians by __________ Fill in the blank.

And so when we bring people into the community, they are able to experience the gospel embodied into reality.

And this de-pressurizes every encounter for you to get to the cross and resurrection and call them to repentance. You can prayerfully let the Lord open up those doors.

So as we engage the world around us, let’s look for ways to integrate the rest of the body into it.

›    So the 4th point is utilizing the missionary community. The 5th and final point is,

5. Missionaries Receive Jesus’ Joy

The result of all this was found in the beginning of our passage. 

13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

Why is he speaking?

Jesus wants us to have his joy.

And we won’t have it unless we do what he did.

›    So the 5th and final point is that if we embrace this missionary identity, we will have Jesus’ joy.

Imagine if we worked together as a missionary community. That’s one of the goals of missional communities. We don’t want to merely be missionaries going out solo and coming back and reporting how it went but we want to do it together when we can. We want to be a compelling and loving family that people want to be part of. Where they see us gospelizing one another in word and deed.

Do you see the brilliance of Jesus’ missionary plan to infiltrate all areas of society. Instead of just having people come to us, he has strategically and providentially placed us in many offices, schools, neighborhoods, and gyms to be a missionary. We are sent there. Where you already are is where you’ve been sent. And together, with the Spirit and the community we can be a witness to them of the one who saves and will make all things right.

›    Let me conclude by thanking Jesus...

Thank you Jesus for not staying home. But instead, you crossed the great chasm and left your father’s side to rescue us.

Let’s us be like our Jesus.

Benediction and Commission?

21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

Ross Tenneson

Daniel Simmons

Pastoral Resident Daniel Simmons preached Philippians 2:1-11. It is better to give, than to receive. So count others greater than yourself and find the joy that Jesus had in serving us.

Servants Like Jesus: The Path to Joy

Philippians 2:1-11

Exegetical Main Point: 

The Philippian church is called to live humbly as servants like Christ because they are already servants of Christ. The result is greater joy. 

Main Point of the Sermon:

If you want greater joy, serve like Christ served you.

Me: 

It’s not always natural for me to serve others. On my worst days I don’t even want to be seen so that I don’t have to be inconvenienced by someone. 

This was my attitude on one particular day a few years back. I was exhausted from ministry and work and I was out on a walk to pray and find rest. I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere in my prayer. I felt stuck and like God wasn’t hearing me. Until I walked by an outdoor basketball court on Xavier university’s campus. Suddenly, the Lord began tugging on my heart to go share the Gospel with the guys playing. My gut reaction was anger and a firm NO! “I’m trying to rest God! Give me rest.” I kept walking only to feel the tension in my heart rising. I wasn’t getting anywhere in prayer and it felt like God was saying to me, “if you want rest, come and serve with me.” Frustrated, I went over to the basketball court and got about 6 guys’ attention and began sharing the Gospel with them. After a few minutes all but one of the guys slowly trickled back on to the court to play. But one guy stayed to talk and listened intently. He continued to talk with me for about 2 hours and he later told me that he believed that God was calling him. His grandfather and even his girlfriend had been consistently telling him he needed to turn to Christ for several weeks leading up to that day. He knew what he needed to do and he was ready to turn. 

You can only imagine the joy I felt. I was used by God to help turn a lost man towards his God… despite my bad attitude and pride. I believed in that moment that those guys weren’t worth my time. That my rest was far more important. But God showed me that day that it is more blessed to give than receive.

This story illustrates the daily tension I feel. I often fail to serve because I forget who I am, that servanthood is part of my identity in Christ, that serving is the path that God has set me on in Christ.  

We:

Do you feel this tension? 

How do you grow to serve when you don’t feel like serving? How do you serve when everything inside of you screams, “I’m done! Me time!”

Well, we are continuing our 3-part series in identity. And what Sam introed last week is that we do what we believe we are. In other words, identity precedes activity. So whatever we truly believe we are will lead to what we do. 

So the problem is that many of us don’t believe that part of our identity is that we are servants.

This sermon is titled “Servants Like Jesus: The Path to Joy”. 

Here’s what I want to say today. 

Serving others like Christ served you is the path to greater joy.

I’ll take this in three parts.

We Are Servants

We Serve Like Christ

We Get Greater Joy

We Are Servants

We are going to be camping in one of the greatest chapters in the Bible, Philippians chapter 2, and my goal today will not be to exegete verse by verse, but to hone in on the theme of humility and servanthood. 

This chapter begins with the word “so”. What do you do when you see words like so, or therefore? You ask, “what is the therefore there for?” 

We need to look at the context. This “so” points us to what has come before. 

Paul’s word of exhortation to the Philippian church actually begins with chapter 1:27, which is literally translated “only see to it that you live lives as citizensworthy of the gospel of Christ.” 

The apostle Paul is urging the Philippian church to live like Jesus on the basis of the supernatural reality that has already taken place.[1]

That is, they are already citizens of the Kingdom of God through the Gospel of Christ. That is why Paul calls them to live lives worthy of that position.

But this passage also reminds the Philippians that they were not always citizens of the Kingdom. They were made citizens through the Gospel of Jesus. This is true of every Christian. 

We used to be enslaved to sin. Our sin nature informed our daily actions. At the center of our world was self. We listened to our flesh and obeyed its passions, while the world and the devil affirmed our actions as good. While we were on the path to death and hell. 

But in God’s mercy, when you believed the Gospel of Jesus, you were united to Christ, and redeemed from slavery to that losing kingdom and brought onto the winning team in the Kingdom of Christ. 

Maybe you are hearing this today and are not yet following Jesus. Friend, Jesus is the King who came to serve you and raise you up. He died on the cross so that you would not have die for your sins. Are you a slave to sin or a slave to this benevolent King? You must choose who you will serve today. Sin leads to death, but Jesus offers life. Be baptized today for the forgiveness of your sins and join this family. 

But if you have surrendered to Christ the King, you are no longer a slave of sin and Satan, but you have become a slave of Christ to live like him.

He is King and Lord, and you are his servants. 

Church, we are servants. 

This means we must obey Jesus at all costs. Jesus’s words to his disciples in Luke 17 illustrate this well: 

Which of you whose servant comes in from plowing or shepherding in the field will say to him, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? Instead, won’t he tell him, ‘Prepare my meal and dress yourself to serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what he was told? So you also, when you have done everything commanded of you, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

This is a shocking in our context. We are told everywhere that we are whatever we say we are. Are you male or female, heterosexual, homosexual… How do YOU identify? What do you want to do? Who do you want to be? That’s what matters most. 

We are immersed in a culture that demands that nothing and no one should tell you how to live unless your living is harmful to others. 

Jesus, however, teaches his disciples that all who follow him are his servants. They are what he says they are and they do what he says they should do with radical and immediate obedience, saying “we’ve only done our duty”.

How does that land? Is that easy to hear that you are not actually supposed to have the reigns of your life? He is supposed to call the shots and we are supposed to gladly submit. 

Is being a servant of Jesus at every moment a sweet and happy reality for you? Or does this seem burdensome? 

I admit, this feels difficult to me. It’s startling because I forget and think I have control of my life. 

But then I remember… then I remember what he has done to win me this place in his Kingdom. I remember that I truly am an unworthy man saved by his grace and bought by his precious blood shed on the cross, that I was truly enslaved to sin and headed for death and hell as a result, but he served me so that I could serve God and others in his happy kingdom. 

This is actually the Holy Spirit’s strategy. Scripture rarely commands anything without giving a Gospel ground for it. Paul doesn’t begin exhorting the Philippians with “do this and that”, but rather “if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being… [like this]. 

We are called to live out what we have already received from God. What Christ has done to us, he wants to do through us!

We are trying to mimic our master.  

This leads us to part 2. 

We Serve Like Christ

Look with me at Philippians 2:3. 

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

Our passage moves from who we are and what we’ve received to what we “do”. 

The Lord commands the Philippians, commands us, to live humbly, not selfishly or with a proud heart, but in everything we do to count others more significant than self. 

This command is reminiscent of the golden rule. We do to others as we would have them do to us. We don’t sit by passively watching others suffer, but we seek to meet needs just like we would meet our own needs. 

But the command to count others as more significant than self goes even a step further than the golden rule. It challenges citizens of the kingdom to view others as more significant, more important,than yourself. This almost sounds like the mindset of a servant serving a superior master. 

Paul adds some description in verse 4: servants of Jesus must not look only to their own interests, but also to other’s interests. 

This goes beyond other’s needs to their wants, desires, likes, dislikes, preferences, opinions… 

At every turn the servant of Christ jumps to serve others in humility above self! They are the first to volunteer to take out the trash, the first on dishes, the first on watching the kids… they don’t seek their own way, but they seek to serve. They seek to serve those who are different than them.  

Does that describe your day today?! Does that describe you as you came into this building today, eager to serve those you meet today, those you sit next to today?  

Can you say that in everything you do that you consider others as more significant than yourself? Woah? Who can? 

Only Jesus Christ. 

Verse 5. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus…

Wait, Daniel, I thought we just established that NO ONE but Jesus has this mindset?!

But Paul says something different. He is able to say simultaneously that you have the mind of Christ alreadyif you are “in Christ Jesus”, while also commanding us to have something we do not yet have fully. 

Here we see one of the clearest examples of the New Covenant reality we live in. The already but not yet kingdom. 

This is challenging, and this is why we strive to teach this book week in and week out. Those of us who have entered the kingdom of God through Christ have been given a new nature led by the Spirit of God. But our old nature, our old man, our flesh, was trained for decades to live selfishly, and it needs to catch up to the new man, to our new identity in Christ. 

This is why we seek to daily renew our minds in the Word of God through our daily Bible reading plan. We all believe things about God that are false and act out of those beliefs daily, so we must be corrected and led to become who we truly are in Jesus. 

This process is called sanctification. We are being cleansed and washed to be more and more like Jesus, who lives in us. 

We must live out of this true identity. 

We are not naturally humble. If you say you are, you have just justified my point. We are not trying to be servants simply because it looks good and seems best, but rather we live like Christ because we ALREADY have this mindset in him. 

The more we believe we are servants, loved by the King, the more that we will serve out of an overflow of that identity. 

We will no longer act selfishly or proudly by default but our lives will begin to look more and more like Jesus. 

It usually doesn’t work to force someone to do something does it? Kingdoms who operate this way usually end up with dead kings and defective servants. 

This is why, I believe, God set up his Kingdom like he did. As much as it is our duty to submit to Jesus as master today, his desire for you and me is that we gladly, willingly, serve him and others out of a knowledge of his humility, his goodness and grace. 

In fact, God’s character is the foundation of every command.

Verses 3-4 show us what God loves, what he is like. 

Paul is showing us what God is like by pointing us to Jesus, the perfect image of the invisible God. 

Read again with me verses 5 and following: 

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

This incredible passage is what scholars believe to be a hymn sung by the early church.

It is mind boggling. Jesus, who is God, was in the form of God in the heavens, but he didn’t seek his own interests. He sought ours! The King came to save his enemies. 

(LOOK AT THE PEOPLE) He emptied himself, meaning that he laid aside his crown in heaven, laid aside his glory, so that he could serve us. He served us by becoming a man, growing up in a poor family, being adopted by Joseph, learning like we learn, getting hurt and feeling lonely like us, experiencing temptation, sleeplessness, oppression, and rejection by all men, and even dying in our place, dying in the most humiliating way on the cross. 

He was naked when he hung there, spit on, mocked, beard plucked out, thorns in his head, hands and feet pierced, yet he looked at his murderers, he looks at sinners like you and me, and with his last breath and some of his last words, he said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” 

This is incredible love! This is incredible humility! Jesus is truly the servant of all, and he is showing us the heart of God. God’s nature is to use his power, authority, and gifts to serve the lowly, the brokenhearted, the needy. 

The humility of God is staggering!

This is not who I am so often! I am a sinful man! 

For those of you who feel this, hear the Good News for you:

Jesus not only showed us an example to live by, he went to the cross to free us to joyfully serve like him. 

Isn’t this what Jesus said when he washed the disciples feet? After supper, John 13 says, “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

As you continue to read, it becomes clear that Jesus’s foot washing is symbolic of the cleansing that he would provide ultimately on the cross. 

Just a few chapters later, in Jesus’s high priestly prayer for his disciples, he prays:  18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. Jn 17

Jesus “sanctified himself” so that we may be sanctified. This cleansing was going to be accomplished the very next day on the cross. 

 

Jesus’s blood cleanses his disciples, it prepares them to be able to serve like Jesus in the world, just like he was sent to serve in the world. 

Isn’t he good. Oh, he is so good!

The next time you feel the temptation to run from serving others, from thinking that something is beneath you, think of the cross. If anyone had reason to feel entitled to space and distance from us, it’s Jesus.

But see what he has done!

Church, if we call Jesus Teacher and Lord, we will wash the feet of one another as the Lord has done for us. 

We are called to lay down our lives for this family in service to every member and in love and obedience to our Savior. 

You: 

Is this your mindset today? Does this define your life? Are you consumed with laying down your own interests for the interests of others out of love for Christ. 

I can say that many of you are! The Wilson’s and the Hasson’s shared the last two weeks about all the ways you have done this. If this is true of you, my job is only to praise God for you and urge you to love one another more and more!

But perhaps you need to repent today, and begin living out your true identity as servant. 

Church, are you seeking to use your gifts to serve this body? 

Pastors, are we driven by self-interest or the flocks best interests?

Husbands, are you laying down your life for your wives and families – doing the dishes, working diligently to provide and protect and lead your wife and family into greater love, knowledge, and obedience to God?

Wives, are you joyfully submitting to your husbands as to the Lord? Are you a partner or competitor? 

Parents, are you serving your children in such a way that they might surpass you in godliness and fruitfulness in this world? 

Singles, are you given to good works, serving the poor, the widow, and hurting members within the family above your own comfort and pleasure?

Christians, sent ones, are you working to make known this Gospel of light to the lost? 

How are we doing? 

Are we carrying one another’s burdens, rejoicing with the joyful and weeping with the sorrowful? 

Are we praying for one another? 

I believe God is stirring something in our body. He wants to make us true prayer-servants, to go to war for one another and the lost in our city.

Prayer is one of the greatest ways to serve.In fact, when Jesus pointed out that the harvest was plentiful and the laborers few, he didn’t first say go, but pray… that he might send more laborers. 

Some of you have been deeply wounded by others or by your circumstances: I’m talking about abuse (in all its forms), physical issues, financial strain, tough season with kids, family, or in life generally… the list could go on. But when you hear this sermon you only feel shame for not being where you want to be as a Christian. Yet, you’ve felt for some time that you have nothing to give. 

I need you to hear this: Jesus is ready to serve you where you are right now. He wants to heal you and he will make you ready for fruitful service again as you continue to lean into him for rest. Let him wash your feet again today so that he can then send you into the world.   

Church, the master is calling you today to come and serve because you have been served. He is calling you to come and serve like him in the power of the Spirit who lives in you. 

The key to this changed mindset is this: When Jesus calls you to serve with him and like him, he is calling you to joy. 

And this is the final part of the sermon. 

We Get Greater Joy 

When we serve like Christ, we get greater joy. 

Verse 9 proves my point. 

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

“Therefore”. Because God the Son took on humanity and humbled himself to the cross, God the Father exalted him to the supreme place in every sphere of reality, in heaven, earth, and under the earth. Every tongue will, thus, acknowledge the reality of his Lordship. 

Jesus knew that this would be true. 

Hebrews 12:2-3 says, “For the joy set before him (or because of the joy awaiting him, NLT) he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hangups:

Wait, Daniel are you saying that the cross wasn’t painful because of the joy coming? Are you saying that serving others is should be easy? 

No. Jesus “endured” the cross. It was excruciating. But he scorned or disregarded the shame and pain of it because of where it was leading him – to the right hand of God, to the greatest joy! And he was bringing many sons to glory with him!

Church, serving others requires sacrifice. It requires giving of your time, money, house, and other resources… you will receive rejection and much pain if you follow this path; people will not always respond well to your actions. 

But Jesus shows us that the reward of following him is greater than the comfort that you might receive in a few short years of isolated comfort… This is why Jesus said “It is more blessed to give than receive.”

But Daniel, are you saying that we should serve so that we will be exalted like Jesus? Isn’t that an evil motive for serving? 

Apart from the fact that he is himself God, it wasn’t evil for Jesus to serve knowing that it would result in his glory because he knew that his glorification would ultimately bring glory to the Father. “To the glory of God the Father.” 

Listen up. In the same way, church, we have been united to the Son in such a way that when we are glorified on the last day for our obedience, our glory will make Jesus look more glorious! He will be the culmination of praise, not you or me! 

Isn’t this ironic. In laying down our lives for one another like Jesus, we are actually promised greatness. “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant,[c] 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,[d] 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

What would our church look like if we really believed that serving others like Jesus is the true path to greatness, the true path to joy? What would our world look like if that was how we thought? Oh, that he would make us believe it. 

Conclusion: 

Jesus laid down his life for us so that we could be citizens of his Kingdom, citizens who serve our master by serving others. As a result we will receive great joy and glory with Christ for eternity. 

And Jesus tells us that when we love one another like this, seeking others interests above our own, serving like Jesus, that the world will know that we are Jesus’s disciples. 

Jesus is the one who set us free to serve. Jesus will get the greater glory. 

So, for your joy, church, and God’s glory let us press on to live out our true identity as servants. 

Benediction and Commission

Luke 12:37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.

Jesus has commissioned us to be the light of the world as ambassadors of God. Let us go and serve as those keeping watch for His return, for when he returns, our master will serve you at that great wedding feast. Amen.

[1]O’Brien, P. T. (1991). The Epistle to the Philippians: a commentary on the Greek text(p. 167). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Report on Ross's Trip to Malawi

Sam Choi