"Example of Jesus"
C. R. O. S. S. C. R. E.
E. K.February 20, 2000
Cross Creek Community Church
Life Changing Relevant to Today Powerful
Phil. 2:1-11 & Selected
Philip. 2:1-11 "If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
| We see presidential elections coming up with the candidates all trying to outdo each other. All saying -- look at me. I'm the best candidate, I'm the best example of a politician! |
| We see religious figures today falling into deep immorality. Even mainline denominations, clergy involved with the sin of homosexuality. This is leading many people to wonder and doubt God and the Bible. These religious leaders are living a lie! |
| We also have good religious examples today. Examples of good character and uprightness. We see men like Billy Graham who for many years walked a faithful and true life. |
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| No man is completely worthless. He can always serve as a horrible example! |
By far, our ultimate example should be Jesus Christ-the Son of God. We need to fix our eyes upon him, get to know him, the one that can change your life forever.
Matthew 11:29 "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…"
John 13:15 "I (Jesus) have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. "
Eighty-five percent of what we learn and remember comes to us through our eyes. Eleven percent comes through our ears, and three to four percent through our other senses.
Jesus offers refreshment in his school -- as we learn from him.
| We need to be teachable. Are we? We need to learn from Jesus' example. |
| Biggest reason is pride - you have arrived, this speaks volumes on who you believe God is. |
| Self is on the throne & not Christ. - Grieving the Holy Spirit. |
| Going through the motions - external indicators - ARE YOU LEARNING? TEACHABLE? |
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| We learn by having a proper attitude of heart. |
| Realization of who God is & who I am. |
| Creates a humbleness / an emptying of self-centeredness. |
| THEN the Holy Spirit can teach us. That's to learn from Jesus, how he lived, how he thought, what made Him happy, what made Him sad, what made in do the things he did, the way he acted. He should be our example, to pattern our lives after. -- having his eyes, ears, heart, attitudes. |
| Be in learning gear - always be teachable -- never think that you have arrived! |
Thomas Edison said, "I guess I’m an awfully good sponge. I absorb ideas from every source I can, and put them to practical use. Then I improve them until they become of some value. The ideas which I use are mostly the ideas of other people who don’t develop them themselves."
We learn from Jesus -- "let this mind being you which was also in Christ Jesus"- lets learn from him.
1. Attitude of HUMILITY. 2:3 & 8
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." …he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!"Matthew 11:29 "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."
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Christ humbled Himself to lay aside His eternal glory of heaven and majesty and become a man for the purpose of dying. God became flesh - God with us - John 1.Þ
Christ suffered rejection, denial, cursing, abuse, arrest, torture, and murder at the hands of rebellious men—whom He had originally created for the joy of eternity—rebellious men whom He had come to save.
| Christ humbled Himself to bear the pain of suffering for sin eternally. Christ is eternal; therefore, His death is ever before the face of God. (Just imagine! It is beyond our comprehension, but the Lord’s eternal agony is fact because of the eternal nature of God.) |
OUR ATTITUDE: humility vs. pride -- Satan's fall in Isa. 14/the 5 I wills.
Ephes. 4:2
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
It's been said, humility is the avenue to glory.
James 4:6 & 10
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
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Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.It is possible to be too big for God to use you -- but never too small for God to use you.
1 Peter 5:6
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
True humility is not to think low of yourself BUT to think right and truthfully of yourself.
| Recognizing that our worth comes from God alone. |
| Working with his power according to his guidance, not with our own independent effort. |
| Gives us worth and dignity, despite our human shortcomings. |
| It is only the humble who can know the blessings of God. |
| The way up is down. The lowly one becomes the lifted one. |
True humility is seeing ourselves as we truly are from God's perspective.
2. Tremendous COMPASSION.
2:1 & 4 "… if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion.." 4"Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."Matthew 9:36 "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."
| "Compassion" - strong emotion, it means "to feel deep sympathy." to have the bowels yearn, i.e. to pity. |
Mark 1:41 "Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Compassion & touch - touch the untouchable, heal the unhealable.
True compassion produces action
| Compassion is Christ reaching out for us. Loving us and coming to earth, reaching out to us, dying upon a cross for your sin and mine. |
OUR ATTITUDE:
| Having the heart, eyes of Christ. - seeing what He sees. |
| Allow His compassion to flow through us. The |
| What would happen in our church? Community? Families? |
| What would happen if we were driven by compassion? For the lost & hurting. |
| The point is this: we are to let the compassion of Christ flow both in and through us. |
3. Heart of a SERVANT.
2:7 "but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." | "Made Himself nothing" - He emptied Himself. The word "emptied" (ekenosen) means to completely empty. It is the picture of pouring water out of a glass until it is empty or of dumping something until it is all removed. |
Matthew 20:28
"Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." | "Servant" - a slave - bond (-man), servant. Absolute submission, bond slave to the master. |
| Mark 10:45 "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." |
| Jesus washed the feet of His disciples - ate with "sinners", helped the widow, prostitutes, cripples, sick. To |
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"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich" (2 Cor. 8:9).
OUR ATTITUDE:
| Greatness is serving others. The great are they who minister. |
Clay & the Potter - Jeremiah 18:1-6
The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 3Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 4And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 5Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 6O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
| We are bond slaves to Christ. |
| Bound to the Lord every moment of life, always serving, regardless of difficulty or circumstances. |
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"Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men,"Ephes. 6:7
John 12:26 "Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. "
We are NOT OUR OWN - we have been bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus.
We need the heart of a servant, serving others as we serve in Christ.
4. Spiritual UNITY. 2:2
"then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose."John 17:21 "That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."
| Standard for unity is the oneness between Jesus and His Father. Absolute obedience, love, faithfulness. |
| It was the very theme of Jesus’ prayer (John 17:11, 21-23). Believers must be one. - a phenomenal truth. |
DISUNITY HURTS THE CAUSE OF CHRIST.
OUR ATTITUDE:
| The unity between believers is to be as strong as the unity between Jesus and His Father. |
| Believers are in an extremely divisive world, a world full of... |
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| Jesus knew we are in a world of disunity. Carnal Christians That's why he prayed for us -- in John 17. |
John 17:23
"I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."
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| The depraved nature of man, the nature that Christ came to change and to convert to love. |
God wants his people to be ONE. - Produces tremendous strength, authority, power, a bond which is eternal, and a tremendous witness to the world!
5. Absolute OBEDIENCE. 2:8
"And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!"Romans 5:19 "For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous."
"Obedient" - Gk - attentively listening, i.e. submissive.
"For he (God) hath made him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor. 5:21).
| Jesus Christ lived a sinless life; He never sinned, never displeased God—not even once. He was perfectly righteous. - Absolutely obedient to His Father. |
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| Any man who will so honor God’s Son by believing and trusting Him, God will honor by counting his faith as the righteousness of Christ. It is that simple and that profound: "By the obedience of Jesus Christ shall many be made righteous." |
"And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him" (Hebrews 5:9).
| Are we being obedient in all matters, or do we 'pick and choose' the areas? |
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6. Unconditional LOVE.
Let's see this wonderful truth together, listen carefully.Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
| The word "commendeth" (sunistemi) means to show, prove, exhibit, demonstrate. |
| It is in the present tense: God is always showing and proving His love to us. Continual action. |
| The most wonderful truth in all the world is this: |
| God will hold no sin against any man, if that man will personally trust His Son. |
Luke 23:34 "Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots."
| If God forgives the men who killed His only Son, God will forgive any person for any sin—if that person will just ask. |
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
| God had to watch His Son walk through life being rejected, denied, cursed, abused, arrested, tortured, and crucified. |
| God had to sit back and watch His Son suffer being crucified by the hands of men; |
| God had to restrain Himself when He knew He could reach out and deliver His ONLY SON. (Or send 12 legions of angels). |
| God proved His love. He has given up His Son to die for us. |
| We do not deserve it—we never have and we never will—but God loves us with an unbelievable love. |
| Therefore, He has given His Son to die for us, as our substitute, in our behalf. |
John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
| we see a tremendous example of love, do we love like that? |
| Unselfish love, loving the unlovely, even loving our enemies -- even our crucifiers. |
III. WHAT SHOULD OUR RESPONSE BE?
Our key verse 2:5 "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:"
Ephes. 5:1 "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children"
| have the mind of Christ and let if flow through you. Let the mind of humility and lowliness surge through your mind. |
| Take all you are and have and get down where the needs really are. MAKE A DIFFERENCE! |
| Do all you can to solve the divisiveness, problems, grumbling, selfish ambition and pride, desire for position and power, greed and selfishness, hurt and pain—both in the church and in the world. |
| Humble yourself as Christ did and become part of the solution instead of the problem. |
| Possessing the very mind of Christ Himself. To be Christlike. |
| The idea is that of commitment, attachment, devotion, allegiance, and attention. |
| Before a person can be a follower of God, he must commit and attach himself to God. |
| We must surrender and devote our life to God and then begin to follow after God. |
Do you personally know Christ as YOUR Lord and Savior?
Are YOU being an example of Christ?
The gospel -- good news:
1. God demonstrated his love.
2. While we were sinners.3. Jesus died for me.