The Sacrifice of Jesus
Transcript
Good morning. As Matt said, I am Josh Pabone. I am the current community group leader of our Seven Oaks group, and I'm glad I get to talk to you guys this morning. So we're in our annual give series. So each year around Christmas, we spend some time to intentionally look at generosity.
We want our Christmas to not only just be about what we get, but what we can give to others. So we take the time to look at Jesus' sacrifice for us and try to intentionally follow him in that sacrifice with generosity towards others. So this year, we're focusing on Samaritan's Well. It is a transition home for women and children in the Lexington area. They help them find jobs. They help them get housing, and they even help them pay off a little bit of their debt.
Last week, we had little stockings on a tree, and currently, we have $50 gift cards for the women and children at the shelter, so they get to kind of relax around Christmas and enjoy spending time with each other without worrying about being able to get gifts. So at the end of the sermon today, Chet's going to give us a... That was phase one. So at the end of the sermon today, Chet's going to give us a look at what phase two will be. So go ahead and grab your Bibles.
We're going to be in Philippians. If you don't have a Bible, grab one of the white ones around you. If you don't own a Bible, it's yours to keep. We'll be on page 570, and we're going to be in Philippians 2, 1 through 8. But before we get into the text, I want to take a couple minutes to talk about sacrifice.
Like, culturally, we love sacrifice. Like, we love to watch it play out in movies, we love to read it in books, and we just love to hear it in any sort of story. So it's kind of like Russell in Independence Day, who gave his life by flying that jet into the spaceship and blew it up. Or Tony Stark, Iron Man at the end of the first Avengers, who took that nuclear weapon that was set to destroy the city and flew it into that weird wormhole thing and blew it up and closed it, because apparently that's how science works. Or Noah in the notebook, who sacrificed his freedom. Who sacrificed his...
It's a great transition. Who sacrificed his freedom to be with his wife in a nursing home, because she had Alzheimer's. Or when people intentionally take time out of their holiday to serve others on Thanksgiving. Like, culturally, we just love it. We see worth and value in it. Whether it's true love, Acts of valor and courage, or the villain at the end of the movie who sees good is worth fighting for and gives his life to stop whatever doomsday device he has set.
Like, we eat it up. But only if it's not us. If my wife Nadine and I were in the never-let-go scene of Titanic, I would look at that door, I would grab her hands lovingly and gingerly, and I would look her in the eyes and I'd say, Baby, you're going to have to scoot over. Like, I love my wife dearly. I do. But I can only be so heroically sacrificial in freezing cold waters.
Like, maybe I could get behind it, and I could paddle you somewhere, and you could snatch up some other doors or debris. Like, maybe use one of these acceptable positions on the screen behind me. I don't know. Maybe we could figure out something. On one hand, we love sacrifice. We see that it is this selfless, for-the-greater-good thing.
That when someone else puts the needs of others before their own, we love it, we praise it, we worship it. We see that it's a value. But on the other hand, we're also told to do you. We're told to do what makes you happy and to achieve your goals no matter what. Like, we're told that we need to do what's best for us. Like, I love sacrifice, but the truth is I love when I don't have to do it.
Oh, well, you need something for me? No, I'm good. I don't think that's going to work out for me. It's just not in my best interest. No, I've got things to do. No thanks.
But when I see someone else sacrificing, wow, look how amazing they are. I wish I could be like that. You know, we're told by culture to both jump on a live hand grenade to save other people, while at the same time being told to do what's best for us. So today we're looking at sacrifice. We're going to spend some time seeing what Paul says about us, coming second and putting others first. Like, we're going to see a picture of how whether you or someone else is doing it, we're going to be overwhelmed by the magnitude of Jesus' sacrifice for us.
Like, we'll get to see that our capacity to even sacrifice comes from the much more massive sacrifice that Jesus made for us. So I'm going to pray. Thank you, God, for this time to talk about sacrifice. Thank you, God, for this time to talk about putting the needs of others before our own in a time where culture tells us that we need to put our needs first. God, I pray that your Holy Spirit move and give us hearts and minds to listen and just be willing to sacrifice for others. I thank you for everything you've given us, God.
In your name I pray. Amen. All right. We're going to be in verse 1. So Paul wrote the book of Philippians.
He was the most prolific missionary in the New Testament. He traveled all over. He was imprisoned. He was beaten. And he was even put to death for spreading the gospel. However, unlike some of his other letters in the New Testament where he's reacting to some form of crisis or some form of sin issue, Philippians is a bit different because he's talking about how much he appreciates them.
So in chapter 4, he talks about how they were the only church at one time to provide for him financially in his ministry. Or he also talks about how thankful he was that they provided for him multiple times in his ministry. So it's way less confrontational like some of his other letters and way more like encouraging. Verse 1. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in a full accord or official agreement, and of one mind.
Okay. Paul has a good relationship with his church. He's highlighting some of the wonderful things that they're doing while also saying, hey, do these things that I'm about to say and do it together. All right. Verse 3. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, which is excessive pride, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Let each of you look to not only his interests, but also the interests of others. Okay. So Paul has two points here. The first is do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. One way to say this would be don't place your pride, your well-being, your ego, your comfort above others. Another way to say it is don't act like the world revolves around just you.
I think Jesus says it best in Matthew 22, 39, where he says, love your neighbor like you love yourself. But what he's not saying is that you shouldn't have ambitions. He's not saying that you shouldn't have goals. He's not saying that those are bad things. He's just saying that our goals don't end on us. So wanting a promotion at work, training to win a marathon, saving a certain amount of money in your bank account, or just finishing a whole pizza in one sitting.
Like goals aren't innately bad things. They're good things. He's just telling us that our ambitions and goals, they just don't end on us. So our bank accounts, like we don't save so we can get that sleek new car we've been eyeing. Like we save so we can help our coworker who's been biking five miles to work every day. He's saying that we work for that promotion to help someone pay their electric bill in the winter so they don't freeze.
He's saying that what drives you and pushes you shouldn't drive other people away, push them down, or just have them be left behind. All right. So that's what he said not to do. He said not to let your ambition center on you. So let's look at what he says to do.
Back in verse three. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also the interests of others. So don't do anything from selfish ambition and conceit, but count others more significant. Don't look to just your interest. Look to the interests of others.
The second point here is in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. All right. So what are we supposed to do? Okay. We're supposed to count others more significant than ourselves. Okay.
How do we do that? In humility. And that is a beautiful thing. You see, humility is often equated to weakness or just being walked all over. But that's not real humility.
It is, however, the opposite of like arrogance, boastfulness, vanity, and aggressiveness. Like you're, you're also not like, Oh, woe is me. I'm just a big fat nobody. I'm the worst person in the world. Like you're not Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. Like you're just not focused on yourself.
You're not self-focused. You're not looking at your own interests. Rather than me first, humility allows us to say you first. It is the quality that lets us go more than halfway to meet the needs of others. And it allows us to sacrifice our comforts and desires in order to value others more. Okay.
So in humility, count others more significant, more significant than yourselves. Look not only to your own interests, but also the interests of others. Now, if you're a parent, you're married, or you just have friends, you're kind of already doing this. Like most cases, it's much easier to love someone that you know than you don't. Like it's easier for me as a parent to count my kids more significant when it comes in terms of food and finances than it is the guy who's holding a cardboard sign at the Bush River Walmart. Like my kids are significant to me.
Their interests matter to me. My wife is significant to me. Her interests matter to me. And it's easier for me to approach my friends in humility than a person I've never met. It's easier because I actually care about them. And because of that, I approach them differently.
I approach their needs differently. Like somehow I deem them more worth it because they matter more to me. Like, yeah, man, I'll definitely help you pay your bills. I know you lost your job. I know you got laid off. I know you've been applying places.
I know no one's called you back. I'll help you buy groceries, man. Here's my money. Here's what I have. Take it. It's yours.
Like, for the most part, when people I know and care about are hurting, I tend to hurt alongside them. And I disarm my pride. I disarm my lack of desire. And I disarm any sort of pushback that I may have a lot easier with someone I care about than someone I don't. But Paul says to not just count the people that I care about or that I love or that I think matter more.
No, he says count anyone other than you. So anyone other than me, not just my family, not just my kids, not just my wife, not just my friends. It's anyone other than me. Jesus made similar statements. Love God with your whole heart and love others. Love your neighbor.
Love your enemy. Paul says count anyone other than you more significant. And when we're counting others more significant, like without pride or ego, we're not going to do things the same. Like, I just, I sit and wonder how that would look in our lives if we 100% believed this. And we 100% acted this out all the time. So I started thinking about this.
Like, what if I did this? What if I genuinely began to treat others like they mattered more to me? Like, what if I cared about their interests more than mine? I think that I would be looking at my budget a little bit differently. Like, I'd be looking at where my money went after all my bills were paid. Going out to eat one or two times a week.
I probably could not go out to eat one time and save that money and give it to someone who needed more. Or, I could use that meal that I was going to eat myself and pay for someone else to eat with me and get to build with them. Like, arguments all of a sudden wouldn't be about winning. They wouldn't be about proving that I was right. Like, heavy traffic would just get to be traffic. Like, I wouldn't be getting mad at the guy who waited the last second to merge in front of me.
I would let him in, and I wouldn't be wishing him bodily harm when I did it. Like, if I 100% believed that my wife mattered more to me, I think I would press pause more on video games, and I would mute the TV more. How much more would I do around the house? Like, if she came up to me and was like, hey, Josh, can you just do, insert whatever she asks here for me, that'd be great. I think I realized I'd say yes a lot more. Like, when she gets home late from work, I'd have the kids fed, and I'd have dinner ready for her, so she could sit down and relax.
I would treat her less like a parent picking up their kid from daycare, and more like someone else who's also had a long day, and needs to relax a little bit more than I do. Like, when I showed it to my group, and if I valued their interest more than mine, I'd bring food because I cared about them eating. I wouldn't have an attitude of imposition when I was asked to take someone home. Like, I wouldn't leave group in a bad mood, because I couldn't share something that was going on in my life, because we had to spend some time helping someone go through a struggle that they're going through. Like, I would put my phone down more.
When someone started talking, I would count them more significant than my Facebook account, or whatever random text message conversation I had. I'd be listening more. If someone comes up to me with a struggle, and we're sitting down talking, and it's just something that is sucking the life out of them, I wouldn't be counting down the minutes on the clock. I wouldn't be counting down the seconds. I'd actually be paying attention, be willing to give some of my time, some of my life, to help encourage them. I just, I really think a lot of things that I get frustrated about, hurt over, upset about, which is genuinely, stop making me upset and hurt.
Like, if I acted like I was less important more often, I believe my life would get better. So what if we did this? What if, what if this is what all Christians look like? What if you began to treat others like they were more important than you? Like, what if their interests began to matter more than yours? Like, somebody in your group has an unexpected medical emergency.
Like, people would be sacrificing time to watch kids, to make meals, maybe even give them money for gas to go back and forth to the hospital, or pick up some of their bills. Like, what if a part of the money in your savings account was set aside to give to someone else when in time of need? What if, what if Christians all across South Carolina who got government assistance for their food, used their snap and wick benefits to help someone? What if they shared a jug of milk, or, or some vegetables, or just part of a meal? Like, they would begin to do, be able to do so much. What if all employers knew that Christians were willing to kind of come in early, to sacrifice some time from Netflix, to sacrifice sleeping in, to come in early?
What if they knew that when they were asked, that they would stay late, or they would cover a shift? Okay. So, have you ever gone out somewhere, and been grabbing some lunch with some friends, and, and someone just starts talking to you from the next table over? Like, they're just, they're yelling at you, basically, trying to get into your conversation. Like, they're at another table, and they just intrude themselves into your conversation. Like, your first thought wouldn't be, wow, this person's super annoying.
I wish that they would just stop. No, you would realize that this person's probably lonely. Like, maybe this guy at the next table over, who did intrude into my conversation, maybe he got an invite at the table. Even though, I know that he will talk to the point that I wouldn't get a word in edgewise, and he'll probably talk up until the point that we have to leave. He gets his seat at the table, and he doesn't get brushed off, he wouldn't get ignored, he wouldn't be made fun of when he left, or when my friends and I had to leave. Like, instead of treating him like he was annoying, and an enemy, he'd be treated like a friend.
Like, we would be free from being held back, and thinking in terms of what we couldn't do, and actually be looking at what we could and would do. So this all seems nearly impossible to do, and honestly super uncomfortable to think about. So who are you not counting more significant? Like, in what areas of your life are you the most important person in the room? Like, anybody you know fit into this category? Spouse?
Parent? Child? Coworker? Neighbor? Guy you passed by on the street? Person behind you in the checkout line?
Single mother in front of you in the checkout line who got her car declined trying to buy food? Or maybe it's someone in our community group. See, I have a lot of pushback when it comes to this stuff, and it's because I naturally put myself first. Like, I matter more than anyone else, and the thought of someone cutting me off in traffic, in line at Chick-fil-A, or in mid-sentence, infuriates me, because my time, my desire to be first, and my ability to be heard matters more than anyone else's. Like, I matter more to me than anyone else on the planet. Like, I'm more significant to me because my interests matter more, and honestly, because I think they're better.
Like, like, seriously, you have no idea how highly I think of myself. Like, in my mind, I am pretty much the best thing since sliced bread. And if I'm being honest, I kind of rank sliced bread second. I'm just trying to look humble. Like, Paul says, don't act like this. He says to treat others like they matter more than me.
And truthfully, I can see how beautiful counting others more significant than me is, while at the same time, feel how impossible it can be to do this all the time. But the amazing thing is, it's not just left at that. Like, we're told not to make it happen. We're not told to make it happen on our own. Paul goes on, starting back in verse 5. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.
Okay, have this mind among yourselves. What mind? So it's what we just talked about in verses 3 and 4. Which is yours in Christ Jesus. Okay, what does that look like? It's a mind where you're not motivated by selfish desire or pride.
It's one where you're elevating the values of others. While taking care of the responsibilities God has entrusted you, and also looking to see how you can be actively involved in helping others. Verse 6. Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. That was a loaded sentence. So, okay, so to make this a little bit more digestible, we're going to walk right back through it.
Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. Okay, so Jesus becomes a man. He doesn't demand his own way. He doesn't demand his own rights. He just doesn't. He humbles himself.
He's in the form of God, but he doesn't cling to it. He submits, and he lays down his rights. Like, we get a breathtaking example of humility and sacrifice, and we get to see what it looks like to place others above ourselves without conceit or selfish ambition. Like, Paul isn't saying that Jesus just emptied out a little bit of himself. He's not saying that he just poured out a little bit of his godness. He's not saying that.
His actual point is that Christ emptied himself by becoming something that he was not previously ever. He became something that required humility and ultimately his own humiliation. Like, Christ intentionally limited himself and left his throne to become a breathing, sweaty, physically dirty human being. He traded glory for grime. He was fully God and fully man. And in his decision to take the likeness of men, he did not look to his own position or status.
He did not count that position or status that is something he should protect and maintain, but instead he saw others lower than him. He saw us. He saw that in no way could we reach a right relationship with God without him. So he chose to lower himself to our status. Jesus emptied himself. Like, that's what we celebrate this time each year.
That's what we see when we see the precious moments nativity scenes where for some reason all the adults look like babies and we're like, oh, look how cute that is. But in all actuality we should be like, what? Jesus became that? Lord of all creation, king above kings became this? Jesus' humiliation gets to become a humble and joyful reminder of grace unfettered. It is less an ornament or display and more of a reminder of how Jesus' grace is boundless, matchless, and without limits.
Verse 8. In being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. This is what the gospel is. that in order to restore our relationship with God that we severed with sin, Jesus had to humble himself, humiliate himself, die on a cross for our sins, and rise from the dead three days later to show that he conquered sin and death on our behalf. Jesus did it for us because we can't do it on our own. We can't earn it and we don't achieve it. We never have and we never will.
Jesus was able to humble himself because he saw a need we had. He saw that our need required great cost to himself and he willfully paid it. And I think we take that for granted. Like I don't believe we realize the amount of humiliation he went through for us or how it was in response to our neediness. but he didn't focus on the cost for himself. He was focused on the need. He was focused on us.
And when we begin to focus on the needs of others above what it would cost us, we begin to have the same mind that Christ had. Because Jesus was not looking to hold or improve his position even though he was in a higher place of authority, power, and position than we were. He wasn't looking to improve that. Instead, he looked at our position of depravity without a sense of pride. Without a sense of, what's in it for me? And because he was able to look at us in humility, he was able to count us more significant than his position in glory.
He was able to look at our best interest, which was to be made right with God through himself to the point of death. Okay. So, a couple of weekends ago, I was going to get Chinese food for dinner. And the way the door is positioned, it's on a strip mall, and so there's a door here and there's a set of stairs right in front of the door, or right beside the door. And as I'm walking up, there's a man who appeared to be homeless with a crutch sitting on those steps. And I'm walking up and I look at him and say, hey, what's up, man?
And he goes, nothing much, what about you? I'm like, I'm good, I'm good, thanks. And I walk through the door and as it closes behind me, I think, you did a great high to that guy. I'm pretty sure no one else said hi to that guy. Look how selfless you are. Wow.
Gave myself one of these. And I kept going. There were two guys in front of me who were, over here in their conversation, were a part of a traveling gospel band. And so they were talking about the rigors of their schedule and how busy it was and how many shows they had to do in one night. And in front of them appeared to be a single mother and her child, and she was ordering her food. And as she's about to pay for it, one of the guys walks up and he takes out his card and he puts it and he hands it to the cashier.
And he says, no, you're good, I got this. And I thought, that was nice. Look at him. He did a great job. Like, I probably could have done that. I just didn't want to spend more money than I had to.
I didn't want to have to explain to Nadine why it was like $30 more than what it was supposed to be. I thought that. And so I ordered my food and then I sat down and I pulled out my little Nintendo DS and I started playing Pokemon and I was trying to catch them all and I started to think. That guy only did that because she was a single mom. Had that been anyone else, he would have done that. Had that been some old guy, he would not even care.
He would have made that man pay for his own meal. And as I'm smugly catching them all, I'm looking at this guy and he's looking at his phone and he goes, oh, and he walks to the door, opens it, looks at the man and says, hey, have you eaten today? And I was like, great. Way to prove me wrong, God. And overhearing their conversation, found out the man who was sitting out there hadn't eaten in two days. things. And I thought, this guy's going to run for his money.
He's going to look at that menu and he's just going to order everything he can get. Whatever form of prime rib and lobster tails is on a Chinese food restaurant, this guy's going to order like seven of them. And as I'm thinking this, the man crutches himself, that's a term, he crutches himself up into the counter and he orders a small wonton soup and a small pork lumi. He ordered the two cheapest things on the menu in the smallest quantity and I was crushed. Because in that moment, I realized something. I smugly judge people when they're being sacrificial.
I also realized that I didn't get it. because I was in the middle of writing this sermon about being sacrificial. I saw it happen before me. I judged it and I still didn't get it. That night, I got to see two things. One, I got to see how beautiful the church can actually be when we do this. I got to see it unfold before my eyes.
Not only was that man and that woman her child ministered to, who I was. I got to see how much the value of someone else eating mattered more than the value of a dollar sign. Like, I got a small picture of what it could be if Christians treated other people like they were more significant than themselves. themselves. I also got to see that I won't do this on my own and that I can't. That the most I get to bring to the table are a few empty words and a self-high five. Like, some false sense of humility and honestly, it's really all about me.
Because if I'm being truthful, I didn't say hi to that guy so he would feel better. Like, I said hi to that guy so I would feel better. that is my absolute best. That's what I bring. But Jesus had his interest in mind, Jesus had our interest in mind when he lowered himself to our level. He had our interest in mind when he went to the cross. Like, he gave up everything, sacrificed himself because he saw that we had a need that we couldn't fill, but he could.
Like, I got to understand that even though all I bring to the table are selfishness and false humility and self-high fives, that Jesus wipes the table clean and replaces it with his selflessness and his death and resurrection for me on the cross. So Paul says be like this. Think like this. See the world like this. Have this mind. Be this way.
And that's impossible except for the fact that that mind is already ours in Christ. Jesus took my place on the cross for the moments in life where I'm doing this exactly as Paul laid it out and for the moments when I'm barely even trying. He does it for us because he did it for us. And that's how we have this mind given to us. That is what this mind is. It's filling a need regardless of how thankful you think someone will be.
Like we get to be a people that knows when you're willing to put others before you their praise and adoration pales in comparison to the work of Jesus who came before us. It's like if you're a Christian you have this mind in Christ Jesus. And thank God he gives it to us because it is overwhelming. And it is so beautiful to see in practice. this is who we get to be. And this is us. Like it means that you count others more significant in your community group.
Like their interests are they become your interests. Like the way you see your spouse, your kids, the people in your neighborhood or the people in your apartment complex changes. Like the whole lens that we view life through changes. changes. And so as we have this mind among ourselves this year we get to take some of our time, some of our money, and we get to put in practice that those around us matter more than we do. We get to be a people who respond by treating the women of Samaritans well as more significant than ourselves because we have a God who treated us like we mattered more than he did.
So I'm going to pray and then Chet's going to come up and he's going to introduce us to what phase two looks like. Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you that because of you, God, because of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, because of Jesus' humility, that we get to be humble and we get to sacrifice for others. Thank you, God, that we are not told to do this on our own because left on our own we won't. Thank you for doing it for us. God, I pray that as we continue to talk about give, as we continue to talk about this series, Lord, that your Holy Spirit move in people to give to others around them, to not to look at their own needs for Christmas, God, but to intentionally look at others because of your sacrifice for them.
In your name I pray, God. Amen. Amen.