02-10-13 Playing To The Right Audience

Phil. 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

Phil. 2:6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

Phil. 2:7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

Phil. 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Phil. 2:9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

Phil. 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,

Phil. 2:11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

We are going to return to our study

of the second chapter of the book of Philippians.

During the past few weeks

we have seen that the passage I just read

is one of the most concentrated

and doctrine-filled passages

about the person

and work

and history

and future of Christ

found anywhere in the New Testament.

It tells us about who and where Christ was

prior to His birth.

It tells us why He did what He did,

and how God the Father responded to it,

and how it will ultimately affect

every human being ever created.

In the fall of 1970

on my way back from my first full year in Trinidad

I studied for a few months

at Dr. Francis Schaeffer’s

L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland.

When I left I wanted to take along a reminder

of where I had been

so I purchased a picture

taken from the top of the highest peak in Switzerland,

showing a 360 degree view

of the Swiss Alps.

I kept that thing for about 40 years

until I passed it on to my grandson a short while ago.

But I thought about that picture once again

when I was getting my thoughts together for this morning

because this passage in Philippians

reminds me of that picture.

What that photograph did for the Alps

Paul does for Christ

in these 7 verses in Philippians.

He allows us to see a 360 degree panorama of our Lord,

beginning with His glorified eternal existence as Creator God of all that is,

bringing us through His decision

to empty Himself of His visible glory

and exchange it for human flesh,

submitting Himself to total obedience to and dependance upon

the leadership of the Father,

even to the point of death,

and then bringing us back once again to a magnificent view

of the glorified Christ,

elevated once again to the position

of absolute and supreme authority

over all creation.

And the past few weeks we’ve invested some of our time

into going through that panorama

looking carefully at the view offered us in each direction.

But before we leave this passage

we need to take it and place it back

into its context in the letter of Philippians

so that we can see

not just what Paul was saying about Christ,

but WHY he was saying it.

Paul’s comments here in chapter 2

actually began back in 1:27

where Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians,

Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ; ...

His clear purpose in this section of his letter

was to encourage his friends in Philippi

to choose lives that were consistent with who they had become through Christ.

We saw the practical guidelines he offered

that followed from that statement,

and then when we get to 2:5

Paul brings in the Person of Christ

as the supreme illustration

of what God is seeking to accomplish

in each of our lives.

In 2:5 Paul says,

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus...

Now the power of what Paul is doing here

can so easily be lost

unless we listen carefully

to what he’s really saying.

Paul is telling us that

in the most remarkable way

God is committed to working out the same amazing pattern

in each of our lives

that we see being worked out

in Christ Himself.

As we have seen,

there were three distinct phases

in the pattern of Christ.

First, Christ held a highly exalted position

(in His case Creator-God of the universe)

and of course He knew

exactly who He was.

Now that may sound ridiculous

for us to say,

that God knows who He is,

but much of the power of Paul’s illustration

as it applies to us

depends upon our realizing

that the heart of God’s program for us

depends upon His being able to bring us to that same point.

Let me put it in a single statement:

Until we have a solid grasp

of who we have become through Christ

what our Lord calls us to do here, now, in this world

will be an impossibility.

And let me see if I can explain why I say that.

Prior to our union with Christ

the only means we have of determining who we are

is through our looking at what we do

and at how others respond to us personally and to what we do.

Our entire human society

is founded upon seeking to achieve

self-esteem

and self-identity through our performance as evaluated by those around us -

the titles we possess,

the grades we get,

the positions we hold,

the jobs we do or don’t do.

When the first grade teacher

takes the picture we drew and puts it up on the bulletin board

as a good example of drawing,

we discover the status

and recognition that comes with a job well done.

When we run the fastest,

or score the most points,

or jump the highest,

or get the best grade

our society praises and honors and elevates us.

We understand that a person’s value

and significance in society

is determined by the kind of work

and the kind of positions that person holds.

For most of the first two decades of our married life

Sandee and I managed a number of apartment units in the Kenai/Soldotna area.

One of my chief responsibilities

was to do the maintenance at those apartments.

The people living in those apartments

saw me almost daily in my jeans and T shirt,

crawling around underneath their sink

or bent over their clog-up toilet.

They knew who I was

on the basis of what I did -

I was a middle-aged maintenance man who fixed stuff for them when it broke.

I was still working at those apartments

when I began writing,

and just after The Grace Exchange came out

there was an article on the front page of the Clarion

with a picture of me,

talking about the release of the book.

Some of the people at the apartments

saw that article

and it was a very confusing thing for them

because they didn’t know who I was any more.

Was I really Larry the maintenance man

who you can joke with

and talk to as he unclogs your toilet?

Or was I really the Rev. Larry Huntsperger,

published author

and Biblical scholar?

In virtually all human societies what we do

determines who we are

and where we fit into that society.

It works that way because it’s all we have apart from the voice of God in our lives.

And for obvious reasons

we all attempt to seek

whatever positions within society we can achieve

that will give us the greatest status.

And actually that isn’t quite accurate.

What we really do

is first of all to select our own preferred sub-culture within society,

the one that is both accessible to us

and the one in which we think we have a chance for success

and then we attempt to seek recognition within that sub-culture.

I have known kids living on the streets

who have targeted that street sub-culture as their chosen audience,

and who have then become highly skilled at achieving success and status within that group,

based on the very clear status rules within that group.

But then, for those of us who come to Christ,

unless we understand what’s going on,

some of what our King says to us can be very disturbing

because we hear Him saying things that,

if we choose to believe them,

will play havoc with everything we have attempted to accomplish in our lives.

I’ll give you just a few examples.

Matt. 20:25 But Jesus called them to Himself, and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.

Matt. 20:26 "It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,

Matt. 20:27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;

Matt. 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. "

Matt. 23:10 "And do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ.

Matt. 23:11 "But the greatest among you shall be your servant.

Matt. 23:12 "And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

Rom. 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;

Statements like that just simply do not compute with the way we understand

real life to operate.

They make great little church choruses

for us to sing,

but they make no sense to us

in practical application

because they directly contradict

the fundamental operating principles of life.

UNLESS...

unless we allow our Lord

to build into our lives

the pattern illustrated through Christ Himself,

a pattern that begins

with developing a clear understanding of who we are

apart from what we do.

We are a race of people

desperate for some tiny affirmation

of our value, our significance.

Why, from the first day we enter this world

do we have our little ears tuned

to every word other people say about us?

Why do we watch every expression,

longing for approval, fearing rejection?

Because as a race of people

we chose to turn our backs on our Creator,

making it impossible for us to hear Him

telling us who we are,

or why He created us,

or why we have value.

We were forced to turn to one another

for some proof of our value,

our significance,

our reason for being.

But if we are ever to be freed

for the calling our God has for us

or for the type of relationships

He seeks to build between us and those around us

that bondage to a performance-based identity

has to be broken.

And that is why step #1 of the pattern

presented to us through Christ

is our hearing God’s voice tell us

who we have become through Christ,

and who we are in His sight.

We are His son, His daughter,

His high priest,

His ambassador,

His chosen one, gifted for a special work,

His heir of the kingdom

and future ruler of this world - God’s holy one.

Until we begin to grasp some of those truths,

we are not yet equipped to assume the crucial role He has for us in this world.

And for most of us

that is not a quick or an easy learning process.

At the heart of it

we must wrestle with our God

until we can finally hear His voice saying to us, “I love you!

I really, truly, absolutely, eternally love you!”

Nothing else in human experience

has the power to reshape our concept of ourselves

like the discovery of God’s personal love for us.

And I will tell you that I do wish

I could offer you some simple, certain way into that discovery.

But I can’t.

I can look back over my own personal pilgrimage

and see the skill with which my Creator

found ways past my own defenses, and fears, and assumptions, and treasured lies,

until I could I could begin to hear His voice,

His love.

And I certainly see some principles there -

the way in which He allowed me to see myself apart from Him,

and then to see Him being with me, never leaving me, always loving me

when I could find no reason why He should;

and then His allowing me to discover the depth of His love

through the love of others He brought into my life.

But it’s not a pathway I could ever hand you

because it has all been so personal, just between Him and me.

But then that is the nature of love.

I could give it to you in a song title...sort of.

God blessed this broken road that led me straight to Him.

Yes, I know that’s not the real title,

but it is the real story of God’s involvement in our lives.

If I could offer you anything

it would be a prayer.

“Lord, whatever it takes, whatever you need to do,

bring me into the knowledge of Your love for me.

I want nothing else, nothing more than this.”

Then, when we have heard His voice

telling us how much He loves us,

and who we have become in Him and through Him,

then, and only then, He hands us our assignment...

He asks us in certain situations to set aside our rights

and our highly exalted position

in order to allow Christ to touch the lives of others through us.

When Christ set aside His rights and power

and His absolute supremacy as Creator God

and put on human flesh

so that He could stand next to us,

and touch us,

and pour Himself and His life into us,

He did so

to make it possible for God to communicate to us

His love for us.

That is what He was doing.

And when He calls us

to do the same for others,

to seek to serve them,

to be kind to them,

to honor them with our actions and our attitudes,

He does it for the same reason -

so that through us, through our love

He can show them His love for them.

This servant thing is so strange,

so remarkable in the power it has

to touch the lives of those around us.

We are all by nature fervently guarding

and protecting

and preserving our prestige and importance.

We are intensely self-centered and fearful.

Apart from the work of God within us

we always do what we do

with ulterior motives.

And whenever another human being

steps into our life

and shows us kindness

or seeks to meet our need or show us love

with no apparent gain to themselves

it has a powerful impact on us.

We are so accustomed to everyone having an angle,

a personal agenda

that is motivating their apparent kindness to us.

They want something from us,

or they’re just doing their job,

or they see us a means to some goal they’re trying to achieve.

But when our Lord begins to live His life through us

the most remarkable things begin to happen.

In ways that only He can do,

He begins to give us eyes to see the needs, or the suffering in those around us,

and then gives us His heart of compassion,

causing us to reach out to their need

simply because we really care about them,

and we want to treat them with the respect and the dignity they deserve

as fellow creations of God.

Some time ago I was involved

in the life of a young man who was extremely angry at God,

blaming Him for a whole lot of pain and confusion that had come into his life.

At first he was understandably resistant to my involvement in his life,

assuming that my goal for him was to change his behavior.

But as we spent more time together,

and as he discovered that I really was going to stick with him,

and walk with him as long as he wanted me,

gradually he came to accept the truth that I really did care about him deeply.

After several months I asked him a question.

“Why do you think I’m involved in your life?”

His response was everything I’d hoped for.

He said, “Well, I hate to admit it,

but I think it’s a God thing.”

That’s at the heart of what Paul is telling us here.

Because Jesus emptied Himself of His rights

and loved the people who came to Him

it forever changed their understanding of their God.

And when we follow the same pattern

and love the people He brings into our lives

there are times when it will forever change their understanding of their God as well.

With each of us

our Lord equips us with our own unique abilities and gifts

that give us access to certain lives that no one else could reach.

And then, His Spirit gives us eyes

to see the needs in their lives

and the desire to reach out and meet those needs in any way we can.

And we become for them

a window into the very heart of God.

And there is a 3^rd part to Paul’s illustration of the life of Christ as well -

Phil. 2:9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

Phil. 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,

Phil. 2:11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

And with this I’ll just say that there is a special kind of honor

that God reserves for those who enroll

in His school of servanthood.

It’s not the puffed up, short-lived,

easily forgotten honor that comes

from elevating ourselves

before the eyes of others.

It is an enduring,

deeply satisfying kind of honor

that can only come from kneeling before your King

and hearing Him say, deep within our spirits,

“Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Certainly some of that honor

is reserved for the time when we meet our Lord face to face.

But some of it, too, comes to us here and now.

You see, in the Kingdom of God

faithfulness and obedience have their privileges,

and they are privileges that can never be duplicated

through any amount of conniving

or maneuvering

or attempting to elevate ourselves in the eyes of others.

I’ll tell you simply what I see Paul saying to us here:

he is saying that each of us must choose

what audience we will play to.

We can seek to play to those around us,

trying to win their approval,

and gain their respect,

and elevate ourselves in their eyes.

And with it we can know

that terrible slavery that comes

from always wondering and worrying,

“What will people think?”

Our efforts may bring some small measure

of short-lived prestige,

but it is a prestige dulled by the fear,

“What if they really knew the truth.”

Or we can play to a different audience,

we can play to our King.

We can trust His leadership

and seek His will

and accept His call to service,

no matter what others may think.

And on the basis of God’s Word

I guarantee

for those who choose that second audience

a time will come when our King

will place His hand on our shoulder

and ask us to rise from our kneeling position before Him

and have us turn around.

And behind us we will find

a great crowd of witnesses looking on,

and we will hear the voice of our God saying,

“This is my faithful servant,

my child in whom I am well pleased.”

God is very good at honoring His people,

and when He does

it is with a kind of honor

that endures forever.