Ridiculous Joy #5 - In Selflessness
Message Description
Butler Campus pastor Brady Randall continues the 'Ridiculous Joy' series looking at Philippians 2:1-11 teaching about the selflessness of Christ's sacrifice so that we might have joy.
Message Transcript
Well, good morning, happy Independence Day. My name is Brady Randall. I get to serve as the campus pastor at Orchard Hill Butler, and it's a privilege to be able to worship in the freest country in the world. And if you know Jesus as your savior, what a privilege it is to have the freedom that can only be found in Jesus Christ. Would you join me in a word of prayer, as we dive into the teaching this morning? Father, God, I pray that you would speak to each and every one of us that are gathered here, Wexford, Chapel, Strip District, and Butler. Father, I pray that you would be our guide and our teacher. I pray God, that we would see Jesus afresh or see him anew for the very first time. We ask and pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
I want to ask you this question and that is, do you think humans, or specifically Americans, are generally more selfish or selfless? Okay. Now, just think back in the middle of the pandemic, and would you describe people who maybe were on the other side of whatever issue during the pandemic were than you, were they more selfless or selfish? I think, study after study has shown that the United States is usually at the very top and sometimes at the top of the most narcissistic country in the world, it's considered. And that comes naturally to us, right? You think about a baby coming out of the womb, everything is provided. You're hungry, you cry. You're thirsty, you cry. You got to go to the bathroom, you cry. You already went to the bathroom, you cry. It's all about the baby. And that comes naturally to us, right? We don't have to learn selfishness. That comes naturally to us.
And I want to ask this question. This can be a little bit sensitive, but do you think men or women are the more selfish creature? Now, be careful with that one. I know that's touch and go here. There was a study published in Nature Human Behavior that found that the male neural reward system is more stimulated by self-centeredness, while women are more likely to get a dopamine rush by helping others. But ladies, not so fast. There was another study out of England that said that females are more likely to walk past and ignore a charity worker outside of a business. And when they split chocolate, they're more likely to take the bigger piece. Okay. So, we are an equal opportunity, selfish culture.
In fact, but nobody likes to think of themselves as selfish, right? It's like, yes, culture, people, selfish, but not me. But there's a reason for that. There was another study done last year by Yale psychologists that said that selfish people adapt their memories so that they misremember their egotistical behavior to feel morally superior to others. That's one of the ways that we often maintain our moral self-image. So, if you're here today and you say, "Yeah, everybody else is selfish, but not me." It could be simple; you're misremembering your selfish behavior.
We're in a series called Ridiculous Joy. As we look at the book of Philippians and Paul, who's writing this book, the human author, is in prison and talks about joy. And what we've found so far in this series, as we've looked at chapter one, is that there's often joy that is found in unexpected places, that goes beyond human circumstance. And today, we're going to look at the first part of chapter two, where Paul will advocate finding joy in selflessness, being a servant. But I want to ask you why in the world would it give you joy to be a servant, to be selfless? That seems very counter-cultural.
And by the way, if there is no God, and we're not ultimately accountable to God and if we're just a concoction of random atoms that just happened to come together, then it would make sense that we should live the most selfish, self-pleasuring life possible because this is a dog-eat-dog kind of world. There's the survival of the fittest and somebody has to get the short end of the stick. So, you and I should do everything in our power to get the very most out of this life. And if somebody gets trampled on in the process, good thing it's not us, right? That's the end if there is no God. And why would we consider people who are less than or weaker than us? Because we should always be looking out for number one, or as Whitney Houston sang, "That the greatest love of all is learning to love ourselves."
Now, Paul, I think would say something different. He would question, is that really the greatest love of all to love yourself or rather, is there a greater love to look out, not for number one, but for others and the interest of others? And so, today I want to show you from Philippians chapter two, where Paul offers a different, and I would say a better perspective for deeper and lasting joy in actually being a servant. Joy found in selflessness. And my hope and prayer are not just that you would see it, not just that you would hear it from the text, but that you would experience it for yourself. That there's joy, that it truly is better to give of yourself than to receive.
And the first way that we see this of joy in selflessness is when we are joined to Jesus. And we see this in verse one. Paul says, "Therefore, or because, or since, you have any encouragement from being united to Jesus." In other words, that's what's true of you when you're joined to Jesus, you are comforted by his love, an unmatched love. Can't be loved any more than the God of the universe, sending his own son to die in your and my place. He says, "If there's any common sharing in the spirit," in other words, the same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is available and lives inside of you. "And if there's any tenderness and compassion," in other words, the way that God treated you and me when we were at our very worst, causes us to have compassion for others.
In other words, this is what is true of you and me, if you are in Christ. And if you're here today and you say, "Brady, I'm not experiencing a whole lot of joy," maybe for a long time, especially in this last year, there could be a couple of reasons for that. The first of which could be this, and that is very simply that you're not yet joined to Jesus. You've not yet given yourself and trusted in Jesus as your Lord and as your savior. And that might be an arrogant-sounding statement but think about this. If God is the creator of the universe and he designed you and me as creatures in the universe to experience the very most joy, by being connected to him as the source of joy, then it would only make sense if you're not yet connected to Jesus, you might not yet experience the joy that God has intended for us.
Now, let me also admit that if you're not connected to Jesus, that doesn't mean you live a miserable life. Some people don't know Jesus and live a content life. They live a life of pleasure. Sometimes it's a life of ease. But I would suggest that perhaps it's incomplete and it's not yet what God intended for the ultimate to be. And you may say, "Well, Brady, I am a follower of Jesus. I've been following Jesus for a long time, but I wouldn't describe myself currently as joyful." And I know that that often or sometimes describes me. And what's often true of me in those moments is that I forget what's true of me as a child of God. I forget what is true of me as being joined to Jesus, which means that my sin no longer condemns me. It means that the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is living inside of me.
It means that I've been forgiven. I've been set free. It means that God has given me peace that goes beyond human understanding. It goes beyond circumstances. That the God of the universe is for me, that God is as we speak, preparing a place in heaven for me. It's like having a bank account of a billion dollars but never access it. And so, it's a reminder that God says to me, "Brady, this is who you are, despite what you see, despite what you feel. Remember, what's true of you in Christ."
There's a pastor named Ray Ortlund who said this, "Half-hearted Christians are the most miserable people of all because they know just enough about God to feel guilty, but they haven't gone far enough with Christ to be happy." The second thing we see in this passage is that there's joy in selflessness when we're transformed from being selfish into being a servant. And we do this by looking to Christ. If it weren't for people, the church would be great. If it weren't for people, work would be so pleasant, wouldn't it? If it weren't for people, this life wouldn't be so messy, but people are messy and people are selfish. And I know this because I am one.
But the Bible says that the reason that humans are naturally selfish is that we’re naturally sinful. It's our human behavior. It's natural to think of ourselves first. And I've got to admit, I don't like to be inconvenienced. If I have a schedule, I have my day set out, I don't want to be jolted off of the schedule or be inconvenienced for someone else. And when I'm reminded of that, this passage hits me. And you see, it's only Jesus who has the opportunity to turn someone like me, who's naturally inclined to think about number one, to value others as more important than myself. Verse two, he says, "Being like-minded," Paul says, "being one in spirit and of one mind, make my joy complete." In other words, something is lacking if you don't go all the way, as Paul's going to say.
Verse three, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interest, but each of you to the interests of others." I've heard it said that humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. And I wonder what that would look like in all of our relationships and all of life if you and I had the selflessness first attitude. How would that transform marriages, if both spouses just tried to continually outdo one another in service to the other? How would the family dynamic look any different, if fathers and mothers were simply serving their kids and kids learned what it's like to just lay down their interests and serve their siblings or their parents?
How would work environments look different if we simply said, "Man, how can I serve my coworkers today?"? How would politics look different, if politicians were simply public servants looking out for not just themselves, their agendas, and lobbyists, but truly, for the good of all? That would transform all of life. But I think one of the things that keep you and me from going down this path is because frankly, we don't know if there's a whole lot of joy associated with it. We think that we'll end up being doormats. We think we'll end up being taken advantage of, and there's not a lot of joy in being a servant. And to be sure, if we simply give and give and give, and we're not replenished, and we serve without any replenishment, we're bound to burn out and that's real.
But I want you also to consider this, I read an article last week, it was called the Science of Serving or the Science of Volunteering. And this is what the study found about people who served and gave of themselves to others. In one study, a group of senior citizens who volunteered, and said that they reduced their risk of dementia and also reduced symptoms of depression, had better health, fewer functional limitations, and lower mortality. And in a study in 2010, looked at a study of 5,000 Americans, this was the self-report of those 5,000 Americans. Those who volunteered and served said 68% were healthier. 92% said it enriches their sense of purpose in life. 89% said it improved their sense of wellbeing. 96% of people said it made them happier to serve. And 77% said it improved their emotional health and helped with recovering from loss and disappointment.
Now, that's pretty substantial. But you see, this is not something that we just muster up at least for the long-term, because we can't just say, "Okay, I'm going to do what I can. I'm going to serve other people," because eventually that leads to burnout. Jesus says there's a better way and the better way is, "To look to me, Jesus, as the very epitome of a servant." Jesus said, "I've come not to be served, but to serve," and give his life as a ransom for many. And so, what Paul does in the next verses, verses six through eleven, he takes what many consider to be an early Christian hymn, or perhaps Paul composed this himself. And this is some of the richest theology in all of the scriptures.
And basically, what Paul was going to say is, "Look to Jesus." Verse five, he said, "In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset of Christ Jesus: Who," verse six, "being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God as something to be grasped or to hold on to for his own advantage." In other words, this is substantial, Philippians chapter two says that Jesus is and was God in flesh. And despite being God, he didn't take all of the godlike qualities and use them to serve his selfish ends. But rather, verse seven, "He emptied himself and made himself nothing. Taking the very nature and form of a servant, being made in human likeness."
Now, think about what it was like for Jesus. Jesus, who always is, and was God. The creator of the universe gave up all of the glory in a sense that he had before the world began. And in so doing, by the way, he didn't stop being God, but he added human flesh. He gave up the heavenly glory that he'd known with his father. He gave up the personal riches that he had in heaven. He also gave up a favorable relationship that he had with his father. And what I mean by that is that he'd never known unending union with the father, but when he came to Earth, particularly when he went to the cross, he was forsaken by his father. Something he'd never known. And Jesus as a servant gave all of that up and he put on human flesh. We see that in verses seven and eight.
He didn't stop being God, he put on human flesh and that's significant for you and me because what that means is God knows what it's like to be human. God knows what it's like. Jesus knows what it's like to be tired, to be weak, to be hungry, to be thirsty, and to cry. And you see, I don't think we truly know the humility of how far Jesus stooped when he came to be a human being. North Korea is considered one of the top countries of human enslavement, of just a bad place to be a human. And what would it be like if Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, would step out of his multi-million-dollar palace and go, live, and serve in one of the concentration camps of North Korea?
Or think about what it would be like for an American president to give up his 900-plus secret service agencies, to give up the greatest security in the world, to give up living in the White House and go and live in a homeless shelter. I mean, think about how far Jesus stooped from where he was, to be a human. Jesus, who had everything, wasn't born in a palace. He was born in a feeding trough for animals. Jesus Christ often had no place to lay his head at night. Jesus had to borrow things. He had to borrow rooms. He had to borrow animals. He even had to borrow his own tomb, for his own death. Jesus humbled himself so low, even to the point of death. And what's amazing is Jesus as the God-man, Jesus as God, God never died, and God's death could count for all, but Jesus as a human could die.
But you see, Jesus not only died, but he died in the most excruciating form of death possible, on a Roman cross. This death was so horrible that a Roman citizen couldn't be crucified unless they committed a crime against the state. They would take crosses and they would line the highways with them so that people would see the bodies of people hung. They said, "Man, I don't want to do this, or this could come for me." Crucifixion was so terrible that a Jewish person said that anyone who hung on a tree or hung on a cross was cursed. And so, what would happen is you'd go out on this Roman cross, this torture instrument. You would put your two feet together and often they would put a nail straight through both feet.
There'd be a little block that you could set your feet upon. And then, they would nail your either hands or wrists through the cross. And not only was there an extreme loss of blood, but you would die of asphyxiation or suffocation if you didn't use that block to push yourself up. And so, there was Jesus Christ, who was God, with all the angels at his beck and command, here he was suffering, being crucified on a cross. I want you to imagine what that must have been like, not just the pain, the physical pain, not having a crown of thorns, not just being mocked, and beaten, but I think what had Jesus’ sweating drops of blood before he went to the cross, was knowing that he was going to bear the full brunt of the very wrath of God that was poured out against sin.
Jesus Christ, was for the first time, literally forsaken by his father, so that you and I wouldn't have to. King Jesus giving his life away, standing in my and your place. That's amazing. He was God, he created the world. If he wanted to, he could have said, "Angels get me off the cross." But he didn't. He stayed on the cross for you and me. What kind of love is that? What kind of servant must Jesus have been? One who was and is serving and right now is interceding for all those who love the Lord. And so, I don't know what you're going through right now. I don't know what this past year has been like for you. I don't know what physical ailments you might have. I don't know what your financial situation is. I don't know what your status is with relationships in your life.
But I just want you in your mind's eye, if you walk away from here, I want you to see your savior dying, crucified on a cross, standing in your place. You see, Hebrews said, "That Jesus, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross." Now that's just craziness. I just talked about what a torturous instrument that was. How for the joy set before him could Jesus endure the cross? And one of the things that gave Jesus joy is knowing what was on the other side of the cross. That you and I would have access to the father and that the father's glory was at stake when Jesus would rise from the dead. And so, one of the things that show us is there's joy, not only in our circumstances but what goes beyond this life.
The third thing we see in this text and the ways that there's joy in being selfless is being transformed into a servant, being joined to Jesus, and also by exalting Jesus. And we see this in verses nine through eleven, "Therefore God exalted him, Jesus, to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on the Earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father." You see, one of the things that say no matter what's going on in life right now, no matter what has happened to us, there's joy on the other side of this life. What we see now, what we feel now, is not the end of the story. It's not permanent because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross and by his resurrection.
Romans 8:18 says this, "For I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." Another way that Paul says this is in second Corinthians chapter four, he says, "Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. And so, we fix our eyes, not what is seen, but what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal." See, I'm so glad that the cross didn't have the final say, Jesus did. And therefore, as a result of that, God exalted Jesus to the highest place of honor. Right now, Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of God. That means he's in all authority, all of the power belongs to Jesus. That means in the name of Jesus, every disease has to bend the knee. That means that millions upon millions of angels right now are at Jesus' beck and call.
That means that there's not one square inch of the known universe that doesn't belong to Jesus. That right now, as you sit here today, Jesus is in authority. And he's given the name, the name Jesus means the Lord saves, but the name that's above every name is probably the word lord or master. It means he's the sovereign ruler. And therefore, if that's who Jesus is, if Jesus is highly exalted, you and I need to lift our eyes to see Jesus in his rightful place. And when we do that, that makes us say, "Oh my gosh, God, I, Brady must decrease and you, Jesus, must increase." And here's the reality, that you and I can either bow now to Jesus or bow later. It's been said that there are two kinds of people, humble people, and those who will be humbled.
And what this passage describes is that Jesus Christ is worthy to be exalted. And one of the things that can give you and me joy in this life and in the life to come is to live a life that magnifies who Jesus is, that exalts Jesus for who he is. The text says, "Jesus Christ is Lord of all, to the glory of God, the father." And by the way, that's the point of the whole universe. That's where everything is heading, including your life and mine, to the glory of God, the father, that's the point of the whole universe. That's why God shares the stars at night. That's why the sun is up, and the sun goes down, and every creature exists. Everything that has breathed, has been given that to exalt and give back to God.
And so, the reason that you and I can serve, maybe people who don't deserve it, is when we realize how much we've been served by Jesus. And what's on the other side, that being a servant is not being a doormat, but it's the best way to be exalted. I was convicted by this because sometimes it's like, "I just don't feel called to serve." Have you ever said that? Someone asked you to do something, "I just don't feel called to serve. I don't feel called to give. I don't feel called to go across seas. I don't feel called to serve at a homeless shelter, serve people. I just never really felt called to it."
But I read this quote from author, Francis Chan. He said, "Most of us use the, 'I'm waiting for God to reveal his calling on my life,' as a means to avoid serving in action. Did you hear God calling you to sit in front of the TV yesterday or to go on your last vacation or to exercise this morning? Probably not, but you still did it. The point isn't that vacations or exercise are wrong, but that we're quick to rationalize our entertainment and priorities, but slow to commit to serving God." That's convicting for me. And this particular passage, especially verses nine to eleven, was one of the visions that God used to get me into ministry.
When I say vision, I just mean this picture of one day every single person, everybody that I know, love, and care about, will one day stand before Jesus Christ and give an account of all of our lives and that we will bow either willingly or unwillingly. And that, that day is coming. And so, what God has encouraged me is, "Brady, prepare as many people as you can for that day so that they will be among the willing." And my hope and prayer are that every person would walk out of here knowing that that day is coming, but that in and through, and only through Jesus Christ, you don't have to fear that day because God of the universe, the God who served you so much by sending his son, is for you. And every sacrifice that's made in Jesus' name will be worth it in the end.
But I also want to give just a fair warning to those of you, those of us, who love to serve, some of us just can't get enough serving people, serving God. Whether it's serving at Kids Fest, or serving at the soup kitchen, or serving our families, or serving our coworkers, we love to serve. We love to share Jesus. We love to use our gifts. It makes us feel really, really good.
I read an article this week by a pastor called Garrett Kell called Photobombing Jesus, and it was really interesting. Photobombing is when someone's taking a picture and you get in the picture unsuspectingly, you ruin the picture. Sometimes those of us who serve Jesus regularly, serve with mixed motives because we want people to think that God is awesome, but we also want people to think that we're awesome because we're serving God. He says, "There's a fine line between wanting God to use you for his glory and wanting everyone else to know it." And so, one of the things God is calling you and me is to be able to take a back seat. And if God uses some other servant in a higher position, then that's okay, because the goal was not that Brady would be exalted, but that Jesus would be exalted. And that useful servants are satisfied when no one applauds them, so long as everyone applauds Jesus.
I want you to walk out of here today, knowing that real, true, lasting joy can be found in no one other than Jesus. When I say lasting, I mean, eternal. And so, wherever you are today, you can put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. You can be connected to the very source of joy, which is Jesus. And if you're here to say, "Man, I've been following Jesus for a while and I'm just not feeling it." You can reconnect with Jesus. But I also want to caution you that it's costly to follow Jesus, so consider it carefully. Jesus said, "Before you put your faith and you follow me with all of your life, know that it's going to cost you. It might cost you comfort, or it might cost you resources. It might cost your family. It may even cost your life." So, Jesus says, "Consider the costs before you follow me."
It's also an urgent decision. And so, not to take it lightly, and I would say make that decision soon because I was reminded last week when that tower in Florida fell, that could be you and me. We're not guaranteed tomorrow. And so, that day is coming for all of us, but it's also a decision that is worth it because Jesus is worth it. And God's word promises that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has in store for those who love him. Jesus Christ, as we sit here today, is high and exalted and he dwells with the lowly. Isaiah 57:15 says, "This is what the high and exalted one says, he who lives forever, whose name is holy, 'I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.'" He's with the humble, he's with the lowly, and that's where genuine joy is found. There is joy in serving because the first will be last and the last will be first.
Let's pray. Father God, thank you so much for your word today. God, I thank you that it speaks to selfish people like me. God, I pray that if there are those of us who maybe have a blind spot to some of our selfish desires, motives, and actions, that you would reveal that to us. Father, I pray that this would be a time when we repent. We turn from areas where we've not been a servant, in our marriages, in our family, in our working lives, and our day-to-day lives.
Father, I pray that you would change that, not by our willpower, but by looking at Jesus, the servant. Father, I pray that you remind every person that's here today, that there is coming a day when we will stand before you, the high and exalted one, and we will bend our knee. Father, I pray that if there's anyone here that maybe for the first time, they see your love for them, they see how far you stooped to serve us by dying on a cross and rising from the dead. Father, I pray that today might be the day of salvation, where they put their trust in you, knowing that you are their savior, their leader, and their lord. Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ and it's in his name that we pray. Amen. Have a great weekend!
