The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes. And it is to this subject of the attitude of the believer that the Apostle Paul comes to in writing to the church at Philippi in Philippians chapter 2. I'd like to direct your attention to Philippians 2, where we'll be studying verses 5-11, and I would like to read the whole passage at this time. Philippians 2, verses 5-11. The attitude the believer should have in correspondence to the example of Jesus Christ. Paul writes, your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant. Being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God exalted him 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 earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. When Paul writes this, I assume that it is his attitude that all of us need attitude checks once in a while. And so he wrote to the Philippian church concerning their attitude because of his awareness of this need. We deal constantly with a natural instinct to serve ourselves. We all have needs. We have all desires. People that I know have a desire for companionship with other people. They have a desire for acceptance. They have a desire for love, for productivity. They have a desire for pleasure and they have a desire for security. We all have needs and I think it's natural As you look at your life and you look at the lives of those around you, that we become easily preoccupied with pursuing the meeting of those needs, those things that we feel we need, our desires. The problem is, though, that we live in a world where you and I are not the only ones who can so easily become preoccupied with pursuit of our own desires. You see, the other people around you are just like you. and they're in pursuit of their own desires and the accomplishment of their own needs. And so how do I get what I want without keeping you from getting what you want? That is the problem. Now today's attitude, the contemporary attitude that you probably are very familiar with is, hey man, the other guy is not your concern. You got to do what you got to do. Have you ever heard that? That's what people would advise you to do in a contemporary world like ours. That's probably what they advised them to do in Philippi 1900 years ago. In other words, you don't need to consider what happens to other people. only what pleases you. That's what you're told all day long, all week long, when you read the magazines, when you listen to the media, when you watch the television. You are being bombarded with it. And now, through the Apostle Paul's words, I want to bombard you with another point of view. The truth. Life becomes a battle because people are colliding emotionally, they are colliding economically, they are colliding psychologically and financially in our society because they are preoccupied with pursuing their own interests and do not consider in their pursuit the interests of other people. This is why Paul says we need an attitude check. This is the second reason he goes on to. as he speaks in this passage, and that is in an introductory way he speaks of the need for serving others, because it is not natural for us. He says that this is a foundation for unity, and we'll be looking at what he says about this. This is why Paul tries to prevent us from being self-preoccupied, because he knows that this preoccupation is destructive to unity. Look at verse 4 that we saw last week. He says, Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. So he urged them to avoid self-preoccupation. There is another reason. Attitude can help or hinder right action. Not only is there a constant conflict within our attitude to serve ourselves, not only is it necessary for us to combat that, but it's also important to recognize that attitude can help or it can hinder you in right action. Before Paul feels confidence that the believers in Philippi will actually do what he has commanded them to do in verse 4, to look out for others' interests and to consider themselves less important than the other person, he first of all reinforces the fact that he realizes their attitude is first of all critical before their action will follow. And this is why he said what he did in verse 3. Notice that. He says, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Consider others more important than yourselves. So clearly Paul, like Chuck Swindoll, thought attitude had a lot to do with influencing your actions and controlling what you would do. It is this command, Paul's command in verse 3, to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit that Paul holds before his friends in Philippi in a new way in verses 5-11. He holds before them this attitude by showing them a picture and the picture that he shows them is the portrait of the life of Christ and the example of the world's most supreme illustration of humility, and that is the life of Christ. And so in verses 6 through 11, after Paul has said in verse 5, your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, in verses 6 through 11 he now goes to present this portrait of the life of Christ in order to challenge the believers in Philippi to pursue after a right attitude towards one another. and in this example he sets before them the standard of Christ and in this presentation of the standard of Christ with precision and amazing simplicity he presents the whole doctrine of the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you will not find in the New Testament a more concise presentation of the whole of Christology, or what is the doctrine of the person of Christ. In these verses you see his pre-existence, his equality with God, his incarnation, his true humanity, his voluntary death, his ultimate triumph over death and evil, and the permanence of his ultimate reign over all things. all capsuled in six concise verses. And you know, this passage also should bring to mind what are some of the key tests for orthodoxy within the study of Christology. In other words, who is Jesus Christ? And what has he done? And what is the right way of viewing the Lord Jesus Christ? And you might ask yourself, well, why is that so important? Well, that is critical because if you do not have an orthodox view of who Jesus Christ is and what he accomplished, then your whole doctrine of salvation and heaven is inadequate and inaccurate. But, for example, suppose the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses come knocking at your door. How is it easy and simple for you to interact with them and discern the error of their theology? Well let me give you the four tests of an orthodox Christology or a right understanding of who Jesus Christ is. Test number one, Jesus Christ is fully God. And you must ask those who claim to be Christians, do you believe that Jesus Christ is fully God? Secondly, he is fully man. And you may test a person's view of Jesus Christ by asking them, is he fully man without sin? Test number three. A proper orthodoxy will understand that his divine and human natures are united in one person. It is not that God took up the body of a man and took over some human and made him a superhuman. It's not that some superhuman had a little spark of divinity that came into his mind. It is that in one person, two distinct natures, God and man, were resident. And the fourth test is that these two distinct natures, although distinct, are resident in one person. You do not have a God and a man, they are distinct, they are together in one person. So you have four tests, fully God, fully man, two distinct natures, not mixed together, but yet residing in one person. And if those four tests can be met by a person who claims to be a Christian, they are probably on the right road, understanding who he is. Something else that's interesting as I read this passage just in general, and what Paul has said, and some of the ingredients that I see in this passage, what strikes me is that in the day in which Paul wrote this passage, it would have been very easy for someone being so close to the history of that period to challenge or refute what Paul was claiming about our Lord Jesus Christ, about his person and about his work. However, how does Paul write? What is the tone in which Paul writes? He writes in a tone of clear assumption. He assumes everything that he says is true. He makes no apology for it. He doesn't seek to defend or argue what he is teaching the Philippians about the person and work of Christ. In other words, for the Philippians, it does not seem that Paul was at all concerned about the authenticity or the authority of Jesus Christ. How interesting it is today that so many years separated from the facts and the events, people have so much difficulty accepting as true and trustworthy the facts that a person so close to the events was able to write without dispute. We have a clear word of truth. Something else that I see as I began to just look at the passage as a whole is how interesting it is that Paul, in an attempt to deal very practically with the Philippian church, what does he do? He employs systematic theology. Now for those of you who have been burned by someone who claims that doctrine is not practical, I urge you to take a look at what Paul has done. He is doing what? He is urging them to remain unified. A very practical need within the church and how does he address the problem? He presents before them a complete systematic theology of the Lord Jesus Christ person and work. And so I would submit to you that this climactic call to unity in Philippi came through doctrine. beloved. Doctrine is very practical. And so, let's take a look at what Paul says. In verses 6 and 7, Paul begins his description of Christ by first explaining what Christ was like in eternity past. And he has about five things to say. Quickly, number one, he says that Christ existed in the form of God. Notice how we read in verse 6, who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. It is unfortunate that the NIV has used the word nature to translate the word morphe in the Greek. Morphe is the word that is most commonly translated form in the original language and the NIV has for some reason decided that they will use the word nature. However, the word form is more appropriate here because it speaks of the outward appearance. It speaks of of the shape of the bottle, if you will, not of the contents inside the bottle. And so the word form is more appropriate because it's speaking of how the form was manifested. He was manifested as God. Dr. John Walbert has said, the second person of the Trinity expressed himself in all the attributes of deity. And so Paul is speaking of how the second person of the Trinity in eternity past was manifest in the spiritual dimensions of eternity past. He was manifest in all the perfections and all of the attributes of God, fully divine. Then Paul says, secondly, that he was equal with God. Notice how he says, who being in the very nature or form of God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. Now here when he is speaking of equality with God, what he is speaking of is equality in form. Equality in expression. Any way that you would have seen the substance or the essence of God the Father displayed, God the Son was displayed with the same perfection and glory. And so what is being argued here by Paul is that Jesus did not consider holding on to that kind of display as something that he would do. He was equal with God in form. A third thing that we see in this passage, he did not regard this equality with God in form as something to be grasped. Notice, something to be grasped or held on to. The Puritan John Eady has said, Christ's own generosity, not his submission to any divine command, is what Paul commends and holds up to the Philippians for imitation. Jesus was willing to relinquish, he was willing to let go of his prerogative and his privilege to display himself in all the glory of God in order to accomplish a mission that we'll see described in just a moment. So rather than holding firmly to his privilege and prerogative to display his full glory, Paul next moves and he says, Christ emptied himself. Notice how it says, who being in the very nature of God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped that made himself nothing. And it's unfortunate again, and this does not occur very often in the NIV, but the most clear translation of this passage should be, but emptied himself. And what the NIV translators are simply trying to do is clear up the difficulty that has occurred in history in translating the meaning of the Greek word to empty. Because all through church history there has been theological debate about how could Jesus Christ empty himself when he came to earth? What does it mean that he emptied himself? Did he give up something of his divinity? And many have argued through church history that that was the case. Only that creates a partially divine Christ who is fully inadequate to serve as our Savior. And so I believe that it should be translated emptied himself, taking the very form of a servant. And so rather than holding firmly to his privilege, Jesus let go of this privilege and prerogative and emptied himself. But what does this emptying, which has been so difficult to understand, what does it mean? As I say, some theologians have argued that it meant Christ giving up something he had in heaven. But I think the best understanding of emptying here means basically what Paul says. He emptied himself by taking on something else. He emptied himself by what? Taking on in verse 7 the very nature or form of a servant and being made in human likeness. And so when Jesus emptied himself, he accomplished this by taking on something else, a form, a new form, a new way of displaying himself and that was the form of a human body which was easily identified by other men as a human body. There was no problem in Palestine recognizing that Jesus of Nazareth was a man and that's what Paul is saying and being made in human likeness. He took the form of a servant that form was identifiable as a man. So according to Paul's grammar we must understand that what is being said here is really not to be understood literally that he like you pour out water from a glass poured out something in heaven but it is to be understood figuratively it is like a paradox. So basically his emptying was accomplished as I say by taking on something else and what is really being said here is that when you compare the form of God in heaven in eternity past with the form or the way he manifested himself in time on the earth it looks as though he was emptied of a lot of things because in the person of Christ we see reserved and cloaked many of the things that we would attribute to God the Father many of the attributes he did not give them up but he willingly cloaked them or had them covered in order that he might accomplish his mission on this earth. Therefore, this emptying was what his coming to earth appeared to be like in comparison to the glory of heaven. In comparison to the glory of heaven, it looked like it was nothing. I think the King James translators have done an excellent job actually. They say, Jesus made himself of no reputation. I can remember how important that was to me when I left my first church and was provided a job in the automobile business and how so many of my fellow clergy had such a good yuck about that. to the used car lot. Now, I have so many friends in that business in our congregation that I appreciate them very much, but gentlemen, you know how often it is, even if you are a lawyer, even if you are a doctor, any of the professions, how easy it is for people to find one bad egg and say you're all no good. Has that ever happened to you? Well, you're in that profession and you're all no good. Well, there are some times when you just cannot protect your reputation. No matter how hard you try, I guarantee you, someday somebody will find a way to slander your good name. Remember Jesus Christ. He made himself, by coming to earth for us, virtually of no reputation. They robbed him of his good name. A fifth thing that Paul says about his pre-incarnate or his condition in eternity past, was that he assumed humanity in order to do the work of a servant. Who did he serve? He served God the Father. He executed the plan of redemption. Not only did he serve God the Father, but he served you and me, sinners, by securing for us salvation. Verse 8 tells us about his life, his humiliation. After describing what Christ was like in eternity past and how he came to earth to become a man, Paul explains what Christ did as a man. And this we find in verse 8. And Paul tells us one key thing. He tells us that Christ humbled himself. He was the glorious person of the Trinity, second person. Veiled himself in order to become a man. Now humility means basically that I accept a lower position for myself than I think I deserve. I accept a lower position for myself than I think I deserve. And that's precisely what is taking place here. Jesus Christ, of course, knew that he deserved the supreme position, but he accepted a lower status for us. And notice how he says, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Notice how it doesn't say death on the cross. That's because the Apostle Paul is trying to emphasize the nature of cross death. He could have spoken of Calvary, but what he's trying to emphasize for the Philippians who are living in a Roman colony is, remember the kind of death that Roman cross execution involves. This is cross death. This is cross-execution. This is the most ignominious and disgraceful way for a person to be executed. It was only for slaves and the vilest of malefactors, the vilest of lawbreakers and murderers. And so what is being argued here is this humiliation of Jesus was so astonishing that the word of glory came down and in compliance with the plan of God for your redemption and mine, suffered the lowest, most shameful, and most heinous and horrible form of death to be known to man at that time, the death of the cross. And so in suffering the death of the cross Jesus was humiliated before men. But the death of the cross caused Jesus to suffer humiliation in another way also. And that was to accept within himself the wrath and curse of God for your sin and mine. And so he was humbled before Almighty God as he took upon himself for the first time and only time in eternity the wrath and curse of God for the sin that he bore in himself on the cross for you. And then after talking about his life and career here on earth and the key thing which was his attitude of humiliation and humility and his death, Paul then summarizes Christ's life with a description of his exaltation, or what took place after he rose from the dead. And Paul doesn't get into great detail about the resurrection itself, but about the results that followed the resurrection. And notice what he says as he moves into verse 9. Therefore, God highly exalted him and to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. God exalted him. The exaltation of Christ was a great dramatic occurrence. He was exalted to heaven to receive back all the prerogatives that he had had in eternity past, the prerogative to display his glory and his splendor, but There was something new added to the glory of the Trinity, and that was the exalted and glorified humanity with which he was raised to heaven. How interesting it is. Remember the story in Isaiah of Lucifer? What did he do? Lucifer sought to exalt what? Himself. What happened as a result of him seeking to exalt himself? Well, he was cast out of heaven, wasn't he? And yet quite the opposite of the servant, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who did not seek his own but sought to serve you and I, he humbled himself to death and then was exalted to heaven. Every intelligent being, according to this passage, is now required and obligated to give honor and pray is to the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, Therefore God exalted him 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 earth and under the earth. And that is precisely what you'll find if you read in Revelation chapter 5 verse 13 about the worship that is taking place in heaven. It says that all those that are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and John adds, and in the sea, fall down and worship him. as God. And so this is the career of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul again, as I remind you, has brought before us this career for a practical purpose, and that is that we might have our attitude checked by looking at this picture of this most perfect career which exemplified humility. And so I suggest that you follow me with several attitude adjustments. First, we need an adjustment of our attitude towards ourselves, how you and I think about ourselves. And I think that what I hold before you is what Paul holds before you. First of all is the readiness of the Lord Jesus Christ to veil the glory that was his, the prerogatives and privileges that were his, and to not hold on to that privileged position and that display. Jesus possessed the glory of divine nature and perfect communion with the Father, but he allowed it to be masked by the lowliness of a human body in order to gain glory for who? To gain glory for you and for me. What desires, possessions, personal preferences are you grasping? This passage is challenging you to lay them aside if they are preoccupying you to such an extent that you are unable to look at the needs of other people. That is the attitude of Jesus Christ. Now, I exhort you because, you see, if you do not follow this exhortation, you run a risk. There is a danger. And that is the danger that Paul talks about in verse 3. Remember verse 3? Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Other passages, other translators say vain glory. Be careful. If you seek after your own things, you will wind up with empty glory. That's the downside of ignoring Paul's admonition here. It's vain glory. You risk the consequences of building your life around empty glory. Your own glory, self-exaltation, just like Lucifer did, and what happens in the end? It's a stinging rebuke of emptiness. As a result, bitterness comes, loneliness comes, lack of fulfillment, and certainly no approval from God. Jesus said, but the greatest among you shall be your servant, and whoever exalts himself shall be humbled. If you reject the admonition of verse 3, which Paul is trying to illustrate, you'll be like the self-made executive who built his life around climbing the ladder to the top of his company. And when he got to the top of the company, and he was able to look at the books, he discovered the company was bankrupt. And that's exactly what happens when you pursue and become preoccupied with your own things to the exclusion of others. There's another attitude check that Paul would call our attention to, and that is our attitude toward one another. Christ's willingness to humble himself from the glory of heaven to the death of the cross shows us what our attitude should be toward one another. He illustrates it in verse 3 again. In humility, consider others as more important than yourselves. That is to be the attitude. In humbling himself, Jesus demonstrated his estimate of your value. You see, you had no value. But Jesus saw in you value for himself. And so he estimated you as one worthy for him to come and substitute his life for you in death. And this passage admonishes you and me to assign ourselves a little lower status than perhaps we think we deserve. This passage admonishes you and me to test our humility. And how would we test our humility? The same way that Jesus' humility was tested by his obedience. Are you obedient to scripture? Are you obedient to properly designated authority in scripture? Well, that is the test. Because you see, Jesus displayed his humility by his performance. And that was his obedience to death, even death of a cross. And then finally, Paul speaks and admonishes us about our attitude toward God. He says, our attitude toward God should be one of rejoicing, exaltation, rejoicing at the privilege of being related, personally related. You are personally related. to the Lord Jesus Christ who Paul says God exalted to the highest place. How about that? Who could you be related to that you would want to be more related to than that? Think about it. If you were related to the president, if you were related to the sheikhs who have all the money, I mean, most people that you rub shoulders with would think, oh, that's great. You are personally related to the one who owns the whole world, who is the sovereign over all the universe, the one who made you, takes care of you. You are personally related to him by faith. Aren't you glad that God has granted you and I the grace to see our sin and to see in Jesus Christ personal salvation? Aren't you glad that God has enabled you to recognize that Jesus Christ is the sovereign of the universe and that by giving us that recognition we have bowed to him now as our Lord rather than after it's too late as our judge. Because the Bible says every knee shall bow and we will bow now or you will bow later. One way in submission to his lordship The other way, in subjection to his judgment. Aren't you glad that you can play a part in helping to encourage others who want to be like Christ, who want to be servants? Servants of the Exalted One. And so, as Paul has argued here, I think the principle that must be taken from this passage is this. Selfless service is the attitude of glory. Selfless service is the attitude of glory. Let's pray, then we'll have our closing hymn and be dismissed. Lord God, our Heavenly Father, this attitude of our Lord Jesus is so foreign to our personal old nature. Create in us a new heart every day, Lord, that we may follow the Holy Spirit who desires to make us like Jesus Christ. In his name we pray, amen.