Paul's letter to the Philippians chapter 2. 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 full accord and of one mind, Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who Though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so 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 therefore my beloved as you have always obeyed So now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning. that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world holding fast to the word of life so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain even if I'm to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise, you also should be glad and rejoice with me." This was God's word to the Philippian Christians, this is God's word to us. I'm not sure if there are any children here this evening who haven't been here on previous evenings. What we've done each evening is just give out a question sheet with some questions on about the sermon and we've said those are there for any children who would like to fill in the sheets. I'm hoping that those who want to do that were given a sheet as they arrived. Nobody has to do it. that if you want to, you may have been given a sheet, as I say, when you arrived. If there's any of the children, let's say ages 10 downwards, who didn't get a sheet and would like one, then put your hand up now and somebody will bring you the question sheet for this evening. We've got problems with the sound, have we? It's slipping already. We've taped it on this evening. Tomorrow evening, I think it's going to be super glue. One way or another, we hope it stays there. Once again, we were talking about the children's question sheets. Some of the children left with me the question sheets that they filled out yesterday evening, and I've had a look at them. And once again, so encouraging to see how well you've been listening and how much you've taken in, how carefully you've written down those answers. If you see me afterwards, I'll give you back your sheets. And if you wrote down a question for me to answer, well then I've tried to answer your questions at the bottom of that sheet. And tonight I have remembered the chocolates. We've got my wife sent over some chocolates because she thought the Canadian children probably liked English chocolate. So if any of the youngsters would like to come and just choose a chocolate afterwards, then please do that. Well, this is session number four on Philippians. And we're just carrying on where we left off last night. we've been talking about role models the great role models that people looked up to in Philippi were powerful dynamic rulers like Alexander the Great or Caesar Augustus or any of the emperors who followed Augustus And what did people learn from their example? They learned that the most important thing is to get to the top. To be the person who's in charge. The person whom everyone else notices. The person who gets their own way. They learn that it's right to be ambitious and ruthless. That's what those role models taught them. But now in Philippians 2, Paul presents these Christians with a new role model, a new example, a new way of thinking. He says in verse 5 of chapter 2, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Your thinking must be like the way Jesus Christ thought. You must have the same mindset as him. Christ Jesus who though he was in the form of God did not think of his equality with God as something to be exploited, something to use for his own advantage? No, says Paul, Christ Jesus made himself nothing, a nobody. He was made in human likeness. He took the form of a slave. Christ Jesus was willing to live like a slave. He was willing to work like a slave. He was willing to be despised and abused like a slave. That's the pattern to which Paul is calling the Philippian Christians in their life together in the church. And that's the pattern to which he's calling us. Paul told the Philippians back in verse 3, that they must act in humility. Well, humility means being willing to accept humiliation. What we've been reading about is the humiliation of God's Son. The one who was entitled to all worship, all praise, all honor, took the form of a slave. When the Son of God became man, he was accepting utter humiliation. But there was a further humiliation to follow. Paul here is sketching out the chosen career of the Son of God. And his career was a career of progressive humiliation. The step of incarnation, taking on human nature, human flesh, that was the first step. But it was only the first step, because then that man, the man Jesus, must take a further unimaginable step of humiliation. Paul says in verse 8, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross God's Son had consented to be a slave and to be a slave is to be humiliated it's a humiliating role to play but how far Is he willing for his humiliation to go? To be a slave means that you have to be obedient. But how far will his obedience stretch? Yes, he submits, he obeys through every moment of that humiliating life on earth. But now his humility, his obedience must face the final test. He must go to the Garden of Gethsemane. And there, shaking with terror, writhing in anguish, he's going to cry, not my will, but yours be done! And he's going to become obedient unto death. And that death has to be the death of a cross. Why? because that's the death appropriate to a slave. It's what Roman writers called the servile supplicium, the slave's punishment, the most humiliating, shameful, agonizing death conceivable. It's impossible, I think, for us to understand the utter horror with which Roman people thought about crucifixion, about death on a cross. It was the ultimate horror. It was the most degrading, the most humiliating fate possible. Let the very word cross be kept far away, not only from the body of a Roman citizen, But even from his thoughts, his eyes, his ears. The Roman lawyer Cicero said that. He says it's not just that a Roman citizen should never have to suffer crucifixion, he should never have to hear that word. He should never have to think about it. It's an obscene word. It's a word you don't whisper in front of people. Cross. Death on a cross. It's a disgusting idea. And yet, the Lord of Glory, the rightful Emperor of the Universe, was strung out naked, nailed to a cross, and he submitted to it. That's what Paul means when he says that Christ Jesus became obedient to death, even the death a shudder through the readers in Philippi. It's a word that wouldn't be used among Roman citizens and they were so conscious that they were Roman citizens. And now Paul's reminding them that the one they worship was pinned to a cross. He became obedient to the death of a cross. That was the final step in the career of the Son of God here on Earth. That was the career he chose for himself. See, that's Paul's emphasis. That this was the chosen path for the Lord of Glory. He made himself nothing, says Paul. He took the nature of a slave He humbled himself. He became obedient unto death. There's nothing forced on him in this. This is the career path he's chosen to walk. It brings him from infinite glory on the throne of heaven to utter ruin, utter shame on the cross of Calvary. By all human standards, it is a career of absolute failure. Look at the figure on the cross. It's a figure of absolute weakness. You can't have a more helpless man than that. A man nailed hand and foot. It's a figure of total failure. By all human standards, it's a figure of utter shame. The King of Glory chose the career of a broken slave. He chose the career of a condemned criminal, and he ended that career on a cross. seems a career of utter waste. It seems a life thrown away. But this was the path he chose. This was the path that obedience demanded. And this is the role model that Paul sets before the Philippian Christians. When Paul paints a portrait of a true man. It doesn't point to the superhuman figure of Alexander, the way the artists portrayed him, gigantic, magnificent. Remember the words I read to you from one historian about the outward appearance that Alexander chose when he came down as a god to earth? grand, majestic, impressive, what was the outward appearance that the Lord of Glory chose? Paul points first to a man living the life of a slave, having the form of a slave, and then he points to a writhing, disjointed, bloodied figure on a cross, Paul's role model is not Caesar on his throne, surrounded by courtiers, issuing commands, trampling down his enemies. Paul's role model is this Jesus, humiliated, betrayed, lonely, heartbroken, but still believing, still submitting, still obeying his Father, still loving his enemies, still praying for those who have nailed him there. And you must be like him, says Paul. You must be like him. How are we going to sum up this man Jesus and his career? We'll sum it up in three words. It's firstly a career of obedience. In obedience, obedience to his father's will, the Son of God became a man. In obedience, the man Jesus lived every moment of his life here in this world. In obedience He submitted to the cross of Calvary with all its shame. Every thought of Jesus was obedience. I must obey. I must obey every moment of my life. I must do His will. That was His constant thought. In the volume of the book it's written of me. Lo, I come to do thy will. It's a career of obedience. And then secondly, it's a career of humility. At every step along this career path, the king isn't thinking of himself. He's forgotten himself. He's forgotten his own needs. He's forgotten his wishes. He's forgotten his desires. It's his father's will that matters. It's the needs of others that come first. He lives as a man thinking about others. He dies for the sake of others. And for the sake of others he will accept any humiliation. He's willing to be a nobody. He's willing to be rejected and despised and overlooked and sneered at. He's willing to be hurt again and again and again. he's got no ambition except the ambition to bring honor to his father and mercy to ruin sinners and thirdly it's a career of suffering because his obedience and his humility lead to appalling suffering in his lifetime he's a man of sorrows And that life culminates in the heartbreak and the torture and the horror and the impenetrable darkness of Calvary. And willingly this man, Jesus, accepts the suffering. He accepts it to the end. That is his chosen path. That's the path. by which Jesus will accomplish his objectives. He has no other method, no other program. You know, if you had the opportunity to interview Augustus Caesar, you could ask him, what was your strategy? How did you accomplish your goals? How did you get to where you are? and he'd tell you about the political alliances he made and he'd tell you about the great military victories he won and he'd tell you about the resources he built up but turn to the Son of God and ask him what his strategy was and he'll tell you only three things I obeyed gave myself, moment by moment, in relentless obedience to the commands of my father. I humbled myself. I was willing to accept any humiliation. I was willing to do any task. I was willing to serve the lowest and the most degraded human beings. I was willing to expose myself to any shame, and I suffered. I accepted whatever suffering my father sent me. I accepted it without complaint, I accepted it without bitterness, I accepted it without rebellion. I obeyed, I humbled myself, and I suffered. That was the career that Christ Jesus chose. but the career of the Lord Jesus Christ did not end at the cross. Between verses 9 and 11, Paul goes on to sketch out all that followed. Christ became obedient to death, even death on a cross, therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on 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. The key word in that long sentence is the first word, therefore. He humbled himself Therefore, God exalted him. He chose to be a nothing. Therefore, God gave him the name above every name. He was willing to be a slave. Therefore, God decreed that every creature should call him Lord. All the triumphs all the glories of the risen Lord Jesus have come to him as the result the reward of that life of obedience and humility and suffering he claimed nothing for himself and therefore God gave him everything he had no ambition for himself and that's why he's worthy to be enthroned forever the man Jesus is worthy to share the throne of God because in his life he shone out God's own qualities of infinite humility and infinite love no other man is fit to sit on the throne power corrupts absolute power corrupts Absolutely. Put any other man on a throne. Give any other man unfettered power and it will corrupt him. He'll become as corrupt as Alexander or Julius Caesar. Only a man who's totally humble. Only a man who's utterly other person centred. Only a man who's completely incorruptible. is fit to be put on the throne. But that's Jesus. That's what he's proved. He's proved that he can't be corrupted. He's proved that he is willing to give himself and give himself and give himself. And that's why God has exalted him. Now let's think for a moment about the triumphs, about the vindication of the exalted Christ. Paul presents the triumph of Jesus Christ in three great declarations. First of all, he tells us in verse 9 that God has highly exalted him, that's the ESV's translation, and given him or bestowed on him the name that's above every name. It's actually stronger than just God has highly exalted him. What it really means is God has supremely exalted him. God has exalted him to an incomparable place. Paul's echoing Psalm 97 verse 9 You, O Lord, are the most high over all the earth. You are exalted to the highest place above all gods. But Paul is telling us that the man Jesus has been granted divine honours. That he sits on Jehovah's throne. That he carries the supreme name the name Jehovah, Yahweh, the Lord. Jesus exercises sole, solitary, supreme dominion over all creation. This man, the same man who hung naked and broken on the cross, now sits on the throne of God. You see how Paul again has in view the blasphemous claims of the Caesars. They claim to be among the gods. They claimed a place alongside Jupiter and Juno and all the rest of the Roman pantheon. But that's not Christ's claim. To be one God among the gods. He's exalted to the highest place, above all gods, all powers, whatever forces, whatever principalities and powers there may be in all the universe, they're all subject to Him. Each of the Caesars used the title Lord, and spoke of Caesar as Dominus Nostra Deus, Our Lord and God stamped on the coinage. Now says Paul, there's only one man who has the right to carry the name Lord. It's the name above every name. When we call Jesus the Lord, we're using the title in its fullest sense. When you read the Old Testament, when you meet that word Lord written in capital letters, what you've got there is the name Jehovah Yahweh the great I am for all eternity the man Jesus bears the name Jehovah Jehovah Jesus Jesus our Lord now this is something definitive this is all path tense God has highly exalted him. God has bestowed on him the name that's above every name. There was a moment in time when the man Jesus was recognized as son of God and installed in all the honors that belong to that title. There's a time when he was appointed son of God with power, says Paul in Romans 1.1. There was a point in time when the man Jesus was wrapped round in the robe of divine glory, when he was caught up to the highest place to begin his reign from the throne of God. We call that his ascension or his exaltation. That isn't something progressive, is it? That was a once for all event, his glorification, his enthronement, God exalted him. It's once for all, it happened, it's a fact. But the consequences of that once for all exaltation have to be worked out step by step. And that's what Paul goes on to tell us in what follows. This is his second declaration. God has decreed that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow at the name of Jesus Paul's stressing his humanity that was a name Jesus was known by as a man on earth well at that name, the name of Jesus every creature in the universe will kneel in submission things in heaven, says Paul, things on earth, things under the earth, they will all kneel before Jesus. Now the three words that Paul uses there, the heavenly things, the earthly things, the under earth things, are all terms used chiefly for spiritual beings, for all the mysterious demonic powers that threaten and enslave mankind. What Paul calls elsewhere the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. Not just creatures on earth, says Paul, but whatever creatures there may be in the unseen world, they will all one day acknowledge the triumph of the Lord Jesus. They'll all acknowledge that that man who hung, abandoned, defeated, ruined, has conquered them, has defeated them. They'll all bow the knee before him. You know, the Greeks were shocked when Alexander the Great demanded that they should bow the knee before him they were supposed to be free people the Greeks nobody had ever asked them to do that before but he demanded it and they did it because they said he's equal to God but even Alexander never demanded that all the invisible powers should kneel before him Paul says they'll bow before Jesus. They'll bow the knee to Him. And, says Paul, every tongue shall confess that he's Lord. That's the third declaration. You know the passage that Paul is quoting from Isaiah, chapter 45, where Jehovah declares, before me every knee will bow. by me every tongue will swear, but now that adoration, that praise, that worship that's due to Jehovah alone is being given to Messiah Jesus, to the man who humbled himself, to the man who obeyed the man who became a nothing, the man who died a slave's death on the cross. He must be acknowledged as Lord by every creature, by angels, by demons, by human beings. First, the definitive triumph, the exaltation, and then the progressive outworking, the defeat of spiritual powers, every tongue confessing that Jesus is Lord. Now the question we need to ask is this, when does Paul expect this to happen? When do Christ's enemies bow the knee? When will every creature confess that Jesus is Lord? And the answer is clear Paul's looking forward to the consummation, to the triumphant return of Jesus, to the end of history, to the last day. It's then that every knee shall bow, isn't it? It's then that every tongue shall confess that he's Lord. At the parousia, the glorious returning of the Emperor. But Paul isn't speaking only of the parousia, is he? He's not talking only about the return of Christ. What happens then is only the culmination, it's only the climax of what Christ has been doing ever since his exaltation. Does Paul only expect to see demonic powers defeated at his return? Doesn't Paul say elsewhere that Christ is putting all his enemies under his feet now? Doesn't he say that the weapons of our warfare are powerful now for the pulling down of Satan's strongholds? Paul expects to see the powers of darkness being driven back in defeat now! Does Paul only expect to hear tongues confessing that Jesus is Lord at the end of the world? Of course not. He expects to see men and women declaring Jesus is Lord now. He expects to see it happening in Rome where he is. Every Roman citizen we said was expecting to say Caesar is Lord. But Paul expects to see men and women and children being saved and baptized. And when they're baptized, what do they say? Jesus is Lord! He expects to see it happening in Philippi. He expects to see it happening all across the world. You see, don't you? The things that Paul talks about here in verses 10 and 11 are the victories, the triumphs that Jesus wins all through this gospel age. Paul doesn't expect Jesus' victories only at the end of the world. He expects to see Jesus' victories now in history. Yes, the whole vast scale of Jesus' triumphs won't be seen till the last day. But the triumph itself is seen on every day of this gospel age. From the moment when God exalted Jesus Christ to the highest place, from that moment, step by step, Christ's enemies are being forced to admit defeat. And chosen sinners are being brought to confess that Jesus is Lord. I'm sure that when Paul wrote these words, he was remembering Christ's victory over him. There on the road to Damascus, he, Saul of Tarsus, dominated as he was by demonic power, demonic rage, he bowed the knee. Literally, physically, he found himself prostrate on the ground before Jesus. And he confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord. Lord, he said, what would you have me to do? And Paul is certain that the same awesome power that smashed his resistance must be seen throughout all nations in all centuries to the glory of God the Father. Jesus, that broken, tortured, defeated slave whose body hung on a cross has defeated the whole empire of evil. Even now, Jesus is tearing down strongholds of Satan. Even now he's subduing millions of rebel sinners to himself. That's what Paul is telling us here. Now do you see the vast paradox that we've got in these verses? A man abandons all ambitions for himself. A man lives the life of a slave. A man dies in misery and shame. And that's how he triumphs. That's how he defeats the power of darkness. That's how he rescues mankind from the grip of Satan and all his legions. That's how he forces the spiritual world into submission. That's how he wins universal sovereignty. And that's how he brings glory to God. That's Paul's bottom line at the end of verse 11. The ultimate end of all this. To the glory of God the Father. A man dies obediently. He accepts humiliation, battering, torture, loneliness, shame, and that's the appointed way by which God is glorified before the universe. Let me say it again, you've got to take in how utterly different This is from all that the Philippians have been trained to believe. All through their lives they've been taught to revere great men. Men who show themselves stronger and cleverer and more cunning than their opponents. Men who are born leaders, men who are dynamic figures, men who know how to exercise authority. It's through men like that that triumphs come. It's men like that that accomplish great things. No, says Paul. The ultimate victory belongs to a man who obeyed and humbled himself and suffered. A man who chose to be a nothing. A man who seemed to have been utterly defeated. a man whose life seemed to have been just thrown away for nothing, he won the victory. He won the only victory that counts. That's the one great central fact that dominates this whole letter to the Philippians. If you only remember one thing from this series of Bible studies, remember that one. How did Jesus break the powers of evil? How did Jesus conquer the world? How did Jesus win the right to sit on the throne of heaven? By becoming a slave. By becoming a figure of fun. Someone that everybody laughed at. By walking a path of obedience that led to suffering and to death. that's the great lesson we're learning here now why is it why was it so important that Paul should preach that truth to the Christians in Philippi? well surely for this reason the Philippian Christians had to understand and we have to understand that this pattern is not only true for Jesus Christ, it is also true for his people. It is true for all who walk in his footsteps. Remember, that's where Paul starts. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. We long to see victories won in this world. We long to see verses 10 and 11 realized in our experience. We long to see these things happening in experience of our churches. We long to see Satan's power broken, don't we? We long to see men and women brought to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. We long to see God glorified. We long to see the kingdom of God coming with power. But how are such victories to be won? They have to be won the same way that Jesus Christ won the definitive victory. They're only won when Christ's people live the same way that Christ lived. When they live lives of costly obedience and self-denial. When they humble themselves and accept humiliation, when they accept suffering as the price of obedience, when they see themselves as slaves, they forget their dignity. They're willing to do the most degrading work. They forget their own hurts, their own weariness. They press on in lives of obedience. They accept insults, they accept abuse, they accept pain and they don't resent it. They live with the attitude of Christ. And it's through people like that that Christ's victories are won. You see, we're back to the great theme that we introduced at the beginning of this series. Remember? We said it was going to be one of the big themes of the book. victories come for Christ and his gospel when his people suffer pain and humiliation and when they accept it willingly lovingly for his sake remember we saw that principle worked out in Paul's first visit to Philippi here he is mounting the invasion of the West Starting with Philippi, the most Roman city in Greece. A stronghold of Caesar, a stronghold of Satan. How is it going to happen? A great military operation? A great crusade? Pauline tanks rolling into Philippi? No, Christ has said that his followers don't take up swords. and fight for his kingdom. Well then, at least it's going to take a vast advertising campaign, isn't it? Great public meetings, lots of celebrities on the platform, the local mayor perhaps as the guest of honour. We'll need financial backers, won't we? We'll need skilful PR men, won't we? We'll need to harness the Philippian media, won't we? We need to make sure that Paul himself has the right presentation skills. We need to call in the make-up people to give him the right image. After all, this is Philippi! You're taking on the gigantic power of the Roman Empire! That's the way victories are won, isn't it? That's the way the Alexanders and the Caesars and the Richard Branson's and the Rupert Murdoch's and, well, whoever the Canadian equivalents are. That's the way they've built their empires, isn't it? All the machinery of power. All the help of the spin doctors and the image makers. We win victories, don't we, by being dynamic and glamorous and knowing how to use the tools of power. How was the victory of the gospel won in Philippi? It was won when Paul and Silas were seized by a lynch mob. And when they were stripped naked in public. And when they were flogged. They were defeated. They were humiliated. They had all their dignity stripped away from them with their clothes. They were thrown into prison filthy and bleeding with the flesh torn off their bodies. They were chained up in the darkness. What a humiliating end to their career in Philippi. What an utter failure. Where has obedience to Christ brought them? It's brought them to the same place as it brought Jesus. To humiliation, to agony, to helplessness. And there in that place, the battle for Philippi was won. It was won when Paul and Silas lifted up their voices and sang. In their pain, in their humiliation, they sang. They proclaimed publicly their love for Christ and their willingness to suffer for Him. They became obedient. They accepted all that had happened. as God's will for them. They humbled themselves. They accepted the public shame and the physical pain. It was the cost of following Christ. They were determined to press on in obedience, even if it became obedience to death. Their attitude was the same as that of Christ Jesus. Obedience, humility, the willingness to suffer. That night the prison the structure that symbolized the authority of Rome, shaken to its foundations. That night the jailer, the man whose work it was to uphold Caesar's authority, that night he bowed the knee to Christ. That night he took the words on his lips, Jesus is Lord, And better still, he's my lord. That night the grip of Satan on Philippi was broken. But how was it accomplished? By superstar evangelists? By great choirs? By vast technological resources? It was accomplished by two men who obeyed and humbled themselves and suffered and wept and sang and pressed on. You remember again Paul talking about his experience in Rome itself? I want you to know brothers that what has happened to me has advanced the gospel. Paul's confronting the power of Caesar at it's very center now. Paul's assaulting Caesar's own capital city He's taking on all the might of Roman government, all the extent of Roman dominion. How is he doing it? What's God's strategy for the conquest of Rome? Doing it from a prison cell. From a human point of view, Paul's been defeated. He's been rendered helpless. And as Paul lies there in chains, The gospel is spreading through Caesar's bodyguard. Remember we saw it? It's being preached out on the streets. Powers of darkness are being defeated. Men and women and children are saying, Jesus is Lord. Where is victory won? It's won by Paul in a prison cell. Filthy hungry, lonely, but still saying may Christ be exalted. It's won by Alan Gardner on the shores of Tierra del Fuego. I don't know if there's a biography of Captain Gardner on the bookstall, there ought to be. There he is, starving to death, abandoned, far from home and family, still praying, still longing for the triumph of Christ in South America. It's what he writes in his journal, our times are in his hands and he can raise up others far better qualified than we are to enter into our labors, whether I live or die, may it be in him that lonely death moved scores of men to pray and to go his widow 50 years later could look back and she wrote this about herself she was permitted to see that her husband's work and labor of love was not in vain in the Lord Moreover, that the countries in which his toil was greatest and his suffering worst, Araucania, the Gran Chaco, Tierra del Fuego, have his gospel openly preached. And Gardner's biographer added this, it was all explained now. The apparently useless sufferings, the long arduous journeys, the disappointments, the setbacks culminating in those lifeless bodies on the beaches had all proved to be the outworking of a divine plan. Today thousands confess Jesus is Lord because Alan Gardiner was willing to waste his life for Christ. Where's victory won? It's won by Mehdi Dibaj. Locked for years in a prison cell in Iran. In a little cell, three foot by three. Imagine that. Writing to his judges. That's astonishing testimony. Just brimming over with praise and gratitude to Jesus Christ. there aren't many Christian testimonies published in the British press but that one was and then he's released from prison after those years of cramped existence in the darkness only to be stabbed to death and have his body thrown onto a rubbish heap but his testimony reached millions and today there are, I believe, millions of people in Iran who look back and say it was through his testimony I was awakened where's victory won? it's won in inner city estates in the cities of England where faithful men minister year after year without publicity without human reward and you have such men here I'm certain I think of a friend of mine laboring for 29 years in an inner city congregation in Manchester coming in week after week to clear up the broken glass to wipe the excreta off the walls waiting for the reinforcements that never came still pressing on still honoring the name of Christ in that place, working on obediently in a place where younger men were unwilling to go, humbling himself to do the most degrading tasks if only the gospel could be preached. Suffering disappointment, suffering weariness, he lived like a slave. He had the mind of Christ. and it's when Christ's people have Christ's mind that Christ triumphs. Where is victory won? It's won in every gospel church where Christians stop thinking about themselves. Where in humility they count others as more important than themselves. when they stop worrying about whether they're getting the attention they deserve or whether they're being treated fairly or whether their gifts are being recognized when they start living like slaves who don't expect any recognition Paul really believed that it's only when the members of a church have that Christ-like mindset that God is glorified and the victories are won for Christ look where Paul carries on straight from verse 11 he's just told us that we have to have Christ's mindset he's described that mindset that mindset of total self-forgetting humility and then he says in verse 12 therefore my beloved as you've always obeyed So now, not only in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it's God who works in you, both to will and to do his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling, without questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent. Children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights of the world. Do you see what Paul is saying? Paul wants the church in Philippi and its members to shine before the dark world. He wants everyone in Philippi to see how different they are. He wants everybody to see in them blameless children of God so different from the crooked and twisted people around them. But Paul says it's only going to happen when you start obeying this command. When each one of you starts thinking as Christ thought, when each one of you starts living as Christ lived, when each one of you chooses the pathway of self-sacrificing, self-forgetting, serving of one another, how can you expect the world to take the gospel seriously? How can you expect triumphs to be won for Christ if the world sees churches that are full of rivalry and ambition and arguments and quarrels? Christ won his great victory by that life of humiliating service. Christ won the right to triumph over satanic powers by forgetting his own rights. Christ won the right to be called Lord by becoming a slave. And if believers are going to share Christ's victories, Christ's triumphs, they must first share Christ's mindset. They must imitate Christ's life and Christ's lifestyle. Christ's career choices. Let's just read one more verse. before we close this evening. Chapter 3, verse 10. I think it's impossible to bring out the real force of this verse in an English translation. But it spells out the principle we've been thinking about so exactly. Paul's been talking about his willingness to lose everything that once he would have cherished he talks about his willingness to lose his reputation his self-esteem his dignity and then in verse 10 he says this I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection he's looking back to the account He's given of Christ's career back in chapter 2. He's thinking about the power that is now exercised by the risen Christ. The power to compel every knee to bow. The power to make men confess that he's Lord. Paul says, I want to be part of that. I want Christ's power to be exercised through me. I want to share Christ's resurrection victory. I want to share his triumph. And then he says this, and I want to share his sufferings. Becoming like him in his death. Paul says the only way I can share in the power, the triumph of Christ is by sharing in the suffering of Christ. Becoming like him in his death. Now that's the key phrase. Becoming like him. It's a single word in the Greek. And it's the same word that Paul used back in the passage we've been looking at in chapter 2. You remember where it says he took the form, he took the likeness of a slave Now Paul says, I want to take a form, a likeness like his. I want to be a slave like him. With all that means, the back-breaking toil, the loneliness, the heartbreak, the public humiliation, the life of sorrows, and I want to be made like him in his death. If being like Christ means that, says Paul, then that's what I choose. Paul's looking at the cross. When he talks about being made like Christ in his death, remember the death he's talking about. Paul, in his mind's eye, can see the cross. He's looking at the man on that cross. He's looking at a battered wreck of a man. A man who's covered in blood and spittle. He's looking at a naked man. He's looking at a penniless man. He's looking at a man who is abandoned. Who's crying. Who's writhing in pain. And Paul says, I want to be like that man. He's my role model. I want to be like him in his obedience. I want to be like him in his humility. I want to live the way he lived. I want to die as he died. And in that way, says Paul, I believe I shall share in his triumph. I believe I'll share in his resurrection. Let me ask you again. What sort of picture do you have in your mind of the sort of Christian you want to be? The sort of church member you want to be? What's your mental picture of a successful, happy Christian? Who do we model ourselves on? Some famous evangelist? Dynamic, successful, praised by everyone. Going from one place to another and being clapped by Christians wherever he goes. Is that your role model? Some great Bible teacher? International reputation? We've only got one role model here in this world. and he's a crucified criminal he's a man who's rejected and who's laughed at and who's spat on Paul says I want to be like Christ and I know what that means it means being a nobody it means being a slave it means living a slave's life And it means dying a slave's death. Is it worth it? Oh yes, says Paul. Verse 11. If by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Oh yes, says Paul, I'm happy to live like Christ. And if I'm called to, I'm happy to die like Christ. Providing that one day I'm going to be raised with Christ. Anything that brings me nearer to that is worthwhile. Paul's looking forward to the moment of his death. To depart and be with Christ is far better. Beyond that he's looking forward eagerly to the moment of resurrection. The moment when Jesus Christ returns again and raises his people from death forever. Paul's going to see his Saviour face to face. And so are we. If we share Christ's life here, we should share Christ's life there. And one moment with Christ will make all the troubles and the struggles and the humiliations of this world just seem... nothing. Nothing by comparison. His fellowship here with Christ, sweet, Well, if fellowship here with my Lord can be so inexpressibly sweet, what will it be when his face we see, when around the white throne we meet? Thank you so much for listening.