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Back to Basics — Thinking and Living Christian Part 2. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.
Lord, You are my strong tower. Yes, You are my hiding place. And all to graph you, in who You are. Because it's with You I find my place. Welcome to this edition of Back to Basics with Pastor Brian Broderson. Let's adopt that same mind as Christ. And listen, if you adopt this mind, it'll save your marriage. It'll bless your family. It'll cause you to be an effective witness at work. And you will be part of those things that work together to see the kingdom of God advanced. Today on Back to Basics, Pastor Brian continues his study in the book of Philippians.
Join us as Pastor Brian concludes his teaching on Philippians 2 verses 1 through 11 in a message titled, Thinking and Living Christian. And now here's Pastor Brian. We were in Israel last year and we were, you know, part of our tour. We go to the place where Jesus was tried. And we go into a room there that might very well be the very room that Jesus was taken into, where the soldiers mocked him and all of those things went on. And our tour guide at the time was talking to us about just the whole idea of crucifixion and Jesus being crucified as, you know, the Savior. And he was trying to emphasize how antithetical this was to the Jewish mind at the time. Because the Messiah in the mind of the Jew was like the best way you could think of the Messiah
would be to think of like David in the height of his glory. You know, David, the greatest king of Israel, the one who brought victory. And of course it was promised that the Messiah would be the son of David. So in the Jewish mind, that's what they're thinking. The Messiah is a king. The Messiah is a conqueror. The Messiah is somebody who comes and defeats the foes. But the message is that the Messiah was crucified by the Romans. This is far from the idea in the mind of the Jew that you could possibly get. But not only was it that to the Jew, it was that to the rest of the world as well. And as Paul says that the cross is a stumbling block to the Jews and its foolishness to the Greeks. You mean to tell me, now remember the Greeks were the thinkers, they were the philosophers, they were the people who were going to figure it all out.
They were really the first humanist in a sense. And so for them, you know, salvation or attaining to glory, all that is going to be through the intellect. It's going to be through figuring out the system like Plato attempted to or Aristotle or whoever else. But then the message comes to these Greek cities like Corinth, for example, or like Philippi, where they are. That the Messiah, the Savior of the world, died on a cross. Oh my goodness, what? That just makes zero sense. But that's what Jesus did. He became of no reputation. He became obedient to death, even death on a cross. I want to read you a quote from the Swiss Theologian Karl Barth. He said this.
He said, as we look at Jesus Christ, we cannot avoid the astounding conclusion of divine obedience. Notice, he became obedient to death. The astounding conclusion of divine obedience. Therefore, we have to draw the no less astounding deduction that in equal divinity between the Father and the Son, there is also a first and a second. One who rules and commands in majesty and one who obeys in humility, the one God is both the one and the other. And why this statement is so profound because what he's saying is that God himself became obedient to the point of death. See, we can never lose sight of Jesus as he's God. And so, as he says, and I think it's so profound, one who rules and commands in majesty, and we even saw Jesus demonstrate that in his public ministry.
He commanded the wind and the waves to be still, and he cast out the demons. And when they came into the garden to arrest him, he spoke a word, and they all fell backward. He's the one who commands in majesty. But he's the one who obeys in humility. And that's what we see. That's what Paul was saying here. He became obedient to death, even death on the cross. This is what God did. This is what God did. And so, God and the person of Jesus lived entirely for others. He lived for the will of the Father, and for the salvation of mankind. Now, because of all these things, Paul goes on to tell us what God did and will do for Jesus.
And so, it says here, in verse 9, therefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him the name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. So, this is what God has done. And now, when we think about God doing this for Jesus, the reason why Paul says, as he does in verse 9, therefore God has also highly exalted him, that therefore God has highly exalted him, is not directly tied to because this is what he did, but it's really tied to because this is who he is. Even before he did what he did, he was highly exalted.
And so, because of who he is, God has highly exalted him, and given him the name that is above every name, and so that every knee will one day bow, and every tongue will one day confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And that's the key word here, that Jesus Christ is Lord. That this man, Jesus of Nazareth, who is called the Christ or the Messiah, that he is Kuryos, and Kuryos is the name for God. Now, in the ancient world, in the Roman world, this word was used for light. It was used for the emperor. The emperor was called Kuryos, the Lord. And the idea was that he was the supreme one. But when the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew into Greek,
the scholars took the name of God Yahweh, and they translated it into the Greek Kuryos. And so, what Paul is saying here is that one day every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Yahweh, that he is the one and only true and living God, God the Son, to the glory of God the Father. Now, all of this is the foundation for why we should behave in a certain way and not in another way. That's the whole point that Paul is making here. Remember how the chapter begins.
Therefore, if there's any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind, and then he says what we are not to do. We are not to do anything through selfish ambition or conceit. Now, I don't know if you remember this or not, but it wasn't that long ago. Maybe you remember Pastor Jordan was teaching on this passage. And to date, that is the best message I have ever heard on this text. So, if you want to get an even more detailed and specific exposition of this passage, pick up the message that Jordan gave. But one of the things that Jordan said, and I want to take off on this, he said this, selfishness combats the Christian life.
This is the point that Paul is making. Selfishness combats the Christian life. Remember the fellowship of the gospel, we have a shared interest in what? In Jesus, the gospel, the kingdom. But if I am really more preoccupied with self-interest, then I'm actually working against the gospel. I'm combating it. You see, the gospel will have no effect in or through our lives if we are steeped in or motivated by selfish ambition and conceit. We are living in the time, truly. You know, there's passages that tell us about the condition of the world in the last days. And the last days is a reference to the period of time between the ascension of Jesus back into heaven and the return of Jesus in the future. So, it's a long period of time, but obviously the last days get more of the last days, the closer you get to the return of the Lord.
But one of the things that the scripture says about the last days, one of the marks of the last days is men and women, human beings will be lovers of themselves. And we're told that there will be a heightened attitude of self-interest, selfish ambition, conceit. And boy, we are living in those times, at least in our cultural context, we are in those times. I mean, the mantra of today is basically just love yourself. You are the most important, and you just need to dive down into who you are, and you need to express that. And, doesn't matter what anybody thinks, it's all about you. That's the world we live in. And this mentality is not just out in Hollywood, it's not just on the streets of New York City, it's everywhere.
And it's in the church, it was in the church then, and it's in the church now. So, again, let me quote from Jordan, from his message, he said, we are all selfish at some point. We all want our way at our time for our benefit at some point. But that isn't the message of our Lord Jesus Christ. The message of Jesus is a message of a person who received all glory from God by laying down all glory due to him. Humanity was made for glory, but sin short-circuited that destiny. And again, move into glory, but now we participate in the glory given first to another who shares it with us, our Lord Jesus Christ. By faith we participate in His engloryous death whereby He dealt with sins and glorious destiny.
And by faith we are resurrected just as He was in glory, Jesus neither accomplished His glory through selfishness nor our glory through selfishness, and neither do we accomplish any glory through selfishness. Selfishness combats the Christian life. Remember that. And I titled the message today, thinking and living Christian. The definition of Christian is Christlike. Thinking and living Christlike. You see, to live like Jesus we have to think like Jesus. And if we really do think like Jesus, we will then live like Jesus. And so that brings us to what are we to do? What are we to do? Well Paul tells us right here, in lowliness esteem others better than ourselves.
Wow. In lowliness esteem others better than ourselves. How in the world do you do that? Well let this mind be in you that was also in Christ. Jesus did it. And He said an example for us, but here's what's even more important and here's the great news. Christ lives in you. See if it was simply like Jesus set this example and now you go try your best to do this, we would be hard to say the least. It would be impossible. But it's possible because not only did Christ show us by what He did, but He indwells us to empower us to do it. So in lowliness esteem others better than ourselves. In lowliness we have a real perspective on who we are.
We're just lonely creatures. And if we who are just made of dust, if Christ, God in the flesh, if He did this, then who are we to think that we should be any different? So in lowliness esteem others better than ourselves. Look out not only for our own interest, but the interest of others. Look out for the interest of others. Now listen, we all know this. This goes so against the grain of human nature. You know, I want to look out for my own interest. And what do you mean esteem others better than myself? I mean I'm the best. I want to be the best. This whole thing of selfish ambition conceit. All of this kind of stuff, this is stuff that's in the heart, but it works itself out in attitudes and in behaviors.
And it's the very thing that has to be dealt with if we're going to really experience the fellowship of the gospel because if it's not dealt with, we're combating the Christian life. We're fighting against it. And that will manifest itself across the board in every facet of your life. It will manifest it in your home with your family. It will manifest it on your job with your colleagues. It will show itself and your church in the fellowship. And we must let this mind be in us that was also in Christ Jesus looking out for the interest of others. Because in the body of Christ as we're looking out for the interest of others, you know what we're really looking out for? We're looking out for the interest of the gospel. Because this is how the gospel advances. This is how the gospel is glorified. The gospel is glorified when people see other people, wow, they're serving each other. They're loving each other. They're supporting each other. They're promoting each other.
They're not fighting and trying to climb the ladder of success. Sadly, this happens so often in churches, but it should not. And God help us to not have that mentality among us. But because we're sinners, because this is the stuff that's in our nature, we have to resist it when it surfaces. There are times when I will just suddenly have the surge of selfish ambition. And the Lord's like, here, let's squash that right now. And that's what we have to do. We have to let the Lord do that. Because this is just our condition. But because of the example of Jesus, but more importantly, because of the indwelling spirit of Christ, we can have the victory over this. So as again, going back to what Paul said, if there's any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love, any fellowship of the spirit, any affection and mercy, is there any of that stuff?
So the point is, of course, there is. That's what he's saying. And since that is the truth, then let's adopt that same mind as Christ. And listen, if you adopt this mind, it'll save your marriage. It'll bless your family. It'll cause you to be an effective witness at work. If you adopt this mind, you will become a blessing to the body of Christ. And you will be part of those things that work together to see the kingdom of God advanced. Now remember one last thing here. Paul, these are his friends. Remember we've been talking about that in Philippi. This church, these are his friends. And Paul is, you know that this is so painful for him to even have to say this because it's like, come on guys.
And you know, sometimes this, and I can identify with Paul in this and anybody who's in a position like I am, you can relate. Because you know, sometimes it just seems like, okay, we're moving forward and we're all doing so great and we're advancing and we got our eye on the prize, Jesus. And then there's like somebody over there blowing their own trumpet and all of a sudden you're like, wait, wait, what are you doing? No, get back in here. You're not supposed to be doing that. But selfish ambition can see something like that leads the mystery. And God help us. It's in all of us. It's in me, it's in you. But let this mind be in you that was in Christ. That is the word. Thinking and living Christian. If you think like Christ, you will live like Christ. That's what Paul is telling us here.
Now, as we close today, I want to once again acknowledge that there are perhaps some here with us today that have never made a commitment to Christ. And I want to read this and then I want to make this appeal to you. But let me read this quote again from William Barkley. And I want you to think about this because this is true in general, but it's true for you right now personally. He said this, the self renunciation of Jesus Christ brought him the greater glory. It made certain that someday sooner or later, every living creature in all the universe, in heaven and earth and even in hell would worship him. It is to be carefully noted when that worship comes, it comes from love. Jesus won the hearts of men, not by blasting them with power, but by showing them a love they could not resist.
At the sight of this person who laid his glory by for men and loved them to the extent of dying for them on a cross, men's hearts are melted and their resistance is broken down. We'll continue tomorrow with more valuable insights from Pastor Brian as we study together in the book of Olympians. Thank you for listening to Back to Basics with Pastor Brian Broderson. These programs exist to help believers grow in God's Word and to point others to Jesus Christ. Back to Basics is fully supported by listeners like you. Your generosity allows us to share these Bible teachings daily on radio and podcast to support the ministry or sign up for our newsletter. Visit back to basics radio.com. And now back with the final thought for today. Here's Pastor Brian.
And so as we close today, this is the truth that every person on the planet needs to know that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father of those in heaven, of those on earth and of those under the earth. We have the amazing opportunity that God has given to us. We have the amazing opportunity to bow the knee and to confess to him today and to submit to his Lordship which is the best thing we could ever do. But just remember this, everyone will do this at some point in time. The most staunch atheist who lives and dies in his blasphemy of God will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The person who didn't really care. They weren't really an atheist. They just didn't have the time to even worry about it. Think about it. I mean, who cares about that kind of stuff. That person will confess.
And everybody else, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And we have that amazing opportunity while we are living while we are breathing. We have the opportunity to do that now. And as we do that now, then we become the recipients of all the blessing of having Jesus as the Lord of our lives. If you haven't yet confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, if you haven't received Christ as your Lord and Savior, today you can do that. And today you need to do that. You should do that. Not because God's going to blast you if you don't, because God loves you so much.
My peace. Back to basics is the listener supported preaching and teaching ministry of Pastor Brian Broderson.
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