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Hey, church family. It is Devo Time. If you've got your Bible, we're going to be in Philippians
Chapter 2. I think I mentioned this last week. But once again, I just want to say thank you for
logging on and tuning in and sharing this with your friends. The number of folks that are hungry
for just to dive into the Word of God is no surprise to me. It's very refreshing. And one other thing
that we've noticed is there's a bunch of folks that are tuning in from all over the country and even
even all over the world, and you folks that only participate online have felt the nudge or the
prompting of the spirit to give generously to what we're doing here at the Church of 1122.
And so though we haven't asked for that from those of you that are tuning in from other places,
we do say thank you very much.
And it helps advance God's kingdom, advance God's mission, and advance the gospel throughout
the world.
So to those of you that are giving because of your connection with the Devo's, we say thanks.
But that's not necessarily the purpose.
Our purpose here is simply in this COVID-19 time as we're getting all of this chatter and
information on the news.
And I don't know about you, but I've watched more news in the last seven weeks than I've ever
watched in my whole life.
And depending on the channel your own, it seems like you get something different.
And so in this world, it seems to be completely.
we know that God is not the God of confusion. And so three nights a week or three days a week,
we just dive in and look for clarity in the Word of God. And so we're going to be in Philippians
Chapter 2. A few weeks ago, we looked at Philippians, part of Philippians chapter 1. And I want you to know
that the Apostle Paul was quarantined when he wrote the book of Philippians. He wasn't quarantined
in his home watching TV and stuff. He was quarantined in prison, actually chained to another guard.
and think about that. As he's chained to this guard, he writes the book of Philippians,
which I think has the word joy more per capita than any other book of the Bible.
Because the apostle Paul, he was not after circumstantial happiness.
He knew what it was like to find the secret of contentment in any situation,
that joy was found in the person of Jesus.
And your joy doesn't have to change because Jesus never changes.
And at the end of chapter one, he says this.
And the only reason I want to read it is Philippians chapter 2 verse 1 says so.
So whenever I'm doing Bible study, a great way to do Bible study is you could just study the conjunctions.
So when you see the word so, you need to see what the so is there pointing to.
So if we go back to 129, he says, for it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ,
you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engage in the same conflict that
you saw that I had and now here that I still have. So if there be 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. So Paul is writing to the Church of Philippi, and he says,
you have been given this gift to believe in Jesus, and you have been given this gift to be called
to suffer for his name. And so, if being a Christian has meant anything to you at all,
if knowing Christ has brought you any comfort, if you believe that you have the spirit of God
in you, if you have any affection for the Lord, if you've ever experienced the sympathy of God for you,
then Paul says, would you please, as a disciple of you, would you help me complete my discipleship of
you by being unified, being in full accord and of one mind having the same love?
This is reminiscent of what Jesus prayed in the high priestly prayer. When Jesus,
prayed for us, not just the disciples that were with him now, but Jesus and John 17 prays for the
disciples us that will be here one day. And his prayer is this, God, would you make them one just as we
are one? And he says, Jesus says, in his prayer, that the world would know that we are his
disciples by the way we are one, by the way we love one another. Now, we live in one of the most divisive
times, maybe ever. It's politically divisive, it's racially divisive, socioeconomically divisive,
it's nationally divisive. There are so many divisions, which, though it's a really sad state of
affairs for our country and our culture, it seems to me that we are teed up as believers to shine
the goodness of Jesus Christ like nobody else. Just imagine, just imagine. Imagine that the Church of 1122
was one just as the father and the son were one. Imagine if we were of the same mind,
having the same love, we were in full accordion of one mind. Then our city would look at us and say,
it doesn't make any sense. It's a movement for all people. There's all kind of different people
there at all kind of different campuses over multiple counties and multiple facilities. There are multiple
ethnicities and genders. There are multiple socioeconomic classes. There are multiple
languages and yet all of this group of people, though they don't have a whole lot in common,
they have Jesus in common and it brings them together. It would change the world.
Way more than my preaching and our music and how good our kids ministry is.
And then you ask, okay, Paul, so how do we do that? And then Paul is going to get very, very specific.
And I want to get specific with you. I want to drill this thing down to where you live at home.
because this is also supposed to be true in your home with your family, with your roommates that you,
if you're Christians, would be of one accord, having one mind, having the same love, and being
all together.
So you say, Paul, how do we do this?
Verse three, he says, here's how you do it.
You do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, count others more significant
than yourself.
That's it.
you do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit. In other words, you lay down your rights. You're like,
no, no, no, babe, you go first. When there's one cookie left to the whole family, you say,
why don't you take the cookie instead of me taking the cookie? And the way that you do this is in
humility, you count others more significant than yourself. Now humility is not thinking less of
yourself, it's just thinking of yourself less. And the way that you do this is you count others,
whoever you're around, your wife, your kids, your roommate, if you get to go to work right now,
your coworkers, you treat them, you count them as if they are more significant than you are.
Now, the Bible doesn't say that they are more significant than you are. It says you treat them
as if they are more significant. And every single one of us has done this in our lives.
If you've ever been to a wedding, no matter who you are or how important you think you are,
everybody in the place treats the bride, they count her that day as more significant than you.
You're not offended because everybody lines up to shake her hand.
You're not offended because everybody stands up when she walks in the room, but you didn't walk in the room.
You're not offended because everybody brought her a gift, but they didn't bring you a gift.
You understand in that moment you count her as more significant.
Think about this.
Who is the person that you would like to meet more than any other person in a lot?
the planet. Now, I know some of your Bible nerds have been like, Jesus, well, you should already
know him. But I'm talking about like somebody, you know, not Jesus, and they could be dead or alive.
Well, I got to meet the person that I wanted to meet more than anybody, I don't know, eight years
ago, 10 years ago, something like that. It was Dr. Billy Graham. I got to have dinner with him.
It was incredible. And so he's probably somebody that I respect maybe more than anyone else,
the greatest evangelist to ever live possibly. And I got to have dinner with him for like hours.
and hours and hours. And the entire time, it was not hard for me to be humble and count him as
more significant than me because he is more significant than me. What Paul is telling us to do in regards
the way we treat one another, particularly in regards to the way we treat the people that are
most common in our life, is to treat these people like we would treat that person that we want
to meet more than anybody else. You know what did not happen when I had dinner with Dr. Billy Graham?
When I got my plate of food and I went to the table, I didn't look at him and say,
Hey, Billy, man, you're in my seat. Get out of my seat. I sit at the head of the table. Get up.
If I was sitting at my desk at home in my home office and I was working on my sermon and Billy Graham opened the door and walked in and I was in the middle of something, I would not ignore him.
And if he said to me, hey, Jovey, can you cook me a hamburger? I wouldn't say, can you see that I'm working?
No, no, no. I would say, yes, sir, Dr. Graham. And I would stop what I was doing and I would make his deal.
bigger than my ideal. I am supposed to treat my children and my wife that way in humility
counting others more significant than yourself. He goes on to say, let each of you look not only
to his own interests, but also the interest of others. And now you look at this and you say,
how in the world are we going to do that? And he tells us how, verse five. He says, have this mind
among yourselves. The NIV, I kind of memorized it in the NIV, so it's hard for me to not remember
that. The NIV says your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. That we should have
the same mindset that Jesus had. You think you're a big deal? He is the biggest deal. And our mindset
should be the same as that of Jesus. Have this mind among yourself, 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 grasp. All right. That's
kind of a, sometimes Paul says stuff in ways that are not the way I would say it, okay?
But he was inspired by God and I'm just a redneck trying to read the Bible.
So here's what he's saying.
Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, co-eternal with the Father and with the Spirit,
all things were made by him, for him, through him, and to him.
When he became a man here on the planet, he was God.
He was in the form of God and he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.
In other words, you know what Jesus never did?
Jesus never walked into the room and demanded that everybody treat him like he deserved to be treated.
Jesus never showed up to the restaurant, and he was like a party of 13, me and 12 guys,
and they were like, I am so sorry, it's going to be like an hour.
And he didn't lean over and be like, hey, actually, I'm God.
So could you just move people out the way or I could part them like I part the sea and I'll just, you know, no, he never, ever, ever did that.
He never played the light.
Do you see this name badge right here?
Do you know who my dad is?
He never counted equality with God something to be grasped.
Whenever we throw around our titles, that's what we're doing.
We're treating everybody else as if they're less than us.
And it could be as simple as I'm the dad, I make the decisions.
He just never did that.
I'm the boss.
You do what I say.
I'm the husband.
You probably won't ever do that.
You know what I'm talking about.
He says, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
who though he was in the form of God, he didn't count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in likeness of men.
Jesus and humility emptied himself.
You know what our problem is?
Most of us are full of ourselves.
And so the reason that we don't humble ourselves and treat others as if they are more significant
than us is deep down we think we are the more significant one and we expect them to do what we want
them to do. But Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, emptied himself. And being found in
human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
So if Jesus took his humility all the way to the cross,
how far are we supposed to take our humility
in doing everything without selfish ambition or vain conceit,
but in humility treating others as better than us?
Verse 9, 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 confessed that Jesus Christ,
is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Do you know why Jesus did not have to defend himself
because he trusted that the Father would defend him?
Do you know why you and I, when we don't get what we want?
Do you know why we don't have to defend ourselves?
We don't have to defend ourselves
because we can trust that God is sovereign
and God will defend us if we need to be defended.
So with all of that in mind,
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 work for his good pleasure this doesn't mean you work for your salvation it means you
work out your salvation in other words when God saved you he redeemed he ransomed your heart
which is deep down in here now you need to work that salvation that is in here you need to
to massage that thing and work that thing in such a way so your salvation
start showing out here on the outside in the way that we treat one another.
Because it's not your works that save you, for it is God who works in you,
both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
And then he says this,
and do all things without grumbling or disputing.
Again, I memorized it in the NIV.
I like the way it says it.
It says, do everything without complaining or arguing.
in your home, a part of the way that we will have the mind of Christ Jesus, which is ours,
is we will do everything without complaining or arguing.
Like we will virtual school, homeschool our kids without complaining or arguing.
That we will put up with the people that share our last names,
that we're not used to spending this much time with without complaining or arguing.
that we will not think of ourselves less,
we'll just think less about ourselves,
and we will do everything without complaining or arguing,
and then here's what happens when we do that,
that you will 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.
Jesus gives us this example of humility,
of emptying himself,
being obedient to the Father,
for our sake, for his glory for sure,
but for our benefit,
obedient even to death on a cross,
trusting that the Father still got everything in his hands.
And then you and I, as little Christ's,
as Christians, as Jesus followers,
that we are supposed to have that same attitude.
To not power up and play the I'm in charge card,
but to power down to empty ourselves
to treat other people as if they're a bigger deal than we are,
and then to make sure the stuff that comes out of our mouth
is not complaining and it's not arguing.
And when we do that, we will shine like stars in this current situation.
Let me pray.
Father in heaven, our mindset, our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.
And Lord, we know that when we surrendered our life to you,
we have been invaded by the spirit of God that makes much of Jesus.
And Lord, I would confess and we would confess,
there is no way we can do this without you.
God, we are little idolatrous egotomaniacs
that think it's all about us.
And when we don't get our way, we can pitch a fit,
we can get angry,
we can complain and argue
and make all kinds of justifications why it's right for us to do so.
would you constantly remind us that we are to have the same attitude that Jesus had?
And because he emptied himself for us, that we would empty ourselves and display that same grace
that you poured out on us, we would display that grace to those around us.
God, we thank you. We thank you that you would love us enough to shake us up, to convict us,
to comfort us, and most importantly, to change us, to be.
be more and more like your son Jesus. We pray it in Jesus now. Amen.