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By: Pastor Matt
You may listen to this devotion in audio form via podcast here.
Philippians 2:1-11
…have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used for his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
- Philippians 2:5-8
Don’t we just love a success story? It’s fulfilling to see someone pull themselves up from a bad situation, using a combination of talent, hard work, and a little luck. One of my favorite movies along these lines is from about 10 years ago. The Blind Side tells the story of a young man in inner city Memphis whose father is gone and whose mother is a drug addict. Through various events, Michael Oher ends up having an opportunity to go to a private Christian school in the suburbs. He is taken in by a family there, and is given a chance at a better life. He works hard, succeeds in school. He earns a football scholarship to Ole Miss, and gets drafted by the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.
Michael Oher in many ways personifies the story of the American dream. I think we’re drawn to it because we like stories of success and of getting ahead. We like to see people climbing up the ladder.
What a different path Jesus took! Jesus starts at the top of the ladder, and then descends, emptying himself. He doesn’t use equality with God for his own advantage. He empties himself for us.
When it comes to imitating Jesus, it’s very easy to skip over the emptying, and quickly go to his exaltation to the highest place. It’s easy to skip over the “becoming obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross,” and go to every knee bowing before him.
Paul instructs us to have this same mindset as Christ Jesus. He wants us to know that we cannot end up at the same place if we don’t take the same road, that we can’t share in the exaltation of Christ if we don’t first go to Golgotha. Paul would question whether we could confess Jesus as God if we neglect to kneel at the cross.
Is that, then, all there is to this passage? An ethical injunction to imitate Christ in his suffering?
This can be tricky ground. We lose our way if we think that our salvation is to be obtained because of our imitation of Jesus. If we get things out of order, we are right back to our self-sufficient way of thinking, and this can be dangerous ground. We make a mistake if we think that somehow we must seek out pain and suffering, or stay in an abusive relationship to achieve salvation. We diminish Christ’s glory if we think it is our imitation of Christ’s humility and suffering that is most important.
But it is what we Christians are supposed to do—Jesus said, come, follow me.
When we’re touched by that invitation, something happens. Things change for us, and we know that we belong not to ourselves but to our faithful Savior. Jesus changes us, and we begin to follow. We become assured that he is the one who offers perfect obedience in our place, and we’re freed to show our obedience with gratitude. We’re freed to not have to climb the ladder. We’re freed for obedience, even to the point of death. We’re freed to follow Jesus in humbling ourselves.
Thanks be to God.