The Attitude of Christ

Two. We looked at the first part last week. And years ago, after I left Levinworth, I was in Spokane. And there was a group of guys, about 18 guys.

Nine started up around Darrington. And nine started at Stevens Pass. And we walked along the Pacific Crest Trail. And we got to White Pass. And our group, we met in the middle.

We exchanged keys so they could take our key. And they could take their keys so we'd be able to get back home. Which actually worked out quite well. We couldn't have more than nine people in the wilderness, I think, at the time. I can't remember any heartbeats you could have.

But at that point in time, we were maxing it out. But all 18 of us had lunch together in the middle somewhere. So we were disobeying the rule, I guess, for a little while. But we went on our way.

And we climbed Glacier Peak and came back out. Our group did. And four of us did. And we had a good time. But when we were preparing for that hike, I'd had a missions trip that I had taken where I had a little bit of difficulty with leadership.

That happens sometimes. Do you know that? Did you know that sometimes people don't get along? Did you know that? We got along fine. But people were on the mission trip. Some people were expressing their opinion of what we should do, which was different from what I said we were going to do.

And I remember being a little frustrated by that. So I told these guys before we went hiking, I said, I want to tell you guys something. Well, when we're out there in the wilderness, you guys are all experienced guys. But there's only one person who's number one.

And that's going to be me. And I don't usually say that kind of thing because I think I'm a fairly humble guy. But I said, when you're out there, we have a decision to make. I'm going to be the one guy that's going to make that decision.

So anyway, they just mercilessly mocked me the entire time. Number one, what do we do now? Number one. And Steve O'Brien, one of the teachers over there in Spokane, he said, I'm number seven.

I'm number seven. I'm number eight. And so the whole time, when I left the church there, they gave me a hat. And they also gave me a little mock of a church directory from Spokane.

Every picture was me. And so I learned real quickly. I guess I have a hard time kind of really expressing my leadership.

Because we're supposed to be servant leaders. But I just want to use that as an example because I learned, and I've learned over the years as well, how's the best way that we should lead people? How does God want us to lead his congregation?

How does God want us to live our lives? And it's not being dominant. It's not being number one, which I was just trying to say that to keep us all safe. That's really all I meant. But it's serving.

It's having an attitude of being a servant. We started three weeks ago. This is my third Sunday here. The first week, I talked about Lamentations chapter three. After my wife passed away two years ago, two years ago this next month, I memorized Lamentations chapter three.

Lamentations was a book in the Bible. No, but then all of a sudden it started to mean something to me. Because what does it mean to lament? We spoke of this a couple of Sundays ago. It's to combine two things. The suffering and the loss and the grief that you're experiencing with the reality that God is good.

How do you put those two together? How do you come to grips with that reality? And so I was wrestling with that. And I was questioning God. And I don't want to go into detail because I already did that. But the fact of the matter is that passage meant so much to me.

So I memorized where Jeremiah is talking about Israel being taken into captivity. And they're remembering how grand and beautiful the temple was and what they had built. And now that was all lost and gone.

And they're in such a sorrowful place. How can God still be good with all the things that have happened to us? He says, when I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall, I well remember them. And my soul is downcast within me.

Yet this I call to mind. And therefore I have hope. Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed. His compassions never fail. They're new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself, the Lord is my portion. Therefore I will wait for him. So those words just meant so much to me. But I didn't even think about it when I memorized the passage. Do you hear, and I've spoken this two weeks ago, all of the thinking words that are in that passage.

The thought words. So much of how we respond to what happens to us is what are we thinking? What are we allowing ourselves to think? When you're in grief, obviously you need to grieve. It's okay.

Anna Jean, you know, losing her husband. She's going to be grieving. We're going to be grieving when we lose people. But we don't stay in that place. We do grieve their loss. But we also remember we have a hope.

Because that's what he says. I remember the bad things. I'm depressed. And you can stay there. And a lot of Christians do in their life. Not just in the things. We can stay in that place of depression. But he says, I call this to mind.

That's a discipline. I have to call to mind something. I have to bring it up. And what is it that you call to mind? And when you call to mind, you have hope. You have hope, even in your despair. You call to mind that God is good.

And that's basically what he says in that passage. And then later on, he says, the Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him. God is good to those whose hope is in him. So in the midst of losing my wife, it was horrific, of course, and difficult.

But I had hoped that I knew that God was good. I believed that he was good. I never stopped believing that God was good. I didn't like what God did, what I felt like God was doing. But I knew that he was good. And I just trusted that.

And then last week, we looked at Philippians chapter 2, the first part, where Paul uses the word phroneo, which is the word for the mind, the thinking. He uses the word phroneo. He uses it in a couple of contexts there.

Remember, the first he says, if there be any encouragement from being united with Christ, we talked about what that meant last week, to be united with Christ. If there's any comfort from his love, if there's any fellowship with the Spirit, if there's any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being phroneo, like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition and vain conceit. Instead, consider others as better than yourselves. And then he uses the word again, your attitude. Okay, so that's all review. Did you catch all that?

But the word phroneo, Paul uses it in Romans 8, too, to set your mind. And it's that aspect of the way we think. We can set our mind on a trajectory that's going to bring us into the presence of God, or we can set our mind on a trajectory that's going to bring us to the pit of hell.

Really. I mean, that's quite an extreme there. Where are you going to set your mind? Where are you going to put your mind? And in Romans 8, he talks about setting your mind on things above and not on the things that are below, and the importance of where do we set our mind.

So Paul tells us to set our mind on the things that we get from the fellowship of the Spirit and being part of God's family, being united with Christ. Set your mind on all the things that we have because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross, and the victory and the joy and completeness that we have in the Christian life.

It's all because we are united with him. Think about those things is what he says. And then he says later in Philippians, is that my daughter opening a can of soda in church?

It's okay, Molly. It's okay. So when he uses the word again there, for nail, he says, 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.

By the way, this is one of the apexes of Christian theology right here. This is one of the apexes of the Apostle Paul's writings. This is a mountaintop that we're going to be talking about here.

Who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the nature of a servant. So God didn't want to be, need to be equated with being God.

He made himself nothing. He took on the nature of a servant. I believe the word there is doulos, which really means a slave. The word Paul uses all the time. He took on the form of a servant and took on the nature, and was being made in nature as a man.

He humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on the cross. So we see that. This is the trajectory down. So we're going to look at that here, just sort of illustrated this way. Phineo, which means to set your mind.

That just means in Christ Jesus is the last phrase there. Setting your mind on the things of Christ Jesus. The same attitude. Have the same thinking as Jesus had. Develop an attitude based on careful thought.

Be minded. Disposed. Let the same kind of thinking dominate you as dominated Christ. That's basically what he's saying. Think the same things as the Lord Jesus Christ thought. And we have this humble descent.

So we're going to look at this. First the descent, and then we're going to look at the ascent afterwards. Because that's what this passage does. The steps down that Jesus took. That God took from the creator of the universe. Willingly came down here.

And it was a humble thing that he did. We're going to look at these words and stop and talk about some of them. Not all of them, because that would take too long. The first one was renunciation. Who being of very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.

He renounced his need to be recognized and understood to being God. He deserves to be glorified and praised and worshiped. But he renounced that necessity.

Even though that's what he deserves. I think of the angels when Jesus was born. Glory to God in the highest. And on earth peace to men upon whom his favor left.

What is God doing here? How does he favor mankind that he would do this thing? That he would become a man himself? He renounced that capacity. And then he emptied himself. We're going to look at this word in particular.

The phrase that's used. Kenosis is the word that is used for emptying himself. Kenotic. There's a lot of theories on what did he do. What did he empty himself of? Many people have had heretical concepts of what he emptied himself of.

That he actually emptied himself of his deity. He did not empty himself of his deity. Some of it suggested that he was less than divine. And that undermines the impact. Because the reason why he had to be divine is because he was holy.

And then he could pay for our sins upon the cross. You cannot take away his godhood. He was man. But he was also God. But he did not renounce his deity. What did he renounce then?

We'll talk about what did he empty himself of. A.T. Robertson said, We can feel certain that he did not empty himself of his divine nature. The form of God. Which he could not do in the nature of the case.

No son can change the fact of his sonship. But only of the insignia of majesty. The outward manifestation of his deity. So those are big words there that he uses. Jesus emptied himself of his insignia.

You think of a person that's in the military. That they have their uniforms. And they have the insignia on their uniform. That tells them the rank. And you can tell which rank they have by the insignia that they have.

And so you know what position they take because of their insignia. He literally, when Jesus came and became a man, he took off anything that was his insignia.

You could not tell by looking at him that he was God. The insignia of his deity was taken away from him. I like the phrase that Robertson uses there. The outward manifestation of his deity.

Which they couldn't see. They couldn't see who he was. So I love the transfiguration when they go up on the mountain. And Jesus reveals for a moment who he is. It's like the scales came off the eyes of the disciples.

Peter, James, and John. Wow. And it was like lightning. Like the sun. That's how bright Jesus was. When they really saw it. But he was veiling that from the world. But that was still a part of what he actually was.

So he emptied himself of that need. The necessity. He divested it and deprived himself of the divine attributes that were incongruous with his existence in a slave body. That's a quote there.

I didn't say that myself. This emptying was voluntary. He did this himself. So basically his glory, his knowledge, and his power. Think about that. He divested himself of the necessity to use those things all the time.

They didn't see his glory. Also his knowledge. When he was born as a baby. Do you think he could do applied physics when he was born? Just out of the womb?

Could Jesus be able to figure out math problems? Did he know everything? No. That's hard for us to conceive of. But I believe that Jesus was a baby like every baby in one sense. Without sin.

He wasn't born in sin like every other baby. But Jesus was a baby like every other baby. He got hungry. He cried. I always think it's funny. Maybe the away in a manger. You guys, you kids remember away in a manger.

Away in a manger. No crib for a bed. The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head. Do you remember that, Ezra? The stars in the sky lay down where he laid. The little Lord Jesus sleep on the hay. No crying he makes.

Remember that part? Do you think Jesus didn't cry when he was hungry like every other baby that was ever hungry? No. He cried. Because he was hungry. And he grew and matured, the Bible says. In his knowledge of the word as well.

So his knowledge, he even divested himself of having to know everything. And he grew and knew those things as he became a man. At 12 years old or however he was, he's having a conversation with the priests.

And his parents come back and are amazed. And they're amazed at his teaching. So he already knew many things even at that age. He was growing in his knowledge and his power. He could use his power.

But he did not do it all the time. Because he was divesting himself. So that's what he emptied himself of. Basically, if that makes some sense. So we'll move on from there.

Let's talk about the next thing is that he became a servant. So he was a servant. The servant. Which is the word that's used there. Is doulo. Doulos is the same word that comes from.

Jesus was in the form of God. But he did not consider the claim to be grasped. So he took on the form of a servant. So let's let that sink in a little bit. The creator.

Always existing. All powerful. All knowing. Who made the vastness of the universe. And made the human heart. The two extremes. Of grandness of all that's around us.

And also the human heart. Let it sink in that this creator. The all knowing. All present God. Who is love and truth together in one. Became a servant. And there's many, many elements that we see in Jesus' life in that way.

Jesus talked about being a servant. I'll just quote a few verses here. For even the son of man did not come to be served. But to serve. And to give his life as a ransom for many.

Mark chapter 10. I have come down from heaven not to do my will. But the will of him who sent me. John chapter 6. For whoever is greater. Who is greater? The one who is at the table or the one who serves.

Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. Jesus is telling the service is very important. And he acted like a servant. And the greatest example of course is his washing of his disciples' feet.

We talked about that a little bit last week. But he demonstrated servanthood in every way. I always think it's amazing that Jesus tells his disciples. I'm going to Jerusalem.

And I'm going to be delivered into the hands of men. And I will be crucified. And I will die. And in the next paragraph. James and John and Salome.

Their mother is talking with you. Who is going to sit at your right and left in the kingdom? Isn't that amazing? Contrast. Did you not? Hello. Did you not hear what I just said? They didn't get it.

They didn't understand. I've come to serve and to give my life. And which one of us? This is the way we think. Who's got the position here? Who's going to get the power when we enter the kingdom?

Who's going to have the say and the voice? We are so human. And Jesus shows us a different way. That absolutely turns upside down the way that our world works.

Our world works. The powerful take the reins. Jesus says no. The servant takes the reins. So the servanthood. And then the incarnation. He became a man.

He became a man. And he identified with people. And experienced everything as we did. But he never sinned. He was tempted and tried like we were.

But he never sinned. And he was obedient. The Bible says. Obedient even to death. Death on a cross. So not only was he willing to die. He was willing to die the curse of death.

The Bible says that was a curse of death. It was a humiliating, horrible way to die. And he chose to take that path because he loved us so much. His humble descent. And I like what the Bible says from this point.

Even death on a cross. And then it says. Let's go on with the rest of the scripture there. Therefore. I like that word. Therefore. Because he did all of this. God has highly exalted him.

And given him a name that's above every name. That the name of Jesus. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess. In heaven. On earth. And under the earth. That Jesus Christ is Lord.

To whom be the glory forever. And everybody said. Amen. Isn't that amazing? I love that. Because he humbled himself. Then we have the ascent.

And we'll just. We'll just talk about these quickly. We won't spend a lot of time on this. Do you like my little ladders that I put in there? That's kind of fun. Isn't it? Oh. Oh. Thank you. Stairs. Thank you. Yes they are.

Thanks Jerry. I like the stare. Anyway. PowerPoint is troublesome. But sometimes it's kind of fun. Minimum. Less is more. That's what I'm going to say. Resurrection. So Jesus was resurrected.

After he died on the cross. Jesus. God was raised him from the dead. The power of his resurrection. He ascended to heaven. In the first part of the book of Acts. And then he was enthroned.

Seated at the right hand of the father. So now he's back on his throne. But then the Bible says. It talks about his exaltation. That he is exalted. He's given the highest name. Designation.

A name that's above every name. And that all of the earth will one day submit. And understand. And know that that is true. I think about that. Just how God and Jesus in particular.

And Christianity is so denigrated. Hated by so many circles and places. Where people are suffering. The Christians that have been killed in Nigeria.

The things that are happening all over the world. And the name of Jesus is drug through the mud. All over the place. But there will be a day. When everyone will know who he is. Whether they worship him.

Or whether they're sent to eternity. Separated from him. Everyone will know who he is. The submission. And then confession. That he is the son of God. He is the Christ.

So. I want to. Just quickly talk a little bit here. About. The way that God works. Because God brings you down.

And then he. Then he raises you up. And I want to say this. Because I don't. I thought. Throughout my life. As a pastor. I told you before. I felt like my life was.

Golden when I lived here in Leavenworth. My first two kids were born. We built our first house. Everything seemed so. Perfect and beautiful. And I sort of wonder. When's the other shoe going to drop. Well I want you to know the shoe dropped.

The shoe does drop. It drops for everybody. At some point in time. The shoe will drop sometimes. Something that you love dearly. Will be taken away. And when my wife passed. It was of course. A very difficult time.

But. In that time. I've drawn close to the Lord. I've memorized a lot of scripture. And I did believe that God. Was a God of hope. And you all met Carrie last week. Those of you that were here. And. Just want to tell you that.

God has. I've seen God's goodness now. And I know that it is out there for all of us. Sometimes we demonstrate. We see it in this life. Sometimes we don't. But God has brought this girl. Carrie into my life.

And by the way. We. I asked her to marry me up at Kolchak Lake. On Monday last week. And she said yes. So. So that's good. Yeah. And she's been through a lot. She's been through cancer.

Her husband died of a stroke. At 56 years old. Tragic. Terrible things. She's had to expand. Her faith is strong. She believed that God is good. I believe that God is good. And I'm just thankful that God has brought her into my life.

And it doesn't replace my wife. She can't replace my wife. I can't replace her husband. But we are both. Starting on a new journey. And saying. It's okay to now live a new life.

A new existence. And our kids are coming along with that. It's a little harder for them in some ways. You can pray for us. Pray for them. And pray for us too. We will definitely. We're still healing in many ways.

But what I want to say though. Is when we are brought down to that place. God will be with you. God will bring you back up. He does do that. Just believe it. Even if it doesn't feel like it's happening yet.

Even if it seems like it's so far away. Believe that God can bring you back up. Out of that place where you are broken. And the reality is. And this is the truth. The brokenness is why you are effective.

Do you know that? God doesn't want your perfection. Because you can't. You don't have it. There's no way. God doesn't want you to be perfect. He wants you to be you. And when you are broken. Then you allow him to work through you.

And you can. You never say. Look what I did. It's look what God did. And I guess that's what I think is so fantastic. I want to. I'm going to go through a list of some of these. Of the humble or exalted.

Moses. We're not going to turn to all the scriptures. Because of time. When am I done by the way? Seven minutes. Moses. That ain't happening. No. I'll do the best.

I'll do the best I can. Moses. You all know the story of Moses. 40, 40, 40. I love that. 40 years in Egypt. Growing up in the house of Pharaoh. Every rich. Richest he could imagine.

Every education he could need. But I believe he knew he was a Hebrew. Unlike some of the movies that you see today. He knew he was a Hebrew. And then the next 40 years. He tries to rescue Israel on his own.

Kills the Egyptian. And then he flees Egypt. And then he runs off to Midian. Meets Zipporah. Marries her. But he's a shepherd. Now he's just in the dirt. He's in the dirt. He's in the rocks. He's in the trees.

He's out in the wilderness. And he's shepherding sheep. He's gone from this wonderful place of riches and grandeur. To a tent. A Bedouin tent. Out in the wilderness.

Traveling around. Taking care of the sheep. That's where he is now. And in that place. God then comes to him and says. I want you to go. And I want you to rescue the nation of Israel. They're crying out to me.

And he says. No, no, no. Find somebody else. I can relate to that. I can relate. I want to stay where I am. Thank you very much. But God takes him and he uses him. But the phrase that I looked at.

And it was important to me. Is the staff. The staff of God is called. The rod of God. I think in the King James Version. But literally. What does he have? What does a shepherd bring to the table? A stick.

That he uses to prod the sheep. To protect the sheep. There's things that he uses that stick for. But it's just a stick. And God says. What do you have in your hand? And he has him throw it down. It becomes the rod of God.

The staff of Moses. Becomes the rod of God. As I was looking through. I kind of perused through the plagues this week. Because I wanted to see. It seemed like the first several plagues. He uses the rod.

To bring about God's power. It's not the rod. It's not his power. It's not anything he's doing. It's God using his power. Through the humility of a man. Who's just got a stick. Okay. Did you catch the irony of that?

And the first time he comes in. He throws it down. And it eats the other magician snakes. And he picks it back up. He uses it to touch the Nile. It turns the water to blood. There are other.

That time where he hits the ground with it. And the gnats come up. He uses the rod of God. The staff of God. To do those things. Throughout the book of Exodus. And then later on. Just as he raised his hand.

I wanted to see it. When they crossed through the Red Sea. You know. The Ten Commandments. With what's his name? Charleston Heston. You remember that? He's got the rod. He's sticking the stick up. The Bible just says he raised his hand.

That's all it says. He didn't even need the stick anymore. Because it wasn't him too. He didn't need nothing. And then the waters parted. And then the waters came. And then he hits the stick on a rock.

And the water comes from the rock. But it's called the rod of God. So what the people were able to see. And what everybody sees. As we look back at it too. Is this guy did nothing to rescue. Except he had faith. And he believed what God wanted.

To do. And he went and did what God told him to do. That's all he did. And with a stick. Because now Moses at the end of his life. And all of Israel could say. Look what God did.

Look what God did. Not look what Moses did. They're going to go faster than that. But Gideon's going to take a little time. Turn to Judges 6. I just love Gideon.

Love this story. Judges chapter 6. Great, great scripture here. This is the Judges cycle.

If you're familiar with the book of Judges. Israel is serving God. And they love God. They forget about God. They serve Asherah poles and Baal. God sends some group of people to bring them into captivity.

They cry out in distress. God sends a judge and delivers them. They just go through that cycle over and over and over again. But chapter 6 of Judges. We have the story of Gideon.

And let's just read starting in verse 1 of chapter 6. Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. This is the cycle going on here. And for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.

Because the power of Midian was so oppressive. The Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in the mountain cliffs. Caves and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops. The Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country.

They camped on the land. They ruined the crops all the way to Gaza. And did not spare a living thing for Israel. Neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock in their tents like swarms of locusts.

It was impossible to count the men and their camels. They invaded the land to ravage it. Midians so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help. So God hears their cry.

And he sends Gideon. So let's go on down to verse. But you can see what's going on here. The Midianites are so oppressing Israel that they have to hide in the caves and in the rocks up in the mountains.

They can't come down. They can't grow crops. Anything that grows. And they were an agrarian society. They needed to grow their crops. They were in a very desperate situation. So we see in verse 11.

The angel of the Lord came and sat down on the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abizorite. Where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press to keep it from the Midianites.

When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. Which is quite an ironic statement. So where do you think they usually threshed wheat?

Usually on a hilltop. And by the way, when I drove into Leavenworth, I saw that big plume. It looked almost like a nuclear explosion. That was a fire that's up there above Lake Wenatchee, I guess.

But what I'm trying to say about that. Usually on a hilltop. When they would thresh wheat. What did they do? They would throw it up in the air. And the chaff. The wind would drive the chaff away.

That's Psalm chapter 1. The chaff would be driven away. So the wind would blow the chaff. And it would make kind of a cloud, really. And everybody would see it. So if it's on the top of a hill. Anybody that was in the valleys below would see.

Somebody's up there threshing wheat. And if it was the Midianites, they'd go up there. And they would steal the wheat. So he's down in a wine press. Where's the wine press? Because of gravity. Usually it's in a valley. Because you take your grapes.

You don't want to go uphill to a wine press. You want to go down in a valley. So he's in this valley. I can picture him down there in this valley. Threshing wheat. There's no wind. Because it's in a valley.

And it's hot. And I can see just pieces of chaff all over his face. Probably all over his clothes. And this angel comes down and says to him. The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.

He calls him a mighty warrior. Gideon said, who are you talking to? That's not me. And then he talks to God. We know that story, how that happens. But the part that's amazing about this story to me is he had, I believe, it was around 50,000 men.

Somewhere the Bible says that. And God says, you have too many people. And usually when you're doing logistics for war, you want to make sure that your supplies and people are more than the other side.

He says, you have too many people. So they get rid of like 32,000. They're down to like 10,000 people. Then they have them drink water. You remember the ones that were lapping like a dog or picking up the water?

Those are the ones they chose. It comes down to 300 men. So God whittles them down to 300 men. And then when they're up on the hill, he tells them to take a lantern within it.

And let's read that. I'm sorry. I want to see exactly what it was. Dividing into, this is verse, chapter 7.

Gideon heard a dream. Let's look at verse 16. Dividing the 300 men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them with torches inside.

Trumpets, empty jars, war, fighting. Trumpets, empty jars. Is this what you want to take to battle? God says, I want you to take a trumpet in one end and an empty jar in the other.

Okay. What am I supposed to do with these? Well, he tells them what to do. Watch me, he told him. Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do.

When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, For the Lord and for Gideon. Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch just after they had changed the guard.

They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted a sword for the Lord and for Gideon.

While each man held his position around the camp, the Midianites ran out of the field, crying out as they fled. So after they break the jars, they're holding a trumpet in one hand and a torch in the other.

They're, we're here to fight you. No, but who was fighting them? Did they, was it them? Did they do anything? They just did what God told them to do and they started fighting each other.

And they were able to see that it was God's power that brought victory. Only God brought victory, not you guys and the group that you're with. So that aspect of being the humble are exalted. The humble are being used.

And we have that example for Moses. We won't look at all these because they take too long. David, you all know, Jesse brings his sons. Abinadab and all these different sons go through before Samuel.

He hasn't chosen any of them. And then God says, man does not look at what God looks at. God looks at the heart. God is looking at the heart. Man looks at the outward appearance. Mary, how you have shown favor to me, a young girl, to be able to bear the Lord Jesus Christ.

John the Baptist, all of his followers, they went out to the wilderness to see him. He was a sight to behold. His preaching was powerful. And they went out to see him in the wilderness.

And after a while, when Jesus came, the disciples of John started to follow Jesus. Some of John's disciples said, we're losing our people here. Aren't you worried about that? And what is John the Baptist say?

He must increase and I must decrease. It was not about me. It's about him. Follow him. Yes, please. Go. Follow him. I'm just a man. And then the Apostle Paul, who has a thorn in the flesh, where he talks about that in Corinthians chapter 12.

And God used that thorn to let him know that his power, God's power, is made perfect in our weakness, not in our strength. I say all this to say, in those times of being down, in those times of struggling, please believe that God is good.

And that God has got a purpose for you. And you may not see it yet, but it is coming. Some concluding thoughts that we have today for our sermon, to have Christ's attitude.

The first one is to hold your privileges lightly. One thing I want to say today is, in the United States of America, we're really big on our rights. I have the right to do this.

I have the right to do that. My inalienable rights given to me by creator. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's a beautiful system. Our country is. But some people are holding their rights above the reality of their servanthood in this world.

That is not right. We've got to be careful about how we do that. We have rights. We have privileges. But those rights need to be set aside sometimes to do the things that God wants us to do with the people that are around us.

So I just want us to think about that, holding your rights loosely. Holding your rights loosely. Just because you've attained a position or a place of authority doesn't mean you should lord that over anyone else.

And that's what we're basically saying here. And people need our compassion. They need our help. They need our love. So we need to consider that. Ask what rights, preferences, or comforts am I demanding that I should be willing to surrender for the good of others?

And the word there is surrender. Next, we need to choose humility. Jesus chose humility. He took it on.

Instead of seeking recognition, he chose to serve without needing credit. He didn't care what anybody else thought or needed. So often we do things and we want people to know what we've done.

Jesus said those people already have their rewards. Speaking of the Pharisees and scribes who did things so people would see them do it, not do it in private and quiet. Become a servant is the next one too.

So Jesus took on that form. What are some characteristics? I want us to think about this. What are some characteristics of a true servant? They do not seek service for themselves. They don't care if they're being served or not.

I was a busboy when I was in college and I'm glad I was because I'm very empathetic towards the people that serve me at a restaurant. You know, there was a man in our church, I'm ashamed to say, older man, probably about the age I am now when I first met him.

And we would go out to eat with some of the older people in Port Orchard and he was brutal to the help. I thought, what is this? Where is the love of Christ in this? Do you?

I realize now when you pay for your check today, they give you 35%, 25%. And sometimes you wonder, well, how much should I actually tip these men?

If you feel generous, tip them well, I would say. If you're able, tip them well. But show kindness to them. Treat them with kindness. Treat them with love. Become a servant yourself. Serve those that are actually serving you as well.

Look for practical ways to help others. You aim to serve other people. And you do not propose to do only what you want to do. And you do not promote yourself.

But be a servant. Carrie and I, after we left here, we went back over to Port Orchard. I wanted her to see the house that she's going to be living in. And it has to become her house.

That was kind of hard for her. My house screams Julie. And it should scream Julie because it was her house. And so now I have to, I really know this needs to happen.

We need to change lots of things. And we're going to do that. But we were at Gig Harbor. We stopped at Gig Harbor. Everybody likes to go to Gig. We call it the Habba. We call it the Habba. Don't we, Andrew? The Habba.

Gig Harbor. We stopped at Gig Harbor. And it's kind of a pretty little harbor. You go down there and you can see Mount Rainier. And we walked down on this dock. And we're sitting there. We're sitting there. We're just going to spend a little moments there enjoying the Habba.

And just being there in this beautiful place. And the boats were coming in and out. And this guy, we didn't see where he came from. But he's on a paddle board. And one guy in Port Orchard takes a paddle board across Sinclair Inlet to go to work every day.

With his dry bag holding his clothes in it. Every day he goes back and forth. Even in the wintertime. But this guy was coming at us on a paddle board. He was talking to himself. And he was going. And as he got closer and closer, he started talking to us.

And we thought, okay. So we started talking to him. And he said, my brother's in the hospital. I've got to go up and see him. I said, well, that must be St. Anthony's. It's the only hospital in Gig Harbor. And he said, I've got to go see my brother.

And we started talking to him. He's pouting along. He was a mechanic. I think he was in his 60s. He was wearing mechanic's clothes. Trying to keep himself dry. As he got closer to us, I looked at Carrie. She looked at me. And I said, should we take him to the hospital?

So he could see his brother. Because he's walking. The guy's walking. She said, yes. So we did. And so we met this guy. His name was Otto. And he talked incessantly in the car. And he was a very brilliant guy. But clearly was dealing with some mental struggles, which I understand very well.

And so we said, yes. Let's take him. We took him to the hospital. He talked to us for a long time. Got his phone number. He's already called me. He wants to build a truck for me.

And I don't think I could afford him, just to be honest with you. But he's living on a boat. And apparently, these little boys were there. Carrie heard one little boy say, that's Otto.

He's famous. I think everybody in King Harbor knows who the guy is. But be a servant. You know, when you have opportunities, sometimes we come to these meetings we have with people. We just blow it off. We pass them by.

And I realized that sometimes we have this attitude. Well, you know, why are they in that situation? Did they make some choices? If they made a choice, then they need to live in that situation. Yeah, maybe sometimes.

But other times, how can I help these people? What can I do? Can I step out of my comfort, change my trajectory for the day, to do something to help a person that needs some help? It was easy to do.

He smelled a little bit when he got in my van. But what are we going to do? How are we going to help people and support and do the things? We need to become a servant. And there's lots of ways to do that. But sometimes it's right around us.

And I think we need to identify that. And basically to identify with others. Three of them are up there. Jesus entered our world.

He moved towards people instead of remaining distant from their struggles. And he identified with them. And he had compassion on them. The word is compassion. He walked in obedience.

Jesus became obedient to the Father. And when we obey God, when we're obedient, it's not always difficult. Sometimes it's costly. Sometimes we're misunderstood. But walk in obedience to God's word.

And the world is not going to be your friend. Just know that. But be obedient to God's word. And then accept the cost. Following Christ may require sacrifice, inconvenience, sometimes suffering.

And trust God with the outcome. It's not the last one we have. The Father exalted Jesus. He knew that the Father was with him.

He knew that he would go back to that place of exaltation. But he was willing to walk through the suffering and the difficulty. Leave promotion, recognition, vindication in God's hands. And the word there is to trust.

God will be the one who vindicates our lives for him. We don't have to do it ourselves. A lot of banter goes on on social media and other things where Christians are defending their position or defending God.

And I don't want to say that you shouldn't do that at a time or two. Maybe there's a time to do that. But just live your life in faith. God's in control. God's in charge. Trust him.

And know that the outcome will be good. You don't have to defend yourself. Or you don't have to defend him even. He will defend himself. It will happen. Well, memorable.

Just some last things. A memorable summary. I want to say, what was Christ's attitude that we should have? Less grasping, more giving. Less pride, more serving.

Less self-interest, more obedience. Less concern for position. More concern for God's will. Let me just kind of quote that scripture again. And then we're going to come down and we're going to sing that song again.

Why don't everybody stand up while I quote it? We'll come down and sing those words to that song. He reigns above it all. Thank you.