Be Like Christ

Phil 2:1-11

For many years, Michael Jordan was the king of Athletes. He had an incredible talent that even today hasn’t really been matched. He was nice looking with an engaging smile. He had a good guy persona. You saw him everywhere; magazine covers, movies, selling products, highlight reels and interviews. He was such a superstar that the mantra, “I want to be like Mike” was heard in every social circle. Everybody knew Michael Jordan and wanted to be like him.

As great as Michael is, though, he isn’t perfect. He has problems, he has faults, he has aspects about him that we wouldn’t really want to have. He is just like every other human.

Paul tells us in our text, we should be saying, “I want to be like Christ.” Paul even gives us the reasons we should want to be like Christ.

PRAYER

I. Christ, The Standard To Live Up To

A. The Very Nature of God

1. Verses 6 - 11 give us a picture of who Jesus is in the scheme of things.

2. John begins by stating the most important fact of who Jesus is.

3. He is God.

4. So many Christian groups try to downplay who Jesus is

a) He was a really great man

b) He was a prophet

c) He was the physical son of God

d) He was a minor God.

5. Make no mistake, brothers and sisters, Jesus was, is, and always will be God.

B. Gave up equality with God

1. But for a time he gave up that absolute equality of God to become a man.

2. Imagine being a king, raised as a king, with all it’s entitlement, wealth, luxury, authority.

3. Now imagine, for the sake of your kingdom, you become a commoner, renouncing all that you had before hand.

4. You do it willingly, because it will mean the salvation of your people.

5. In a sense, that is exactly what Jesus did.

C. Willing to be a servant

1. Not only did Jesus willingly give up being in Heaven with the Father,

2. Not only did he willingly become a mere man,

3. But he became a servant.

4. Why?

a) Because as awesome as God is.

b) As incredibly powerful as God is.

c) His nature is one of a servant wanting the spiritual best for mankind.

d) Jesus kept true to that nature in human form by being a servant and teaching servant hood to his disciples as the true understanding of what it means to be like God.

D. Humble

1. God not only became man, he became a humble man.

2. He lived a common man’s life

3. He died a common man’s death

4. The all righteous Christ died as a common criminal for the sake of the very people who spat upon him then and now.

E. Lord

1. Even though he humbled himself, he was and is our Lord

2. Whether we acknowledged him here on earth or not, the day will come when everyone will say he is Lord of heaven and earth.

3. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus as Lord.

4. We always want to talk about Jesus being our buddy and friend. We forget he is much more than that. He is our Lord.

5. Sometimes we get too comfortable with our friend Jesus that we forget we must revere our Lord Jesus.

II. Benefits of Being Like Christ

A. Encouragement

1. Paul points out there are some great benefits in being like Christ.

2. the first mentioned is encouragement

3. It is the idea of a strong, upholding support found in the community of the church

4. I can tell you story after story of people who have found encouragement in the church.

5. More than likely you have your own story.

B. Comfort

1. Even beyond the encouragement of the church is the comfort from God himself.

2. When my grandparents died, knowing they were Christians and knowing God truly cared for me as I hurt, brought comfort.

3. When life just seemed like it couldn’t get worse, spiritually, I felt like God was hugging me and letting me cry on his shoulder.

4. For the Christian, the comfort of Christ is one of the greatest benefits there is.

C. Fellowship with the Spirit

1. It’s interesting to note that the word for fellowship, Koinonia, is the same word Paul uses in talking about communion of the Lord’s Supper in 1 Cor 10:16.

2. It’s the idea that we have a deep sharing with other Christians and Christ himself given to us through a fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

III. Responsibilities of Being Like Christ

A. Be like minded

1. I was at a family gathering a couple of year’s back. Almost all of them were atheists or agnostics at best. About the only time I heard God’s name mentioned was when it was used inappropriately. I couldn’t every fully get comfortable there, because what so important to me, wasn’t to them. When I came home and came to church there was an incredible flood of emotion for me during worship. It felt so good to be around people who loved Jesus as I did.

2. I believe that is the like-minded that Paul is talking about.

3. Paul isn’t saying we have to have uniform thought on everything, but is saying we must have unity based on truth.

4. There is a big difference between unity and uniformity

a) Warren Wiersbe says, “True spiritual unity comes from within; it is a matter of the heart. Uniformity is the result of pressure from without.^”

b) ^{Paul calls}us to unity not uniformity

5. Abraham Maslow is famous for Maslow’s Needs hierarchy. It is a psychology model for finding what are man’s greatest needs and what makes people happy. It goes from food and shelter as the most basic to self-actualization at the very top. Self-actualization is when a person is happiest and most fulfilled in life. Listen to what Mr. Maslow said defined that state. “ Without exception, I found that every person who was sincerely happy, radiantly alive, was living for a purpose or a cause beyond himself.”

6. Wouldn’t like-minded in Christ fit that definition?

B. have the same love

1. As we read on, Paul says we should have the same love.

2. It means that we should be as willing to love as to be loved

C. Be one in spirit and purpose

1. This one should be a given. How could you have unity if you are not of one spirit and purpose.

2. It is a true blessing to be part of a congregation that displays this aspect of unity.

D. Don’t act out of selfish ambition

1. Paul is really nailing people down to be like Christ.

2. Unity is good in theory, but it also has to be done in practice.

3. We aren’t to be self-centered.

4. In an age of “what’s in it for me” worship, this is a strange notion.

E. Be humble

1. But Paul doesn’t stop there.

2. The best way to DO unity is to put your desires as secondary to those around you.

3. We put their well being above ours.

4. Guess what, when we all practice this mutual concern, the problems of disunity just don’t surface.