Philippians 2:5-11
A minister, a Boy Scout, and a computer expert were the only passengers on a small plane. The pilot came back into the cabin and said that the plane was going down, but there were only three parachutes and four people. The pilot added, “I should have one of those parachutes because I have a wife and three small children.” So he put on one of the parachutes and jumped out of the plane. The computer expert said, “I should have one of those parachutes because I’m the smartest man in the world and everyone needs me.” So he took one of the parachutes and jumped out of the plane. The minister turned to the Boy Scout and said, “You are young and I have lived a good life, so you take the last parachute and I’ll go down with the plane.” The Boy Scout said, “Relax, Reverend. The smartest man in the world just picked up my backpack and jumped out!”
I suppose that story illustrates the truth that pride goeth before a fall. Or at least it offers a way to begin talking about the importance of attitude. John Homer Miller wrote, “Your living is determined not so much by what life brings you as by the attitude you bring to life.”
The popular Christian author Chuck Swindoll strongly stated the importance of attitude when he said,
Words can never adequately convey the incredible importance of our attitude toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it. I believe the single most important decision I make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position.
It is important to understand that we do choose our attitude. Even in these days of pandemic, economic hardship, and a “new normal,” we still get to decide how we will react to what life brings. We can allow the bad things in life to sour our disposition, cause us to dwell on past mistakes or poor decisions or circumstances beyond our control, or just the sad fact of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We can allow the good things in life to puff us up and feed our pride, give us a sense of self-importance as well as self-confidence. We can assume an attitude of trust or mistrust, boldness or fear, ambition or laziness. And we become who we think we are.
What does God’s word have to say to us about our attitude? There is no better text to look at than this one, from Paul’s letter to the Christians in Philippi. In these few verses, Paul tried to explain what it meant that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth in human form, died for our sins, and was raised to eternal life as a promise of our salvation. And the one thing Paul seemed to emphasize most is the attitude that Jesus had about what happened. Paul then encouraged all of the Philippians to adopt the same attitude that was in Jesus.
The first attitude that Paul pointed out in Jesus was humility. Jesus was humble. He was equal with God, and yet he did not seek to hold on to that equality. The One who was like God, who was God, was willing to give up that position and become one of us. He chose to make himself like nothing. He chose to take on the nature of a slave, a servant. Jesus chose to become human. And he did it because he was humble.
Our society isn’t big on humility. The football players being interviewed during the lead-up to the Super Bowl aren’t known for being humble. They swagger and swap statistics and claim to be Number One. Our culture feeds us a steady stream of reminders of how important we are. We hear the advertising slogans and we believe them: You deserve the very best. You deserve a break today, so get up and get away. Businessmen count bonuses and stock options. Preachers brag about their church membership growth. Children compare their Xbox games. If we have enough of the right stuff, we’ll feel good about ourselves. If we don’t look out for Number One, who will? There’s plenty of pride to go around.
But a steady diet of pride can kill you in the end. Someone once remarked, “Pride is the only disease that makes everyone sick except the one who has it.” I don’t agree with that. Pride may be the only disease carried by a dead host. It is impossible for pride to grow in the shadow of the cross of Christ. Instead, it will pull you as far away from the cross as it can get you, before you can learn the truth that the gift of the cross was given in humility to those with the humility to accept it.
The first attitude we learn from Jesus, from God’s word, is humility.
The second attitude we learn is obedience. Jesus not only chose to become human and live on earth as a man, he also obeyed God’s will for him to die on a Roman cross. It is next to impossible to think of any more horrible way to die than by crucifixion. Everything about it was carefully calculated to inflict the most torment on the victim. The struggle between life and death could go on for days, until finally the body suffered such exposure and dehydration and suffocation that it just gave out. All of this after enduring severe beatings and having spikes driven through the wrists and ankles. No one would choose to die this way. But Jesus had a choice, and he chose the cross. He had asked God to find some other way, and prayed so earnestly that he sweat blood. But when it came down it, Jesus obeyed God’s will for him to go to the cross. His obedience cost him his life.
Obedience can be easy sometimes, difficult at other times, but it is seldom a matter of life and death for most of us. And yet, there is something in our human nature that resists obedience from the earliest days of our lives. I used to babysit for the most stubborn, head-strong child that ever walked the face of the earth. Her name was Jaclyn. She would start to do something she knew she shouldn’t do. I would call her by name and tell her not to do it. She would look back at me with this sweet smile on her face and do it anyway. I know all you parents have seen this behavior before. But even grownups can be guilty of disobedience. And we can be defiant about it. I remember reading about a little boy whose parents kept telling him to sit down. When he finally sat down, he glared at them and said, “I’m sitting down on the outside, but I’m standing up on the inside!” Haven’t we all felt like that sometimes?
We know that we should obey God. If we didn’t believe that, we wouldn’t be here this morning. And yet we all know that the struggle to obey never goes away. There is always the temptation to choose some other way than God’s way. We will choose to put our needs and wants first. We will turn our backs on what God asks us to do. And choosing to disobey will give us a guilty conscience, which will separate us even further from God.
I heard a story about a mother who became so exasperated with her son one day that she sent him up to his room for a time out. He stormed up the stairs to his room and defiantly hid under the bed. When his father got home and heard how the boy had been misbehaving, he went upstairs to see him. He looked in the room, but didn’t see his son. He decided to look under the bed, and saw a couple of eyes looking back at him. The son asked, “Is Mommy trying to get you, too?” When we do something wrong, we try to hide from God, just like this little boy tried to hide from his mother. But when we ask for help, for forgiveness, we will receive it. And we can learn from Jesus the discipline of obedience.
The first word is humility. The second is obedience. And the third is victory.
When Jesus was faithful in obeying God’s will, when he did what he was sent to do, it resulted in victory. It was not a victory he won for himself, but a victory he received from God. Yes, he died; but God raised him from the dead. Yes, he gave up heaven’s throne for a life among the poor of the earth, but God lifted him up to the highest place. Yes, he was one man in a small nation with only a few followers, but God placed his name above all names, and at the sound of his name every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
When we become humble and obedient like Jesus, we will share in the victory of Jesus. We also have received victory over death, and we will join Jesus in the heavenly realm. We will see our Lord face to face on the other side of death. What greater victory could there be than that?
A number of years ago, I was shopping at Wal-Mart. I happened to notice a mother who was trying to shop with her three children in tow. They were giving her a lot of trouble. They kept wandering off, and she had to retrieve them. They would put things in the buggy that she did not want. They were begging for toys and candy. It seemed that wherever I was in the store, I could hear them or see them nearby. Finally, the mother became so exasperated that she grabbed one of her little boys by the arm, glared down at him, and asked, “Do you need an attitude adjustment?”
There are times when we all need an attitude adjustment. And we can clearly see what kind of attitude we are supposed to have when we look at Jesus. God’s word when you have a bad attitude is be humble, be obedient, and claim your victory in Jesus.
