Sermon Tone Analysis

Lou Holtz was asked recently to describe the major differences between today’s football players and football players 50 years ago.

He thought about it for a second and then quickly responded, “50 years ago, athletes talked about their responsibilities and how fortunate they are to play the game.

Today’s athlete talks about their rights and what they are entitled to with no real sense of appreciation.”

I think that is a pretty good comparison by Mr. Holtz and it is a mentality that is very concerning to us as Christians.

We live in a world that promotes self gratification and glorification.

There is an attitude and belief we should always be looking out for our own best interests and desires.

Instead of serving others we oftentimes want to be served and treated with the utmost respect.

That is the exact opposite of how Christ acted when he was on earth.

Christ was God himself and had the most right of anyone to be self boasting and demand others to serve him.

Thankfully, He chose a different route and that was the route of being a humble servant.

Today, we are going to be talking about servanthood and how that is an important aspect of being a Christian.

Talking about being a servant does no good unless we support that discussion with action!

We are called to action and are called to imitate Christ.

One way is through servanthood.

As Christians, we are to imitate Christ.

Can you imagine how different our churches would look and act today if we actually did imitate Christ through our humble service?

Instead of serving to gain accolades, attention, or a feeling of pride we would simply serve others out of love for them and for our heavenly father.

We need to have a Christlike servant’s heart that is filled with humility instead of pride and arrogance.

We are sinful in nature and will always defer back to our sinful nature without intentionally seeking Christ.

It is in our nature to want to glorify ourselves and it is in our nature to think of ourselves first.

We need to realize those tendencies and choose to actively seek after Christ and allow Him to fill our hearts with His love, His spirit, and His glory.

If we are successful in doing that, then we will be able to imitate Christ.

Choose to have an attitude like Christ

I had a communication class in college that dealt with the subject of being reactive.

The teacher taught that we all have a choice in the way we handle our own attitudes and that by default, we have a tendency to be very reactive.

An example is saying, “you make me mad”.

This is being reactive to a situation and not taking responsibility for your own decision and attitude.

God has given us the capability to chose our attitudes.

Paul was in prison in Rome.

A lot of people would choose to have a poor attitude about being in prison.

Paul however took it as an opportunity to serve God and spread the message of Christ.

He chose to have a positive attitude.

Paul is explaining the depth of humility that we as Christians should have.

It isn’t simply being partially humble but we are to be completely humble.

Paul uses Christ as an example.

Christ was God in flesh and could have easily demanded everyone to bow down and worship Him but instead he chose to be a humble servant.

Paul is instructing us to have the same attitude that Christ had and to be fully humble in all that we do and in return, we will bring Glory to God.

It is a choice and a decision that we can make.

Notice how this is a choice and it takes action on our part.

The only way to have this mindset in us is to assume the responsibility of having that mindset in all we do.

Paul is saying for in our relationships with one another, to have the same attitude of mind that Christ Jesus had/has.

Let that sink in.

In our daily situations, conversations, actions, etc. - is our mindset and attitude that of God’s?

If so, then why do we have bitterness, anger, deception, jealousy, envy, and evil intentions in our daily lives?

Our attitude is a choice

I have two young children and it amazes me at how they can instantly choose their attitudes.

I can remember one time when our oldest wanted a toy that his sister was playing with.

They were starting to argue over the toy and we told them to do the right thing and share the toy by taking turns.

As soon as our daughter was finished, she sat it down and our son started playing.

Everything was good until our son set the toy down for a second, and our daughter immediately picked it up to play.

Now our son got made and said he wasn’t finished playing and through a fit about the toy.

We wouldn’t allow him to get the toy back because of his poor attitude.

After some time he was completely fine again.

He chose to get upset about the toy and we too often choose our emotions.

Our attitude is a choice and it’s a choice that we all make.

Attitude is a choice.

Every day and multiple times a day we need to intentionally and purposefully choose to have an attitude like Christ.

It won’t happen by accident as we are born sinners, but we can choose to be like Christ and he will be faithful to help us along the way.

The next time you find yourself in a challenging situation, take a moment to think about what type of attitude would Christ exhibit and then choose to act like that.

It is important to realize that we will not always succeed in this and that we will fail from time to time.

God is faithful and if we turn our attitude over to him and allow him to be in control, then we will be successful in mimicking his attitude.

The starting point is that we need to simply strive and make a conscious effort to imitate Christ in his attitude.

Choose to be Humble like Christ

Why did Paul say, “in the form of God” instead of simply “as God”?

Paul uses the word, morphe which translates primarily to the word form or shape that something takes.

The answer to why Paul worded it this way is that Paul is emphasizing the mindset of Christ.

Christ willingly and actively took on the form of a slave.

Christ is God in reality but Paul uses a metaphor to show Christ’s mindset and willingness to form into a slave for our benefit.

Grasped = taken advantage of

Eliminate the but

Read verse 6 without the word, “but” - now the point of the passage is clear.

That is glory indeed; but to heighten the glory Paul emphasizes two realities: first, that “being in the form of God” means being equal with God; second, that in Christ’s “being in the form of God/being equal with God” he displayed a mindset precisely the opposite of “selfish ambition” and empty glory.

Christ emptied himself of his own glory to become a servant for us.

Thus, to put the sentence all together, in Christ Jesus God has shown his true nature; this is what it means for Christ to be “equal with God”—to pour himself out for the sake of others and to do so by taking the role of a slave.

Hereby he not only reveals the character of God but also reveals what it means for us to be created in God’s image, to bear his likeness and have his “mindset.”

It means taking the role of the slave for the sake of others

We are to imitate Christ and follow his example by choosing to be a humble servant.

There is a local construction company that has been blessed financially to say the least as they own many, many businesses and buildings throughout our town.

They have a lot of money and influence in our community.

Every year, they choose to make a fund drive to gather money that will be given to the Children’s Hopsital and they match whatever amount is raised dollar for dollar.

I think each year they raise over a combined $100k through this event.

Now, they could have chosen to spend their money somewhere else and they could also brag about how they are able to raise so much money.

But instead, they don’t want a lot of accolades or even publicity over the event.

They simple raise the money and then match it and donate everything.

In return, most people have a favorable opinion of them and their company.

That is an example of showing the love of Christ through humility.

We are called to imitate and follow Christ.

Christ is the picture of humility and he chose to be humble on a daily basis.

The least we can do is honor Him by choosing to be humble every day.

The Scriptures are very clear that we as Christians are to imitate and follow Christ.

We are to do as Christ would do.

Christ chose to be a humble servant for all of us when He didn’t have to and we now in return, should bring honor to Him by also being humble in our actions.

We have a tendency to get caught up in ourselves and our successes.

When things are going well for us, we tend to think it is because of our own doing and that we deserve these accolades due to our hard work.

While I definitely believe in the benefit of hard work, who is it that makes it possible for us to work hard in the first place?

Who is it that allowed us to have these opportunities?

The next time you feel proud of yourself for your accomplishment, take a minute to think about who gave you that opportunity, or who blessed you with that outcome.

It is all due to Christ working in our lives and not because of our own doing.

Remember this and choose daily to be humble in our service to the Lord.

One of my favorite verses talks about this very subject.