Really!

Philippians 2:5-8

It’s hard to be a nothing! Everyone wants to feel important, like we matter to someone. It is wired into our brains by God to need other people, to be safely connected to others.

We also want to feel like what we are doing matters, that we are making a positive difference in the world. There is something inside us that drives us on toward this goal, unless we repeatedly tell it to shut up.

We also want to be able to make choices that suit our needs. We don’t always want to do what the other person wants. Sometimes we want our way.

These are exactly the things Jesus had to purposefully choose to ignore when He was here on earth. He made himself nothing. The things He wanted to do, He didn’t do. Other people, including you and me, were more important than He was in His life. To put it another way, He choose to not be safely connected with others in order that we could be safely connected to God. Jesus knew what was in mankind, so He didn’t entrust Himself to us (Jn 2:24).

Our passage says that we are to have the same attitude as Jesus had. We are to think of others ahead of ourselves. They are supposed to be the priority in our lives. Jesus is God and had every right to exercise His authority here on earth, but He chose to hold back. We may be in positions of authority right now and with those positions often come perks. We can choose to not use our perks in order for someone else to get the benefit. We could give our bonus to someone else who needs it more than we do, even though we earned it.

But wait a minute! Don’t I get my fare share? Don’t I get what I deserve? Well, to be honest, you and I both deserve the punishment that Jesus took. Do you really want the beating, public humiliation and crucifixion? Well, I don’t deserve that. I haven’t done that much wrong. Maybe I just deserve 30 lashes with a wet noodle! Really, are you going to be that stubborn and deny what other people see, what God sees, and try to walk around with that holier than thou attitude? It is exactly that attitude that Jesus is getting at. He truly didn’t deserve the rejection He received, but He took it because it was what was necessary to bring us back into relationship with God.

He made Himself nothing. Maybe we need to work on thinking of ourselves a little less, a lot less. We can learn t set aside whatever privileges we might have and learn to serve others.

Claim to be God

John 10:30-39

Have you noticed that lying about your credentials can get you in trouble! In recent years there have been several people who hit the news because the fudged their education or experience on their official biographies. Even the President’s own biography that was published for years in connection with his writing said that he was a “Kenyan born” person. This was even written by the AP in their news coverage of him when he was running for US Senate in 2004. The claims we make about ourselves can get us in trouble, so be careful what you claim. This has not gotten the President in trouble because the Media has chosen to ignore it. But I digress!

In our passage today, Jesus’ words, His claims about His identity get Him in trouble. He says that He and the Father are one. That might not be such a bad thing, except His opponents hear His words as a claim to deity. They want to stone Him on the spot. No time even for a trial.

And Jesus has opportunity to back down from their understanding of what He said. But, again, Jesus ramps up the claim with an illustration. This kind of argument uses the lesser to prove the greater.

I gave my wife an engagement ring with a diamond on it. It looks really nice, even after 33 years. It was my grandmother’s ring, so it has been looking really good for a very long time. But I went to see the Hope Diamond in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC a few years ago. Now that is a diamond! If my wife’s ring has a diamond and it looks good, how much more does the Hope Diamond look good.

Jesus has made the claim that He is God. His opponents are ready to kill Him immediately. Jesus’ defense is simple. The Old Testament called the people of the Old Testament “gods” (v35). God’s Word only came to them. My claim to being called God is more valid since I am unique and sent by the Father on a mission (v36). Jesus was set apart prior to His coming here to earth. He certainly deserves to be called God even more than the Israelites.

Jesus then appeals to the things He does as being the same things that God does. He does this to emphasize, not diminish His claim to be God. He says that there is a mutuality about Him and the Father. And when he says this, they again want to kill Him immediately.

Jesus could have backed down and said, “Hey, you guys. You are getting this all wrong. I’m just trying to stir things up a bit, trying to get you to be more serious about following God. Don’t take what I say as a reflection of what I really believe.” But He didn’t.

And Jesus followers were willing to die defending what they knew to be true. Only idiots die for a lie willingly.