1If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:1-16
5Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,
6who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God
as something to be exploited.
7Instead he emptied himself
by assuming the form of a servant,
taking on the likeness of humanity.
And when he had come as a man,
8he humbled himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death —
even to death on a cross.
9For this reason God highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
10so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow —
in heaven and on earth
and under the earth —
11and every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
12Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose. 14Do everything without grumbling and arguing, 15so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, 16by holding firm to the word of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing.
Shine Like Stars
We all want to shine like stars.
How exactly do we stand out in the world?
We’re told we stand out by pushing, pulling, grabbing a hold of what we want. We’re leaders so we better go get our preferred future.
We can do this for a while. With the right management tools, we can go about this for our entire lives.
However, the more we go and get what we want on our own, the more we can burn out. And burn out is not shining so bright that we shine like stars in the world.
The Mind of Christ
Instead, Paul tells the Philippian church to pursue something other than our own greatness.
Pursue the same mind…the same attitude…Jesus had.
Jesus did not exploit his Good-hood. Instead, he emptied himself of his God-hood so he could be a human. Not just a fully God-human, but a fully God-human who had the mind of a servant. A fully God-human who went to the cross and the grave.
He knew his exaltation was on the other side of the grave. Therefore, obtaining the exaltation was not easy. As God, he had to experience the one thing he never had to experience…death. Through death, Jesus obtained the Name above every other name. There is no other god who is willing to die so you can live.
Our Exaltation
No. We aren’t exalted to the same level as Jesus. Because we can not give up as much as Jesus gave up. We are only human…not God-human. We can only give up our human life for God’s sake…not our God-human life.
Yet, God does exalt us. God works inside of us for his will and good purpose. You have vision, mission, values? Great! God has this for you too. Something greater than you could ever give yourself.
His overarching vision, mission and values for you is to consider others better than yourself. Sacrifice is Leadership. When we give so others can have a preferred future, God will make sure to exalt us to where he needs to put us.
To wait on God is tough. It’ll look like you’re “dying” because everyone around you is getting it done.
However, to wait on God is also to wait on his exaltation. It is to wait on him to give you the Life inside our soul that he wants to give. He gives you this Life so that you can accomplish the mission he has for you.
And by having the same attitude as Christ, you end up shining like stars in a world who only wants to get something for themselves.
The goal is to lead you to engage with God’s Word so you can Hear & Follow Jesus in the everyday…especially in your leadership. Sign up for daily emails at the button below to receive the content in your inbox. You’ll receive a 1-minute email read with a link to a 5-minute blog read each day.