Great to Good 2 – 10.28.7
Following Jesus downward toward greatness
Dennis Mullen

 Philippians 2:5-11 – to be read together...

5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
   did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,
    taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
      he humbled himself
      and became obedient to death—
      even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
       and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
     in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
      to the glory of God the Father. (NIV)

            Let's think about that for a minute.  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.  Is THAT all?  Most of us should have stopped reading right there, especially if we claim any bit of belief in this text, or if we realize it's talking to us, because truth be told, we have very little intention of allowing our attitude to be anything like that of Christ Jesus.  But anyway, that said, what part of his attitude do you mean Paul?

            The part where Christ, being in very nature GOD...Do you realize for how many years, centuries in fact, the early Christians debated what that means?  What's the deal with Jesus and God the Father?  Was Jesus here and God up there?  If Jesus WAS God as we often say, why did Jesus pray and to whom?  And where does the Holy Spirit fit into all this?  Some people like to explain the Trinity by saying that a man can be a father and a son and a cousin and a brother.  It's a good illustration, but does he pray to himself?  Those are just roles he plays, but he is one person, not three for four.  Other people say that it's like your school...the school is the principal and your teacher and the janitor and the football coach.  That's a good illustration too, but it doesn't really capture the Oneness of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  There is more to it than either illustration captures.  Jesus Christ, before time began, in eternity, has always been in very nature God.  That speaks to love and it speaks to power, or to put it crudely, it gives him an amazingly high rank.  Now here is one thing I know about power...most people don't give it up easily or willingly.  It's a great humiliation to be demoted at work, sometimes even worse than being fired, because you have to stay in the same company and deal with the power you once had, power you wanted to use for GOOD, being stripped away from you and given to some other joker who doesn't know how to handle it.  The typical response to power?  Satan's.  I want more.  I will TAKE more.  When I lose it, my life will become centered on hating the one who stole it and trying to drag as many people into my misery as I can.

            But Jesus...being in very nature, GOD, did NOT consider...

            but he made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.

            Do you REALLY want your attitude to be the same as that of Christ Jesus?  What if you took on the very nature of a servant...and no one noticed?  What if you humbled yourself and others said not “Wow, what a great guy!” but “Hey, it's about time!  How about even a little MORE humbling?” 

            We NEED that kind of humbling, but the one who didn't need it did it..

            And being found in appearance as a man ...and please don't think that means that he only appeared to be human.  It most certainly does not mean that, and if it did mean that, the whole Christian faith would be much different, much less real, because how can we expect a Savior who only looked human to understand what we go through?  But he appeared here as a human being and became obedient to the point of death on a cross. 

            Do you really want your attitude to be the same as His and have it all lead you there? 

            God exalted him to the highest place, and God will exalt us (but not to the highest place, naturally) but that comes later and it lies on the other side of this humbling, this “Let my attitude be the same...” and that is what we're talking about in this current series, Great to Good.

            The title of the series is meant to be a joke, and it probably isn't any better as a title than it is a joke.  But the idea is this:  If the world says that Michael Jordan is a great man and that Mother Teresa was a good person (or better, the countless people who worked with her and never became famous), then the path of any Christian is the path downward from self-centered greatness to other-centered and Christ-centered goodness.

            The problem is (and here is where my title gets confusing) Christ really didn't settle for anyone else's definition of greatness, but he established his own. 

            He says, in effect, “OK so you want to be great.  I get that.  My Father and I, we put that in your heart at your creation, that desire to excel, to live a life that means something, that passion to take your gifts and refine them and use them for something that matters.  You want to be great.  OK.  But don't listen to everyone who says that greatness means becoming rich and famous and having lots of people serving you.  Don't listen, Mr. Preacher, to everyone who says that greatness is speaking to the most people, and writing the best-selling books and being invited to the largest conferences.  Don't listen, Ms. College-Freshman, to everyone who says the greatest job is the job that brings you the most money and the most honor.  Don't be fooled, Mr. and Mrs. Church Member into thinking that the most visible way to serve in the Kingdom is the greatest.  Don't listen, Americans, to the lie that the best life has to be lived in a fine home with a fine SUV in the garage.  I understand your desire to be great.  I GET it.  I gave it to you.  But here's what you are looking for...”

            “...whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."  Mark 9:43-45 (NIV).

            So in spite of my title, we're not talking about sliding from greatness to mere goodness or from excellence to mediocrity, but rather following Jesus downward toward a true greatness that people may not appreciate or value or pay us for or pump up our ego about.  That may exclude many of us from wanting to continue with Christ, but he also says very clearly that it will be worth it.  For example:

            23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? Luke 9:23-25 (NIV)

            Since my series title makes a joke about the book Good to Great, I should say that something in that book (which is excellent overall) was very encouraging to me...When Jim Collins writes about what kind of leader it takes to move a company from average performance to excellent performance, he describes a man or woman with a passion for greatness that has little to do with SELF and almost everything to do with the company.  Now of course there is a certain type of business leader that almost everyone looks up to or wants to trade places with, but who almost never takes a good company and makes it great.  This is the person who buys lots of jets and yachts and gets on Dancing With the Stars and is always in the press cultivating a rock-star image.  That is NOT the type of person Collins found leading good-to-great companies.  Instead he found women and men who are unknown outside their industry who had a strange mix of personal humility and passionate intensity about building a great company.

            That hits a nerve with me because even in church it is often not this way, and in local churches and in the national Christian world, people sometimes rise to prominence who are skillful at self-promotion, who like to use themselves as an example and who know how to market their personal brand.  Even at Catalyst, the excellent conference I attended three weeks ago, several speakers gave off that vibe. 

            Now, that's between them and God.  My only point is that if they ARE pursuing greatness in that fashion, and simply sugarcoating it with Christianity, or if YOU are, or if I am, we're climbing the wrong mountain, and that kind of “greatness” is going to let us down; it is going to kill us when the accolades stop coming in or the visible signs of success dwindle away.  Remember this measure of greatness that Jesus gave us:  Luke 6:26 - Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

            Let's back up and hear that one in context...

Looking at his disciples, he said:
"Blessed are you who are poor,
   for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
     for you will be satisfied.
     Blessed are you who weep now,
     for you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when men hate you,
     when they exclude you and insult you
     and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

23 "Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.  Luke 6:20-23 (NIV)

            And then comes v. 26 - Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

            BTW after church we're having snacks and there will be a chance for you to tell us ministers how much you appreciate us.   If you really want to treat us right, tell us we're terrible!

            I don't MEAN that, of course!  This isn't a hard and fast rule.  They even spoke well of Jesus at times in his ministry (and we try to do that every Sunday).  But when you speak truth to power and people can see that your life matches the truth, they have to find a way to DEAL with you.  So even though in church we measure greatness by skill and shine and BS (sometimes) Jesus never did. 

“...whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

            Another encouraging example of someone living a little humility came this week out of the terrible fires this week in California.  This actually comes from a blog entry by Mike Foster, a Christian guy who has done a lot to help men escape the trap that pornography creates in their lives.  But this week he wrote about the fires...

            “So I was listening to an interview of one of the aerial pilots that fly the DC-7’s that drop huge amounts of fire retardant on the brush fires. The radio host was going on how awesome these guys are and blown away by how much water they can drop on a fire at one time. The media has been obsessed with showing lots of shots of these planes swooping in. It is a very heroic job and so cool. These pilots are the superstars of fire fighting.

            “After about a 15 minute interview, the pilot ended it with saying that though it looks like the drops are making the biggest impact, he said they only play a limited role in putting out the fires. He was quick to establish that it was the firefighters on the ground with the shovels and the hoses that are the true heroes. He said their work was the most critical and they are ones that actually stop the fire and put the fires out. This pilot showed great class and humility.

            “It made me think about leadership stuff. So often the public stands in awe of the leader/CEO/Charismatic Entrepreneur who flies the business “aerial drops.” It’s impressive and we are captivated by it. They are the rock stars that everybody loves, hangs on every word, and celebrates. But as leaders we must remember that the real work is done by the troops on the ground. They are the true heroes and they are the ones that make the most critical difference in the success of an organization.”

            Most of the things that are good about this church happen outside the spotlight and many of the people who do these good deeds NEVER get credit for them, and they don't seek it or even want it.  But on a day when someone has organized a little event for you to express your appreciation to ministers, the most appreciation needs to go to the servants whose work in the Kingdom takes them someplace other than the platform on Sunday.  I am speaking of many of you, and I say “thanks”.

            What Mike Foster says is quite true, but Jesus' teaching goes much deeper.  He didn't just say to appreciate the one who labors in obscurity; he said that GREATNESS ITSELF isn't what you've been taught.  You've got it wrong.

“...whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

            This is so counter-cultural, so different from what you will hear the rest of the week or see on display in most places.  But it is true and it has the full backing and guarantee of the Lord of all Creation.

            So let's finish where we started and read together these verses from Philippians, not just as our marching orders, but as a statement of faith that THIS is really the best way to live.

Philippians 2:5-8 - 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
   did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,
    taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
      he humbled himself
      and became obedient to death—
      even death on a cross!      

May we have the faith to do likewise.

 Morrison Hill Christian Church
P.O. Box 59 - 1008 E. Race St.
Kingston, TN  37763   (865) 376-5205