Changing Our Attitude
Power Shift • Sermon • Submitted
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· 667 viewsIn order to Be the Church, to be the people God has called us to be, we must change our attitude into one more like Christ and less like the world.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning and welcome!
This morning if you will, turn in your Bibles to Philippians 2.
Again that is Philippians 2.
This morning we are going to continue looking at some of the things that are necessary if we hope to Be The Church as Jesus has called us to be.
And this morning we are going to be focusing on one of the key things that we must do in order to “Be The Church.”
And that thing is, we must be resolved and make our minds up that we are going to allow God to Change Our Attitude.
Because, unless we have the right attitude, we will never take the necessary steps to Be the Church.
And if you remember from last week, we focused on the two key things it takes in being the Church.
#1 was following Jesus’ command to . . .
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
And #2 we are follow Jesus’ commission to . . .
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
And doing that requires a great deal of resolve and a great deal of grit and determination.
And the key thing about that is that first our attitude must change.
We have to adopt an attitude and a willingness to love God with all our being, to love others as ourselves.
Then we have to develop a resolve to go and do what God has called us to go and do, which is sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, far and near.
But, we have to do that with the right attitude.
Which brings us to our question of the morning.
What is the attitude we should have?
What attitude should we adopt?
Where is the example of how things should be?
And to answer those questions, we have to turn to Philippians 2 and look at what Paul says about attitude.
You know, Paul actually wrote quite a bit about attitude.
He was acutely aware that attitude really did mean everything.
He knew that attitude actually is the thing that drives actions.
Think about it for just a minute.
With anything in life, depending on what our attitude is, it dictates how we respond to things.
So, what should our attitude be?
Paul tells us in Philippians 2, starting in verse 5.
He writes . . .
Scripture Focus
Scripture Focus
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Being Like-Minded
Being Like-Minded
So unequivocally and unapologetically Paul tells us that our attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus.
Or in our KJV, which most are probably most familiar with this verse translated from our mind should be the same as Christ Jesus.
We should think and act like Jesus would think and act.
Our actions should be fully informed by Jesus Christ.
But how do we get there?
How do we get to where we have the same mind as Jesus Christ?
Well, first this comes in what we discussed last week, with loving God with all our being and loving our neighbor as ourselves.
As our heart changes, our attitude changes..our mind changes.
And Paul also echos that thought here in Philippians 2.
He actually starts the chapter out this way. He says . . .
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
And he is telling us that we need to be likeminded with one another.
Now, how difficult is that?
How difficult is it to get a group of people on the same page and to get them all to agree on things?
It’s extremely difficult.
And Paul is not saying here that we cannot have our own ideas and own thoughts.
If you look closely at what he says “likemindedness” looks like you will find that he says we are to have the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
We are to have the love of Jesus Christ flowing through each and every one of us.
Our spirits should be joined and united by the Holy Spirit.
And our purpose should be united.
And that purpose is Being the Church.
So, in all things related to the mission and fulfilling the Mission we need to be united, having the same spirit and same purpose.
Our thoughts and ideas concerning the mission of the Church should be consistent with one another.
Which is only done when everyone is in tune with the Holy Spirit.
And what happens in many churches is there is a disconnect with the Holy Spirit and thus division among the congregation.
Everyone is running around operating under their own spirit and their own ideas, instead of seeking God and seeking unity through the Holy Spirit.
And pastors are just as guilty as everyone else.
All of us, when we have an idea or something we feel the church “should be doing” we need to first take a step back and spend some serious time in prayer asking God for direction and asking the Holy Spirit for confirmation, before we ever take the first step.
Then before we ever move to implement an idea, we should all pray about it and seek unity in the Spirit.
But what typically happens is we skip this part and plow ahead with things.
Sometimes it works out and sometimes it does not.
But sometimes we make a mess of things because our attitude and our pride get in the way of God’s mission for us.
This is why Paul says in verses 3-4 . . .
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
In other words we should be examining our motives behind our “ideas.”
Is it motivated by selfish ambition?
And this selfish ambition does not necessary include a personal selfish ambition but could also include a selfish ambition for the church itself.
And example of this would be, being motivate to start a ministry to “get more people to come to church” or to “make the church bigger.”
Anytime we enter into any ministry project, if our motivation is to “get more people” or “build the church” in numbers and attendance, then that is selfish ambition, and we need to stop and take pause.
Our motivation should not be to grow our congregation.
Our motivation for everything should be concerning the mission, which is to share the gospel.
We should be asking how does this ministry project share the gospel with people who would otherwise not hear it?
Because that is what should inform and motivate everything we do.
Anything else is rooted squarely in vain conceit and only serves to promote ourselves over others.
Instead we need to take a humble attitude considering others better than ourselves.
We need to look not only to our own interests but also the interests of others.
Just think what things would be like if we spent our time looking out for the interests of others instead of ourselves for a change.
How would life look different?
How would we look different?
The Right Attitude
The Right Attitude
And it is here, with the foundation laid, Paul then moves into the main point of this passage.
Again in verse 5, he tells us . . .
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
And I want us to let that sink in this morning.
Really think about what our attitude really is right now, right here this morning.
And think about whether that attitude is the same as Christ Jesus.
And before we answer too quickly, lets look at what our attitude has been over the last week.
Was the rude comment you made to our significant other a reflection of Jesus?
Was the attitude you had in traffic the other day a reflection of Jesus?
Was the attitude you had in the McDonald's drive thru a reflection of Jesus?
How you interacted with your children or even grandchildren when they were getting on your last nerve a reflection of Jesus?
Has your attitude at work or with your friends been a reflection of Jesus?
Those are the things that we really need to be looking at.
Because it is those interactions, those everyday contacts and interactions with others, that are going to reflect to others what we are claiming to be, which in turn are going to reflect to others what the Church is.
So, what has our attitude been and what do we need to change about our attitude to bring it in line with the attitude of Jesus?
And some may say, “I don’t even know what the attitude of Jesus was that I need to look like.”
Well, Paul goes on and tells us.
Starting in verse 6, he writes . . .
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Now, lets’s be clear, none of us will ever do what Christ did.
None of us have the ability and capacity to do what Christ did for us all.
And that is not what Paul is saying or asking of us.
However, there are a few things that Jesus demonstrated that we can take note of.
First, Jesus was humble.
Jesus lived a humble life and avoided any hint of pride or selfish ambition.
Through humility Jesus put others before himself.
Jesus considered the needs of others before the wants and desires of the self.
And that is something each and every one of us can do and should do.
Second, Jesus was obedient.
Here is the Son of God—God in the flesh—right here with each of us.
And even though he was fully God and fully equal with God in all ways, he chose to lower himself and become obedient to the Father.
And we can and should do the same thing.
We should be obedient to God in all things.
We should have enough faith and trust in God that we obey God.
But again, a few things get in the way of us being able to do this.
First, we do have a lack of faith and trust in God of accomplish all things.
And this makes us resist and reject God’s directions.
Second, we are stuck seeking out our own selfish ambitions, wants and desires, which sometimes conflict with God’s will.
And we choose self over God.
Which is what gets us into trouble.
Third, Jesus took a servant’s attitude.
In other words, Jesus was willing to put others first and to serve others.
Jesus was willing to sacrifice everything for us.
And all he is asking us to do is sacrifice our pride and submit to Him.
That’s all.
Altar/Challenge
Altar/Challenge
Is that something we can do though?
Is that something we are willing to do?
We need to give it pause and really consider it because here is how Paul finishes the passage . . .
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
In other words, the day is coming where every human being on this planet that has ever been and ever will be, will bow before Christ and acknowledge Him as Lord.
And it doesn’t matter whether you have believed in Jesus and believed in salvation or not, you will bow before Christ.
All of us will.
We will be humbled by God one way or another.
And all God is trying to do is get us to realize this before our humility is realized before it is too late.
God would much rather we acknowledge Him now and live for Him now and then enjoy all the riches of heaven and eternal life rather than bowing in submission before being cast into the Lake of Fire.
God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
That is what God wants.
And for those of us who have made that decision and do follow Christ, we have an obligation to be the church and share that message with others.
But if our attitude is wrong, our mission is hindered.
So, this morning's challenge is for us to examine our attitude and if it needs to be changed, allow God that access to change that attitude.
Are we willing to take that step and to do that this morning?
God is willing if we are?
Are we?