Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. You see, He is God. In fact, we know that in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God. We know from the book of Colossians that all things were created by Him and for Him and all things hold together by Him. We know all this.
We know who He is. He said He stooped down and He took on the form of a man, but not just a man, a bondservant. He's just going to be a servant. Being found in the appearance of a man, notice He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
God becomes a man. The man becomes a bondservant. The bondservant goes to the cross.
The bondservant dies. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. It's all set in Galatians 6, verse 3, something very penetrating. He said, If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Think of it. When anyone thinks he is something, when in fact he is nothing, he deceives himself. Boy, for the believer in Jesus Christ, who are we to think we're something? Who are we to think that I'm something? I mean, it's clear in the Word of God, you're only saved by the grace of God. You know what you added to your salvation? Nothing. You know who did all the work?
He did. All you did was appropriate it by faith. Even Paul said, you know, I am what I am with the grace of God. You know, anything good in me comes from the grace of God.
So who am I to think this way, have this empty glory about myself? He also says, With humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves. Humility of mind, that's one of the most unusual words I've ever found in the New Testament. It is tepino-frosune.
I'll tell you how rare it is. It does not show up in Koine or classical Greek anywhere. It's a word that Paul made up. It's a New Testament word.
It's a word never used. Humility of mind, Paul says. Humility in your mind. And if you think about it, the reason it originated in the New Testament and not in Greek culture, Greeks didn't think much of humility. They didn't like it. And they certainly didn't like it about the way you think. They were proudful of the way they thought.
They thought that's a good quality. And so Paul says, With humility of mind, doing nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, he says, Look, let me show you how this is all going to play itself out. He said this way. He said, Regard one another as more important than yourselves.
It's real simple. Do not merely look out for your own personal interest. You got to look out for the interest of others. It's not natural. Not for us. And not the way we were raised. I mean, it has been for certain generations when everyone had to pitch in. But for other generations, not so much. I mean, that's the problem.
When you spoil a generation, you run a very good risk of having a whole generation of narcissists. That's the way they think about it. Chuck Swindoll says, Sometimes God just helps you, though. He said, and I love this. He wrote this about his own. He said, It can become a way of life. Here's what Chuck Swindoll, one of my favorite pastors in the world, what he says. He said, I have found that just having a large family, say four or five kids, is enough to teach us how selfishness fouls up the works. He said, I recall when Cynthia and I began to have children. He said, I thought two would be perfect, alpha and omega. He said, ideal.
And then along a third came, not too many years later, the fourth came. He said, No, you need to understand what kind of guy I am. I like my shoes spit shined rather than stepped on and scuffed up. I like my clothes hanging in the closet in an orderly and neat manner rather than drooled on or wrinkled up. He said, I really like my milk and a glass on a table, not on the floor. He said, I especially like my clean car with no fingerprints on the windows and no leftover school assignments spread across the floorboards.
So what does God do to help broaden my horizons and assist me in seeing how selfish I really am? He said, Very simple. He gives me four busy kids, he said, who step on my shoes and they wrinkle my clothes, they spill milk on me, they lick my car windows and they drop sticky candy on the carpet. He says, You haven't lived until you've walked barefoot across the floor in the middle of the night and stepped on a full force on a jack.
And he says, or a couple of those little Lego landmines they put out. He said, I'll tell you, you learn real quick about your level of selfishness. He said, You see, this is not some kind of a deep astral or theological subject we're thinking about. Being unselfish is an attitude that strikes at the very core of our being. It means that we are willing to forego our own comfort, our own preferences, our own schedule and our own desires for someone else's benefit.
I love that. Forego our own comfort, own preferences, own schedule for another's benefit. I can't tell you how often, even in the context of the church, people are always saying, Oh, I'm not comfortable. We have people that could be in a room like this or in a Bible study and they say, I'm not comfortable. I don't like the way the thermostat set. I'm not comfortable that people get up and change the thermostat because I'm not comfortable.
Now, the rest of you, I don't really care that much. I'm not comfortable. We have people that say all the time to us, I'm not comfortable in the toddler room and I'm not comfortable in the nursery. I'm not comfortable with babies. You know, that's a good thing. I'm glad you're not comfortable because, in fact, you're not comfortable. This gives you a phenomenal opportunity to be unselfish. You see, this gives you an amazing opportunity because some people are very comfortable. They like it. But you say, I'm not comfortable.
Good. Because that's the whole idea. Being unselfish in attitude strikes at the very core of our being. It means we are willing to forego our comfort, our preferences, our own schedule and our desires for the benefit of someone else and people.
Like in those rooms in the nursery or in the toddler room, somebody's got to be in there. You say, well, I don't care as long as there's somebody else. You see how easy this is? You see how easy it is to be selfish? In your home, with your family, in your marriage, at work, it's easy. I mean, we're just like ducks to water when it comes to being selfish. It's easy for us to be selfish. You see, how do I do this?
Well, maybe you need to see yourself for what you really are. You know, I was thinking of the Apostle Paul here. He's writing this. Do you know what Paul said about himself? Now, you've got to understand how I venerate Paul. The greatest theological mind since Jesus Christ.
I would say there has been no greater believer who's walked the planet Earth since Jesus Christ than the Apostle Paul. And here's what Paul says about himself. I am the least of the apostles and I'm not fit to be called an apostle. He said, I am the very least of all the saints.
By the way, I'd include you and me. That's Paul's assessment of Paul. I'm the very least of them all. He said, I am the foremost or the chief of sinners. That's how Paul saw himself. Now, we don't see him that way, but that's how he saw himself.
And I want you to understand something. Paul knows something. Paul said, I've made the transition. I've been worshipping at the idol of me. I have been selfish. I have been a narcissist. I have been impressed with myself.
But I got over it. Notice, if you look at chapter 3, verse 4, notice what Paul says. Paul says, although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. He said, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more. Now, notice what he's saying.
It's real clear. If you think you're impressive, I'm a lot more impressive than you are in the flesh. That's what he's saying. And he didn't say a little more. He said far more.
Well, why is he so impressive in the flesh? He says, look, I was circumcised on the eighth day. And you have to understand what that means. He said, I'm of the nation Israel.
There's one thing. I'm the chosen people. I'm Jewish. You see, I'm a direct lineage to Abraham.
He said, oh, by the way, I'm not just Jewish. I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. Wow, Benjamin, yeah. I mean, we know Joseph and Benjamin were the only two sons that Rachel gave Israel.
And notice something else about Benjamin. They had one motto, first in war. Whenever there was a war and Israel was involved, the tribe of Benjamin led the way. He said, that's the tribe I was in. Well, he said, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. In other words, if you wanted to look what a Hebrew was like, he said, I was more Hebrew than the Hebrews. He said, not just tribe of Benjamin, but in the tribe of Benjamin, I'd say, well, who's the most Benjaminite guy in the whole tribe of Benjamin? Paul, Saul of Tarsus.
He said, but not only that. He said, as to the law, I was a Pharisee. I wasn't just a Hebrew. I was a Pharisee. In fact, he even goes on and says, one time I was the Pharisee of Pharisees. There was nobody more of a Pharisee than me. And I've told you before, don't read your prejudice back into the New Testament about Pharisees.
I say it all the time, but I mean it. If you were a parent of a Jewish girl, you would pray that they would marry a Pharisee. They were the most respected people in their culture.
Incredibly religious people. And Paul says, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, I was a persecutor of the church. As to righteousness, what you find in the law? Blameless.
Isn't that amazing? If you took the law and wrote it up and said, how many of the violations have you seen Saul of Tarsus do? Everyone that knows him say, none. He's blameless.
He knows the law perfectly. Now watch. But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. He said, more than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, from whom I have suffered the loss of all things. And I count them all but rubbish that I may gain Christ. He said, once I found Christ, he said, you have to understand something. He didn't speak to me anymore.
All the business ties I had, they deserted me. And you know what? I don't care. Everything I ever achieved in my flesh, I count but rubbish.
And rubbish is a very kind word here. He said, how'd that happen? See, Paul said, look, I could have been the narcissist of narcissists. Because I've done some stuff. I am somebody.
But I count it all but rubbish. He made the transition. Notice, he made the transition. He made it to this idea of writing back here to us in chapter two. He said, I've done nothingness with selfishness or empty conceit. But with the humility of mind, I regard every one of you as more important than me.
In fact, even in this letter, Paul says, look, let me be candid with you. If it were up to me, I'm in prison right now. I'll tell you what I'd like to pray for for me.
I hope that they will execute me. He says it. He said, if it were my choice, I would like to die right now. Because I'd want to be with the Lord face to face.
That's what he said. That's how much I couldn't wait to be with him. I'd like to be with him right now. And then he says this, but because of you, because of you, I'll stay. If he wants me to stay, I'll stay for your sake. Notice, that wasn't Paul's preference. You see, that wasn't his preference.
His preference was, I'd rather go now. But I'll stay because you may need me. And he does stay. And he does go eventually, but he doesn't go here. You see, rejecting the idol of me may be the most Christ-like thing you ever do in your life.
You finally get the right person on the throne of your life and the wrong person off. Now notice, he then expands the idea. He said, look, have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus in verse 5. Paul says, I didn't invent this.
This isn't me. He said, this is Jesus Christ. You see, that's how Jesus Christ saw it. He said, have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who although he existed in the form of God, the morphe, the exact representation of, although he was God, in other words, he did not regard equality with a God to be grasped, but he emptied himself, taking on the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men.
You see, whenever you think that, well, I don't want to go out of my comfort zone, that's not my preference. I don't really want to stoop down that low. He says, look, no matter what it is someone asks you to do, no matter who it is someone asks you to relate to, you are never going to stoop as low as the Son of God stooped when he became one of us.
You will never stoop that low. You see, he is God. In fact, we know that in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God. We know from the book of Colossians that all things were created by him and for him. And all things hold together by him. We know all this. We know who he is.
He said he stooped down. And he took on the form of a man, but not just a man, a bondservant. He's just going to be a servant. Being found in the appearance of a man, notice he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Wow. God becomes a man. The man becomes a bondservant. The bondservant goes to the cross. The bondservant dies.
That's what happens. C.S. Lewis. I love his view of this great passage of emptying himself, the kenosis.
C.S. Lewis says the imagery in his head is this. You have this great God, he says, and when he comes to earth, you can't see him because he's underneath humanity so far. That's why he was born in a manger.
That's why he's in Bethlehem. He said he's under this whole pow of fallen humanity. And when he's about 30 years old, he begins to stand up. He said humanity is there.
He said he starts standing up. And when he stands up, and he's almost fully stood, all of humanity is on his shoulders. And he goes to the cross for that humanity. He lifts all of us up. And then when he was raised from the dead on that Easter morning, that very first Easter morning, he said, notice exactly what he writes here, Therefore also God highly exalted him.
He said he just stooped so low he got under us, we couldn't see him for a long time. But when he did what he did, he lifted all of us up on his shoulders. That's an amazing statement.
Therefore also God highly exalted him, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name. You see, that's what God thinks of humility. You see, that's what God thinks of humility. Narcissistic people don't see it that way.
We often don't. It's only about me. Why do I want to be humble?
I want to be self-promoting. God says, look, I really think a lot of humility. Moses wrote in Numbers that Moses was the most humble man on the face of the earth.
Now that would be a powerful statement if you weren't inspired by the Holy Spirit to write it. He said I'm the humblest man on the face of the earth. Solomon wrote that to the humble God gives wisdom. Didn't Jesus Christ say blessed be the meek, blessed be the lowly? Didn't Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 11, didn't he say I am humble and gentle in spirit?
Humility is part of who Jesus Christ is and should be part of who we are. After all, what have we done? You see, how impressive are we?
Have you ever really got a good look at you? You see, that's what Paul was trying to say here. And it's an amazing thing. Paul Reese wrote a book called The Adequate Man, The Apostle Paul. He makes a comment about this very passage. He says don't forget, Christ Paul, that in all this wide universe and in all the dim reaches of history there has never been such a demonstration of self-evacing humility as when the Son of God in sheer grace descended to this errant planet.
Remember that never, never in a million eons would have he done it if he were the kind of deity who looks out only for his own interest and closes his eyes to the interest of others. You must remember, my brother, and he said that through your union with him in living redemptive experience, this principle and passion by which he was moved must become the principle and passion by which you are moved. In other words, his passion for the principle of humility should be my passion.
It should be your passion. You see, it's the most Christ-like thing we do. You've got to watch out for the idol of me.
It's such an easy, easy idol to bow down to. So, the next time you want to complain, don't. The next time you want to brag about yourself, don't. The next time you become totally preoccupied with you, don't. The next time you're tempted in conversation to put somebody else down so you can feel better about yourself, don't.
The next time you're driving and you're tempted to jeopardize the safety of everyone around you so you can text, don't. The next time you're tempted to look in the mirror and walk away pretty impressed with yourself, how about this? How about looking into your soul?
See yourself for what you really are. You see, I think for some of us, for many of us, it's time to bury the idol of me. Pray. Father, this is such an easy idol that for some of us it's like second nature. It's the kind of thing that we're not even aware of except in the way we see life in general. It's always about ourselves.
It's always about our preferences, our rights, our comfort level. It's always about us. And Father, what we end up becoming is something very different than Jesus Christ. Father, I thank you that when He came, He humbled Himself. And it wasn't about Him.
It was about us. Father, I pray that as Paul said, we have this attitude in ourselves that was in Jesus Christ, that was in the Apostle Paul, that we stop with this total affirmation of only ourselves at the expense of everybody else. Father, I would pray that we become a people, a group with no narcissism in it at all. Father, I would pray that Your Spirit this next week will give each and every one of us opportunities to be unselfish or to be selfish, to be oriented to others or be totally preoccupied with ourselves.
And in those opportunities may we feel the sting of conviction because we find ourselves out being what we shouldn't be at all. Father, I thank you for great examples that you've put in my life and I'm sure in the lives of these people, of people who are impressive on so many levels but from their own point of view walk in humility and contrite-ness before you. Thank you, Father, for the example of Paul and most of all for the example of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In His name we pray.
Amen. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.
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