You Over Me

frequently what is it that stands out about Grace Point to me I’m asked as the pastor sometimes my hairdresser will ask it and she’s she’s sympathetic to spiritual things that’s where we’ve left things so far and she’ll ask me questions repeatedly because she knows that I will actually turn up the volume in my answer a little bit while I’m sitting there in her chair it’s really fun and I say well you know one of the things that stands out about our church is it’s a great

place to have a crisis and you know others in other chairs just about get cut at that moment from you know they look over and it’s like I said you know because people don’t beat you up and bury you they love you they come alongside you they go you know I don’t I don’t know what the details are and you don’t have to share them but I just I’m here for you I care that cool I if you’re not if you’re not feeling that be part

of that and then it’ll change everything it’ll change everything so I want to call your attention to something this morning that might seem a little strange way to start a message but I have a problem with my message title everybody reaching your bulletin it’s maybe easier to see on the sheet in front of you but my title is you over me and I don’t like the title title now this might surprise you I chose the title okay so but I don’t like the title and unless

I miss my guess more than a few of you don’t either so you just take one bite of that idea and it and it’s like really do we have to be that way here’s why we live you and I live in the same world and that world as you know is a me world some of you want to correct me and that’s okay you can call it an eye world you know to go with your phone in your pad and your whatever okay but it’s all

about me and and there’s no getting around that today that’s the world we live in so titles like you over me I almost it would have been too corny but I was gonna actually put it on your outline the word you that pronoun the word over underneath it and me but it just I don’t know it didn’t look quite good in print but it’s the idea and the truth is it’s not likely to sit very well with more than a few of us we grew up

in this world differently than that title me over you is more familiar and comfortable I made a list of evidence ladies first okay the expression ladies first there’s actually a restaurant in Portland that proudly announces death to that sexist statement I don’t even know what kind of restaurant it is but I know I’m not going there because I like to open the door I do it at the club even early in the morning and more than a couple of times I’ve I’ve done it for a

woman and a and a woman will say no you go and I I just go that I don’t like that because the actual the instinctive chivalry that goes with those words is dead for many now you might say no it’s alive in me and tell me that I’ll open the door for you gladly every time because it cost me dearly as a boy when I didn’t open it for my sister or mother okay so I learned chivalry matters now I’m gonna shock you how many of

you have a child either a baby today or a grown-up baby that’s okay so now this might shock you this very first words you heard from your child were not mama mama they were my that’s what was going on there so you just need to know that right and you don’t need to consult with renowned child development psychologist Piaget I remember learning him in graduate school he was really insightful and he had lots of things to say about child development but there is not one child

that has been born with the instinct to say no no you go ahead I’ll wait my turn can I get an amen right even even some little ears present today they’re angelic but they’re devils inside no skin you get the idea here right they’re not gonna wait their turn you need proof of this how many proof no well case you do meet me in cafe next next hour okay there’s donuts on the table I have yet to see in 25 years a child stand back go

no what are you doing over there the table of donuts is up here I’m waiting my turn I want to wait till everybody has a chance to walk by the table and then I’ll get in line you kidding me they grab donuts let come and go non not my favorite here Krista just confessed the family sin that’s her daughter that’s her daughter so so funny maybe you know the the name Rick Warren he’s a pastor in southern Cal and he wrote he wrote a book called

let me just call it what it is it’s a huge risk in the opening sentence of his book the purpose driven life the very first sentence for offensive words greet the reader it’s not about you his publisher warned him against it most anybody that he asked said that is a gamble and a half by the way the risk apparently paid off to date it has sold over 32 million copies now my cynical side I have to confess to you I think half of those were bought

by somebody so they could give it to somebody with that message right okay there you go so here’s the deal folks okay kid in the side what whether you’re selling books or or just ideas you over me causes for many a knee jerk reaction you want to find exceptions you know that leads to abuse and marriages and all this stuff please just put those on the shelf for right now let’s just here go okay risky title aside I chose it because the Bible teaches it never

has the Bible apologized not once for being politically incorrect regularly the Bible says things that offend the biggest offense of all he’s got a name Jesus Christ Peter said he would be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense you can get away with the name God in our world but you cannot in many circles say the name Jesus without somebody looking at you with a sense of you just got my space so back to the Bible it makes a statement without stuttering that self

is a non-starter it’s it’s a hard hit to our ears but Jesus was the one who said this to his disciples whoever by the way that’s a way of taking everybody from the front road of the back row in this gathering and anybody that will listen to it in the coming weeks through podcast whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me it’s not about you hear that in the back of your mind as we read on

for whoever wants to save his life or her life will lose it whoever loses their life for me will save it then some rather logical questions what good is it for someone to gain the whole world “Yet lose or forfeit their very self.” Whoever’s ashamed of me and my words, the son of man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of holy angels. One gets the clear sense from reading these words from Luke chapter

9, 23 to 26. One gets the clear sense that a lot is writing on the question. Can you?

Can I and will we get over self? There’s a lot writing on that question. And I’m just going to take a stab that not everybody can answer. Yeah, for sure. Got me.

Roll on. Because the implications are so deep and incredibly personal. That’s what this message is about this morning. So today I want to take aim at threats to community. I have two of them in mind and you need to turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter 2 to see them with me and we’ll spend the balance of our time at that fantastic New Testament for chapter letter by the Apostle Paul.

I’ll say it. I do from time to time. I’m reminding you that all scriptures inspired by God, Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 3. All scriptures inspired by the God. That means their source is in God.

He is the one that breathed these words and he picked men and women, people throughout history to put that pin to the paper. It wasn’t paper, but trust me. Put these thoughts down so that Christians then and Jesus loved them. That they’ve ever since can refer to them. So this is no exception.

These words written by the human author, Paul, the Apostle, are from God. They are inspired by God. And let me say before we plunge into this that the biggest, if you want to write something down, if you ask me, Pastor, what’s the biggest community killer of all? I would say the word self. I would say self and I think the Bible agrees.

Actually, that’s where I got the idea. So Philippians 2, you’re going to see that now. Let’s notice a community that I’m going to just have you imagine. So this will help you connect with it. The Apostle Paul wrote these people and he was one of those few letters that was not correcting a problem.

He’s in prison. It’s one of the so-called prison epistles. And he is writing to people and he’s not, not once in four chapters, correcting a problem. Hey, y’all, you got a division problem. Let’s get it together.

Or hey, you got a, you know, a love problem. Let’s figure that thing out. So four chapters, not one corrected problem there, but the theme even by a casual reader is joy and rejoice. In four chapters, those two words are some configuration. Of them appears 16 times.

So it’s like it’s on his mind, which is a takeaway all by itself. Here’s a guy in prison talking in the most joy-filled book. It’s said to be the joy letter of the New Testament, maybe the whole Bible. That’s a big deal. Some of you are in a kind of a prison right now.

This is not my point of the point of my message, but maybe it is God’s point for you. That prison, you can still have joy. And Paul did. And so he talked a lot about joy. So this church, if you had lived, if you had lived in Philippi, the ancient city, you would have wanted to have attended this church.

You would have said, that’s the place for us. Me and my family, we want to be in this church. They had it going. So let’s take a look at what made what I’m saying so true. Okay, so they had this, it’s an attractive picture here in Philippians of Christian community.

Look at chapter two. If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in 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 of mind. So let’s stop for a second. They belong to Jesus. That’s the starting point in what we’re reading here.

They are united with Christ. That’s where unity begins, people. That’s where community comes from, being united in Christ. The core of community, we could say, is that I know Jesus. Yes, I do.

I know Jesus and you do too. Okay? There’s a commonality that weathers any difference. That’s the idea here. So they were united with Christ and notice next, they share a love with each other.

It’s any comfort from this love of Jesus. They share love with each other from that core of being united with Jesus. So in other words, this connection I have to Jesus and you have to Jesus, it results in something called love. Okay? Being a particularly loving guy or you, it’s that we are sourced in Jesus and from that source, love flows.

You getting this? So that’s the connection here that’s being made. There’s still one more, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was working fruits in this churches and in the people’s lives. And the results were tenderness and compassion.

I can’t think of words that better describe community. So when I love you, it comes out a certain way. How’s that? Tenderness, I’m gentle with you. Compassion, that means I don’t kick you when you’re down.

That means I don’t point out your faults. That means I’m biased toward restoring you when you blow it. How’s that sound for good? I am. I don’t want to see you go down.

By the way, everything I’m saying, hopefully is true of you toward me. See how that works? It’s a one another. So we’ve got this thing from the Holy Spirit and verse two. I love all these common words in verse two because they speak of something that happens here on Sunday morning.

Okay? So I’m going to replay this. Christ is leading this team and this gathering in worship. And I came early and got to hear them rehearsing. And sometimes I do that.

Just to kind of rub shoulders with the crew and say, hey, we’re all in this together and all that. But I always come away with this sense of, wow, there’s harmony happening here. I hear different instruments, some guitars, capo, some are, you know, and then voices. You hear this harmony and then, I mean, something in me just wants to sing. I’m not sure which part, but I’m going to sing.

And, you know, I throw twists their way, but I hear this beautiful blend. It’s called harmony. You all know music probably better than I do, but one thing you know is that this is not the same sound across the board. But what you and I take away from it is, wow, that’s cool. That sounded really good.

It’s called harmony. Like-minded. Look at verse two. They were like-minded. They had the same love.

They had- they were one in spirit and one in mind. Do you see it all come together? Talk about a church that had it going. They had oneness, but they were very different and they complimented each other beautifully. That’s a good picture.

That doesn’t just hold true for a worship team. That holds true for this team. The Grace Point team. And it’s- that’s what God wants. He doesn’t- He’s not interested in sameness.

That is boring. It’s clearly boring. I was talking to somebody as we gathered this morning and we were talking about green and of course that’s the color of the day with St. Patrick’s, but they said, “Well, sometimes I get by just with my eyes.” And I said, “Sears?”

And they said, “Yeah, they’re green eyes.” And I said, “Well, I’m staring real close at this person.” And I said, “We used to call that Hazel.” And they said, “Well, no, that’s a little- that’s got a little more brown in it or whatever.” These are- and they were sort of creepy- green eyes.

I mean, they were really serious green eyes, right? And I thought- I actually went to the mirror afterwards because I think mine are kind of Hazel, at least on my driver’s license. I don’t know. But I went to the mirror and I thought, “No, mine are different than that.” And I’m gonna give you right now an awkward free 10 seconds.

Look at somebody next to you and look in their eyes right now. Okay, everybody? Some of you that just led to a kiss, very good. Okay, that’s really good, that’s charming. Okay, what are you seeing?

How many saw somebody with exactly the same color of eyes as theirs? Probably a few. How many saw different eyes looking at you? You see God working in this? By the way, you didn’t create your own eyes.

And I color, right? We have two daughters that are redheads. And they, as soon as they were born, we were like, haha, where did red come from? This is so cool, you know? And then we had the genetic this, geneticist, said there’s a recessive genes.

So you gotta look back if you don’t, obviously I don’t have red hair, Debbie doesn’t have red hair. We started searching and we found serious tomato heads in our family, right? That mean really? And that’s how it shows up. And this is God going, hey, let me mix a little of this and a little of that.

And it’s the God that we’re a part of. Amen? I love that. I love that we’re not same because we would be boring. Y’all dressed like me.

There’s only a couple of me, right? You get my point here, right? So this is really good. And the blend of our differences is what sounds beautiful. It’s harmony.

I think that’s a pretty attractive picture of community. Could it be, really? We’re reading about the perfect church. I mean, all that I just said about Philippi and the Philippians? Perhaps.

And if it was, now bad news for you, it wasn’t for long. Why? Because people would show up. You know what I mean. A church full of people is a church full of potential and problems.

It’s true. You’re looking at one of them. Lots of potential, just like you. Lots of problems. It’s a package, baby.

This is what you get, you know? Now, topping the list of problems is self. Which is why right after describing these words in verses one and two, such a picture of beautiful Christian community, the Apostle Paul draws attention, quickly to two of the biggest threats to Christian community. By the way, I’ll repeat it. They were not existent yet in this community.

He was trying to keep it from happening. They’ve probably been existent in every church since. Verse three, do nothing to mess it up. That’s what verse three is saying, right? Verse one and two is supposed to make it if I did a half ways job, you’re going, man, that’s irresistible.

Verse three says, do nothing out of selfishness, selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you, this is a shared assignment to the interests of the others. Threat number one, will you write this down? Now, threat number one, pride. Pride.

When pride is present, community pays a terrible price. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. That’s the word pride. Pride shows up with a haughty spirit. That’s what it looks like.

The stuff of selfish ambition and he uses vain and vain conceit. It’s the me over you spirit. That’s haughty. That’s this idea of selfish ambition and vain conceit. Just the opposite of my message title, you over me.

So it’s a threat to community here. The spirit that Jesus wants for his church. As I said earlier, the Bible has never been known to be politically correct or interested in such things as we define them today. The Bible doesn’t hold back either when it calls out this first threat to community, the threat of pride, because back in Proverbs, these words should be memorized by most of us. Pride precedes poverty is how I used to put it.

That helped me remember it. Pride goes before a fall or destruction. And this haughty spirit that I’m a big deal spirit before that crash and burn. So this is a really predictable outcome. Somebody that’s proud will either fall in their own life or add to and create fall in other people in a community.

Pride’s a problem. It’s not just a problem that’s known in the Old Testament, the writer of Proverbs. It finds its way to a half brother of Jesus named James in the New Testament who was given words from the Holy Spirit. And he said, “He, God, gives a greater grace.” Think about this.

God gives grace when we don’t have what we need to do what he’s about to tell us to do. You with that? Okay? So when we are weak, he gives us grace to make us strong. In this case, gives us greater grace for what?

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. He shows favor to the humble. Here’s the deal. It’s hard for humans to let others be over them, to live out you over me. And in order to do that, God provides grace to make it possible for you to do something that in your flesh is not going to happen.

That’s the idea of James 4 verse 6. So grace is important to be the kind of guy or gal that will contribute to community, to be humble. So we’ve got to choose humility over pride. That’s the starting here, okay? Which shows up in a very visible way noted in the second threat.

To community. And that is threat number two, set it throughout self. It’s self. We’ve got to choose to be others minded and not self minded. Do not look out for your own interests, but put others ahead of you.

The interests of others matter more than us, than me, than you. And we as a people tend to be obsessed with ourselves and our own personal interest. And when that happens, community crumbles. Value others, keyword here, above yourself. Don’t merely look out for your own interests, but for the interests of others.

This is nothing to trifle with, y’all. The preposition is that I’m using that the Bible in verse four of Philippians two is using is important. Value others above verse three, above yourselves. It’s like the word over yourself. This is giving to others a higher grade or status than self.

Paul said it maybe in a little more memorable way in Romans chapter 12 verse 10. Be devoted to one another, he says, in love. Honor one another, there’s the word again, above yourself. So I have a question this morning. We’re 15 minutes from head next door.

So right this moment, let’s imagine totally unexpected. Somebody very special and important walked into this room. Let’s start with who that might be. When I say special and important, it might be a mentor to you. It might be a family member that is just your favorite.

It might be a somebody it’s past already but you boy you miss them and I mean beyond the shock it would just be the thrill of your life if they they somehow were here so imagine somebody important you can throw in a famous person if you like I mean if you’re crazy football fan you can throw in a football player or whatever so let’s imagine that person walks in this room right now and if in the room doesn’t work let’s say this afternoon when you go

home and you’re kicking back and and all of a sudden there’s an knock on your door at your house or apartment or whatever and you go to the door and there they are so what what reaction give me some of your reactions to this imaginary person I’m having you you hold them in super high regard what say you how do you react you’re welcoming how does welcoming look big hug you cry are you hungry are you thirsty you know stay don’t go be here be my

husband that day’s coming by the way so what all these words point to is the very natural response to to be okay with putting others above or over self that you honor that’s the word word that I’m having you think through what does honor look like well not one person said I’d go oh hey come on in you know really no chairs but you know park it on the floor whatever you know that’s not honor right okay everybody right now this is the sound of honor

okay on three you get your turn ready one two three sound like a birthing mother what you’re you I love you that’s that is exactly what you do you say here have my seat oh you busy yourself to do everything you know to do to honor them why because you’re treating them above yourself that’s what it looks like and the Bible saying all of us need to behave that way all the time toward everyone that’s kind of that gotcha moment because I’ll do that for a

few people I have a list of people in my brain that’s that I say get your own chair yeah are you close the door go no we don’t buy anything at the door you know kind of okay so is this realistic what we’re talking about here to choose humility over pride to choose others over self how do you do that what’s that look like I’m kind of guessing I have to imagine this that the verses that follow reveal the fact that Paul guessed that these people

would go huh how am I supposed to choose humility over pride how am I supposed to choose you over me and if if you want wonder the same right now I’m guessing that’s why we find the most remarkable paragraph I think in the whole New Testament to follow it’s to it’s to answer the question that’s likely on your mind it probably was on their minds how do I do that let’s get to adverse five in your relationships with one another have the same mindset as Christ

Jesus best example of someone who lived you over me is the it’s Jesus let’s read on in your relationships with one another have the same mindset as Christ Jesus who being God being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage can I put it in very plain terms Jesus was a big deal he is God and he lived not once saying with a swag hey I’m God remember I made you your little I’m big it’s not

what he did nature God he did not consider quality with God something to to be used to his own advantage read on with me read verse seven rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant by being made in human likeness being found in appearance as a man he’s not done he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross became man and if that’s not enough then he became a slave man and if that’s not enough he became

an obedient slave to suffer and die on a cross at the hands of people that he was putting above himself humans result verse nine therefore God exalted Jesus to the highest place he gave him the name that is above every name gave him the name that’s 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 acknowledged that Jesus Christ is the big deal he is Lord to the glory of God the

Father so I ask you is this realistic my takeaway not on my own it’s not but with the Holy Spirit helping me to follow the example of Jesus I can live out others over me and so can you and you you just got to know when we do community thrives you close your bibles and close your eyes let’s just welcome back the worship team for a few moments and some time to kind of process and take in with God’s Holy Spirit has taught us we we

do that because Jesus you’re worthy of our praise and our response to what we’ve heard you present to us today there’s no one above you Jesus no one you are clearly in every way over me over us will you pray that right now whisper those words Jesus there is no one above you Jesus you are clearly in every way over me help me then Jesus to take the same risk that you took to see others over me and by being that person by living that way

cause our community to thrive let’s respond to the one who gave us the example that makes the path ahead of us clear and doable

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 4,922 words.