Grace, I invite you to take your Bibles this morning as we come to the ministry of the word and turn in them to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2 this morning, we're going to be considering verses 1 through 11. Philippians chapter 2, verses 1 through 11. And this morning, instead of reading the text, I'm going to pray and then we'll just get right into it and address the text as it comes. But if you are following along in a pew Bible, You could find our passage this morning on page 981, really 980 and 981, Philippians chapter 2, verses 1 through 11. Let's pray this morning as we come before the ministry of the word. Father, sometimes people often say that when we come into your sanctuary with your people on your day, that what we should do is leave all of our troubles and all of our worries and all of our concerns outside. Just block them out and come in and ignore them. But Father, as I read the psalmist, I don't read them doing that. I read them bringing their tears into the sanctuary. I read of them bringing their grief and their pain and their sorrow and their loneliness and their trepidation and their anger and their fear to the altar. And Father, I pray that you would allow us as a people to do that this morning because your word is powerful. It is sharper than any double edged sword. Your Spirit is alive and well in your church and in our hearts of those who profess your name. And Father, I pray this morning that His Spirit and Word converge to bring before our attention the humble attitude of your Son and our Lord Jesus Christ, that Father, we would be a changed people. that we would be able to take all of our emotions and all of our troubles and all of our sorrows to the God who cares, to the God who listens, and to the God who has power not only to save, but to sanctify as the double benefit of the covenant that he has given to his people. Father, would you help your servant this morning to compassionately and pastorally unpack this word for your people. I cannot do it without your help. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Last month we spent a good deal of time in the Word of God on service, and the reason that we did that was because of what we're doing this morning. Everything is culminated and coalesced in the ordination and installation of our new deacons. And so the elders thought it the better part of wisdom to spend some time in September to think about service. And so we did that and I intended to bring this kind of capstone message last week, but I was sick and so I'd like to bring it this morning. But our focus has been on service and everything is going to coalesce in my mind this morning in Philippians chapter 2 verses 1 through 11. And I just want to say from the outset, I don't feel worthy to preach this message. I certainly do not feel worthy to walk on the sacred and holy ground of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because though I am called as a minister to preach what we ought to be and what we should be and what we should be striving to be, I am by no means there. I'm a prideful man. I'm a wicked man with a wicked heart. I'm a sinner and only by the grace of God am I a saint. And so as I bring this to your attention, I want you to know that I have wrestled with this text in my study and on my knees this week. And I'm thankful that the Lord has brought some semblance of humility for me to see things in my own life that need to be revealed. But I'd also like to say this this morning. I know that all of you in your life, whether it is in the context of the church or in the context of your family or in the context of your neighborhoods or in your jobs, have sought to serve people. You've sought to give yourself over to others. You've read Philippians 2, and you know that it says, after the instruction and example of our Lord, that we are to empty ourselves, that we are to give ourselves to others. And I know that many of you have sought to do that as the prevailing disposition of your life, and yet I also know, because I experienced this too, whether it's in the context of ministry or just everyday life, that as we seek to empty ourselves of ourselves and put the interests of others before us, we often have returned to us rebuke. We often have returned to us a rebuffing of our efforts. We are not vindicated for our efforts to serve others and put their needs first. People don't see that. Our actions are not justified. And what does that bring? That brings frustration. You know what else it brings? It brings reluctance to put ourselves out there again, and again, and again, and again. Some of you wives have husbands that are hard to deal with, and you seek to serve them, and you seek to love them, and you seek to change them, which, by the way, not a good thing to do. But in your efforts to do that, you get rebuffed. Likewise, husbands have wives that are difficult to live with, and you seek to serve them and love them, hoping that through that grace would be shown and that they would change, and you get rebuffed. And I want all of you, whether you are in that circumstance or any circumstance in your life, when you have tried to serve, tried to love, tried to put yourself out there as a willing sacrifice and have been rebuffed, and rebuked and have not been vindicated, I invite you this morning to consider this, that was the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ time and time again gave himself, emptied himself, put the interests of others before his own, and what did they do to him? They crucified him. They crucified Him. They said, we don't want your grace. We don't want your kingdom. We don't want your teaching. We want our way. And I would just invite you as we step into the holy and sacred ground of this text to keep in mind you are not alone. Jesus is with you. This is the promise that He gave as He ascended up to heaven. Lo, I am with you always until the very end of the age. This servant, Jesus Christ. who has experienced more rebuke and more pushback and more opposition and more oppression than you will ever experience in a thousand lifetimes, He is with you and He is holding your hand and He says the fight is worth it. The fight is worth it to be a servant. The fight is worth it to empty yourselves. And this morning we're gonna find out why. Last thing I will say by means of introduction this morning is this, I wanna put a challenge out to you. I submit to you that if you took Philippians chapter 2 verses 1 through 11 and you meditated on it, read it, prayed over it, thought about it, sought to be not simply a hearer of the Word but a doer of the Word with it for 30 days, I promise you that your life will be changed. I promise you by the help of the Spirit and the work of God in your life that if you let the attitude of Jesus Christ pour over you through the reading of these verses and give yourself over to it, make yourself vulnerable, be willing to say, Father, point out to me in my life and in my heart where my wickedness is, where my reluctance is, where my stiff-neckedness is, the Lord will sanctify you. I just want to put that challenge out to you this morning. Now this morning what I'd like to do is consider a few things, and the first thing is this. I want us to consider in verses 1-4 this unrivaled command that Paul gives us of self-emptying. Look at the text, Philippians chapter 2 verses 1-4. Paul writes to the Philippians and says, So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind, doing nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." That's radical. That is a radical command. That is a difficult command. That is a tall glass of water, as they say, a hard pill to swallow. Paul doesn't want us this morning, as we consider these commands, to try to fit this into easy Christianity. He doesn't want us to try to fit this into an accommodated Christianity, or even worse, a cultural Christianity. Paul expects you and he expects me and anybody who would read or hear these words to wrestle with this. He's not wearing rose-colored glasses. He's calling all of us to something higher, something greater, something so phenomenally extravagant. than what we're typically used to and inclined to, that on the surface it seems utterly impossible. And frankly, I would say a little crazy. What is he calling us to do? Listen, he's calling us to lose ourselves in the other. He's calling us to lose ourselves in the other. He's calling us to empty ourselves of ourselves and give ourselves to someone else. He is calling you to give to people, excuse me, he's not calling you to give to people whatever they ask of you, even if it violates your conscience. He's not calling you to lay limp in an intellectual argument launched against Christianity. And notice in verse four, he doesn't exclude the basic ways in which you must care for yourself when you look out for the interests of others. Paul isn't saying don't feed yourself, don't groom yourself, don't brush your teeth. He very much wants you to do that. He says in verse four, Look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. So he's not canceling out taking care of yourself. He's not canceling out you speaking up for yourself, but he is putting a higher premium on putting others before your own. You know, there is no doubt, there is no doubt that if you were to pick out, listen to me, if you were to pick out this morning one problem One problem in your life right now that you could no doubt place the blame on somebody else, right? Just think of any problem in your life. You could put the blame on somebody else. However, if we were honest with ourselves, I mean painfully honest, the kind of painful honesty we employ when we helpfully point out the flaws of others, I think we would find that we may be more of the problem than we're willing to admit. As sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, we have a keen ability of getting in the way of God's glory. To override self-ambition and conceit, we need to find a way to empty ourselves, to empty ourselves. And curiously, Paul uses the example of Jesus's incarnation as a way to exhort us to get out of the way. The irony here is that of all humans who walked on the face of the earth, Jesus was more entitled to glory and self-ambition than anyone else. And that's why what he did was so astounding. So we see in verses one through four, this call, this imperative, this command to put the needs of others before ourselves to essentially empty ourselves. But how can we do that? Paul says in verses five through eight, by looking at Christ. So consider secondly, this morning, that the key to self-emptying is the incarnation. The key to self-emptying is the incarnation. Look at verses five through eight this morning. Look at the sacred text. Paul says, have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." Now this text is incredibly theologically complex. The big question that many of you may be asking and perhaps have asked of this question, of this text, is of what is Jesus emptying Himself? Of what is Jesus emptying Himself? What is the character of this emptying? What is He getting rid of, if you will? That is an incredibly important question if you, like me, proclaim that Jesus is God. Just yesterday I had two Jehovah's Witnesses come to my door. It was the first time in Virginia Beach that it had happened. And the old me grabbed my Greek Bible and went to John 1 and 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 2 and all the other texts and was ready for a good old fashioned fight. I didn't do it this time. I've just learned it's just like it doesn't work. But if you are going to claim that Jesus is God, you need to answer the question in this text of what is he emptying himself? Let me suggest to you four ways to think or four things to think about with respect to His emptying. And the first one is this, and this is incredibly important for what we're considering this morning. Jesus' life was dominated by a particular attitude. I want you to understand that though this text is the fodder or the grist for the mill, if you will, for tomes on systematic theology that talk about the incarnation and Jesus Christ as God and how to work through all of those things, how can it be God and man at the same time? How does that work? The fact of the matter is, Paul's principal concern, listen to me, Paul's principal concern is not theology. I don't take that the wrong way. His principal concern is ethics. His principal concern is your attitude and my attitude in our service to others. Now that is theologically driven, make no mistake. But his principal concern is ethics in the life of the church, and as the church is light and salt to the world, and it's going to be driven by the engine of the incarnation. But notice that what he's getting at in verse 5 is attitude. Have this attitude, this mentality, this mindset. You could translate verse 5 this way. Let the same kind of thinking dominate you as it dominated Christ Jesus. Domination. Let this attitude dominate your thinking. Let it have the center of control and be at the helm of the command center and navigate how you approach every single relationship in your life. Selflessness, emptying, let this attitude dominate you. So from the get-go, whatever Paul is saying is about the actual incarnation, the chief thing he is highlighting is a particular attitude that Jesus had and is to be imitated by us. Secondly, second thing I want you to notice. This is incredibly important in verse six. He did not take advantage of his deity. Here's where I'm going to have to enter into a little bit of translation work, so please stick with me. It's very important. A more nuanced way to translate verse 6 is this, who, because he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be used for his own advantage. I think that's the best way, a very careful way of translating this last Greek verb in the text, okay? Something to be grasped is a metaphorical or figurative phrase. And it seems to be a little amorphous unless you fine tune the way in which you bring out the translation to get at what Paul's getting at. In other words, okay? The pre-incarnate Son saw His co-equal and co-eternal existence with the Father, listen, not as something to excuse Him from, but as uniquely qualifying Him for the task of redemptive suffering and death as a man. I find that very interesting. Because I think sometimes in our thinking, it's like the more we accomplish, the greater status we achieve, there are certain things that are what? They're under us, right? I'm not gonna take out the trash. I pay the bills around here. I'm not gonna do this, that, or the other thing. I did that when I was, you know, getting my licks in the woodshed and I was working my way up, but I don't do that anymore. That's beneath me. This is the attitude of what Paul's getting at here. And he's saying, if anybody was entitled, If anybody was deserving to not do these menial tasks below him like crucifixion, it was Jesus. But though, Paul says, he was in the form of God, he did not count equality, co-equality, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, co-eternal existence, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, he did not count equality as something to take advantage of. He's not gonna pull it out as a trump card. And when Isaiah the prophet says, who will go for us, in speaking of that inter-trinitarian dialogue between the Father, Son, and Spirit before time began, who will go for us, who will redeem mankind, Jesus does not say, not me, somebody else is gonna have to do it. He says, I will go. I will go. He did not take advantage of his deity. And we'll come back to that in a moment. Third thing I want you to notice is this. And this is incredibly important in verse seven and eight. He emptied by taking. He emptied by taking. Now this is where most ink is spilled or bits if you're talking about electronic communication. Jesus didn't use his co-equal status with the Father to do whatever he wanted, but what did he do? The ESV says he emptied himself. The question is of what? Let me make it abundantly clear what he did not empty himself of. He did not empty himself of deity. Boys and girls, that means of his godness, of his divine character, his divine, listen, essence. Jesus Christ is God. And if you empty your, if he were to empty himself in the incarnation of his godness or any divine attribute for that matter, he would cease to be what? He would cease to be God. So he did not empty himself of deity or divine attributes. You say, why are you bringing this up? Because there are many evangelical theologies that say that. Canonic theologies say things like, Jesus emptied himself of deity. He put it aside, he refused to use it. No, that's not what's going on, and by the way, that is not orthodox, historic Christianity as reflected in the creeds and confessions. But instead, what Paul is doing here is he's using an idiomatic expression. It is empty in the sense of giving up one's rights. Notice that the phrase emptied himself is immediately expanded upon in verses seven and eight by the participial verb taking. Now, let me clarify things for you. People ask the questions, what did he empty himself of? What did he empty himself of? Besides bad grammar, it's an unhelpful question because The text tells you in verse seven and eight what Paul is getting at. The text says, in verse seven and eight, by, okay? That is what we call an instrumental use of the participial verb, which underlines that what Paul is doing is he's explaining or expanding what he means by emptying. So what did he empty himself of? Paul says something very curious. He says he emptied himself by taking. Stop. Wait a minute. You're saying he took something out by taking. Paul, that's paradoxical. That's exactly what he's trying to get at. What is he trying to explain? The incarnation. The incarnation is incredibly mysterious. Theologians to this day try to explain it rationally and logically and come up short. There is paradox in the incarnation, and what I mean by that is that it does make sense to God in His mind, but there is something of a veil over that that we cannot see, and that's what paradox means. Paradox does not mean contradiction. Paradox means that these two things, Jesus's deity and humanity in one person, come together in some way, but we don't totally see it, we don't totally grasp it, so we use as much as we can human language, whether that's English or Greek or Latin or whatever, to kind of grasp at straws to explain something that is inherently mysterious to us. But what does he say, coming back to the text? He says, in verse six, he emptied himself, participial verb, by, Taking the form of a servant. Jesus empties himself by taking to himself. What does he take to himself? He empties himself of particular rights and prerogatives by taking to himself the form of a servant. The word in the Greek is doulos, and you could translate it servant or you could translate it slave. He became a slave, being born in human likeness. So in the incarnation, Jesus did not subtract from His essence, nor was His essence reduced in some way. His full deity took on the addition of a human nature, and this is why in the Chalcedonian Creed, we say that Jesus had two natures without confusion, without change, without division, and without separation. So Jesus is fully God and fully man. What this verse teaches is that Jesus emptied himself by taking to himself a complete human nature and a willingness to undergo the agony of death for our sake and for our salvation. The incarnation then, I would submit to you, is a veiling of the divine glory of God behind human flesh. It is a veiling. And is this not how we sing of it at Christmas time? Hark the herald angels sing. Veiled in flesh, veiled. Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate deity. Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel, God come near. Calvin called the incarnation the crypsis. the hiddenness. And Donald MacLeod describes this incarnational hiddenness in this way. He says, in becoming incarnate, God not only accommodates Himself to human weakness, He buries His glory under veil after veil so that it is impossible for flesh and blood to recognize Him. As He hangs on the cross, bleeding, battered, powerless, and forsaken, the last thing He looks like is God. Indeed, He scarcely looks human. So Jesus, in emptying Himself, takes to Himself. And I think, as we think about, we get on the road to applying this, this is where we come in and we say, how can I empty myself? By taking the form of a servant. How can I empty myself of my agenda by taking the form of a servant to the degree that I can, to the degree that is rational? And this is what Jesus did in the incarnation. And the fourth thing I would have you note in verse eight is this. Jesus was obedient in living and in dying. And when you look at verse eight, it's very important. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself. by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Why does Paul here, in laying out and unpacking the incarnation, speak of obedience? Because it was Christ's obedience which secured our salvation. Was it simply the obedience in His death which secured our salvation? Is Paul just saying that from the point he got on the Via Dolorosa and started walking toward Calvary, from that point, his obedience from that point on is what secured our salvation? No. He says He was obedient to the point of death. What does that mean? That means that all of His obedience from His incarnation and being born of the Virgin Mary, all of His obedience, all of His learning, all of His instruction, all of His submission to the will of the Father up to the point of death, all of that is necessary for our salvation. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of his death. See, from the moment Jesus was incarnated to the point of his death, all of that is what our theologians have always called his state of humiliation. His state of humiliation. You see, he was not just humbled when he was on the cross, beloved, he was humbled when he had to come and mix it up with people like you and me. He was humbled when He had to deal with the hardness of heart and stubbornness, not only of His disciples, but of everyone who just didn't get Him, who was unwilling to get Him, who was unwilling to listen to what He had to say. He was amongst sinners as a spotless lamb. You see, Jesus' obedience is what, listen, qualifies His death to be accepted by the Father. Let me put this as plainly as I possibly can. If Jesus were not perfectly obedient, His death on the cross would mean nothing for you and me. Nothing. It would cover no sin. And is this not typified in the old covenant? What kind of lamb was necessary to qualify as a sacrifice of atonement? A spotless lamb. An unblemished lamb. What does this tell us? Listen to me, I'm gonna apply it. So often when we think about service to one another, I don't care if you're talking about service to your husband, service to your wife, service to your boss, that's a jerk, service to whomever. Oftentimes we, in very romantic terms, say things like, I'm willing to die for my wife, I'm willing to die for my husband, I'm willing to even die for my friend. Good, glorious, romantic, that's wonderful. You know what else Jesus did for us? He lived for us. Jesus lived for us. And in the incarnation, in His valley of humiliation, what is on display among all things until we get to Calvary is His living for us. And you know what His living looked like for us? It looked like humility. It looked like emptying Himself. It looked like taking the form of a doulos, a slave, a servant to the will of His Father. Jesus's obedience is just as important as his death, and they're inextricable. You can't separate his death from his obedience. You can't separate his obedience from his death. His death is sufficient because he was obedient, and his obedience is what qualifies him for his death. This is why so much in this church, we talk about the active and passive obedience of Christ. It is the gospel, plain and simple. So this rich passage lays out for us the basis upon which we are saved, but it does more than that. It also gives us an example to follow, an example to put into practice in our lives. Husbands, live for your wives. Wives, live for your husbands. Do the hard things that go along with living for them. Do the hard things that go along with denying yourself. Do the hard things that, yes, may put you on a similar path as your Lord in being in the valley and in the state of humiliation. This is radical. And thirdly, you may be asking yourself this question, a very real and a very valid and a very honest question. Number three, can I do this? Can I do this? Can you do this? Can you do this? Can we deny ourselves? Can we empty ourselves like this? Can we do this? There's always objections that people make to such a command. I can't do this. I was brought up by a mother and a father who were very selfish. I was brought up to be angry. I was brought up to be impatient. That's just how I've been conditioned. And so I can't do this, Josh. I can't do this, Paul. Or, I'm too set in my ways. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. You know, I've been impatient and unloving and all these things for all these years, and I'm just gonna wait until I just can put my pinky toe over the precipice of the kingdom of heaven and make it just by the skin of my teeth, but I'm not gonna try. Well, Paul calls us to try. He calls us to try, he calls us to do. But I want you to notice something in verse five. Please look at the sacred text. What does Paul say regarding such objections? I can't do this. Look at verse five, he says this. Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus. Did you miss that? You know what Paul just said? He followed up an imperative with an indicative. You know what the indicative is? It's yours. You have this mind. Paul's not saying go searching for it. Paul's not saying go find it, go on an expedition. He says that you have it in Christ Jesus. By virtue of your union with Jesus Christ through repentance and faith, you have this mind. You see, God has given us what he commands of us. Notice that Paul says that this mind is yours in Christ. This is so often undervalued, so often overlooked, so often disregarded and even ignored. So much of my counseling, you know what it is? So much of my counseling is reminding brothers and sisters in Christ, you have this. You may not be practicing it very well. You may be a little rusty in the implementation of this thing. life, but you have this mind. You have this mindset if you are in Christ Jesus. Everything you need to put this into practice today is here. You have been given the Spirit, verse 1. You have encouragement in Christ, verse 1. You have comfort from love, especially the love that Christ has shown you through His life of sacrifice and self-denial. You have affection and sympathy from the example of Christ. All of those things in verse 1, Paul says, if there is any of these things, have the same mind, empty yourselves. Verse 5, you have this mind in Christ. Have you ever been rebuffed as you tried to serve other people? And what do you want? You want consolation, you want encouragement, you want comfort from love. Paul says you have that. You have that in Christ. You see, there are many things that need to be sacrificed and put to death when we think about our service to others, and perhaps the greatest obstacle which needs to be crucified is these types of excuses that we make. They don't deserve my service. Friend, can I tell you, neither did you deserve the service of Jesus Christ. They don't deserve my forgiveness, and nor did you. Nor did you. They don't deserve my mercy and my grace. Nor did you miserable servants deserve the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ. But guess what? God showed it to you in Jesus Christ, despite the fact that you and I were miserable sinners. That is our pattern. That is our pattern. Now, because we have this mind in us, does that mean that there won't be a fight? I think this is more getting into and probing into reality as we see it. Does that mean that there's not going to be a fight? Of course not. As perfect as Jesus was, He fought hard to submit to the Father. Think of the drops of blood in the garden. Please listen to me. Because what I'm trying to convey to you this morning is that as Jesus was in the valley of humiliation, emptying Himself, taking the form of a slave, He fought for it. He dropped drops of blood, He sweated drops of blood. Think of His cry of anguish on the cross, My Father, My Father, why have you forsaken Me? Do you detect some emotional anguish in that? Jesus fought for this. Think of His rejection by family, His rejection by the mob, a mob that just a week earlier was singing His praises. The mocking of the thief on the cross, the blows and the whips and the false accusations. Jesus fought hard to be a slave to the Father and so we are to fight hard to be slaves to the will of the Father. It's not going to be easy. When we come to Paul's high calling to put the needs of others before our own, we should expect a fight. And Paul tells us about this fight elsewhere in his epistles. And he says, really, there's a sense in which it's very simple, at least theoretically. You're either going to walk by the Spirit or you're going to walk by the flesh. And the question is, in this moment, after which are you walking? But then finally this morning I want you to consider what I'm calling the counterintuitive result. Look at verses 9 through 11. What is the counterintuitive result of Jesus putting the needs of others before his own? Verses 9 through 11. Look at the sacred text. after Christ has been humiliated, God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. What happens here? Jesus is humbled in His incarnation as He leaves, as it were, the glory of heaven to come down in the crypsis or the hiddenness of the incarnation, and He takes the form of a servant, He takes the form of a slave, and walks through the valley of humiliation for 33 years. And what does God do? God exalts Him. You know what this teaches us, plain and simple? The way up is down. The way up is down This is how Jesus taught all through his life. He was, in a sense, paradoxical. He was, in a sense, enigmatic. And those who had ears to hear could hear and understand what he was saying, but the way up is down. Losing yourself in the other, what does that equal? It equals, come back to verse one in Philippians, encouragement in Christ, comfort from love, participation in the Spirit, affection and sympathy. Are you discouraged right now? Are you discouraged right now? What is one way that you could think about being encouraged by serving others? You say, that's counterintuitive. That's what Jesus is getting at. The way up is down. The way up, encouragement, comfort and love, consolation, participation from the Spirit, affection and empathy. Listen, this is gonna be mind boggling, is to stop thinking as much about yourself. Stop thinking so much about yourself. So often when people come in to me to counseling and they lay out, let's say, how discouraged they are, how depressed they are, all these types of things, I think that many of them think that the way to really get into the issue and solve it is to go deep into their psyche and examine all their deep motives and try to identify something in their childhood that perhaps has contributed to their present state of affairs, maybe. But then again, maybe not. Sometimes the answer to deep discontentment and depression is that we've successfully accomplished the very thing that Paul is urging us to avoid. We've focused too heavily upon ourselves. We're good about protecting ourselves, about finding comfort for ourselves, about making sure that everything is perfect in our present conditions, but it seems to me that what many of us need to do is to lose ourselves. How do you lose yourselves? How did Jesus do it? At no point in His time here on earth did He say that He came to do His own will. To the contrary, time and time again, He said He came to do the Father's will. He served others. He helped others. He put off any individual desire and literally sacrificed it upon the cross of Calvary. We need to lose ourselves. And I do not confess to have figured out how to perfectly do this in my own life, but what I have been able to put my finger on is I'm not doing it enough. I'm not doing it enough. Let me give one application to our deacons this morning. One of the hardest things to do when serving on a deacon board is to balance conviction with deference. It's the hardest thing you're going to have to do, I guarantee you. It's something that the elders are still trying to figure out how to do. Our conviction on matters that are secondary, our conviction on wisdom matters must always be placed into the context of the peace, purity, and unity of the church. We cannot be so independent that we destroy the church in order to get our way. On the other hand, we cannot be so sheepish that we do not make our concerns known. So how do you balance that? I'll pray for you, but I encourage you to seek balance in that area. With respect to how this applies to all the rest of us above and beyond what I've already said, I challenge every one of us this week to lose ourselves in service to somebody else. Lose yourself in your service to your wife. Lose yourself in your service to your husband. Boys and girls, lose yourself in your service to your parents. Parents, lose yourself in your service to your children. Lose yourself in your service to your fellow man. Lose your own agenda. Lose your own way. And simply give yourself to serving someone else. I think you might be surprised what you find. You see, Jesus' life was wholly taken up and emptying Himself. And for that reason, God highly exalted Him. It reminds me of something else our Lord said in Matthew 10.39, whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Maybe the problem with some of us this morning is we've been trying to find our life and equate our accomplishments with our identity in such a way that they have become an idol, and then we're flabbergasted when we're depressed and discouraged. It's because Jesus has called us to lose our life, not find it, but to lose it. And if you would find your life this morning, whether that is for the first time or the 2000th time, come to Jesus this morning. Come in repentance. Turn from your sins. Admit that your wicked heart wants to rule the world and have everything your way. Admit that that is your heart. Confess your sins to the Lord and embrace the free gift of salvation that Christ has come not only to die but to live for you and to give unto you perfect righteousness and obedience that will make you stand before the Father and a clean slate because of the atonement of sin that He has given through His death. Come to Jesus. Let's pray. Father God, as we seek to apply these things, I pray that we would be mindful that you have mercy and grace with us as we try to lose ourselves in the other, as we try to serve others, as we try to put the needs of others before our own. You have grace and mercy with us. Father, may we have grace and mercy with others as they try to do the same with us. Father, beat back our desires to be vindicated in this life, in our service. Lord, You know, You know what we do. You see what we do, Father. So often ministry is a thankless thing. We serve and we give and we sacrifice and we exert blood, sweat, and tears and the world doesn't see it and they don't give us our crown. Remind us, Father, that that's not the way it's supposed to be. Our commendation is to come from You. Drive this seed into our hearts, Father. Give us humility. Give us a Christ-like mindset and let it dominate our lives. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.