New Self-Forgetfulness

Well, good morning to everybody. So glad to see you this morning. And we're going to be in Philippians chapter two in just a moment. If you want to find that in your copy of God's Word or on your device, we'll be in Philippians 2 in just a moment. Let me add to the voices already, the women who shared this morning and encouraged our mothers. I just wanna say, I want to celebrate alongside of you on this Mother's Day. I'm so grateful for moms and the impact in the family unit, and the impact in the local body of Christ, and the impact in our community. Really, really grateful for you and thank God for you. And then, you know, if you pay close attention to motherhood, you'll find some glimpses of something in motherhood that every single one of us need to be instructed about and need to understand more deeply and it's this, the self-forgetfulness that comes with a mom helping to raise and care for and love a child. There's a self-forgetfulness that happens, particularly when they're newborns, that you just don't think about yourself and you have to think about them, and caring for them, and loving them. And that's instructive for us because I've seen it play out in the moms in my life. I've seen my mom do that, I've seen my wife be that kind of mother, I've seen my daughter-in-law and she's cared for our new grand baby. And I'm sure that that's the case with friends and everybody under the sound of my voice who's a mother, that there is a self-forgetfulness that exists when we begin caring for and loving another. And what a beautiful attribute ultimately that is because to be able to forget about ourselves and to truly care for and enjoy someone else outside of us is a real gift. So, moms, thank you for that instruction, it's gonna be helpful in what I'm preaching today. And you have been the great setup for what is coming in just a moment. So thank you and God bless all of you. Now, that said, I would also remind you that days like today, whether it's Mother's Day or Father's Day or birthday or whatever, can also be a trap and I'll tell you why. Because there's something that exists in the world that's called pride. And pride likes to get into everything. And what pride does is it wants to get into things and make those things less beautiful. Pride is like water, it always finds its way in somehow. You may not have wanted it to enter in, but it does. And so you didn't want water in your basement after you just painted the walls and now you have a little bit of, you know, ice melt off or whatever, and then the water gets in and you've got these beautifully painted walls until the bottom that looks moldy and gross because water got involved, right? What water does is it ends up finding its way into everything, and then it steals from it a bit of its beauty. And that can happen if we're not careful on special days that we should rightly be able to celebrate, you know, moms or dads or your birthdays or whatever. We should be able to do that, that's a right thing to do. But we have to be careful and guard against the thinking that can come along with it. Like, for instance, moms, this is possible that this could happen. I'm not saying it is, but it could. Where it's like, you know what, what he was saying today about how self forgetful I was, he's so right. I was self forgetful and I cared for these children so beautifully. So a couple quick questions, where are my flowers? Where is my spa day? And do not even think about coming up in here asking me about dinner. That's on you tonight, right? So it's possible that we could take something so good and so beautiful, and then turn it and make it actually all about us in ways that aren't healthy or aren't helpful, right? We could do that with our birthdays, and nobody's immune to that. It's just part of the self corruption that happens with pride and it happens to everybody, whether it's moms or dads or grandparents or singles or students or young marriage. It happens to everybody and it's something that happens where we get preoccupied with ourself and ourself is always screaming for attention. You know, it's kind of like when you have a broken bone that is always, whatever that is, if it's on your foot or if it's on your hand or whatever, it's always screaming for attention. Why? Because something's wrong with it. And in our old selves, our old selves are constantly clamoring for attention. And the more you give it, it's never satisfied. You just keep giving attention to the old self, and it just keeps consuming and consuming. Why? Because there's something broken. And that's why we have to go from living in the old self to living ultimately in the new self. Because what happens is this, is that when the old self, we go from what we're designed to be, which is mirrors to reflect the glory of God, and instead becomes billboards to our own awesomeness. We go from being what we should be, which is the moon, which actually shines only because the sun is giving its light. The moon has no light of its own, but it just reflects the light of the sun. But we move away from being the moon into fancying ourselves as the very sun itself. I am shining, I am bright, I am glorious. You see, this is what the corruption of pride can do in our hearts and we have to guard against it, and we have to be careful about it because that's what pride and the old self wants. See, I'm a convinced that the Apostle Paul, when he's writing to the church at Philippi, and frankly when he's writing to anyone, I'm just convinced that the apostle Paul knew the internal torment of the old self and the memories of the old self versus that of living out of the reality of the new self. I mean, Paul was brilliant. He was an extraordinary mind. He was esteemed by everyone that was a pharisee. He was an expert in the law who had studied under Gamaliel. He was a persecutor of those who did not hold to Judaism and pharisee at Judaism, specifically those who called themselves followers of Jesus Christ. He was constantly proving himself. He was showing people his bonafides as a pharisee of pharisees, and as one who studied under Gamaliel, and as a zealot for the things of God and for the law of God. And he was finding his identity in his performance because there were those around him, I'm sure that were always going, "Hey, that's Saul. He's a superstar. He studied under Gamaliel. He is one of the up-and-coming great pharisees, and he's gonna be the hope for our entire pharisees sect." And he's probably thinking to himself, I've gotta live into this and I've gotta perform. And he knew that the Hebrew scriptures were opposed to pride. Yet, in his performance, he's appealing to everything that relates to selfish ambition. Paul knew exactly what the old self was all about. But, Paul also knew exactly what the new self was all about. He knew just what it was to live out of the new self. And so what Paul teaches us, ultimately, when he teaches us about the old self and the new self, which we've been studying over the last few weeks, he teaches us this, that the new self does not really obsess about itself like the old self does. The old self, it just obsesses about itself. The new self doesn't obsess about itself. In fact, it doesn't even think about itself very much. Now we're going to see that play out as Paul's writing to the Philippians. And when he writes to them, there are certainly a handful of problems that are in Philippi, some that have to do with inside of the church, and some that are kind of freshers from the outside of the church. But I want you to listen to the instruction that he gives to the Philippians and that we want to receive by the Holy Spirit even this day. Here's what Paul writes, Philippians chapter two, beginning in verse three, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others." See what's happening in the center point of those two verses is that Paul is highlighting the virtue of humility. He says, rather in humility, this is what he's trying to highlight here is the idea of humility. We should embody it, we should embrace it. And you say, "Okay. Well, why? Why is that such a big deal that Paul is talking about the idea of humility?" I'll tell you why. Because it was radical for his time and place. You see, in the ancient world, particularly the ancient Greco Roman world, humility was not looked at as a virtue. Humility was looked at as something you did not want to be a part of. Humility was identified with being menial or being of no account. This was the idea behind humility. And there was nobody, no pagan was gonna run after the idea of humility. In fact, that's quite contrary to what they would do. So this was by no means viewed as a virtue. It wasn't necessarily viewed as a vice, it was just something that they did not want to have anything to do with. And Paul says that the people of Jesus ought to embody humility. Now, this is radical and really, really instructive to us, because when he's doing this he's saying, it's not that you're menial, it's not that you're unfit, it's not that you're of no account, it's that you're like Jesus when you're like this. That's what Paul's getting at in this text. It's not that you're menial and of no account, it's that you're like Jesus when you embody humility. Paul's trying to teach us that what's fundamental to the new self is actually the idea of humility, because humility's not obsessing about itself. Now, what is humility? Some of you're thinking to yourself, you know, every time I hear that, I just think of, you know, you've gotta talk bad about yourself and always go, oh, I'm so terrible. And that's humility, right? Oh, they're so humble. I'm just, I'm terrible, I'm ugly, I'm bald, I'm, you know, I'm whatever, right? And you just start saying things about yourself and that's humility. It's almost like you're Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. I don't really know what his deal was, by the way. I'm not really sure. I don't know if it clinically depressed, something, I don't know why they wrote that in like a children's thing. I mean, if you're at a party and you run into Eeyore, you're like, "I'm not hanging with Eeyore. I would like to hang with Tigger." And he's always doing that stuff, right? I'm like, "I'm leaving Eeyore and I'm going to Tigger." If I'm at the Winnie the Poo party, that's where I'm going to be, right? So I don't know what that deal is, but that's not really what humility is. We're not talking about humility as talking down about ourselves or trying to, you know what, we've gotta take ourselves down a few pegs, or we've gotta speak poorly of ourselves, we're really into low self-esteem or high self-esteem. Actually, humility is not about esteem that's low or high, it's about nothing. It's about no esteem. It's not about high self-esteem, low self-esteem. It's actually about no self, no esteem. We're not even thinking about that. That's what humility actually looks like. And what Paul does in these verses for us, in verses three and four, is he actually talks to us about the the negative side and the positive side of what humility is not and what humility is. Let's just look at it for just a moment and then we'll unpack kind of how we get that. How do we actually have that embedded into our lives? Paul, first of all, teaches us that humility is not selfish ambition. All right. You say, well, where did you get that? Well, from what Paul exactly wrote in verse number three. He said, do nothing out of selfish ambition, right? So what we know is that humility is not selfish ambition. Now, you may be asking yourself, what does selfish ambition mean? Well, Paul used that term, very same term, selfish ambition, just a few verses earlier in chapter one, because he was talking about some preachers and teachers, some who were teaching out of right motive, some who were teaching out of envy and jealousy and rivalry with Paul. Listen to what he says in chapter one, beginning in verse 15 he says, "It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains." You see, the idea of selfish ambition carries with it the idea of envy or rivalry or competition or comparison. Let me ask you a question. Has comparison out of envy ever attacked your heart? I bet it has. Somebody said, "Absolutely." I bet it has, right? That's an honest response because you know how that goes, right? Somebody on social media puts up a picture of their family and everybody comments, "You've got such a beautiful family, it's a gorgeous family." And you're seeing this post. And instead of maybe you do have a beautiful family, maybe what enters your mind is, I'll show you a beautiful family. Boom. Right here, I'm gonna post my family picture and I'm gonna put it in the comment section of where you posted your family picture. Because what I need people to do is go, "Well, look at their family and look at their family. Their family's a little better than their fa," right? It's this comparison, it's envy, it's weird, it's gross, it's toxic, but it enters our hearts and minds. Or when we're on the job or at the office and the boss gives a compliment to this particular person for what they're doing and you're thinking to yourself, "Oh, you think they do that good? Watch this." And I'm gonna do something and it's out of envy, and it's out of rivalry, and it's out of jealousy, and it's out of comparison. And what selfish ambition is trying to do is trying to say, "Here's you, here's me." Now, you're great, you're awesome. I really think you're awesome, you're just not quite as awesome as me. That's what selfish ambition is endeavoring to do. And here's what Paul says, that is not humility. But he also says humility is not vain conceit. He uses that in the same text. Look with me in verse number three, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit." What does Paul say when he's saying vain conceit? Well, another translation is this, empty glory. In other words those people who want adulation for themselves who don't even deserve that kind of adulation or glory, but they are desiring to do that for some reason. It is a vain conceit, it is an empty glory. Now, I was watching this past week, some sports, and I won't tell you which sport, it rhymes with NBA. And the playoffs are going on, and there was a particular guy at the end of the game who had a really fantastic game. I mean, it was just, he had the game of his lifetime, right? I've never heard of the guy, I've never seen the guy in my entire life. I'm not a huge NBA guy, but I know the kind of the stars, and I know most of the guys who play, you know, generally, but the bench people I don't really have much of an idea of at all. And I don't watch it near as much as baseball because as we know, Jesus loves baseball, right? So in watching this in the playoffs, right, it's a big, big game and he has the game of his life. He hasn't played most of the season, he's been on the bench most of the year, and then kind of comes off occasionally of the bench and stuff. But he just shows up and has an incredible game. And so he is getting interviewed after the game because they always interview who's the star of the game, right? And it's probably the first time it's ever happened to this guy, right? And I'm watching him and he literally says this. He says, "Truth be told, it might sound narcissistic or not, but I'm in love with myself and I want to be my best self." He literally said that and I'm thinking, "Dude, you probably need to score a few more points and play a few more minutes before you start acting like you're LeBron." What is going on? Right? It is empty glory. It's vain conceit. Like that's where you just go, "Oh man, you had a great game, but just dial it back for a minute." Right? You're taking upon yourself this ridiculous amount of glory and you don't even play most of the time. And I haven't heard boo out of him for the rest of the playoffs, by the way. He had a really great game, which was great, but it's just one of those things I was like, "Okay, reminder to self, don't do that." Right? Humility is not selfish ambition, and humility is not vain conceit, and humility is also not self-interested. Notice what Paul says in verse number four, "Not looking to your own interests." What Paul is saying here and trying to remind us of is that our thoughts and our desires and our ideas don't always have to be of supreme importance to the exclusion of everyone else's. We do not have to be and should not be so self-interested that we think that our feelings, our thoughts, our ideas, our desires are primary and everyone else's are secondary at best. So Paul says, humility is not these things, not selfish ambition, not vain conceit, not self-interested. But then he says, what humility is, it is valuing others above ourselves. Now, this is what Paul says in verse number three. "Rather in humility, value others above yourselves." What's Paul saying here? I don't think he's trying to get at the idea that other people are more important than us in terms of value. That's not it, right? The whole scripture reminds us that we're all created in the image of God, all with inherent dignity, all bearing the image of God. So it's not about that. It's about actually that other people's interests, we need to value as much or more than we do our own. That we value others ahead of or above ourselves. That their interests are of greater concern to us than just our own interests. And then he says it another way. He kind of reminds us that humility, it is looking to the interests of others. Here's what he says in verse number four. "Not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others." This is just another way of saying the same thing. What he's trying to remind us of is that it has to be beyond ourselves and has to be outside of ourselves because we can't just be obsessing about ourselves. So, when Paul's saying to us in these two verses what humility is not and what humility is, it reminds us of how, like what we talked about at the very beginning with what moms demonstrate early on with their kids, that humility really carries with it the idea of self-forgetfulness. In fact, I would summarize this not in an exhaustive way, because humility can be described in a variety of different ways. But, here's one way to look at what Paul's saying. Humility is self-forgetfulness, and self-forgetfulness is a hallmark of the new self. Humility is self-forgetfulness, and self-forgetfulness is really something that's consistent with what it means to live life in the new self as opposed to the old self. Now, I don't mean by that when I say self-forgetfulness, I'm not saying that we can never give any attention to ourselves. I've said already in this series, there is a healthy self-love, right? Husbands love your wives as yourself. Paul says in Ephesians chapter five, he says, "Love your wives as Christ love the church." But then he says, "Love your wives as yourself," a little bit later in that passage of scripture, right? Love your neighbor as yourself, right? There is a healthy sense of where we value what God has given us, the life that we have and who we are in Him, but not an unhealthy obsession with self because that's the old self trying to allow pride to dictate our very lives. So what humility is is self-forgetfulness, and self-forgetfulness is the hallmark of the new self. Now, I'm not the first one to come up with the idea of humility being self-forgetfulness. I'm not even close. So don't walk out of here saying, "You know, that definition that Jerry made up out of the clear blue sky." 'Cause I didn't, there's lots of people who've talked about this idea, not the least of which is C. S. Lewis. You are gonna be shocked that I'm gonna reference C. S. Lewis in a message that I teach on. Anybody that knows me knows I love the man, and maybe have an unhealthy obsession with his writing and maybe even his life. I've actually been to his house. Not a lie, it's true. I've been to the pond in the back of his house. That's also true. I've been to the place where he would eat lunch with Tolkien and some of the others that they called the Inklings. And I sat in that very place called The Eagle and the child, and ate lunch there. I've been to his church and I sat in the seat that he sat in in his church and got a picture of it to prove it. Then I went from the church to his grave and took a picture of that. I have a problem. That much is obvious. But Lewis had something really great to say when he wrote the book "Mere Christianity." There was a section in there, a chapter on pride, and it was brilliant. Listen to what Lewis said. He said, "True humility is more like self-forgetfulness than false modesty." "True humility is more like self-forgetfulness than it is false modesty." It's so brilliant because false humility and arrogance are the exact same thing, just two different masks. But they're the exact same thing. They're both motivated by pride, they're both motivated by self. And Lewis says that true humility is much more like self-forgetfulness than it is false modesty. And then he goes on to say, here's what's interesting about when you meet somebody who's actually humble. Here's what he says. He says, "If you meet a really humble man, probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him, it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility, he will not be thinking about himself at all." That is a great description of what humility actually looks like. And again, Lewis is not the only one who's talked about that. There's others who've talked about the same thing. There's a philosopher named Philip Kreeft and he said this, he said, "Humility is not an exaggeratedly low opinion of yourself. Humility is self-forgetfulness." And then two women that I think described this really beautifully. One is, you guys remember Helen Keller? Helen Keller who at 19 months old became both blind and deaf and yet wrote some very, very insightful and beautiful words. Listen to what she said. She said, "Sometimes, it is true, a sense of isolation unfolds me like a cold mist as I sit alone and wait at life's shut gate. Beyond there is light, and music, and sweet companionship, but I may not enter. Fate, silent, pitiless, bars the way. Silence sits in immense upon my soul. Then comes hope with a smile and whispers, 'There is joy in self-forgetfulness.' So I try to make the light in others' eyes my sun, the music in others' ears my symphony, the smile on others' lips, my happiness." There was another woman, maybe you've read the novel, "Little Women", Louisa May Alcott. And she was describing the main character Jo and how Jo looked at her sister Beth. Beth had been through, she just had kind of a hard life, right? A lot of sickness and ailments and those kinds of things. And so she's describing how Jo is viewing her sister. And here's what she writes. She writes, "Often when she woke, Jo found Beth reading in her well-worn little book, heard her singing softly, to beguile the sleepless night, or saw her lean her face upon her hands while slow tears dropped through the transparent fingers. And Jo would lie watching her with thoughts too deep for tears, feeling that Beth, in her simple unselfish way, was trying to wean herself from the dear old life, and fit herself for the life to come, by sacred words of comfort, quiet prayers, and the music she loves so well. For with eyes made clear by many tears, and a heart softened by the tenderest sorrow, she recognized the beauty of her sister's life. Uneventful, unambitious, yet full of the genuine virtues which smell sweet, and blossom in the dust, the self-forgetfulness that makes the humblest on earth remembered soonest in heaven, the true success which is possible to all." I wish I'd have wrote that. It's so beautiful, such a glorious description of what I believe Paul is getting at. It is this humility, this self-forgetfulness that Paul demonstrates that's consistent with the life of the new self. Not so obsessed with thinking about itself at all actually, but is much more like self-forgetfulness. Paul demonstrated this personally when he was writing to the church in Corinth. And I spent some time here recently teaching a series through 1 Corinthians called Brothers and Sisters. And I actually talked about this passage of scripture, but just in passing in 1 Corinthians 3 into 1 Corinthians 4, Paul's dealing with some of the divisions that are happening in Corinth. Do you remember those? They were dividing around personalities. The Corinthians were saying, "Well, I'm of Paul." Some were saying, "Well, I'm of Apollos." And others were saying, "Well, I'm of Cephas," who is Peter, right? And they were dividing themselves. And then what they were doing is they were now not only dividing themselves and aligning with one of these particular personalities, but they were also cutting down the other ones, you know. So they were probably making charges against Paul. He wasn't even a real apostle, he didn't come to faith until after the the resurrection, and he didn't walk with Jesus, and I'm not even sure if he's a real apostle. And so the Corinthians are actually passing these verdicts on Paul's life and his apostleship. And what does Paul say about it? Watch this. Paul says, "I care very little if I'm judged by you or by any human court. Indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It's the Lord who judges me." Watch what Paul did here. Paul first of all said, listen, I know that God's called me, I know that God has changed me and transformed me, and he's asked me to be a minister to the Gentiles and I'm just fulfilling the mission that God has given to me. And so let me just be honest with you, Corinthians, whatever your verdict is on me, I'm not particularly worried about it. I'm not. I love how Tim Keller points out that, and he's got this really great essay called "The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness." And Keller points out something about this passage that I think is really wise. You know in our pop culture that kind of idea of, we don't really care what other people think, makes perfect sense. Like, we say that all the time to friends, right? You're going through something, somebody says something to you, you get criticized for something, you're trying to lead through a particular situation, whatever it might be, right? And the advice that we give them is this, who cares what people think? Who cares? Who cares what they think? It doesn't matter. Who cares what they think? And to some degree probably true, not in every way, but to some degree maybe that's probably true. But what's the follow up to that that we usually talk to them about? Hey, who cares what other people think? It only matters what you think. Well, Paul's not having anything to do with that. Here's what Paul says, "Not only did I not care what you think about me, I don't even care what I think about me, because it's the Lord who matters." You see, this is the freedom of self-forgetfulness here. This is where you start going, "Oh, that's what it looks like to live in the context of the new self." Paul's basically saying, "I don't have a very high opinion of your verdict of me. I also don't have a very high opinion of my own opinion about me. What I care about is the Lord who judges all and who knows all things." How freeing is that, my friends? Where we can start to live in the reality of the new self that doesn't obsess about itself. How many nights have you spent laying on your bed, not being able to sleep because of the criticisms that have been shot right at you? Because of the cutdowns that have come to you? Maybe from friends, maybe from family members, maybe from coworkers, maybe from people you don't even know, any of those things. How many of us have have spent time just going over and over and over in our head and then trying to figure out how we can justify our own anger and justify ourselves? What if we just didn't and we just left that to the Lord? What if we actually just lived out of our new self? It doesn't mean that we're cyborgs, like people say something hurtful, it hurts. We're humans, right? We have emotions. People say something cutting, that hurts. But what if we just took that and we just gave it to the Lord? Maybe ask the question, is there anything true in here, Lord, that I need to understand to be more shaped into your image? But then, we just left it with him and let it go. What if we did that? How freeing would that be? But sometimes when we're just pouring over, and pouring over and pouring over, I can't believe they said that, and I'm pouring over and I can't sleep. And now do you know what it is? It becomes self-obsession. And that's what the old self wants for us. You know what the new self does? It's not thinking about our self-esteem. It's not even thinking about esteem. It's not even thinking about itself. What it's doing is getting out of the way so that we can think about Christ and we have room to be able to think about others, because sometimes we're so self-obsessed that we don't have any room left for anyone else. That's a really small world to be self-obsessed, population one. It's a small world. But the new self is different all together. It's freeing and it's beautiful. What if we let the Lord just handle that? So how does Paul teach us to live this way? How does he say, "Here's how you can live this way with true humility that really looks like, more than anything, self-forgetfulness." I can give it to you in three words. Look at Jesus. That's what Paul teaches us. Look at Jesus. Watch this, right after verses three and four, when Paul talks about doing nothing out of selfish ambition and vain conceit, but considering others before yourselves. And when he talks about all of that, the next verse, five, says this, "In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage. Rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, and being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself." There it is again. "He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross." You see, here's what we're reminded of where the scripture teaches us, Paul says to us, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interest of the others." And then what does he show us? Jesus. And what did Jesus do? He did nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, he valued others above himself and he didn't look to his own interests, but he looked to the interests of others. Even sinful others, like us. How remarkable, how beautiful, how transforming could this possibly be? We need to look at Jesus. Why? I'll give you a because to that statement, that three word statement. Look at Jesus because He is the pattern and the power of a life of humility. He's the power, I mean, He's the pattern and the power of a life of humility. Let me explain what I mean. Jesus' life is a pattern for us. He thought so much of others and was not so self-interested that He set aside His rights and His privileges, even though if anybody would not be accused of empty glory, it would be Him. But He set that aside and humbled Himself to go to a cross to die our death for our sins. This is the picture of humility. Do you want to know what the best corrective to pride is? Throw yourself upon the mercy of the cross and look at Jesus. That's what it is. That's what it is. If you want, if you need to work toward crushing pride in your life, run to the cross and sit there for a while. I love, I love, love, love how the Welsh pastor, theologian, Martyn Lloyd-Jones said this. He said, "There's only one thing I know of that crushes me to the ground and humiliates me to the dust, and that is to look at the Son of God, and especially contemplate the cross. When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride. Nothing else can do it. When I see that I'm a sinner, that nothing but the Son of God on the cross can save me, I am humbled to the dust. Nothing but the cross can give us this spirit of humility." Another British pastor, John Stott, I'm quoting a lot of British people today. He said this. He said, "Every time we look at the cross, Christ seems to be saying to us, 'I am here because of you. It is your sin I'm bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.' Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size." You see, the pattern for us is the pattern of the Son of God setting aside his rights, not thinking so much about himself, not being involved in vain conceit or selfish ambition, but valuing others above Himself. Not looking to his own interest, but looking to the interest of others. This is the pattern of the very Son of God in our lives, but it's also the power to live this life. Listen to what verse five says. Paul says, "In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus" Do you think Paul would exhort us to do something that we were unable to do? Do you think Paul would command us to do something that we could not possibly do? No, he wouldn't. Why can we live lives of humility? Why can we have the same mindset and the same heartset as the Son of God? Here's why. Because He lives within us. The goal of our lives is not to cloud the way of His life living out through us as a vessel and a vehicle. This is what God's design for us is in the new self. That we are in such a place that now we are letting the life of Jesus live out through us. And when that happens, here's what's going to happen, we're not going to be doing things out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather, in humility because that's the characteristic nature of Jesus' very life as Paul just described. Rather in humility, we're going to look to the interests of others ahead of ourselves. We've made room to contemplate Christ and allow His life through us to impact the world around us. That's what the world needs to see, the life of Jesus, not just our self-obsession. So what we can do is we can stop trying to add to our identity in ways that aren't through Christ. You see, sometimes we're doing that by comparison, and by rivalry, and by selfish ambition, and by envy. We're trying to add to our own a sense of identity. We're trying to make sure that we're the ones that believe ourselves that we are worthy, and we are great, and we are awesome, and we are even better maybe than some other people. But we can stop doing that when the life of Jesus is living out through us because we have a new life. Let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a few. What's better than being redeemed from sin, and death, and hell? What are you looking for that's better than that? What's more beautiful than not being worthy to be yet being adopted into the family of the King? What's more beautiful than that? What is more hopeful than God's declaration that we are fully loved and fully accepted in Christ Jesus? What's more hopeful than that? What is more promising than a forever home with Him that has been secured by our faith in what He's done, dying for our sin, rising from the grave, and conquering all that on our behalf. That now, because of his grace, through our faith, we can have an eternal place with Him. What's more promising than that? The answer to all those questions is nothing. Nothing. So why are we looking for it anywhere than Jesus? Look at Jesus. Because He is the pattern of the life of humility. He is the power for us to live this life because it's His life in us. And that means we can live in this beautiful humility that is blessedly self-forgetful. And that leaves room to have Jesus live His life through us and show others His life, 'cause that's what the world needs. Let's bow our heads for a moment in prayer. Will be dismissed in just a moment. And I would simply say this, if you're here, maybe you came with mom or maybe you came because it's mom's day. Could I just simply say this to you? You may be here and you've never really thought about the fact that it's your pride that has kept you from relationship with Jesus. You just never thought about it. But I'm telling you that that's what pride does. It keeps us from humbling ourselves and recognizing that we are sinners who cannot save ourselves. And if you've never before entrusted your life to Jesus, then in just a moment, I'm gonna pray for us. And when I say amen, there'll be some people walking out, but I'd like for you to walk up. There'll be some men and women that'll be right down front down here, and they would love to take just a moment and pray with you, and maybe send you home with something that's gonna help you in your journey of faith. And I would encourage you in that. Because the greatest decision that you can make is entrusting your life to Jesus Christ. Maybe you're here and you've been following Jesus, and you've been transformed by Him, and He's made you new and He's transformed your life, but you've kind of allowed the water of pride to seep into places in your world. And you know what that looks like, and you're beginning to see it identified in your own heart. I can't possibly apply this in your life or in mind, but here's what I know. I know that all of us can be subject to it. But maybe you'd listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to you and you'd allow Him to change you and shape you. And where that calls for seeking His forgiveness, you would do that. Where it calls for making right with someone else, you'd do that. Whatever that looks like, you would just honor the Lord and you would do that very thing. So Father, I pray that by Your own voice, by the power of Your own spirit, that you would speak to Your people and those that You are drawing to Yourself. God, I pray that You would help them to see the beauty of what life is like living in the new self, the transformed life where Your life now lives in us. That we can't perform our way into that, but that Your life lives in us. So Lord, I pray that You would speak, and You would work, and we would just respond in faith and in grace because of Your activity and our own hearts. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.