Be like Jesus (Ph. 2:5-11)

Back in the year 1992, Gatorade, an American sports drink company, launched an advertising campaign called “Be Like Mike.” The implicit message behind the campaign was that if you drink Gatorade, you’ll be able to leap, run and dunk like Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest basketball player of all time. He wasn’t the only great player on his team, but his mindset of intense competitiveness and extremely high expectations rubbed off on the other players. He led by example and changed the culture, leading the Chicago Bulls to great success. This kind of unified mindset is the best way to achieve the goals of any group of people, whether it’s a sports team, tradies on a worksite, staff in an organisation, or even a family. It’s often said that “teamwork makes the dream work.”

It’s similar when it comes to the church. If we are to be an effective Christian community, we need to share the same mindset. Why does the church exist? Why does our church exist? What are we called to do? These are questions that are hard to answer without an example to follow.

Paul is urging the Christians in Philippi to “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” In other words, “Be Like Jesus.” This is more than just thinking the way Jesus thought. It’s about acting how Jesus shows us to act and listening to what he says.

In our text for today, there are three ways that Jesus’ mindset is described to us: humble, obedient, and exalted. These will be our three points for today.

Humble

Jesus was humble in many ways throughout his earthly life. We remember how he so often put the needs of others before his own and performed many acts of service to others. But he was humble even before he performed these actions of humility for other people. God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, enters his own creation.

C.S. Lewis describes God as the Author of creation who writes himself into his own story. Hamlet would have seen evidence of Shakespeare everywhere around him, since Shakespeare was the author of Hamlet’s whole world. Yet, there is no way for Hamlet to personally know Shakespeare unless the author writes himself into his own story. God is the Author, and the world is his story—the only way for us to know him is if he enters the world himself. That’s exactly what he did.

God became a human. I’m not sure if we fully appreciate how humble that act is. Jesus was with God from the very beginning. He had his place in heaven. He was “in the form of God,” as he showed by his miraculous works and teaching. He doesn’t just look or sound like God—he is God—but he didn’t take advantage of his divinity, his “God-ness.” Instead, he emptied himself and became a human being, a servant even. He still possessed his divine power and revealed it to us from time to time, but he never used it to his own advantage.

Likewise, you have God-given gifts and abilities. Will you use them for your own benefit, or will you use them to serve others? Humility is about putting our own needs aside to meet the needs of others. This is the life that Jesus exemplifies for us and calls us to live.

Obedient

Now, on the day when we remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, we could think that Jesus was anything but humble, let alone obedient.

Did he ride into town on a donkey to make himself more visible? Did he want the palms and cloaks to draw attention to himself? Who does he think he is? He’s of no royal descent, he has no rightful claim to any throne, nor is he a religious leader or even a wealthy citizen. So how can Paul say that Jesus was humble and obedient?

Palm Sunday happened because of Jesus’ obedience to his Father’s will, which is made known to us in Scripture. Zechariah 9:9 reads:

“...see, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey...”

Everything that happened on Palm Sunday happened so that Scripture would be fulfilled. The city, the donkey, and even the words of the people were prophesied in the Old Testament. All the gospel writers are very particular about the way that they reference the Old Testament because it’s highly important for Jesus. His fulfilment of Scripture shows people that he is truly the promised Messiah.

Sometimes, however, fulfilling Scripture was a very tough ask for Jesus. It’s all well and good to ride into town and be praised, but there are many other things that the Old Testament tells us about Jesus, and a lot of it isn’t pretty. We heard in today’s reading from Isaiah that Jesus would be beaten, mocked, and spat on. Yet, Jesus was obedient. He went through all of this because it is what the Son of God had to do.

It wasn’t easy for him. On the eve of his betrayal he will pray, “Father, let this cup pass from me...” This was no walk in the park. He had to grit his teeth and say to his Father, “Yet not my will, but yours.”

If he is God, why can’t he just skip all of this and get to the victory? “Save yourself, and come down from the cross,” say the people. God is supposed to be mighty and strong. He’s supposed to win the battle and be our conquering hero.

To us, obedience often seems like weakness. It’s true that obedience can make us vulnerable, and those in positions of authority over us can unfortunately misuse that trust. However, being obedient to a good God can only be a good thing. Yes, it requires us to put aside our own needs, and it often means going against our own understanding of what’s best. It can even require more strength from us than being the hero.

Jesus “learned obedience through what he suffered.” It’s often the most testing and difficult experiences in our lives that can teach us the most. We often feel powerless and even helpless, having little or no control over what happens. During those times, we don’t place our trust in chance or coincidence—we place our trust in God, whose ways are not our ways, and whose thoughts are not our thoughts. Jesus, too, had to find the strength to trust in his Father’s will, even though he knew what was coming next.

All of this seems completely opposite to the righteous and victorious king we were expecting. So, which is it? Is he a servant or a king? “This is our God, the Servant King.” He is both servant and king; both suffering and victorious; both man and God.

He knew that to fulfil his purpose as the Saviour of the world, he would have to suffer and die. He knew that only his obedience could undo the effect of Adam’s disobedience. He was obedient to the point of death—only a divine being has a choice when it comes to death.

Why? Because the way up is down—before God exalts him, lifts him up, he first had to lower himself to the lowest point possible. He had to descend before he could ascend.

God’s will for Jesus was for him to suffer and die for the sins of the world, which he was obedient to. What is God’s will for us? To simply live in faith towards him and in love towards one another. The price for our sin has already been paid, and so we are obedient to God out of thankfulness. We don’t always live according to his will – we’re often not very good at “being like Jesus” – and for that we pray for God’s mercy. But we know that we have a God who freely forgives our sins and strengthens our faith because of his Son’s obedience all the way to the cross.

Exalted

Paul began this passage by describing Jesus’ example. But by the time we get halfway through it, it’s almost like he’s forgotten about the point he started with and got a bit carried away with telling people about Jesus. To have the mindset of Christ, you need to know Christ. That’s why Paul turns his attention to him so strongly.

Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name...

Because of what he humbly and obediently endured, God exalted him. Jesus suffered and died for the sins of the world. Therefore, his name is above every name. Jesus fully deserves the highest place because of what he’s done for us. He is fully deserving of all our praise and thanksgiving.

What does it mean that his name is above every name? In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray, “Hallowed be your name.” First and foremost, a name is what you address someone with. In Jesus’ case, his name literally means “salvation is of the Lord.” He is a living definition of his own name.

Secondly, “name” can refer to someone’s reputation or status. So, who has the name that is above every name? Who stands above the rest simply because of who they are? There can only be one answer: God himself.

After Jesus went to the lowest of lows, God raised him up, not only in the resurrection, but also in his ascension to the right hand of God. He went through the most embarrassing, disgraceful, and shameful death imaginable—death on a cross—so that we don’t have to. And now, he has returned to heaven, where we will one day join him.

As the people of God on earth, we share in Jesus’ name. By our baptism, which is in the name of Father, Son, and Spirit, we are adopted as God’s children and so we share in his righteousness. Romans 8:17 tells us that we are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

We still suffer, but we can look to God for help. We still sin, but because of Jesus, we are forgiven sinners. We didn’t ask for it, and sometimes we don’t even recognise our need for it, but he offers his salvation to us by his grace alone.

We ought to try to be like Jesus. He provides us with a living example of humility and obedience which we ought to follow. But thank God that he is so much more than just an example. He is our Saviour and Redeemer. We praise and honour him because of what he has done, and because it’s just who he is.

He has defeated death forever so that one day we might join him in heaven, where every tongue will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.