How to take the form of a servant | Gig Harbor | Chapel Hill Online
#formofaservant #holyspirit #spiritfilled
How do I empty me of myself? How do I get filled with the Holy Spirit? If those are questions you ask, Gunnar has some of the answers in this sermon on how to take the form of a servant. Taken directly from Philippians 2, Gunnar teaches us how to empty ourselves so we can be filled!
Discussion Questions:
1. Read Philippians 2. Jesus emptied himself, not of his substance, but of his status in order to give away his very self. In what moments in your own life do you experience a tension between a desire for status and giving away of self to others?
2. What motivated Jesus to give himself away in service and sacrifice?
3. What are some practical ways that you can give yourself away in service and sacrifice?
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Transcript:
Good morning Chapel Hill! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Gunnar and I’m the director of worship, soon to be your pastor of worship… ???? I want to kick off today by saying a big THANK YOU to you as a church. I’m so grateful for your support over the last four years as I’ve pursued ordination. You’ve helped me through seminary. You’ve prayed for me. You’ve lifted my spirits week after week as you worship out there. So, I just want to say thank you!
Today we continue our journey through the book of Philippians. And what we’ve been digging into in this second chapter of the book could be summarized in our series title: Joy on Empty. In other words, we find in this chapter that it’s when we are at our emptiest that we can experienced the fullest joy. That the fullest life is actually an empty life. And we are invited into that life—a life where we are filled up with all that God has to offer because we’ve emptied ourselves of all we hold on to so dearly. We’re going to continue digging into this theme of the empty life as we pick up in our verses today. So, let’s read together Philippians, chapter 2, beginning in verse 5:
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.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. [Pray]
This passage is one of the most succinct and yet the most in-depth poems about Jesus that we have. As Pastor Mark mentioned last week, this is likely one of the very first worship songs, the first hymns, that the church ever sang about Jesus.
But just like all the songs we sing in church, they’re not just meant to be expressional—ways that we express our worship to God—they’re also formational—they form us into the people of God. The songs that we sing are meant to give us words that help shape us more into the image of Jesus. And that’s certainly the case with this ancient song about Jesus. That’s why Paul starts off our passage with this invitation: “Have this mind among yourselves that was also in Christ Jesus.” We are invited to think like Jesus, to become more like Jesus. To be shaped by this song more and more into his image. And the way that we are called by this song to become more like Jesus is going to be what we focus our time on today—it’s the big idea of our message. And that’s this: The Christian life is an empty life! If we want to be like Jesus, we have to empty ourselves. [Repeat]
We’re pulling this main idea from verse seven, where it says that Jesus emptied himself. And that phrase translates an important Greek word, which is kenosis. [Say that?] This whole idea of kenosis—of emptying oneself— has been a real point of controversy. It’s a confusing concept—I mean, what does that even look like? So, we’re going to try to get to the bottom of that—what it meant for Jesus and, by extension, what it means for us. And to do that, we’re going to answer two simple questions. (1) How did Jesus empty himself? And (2) how do we empty ourselves?
So, first: how did Jesus empty himself? Well, as you can imagine, these verses in Philippians 2 answer that for us. But, interestingly enough, before we’re told what Jesus did empty himself of, we’re first told what he did not empty himself of. We’re told at the beginning of our song that Jesus did not empty himself of his substance as God. Put another way, Jesus did not give up any of his God-ness, his divinity. The Christ hymn begins with these powerful words in verse six: “who, though Jesus was in the form of God…” This little phrase is actually more fully translated in another translation of the Bible, the NIV, when it says, “who, being in very nature God.”
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