“I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for [in] Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.”

Philippians 1:12-18a

Last week we established that Philippians is a book teaching us the Master Story of Christ Jesus. Paul, as we will see again and in every week of this series, refers to himself as being “in Christ” – participating in Christ by the Spirit. He continually teaches us that the disciple of Jesus should have expectations that their life will be woven into Jesus’ very own story, suffering being a central part of it, but also new life from that death.

I’ve entitled this sermon series, “Becoming a Christ-Like, Cross-Shaped Church Family” because I understand that to be Paul’s continual reminder to the Philippian Church. He is laboring hard to undue the very strong and deep Roman values of honor and shame, of rigid class separation and the competition to out due one another in gaining more honor for yourself, at whatever the cost. This is up and against Kingdom realities in Jesus, and they, like us, need to be reminded of the Master Story of Jesus if we are to properly gain an understanding of what it means to be a Christian – what it means to be a disciple.

As we did last week, let’s one more time read together this “Master Story” as found in Philippians.

But instead of me just reading it, I am going to do something a little different that will require your participation. In the pews in front of you you will find red NIV bibles, and I encourage everyone to grab one and flip to page 1162. As you are flipping there, (read slowly): I am going to read to Philippians chapter 2, verses one to four, and when we get to verse 5, I want all of you read it aloud with me. Now, when you read aloud, don’t be shy – use that outdoor voice. And yes, I prefer old fashion paper to touch your hands, so I don’t have this on the screen behind me.

So I will begin, and join with me in verse 5:

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with 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 purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Now everyone join me:

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and become obedience to death – even death on a cross. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is 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 confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

That is our Master Story – your life is wrapped up in Jesus’ story. The patterns in Jesus story should be traced throughout your life – and who he was, the True Human living the truly Human Life, is the goal of our discipleship as Christians.

In other words, to be Jesus’ disciple is to become more Human.

Last week we ended on Paul’s request that they be people of discernment, knowing exactly what to approve of, with the result that they bear the fruit of righteousness to the glory of God.

This week we are going to be examining this fruit for Paul that reveals itself in his motivations, and also in his humility, all immersed in what was Paul’s ultimate value, his great pearl of price for which he valued above all: the Gospel. The things he says in these verses are very difficult and challenging, but I believe is actually a key piece for our modern times to understand if we are to find spiritual health once again.

Again, the way in which I approach and interpret the New Testament is through Jesus glasses. His life and story, and especially the Sermon on the Mount, lie as the backdrop for the entire book. The Old Testament find its fulfillment in him, and the New Testament finds is explanation in him. Jesus was a man of action who called people not just to believe and be saved, but he bid them come and die, to pick up their cross, and follow him.

That is central, and as we will see this morning, if we do not continually chase after this understanding of our Bibles, then we can fall into many different pitfalls that take us off mission, off of discipleship, and consume our identity as a church and make us about something other than Jesus and the Good News.

Christianity nor the Church exists for the sake of itself. Immanuel does not exist for Immanuel’s sake. Immanuel is blessed with many things, but these things are not inherently who we are. The minute that we begin that concave approach of existing for our own sake, for its own legacy’s sake, for it’s own reputation’s sake, is the day that our expression of Christianity becomes about something other than Jesus – usually about ourself.

This is so crucial to understand, but it begins with us. The ultimate thing this church exists for is Jesus Christ. He is ultimate. And whenever we see the Good News preaching and flourishing, whether it be here or at another church, we rejoice. Perhaps that’s a subtle difference, but many not so subtle. If we exist only for Immanuel’s sake, then a church down the street that is growing rapidly becomes an object of jealousy, or even worse, competition. Perhaps we then must copy what they are doing to out do them, right? To show them how it’s really done.

This sermon is going to be about forgetting yourself as Paul did here. That may sound initially odd, but we find Paul holding the Gospel higher than anything else, so even when others were competiing against him with a spirit of rivarly, and probably even trying to steal members of his church to another, all he could do was say “great! I rejoice because the Gospel is being preached.” He has held the Gospel so high that it led to him forgetting about himself, and only thinking about Jesus Christ. That is what this sermon is going to be about. Let’s dig in:

“I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for [in] Christ. 1: 13-14

At the beginning here, what we see is Paul’s personal update to the Philippian church. He is in prison, and its either in Rome or in Ephesus, no one is quite sure. However, in this introduction Paul doesn’t so much talk about himself as he talks about himself as it relates to Jesus and the Good News.

We know this is one of the letters Paul wrote from prison, one of the “Prison Letters.” He has chains on his wrists, and the irony in these verses is that for an evangelist, you would think that the Gospel message would also be chained along with him. How could he preach the Gospel if he is chained, and in prison?

As is usually true with Jesus’ Kingdom, the opposite of what you expect is occurring: the Gospel is actually advancing through his chains. As Paul said to his friend Timothy,

“Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained!” 2 Timothy 2:9

Indeed, God’s word cannot be chained. Paul gives one of the ways that it has not been chained even where he is imprisoned: the imperial guard, or the pretoruim, along with the rest keeping guard over him, are aware that he is in prison because of the Gospel.

The “pretorium” were the literal guard from the Emperor. These are one of the elite groups in the Roman Army, and Paul was being watched by them, and they became aware of the reason why he was in chains – for Jesus.

However, most English translations say “for Christ” he was imprisoned, yet literally it should somewhat awkwardly be translated as “in Christ” – so it read that his “imprisonment is in Christ.”

How was Paul imprisoned “in Christ?” Paul had so identified with Jesus and his Master Story that he knew Jesus had been imprisoned for living and speaking the Good News, and that in a way he was “sharing in the sufferings of Christ” by being imprisoned in him.

We often do not take this to heart as we should: you, if you are a disciple of Jesus this morning, are “in Christ.” It is who you are. It defines all of you, and the expectation of the disciple is one of complete and total surrender to him. You are a new creation: Jesus becomes not just our mediator in prayer, but the very mediator between us and everything we interact with in this world.

Grace abounds where sin is present among Jesus’ followers, but the Spirit is in power where obedience is found, where Jesus’ people are truly living out their “sharing” in him.

Paul continues in his telling of the advancement of the Gospel in explaining two other ways in which it has been spreading due to his imprisonment:

And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Most of the brothers and sisters, as the Greek implies, do this. Paul’s confidence in Christ is their confidence in Christ, and they feel empowered when their friend and pastor is suffering for Christ. They feel ready to join in his ranks, knowing that Jesus is theirs also, and that the expectation of suffering in this life for his name to some degree or another is there, especially in those times, and seeing Paul’s sufferings for the Gospel only encourages them and emboldens them to suffer alongside of Paul, “in Christ.”

The word “most” is helpful, and shows that this motivation of LOVE accounts for the majority of the Christians who are preaching the Gospel because of Paul’s chains. However, there is a minority of brothers and sisters where this is not the case. Let’s continue:

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.”

Paul speaks of two different kinds of people here: those preaching Christ from envy and rivalry, and others from good will, all motivated from his own chains.

PREACHING CHRIST FROM LOVE

Let’s break these two down and begin with the positive ones: Those preaching Christ out of love know that he is there because of the Gospel, and they rejoice for Paul that he has been counted worthy to suffer in Christ, and they want to encourage him by showing him that he is not alone with his fellow Christians who are willing to preach as he did and even to suffer as he is because of the preaching. They are good friends. You cannot trade a good friend for anything. Those people who love you and whom you can entrust yourself to wholly, knowing that even with all your faults and warts and shortcoming and all, that they will still have your back, and will be lovingly truthful and honest with you, and also will lovingly help you carry your burdens. This describes the first set of Christians mentioned by Paul, and this accounts for “most” of the Christians proclaiming Christ because of Paul’s chains.

However, there is a second set of Christians mentioned. There were some who proclaimed Christ out of selfish ambition, trying to inflict harm on Paul. They are trying to be rivals up and against Paul. They are envious of Paul. They are not very sincere in their preaching of Christ because their agenda is not ultimately Christ, but to essentially “compete” with Paul.

You see, Paul had forgotten about himself. He could have played the game of “oh no, what did you say about me? Do you remember when you said XYZ? I can return the fire and criticize you and discredit you too!”

I want to spend a few moments thinking through this at the Church level, and then at the personal level. Paul’s attitude towards those who were seeking to tarnish his reputation by preaching the Gospel reveals much about Paul, and also reveals much about his ministry, and it all points us back to this Master Story of Jesus Christ. This sermon today must be a crucial part of our DNA as a church, and I want to ensure that we grasp what Paul does here.

To begin with, let’s talk about Paul’s ministry and what we learn about it from these people who are preaching out of rivalry and jealousy. Paul had been granted much success across the Roman Empire. He had planted more churches than anyone else, he had really labored harder than even the other apostles. Most new Christians in the western part of the Empire could immediately trace their roots to Paul’s preaching and leadership.

So, naturally, if one wants to compete with another rival, they must meet them on their own terms. For example, when I was managing at a coffee shop one, someone snuck in line, ordered a coffee, and put down their business cards right next to where people pick up their drinks. What business card was it? It was for their own coffee shop down the street.

A manger that was higher than myself was there, and he entered into this rage mode, and chased the guy out of there and flung his business cards at him.

To compete with us, the guy had to meet us where our success was. And it was with our customers.

Now, where was Paul’s success found? Where did they have to meet him at if they wanted to be his rival? Gospel preaching.

Paul was primarily about Jesus crucified. Paul was primarily about the Good News of Jesus, and calling other people to take him on as their new Lord and Christ, becoming in a NEW person in him. These people thought they could do better than Paul, and that they saw some sort of fault in his ministry. But in order for them to compete with Paul, they had to try and preach his message better than him, and Paul said “this is great! Even those who are jealous of me and are trying to destroy my reputation and compete with me are preaching Jesus, and in that I rejoice.”

The first thing we take from this is that it reveals what was MAJOR for Paul, and what were the “terms” of the success he was granted with: it was the Gospel, the Good News.

As you will hear me say over and over again, I want Immanuel to be known as Good News people. I want Immanuel to be known as those people who keep talking about Jesus, and all he has done for us, and just how much he loves us. I want us to be spreading the Good News continually that he wants to bring new life into those who are broken, and that he wants you and I to continually be made into his image and together truly becoming the body of Christ to one another, and to this community so that if success is granted to us here, it will be Jesus that gets the fame, and not Immanuel. It was not be some clever marketing scheme, or clever church sign or anything else. Rather, it will be because we are Good News People.

The second thing we can learn from this passage is Paul’s attitude towards himself. Paul had completely forgotten about himself. He wasn’t concerned for his reputation. Rather, he was first concerned with the preaching of the Gospel, and however that was happening, in that he rejoiced.

This is true and real humility as found in our Master Story. And the amazing thing about it is this: Paul didn’t need to focus on humility to be humble. Rather, he needed to focus on the Gospel first and foremost, and by focusing on Jesus first and foremost, the natural byproduct is a remarkably humble comment by Paul, stating that he doesn’t care about his reputation near as much as the preaching of the Gospel.

These are some of the true chains of our human existence that the Gospel offers complete and total freedom from – and I want you to find this.

I want to talk about this on the Church level, and then at the individual level.

IMMANUEL FORGETTING ABOUT IMMANUEL

What would it look like for a Church to forget about itself? Really, consider that question: what would it look like for a Church as an ‘institution’ to forget about itself by becoming solely about Jesus and Jesus alone?

I think there is a question we can ask that will help diagnose this for us: When you think of Immanuel, what do you connect it to?

1) Do you connect it with legacy? Legacy can be a good thing, as Paul’s legacy was. But sometimes we can connect a church’s identity to a legacy first, and along the way, the church can begin existing for the sake of that legacy.

2) Do you connect it with people or a person? People present or people with the past? “When I think of Immanuel, I think of _________ person.” The problem with this is that people are not perfect, and often times people will fail you or have failed you. Or, in the positive sense, a person can lead to the success of a church, but can also become a cult of personality. A church is more than a person. I always joke in ministry that it is my chief job here to labor in such a manner that if a bus hit me tomorrow, the church would not come to a grinding halt. If it does, if I vanish and everything just stops here at the church, it means that I had made the church about me, and not about Jesus. I was more concerned about my own position, and not raising up leaders to eventually replace me and bring this church into the next generation in ways that I cannot. Personality cults kill churches. I personally have seen this happen in church networks that I have been a part of.

3) Do you connect it to a specific event or era? Every church has both good and bad events in his past. Are you still trying to ride on the coattails of a successful event or era of ministry that happened so long ago?

4) Do you connect it to specific doctrines? Doctrines are good, but doctrines exist to point us to Jesus. Minor doctrines are there, and are fun to engage and think about. Trust me, I LOVE doctrine. I love theology. I could talk theology with you for hours and hours. But I’ve seen theology divide more than glorify Christ and bring us to fulfill Jesus’ prayer, The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Doctrinal identity is why we have 10,000+ denominations. A sermon for a different day. However, do you associate Immanuel with a specific set of doctrine?

5) Do you connect Immanuel to its facility? This is a beautiful building to be leveraged for the Kingdom. It is a blessing that most churches are not given, and can be a massive asset for this City and community. But a facility can also become self-serving, a church finding its own identity in its own facility. Let’s get real here, many of you have been faithful tithers to Immanuel for longer than I have been alive. This facility exists largely in part due to your faithful giving. And in that, all of us are incredibly thankful – but the fine line exists for an even bigger goal – that we prop up the maintenance of this facility only as much as it can serve the Kingdom of God, only as much as it can serve making disciples of Jesus and reaching this city and surrounding areas. There is a greater goal that lies beyond the building.

In these situations, the church has not forgotten about itself. Far from it, all it does is remember itself. To find continual new life as a church, we must forget about our own church. This is what I mean by “forget” – I’m not saying we can erase the past and act like it doesn’t exist. No. Rather, when I say forget I am using perhaps too strong of a statement and am aiming at the identity of the church.

We cannot become about anything other than the Good News of Jesus Christ. We cannot first connect our own thoughts and heart about Immanuel to anything else other than Jesus Christ. Not towards others, not towards minor doctrine, not towards ancient legacy. We rejoice in these things inasmuch as they point us towards the Good News of Jesus Christ. This is what I mean by forgetting about our self. In fact, Jesus forgot about his own self, and gave it all up for us. All that he had, he did not consider as anything worth to grasp for itself, but he emptied himself. This led to his love, the self-giving of himself for the sake of us – and it led to his exaltation in the heavens.

All that Immanuel has had, has experienced, and is currently experiencing, must first be connected to Jesus Christ and him crucified. Does that occur within yourself, and if not, how can I as your pastor lovingly help you and shepherd you towards this? For as a church, this is one of the major steps we must take. It’s taking our cue from Paul – forgetting about yourself, not caring about our own reputation first, but considering the Gospel as all important.

AS INDIVIDUALS:

Secondly, and we will close with this – how do we live our lives as forgetting about our own self? Looking back to Paul, we see him rejoicing in people who were acting out of pure competition with him, out of rivalry, and even as some New Testament scholars believe, people were probably going to his churches, saying something along the lines of “hey people, you know the Gospel Paul preached? I can tell you a better way. The gospel is… and you can find it over here with this other group of people.”

Paul says, awesome! In their feeble attempts in jealousy, even if they are slandering me, I rejoice. How? Because he forgot about himself. When he thought of himself, his own self was not the first thing he connected everything to.

Think about this – when you leave your home to go to work, or whatever your day is like, with all the events that occur, what connects the dots? Is it you? When you see that glass on the front of a store front, do you grab that quick glance of yourself to make sure your hair is OK? When helping someone else causes you to be inconvenienced, do you immediately connect that opportunity to serve someone else to how it inconvenices you, or do you immediately connect it to Jesus and his master story, and see an opportunity to serve someone like Jesus served you?

You see how the Gospel naturally leads to humility? Timothy Keller famous taught on this subject, and I want to quote him right now, as this quote of his in his little book “The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness” has been one of the biggest teachings that have shaped me as a man, or may I say I hope it has at least, or I want it to. Let me read this for you:

Gospel-humility is not needing to think about myself. Not needing to connect things with myself. It is an end to thoughts such as, ‘I’m in this room with these people, does that make me look good? Do I want to be here?’ True gospel-humility means I stop connecting every experience, every conversation, with myself. In fact, I stop thinking about myself. The freedom of self-forgetfulness. The blessed rest that only self-forgetfulness brings.”

I want to see Immanuel free from this institutionally, as well as individually. Paul sets the example for us, pointing us to how Jesus lived, our Master Story. How can we live like this? How can we find such Gospel humility?

Not by focusing on humility. But by focusing on Jesus, and chasing after him with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength. Everything that is about something other than Jesus becomes secondary, becomes perhaps a good conversation or story here or there, but is not your central identity as person or as a church. A facility is wonderful, but a good friend of mine in Colorado, and this is a true story, had his newly and freshly built facility razed to the ground by a tornado around 13 years ago. They still exist today in a different facility, but the identity of that church was not that building, because its loss didn’t destroy them.

Personally speaking, how can you create the mental habit of not thinking about yourself? Try practicing this: don’t think about yourself for a whole day. Avoid mirrors. Avoid conversations about you, and try to only invoke conversations gained at getting to know others. When you pray, pray to know Jesus more and pray for others.

When things inconvenience you at home, consider how it may be something that serves others, like spending an entire day at IKEA right outside of New York City yesterday with your wife, a trip that unfortunately started off good, with me thinking “I’m here to serve my wife and giving her the space and time pick things out for our new home” to me saying “OK, hurry up, I need to get home to finish things, I’m tired.” The trip culminating with us running out of time to each lunch, and me needing to use the restroom after our car was loaded up, and getting told off by an employee for me entering the building through the wrong door preventing me from using the bathroom that sat 10 feet from me – because I entered the wrong door to the building - and I got in the car so worked up over that employee, because somehow I ended up making the whole day about me again.

What would have happened if I had connected the whole day to Jesus, and then Alexandra instead of me? None of those things should have mattered as much as me serving her like Jesus serves us. That perhaps is a trivial thing, but this is a pattern we are called to live in day in and day out.

Immanuel, I can promise you this: as Keller calls it, this Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness can lead you to the most spiritually healthy and emotionally healthy life that is possible, because it truly reflects the life and heart of Christ. It’s not out of reach, it is possible. And it can be yours in Christ. As we move forward as a church, may this freedom of sef forgetfulness mark who we are as church, leading us to rejoice in Christ and the Good News above all else. Let us pray.