Traditional Worship

32:19 a little bit. And my question for you is, what brings you joy in your daily life? So I asked that question on Facebook earlier this week, and I had over 100 responses, and it was pretty fun to read through them. I thought you would like to hear a little bit about what folks said brought them joy to their daily life. I will say that the number one was coffee. So I'm going to acknowledge that is me as well. Dogs were next on the list. And of course, grandchildren were on there and did quite well. But I don't want you to think that we didn't think about the Chiefs because they showed up too. But the longer that I read and the more I started to look deeply, there were some things that began to push a little bit deeper. People talked about moments like holding someone's hand, about what it was like to see someone smile at them, or have laughter with a friend, or even things like giving flowers away, helping someone at a stoplight, dropping off a meal, all moments that helped them to feel more deeply connected with one another. And I looked at this and I realized that there are times in our life when our sense of joy isn't just because we've received something, but oftentimes because we've had an opportunity to give something away, to touch someone's life and help them to feel more joy as well.

33:38 So when we think about what it means to experience joy, there's a juxtaposition. Sometimes we think, well, it's all about what I can receive that makes me feel a particular way. but what I'd like to suggest today is that joy has so much more to do with the ways in which we pour out. This idea, this concept is something that reminded me of something that David Brooks wrote. He said this, happiness happens when a personal desire is fulfilled, but permanent moral joy seems to emerge when desire is turned outwards. In other words, when we find ourselves giving back, What we experience is joy because we have poured out ourselves for other people. The greatest joy that we feel is not in what we get, but what we can give. And that sounds remarkably similar to something that the Apostle Paul talks about in Philippians almost 2,000 years ago.

34:33 And so today we're continuing our sermon series on Philippians. And this is a book that we started talking about last week. And it is a book that he, or essentially a letter, an epistle that he penned while he was in prison. And as you may have collected and learned from the sermon starter, it was called the Epistle of Joy. Now that seems almost like an oxymoron. Like how can somebody who is in prison find joy? And yet what we find in the passage that we're reading today and in this entire book is that he finds a depth of joy that is beyond anything that we might be able to say. Because though he has no control over his life, he has so much uncertainty, he still finds joy. Now, if I'm being really honest, I don't do well with uncertainty.

35:27 I'll give you an example. So just this past week, or actually last week, I learned that there was a possibility that they were going to be redoing the boundaries of our kids' school and that our kids would have to move school. Now, you tell a parent that your kids have to move school and you're going to get really anxious about that because though the idea, the concept was out there, I knew that it was going to happen, but I didn't know it was going to affect me. And suddenly, because it was my school, it was my kids, it was their friends, it was my neighborhood, my community, I found myself getting worked up and being totally consumed in what I needed to do and how I needed to rally things and what I needed to do to help make things go my way. And look, here's the thing. I'm not suggesting that I didn't recognize that there are bigger parts to play, that there's a bigger sense of what needs to happen.

36:21 But what I am here to tell you is that when something affects us, it hits differently. When we feel threatened, when we feel scared, when we feel disappointed, we find ourselves saying, what does this mean for me? And so as I was preparing this week to write this sermon, that's what struck me so much about Paul. He was completely out of control of everything. And rather than sort of like doubling down and trying to get ways and find opportunities to make it all about him and the struggles he was feeling, he turned it all outwards. He wasn't worried so much about his future as he was for those that he was writing to. Here's what he tells us. He says, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, regard others as better than yourselves. Look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.

37:17 You know, he had every right to feel terrified, to feel scared, to feel worried. And yet he spent his time, he spent this letter, not talking about all the troubles that he was experiencing, but instead focusing on the things that he wanted the people of Philippi to know. He spent time discussing something that I think is important for us to hear. Because it wasn't just something that he knew. He was also not just in his words, but by his very being, he was trying to show us that a joyful life is found when we give our lives away. So today we're going to be talking about the second chapter of Philippians, and it is on humility. And the entire chapter begins to focus our heads and our hearts around what does it mean to think less of ourselves and more about other people, to live our lives with curiosity, and to try and find ways to realize that when we're more generous and kind, what we find is that we also feel more joyful.

38:25 And so today we're going to talk about humility, but I'm going to acknowledge that when you talk about humility, it kind of is one of those words that you feel like, oh, I don't want to talk about that. Because when I think about a time maybe that I've been humbled, it wasn't a good experience. Because the moments when I think about being humbled, it's moments when I felt less than. Like I feel like I didn't know my place and my place was told to me, and it's not a good feeling. But I wanted to share with you some descriptions, some definitions of humility that I think invite us to look at it in a little bit different way. So the first is from Tim Keller. This is what he says. He says, humility is not self-loving. It's not self-hating, but being self-forgetful. In other words, finding ways not to think about myself as being smaller, but trying to think about myself less. And then this is contributed or attributed to C.S. Lewis, so not everyone's quite positive about that.

39:27 But here's what we hear about humility. It's not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. And finally, the Greek word for humility that Paul uses in this passage describes humility as an inside-out virtue produced by comparing ourselves to the Lord rather than to ourselves. And so when we think about what this looks like and how we might be imagining what humility and what Paul is trying to teach us, he's trying to help us see that ultimately all these together, it's not about making ourselves feel smaller, but instead recognizing that we, in relation to God, who's so much larger and so much bigger and so much full of love, we have a different perspective about who we are because it's not about trying to make ourselves better than or try and make sure that others think that we're right, but recognizing the gift of God's grace and mercy and love that we can't earn, but instead a grace and a love that can change our life and that can flow outward from us.

40:38 So last Friday night, I was at a gathering with a group of emerging leaders here from Resurrection, and our lay leader, Kay McCarthy, was talking. And she was inspiring these 20-somethings, 30-somethings as they are seeking to find opportunities and ways to lead. And she shared something that really struck me. She said this. She said, grace lets us tell the truth about ourselves. And I couldn't stop thinking about it. And it made me realize, like, grace is what makes humility possible. because without grace, we would find ourselves trying to prove ourselves even more. When I know that my worth is not dependent on how perfect I am or how right I am or how I am the most important person in the room, when I see that there's more to me than all of these external things, it allows me to be curious about what I might get wrong.

41:39 It allows me to realize that I have something to learn and a place to grow. In his book, Think Again, Adam Grant describes something that I feel is getting at the heart of what I was just describing, this same pattern. He begins with something that's called the overconfidence cycle. In this cycle, we begin with an idea of pride. And we're totally convinced that what we believe is correct. And so then our pride, our arrogance causes us to seek not only what we think is right, but makes us stop and no longer able to see what other people might teach us. And so we continue on this cycle of validation and conviction and pride, and we get ourselves stuck. Now, I don't know if any of you have ever found yourself in an argument with an 11-year-old, but I have. And when he and I have different opinions about what something might be, I'm not going to lie. I'm the one who says, well, I'm going to pull out my phone. I'm not listening to anything that you have to say because clearly I know that I'm right. And if you are with me, you know what it feels like to get stuck in that cycle. But there's a different way that we can find ourselves instead of getting stuck in that cycle. What Adam Grant describes is something called a rethinking cycle. So I want you to take a look at this. He says, instead of beginning with pride, the cycle starts with humility. And we start to doubt, and we recognize our shortcomings, and then we're curious. And we start to question our own understanding, and that leads us to new discoveries, which in turn reinforces how much we still have to learn. And he says this, if knowledge is power, knowing what we don't know is wisdom. Knowing what we don't know is wisdom.

43:25 I think that's such a beautiful way to think about what it means for us to think like Christ to be those who would be able to say I am going to see and recognize that I'm going to be humble and that I don't know everything and yet I'm going to seek to try and understand more deeply because when I get myself stuck in this understanding that I know it all I'm missing out on so much more Paul's invitation today isn't just to invite us to act differently but to think differently he says let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus and so having the mind of Christ means that I'm less interested in trying to prove myself and prove that I'm right and more interested in what other people might be able to teach me I'm less preoccupied with myself so that I can find opportunities and ways to reach someone else, to see someone else, to connect with somebody else.

44:30 David Brooks, in his book, How to Know a Person, describes two kinds of people. And I found this to be helpful. And if I'm just being quite honest, a moment of realization and importance to think about what it looks like when you have someone who lives with humility and someone who doesn't. He describes two kinds of people. they're called diminishers and illuminators. So a diminisher is somebody who makes someone feel small. They walk into a room and immediately they began to scan the room and they've already decided what they think about someone. They have preconceived notions and they're not open to what someone else might do to change their ideas, to change their perception. and what happens when they walk into a space is they begin to diminish the people around them because they're not open to understanding who these people actually are. But then he talks about the illuminators and these are the ones who have somehow found an opportunity and a way to live curiously, to know the right kinds of questions to ask and to seek to understand others.

45:39 and he says it allows for their brightness of their core is poured out on others and it helps them to feel bigger, deeper, respected, lit up. And so while a diminisher might walk into a space and say, what do I think about you? An illuminator will walk in and say, what do I need to learn? How can I understand who you are? What am I missing? When Paul says in humility, regard others as better than yourselves, it seems to me that he's describing an illuminator. Somebody who is willing to see the good in other people, who finds opportunities to be curious, to turn our attention outward and brighten every space that we enter.

46:26 Now, Paul isn't just describing these ideals and something that feels like a dream for us to one day be able to reach. He gives us a really concrete example about what it looks like. And so I want to read to you what he says next because he describes Jesus who fully embodies this way of being in the world. He says, Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but he emptied himself. Taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness, and being found in appearance as a human, he humbled himself. and he became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

47:14 Now, there's a line that I wanna make sure that you hear because there's a line about what it means that he emptied himself. And theologians describe this as a word called kenosis and that is self-emptying love. But the thing I wanna make sure that you recognize, it's not that when Jesus came to be with us, he emptied himself of his nature of God. No. It was more so an emptiness in allowing him to seek service, to serve rather than to be served, to allow God to fill him, to work through him, and allow that love to flow. Jesus didn't stop being who he was, but he emptied himself by fully being present for us. And that allowed him to take on all of our pain, all of our suffering, all of our struggles.

48:07 It allowed him to understand and be present to give everything that he had and all that he is for us to experience that love. And Paul is saying, let that same mind of Christ be in you. Let that same love characterize who you are. Now, I thought I would offer a little bit of an object lesson. So many of us have light bulbs in our home. I'm not sure if many of you have one that looks like this. Many of them are LED light bulbs. But I thought I would give a little science lesson. I was a biology major and chemistry minor, and I took lots of science classes. So I'm a bit of a science nerd. So I'm going to bring a little thing to you. But I want you to take a look at this light bulb. And this is a specific light bulb. This is incandescent light bulb. And what's unique about a bulb like this is that when it's being made, there's a point in the process of the bulb being made that they have to extract something. So if you think about oxygen, it's the air that we breathe. If oxygen is surrounding the filament, what happens is it oxidizes and would make the light quickly burn out. And so instead of doing that, you'd have a light bulb that would quickly burn out. What they do is they pull out, they evacuate, they empty the light bulb. Now sometimes now they will reinsert another gas like radon that would help the light bulb stay as it is. But what I want you to see and think about when you think about this is they're not taking out everything so that nothing remains, but they're emptying the thing that would prevent the filament from being able to be lit up. The emptying creates the conditions for the light to turn on. And I think that's a pretty good illustration as we begin to imagine what that looks like for who Christ is. He emptied himself by giving himself away, creating the conditions for us to find ways to see his light so beautifully shine.

50:16 a love that is all about service and giving back and kindness. And perhaps something similar happens to us, that perhaps there are things in our life that are causing us to burn out, things that are not allowing our light to shine, things that are getting away in the way of us experiencing and seeing God in a way that allows others to also see it. It could be our constant desire to be right or to try and impress or try and prove something. And I don't know what that is for you, but I've been thinking about for me, what are the things that need to be taken out of the light bulb? The things that are preventing, the things that are not allowing for a condition for us to allow that love to flow.

51:16 What might you need to empty yourself of in order to make space, in order to create an environment where the light of Christ can shine through you? Because when we live this way, what we find is that we are, instead of focusing so much on ourselves, we are focusing on other people. We're seeking to do like Christ did. And that is to seek to serve rather than to be served.

51:47 Paul says, look not to your own interests, but to the interest of others. And I especially love this translation from the message, which says, forget yourself long enough to lend a helping hand. I love that. Forget yourself long enough to lend a helping hand. And when that happens, it doesn't always happen all at once, but slowly but surely, as you begin to seek to care for and to seek the interests of others, something begins to change in you. David Brooks, in his book, The Second Mountain, describes it in this way. He says, when people make generosity a part of their daily routine, they refashion who they are. If you do a series of good deeds, the habit of other-centeredness becomes gradually engraved into your life. The people who radiate permanent joy have given themselves over to lies of deep and loving commitment.

52:45 Giving has become their nature and little by little, they have made their souls incandescent. And that last line is one that I have found myself just thinking about over and over again. Elsewhere in the book, he talks about this idea that there's always something flowing out of us and that could be fear, insecurity, but for these people who are joyful, those who have incandescent souls, it is generosity and kindness and love and gratitude.

53:21 And when you think about an incandescent soul, I think that's kind of what Paul was inviting us to do, to be those who had the mind of Christ, who were seeking moment by moment, step by step, little bit by little bit, to be generous, to be kind, to be grateful. and in doing so, recognize that it's not all about us, but it's about other people. And that as we do so, our lives are changed.

53:51 Generosity becomes our nature. And I've been thinking about this idea of an incandescent soul. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized I've met one. About five years ago, no, six years ago, I guess it's been, during the midst of COVID. I was desperately seeking attention and connection with other people. And so I decided to email people who lived in my neighborhood who were a part of the church and said, hey, I'll come sit on your driveway and get to know you. We'll be distanced and I can at least make a connection with you and I can feel like I'm less alone. And so one of the individuals that I had the honor and privilege of getting to meet was Terry Bauman. And when we sat, this is a picture of Terry, When we sat on her driveway, we had a great connection.

54:42 And several years later, unfortunately, she was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer's. And as I was talking with and caring with her and connecting with her husband, Stu, he made a decision. and he had an opportunity and the ability to be able to stay at home with her. And so he made a choice to say that he wanted her to have him as his primary caregiver. And so he spent every single day with her for over 18 months. And I had the honor of going to visit them a few weeks ago. And I watched the way that he loved her. And it was inspiring. When I went up to their room, I saw as he just brushed her hair out of her eyes.

55:40 The way that he looked at her. The way that as we prayed, you could just sense his devotion and appreciation for her. And as we began to talk after that about his experience of caring for her in the midst of this challenging season, And I got no hint from him about what this cost him. Because all he talked to me about was the gift that it was to be able to care for her.

56:10 As I think about someone with an incandescent soul, that's what I think about. Because at this point in Terry's life, she didn't really have anything to offer him. at least an external thing that you might think. But what she did offer him is this opportunity and gift for him to be able to give back. Because it wasn't about what he could receive, but about what he could give. And here's the thing. You know, I look at Stu and I know him. and I don't think we always become that incredible person as soon as crisis comes. But I think it's built moment by moment, step by step as we live our lives.

57:06 It's acts of generosity and choosing to be grateful and noticing another person and giving ourselves away in such a way that as David Brooks reminds us that we slowly become incandescent. That we have this belief of how we're called to give out and other-centeredness just comes naturally to us.

57:29 And so as she was coming near the end of her life, it was just an outpouring of who he had always been. But here's the thing. It wasn't just Sue who lived that way. It was Terry. And a few weeks before she passed away, he came across a gratitude journal of hers. and I want you to see what she wrote about her husband. Here it is. She said, I'm grateful to have Stu for my life partner because he is always there for me. Because he makes me slow down and take time to appreciate our love. His tech support with a smile. He is generous and no one can chop vegetables like he can.

58:16 You know, as I read through this, I began to realize that, you know, living a life of humility and generosity, it's not some, always some big grand gesture, but ordinary acts, small things, moment by moment, step by step, time by time, in which we begin to give ourselves away. It's what happens when no one is watching. the moments and the times when we give thanks for others. It's holding a hand, chopping vegetables, noticing the good in someone else, giving thanks, being curious, and seeing the person who's sitting right in front of you. It's allowing Christ to work within us and slowly emptying ourselves of the things that no longer allow us to shine and instead allowing God's love to pour through us.

59:17 And so perhaps as we think about Paul's invitation today, it's as simple and quite frankly, as difficult as saying, how might I have the same mind that is in Christ Jesus? And that looks like ordinary moment by ordinary moment. Day after day, you become curious. You become interested in the people around you. You become generous and kind. You begin to find opportunities and ways slowly but surely to seek after the interest of others rather than your own until generosity, kindness, and humility become who you are. And slowly, your soul becomes incandescent. Would you pray with me?

1:00:11 Gracious God, we give you thanks. We give you thanks for the incredible gift of who you are, that you poured out yourself for us so that we might receive the gift of your incredible grace and love and salvation.

1:00:32 And you invite us to live our lives like you, to seek not after what it is is best for us, but for those who are around us. Moment by moment, day by day, to pour out all that we have and all that we are in service of others. And that when we do so, we receive and experience a joy that changes us.

1:01:02 So help us to continue to live lives of humility, lives of joy and lives where your light shines brightly through us. All this we pray in Christ's name.