We say, you know what Lord, I give it up to you.
I am done trying to be my God. I am done trying to lead my own life.
What do you want me to do? And then when you get there,
that's now where the power of God can flow through you.
Welcome back to a deeper dive into Philippians.
Today we'll be looking at chapter two and specifically from verses one through
10, I have titled today's message, the fruit of surrender.
But instead of reading the whole 10 verses, what we'll do,
we'll just break it apart. So for this first section here,
we'll read from verses one through four.
So let's go to our Bibles and read that.
Before we even jump into this chapter,
the first word says, therefore,
and there's this funny antidote that preachers always use that says when you
see therefore, check to know what it's therefore for.
And it's like humorous sometimes,
but the point is therefore ties in what was just spoken
about in the previous section into what we're about to talk about.
And in this case, in chapter one,
he's been talking about suffering and how,
and actually at the very last two verses,
just because that kind of calculates the best out of chapter one,
he's talking about how he himself was in chains,
how he himself was in prison,
how he himself has been paying for the cost of Christ.
And so now he's after finishing talking about the cost that he's paid
physically for Christ. Now he says, therefore,
if any, if there's any consolation in Christ.
So he's talking about I've been suffering all this time and he's
welcomed the sacrifice. So because of that suffering,
if there's any consolation.
So what he's saying is I am okay with suffering because I know
the price of my consolation of my suffering.
And the consolation is this. If any comfort of love,
if any affection of the spirit,
if any affection and mercy fulfill my joy by being
like-minded, he's saying,
he's okay to go through the suffering for as long.
You, my children have been like-minded for as long.
We all are coming together and walking in the love that Christ intends
for us. And I'm going to read some of the stuff that I say here,
because I think it kind of helps get the point across what he's essentially
saying in verses one through four is the thing that keeps him going during
the tough times or the hope that he clings to is that his spiritual
children will be in unity and his hope,
his prayer and hope while he's in the chains is that his children will choose
each other over themselves.
That's his prayer and that's the hope that he has when he's in a chains.
And that's the heart of a father that says,
I know I'm going through a tough time,
but I just hope and pray that my children are doing
what Christ has called them to do.
Because remember he's in the chains for the cause of Christ.
And if the people who he's preaching to are now walking out for the cause of
Christ, then he's suffering in vain.
But when he's suffering and they're doing what Christ has called them to do,
it gives him the confidence to continue suffering in the chains.
And that's what he's talking about.
And this verse kind of reminds me of Hebrews 12 too,
when Jesus says, he talks about Jesus,
how he went through the cross and he says,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.
Jesus endured the cross because he knew after this tough period is done,
I will be able to have intimate relationship with my creation.
So he went through the cross,
the horror of the cross because that was the goal.
And it's the same thing with Paul here.
It's saying for the joy that was set before Paul,
he went through this chain so that his children can be in unity and selflessness.
That's the goal.
That's what kept him going.
And so when you're reading that section,
it's an encouragement to all of us to not let the world
dictate us. Do not let the our self dictate how we act because there have been previous generations
who have paid for us to be Christians today. People have died for us to be able to read this
Bible. This physical Bible that I hold, the first one that was translated in English, the guy who
did it died. So we sometimes take that for granted. We do not understand the cost that was paid. Even
for us to be in this room recording about the message without being afraid of government
officials coming in and disrupting us and going to jail. People are suffering for this gospel
and we cannot take it for granted. In China, in the Middle East, people are dying but they are
willing to die because they know the value of what is in front of them. Do we know the value
of this book? Do you know how many people died for this? So that we can just talk about Christianity,
we can talk about the Bible, we can talk about God. That is the prayer of Paul here. He's willing
to go through the chains so that his children can walk in unity and selflessness. I don't think I
need to talk about that point anymore because if you look at the church today, we are very divided.
All of us fighting against denomination issues that at the end of the day, they're not that big
of a deal. The goal is for us to walk in unity and selflessness. So anyway, so that's the big
point that Paul is trying to make in those four verses. So now let us jump to verses 5 through 11.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did
not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of
a bond servant and coming in the likeness of man. And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and those on earth and of those
under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. Just before we go into this, I want to make this statement. In verses 6 and 7,
when he's talking about Christ coming in the form of man, we're going to really cover that in depth
in the next episode. So I'm not really going to talk about that because I will save that for then.
Jesus is the best example when it comes to seeing the fruits of surrender. Paul is imploring the
Philippians to surrender and choose each other over themselves. That's the point of him using
Christ as an example, because he says, let this mind be in you. Jesus is God.
Jesus is above it all. He's perfect. He is holy. He's the king of kings, but he chose. He said,
I don't care my status. I'm going to bring myself low that the will of God be done. How many of us
can say that today? Regardless of what status I have in this life, I'm going to bring myself low
so that God can be magnified. That's why Paul is using Jesus as an example, and he said, let this
mind be in you. A mind that did not think too highly of himself, even though he had every right
to think highly of himself. A mind that was quick to surrender and submit to the will of God the
Father. Remember in the garden of Gethsemane, he says, not my will, but thy will. He could have stopped.
He could have not gone through the cross. He didn't have to. He chose to. That was his 100%
his choice, but he chose to humble himself and submit himself to the will of the Father. A mind
that was quick to give everything up so that his creation could live the life that he intended for
them. That is the mind that Paul was praying that the Philippians would have, and that is the mind
that we all need to have. A mind that is quick to surrender to the purposes of God. A mind that
is not selfish, and that's in the first four verses. That's what he's talking about.
Do not be selfish. It's not about you. Many people have paid the cost and the price for us to be here,
and now we cannot be selfish today because we think we're better than them. We cannot make fun
of the previous generation because we are in a better situation. They paved the way. So we need
to have the mind of Christ in us so that we can let the will of God
happen through us. The fruit of surrender is humility. In the kingdom of God
surrendering or humility is at the core of everything. That is why when we get
saved it is important for us to renew our minds because in the world you must
claw, fight and destroy your competitors so that you can move ahead in anything.
That's how it is in the world. I have to be better than you. I have to be the
absolute best and hope the worst for you so that I can move ahead. That's the
mentality that's in the world. But in the kingdom of God is completely opposite.
It's you go down and let God bring you up. It's not about how great
you can be. It has nothing to do with you. It's all about Him. So we in the kingdom
of God have to make sure that we are the best vessels that we can be for His
glory to fall to go through us. And that can never happen if we don't bring
ourselves low. If we do not surrender ourselves and the fruit of that is a
humble heart. Jesus surrendered himself and became a bond servant as a result.
And as a result he was exalted above every name. The goal of our life is to
look like Jesus. To have the mind of Christ. If God the Son, God King of Kings,
Lord of Lords, the commander of the heavenly armies. If He brought Himself
low then we His creation can definitely bring ourselves low. If He can do it so
can we. Because the goal is for us to look like Him. Look at this verse in
1st Peter chapter 5 from verse 5 to 6. Likewise you younger people submit
yourself to your elders. Yes all of you be submissive to one another and be
clothed with humility. For God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you
in due time. That's exactly what Paul is talking about in Philippians 5 to 11.
Jesus brought Himself low. Jesus humbled Himself and God exalted Him above every
other name. God would humble you. That's not what He does. You choose to humble
yourself and God is the one who does the exalting. We sometimes think God does the
humbling and we do the exalting. So we have all these people trying to exalt
themselves and interfering with God's plan. That's not how it works. You submit
to God and He lifts you up. That's how this works. It has nothing to do with you
and that's why sometimes I feel sad when I see people trying to push their agenda,
trying to push their ministries. That's now how the kingdom of God works. You
submit and surrender yourself to the Lord and be on the altar and then God
will exalt you. The closest thing that He will do to humble you is bring trials
and tribulations so that you can humble yourself. That's something we do and so
God will take us through sometimes rough patches so that we can see our pride, so
that we can see our selfishness, so that we can see all these different things in
our lives and then when we see that we say, you know what Lord? I give it up to
you. I am done trying to be my God. I am done trying to lead my own life. What do
you want me to do? And then when you get there, that's now where the power of God
can float through you. And I've kind of already answered my next question by
that statement. Why is it important for you to surrender? If you do not
understand the purpose of a thing, abuse is inevitable. If you do not understand
the reason why we must surrender and humble ourselves, then you won't pursue
it. God the Father does not ask us to surrender and humble ourselves just for
fun of it. He's not up there saying, you must be low, you must be this, you must
be, you just gotta be so low and submit yourself because I am God and beats his
chest. There's nothing to do with that. He asks us to surrender so that he can
partner with us. It's not that he wants us to feel bad about ourselves and think
we are worthless. There's nothing to do with that. He wants to partner with us. In
the Garden of Eden you see that picture where the picture of partnership that
I'm talking about, where God tells Adam, I want you to name the animals and God
equips Adam with intelligence with everything that he needs to do that. But
what does God do? He brings the animals to Adam. Adam didn't have to go looking
for them. God brings them and that's the partnership that God desires. He gives
you what you need to be successful and then he does the rest for you. He brings
the people. He puts you in the situations to succeed. That's how, that's what, that's
his desire.
The man and the woman ate of the tree.
This is in the garden.
When Adam and Eve ate the tree,
we became independent of God.
And God's purpose and desire
was that we are dependent on Him.
If we surrender ourselves to Him
and submit our wills to Him,
we'll become dependent on Him.
And that's the goal.
But for most of us, we're independent of Him.
And that's not what He wants.
He did not create you to be your own God.
He created you for Him to be your God
and for you to submit to Him.
And so there'll always be something missing.
There'll always be this feeling of I'm not enough.
I can't do everything.
Because it's true.
You cannot do everything without God.
Because that's how He made you.
He made you to be dependent upon Him.
When we choose to surrender our lives to Him
and His leadership,
He now has the freedom to come in and lead us.
The fruit of surrender is best illustrated
in Galatians 2.20.
I have been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
And the life which I now live in the flesh,
I live by the faith in the Son of God
who loved me and gave Himself for me.
The biggest fruit of surrender
is when we said yes to Jesus.
Accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior
is the most important thing anyone can do.
That's the goal.
Being crucified with Christ
is another way of saying surrendering to Christ
or humbling yourself to Christ.
Because now you've submitted your will to Him
and you're saying, God, what do you want of me?
What?
And you're looking at Him to guide you.
After surrendering to Jesus as Savior,
He then requires you to surrender to His Lordship.
He asks you to surrender your will,
your mind, and emotions to Him.
A lot of us believers have accepted Jesus as our Savior,
but not as our Lord.
Until we truly submit to Him as our Lord,
His purpose and our decisions will constantly be battling.
The day we decide to submit to His Lordship,
then we will have God, Holy Spirit, guiding us
and leading us into the perfect will of God.
And that is my challenge for today.
Are we going to submit to His Lordship?
Because we know Him as Savior and we love Him as Savior,
but is He our Lord?
And that is the ultimate fruit of surrender.
When you say yes to His leadership,
when you say yes to whatever He requires of you.
And so as I finish this message,
ask yourself, am I just submitting to Christ as my Savior
or am I submitting to His Lordship as well?
Amen?
Amen.