Attitude.

First, I want to tell you something very important about myself. My dad's name is Manuel. My name is Nermalis. I was actually named for my mother and my grandmother. So my grandmother's name is Norma, but my mom didn't like the O. She felt like that was for elder women, and she didn't want to give me Norma, so she named me Nerma. She made it an E. And then Lys for Lisette. So Nermalis. I'm named after my mom and my grandma.

However, my entire family calls me Manuela, which is a female variation of my dad's name, because I am my father in female form. I'm actually obnoxiously similar to my dad. We have the same sense of humor. As he so kindly describes my resting face, we have the same Rambo look. My mom always says "ella tiene la actitud de su pai" - she has her dad's attitude. And that's always what she tells everybody, and she is absolutely right. I have my dad's attitude. Pastor Manuela at your service. Absolutely none of you are allowed to call me that.

We're going to be reading out of Philippians chapter 2, verses 1 through 11 today.

Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don't be selfish. Don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interest, but take an interest in others too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges. He took the humble position of a servant and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declares that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:1-11

Hallelujah. Our so what for today is: you must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Our now what is: bow and declare.

Defining attitude

So we're talking about attitude. I figured it was kind of important to define exactly what we're talking about here. So attitude is defined as a settled way of thinking or feeling about something or someone, typically reflected in one's behavior, the position of the body proper to or implying an action or mental state.

In other words, attitude is your feelings and thoughts reflected in your behavior and the way you carry yourself. For the purposes of today's message, we're going to think of attitude in terms of how we carry ourselves based on our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. So the way we live based on our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. And this means that the core of how we carry ourselves is what we believe to be true about ourselves. And as believers, what we believe about ourselves is dependent on what we believe about God.

So that's where I want to start. What we believe about ourselves and what we believe about God.

The attitude of Jesus

The scripture starts out with Jesus modeling a fruitful Christian life. Paul is describing here's how Jesus lived out his life and these are the things he did. Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? That makes me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don't be selfish. Don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others too.

The attitude of Jesus. Tender, compassionate, loving, unified, selfless, unconcerned with impressing others, humble, thinking of others as better than himself, looking out for the interest of others. This is how he lived his life, and this is how he calls us to live our lives. It is a call to radical humility.

This type of life, living a lifestyle of radical humility, is only made possible by understanding who we are in respect to God.

What do we cling to?

At the core of Jesus' attitude was what he believed was worth holding on to. The scripture continues and says, you must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges.

So this poses two questions that we need to ask ourselves when it comes to the way we carry ourselves. The first question is, what do we cling to? And the second question is, what do we need to give up?

Simply put, we cling to the things that we believe will satisfy our core needs. We cling to the things that we think will satisfy the parts of us that we feel we lack. So what are some of those core needs? At the baseline for everybody, those core needs are this. It's safety, security, and significance. We crave safety, security, and significance. And we cling to the things that we think can satisfy that within us.

We're going to cling to people and places and things that make us feel safe, secure, and significant. And these are things that we should seek out in our lives. I'm not telling you to seek out people that make you feel unsafe. Bad call. That's not at all what I'm saying. You should want things and people in your life that make you feel safe, secure, and significant. If you don't have any of those things in your life, dare I say you might need to shift some things around.

However, anything that gives you those feelings should come as an extra. Because your safety, security, and significance are fulfilled and completely satisfied in God and in God alone. Your source for everything you need is God. The only thing worth clinging to is God. Whatever the need is that you're searching to be met can only be found in God. And if it is found in God, it is abundant. It's more than. It's enough. It overflows. When it's found in God and only if it's found in God, it's abundant.

I've got a couple of scriptures for you. It's all over the place.

My God is my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge, and my savior. From violent people you saved me. I call to the Lord who is worthy of praise and have been saved from my enemy.

2 Samuel 22:3-4

I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand. I shall not be shaken.

Psalm 16:8

And you will feel secure because there is hope, and you will look around and take rest in the security of your God.

Job 11:18

All of these things are found in God and they're found in abundance.

Idolatry and surrender

So what do you cling to? And what do you need to give up? Let me ask you a question. Is there anything in your life that right now, if God asked you to give it up, you wouldn't be able to? If the answer to that is yes, you have an idol. And hear me, God is asking you to give it up.

I've talked about this before, but it is the most genuine piece of counsel I can give. Hold things in your life with open hands. Be in a posture of constant surrender. What things in your life are you relying on for peace instead of God? What things are you relying on in your life to feel loved instead of God? What do you turn to for comfort instead of God?

All of those things will always leave you in a scarcity mindset. And the only fruit that clinging to those things will provide in your life is constantly being afraid that you're going to lose it. Because there is not enough to satisfy you. And when you're in a scarcity mindset, you will not have the attitude of Christ. Christ loved people without reservation because he understood that he was fully loved. Christ gave without hesitation. He gave when he had nothing left to give because he knew that he would lack no good thing. He was humble in all things because he knew who God was.

When you know what's worth holding on to, you don't have to cling to counterfeit versions. Cling to Christ, and the byproduct of that is living like Christ.

Humbled in position

The scripture continues, and it says, instead, he gave up his divine privileges. He took the humble position of a servant and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross.

Jesus chose to be humbled in two major ways. He was humbled in position. A few weeks ago in Alpha, which is one of the classes that I get to teach here at the church, we talked about who is Jesus. And we had this whole discussion on the absolute characteristics of God. It really triggered like the nutty professor in me. And I was running around on the whiteboards and drawing graphs and lines and all sorts of stuff. We have a lot of fun in Alpha. You should sign up next time.

But one of the things we were talking about were those paramount, absolute truths about God, about Jesus. And one of those things is that Jesus was fully God and fully man. He was both. Jesus was fully God and he was fully man. That is an absolute paramount truth about Jesus.

And the scripture tells us that he gave up his divine privileges. So he was fully God without his divine privileges. Some core characteristics of God that make him absolutely other than humans are his omni-attributes. So that's the omnipotence of God, meaning that he is all-powerful, the omniscience of God, that he's all-knowing, and the omnipresence of God, that he is all-present. So these things had to be surrendered in order to embody being fully man.

So the very core, who is this God that Jesus, being the very image of God, being fully God, lived out that we're now called to live? Right? Because I can't be called to be omnipotent because I don't know everything. I'd like to think I do, but I don't know everything. So what is this thing about God that we're called to live? A humble servant. Jesus was humbled and positioned to that of a humble servant, and he calls us to do the same thing.

At the core of this man who is our God is a servant. The core of his being is a God who washes our feet. I had a friend that told me that the definition of ministry is serving people in such a way that they see Jesus. And I think that's what it means to have the attitude of Christ. It is to be humbled in position and to live our lives in such a way that our constant servitude displays Jesus to everyone we interact with.

And the only way that we can be loving with one another, working together with one mind and purpose, not being selfish, not impressing others, being humble, thinking of others as better than ourselves, not looking out for our own interests, but taking an interest in others, the only way we can do that is to be humbled in position and to say, I'm going to take on the position of a servant. I'm going to take on the position of washing your feet. I'm going to lower myself and see myself as someone to serve you.

To be humbled in position is to surrender how we are perceived.

Humbled in obedience

And the second way that Jesus humbled himself was he was humbled in obedience. To be humbled in obedience is to surrender the illusion of control over our lives. Jesus made a choice to die on the cross. Jesus made a choice to die a criminal's death for you and for me. And on Jesus' last night of freedom, he kneels before the Father and asks God to let this cup pass from him. And when the Father doesn't let this cup pass from him, Jesus, in obedience, goes to the cross.

We often disobey because we think our way is better. And we're like, okay Jesus, what do I do? And Jesus is like, do this. And we like, better option. And we think that we know what right. We think what the better option is. But to be humbled in obedience is to say I don't know what's best. You do. I don't get what you're asking me to do, but I'll do it anyways, because you're God and I'm not. Because you're God and so-and-so's opinion's not. Because you're God and this thing that I'm holding so tightly to is not.

The exaltation and honor of Christ

I'm going to close with this part. The worship team is going to come up. But the scripture continues and it says, therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declares that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

One of my favorite books in the Bible is Isaiah. And when you're reading in Isaiah, there's this vision that he has. And in the vision, he sees God. And it's like the train of his robe flowing through the temple. He sees it. And I've been in church for a really long time. There's this really Christian contemporary song. I did a human video to it one time. "I Can Only Imagine."

Y'all know that song? Anybody know that song? But it talks about how I would react the day I see Jesus. And you do. You have all these images in your head of like, oh my gosh, that's the glory of God in front of me. And I'm going to jump, and I'm going to scream, and I'm going to dance. And Isaiah sees the glory of God, and he falls to his face and repents.

Because when we see ourselves in respect to who God is, we have to realize we ain't all that. And there's something about God that humbles us and puts us back in our place. There's something about an all-perfect, all-holy God that sets us straight when we really look at him. And that's why when we're talking about like, okay, I need to have the attitude of Christ. I need to learn to live like Christ. You need to look at Christ. You need to make eye contact with him for a minute. Because there's something so humbling about the holy God that we serve.

And that's why our now what today is bow and declare. And not in the way of like, oh my gosh, God's scary. I need to get on my face and repent. But in the way of, oh my gosh, you died on a cross for me. Like, you gave up everything for me.

I've been talking about this scripture like three or four times with different people this week, but that's what the Lord said on my heart, man. But one of my favorite scriptures is Malachi 1. Malachi chapter 1, the very first verse, is the prophetic word that the Lord gave to Malachi. And then it goes into verse 2. And you're ready. If you've read the prophets, what usually follows when this is the prophetic word is something kind of intimidating.

But verse 2 says:

I have always loved you, says the Lord.

Malachi 1:2

And then verse 3 is and the Israelites responded, how have you always loved us. And the rest of the chapter is this is how I have always loved you. And he goes event by event by event by event in the history of the Israelites telling them how he has always loved them, how he has always carried them, how he has always been with them. And to see that and not respond by bowing and not respond in humility and not respond with I have always loved you, that means that you're farthest from God.

He has always loved you. And when you look at that in the eye, that changes you. Like, I could sit here and list 10 million ways that we cannot try to impress people and that we can be friendly and that we can do all these things and that's wonderful. But that's not transformation. That's behavior modification. And that's how you accidentally end up before God in heaven. He says, depart from me, for I never knew you.

Jesus changes hearts. Jesus changes minds. Jesus changes lives. And when we look at the face of a God that has always loved us, there's evidence of his love for us. There's a cross and there's a resurrection. There's evidence of his love for us that changes everything. And when we look to Jesus, when we cling to Christ, we learn to live like Christ.

I'm going to invite you guys to stand up on your feet. We're going to go into a time of worship. But in that, I just want to challenge you to ask yourself right now. I'm literally going to ask and then I'm going to pause. I have a couple of things to say, alright?

What are you clinging to? What are you clinging to for that peace? What are you clinging to for that security and that safety and that significance? What are you clinging to?