all day long we talk about mercy

lead me to water lord, i sure am thirsty

A sermon from the Christ Hymn in Philippians 2

This is one of those passage that sounds nice…

“Be of the same mind. Have the same love. Be in full accord.”

It does. It sounds nice. It sounds nice, UNTIL you realize you DON’T actually want to!

Be honest. Who here really wants to, in humility, regard others as better than ourselves? Are any of us really so eager, NOT to pursue our own interests, but somebody else’s?

Well???

Because that’s the rub with passage like this, isn’t it? 

Nice as it MAY sound, deep down, we don’t actually want to. 

When the rubber hits the road, there’s something in us, that insists on insisting on our own way, isn’t there? We all have this part of ourselves that is willing do pursue our own interests before all else.

As bad as that realization may be, what’s worse is when, after hearing a passage like this, the pastor just glibly climbs in the pulpit and proceeds to just tell us this how we ought to live.

As if we didn’t already know that’s how we ought to live!

No, we all already know how much better the world would be if we all lived like that.

No, the problem for us, runs deeper that than, doesn’t it? 

At its heart, our problem is an issue of wanting. What we want…

It’s like when I started cross-country… 

Before middle-school, in 6th grade, there was a day when all the coaches visited and we split off and meet with one for a little mini-practice. 

The only thing was, I didn’t really want to do any sport. What I wanted to do, was go home after school, goof off with my friends and play video games. 

But since the coaches were there, we had to choose one. 

So I chose the seemingly least painful option; cross-country.
Now to my young ears, cross country sounded like some sort of field trip club. I imagined spending afternoons going on bus rides across the country! 

Imagine my shock then, when instead of loading up on the bus for a trip the coach had us start running around the school over and over again!

And before I could get out of it, the coach called my mom to follow up, and let her know when practice would be starting that summer!

*And you know how moms are! They’re only too eager to get their kids to do something “productive.”

So there I was, stuck. Ruining the end of my last summer before middle-school, running endlessly on gravel roads…

Now, eventually I discovered some advantages of cross country. 

Like succeeding. Winning. Seeing the friends I made. Getting healthy. The newly waged dress code war, since the boys could shed layers during practice… 

But for all of that, I never actually liked the physical torture of going out and running. Wasting perfectly good afternoons, doing something like trudging block after block.

Good as it may have sounded…

Truth be told, is a lot of life is like that, isn’t it?

Those things sounds nice, but deep down we don’t really want to do. 

Like exercise. Or keep the house in order. Pay the bills. Be humble. Look to other’s interests. All that stuff we KNOW we ought do, but deep down we don’t really want to do! 

There’s a war that rages in us, between what we have to do and what we want to do. And the things we should to do, are rarely, if ever, the things we want to do!

Now; it’s usually at this point that folks will jump to try and help us bridge that gap between what we have to do and what we want to do. They come in all sorts of packaging. Like productivity. Leadership. Psychology. Self-help. 

You name it.

In fact, right now I’m reading a book about distance running, titled, “Endure.”
And it’s fascinating, because it’s all about overcoming that urge, the desire, to stop. How to bridge the gap between keeping at it, and giving-up.

I won’t bore you with all the details, but let’s just say some of the methods proposed to help us overcome our urge to quit, are probably more painful than just going out there and running!

But that’s the rub, isn’t it?

The gap between what we want to do and what we should do, has always been just a little out of our reach. Hasn’t it?

And that’s what makes what scripture has to say today, well, strange…
Because if you’re not already doing what it says, don’t try now. It’s too late.

Because it’s not so hard as starting now, or trying a little hard.

Today’s scripture, keep in mind, first and foremost, who Paul is talking about. A point of grammar, JESUS is subject of this passage. In today’s scripture, we’re not the subject for a blessed second, Jesus is! 

That makes us the object; what’s acted upon! And Jesus is the actor. The subject.

When Paul talks about this stuff that sounds good, like be humble and selfless, he’s not telling what we should do. Paul knows we all already know we should. No, Paul like Bruno Mars, “(has) gotta tell you a little something about yourself!”

And that’s, that you’re not left to your own devices when it comes to life.

If you want to know what it looks like to humble yourself to the point where you can actually, truly pursue someone else’s interest before your own; look to the the one who died on a tree for your sin! Look to Jesus Christ and all he has done for you!

And because that HAS happened, because someone has come and actually done what Paul’s talking about, the rest of us have been freed. Freed from the curse of being able to only do what we want to do! Like Adam and Eve at the tree.

All the suggestions in “Endure,” the bromides in self-help books; they all give the same solution to bridging that gap between what we ought to do and what we should do. And you’ve heard them all before: dig deeper, want it more. 

But Paul says, in Jesus Christ, it works the other way ‘round! 

Bridging that gap doesn’t require more of us, but less! Less! 

Because Jesus has already done it! Jesus’ outstretched arms on the cross have ALREADY bridged that gap!

Beloved, Jesus isn’t the Lord of the high and mighty, he’s the friend of the laid low. On the cross, Jesus left the high road, and instead carved out his path on the low road with the likes of us - those of us who know we should live the way Paul describes, but haven’t. 

If you’re here and you’re tired of pretending. If you know exactly what you want and how desperately you need to be saved from it. If there’s something in your life that’s emptied you out; 

than your just the kind of person Jesus gets excited about!

If all you have to bring is your fear and trembling; than you have everything Jesus needs! When you’re laid-low, when you’re empty, you have everything Jesus need to pull off what Paul describes! Because Jesus will humble himself, he’ll saddle up next to you, and give you the goods. Give you his glory!

This stuff Paul has to say, and let’s admit it, it’s beautiful. Deep down we all really DO what to live lives like this. And trying to will bring you to your end. 

And when that happens, and it will, don’t fight harder - just stop. Die. Confess that it’s not in you. 

And when you do that, things will get good. They’ll get fun and FREE!

Folks, you do not live by your own steam. You’ve been baptized into what Jesus has done! 

The one who died so that you may live, has given you his very spirit! It’s your’s by right of your baptism! And all you have to do to actually have it, is stop trying yourself! Call upon your Lord Jesus to bridge the gap for you! 

And when that happens, Jesus will hide your life in his!

Jesus will not only so fill you with himself, that you won’t be able to do anything but actually do what Paul says. Jesus will go even deeper! He’ll get into the part of you that wants, and make you to want what Jesus wants! Give you the same mind that was in Christ Jesus!

Isn’t that sweet? Doesn’t that just make you swoon for Jesus? 

I bet it does.

That gap between what we should do and what we want to, Jesus has filled with himself! And not because he had to. But because he wanted to. Because this is where Jesus longs to be. Where he loves to be. 

When and where we need him most!

Those places where your knees don’t so much bend, as they do buckle! When you confess Jesus is Lord, not because you’ve got it all together, but because everything is falling apart and he’s the only one you have left to cry out to.

And when you do, Jesus, loving Lord that he is, will hear your cry. He will be right there with you. He’s not too proud to get dirty where you are!
Jesus willingly emptied himself to meet you there. He chose to leave heaven to find you there!

And when that sinks in, you’ll know there’s nothing left for you to do! You’ll be freed from trying to be top dog! Because you will have EVERYTHING Jesus has to give you!