“Getting Rid of Our Me-First Attitudes”

Philippians 2:5-11

God gave his people the Messiah he had promised. His name was Jesus. For the most part God’s people wanted nothing to do with him. He wasn’t the Messiah they expected. He came as a Suffering Servant. They wanted a warrior-king. He rode into Jerusalem on a humble donkey. They wanted him to ride in on a mighty stallion. He brought with him a handful of disciples. They were looking for a mighty army. He taught mercy, forgiveness, and non-retaliation. They wanted to hear about vengeance, violence, and war. He proclaimed a Kingdom that was not of this world. They wanted an earthly kingdom, centered in Jerusalem from whence the Messiah would rule the world.

On that first Palm Sunday there were hosannas, palm leaves, and a general sense of celebration – maybe he really would be the Messiah they wanted. By the end of the week the crowds were screaming, “Crucify him!” If he refused to conform to their vision of Messiahship and religious leadership, they had no need of him. Let him die. Maybe then the real Messiah would come.

But he was the real Messiah, the very Son and incarnation of God, “who though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.”

There would be resurrection. He would be exalted, his name being above every name. But until that time his Messiahship would not for the most part be accepted. It ran –and still runs - too much against the grain of cultural expectations. Folks had no use for a Lord and King whose ministry and mission were defined by humility, servanthood, and sacrifice.

His Church was and is called to be a Christ-like witness to the world. His followers are to exhibit his humility, servanthood, and love, especially in their dealings with one another. But from its conception Christ’s Church has been infected by culture. This was true of the church in Philippi. That church was doing okay, but there was conflict and contention; there was bickering and boasting. So Paul wrote them a letter reminding them who they were, reminding them they were to be like Jesus.

In verses 1-4 of Philippians 2 he wrote these words, as paraphrased by Eugene Peterson in The Message: “If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made a difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care – then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself.”

Then Paul shared with them the great hymn of the early Church that is today’s text, hoping to encourage them to deal with one another after the humble example set by Jesus. What he was telling them, in so many words was: “Don’t be so selfish. Stop being so competitive. Don’t be so conceited. Get rid of all your me-first attitudes. Humble yourselves. Serve one another. Look out for one another. Live for one another. If necessary, die for one another. Be like Jesus.”

Some folks might think that this is a strange message for Palm Sunday. They want to hear about children singing and waving palm branches. They want to hear about Jesus riding triumphantly into Jerusalem. Enough with all the humility, servanthood, and sacrifice – all the bleeding and dying on the cross. Save that for Good Friday. Don’t let it intrude upon this morning’s celebration.

No can do. This is Passion Sunday, the beginning of Passion Week. This is the Sunday when our Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem with tears in his eyes, knowing that most of these people he wanted to bring into God’s Kingdom weren’t ready or willing to take that Kingdom seriously; knowing that their hosannas were going to turn into demands for his execution.

Why did he do that? Why bother with such a bunch of thick-headed, dim-witted, mean, and ungrateful people? Obedience. He was obedient enough to the will of his Father that he was willing to die an excruciating, humiliating death on a cross. More than that he did it as an act of sacrificial love: love for those thick-headed, dim-witted, mean, and ungrateful people who wanted to see him dead. Love for all the thick-headed, dim-witted, mean, and ungrateful people of the world: thick-headed, dim-witted, mean, and ungrateful people like us.

It is so easy to buy into culture’s notions of victorious living, culture’s me-first, winner takes all, look out for number one attitudes and behaviors. Attitudes like those of those Christians in Philippi addressed by the Apostle Paul in today’s text. But just as it was then being Christ-like now is counter cultural. Humility, servanthood, and sacrifice are things that our culture – and all too often the church - discounts, dismisses and despises.

We Christians in America are surrounded by a culture that loudly and repeatedly tells us to ignore the teachings of Jesus. The mean-spirited, uncivil, and right down nasty political environment of this nation is a direct outgrowth of a selfish, me-first cultural atmosphere. It’s all about me: my party, my ideology. A person’s willingness to compromise is looked down on as a sign of weakness. The desire for the common good is overwhelmed by a lust for wealth and power.

Our current fiscal crisis is rooted in our culture’s obsessive greed and selfishness. Everybody wants to cut the budget. Nobody is willing to make the necessary sacrifices. Again, it’s all about me: my piece of the pie, my benefits, my re-election, my tax cuts. We’re like pigs at a trough, pushing and shoving our way to the front, the bigger and stronger among us denying access to their weaker and less fortunate brothers and sisters.

What should we who follow Jesus be saying to our culture? Pretty much the same things Paul wrote to the Philippians: “Don’t be selfish. Stop being so competitive. Don’t be so conceited. Get rid of all your me-first attitudes. Humble yourselves. Serve one another. Look out for one another. Live for one another. If necessary, die for one another.”

But we have to do more than just say it. We must be willing to live it: in our homes, in our workplaces, in our social transactions, and especially within the church itself. We must model Christ-like humility, servanthood, and sacrifice.

And we must never forget that the path Jesus took to a crown involved a cross. We must never forget that he won by losing, lived by dying, and took first place by being willing to be last. It was because of his humble and obedient servanthood and sacrifice that the closing verses of today’s text became a reality: “Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

No crown without a cross. No victory without a loss. No living without dying to self. That’s what Jesus taught and modeled. That’s what he has told us to do. That is what we must teach and demonstrate to our insane culture and the wider world. Amen.