Why Me, Lord?

Message Transcription

Well, it is good to be with you this morning. I'm excited. We're launching our new summer series. It's called The Epistles Greatest Hits. And I know I have a lot of music fans who come every week with a song on your heart and on your mind. What we wanted to do was to spend some time this summer thinking about some of those greatest passages in Scripture. If you don't know what an epistle is, that's okay. You're in good company. Most people don't either. It's a letter. It's simply a letter written by one of the apostles. And so we're going to look through the epistles this summer, looking at some of the great songs, the great passages, the great challenges that we hold together as life and hope and Jesus Christ. And you're going to hear from some different voices we're going to look at all over the New Testament. But I hope is as we pursue these songs together, it will remind us of who we are and who got us calling us to be. Each week we're going to gather around a certain passage, but we're going to pair with it a song from our culture, a song for maybe a not a one hit wonder. Because these epistles, these letters are not one hit wonders. They're they're the kind of of music, if you will, that continue to speak life and truth into us. And so we're going to listen for and look at a song that maybe reminds us somewhat of this passage.

Some of my old timers here in the audience may recognize the song that the sermon title is named after. Why Me, Lord? It was actually written in 1972. You talk about the nineties, how about the seventies? It was written back in 1972 by a guy named Kris Kristofferson. That's kind of an interesting story. As Gary and I were going back and forth, Gary, he's kind of my music man. He he knows every song by every artist ever pretty, pretty amazing. And as we are going through the encyclopedia of Songs, that is his mind and and thinking about a few of my own. We came across this song. I was I was inspired by the humble lyrics of it. Now, it's kind of interesting if you know Kris Kristofferson story, it's kind of this ironic song because he struggled his entire life. In fact, he would he would define himself as, I'm not really a church cone kind of guy. And yet this song has profoundly impacted so many people. I was listening to him recount the story to a guy named Ralph Emery. Some of the others will know who that is. As he was talking about the experience of writing this song, he said, I was at a fundraising concert over the weekend and a friend of mine invited me to go to church with her the next day. And so we went. And in the middle of the service we were all kneeling down and praying.

He said, I don't really go to church. I'm not really a churchgoing kind of guy. He says at one point, the preacher says, If anyone feels lost, would you just raise your hand? If anyone's feeling lost, it, just raise your hand. And Chris is thinking, I would never do that, only to find out. Seconds later, his hand. It's being raced in the air. And the preacher continues on and he says, Well, if anyone would like to invite Jesus into their life, we invite you to come down forward. And again, he's thinking, I'm not a churchgoing guy. I am not going down front only to find himself rising up and walking down front and standing in front of the preacher at the front of this auditorium. And so the preacher reaches out and kind of puts his hand on the shoulder and he says, Friend, why have you come? And Chris says, I don't know. And so he has them kneel down and he places his hand, he starts speaking words. And Chris would later say, I don't even remember what he said. All I remember was this incredible weight being lifted off my shoulders. And he said, I began to break down and cry and weep. He said, I was experiencing this forgiveness that I didn't even know I needed. Went home after that experience, and he wrote down these words. Why me, Lord? What have I ever done to deserve even one of the pleasures I've known? Tell me, Lord, what did I ever do that was worth loving you or the kindness you've shown? Lord, help me, Jesus.

I've wasted it. So help me, Jesus. I know what I am. Now that I know that I've needed you. So help me. Jesus, my soul's in your hand. Tell me, Lord, if you think there's a way I can try to repay all I've taken from you. Maybe, Lord, I can show you some. Maybe, Lord, I can show someone else what I've been through myself on my way back to you. Lord. Help me, Jesus. I've wasted it. So. Help me. Jesus. I know what I am. Now that I know that I've needed you. So help me. Jesus, my soul's in your hand. As Gary and I spoke about the song this week, I was struck by the humility of those words, of this humble recognition that it's not anything that he did, but it was God's grace, his mercy, his overwhelming love and compassion poured out into his life. He couldn't help but respond. I love to hear those stories of God's work in our lives in a way that just is so overwhelming. We can't help but respond. So encouraged by Samantha Holt, who gave her life to Christ this past week, responding to the to the work of Jesus in her life. Chris said these these words, I don't know where they came from. They just poured out as I came face to face with this need I didn't know I had.

Imagine what would happen in a person's life if this type of humility took root. Can you imagine what the church would look like if this was our defining posture to the world? It gets us to our passage that no read for us. Just a minute ago. I invite you if you have your Bible to turn over to Philippians two and we're going to hang there today. We're going to look at this incredible passage, this greatest hit of what it means to be a humble service servant, rather. Now, I don't know if you've noticed in the world around us, but there's a lot of disharmony, there's a lot of discontent, a lot of angry fighting and arguing over what's really true and what matters the most. I wish I could say it's just the way of the world. It's just kind of how life operates outside these walls. But sadly, too often that that same disharmony finds its way in the church as well. But you and I both know this isn't new. In our day in time. It's been happening for centuries. In fact, it was happening during the time that the New Testament was written, the early church. I think that's perhaps why Paul was writing some of what he was writing about here to this young church in Philippi. You see in the ancient world, Christian Christianity, rather, was in its infancy. And this young church is trying to find its way.

How do I how do I follow a way of this man, Jesus, that most people don't recognize as anyone, other than just maybe some mythological character, some made up presentation, some made up story that you're going to turn and and walk away from your family, your history, from all this you've ever known. And what happens within this church, within this community, where we've all sacrificed so much that now we start fighting and we start arguing over what really matters. What do we do then? So Paul is writing it and drawing them back to the beginning. Of what it means to follow Jesus. And these were his words in verse one. Therefore, if any of you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like minded, having the same love, being one and spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit rather in humility. Value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interest, but each of you, to the interests of others and your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ. Jesus. Paul sets out this glorious vision of what it's like when we learn to live with one another in the community of God's people. If you're like me, it it feels a bit overwhelming, a bit grandiose, doesn't it? Have the same mind, have the same love, be one and spirit.

Consider others and their opinions as better than your own. Now I know some of you and I know some of your opinions, and I don't think they're better than mine. Right. And and you know me and, you know some of my opinions. And you don't think mine are better than yours. What do we do? Church. How are we going to solve this? Well, the answer is we have to be focused on something other than ourselves. Or rather, as Paul says, someone. Paul. Here's going to point to unity. Happening in three different ways. Urging and inspiring and challenging us to live focused in a different direction. In fact, he's going to first point to the motivation for unity, why it matters in the first place. It starts with this recognition of all that we have in Christ. He keeps using this word if. If you have any encouragement. If any comfort, if any common sharing of the spirit, if any tenderness and compassion. We could really say, since Paul saying he's not he's not really asking if you have this, he knows you haven't. In fact, if you read chapter one, Paul talks about how they've been living it out in their community. He's saying, Since you have all of these things, since we're in Christ, we have these things, and they should be growing in us and among us. In fact, so much so that God's Spirit, it's at work in our lives and not only our lives, but in your life.

And so I'm not only aware of how God is at work in me, but I'm seeing it and recognizing it in you and appreciating it in you. You see, if we aren't experiencing this affection for other followers of Jesus, if we're not experiencing this desire for unity, a heart for reconciliation, then Paul would say, Do we really have the spirit in us? Because the fruit of the spirit, he says to the Galatians Church, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, like that's the fruit of the spirit happening in a believer's life. So for struggling with unity, if we're struggling with loving others, he might say, are we really spending time allowing the spirit to do its work in us? Notice Paul uses. He keeps emphasizing being. Having. You know, as a father, there are times when I'm content with my kids. Not. Not loving each other, but just pretending to love each other. All right. You have that long day and you come home and you're exhausted. I'm like, I don't really care if you love each other right now. I just need to pretend I'm just I'm over it in the back of the car when they're fighting, I just. I'm content with them pretending to get along, even if they don't really get along. Why? Because I just need some peace and quiet. Paul's not okay with that. Pop's not okay with that type of mindset.

He doesn't say that's the that's the mark of the Holy Spirit is you don't really care if people love each other, you just want them to get along. All right. Sometimes you hear people say, well, I don't. I like him. I just love him. Where do we find that? That is not what he says in Philippians two. Jesus doesn't promote that policy of not liking, but loving. Be like minded, have the same love, be one and spirit. How, Paul, how do we do this? Not only that, he says, I want you to let go of selfish ambition, this mindset of of a win lose scenario where if I win, you lose. He says, that's not how we going to operate with one another in the body of Christ. Instead, he says, Your attitude, the same word he uses in verse two for being like minded. He says, Your mindset. What Curtis directed us to a moment ago. Here around the table needs to be the same. As Jesus. How do we do this? I think Paul points us in a second way to unity. The focus says We got to focus on someone. He says, your mind, your attitude, your thinking should be that of Christ. He is now our standard. Plus resetting our perspective on on big and small things. No matter where we come down on the small things, the big thing is the mind of Christ. We should have the same mind. Not by bringing all of our minds together, not by just sitting down and hashing it out over the table.

Like if we could just convince one another, and if I could just present enough evidence that you would agree with me, that's not what Paul says. He didn't say it's about bringing us all together to share that money. He says, No, no, it's all about having a different mind all together. The mind of Christ. Now immediately you may see the problem here. All right. What if my idea of the mind of Christ is different from yours? We don't always agree. I appreciate so much. My friend Mark Love was preaching a sermon on this back when we were living in Austin, said, We often convince ourselves that we have Jesus mind. You know, I've been a Christian all my life. I'm a good person. I love the church, I love the Bible. And so whatever I think God must think whatever I believe and value, God must value. But listen, when's the last time you had a conversation with someone at church who said this? You know, I know God doesn't really agree with me on this, but I believe it anyway. When's the last time we've ever had a conversation or argument where we just openly acknowledged, Yeah, I don't think God agrees with the air, but I'm holding on to this position and you can't change my mind. Now, we never do that. Instead, we hear people justify all kinds of things because they think God is on their side.

And I'm not just talking about terrorists or the mentally ill. We all do this. We have this unending capacity to fool ourselves into thinking. I know, I know it. I know the mind of Christ and you're wrong. And you need to conform your mindset to my mindset. Without even realizing it. We create a God in our own image instead of the other way around. See in the church. This can be tragic. I think it's your friendships apart. I know people who don't speak to each other any longer because of a differing opinion on an issue at church. They no longer hold fellowship. You see, I might believe that God wants to do this or that for the church, when in fact it's just me who wants that to happen in the church. I tribute my taste in worship. Or my feelings about how people should dress or how the elders should spend the money or or any other number of issues, when in reality, those are just my opinions. Those are just my beliefs. I mean, don't think twice about pulling verses out of Scripture and like hostages holding them and forcing them to say things that we want them to say. This is what this means. And here's why. I mean, that's what happens at other churches, not not here at Broadway, you know, but you can imagine how that might have happened at other places. But you see, if I'm honest, I've done this.

And I've done this. I think something is really important. So I'm going to try to find all the verses that align with my thinking on this and then convince you to follow me in that. But what if it's just. But if it's just my opinion. That I don't really have the mind of Christ on this. They say sometimes our assumptions are are are just that and we act in response to them. I think if you can bring yourself to confess, maybe that's you too, not just me. You find you're not alone. In fact, I think this is why Paul doesn't just leave it at you need to have the same mind he has inside. Can you all just get on the same page? Could you just sit down, hash it out over supper, work it out, and then move forward? No, no, no. Because he knows. He knows people like me that if I'm sitting in church and I hear the preacher say this, Hey, sometimes your opinions are just your opinions. My thought is, that's right, preacher. A man. I hope my wife's listening. I hope my husband's listening. I hope my friend is listening. I hope my neighbor is listening because that's just their opinion. It's not the gospel. Now, Paul says it's not enough for you to have the same mindset. It needs to be the mindset of Christ. So maybe to a church that's struggling with some arguments, perhaps fighting over what Paul was saying or what Jesus meant or what they understood him to mean, that Paul's going to take them back to the beginning.

And say maybe none of you yet have the full mind of Christ. And so as you approach these conversations with one another. Perhaps you could think. What you think is what you think. So that's why Paul doesn't leave him there to wonder what the mind of Christ is like. He points right to it. In fact, the third time he points to the action of unity, this is what unity looks like. Lived, out, embodied. Interestingly enough, he does it with a song. Who being in very nature God. Jesus did not consider equality with God. Something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant. Being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death. Even death on a cross. Therefore got exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus, every niche should bow in heaven and on earth and under the Earth and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. The Church. How are we doing with that? How are you doing with that? How's your attitude and your mind? Is it the same as Christ Jesus? You see, if not, we need to be real careful.

When believing we have the mind of Christ when it comes to other things, this comes first. Church. Humility comes first. Now imagine Georgia and Kentucky both had their thoughts, that they had the mind of Christ on whatever they were fighting about. We don't know what they were fighting about. All we know is Paul writes an entire letter before he gets to maybe one of the big points of the letter of saying, hey, you're a cynic. Help them. And in our day I wouldn't write you a four page letter. I would just say, knock it off, cut it out, quit arguing. Paul doesn't do that. He writes this entire letter, especially this beautiful song in chapter two, to illustrate what the mind of Christ is like. And then he says, Now, church, can we come alongside these two sisters and help them? Can we help them sort out whatever it is that they're arguing about? Can we help them figure it out? What if the church. What if we were as committed to. To approaching one another from now on. In any conversation with this starting point. The mind of Christ. And what if we faced a hard conversation or a challenging discussion that we could say, even as Paul did a couple of times in Scripture? This is really just me here talking. I'm not sure if God feels the same way about this as I do. I've got a lot of changes to make when it comes to this mind of Christ business.

And so I'm not going to hit you over the head with what I think God thinks. Instead, I'm going to start right now trying to have the mind of Christ. I'm going to start by listening to you to try to understand. I'm going to I'm going to empty myself of any desire to control or manipulate you into thinking and believing. I want to try to understand and show you that I love you because Jesus loves us both immeasurably more than He cares about this issue. So let's start there. Can you imagine what a church would be like if we committed ourselves? To those kinds of conversations. An interview later on. I think it was a few years after the song was written. They? The interviewer asked Kris Kristofferson about the song. And noted it was his only number one hit ever. The only one. And so they're asking him a couple of questions about it. And and he he described it. He said, well, it was just a personal thing I was going through at the time. I had some kind of experience that I can't even explain. The Church. My hope is that our encounter with Jesus in this passage. Would be more than just a personal thing that that you're going through right now. It'd be a little more than an experience you can't explain, but it actually would become a song that starts to shape your heart and shape your mind and shape the conversations that you have with the people you love and especially the people that you don't.

So can I ask this morning, as that preacher asked Chris so many years ago. Is anybody feeling lost here today? Anybody looking for direction. Is there anyone here who would like to invite Jesus into their life, who want to experience the the lifting of that burden of guilt and shame and brokenness and walk into a new life? Friends. If there is, don't leave here today without responding. I promise I won't make you kneel here in front of everybody. We can pray at the back of the auditorium. We can meet in my office sometime this week. We can. We can talk whenever you like. You see, we believe this is this song is the song of our lives. And we want it to be the song that becomes the greatest hit and how we're known in our community. Oh, God. Would you do for us what only you can do. Would you heal us? Would you renew us? Would you restore us? Garbage reach down today wherever we are in our life. Whatever area where we're really struggling. We're having a hard time being humble. Of admitting that maybe our opinions, our thoughts, our ideas are just that they're ours. They're not yours. We need to spend more time, in your word, listening for the for the move of your spirit. Of watching the example of Jesus who did not consider equality with you, Lord, to be something, to hold on to, to use as this manipulative device, a hammer to.

To bonk us on the head with. But instead he showed us by serving. By humbly sacrificing. By willing to give everything. So that others might see a true love. A true hope. The life that is truly life. Yeah. That's our desire as a church. We want to be those kind of people. So, Father, would you help us to become those? Would you help us take our next step? Father, if that's for us to. To repent of some way, something, some action, behavior, whatever it may be. God, would you give us the courage to face the truth? It's no God. It's only what you can do. It's not about us. Yeah. We didn't do anything to deserve your love. You just love us. They've called us to respond to that. God, we want to respond to that. Would you help us to respond if there's a relationship that we need to make? Right. Lord, would you help us to have the courage this week to take the first step, the next step in making that relationship right. Or if it's dealing with with some truth in our work. Aviator her school. Our neighborhood, God, wherever it may be. Lord, would you give us courage to follow? Lord, thank you for the humble example of Jesus. May we live more fully into that that way of life this week we pray. In Jesus name. Amen.