Philippians 2:5-8 WWJD

Phil 2:5-8

⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
⁶Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
⁷but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
⁸And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!

These verses had been stuck on me for quite some time and now are one of those verses I constantly say in my head.

I also thought randomly, one day, about those WWJD bracelets everyone, at one time, seemed to have. At time, I even thought that people wore them as a fad rather than a reminder of what Jesus would do in certain situations (and I’m starting to think that with the whole He>i thing too).  So….what would Jesus do?

I think these 4 verses state them beautifully. They are simple and to the point. Jesus came, obviously, not to be served, but to serve (Matt 20:28), and here’s how.

He never took a hold of who He was when things got nuts. Think about it, He is God. He could’ve done whatever He wanted, but did He? No, He did what everyone else wanted Him to do in terms of service. For example. when people wanted to be healed, He healed them. One thing that always gets me, and I know I’ve said this many times before, is the Luke 9:10-17. He withdrew, meaning He wanted to be alone with His disciples, but the crowds came. Did He run faster? Did He summon walls of dust to shoo them away? No, He welcomed them, healed them, fed them, etc. Is that what we do? When we want to be by ourselves, yet people come to us, do we welcome them or not? Lastly, think about the crucifixion. Dude, if I was God (and thank Him that I’m not), I would’ve turned everyone to frogs when they hit me or something. Watching Passion of the Christ wrecked me. How can He have sooooo much self control not to knock any of these guys down?

Verse 7 wrecked me. He made Himself NOTHING. I don’t know how else to explain this except that He never thought of Himself as too good to serve. He was nothing in His mind and everyone else was everything. He took the very nature of a servant. HE TOOK. Not, “It was forced on Him.” No, He took the identity. He served. That’s who He was and that’s how He lived.

(Here’s a secret to serving. Make yourself nothing and it’ll be much easier.)

He became obedient even to death. Is that us? Do we serve even when it hurts? Jesus did. He did it to the point where it killed Him. Do you?

If you have one of those WWJD stickers or bracelets, and you decide to put it back on, always remember this. What would Jesus do? Not refer to His rights, made Himself nothing and became a servant who was obedient even to His death. Now verse 5 gives us our application. Is this our attitude in life?

2 Corinthians 1:6-9

2 Corinthians 1:6
⁶If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.  ⁸We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. ⁹Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

Let’s do a quick recap of what this means. v6 tells us that if we are in trials and suffering, it’s for the benefit of the church (v4 so they can be comforted with the same comfort given by God to us). It also tells us that if we are comforted, people will be able to patiently endure the same trials you went through. Think about it. If you see someone who suffers when  they do something, but the whole time, they are comforted and encouraged, wouldn’t your mind reference to that when you go through the same trial? Wouldn’t you be encouraged to suffer through it since that person did?

The purpose for the sufferings they have is written in v8-9. Paul went through some crazy stuff to the point where they “despised life.” Yet the point of it is to rely on God.

Now let’s see this in terms of suffering through serving the body. How do you see serving? Do you look at the trial now or do you look at the outcome of your suffering? Our tendency is to look towards what we’re doing now and how hard it is rather than look at the purpose and who it will bless. As it says, “if we are distressed, it is for your comfort,” but this suffering is meant for us to rely on God. Why would we rely on God? Jeremiah 17:5-8 basically tells us that He will curse the ones who rely on themselves or man, but bless those who rely on Him. What I find interesting is v6 where he says “he will not see prosperity when it comes” meaning, the “cursed” man will have prosperity from the Lord, but because his eyes are fixed on the “light and momentary trouble” he blinds himself to the work of God. The whole point in suffering is to remind yourself that this is God’s work and you’re doing it for Him, not for yourself or for your glory. Always remember that.

Don’t blind yourself to God’s prosperity. He will encourage you through your trials and sufferings and remember, it’s all for the glory of God and the edifying of the church.