August 24, 2008 “It’s All In Your Head”

Philippians 2:5-11 Attitude

5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God,*
he did not think of equality with God -
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges*; -
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,*
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal's death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.


Something significant happened recently, something that gave legitimacy to the many sufferers of a chronic condition. Governor Joe Manchin presented a proclamation officially recognizing National Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. Fibromyalgia is marked by widespread aches, pains, stiffness and fatigue. An estimated 10 to 15 million Americans suffer from the condition. Before it was a recognized condition, people suffering from it were often told, “It’s all in your head.”

Often, that phrase is used to explain away a host of things that people just can’t believe really exists. Today, I want to give legitimacy to something else of great importance.

The battle for spiritual growth begins in the mind. To grow spiritually, one must first have a personal, saving relationship with Christ. You might say, “It’s all in your head.” Spiritual growth is a decision of the will.

Terry Teykl has been called by God to call the church to prayer. Susan and I attended one of his Encounter Seminars yesterday. Several of our folks attended his seminar in Weston a few months ago. We are beginning small groups based on his book "Pay the Price." It is the best thing that I have ever read on prayer. One thing he mentioned yesterday was something about Post-Fall versus Pre-Fall theology. In other words, Post-Fall theology is what we believe about humanity after Adam and Eve fell in the garden. We spend a lot of time on that, but ignore the Pre-Fall scenario – what did God intend for us to look like – to think like?

Christ’s attitude consisted of 3 things: sacrifice, humility and obedience.

Boarding the SS Dorchester on a dreary winter day in 1943 were 903 troops and four chaplains, including Moody Bible Institute alumnus Lt. George Fox. World War II was in full swing, and the ship was headed across the icy North Atlantic where German U-boats lurked. At 12:00 on the morning of February 3, a German torpedo ripped into the ship. "She's going down!" the men cried, scrambling for lifeboats.
A young GI crept up to one of the chaplains. "I've lost my life jacket," he said. "Take this," the chaplain said, handing the soldier his jacket. Before the ship sank, each chaplain gave his life jacket to another man. The heroic chaplains then linked arms and lifted their voices in prayer as the Dorchester went down. Lt. Fox and his fellow pastors were awarded posthumously the Distinguished Service Cross.

The Cross – that instrument of death – a cruel thing but for us a beautiful symbol of sacrifice. Christ gave up his place in the Godhead in order to walk the earth as a man. He came, not to live, but to die. He wanted to die because in his death and resurrection from the dead, he opened the door to our eternal life. For Jesus, our great lover, it was worth it! His equality as God was not something that he clung to. In other words, he did not approach life with a since of entitlement. Have you ever met someone with that world view – the view that says, “Life owes me something” I deserve to get what I want. I’m looking out for me”? That’s not a Christ like world view. A Christ-like world view asks, “What can I sacrifice for God and others? What can I give away? What can I give up?

Sometimes our giving up is a matter of giving up the strongholds that we have erected in our minds – places that we are going to keep that are over and above God. In other words, it is stinkin’ thinking.’ These are the thoughts that we entertain that hurt us. The mean thoughts we have about others, or those thoughts that are self-destructive like the desire for things like pornography or drugs or alcohol or food or material. Sometimes the sacrifice is replacing the stinkin’ thinkin’ with magnificent musings – the magnificent things of God. We find such magnificent things in the word of God.

Christ’s had the attitude of sacrifice. He also had an attitude marked by humility. The fastest man on earth, Usain Bolt from Jamaica, has been getting some flack over his boasting. He easily won the 100 meter final at the Olympics –beating the previous world record by 3 hundredths of a second. Ten meters before the finish line he looked toward the crowd and beat his chest.

Jesus had the right to boast, but he didn’t. He could have beat his chest and said, “That’s right. I’m God. Look out. I got the power!” No, that was not his way. He came to serve. He came to touch the least, last and lost – the smallest of society. His greatness lies in his ability to care for the lowly. Someone once said that true humility is in helping those who in no way can return the favor or help you benefit in any way.

Paul had a great prescription for humility. He said, I am the least of the apostles (1 Corinthians 15:9), I am the very least of all the saints (Ephesians 3:8) and I am the foremost of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15).

Last week I preached about the importance of Prayer, Study and Service. These are a must for every Christian. However, sometimes, when we practice them, there is a temptation to feel superior to others. Humility prevents this. Humility admits, “I am always under construction. I will not fully arrive in this life.”

Phillip Brooks made an apt comment when he said, "The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is." quoted in Burning out for God, E. Skoglund, p. 11.

"They that know God will be humble," John Flavel has said, ' and they that know themselves cannot be proud." quoted in MBI's Today In The Word, November, 1989, p.20.

The door of life is a door of mystery. It becomes slightly shorter than the one who wishes to enter it. And thus only he who bows in humility can cross its threshold.

Isn’t it interesting that traditional Orientals bow to show honor and humility?

For many years Sir Walter Scott was the leading literary figure in the British Empire. No one could write as well as he. Then the works of Lord Byron began to appear, and their greatness was immediately evident. Soon an anonymous critic praised his poems in a London paper. He declared that in the presence of these brilliant works of poetic genius, Scott could no longer be considered the leading poet of England. It was later discovered that the unnamed reviewer had been none other than Sir Walter Scott himself!

Source Unknown. We get too consumed with being the best or even better than others. In Christ, we must be willing to take a back seat!

Christ’s attitude consisted of sacrifice, humility and finally, obedience.
Thomas Watson wrote, “Christ went more readily ad crucem (to the cross), than we do to the throne of grace. “

Peter T. Forsythe was right when he said, "The first duty of every soul is to find not its freedom but its Master". Warren W. Wiersbe, The Integrity Crisis, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991, p. 22.

I mentioned to you last week that Paul wrote this letter from a Roman prison while awaiting a hearing with Caesar. It is the old choice, which still is presented to every soul; the old crisis, which reappears in every experience. Caesar, or Christ, that is the question: the vast, attractive, skeptical world, with its pleasures and ambitions and its prodigal promise, or the meek, majestic, and winning figures of Him of Nazareth?

The election remains for each of us. And the moment of the election, in the shaded and solemn "Valley of Decision," will be memorable in our history, when suns for us have ceased to shine! Source Unknown. What will it be – the ways of Caesar or the ways of Christ? Whom will we obey. The decision is critical. It marks the difference between eternal death and eternal life.

I've read that when Edward VI, the king of England in the 16th century, attended a worship service, he stood while the Word of God was read. He took notes during this time and later studied them with great care. Through the week he earnestly tried to apply them to his life. That's the kind of serious-minded response to truth the apostle Paul calls for in today's Scripture reading. A single revealed fact cherished in the heart and acted upon is more vital to our growth than a head filled with lofty ideas about God.

One step forward in obedience is worth years of study about it.