Who Do You Think You Are?
Link: https://youtu.be/LcZkUOQLeno
Readings: Luke 2:22-40, Psalm 8, Philippians 2:5-11
Who do you think you are? No really, what do you think of yourself? Do you think you are a good person? Do you think you have done something good in your life, so you deserve what you have? Or on the opposite side, do you think you less, that you don’t have a lot of gifts or haven’t done a lot? Or do you think you are somewhere in-between? Knowing that you haven’t always done the best, but you have also at times risen above the struggle. Though the last option may be the most balanced, each viewpoint has something fundamentally wrong with it. The first problem to address is that none of us are less, we have all been created in the image of God and so we at our core can be a gift to change the world. We might not have done a lot yet, but that can change today. The second problem is when we think of ourselves as good people, though we have been given the image of God and His goodness, none of us have really lived into the goodness we were meant for. We were created to be good all the time and so, being good in moments does not mean that we deserve it or anything. Instead, when we see the greatness of God that is work in us despite the undeserved reality that should actually empower us to lower ourselves and help others. Lastly, though we do need to recognize our sin and repent of it, we are not meant to run away from the brokenness, we are meant to dwell in it and lift up the good in the midst of it. All in all, we are meant to take on the mind of Christ.
That is how our reading from Philippians starts, with Paul telling us to put on God’s mind. Not unlike last week when we put on God’s clothes. Clothes that don’t fit right, but that we can grow into. Now it is God’s mind, which surprisingly starts with what we think of ourselves our identity but this is because how we think about ourselves determines how we relate to the world outside. If we think we deserve more, we will try to take more. If we think we are above others, then we will push them to the side. If we think we are screw-ups, we won’t act when it truly matters. Or take a modern common personality definition. If we think we are introverts we not might connect when it is needed for us or others. If we think we are extroverts, we might not take the time to stop, pray, listen and understand. You could take practically any personal definition and see how it is actually getting in the way of your caring for this world, for God, and even yourself. And of course, pride is one of the most detrimental, as it is centering on yourself as the creator of your own destiny, it is seeing yourself as the achiever, it is making yourself the definer of what is good. Pride puffs you up to make you think of yourself as more than you are and so that there is less room for others and God and as a result they often appear as less.
In our passage from Philippians, we actually see that Jesus knew who He was. He was equal with God. He was in the form of God. With God He created all things that came into being. Yet, despite all of the grandness of Christ’s personhood, not a single aspect of this was meant purely for Himself. Not a single part of his greatness was meant to be exploited, but it was meant to be given.
Now in comparison, we are not equal with God, but we have been made in His likeness, to be like Him. If Jesus who was far greater than us didn’t exploit this, but rather gave His greatness for us and to us, then we should use the gifts we have been given for others as well. For us, it should start with recognizing whose we are. We are God’s creation. Everything we have, our skills, our upbringing, our world has been given to us by God. We have never deserved them, yet the gift of our personhood is still immense and wonderful - as we were created to be so much. This means that we can move forward with humility, using the gifts we never deserved to empower the gifts others never deserved either. What we will see is that the free grace of God will abound all the more. This is neither thinking about yourself as too little nor too great. It is recognizing the creator in you and moving forward in knowledge of that.
Now in the passage, we hear about Jesus emptying Himself, taking the form of a slave, and being born a human. I have already talked with you about what an amazing and loving sacrifice this was, for God to go from being God, the orderer, creator, and ruler of all things to become a human and a slave. What an amazing and loving God. Obviously, the depth of our emptying ourselves will never compare, but we are still meant to do it. God’s greatness did not mean He could and would hide from the brokenness and sin, but it rather meant that He should step into it and pull us out as He had already been trying to do for centuries. Until the world’s recreation, we are meant to dwell in the messiness, in the brokenness, the hurt, the questions, so that together we might move out of it. This should really challenge our comfortable lives. It should really challenge the ideas we have of independence. It should really challenge our separation. If all we have is a gift that we have never deserved and even God gave up much more, then how much more should we use these gifts to lift up and care for the brokenness and those in the midst of sin.
Where should we be when someone is going through a divorce, or is alone, or lost a job, or is going through mental illness, or is sick? Where should we be when someone has really screwed up, or is being ostracised, or is lost, or when someone gets caught up in their own pride or anger? We are meant to be with them. We can’t always change them, we don’t always have the answers or the ability to change the reality of their lives, but we can listen, share, work, and ultimately we can lift them up. It is not an easy road through grief or pain or sin or anger, but all of us need someone to walk us through it. Thankfully, Jesus is always willing to empty himself for it, but we are created to be in God’s image so that others might see Jesus in us when they can’t see Him with them. They need Jesus as much as we do and thankfully we can share Him.
At times this will come with real sacrifice. It will take time, energy, and often money. Jesus gave it all for us, even going to the point of the cross. From creator to the cross, Jesus gave up far more than we will ever be asked to give, but we should still be willing to give everything. The truth is that when Jesus took the form of a human, we hear first that he took the form of a servant. That is because a servant is what we are all meant to be. Not that we are subservient or lesser, but that is what the gift God has created us to be, we are meant to be a gift for all - not just ourselves or those closest to us, but for everyone. We are meant to be servants, first of God, because only then can we be like him: remembering a servant can only be as great as their master and then second serving those our master loves.
Again, Jesus has done this to the greatest degree. He is the one we should turn to in praise and honour for the depth of His gift is immense. He is the one we should emulate and follow. The amazing thing is that it is because of Christ humility in this way that God lifts Him up. As God, Jesus already deserved it all and yet now Jesus deserves it even more. Now we need to trust that God will lift us up too. Humility is hard in today’s world because we often feel like we can become a doormat, or because we won’t get what we deserve, but the truth is we have already been given more than we deserve. If we trust in the same God who gave us all of this, we should know that in humility we will be given even more. We don’t have to fight for it or protect it. Instead, we give it, knowing that there is still far more waiting for all of us.
Each of us has been given gifts in different ways. Our skillset, our situation, our relationships, our connections, our stuff, our communities, our understanding, our experience. These are all gifts that have particularly equipped us to do this humble service to lift others up. We should all search ourselves to better understand what we can and should do, and I would love to help you in that personal search but in the meantime, there is stuff we all can do. We can all pray, we can all ask for forgiveness, we can all listen, we can all reach out, we can all suffer with one another, we can all hold on, we can all trust and believe. So were we created.
So I ask again. Who do you think you are? Do you realize that you are a created gift from God created in His image? Do you realize all that God has done in Christ to make you this gift? Do you realize the greatest way to be this gift is to humbly give it by dwell in the midst of brokenness and sin and lifting others up? Jesus did all this and so to live into His image, so should we. AMEN
