Please read Philippians
2:5-18
One day in a restaurant, a six-year-old
boy was testing his parents’ patience. He would not sit down on his chair and
he wanted to stand up and jump on the chair. The parents tried everything-
reasoning, begging, cajoling –even threatening to punish the boy. The more the
parents talked to him the boy displayed aggressive and stubborn behavior.
Ultimately, his father stood up grabbed the boy’s shoulders and forced the boy
to sit down. Finally, the boy was seated but he crossed his arms and
yelled, “I am sitting on the outside but I am standing up on the
inside.”
Jesus tells us
of His own obedience to God the Father (Hebrews 10:7) and spoke (John 12:49)
and did (John 14:31) everything according to His Father’s commands. Jesus did
not do all of this for His own benefit or fame. He did this for you and me. He
obeyed all of God’s directions for our benefit to give us confidence in His
grace (Hebrews 4:15-16). And then he set the goal of obedience for
us (Matthew
12:50; John 14:31).
But our
problem is we do not obey God’s commands. We disobey, and when we disobey
yelling, screaming, rebelling, or even murmuring, etc. are not usually evident
in our lives. We seem to ‘obey on the outside but we disobey in the inside’. To
other believers, we appear to be saints but we are rebelling against Jesus.
In our text
today, Paul tells us about the perfect obedience of Christ. Jesus followed
God’s plan. He never complained (Isaiah 53:7) and never vacillated. So Paul
issues the very challenge to the Philippians and to us. But how can we be
obedient? Paul tells us “for it is God who
works in you”. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus did
not leave us alone (Deuteronomy 31:6), He gave us His Spirit and thus blesses
to a rich and fruitful life of obedience and joy.
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