Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. (Philippians 2:6)
“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. [. . .] Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.
“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.” (John 15:1, 6–16 NLT)
When I was 21, I was playing soccer on tour in Romania. Romania was still under communist rule, so our team from the West was heavily guarded. We were assigned a chaperone who had been an elite soccer coach by the name of Victor. Everyone knew his incredible status. More than once we benefited from that status when he would get what he wanted by declaring, “I am Victor,” in the best Romanian accent you can imagine.
On one occasion, we were taken to the top soccer game of the season. Victor cleared out a row of people with the best seats in the house. They had paid for the tickets, where we had not. They had to move because he declared, “I am Victor!” When we were pulled over by the police, we received the same benefit. No ticket and no hassle because – “I am Victor!”
In the beautiful Christological section of Philippians 2:5–11, after being exhorted to have the same attitude as Christ, Paul describes that attitude in verse 6: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage” (NIV).
Paul is clear – Jesus is divine. That is his status. He does not need to strive to become like God, because he already is God. It is in that divinity that we see an attitude or a posture shine.
By not using his status, Jesus sought to glorify the Father. He could have used that status for his own glory, but instead he fought to maintain the glory of the Father. At the beginning of the Gospels, Jesus is tempted to use his divinity to make himself known but resists for the sake of the Father and the Kingdom. At the end of his time on Earth, we see him go to the cross and have the same attitude. He chose not to glorify himself so that the Father would be glorified.
And we are to have the same attitude. From the beginning of time, we as humans have been the opposite. We’ve sought to be like God in reputation. Empire sought to replace Kingdom in Genesis 3. This attitude is on display in at least three ways even today.
First, we seek status or reputation. We name drop or climb the ladder by putting others down. We seek our own reputation, though this attitude is opposite to that of Christ Jesus.
Second, we desire to use our power to control. This was on full display every time Victor declared, “I am Victor!”
Third, even when we have little status or power, we demand our rights, thinking this is normal. A 1950s missionary book by Mabel Williamson entitled Have We No Rights? discusses the very issue that our attitudes in the West, when we demand our rights, flies in the face of the example Jesus was setting for us in Philippians 2:6.
May we seek to have the attitude of Christ in all we do. May we remain in Jesus so we might produce good fruit, not for our own glory but for the glory of the Father.
Cam Roxburgh is the VP of Missional Initiatives.