WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.439 Stake your Bible and go to the book of Isaiah, chapter 53. 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:11.599 If you're visiting with us, right around page 650, you'll find just about where we're at, Isaiah chapter 53. 00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:26.800 There are moments when silence is better than words. 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:35.759 Sometimes, amidst another person's grief, simply a silent presence is better than trying to say something. 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:43.200 Sometimes when you're angry, silence is definitely better than what you're about to say. 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:48.320 And when you don't know what to say, silence is good too. 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:54.079 My mom would say it's better to be silent and thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:56.320 Thanks, Mom. 00:00:56.320 --> 00:01:01.600 But there's also another silence. 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:04.719 Scripture has a message about silence. 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:14.159 In Isaiah 53 in verse 7, like a lamb led to the slaughter, he opened not his mouth. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:28.959 In a world that loves self-preservation, in a world that loves self-defense and self-expression and self-assertion, the servant's silence is jarring. 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:32.640 It doesn't make any sense. 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:36.719 But we're going to learn this morning something about that silence. 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:40.239 We're going to learn that that silence is not weakness or passivity. 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:50.959 We're going to learn that this silence is purposeful and that it is a submission to divine justice and loving redemption. 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:58.400 And it's also, as we'll learn, a model for how we're to behave in times of difficulty. 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:14.479 Because what we're going to be looking at in Isaiah 53 and other places this morning is a truth that I'm afraid too many believers in our day haven't yet learned. 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:21.039 And I know that because I missed it myself for a long, long time. 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:34.400 As many of you know, I was not raised in a Christian home. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:36.479 I came to Christ when I was in my twenties. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:39.280 Didn't come from even a nominally religious home. 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:42.719 It wasn't that religion was opposed, it was just ignored. 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:49.759 And so when I came to Christ, I had no framework for what it meant to be a Christian. 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:56.639 I quickly let go of habits that became very obvious to me that they were not in alignment with Christ. 00:02:56.639 --> 00:03:06.319 And I began to take on things that were new to me: the Bible reading, prayer, fellowship of the body, and even sharing a message about Christ to others. 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:21.360 But over time I began to realize that Christianity was more than just taking stuff off and putting stuff on, that the Lord meant to do something inside of me and that he was conforming me to the character of Christ. 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:24.400 I understood that. 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:30.240 But there came a point in my life when that realization deepened in a very significant way. 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:33.680 A life-changing way. 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:42.800 And it happened when I was facing unexpected, ongoing, and intense opposition in a church I was pastoring in Northern California. 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:49.120 And nothing I could say and nothing I could do could solve the conflict. 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:54.879 In fact, the way I acted when it first started to happen probably just made it worse. 00:03:54.879 --> 00:04:04.879 And in that crucible, I began to ask myself, what am I supposed to learn through this? 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:11.759 And I began to ask the Lord to show me more in Jesus in the middle of that moment. 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:14.560 And I was confused at first. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:27.040 I even at a moment of time went to one of my Hebrew professors in seminary and asked him, I said, What does Paul mean in 2 Corinthians 1 5 when the sufferings of Christ flow into us? 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:31.040 And I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:36.879 Does God bring pastors into the sufferings of Christ like that? 00:04:36.879 --> 00:04:39.360 Or is that meant to be apostolic? 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:42.160 I really didn't get an answer. 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:52.480 But as I began to read more and more 2 Corinthians, I began to understand that I was participating in suffering by God's design. 00:04:52.480 --> 00:05:04.079 And in an intimate conversation that I had with one of the elders there, I told him in a moment of just transparency and openness as we shared the trouble together. 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:09.279 I said, I'm learning something about Jesus Christ here, I don't think I could learn anywhere else. 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:13.439 And I didn't mean the town, I meant the situation. 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:36.480 And when I read Isaiah 53, I saw its connection to passages like Philippians 2 and 1 Peter 2 and others, and I began to realize that this was something about our Savior that was meant to be reflected in my life in a very deep way. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:48.720 And in the middle of that weakness and in the middle of that suffering, I began to learn what it meant to be a Christ-like believer and a Christ-like pastor. 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:53.360 And uh I'm still learning, still learning that. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:59.600 And so I've anticipated for a long time us coming to this passage of scripture. 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:03.439 It's that deep in my heart. 00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:14.160 Because what we're gonna look at in this servant song is not just seeing that Christ suffered and that he endured that suffering. 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:21.360 We're gonna see how he endured it and how we are to live our lives in the light of it as believers in Christ. 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:29.120 And when we scan the whole of this song here, we're going to notice something about Christ. 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:36.560 We're going to see a movement or an arc, as I'll call it, over the course of this morning. 00:06:36.560 --> 00:07:02.079 That he begins in glory and descends into humanity and faces opposition and endures suffering and plunges into death, but then rises from the grave and then ascends into the heavenlies, and then is sat at the right hand of the majesty on high and given all his enemies under his footstool. 00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:07.600 There's an ark that begins in glory and ends in glory. 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:09.680 And we're going to see that here. 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:16.480 But it's not just a description of Christ's movement, it's a pattern for us. 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:21.759 And this posture of Christ is a pattern for believers. 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:33.920 Because his descent into obedience and the suffering obedience that he did is meant to shape our relationships, is meant to shape how we respond to injustices. 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:42.079 It is to be the very form for our conduct in the workplace and in our home and among the body of Christ. 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:44.959 And also our witness in the world. 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:50.240 There's not many other places that I can think of that aren't covered by all of that. 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:53.839 And so today I want us to trace two movements. 00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:55.759 Two movements. 00:07:55.759 --> 00:08:04.879 First, we're going to behold the servants' movement, this arc of descent from divine glory to silent obedience back into exaltation. 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:12.879 And then we're going to go into the New Testament and consider how that ark is meant to shape a believer's life in every sphere. 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:14.879 We'll give some examples of that. 00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:20.720 So let me begin by reading the passage that's just immediately in front of us. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:24.879 It's Isaiah 53, 7 to the beginning of verse 10. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:31.120 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:38.559 Like a lamb led to the slaughter, and like a sheep silent before her shears, he did not open his mouth. 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:41.840 He was taken away because of oppression and judgment. 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:44.240 And who considered his fate? 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:47.919 For he was cut off from the land of the living. 00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:50.720 He was struck because of my people's rebellion. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:53.120 He was assigned a grave with a wicked. 00:08:53.120 --> 00:09:00.559 But he was with a rich man at his death, because he had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully. 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:05.519 And yet the Lord was pleased to crush him severely. 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:18.960 So this first movement is going to be the movement of Christ from glory to glory, from glory to exaltation, through the movement of this ark that brings him love. 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:22.639 But it has to start at divine glory. 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:28.240 We need to start there, not with his suffering, but with his glory. 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:34.240 And look at the very first part of chapter 53, where we were at just a little bit ago. 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:41.279 There we saw last week that the question is asked, who has believed what we've heard? 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:46.000 And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:55.360 And last week we saw that that phrase, the arm of the Lord, signifies divine power, divine initiative, divine presence. 00:09:55.360 --> 00:10:08.720 And the power, initiative, and presence of God is there to bring judgment or to bring deliverance or to bring salvation or to bring rescue. 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:12.000 It's a powerful movement of God. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:20.639 In the beginning of this letter, in verse 13, my servant will be successful. 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:24.080 He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted. 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:29.679 So there's a statement there about beginning power and ending power. 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:33.200 But we have to start here. 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:42.639 That he is in heaven, in a place of divine authority and divine strength. 00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:49.039 Because Jesus is not just a man enduring hardship. 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:54.799 He is the visible expression of God's redemptive strength. 00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:58.480 He is the arm of the Lord. 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:01.200 And John echoes this in his gospel. 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:05.120 And the word was with God. 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:07.600 And the word was God. 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:17.440 The servant is the eternal Son, co-equal with the Father, one through whom all things were made. 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:23.120 And Paul affirms this in Philippians chapter 2, a passage we're going to look at a little bit more. 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:30.639 Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:37.200 This year we're celebrating the 1700th year of the Nicene Creed. 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:40.159 And the Nicene Creed talks about this. 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:46.240 It begins, of course, we believe in God, the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:48.000 But listen to the next strips. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:12:04.720 And the one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of the same essence as the Father. 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:09.519 And so the descent begins in glory. 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:12.639 And that matters. 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:14.720 Why does that matter? 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:21.200 It matters because the silence that we're about to look at is not the silence of confusion. 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:23.759 It's not the silence of defeat. 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:29.120 Did you hear that? 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:34.480 This is the silence of strength quieted on its own. 00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:47.279 This is a silence of one who knows exactly who he is and knows exactly what he could do, but chooses not to assert it. 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:59.759 Peter, could not I call to my father and have legions of angels come down here and fight this fight? 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:01.200 Put your sword away. 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:04.960 He had that kind of authority. 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:08.559 The Ark of the Servant. 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:14.240 It is more than poetic, it's historical. 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:15.919 And it begins there. 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:19.600 And it moves down into rejection and suffering. 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:20.960 Take a look at verse 3. 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:25.759 He was despised and rejected by men. 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:29.440 A man is suffering who knew what sickness was. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:32.320 He was like someone people turned away from him. 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:34.799 He was despised and we didn't value him. 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:44.320 Boy, we get rankled when somebody who ought to know what kind of position we are in relationship to them doesn't regard it. 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:46.639 I am your father. 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:52.080 Like they didn't know. 00:13:52.080 --> 00:14:00.159 But when they say something that rubs against that, all of a sudden the construct of relationship comes out. 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:03.519 And here is the creation. 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:08.879 The creation that has the image of God stamped on it. 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:21.440 And they see God in their image, and he's despised and neglected and not valued. 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:25.600 But this is not circumstantial suffering. 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:27.360 This is chosen suffering. 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:30.240 His descent here is deliberate. 00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:36.559 And he's not stumbling into this, he's walking, he's walking right into it. 00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:41.360 He said in John 10, No one takes my life from me. 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:43.840 I lay it down of my own accord. 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:46.000 In John 10 and verse 18. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:51.919 So the suffering that he's facing is not imposed, it's embraced. 00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:54.559 And it's purposeful and it's covenantal. 00:14:54.559 --> 00:15:03.519 And it goes even further in verse 5 to tell us he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities, and punishment for our peace was on him. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:11.519 This suffering is purposeful because it is a saving suffering. 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:15.519 He's a substitute for our own judgment. 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:19.039 This is redemptive suffering. 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:26.399 He bears what we deserve so that we might receive what he alone can give us. 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:28.639 And that's salvation. 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:34.480 Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:39.039 And so his pain and his suffering is purposeful. 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:42.080 Suffering in order to give us salvation. 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:53.200 And it is, and we won't turn there, but this is the exact very passage that the Ethiopian eunuch was reading when Philip comes beeboping by him, and he goes, wait a second. 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:58.559 I'm reading Isaiah here, and I'm reading these words. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:04.000 Who is Isaiah speaking about himself or somebody else? 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:11.279 And Philip opens up the scriptures at that place and reveals to him Jesus. 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:19.200 And the man believes because he realizes that this suffering servant suffered for him. 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:21.840 And he believed. 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:29.120 Again, the Nicene Creed for us and our salvation. 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:31.759 He came down from heaven. 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:37.039 He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit to the Virgin Mary and was made human. 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:41.360 And he was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate. 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:44.320 He suffered and was buried. 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:47.600 And that now brings us into verse 7. 00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:50.799 The silent obedience. 00:16:50.799 --> 00:17:09.519 And again, this is a jarring silence. 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:22.160 Amid our world of self-defense, amid our world of self-expression, self-assertion, our Savior offers silence. 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:25.519 Why is he silent? 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:28.160 Because he's anchored. 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:31.920 He's anchored in the Father's will. 00:17:31.920 --> 00:17:42.640 And so he was silent. 00:17:42.640 --> 00:17:48.960 So when we go to Matthew 26 and verse 63, we read these words. 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:57.119 He was silent before Caiaphas. 00:17:57.119 --> 00:17:59.680 He was silent before Pilate. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:02.319 He was silent before the crowd. 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:08.640 And that silence, again, was not an absence of power, but power under the control. 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:10.880 It was the silence of the Lamb. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:16.720 The silence of one who entrusted himself to the Father's will. 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:22.000 And again, as we'll see in a moment, this is not just something to behold. 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:26.799 This movement is formative. 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:28.559 It's formative. 00:18:28.559 --> 00:18:35.759 His silence teaches us how to endure injustices with trust and not vengeance. 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:42.079 It teaches us how to respond, not with retaliation, but restraint. 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:53.599 And it teaches us to be silent and not self-observ assertive, but in submitting ourselves to the just Father. 00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:58.400 But we have to go down further, one more step. 00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:01.839 Verse 8. 00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:06.160 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:14.000 He was cut off from the land of the living and assigned a grave with the wicked. 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:18.319 This is where the descent reaches its lowest point. 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:20.160 Death. 00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:22.960 The wages of sin is death. 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:27.039 Jesus said, Can any of you convince me of wrong? 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:28.000 No one. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:35.599 And yet he suffers the penalty of sin when no sin was in him. 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:40.240 This is not symbolic or metaphoric. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:41.359 He died. 00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:49.839 Luke 23, 46, Jesus' final words, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. 00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:54.240 And he dies in submission, not defeat. 00:19:54.240 --> 00:20:01.279 Again, the Nicene Creed, he was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate. 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:04.400 He suffered and was buried. 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:07.200 But the grave's not the end. 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:10.960 But we shouldn't rush past it either. 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:22.160 In fact, Paul, when he quoted the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15, said, And he died for us, according to the scriptures. 00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:36.960 This descent now is complete, from glory to rejection, from rejection to suffering, from suffering to silence, from silence to death, and not the death of a hero, the death of a criminal. 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:49.839 But every step of that descent fulfilled in Christ, every moment and movement of this prophecy, not abstract, but embodied in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. 00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:51.279 Philippians 2.8. 00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:58.319 He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. 00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:02.000 Again, this art doesn't end here. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:06.160 And so this is the last movement toward resurrection and exaltation. 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:13.519 Now we're going to look at this more next week, so I'm just simply going to mention it here, but next week it's all going to be about that. 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:15.440 Look at verse 10. 00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:21.359 When you make him a guilt offering, he will see his seed. 00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:26.799 He dies without any ability to have any, but he will see his seed. 00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:37.200 And it continues on. 00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:41.519 The descent gives way to ascent. 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:49.680 And in Luke 24 and verse 6, when people are looking for his body, the messengers from heaven say, He's not here. 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:51.680 He's risen. 00:21:51.680 --> 00:22:00.240 And in Acts 1 9, he was lifted up, and the clouds received him out of their sight. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:14.079 In Philippians 2 9, therefore God has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every other name. 00:22:14.079 --> 00:22:19.119 The ark of the servant now is complete. 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:37.119 From glory to humble human existence, to rejection and suffering and silence and death to resurrection and ascension and exaltation. 00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:44.079 But again, it's not just descriptive, it's a pattern. 00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:51.039 It's a pattern by which we're saved, but it's also a pattern by which a believer's life is shaped. 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:55.599 What Christ embodied is what we're called to reflect. 00:22:55.599 --> 00:23:03.200 What he endured, we're invited to receive for life, but invited to understand to live now. 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:08.480 We say about ourselves that we're a Christ-centered church. 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:14.799 It begins with Christ-focused believers, not just the preaching. 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:21.440 And so now we turn to the second movement from surrender to glory. 00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:27.200 The servant's ark is, I said, not just descriptive, it's prescriptive. 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:44.400 And so those who are united to Christ are called to embody his humility, we're called to embody his obedience, we're called to embody his endurance in every sphere of life, as we'll see among fellow believers in society, and home, at work, everywhere. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:50.880 But before we speak about those relationships and those responsibilities and our responses, we have to start right here. 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:52.160 Right here. 00:23:52.160 --> 00:24:00.640 The mindset of the believer in embracing this arc has to begin with us internally before it ever gets expressed. 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:03.519 So let's go to Philippians chapter two. 00:24:03.519 --> 00:24:07.119 Philippians chapter two. 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:32.799 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus. 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:43.119 And on it goes. 00:24:43.119 --> 00:24:45.200 And gives you the ark. 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:48.640 What is your mind supposed to be? 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:51.680 Christ-like. 00:24:51.680 --> 00:25:05.039 In the same sense of willing submission to humiliation, silence in the face of opposition, to suffering for what is right. 00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:10.240 Let this mind be in you. 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:14.559 This arc begins here. 00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:16.480 It begins with us. 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:19.839 It begins at the center of who we are. 00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:24.160 It begins in that place where we yield ourselves. 00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:36.559 It's not just our behavior, it's about our ambition or our pride needing to be set right and our desires to be put where they meant to be focused. 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:39.279 Romans 12. 00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:51.920 Present your body as a living sacrifice and be transformed, it says, metamorphosized, absolutely revolutionizingly renewed and changed of mind. 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:57.359 It's not a surface-level thing. 00:25:57.359 --> 00:26:02.240 This is a deep reorientation of who we are. 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:12.000 And it reshapes our values and it will shape our instincts and it will control our reflexes. 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:26.160 To follow the servant's heart, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, will be an embrace embracing a mindset of humility and not self-promotion. 00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:31.200 It will mean embracing a mindset of obedience and not self-will. 00:26:31.200 --> 00:26:36.640 It'll mean embracing a mindset of endurance and not entitlement. 00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:43.759 It'll mean embracing a mindset of trust and not control. 00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:50.240 Or fear, which is really just another sense of feeling like you can't control. 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:56.079 This is the soil from which our lives grow. 00:26:56.079 --> 00:27:02.000 And without this internal surrender to Christ as Lord in our hearts, listen to this. 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:20.559 Without Christ set as Lord in our hearts, every expression of humility and gentleness and endurance that's self-generated, well, it's going to be strained and it's going to be short-lived because it doesn't come with the force and power of God behind it. 00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:31.839 But when this ark of Christ is embraced in the heart, when Christ has set as Lord there, it will change how we speak when we suffer. 00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:36.079 And it'll change how we lead and how we love. 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:38.640 So let's take a look at this. 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:40.880 We're right here in Philippians chapter 2. 00:27:40.880 --> 00:27:48.000 And the first place we can look is how this ark changes how we relate to one another as fellow believers. 00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:53.200 That we are to live with humility that fosters spiritual unity. 00:27:53.200 --> 00:28:06.079 And if the servant's ark started in glory and descends down to humanity and humility and rising again in exaltation, then a believer's ark begins in the same way. 00:28:06.079 --> 00:28:08.400 It bends the same direction. 00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:12.319 It begins with surrender. 00:28:12.319 --> 00:28:15.599 Now, what benefits have we received? 00:28:15.599 --> 00:28:23.359 Certainly not the praise of the angels in heaven, certainly not the prerogatives of being the Godhead. 00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:25.440 What prerogatives do we have? 00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:27.839 Take a look at verse 1, Philippians 2. 00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:38.799 If then there's any encouragement in Christ, any consolation of love, any fellowship of the Spirit, any affection and mercy, you've got a lot of benefits. 00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:49.039 Make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:56.559 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, considering others as more important than yourselves. 00:28:56.559 --> 00:29:00.960 And everyone look not to his own interest, but rather to the interest of others. 00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:04.960 Adopt the same attitude which is in Christ Jesus. 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:09.440 It doesn't begin with behavior, it begins with mindset. 00:29:09.440 --> 00:29:11.920 And the mindset is that ark. 00:29:11.920 --> 00:29:25.920 Christ didn't grasp for status, he didn't cling to privilege, he didn't assert his rights, he emptied himself and took on himself the form of a servant and became obedient even to the point of death. 00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:30.400 And that's not just theology. 00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:35.920 It's important theology, mind you, but it's relational instruction. 00:29:35.920 --> 00:29:38.559 Relational instruction. 00:29:38.559 --> 00:29:41.839 Have this mind among you. 00:29:41.839 --> 00:29:48.720 Let this ark of Christ shape how you think about one another in the body of Christ. 00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:55.759 Let his descent and humility become a pattern for your posture in the community of Christ. 00:29:55.759 --> 00:29:59.839 Ephesians 4 2. 00:29:59.839 --> 00:30:10.079 With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. 00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:17.680 Unity is not something maintained by the force of personality or power. 00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:23.599 It's cultivated through humility and gentleness and patience. 00:30:23.599 --> 00:30:26.000 It's Christ-likeness. 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:28.319 Romans 12 10. 00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:31.759 Take the lead in honoring one another. 00:30:31.759 --> 00:30:37.680 If you want to get your elbows out, get your elbows out to say you go first. 00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:40.480 That's what it's saying. 00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:44.079 Go lower, not higher. 00:30:44.079 --> 00:30:46.160 Lift others up, not yourself. 00:30:46.160 --> 00:30:47.680 Why? 00:30:47.680 --> 00:30:49.920 Because Christ did. 00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:55.759 Because the servant's ark was not self-serving, it was self-giving. 00:30:55.759 --> 00:30:59.119 Because his posture is meant to be our pattern. 00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:01.440 His humility is meant to be our code. 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:05.519 His self-emptying is meant to be our way of life. 00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:26.480 And so among the body of Christ, there should be no whisper of self-assertion and demands for our own pleasure, our efforts to dominate, but rather to humble ourselves and bear with one another and honor each other and follow the ark. 00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:29.440 Now let's go outside a little bit. 00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:33.680 We've been inside for a while, but let's go outside. 00:31:33.680 --> 00:31:36.240 Let's go to 1 Peter chapter 2. 00:31:36.240 --> 00:31:53.440 And we're going to see the ark in our relationship to society where grace needs to be our reply to pressure. 00:31:53.440 --> 00:32:00.000 It goes outside our private devotions, it goes outside our church life, it goes into the public square. 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:15.519 And Isaiah 53 shows a Savior who endured injustice without retaliation, who bore hostility without bitterness, and who entrusted himself to the Father rather than defending himself before men. 00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:21.279 And again, that posture is not just descriptive, it's prescriptive. 00:32:21.279 --> 00:32:23.359 That posture is our pattern. 00:32:23.359 --> 00:32:27.759 In 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 21. 00:32:27.759 --> 00:32:32.880 For to this you've been called. 00:32:32.880 --> 00:32:34.000 What? 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:37.359 Well, just take a look at verse 20. 00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:41.039 What credit is there when you do wrong and are beaten, you endure it? 00:32:41.039 --> 00:32:46.480 But when you do what is good and suffer, if you endure it, this brings favor with God. 00:32:46.480 --> 00:32:59.039 For to this you were called to bear the suffering from society without retaliation or bitterness. 00:32:59.039 --> 00:33:00.319 Why? 00:33:00.319 --> 00:33:10.720 Because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. 00:33:10.720 --> 00:33:19.519 And unless you think I'm just making up this Isaiah 53 connection out of out of my head, take a look at the next verse. 00:33:19.519 --> 00:33:25.119 He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. 00:33:25.119 --> 00:33:27.039 That's Isaiah chapter 53. 00:33:27.039 --> 00:33:30.160 When he was insulted, he did not insult in return. 00:33:30.160 --> 00:33:34.559 And when he suffered, he did not threaten, but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. 00:33:34.559 --> 00:33:41.039 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that having died to sins, we might live to righteousness. 00:33:41.039 --> 00:33:43.599 By his wounds you have been healed. 00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:45.519 Isaiah 53. 00:33:45.519 --> 00:33:50.079 And you were like sheep going astray. 00:33:50.079 --> 00:33:51.759 Isaiah 53. 00:33:51.759 --> 00:33:57.039 But you have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your soul. 00:33:57.039 --> 00:34:00.000 That is not just a historical ark. 00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:02.400 That posture is our pattern. 00:34:02.400 --> 00:34:10.159 It's our pattern with our hearts, it's our pattern among the body of Christ, and lo and behold, it's our pattern with society. 00:34:10.159 --> 00:34:16.480 Paul echoes this in Romans 12. 00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:19.599 Repay no one evil for evil. 00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:25.119 If possible, so as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 00:34:25.119 --> 00:34:27.280 Let me ask a question. 00:34:27.280 --> 00:34:32.800 Does your social media characterize trying to live as peaceably as you can with all? 00:34:32.800 --> 00:34:37.199 Are you just another weapon warrior with your words? 00:34:37.199 --> 00:34:38.400 Right? 00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:43.199 Again, this is not weakness. 00:34:43.199 --> 00:34:51.039 Beloved, never avenge yourself, but leave it to the wrath of God, he says in Romans 12. 00:34:51.039 --> 00:34:59.519 This is not weakness, this is refusing to play God, is what it is. 00:34:59.519 --> 00:35:06.079 It's a decision to entrust justice to the one who judges rightly. 00:35:06.079 --> 00:35:08.880 Because we don't. 00:35:08.880 --> 00:35:18.559 Our anger gets mingled in there, and all of a sudden, self-righteous takes on the third booster of a rocket, and off we go. 00:35:18.559 --> 00:35:31.920 But to love, to bless, and to pray and to reflect the ark that brought Jesus to the cross. 00:35:31.920 --> 00:35:37.360 And so it means that we are not losing here. 00:35:37.360 --> 00:35:40.480 We're not giving ourselves over to passive resignation. 00:35:40.480 --> 00:35:43.920 This is active trust. 00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:58.320 It is responding with grace, it is choosing restraint, it is offering peace in the face of provocation, it is blessing instead of being bitter. 00:35:58.320 --> 00:36:00.800 Those are all active words. 00:36:00.800 --> 00:36:05.360 This is not resignation by any stretch of the imagination. 00:36:05.360 --> 00:36:08.239 Why do we do that? 00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:17.199 Because that's what Christ did, and that's what Isaiah saw, and this is what Peter taught. 00:36:17.199 --> 00:36:25.119 So somebody at work messes up and you get shifted for the blame. 00:36:25.119 --> 00:36:29.599 You didn't do it, but now you're the one in the spotlight. 00:36:29.599 --> 00:36:37.039 You can go in the offensive, you can start pointing fingers, you can try to rally support, you can say, hey, we're we're not going to deal with this. 00:36:37.039 --> 00:36:39.440 I'm not putting up with this. 00:36:39.440 --> 00:36:48.719 Or you can calmly explain what happened, tell the truth, and let it go. 00:36:48.719 --> 00:36:53.119 And not offer yourself to gossip or retaliation. 00:36:53.119 --> 00:37:10.079 Or someone post something online that rankles you and maybe even be directed right at you, and you're tempted to fire back just to point your prove your point right or to shut them down. 00:37:10.079 --> 00:37:15.519 Instead, pause and offer some kindness. 00:37:15.519 --> 00:37:21.840 Maybe a statement that says, I get what you're coming from, and I'd love to talk with you more about that. 00:37:21.840 --> 00:37:32.960 You don't water down the truth, but you don't flood it with the personality of anger and retaliation either. 00:37:32.960 --> 00:37:41.440 Or you're in a tough conversation with your wife or your husband or a friend. 00:37:41.440 --> 00:37:48.400 You feel misunderstood, they feel misunderstood, things are heating up. 00:37:48.400 --> 00:37:55.760 Instead of pushing harder, you take a breath, you ask a question, you listen. 00:37:55.760 --> 00:38:02.159 You speak honestly and own you're wrong. 00:38:02.159 --> 00:38:20.159 When someone you trust turns on you, you've poured your life into a person, you've prayed for them, and now they're saying things about you that just aren't true, and it's public and painful, you could defend yourself. 00:38:20.159 --> 00:38:28.000 You could make sure everybody else knows what your side is, or you could choose something different. 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:33.840 You could pray for them, you could decide not to speak anything ill about them. 00:38:33.840 --> 00:38:42.159 And when someone asks you, you just say, I'm trusting God to sort this out because I don't want to get myself in the way. 00:38:42.159 --> 00:38:46.320 Those examples are not easy. 00:38:46.320 --> 00:38:49.039 They're not. 00:38:49.039 --> 00:38:59.760 They require spiritual maturity, emotional discipline, and above all, the deepest dependence on God that you can imagine. 00:38:59.760 --> 00:39:06.239 But they are possible because it's the ark of our Savior. 00:39:06.239 --> 00:39:16.079 And when we want to align ourselves with our Savior, we enter into the realm where God strengthens us to do His will. 00:39:16.079 --> 00:39:20.320 Let's go to 1 Peter 3. 00:39:20.320 --> 00:39:24.719 We've gone to the heart, we've gone to the church, we've gone outside. 00:39:24.719 --> 00:39:26.320 Now let's go to the house. 00:39:26.320 --> 00:39:28.239 1 Peter 3. 00:39:28.239 --> 00:39:33.440 In the same way. 00:39:33.440 --> 00:39:34.960 In the same way, what? 00:39:34.960 --> 00:39:36.559 Well, chapter 2. 00:39:36.559 --> 00:39:43.599 In the same way that Christ submitted himself, wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands. 00:39:43.599 --> 00:39:50.559 So that even if some disobey the word, they may be won over without a word by the way their wives live. 00:39:50.559 --> 00:40:06.559 For when they observe your pure, reverent lives, don't let your beauty be consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles, wearing gold or jewelry or fine clothes, but rather the inside of the heart, the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. 00:40:06.559 --> 00:40:11.679 The servant's ark shapes a wife's life. 00:40:11.679 --> 00:40:16.079 But it also shapes a husband's. 00:40:16.079 --> 00:40:17.840 Verse 7. 00:40:17.840 --> 00:40:21.039 Husbands in the same way. 00:40:21.039 --> 00:40:22.719 Same way what? 00:40:22.719 --> 00:40:27.199 Same way as 1 Peter 2 that quotes Isaiah 53. 00:40:27.199 --> 00:40:41.599 The Ark, the Ark of Christ's movement from glory to humility to rejection, to suffering, to obedient death. 00:40:41.599 --> 00:40:56.400 Husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker partner. 00:40:56.400 --> 00:41:01.440 It doesn't say she is a weaker partner as if she were. 00:41:01.440 --> 00:41:13.440