Sermon by: Robert Austell
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“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus…” (Philippians 2:5)
That’s how the passage we are looking at today begins. And that’s our takeaway for today – the attitude of worship.
We’ve talked about the content of worship: service, obedience, yielding, and love of God. We’ve talked about some of the context for worship: in the home, in the church, and in the world. Today we are going to focus on the attitude of worship, drawing upon both the Old Testament attitudes found in the Levitical offerings and the New Testament example of Jesus, held up as example in this passage in Philippians 2.
Remember, too, that we’re not just talking about our attitude in the 8:30 or 11:00 church service, but our attitude as we live lives of worship every moment of every day in every place we are.
Worship in Leviticus
Leviticus is full of worship. It may come across as ritual, but what makes it worship is deeper than mere ritual. It is rich in what I would call the attitude of worship.
You heard several excerpts from Leviticus during our first scripture reading. The purpose of these was to identify and highlight the worship attitude in each of the several types of offering established by God for His people in the Old Covenant. I’m only going to provide an overview, but would invite you to study each of the offerings further, either on your own or in conversation with Kathy Larson or me. I’d remind you that Kathy wrote her Master’s thesis on the Levitical offerings and she would love to have a conversation to answer questions or tell you more!
Let me refer you to the bulletin to the descriptions assigned to each reading, and let’s consider each of these offerings. There are four types of offering described in Leviticus, basically one per chapters 1-5. Chapter five either describes a fifth or a variation on the fourth. For our purposes this morning, it doesn’t really matter.
I hope you noticed the repetition during the scripture reading. In each case, the person making an offering to God brings the best they have, be it animal or grain. In each case, the person is coming to God with their best because they have fallen short, sinned, or are expressing thanks to God. Note that this is not somehow buying God off, but substituting something pure in our place – something that is consumed and destroyed in the offering. That’s why none of us could stand there: we are impure and we would be consumed in the presence of God’s holiness.
In each case with the animal sacrifices there is a laying on of hands, not to magically transfer sin, but to identify personally with the offering. This lamb is there in my place and on my behalf. I lay hands on it as a sign – to point the reality.
And here’s the part I want to lift up to you. This was not done as a business transaction, like buying life insurance or ordering a pizza. Perhaps it became that as people lost sight of God and lost faith. But the intent was far more personal and spiritual. Bringing your best, laying your hands on it, and offering it wholly to God was an act of deep humility. There was no room for “this belongs to me” or “mine!” The offering and the identification was a spiritual act of worship in humility.
I would point out, too, with the sin offering in Leviticus 5, that confession and repentance were an integral part of the offering. And isn’t confession one of the deepest acts of humility? It is admitting that I am in the wrong; I have failed; I have fallen short.
It’s easy to read Leviticus and get lost in the mechanics and details of all the different offerings. But there are some common themes that run through each, and chief among those themes are humility and repentance. Those are essential attitudes of worship.
Humility is recognition that God is God, which places humanity in proper perspective. Humility fuels confession… and repentance, thanksgiving, and obedience.
Jesus, the Perfect Lamb
I connect these passages in Leviticus with the one in Philippians 2 because the New Testament teaches that Jesus has fulfilled and replaced those Levitical offerings. He is the Perfect Lamb. His perfect life and obedient death made him the perfect substitutionary offering for our sin. Finally, there was one just like us to stand before God in our place and endure God’s judgment for sin. The mechanics and the theology of that are also the subject for further study and another sermon. As with the Levitical offerings, I want, instead, to point you to the attitude of worship in this passage. I do so because Paul says explicitly in this chapter, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus…” (v. 5)
What was Jesus’ attitude? It was complete and perfect humility. Look at three different acts of humility.
1. Humility before God – he “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.” (v. 6)
Though Jesus was fully God, fully divine, he did not reach or cling to divinity as Adam was tempted to do, but “released” his place and right as God in order to do God’s will and serve God’s purpose.
2. Humility as service to God – he “emptied himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.” (v. 7)
This humility translated into obedience and service to God, whereby Jesus emptied himself and took the form of a human being, a servant of God. Jesus demonstrated this humble obedience in a living parable to his disciples when he, their teacher, donned the towel and washed their feet. Notice also the overlap with the actions of worship. The attitude of humility fuels obedience and service, two of our key worship actions.
3. Humility and compassion towards human beings – “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (v. 8)
That humility become obedience then became acted out obedience and compassion toward the human race, as Jesus suffered and died, fulfilling God’s saving plan for the world. In our call to worship we heard one verse from Mark that summarizes Jesus’ upward and outward humility: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
These acts of humility, obedience, service, and love are what we are to imitate. They are actions, fueled by the attitude of humility. And while we do not act to save the world from sin, we do act to show God’s compassion and grace to our neighbors. We are to come to God through Jesus in humility just as God’s people of old came to God through the Levitical offerings in humility.
The Attitude of Worship
So, remembering that worship is serving, obeying, yielding, and loving God with all we are and all we have, with our families, church, and everyone we see, with what attitude should we worship the Lord?
Like Jesus, we are to have the attitude of HUMILITY before God. We are to let go of the tendency to create false gods and set ourselves up as #1 in the universe. We are to recognize God’s divinity and utter right to be God over us.
Because we continue to sin and fall short, one form our humility will take is REPENTANCE and CONFESSION, as we both strive for holiness and depend on God’s mercy and Grace. We “empty ourselves” of all that would keep us from God, confessing sin to God and turning from darkness to God’s face.
That worship attitude of humility also produces the worship-actions of OBEDIENCE and SERVICE. We obey God by listening to His Word and following it. We serve God by joining in His mission to the world – to seek and save the lost.
And this humility, obedience, and service is manifest most clearly in a COMPASSION and LOVE towards fellow human beings. Note the many overlaps now as worship in humility not only overlaps with obedience and service, but the Great Commandment to love God and love neighbor. Even as Jesus was willing to suffer and die for humanity, so we are to go all out in caring for those around us. This is our mission and it is our privilege.
Where Can You Get Humility?
Now if you can digest all that, we come to the big question of the day: where do you get humility? It's not something you can buy off the shelf. It's not something you become a black belt at; that would kind of undermine the whole pursuit...
The text leaves us asking that question and I'd challenge you to seek an answer. But I will also suggest several starting places from my own experience, and hopefully guided by scriptural insight.
1. Start with God - how great God is. That's why we began the service with "How Great Thou Art." It is only with God's greatness in view that we can adequately understand our place in the world. Consider who God is; consider what God has done; consider what God has made. Go up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and gaze across the hazy blue expanse and see if a little humility doesn't stir in your soul.
2. Pray for humility. I believe that is a prayer God delights to answer. I spoke with someone between the services and recognize that it might somewhat of a dangerous prayer, depending on how hard-headed you are and the length to which it might be necessary to go to get your attention. But pray that God would teach you humility and cultivate it in your heart.
3. Confess sin. Our scripture this morning taught that humility leads to confession. The converse can also be true. Confessing sin is the other side of considering God's character. When we confess, if we are honest, we are confronted with our own sinfulness and need of God. There is nothing quite so humbling as to recognize where we fall short. Confession and humility can form a kind of renewable fuel... each stimulates the other and can fuel ongoing and substantial worship.
4. Finally, and I suggest this with some caution and for further consideration - one of the sometimes hidden blessings of suffering may be the learning of humility. It is hard to be truly humble when life is grand, my health is in its prime, and the world is on a platter for me. When we suffer, we are confronted with our frailty and the fragility of human life. Sometimes that can be the context for a profound humility.
Consider and pray for yourself how God might cultivate humility, so that you might be fueled for worship! Let us now pause to confess our sinfulness before God as the worship team leads us in a song of confession...
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