I AM SECOND - Not looking to your own interests - March 9, 2025

I AM SECOND - Not looking to your own interests - March 9, 2025

INTRODUCTION

I am second.

We must value others above ourself.

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

‭‭ Philippians‬ ‭2:1-11‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬

Not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.

I.  Submission is a fundamental Christian practice.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

‭‭ Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

‭‭ Ephesians‬ ‭5:21-33‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬

A.  Submission defined by Merriam-Webster.com

submission noun 

sub· mis· sion 

səb-ˈmi-shən 

1a: a legal agreement to submit to the decision of arbitrators

  b: an act of submitting something (as for consideration or inspection)

  also  : something submitted (such as a manuscript)

2: the condition of being submissive, humble, or compliant

3: an act of submitting to the authority or control of another

B.  Submission practiced.

Christin Ditchfield, in a recent issue of Focus on The Family magazine, writes that basically Mary took the news in stride.

“[She] didn’t demand a sign,” notes Ditchfield, “some sort of proof or additional confirmation. She voiced no complaint at the total disruption of her life. She knew now that things would not turn out the way she had planned at all.” She concludes, “But in her heart there was no resistance, no rebellion. Just a sweet, simple submission-surrender to the will of God.”

Christin Ditchfield, Focus on the Family Magazine.

C.  Submission propagated.

II.  Actions Speak Louder Than Words

“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭3‬:‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

‭‭ James‬ ‭1‬:‭22‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

“They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.”

‭‭ Titus‬ ‭1‬:‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Jill Briscoe talks about the difference between her family and her husband, Stuart's, family and what that brought to their own marriage. She says, "My father, a quiet, gentle man, considered himself head of his home: protector, defender, and provider. My mom was a sweet, Scottish-born Presbyterian. She believed in the sovereignty of God and her husband. My father adored my mother, put his considerable business assets into her name, and looked to her to raise the children. When my sister came of age, my father supported her when she became an excellent car mechanic and raced cars. Eventually she took her place at his side as partner in his successful car business.

"Stuart's family was strict, conservative evangelical. His father was an elder in a small local assembly of believers, and he took seriously his responsibility to rule the household well. He considered himself the authority in his family, while his wife, a bright, articulate, efficient lady, considered herself in subjection to her husband in everything, carrying those convictions to her dress, her hair style, and silence in the presence of men at the church.

"Newly converted at a college in Cambridge and having just been introduced to Stuart's family," Jill says, "I remember wondering greatly about this amazing mode of doing things. I sensed an unconscious frustration of unexplored desires and frustrated gifts in my mother-in-law. It was as if those gifts sat meekly inside her heart with eyes downcast and wearing a hat.

"In that moment as a new believer," Jill says, "I believe I stumbled on an important truth of what submission isn't. Submission isn't sitting down on the outside while you're standing up on the inside."

Jill Briscoe, "Hilarious Hupotasso," Preaching Today, Tape No.117. From a sermon by C. Philip Green, Grace at Home-Part I, 6/11/2011.

Submission is more about what we do than what we don’t do.

A.  Submission is grounded in action

1.  Husbands must love.

2.  Wives must respect.

Several years ago, while ministering in Florida, I was about to speak in chapel for our Church’s preschool, and my wife was supposed to lead singing. But it was time to start and Deb was on the phone, and I became impatient. So, when I went out to the auditorium, our Preschool Director, asked me, "Where’s Deb?" And I said in front of her and several teachers, "This is no news flash, but she’s on the phone yakking her head off!"

You ever said something and as soon as it’s out, you wish you could take it back? Well, that was how I felt, especially when I turned around and there was Deb looking right behind me, giving me the look of, "How could you?" After chapel she asked me to step in one of the side rooms. She said, "I would really appreciate it if you never criticized me like that in public." You see, she submitted her idea...and I received her idea.

Timothy Smith, Sermon Central, May 3, 2008.

B.  Vows are meaningless without corresponding actions.

There were two lines of husbands in heaven, one for the dominant husbands and one for the passive, submissive husbands. The submissive husband line extended almost out of sight. There was one man in the dominant husband line. He was small, timid, appeared anything but a dominant husband. When the angel inquired as to why he was in this line, he said, "My wife told me to stand here."

C.  Lordship is meaningless without corresponding action.

When the early Christians declared their faith in baptism, they would shout out, “Jesus is Lord!” Baptism has always been a sign of submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. William Barker tells of a machinist at Ford Motor Company in Detroit many years ago who became a Christian and was baptized. Shortly after he got saved, the Holy Spirit convicted him of his need to make restitution for some car parts and tools he had stolen from the company before he had become a Christian. The next morning he brought everything back to his employer, explaining how he had just been baptized and wanted to make things right. His boss was dumbfounded so he sent a cable to Mr. Ford, who was out of the country, asking him how he should handle the situation. Mr. Ford sent an immediate reply: “Make a dam in the Detroit River, and baptize the entire city!”

Brian Bill, Sermon Central, “Taking the Plunge”, 10/25/2009.

III.  Looking to the Interests of Others

“not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

‭‭ Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

A.  How familiar are you with the interests of others?

B.  How can you actively “look” to the interests of others?

C.  Whose interest can you impact this week?

A certain lady was celebrating her 85th birthday and was asked by a reporter what advice she would have for others. Here's what she said: "Stay busy helping others." Then she was asked what she did. Her answer: "I look after an old lady in our neighborhood."

Bruce Howell, Sermon Central, June 11, 2003.

Jesus did not come to be served but to serve.

CONCLUSION

Submission is a fundamental practice.  Actions speak louder than words.  We should be looking to the interests of others.

Seatbelts can be a hassle. Some people just don’t want to be bothered even when the law requires them to buckle up. According to the Associated Press, a New Zealander named Ivan Segedin took it to an extreme.

The police ticketed him 32 times over five years for failing to use his seat belt. Even though this was costing him big money, Segedin refused to buckle up. Finally, instead of obeying the law, the man decided to rely on deception. He made a fake seat belt that would hang over his shoulder and make it appear that he was wearing a seat belt when he was not.

His trick worked for a while. Then, he had a head-on collision. He was thrown forward onto the steering wheel and killed.

Discussing the accident, the coroner described the fake seat belt: "Though his car was fitted with seat belts, an extra belt with a long strap had been knotted above the seat belt on the driver’s side, providing a belt to simply sit over the driver’s shoulder."

Craig Brian Larson, "Fake seat belt to fool police causes death of New Zealand driver," The Associated Press, 2-22-08.

Fake submission is a dangerous practice.  As we submit to others, our actions must correspond to that submission.  Look out for the interests of others.

I am second.

INVITATION

It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word.  You may want to follow Jesus.  You may want to proclaim your faith.  You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things).  Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins     and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church.  If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now.  If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.