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25: Progressively Humble Service · Finding God at Work

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  (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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  This is Finding God at Work.
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  Just a reminder that Finding God at Work
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  isn't just a podcast, it's also an online
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  course.
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  Check it out at findinggodatwork.org.
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  Our current series is Meaningful Work, Calling, Formation,
• 0:31
  Service, and Love.
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  Have you ever watched a movie and at
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  the end of the movie just felt like,
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  what did I just watch?
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  What was that?
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  Sometimes movies that defy genre conventions, sometimes movies
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  that are just really weird.
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  And as somebody who kind of teaches the
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  Bible, sometimes I'm always skittish about talking about
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  movies that I've seen because it can come
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  across as an endorsement.
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  Sometimes these movies have inappropriate content, etc.
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  Okay, so stick with me here.
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  I'm not endorsing this movie, but this is
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  one of those movies that I watched.
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  And then at the end, I was just
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  like, what did I just watch?
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  Bugonia.
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  It's up for an Oscar or several Oscars,
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  I think.
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  And by the time this episode comes out,
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  maybe the Oscars will have already happened and
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  we'll know more about it.
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  But it stars a couple of actors who
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  I really like.
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  I really like Jesse Plemons and I really
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  like Emma Stone and they're kind of the
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  two leads.
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  So I was like, let's check this out.
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  I'm not going to spoil a ton of
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  the movie, but there's this one moment where
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  Emma Stone's character who's like this corporate CEO,
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  right?
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  She's the peak of corporate achievement in America.
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  She literally gets into like a physical fight
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  with Teddy, Jesse Plemons' character.
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  And while they're fighting, just kind of comes
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  out of her soul.
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  She just says, you can't beat me because
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  you're a loser and I'm a winner.
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  And that's life.
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  Oh my gosh.
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  You can't beat me because you're a loser
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  and I'm a winner and that's life.
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  And speaking of inappropriate things, the actual quote
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  has some emphasis that I will not repeat
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  verbatim.
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  But doesn't that encapsulate something about the American
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  experience and the corporate world experience?
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  That there's winners and there's losers and some
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  people make it and some people don't and
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  it's dog-eat-dog and that's just how
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  it is.
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  That's life.
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  Well, when we look at the scriptures, Jesus
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  invites us into something rather different and that's
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  not a surprise for anyone who follows Jesus,
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  but it can be a point of tension
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  when we think about kind of the arc
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  of our career.
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  So in this series, we've been talking about
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  the arc of our career over time.
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  Like we have callings from God that may
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  change over time and then formation.
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  There's something that God's doing in us.
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  And in this episode, I kind of want
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  to turn the corner from formation to service.
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  So you're going to end the series by
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  talking about service and love.
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  And we already got started in that in
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  our previous episode where we talked about how
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  one way to grow in humility, one way
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  to participate with God in the formation of
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  the character of humility is to choose to
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  serve and particularly to serve in hidden ways.
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  But now I kind of want to go
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  back to an earlier episode from the calling
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  section where I talked about Matthew 25 and
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  Jesus's parable of the talents.
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  We won't reread the whole thing, but we
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  talked about how there was this sense of
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  Jesus looking for a particular response from people.
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  And he would say this line, you have
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  been faithful with little.
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  I will set you over much.
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  You have been faithful with little.
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  I will set you over much.
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  This sense of like progressive responsibility.
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  And that's even a phrase that's sometimes used
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  in our careers to kind of evaluate the
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  arc of someone's career.
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  A hiring manager will be looking at a
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  resume and they'll be looking for, has this
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  person demonstrated progressively responsible work experience, progressively
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  responsible work experience, that sense of, okay, were
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  they in one level and they did okay
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  with that.
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  And then they got promoted into another level
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  of responsibility and they did okay with that.
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  And then they got promoted into another level.
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  That's what hiring managers looking for to say,
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  okay, maybe they can handle this next level
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  that I'm considering hiring for progressively responsible work
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  experience.
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  And so there's this dynamic, even within the
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  scriptures, even within that Matthew 25 story that
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  we're familiar with, that Jesus kind of endorses
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  this way of thinking, that there is an
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  idea of progressive responsibility and it's rooted in
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  our character, right?
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  Formation.
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  God is making us into more capable people,
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  people who are more capable of serving and
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  loving others over time.
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  And as we do that in our work,
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  hopefully people in positions of decision-making authority
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  will notice that and give us increasing responsibility
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  over time.
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  Okay, so that's that's kind of one piece
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  of context as we think about the arc
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  of our career.
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  But there's another piece of context that I
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  want to look at today.
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  And that's when we don't necessarily always move
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  up and up and up.
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  We don't necessarily always become winners in the
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  corporate ladder, right?
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  You could pervert what Jesus is saying about
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  progressive work responsibility and sort of just marry
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  it to that dog-eat-dog vision expressed
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  in that line from Emma Stone's character in
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  Begonia.
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  I am a winner and you're a loser.
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  That's life.
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  You can kind of marry Jesus's vision to
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  that in a kind of health and wealth
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  way and say, if you follow Jesus, if
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  you're putting your faith in him, then you'll
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  get that promotion.
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  Then you'll get more responsibility.
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  Then your career arc will be up and
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  to the right.
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  There are teachers who say that.
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  We could fall into thinking that ourselves, even
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  if we maybe don't say it out loud
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  that crassly, we might think if I'm really
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  doing what I'm supposed to, I should be
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  rising through the ranks in my company, in
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  my career.
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  That's what the world should give me, because
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  that's life.
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  I'm holding up my end of the bargain.
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  And so my career should hold up its
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  side of the bargain.
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  Again, we can definitely fall into this as
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  Americans, where there's a big emphasis on individualism
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  and being enterprising and making the most of
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  yourself and taking advantage of every opportunity.
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  And so I think it's really important for
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  us to to look at this other side
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  of the teaching of scripture, which is this
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  downward movement that Jesus models for us.
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  So instead of thinking about just moving up
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  the corporate ladder, right, progressively responsible work experience,
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  we're going to look at how Jesus models
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  progressively humble service, progressively humble service.
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  And we're going to go to a famous
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  chapter, Philippians chapter two.
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  So I'm going to actually take some time
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  to read a longer stretch here and then
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  dig into just a few parts of it.
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  So this is Philippians chapter two, starting in
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  verse one.
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  Paul's writing to the Christians at Philippi.
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  Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being
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  united with Christ, if any comfort from his
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  love, if any common sharing in the spirit,
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  if any tenderness and compassion, then make my
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  joy complete by being like-minded, having the
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  same love, being one in spirit and of
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  one mind.
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  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain
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  conceit.
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  Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not
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  looking to your own interests, but each of
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  you to the interests of the others.
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  In your relationships with one another, have the
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  same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in
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  very nature God, did not consider equality with
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  God something to be used to his own
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  advantage.
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  Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the
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  very nature of a servant being made in
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  human likeness and being found in appearance as
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  a man.
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  He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death,
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  even death on a cross.
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  Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place
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  and gave to him the name that is
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  above every name, that at the name of
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  Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and
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  on earth and under the earth and every
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  tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to
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  the glory of God, the father.
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  Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always
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  obeyed, not only in my presence, but now
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  much more in my absence, continue to work
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  out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
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  for it is God who works in you
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  to will and to act in order to
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  fulfill his good purpose.
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  Okay, it's such a rich passage.
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  We could do a whole series just on
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  this single passage, but I want to pull
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  out a few notes.
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  So one is if we go right to
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  the heart of the passage, right?
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  It says that Jesus made himself nothing, taking
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  the very nature of a servant being made
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  in human likeness.
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  That's Philippians 2, 7.
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  Did you catch that?
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  Taking on the very nature of a servant
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  being made in human likeness.
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  There's a teaching here about what it means
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  to be human.
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  Going back to a different series, we talked
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  a lot about theological anthropology.
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  Paul is giving us a theological anthropology here,
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  an understanding of what it means to be
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  human in the light of God's grace and
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  action.
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  And what he's saying is that human, humanity,
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  humanness is about service.
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  Taking the very nature of a servant being
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  made in human likeness.
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  We become most ourselves when we become servants.
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  It's not like some people get to graduate
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  from being servants and there's some sort of
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  super elite human class.
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  Again, that's what the culture tells us, that
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  you graduate from being a servant to being
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  a master.
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  But that's not what scripture teaches.
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  Scripture teaches that it's in our nature.
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  God created us to serve.
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  We become most ourselves when we serve.
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  And just like with any other aspect of
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  who we are, that means that the path
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  of deepest joy and fulfillment and life is
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  found in service.
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  We don't actually miss out when we embrace
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  service.
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  We actually get in on what matters most
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  about being human.
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  So just wanted to pull that out.
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  That's, that's really significant.
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  And what's also really significant is that Jesus
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  became human, right?
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  That's what this verse is saying.
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  Jesus made himself nothing by taking the very
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  nature of a servant.
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  Jesus became human.
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  And as one past trino says, he'd never
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  got better.
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  It's not like Jesus descended from heaven, became
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  human, and then went back to not being
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  human after.
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  Jesus is still a human right now.
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  He decided to become human forever.
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  That's incredible.
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  That means that Jesus still has the nature
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  of a servant.
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  Jesus still serves.
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  Jesus has forever and eternity adopted a mode
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  of being, which means he serves others.
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  For him, there's no contradiction between that and
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  the highest glories of heaven.
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  And that's what the rest of the passage
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  teaches.
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  So then jumping down verses nine through 11,
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  it says, therefore, God exalted him to the
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  highest place and gave him the name that
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  is above every name.
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  Jesus's high, glorious honor that he receives from
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  the father is totally synthesized, totally compatible with
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  this heart of service.
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  So then what, what does that mean for
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  us?
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  That means if we aspire to what's best
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  for us, if we aspire to glory and
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  honor and life for eternity, right?
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  If we're, if we're the most ambitious we
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  can possibly be, the path for us to
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  that life is the path of service.
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  Okay.
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  And so that's why at the beginning of
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  the passage, Paul emphasizes humility so much, right?
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  So he kind of does this, this preamble.
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  He says, if you have any encouragement from
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  being united with Christ, if any comfort from
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  his love, if any common sharing in the
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  spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, basically he's
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  saying like, if your life in God means
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  anything at all, he says, then make my
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  joy complete.
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  How, how are they going to make Paul's
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  joy complete?
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  Paul, Paul speaking to them as kind of
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  a spiritual father, someone who's deeply invested in
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  their formation in becoming more like Jesus, and
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  he's like, nothing would make me more joyful
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  than if you became more who you were
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  meant to be in God.
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  So how can you do that?
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  Well, here's the answer.
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  By being like-minded, having the same love,
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  being one in spirit and of one mind,
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  doing nothing out of selfish ambition or vain
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  conceit, in humility, valuing others above yourselves, not
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  looking to your own interests, but each of
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  you to the interests of the others.
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  The way that we become who we are
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  most meant to be is by growing in
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  humility.
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  Again, this, this is like so reversed from
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  how we normally think of achievement, of growth,
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  of life.
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  Uh, if anything in our culture, you eventually
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  get to the level where you don't have
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  to be humble at all, where you can
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  just brag about it and revel in it.
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  And, and I don't want to, I don't
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  want to kick someone while he's down, but
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  you know, that, that Olympian, uh, who was
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  named the quad God, uh, his full name.
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  I'm pulling it up here.
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  Cause I don't even remember.
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  I only remember Elia Malanin, Elia Malanin.
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  I'm not sure if I pronounced that correctly,
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  but he was called the quad God.
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  Right.
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  He's like, he's like the Simone Biles of
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  figure skating.
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  He's changing the rules.
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  He's innovating.
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  And he came in eighth place in the
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  competition.
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  He didn't even medal.
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  Uh, and there's this kind of humbling of
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  him that's taken place.
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  Right.
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  Um, again, it's, it's on a global stage.
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  It's not really fair that he gets to,
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  you know, the spotlights on him when he
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  fails.
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  We all have instances like this in our
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  lives where we think we're all that, but
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  then we're humbled.
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  But you know what that means for the
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  so-called quad God, you know what that
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  means for him?
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  It means that he's actually moved closer to
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  what it means to be fully human.
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  I actually am encouraged for his soul.
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  I don't know anything about his soul.
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  I'm not in a position to judge, but
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  I bet that this experience of being humbled
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  will be good for him.
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  Right.
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  For somebody who's embraced a title, that's kind
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  of a, maybe a little bit grandiose, I'm
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  the quad God.
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  And he, you know, he would wear that
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  proudly.
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  He like had that on his workout shirt.
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  Being humbled might not be such a bad
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  thing.
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  This might be good for him in the
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  long run.
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  Right.
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  I heard one of the commentators before he
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  started making all those errors say, you deserve
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  it.
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  Call yourself the quad God or something to
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  that effect.
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  And it turns out none of us, none
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  of us are gods.
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  None of us are super humans.
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  Even the Olympians, they come up short sometimes.
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  And of course, if he's back in four
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  years, I'll be cheering for him and hoping
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  he does better and hoping he medals.
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  But the, my point is that he's actually
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  probably got a better shot at becoming more
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  glorious long-term as a human being because
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  of this experience of humbling.
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  Same thing for us.
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  The passage, when it says, if you really
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  want to become human, you've got to embrace
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  humility, then what does it do?
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  It points us to an experience of humbling.
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  Specifically Jesus' experience of humbling.
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  That Jesus, this is verse eight, humbled himself
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  by becoming obedient to death, even death on
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  a cross.
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  Jesus humbled himself to the lowest point of
• 14:56
  human experience, death itself and death on a
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  cross, a shameful form of crucifixion, a shameful
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  form of execution, crucifixion.
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  He humbled himself to that point.
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  And he was exalted at the most glorious
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  experience of life possible.
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  It's the same pattern for us.
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  If we really want that glorious life, we
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  humble ourselves.
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  So how do we do that?
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  How do we humble ourselves?
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  Well, in our, in our last episode, we
• 15:22
  talked about how the discipline of service, especially
• 15:24
  service in secrecy can help us with that,
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  but I want to focus on that word
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  obedient.
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  It says Jesus became obedient to death.
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  It's kind of a poetic way of saying
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  Jesus was obedient to God and that God
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  was asking him to lay down his life.
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  There's this reciprocal relationship between humility and obedience.
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  So just like, you know, we, we kind
• 15:44
  of think about this in that arc of
• 15:46
  being progressively responsible at work, progressively responsible work
• 15:50
  experience.
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  We think there's kind of a reciprocal relationship
• 15:52
  between responsibility and honor, right?
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  You're responsible with little, therefore you're honored with
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  much.
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  You're responsible with that much more.
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  Therefore you're honored with even more.
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  You're responsible with that much more.
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  Therefore you're honored with even more.
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  Reciprocal relationship between responsibility and honor.
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  And that's often the way we think about
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  it in our culture.
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  It's kind of like, ah, it doesn't matter
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  if you're humble, as long as you're effective,
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  right?
• 16:14
  If you can do a quad jump like
• 16:16
  that, you're the quad God.
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  It doesn't matter if you have an inner
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  character of humility.
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  But what we're invited into is instead of
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  thinking about a reciprocal relationship between responsibility and
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  honor, even though that is there and God
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  sometimes even is in that dynamic himself, thinking
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  about a reciprocal relationship between humility and obedience,
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  right?
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  You're, you're humbled.
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  And so you obey God because you realize
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  he's God and you're not.
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  And then through that experience of humility, you
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  actually become more humble.
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  And then you're able to obey God again.
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  Another way of saying the same thing is
• 16:53
  there's a reciprocal relationship between humility and service.
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  Again, Jesus is taking the very nature of
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  a servant.
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  Going to the cross was the greatest act
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  of service in human history.
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  So there's a relationship between humility and service
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  where you humble yourself so you serve others.
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  And then through that experience by God's grace,
• 17:12
  you're actually humbler.
• 17:14
  And so then you're able to serve others
• 17:15
  more because you have that posture of humility,
• 17:17
  seeking to serve others.
• 17:20
  Progressively humble service is God's vision of really
• 17:24
  making it in human life.
• 17:27
  Okay.
• 17:27
  So how do we, how do we make
• 17:28
  this practical?
• 17:29
  How do, how do we bring this home?
• 17:31
  Well, I think there's a question that we
• 17:33
  can ask ourselves.
• 17:33
  When we think about our career, we can
• 17:36
  ask ourselves the question, how can I get
• 17:38
  ahead?
• 17:39
  Again, that's the, the, uh, Michelle's CEO in
• 17:41
  Begonia Emma Stone.
• 17:43
  You're a loser and I'm a winner and
• 17:44
  that's life.
• 17:46
  Uh, how can I get ahead?
• 17:47
  And I fall into this all the time.
• 17:49
  I'm thinking about how I'm going to do
• 17:50
  on my review and what's next.
• 17:51
  And there's, there's a good place for self
• 17:53
  -advocacy.
• 17:54
  But the more important question, the question that
• 17:56
  gets us closer to what it really means
• 17:57
  to be human is how can I help?
• 18:01
  We were less concerned about ourselves, less concerned
• 18:03
  about how we're getting ahead and just more
• 18:05
  concerned about how to serve, how to serve
• 18:08
  the mission of our organizations, how to serve
• 18:10
  our clients, how to serve our colleagues, and
• 18:12
  how to serve our bosses.
• 18:14
  How can I help?
• 18:16
  That's a question that will guide us closer
• 18:18
  to what it means to be truly human.
• 18:23
  Lord Jesus, thank you for your love.
• 18:25
  Thank you that you did lay down your
• 18:27
  life for us, that for all the ways
• 18:29
  that we fail to practice humility and to
• 18:32
  love and serve others, uh, your gift of
• 18:35
  your life on the cross covers our sins
• 18:37
  and draws us into forgiveness in life.
• 18:40
  We pray that you would draw us into
• 18:42
  that life of humility like yours, that we
• 18:44
  would see that we're not missing out on
• 18:46
  anything by embracing progressively humble service.
• 18:51
  Jesus, do your work in us as we
• 18:52
  do our work with you.
• 18:59
  Thanks for listening.
• 19:00
  Finding God at Work is a production of
• 19:02
  Mission Central, a ministry based in Aurora, Illinois,
• 19:05
  dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
• 19:07
  life.
• 19:08
  You can subscribe to the podcast wherever you
• 19:10
  listen to this episode to get 10 minutes
• 19:12
  of teaching on faith and work every Tuesday
• 19:14
  and Thursday.
• 19:15
  To get resources to go deeper with each
• 19:17
  podcast series, read our blog and get info
• 19:20
  about upcoming courses on faith in the workplace,
• 19:22
  go to our website, missioncentral.church.