MAR 25 2020 | The Offering S1E3 | Imitating Christ’s Humility

Sea Change Church · The Offering · "Imitating Christ's Humility" Pastor Adam Stadtmiller · March 25, 2020
Philippians 2:1-11
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

We are really excited to be with you here on this glorious morning in San Diego. Wherever you are online, checking us out virtually, we are here at the, jokingly we call it, the La Jolla Christian Fellowship Studios. We employed one of our Gen Yers, Gen Zers to come in and help us get set up with this. It's been an amazing week and we have been so touched by the generosity of everyone at this church. We've not had one, literally not one negative word. Everyone has been positive. We've done things like add 30 people to our care team and all kinds of stuff. You're going to hear a little bit more about that.

But what we want to do today is we want to stabilize and simplify all the different voices and the noises that are going on. And we really want this to be a community of stability for you. So there's a lot of things and there's a lot of chaos, but this is a place of stability, an anchor in the storm. And we want this service to be, uh, to kind of model where you are in your living rooms and the different places you are and your phones and different places watching this.

Uh, and we want to just give you, uh, you know, uh, opportunity, a platform to experience the power of God, the spirit of God. We've got our message and Chris, uh, and Ola will be leading worship and doing different kinds of stuff. So we're excited to be here. We're going to get started with worship. We love you and we'll see, I'll see you in just a little bit. Good morning church. Good to see you in your living room or wherever you are.

Um, just want to let you know that we have a link so that you can, um, pull up the lyrics for our songs this morning. And, uh, let's just give God a moment. Lord Jesus, we thank you so much for who you are, what you've done. I thank you for, um, holding us in your hand. And thank you for being there and giving us hope. And, uh, future Lord Jesus, we give you this morning of worship. I thank you for binding us all together, God, knowing that we are not alone.

In the name of your friends, amen. Amen. Amen. God Almighty. Through your Holy Spirit, conceiving Christ the Son, Jesus our Savior. I believe in God our Father. I believe in Christ the Son. I believe in the Holy Spirit. Our God is three in one. I believe in the resurrection. That we will rise again. For I believe in the name of Jesus. Our judge and our defender suffered and crucified. For I believe in the death. We're he of you.

But I'll do that. He's we for you. He's we for you. You are the person in the name of Jesus. You are the person in the name of Jesus. He is the person in the name of Jesus. He is the person in the name of Jesus. He is the person in the name of Jesus. He is the person in the name of Jesus. He is the person in the name of Jesus. He is the person in the name of Jesus. He is the person in the name of Jesus. He is the person in the name of Jesus.

He is the person in the name of Jesus. He is the person in the name of Jesus. He is the person in the name of Jesus. mana he is the person in the name of Jesus. into darkness you rose in glorious light never seated high I believe in God our Father I believe in Christ the Son I believe in the Holy Spirit our God is three in the world I believe in the resurrection that we will rise again for I believe in the name of Jesus I believe in you I believe in you rose again I believe that Jesus Christ Lord I believe I believe in you I believe you rose in me I believe I believe in Jesus Christ Lord I believe in life eternal I believe in the virgin birth I believe in the saints communion and in your holy church I believe in the resurrection when Jesus comes again for I believe in the name of Jesus I believe in God our Father I believe in Christ the Son I believe in the Holy Spirit our God is three in the word I believe in the resurrection that he will rise again for I believe in the name of Jesus for I believe in the name of Jesus for I believe in the name of Jesus Jesus your love is devoted like a ring of solid gold like a vow that is tested like a covenant of old your love is enduring through the winter rain and beyond the horizon with mercy for today !

faithful you will bear faithful you will be you pledge yourself to me and it's why I sing your praise will ever be on my lips ever be on my lips your free your praise will ever be on my lips ever be on my lips your praise will ever be on my lips ever be on my lips your praise will ever be on my lips ever be on my lips guitar solo You follow the author Your kindness makes us whole Your shoulder weakness And your strength becomes our own You're making me like you Clothing me in wine Bringing beauty from ashes You will have your pride Free of all goodness And rid of all her shame And known by her true name And it's why I sing Your praise will ever be on my lips Ever be on my lips Your praise will ever be on my lips Ever be on my lips Your praise will ever be on my lips Ever be on my lips Your praise will ever be on my lips Ever be on my lips You will be praised You will be praised Angels will change We sing worthy For you Lord You will be praised You will be praised Angels and saints We sing worthy For you Lord You will be praised You will be praised You will be praised Angels and saints We sing worthy For you Lord You will be praised You will be praised You will be praised You will be praised Angels and saints We sing worthy For you Lord And this is why I sing Your praise will ever be on my lips Your praise will ever be on my lips Never be on my lips Your praise will ever be on my lips Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Your praise will never be on my lips, never be on my lips.

Your praise will never be on my lips, never be on my lips. Amen. Slow down, take time, breathe in, he said he'd reveal what's to come. The thoughts is mine, always higher than mine, and he'll reveal all to come. Take courage, my heart, stay steadfast, my soul. He's in the waiting, he's in the waiting. Hold on to your hope as your triumph unfolds. He's never failing. He's never failing. He's never failing. Sing, raise my soul.

Find strength in joy. Let his words lead you on me. Do not forget his great faithfulness. I'll finish all he's begun. Take courage, my heart, stay steadfast, my soul. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. Hold on to your hope as your triumph unfolds. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting.

He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting.

will surely keep your promise to me that I will rise in your victory. And you who hold the stars who call them each by name will surely keep your promise to me that I will rise in your victory. Take courage, my heart. Faith steadfast, my soul. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. Hold on to your hope As your triumph unfolds He's never failing He's never failing Take courage, my heart Stay steadfast, my soul. He's in the waiting He's in the waiting Hold on to your hope As your triumph unfolds He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing He's never failing You're never feeling.

He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's in the waiting. He's never feeling. You're never feeling. This song, as we reflect today, it just brings to mind the prophet Elijah who encountered God. And right before that, there was this massive fire. There was this massive earthquake. There was a massive wind. And it says that God was not in any of those things, but he was in the gentle whisper.

That's where God lives, in the gentle whisper of hope in our lives. So in that whisper before us is an opportunity, an opportunity for stillness, for rest, and to experience God in the midst of wherever we are right now. Let's pray. God, Lord, we give it all to you. In this moment, Lord, we love you. We trust you. And we know that you reign in every moment. You reign in the mundane. You reign in the stillness. God, you reign in our homes, and you reign in this world.

God, and we just trust you. We love you. And we know that you reign in hope. God, we just cry out to you, Lord, in joy and in hope, because we know that you are good. We love you, Father. And sometimes there's nothing to do in faith, but to just continue to step forward. And we can step forward hand in hand with you, Jesus. We invite you into this time, into this space here at La Jolla Christian Fellowship online, into our homes this morning, with our family, with our loved ones, with our kids.

We invite you, Jesus. your peaceful, loving presence. Amen. Awesome. My name's Harry. I'm the Student Ministries Pastor on staff. And I'm just, I'm so encouraged to get to be here with you this morning, get to worship in this manner. And we have one announcement, and that is that CP and Martha are celebrating their birthday this month. And so we're celebrating that. CP's somebody who went through, he's a D-Day survivor.

And so he's somebody who's experienced a lot in this world. And so really just a cool opportunity for us to join and celebrate with him. So we're going to sing happy birthday, actually, to CP and Martha. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Good morning. Good morning, everybody. My name's Drea. I'm an operations manager here.

I'm so happy to be here with you today that we found a way to do this. It's amazing. Your guys' staff has been working so hard, and you guys have been incredible. We are getting so many encouraging emails. So many of you have signed up for the care team that it actually tripled in size since we started. So thank you for doing that. If you would like to join the care team, there's still an opportunity to do that online, or you can email me.

And if you need help, if you need supplies, if you need somebody to run errands for you, if you're in a high-risk group, if you're running low on something, we can help you with that. Just reach out to us. You can email me that information, and I will get that over to our care team. They are ready and waiting to help you. We've gotten a couple requests, but not too many yet. So please feel free to reach out if you're struggling or running low on any supplies.

But we've been doing a really great job for making sure that we're staying plugged in with you. I'm sorry. So Joe Brandy has been on our team for the last couple of weeks, getting us ready for small groups next season, working with Sean, who's also been working with our existing groups. So if you are in a current small group, we're encouraging you to keep going. We want you to be meeting on Zoom, other platforms that work well for you.

And if you need help getting that going, then please talk to Sean about that. He can help you get the tech that you need to make sure that your group can continue. And Pastor Joe is working on getting all of our new groups going so that you can continue. We're going to be ready for you as soon as we come back. One announcement will change everything, and we will be ready as soon as we're back online. So you guys will have plenty of opportunity to join a group.

If you're interested in doing that, we're ready for you now. We can start plugging you in now. You can email us that information. You can email Sean or me and let us know that you want to join a group, and we will make sure that you're getting plugged in while we are in our current situation. But we're also ready to come back full force as soon as it's time. And then the last thing I want to say is just a mention about how to stay connected.

If you stay on our webpage, we'll have a lot of information there. But we sent out an email this weekend, and Pastor Adam also posted a video this weekend about different ways that you can stay connected. And if you would like a list of those links, you know, Facebook, Instagram, Vimeo, all of these different ways, whatever you're comfortable with, we have a way to connect with you. So if you would like those links, you can just send me an email, and I will shoot you a list of all of them.

And there's also a direct link on that email that we sent out this weekend. If you are not getting those emails, you can sign up for our newsletter right from our homepage. There's a button that says Newsletter Sign Up, and you can go to that page, and we will make sure that you start getting that newsletter. Also, be sure to check your spam because I am getting quite a few bounce backs for those of you that have already signed up.

So that's all I have for you. Hey, everyone. Hope you're doing well and you've moved over to the Vimeo site. Looks like Facebook was having some issues. That's not coming from our site. It's actually coming from the Facebook side. So we've actually surpassed big tech here, which is amazing, Chris. And by the way, I've left Chris here today because I kind of need a sidekick up here. It's kind of lonely without all of you.

So Chris is like, I won't say you're my Ed McMahon. Do you know who Ed McMahon is? You do. You're not my Ed McMahon, but you are my safety blanket. So hey, we've been really excited here about the... We've been talking about four Cs, community, care, contributions, and our calendar. Those are the four Cs as we're really trying to simplify and to stabilize this community. One of the ways to do that is through contributions.

And so like Drea said, first of all, we want to care for you if you need care. We're not in a position to pay rents or anything like that, but if there are some needs, some grocery needs and things, we have a Gap Fund and people will be giving to that. People have already given to that. And we would love to help people within our community or closely knit to our community. We're going to try to just really focus on the people we minister to and those connected with them.

And then we're hoping that all the other charitable organizations around the world will kind of lock down their corner and to do what they can to care for the group that is under their shelter or under the canopy of their covering. And so that might be you. So if you have a need, please reach out and do that. There's also a couple ways that you can continue to give. And we have a little bit of a plan going forward. And the plan going forward is to encourage all of you that are in industries that are actually, some industries are actually booming.

I hear everything from I'm swamped, from some of my mortgage people and things like this, to other people that have lost 50 to 100% of their income. The first call is to those of you who are still continuing to move forward in businesses. And as you've been giving to this church, we just want to encourage you to continue to do so. Just stay strong in that. Don't shrink back from that. And we encourage that. Number two is, and this was something I learned in 2008 when I was at North Coast Calvary Chapel during the financial crisis.

We actually moved into our new campus. The weekend Barron's, the week Barron and Stearns kind of collapsed and right in the midst of that with a brand new campus, new mortgage payment. And one of the things they said was there's a big group of people in the church who sporadically give or don't really give. And they said, you know, we're looking for those people to come online as a time of rescue, kind of like a rescue team of like, hey, if they jump on board, it's going to really bless the church.

And so, and others as well. So that group, we're calling out to you to consider and what you might do towards giving towards the church or towards the Gap Fund. If you want to give directly to people's needs, you can do that as well. And then the final thing, and this was with my own soul, was, you know, I was really tempted to just drop back to zero in 2008 as things were kind of collapsing around me. And one of the things I learned is just encouraging people to, you know, continue to keep your generosity alive.

You know, give one dollar, just anything, to say, God, I want to still stay in the game. So, those are kind of the plan. You've tasked me as your head pastor, senior pastor, to make sure that this organization continues. We've been through the Great Depression, we've been through World War II, the turbulent 60s, on and on, and every time, the people of this church have risen up and made a difference. And so, we love you, but the first thing is, we're here for you.

If you need us, reach out to us. We want to be there. Chris is going to lead us in a time of worship. You can go online, and there's a whole bunch of ways to give there. You can check it out, and we would love for you to do that. So, Lord Jesus, bless this time. Bless everyone listening, God. As you provide, you give provision. As we know, things can turn so quickly, Lord Jesus, and we want to be prepared, and we want to stay as a people of faith.

And so, God, bless the people that are under the canopy of your wings. as you've said, Lord Jesus, that you want us to dwell in place. There's been a call to shelter in place, God. But as I was talking with Pastor Jim today, that in Psalm 91, you say, dwell in place. And so, God, we just dwell in place. We love you, Jesus. In your name, amen. We're going to continue with our tradition here at this church to do a hymn every week.

So, this week, it's going to be Be Thou My Vision. Be Thou My Vision, O Lord of My Heart, not be all else to me, save that Thou art. Thou my births, my day or by now, Waking or sleeping, Thou present, my life. Be Thou my wisdom, and Thou my true word. Thou with me dwell, Thou with me dwell, Thou mother be Thou, I find thy true sign. Thou with me dwell, and I will be one. Be Thou my battle shield, Lord, for the fire. Be Thou my ticket, be Thou my delight.

Thou my soul, Thou my high tower. Praise Thou, free heaven, O power of my power. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains.

The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. The captains. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And that's the focus of the message this morning and the text of the message. It's a privilege to read. And that is a blessing to all of us, wherever we might be. Philippians chapter 2. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy, the Apostle says, by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. But in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be clung to, but emptied himself, taking the form of the servant, being born in the likeness of humanity.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient even to the point of death, the death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him, and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven, on earth, even under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. This is the word of the Lord, and we give thanks to God.

Lord, may you bless the word that's about to be shared by Pastor Adam. May you touch him, and may we find in what he shares a word for us, that we might in these days be fully yours, find your humility, and find ways to rise up to love and serve you and our neighbor. Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Now we're going to have Pastor Adam give the sermon. I think it's not going to be me, so don't worry.

Hey, everybody. Once again, great to be with you this morning. Super excited about what God is doing here in this place and in this time. And so, hey, we're going to continue on in the offering series, and it's just been amazing how God has kind of led the different teachings and how they've all come at the right time. We talked the first two weeks. It was about sacrificial giving, which is interesting, and generosity, which has been huge.

And in a time where you see, you know, reports of hoarding and all these other things that are going on, and it's really inspirational to think, okay, how do I pivot on that and to be living like a very different space of mind, a very different platform of heart. Today we're going to be looking at the Philippians passage where Paul is speaking to the Philippians and sends a letter out to them. And so let me just pray as we get ready to start this.

Lord Jesus, we just thank you, God, for this time as we gather. We bless you today, Lord Jesus, and invite you to be with us together as a family and as a church family. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, in this offering series, we move to Paul trying to encourage believers who are under severe trial, which is really interesting because I think a lot of people today are kind of falling in line with that feeling of themselves.

And what Paul does is he begins to talk about how we receive true comfort in Christ in the midst of trial, which is interesting because one of the things that he speaks about is how we do it differently than the world might do it. One of the things that the world wants to do is to try and reach for comfort, to grab for comfort, to find ways to stabilize their own comfort in order to have comfort. The way of God is completely different.

It's actually upside down. Dallas Willard talks about a theology of God, which is you take the theology of the world and you switch it upside down. So if you want to be first, then you need to be last and things like that. And so as we talk to Paul, Paul offers this encouragement to the Philippians. And he gives a recipe. He actually gives a poultice of how to bring peace and comfort into your life. And he starts by employing this call to the kind of comfort that we have that is available to us.

And then he calls us and shows us the way in which to get it. But it's completely opposite of what you would think. So in his letter to the Philippians, Paul says this. So if there is any encouragement, all of a sudden we'll talk about that word encouragement here in a minute and what he meant actually by that. This is pretty awesome. What he's saying is there is this amazing comfort. There is this amazing godly love.

There is this amazing peace that is not only available to you as an individual, but actually becomes quantified. It actually becomes spiritually nuclear.