“Attitude is everything!”  I was fortunate enough to have a middle school gym coach that was very inspiring.  His name is Rick Stack and, believe it or not, the guy was still coaching wrestling at Ashbrook High a few years back when we last connected.  Just an all-around good guy and a great coach, Mr. Stack kept us moving, laughing and learning in those dark days of Middle School.  But he had one expression, I imagine he still uses it today but I’m not sure.  The expression?  Attitude is everything, of course. 

  And isn’t that right?  Haven’t you found that that bit of wisdom colors much of this thing called life?  Attitude may not be everything, God is, but it does have an outsized impact on your perspective as well as your performance, doesn’t it?  I can remember occasions when I was working in the service industry.  Like, a day at Starbucks can go really, really well if you’re in the right head space.  If, on the other hand, you’re not, even making someone a simple cup of coffee can ruffle your feathers the wrong way.

  “Attitude is everything” as Coach Stack used to say.  And although I never did quite get into the right mind place to enjoy running a mile for time, I did learn that if I could keep things in a positive perspective, events always seem to go much, much smoother. 

  There are two levels on which we can understand this passage.  First of all, we cannot help but see the powerful doctrinal truth. There is tremendous Christological significance in this passage. It gives us remarkable insight into the nature and work of Christ. It tells us of His equality with God and of His coexistent humanity. How He is 100 percent God and 100 percent man, all at the same time. It tells us of His obedience to the will of the Father and how He died on the cross. But it also tells us of His ultimate exaltation, how every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord.  But secondly, and just as important, is the contextual message which is extremely practical. We must see this section of Scripture in context with the surrounding Scriptures. We must see it within the context of the book as a whole and the overall argument Paul is making to the Church at Philippi. Paul is writing to them to instruct them on how they are to live. This is very practical. It is not, then, primarily a text about the theology surrounding Jesus, but it is a passage from a letter to a church, giving them Jesus as their example. It tells them that by following His example they can successfully live the Christian life. It sets forth Jesus, who was and is God, as the supreme example. It is He who we are to follow; it is His actions we are to emulate.

  And that’s exactly what Paul is talking about in the first portion of our reading this morning.  Last week, we dealt with the second half of this passage.  Necessary, really, to make sense of this first part.  While the second half of our reading is a deep and thrilling theological understanding of Christ’s amazing humility – not counting equality with God as something to be exploited is a big, big deal after all.  Can you imagine having the power of God and NOT using it to benefit yourself?  I mean, give me the power of God and the Braves and the Tarheels and the Panthers are winning everything that matters for eternity!  But what Paul tells the Philippian church is that Jesus was so set and determined to bring about God’s Will that he DIDN’T exploit His divinity.  Instead, He chose to use His divine power to fashion Himself a better, more able servant to others.  This powerful example is then brought to bear as Paul commits to telling the Philippians how to live their lives.  The passage begins back in the previous chapter.  There, Paul announces his intentions by saying in chapter 1, verses 27 and 28 a – Philippians 1:27-28a – “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents.”  What Paul is suggesting is that life can be lived well and in a Christian manner under adverse circumstances.  That’s good news, isn’t it?