There's No App for Honoring

My name is James Sutton. I'm the associate pastor, sometimes referred to as the geeky pastor here at Christ the King. And Jeff is out of town this week, so I will be preaching this morning. I am not preaching my own sermon series as has been kind of what has been done in the past. I'm continuing the sermon series that Jeff started. So we are in a sermon series called "There's No App for That," where we are looking at various different things that exist in the Christian life for which there is no program that will do it for you.

Now I will say this. The Suttons are early adopters. Those of you who know us, you know this to be true. I have a refrigerator that is a smart fridge. If we set it up to do this, we haven't, but if we set it up to do this, it will identify food in our refrigerator and automatically order it for us when we run out of it. I don't trust it, so we haven't done that. Also, I don't need anything to order food for me. I'm just fine in that area.

But we have five children, and each of those five children have something like five teachers who regularly send us communication about their school schedule and different things that are coming up for them. So that's like 25 different teachers, 25 different schedules, lots of details. And so we have employed an artificial intelligence assistant where we forward all of those emails and it puts together a calendar for us. And it works most of the time. We love that.

And recently, we bought a car that literally drives itself. We got into the car. I did a wedding in Atlanta about a week ago, and we plugged in the address and it steered and passed other people and got us exactly where we needed to go without me touching the wheel once. It was amazing. Loved it.

So apps and artificial intelligence and technology, these are good things. They're not necessarily bad things. We like them, but there are certain things that apps and artificial intelligence and technology will never be able to do for you. And in some ways, those things are the really important things of life. Those are the things that really matter.

Jess has been doing this series. We've looked at things like hospitality and burden bearing, loving one another, peacemaking, speaking well of others. These are things that apps can't do for us and yet we are called to do them as Christians. And we know inherently that there's a temptation to try and get those things to do those things for us, but that never works. Right?

Have you ever been on a customer service call where they've given you an AI agent? Right? I don't care how good that AI is. As soon as you figure out, and you inevitably do figure out that it's artificial intelligence, not a real person, you feel immediately devalued, don't you? You're like, listen. I pay you people money. Give me a real person on this phone right now so that they can talk to me about my problems, empathize with me, and come up with a solution that's not already preprogrammed into its database. Right? Can I get an amen? Feel me?

There is something inherent about certain things being done by human beings. And today, we're going to look at Philippians 2:1-4 and specifically, we're looking at how there is no app for honoring.

So here's our text. Let's read it together. Philippians 2:1-4. This is the CSB.

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the spirit, if any affection and mercy, make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others. — Philippians 2:1-4

This is God's word.

Here's our outline for this morning. One thing to remember, two things to put down, and three things to pick up. So the sermon this morning is as easy as one, two, three. One thing to remember, two things to put down, three things to pick up.

So first, let's look at the one thing that in this passage Paul calls us to remember. There is inherent in the gospel message, which is the thing he's asking us to remember, a lot of information about the honor of what it means to be a human being.

Now we mentioned that there's no kids worship, but I would maintain that we are all worshiping. The kids are worshiping here with us, so we are worshiping kids. Are you familiar with the catechism questions that we talk about in this church?

There's one that's pretty famous in the Westminster Confession of Faith. It goes something like this: What is the chief end of man? We got a crowd up here that has this down. You all, I honor you. Well done. You get the gold star.

Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

There is something about the English language where we have taken the Hebrew word for glory and broken it up into two words. The Hebrew is kabod. It means weight. So when you think of something that is glorious or majestic, it kind of makes sense to think about that as something that's heavy. Weight. Full of weight. That's the kind of Hebrew thinking of what glory is. But in English, we split that up into glory and honor. The words are almost synonymous—glory and honor in English mean almost the same thing. But primarily when we talk about glory in the context of worshiping God, we use the word glory. When we talk about something that's worth recognizing, something that's glorious that's not God, we talk about honor. It's kind of English's way as Christianity has moved through languages of separating: there's an appropriate amount of glorifying and honoring that really belongs to God alone, and then there are some things here on earth that are reflections of his glory that are also worthy of honor.

So when we say that man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever, we're talking about that worshipfulness of God, his glory, that is worthy of our honoring. But the Bible also teaches that mankind is made in God's image. And in the very first chapter of Genesis, we actually get God doing some glorifying, some honoring of his own after creation. He goes through all of creation and talks about how good it is. But there's one thing that's really good. One thing that he especially honors. What does God especially honor in creation separate from all of the rest of it? He says it's very good. Humans—men and women, mankind—that is very good. Why? Because they're particularly reflective of God's glory. And so therefore, they're worthy of that honor.

There is a sense foundationally that when we explore the glory and majesty of how we are created and we look at each other and see things that are worthy of praise and honor, we're foundationally, fundamentally, actually worshiping God who is reflected in that image. So that's what it looks like to honor others. We explore the image of God in them, and then we celebrate it. It's an act of worship. The English word "worship" is actually a breakdown of "worth-ship"—applying worth. We're saying that there is something valuable about God's image because it reflects him. That is what image and honor means in a fundamental theological sense.

Christ's Value of the Image

But also, Paul is calling our attention to our unity with Christ. He's saying, hey, if there's anything great about being a part of Christ, then do these things. He's reminding us of Christ's value of that image. The gospel essentially is this: God loved his image so much that he sent his only son so that when his image believed in him, he would be basically cleansed.

Now, we teach something called total depravity here in the Presbyterian church, and oftentimes that gets misunderstood. Some people think that we just think everybody is just awful and terrible and as bad as they could be. What we mean by total depravity is simply that after the fall from the garden, all aspects of our image-bearing qualities, all aspects of what it means to be good about being human, are marred. They're not as pristine, not as beautiful as they were intended to be. God can't stand that. And that's why Jesus Christ came—because he wanted to ascribe worth to the Father. The Father wanted to ascribe worth to his image in humanity. The Spirit wanted to see that worth magnified and rejoiced over throughout all of the earth.

So this thing called the gospel happened where Jesus came and he suffered and he died. He sacrificed so that he could power wash the image so that it would become shiny and clean again. I would submit to you that if you dedicate your life to something, if you're willing to die for something, then you really value it. So brothers and sisters, inherent in understanding what it means to honor others, you have to remember what it looked like for God to honor his image in us. He gave up everything for that. It's also inherent to remember that it costs so much, which is a reminder of what we are by ourselves apart from him. We're in need. That is what Paul wants us to remember.

We are called to have one mind, which in the Greek is a word that you don't find anywhere else. Paul was essentially saying, be one sold with me and with Christ in remembering this, and then desiring to do the very thing that Christ himself did, which is to see that image restored, beautified, glorified, and celebrated. And that is what he is calling us to remember.

We remember what Christ has paid for us. We remember the value that he has placed on humanity. And in doing that, then we are set up to actually do what the rest of this passage talks about, which is display honor for others.

So how do we do that specifically, Paul? Well, he says we start by putting two things down. Two things. Do you see that in the passage? The two things are selfish ambition and vain glory—the way that the King James puts it. "Nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit" is the way that the ESV or the CSB put it. So essentially, we put down selfish ambition and vainglory.

Selfish Ambition

What is selfish ambition? Well, selfish ambition is where I, who am made to be gloried in—right? Because remember, I'm an image bearer. I am made for glory. You were made for glory. God made us for glory when he made us in his image. We were made to be honored. He himself honored us. But in the context of the fall, that's marred. But our desire to be honored and gloried in is still there. Do you guys feel that? Do you feel it? Do you want people to recognize the really good things that you have done? You want them to see that? I do.

There are oftentimes when I do something and nobody knows about it and I'm just like, alright. I'm not going to post this on Facebook. I'm not going to call all of my friends and tell them about it. And I'm not going to brag about it in polite conversation. And I tell myself that, and by the end of the week, I've done all of that. Because I'm like, you guys gotta see how cool I am. Have you ever done that? Have you ever experienced that? That's because you have inside of you this desire to be honored and glorified in.

And we live in a world with limited honor and glory. If you don't believe me, watch the World Cup. There's only one World Cup every four years. This is intense, y'all. And America's doing good. We have got to win. We have to win, and so we are competing against all the other nations of the world, and it's got to be ours. We have a selfish ambition. And then, listen. There's nothing wrong with cheering for a team and trying to get the Stanley Cup or the World Cup or any other cup as a sports team. That's fine. But that is a dynamic of selfish ambition. I'm trying to gain for me something that I don't want to share with the rest of the nations. I want us, US, to be the best. I want the Hurricanes to be the best. And yes, I want NC State to please be better than all of the other ACC teams. That is what we want, and we want that personally.

And Paul is saying, hey, listen. If you remember, you have an infinite amount of honor in that the Son of God has died for you. God has created you in his image. You don't need to be this little honor-hungry thing that is just trying to soak up all the accolades and get all the likes on Facebook. You don't need that. You have everything in him.

So put down that selfish ambition. Show the world what it looks like to actually be full of the glory and honor that God has given you so that they can see something different. They can see a way to finding that satisfaction themselves, and they can themselves be honored and glorified the way that they were created to be.

Vainglory

Second thing to put down is vainglory. Vainglory are the things that are just vapor that look glorious. There are the things that just really don't matter at the end of the day. The things that feel really like glory and honor, but they're really not important.

So let me share some vainglory. Recently, I went to our denomination's general assembly. None of you care. There are about 2,000 people that care. They go to general assembly. The rest of you are kind of like, maybe you want an update. Maybe you care about decisions that our denomination makes, but you don't get excited about it the way I get excited about it.

I love going to general assembly, man. I see all my seminary friends, and I hear about what God's doing in other churches, and it's just great. We go out and eat great food and listen to great seminars and have great worship services. And yes, we argue about denominational politics. But, man, I love it.

So to celebrate General Assembly this year, I worked with AI to write a General Assembly musical. It's 10 songs. It's on YouTube if you want to listen to it.

That would really be great for me to feel like, wow, people care. But here's the thing about this: there are literally 2,000 people in the whole world that could possibly care about this. And let me tell you, I have texted and emailed most of them. 1,998 of them do not care. They don't care. They're like, "Oh, cute. You wrote a musical." I'm like, "It's good. You gotta listen to it." No. We don't care.

Vainglory. Who cares? Who cares about your stupid musical, James? That is what earthly glory is in the context of eternity. The limited amount of glory that people are gonna get for winning the World Cup is infinitesimally small compared to the eternal glory that God is calling us into. We have it all in Jesus Christ. So why do we act like the really big deal is this little vaporous thing—the musical we wrote, the cups that we win, the things that we do at work to get noticed? It's just vapor. Lay that down, Paul says. Forget about that because that's pointing people in the wrong direction.

So just a couple of things on how do we do that? Because it is hard. The vainglorious stuff is the stuff that's in our face all the time. Even though we know it's vapor, it's just all around us. It's the soup we swim in. And we have this need. That selfish ambition isn't rooted in something bad, even though, yeah, we probably express it badly. That's not bad. So how do we lay these things down, Paul? How do we do this?

Here's the principle. Paul sets this up in Colossians 3:

Set your mind on things above where Christ is. Your life is hidden with Christ in God.

The antidote for vaporous glory isn't bare self-denial. It's refixing the gaze on something that doesn't evaporate.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, and the things on earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

We spend time doing stuff like this—worshiping, meditating on how good God is and how amazing his gospel is. And then we see through the vapor to the actual, solid, real, true reality of what we were made for and how glorious Christ is.

Two Diagnostic Questions

So two diagnostic questions—application, if you wanna write this down—that will help you discern between selfish ambition, vainglory, and the real thing.

Would I still do this if no one but God ever found out? Ask yourself that. If nobody cared about my stupid GA musical, would I still have done it? Probably. But that's maybe not the point. The idea is: are you doing this for the praise of this world or are you doing this for the lasting glory of God? Think about that.

Second diagnostic question: Will this matter in a hundred years to the people who love me on my deathbed, or will this matter in eternity to those who live with me in Christ Jesus forever and ever? That helps you fix yourself. Those questions will help you fix yourselves on the things that are important.

Now, if you can put those things down, then you can pick up the three things that remain in this passage. Three things to pick up are—and I'm borrowing language from other translations—but essentially humility, esteem, and attentiveness.

Humility

Humility is a great thing to pick up. We have no idea what that is. I talk to people all the time, and there are always these different interpretations and definitions of humility that compete. Let me try and bring some clarity to what humility is and what it's not.

Let's start with what it's not, because that's easier. Humility is not skin deep. You've experienced this. Someone is particularly self-deprecating. They're like, "Oh, I'm preaching today. Run if you have to." And what I'm really doing is saying, "No, James. We like your sermons just as much as Jeff's." That's not humility. That's false humility. I'm fishing. I'm trying to be self-deprecating so that you'll come in and feel bad for me and fill in the void. False humility is what I call that. It's not humility.

Real humility is not self-hatred either. A lot of times people think this: if I truly believe I'm terrible and all I talk about is how terrible I am, isn't that real humility? If I deeply believe that, isn't that real humility? If I'm kind of like, "Hey, let me tell you how terrible I am. I got lots. I can do this for hours. I won't. But I mean, I could do that." Is that humility? If I'm kind of in this posture where I'm like, "I'm so bad that God himself can't even work through me," I would submit to you that that's not humility. That's a different kind of pride. A pride in how terrible I am instead of a pride in how great I am. It's a hidden kind of pride. It's not humility.

It's pride disguised as humility where I'm trying to make it really all about how bad I am instead of making it all about how good I am. That's the pride that's easy to see. Both of them are pride. That's not humility.

And humility—this is something that's passed around in Christian circles a lot and I think I'm right in saying this. Although some very wise Christians have maybe said something like this, so that gives me pause that maybe I'm wrong. But I don't believe that humility is simply honest self assessment. Have you heard that? That humility is just an honest self assessment of yourself. Maybe there's some sense in which that's true, but when I think about Christ being humble, I don't think what he did was come down and say, "Really, in my humility, I'm just going to give you an honest assessment of who I am." No. He made less of himself who was great for our sake.

So that's what humility isn't. What is it? I think this is the best thing to think about: True humility is not thinking less of yourself as much as it is thinking of yourself less. Does that make sense? In other words, you get over yourself. You stop worrying what people think. You stop worrying about how bad you are or how good you are. You stop thinking about what it is that is so great about you and you start looking beyond yourself and you discover, "Wow, there's like hundreds of thousands of other image bearers out there who are all as unique and beautiful and amazing as me and I kind of want to investigate that a little bit."

Like you go to Nicaragua and you meet these people and you're like, "Wow, they're wonderfully different than me." And so instead of thinking about myself and all my concerns back home, I'm going to actually get to know these people because they're amazing. Right? That's what humility is.

Esteeming Others

So you pick that up. You get over yourself and then you start to esteem others. You consider others more important. Now this is a decision, not just a feeling. Some of us carry ourselves like, "I will give you accolades and honor and esteem you when you do something to deserve it. You got to show me that you have something worthy of my praise. Let's go—perform. Show me how good you dance."

No. Esteeming is a decision, a decision that's logic works something like this, theologically. The premise: If God made someone else in his image and Christ died for them, they're incredibly valuable. Objection: I don't see the value in them. I don't see the glory. Then the conclusion is, you haven't looked hard enough. You haven't spent enough time with that person. You haven't actually esteemed them and approached them with the expectation that they have something to teach you about God in the unique and powerful ways in which they reflect him.

So you pick up esteem. You pick up this logical stance. You're curious. "I don't see any glory in this person. What could God be doing with them? I need to spend more time with them. I need to start shifting my thinking to understand the things that they are interested in and why they are interested in it. I need to consider those things greater than my own interests because God has something to show me."

And then finally, attentiveness. You look to others' betterment. I'm cheering for the United States. That means I want Christian Pulisic to do amazing. I am not thinking when I watch those games, "Man, I really hope that I get good at soccer." I'm sitting on the sideline going, "Go Pulisic. Get them. Go through the line. Score. Whatever." I'm cheering for them. Or the guy who got the red card—what's his name? Balagan. Right? Don't give him a red card. He's amazing. That wasn't intentional. Come on. Right? I'm cheering for them.

It's because I have identified beyond myself. I've gotten over myself. I'm esteeming them. I've seen something valuable in them, namely their athletic ability, and I'm associating with them. They're my guys. They have never met me. They will never probably meet me. They do not care about me, but yet I feel this affinity with them. And that's what we do in Jesus Christ. When we pick up attentiveness, we become each other's fans. And that's what it looks like to honor one another.

And there's no app for that. You can't get somebody else to do it for you. You can't create an AI bot. I mean, you could create an AI bot that would send something nice to everybody in the congregation once a month and that'd be incredible, but they'll see through that because there's no dignity in that. It's not another image bearer doing it. When you do that, because of your dignity and honor, it honors others.

So how do we do this?

Well, we stopped seeing this as the only worship service of this church, and we start seeing our interactions with one another as an opportunity to do that, to worship what God is doing in others, to become cheerleaders. And you know what I find is the people that really do this regularly, they love it. They are all about it. They're so excited to kind of cheer people on, and I love being around those people, especially when they're doing it to me. But as I've done it with others, as I've seen younger people take hold, like my kids going on a missions trip to Nicaragua, and I see them taking hold of their faith in different ways, I'm like cheering for them. And I honor what God is doing in them. Can we start to intentionally do that not as an obligation, but as something that we're excited to do?

I have a friend who bought a sports car the same time we bought our self-driving car. And we had a conversation on the wings where we were talking about which car was faster, whatever. His car is faster. It's a sports car. But I was like, but my car drives itself. And this friend said to me, James, no one buys a Porsche so that it can drive itself. Fair enough. Right? The Lord God has given us the opportunity to honor one another. It's like driving a Porsche. It's a joy. It's something to get excited about. It's something that we will benefit from as we cheer for other people and we see what God is doing in their lives and we rejoice in it. We ourselves will receive joy. That is why Paul says he's cheering for them. Do you hear that? Make my joy complete. Do this. Honor one another. Drive the Porsche.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, I pray that you would work in and through us in such a way that our worship would extend to how we interact with others. Lord, would others outside of this church see us as we interact with them as image bearers, even looking for, longing for, calling out from them the honor and glory that is inherently in their dignity built into them. Lord, would they long to be a part of a community that loves to do this so much? Because, Lord, this is the reality. We're all going to a place called heaven where we're going to be glorified, and it's going to be a nonstop, never-ending, full-on honor party dedicated ultimately to you, but that we get to participate in. And Lord, that is something that everyone was made for. Lord, bring us all there. Lord, use us to point others there. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.