The Goal of Christian Growth: Becoming Less of Yourself (Philippians 2:5-8)                  2009.04.19    Pastor Richard Yu

Christian life is a renewing process. Believers are new creation in Christ and are commanded to grow into maturity. The book of Hebrews tells us to leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity. The Apostle Paul says that he didn’t think that he has already been made perfect, but presses on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of him, and toward the goal for which God has called him. (cf. Heb. 6:1; Phil. 3:13-14) Clearly, Christian maturity is a process started somewhere and is going somewhere; it helps to know where we’re going and what we are aiming at.

        The goal of Christian growth can be summarized as to become “mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ,” and “becoming more and more in every way like Christ” (Eph. 4:13, 15 NLT). Another way to put it is that we are to be transformed to conform to the likeness of Christ (Rom. 8:29).

        We need, therefore, to understand what the “full stature” of Christ means. Paul tells us that Christ is “the image of the invisible God . . . For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him . . . For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ” (Col. 1:15, 19; 2:9-10). The stature of Christ is nothing less than the fullness of God with all his attributes and characters, which, in all its richness, is far beyond our grasp.

How then do we know whether we are “measuring up” to that stature? If we are not deliberate and specific about this, we might end up looking more like somebody else instead of Christ. So, what might be the most important characters of Christ that we should aim for in our spiritual growth? Could it be love? Obedience? Unceasing prayer? Humility?

            What might be the one character that would most accurately, most fully describe the full stature of Christ? I would suggest that the measure of the fullness of Christ is best demonstrated in Christ’s self-giving life and death on the cross. Paul says that Christ Jesus, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:5-8). Therefore I say that it is Christ’s self-giving love, the emptying of himself, the pouring out of his life for mankind’s sake, which most appropriately display the fullness of his divine measure.             

Jesus came to his own, yet he came not to be served as a King, but to serve; and to give himself as an atoning sacrifice. He gave his body, shed his blood, for my sake and yours. Therefore, as we continue to grow in Christ, the single most important goal for us to strive for is to become like him in the image of his self-giving love, in his giving of himself totally for us. And perhaps that’s why Paul says, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Phil. 3: 10).

        On a fundamental level, this idea of becoming like Christ in his self-giving love is what the gospel of Jesus Christ is doing to counter our sin-tainted, sin-cursed nature of self-centeredness. Sin makes us to live for ourselves.

Studies after studies have shown that since the 1960s, most of Americans struggle with unhappiness, boredom, and emptiness. Fewer and fewer of us experience a deep, full sense of well-being day-to-day. The surface reasons for this include our pace of life, the loss of community, moral relativism, hurry and worry. But a deeper root cause is that we no longer try to exert to live for something bigger than our own lives, such as God, family, and community, and instead focus all our energies on personal pleasure and affluence.

What is there in your life that you’re willing to give for the sake of becoming more like Christ in the image of his self-giving love? What are you willing to give up for the good of your family? Your spouse? Your friends? You church community? Is it some of your time? Recreation? Priority? Relationship? Energy? Money? Start with something achievable and do it regularly, consistently until it becomes a habit; and then go on to identify other areas in your life to give.

A lot of things that we enjoy and have taken for granted are the results of sacrifices of others. E.g., children benefit from parental sacrifice. Soon we are going to start enjoy a beautiful new building. It is functional, comfortable, and versatile. But the building doesn’t just pop up by it self. Sure, we have architect and contractor, but there are many brothers and sisters labored over this project for years; and even more contributed money sacrificially to make it happen. I hope that the self-giving spirit demonstrated in this new building project would become one of the visible reminders for us to strive for the goal of becoming more like Jesus in his spirit of self-giving.