Empty Aspirations

Emptiness is not something we typically strive for. In fact, it’s something we avoid at all costs. Hollow, caverness feelings act as black holes in our hearts that nothing can fill. We’ve all been there. Each of us has experienced a time in our lives that’s left us empty and hopeless afraid to go on or wake up tomorrow.
Scripture approaches emptiness from different perspectives. The traditional is the God-shaped-hole approach that Evangelicals love. But there’s also the Philippians 2 approach which, in true Gospel form, turns everything on its head.
Philippians 2 ranks high on my list of favorites (if such a list can exist without being blasphemous). Paul begins the passage with a slightly sarcastic spin on church unity—since Christ is one, since there’s fellowship in the Spirit and consolation in love, since there’s affection and compassion as believers, then we should all be living like it! We should be of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in Spirit, intent on one purpose. No room for selfishness here. The fee to enter this kind of fellowship is humility and sacrifice—two main themes in this passage.
The binding agent of unity with both God and others is Jesus Christ. Jesus shows us how to have unity. In typical American-go-get-‘em style, we get a nice little tutorial for how to receive and maintain unity.
Step ONE: Have the Attitude Christ had
Step TWO: How to do Step ONE
2a: Christ, who existed in the form of God…
We strike out pretty fast on this one since we’re not deity. Next.
2b: Did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped…
I’m afraid we strike out on this one too. Who in their right mind would not hold onto their position as God? Think about it. Being God—the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and all that’s in it—and not considering it a status to be kept. Come on! Most of us would settle for being a CEO and wouldn’t dare give that up!
2c: But emptied Himself
Theologians debate what this means precisely, but in essence, it means that Christ surrendered the rights and privileges He had as God when He came to earth. He still had access to His omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence, but being fully human required Him to lay down certain divine attributes. Would you empty yourself of power, strength and might to save people who wanted nothing to do with you? Strike 3.
2d: Taking the form of a bondservant
Not only did Jesus surrender His divine attributes to become a part of His creation, He became a bondservant. There’s nothing tricky about that word. Jesus became a servant on our behalf. God sent Him to this world as a slave—to seek, save, and serve the lost. He came to serve us in accordance with God’s will at the expense of His own.
2e: And being made in the likeness of men
God submitting Himself to become one of His created beings? Pretty tough to imagine, yet Christ made it a reality. Fully God and fully man, Christ experienced every temptation imaginable to give us the power to conquer our own through His Gospel.
2f: Being found in appearance as a man
Again, Creator becoming creature—possibly the greatest acts of humility we could ever imagine.
2g: He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Here’s the clincher. As if He wasn’t the perfect display of humility already, Christ in His humbled-Creator-becoming-creature-for-people-who-didn’t-want-Him self remains humble and obedient to His Father to the point of death, even the most excruciating form of capital punishment ever known. The cross sobers even the most irreverent agnostic. That a man would endure such catastrophic torture out of love for His Father and for His murderers is incomprehensible. It turns everything on its head in true Gospel style.
Christ redefines emptiness by displaying mind-bending humility. Empting ourselves of our selfish desires is the only way we can be filled with the only thing that matters—the Gospel.
Christ sacrificed everything to be obedient to the Father. It wasn’t comfortable, convenient, or fun. It was costly, detrimental, and required the greatest degree of pain imaginable. It was the Gospel—the ultimate sacrifice for depraved sinners who couldn’t do anything to save themselves.
Gospel emptiness is getting out of the way so Christ can make His way into our lives. He desires to transform us into instruments for the Gospel, which requires Christ-sized humility. Getting full begins by becoming empty. Will you empty yourself as Christ did for the Gospel?