Philippians 2:1–11 | Complete Joy
October 26, 2026
These are the sermon notes I used while preaching at Glennville Methodist Church on Sunday, October 25th, 2026. They are not a complete manuscript or transcript, so some illustrations, explanations, and transitions may differ from what was shared during worship. These notes have been lightly edited for grammar, spelling, and formatting with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI). The sermon content, theological reflections, and illustrations are my own.
Opening Prayer
May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
Introduction
Today, we have made new cards of our memory verse from Philippians 1:6 in the NLT. Why don’t we read this together?
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
We have been going through Philippians. While I do not want to entirely cover the first three sermons of this very practical letter, I do want to remind you of a few things:
- Paul is writing to this church not from his seminary office, palace, or study, but from prison.
- Even though this letter was not written to us—it was written to the Philippians—it was written for us. Not to us, but for us. For what we face today in 2026.
- If you have your Bibles, you can gain a cool insight you cannot see on the screen. Paul is going to freestyle rap, or sing, or say a poem about God. The first five verses are prose, and then we have the Christ Poem or Christ Hymn, which is a famous and somewhat unique part of this passage.
Scripture Reading: Philippians 2:1–11
Hear these words from the spiritual master Paul:
Philippians 2:1–5
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Philippians 2:6–11 — The Christ Hymn
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
May God add his blessing to the reading of his Word.
What Would Make Your Joy Complete?
What would make your joy complete if you were in jail?
- A bodyguard?
- A cake with a file in it?
- A get-out-of-jail-free card?
- What about knowing people were getting along outside of prison?
What an odd thing to say would make your joy complete… unless Christianity is true.
Jesus and Paul show us we can have complete joy even in hardship. But how?
1. Joy in Humility
Epictetus was a Greek Stoic philosopher. His philosophy was that humility was embarrassing (Bird and Gupta 70). Yet Jesus shows us it is our way.
Paul says in Philippians 2:3–4:
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
The Trap of Comparison
- Did I tell you I have a podcast? You can subscribe to my weekly email, YouTube, daviddonnan.com, and the SGA GMC conference email.
- I preached at Harmony Revival, and tonight I am going out to Hopewell.
- One of my questions is, “Who else is preaching?” Because I am nosy… but also, I want to compare.
- Well, I am better than him. I won’t scream as much as this person. Maybe I’m not as good as them… but I ran a marathon!
- We are so much more than those who share our fields with us. We are so much more than the likes we get on social media. We are so much more than whether anyone gets to see our work.
The truth is, this is all a trap to keep our eyes off Jesus and make us worried about ourselves.
Every moment we spend worrying about comparing our grandkids instead of loving them, seeing how we stack up at work against our colleagues, or wondering if enough people notice us…
This keeps us from flourishing as humans.
We can have joy in humility. Real joy is putting our lives in Jesus’ hands and having him realign our lives.
Jesus Shows Us What It Means to Serve
Jesus says:
Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. — Matthew 20:28
2. Christ Shows Us the Way
Who is Christ? This is the beauty of the Christ Poem.
- He was with God.
- He was God.
- He models this humility.
Practicing the Way
- Practicing the Way retreat.
- We are apprentices.
- They would follow the teacher.
- They would leave their families.
- It was a process of following them every day.
Christ shows us this way again.
3. Christ Invites Us into the Journey
- Church is where we meet him.
- The journey is done in community. It is easier to be humble in isolation.
- We are called to invite others on this journey.
- SGA GMC Certified Lay Ministry training: People taking their next steps on the journey.
Conclusion
Church, let’s let Christ make us humble, and let’s take our next steps.
Thanks be to God.
Closing Prayer
This Week on DavidDonnan.com
October 25, 2026
Here is what I have tentatively planned for this week on the blog.
Monday: Sermon Notes
Philippians Sermon notes from my sermon on Sunday, October 25th, 2026 covering Philippians 2:1-11.
Tuesday: General Conference Content Archive
I have quite a few general conference resources across a few platforms. This will be a repository for all the content in once place.
Wednesday: Book Review The Mind in Another Place
I recently read Luke Timothy Johnson’s reflection on his life and career. While we hold some different views, I enjoyed reading his story and gaining insight into his life as a scholar and studies at Yale.
Thursday: Global Methodist Seminary Advice
I am blessed to be having a conversation with a young person considering seminary. What are the Global Methodist approved seminaries and which ones would I reccomend?
Friday: Pastoral Pastoral Prayer from Philippians 2:12-30 NIV
A pastoral prayer for Sunday, November 1st, 2026 based on the scripture for the upcoming Sunday.
Philippians 1:21-30 What Happens When We Die?
October 24, 2026
Sermon notes from Sunday, October 18th, 2026
Intro
What happens when we die? This is the big question of our sermon… but it is also the big question of every life.
Not only are we asking what happens but also what difference should this make here in our lives.
Today we are going to get a small glimpse of the first question, what happens, and a challenge about the second question, what difference does that make.
Recap
Memory Verse: Philippians 1:6 NLT
Before we dive in let us consider what is happening in our timeline.
In terms of church history, Jesus has lived, died, resurrected, appeared to hundreds of people, and ascended into heaven.
Paul has gone from number 1 hater of Christians to a top champion of Jesus Christ. This has been at great personal costs to Paul. He has lost friends, been beaten, arrested multiple times, and more.
If you are looking at your bible you can see he said in Philippians 1:12, “Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.”
So Paul has set the standard that even the bad, horrible, and tragic circumstances can be used for good.
Last week we stopped mid sentence. We saw in verse 20 this:
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
So here is where we jump in. Whether I live or die I want Christ to be exalted and lifted up! How can he say this?
Listen to this:
21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.
27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel 28 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. 29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, 30 since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.
- Scripture Background
- What is our Christian View of Death?
Christian View of Death
Well, what does Paul say? Well Paul, nor Jesus, nor any part of the bible tells us everything we need to know. When my son was a little younger he asked, “Will I have my Nintendo Switch video game console in heaven?” I’ll give you my answer in a second. But first let us look at the hints we have from scripture.
- Paul tells us to live is Christ, to die is gain. He is winning either way. But how, what is he saying happens?
- Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:8, “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”
- In Romans 8:38-39 Paul says, “38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
- Paul views our existence as being with Christ even when we die. While we do not have all the answers we do know Christ does not abandon us.
- But there is an intermediary time. There are two stages in Christian death. There is 1) Life after death then 2) Life after life after death. The first part is what we are talking about here. This is not the Roman Catholic view of purgatory. Which is a state you have to enter to be made righteous… We believe you are made righteous but what Christ has done on the cross for us… But the second part after death is in Revelation 21. Where we will be resurrected and have similar yet different bodies (I will be 6 ft 6 inches). There will be the judgement of the whole world and God will be our light and will wipe every tear from our eyes. Heaven and Earth will become one.
- So, there is mystery but we know there is the love of Christ and Christ himself present for us and with us until then.
- And to answer Luke’s question. God knows everything we need and if we need a nintendo switch in heaven it will be there.
So how does this affect how we live?
Paul seems to imply there are direct consequences. As a matter of fact he is modeling this.
Conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the Gospel. What does this mean?
Well we should always look at the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 where we hear, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
How do we stand firm against our enemies? We do not have direct enemies, I think, in the sense of 1st century Christian persecution… but we do have enemies who overwhelm us… situations, hopes, fears, struggles.
Part of the Christian life is knowing we will suffer like Paul, like the Philippians yet, because Christ began a good work in us it is Him who will bring it to completion.
Pastoral Care Concern.
UGA got beat by Auburn. They went from 1st in the country to losing to an unranked team. I was texting with a preacher buddy who and wondering… is this rigged? There is so much money involved, so many opportunities to cheat, what if no matter how hard you try to just can’t win… there is a conspiracy against you.
Well that is what our life is like… but instead of Christianity being about no matter we lose… it is no matter what we win.
Death is still an enemy… but it is a beaten enemy. We do not look forward to dying… but we know, Christ will be there with us through it all. Accept his gift of relationship, call on him as Lord and Savior, and live a life now worthy of the Gospel, with His help not by your strength.
If you are here and feel like you have not done that… do it today. Make sure death is your beaten enemy. Then all our struggles in light of this will seem a little less.
Thanks be to God.
Prayer:
God, we do not look forward to dying. But we look forward to trusting you more and more. Not just for our deaths and the life after but with the abundant life you offer right now. Thanks be to you God. Amen.
