David Donnan

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:

1. Paul is writing to this church not from his seminary office, palace, or study, but from prison.
2. 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.
3. 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