What Is Your Philosophy of Life?

(Part 1)

by Bryan Gibson, based on a sermon by John Gibson

 

You’ve got one, whether you know it or not. Your philosophy of life is your overall attitude toward life and its purpose. Jesus had one, and it should be our goal to match ours to His. This week, let’s look specifically at what His philosophy was not.

 

Jesus’ philosophy of life did not center on…

 

Self

 

“...nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42)—that was His prayer in the garden, and it was in line with other statements Jesus made about His purpose (John 5:30; 6:38). “For even Christ did not please Himself…” (Romans 15:3). Clearly, Jesus did not live His life the way so many others do. He was not “looking out for #1.”

 

Wealth and Materialism

 

His first bed was a feed trough (Luke 2:4-7). He didn’t have a nice home to live in (Luke 9:57-58). Not exactly a life “fit for a King” (Luke 1:31-33), at least as we judge things. What if our lives were reduced to the bare necessities, or even to the few comforts Jesus enjoyed? Would we be content (1 Timothy 6:6-8), or would we be miserable? Jesus’ life illustrates the principle He taught in Luke 12:15: “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

 

Food

 

Jesus once went 40 days without food and then said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Jesus was more concerned with feeding His soul than feeding His body. Most of us wouldn’t dream of missing a meal, but it might not bother us as much to miss a spiritual meal, an opportunity to be fed the word of God. “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25). That’s what Jesus taught, and that’s what He lived.

 

Popularity

 

Jesus did a lot of teaching while He was here on the earth, but His purpose was not just to “drum up a following.” In fact, Jesus often left a particular town when His popularity was rising (see Mark 1:32-38). Some of his most challenging teaching came when the crowds were the largest (see John 6). In fact, He refused to change His teaching even when “many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more” (John 6:66). If your philosophy of life is to please men, then look again at the life of Jesus. He just wanted to do the right thing, to please His Father (John 8:29)—whether it gained the favor of many or few.