Have you ever noticed how all of life involves keeping score? In the presidential campaign everyone is keeping tabs on the delegate count between Hillary and Barak. In the economy we keep score on the price of oil reaching $108 a barrel. Gasoline is 69 cents higher than this time last year. My retirement funds have decreased by more than 15 percent since January 1.

The NCAA will be picking 64 teams to play in March madness. Keeping score involves more than just what shows on the scoreboard at the end of the game. It's how did you do in your conference? What is your RPI ranking? How many quality wins did you have? Clemson counts the years (10) it's been since it had a NCAA tournament appearance. And sometimes, like the recent high school playoffs between Spartanburg and Summerville, you don't even know who won the game when the final buzzer sounded. Spartanburg thought it had scored a winning last second basket. But the officials, after huddling for a minute after the game was over, determined the final basket came after the buzzer, thereby giving the game to Summerville. Legislators certainly keep score because the following week they introduced a bill in the State House requiring the use of instant replay in championship games.

I don't care how old you are or what area of life you're referring to, keeping score is a fact of life. Don't let anyone tell you that the score is not important. I remember when I coached T-ball, the Irmo-Chapin recreation officials stressed to the coaches that in T-Ball no score is kept. That way both teams win the ball game. So you get out there and play the game, and the kids are having a blast. In both sides of the stands you have fifteen parents with pencil and paper recording the number of runs scored. But it's not just the parents. The kids come running into the dugout after holding the opposing team to no runs and they say with arrogance, "We're beating the stew out of them." And when the game is over and they ask, "Did we win?" the coach says, "Both teams won. Isn't that great? We scored more runs than they did, but we both won."

We're all scorekeepers. No matter what game you play, it involves scorekeeping so that a winner can be determined. In Monopoly you count your money. In basketball you count points. In soccer you count goals. In poker you count chips. Or in the case with golf you hope your point total is lower than all the other players.

Keeping score is a part of our human nature. We want feedback. We want to know how we're doing. If feedback isn't important, go home today and unscrew the rim off your basketball goal. See if your kids are interested in just hitting the backboard. The same principle holds true in all of life. We want to know how we're doing. Is my life on track? Am I being successful?

All through the Bible you find scorekeeping. It goes all the way back to Cain and Abel. Cain kept score on how he measured up spiritually to his brother. And losing angered him enough to murder. Rachel and Leah were jealous of one another. They kept score by counting the number of children they bore. They were tied at six sons a piece. Leah won the tiebreaker by having a daughter. Jacob had twelve sons. They kept score by determining who their father's favorite was.

Saul kept score because David was becoming more popular than he. The jingle on the street was, "Saul has slain his thousands, David his tens of thousands." The rich fool in the story Jesus told kept score with his money. He had saved up more than he would ever need in his lifetime.

We all keep score. We all have our own scoring systems. The question is, how satisfied are you with the scoring system you use? Let me mention briefly three very common systems people use to keep score. The first system we use is comparison. Sometimes we compare ourselves to those who are better off than we are. The temptation here is to become jealous. Sometimes we compare ourselves to those who are on the same level we are. The temptation here is to develop a competitive spirit so that we can outdo the other person. And sometimes we compare ourselves to those who are worse off than we are. The temptation here is to develop an air of arrogance.

Have you ever noticed that the comparing system almost always is self-serving? When it comes to standard of living, we will compare ourselves to someone who is slightly ahead of us. And that prompts us to work a little harder to bridge that gap. But when it comes to ethical behavior, we compare ourselves to those who are lower than us in the morality ratings. Why? It makes us look more righteous.

Think about all the publications that come out with their own top ten or top one hundred lists. They're all based on comparing a group of people versus all the others in our world. One publication lists the 400 wealthiest people in the world. Another lists the world's 100 most powerful women. Time not too long ago listed the 25 most influential Hispanics in the U.S. People has its annual list of the most beautiful people. VH1 televises Maxim's 100 hottest women. Notice the age-old categories that are being scored—money, sex, power.

Students compare SAT and ACT scores and their GPA's and class ranks. In our careers we compare salaries, perks, or position titles. In churches we compare membership size, budgets, and how many morning worship services. And if four cockroaches and three mice show up, we count them too.

The second system we use is competition. Competition goes a step beyond mere comparison. It competes in order to outdo the other person. In and of itself, there is nothing wrong with competition. In fact, competition can motivate us to step it up a few notches. But it becomes toxic whenever it leads to envy and jealousy. It can poison whenever your losing becomes just as important as me winning.

Whether it's in the world of sports, education, or business, competition rules. Who's number one? Who's the best? Who's the smartest? Who's the fastest?

The third system of scoring we use is climbing above. I know you're familiar with the success ladder. I was reading about a successful businessman and how he measured his self-worth. Early on, he would read profiles of highly successful people in Forbes or The Wall Street Journal, people who were higher up the ladder than he. These stories would fuel his drive to become more successful.

Then something happened. The profiles always included the person's age. One day he was reading about someone higher up the ladder and noticed that the man was younger than he was. He squirmed with discomfort. As long as the stories were about someone older, he concluded that it would just be a matter of time that he could catch up and pass them. But here was someone younger, and he had already passed him. As time went by, more and more younger guys passed him.

This revelation depressed him greatly. He stopped reading the profiles. His effort to climb another rung on the ladder affected everything in his life, including his family. Ladderville was his god. He didn't know how to get off. When you're on the ladder, you're always looking up and feeling discontent over the fact that someone is above you. You rarely look down.

With our life so filled with scorekeeping, have you ever considered how God keeps score? The Bible says, "Your attitude should be the same as that of 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!" (Philippians 2:5-8). Take a panoramic view of Jesus' life. Is His story about climbing a ladder, competing with others to get ahead, or comparing Himself with other religious leaders? The story of His life is more about coming down a ladder. His life was a series of demotions. How so? Look at the verses. From the beginning Jesus was "in very nature God." I'd call that the top of the universe's organizational chart. Wouldn't you? But He didn't consider this nature as something that needed to be "grasped." He gave up these rights to become a servant. But even angels are servants; so He decided to stoop lower. He became a human being with all of the needs and limitations of any human being.

Some humans are born into royal or celebrity families. Not Jesus. He stooped even lower. He was born in a cow barn to a couple who had next to nothing materially speaking. But even that was not low enough. He went lower by becoming "obedient to death." No lifetime achievement award and community accolades at the memorial service. No, He went down one rung lower—"even death on a cross."

Here's the problem with climbing the ladder. You're bound to bump into Jesus who is coming down the ladder. In fact, that is the beauty of the Incarnation. It is God coming down. Here is the greatest irony of all. At the moment He hit the bottom rung of the ladder and failed miserably according to the world's scoring system…it was that moment that God exalted Him to the highest place of honor. Verse 9 in our focal passage says, "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name."

Here is the way God keeps score. The most self-giving act of love you can render for someone else is the most Godlike thing a person can do. Think with me about something else Jesus did that certainly wouldn't have given Him many points on today's scoring card. He played in a game called "footwashing." Back in those days people wore sandals or went barefoot. The roads were dusty. Footwashing was a job for slaves. A child may do it for his parents. There is even an ancient story of a wife doing it for her husband. But outside of Jesus we find no example of a superior doing it for His servants.

Here is the picture. Jesus gathers with His followers for a meal. Footwashing was common. They may have even wondered which one of them was supposed to get the footwashwer. But then Jesus picked up His towel and a basin of water and began to wash His disciples' feet. When He knelt before Peter, the boisterous disciple tried to stop Him. "No way You're washing my feet. I'm embarrassed. We ought to be the ones washing Your feet." But Jesus wouldn't have it any other way. When He was finished, I have a feeling that His disciples were speechless. Their heads were probably hanging low.

You see, the way God keeps score is different from the way the world keeps it. Those who serve others with a humble and joyful heart, those are the winners in God's game. Those who embrace the small stuff keep getting bigger and bigger in God's eyes. That's how God keeps score. As you ponder the cross this week, may these thoughts linger around in your soul. And may we all become more like Jesus.