HUMILITY IN THE TRADITION OF JESUS

Transcription

1 1 HUMILITY IN THE TRADITION OF JESUS Philippians 2:5-11 Have this mind among yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus (ESV reads, which is yours in Christ Jesus ), who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11 ESV) You have probably heard at one time or another, a tragic yet not uncommon story of a church divided, perhaps over some petty issue; or a church divided over an important issue that they handle in an immature way. Sadly, this kind of story is all too common. All over the face of this country, churches are divided over anything from music styles to whether or not their leaders should have any kind of real authority to make decisions, and all kinds of issues in between. You name it, and a church somewhere has probably divided over it already. I m not talking about the kind of divisions that take place for good reason, where important issues are dealt with in a mature and godly way; where the Lord does a kind of sorting of His own, sifting churches out to make them all the more pure for his own glory. The kind of division that I am referring to here is the kind that takes place unnecessarily, when God s people fight and quarrel and seek their own interests, and the preservation of their own opinions and ideas; when church is no longer about God and His glory and His Gospel, but comes to be about my thoughts, my standards, my desires, and my demands. What was it that James said? What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel You adulterous people!...therefore it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:1-10 selected ESV) There is nothing in this world that destroys churches, and abolishes unity, and stains what they say and think and preach about Christ like the sin of pride, and nothing but humility can rescue and protect a church from the devastation of such sin; nothing but pure, Christ-centered, Christ-motivated, Christ exalting humility. WHY BRING THIS UP??? Now, in case you re wondering if perhaps the leaders of our church have noticed these kinds of foolish things going on in our body and have graciously asked me to address it for them, let me put that question to rest. One of the things that thrills me to be a part of this church, and one of the things that Pastor Ron and I frequently talk about, is the fact that we don t have to deal with many silly, childish, prideful games like this at all! I know several pastors who would love to be part of a church like this one. This is a good church. You are

2 2 a good church body. And for that, I and everyone in this room ought to be incredibly grateful to the Lord. He has done great things in this body, and has graciously spared us in large part from unnecessary divisions and quarrels. We ve got our issues. But all in all, this is a great body to be a part of. That is exactly why, I have decided to preach on humility, and specifically, humility after the example of Jesus Himself, in Philippians 2:5-11. Read Philippians 2:5-11. A CHURCH EVERY PASTOR DESIRES Just ten short years before these words were written, the Philippian church did not even exist. It was founded through sacrifice, on Paul s second missionary journey through this important city (see Acts 16:11-40), and by God s grace had become a really good church. Paul calls them partners in the Gospel (1:5). They shared the pain of his imprisonment with him (1:7; 4:10, 14). They sent him a gift on more than one occasion to support him and his ministry financially (4:16). We also know that they had to this point stood strong in the face of adversity (1:29-30), and against false teachers (1:28). They were a praying church, and encouraged Paul with their commitment to prayer (1:18-19). They were obedient to Christ from what Paul had seen (2:12). Listen to how Paul addresses them at the beginning of chapter 4: Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.. (4:1 ESV) This was a great church! And when you think about all of the hardships that Paul had experienced in his ministry, and all of the conflicts that he had to confront head on, and all of the churches that he had to correct and admonish, you can imagine just how deep of a breath of fresh air this precious church was to him. This is the kind of church that every pastor desires; one that doesn t need any significant correction or confrontation; one that has no significant barriers to concentrating on the nuts and bolts of Christianity; one that is free to get things done for the Kingdom of God by the power of God s Spirit. What believer in Christ does not desire to be a part of a church like that? This is the kind of church Paul was dealing with in Philippi. Nowhere in this letter do you see any kind of real confrontation. You see warnings, and instruction, but not any real correction or admonition whatsoever. So, here in this letter, Paul has the rare pastoral privilege of deciding what a healthy church needs to hear. That s why this book is such an important contribution to the whole of Scripture; because in it we are taught by the Holy Spirit how to live when things are going well (spiritually speaking). Listen to Paul s heart for the Philippians (his intended outcome), which infuses this entire letter. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11 ESV) Do you hear those words, more and more He just wants the Philippians to keep going. He wants them to keep doing what they are doing, to keep growing and maturing, staying the course until the day Christ Jesus returns. He wants them to grow in their love for one another; to season that love with knowledge of God s truth and with ability to discern between what honors God and what doesn t; to grow in their purity; to grow in tangible evidences of righteousness so that they might magnify God s character and excellence, spurring others on to praise God because of their righteous life.

3 3 This morning, we are going to take a short journey through the major support beam of this valuable letter; chapter 2:5-11; a hymn of worship to Christ, which together Paul and the Holy Spirit used to call the Philippians and by extension us here today, to the thing that would always protect them and keep them under God s favor, and enable them to live life together as a church in a way that is truly pleasing to the Lord. That thing is radical, Christ-centered, Christ-motivated, Christ-exalting humility. CONSIDERING THE CONTEXT: In chapter 2, verses 1-4, Paul is basically saying this, If you have genuinely received God s mercy and grace and love in salvation, then live in unity with one another and serve one another in radical humility. This is all part of the command in 1:27 to let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ A life that is worthy of being associated with the Gospel of Christ is a life of radical humility. Chapter 2:3-4 are actually the measuring sticks by which we can determine if we are in fact living in humility. Let s read those verses together. Do nothing from rivalry (a call away from selfish divisions) or conceit (a call away from self-centeredness), but in humility count others more important than yourselves (a call to selfless service). Let each of you look not only to his own interests (a call away from self-consumption), but also to the interests of others (a call again to selfless service). (Philippians 2:3-4 parentheses mine ESV) Now, I think it is really important to point something out. What Paul calls us away from in these verses is basically selfishness, which always destroys unity and creates divisions whether visible or invisible. Then in contrast to selfishness (which deals with the attitude of the heart), he calls us to service (which is more than an attitude, it is an attitude accompanied by an action. In other words, practically speaking, the Holy Spirit teaches us here that the way to fight the selfishness and self-consumption in our hearts is to get our hands and our feet moving in service. That could be a sermon by itself, but what I want to concentrate on, is what it takes to get a people excited about and motivated to serve one another and so fight this disease of selfishness that at any point in our lives we are susceptible to. In our passage it is clear. The only thing that will constantly excite us about and constantly motivate us to serving one another is the kind of humility that Jesus Himself has embodied and will continue to embody for all time. Read Philippians 2:5, NASB. Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 2:5 NASB) Now I want to make a slight change to this translation, and those like it, as well. I have already said that I do not prefer the ESV s translation of this verse ( Have this mind in you which is yours in Christ Jesus. ), but I d like to tweak any translation that communicates that this attitude of humility was a thing of the past for Christ (which was also in NASB, NKJ, KJV; Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. NLT). The Gk. text says nothing of the sort, and I think we ll see that the rest of this passage communicates more than this as well. The simplest and most accurate translation here is Have this mind in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. (ZT) When Paul says in verse 5, Have this mind (or attitude) among yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, he is referring to all of the things in verses 3 and 4, and calling them in verse 2 to be completely likeminded in these things. So the call is for the entire church (our entire church, or our entire group here) to be completely likeminded in following the ultimate and infinite and perfect example of Christ of humility; he is calling for all

4 4 hands on deck here; calling every last member of the body to unify with the other members of the body in this attitude of radical, Christ-centered, Christ-motivated, Christ-exalting humility. WHERE TRUE HUMILITY BEGINS: The Worship of Christ Verses 6-11 are likely an ancient hymn, either written by Paul or someone else, but used here by Paul in this call to true humility. It is such a rich passage, full of theology, opening our eyes wider and wider to the lifealtering truth of Christ s incarnation, His sacrifice on the Cross, His Lordship, His exalted place in the heart of the Father, and His all-encompassing supremacy over all creation. This is truly a wonderful passage of Scripture, one that should spur us to worship, for that is exactly what its original purpose was; to lead people to worship Christ. However, there is something that troubles me that I have found as I ve studied this passage, and that is, far too many people who have preached on this passage and far too many scholars who have written on this passage have focused too much on this point in this particular passage. Far too many people have overlooked the intent of this high and exalted picture of Christ in Philippians 2, and that is, to drive the readers to genuine humility. Yes, we have incredible Christology here in this passage! Yes, we have a beautiful picture of the humbled and then exalted Savior in this passage! Yes, my heart leaps when I read through this passage, because of the way it lifts Christ high above the created order and shows the affection that the Father has toward Him. But why does the Holy Spirit do all of this in this particular passage of Scripture? To make us humble! And He does it in by showing the example of Christ from the moment He entered the pages of history to the far reaches of eternity. From beginning to end, the Jesus that we know from Scripture has given us the perfect picture of what it means to be humble people. Have this mind in you, which is also in Christ Jesus! In our young adults group a few weeks ago, I asked for people to share a time in their life when they were humiliated, whether in the form of laughable embarrassment or in the more intense form of humiliation. For a short time we shared stories, some funny, some sad, all humiliating, and then we asked a follow up question, When was the last time that you deliberately, intentionally, strategically came up with a plan to be humiliated and then faithfully carried that plan out? You probably are not surprised to know that not a single one of us had ever done something like that. However, in a very real sense, that is exactly what Jesus did. He intentionally, deliberately, purposefully, put himself in a more humiliating situation than any one of us could ever imagine. Listen to how the Holy Spirit describes it. Read Philippians 2:5-8. Have this mind in yourselves, which is also in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8 ESV) THE HUMILITY OF CHRIST IN HIS EARTHLY LIFE & DEATH We are going to walk through this passage, including verses 9-11, and as we do we are going to take note of what exactly Christ has done, which I pray will be the source of much mediation and consideration leading

5 5 immediately and consistently to skillful application and radical humility. (I ve purposefully not included any specific steps of application, so that we might be drawn to look at Christ over and over again in this text and get our application directly from His own example, because He alone is able to make us humble people.) So, let us seriously consider what Christ has done in verses He gave up His rights as God. Though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. (2:6 ESV) In other words, though Jesus was completely God, he did not treat His divinity as something He could use to His own advantage. In other words, He gave up His rights as God. How hard it is for us to give up our rights (what we either deserve or just think we deserve) in any situation at all, even in the smallest, dumbest and most insignificant of things! Yet Christ gave up His infinite rights as God (not His divinity) for the most undeserving of recipients; sinful people like you and me. 2. He came to earth as a human being, devoted to serving people. He made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant (or bondservant ) being born in the likeness of men. (2:7 ESV) One of our pastors back in Indiana put it this way, when he preached on this passage. You might say it this way, Jesus became a nobody. For us. He was humiliated for us. He left his Father s right hand, where he forever existed in perfect harmony, and came to earth as a helpless baby. Who had to be burped. And have his diapers changed. And cry to be fed. Think about this: the God of the World, who oversaw all of creation, sat in soiled clothing in a manger somewhere waiting for his mother to wipe the spit-up off his chin. (John Sloan, Calvary Church, 2/19/06) The same One who shared in the full glory of the Father; the One who was there at Creation, rejoicing in the work of the Father; the One who created you and me and was, is and always will be worthy of our exclusive devotion and worship; held so loosely to His rights as God that He even came to us as a crying, slobbering, pooping, needy baby; who ended up spending His entire earthly life and ever since working for the well-being of those He could have rightly destroyed. Listen to what He said in Matthew 20:26-28: But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:26b-28 ESV) 3. He went all the way to the Cross, and served until His last breath. Being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (2:8 ESV) What He had done to this point was completely radical and unthinkable. He didn t fight for His rights as God. He came to us in the form of a baby to a poor Jewish family and first laid His head down in a feeding trough of all places. He spent His earthly life working for the well-being of people who hate Him and love everything

6 6 opposed to Him. But He didn t stop there. The Holy Spirit says that He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. He submitted to the will of His Father all the way to His death. And the kind of death He faced was not a glamorous, honorable death. The death He experienced was the death of the lowest of the low. No matter how bad of a person you were, if you were a Roman citizen, you couldn t be killed in this manner, because the law wouldn t allow it. This death was reserved for scum. And Jesus walked right into it, without a hint of rebellion, without a word of argument, without any practical hesitation whatsoever. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7 ESV) He went all the way to the Cross, and served until His dying breath. What a magnificent example to follow. But there is still so much more! He even goes on to show us His humility in His exaltation. THE HUMILITY OF CHRIST IN HIS EXALTATION Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11 ESV) If we are not careful, verses 9-11 might seem as if they are incidental to this call to humility, because the therefore of verse 9 simply refers to Christ s complete humbling. It is for this reason that the Father has stepped in and highly exalted Him. But what does the Father s act of exalting Christ have to do with our humility? Let s take a closer look. Here s what we learn in these verses. I. After His death, the Father highly exalted Him. That is, He fully restored Him to full unhindered fellowship within the Godhead and restored to Him His right to rule over all things. (Hebrews 1:3 & 2:7-8) II. After His death, the Father bestowed on Him the name that is above every name. We re going to come back to this one in just a moment. What name is this? III. The Father has ordained it so that all mankind will bow their knee (completely surrender) to Christ in either willing obedience or defeat. (Bowing the knee Ezra 9:5-6, 15; Jesus in Matthew 26:9) IV. The Father has ordained it so that all mankind will openly confess the right of Jesus to rule over all things. (Revelation 5:9-14) These things become incredibly significant, when their OT context is exposed. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance. Only in the LORD it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him. In the LORD all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory. (Isaiah 45:22-25 ESV)

7 7 The name that Jesus is given is the name Lord or Yahweh! The Father has bestowed on Him the same name He Himself goes by. Showing that Jesus could not possibly be a higher being, for He shares the same name (and thus the same character and attributes) as Yahweh Himself! This is why all mankind will bow to Him in either willing obedience (45:23b) or utter defeat (45:24), and will openly confess His right to rule. He Himself is Yahweh. He is LORD! V. The Lordship of Christ leads to the glory of the Father. (Romans 15:8-12) It is not as if Jesus is stealing some glory from the Father for Himself. Rather, His Lordship leads to the glory of the Father. So, let s consider a few more ways Jesus models humility for us, this time in His exaltation. 4. He trusts the Father to defend Him and to prove that He is who He is. Who is the one putting Jesus back in His rightful place? It is not Jesus Himself, but God the Father. The Father comes to His defense, to vindicate and acknowledge Him. At no point does Jesus not embody the commands of verses 3-4. He does not exalt Himself. He does not fight to promote His own reputation. He does not get embittered when He is not given the reverence that He deserves. He waits in full and complete trust, for the Father to exalt and exonerate Him when it is time. Fight for your rights, was not even a part of Jesus vocabulary. 5. He follows the will of the Father, even after His service on the earth is over. It s not like Jesus does His good deed and then tells everyone about it. (How many of us are guilty of that?) He does His job and continues to trust God all the way to the end. He does His job and continues to show that the Father s will is the safest place in the world to be, far safer than taking our lives into our own hands. He follows the will of the Father all the way, from beginning to end. 6. He seeks the glory of the Father in all things. There is no point in time when Jesus does not seek the glory of the Father. Even knees bowing to Him and mouths confessing to Him that He is Lord; even that leads to the glory of the Father. At all times Jesus seeks to show that the Father is glorious! Even to the very end, when He comes as a valiant warrior defeating every enemy in His way. Read 1 Corinthians 15: Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For God has put all things in subjection under his feet. (From Psalm 8:6) But when it says, all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:24-28 ESV) At all times, Jesus is working to bring the Father glory, modeling for us in a perfect and rather incomprehensible way what it means to do nothing from rivalry or vain conceit; modeling perfectly what it means to count another as more significant than ourselves; modeling perfectly what it means to look not only to our own interests but also the interests of others. In His perfect, eternal, completely pure relationship with the Father that cannot in any way be duplicated, Jesus shows us what it means to be humble; giving us reason to be excited about and motivated to lay our lives down for one another. Let this attitude be also in us, that is and forever will be in Christ Jesus! Think on these things, and consider with me how you might follow the example of Christ.