Joy in Christian Humility - Phil. 1:27-2:11

Live worthy of the Gospel

This morning we’ll continue our series Word 101. This August we’re teaching through Paul’s letter to the Philippians and exploring how we as believers can follow Paul’s example of filling ourselves with the Joy of Christ.

Last Sunday we spent some time understanding how Paul, who was writing this letter from prison, could have written from such a place of joy. We found that Paul is completely filled with the joy that is only found in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And from that complete joy we find that the concerns of Christ, namely people, concern Paul as well. Paul’s joy in Christ is magnified by people finding joy in Christ. This Christian Community is another gift from God. Community gives us another opportunity to understand God’s heart for his people. Seeing the work of Christ revealed to someone and applied to their lives gives us cause to rejoice for that is available to us as well!

So, understanding how Paul finds his joy, and understanding what that joy compels us to value, that is community founded in Christ, Paul goes on to urge that community to live their lives worthy of the gospel of Christ. We’ll spend our time together this morning exploring what Paul means by living life worthy of the gospel.

Let’s go to the Lord in prayer together for this time.

This is what Paul says directly after he makes up his mind that he intends to press on in life for the progress and joy in the faith of those to whom he’s writing. Verses 27-30

English Standard Version Chapter 1

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel. What a powerful statement Paul makes here. I feel like my manner of life is not something I lent serious thought to for a long time. I just kind of lived. I think this is natural. Not many people wake up and look in the mirror and say here’s how my manner of life needs to look today. Truth is, whether you do that or not, the way you live day by day by day by day makes a statement. In fact, every person makes statements all the time. We make statements with our words, sure, but we make statements in the way we live likely more than the words we use.

The gospel of Christ is news about the greatest form of love ever shown and it is still being shown. As believers we make statements about the gospel in the way we conduct ourselves every day. By those statements we make are we exemplifying the gospel by being loving people? John 13:35

John 13:35 ESV

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The gospel is about life, not just here but eternally. Are we showing people that when we are gathered that we have a hope for life beyond this place? What an occasion for joy! The gospel ought to be shaping your lives and it ought to be on your lips because everyone deserves to know the work that’s been done on their behalf. Paul writing to the Colossians said,

Colossians 1:13 ESV

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

This type of life, loving one another, speaking life, celebrating hope, flows out of a person who recognizes that they are a citizen of that kingdom. There are myriad ways we can conduct ourselves in life and Paul reminds this church that citizens of the kingdom ought to live in a manner that points people to that kingdom.

Paul gives another reason we should be living worthy of the gospel. Verse 27,

Philippians 1:27 ESV

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,

Because living a life worthy of the gospel is encouraging to those who consider themselves partners in the gospel. Living a life worthy of the gospel of Christ is not primarily for your benefit, though it will benefit you. It is for the benefit of your gospel partners. Paul says to live this way so that whether he returns to them or not he’ll be encouraged by news of their gospel worthy lives. It will fill him with joy knowing they are secure from strife with one another and secure from those who would seek to challenge them.

As it pertains to those challengers, living a life worthy of the gospel is a clear sign of your salvation that comes from God and a clear sign of the destruction of those who would oppose that. It is also encouraging to Paul that if they are living their lives worthy of the gospel they have a proper view of trials, they endure trials for the sake of Christ. Hardship has been promised to us. We’re going to face the same kind of struggle as Paul who is sitting in jail, but be encouraged and have joy because these things are for the sake of Christ and the gospel for which we are living.

So, lets get down to the nitty gritty. What does it mean for us to live a life worthy of the gospel? It seems Paul had a couple of things on his mind when he said that. He mentioned one in the passage we just read and reiterates it in chapter two and then gives another. Let’s just read 2:1 and 2 now, then talk it through...

Philippians 2:1–2 ESV

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

The first trait Paul emphasizes for a life aimed at being worthy of the gospel: unity. chapter 1 and 2 here

English Standard Version Chapter 1

that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,

English Standard Version Chapter 2

2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

This one is all throughout Paul’s writing to not just the church in Philippi but pretty much everywhere.

Eph. 4:3, Rom. 12:4-5,16, Rom.14:19, Rom. 15:5-6, 1 Cor. 1:10, 1 Cor. 12:12, 2 Cor. 13:11, Col. 3:14, Gal. 3:28

Also in other Author’s writing in scripture… We’ll read these

Psalm 133:1 ESV

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!

John 17:23 ESV

I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

1 Peter 3:8 ESV

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

It is so desperately important for us to be united in the faith of the gospel. There are things that we as believers have allowed ourselves to be torn apart by for generations that I imagine Paul would describe as petty squabbles. There are many things that have torn churches to bits that can be classified as personal preferences. Those are not the things that Paul is worried about his people being unified over. We’ve said it before in here. Unity absolutely does not mean uniformity. The church thrives on differences in gifting and ability. We’ll talk about that a bit more in just a moment.

The things that Paul wants his people to be unified over is foundational bedrock truth that we ought to build our lives on, in fact, make our lives worthy of. Keep those things higher than all others and make them the things that bind us together. What are those things?

Well you can bet that if something is in the canon of scripture it is vitally important to the way we operate as a body of believers. That’s a lot of stuff but being the actual word of God makes it foundational for our lives. If there are differences among the believers as it pertains to personal preferences, meeting time, types or volume of music, temperature, kinds of refreshments, seating arrangements. While I’m definitely NOT saying you shouldn’t express those preferences, those things should NOT be the deciding factor between you staying or leaving. Living a life worthy of the gospel means living in unity about things that are far more important than my personal comfort.

If we are of the same mind about things that have eternal significance, it gives us the right footing to prioritize everything else properly. If we hang our hats on things that are essential to our salvation the things that have no eternal bearing or significance will be things that are pushed to the back of our minds! Paul was familiar with this problem and I believe that is why he goes on here to gives us the next aim for living worthy of the gospel...

His next point, get over yourself! I mean, Paul doesn’t say it like that but that’s pretty much what it amounts to. In verse 3 he says,

English Standard Version Chapter 2

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Do nothing from selfish ambition. This is basically the exact opposite of the motivation of popular culture today isn’t it? The popular thing today is to grow your personal brand at all costs. There was a kind of viral video floating around for a while that featured a young man on Dr. Phil who had disowned his family. The reason he gave for disowning the family wasn because the family wasn’t helping to increase his social standing. I think the soundbite that sticks with me was something to the effect of, “If they aren’t making me more relevant why do I need them?” That’s a bit of an extreme example but I think it gets at the true motivation behind the social media/content creation era. It seems like the movement turned our acronym for Joy last week backwards, put yourself first, other people next, if there’s room for Jesus maybe if there’s any consideration for a higher power at all.

The aim Paul puts out for us is humility. Count others more significant than yourselves.

I think here is where we need to spend just a bit of time talking about what christian humility actually looks like. Because we say things like, die to yourself, kill the old you and put on Christ. You must become less, He must become more. I think when we say things like that we are typically not great at sharing the heart behind those phrases and, unless you know the heart behind those things you might get it twisted.

Often when we talk about humility it doesn’t really sound like it’s going to be all that fun. I feel like we even think that humility may be impossible. This burden that is always hanging around but we’ll never attain. That’s certainly not the way scripture see humility. So, let’s set the record straight when it comes to humility. First, a couple of things that humility is not.

Humility is not hating yourself. It doesn’t mean we neglect ourselves or even punish ourselves. The Bible makes this one clear. Jesus never said, “Hate yourself. Love your neighbor instead.” He did say however, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” God reveals to us the worth he has placed on our lives.

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Humility does not mean hiding the things that make you different. God has gifted every person individually. Being humble doesn’t mean that we never use those gifts or tell anyone about them or share those gifts.

1 Corinthians 12 talks all about the gifting God has given us and how we use those to glorify God.

Humility allows us to value the good things in the world and also value your contribution to the world. Not more than anything else, but valuing what you’ve been given and being able to share it.

So, now we know a couple of things that humility isn’t… what IS it? Tim Keller spoke of humility like self-forgetfulness. He said humility doesn’t mean thinking less of yourself, it’s the freedom to think of yourself less.

Both of those things earlier, hating yourself, hiding your gifts and abilities. Those things stem from dwelling on yourself. Humility offers us the freedom to dwell on other things.

True humility produces joy. Because it offers freedom! In the same sermon Tim Keller says, “There’s nothing more relaxing than humility.” He understood that pride grumbles at everything, but humility joyfully receives life as a gift.

These are the two things Paul has in mind while he urges the Philippian church live their lives worthy of the gospel.

And just in case they forgot what the gospel was for a second like we do all the time, Paul uses those two aims, of being united in accord with things that are eternally significant and humbling ourselves enough to look after the interests of other and not of ourselves alone to give us a clear picture of how Christ laid out the example for us.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Instead of having a mind set on yourself, have THIS mind among yourselves, this mind that is yours in Christ. Jesus being part of the Godhead took form and dwelt among us. He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. That is, he did not use his status as being god incarnate to his own advantage. His entire life pointed toward humility. He was born in a feeding trough in Bethlehem, not a very influential city. He lived for 30 years in relative obscurity. In his ministry he was know for loving the most unlovable people.

HE EMPTIED HIMSELF by taking the form of a servant. Not saying he emptied himself of deity, he poured himself out as an expression of self-denial taking the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of men. He didn’t just appear to be a man, he was both fully God and fully man. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Death by crucifixion was so shameful and brutal that it was considered by most people to be shocking and offensive and a topic that was not suitable for polite conversation. Our God endured on our behalf. That’s the good news. That’s the gospel and we ought to strive desperately live our lives worthy of that message. Jesus set the example of humility for us in this wonderful act. And Paul closes with this, this is where we’ll wrap up as well.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

For this reason God has highly exalted him. No one is exalted like this. He entered into the glory that he enjoyed with the Father before the world existed. And for all eternity we will join with the multitudes in giving him praise, if indeed we are found in him on the last day. He bestowed on him the name that is above every name. Exalted above any title given not only in this age, but in the age to come. I think my favorite part of this is that we get to know him. We get to know the King of Glory. And at that name, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Some will confess him as Lord with joy and humility. Others will confess him as Lord with despair and anguish, but all will confess. TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER!

The beauty of Christ’s work on earth is that he endured all of this to the glory of the Father in heaven. He is the ultimate picture for us of humility unto and unity with the Father in heaven. There is no rivalry in the godhead. There is only delight and honor.

Paul is telling the church in Philippi that through the work ofJesus Christ we get that example. Of Joy in Christ, in his community, being united in purpose and humility, to the glory of God. What could be more joyous?