A Journey to Holiness - Humility is the Beauty of Holiness

Humility is the Beauty of Holiness

This morning we are continuing our series on A Journey to Holiness as last week we looked at Romans 6:1-15, at the question of Shall we continue in Sin?

We saw that we as Christians have died to sin and are no longer in the bondage of sin and do not have to be controlled by sin.

This morning our main text will be found in Philippians 2 as we look at Humility is the Beauty of Holiness.

I was required to read a book for my class this past week with the title Humility: The Beauty of Holiness, and God spoke through that book to me, and there are somethings that I will plug into this sermon from that book this morning.

As we look at humility this morning we must first understand what the opposite of humility is and that is pride.

Proverbs speaks of what happens with a prideful attitude.

Proverbs 16:18–19 NASB95

18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling. 19 It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly Than to divide the spoil with the proud.

Andrew Murray in his book states, “Pride or the loss of humility, is the root of every sin and evil.”

Murray continues, “If pride is what causes us to sin, Humility is the only root from which grace can grow, the one indispensable condition of true fellowship with Jesus.”

“Humility then is the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the very nature of things, the first duty and highest virtue of the human being, and the root of every virtue.”

Look with me at our main text in Philippians 2.

Philippians 2:3–11 NASB95

3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Pray

I. Humility of Mind. Vs. 3-5

In this chapter of Philippians, Paul is telling the believers how to be Christ-like, here in verse three, he tells them to be humble or to have an attitude of humility.

‘Humility, as it is the mark of Jesus Christ, will be the one standard of glory in heaven; the lowliest in the nearest to God.”

There are multiple Scriptures where Jesus says to help the poor, the needy, He even says in Matthew 25:45

Matthew 25:45 NASB95

45 “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’

Humiliation is the only ladder to honour in God’s kingdom

In verse four we are told not merely to look our for our own interests, but more importantly the interest of others.

Then in verse five, we are told because that is the attitude of Jesus and we are to have that same attitude.

The greatest test of whether the holiness we profess to seek or to attain is truth and life, will be whether it be manifested in the increasing humility it produces.

The chief mark of counterfeit holiness is its lack of humility.

A great example of a person humbled before God in the Bible is Isaiah when he has the vision of the Lord in chapter six.

Isaiah 6:1–8 NASB95

1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. 5 Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Murray says, “May God teach us that our thoughts and words, feelings concerning our fellow-men are His test of our humility towards Him, and that our humility before Him is the only power that can enable us to be always humble with our fellow-man. Our humility must be the life of Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God, within us.”

II. Jesus Humbled Himself. Vs. 6-8

Philippians 2:6–8 NASB95

6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

In these three verses we see how greatly Jesus humbled Himself not just to come to earth but to be come our sacrifice for our sins.

Jesus although He existed in the form of God the Father - we must grasp and understand this here, God the Father - is all-knowing, all-powerful, all-seeing, He is before time, past time, beyond all things, bigger than we could ever imagine, and Jesus is also all of that.

Even though Jesus existed in all of that, He did not regard Himself equality with God the Father, that is He gave that all up - He emptied Himself of the things necessary so that He could come to this earth in human form.

Taking the form of bond-servant, Jesus felt Himself the servant of God for the people of who God made and loved; as a natural consequence, He counted Himself the servant of men, that through Him God might do His work of love.

John 3:16 NASB95

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Jesus being found in the appearance as a man, He humbled Himself.

Where God is all, self is nothing.

Jesus was being obedient to the plan and will of the Father.

Jesus humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Humility means the giving up of self, and the taking of the place of perfect nothingness before a Holy God.

So how doe we die to self?

The death to self is not our work, it is God’s work.

Self can never cast out self, even in the regenerate man. Praise God! The work has been done, and finished and perfected forever. The death of Jesus, once and forever, is our death to self.

III. He Highly Exalted Him. Vs. 9-11

Philippians 2:9–11 NASB95

9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

God highly exalted Him - the reason God exalted Jesus was because He was obediently humble.

What Jesus taught so often during His earthly ministry has now been made true of Himself; He that humbleth Himself shall be exalted.

How did God the Father exalt Jesus - He bestowed upon Him a name which is above every name.

See we can talk about God and we can be talking about all kings of gods, from Buddha, to Allah, to the sun, moon, to anything, but the moment you mention Jesus you just changed the whole conversation, you have narrowed it down to the one specific God, the Almighty God.

We are told there that at the name of Jesus every knew will bow, those in heaven and in earth, and under earth, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father.

We must understand that you will either humbly bow and confess Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life here in this life before it is eternally to late or you will bow and confess Him no matter what, but when you are made to at the end of time it will be to lately at that time it will not be accepted.

I started this message with Proverbs 16:18

Proverbs 16:18 NASB95

18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.

Do not allow pride to be your ultimate destruction, because if you allow pride to hold you back and you do not humbly come and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior your eternal destiny will be Hell’s torment.

Do not allow pride to send you to hell, but allow humility to bring you to a loving Father that is waiting with arms open wide ready to accept you and celebrate you into a loving relationship that will guarantee you a place in heaven for all of eternity.