The Humble Path of Christ

Philippians, a book written by the Apostle Paul can be described as a book of joy. Paul positions the letter as an encouragement “to live in the joy” of the Lord and his kingdom instead of just reacting to everyday, present day situations and circumstances.

In fact, we can distinguish Joy from that of an emotion known as happiness. Unlike happiness, joy is not merely an emotion, but consists of internal stability in spite of external circumstances....

We can gleam much from Paul’s perspective, particularly his qualifications to rely on Joy as his strength (Nehemiah 8: 10 - do not grieve, for the joy of the lord is my strength) because he rote this book from a prison cell.

While the book is primarily a thank you letter to the saints of Phillippi, Paul uses the occasion to send correction., particularly our text of focus, - chapter 2 where his primary objective is to instruct the church to be likeminded (minimizing contention and strife), particularly taking on the mindset of Christ - a mindset that exemplifies humility as a member of the church rather than conforming to that of the world’s mindset ;

We subscribe to ‘humility’ as standard in a believers life, as the benchmark for ‘how we should relate’ and ‘maintain relationship’ with and among one another and certainly with God.

As an aside, we have an obligation to, through Christs example, to (v3) ‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, (4) not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

the Nemesis and antithesis of humility is that of ‘pride’! Pride, can mess you Up! Pride and his little brother ‘haughty/arrogance’ can lead to down fall, and ultimately destruction and death… (Proverbs 16:18 - Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.)

Proverbs 11:2: "When pride comes, then comes shame, but with the humble is wisdom." Pride leads to constant strife and conflicts. Proverbs 13:10: "By pride comes only contention, but with the well-advised is wisdom." (Notice the link between being "well-advised" and wisdom.) If fact, we know that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Paul exudes that this was the mind of Christ - exemplified by his behavior and posture - that of ‘humility’. so he commands the church (believers such as you and I) to have the same mindset of Christ.

While we can certainly take the admonishment at its face value for instruction and correction, (after all, we all can understand the benefits of having unity and harmonious relationships - relationships without conflict and tensions) - the text gives us an insight - (if you experience frequent & consistent conflict, tension, strife, fighting, arguing, disagreements - as a regenerated believer, let me suggest to you to ‘examine’ your inner self as noted in v3-5 as a possibility -; before blaming others, shifting fault and causation to others, is it possible that you could be a contributor, perhaps even the cause based on the condition of your mindset, posture, or motives? Can it be that I'm being selfish? self absorbed? moving out of ‘vain’ conceit for some type of recognition, need for attention or aggrandizement?

Now back to the text - Humility in/of itself is usually not a problem in circumstances and situations of poverty, poor, needed, minimal statue or essence, little contribution and/or seemingly little to no value (rather in ability, gifts, or callings). Its easy to be humble when we don't have anything? Its easier to be humble when I have little to no fan clubs, with not much accolades, few possessions, or seemingly few/little life trophies to brag about!

In fact, I would like to suggest that humility should not be confused with low self esteem - that is - reflective of my lowly state of conscious about myself or present realities. Instead, lets examine humility and its construct - humility can be described as the absence of pride or self-assertiveness (dealing with the will of one, or self exaltation, self aggrandizement. Humble means not being proud and not being self- assertive.

And to be humble - does not mean, you should It is not in denial of your talents and gifts but to recognize them and live up to your worth and something greater. In fact the ‘justifiable’ attributes for pride serve as the litmus test to the state of ‘one’s humility’ . In one perspective, I submit to you that It is in the ‘service to others’ w/ one’s gifts/talents/possessions/abilities that humility can be seen; and the greatest form of humility is ‘using my greatness to serve others even if it means to my own loss, ultimately even death’.

I submit to you that true humility seeks to bring glory and honor to God and looks out for the interests of others (Colossians 3.12-14; Philippians 2.3-8). Christ gives us a perfect example of humility. He went to the cross and gave up His life so that others might live.

One and True God; The eternal God; God the Creator of the universe, the earth, and all that dwells therein; who knows no beginning and has no ending; the master and ruler of the universe; the eternal Word; (John 1:14-18) — this same Word became flesh and lived among us (humanity) and we saw him and his glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of all Grace and Truth! Christ Jesus!

Hebrews 2:5-18 tells us that this essence of the eternal God, ‘Got’ into a body - ‘got in a body’; Our God prepared a body, in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ. The son temporarily became lower than the angels. He came down to taste death for everyone ....

2 Cor 5: 19 tells us why God got into that prepared body: that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. - Revealed God in Christ Jesus reconciling the world back to himself

Col 2:9 tell us of the full power of that person of Christ : For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 9 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. 9 Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly.

Jesus himself was an uncontested force! Fully human and Fully divine, yet he persevered and endured affliction and the cross for the purpose of which he was sent *behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world* (John 1:29)!

Insight - Fully self aware, having full self confidence in his identity - I came to earth to redeem; to take on flesh and its weakness, infirmities, and proclivities to endure a sacrificial death....

God in Christ While in the Earth - the Essence of Humility

Now that we have our foundation, we can go the text to explore the exemplified humility of Christ that was the both the gateway and bridge to attaining the Name that Above All Names!

True humility seeks to bring glory and honor to God and looks out for the interests of others (Colossians 3.12-14; Philippians 2.3-8). Christ gives us a perfect example of humility.

So now, back to the text - Paul is instructing the saints that discord, fighting, and lack of unity is harmful for the church body of believers. That we should maintain relationship with one another through the same love, united in the spirit, intent on one purpose. Notice, same - the idea of harmony and unity. He wants the saints to be committed to pulling things together, not tearing things apart. He needs for us to be focused on unity and not disunity!

And so to pursue this harmony and unity, he implores the saints to take on the mind of Christ - a mindset of humility through servant hood!

The Mind of Christ (2: 5)

Philippians 2:5 NIV

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

In Humility - The eternal God becomes Incarnate

2v5-7 Through this text, we see Jesus as the ultimate servant. If anyone deserved to be served, it was the son of God! He existed in the form of God, but he didnt consider his equality with God as something to be leveraged or exploited for his own benefit or gain!

Instead, he emptied himself by assuming the role of a servant (2:7)

You ask, what did Jesus give up to do that? Well, he didn't empty himself of deity; he didn't stop being God. Rather he ‘willingly’ took on human flesh and became a servant . he didnt let his deity or power position or power-bilities stop him from expressing humanity.

Like pouring water into a container, Jesus poured the entirety of his deity into the container of his ‘human body’ / his ‘humanity’; resulting in him being fully God and fully man. (hypostatic union)

In Humility - The eternal God becomes a Curse

The Message of Philippians (2. The Incarnate God Becomes a Curse)

He seems the same as other men but in fact is vastly different. The question therefore is, what will he do with this ‘difference’? Will he use it as an occasion for self? Will it, in turn, become ‘a thing to be grasped’?

What he did was, however, very different. He chose rather to take upon himself that one thing which, without his consent, had no power against him, death. He was distinct from all others because of his divine nature. In particular, he possessed immortality, proper to God alone.25 But he subjected his immortality to death and thus humbled himself; nothing has now been held back; all has been given up:

The Message of Philippians 2. The Incarnate God Becomes a Curse

Paul tells us that this was done as an act of obedience to God. The English obedient unto death suggests ‘obeying death’, but the Greek cannot bear this meaning. It requires rather ‘obedient as far as or right up to the point of death’.

Death was the mode, not the master, in his obedience; the obedience was yielded to his Father: this was ‘the cup which the Father has given me’.

The Message of Philippians 2. The Incarnate God Becomes a Curse

this Godward-manward act was undertaken by the will and consent of the Lord Jesus himself. No-one else did it: he humbled himself. This feature, so central to Philippians 2:6–8, must find its root in Isaiah 53, especially verses 7–9, where for the first time in the Old Testament we meet with a consenting sacrifice

The Message of Philippians 2. The Incarnate God Becomes a Curse

This was the ‘mind of Christ’. He looked at himself, at his Father and at us, and for obedience’ sake and for sinners’ sake he held nothing back.

2v8 … so what did Jesus service look like…? He became obedient even to point of his death on a cross. he died a substitutionary sacrifice so that he might atone for sinners. he died the death we deserve. that's the ultimate sacrifice - the ultimate act of service. and he did it willingly because he kept the end view in mind!

Through his sacrifice, through the form of a servant, He was rewarded with exaltation from God.

2v9 … Divine exaltation - God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above very name.

Not through is miracles, signs or wonders

Not via his legacy or family background

Not via his riches or worldly pursuits

Not via the amount of sermons he preached or number of believers he gathered / converted. . .

People will pump you up, but they will also stick a pin in your balloon. Jesus was after something more than praises of people; he lived for divine recognition.

2v10-11

The Divine Response

The Message of Philippians The Divine Response

But now, why? Why did God so lift Jesus up? According to our passage it was a response, something linked to what went before it by a therefore (verse 9). To what was God responding? A specific answer, calling attention to the death on a cross (verse 8) would be biblical,

The Message of Philippians The Divine Response

From the brightness of the glory to the dust of death and the place of the curse, from the glory of a true humanity down to the lowliest identification with our common clay, by his own self-humbling decision, Jesus showed both obedience and love to the uttermost. And the Father loves to see it so, for it is a principle with God that he who humbles himself shall be exalted.

Ask the question: is what I'm doing? or about to say going to make things better; or is it going to make things worse?

So how can we adopt Chris’ts mindset? I submit that Jesus could serve because he knew he was God; fully capable of anything, at anytime. Serving was never a threat to him because he never lost understanding of ‘who’ he was (identity); He knew his position and purpose. Likewise, when we know who we are, rendering service wont be a problem.

When we aim to please people rather than glorify God, we may receive some applause for a time, and that will be the reward. Unfortunatley, though, it may cause us to miss the approval and exaltation of God. Some divine exaltation comes in this life, but most of it comes in eternity.... so if we want to be great, let us take advantage of every opportunity we can to serve others to the glory of God alone!

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