Phillipians 2 1-11

High call to Humility

Recap

Last week Chris went through Mathew 28 16-20

Where he went through the great commision and what that looked like.He talked about the call we have to evangelize and to make disciples. How we are to listen when God speaks and do as he says.

Introduction

Philippians for You Chapter 6: A High Call to a Lowly Life (Philippians Chapter 2 Verses 1–11)

The Christian life is full of opposites that seem to contradict themselves. We must die to self if we would live for Christ. We must declare spiritual bankruptcy if we would be rich. We must mourn if we would be happy. We must hunger if we would be satisfied. We must lose our life if we would save it, but if we save our life we will lose it.

But perhaps the greatest apparent contradiction is what we have before us in this chapter: We must humble ourselves if we are to be exalted.

You can see here clearly, how scripture very much contradicts the “american way of life”. Yall are on social media, you see the you take care of you bc noone else will, and just seek your happiness thats all that matters. That is not biblical.

For a believer humility is the most foundational of all of the Christian virtues. I love what Lawson says in his commentary on Philippians.

No one struts through the narrow gate that leads into the kingdom. No one high-steps their way down the narrow path. We are sheep, not peacocks; servants, not sovereigns. If Christ is to fill our lives, we must empty ourselves. If Christ is to increase, we must decrease. Paul wrote to the Colossian church, “As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (Colossians 2:6). We received him in humility. Therefore, we must walk in ever-increasing humility.

The more we mature spiritually, the more humble we must become.

Part one

In the first few verses, Paul starts by talking to the people at the church in philipi and reminding them of the Grace in there lives.

read verse 1

That word “if” that Paul is using can be translated to Because, or since. So Paul isn't asking them if they have these things then and only then are they to be humble and all but he is affirming that they do have these things. and there is much encouragement in the person and work of Christ.

Lets not just look over the encouragement that we recieve from Christ here though. Christ left his home and throne in heaven, so that he might come along side of us in our Christian life. Jesus is at the right hand of the father as we speak going to bat for us. Dont ever think that you are alone in this walk.

Philippians for You An Appeal for Certainty

This affection and compassion of Christ is experienced by every believer, albeit in varying degrees. Within every Christian, there is an ever-increasing triumph and abundant supply of each one of these conditions that we read about in verse 1.

When Paul talks about “being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind” He is talking about unity and there souls being welded together for the same purpose which is to exalt the glory of God and to place Christ as the chief focus of their lives.

We see this all throughout scripture where we are called to unity and to love.

Colossians 3:14 ESV

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

John 17:20–23 ESV

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 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.

Paul then goes into his appeal for humility amoung the people in phlippi.

In verse 3 Paul says to do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit.

Selfishness or Epitheia, means a fractious spirit that produces strife. it is the idea of the kind of self-seeking and self-promoting attitude that creates, or even seeks and enjoys division.

being selfish should not even be in the vocabulary of the Christian. We are called to die to self so that we may live for Christ, humble ourselves so that we may be exalted. Selfishness goes hand in hand with pride, bc pride exalts self above the glory of God and the good of others. but us being Christians we must die to self daily.

Luke 9:23 ESV

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Paul goes on to say that we are to hold one another more important than ourselves.

Philippians for You An Appeal for Humility

The Philippians cannot humble themselves under the Lord if they are simultaneously seeking to elevate themselves over others

We absolutly cannot seek to humble ourselves under God when we do everything we can to elevate ourselves over eachother. We see this as well everywhere in Church and just in general. “O you pray everyday, i pray 3 times a day”, “You got saved 4 years ago, Ive been saved for 25 years already”, “My works are better than your works”, “I give more money to the church than you so”. and the list goes on and on. But we are all broken messed up sinners that desperatly need a savior.

Philippians for You An Appeal for Humility

When Paul tells his readers to “regard” one another with a lowly mindset, he uses a word taken from the ancient world of mathematics, meaning “to calculate.” This stresses that they must count or calculate one another as more important than themselves. They must add up the needs of others, at the same time subtracting their personal interests. They must arrive at a bottom-line summary of what would most benefit others, and then act upon the result of that calculation.

As believers we have to take the same concern we have for ourselves and apply it to others. Everything that happens in our christian life is designed to produce a greater humility in us.

Philippians for You The Interests of Others

The cross tells us that all we bring to our salvation is our sin. It is impossible to enter the Christian life with pride! Prayer puts us on our knees before God with empty hands. Worship causes us to look up to God, which puts us in our proper place. Our trials humble us, reminding us of our human frailty. And yet despite all this, our hearts still struggle not to feel proud

Part 2

Christ was the supreme example of Humility

Even the mear birth of Christ is shown with humility and you here all of us talk about this alot. Christ was born in a manger, not in some fancy hospital with all updated equipment, the people that the angels went to see to bring them to the baby jesus were mere shepherds, not kings and queens with armies coming to see him.

God does not ask anything of these believers that he did not ask of his own Son, Jesus Christ. When the apostle writes that Christ “humbled Himself” (v 8), he shows the steps downward that Christ took from the heights of heaven into the depths of this world.

The greatest display of humility that the world has ever witnessed was the incarnation of Christ, which led ultimately to his crucifixion. Here Jesus demonstrated what it looks like to truly be humble. He himself declared that he “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). From a sovereign to a servant—this was the lowly role that Jesus assumed.

Calvin

“[Jesus] had been brought down to the level of mankind, so that there was in appearance nothing that differed from the common condition of mankind.”

Jesus was fully God and fully man. But he chose to not embody his deity. There was and never will be anyone that has been as high as Christ and no one that will ever desend as low as Christ. Noone ever gave up as much as he did for you and I.

John 15:13 ESV

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Jesus didnt just die for us in some easy way liek passing in your sleep, he endured a excruciating death for you and me. And he did it knowing that it would happen. He came into this world from heaven knowing the death he would endure and still did it.

Crucifiction was considered the most gruesome kind of death known to the ancient world. This kind of death was so loathsome that it was reserved for only the worst of criminals and was so despised that the roman law forbade any roman citizen to be subjected to it.

Ending

If he did it, how can you and I not be willing? What right have we to refuse when the One with every right to refuse did not? Every believer must clothe himself with the common rags of servanthood. We must make whatever sacrifice is necessary for the good of others. Given this example, none of us can ever humble ourselves too much. None of us will ever surpass the humility that Christ has demonstrated here. None of us may ever say, “Enough. I deserve better, so I will stop here.”