Gentle and Lowly

Your disposition, your attitude is what is oftentimes the first thing that people see about us. Your approachability is often a tool in the Lord’s hands as He witnesses of His grace in your life. It is a reflection of the heart.

The heart is a matter of life. It is what makes us the human being each of us is. The heart drives all we do. It is who we are. (Ortlund, 19). Proverbs 4:23 says:

Proverbs 4:23 (ESV)

23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,

for from it flow the springs of life.

And yet, this is difficult, knowing that the Christian life is inescapably one of toil and labor. For instance, Paul writes to his friends in Colosse...

Colossians 1:29 ESV

29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Philippians 2:12–13 ESV

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

The striving includes effort to be more like Jesus Christ. And for some of us, this is quite difficult. It is for me. To be approachable, nice, easy-going, loving and kind- especially when I’ve been offended or stressed-out or inconvenienced. And then there’s Jesus, who whole-heartedly gave Himself to those who were weary of life’s punches.

And this is partly what draws us to Him. Jesus describes Himself in such wonderful terms in Matthew 11:28-30

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

And, this was God who became man! And He invites us to take His yoke upon us. Dane Ortlund states:

“A yoke is the heavy crossbar laid on oxen to force them to drag farming equipment through he field. Jesus is using a kind of irony.” (Ortlund, 22).

One of the things that separates Christianity from the rest of the world’s religions is that in our faith, Jesus was God who became man. Other faiths have leaders whose followers see them as a sage or a prophet. But it is unique to Christianity that God became man. As John’s gospel records: “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us,” something Christians call, “the incarnation.”

The fact that Jesus came to this earth as God and man, is something that has changed the world. Several years ago, we were priveleged to welcome Andrew Brunson, missionary to Turkey, who was wrongfully imprisoned and suffered greatly for his faith. During that time, he could have been overcome with stress and misery, but he took the disposition of Christ and stated:

“To the extent that I am known, I want to be known as a servant and lover of Jesus Christ… I have prayed for this land and its people for many years, …for God to pour out great blessing… In my weakness, I pray daily for strength and courage to persevere and remain faithful to my King until the end. My deepest thanks to my family around the world that is standing with and praying for me.” (From the Facebook page of Andrew & Norine Brunson, March 18, 2018).

What makes a person say such a thing? One whose life has been changed by Jesus Christ.

Philippians the second chapter is thought to have been an early Christian hymn. It is a stirring poem that speaks of Jesus’ preexistence, incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension. The passage was written to encourage us to love God and love others. We first learn…

Jesus journey included leaving his heavenly throne and coming to this earth. Christ repeatedly referred to himself as being “sent.” The Greek word for humility simply means to be brought low. Webster’s defines humility as the quality of being without pride; voluntary self-abasement. Humility is the quality common among all great people. G.K. Chesterton once said,

“All men are ordinary men; the extraordinary men are those who know it.”

Jesus is worthy of your imitation.

The topic of this section speaks toward Christian unity. How is unity achieved? According to the apostle Paul, it takes humility. The church is the only organization I know of that thrives when humility is practiced. Such an attitude positively affects how we as the Christians treat each other with mutual preference and how they treat those outside the faith with love. This is why Paul writes in Philippians 2:2:

“…complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

And yet humility is hard to come by. It is against our nature. Jimmy Hoffa, the teamsters’ union leader, who died in 1971 once said, I may have my faults, but being wrong ain’t one of them. A lot of people live with an arrogance and self-exaltation that says: “I know I’m right!”

But the Scriptures say that “…pride comes before the fall (Proverbs 16:18).” We deceive ourselves with our own pride.

In order to achieve unity, we must imitate Christ. In verse five, Paul says, Have this attitude…. The word for attitude is which means to have understanding, to think or adopt a view. It can also mean intent on purpose or the ability to set one’s minds. Verse six tells us how Jesus’ attitude ought to function as our example:

“…who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”

Jesus existed in the form of God because He was God. He is the word as described in John 1:1, In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. And He was the One: “…full of grace and truth.”

And yet the Scripture says that Christ emptied Himself. The verb means that Jesus: “…laid aside His privileges.” Jesus, when He came to earth as a baby, never ceased being the divine Son of God. He showed His deity by doing the following

· Calmed the storm;

· Walked on water;

· Forgave sins;

· Healed the sick;

· Raised the dead;

· And rose from the dead Himself!

But as He was here and walked among us, and eventually died on the cross for our sins, He showed extreme humility, the like that we cannot even understand! Many Scriptures speak toward the humiliation of Christ. Take for instance,

· 2 Corinthians 8:9:

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor….

· Or what Jesus said as recorded in Matthew 20:28:

“… just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

· Romans 8:3:

“For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin ….”

Sinclair Ferguson comments,

“Lord of glory though he was, he emptied Himself, not by subtraction of His divine attributes, but by the assumption of human nature. (Sinclair Ferguson, Let’s Study Philippians, 44).”

His humiliation was taken a step further in the death that He chose to die. Paul states in verse eight: “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

To appreciate what Jesus did for us, you must understand that the typical person who died by crucifixion was the worst of the worst. It was a form of execution reserved for the vilest of criminals. If you were a Roman citizen, you could never be crucified. And yet the book of Isaiah states that our iniquity was laid upon Him (Isaiah 53:6); and that this was God’s crushing (Isaiah 53:10), a reference to receiving His wrath on our behalf; something the Bible calls propitiation (1 John 4:10).

And our Jesus was separated from His Heavenly Father on that cross. He experienced hell. His fellowship was broken with His Father. He experienced hell for you while uttering the words: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

And it was upon the cross that He gave His life for your sins. Romans 5:8: “…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Understanding Jesus mission ought to humble you. Do we not sense the need to think less of ourselves and our needs and more about the needs of others? Jesus was the epitome of humility.

Dane Ortlund says:

“Jesus is gentle. He is the most understanding person in the universe. The posture most natural to Him is not a pointed finger but open arms.” (Ortlund, 19)

And...

“This is not who he is to everyone, indiscriminately. This is who he is for those who come to Him, who take His yoke upon them, who cry to Him for help.” (Ortlund, 21).

Let our disposition be this! That a person can talk to you. That your son or daughter can bear their heart to you. That your neighbor can ask you to pray for them over something embarrassing. Why? Because this is how Jesus is and was!

Jesus is worthy of your adoration.

Notice Philippians 2:9-11

Philippians 2:9–11 ESV

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.

This puts Jesus into a different category.

· To Islam, Jesus is a prophet only. Not the Son of God.

· To Buddhism, Jesus is not God because there is no God.

· To Hinduism, Jesus is one of millions of gods.

· To Humanism, Jesus is not God, just a good teacher.

To Christianity, Jesus is who He said He was: John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

And the apostles in Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

We see who Jesus is by the vision in Daniel’s prophecy. He was the one like the Son of Man coming on the clouds…. This one will be given a kingdom and glory; that He will be served by peoples of every nation and language. His rule will never be destroyed. This is in full agreement with what Revelation 1:7 tells us that at His second coming, every eye will see Him and worship, either willingly or begrudgingly will happen. The attitude toward that must be established now.

“Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him.”

The motivation is to determine now; which side you are a part of. It is better to determine that now before it is too late.

Our God invites you to come to Him!! And we will one day see how He carried us so wonderfully through all of life’s difficulties. Matthew 11:28-30

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Dane Ortlund states:

“We are buoyed along in life by His endless gentleness and supremely accessible lowliness.” (Ortlund, 23)

CONCLUSION

I don’t think we can fully appreciate Jesus’ journey unless we get a glimpse of what it cost Jesus to come to this world. Maybe it is illustrated in the following story.

Joseph Damien was a nineteenth-century missionary who served people with leprosy on the island of Molokai, Hawaii. Those suffering grew to love him and revered the sacrificial life he lived out before them.

One morning before Damien was to lead daily worship, he was pouring some hot water into a cup when the water swirled out and fell onto his bare foot. It took him a moment to realize that he had not felt any sensation. Gripped by the sudden fear of what this could mean, he poured more hot water on the same spot. No feeling whatsoever.

Damien immediately knew what had happened. As he walked tearfully to deliver his sermon, no one at first noticed the difference in his opening line. He normally began every sermon with “My fellow believers.” But this morning he began with, “My fellow lepers.”

Jesus came to this world and became one of us, that we might be able to know God, be forgiven, transformed and thus, walk with Him. And that is good news. Let us pray.