Humility in the Body of Christ
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Humility – God’s Path to True Greatness
Good evening and welcome back to tonights service.
Ask someone to open in prayer
Go ahead and greet your neighbors with a handshake
Philippians 2:1-11
Introduction
Michael Phelps has set 39 world records and his 8 gold medals in the Beijing Olympics are more than anyone has previously won in a single Olympics. He is said to be both the greatest swimmer and the greatest Olympian of all time. He has received the World Swimmer of the Year six times and in 2008 was named sportsman of the year! It’s said of him that he’s maybe the greatest athlete of all time. Certainly, in athletic competition, he achieved what a lot of people said was the pinnacle of greatness.
What did he do to achieve these incredible results?
Phelps trains for six hours a day, six days a week, without fail. Even if
Christmas day falls on a training day he does a full day of training. Total dedication to his training program has made him a world champion.
He swims approximately 50 miles each week, which is over 8 miles per training day. Because of his rigorous training schedule, he has two massages everyday and also takes ice baths to help his body to recover.
So, that’s what’s required to achieve true greatness in the world of swimming. Today, we’re going to examine what is required to achieve true greatness as a follower of Jesus Christ.
The passage we will be looking at today is Philippians 2:1-11 and gives us a road map to achieve true greatness. Please stand with me for the reading of God’s Word.
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. 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. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
I) Strive for Unity
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.
Paul continues his exhortation to the Philippians by appealing to them to strive for unity in their relations with other believers in the church. The basis for this appeal is fourfold. In each instance, he uses the phrase “if any”. The Greek word “ei” can be translated either “if” or “since”. Translating them “if” makes them rhetorical questions for which the obvious answers are “yes, of course” Translating them “since” conveys the same meaning that every believer experiences these blessings in Christ. So Paul was arguing that since they experienced these wonderful blessings in their relationship with Christ, they should they should therefore strive for unity in their relationships with one another. In addition to these four bases for unity, Paul gives one more basis for them to be unified. This final reason shows just how much Paul loves the Philippians. He says that they will make his joy complete if they will be united by a strong love for one another.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
Think about your own body for a moment and how it functions. How ridiculous would it be if your hands are over here washing the dishes, your feet are strolling over to the parking lot, while your eyes are studying for this week’s Bible lesson. Now some of you Moms with little kids may say, “YES!,that’s exactly what my life is like!” Well, maybe so, but that’s another story. The point is that obviously all the parts of your body must work together in order to accomplish anything.Functionally every believer is a unique part of the body of Christ. It is just as essential that we believers work together in unity under the headship of Jesus Christ as it is for the various parts of our own body to work together in harmony. Paul is saying in these first two verses that unity should be the direct result of receiving encouragement, love, fellowship and compassion from Christ.
The opposite of unity is division and strife.
By insolence comes nothing but strife,
but with those who take advice is wisdom.
Other translations feature the word pride or arrogance.
Pride is the breeding ground for strife. If pride characterizes a body of believers, you can be sure there will be division and strife there rather than unity.
Instead of warning them against the damage that pride would do to their fellowship, he approaches the issue positively and exhorts them to humble themselves in their relationships with one another.
A story by Philip Melancthon
Philippians Exposition
Dogs Fighting Each Other Instead of the Wolves
Philipp Melancthon mourned in his day the divisions among Protestants, and sought to bring the Protestants together by a parable of the war between the wolves and the dogs: The wolves were somewhat afraid, for the dogs were many and strong, and therefore they sent out a spy to observe them. On his return, the scout said, “It is true the dogs are many, but there are not many mastiffs among them. There are dogs of so many sorts one can hardly count them. As for the most of them,” said he, “they are little dogs, which bark loudly but cannot bite. However, this did not cheer me so much,” said the wolf, “as this, that as they came marching on, I observed they were all snapping right and left at one another, and I could see clearly that though they all hate the wolf, yet each dog hates every other dog with all his heart.”
I fear it is true still, for there are many who snap right and left, followers of Jesus too, when they had better save their teeth for the wolves. If our enemies are to be put to confusion, it must be by the united efforts of all the people of God—unity is strength.
II) Humble Yourselves
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.
Did you notice that Paul moves straight from striving for unity in their relationships to humbling themselves?
He focuses on Humility because it is the key ingredient in having harmonious relationships. Think about someone you know that “everybody likes”. That man or woman tends to be humble rather than arrogant. Am I right? Humility is an important building block in strong relationships.
After revealing the positive way for believers to behave toward one another, Paul gives negatives to avoid. Unity in love means selfish ambition and vain conceit have no place in the Christian life. Such characteristics rise from pride, not from love. Instead, humility is to characterize the Christian. We are not to exalt ourselves above others.
Paul’s saying here that it’s never okay (not occasionally or sometimes) to be motivated by selfishness or arrogance.
You are probably thinking that this is easier said than done. Yet, Jesus, himself, said: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34–35). Biblical love is selfless. The opposite of this kind of love is selfishness. Humility does not mean putting ourselves down but rather lifting others up.
Notice that Paul is not saying that it’s wrong to look after your own self-interest. In fact, God has made us with a built in motivation to take care of ourselves. All the great men of the Bible: Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel, Paul, and even Jesus Himself looked out for their own interests.
Now, before you start to stone me for making a statement like that, first hear me out. Though they did look after their own interests, they didn’t do it in a selfish way, but according to the will of God.
Looking out for our own interests comes naturally. We need, and receive, no instruction for that. We are instructed to look out for the interests of others. We are to keep an eye out to discover ways we can help others even when they do not see they need such help. The apostle Paul stated in Galatians 6:2: “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
For example:
By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
It says that Moses motivation was that “he was looking to the reward.” He looked out for his own long term interests by making the short term sacrifice of enduring ill-treatment according to the will of God. And also take a look at what Hebrews 12 said was Jesus’ motivation.
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
They realized that obtaining God’s best for eternity required personal sacrifice in the here and now.
Moses, Jesus, and other godly Biblical characters certainly had other motives as well, but acting in their own long term self interest was one of their motivations.
Biblically, there’s nothing wrong with looking after one’s personal interests – it’s expected!
However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
So God’s solution is not to despise your own interests, but God’s way is to look out for others interests the way you look out for your own.
III. Christ Perfectly Exemplifies Humility
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
For now, we’re going to skip over verse 5. We will come back to it after we look at verses 6-8. In those, we will see what attitude Jesus had so that we can purpose to have the same attitude.
This passage is the most important and often cited passage on Christology, the academic study of Christ, in the Bible, so we’ll take a few moments to examine three key words that give us better understanding of exactly what happened when God became a man!
The word “form” in verse 6 that Paul used is the Greek word “morphe” which stresses the inner essence or reality, not merely the outward appearance. It is saying that Jesus was divine.
This word “grasp” is from the Greek word “Harpagmos”. It refers to something highly prized to be held fast or retained. Jesus didn’t hold onto His rightful position along with His accompanying rights of deity over His creation.
This emptying of Himself is referred to in theological terms as His Kinosis from the Greek word “Kenoo” which not surprisingly means to make empty or to lay aside.
Though Jesus became 100% human, He remained 100% God also. Many verses make it abundantly clear that this emptying of Himself does not mean that Jesus in any way stopped being God.
A part of...
John 14:9 (ESV)
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
I and the Father are one.”
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Since Jesus continued being fully God, the question is: “Of what did Jesus empty Himself.” This list is from a commentary of John MacArthur.
1. His Heavenly glory
He showed this only briefly to Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration
2. His independent authority
He submitted Himself completely to the will of His Father
3. His divine prerogatives
He didn’t display His divine attributes and submitted Himself to the Spirit’s direction
4. His eternal riches
While on earth, He was poor and owned very little
5. His favorable relationship with the Father
On the cross, His fellowship with the Father was broken and He experienced the Father’s full wrath.
Now, let’s go back to verse 5 that we skipped over earlier.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
Yes, Paul is citing Jesus as the perfect example of humility, but his main point is that we need to humble ourselves. We are to study closely the incredibly humble attitude that Jesus demonstrated in His incarnation and then we are to emulate that attitude in our own lives. The more clearly we understand all that Jesus did for us, the more motivated we will be to humble ourselves as He did.
What was the end result?
IV. Exaltation is Humility’s Reward
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Verse 9 says “for this reason” and the reason is that Jesus humbled Himself absolutely submitting fully to the Father’s plan. Because He did this, God highly exalted Him to the very highest position. All creation must one day bow before Him in worship acknowledging His Lordship.
Everyone actually has two opportunities to bow the knee to Jesus and worship Him as King of kings and Lord of lords.
The first opportunity is during our earthly life. We can acknowledge that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, repent of our sins, trust Him to save us, and commit to living our lives in submission to His Lordship. Many in this auditorium have already bowed the knee to Jesus and acknowledged that Jesus is Lord of our lives.
The second opportunity will be at a day in the future called the Great White Throne Judgment described in …
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
It’s on this great day of judgment that every atheist, every agnostic, every Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, liberal, moderate, and conservative, every terrorist, socialist, communist, capitalist, every peasant, billionaire, ignorant, scholar, indeed every single unbeliever who has ever lived will be forced to bow down to King Jesus and confess that He is Lord of heaven and earth. Then, all these who have waited till the Great White Throne Judgment to acknowledge His Lordship will be forever banished to hell.
And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Friends, don’t wait till this terrifying day of judgment to acknowledge Jesus as Lord of your life. Don’t put it off, I implore you to repent of your sins today, trust Him to save you and submit to His Lordship over your life.
So, this is how, after the Son’s humble submission, the Father exalts. But this same principal exemplified in Jesus’ life, of humbling one’s self and later being exalted by God applies to every believer too.
For not from the east or from the west
and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,
but it is God who executes judgment,
putting down one and lifting up another.
Guys , it’s not your boss, or your test scores, or you’re your parent’s influence, or the size of your bank account that ultimately determines whether you achieve true greatness or not. God alone has that authority. Obviously, if God is against you, no matter what efforts you go to, your failure is guaranteed. But, if God is actively working on your behalf, then your exaltation is absolutely assured! Getting God’s help on your side is actually quite simple, but you have to do it His way!
Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
God actively opposes all those who refuse to humble themselves, and God is the One Person Whom you absolutely do not want to be opposed to you. God requires you to humble yourself if you want to receive His grace. If you will humble yourself, then, He will exalt you one day!
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
This verse tells us that there are two ways to become humble.
1. Exalt yourself and God will humble you. Friends, that is a very bad option. Don’t choose it!
2. Humble yourself
Perhaps you’ll say Derek, this makes sense and I’ve decided I really do want to humble myself before the Lord, but I’m not sure where to begin. What are some practical suggestions on how I can get started and clothe myself with humility like the apostle Peter said? I’m glad you asked! Following are seven excellent suggestions in a recent message I listened to.
1. Foster a lifestyle of prayer
pray without ceasing,
Christ Himself took long devoted time to get away and pray. Examples of this are: Luke 6:12, Mark 14:32, Luke 11
Hardly anything is more evidence of pride than our prayer life. This is not a matter of time so much as it is a matter of relationship.
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
Devote your life to prayer. Another quote I’ve heard on prayer is ““Prayer is the most tangible sign of dependency on God.”
2. Embrace humbling experiences and circumstances.
Ps. 23:4 says, 1 Pet. 1:6 6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, ye have been put to grief in manifold trials,7 that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perisheth though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ:8 whom not having seen ye love; on whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory:9 receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
What are some of the experiences we should embrace?
Trial, being misunderstood, being overlooked, being inconvenienced
How do you respond when you sin or when you fail? Do you try to fix it yourself or do you run to the glory of the Cross?
How do you respond when you are spiritually attacked? Some examples of how God directs us to handle spiritual attacks are the following James 4:7 I Peter 5:8,9 Eph 6:11-12 2 Cor 12:7
3. Don’t confuse humility with weak convictions
God want us to have strong convictions, but communicate them humbly.
4. Invite correction and seek counsel
The humble heart realizes that our heart is deceitful and doesn’t have it all together. We don’t know as much as we think we know. We aren’t as godly and wise as we think we are.
We learn this from Prov. 27:17 Iron sharpens iron. Prov. 9:8 Do not reprove a scoffer or he will hate you. Do you love reproof? Prov. 10:17 He who rejects reproof leads others astray. Wants to listen. Where there is no guidance the people fall. Prov. 26:12 Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. Prov. 11:2 With the humble is wisdom. Prov. 24:6 In abundance of counselors there is victory. Demonstrates a teachable heart and protects you from yourself.
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
Proverbs 16:2 (ESV)
All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool,
but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.
I think most effective and successful people invite suggestions and feedback.
Were told iron sharpens iron.
Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you;
reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life,
but he who rejects reproof leads others astray.
Proverbs has plenty of verses that speak on this. Some other examples that I’m not going to read are Prov. 26:12, Prov. 11:2, and Prov. 24:6.
I think this demonstrates a teachable heart and protects you from yourself.
5. Don’t take yourself too seriously
Take God and His Word seriously. Take life seriously, but don’t take yourself too seriously. Learn to laugh at yourself when you make mistakes. It’s more fun that way and good practice for humility.
6. Practice spiritual disciplines
Don’t be legalistic, but do be consistent!
7. Consider Christ often
A) Preach the gospel to yourself
B) Reflect on your testimony
C) Remember that it’s a relationship rather than a religion
D) Remember why the cross was needed
E) Consciously think of grace and manifestations of grace
F) Consider 2 Chronicles 32:24 – 26 where Hezekiah was proud in his heart and did not show thankfulness and so the Lord was going to show them His wrath, but then Hezekiah humbled himself. Here’s the truth...We ARE going to be proud. When that pride is identified, how do we respond? Do we repent and humble ourselves again?
