The Humiliation of Christ

Children’s Bible Page 1273

We are in the third week of our Christmas series called Merry Christology.

Christology simply means the study of Christ.

As we celebrate the birth of the Savior this Christmas time, we are focusing on some key Bible passages that tell us who this Savior who was born that we celebrate at Christmastime truly is.

So far, we have looked at Christ from Hebrews 1 where Jesus is the Son of God who created the world, radiates the glory of God, upholds the universe by the word of his power, and makes purification for sins.

Then, last week, we added truths from Colossians 1 where Jesus is preeminent over all creation, He created all things both visible and invisible, he is the head of the body - the church, he is preeminent in his resurrection, he will finally reconcile the whole world to himself, and he will present holy and blameless before God all who set their faith on Him.

It is a high, glorious, and magnificent picture of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, fully God and fully man.

It speaks to how we are called to live submitted to Jesus as Lord of all things in our lives, our families, our jobs, and our resources.

And now, after seeing the grandiose greatness of the glory of Christ, we turn to Philippians 2, where we will wrestle with what it could possibly mean that this Jesus was born to a teenager in a smelly cattle stall and laid in a dirty feeding trough a little over 2,000 years ago.

And in our passage today, God uses the humbling of Christ to call us to live lives of humility.

That baby in a manger means so many things, and today, we apply him to our sinful pride and need for humility.

My first full time pastorate was as an associate pastor in Maryland.

One day, we as a staff went out to lunch, and we were sitting at a table near the window in this restaurant.

The restaurant was in like a strip shopping center, so many people walked by while we were sitting there.

But it was this one girl, who must have been 1 or two years old who caught our attention.

This little girl was wearing sunglasses, carrying a little purse, and strutting down the side walk with the confidence and pomp of a runway model.

It was so cute and funny how much confidence and personality she walked with, but what made it hilarious was her thick diaper bulge that shook as she walked.

You think about that: this girl is so confident and proud of herself, and she doesn’t even know how to use the bathroom yet!

It occurred to me later as I laughed about the memory, that’s what my pride looks like to God.

Any pride or confidence of self that I ever have or project looks as ridiculous to God as that little girl strutting in her diaper bulge.

Psalm 40:4

4 Blessed is the man who makes

the Lord his trust,

who does not turn to the proud,

to those who go astray after a lie!

You see, the pride of men is a lie.

We were created to be humble creatures under the hand of an all knowing, all powerful, and all loving God.

Yet, our sinful pride naturally separates us from God and separates us from one another.

So, we will first hear the commands toward humility, then we will turn our gaze to Jesus, our ultimate example of humility.

Philippians 2:1–11

1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 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.

1. Imitate The Mind Of Christ

It is easy for us to be focused on ourselves and our own concerns.

I’m discouraged. I’m uncomfortable. I feel distant from others. I feel misunderstood.

Naturally, it is easy to focus on our needs that need met and to be so weighed down by our own concerns.

So, Paul, opens by fixing our gaze on how Christ meets all of our needs in the gospel.

You’re discouraged, but is there any encouragement in Christ?

Jesus Christ dealt with all your sin, so that he can now walk alongside you and even fill you with the Spirit of God to encourage your heart in faith.

You’re uncomfortable, is there any comfort in the love of Christ?

Paul describes God elsewhere as the God of all comfort who comforts those who are His.

You feel distant from others, but is there any participation in the Spirit of Christ?

Through the gospel, God not only unites us to himself but to one another through being filled with the one Spirit of God.

But I feel misunderstood, but do you understand the affectionate sympathy and compassion you have in Christ?

It is impossible to fathom the depths of Christ’s affectionate sympathy and compassion toward you.

Paul is instructing us here that we always have a choice that when we are tempted to allow our own felt needs and concerns to dominate our mindset and attitude, we must call to mind the truth of the gospel.

The truth is: we must daily preach the gospel to ourselves, because we all so easily forget and try to find our needs met in other things other than the gospel.

So many times, our greatest struggle in pride and self-focus is simply to shift our perspective away from our personal feelings and toward gospel truth.

Preach the gospel to yourself. Fill your mind with truth.

And when you are focused on the sufficiency of Christ to meet all your needs, you are then prepared for verse 2.

Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Paul has already said in chapter 1 that this church brings him much joy, but the one thing keeping him from full joy in this church, is their lack of unity.

We do not experience the full joy Christ means for us to experience in his church when we have continual conflict and a lack of unity.

Paul has just called us in verse 27 to stand firm in one spirit and to strive side by side for the faith of the gospel.

Listen clearly, our culture is becoming so obviously polarized, where it seems that there can be no moderate stances or possible compromises, because a moderate stance doesn’t get many likes or reposts on social media.

And this increasing polarization has changed the culture’s opinion of unity from being a virtue to being a vice.

If you seek to concede or compromise in some way to the other side to find common ground, you are not heralded as virtuous, you are cancelled as a traitor.

Then, here we are as the church who are called to a different way.

Because, God’s word calls us to be both deeply convictional and passionate about pursuing unity.

How can both of those things be true of us?

There is only one way we can be both deeply convictional and passionate about pursuing unity - and that is by prioritizing Jesus Christ and His gospel above all things.

Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

The original words used here mean having the same heart attitude and soul level connection.

But to what?

What is the mind, the attitude, the love that we are to all share?

We are told down in verse 5: it is the mind of Christ.

The attitude of Christ, the love of Christ.

The only way to experience and maintain unity within the church is to prioritize Jesus Christ and His gospel above all things!

Our minds are engaged, our attitudes are set, and our love is focused on Christ and his gospel.

Now, the Scripture is clear that there are times when separating and going one’s own ways is needed, but that is only when the truths of the gospel would be compromised by the unity.

If someone is seeking to teach contrary to the Scriptures of God, Jesus Christ, and His gospel, we must not compromise on these things for the sake of unity.

But, in all matters of differences of preferences or opinion, we are called to pursue unity.

Verse 3 - Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Selfish ambition is a pursuit of power, prestige, position, or possession for the purpose of oneself.

One commentator says the selfishly ambitious person cannot lift their gaze to things higher than themselves.

You see,

The true obstacle to unity is not the presence of legitimate differences of opinion but self-centeredness. -Moises Silva

Because if you are not self-centered but instead centered on the glory of God in Christ, you may have opinions.

But your attitude is my opinions could be wrong and we can think a different way on an issue, but what we will pursue the glory of Christ together!

The word conceit means empty glory or having an exaggerated evaluation of yourself.

Galatians 5:26 tells us that a conceited person provokes others and puts others down in order to gain the highest place of themselves.

Conceit; empty glory.

Conceit is like when you are riding on an airplane and you pass through a big puffy white cloud.

The cloud looks substantive.

If you didn’t know any better, you would be scared to run a plane straight into the cloud.

But, once you are flying in the middle of the cloud, you realize there is really nothing of substance that could stop the plane in its path.

That’s what conceit is like.

A person who is conceited give off an heir of substance through pride, but there’s really no substance to speak of. It’s just foolishness.

For if God deserves all glory and boasting, there is not any left for man.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Whose needs or concerns are the most significant to you?

God calls us here to consider others needs and concerns as more significant than your own.

John Chrysostom describes this idea as the humbling of the mind.

How big are you and your needs in your mind?

How big are others and the needs of others?

Go back to verse 1. Paul is saying, all your needs that are ultimately needs are met in Christ.

So let Christ focus on your needs, so you can focus on the needs of others.

Verse 4 - Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

1 Corinthians 10:24

Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.

And the love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 says love does not insist on its own way.

How many of your decisions in the church, in your personal life, in your workplace, in your marriage and family are made with the needs of others being a more prominent priority than your own?

To value others is to think of the needs of the community and to put others needs as first on your priority list over yourself.

It’s a true little phrase: humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.

Here’s how C.S. Lewis put it in his book Mere Christianity:

Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call “humble” nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all. -C.S. Lewis

In a culture that sees humility as more of a vice than a virtue, in a culture that believes fighting for one’s rights and what one deserves is more foundational than giving up one’s rights for the good of another, they will listen to a teaching on humility and think, how weak. How pitiful.

But listen, true strength is not destroying others on the path of getting what you deserve.

True strength is laying down your rights and what you deserve for the good of other’s flourishing.

It’s the difference between a man who leaves his family destroyed because he deserves better versus the man who lays down what he deserves to see his family flourish under his servant leadership.

Listen to how God through Paul deals with the idea of a Christian taking another Christian to court:

1 Corinthians 6:7-8

To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?

Well, who would that be better for? Not your rights or your freedoms!

It would be better for the unbelievers because it is a poor testimony of two men convinced that they are reconciled to God but cannot be reconciled to one another.

Will they think about the needs of the unbeliever or only focus on their own rights?

It also would have been better for their own souls to forgive and bear the consequences of the loss instead of continue to fight for their rights.

Our culture would never teach us this.

Where would this kind of life ethic come from?

From where have we ever seen this kind of humility?

2. Contemplate Christ’s Humiliation

Philippians 2:6–8

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Keep in mind what we know of the great and glorious Jesus Christ, the Son of God from our other passages.

Since Jesus is God, he deserves all worship, all praise, all authority, all devotion, all might, all power, and all glory.

He is the only creator God who truly has rights and privileges within himself apart from being contingent on anything or anyone else.

Yet, the only one who owned the full rights to all things,

Did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

In other words, he did not hold tightly to his rights and what he deserved.

The Son of God was open handed enough with his rights to be able to consider our interests and needs ahead of his own.

Another good translation: He did not count equality with God a thing to be exploited for his own advantage.

If anyone had the right to exert their power and authority to their own advantage, it would have been Jesus.

But, He considered others interests ahead of his own.

Mark 10:42-45

42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Many in our day view anyone with authority with much skepticism, and some of that is for good reason.

Many have experienced hurt and abuse from those whom parents said should be trusted.

But understand this: God has never abused his authority.

Jesus, who is first among all, did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.

That’s what true leadership is all about.

He emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men

Jesus, the God of the universe, was born into a poor carpenter’s family in a feeding trough for animals in a small town.

Jesus came from humble beginnings, and if you were to run into him during his earthly life, you would think he looked pretty much like anyone else.

Imagine, the God of the universe emptied himself in order to take the form of a servant.

Now, Jesus was fully man and fully God, so He did not empty himself of His deity.

Instead, he added humanity to deity and set aside the privilege and glory He had always enjoyed from eternity past.

An African missionary illustrates it this way:

In this particular part of Africa, the chief is the strongest man in the village.

As the chief, he also wears a very large headdress and ceremonial robes.

One day a man carrying water out of the shaft of a deep well fell and broke his leg, and lay helpless at the bottom of the well.

To get down to the bottom, one would have to climb down, using the alternating slits that go all the way down the deep well, then climb back up.

Because no one could carry the helpless man up like this, the chief was summoned.

When he saw the plight of the man, he laid aside his headdress and his robe, climbed all the way to the bottom, put the injured man on himself, and brought him to safety.

He did what no other man could do.

Jesus came to rescue us.

He laid aside all the glory in order to get dirty in the muck and mire of human sin and even bear the penalty for our sin on the cross, so that we would never have to.

He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

Being murdered on a cross was the most cruel, inhumane, and humiliating death possible.

Imagine Jesus willingly giving himself over to such torment and cruelty on your behalf.

I heard a story in college of a Navy Seal Unit who was going into a bunker in the Middle East where some Americans had been held hostage for a long time.

They were stuck in this dark cave all day.

They had to live with their own human waste on the ground.

At times, the cruel terrorists would come in and lead the hostages out of the bunker and tell them they were free, yet as the hostages began to leave, they would grab them and drag them back down into the bunker.

When the Seals finally came in, one of them announced, we are a Navy Seals Team from America.

We are here to rescue you.

You need to follow us out now.

The hostages were so used to the cruel game that they didn’t even get up.

They just laid there in their own waste.

When the Seals saw that the hostages were not following their orders, the captain laid down his weapon, he removed his outer vest, he laid down in the human waste next to the hostages, the other seals followed suit.

He then said again, “I know you have been through hell, but we are Navy Seals from the United States, and we are here to rescue you.”

You see, the only way for the prisoners to be saved was for those seals to empty themselves, stoop low, and identify with the hostages.

In an even more profound way, Jesus emptied himself to get right in the middle of the mess of your sin to save you.

He left the glory of heaven, emptied himself of His glory, and came down into the darkness of your sin and even took all the punishment in your place so that you may go free.

If you truly believe what Jesus did and you are fixated on it, how could you not respond in humility by caring for the needs of others?

You say, I’ve never had anyone do something like that for me.

Oh, you did one time and for all time, and His name is Jesus.

Would you accept his gift of forgiveness he is offering you and give him your life in service to God and service others?

And let me say this, the only way to be empowered by God’s grace to follow Jesus’ example of humility, you first have to experience God’s grace in Jesus humbling himself to the point of being punished for your sin.

The message today is not first: work hard to be more humble like Jesus is.

The message is: Jesus humbled himself and took the punishment for the pride and selfishness you deserve, so as you respond to His sacrifice by turning from sin and believing in Jesus, He will fill you with His spirit and grow you to be more and more like Him.

Because Jesus did this, the next verse says God the Father highly exalted Him.

3. Contemplate Christ’s Exaltation

Philippians 2:9–11

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.

There is a glory bestowed upon God the Son that is even greater due the fact that He humbled himself, took on humanity, and was sacrificed on behalf of us sinners.

Another phrase for highly exalted could be super-elevated.

God the Father super-elevated Jesus and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.

What is the name God the Father bestowed upon Jesus? It is the name of Yahweh and Lord God.

Isaiah 42:8

8 I am the Lord; that is my name;

my glory I give to no other,

nor my praise to carved idols.

You see, God did not give his glory to another, but God came himself in human form, then was raised to the highest place,

And as the church gathers for worship and scatters for mission, we always do so under the banner of this confession: Jesus is Lord!

In those days, it was commonplace for those in the Roman empire to confess: “Caesar is Lord.”

It was pronounced in public gatherings and sporting events.

Yet, since the resurrection of Jesus, it has been the constant refrain of the church that Jesus is Lord, and soon, when Jesus returns to set all things right, every soul in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, that covers absolutely every human soul that has ever existed, will bow the knee and finally confess Jesus is Lord!

You think about it, on that day, all human souls will be unified and agree: Jesus is Lord!

Those who have bowed the knee to Jesus during the time of their life on earth, they will confess Jesus is Lord with great satisfaction and joy!

Those who rejected and ignored Jesus in this life will confess Jesus is Lord in despair and anguish.

Have you bowed your knee to Jesus as Lord?

Will you bow now when there is still time under His great grace, or will you wait to bow in eternity under His just wrath?

Listen, in two hundred years, if the Lord tarries, your name is not going to mean too much.

Yet, in a million years, the name of Jesus is still going to hold all the splendor, wonder, and majesty as it ever has.

I want to live for that name.

Notice, even in the glorification of Jesus, Jesus is still humble to point all His glory to God the Father who was willing to give His son in order to gain His church.

Have you been saved from the wrath of God by bowing to the Lord Jesus?

Have you considered his great sacrifice for your sin? If you confess your sin and trust in Jesus from your heart, you will be saved!

And for all who confess Jesus is Lord: what would it look like for you to truly be humbled?

What would it look like to grow in humility with the mind of Christ in your marriage? To seek your spouses interests over your own?

What would it look like in your parenting?

What would it look like to seek the interests of God through His church in humility?

What would it look like in the community?

How would you pursue and interact with those around you who are very different than you that would make you step out of your comfort zone?

God is seeking people who are willing to be humbled by setting their gaze on the awe-inspiring gospel of Jesus Christ.

Gaze at the baby in the feeding trough.

Gaze at your Savior hanging on the cross.

Gaze at Jesus the Lord super elevated above all rulers, powers, and authorities.

The one who loves you and knows your name, for we confess as His church: Jesus is Lord!

Let’s pray!