Philippians 2:5-11
“Oh Lord it's hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me I must be a heck of a man. Oh Lord it's hard to be humble but I'm doing the best that I can.”
Do you remember that Mac Davis song from 1980? Now most of us are a little bit more humble than the words of that song, but all of us struggle with pride. Pride is a part of our sinful flesh that goes to the very center of our being and it alienates us from God and from one another.
That is why the Bible has to tell us to not to be conceited but look out for the interests of others-- and count others more significant than ourselves-- which of course are the very things we struggle to do.
We like to be first. We want to make sure that we get what is ours. We love to be recognized for our achievements. We think of ourselves more highly than we ought. Oh Lord, it IS hard to be humble!
And so how are we to be the humble, obedient people that God expects us to be? Where will learn what God desires of us in our relationships with others and with him? The Bible says:
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…
Humility is one of those virtues like love that is hard to describe—especially in our world where these things get twisted out of shape into something that is unrecognizable as humility or love.
We know about false humility that denies the real gifts that God has given us. We know about a humility that is really just a mask to hide the bragging on ourselves that we want to do. We know about a love that is really not for the good of others but a feeling that meets my emotional needs.
It takes God to tell us the truth about love and humility. The bible says in First John that: This is love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and gave us his Son. And the Bible says here in Philippians that this is what humility is: Jesus Christ, who was truly God did not count equality with God something to be held onto.
When it comes to how we are to live—whether in love or humility--we are not left to our own devices to discover what God is looking for from us—we are not left to the false definitions of the unbelieving world—instead, we are directed to Jesus Christ.
When God calls us to lives of humility he points us to his Son Jesus and says this is what I’m talking about: my Son Jesus, who shares my divine nature, did not hold onto glory and honor for himself--but for your sake, he laid it aside. The Bible says that:
Jesus was in the form of God and yet 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.
When Jesus entered into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, he did not come as the King of kings and Lord of lords—he did not come as a great conqueror—he did not come with the majesty of almighty God (though he was all of these and more!).
He came in riding on a little grey donkey, his feet hanging almost to the ground--in meekness and humility. So it had been throughout his life.
Jesus took on the flesh of a poor Virgin who would be ridiculed for the story that her baby was born of God—not of sin. He lived in obscurity- and he labored with his hands- and he spent his life helping those around him. He said of himself: I came not to be served—but to serve and give my life for others.
And yet the great wonder of this humble man from Galilee is that he is the King of kings -and he is the Lord of lords- and he is true God in human flesh!
And so why did he humble himself—why was he born in the likeness of men as the bible says?
It is because we have failed to be the men and women that God wants us to be. We haven’t loved others sacrificially—we haven’t counted others better than ourselves—we haven’t looked to the interests of others.
And yet that is God’s expectation of us and he promises to punish, in time and eternity, those who do not do his will.
That is why God’s own Son, out of love for us, laid aside the divine glory and honor and majesty (that are truly his own) to do for us what we have not—and cannot—do: live a holy life and suffer God’s punishment on the cross. The Bible says that:
Being found in human form, Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Throughout his life Jesus would say of himself: I have come to do my Father’s will—I have come to speak my Father’s words. And he did. His life on earth was lived in perfect obedience to his heavenly Father in thought, word, and deed.
He said of himself: I and my Father are one—not just because they shared the same divine nature—but because his life as a man was perfectly united to God.
That perfect life led him into death—even death on the cross.
At the beginning of this chapter, the Bible tells us to humbly count others more important than ourselves and to look not to our own interests, but to the interests of others.
In Jesus’ life and death we see just exactly what the bible means. Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the one, true and living God---humbly counted you better than himself—he looked to your interests ahead of his own and he died in your place—even death on a cross.
Two thousand years after God the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write these very words, we can still hear the stunned amazement in his voice—even death on a cross—the most painful, humiliating, degrading death that can be imagined.
In fact, the Bible says: cursed is everyone hung on a tree---and not only because it was a humiliating, degrading way to die—but because it was a visible sign of being cursed by God—a public display that a crime worthy of death had been committed and the punishment of that crime was put on view for all to see.
That is the death that Christ suffered—not just painful, not just humiliating—but cursed by God. It was there in that humble man lifted up upon the cross that we see the truth of God’s attitude towards sin—for this perfect, humble, loving man was not being punished for his sins ( he had none) but for ours.
The Bible says that God made him who had no sin, to be sin for us—that in him we might become the righteousness of God. This was Jesus’ mission: to live the life we should have lived and to die the death we should have died.
And that is what he accomplished: our salvation from sin and death. The Bible says that this is the reason that: God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.
We know that 700 years before the birth of the Messiah, Isaiah promised that he would be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, and prince of peace. We know that Joseph and Mary were commanded by God to give their baby the name: Jesus—the LORD saves—because he would save his people from their sin.
And so what does Paul mean when he says that after his death, resurrection and ascension Jesus was given the name that is above every name? It’s because:
There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Jesus is the name that is above every name because God has declared that there is one way of salvation-- and only one way—and that is to call upon the name of Jesus Christ in faith, trusting in his life, death, and resurrection.
The name of Jesus identifies who he is and what is had done: that he is the LORD who saves—that he alone has accomplished the Father’s saving purpose in undoing the effects of sin and death and reconciling us back to our Creator. That is why the Bible says 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.
Our Lord Jesus Christ humbled himself and became obedient unto death—even death on the cross—for us. He made himself nothing—for us. He did not consider equality with God something to be held onto—but he willingly became a servant to us. He is our Savior. But he is also our Lord and King.
And it is to the glory of God the Father that we bend our knee before Jesus and confess his lordship over every part of our lives and yield ourselves in obedience to his holy will.
The Christian’s life is marked by humility and obedience because the King we serve lived a life of humility and obedience.
And so we submit ourselves to God because Jesus did- and we count others better than ourselves because Jesus did- and we take up our cross because Jesus did- and we desire nothing other than to serve our King because Jesus desired to do nothing other than to do his Father’s will.
This is the entire purpose of Christ’s saving work—to re-establish a right relationship between us and God--and we have an opportunity---a day of grace-- right now-- to confess the truth about who Jesus and what he has done and acknowledge his rightful rule over our lives.
But we also need to know that this gracious opportunity—this day of day of grace---will not last forever. When Christ comes again, all of those who have trusted in him and followed him and obeyed him and acknowledged his rightful rule over their lives will kneel before him in joy and thankfulness for all that he has done and acclaim as their Savior and Lord.
And yet, even those who have not trusted him or followed him will bow before him and confess him to be their rightful master.
Unlike us, they will do this in abject terror and fear for in that moment they will know him for who he truly is: the King of kings and Lord of lords and the perfectly righteous judge who will cast them into the eternal fires of hell.
That day holds no fear for us because of this day of grace when we humble ourselves before Jesus in faith and obedience and commit ourselves to lives of humility and service like his. Amen.
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