Humility! - Philippians 2:1-11
Humility! - Philippians 2:1-11
By Pastor Lee Hemen
July 1, 2018
There was an old Country/Western song that stated, “Oh Lord it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way” but of course it was a parody on how the singer viewed himself. However if you listen to some of the folks in today’s headlines you would wonder if some of them need to take a reality pill. Sadly it has infected Christianity to the point where we have begun to arrogantly think that everything about Jesus revolves around us instead of his eternal plan.
Paul knew that each believer was part of God’s plan for the spreading of his gospel. He understood this because it was what he had dedicated his life to. Because of Paul’s adamant belief in the saving grace of Jesus and his single-minded focus there were those who thought he was arrogant. This can happen to someone who is totally focused in life as Paul was. Needless to say this kind of irked Paul and so he did not want others to think this was the way the Christian life was to be lived. If one follows Jesus then they should practice humility; let’s discover what he taught the Philippians…
READ: Philippians 2:1-11
In some cases Christians can be some of the orneriest and unkind people I know but this should never be so. If we follow Jesus then his Spirit lives in us and we should live like it! And this is why…
I. Humility begins with Jesus and ends with others! (Vv. 1-4)
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
1. It isn’t enough to ask if you believe in Jesus but to also understand why you follow him at all. Our faith-walk must be about more than fuzzy feelings or making ourselves happy. It should be much deeper than one’s selfish outlook on life. Paul begins a litany on what occurs spiritually, emotionally, and physically in the life of someone who trusts Jesus as their Savior and Lord. He begins his list with “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ”. Jesus prayed this very thing for us! He told his disciples as he prayed “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20-23 NIV)” When we believe we are in complete unity and total support with Jesus! But more than that if we are in unity with Jesus we enjoy the complete “comfort from his love”, “fellowship with his spirit”, and his “tenderness and compassion”! So if we believe we have all of these things and if we have these things in our lives shouldn’t we want to make Paul’s “joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being in the same spirit and purpose”? And of course the Philippians would answer a hearty “YES!” Just as each of should as well! But in our case we make God’s joy complete when he sees us living as we should! Therefore because all believers share in each of these wonderful blessings we should “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than [ourselves]”! Believers in Jesus should therefore act like Jesus! (I know what a novel concept, right?) In fact, Paul writes that “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others”! We discover that humility begins with Jesus and ends with others!
EXAMPLE: Service in its truest sense is not doing something for others in order to make oneself feel good because then it ceases to be service. One does not serve in a food kitchen, head to the mission field, or decide to do disaster relief in order to feel good. Can you feel good about serving afterwards or delight in serving the Lord through your acts of service? Absolutely! However, the believer does his or her acts of service in order to bring glory to the one they follow; then when others benefit from their service then all the better! Paul teaches us that humility begins with Jesus and ends with others!
Far too often we forget that as a Christian just whom we have living inside of us. The Holy Spirit is not a thing, concept, some mystical entity nor a genie but God himself! And while we may not yet be perfected we are to live like we are striving to be and because of this, Paul teaches that…
II. Humility is the very nature of Jesus! (Vv. 5-8)
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!
1. Paul bluntly tells his fellow believers that “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” because if it isn’t then you may not be what you say you are! Jesus was all about self-sacrifice! Every deed, every miracle, every sermon and example of Jesus was all about sacrifice! He taught that “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:26-28 NIV)” And that “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all. (Mark 9:35 NIV)” Now pause for a moment and let it truly sink in and think about what Jesus was teaching here. First place and greatness come when we sacrifice ourselves in everything we do in life! Say what? Yep, we are to be sacrificial and our attitude as Christians should be the very same as Jesus “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!” Now do you get what Paul is trying to teach here to the Philippians? This is not some noble pithy concept, this is not a truism for life, nor is it a Facebook meme to be posted and passed on ad-nauseam. It defines who Jesus is and what his life was all about! And if you say you believe that and you have trusted him with your life then you too will live like he did! You will set aside you arrogance, pride, and “me-first” attitude and willingly let others go first, be first, and enjoy the sunshine before you do! What you enjoy in life is not yours to hoard but it is a gift that you are to give away! Now is this easy, is this something we all can do at anytime, and is it part and parcel of our lives? NO! But it can be when we begin to live it and practice living it as we know Jesus desires us to do because humility is the very nature of Jesus!
EXAMPLE: If you were to ask folks to list some of the character traits of Jesus one that would be near the top of the list would be his humility. We see it in his birth, when he is found as a youth teaching in the Temple, when he writes in the dirt and forgives an adulterous woman, when he feeds the thousands with a young boy’s lunch, when he forgives the Romans who nailed him to a cross, and finally when he forgives a friend who betrayed him three times. Humility is the very nature of Jesus!
What is the outcome of a life lived sacrificially? Didn’t Jesus die a horrible death after all? Is this what God desires for each of us? To die a horrendous death as martyrs for the cause? Nope. God desires that we die to ourselves and live for him because when we do we discover that…
III. Humility exalts Jesus! (Vv. 9-11)
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 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.
1. Now I do not know what Jesus has called you to do specifically but if you have trusted him with your life he has called you to service. And service for him means sacrifice. Paul understood this because he understood what Jesus had done. You see because of Jesus selfless act of deciding to be a complete servant “God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name”! Wow! We do not fully understand in our day and age what this means. Names were extremely important in Paul’s day and during the time of Jesus. Naming a child carried with it a lifelong impact. People did not make up names nor did they name their children after ungodly people. Yes, sometimes God was the one who chose the name of a child and it was because of this that names were seen as an important thing because they firmly believed that a name was something that defined you as a person. So when God in total; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit decided to give the Son, Jesus, a “name that is above every name” it was really something special! It meant Jesus deserved to be given a name that all others would have to honor, “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”! That Jesus is master and commander of all there is, was, and ever will be! Simply by his willingness to humbly sacrifice himself for our sins and die for us he is given the name, the title, the honor that is above any name and every name! He is Yeshua Messiah Lord! But the important fact here is that Jesus was given this title because of his sacrifice and he was given this title by himself because of who he is and that he is God the Father to his glory! Humility exalts Jesus!
EXAMPLE: My uncle George was disappointed in me and I could tell it. He had left me in charge of weeding my grandmother’s vegetable garden and instead of pulling the weeds up root and all I had just chopped the tops off. Of course they grew back with vigor. He asked me, “Why did you weed your grandmother’s garden this way?” Of course I did not tell him I did it because it was easy and I was being lazy. He told me that I should have done the best job I could have because it was for my grandmother. We should do what we do because our humility exalts Jesus!
Conclusion:
Humility begins with Jesus and ends with others! Humility is the very nature of Jesus! Humility exalts Jesus!
----
This article is copyrighted © 2018 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
By Pastor Lee Hemen
July 1, 2018
There was an old Country/Western song that stated, “Oh Lord it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way” but of course it was a parody on how the singer viewed himself. However if you listen to some of the folks in today’s headlines you would wonder if some of them need to take a reality pill. Sadly it has infected Christianity to the point where we have begun to arrogantly think that everything about Jesus revolves around us instead of his eternal plan.
Paul knew that each believer was part of God’s plan for the spreading of his gospel. He understood this because it was what he had dedicated his life to. Because of Paul’s adamant belief in the saving grace of Jesus and his single-minded focus there were those who thought he was arrogant. This can happen to someone who is totally focused in life as Paul was. Needless to say this kind of irked Paul and so he did not want others to think this was the way the Christian life was to be lived. If one follows Jesus then they should practice humility; let’s discover what he taught the Philippians…
READ: Philippians 2:1-11
In some cases Christians can be some of the orneriest and unkind people I know but this should never be so. If we follow Jesus then his Spirit lives in us and we should live like it! And this is why…
I. Humility begins with Jesus and ends with others! (Vv. 1-4)
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
1. It isn’t enough to ask if you believe in Jesus but to also understand why you follow him at all. Our faith-walk must be about more than fuzzy feelings or making ourselves happy. It should be much deeper than one’s selfish outlook on life. Paul begins a litany on what occurs spiritually, emotionally, and physically in the life of someone who trusts Jesus as their Savior and Lord. He begins his list with “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ”. Jesus prayed this very thing for us! He told his disciples as he prayed “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20-23 NIV)” When we believe we are in complete unity and total support with Jesus! But more than that if we are in unity with Jesus we enjoy the complete “comfort from his love”, “fellowship with his spirit”, and his “tenderness and compassion”! So if we believe we have all of these things and if we have these things in our lives shouldn’t we want to make Paul’s “joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being in the same spirit and purpose”? And of course the Philippians would answer a hearty “YES!” Just as each of should as well! But in our case we make God’s joy complete when he sees us living as we should! Therefore because all believers share in each of these wonderful blessings we should “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than [ourselves]”! Believers in Jesus should therefore act like Jesus! (I know what a novel concept, right?) In fact, Paul writes that “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others”! We discover that humility begins with Jesus and ends with others!
EXAMPLE: Service in its truest sense is not doing something for others in order to make oneself feel good because then it ceases to be service. One does not serve in a food kitchen, head to the mission field, or decide to do disaster relief in order to feel good. Can you feel good about serving afterwards or delight in serving the Lord through your acts of service? Absolutely! However, the believer does his or her acts of service in order to bring glory to the one they follow; then when others benefit from their service then all the better! Paul teaches us that humility begins with Jesus and ends with others!
Far too often we forget that as a Christian just whom we have living inside of us. The Holy Spirit is not a thing, concept, some mystical entity nor a genie but God himself! And while we may not yet be perfected we are to live like we are striving to be and because of this, Paul teaches that…
II. Humility is the very nature of Jesus! (Vv. 5-8)
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!
1. Paul bluntly tells his fellow believers that “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” because if it isn’t then you may not be what you say you are! Jesus was all about self-sacrifice! Every deed, every miracle, every sermon and example of Jesus was all about sacrifice! He taught that “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:26-28 NIV)” And that “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all. (Mark 9:35 NIV)” Now pause for a moment and let it truly sink in and think about what Jesus was teaching here. First place and greatness come when we sacrifice ourselves in everything we do in life! Say what? Yep, we are to be sacrificial and our attitude as Christians should be the very same as Jesus “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!” Now do you get what Paul is trying to teach here to the Philippians? This is not some noble pithy concept, this is not a truism for life, nor is it a Facebook meme to be posted and passed on ad-nauseam. It defines who Jesus is and what his life was all about! And if you say you believe that and you have trusted him with your life then you too will live like he did! You will set aside you arrogance, pride, and “me-first” attitude and willingly let others go first, be first, and enjoy the sunshine before you do! What you enjoy in life is not yours to hoard but it is a gift that you are to give away! Now is this easy, is this something we all can do at anytime, and is it part and parcel of our lives? NO! But it can be when we begin to live it and practice living it as we know Jesus desires us to do because humility is the very nature of Jesus!
EXAMPLE: If you were to ask folks to list some of the character traits of Jesus one that would be near the top of the list would be his humility. We see it in his birth, when he is found as a youth teaching in the Temple, when he writes in the dirt and forgives an adulterous woman, when he feeds the thousands with a young boy’s lunch, when he forgives the Romans who nailed him to a cross, and finally when he forgives a friend who betrayed him three times. Humility is the very nature of Jesus!
What is the outcome of a life lived sacrificially? Didn’t Jesus die a horrible death after all? Is this what God desires for each of us? To die a horrendous death as martyrs for the cause? Nope. God desires that we die to ourselves and live for him because when we do we discover that…
III. Humility exalts Jesus! (Vv. 9-11)
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 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.
1. Now I do not know what Jesus has called you to do specifically but if you have trusted him with your life he has called you to service. And service for him means sacrifice. Paul understood this because he understood what Jesus had done. You see because of Jesus selfless act of deciding to be a complete servant “God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name”! Wow! We do not fully understand in our day and age what this means. Names were extremely important in Paul’s day and during the time of Jesus. Naming a child carried with it a lifelong impact. People did not make up names nor did they name their children after ungodly people. Yes, sometimes God was the one who chose the name of a child and it was because of this that names were seen as an important thing because they firmly believed that a name was something that defined you as a person. So when God in total; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit decided to give the Son, Jesus, a “name that is above every name” it was really something special! It meant Jesus deserved to be given a name that all others would have to honor, “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”! That Jesus is master and commander of all there is, was, and ever will be! Simply by his willingness to humbly sacrifice himself for our sins and die for us he is given the name, the title, the honor that is above any name and every name! He is Yeshua Messiah Lord! But the important fact here is that Jesus was given this title because of his sacrifice and he was given this title by himself because of who he is and that he is God the Father to his glory! Humility exalts Jesus!
EXAMPLE: My uncle George was disappointed in me and I could tell it. He had left me in charge of weeding my grandmother’s vegetable garden and instead of pulling the weeds up root and all I had just chopped the tops off. Of course they grew back with vigor. He asked me, “Why did you weed your grandmother’s garden this way?” Of course I did not tell him I did it because it was easy and I was being lazy. He told me that I should have done the best job I could have because it was for my grandmother. We should do what we do because our humility exalts Jesus!
Conclusion:
Humility begins with Jesus and ends with others! Humility is the very nature of Jesus! Humility exalts Jesus!
----
This article is copyrighted © 2018 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
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