I invite you to turn with me tonight to Philippians chapter 2 as we read together the first 11 verses. Before we read God's Word together, let's bow together asking His blessing upon His Word tonight. Father, as we bow before You once again in this evening hour as Your Word is opened before us, As our Bibles are opened, Father, we confess that we are weak and helpless apart from Your blessing. It is only Your gracious blessing that we are able to boast in and confess. We pray, O Lord, as we have gathered together tonight that You would indeed be merciful to us. That You would open our hearts, our minds by Your Holy Spirit. That Your Word may go forth and all of its beauty and holiness and boldness. That You would give strength to Your weak servant. That You would bless Your people. That, Father, indeed Your Word may go forth as You have intended, that it may be heard and received as You have determined. That by Your Spirit You would impress it upon our hearts and lives in a way that we might hear it and believe and be obedient to it. All the time giving praise and honor and glory to our God and King. Hear our prayer, O Lord, for Jesus' sake. In His name we pray. Amen. Philippians 2, beginning at verse 1. 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. 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. 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. There ends the reading of God's holy Word. May He indeed add His blessing to it tonight. Well, dear people of God, just before this text, Paul has been speaking about suffering for the sake of the Gospel. Himself suffering as a prisoner in chains, but also he's been speaking about the suffering of the Philippian believers and He calls them, in the midst of that suffering, He calls them to be united as they face opposition. But then He moves forward and He also calls them to be united and to live in harmony as a family of God. We see this already in verse 2. 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, and then he, as it were, points out the ingredient for unity and harmony as he goes on in verse 3, but in humility, consider others better than yourselves. Humility, we might say, is the key ingredient for unity and harmony among God's people. Humility is one of the virtues, one of the traits of godliness that God's people are called to pursue, that God's people are called to train themselves in as we considered last week. Humility is indeed of the fruit of the Spirit. Even though it's not formally listed in Galatians 5, Paul does include it in Colossians 3 in the clothing of the new self that God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, are to put on. And humility is Christ-like. Oh, indeed, it's the very opposite of our nature, isn't it? But for those who are in Christ Jesus, it is Christ-like. Christ to whose image and likeness we are being conformed, as Paul says in Romans 8, verse 29. And it is then Christ's example of humility that Paul points the Philippian believers to follow. Yet, Christ's example, you see, is more than just a generic example, we might say. Christ's example is meaningful only because of what He has accomplished by His example. And Paul points that out already in verse 1. 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. Now we are to understand that when Paul says if you have these things, he is not saying if it happens to be the case because it may or may not be. He is not saying that it's only a possibility that these things may be true. But we are to understand him this way that he is saying, if these things are true, and they are, he is saying, since or because you have encouragement from being united with Christ, because you have comfort from His love, because you have fellowship with the Spirit, therefore, make my joy complete. You see, beloved Christ's very example accomplished the salvation of the Philippian believers and indeed of all believers. Christ's very example accomplished that salvation, uniting, making us one with Jesus Christ, giving us comfort of the amazing love of God, reaching down from the highest height to the lowest depth to rescue you and me. Bringing us into fellowship with the life-giving Spirit and producing compassion for one another. And because of that, Paul then says in Ephesians 5, verses 1 and 2, be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. You see, beloved, as recipients of Christ's work of humility, His people are called to imitate Jesus Christ, to imitate Him by learning from Christ's extreme humiliation. Now, humility we are to understand here as an attitude of the heart. An attitude of the heart that is manifested in our relationships. First of all, manifested in our relationship to God. And then, manifested in our relationship with others. It is an attitude of the heart manifested as well in how we see ourselves. Humility includes the idea of lowliness of mind in the sense of selflessness. It's the opposite of pride and arrogance. It is the opposite of thinking highly of oneself or exalting oneself. It is the opposite of looking down on others. Now, in the Greco-Roman world, humility was a sign of weakness. It was a sign of intimidation. It meant that one was afraid, that one was a coward, that one had a lack of confidence. Humility was considered to be a shortcoming. It was a defect, probably kind of like how humility is perceived in a job interview today, because we're called to sell ourselves, to make ourselves look good, to show why we are better than the next person for the particular job. But as a Christian virtue, humility means not having a false modesty that draws attention to one's humility, hoping to be commended for it, or it does not mean having a lack of confidence, being kind of like a doormat that others wipe their dirty shoes on, as it were. But humility as a Christian virtue means having a proper estimation of oneself. Understanding one properly. And that proper estimation of oneself being demonstrated in selflessness, being demonstrated in putting others first. The best definition of humility that we could find is Christ's example of His extreme humiliation. His extreme humiliation that first of all reveals the greatness of His love. As we considered just a moment ago from Ephesians chapter 5, Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us. As we mentioned last week Sunday evening a little bit in connection with Titus 3 verse 4, But when the kindness and love of God, our Savior, appeared, He saved us. Christ's extreme humiliation reveals the greatness of His love. As in His love for us, beloved, He sacrificed His glory. Paul says in verse 6, Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. Now, we know that in this passage, Paul's emphasis is indeed on Christ's example, his glorious example, yet in laying forth that example, do you notice how Paul gives an amazing Christology, namely, the doctrine of Christ. He clearly identifies the person of Christ, pointing both to his divine nature and his human nature, and also clearly identifying the work of Christ, pointing out His humiliation and His exaltation. Christ's extreme humiliation reveals the greatness of His love, that He sacrificed His glory, the glory of His majestic position. Paul says, who being in very nature God. Paul is pointing back to before the time when Christ humbled Himself, giving proof that Jesus, that the Son of God, that Jesus as the Son of God existed before He came to earth as Jesus prayed in John 17, verse 5, And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. Paul is reminding us in a very vivid way that Jesus is God. He always has been. That all the attributes of God, all that can be said about God, that He is independent, that He is omnipotent, that He is gracious and holy. And all that which can be said about God is true of Jesus because He is God. And that Jesus possessed the majesty and the glory and the perfection of heaven. And that to Him belonged the adoration and the worship and the praise of angels. All of that was His. But He sacrificed His glory through his selfless attitude. He did not grasp onto it. He did not cling to the glory of divinity. He did not cling to the glory of heaven for selfish reasons. He did not use it for his own advantage. He did not say when it came to sinful man and their desperate need, he did not say, it's not my job, it's not my problem, let someone else do it. He did not say, I can't be bothered right now. I have more important things to do. He did not selfishly refuse His people the salvation that only He could accomplish. Instead, beloved, our salvation was more important to the Son of God than retaining heavenly glory. It was more important to the Son of God than for Him to retain heavenly glory. Our salvation was His priority, period. And He sacrificed His glory by emptying Himself. Verse 7 says, But made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant to being made in human likeness. But made Himself nothing. Also translated, but He emptied Himself. Now we've considered this before. This is one of those details in Scripture that there's been much controversy with regard to over the centuries. How do we understand that? That He emptied Himself. It does not mean that something was subtracted from His deity, subtracted from His godness. But it means that He added something to Himself. He emptied Himself by adding something to Himself that He was not before. And that is a human nature. He added to Himself a human nature. He did not exchange His deity, in other words, leave His deity behind to take on humanity. He did not give up the nature of God for the nature of a servant, but instead he became the God-man. One person, two natures, divine and human. What he did do is that he did lay aside his glory by hiding it under the weakness, under the clothing of human flesh as he took upon himself that human nature. And his exchange was far more than what you and I would even ever bother to consider he exchanged the heavenly environment of glory and majesty for this earth he exchanged the heavenly environment of of glory and majesty for the environment of this earth he entered this world of sin with its misery all around in his humanity we know that he became subject to the needs of the physical world he did give up his right as the lawgiver in order to be born under the law so he went from no burden of guilt to becoming sin for us as he took the guilt and the curse of sin upon himself and he did so without complaining he did so without committing sin all of this and more beloved as in his love he sacrificed his glory and he also sacrificed his life that human life that he took upon himself verse 8 says and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. He sacrificed His life. He was rejected by men. Those He came to save abused Him, scorned Him, tortured Him. They humiliated Him. He took upon Himself death. And if it wasn't bad enough that He had to die, He had to die the most violent, cruel, shameful, and painful death of the cross, that which was reserved for the worst of the worst, which showed, as Moses says in Deuteronomy, that he was under God's curse. Beloved, the cross is a symbol of the reality that he gave up his throne in glory all the way to being separated from and forsaken by God. Extreme humiliation. As his love and example are like the east is from the west, David says in Psalm 103, as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. We know what that means. East and west will never touch. We might say that is how extreme is Christ's extreme humility. His love and His example, like the east and the west that will never touch, from the highest place, no higher He could be, to the lowest place, no lower place could He get. Secondly, Christ's extreme humiliation instructs of man's true position. It teaches us then of man's true position. And first of all, man's true position before God. You see, humility begins with humility before God. If there is no true humility before God, there is no true humility whatsoever. And that humility before God includes that man's true position before God is that he is absolutely dependent upon God for life. He is the Creator. We are the creature. He is infinitely high and holy. And we, as Abraham described himself in Genesis 18, are dust and ashes. Boys and girls, think about that. Dust and ashes. That's what Abraham said he was. That's what we are before a sovereign and a holy God. Dust and ashes. What are dust and ashes? What are they good for? Well, nothing. They're useless. They blow away in the wind. We are dependent upon Him for our very life. And because of the greatness of the love of Jesus selflessly giving Himself to the death of the cross, we know also then that we are absolutely dependent upon Him for salvation. That's what Christ's extreme humiliation teaches us about our true position before God. That we are absolutely dependent upon Him for salvation. Beloved, as we recognize by the grace of God, as we recognize the sovereignty of God, as we recognize the transcendent glory and majesty and holiness and greatness of God's being, as we considered last week in connection with the fear of God, being in awe of Him. As we recognize the infinite gulf which separates the independent one from absolutely dependent ones. What a vivid reminder that in sin, we are nothing. In sin, we are enemies of God. We are castaways. And therefore, we cannot help but to be humbled as we know that only God's grace through nothing but the blood of Jesus is our hope. You see, beloved, we are beggars whose hands are empty until God's benevolence fills them. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4, verse 7, what do you have that you did not receive? And the answer, the expected answer, is nothing. You received everything. And he goes on, and if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? Why do you act as if you came upon it yourself? Why do you take pride in yourself? Why do you boast in yourself? Christ's extreme humiliation instructs of man's position before God that we are absolutely dependent upon Him for life and absolutely dependent upon Him for salvation. And therefore, it also then, in the light of that, instructs us of our true position before men. Before one another. Paul says again in verse 3, Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. beloved as we consider our true position before god that we are nothing then we must also see that we are not higher or better or more worthy than any other person that by nature all are the same in the sight of god not one deserves god's grace more than anyone else and we must not think that because we are recipients of the grace of god that we deserve it more than anyone else. Instead, we are to see ourselves before others as Paul saw himself before men. Paul called himself the worst, the chief of sinners. That's how Paul viewed himself before mankind. The worst, the chief of sinners. And that is how we too are called to see ourselves. That's the only comparison that we can make with others. A comparison that does not put ourselves on top. We are not even to compare ourselves with others saying, well, we rely on or we respond to God's grace a little more than others do. Or we are not to find comfort in ourselves that we believe while others don't. We can't even take credit for that. We are to see ourselves, as hard as it may be to imagine, we are to see ourselves as the worst, as the chief of sinners, even over Judas Iscariot, even over Nero, even over Hitler, or over Bin Laden, or over John Gardner. We are to judge ourselves only. And beloved, as a sinner, I am to compare myself only to the holiness of God, and when I do, I will only see myself as the lowest of the low. When we truly understand our true position before God and before men, then Christ's extreme humiliation in the third place motivates the believer's humble character. It motivates the child of God by the power of the Holy Spirit to practice humility and to do so, again, first of all, before God. Notice again what Paul says about Jesus beginning at verse 9. 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. God is supreme. God is sovereign. Jesus Christ is God. He is supreme and sovereign. We are called to bow before Him. That our lives are called to be living sacrifices of praise to Him. You see, when we know by faith that God is high and exalted and holy and when I understand that and understand my unholiness, then humility is the natural response. It's the natural reaction to a consciousness of sin. Think about some of the examples that we have in Scripture. Moses bowed and worshipped before God at the burning bush. Isaiah, when he came face to face, said, Woe is me, for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips. Think of Peter as he all of a sudden realized who Jesus was. He says, Away from me, for I am a sinful man. Or think about the Apostle John in the book of Revelation. It tells us that He fell down as a dead man before the Lord of glory. Humility before God. Beloved, knowing that I deserve nothing from Him, that means absolutely no thing. Nothing. Knowing that apart from Jesus Christ, I have no right to ask for anything and that I have nothing to boast of in myself. Recognizing that He has given and He has promised all that I need as His child and recognizing that I am, that I exist only because of Him. And therefore also humbling myself before His Word. Knowing that it is true, knowing that it is trustworthy, making it my number one daily priority because God speaks to me through it. Imagine that. The Sovereign, Supreme, Almighty God speaks to you and me through His Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. Humbly allowing the Word of God to search me. Humbly bowing before His judgment on my character and on my conduct and embracing His promises by faith. Humbly bowing before His Word. And then also humbly acknowledging that all that I have in the form of gifts and abilities and achievements, it's all from the hand of God. Nothing do I bring to Him. It's all from the hand of God. And therefore, again, as Paul says in verse 3, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. We have no reason to glory in ourselves. We are not to boast in ourselves. We are not to think too highly of ourselves. But instead, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, 10, may this be our confession by the grace of God. I am what I am. And therefore, beloved, His glory is my highest priority. And then also exercising humility that when circumstances of life are to my favor, when everything is going well and life is grand, again, instead of taking credit to myself, humbly recognizing that these are a blessing from the gracious hand of God, but also when circumstances of life are difficult. When I'm facing hardships and trouble and it just doesn't seem to be very nice or fun at all. Again, humbly accepting this from an infinitely wise and loving God. Indeed, it motivates Christ's extreme humiliation, motivates our humble character before God, but also then, before men. Verses 3 and 4, once again, 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. Again, I believe we can call this the ingredient, the necessary ingredient for what he says in verse 2. Be like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Paul is calling God's people to selflessness. He is calling God's people to put others first. Exercising humility before others includes submission to one another. As Paul says in Ephesians 5, verse 21, submit to one another out of reverence to Christ. He had just talked about wives, submit to your husband. Slaves, submit to your masters. And then he looks the entire congregation in the face, as it were, and says, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Now, Paul does not mean that we are to become slave-like in the sense of giving in to the demands of others or embracing the opinions of others no matter what, when they would be sinful or harmful to others, when it would not be to God's glory. but Paul is talking about submitting to others in this sense. Submit to the instruction. Submit to the correction. Submit to the admonition of others. It's easy to take encouragement from each other, isn't it? But it's not so easy to take correction or admonishment. Paul says submit to one another. To the instruction, the correction, the admonition of others. Be teachable. And be willing to admit error. As humility is also exercised not only in submission to one another, but serving one another. Serving one another as Jesus washing the disciples' feet. Is there any greater illustration for us? In other words, beloved, get your hands dirty on behalf of one another. Not for our own glory in order that we might be commended by others who observe it, but so that God may be glorified. Setting ourselves aside just as Christ set aside His glory for a time. Setting ourselves aside. Putting the ideas and the plans and the desires and the needs of others first. Indeed, doing unto others what we would have them do unto us, but not expecting anything in return. Submitting to one another. Serving one another. but also humility exercised by honoring one another. Paul says, consider others better than yourself. And therefore, we are not to be humiliating one another. Boys and girls, sometimes it's easy, isn't it? Putting others down. High school kids, it's easy, isn't it? Making others feel bad on purpose, trying to make them feel as bad as you can. Paul says no. The Word of God says no. honoring others consider others better than yourselves not humiliating others but exalting others now when paul says says consider others better he is not saying he's not talking about better in the sense of assigning more value or worth to others and then also treating myself as worthless or not as good he's not talking here about being better in sports or music or drama We all have different skill levels which we are to deal with humbly without pride. Another translation says this, count others more significant than yourselves. Paul is saying consider others better than yourselves in the sense of putting each other's cares and needs before your own. Making others more important than yourself. Now, if you don't think that I'm preaching to the choir here, I am because I have a hard time with this. I'm a very selfish person. But Paul says, get rid of pride. Get rid of self-centeredness. I am not to be about boasting in myself or bragging, especially as it might put someone else down. I'm not to be about drawing attention to myself, but instead, beloved, we are to be consciously focusing on others, consciously encouraging others and promoting others and striving to make sure that they feel honored and loved and appreciated and cared about, even in the little things in life. Boys and girls, how can you do this? Really, in some very simple ways. Let your classmates go first. Play the game that they want to play at recess. Give them the best seat. When someone brings donuts for a treat, let them have the first choice. You might not get your favorite, but that's okay. In so many little things, beloved, it's so easy that we would be able to show humility to one another. Of course, this does not mean that we never correct or rebuke or exhort one another. It does not mean that we let the Word of God be compromised, but we do rebuke and correct and exhort in humility, without arrogance, doing so in Christian love. Out of love for the Lord and out of love for each other's soul's salvation. Humility. And our pattern, of course, is Jesus Christ, isn't it? And therefore, this humility is not to be partial or part-time humility. He's not talking about qualified humility. If this or that condition is met, then maybe, otherwise not. It's not to be humility exercised only in certain circumstances or in certain areas of life, But this humility is to be constant. It is something that is to be all the time in everything. After all, it is part of the clothing of the new man. It is part of that new nature. It is a part of the child of God. As one writer says, humility opens the way to all other godly character traits. It is the soil in which the other traits of the fruit of the Spirit grow. And I think we can understand that as we think about joy and compassion, and gentleness. In a sense, it flows from, it grows from as well humility. And Christ's extreme humiliation, beloved, alone pays for the sin of selfish pride for all who turn to Him in faith. Pride, which we might say is the foundation of sin. Eve had pride in her eyes. And only Christ's extreme humiliation pays for the sin of selfish pride for all who trust in Christ alone. And that is our comfort, isn't it? As we struggle daily, we know what the Word of God calls us to, but we struggle daily with pride and arrogance. But our comfort is that it's all washed away by the blood of Jesus. And therefore, enabled and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we humbly respond in gratitude with a life lived to the glory of God. This godly virtue of humility will only be real as we understand by faith the undeserved grace of God. This godly virtue will only be motivated by that undeserved grace of God which has lifted us from the pit and placed our feet firmly on the rock, the solid rock of Jesus Christ. And therefore, beloved, may our prayer be daily that the Holy Spirit would help us to put humility into practice. Even as Jesus Christ has already put us first before Himself in giving Himself for us in the extreme way to accomplish our extreme transformation from eternal death to eternal life. Amen. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, as Your people, we are humbled before You. And You have given us a desire that we would want to live in a way that is pleasing to You. To show forth our gratitude for Your great work in our hearts, in our lives. Your work accomplished on our behalf. Father, we pray that by Your Spirit more and more You would cultivate that godly virtue of humility. That we might have an increased understanding of Your greatness and Your majesty and Your power and of who You are. And that we are nothing apart from You. And that all we have is a gift from You. And that we might see thereby as well that we are no different than other people except for the grace of God. And therefore too, Father, may we treat each other, may we treat others with a humble spirit. Treating them with love and compassion in Christ Jesus. Looking out for the needs of others. Being interested in one another. Father, what a blessing that would be to your church. What a blessing that would be to a congregation if we all together would treat each other with that blessed humility of which we are taught by Christ. So hear our prayer, O Lord, for Jesus' sake. And in His name we pray, Amen.