He Humbled Himself
Let’s ponder these beautiful words from Philippians:
Are you cheerful because you belong to Christ? Does his love comfort you? Is the Holy Spirit your companion? Has Christ been gentle and loving toward you? Then make my joy complete by agreeing with each other. Have the same love. Be one in spirit and purpose. Don’t do anything only to get ahead. Don’t do it because you are proud. Instead, be free of pride. Think of others as better than yourselves. None of you should look out just for your own good. You should also look out for the good of others. You should think in the same way Christ Jesus does.
In his very nature he was God. But he did not think that being equal with
God was something he should hold on to. Instead, he made himself nothing.
He took on the very nature of a servant.
He was made in human form.
He appeared as a man.
He came down to the lowest level.
He obeyed God completely, even though it led to his death.
In fact, he died on a cross.
So God lifted him up to the highest place.
He gave him the name that is above every name.
When the name of Jesus is spoken, everyone’s knee will bow to worship him.
Every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth will bow to worship him.
Everyone’s mouth will say that Jesus Christ is Lord.
And God the Father will receive the glory (Philippians 2:1-11)
This is one of the finest Christological passages in the New Testament, (the word Christology siply means doctrine of Christ). It affirms both the deity and the humility of Christ. When He came in the incarnation, He was fully God, fully man, but He laid aside His majesty and lived His life, fulfilled His ministry exactly the same way that we do - in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus did not come as a ‘superman’. Sometimes preachers talk of Him as ‘God with skin on’ - and that is false. He was fully human, experiencing hunger, thirst, emotions - and yes, using the bathroom too (the early church fathers fretted over this, thinking it irreverent to view Jesus this way). But He was fully man, yet without sin.
That means that the same power that Jesus walked in is available to us!
But Paul’s primary purpose here is not to give the Philippian Christians a theological discourse about the nature of Christ, but wants to point them to the amazing example of Christ who shows us how to live in authentic humility.
Humility is a much misunderstood character trait. There are those who think that being humble means to adopt an attitude where we choose to become a doormat for everyone else to walk over, or an inability to accept praise for an accomplishment. Worst still, there are those who think that self-degenerating comments are a sign of authentic humility: but a grovelling approach to life, where we are eager to put ourselves down (strangely, sometimes in the hope that others will build us up) is not true humility.
Humility is about the way we approach others as well as the way we view ourselves. Humility calls us to realise that we are not the centre of the universe; as we are liberated to humbly consider others, we can delight in their strengths, rather than be depressed by forever staring at the horizon of self.
Servanthood is not just a matter of disposition, but comes as the result of good and godly choices. Sometimes we can excuse ourselves by saying that meekness is not who we naturally are; but Jesus, who had ‘all authority’ determined to walk a pathway of putting the needs of the world before his own comfort. He made himself nothing. Servanthood is not about acting with false humility, or stooping to snivelling that we are useless and of no worth. Rather being a servant is about taking a daily choice to place the needs of others before our own. One of the challenges, of course, is that you only find out if you are truly a servant when people treat you like one: not so comfortable. But what a contrast we will be when we refuse to live the ‘grabbing’ life, and let go of that in order to bring blessing to others.
So…
· Humility is the opposite of self-obsession – do we listen to others?
· Spirituality without humility tends to be destructive – do we think of ourselves as better than others?
· What about our tone – do we go to the world as servants, gently, or with a rant?
· What do we ‘grasp’ or ‘grab’ that we need to let go of in order to serve?