Joy in Humility
Philippians 2:1-11
What humility and pride are?
I’ll
start by telling you what humility and pride are. I believe it’s sometimes
easiest to understand humility by comparing it with pride.
·
First as John Staut
the eminent theologian says, “Pride is our greatest enemy.” You need to know
that pride is your greatest enemy. Conversely, humility is your greatest
friend.
·
Second, pride is in
its origin, demonic and satanic. Satan was originally an angel created by
God and he became very proud. That was the first sin and he was kicked out of
heaven. humility is Christ like and its spirit enabled, meaning that any human
being who has any measure of humility is a miracle.
·
Third, pride is the
encouragement to compare ourselves to other people, and we tend to pick people
that we feel are less than us—less intelligent, less successful, less
affluent, less attractive. Humility is continually comparing ourselves to Jesus
Christ.
·
Four, pride covets
the success of other people. When they succeed, we become jealous and envious and
covetous. That’s why sometimes we’ll critique people when they succeed. We’re
jealous. Humility allows us to not covet the success of other people, but to
celebrate it—to rejoice in it and to be glad for God’s grace that has been
extended to them.
·
Fifth, pride is
about me.
It’s about what I want. It’s about what I need. It’s about what I think. It’s
about what I feel. It’s about what I declare. It’s about what I deserve. Humility
is about Jesus and it’s about other people. And humility allows someone to be
selfless, whereby their natural inclination would be to remain selfish.
·
Sixth, pride is
about my glory.
“Do you know who I am? Do you know what I’ve done? Do you respect me? Do you
honor me? Do you praise me? Do you like me? Do you want to be like me?” Humility
is about the glory of Jesus Christ. Do you love Jesus? Do you know Jesus? Do
you honor Jesus? Do you respect Jesus? Do you want to be like Jesus?
·
Seven, “I am God” –
“Little G, God”. “I sit on a throne and I make commands and I expect people to
obey and honor me.” Humility
is not about being God, but it’s about celebrating the fact that the real God
has lovingly served me.
·
Eight, pride leads
to arrogance, cockiness, smugness, and it’s repugnant. Humility leads not
to arrogance, but to confidence. Confidence meaning, I won’t deny my convictions.
I won’t disagree with scripture. I won’t dishonor Jesus.
·
Nine, the point of
pride is independence.
We see this in Satan who wanted to be separated from God. We see that as
sinners, where we want to live independently of God, doing what we want.
Humility is not about independence. It’s about dependence. It’s about
acknowledging that we’re created and he’s Creator, and that we are dependent on
God for love and grace and mercy and forgiveness, and compassion and instruction
and correction and help. And so the humble person seeks in no way to be
independent. They acknowledge their dependence on God and fellow brothers and
sisters in Christ.
·
Tenth, Augustine, says
that “pride is the mother of all sin” – that “pride is pregnant with all kinds of
sin”. I believe that’s true – that under all sin is pride. That pride is the
root sin that leads to the fruit of sin, which would mean conversely that
humility is the mother of all joy. That’s what Paul is going to tell us this
week – that humble people are the only ones who truly have the possibility of
being happy people.
Outside of scripture, humility is not taught.
·
It
is not to be encouraged.
·
It
is not to be informed.
·
That
our world exists for self-help, self-esteem, self-love, self-actualization. Not
for humility.
·
Not
for love of God and others
Our scripture for the day!!
We
start in Chapter 2. In here we find something that is absolutely countercultural,
instruction on humility, and so we must confront our sin nature, we must
re-think what our culture has taught us, and sadly, even reevaluate much of the
church’s teaching—that it’s about your destiny and your vision and your rights
and you’re calling and your giftedness and your glory. We must rebel against
all of that. And Paul gives us great advice, encouragement and instruction
regarding humility.
It
is my opinion, that Philippians 2, 1 through 11, is the centerpiece of the
book. Everything leads to it and flows from it. Furthermore, it is one of the
most, if not the most, significant sections of the New Testament on the person
and work of Jesus.
Joy in Humility
Read Verse 1-4
·
“Complete my joy”
o So many people are
miserable because they’re arrogant
o Look Paul is worried
about others not himself
·
“Do nothing”
o that is a very
important statement
o keep the focus on
others
o leave your interest
behind
o have a servant
attitude
·
Nothing builds a
church stronger than humility. Nothing breaks and destroys a church faster than
pride.
o This church is like
every church—very frail.
o Health is gained
slowly and lost quickly
o Jesus has done a
great deal in and through and for and by and in spite of this church and in
spite of me.
o What we’ve been
working on for 3 years could be undone by one or a few proud people. That’s how
frail unity in the church is. That’s how frail we truly are as a community.
o The one person who
is proud all of a sudden becomes a point of division and controversy and
conflict and separation.
·
Rivalry and
conceit.”
o Rivalry meaning you’re in competition for
resources, information, power, title.
o Conceit—you’re
jealous of other people in the church.
o He’s writing to a church! This is a Christian
warning.
·
In humility, count
others more significant than yourselves, and the interest of others first
o Proud people only
care about what they care about.
o Humble people think
of everyone.
o Proud people think
of themselves.
Are you humble or
proud?” We must all say, “I’m proud.”
Jesus the most humble example!
Read Verse 5-8
·
Have this mind among
yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,”—
o Only Christians have
the ability to really understand humility, not because we’re better than anyone
else, but because it’s only to be found in Jesus!
·
“did not count
equality with God”
o Humbled himself
o Stepped down from
heaven
o Left his throne
·
“but emptied himself”
o This was not
commanded of him
o This was a price he
was willing to pay
o Are you willing to
pay the price and humble yourself for others??
No
one is more humble than Jesus.” No one is more humble than Jesus. And Jesus
demonstrates that in what we call the incarnation. It’s a theological term.
Incarnation means God became a man!!!!
·
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient
o we humble ourselves
when we give God the glory
o we humble ourselves
when Gods needs come first
o we humble ourselves
when serving becomes more important than being served
By becoming humble God lifts Jesus above all!!
Read Verse 9-11
Jesus
is more important than anything, and the name of Jesus is the most beautiful
thing of all. That is because as fully man and fully God, Jesus is the only
mediator who can reconcile us proud sinners to our humble and good God.
Paul
says it this way elsewhere—“There is only one mediator between man and God.
That is the man Christ Jesus. God became a man to live humbly, to die on a
cross for sinners to reconcile them to God.” As a result of that, Paul says,
“The name of Jesus is the name that we should exalt. The name of Jesus is the
name that we should sing. The name of Jesus is the name that should live for.
The name of Jesus is the name that we should humbly and gladly proclaim.”
Before we leave!!
I
want to share some scripture I have been mediating on this week and 10 things
we need to look at in our lives!
Proverbs 16:5 (ESV) Everyone who is arrogant in heart is
an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished.
Proverbs 16:18 (ESV) Pride goes before destruction, and a
haughty spirit before a fall.
James 4:6 (ESV) But he gives more grace. Therefore it
says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
1 Peter 5:5 (ESV) Likewise, you who are younger, be
subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one
another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Every morning when we wake up with a proud spirit its
like we are picking a fight with God! My momma always said “don’t poke the bear”
So
in closing, I’ll give you ten recommendations that I have taken from the book “Humility,
True Greatness” by C.J. Mahaney, and I am sharing them with you as ways to
clothe yourself in humility so that God might give you grace.
·
First, follow the
truth wherever it leads. If it means it leads to “you’re wrong”, then follow
it. If it leads to “you’re fired”, then follow it. If it leads to “that’s not
what’s best for you, but it’s best for all”, then follow it. If it leads to
“you need to apologize”, then follow it. Don’t defend yourself. Don’t always do
what is in your best interest. Follow the truth wherever it leads.
·
Secondly, invite and
pursue correction and council. Tell the people in your life, “I’m blind to
my own blindness. I’m foolish to my own folly. I need you to confront me. I
need you to rebuke me. I need you to speak the truth to me. When I’m acting
like a jerk, I need you to say it. I need you to give me council because
sometimes I don’t know what to do. I need correction because sometimes I say
and do the wrong thing.” And receive it, don’t argue, don’t blame shift, don’t
change the topic. Receive it.
·
Thirdly, learn from
everyone, including your enemies and critics. Have the humility to overlook their
pride, because God may have something that is truthful for you if you’re humble
enough to overlook their pride.
·
Forth, repent
quickly and thoroughly. Don’t force it to be an enormous issue where multiple
people have to get involved and it has to become very formalized, and all the
way to church discipline and something that is very arguist and painful and
complicated and divisive. Don’t make someone pin you to the mat and break your
arm before you tap. Just tap. “I sinned. I was wrong. I screwed up. That was
evil. I’m a jerk. I’m sorry.” Make it simple.
·
Five, seek and
celebrate God’s grace at work and other Christians. God is at work in
other Christians. Look for it. Encourage it. “I see God is changing you here,
growing you here. I see what he’s doing through you here. I’m encouraged by
this.” Nurture and encourage God’s grace at work in others.
·
Six, cultivate his
spirit of thankfulness. Be thankful for people and tell them be thankful for
God, and tell him cultivate an attitude of thankfulness. Proud people think
they deserve everything. Humble people know they deserve hell. And anything
beyond that is a real gift, and so they’re able to be thankful.
·
Seven, listen to
scripture more than yourself. We can lie to ourselves, deceive ourselves,
con ourselves, condemn ourselves, justify ourselves. Don’t listen to yourself
so much. Listen to scripture. God will speak to you truthfully through his
Word.
·
Eight, exalt the
name of Jesus in all you do. The right answer to every question is
whatever makes Jesus look great, because he is. Don’t do what exalts your name.
Do and say what exalts the name of Jesus. You’ll never regret that. Just by
wave encouragement, you’ll never regret that.
Ninth, laugh. Proud people cannot laugh. They’re way too
serious and they can not laugh at themselves. So let me just state this. You
are ridiculous. You are. You are ridiculous. I am ridiculous. And proud people
can’t laugh at themselves.
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