Humility
Years ago there was this funny song about humility. The chorus went something like this…
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
(Try to sing it. You can find Mac Davis singing this on Youtube.)
To find what humility really is let’s turn to one of the greatest passages in the Bible, another song – a hymn, and the greatest passage on humility. Let’s read Philippians 2 verse 3, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature (being in very form)[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; (or something to be grasped or held)
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
A mind that is humble is …
(These points seen on the website “PRECEPT AUSTIN.”)
I. A Selfless Mind.
Let this mind be in your which is in Christ Jesus. Phil 2:5
It is a selfless mind because it is or is becoming the mind of Christ. The person who wants to know true humility has decided that the mind of the self will never be truly humble. To be truly humble takes the mind of Christ.
Paul wants us to think about humility the way Jesus thought and acted on it. We think of humility as the opposite of pride and more than likely it is; we think of humility as without power; which it actually isn’t. It is being meek; it is being modest.
But it goes deeper and is broader than all these definitions.
Actually, everything in life has a deeper meaning when we turn to the Christ and seek to understand all things through our Savior. Money has a deeper meaning; so does time. Family has a deeper meaning. Our understanding of government does.
And so does humility.
What we are going to learn about humility from Paul is deeper and greater than we would learn from our social or cultural understanding…if we put on the mind of Christ.
So, we start by deciding we need a self-less mind.
A humble mind is…
II. A Sacrificial Mind.
Notice Philippians 2: 6 and 7, “Who, being in very nature (being in the form of) God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; (something to be grasped or clutched). But he emptied himself …
A. Scripture tells us that God is Jesus.
[He] is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation, Col 1:15.
Also notice Hebrews 1:3, “He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
The idea is that, before the Incarnation, from all eternity past, Jesus preexisted in the divine form of God, equal with God the Father in every way. By His very nature and innate being, Jesus Christ is, always has been, and will forever be fully divine.
Paul says that Jesus was in very form (morphe) God and that he was equal to God.
B. Scripture tells us that God is Jesus -- “iso”
We use the Greek word for equal in our English language. It is “iso.” An isomer is a chemical molecule having a very slightly different structure from another molecule but being absolutely identical with it in terms of its chemical elements and weight. Isometric means equal measures. And an isosceles triangle, you will remember from your days in school, is a triangle that has two equal sides. The word means equal. He was equal with God...exactly equal with God. He is in the form of God. He is God; that's what Paul is saying. (This paragraph from John Macarthur.)
C. Teaching of Church
This issue has caused and is still causing problems. It was in 325 AD that the Council of Nicea considered the identity of Jesus of Nazareth. And, crucially, Nicea declared what the Scriptures clearly teach – that Jesus of Nazareth is “of one being with the Father” (homoousios). Now here’s the crucial thing – Nicea does not simply say ‘the eternal Son’ is ‘of one being with the Father.’ This is of course true, but Nicea says more than this. It is the Jesus who was born of the Virgin Mary, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, who is declared homoousios with the Father.
Now that fact is important. But the more important fact is that another group suggested that Jesus of Nazareth was only similar to the Father. Instead of “homoousios” they wanted “homoiousios.” The Greek letter “iota” makes all the difference.
Getting this right is important. I will tell you why in point three.
BUT FOR A TIME HE EMPTIED HIMSELF.
D. Scriptures teach that He emptied himself
He emptied himself not of the divine nature but by letting go of the things of heaven to take on the things of earth.
He emptied himself of his communion with His Father. On earth it would be different.
He emptied himself of all other communion with all others. We have only one recorded meeting between the Christ and those who are in heaven. That meeting took place on the Mount of Transfiguration.
He let go of the sinlessness of heaven for the horror and evil on this planet.
He emptied himself. He let go of some things.
And so here is the lesson about humility. We have to empty ourselves to serve others. We have to sacrifice. We have to let go of some things.
We have to let go of time. We have to let go of our own desires. We have to let go of own family…at times. We have to let go of health. Sometimes we have to let go of our sense of self. And, even at times, we have to let go of our own safety.
On a mission trip to Africa our team let go of a number of things. They let go of family for a time. They let go of health. Most of us got sick with something. They let go of money. It cost a lot to go and serve. There were times we let go of our safety and even our sense of self. (We also let go of air conditioning.)
C. S. Lewis writes, "In the Christian story God descends to re-ascend. He comes down, down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity, down further still, down to the very roots and sea bed of the nature He had created. But He goes down to come up, stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift. He must also disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders.”
Humility is having a sacrificial mind. But also a humble mind is…
III. A Serving Mind.
Philippians chapter two tells us that Jesus was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. It tells us that at the same time this Jesus was in the form of God but also in the form of a slave.
We call the fact that God became human the incarnation and from the incarnation comes the perfect sacrifice for sinners. The atonement is a reality only because God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.
Jesus is the perfect sacrifice – one without sin or blemish. He is without sin because he is the incarnate God. Jesus is God in the flesh. Without this simple truth there is no sacrificial atonement. There is a cross but not one for the purpose of atonement. There is a cross but not one for the ages. There is a cross but not one for eternity. There is a cross but not one for me. The cross is just a cross until Jesus is hung on it, and then the cross becomes more – deeper, broader, and greater. Jesus does this every time with every thing.
“It is not putting the matter too strongly when we say that the incarnation was for the purpose of the atonement. At least this seems to be the testimony of the Scriptures. Jesus Christ partook of flesh and blood in order that He might die (Heb. 2:14). . . .The very purpose of the entire coming of Christ into the world, in all its varying aspects, was that, by assuming a nature like unto our own, He might offer up His life as a sacrifice for the sins of men. . . .The atonement naturally arises out of the incarnation so that the Son of God could not appear in our nature without undertaking such a work as the word atonement denotes. The incarnation is a pledge and anticipation of the work of atonement. The incarnation is most certainly the declaration of a purpose on the part of God to save the world." (Dr. William Evans)
However, He died not only to be lifted up but to lift us up…and out.
He descended so as to ascend with all things. “[He] straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass [of humanity] swaying on his shoulders.”
Christ lifted me up from sin! Out of the mundane and minimal, out of the common and crass, out of the elements and elementary, Christ lifted us…out of not only sin but faulty thinking and faulty feeling. Christ lifted us out of the baseness in our relationships so that all our relationships whether friendship, family, or marriage might be a rich and bountiful experience. He lifted us into light, out of the cave and shadow land. Christ was lifted up but he brought me with him and on his back he marches toward heaven.
John 12:32 reads, “If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me” – not just men – the things of men, mankind and all that mankind has messed up. There is redemption for all things.
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you, by his poverty, might become rich. 2 Cor. 8
This form – form of God – form of a slave this nature becomes our nature. We have the very nature of God given to us. Jesus’ nature becomes our nature so that we are lifted up with Him – alongside Him so that we not only have salvation but association with him and in his glory.
We become like Him.
But we first must descend.
Conclusion
So you have to choose between two songs.
Here is the first.
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 hell of a man.
Oh Lord it's hard to be humble
but I'm doing the best that I can
Here is the one that comes from Jesus.
6 Who, being in very nature (being in very form)[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; (or something to be grasped or held)
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Which one will you choose?
