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Our natural, human pursuit is to elevate ourselves as much as possible. Higher purpose. Higher social class. Higher standard of living. More freedom. More education. More skill. More prestige. More money. More praise.
As Christians, we know that we are called to adjust our pursuits from those of the world. We recognize the dangers of the raw pursuit of power, wealth, and prestige. We know that we are pursing greater and higher things. More godliness, righteousness, and holiness. Greater knowledge of God. Deeper obedience. More rewards. And, if I can say it, more glory.
Paul says it this way in Chapter 3.
Philippians 3:14 (ESV) — I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
We’re going upward for the prize. Or to use another analogy of Paul…
1 Corinthians 9:24 (ESV) — Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.
We are running fast to receive the prize.
Onward and upward. “Further up and further in…”1
Seems simple enough. But, our bible and our experience tells us that this pursuit is fraught with deadly dangers. In our fallenness and sinfulness, even our spiritual pursuits can be twisted and corrupted.
Think of King Saul or Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4:30-37). Consider the Pharisee praying in the temple next to the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). See the dangers of pride.
Proverbs 16:18 (ESV) — Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
1 John 2:16 (ESV) — For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
Our text for this morning is a much-needed antidote to the poison of pride.
Maybe you remember this scene from Pixar’s 2006 film, Cars.
Doc Hudson: “I’ll put it simple: If you're goin' hard enough left you'll find yourself turnin' right.”
Lightning McQueen: “Oh Right! That makes perfect sense. Turn right to go left. Yes. Thank you! Or should I say, “No thank you.” Because in Opposite World maybe that really means Thank you!”
It does feel at times that we are in “Opposite World” as McQueen puts it. In our upward pursuit of God, we must lower ourselves—that is, we must put others before ourselves. We call this humility.
We are looking at 34 verses of Philippians in this message. We won’t cover everything in detail, but I do want us to get a sense of the big idea.
Within this chapter, we will only find humility explicitly mentioned by name twice. in verse 3 of chapter two, we see “in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” In verse. 8, Paul tells us that Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.
Having said that, I would like to suggest to you that the fingerprints of humility is all over this entire passage—so much so, that I’ve titled this message, “Pursue the Humility of Christ.”
And, though I’ve titled this first point, “The Invitation to Humility,” what I think we’ll see is that Paul is actually giving us a command.
Daniel and I thought that the chapter break at chapter two seemed in the wrong place, so he finished with verse 26 last night. Let’s begin at verse 27 this morning.
Philippians 1:27 (ESV)
As we stated, there is no direct mention of humility yet. But, there is a call to a particular kind of life—a manner of life worthy of the gospel of Christ. I appreciate the footnote in the ESV. “Only behave as citizens worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Philippi was a Roman colony, and the citizens there would have been very proud to be Roman citizens. Paul is calling them to a higher citizenship. He mentions this again in chapter 3.
Philippians 3:20 (ESV) — But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
There are many aspects of Christian living which Paul could refer to in calling them to live worthy of the Gospel of Christ. He could speak to moral purity, generosity, helping the poor, or right order in worship. But, he doesn’t speak to those here. He speaks to their attitudes toward one another, to their unity together.
In other words, what kind of posture toward one another demonstrates the power of the Gospel in their lives?
Paul wants to here that they are “standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.” In other words, Paul is speaking to their unity and humility together.
He will stay on theme in chapter 2:
Philippians 2:1–2 (ESV)
Do you hear the refrain?
Do think Paul is trying to make a point? He hasn’t really told us what the “one mind” ought to be yet. But, the fact that he wants them to be unified is clear.
This also fits into Daniel’s point last night about meaningful partnerships and friendships in the gospel, though it is broader.
How should we understand the “if” statements in verse 1?
So if there is
I think Paul is simply saying that since they have experienced the realities of reconciliation with God they should show it in how they live with one another? He’s not really asking if there is theoretically any encouragement in Christ; he is pointing out that the Philippians have experienced the encouragement of Christ, and the comfort of God’s love, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
Have you experienced the goodness of God? Have you experienced the peace of God because Christ paid the penalty of your sins and you have been forgiven? Has the Holy Spirit born witness with your spirit that you are God’s child? Have you been comforted by God’s great love for you? If so, Paul says you should live a certain way. In fact, he says all Christians (in all places and across all time) should behave in the same way because of these realities.
Philippians 2:2 (ESV)
But, what is this one mind, this same love, this one spirit? He tells us in vv. 3-5.
Philippians 2:3–4 (ESV)
Here, we have a prohibition and a command, and they are both comprehensive. Paul doesn’t give very many caveats. He rarely qualifies his statements.
This includes your hobbies, your work, your family, your leisure, your relationships, and your religion. Ambition is not a sin, but selfish ambition is. Are you the center of your universe? Does your comfort, happiness, and ease set the course for all your decisions and your expectations of people around you?
Do you orient your job performance around receiving the praise of men? Do you position your marriage or family in such a way to stroke your own ego or bolster your reputation? Do you serve at church in order to be thought well of by others? The heart matters?
The prohibition is not just about selfish ambition, but also conceit. Do you actually think of yourself as better than others around you? Have you begun to compare yourself to others around you and convinced yourself that you’re actually morally better?
This is a real temptation for all of us.
2 Corinthians 10:12 (ESV) — Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.
Do you look down on or despise others because of your conceit? Perhaps you’ve acquired better than average skill in a particular field? Or, perhaps you were saved at an early age and were raised in a God-fearing home. This is no cause for conceit, but for thanksgiving to God.
Finally, we get to the positive command and the crux of the matter. I find it interesting that the command is not, “be humble,” but “in humility count others as more significant than yourselves.” Humility is the attitude, or perhaps the posture toward others. The NKJV translates this a bit more literally. It reads, “in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself.”
Paul is not asking them to make a judgment about whether or not the other person is better in any way. He’s not concerned with that. He is simply concerned with our attitude and actions toward others.
It is fascinating to me how quickly any group of men establishes some pecking order. It’s as if we have some sixth sense to try to figure out who is the funniest, most athletic, smartest, richest, most talented at something. It’s barely a conscious assessment, but we often do it when we enter a new circle of guys.
Paul’s point is this, no matter where a brother fits in that nebulous hierarchy, we are to count others as more important than ourselves.
Paul’s example for true humility demonstrates that the person you are treating as more important may in fact not be better than you.
Philippians 2:5–8 (ESV)
Paul finally tells us about the “one mind” he wants us to have—the same mind that Jesus has.
The Son, who had shared the glory of the Father and the Spirit into eternity past, left his exalted station to take the form of his creation.
He emptied himself. This is a mystery. It is the deep end of the Trinitarian theological pool. We will never be able to plumb the depths.
We will never be able to understand the magnitude of the extent to which Christ had to lower himself to be like us. If we take the best mere human being who ever lived, and the absolute worst human being who ever lived, the distance between them is infinitesimal compared to the distance between the best mere human and the Son of God.
In our sinful pride, we compare ourselves to those just ever-so-slightly different than us. But, the Son of God emptied himself of his glory to be born as a needy, dependent baby in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago.
And even after the great distance of humbling himself in the incarnation, he humbled himself by coming, not to be served, but to serve humanity by giving his own life as a ransom.
We were completely undeserving of this salvation.
Having “this mind” is what Paul commends to us.
The extent of the Son’s humiliation in the incarnation should destroy any limitations we put on our own humility in serving others.
But, more importantly, this work of Christ gives us hope that we can be reconciled to God.
We should respond appropriately.
Philippians 2:9–11 (ESV) — Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so 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.
Jesus is not the only example held out to us, though he is certainly the greatest.
Philippians 2:19–22 (ESV)
I know we have a tendency to romanticize the early church—pretending that they had everything right, and didn’t face the same spiritual challenges we face today. It’s verses like these that set our minds right again.
Paul is scanning the landscape of the Christians around him in Rome during his house arrest. He’s concerned for the Christians at the church in Philippi and wants to send some help to them, but Paul pens verse 20. “I have no one like Timothy who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.”
It is understandable that Paul would be particularly sensitive to judging the willingness of others to suffer for the name of Christ as he is sitting in prison. I wonder what the other believers close to Paul thought when they read this letter!
What would Paul find if he were scanning the room here today?
Of course, it’s not really what Paul thinks that matters, is it? We live before the Lord himself, and he knows all things. We all need to grow in humility and devotion to Christ, and I am thankful to be among your number, side by side with you in that effort. I know some of you have suffered for the name at various points in your life. Many of you have many years of faithful service to Christ. I want to continue learning from you and growing together.
What is it that stands out about Timothy in Paul’s mind?
To see other examples of Paul’s discouragement with the readiness of other Christians around him, see 2 Timothy 4:9-18.
Philippians 2:25–30 (ESV)
The partnership in the gospel strengthened by humility is front and center here. Notice the terms Paul uses to describe Epaphroditus.
Of course, we have already mentioned that Paul himself is an example of humility that we should follow.
Last night Daniel talked about Paul’s profound dilemma in chapter 1.
Philippians 1:21–24 (ESV)
We will hear more about Paul’s pursuit of Christ in Chapter 3 from Brad later this morning.
For now, let’s step back and survey some of the evidences of humility in our passage.
For this point, we’ll be skipping around our text to highlight different aspects or evidences of humility.
In other words, the question we are trying to ask ourselves in this point is, “Am I a humble person?” Or, perhaps more specifically, “In what specific areas of my life, do I need to grow in humility?”
I expect that each of us will be confronted by several of these. I also hope that some of these contrasts will give a more full understanding of what it means to live a humble life. We can too easily limit the scope of what we mean by humility—or what it looks like.
Some of these may appear more obviously connected directly to humility than others. As I said already, “humility” is only mentioned a couple of times, but I believe this section in Paul’s letter is speaking more broadly on the topic.
Paul wants the Philippians to “stand firm in one spirit” (1:27). Therefore, humility is not being wishy-washy. Humility does not mean refusing to make waves, or just going with the flow. Don’t confuse humility with being easy-going or worse, apathetic. Humility means being rightly ordered under the authority of God and his Word.
When I think of standing firm in humility, Luther’s closing words at his speech at the Diet of Worms comes to mind.
If, then, I am not convinced by proof from Holy Scripture, or by cogent reasons, if I am not satisfied by the very text I have cited, and if my judgment is not in this way brought into subjection to God's word, I neither can nor will retract anything; for it cannot be either safe or honest for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.
— Luther at the Diet of Worms
We can sometimes conceive of humility as being very passive. But, in Philippians 1:27, Paul wants them to be “striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.”
Striving is very active. The CSB and Legacy Standard Bible both have “contending together.”
Does your conception of humility allow for a word like “strive” or “contend?”
Humility, therefore, is not equivalent to the modern conception of being “nice.” Kind, yes. Loving, yes. But, “striving” might offend others.
Paul is not giving permission to be contentions about just anything you want to argue about. He is talking about contending “for the faith of the gospel.”
This striving in verse 27 is done “side by side” with others. Pride isolates us from others; it has us standing above others. But, humility brings us alongside others, maybe even others with whom we disagree.
Proverbs 18:1–2 (ESV) — Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment. A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.
Can we even have a men’s retreat without quoting Proverbs 27:17?
Proverbs 27:17 (ESV) — Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
To add to Daniel’s challenge regarding purposeful friendships last night, Are there any areas of your life that you hide from your close friends? Are there areas in which you are walking alone? Are there secret sins or even simply areas that are off-limits to questions or critique? Do you allow your friends to question your decisions or your motives? Do you invite them to ask heart-level, penetrating questions into your marriage or parenting, into how you spend money, into your use of your time?
But, I don’t want to get too far off-topic with this point. Paul is telling the Philippians to strive “side by side” not face to face. The context of this deeper friendship will happen as we work together for the gospel.
Philippians 1:29 (ESV)
Verse 29 is one of those places in the Bible that we read over without really paying attention, and then one day we really hear it and see it for the first time.
There are two huge truths here we could unpack. The first belongs in a different sermon—that is, that God “has granted” that we believe in him—that even our faith is a gift.
The second is that God has also granted for the Philippians (and for us) that we suffer for his sake.
Wait a minute, Paul. I can accept salvation as a gift, but I don’t like the idea that suffering I encounter is also a gift from you and for your sake!
The humble man receives the suffering that God brings as a gift from God to be used to shape me and use me for his glory. The proud man feels entitled to avoid suffering.
Philippians 2:8 (ESV)
Here we are looking at Christ again. How exactly did he demonstrate his humility. First, as we have seen, he was humbled in the very act of incarnation—becoming a man. But, he went farther than that. He was humbled through obedience.
One way to evaluate whether you are humble is simply to ask, “Am I obeying the commands of God?” At some level, if we are believers, we would all say, “yes” to that. But, we each have our limits that we place on our obedience.
Notice how committed Jesus was in his humility and obedience. He obeyed to the point of death, even death on a cross. He refused to turn away from the Father’s will, even when faced with torture, humiliation, shame, and death. This is true humility on display.
Philippians 2:14 (ESV)
This is one of the many imperatives (commands) in our passage this morning. This one convicts particularly nails me to the wall.
The humble man doesn’t grumble.
Perhaps you have said to yourself already, “I’m willing to accept suffering from God’s hand,” or, “I’m willing to obey to the point of death.” Yet, at the slightest inconvenience, we grumble about what we’re having to endure or suffer.
We might even glory in our suffering a bit to get the approval or attention of others.
It’s not enough to be willing to take a bullet for being a Christian. We actually must be willing to suffer the millions of paper-cuts of suffering that we endure in a fallen world, and to suffer these with joy, not grumbling.
Philippians 2:15 (ESV)
I love that verse 15 is in response to verse 14. How will the world see the reality of Christ in our lives? When they observe us not grumbling and disputing. If you live this way, the world will notice. It is counter-intuitive and radical.
The humble man receives this as part of his testimony and points to the Father.
Matthew 5:14–16 (ESV) — “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Philippians 2:16 (ESV)
We sang this morning:
Hold fast, the sword of the Spirit, the word of God.
The humble man holds fast to the word. The proud man holds fast to his opinions or principles.
However, holding fast to the word is not simply holding fast to “Law” but also to “Gospel.” Paul says to hold fast to the word “of life.” What would have made Paul’s work vain was if the Philippians had lost sight of the Good News—that our true life is found in Jesus, the Word of God.
Philippians 2:17–18 (ESV)
This is Paul working out what he said earlier in Chapter 1. When he proclaimed, “to live is Christ and to die is gain,” his conclusion was that he would stick around for their progress and joy in the faith.
This is what that looks like. He is being poured out as a drink offering. He is being used up and spent for their faith. He is giving himself up for them, as Christ did.
Notice, though, his attitude in this work. He is glad and rejoices with them in this, and he wants them to be glad with him.
The humble man finds joy in giving sacrificially of himself for others. Does not have a martyr complex.
This, of course, is impossible without the power of Christ working in us through the Holy Spirit.
Finally, our last example comes from Epaphroditus in verse 30.
Philippians 2:30 (ESV)
Humility does not mean always being prudent or cautious. Sometimes, the humble man must take real risks for the sake of the Gospel and for others.
There is a side of humility that doesn’t put oneself forward. Proverbs talks about sitting lower at the banqueting table so that the king will invite you to move up and sit closer to him. But, the humble man doesn’t sit back while others take all the risks of the work of the gospel. He raises his hand and says, “Here am I, send me!” (see Isaiah 6).
I have three final encouragements to help us bear the load for such a demanding sermon.
First, the truly God-honoring humble life is impossible without God’s help.
Philippians 2:12–13 (ESV)
If you attempt to humble yourself to the extent we have discussed without Christ working in you, it will be impossible.
Paul is telling us to take responsibility for our pursuits and to to pursue Christ with fear and trembling, but he reminds us that God helps us, not merely in the doing, but in the wanting to do his will.
If you find yourself without the desire to humble yourself before God, ask for him to change your heart.
Look back at verse 5. The ESV reads a bit differently than NKJV or NASB.
Philippians 2:5 (ESV) — Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
The humility that we need is given to us in our union with Christ. Because we are “in him” we have this mind that he has.
1 Corinthians 2:16 (ESV) — “…But we have the mind of Christ.
We can be humble because Christ lived a humble life, and Christ lives in us. We have been united to him by faith.
Jesus humbled himself in the incarnation and in the cross for a reason—so that he might save us from the judgment we deserve.
And now Jesus is exalted at the right had of the Father, having completed the work the Father sent him to do.
The glory that Christ has achieved will be shared with us in glory.
2 Corinthians 8:9 (ESV) — 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.
Romans 8:30 (ESV) — And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
The path to this glory is through humility!
James 4:10 (ESV) — Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
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