In most areas of life, we learn best when we can learn from the example of someone else. As infants, this is how we learn all of the basic skills of life. At that age, we obviously couldn’t pick up a book and read about how to do something—we had to watch other people in action and then imitate them. So one day as we were crawling around on all fours, we noticed the people around us walking, so we decided to give it a try. We heard the people around us talking, so we started to imitate their noises.
Later, when we’re a bit older and we’re ready to start playing sports, our parents and our coaches take us out on the field and show us how to play the game. They don’t sit us down with a book and say, “Here—read this. You’ll figure things out!” No! They model the motions for us and patiently work with us when we kick the ball a dozen different directions before we finally get it right!
Even after we’ve grown up, following someone else’s example is still the most effective way to learn many things. That’s why when a person wants to learn a trade, he has to serve as an apprentice for a while. The apprentice watches the master tradesman and learns how to hold the tools and how to handle the materials. Even in the professional world, a person is often asked to serve an internship before he or she is hired on as a full employee.
So it should be no surprise that the Bible calls us to learn in our spiritual lives by imitating others. And more than anyone else, the Bible calls us to imitate Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ, we have a most profound example. Before Jesus, God could only ask us to “Do as I say.” God had not stepped into humanity with its frailties and temptations. But after Jesus, God can now ask us to “Do as I say AND as I have done.” Jesus has shown us a perfect human life, and has left us an example to follow as seek to live for God’s glory.
In our study of the book of Philippians today, Paul is going to call us to look to the example of Jesus to see what it means to have humility of mind. As we look at what Paul has to say, I want to focus your thoughts on this question:
What does Jesus’ example teach us about having humility of mind?
Would you turn with me please to Philippians 2:5–11? In verses 1–4, Paul called the Philippians to live with the same mindset toward one another. He pointed out the basis for their unity in their common experience with Christ, and he noted that the path to this kind of unity comes through cultivating humility of mind. Now he is going to point us to Jesus to see what it looks like to have humility of mind [READ 2:5–11].
Now over the years, theologians have probably used up an entire rainforest’s worth of paper in writing about just these verses. And there is a lot for theologians to write about when you look at what these verses say about Jesus, His relationship to God, and what took place when He stepped into humanity. Paul does use some very precise and careful language that offers a lot of food for thought, but its clear that his intent in these verses is not to give a theological lecture, but to use the example of Jesus to show us what it looks like to have humility of mind. So that will be our focus today as we answer the question—what does Jesus’ example teach us about having humility of mind?
I. We are not to cling to our own rights and privileges at the expense of the interests of others (2:5–8)
First, let’s break down what Paul says in verses 5–7 [READ vv. 5–7]. This is where theologians have spilled most of their ink over the years, in analyzing the language of these verses. And it is important for us as well to wade a little ways out into these deep waters, so let’s give these verses a little attention.
Now at the most basic level, Paul is making a simple contrast here, and his contrast is this—even though Jesus is equal to God, that fact didn’t keep Him from being willing to become a human and to serve humanity. Now Paul’s language is a bit more technical than that, so let’s take a closer look at it. If we can set aside the last part of v. 6 for just a moment, then Paul’s language reads like this: “although Jesus existed in the form of God, He emptied himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being made in the likeness of men.” Those last two phrases explain how Jesus “emptied” himself, so we can read it as “he emptied himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being made in the likeness of men.”
Now the technical term that sets up the contrast in these verses is the word “form.” What does it mean that Jesus existed in the form of God but then took on the form of a bond-servant? The Greek word that lies behind the word “form” refers to the external appearance of something which reveals its inner nature. So the contrast deals with how Jesus chose to externally express his inner nature. Apparently, before the Son of God came into this world his external appearance was that of a bright and dazzling light. We actually see a glimpse of that appearance in the event known as the Transfiguration in the Gospels, where Jesus allowed his disciples to see a bit of his glory. But when the Son of God came to earth, he externally expressed his inner nature by being human and becoming the servant of humanity. Thus, when people looked at Jesus during his earthly life, they saw simply an ordinary man. They didn’t see a man with a halo around his head or anything like that—they just saw an ordinary man. In fact, the prediction about Jesus in Isaiah 53:2 says, “he had no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.”
What an indescribable step down that Jesus was willing to take! Paul describes this here as “emptying himself.” I think the King James Version says it best when it says, “he made himself of no reputation”—that’s exactly what he did! It is staggering to think about how God himself chose to enter this world. Theoretically, he could have been born as a prince and lived in a palace. But he chose to be born to peasants who lived in a backwater town, in a country that wasn’t even free. His parents were too poor to offer the normal sacrifice that Jewish parents offered for their newborn children, so they had to offer the sacrifice prescribed for the poor. He wasn’t from a well-known family; he wasn’t from the priestly tribe. For the vast majority of his life he worked hard with his hands in a blue-collar job. He never owned a home and probably never had more than a few pieces of clothing.
What kind of attitude did the Son of God have that made him willing to do all of this? What mindset did he have, which we are called to imitate? It is described here at the end of v. 6—“he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,” or we might say “a thing to be held on to no matter what” or “a thing to be kept for personal gain.” You can almost picture a selfish child grabbing something and saying, “MINE!” That wasn’t Jesus’ mindset—when he considered his rights and privileges as God, he placed them below the best interests of his creatures. He didn’t consider his equality with God something to be exploited for his own benefit; rather, he considered his position to be a unique platform for service.
What a lesson for us about how we should view our positions and our rights and privileges. If I can think of this in the context of the church for a moment, it strikes me how easy it is to feel a sense of entitlement based on our positions within the church. Pastors can succumb to this temptation. We can start to feel entitled to many different things—maybe a nice salary, maybe unquestioning respect, it could be a lot of different things. You could succumb to this temptation if you’ve donated a lot of money to a church. You could start to think that your opinion should carry more weight than someone else’s because you’ve given more money. You could succumb to this temptation if you’ve taught Sunday School or lead some kind of program for a long time. There could be many different positions where we would feel this mindset of entitlement creeping in.
A feeling of entitlement is a sickness in the soul, and it is precisely the opposite of the mindset of Jesus. He was willing to lay aside his own rights and privileges to pursue what was in our best interest, and v. 8 describes the extent to which he was willing to go to serve us [READ v. 8]. Jesus paid for our sins by submitting to the most horrific and shameful method of execution that humanity has ever devised. The people of that time thought that there was nothing more humiliating than being crucified. The Roman orator Cicero once described what the Romans thought of crucifixion. He stated, “To bind a Roman citizen is a crime; to flog him is an abomination; to slay him is almost an act of murder; to crucify him is—what? There is no fitting word that can possibly describe so horrible a deed.”*
The first thing that the example of Jesus teaches us about humility of mind is that it calls us to see to it that we don’t think of our own rights and privileges as being so important that we’re not willing to lay them aside to pursue the best interests of other people. And the second lesson is equally important and serves as a strong motivator for us to have humility of mind.
II. We can expect God to honor our willingness to humble ourselves (2:9–11)
In verses 9–11, we see how God the Father responded to the mindset and actions of Jesus—he responded by honoring his Son and giving him the name or the title of “Lord.” [READ vv. 9–11] These verses seem to tell us of a time in the future when all beings will have no choice but to admit that Jesus Christ is Lord—whether they like it or not! The book of Revelation tells us that human history is going to play out in such a way that Jesus will be vindicated, and his lordship will be evident to all beings.
So we can see here how God the Father honored Jesus for embracing a humble mindset and then acting upon it. But perhaps you’re thinking, “Okay, Tim—you just said that we can expect God to honor our willingness to humble ourselves. Where are you getting that from?” Well, it’s actually a consistent theme of Scripture that God will honor those who choose to humble themselves. Let me take you on a little tour of the Bible here so we can see how often this theme comes up. We won’t go around the world in 80 days, but we’ll go around the Bible in 10 or so minutes here to see how often God states that he will exalt those who humble themselves. Turn with me first to Prov. 18:12 [READ Prov. 18:12]
Then over to Prov. 22:4 [READ Prov. 22:4]
Then one more verse from Proverbs, Prov. 29:23 [READ Prov. 29:23]
Now turn over to the book of Isaiah and find Is. 66:1–2. These verses describe how God, as our Creator, cannot be contained by anything in his creation, but they also give a beautiful statement about which of his creatures he will take notice of [READ Is. 66:1–2]. What a great contrast in these verses! Here is God, so high and exalted, yet he takes notice of those who are humble and lowly.
Next, turn to the gospels and find Matthew 23:8–12. Just prior to this, Jesus is talking about the Pharisees and is describing how they love to be recognized and honored by other people, and then he says in v. 8 [READ Matt. 23:8–12]
Then over in Luke 18:10–14, Jesus tells a parable to teach this same lesson [READ Luke 18:10–14]
Then finally, just one passage from the epistles—1 Peter 5:5–6. In the context, Peter is giving instructions to different groups of people within the church. He says in v. 5 [READ 1 Peter 5:5-6]
So as you can see, over and over again we see this idea popping up in Scripture—that God will respond to the humble by giving them honor. What irony there is in this gift of grace! If we choose not to exalt ourselves, God will choose to exalt us at the proper time. Now of course, the proper time will be in his time—it may not even be until we receive our rewards after this life. But God will always be true to his promises.
So from the example of Jesus, we learn that we are not to cling to our own rights and privileges at the expense of the interests of others, and we can expect God to honor our willingness to humble ourselves. This is the mindset that we must embrace if we desire to have the unity that Paul has been calling for us to have so far in Philippians 2. If we choose instead to press for the rights and honors that we think we deserve from others, we will find ourselves to be a divisive factor within the church, unable to let go of the insults we think we’ve received from others who won’t show us the honor we think we deserve. Jesus shows us another way—the way of service, the way of self-sacrifice for the benefit of other people. Let’s choose to embrace his mindset.
*Quoted by Gordon Fee, Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdman’s, 1995), 217.
No comments:
Post a Comment