Philippians 2:5-11
Andrew Murray, a South African pastor and author that lived and ministered in the late 19th Century and the early part of the 20th Century, has written an incredible book entitled, Humility: The Beauty of Holiness. In it he shows how the virtue of humility is so profoundly demonstrated in the person of Christ and in His life’s work.
In the book he writes, “Jesus Christ took the place and fulfilled the destiny of man by His life of perfect humility. His humility is our salvation. His salvation is our humility.... Believer! Study the humility of Jesus. This is the secret, the hidden root of your redemption.”
He continues, “Humility is the recognition that we owe everything to God...humility is to be nothing, so that God may be all...Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is the first duty and the highest virtue of man. It is the root of every virtue.”
There isn’t much talk today about humility in the church world...mostly because we are a proud people and don’t value humility as we should. There wasn’t much talk about humility in the ancient world, either. There wasn’t even a word in their vocabulary that could adequately translate the concept of humility. To them, the whole idea of being “lowly” meant being weak and/or timid. Most people saw humility as a vice rather than a virtue. However, Jesus came to show us the true meaning of humility and He translated this virtue through His incarnation, as well as His actions and deeds, for everyone to understand. In essence, He elevated humility to the status of a “grace” He would produce in the willing believer's life.
His humility is seen in many different ways in the scripture. For instance…
- His humility is seen in His incarnation.
In coming to us in Bethlehem He laid aside the majesty and glory that were His with the Father in Heaven. He willingly made Himself a “bondservant” (Philippians 2:7) to others and took on the limitations of our humanity. He restricted the independent exercise of His divine prerogatives, rights and privileges while He was here.
He was born to a humble teenage girl in an obscure place without the fanfare that might be expected for a King’s arrival. His status in life was one of relative poverty. He was born among the animals because there was no room for Him in Bethlehem. He was laid in a feeding trough, wrapped in strips of cloth.
Everything about the birth of Jesus screams humility and displays His lowliness of heart.
That’s how Jesus described Himself...
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)
C.S. Lewis said, “The doctrine of the incarnation is emphatically at the center of Christianity, that the Son of God came down. [i.e., humility] No seed ever fell so far from a tree into so dark and cold a soil as the Son of God did. [i.e., humility].” (C. S. Lewis. Miracles. p. 401.)
- His humility is seen in His seeking glory from God and not from mankind.
It’s our pride that’s on display when we seek glory or praise from men! Jesus sought glory and praise from only One...the Father.
God wants us to learn to live our lives for the praise of One, too. He wants us to be less concerned with pleasing people and more concern with pleasing Him. Our REAL audience in life is not that of our peers, it’s our heavenly Father. And, that’s how Jesus lived His life!
I do not receive honor from men...I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? (John 5:41, 43-44)
And I do not seek My own glory... (John 8:50)
- His humility is seen in that He never acted independently of the Father.
Jesus lived a life of total reliance on the Father. He did as the Father wished and never acted independently of Him. The scriptures are numerous that illustrate this truth.
Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” (John 5:19)
I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. (John 5:30)
For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. (John 6:38)
Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.” (John 7:16)
Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, “You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.” (John 7:28)
Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.” (John 8:28)
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.” (John 8:42)
Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. (John 14:10)
He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me. (John 14:24)
These verses explain why the Almighty God was able to work out His redemptive plan through Jesus. They also tell us what is the essential nature of true humility. It is this: He made Himself nothing, that God might be all. Of His Own power, His Own will, His Own glory, His whole mission, with all His works and His teaching, He said in essence, “I have given Myself to the Father to work through Me; the Father is all.”
Again, from the words of Andrew Murray, ...this grace [humility] is in truth nothing but that simple consent of the creature to let God be all, in virtue of which it surrenders itself to His working alone.
- His humility is seen in that He always served the best interests of others.
It had only been a short time before The Last Supper that His disciples were arguing about who would be the greatest in Christ’s Kingdom.
Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.” (Luke 22:24-26)
When Jesus enters the Upper Room for the final meal with His disciples just before His crucifixion, there is no one to wash His or His disciples’ feet. What does Jesus do? He takes the lowly place of a bondservant—a slave—and begins washing the disciples’ feet Himself. He stooped to serve the servants and placed His humility on display in this act and hundreds of others like it.
- His humility was seen on the day of His triumphal entry to Jerusalem.
When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, He came fulfilling the words of the prophet Zechariah, who said, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9)
The normal way a warrior king rode into town was on a horse. When a king came in on a donkey, it was a sign of peace, not war. Listen to how the scripture describes Jesus’ Second Coming…
Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19:11-16)
Because He came the first time on a mission of peace, the people missed Him as their Messiah. They wanted a Conqueror who would throw off the Roman oppression against them. It was His humility that was the primary cause of their rejecting Him at His first coming. He had come in humility to be the Savior of all who would receive Him.
- His humility is seen in His response to insults, injuries and ultimately, His death.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:8)
He was maligned and His character was slandered. He was accused of being demon-possessed, a drunkard, and a glutton. He was thought by some to have lost His mind. He was mocked, beaten and bloodied by the very ones He had come to save. He was rejected and despised, even to the point of suffering the most humiliating death imaginable...death on a cross outside the city with all the shame associated with it. In humility He endure this suffering and public disgrace...for you and me.
- His humility is seen throughout all eternity, even in His exaltation.
Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:28)
When everything is placed under subjection to Christ, Christ will be under subjection to the Father...meaning that for all eternity God will be all in all.
John gives us a picture in the Revelation of the exalted Son of God. In the fourth and fifth chapters we see God sitting on His throne and next to Him is Christ. Listen to John’s description of Christ in this passage…
And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain… (Revelation 5:6)
In other words, for all eternity the “Lamb” (i.e., Jesus Christ) will be remembered as the ever humble, incarnate One that came to save mankind.
Again, Andrew Murray writes, “What is the incarnation but His heavenly humility, His emptying Himself and becoming man? What is His life on earth but humility; His taking the form of a servant? And what is His atonement but humility? ‘He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death.’ And what is His ascension and His glory, but humility exalted to the throne and crowned with glory? ‘He humbled Himself,’ therefore God highly exalted Him.
“In heaven, where He was with the Father, in His birth, in His life, in His death, in His sitting on the throne, it is all, it is nothing but humility. Christ is the humility of God embodied in human nature; the Eternal Love humbling itself, clothing itself in the garb of meekness and gentleness, to win and serve and save us.”
Closing:
It is our rescue from sin that called upon Jesus to humbly stoop so low to reach us. And, it is by this kind of humility that we should be known today.
Hear the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2…
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus... (Philippians 2:5)
Let’s us also be characterized by this “lowly” condescension to others. There is no place in the community of faith for arrogance or pride. Humility is in the seedbed wherein all of the other graces God desires in our lives are cultivated.
Again, Andrew Murray writes, “Is it any wonder that the Christian life is so often feeble and fruitless, when the very root of the Christ life is neglected, is unknown? . . . If humility be the secret of His atonement, then the health and strength of our spiritual life will entirely depend upon our putting this grace first too, and making humility the chief thing we admire in Him, the chief thing we ask of Him, the one thing for which we sacrifice all else. . . . Oh for the humility of Jesus in myself and all around me!”
Christmas is the season of humility and it can be practiced in many ways. For instance...
- Mend a quarrel.
- Dismiss suspicion.
- Tell someone, "I love you."
- Give something away--anonymously.
- Forgive someone who has treated you wrongly.
- Turn away wrath with a soft answer.
- Visit someone in a nursing home.
- Apologize...if you were wrong.
- Be especially kind to someone with whom you work.
- Give as God gave to you in Christ, without obligation, or announcement, or reservation, or hypocrisy.
All of these and many more like them take humility. Maybe that’s why there is so much division rather than the peace on earth that was announced at Jesus’ birth. Pride, rather than humility, rules in our hearts.
One last quote from Andrew Murray, “Let him consider how all want of love, all indifference to the needs, the feelings, the weakness of others; all sharp and hasty judgments and utterances, so often excused under the plea of being outright and honest; all manifestations of temper and touchiness and irritation; all feelings of bitterness and estrangement, have their root in nothing but pride, that ever seeks itself, and his eyes will be opened to see how a dark, shall I not say a devilish pride, creeps in almost everywhere, the assemblies of the saints not excepted. Let him begin to ask what would be the effect, if in himself and around him, if towards fellow saints and the world, believers were really permanently guided by the humility of Jesus; and let him say if the cry of our whole heart, night and day, ought not to be, Oh for the humility of Jesus in myself and all around me!” (Andrew Murray, Humility: The Beauty of Holiness)
Can you hear the call this Christmas? It’s the call to humility and lowliness of mind like the spirit of Jesus Who came in Bethlehem that night for us.
