HOW DID JESUS CHRIST EXHIBIT HUMILITY?
1. Jesus Christ exhibited humility in His thinking.
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God..." - Philippians 2:5-6 (NKJV)
Paul says, "let this mind be in you..." What mind is Paul talking about?
The mind Paul is referring to is the mind he has just been describing in verses 3 and 4 of chapter 2. Paul described it as "lowliness of mind".
Even though there is a break in our Bibles at this point, Paul’s thought is actually not broken and he is continuing his previous thought from verses 3 and 4 about this thing called a lowly mind when he says, "Let this mind be in you."
And the outflow of a lowly mind is that this mind values other people to be better than itself.
Paul is describing how Jesus is a humble thinker.
Lit., let this be thought in you. The correct reading, however, is öñïíåῖôå, lit., "think this in yourselves." Rev., have this mind in you.
—Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
Paul gives us examples of how Jesus thought in humble ways.
A. Jesus thought about what was good for "the many" instead of what was good for Him.
This is how humble thinkers think. They think about "the many" and not just themselves.
Humble thinkers realize that "the entire world is made of other people with one tiny exception."
When Jesus thought about what the many needed He decided that it would be better for them if He gave up His throne and did not try to protect his power and privilege at all costs.
• When a mother decides not to buy herself that new dress because she needs to pay her families’ utility bill, that’s thinking of the many over the one.
• When a father works two jobs so he can put food on the table that’s thinking of the many instead of the one.
• When an officer pulls over a drunk driver because he or she is dangerous to the public, that’s thinking of the many.
George Washington Carver had always dreamed of getting an education. There was one thing standing in his way. He was born black in a country and at a time when whites oppressed black people.
When George Carver reached the age of twenty he was ready to start college. He submitted an application to Highland College and was accepted. However, when George showed up he was turned away once school officals realized he was black.
A few years later he tried again, and this time was accepted to Simpson College.
By all accounts, George excelled in the arts. He was a first rate painter, muscian and poet. One of his works of art even won him first prize at the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893.
Later he transferred to Iowa State and changed his major from art to agriculture.
Why would he do such a thing when he loved art so much?
James Wilson, formerly the dean of Agriculture at Iowa State, recalled the reason in this statement addressed to George:
"I remember when I first met you, you said you wanted to get an agricultural education so you could help your race. I had never known anything more beautful than that said by a student. I know the taste you have for painting and the success you have made along that line, and I said, ’Why not push your studies along that line to some extent?’ When you replied that that would be of no value to yoru colored brethren, that also was magnificent."
George Washington Carver went on to receive his degree in agriculture from Iowa State. He stayed on and earned his master’s degree and became the first African American faculty member at Iowa State College.
In April of 1896, Carver recieved an unusual offer from Dr. Booker T. Washington of the Tuskegee Institute.
Dr. Washington wanted Carver to take a teaching position there and become the school’s director of Agriculture?
Washington said, "I cannot offer you money, position, or fame. The first two you have. The last from the position you now occupy you will no doubt achieve. These things I now ask you to give up. I offer you in their place: work...hard, hard work, the task of bringing a people from degradation, poverty and waste to full manhood. Your department exists only on paper and your laboratory will have to be in your head."
Carver could have lived a comfortable life in Iowa. But he gave it up to move to Alabama where he knew he would be treated like a second-class citizen to help serve a greater good, the good of the many.
And this is what Jesus Christ did. He gave up all He had to come and serve the good of humanity by dying on the cross.
This is humble thinking. Jesus Christ is a humble thinker. He exhibited humility in his thinking.
B. Jesus took on human characteristics.
Paul says in verse 7 that Christ "made himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men..."
The phrase "made himself of no reputation" means literally that Christ "emptied Himself".
What is the picture? I believe this means that Christ set aside His privileges for a time until after His resurrection when He would take them back up again.
Christ set aside His privileges in at least 4 areas when He "made Himself of no reputation".
• Jesus set aside Heavenly glory.
5 `And now, glorify me, Thou Father, with Thyself, with the glory that I had before the world was, with Thee; - John 17:5 (YLT)
• Jesus set aside Independant Authority.
8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. - Heb 5:8 (NKJV)
• Jesus set aside Eternal Riches.
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. - 2 Cor 8:9 (NKJV)
• Jesus set aside a favorable relationship with God.
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" - Matt 27:46 (NKJV)
You would think that the supreme ruler of the world, if he’s going to leave his throne in heaven, would vacate it only to ascend another throne on earth. You’d think Jesus would come to earth with great parades and throngs of adoration.
But he doesn’t come as a Sovereign ruler, he comes as a defenseless, dependant little baby.
The one who could do anything He wanted decided to come in such a way that he couldn’t do anything for himself.
His existence would be dependant on the love and care of his parents and family. Very unlike His role as God, where His existence is not dependant on anything but His own power.
In this way Jesus exhibited humility in His thinking. Jesus Christ is a humble thinker.
It’s not that He thinks less of Himself. He just thinks of himself less.
He thinks of others and puts their needs above His own.
Paul says about Jesus in verse 6: "Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God..."
The word ’form’ is the word morphe, we get our word metamorphisis from it. It means the outward expression of the inward nature.
And Paul says that Jesus did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. What does that mean? Consider it robbery? It means Jesus did not consider it something to be seized or grasped. Something you hold onto and try your hardest not to let go of.
Jesus was equal with God. Jesus was God. Jesus is God. He had everything He could ever want. There was not a thing He needed. Every desire, every longing was completely met.
And when Paul tells us that Jesus was God yet did not hold onto His equality with the Father there’s something important he wants us to see about the way Jesus thinks.
’Equality with God’ was what Lucifer wanted. Remember Lucifer? Lucifer was Satan’s name before he became "The Devil". Lucifer was a beautiful angel, the most beautiful angel we could ever hope to see.
12How you have fallen from heaven, you morning star, son of the dawn! How you have been cut down to the ground, you conqueror of nations! 13 You thought, “I’ll go up to heaven and set up my throne above God’s stars. I’ll sit on the mountain far away in the north where the gods assemble. 14 I’ll go above the top of the clouds. I’ll be like the Most High.” 15 But you’ve been brought down to Sheol, to the deepest part of the pit.
Isaiah 14:12-15 (GW)
Lucifer had his needs met. But there was one thing he wanted he couldn’t have. And that was ’equality with God’. He wanted to be worshipped as God, as Creator.
What was Lucifer’s sin? Pride. Or Greed. I think Greed is behind pride. Satan got greedy for power, for position, for the adoration of others.
Greed changes you. It changed Lucifer from a beautiful angel to an ugly devil.
Ezekiel 28:11-19 most scholars believe depicts Satan’s fall.
11 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 12 "Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ’Thus says the Lord GOD: "You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. 14 "You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. 16 "By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones. 17 "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you.
Ezek 28:11-17 (NKJV)
Satan, who was created, wanted to be the creator.
Jesus, who was the creator, was willing to come as a little baby and become a creature here on earth.
And this is Jesus’ humility. He needed nothing in heaven. As a baby here on earth, he needed everything. In heaven others depended on Jesus. As a baby Jesus depended on everyone else.
This is just the way Jesus thinks. He is a humble thinker. He came as a baby not as a king.
Satan wanted to get on God’s throne and Jesus was giving up His throne.
Question: Which of the two are you more like? Satan or Jesus?
Are you greedy? Are you grasping for more than God wants you to have?
Or are you like Jesus: not looking for recognition but for a way to serve others?
And this is what Paul says, "And Jesus being found this way" did something remarkable, something humble.
2. Jesus Christ exhibited humility in His dying.
Paul says in verse 8:
"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."
Paul says, "Jesus became obedient." It almost sounds like there was a time when Jesus was not obedient but then He turned and became obedient.
This would present a problem for our theology as we believe Christ was without sin and perfectly obedient to His Father all the days he was on earth.
So then Paul must mean something else. But what?
I think the key are the words "He humbled himself..."
Humbling Himself was not a one-time event but a daily process. Humbling himself was a process that took place over the 33 years that Jesus walked the earth.
The words "He humbled Himself" can make us think that there was a time in the past when, at some point, He humbled Himself and then it was over.
But Paul is revealing to us a process not a one-time event, like losing weight.
Do you lose weight overnight or over time? Over time, right? It’s a process.
The Cross was Christ seeing this process of humbling himself through to completion.
When Paul says Jesus "became obedient" he means that Jesus saw this process through all the way to the end, all the way to dying on a cruel cross.
This is the extent to which Jesus humbled himself. How far did Jesus go in humbling himself? He allowed Himself to be executed in the same way a criminal would be.
Jesus went so far in humbling himself that he allowed himself to be humiliated in front of the world.
This is what Paul is telling us, he’s telling us the extent to which Jesus went in humbling Himself.
The isssue here is commitment. How committed are you in your daily life to the process of humbling yourself?
How serious are you about becoming a humble person, about becoming like Christ.
You see, one of the reasons Paul wrote this letter was to warn the Philippians about false teachers who were misleading them.
"Paul warned the Philippians about the dangers of false teachers. Paul’s language implies that these teachers did not openly claim to oppose Christ, His work on the cross, or salvation by grace alone through faith alone, but they did not pursue Christlikeness through godly living. Their faith was a fraud. Apparently, they had been posing as friends of Christ and possibly had even reached positions of leadership in the church. Their lives displayed their true allegiance." - John MacArthur, "The John MacArthur Bible Handbook, p.410)
There’s a danger we can fall into and that is of not pursuing with real effort to change in our character and personalities to become more like Christ.
This is why Chapter 3 of Philippians Paul exhorts these Christians not to lose sight of the goal of personal Christian growth.
The danger is complacency. Becoming so complacent that we no longer keep trying to become like Jesus.
Humility moves us to take risks for God. Jesus was willing, because He was humble, to go to the cross and experience death for you and me.
What am I willing to experience for Christ?
"Suffering, faith, and obedience were intermingled and woven into the fabric of Jesus’ life. But what about our lives? When obedience involves suffering, do we have the faith to trust God for the outcome? When faith calls us out on the limb of suffering, are we willing to respond with obedience? We, who, at our best might be willing to trade Monday Night Football for a Bible study. We who, at our worst, would exchange our faith for a bigger home or a miracle cure. We live not only with our own sin, but in a world of trouble." - Bill Hybels and Rob Wilkins, "Descending Into Greatness", p.151)
Jesus showed humility by dying. And what was His reward?
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. - Phil 2:9-11 (NKJV)
3. I can exhibit humility by bowing to Jesus and confessing him as Lord.
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. - Phil 2:9-11 (NKJV)
