If you ask someone what humility or being humble really means, you would expect an answer along the lines of “it’s the trait or quality of being modest and respectful.” You see, we think that someone is humble when they have something to brag about, but they don’t. I have a great friend of mine who one day you might even get to meet. I knew this guy for many years and had spent a lot of time around him before I knew all about him and his family. You see, his family happened to own a very large and successful company and he really didn’t have to worry about money. And this news took me by complete surprise, because as long as I had known him, he was a worker. He was always working these odd jobs for a few extra bucks. One day he randomly noticed that Amy’s car that she had at the time was dirty and the clear-coat was peeling off, so he offered to wash and wax her car for $20. This was just one of many similar events that had taken place over the time that I had known him. He never spoke of his family money, he never waved it in the face of others, and he never tried to impress others with his good fortune. Even when he chooses to help someone he does it in a respectful manner. If he hears of someone who is in real need of financial help, then he asks them if they will come and work at his house doing jobs for him. He doesn’t just give out money, but instead he allows others to earn money and gain a sense of accomplishment in the process. He doesn’t want them to feel like less of a person or a lesser person than he is because they haven’t earned what they have been given. He is just a really genuinely nice guy. And this dear friend of mine is perhaps one of the more vivid examples of humility that I have ever seen. I can’t think of anyone that I personally know that represents the principles of modesty and respectfulness any more than he does.
But you see, even this example of humility is lacking something. Biblically speaking, humility, as Paul is talking about here, is something so much more than being respectful of others and modest about our own accomplishments. Biblical humility is complete and total surrender. Biblical humility is our laying all that we have and all that we are at the feet of Jesus. As we were reminded last Sunday evening, all power that we have and all of our abilities cannot produce one ounce of good apart from our Savior Jesus Christ. And the Apostle Paul gives us an example of humility. He gives us a more intense, more in depth explanation of the person and work of Jesus Christ than we find anywhere else in Paul’s writings.
As we begin to look at verse 5 we see an exhortation, or call, made by Paul for those in Philippi to share Christ’s attitude. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” When Paul says the phrase “mind among yourselves” he is calling us to a particular attitude. What attitude is he talking about? What specific attribute of Jesus is Paul calling us to model? There are so many things that Paul could mean with this statement, but what he is specifically referring to here is the attitude of Christ that is like that of a servant. Christ was humble and willing to give up all of his divine rights as the second person of the Trinity in order to serve God’s people.
When you first read this text you might be reminded of a Christian movement that was popular in the 1890s and re-emerged with force in the 1990s. The WWJD, or What Would Jesus Do movement, was a simple idea created to help Christians when faced with a difficult situation. It was originally aimed at teenagers who had a difficult time deciding between what the socially acceptable thing to do was and the “Christian thing” to do. The hopes behind this movement were that Christian youth would make correct choices and serve God out of their love for God and other people. The movement spread to take on an almost gospel-like message, but Paul isn’t trying to say here that we should “Be like Christ” in just a general sense. As much as Christ-likeness might be something worthy of imitation and worthy of striving for, it is impossible. If our salvation was determined based on our being like Christ, then none of us would be anywhere close to being worthy of salvation. It’s not what Christ did, but how Christ did it that Paul is calling us to imitate. Christ’s servant attitude was out of such love and obedience and not out of fear or guilt. We are to imitate the humility of Christ. We must live as humble servants of God and others, just as Christ willingly did. For an even deeper and further look at Christ’s servant attitude we can turn to the gospel of Mark 10:45. There we find, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The second person of the Trinity came to serve man and give up his own life as a ransom for our sins. Now if the doesn’t show the enormity of the humility of Christ, then I don’t know what does.
We move from this exhortation that Paul makes for us to have an attitude like that of Jesus, and we now look at what he, Jesus, actually did. Now it is suggested that verses 6-11 are actually an old hymn; something that existed before Paul and would have been well known to those in Philippi already. Regardless of whether this is something that was already written or whether it came from Paul’s pen, the apostle uses this text to examine the humility that Christ experienced in becoming man and carrying out his earthly ministry and the glorious exaltation that soon followed.
We see in verses 6-8 the humiliation that Christ endured. This humiliation was one that He willingly undertook. The first thing that we notice when we continue our study by moving into verse 6 is Christ’s divine status as the second person of the Trinity. Verse 6 begins, “Christ Jesus was in the form of God”. Christ was God! Christ is God! Due to the fact that “Christ is God” is the first thing that the apostle chooses to tell us, we can deduce that, according to Paul, for us to understand Christ’s humility we must first understand his supreme divine status. As we continue through verse 6 we read, “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped”. Here, we can see Christ’s refusal of his divine rights. He has every right and prerogative to enter into this world as a completely divine being, but as we continue on we will see that what he does is, in fact, completely the opposite.
As we move on to verse 7 we read, “He made himself nothing.” So we have seen that he is divine. We have seen that he has refused his divinity. And now we see that he has emptied himself and become nothing. The question now becomes, how did he become nothing? But first we might even ask what does becoming nothing even mean? We find the answers to both of these questions to be the same statement, and this statement is found in the second part of verse 7. “He took the form of a servant.” Christ became a servant of man. He became a servant of the people of God. He has taken up a life of servitude for you and for me. As we continue to read, we see what the form of a servant is, “being born in the likeness of men.” Notice the condescension of Christ in his incarnation. Christ was a divine being who was born by a woman. He was born by someone who was lesser than him. No matter what status the woman had in society, she was still someone who was going to be lesser than Christ. This birth is where Christ’s earthly humiliation begins.
As if the humiliation of Christ’s moving from his place as the second person of the Trinity to a mere man wasn’t enough, look at what we find in verse 8, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Notice that what Christ experienced is not just death, but death on a cross! Death upon a cross was a death of unimaginable pain and utter shame which to the Jew meant that the victim was placed outside God’s covenant people. This was the most shameful way for a person in that day to die. WHAT? I mean for Christ to go from being God to being outside of God’s covenant people; that’s nothing but pure humiliation on the part of Christ. Do we even realize that the Son died the most humiliating death of the time? I think that we too often forget such an astounding fact. Christ willingly came to earth to experience such shame on our behalf. All of that shame and suffering that he voluntarily endured should have actually fallen upon us. We are the ones who turn our backs to God. We are the ones who reject God’s rule. Not Christ. Christ never acted in a manner that was even the slightest bit outside of complete obedience to God, yet he bore our shame; shame that he willingly and voluntarily experienced.
Have you ever seen the TV show COPS? Some of you are wondering where I’m going right now. If you have ever seen the show then you know that it really is quite humorous. There is always someone on the show who is very guilty of a crime yet they refuse to go quietly. As they are forced into the back of the police car the person being arrested starts to scream “You can’t do this to me! I know my rights.” As much as we laugh at the criminal who has just been caught red-handed breaking the law, he has a point. In this country we all have certain inalienable rights that are given to us in the Constitution. When these rights are violated or even appear to be in danger we are quick to cry foul. Now I am proud to live in this country and I stand 100% behind our constitution and I think that those rights should be preserved.
But think of the violation of rights and giving up of one’s rights that Christ experienced. He was in the highest position possible; a position that we cannot even fathom. Christ was God, the Son, the second person of the Trinity. He gave up his place of high esteem to come to earth and live a humiliating and impoverished life. He gave up all his rights, all rights that come with his divinity. It’s not as if his life on earth was even one of luxury. He had no great wealth, no political/social power, nor did he possess great fame, at least not via his family. We could say that the person of Jesus was seen as a nobody. He was a poor carpenter, born to parents who were of no particular status. The humiliation and suffering of Christ did not begin at Calvary; it started in Bethlehem and climaxed with his crucifixion. We cannot begin to imagine what it is like for someone to “fall” so far from their position. Imagine someone like Donald Trump, Bill Gates, or any former president of the United States being homeless and begging for food. These are images that are nearly impossible for us to conjure, yet Christ’s fall was much greater than all of these combined. What’s even more amazing is that Christ’s fall occurred voluntarily for sinners just like you and me.
Now I want us to turn our attention to verses 9-11, the second half of this example of Christ. As we begin to look at these verses we see that the Apostle Paul has shifted his focus from the humiliation of Christ to Christ’s exaltation. In verse 9 we see, “Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.” Christ has gone from the depths of shame, in his crucifixion, and been lifted up and exalted by God to a place that is above all others. He has been placed at the right hand of God the Father. Also notice that the name that is bestowed upon Christ is higher than any other. This tells us that the one whose life on earth and whose shameful death were of no reputation has now received a reputation that surpasses all others. Paul continues to discuss Christ’s exaltation with verse 10 where we read, “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” There is no one left that does not know the name of Jesus Christ. There is global adoration for Christ that has no end. Even those who are condemned and attempt to deny Christ will recognize Jesus’ authority and right to rule. As we conclude this section on the exaltation of Christ we read, “and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” There is no doubt about where our greatest joy lay, and it’s in Jesus Christ. We cannot claim that true joy exists in any other.
So as we think back upon this passage we recall several things. First, Paul exhorts the congregation at Philippi (and Christians everywhere) to have a mind of humility among them. He gives Christ’s voluntary humiliation as an example of this mind of humility. What happens to us if we live with this mind? What happens to us if we devote ourselves to being faithful and humble servants of God Almighty? Exaltation! Glory! And Joy! Glory be to God. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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