The Joy of Being Humble
The title of this Bible Study might seem a bit confusing. How can humility be something that produces joy? It may be in the way we use the word humble. He/she came from humble beginnings – usually referring to someone who started out in an unprivileged background, perhaps poverty. Or we think of it as having to lower ourselves or think of ourselves as less important. We also use the word to refer to someone who had been humbled by someone else’s triumph. So, when we think of humility, joy is not always the first word that comes to mind, yet here we find that joy and humility are linked. Jesus sees humility as something to be attained, in fact, he is a living example of joy through humility. Philippians 2 is also a prayer for our churches and for our own lives to seek to be humble as Christ was humble.
Vs 1-4 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal. Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
We could actually do an entire Bible study just on these first four verses. There is a lot to unpack here. Paul begins this portion of his letter by highlighting certain truths – encouragement in Christ, consolation of love, fellowship with the Spirit, affection and mercy. 1. Encouragement in Christ. The Greek word for encouragement is paraklésis, which is a legal term referring to a calling for someone’s aid or a consolation. In this usage, it would be rendering aid in the court of God almighty. The same word is used in Luke 2:25, “There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, looking forward to Israel’s consolation, and the Holy Spirit was on him.” Simeon looked forward to Israel’s paraklesis – the coming of the Messiah who would render aid to Israel in the court of God – spiritual aid. Paul wants the church to understand that no matter the circumstances you may find yourself in, aid will always come from Christ. 2. Consolation of love. We find the Greek word for consolation is paramuthion. This is a relative to the word paraklesis, but focuses more on the results of encouragement and consolation. The result of love will always be encouragement and comfort. 3. Fellowship with the Spirit. The Greek word for fellowship is kononia, which is a word describing a partnership. It is not a passive word, but an active word. We just don’t hang out with the Spirit of God, we participate with the Spirit of God. 4. Affection and mercy. The Greek word for affection is splagchnon, which describes the inner organs, as in the heart, liver, lungs etc. This describes a deep emotion – a gut level compassion for someone. Paul wants us to love each other deeply – at the gut level – and be compassionate for one another.
So Paul describes all these truths and then says, “fulfill my joy by thinking the same way” – be like-minded. What does he mean by like-mindedness? Again he gives us several ways to do that. Have the same love, share the same feelings, focus on one goal, don’t do anything out of rivalry or conceit, be humble, and consider others more important than yourself. This does not mean that everyone is going to always agree, but, if we start out by having the same love for each other and end with considering others more important than ourselves, then everything in between, all disagreements, seem trivial. We are not out to get our way. We want what is best for each other and we seek the same things. We sacrifice our own desires for what is going to best glorify God. We become kingdom minded together as a body of Christ. One of the things I notice in some of our churches today is a lack of a common goal. Each person has their own goal(s) for the church. These goals are not necessarily bad – small groups or kid’s church etc. But some are more selfish in nature – more events that suit me and my family or a particular style of worship or preaching. It seems crazy that some of these things would actually divide a church, but I see it happen everywhere, even in my own church. One obvious one is churches that divide their congregations over a style of music or liturgy or even preaching. These are hard fought battles within our churches today and they keep us from being like-minded. Sure, not everyone “likes” all styles of worship, but is it worth division? I think not. These things keep us focused on our own desire and then it becomes impossible to consider others as more important than ourselves. We want our way. Paul sums up how we can be like-minded by this statement, “Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” If we let go of our own interests and really listen to others, then we will find those goals and visions that will truly further the kingdom of God.
Vs 5-11 Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow; of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth; and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
How many of you have ever tried to build a desk, or cabinet out of a kit from a place like Ikea? These kits always come with instructions and the instructions usually comes with step by step pictures to help you out. The goal, of course, is to build the desk to look like the picture on the box. Sometimes I can get that to work and then there are other times… I remember my husband and I bought an outdoor shed kit. Apparently, we didn’t look at the picture intently enough, because we ended up putting in the back wall upside down. (I have to admit, instead of fixing it, we just drilled new holes for the shelves.) Well, here we find a step by step picture of what true joy in humility looks like. It is not only a beautiful picture of Christ’s sacrifice and love, it is also a prayer for our churches to have the attitude of Christ. Unlike my husband and I, we need to look intently at this picture because before we can learn to do everything Paul is asking of us in verses 1-4, we have to first find out what real humility looks like. The first thing Paul says is to adopt the attitude of Christ. This is an active directive not a passive idea. We have to actively move our thinking out of the way and, instead, think like Christ – imitate Him. Like the directions for the desk that says, build this to look like the picture, Paul says, build your life to look like Christ. Now here is what that looks like…
1. Christ, who is God, did not consider equality with God something to be used for His own advantage. Instead, he emptied Himself by taking on the form of a slave. It is important to point out that Jesus is God – the Greek word for “existing in the form” is huparchó, which means to be in possession of or something that is under one’s discretion. In other words, Christ’s existence as God didn’t change when he came to earth in human form. He was still God. He could have taken advantage of this on numerous occasions, but He chose to humble himself instead. Not only that, He is infinite and chose to take on the finite body of a man. He chose to live within the limitations of this form. I use the word chose a lot here because that is what it was – a choice. He chose and we must also choose. We must actively move from one type of mindedness to Christ mindedness.
2. Not only did Christ choose to walk as a man, he humbled Himself further in obedience by dying – and even further still by dying in one of the most humbling ways possible – on a cross. Sometimes I think it’s hard for us to see the cross the way it really is. To often it is seen as a decoration for our homes or churches. We bedazzle it or paint it beautiful colors or carve in intricate shapes. But the cross was an ugly, brutal form of tortuous death. It was set aside for the worst offenders, and was created for maximum suffering. Death occurred because of a slow, painful asphyxia, and lasted anywhere from 6 hours to sometimes days. That Jesus would allow himself to be humbled in this way is amazing. He could have taken advantage of who He is – the mockers called for Him to come down off the cross if He was indeed God – but He knew this was the only way for payment to be made. He knew He must be the Lamb of God who became our atonement. So He chose humility and grace because of His great love for us. He went to the cross with joy in His heart, because He knew the outcome.
And because of this, He was exalted. He is the Name that is above every name and at His Name every knee will bow and every tongue will confess him as Lord- in heaven, on earth and even under the earth – to the glory of God. As we try to shape our lives to be like Christ, the ultimate goal is to glorify God. All that we do, all that we are should bring glory to Him. Our thoughts should be His thoughts and our walk should be the same as His walk. He came in joy and walked in mercy and compassion and died in grace. And this is the attitude we must strive for. An attitude of joy in our humility as we walk in mercy and compassion for those around us. We can be joyful as we think of others more highly than we consider ourselves because we know the outcome will bring glory to God. We can be joyful in anticipation of seeing the world around us bow to the One who’s Name is above every name and confess Him as Lord. To the glory of God.
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