Philippians 2:1–11
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There are so many examples in the history of people displaying humility in the face of overwhelming odds. There's numerous examples from sports and military history, but there aren't many greater than the story of the 300 Spartans who stood at the Battle of Thermopylae against a massive Persian army. 300 Greek soldiers from Sparta defending against a force that was overwhelming.
These 300 men, led by Leonidas, held off the Persian army long enough to allow reinforcements to come and defend against the invading foe. They did this knowing that they would likely die. Just 300 men defending against a massive army. And yet, they laid down their lives willingly, selflessly, in humility. They defended against this army that threatened to wipe out the known Western world.
Humility. This morning in our passage today, we'll see an even greater act of humility. This is our second week walking through Philippians. And today, we're going to look at Philippians 2, 1 through 11. You can go ahead and turn to our passage. It's on page 980 in the Pew Bible. Philippi was a Roman colony in northern Greece, way up in the north. Philippians is a letter that Paul wrote to this church around A.D. 60, so some 30 years or so after Jesus was crucified.
And the church of Philippi was started by Paul, a missionary, around A.D. 50. First, Paul met Lydia. She was a God-fearer, but she didn't know the gospel, and Paul presented that to her, and she believed. And then Paul proclaimed the gospel to this demon-possessed girl, and he cast the demon out of her. And his slave owner, or the slave owner of this girl, was so mad that he got Paul and Timothy thrown in prison. God miraculously rescued Paul and Timothy from prison, and then the jailer thought that they were gone.
he was about to kill himself. Paul and Timothy cry out, we're still here. Don't kill yourself. And then he was converted as well. And that's the start of the church in Philippi. And like we've said, Paul was writing to this church about 10 years later from another prison cell. This time he's in Rome. There were a number of reasons why Paul wanted to write to this young church. They'd sent him a financial gift, and he was thanking them for that, and yet this church was also under threat. There were threats from without. There were false gospels being preached.
There was also threat from within, a threat of disunity, and so Paul wanted to write to this young church, and he wanted to encourage them in the gospel. He wanted to remind them about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity who humbled himself by taking on flesh. The overarching message of Philippians is a message of joy in the gospel in the midst of difficult circumstances. You see, it was the gospel that brought the Philippians and Paul together in the first place. It's the gospel that unites them. It's the gospel that informs and motivates their daily lives, and it's the gospel that gives them hope for the future. So Paul urges the Philippians to unite for and rejoice in the things that matter the most. Rejoice in the Lord and stand firm in the gospel. Let's read our text this morning, Philippians 2, 1 through 11.
So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. the unity of the body depends on the humility of its members and we learn humility by looking to the cross more simply here's our main idea this morning be united through humility by looking to the cross be united through humility by looking to the cross Paul is laser focused on the unity of this young church it's not just an artificial unity either
it's not just in word but one that goes all the way down to the bedrock of the church and this isn't some abstract principle that he's trying to teach them no disunity is a real threat to this church there are cracks forming there's division threatening you see there's these two women who are at odds in the church you can read about this in chapter four there might even be factions forming around them paul actually calls them out by name this letter would have been read publicly and those two women would have been there That'd be like me saying, Debbie, Rachel, y'all, stop it. Quit. Agree in the Lord.
And Justin, can you help these women, please? Savage to do that. But you can tell that Paul is worried about the unity of this church. He loves them dearly. He wants them to remain united, Which brings us to our first point. One, be united through humility. Here we'll look at verses 1 through 4 where Paul urges the Philippians towards unity through humility.
Look at me, look with me at verse 1. So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, and there is, that's what Paul wants them to be thinking. If there is any comfort from love, And there is any participation in the Spirit. And there is any affection and sympathy. And there is. As Christians, we have all of these things. We have encouragement. We have the love of Christ.
We have the Spirit of God dwelling in us. And if we have these things through Christ and the power of the Spirit of God who dwells in us, and we do, then complete Paul's joy by doing these things. Verse 2, by being of the same mind, literally thinking about the same things, having the same goals, like an army faced in one direction, having one goal in mind. We need to have the same love. Paul wants our affections set on the same thing, love for God and love for his people, the two great commandments.
He wants us in full accord. This is really just one word that means united together in spirit. You see, we are all partakers of the same spirit, and we are united together by that spirit. and he wants us of one mind. Having one mindset, and that really sums up the whole thing. Have one mindset. If you've ever been a part of a sports team, you know what Paul is getting at here. As a team, you have to have one goal in mind. That's to win the game, to beat the other team.
But you can't win a team sport with one good player. No, it takes many players playing different positions and playing them well in order to win. The weakest link in the chain is the first one that breaks. If you've ever watched kids play soccer, this is exactly what happens. There's that one kid out there. He can't stay focused. He starts picking flowers. Maybe he's chasing a butterfly. He's watching the game on the next field. And as soon as the other team recognizes it, they start attacking that weakness, scoring goal after goal. The enemy knows our weaknesses. He knows exactly where to attack. We need to remain focused on the one goal.
This is the kind of deep unity that Paul wants for the Philippians, and it's the same kind of unity that we should strive for here at Third Avenue. On the one hand, unity is good for you as an individual, being surrounded by brothers and sisters who are focused on the one goal, getting to heaven together. That's good for you individually and spiritually. But on the other hand, it's also good for us as a church because it gives a witness to the watching world.
The world wants desperately to unite around something. The world desperately is clinging to these various things, sports teams, political parties. Entire cities will unite behind a sports team. But that's not real unity, is it? That's just a shared experience. You wouldn't bring a meal over to a friend who you just watched the sports game with in the stadium that you just met for the first time.
You wouldn't take them a meal if they were sick and couldn't cook for themselves. no that that's not real unity it's just a shared experience there's too many differences unity is elusive we have many differences we come from different backgrounds we have different interests we have different jobs different hobbies but we serve one lord we've all been saved from our sin by the same savior jesus christ that is something that the world will take notice of. When we have differences and yet we remain united in the gospel. By your love for one another, the world will know that you belong to Christ. But how are we supposed to accomplish this? How can we remain united through all of our differences? We do it through humility, through putting our own desires aside, focusing on God and others. Look at verse 3.
do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. Selfish ambition. That's exactly what the other preachers were doing in Philippians 1. If you remember back to Philippians 1, they were preaching Christ from rivalry. It's the desire to do something purely for your own benefit or to inflict pain on someone else so that you can get a bit higher. And that second word, conceit, It means empty glory, empty glory, striving for something, finally attaining it, reaching it, and then realizing that it's completely hollow. There's so many stories of successful people in worldly terms who worked hard, attained their goal, and then became disillusioned after achieving their success. There's famous athletes, there's actors, authors, and many more who worked hard
to accomplish their goal. And then once they finally got it, feeling empty. There's numerous stories about this that you can read. Tom Brady, Andre Agassi, that probably dates me, you don't know who he is. He was a tennis player. Jim Carrey, Leo Tolstoy, Michael Phelps, so many more. Have you ever read any of these biographies? Reading biographies of famous people who have attained their goals, it can illuminate the emptiness of chasing worldly success. The list of people who have achieved their dreams but in the end felt empty could go on and on and on. The earthly glory that we seek, it just doesn't last. Tom Brady is the goat, right? The greatest of all time. Not like the greatest who will ever live. Who knows? There might be someone in the future who's better than him, but as of right now, he's the GOAT. He's the greatest. He might even be the GOAT of GOATs,
like the greatest player of any sport in his sport. And yet, despite his extraordinary achievements, Tom Brady has publicly expressed feelings of dissatisfaction, of longing for something more. In one interview, he said, why do I have these Super Bowl rings and still think that there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, hey man, this is what it is. I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, God, it's got to be more than this.
Empty glory, selfish ambition, conceit. Both of these ideas have to do with pride, focus on the self. It's what our default is. Our hearts are broken. They just turn inward on themselves. Our minds are set on ourselves. That's why so many of us struggle with fear of man, anxiety, identity crises, and so many other struggles that are rooted in pride.
Where do you see pride cropping up in your own life? What about here at church? How do you view service in the church? Why didn't I get asked to do that? I have so much to offer. Why didn't I get hired for that role? If only they would recognize my talents. Those kinds of thoughts, that kind of pride, will lead to bitterness and division in the church.
Being jealous of others' success instead of rejoicing with those who rejoice is a mark of pride, of selfish ambition, rivalry. These kinds of thinking lead to division in the church. See, from the very beginning of history, pride was the most, the sin that's at the, it's at the root of our hearts. Satan fell because of pride. Our first parents fell in the garden because of pride, and God hates this sin. Proverbs 8, 13, pride and arrogance in the way of evil and perverted speech, I hate. God hates pride in the individual because the proud person is blind to their desperate need.
The proud person insists that they're self-reliant, unable to see that they are counting on God for each and every breath. Everything you have has been given to you. The only thing that you deserve from God is judgment for your sin. God hates pride in the individual, and he hates it in the church. Pride remains in the lives of believers, in my heart, in your heart, lurking deep down in the dark places of our hearts. Pride in the church is a cancer that will eat away at the body of Christ.
God hates pride in the church because it erodes the foundation. It destroys the unity of the body that he desires for his church. So what's the opposite of all this? Well, it's humility. That's what Paul's been talking about, right? But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Verse 4, let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others.
Of course, you need to take care of your own affairs, right? You need to support your family. You need to take care of your household. Paul says in another place that those who don't provide for their own household are worse than unbelievers. But here we see that in addition to that, you need to look out for the interests of others. You need to count others as more significant than yourself. And that's the kicker right there, isn't it? Counting others more significant than yourself. How do you even do that? It's incredibly easy to understand the idea, right?
You know exactly what he's saying. That person over there, consider them more significant than yourself. But it's so hard to do. Why? Why is it so hard? Because we're hardwired to think about ourselves. If I don't think about myself, who will? Who's going to look after me? I barely have time to take care of myself and my family. How am I supposed to have time to think about others? You can't just pretend either.
You can't pretend to consider others more significant. If you're wanting to help someone or serve them just because of what you will get in return, that's not humility. That's still selfish ambition. No, Paul wants us to be truly humble, seeking the good of others when you get nothing in return. Being concerned about the needs of others simply with their good in mind, getting to know people, finding out what's going on in their lives, locking arms together, being there when a need arises, rejoicing with others when things are going well, and being there for them to carry burdens and sorrows when things go poorly.
That will tend towards humility, not just each of us looking out for ourselves, but looking out for one another. building up the church. That's what Paul wants. Struggling and striving against one another, trying to climb to the top, that leads to factions, divisions, and a broken church. That's exactly what Satan wants. But each of us looking out for each other, putting our pride to death, that's humility.
But how do we do that? How can we fight our pride and be humble? Point two, we learn humility by looking to the cross. We learn humility by looking to the cross. Paul's been teaching about humility, right, in verses one through four. In chapter one last week, we even saw that he used himself as an example of humility, showing true concern for others. By the way, it's okay to use yourself as an example. You know that, right? That's not pride. That's what discipleship is.
Follow me as I follow Christ. No, no, you're not going to do it perfectly. I'm not going to do it perfectly. But discipleship is about following the example of others. It's about following the pattern of believers who have come before you. Anyway, Paul was teaching about humility in verses one through four, but he's reserved his main weapon in verses five through eleven. And this section is beautiful. It teaches us about Christ and the cross. It's referred to as the Christ hymn. We don't know if Paul wrote this hymn or if he just inserted it here into this letter, but either way it's a beautiful passage that teaches us about Jesus and who he is. First, Paul says that we need to have the mindset of Christ. That's verse five. Have this mind among yourselves. Have this mindset in the church. What mindset is that? Well, it's the perfect example of humility that Jesus showed us.
We often focus on Jesus's work on our behalf, which is right and good. We should do that. But here, Paul places this hymn here because Jesus is an example for us. Paul uses Jesus as an example for us to follow. Let's read it again, verses 6 through 11. Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
In verse 6, we learn that Christ, the second person of the Trinity, existed before the incarnation. Have you ever thought about that? Jesus did not come into existence when he was born. The second person of the Trinity existed forever, equal with God. John opens up his gospel like this, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In verse 6 there, when Paul uses the word form, he was in the form of God. He doesn't mean that Jesus was somehow less than God. No, he says right after that, equality with God. He was equal with God, and yet Christ did not use that equality with God as something to be grasped.
A better translation might be something to be exploited, something to use to his own advantage. Instead, in verse 7, we see that Christ emptied himself. Some of your translations might say, emptied himself. Again, not the best translation, because you're expecting that somehow he lost something when he became incarnate. You know that old hymn, right? We sing it often, and can it be? Emptied himself of all but love.
No, we actually change those lyrics. Have you noticed that? When we sing that song, we don't say emptied himself of all but love. We say emptied himself and came in love. Because that's confusing to say that he emptied himself. He didn't lose anything. A better translation and one that you might see in your ESV is that he made himself nothing. Because contrary to what some have tried to argue from this verse, when Christ became incarnate, he did not empty himself of divinity or anything else.
No, instead, he added to his divinity. He was still fully divine, and yet he added humanity by taking the form of a servant. By using the word servant there, Paul could be referencing the suffering servant from Isaiah 53, which would be very fitting as he's about to detail Christ's life and death. He does quote Isaiah 45 a little later, which we'll look at. By adding a human nature to his divine nature, Christ made himself one of us forever.
By being born in the likeness of men, again, likeness there doesn't mean something close to human. No, he was fully human, fully God and fully man. In verse 8, we see that Jesus did not stop at taking on flesh. No, he humbled himself even further by dying on a cross. And then in verses 9 and 11, we see the result of Jesus' life of humility. God highly exalted him. He bestowed on him the name that is above every name.
In case you're wondering, that name is probably not Jesus, but Lord, Yahweh, the name of God in the Old Testament. This verse here is probably a reference to Isaiah 45, 22 through 24. listen to this passage in Isaiah. By myself I have sworn, this is God speaking, from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return. To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance. Only in the Lord it shall be said of me are righteousness and strength.
You see what Paul's doing? It's truly astonishing that Paul would apply this verse to a man, Jesus of Nazareth. This verse is clearly talking about God in the Old Testament, and yet Paul applies this to Jesus. Astonishing. But again, why is this here? This amazing theology that we're learning here, but why does Paul place it here? right on the heels of exhorting the Philippians towards humility and unity.
Why? Because it's right here in the life and death of Jesus that we see the perfect example of humility. How do we kill our pride? By looking directly at our crucified Savior. We are to have this mindset among ourselves, this mindset of humility that we see in Jesus. the second person of the trinity the one who was with god in the beginning all things were made through him he took on flesh gave up his throne laid down his very life for us his life was not taken away from him he laid it down willingly that's truly incredible and it's wild to think that as Christians who follow this Jesus, we're down here grumbling and complaining about this or that inconvenience, about this or that slight. Lord, why do you give me your
hardest battles? Why do I have to serve in the nursery this morning? Really? That's what we complain about? Having to serve in the nursery? Christ was with God on his throne, being worshiped, and he chose to become a man. And that decision was permanent. It's not like he died and then he's able to put off his humanity. Jesus is one of us forever. He didn't come as an earthly king or an emperor either. No, he was just an average guy. Even lower than average, really, when you think about it. Jesus was born to poor parents. He was born in a feeding trough for animals.
The one who was there in the beginning with God. All things created through him. He worked as a carpenter for most of his life. Just worked with his hands. Just nothing fancy, just a normal guy. And during his earthly ministry, he was constantly ridiculed and scorned. And in the end, he became obedient to death. He laid down his life for us in obedience to the Father. He chose to do it. No one took his life from him. And the death that he died, it was gruesome. It was torturous. Death on a Roman cross was reserved for the most heinous criminals in Roman society.
This would have been a stumbling block for someone like the Philippians, who were Roman citizens. I'm not going to follow a guy who died like that, who was put to death like that and humiliated that's gross it's obscene but Paul shows the Philippians just how far Christ was willing to go in humility and that's where our pride and their pride should die be put to shame if the eternal son of God was willing to stoop that low to die like that for me to take the punishment that I deserve for my sin upon his own shoulders, how then can I continue in pride?
As a Christian, as one who claims to follow Jesus, there simply isn't room for pride. How can we continue grumbling and complaining, backbiting, scrounging, grasping just to get a little higher, get a little bit more for myself, all while watching Jesus humble himself in this way? It's unthinkable. That's the point Paul's making, right? When we look to the cross, how can we think to be prideful anymore?
Humility or pride. We're left with the same choice. Are we going to continue in our pride or will we look to our Savior who laid down his very life for us, caring for others, walking together in brotherly love, Standing side by side for the gospel. Counting others as more significant than yourself. Humility or pride. What will we choose? Well, of course, Satan, the enemy of God and our enemy, he wanted to derail this whole thing from the start.
Satan had fallen in pride. He tempted our parents to fall in pride. And he tempted Jesus in the exact same way. in the wilderness, Satan tempted Jesus. Jesus was fasting, and Satan said, if you're the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. Why do you go on starving? And then he took Jesus to the top of the temple, and he said, throw yourself down. Those angels who worship you, the Son of God, they'll come to save you. Remember, Satan was quoting scripture here, and then Satan took Jesus to a high mountain. He showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory. He said, I will give all of these to you. All you have to do is bow down and worship me. Skip the hard part, Jesus. You're the Son of God. Don't subject yourself to a painful death by these humans.
just bend your knee and worship me. You'll have everything. But Jesus held fast under temptation. Jesus remained humble, even to the point of death on a cross. And not only that, as we see, he was raised from the dead. God raised him from the dead, defeating our enemies, Satan, sin, and death. He crushed our enemies by being crushed himself. And because of that, God exalted him.
Jesus' life of humiliation led to his exaltation. Jesus now sits on the throne. He's been given the name above every name, Lord. And he deserves our honor and our worship. And he will get it. Every knee will bow before him. Every knee. Which knees? The ones in heaven and on earth and under the earth. Every knee will bow before him.
Will you do it in this life, willingly? Or will you bow before him in judgment on the last day? Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for sending Jesus for us. Jesus, you were obedient in life and in death. You took on the punishment that we deserve for our sin, and now you are exalted.
You've been resurrected, and now you're reigning at the right hand of God the Father. Holy Spirit, we pray that this gospel would be proclaimed here at Third Avenue. We pray that those who don't yet believe would be convicted of their sin, that they would talk to somebody, that they would learn about this Jesus who humbled himself and who is now exalted above all names. And it's in his name that we pray this morning.
Amen.