Be Humble – Every Knee Should Bow

About those new microphones. Hey, praise the Lord, it's good

to be with you this morning. And there's no better place to

be, nothing better you could be doing this morning than

worshipping the Savior of the world.

Do you believe that this morning?

I mean, there may be some, you know, churches on the beach or

up in the mountains that you might rather worship in, but

there's nothing better you could be doing this morning than

worshipping the Savior of the world.

We're going to finish up our series Be Humble last week, I

think Pastor Shane mentioned. I just want to give a little bit

more explanation. We were supposed to be in

Guatemala last Sunday, but we ended up having to postpone our

trip. There was a ton of rain.

And with all of the flight delays and the rain, there were

mud slides that were blocking roads.

And then the government, something was going on down in

Guatemala with their government and they were putting roadblocks

in. And so they said if you come,

there's a good chance that you're going to get stuck in

Guatemala City for the week. And they said we would probably

suggest you not come. So we ended up postponing the

trip. Now, I wasn't here, obviously

that gave me the opportunity I already had planned to not be

here. And my son Sam plays volleyball

and he goes to tournaments and, and I don't get to go to those

because I'm usually here. And so I decided I was going to

take that opportunity to go down to Nashville.

The wonderful thing was we had the afternoon session and so we

had the opportunity to go to church and I always love to go

to church. Listen, guys, please, please

don't take for granted the opportunity we have to gather

together and worship. And, and no matter where I go, I

don't care if I'm on vacation or at a volleyball tournament or

wherever, I always love going to church and worshiping for the

body Christ. So last week we worshiped with

the Gateway Church down in Nashville.

It was pretty cool. I didn't realize, but one of our

own, Karen Fleming, attends there now.

She moved down to Nashville and I had the opportunity to see her

and it was just cool being there.

It's great to be a part of the church, isn't it?

That reminds me of a a story. There were these three guys

talking. One was a Nazarene pastor, one

was a Catholic priest, and the other was a rabbi.

And the Nazarene pastor, I mean, just like me, he just loved the

church. He said.

I love going to church. I love the Nazarene church.

What I love about the Nazarene church is it's just one big

family. But but I love that in the

Nazarene Church, if you're faithful and if you're humble,

you can really, you know, be, be moved up.

And he said, you know, I, I've known pastors that started and,

and, you know, small churches and ended up being district

superintendents. And, you know, you know, you

could even be elected general Superintendent if you're

faithful. Now that doesn't mean anything

to non Nazarenes, but there's only six of those in the church.

The big deal. And Catholic priest looked at

him and said, man, that's really cool.

But you know, the Catholic Church, I mean, we are a big

church. I mean, we got Notre Dame maybe

in the College Football Playoff, I don't know.

But but you know, with a Catholic Church, I mean, if

you're faithful, you could go from being a small village

priest. You could become a Bishop, maybe

even an Archbishop. You might even become a

cardinal. And who knows, maybe even the

Pope. And they're both feeling good

about themselves. And the rabbi looks over and

says, man, guys, that's really awesome.

What about this? Could you guys become the

Almighty? Could anyone in your church to

become the And the Nazarene pastor said, no, absolutely not.

It's that that's crazy. And that the Catholic priest

said, no, that's sacrilegious to even suggest that a mere mortal

man could become the Almighty. And the rabbi looked at him and

said, one of our guys did it. All right, today we're going to

talk about that one guy that made it the Almighty, the Savior

of the world. We're in Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

If you'll stand with me, I'm going to read verse one through

11. We've been working through it

for the last three weeks and we're finishing our series here

today. And we, we stand for God's word

because we believe God wants to speak to us through it.

And I really believe that today we have an opportunity to

worship and I think his word will draw us there.

So here it is. Therefore, if you have any

encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from

His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness

and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like minded,

having the same love, being one in spirit and one of mind.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.

Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not

looking to your own interest, but each of you to the interests

of the others and your relationships with one another

have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature

God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to

His own advantage. Rather, He made Himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human

likeness and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled

himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

Therefore, this is where we're focusing today.

Verse 9 Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place gave

him the the name that is above every name that at the name of

Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under

the earth and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is

Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Amen. You can have a seat.

So Philippians 2 is a, is a call to humility.

It's called a humility, but it also focuses us on Jesus over

the last three weeks that we talked about.

Humility is part of humility is unity that we find ourselves in

Christ, that we are all made one in Christ.

And, and part of being unified together is the humility of

knowing that that we're all in this together and we're all

saved by Christ and we're all made one in Christ.

And so it starts with unity, but then there's the call to

selflessness. Do nothing out of selfish

ambition or vain conceit. Rather value others above

yourselves. And so humility is putting

others 1st. And then last week Pastor Shane

shared and we we looked at Jesus and we have the picture, the

example of Jesus. And there's the call to allow

Jesus to be our example and to follow him and to be Christ like

to follow his example. Today's the finale, verse 9 and

and I think this ends in the perfect way to talk about

humility, verse 9. Therefore God exalted him to the

highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on

earth and under the earth, and every tongue.

Confess that who Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the

Father. I love this.

Paul starts by calling us to unity, by calling us to

humility, by calling us to be servants, by calling us to

follow Jesus example. But he doesn't end with us, he

ends with Jesus. Therefore, Jesus was exalted to

the highest place. Let's work through this.

Verse 9 says therefore God exalted him to the highest

place. The therefore is drawing back to

verses 6 through 8. So let's just take a second and

let's look back at verses 6 through 8.

It's drawing back to that. It says Jesus in verse 6, who

being in very nature God did not consider equality with God

something to be used to his own advantage.

Rather, He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a

servant being made in human likeness and being found in

appearance as a man, He humbled himself and by becoming obedient

to death, even death on a cross. So the therefore points back to

this. This is the example that Jesus

set. Therefore, God exalted him to

the highest place. Let's just look at it.

Verse 6 says He didn't look at equality with God as something

to be used to his own advantage. Jesus, it was the Son of God.

And we believe in the tree that that God the Father, God the Son

and the Holy Spirit. Scripture tells us all were one.

And at the beginning of time, all things were created through

Jesus. He was there.

And so listen, if anyone ever could claim to be important,

it's Jesus, God, the Son of God, the one through whom all things

we're created. But it tells us he didn't take

that and view it as something that he would exploit or use to

his own advantage. Instead, he humbled himself.

He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a

servant he took on flesh. Jesus, the one who all of us

were created through, became one of us, humbled himself.

It became a servant. Pastor Shane talked about this

last week, washing feet. Jesus actually washed the feet

of his disciples. Not only is he God, not only did

he take on flesh, but he humbled himself as a servant and washed

feet. And Shane told you he hates

washing feet. I think he should wash my feet

today, don't you? I think we should have him

practice humility. And I'll give you a yeah.

There we go. Listen, Jesus not only took on

flesh, but he became a servant. And verse 8, he became obedient

to death, even death on the cross.

See, it wasn't about what he wanted.

It was about the Father's plan. And so he was obedient.

And there were times where Jesus said, oh, if there was a way to

take this this from me, Lord, I would love that, but not my

will, your will be done. And so he was completely

obedient. So I want us to look at three

things. Three reasons that Jesus is

exalted 2 and two from the scripture.

And one, that's a bonus. But it's Thanksgiving week.

So I'm giving you a little a little bonus here.

See this week you may sit at a table with some other people and

they may ask you to tell them what you're thankful for.

If you don't know, I'm going to give you 3 things that you

should be thankful for. It's a little little bonus.

You walk out of here. You've already got Thursday

taken care of. Here we go #1 Jesus is the

perfect example of humility. He's the perfect example of

humility. We, we talked about it at the

beginning of Philippians 2. Paul says that you should be 1.

You should be unified. Jesus was 1 with the Father and

with the Spirit. Jesus was a part of the Trinity.

He was unified together, but he didn't take that as a way to

exploit, as a way to make it his name greater than theirs.

He was 1. He was unified with them, and it

was all about being together in the Father's plan.

And so he was unified. But second, Paul calls us to

selflessness. He says do nothing out of

selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather value others

above yourself. Jesus became a servant and he

valued others above himself. He washed the feet, He healed

the people that needed healed. He spoke to the people that

needed someone to speak to them. Jesus valued others and then he

even gave his life on a cross so that we could be forgiven.

He was humble and obedient to death, even death on a cross.

John 15 says, My command is this, love each other as I have

loved you. Greater love has no one than

this to lay down one's life for one's friends.

Jesus was the perfect example of humility.

He's the only hear me again, the only perfect example of

humility. I know some of you have really

sweet little grandmothers, or maybe you got a friend, or maybe

you had a pastor in the past, or maybe you had a, you know,

Sunday school teacher growing up.

And you say that is a perfect exit.

No, no, no, no, no. There's only one perfect example

of humility, and that's Jesus Christ.

Praise the Lord that we have a Savior that set the the way,

that lived, the example that was perfect in obedience and

humility. That's something you can be

thankful for. This week we have the path in

front of us. He showed us the way.

Jesus is the only perfect example of humility, and we can

follow him. All right #2 Jesus is the Savior

of the world. Here's the really good news.

Jesus became obedient to death, even death on a cross.

And what happened there? If you're new to this whole

thing? See, we have all sinned and

fallen short of the glory of God.

That's what Scripture tells us. But Jesus became a man.

And Jesus, the Son of God, went to a cross and was obedient and

died on the cross so that we could be forgiven.

Jesus is the Savior of the world.

John 316 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his one

and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not

perish, but have everlasting life.

For God did not send his Son to the world to condemn the world,

but to save the world through him.

Here's the truth. We deserved condemnation.

Guys, just take a second. And I'm not trying to beat you

up here, but just take a second and think about the worst things

you've ever done, the worst things you've ever thought, the

worst things you've ever said. None of us is innocent, Every

single one of us. And and we kind of joke about

like one day you'll stand before God and that laundry list of

things that you've done will be in.

And the idea is, oh, I'm going to feel this great shame.

I got good news, guys. Jesus became obedient to death,

even death on a cross so that your sins can be paid for.

You don't have to sit before God one day and be ashamed and and

unworthy because Jesus, death on the cross paid for your sins.

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life

through Jesus Christ Jesus Not only the perfect example of

humility, Jesus is the only way to salvation.

Listen, if if you got nothing else to say, you're thankful for

this week, you have a Savior who offers you salvation and life

died so that you could be forgiven for your sins.

Anyone want to say Amen to that? Anyone thankful for that?

He's the Savior of the world #3 this is your bonus point.

It's not in Philippians 2, but it's all throughout Scripture.

Jesus not only was obedient to death, death on a cross, but

Jesus conquered sin and death. See, He did die, He did go to

the cross, but He rose from the dead and he lives today.

Jesus conquered sin and does see since the beginning, since he

took on flesh, people were after him.

King Herod was trying to eliminate him, went to great

measures to try to eliminate Jesus.

Throughout time, over and over again, people have tried to

eliminate Jesus. Over and over again people have

tried to get rid of His example, but Jesus conquered sin and

death. Yes, He died, but today He

lives. All right, so good news, you

have salvation through Him. Your sins are forgiven through

His death. Even better news, you are

offered life and life eternal through His resurrection.

Praise the Lord because He conquered sin and death.

We can live eternally and we are no longer slaves to sin and

death. We have victory in Christ.

Listen, the person you were, when you think of that laundry

list of things, when you think of the worst things you've done,

I've got good news through Jesus death, you're forgiven for those

things. But even beyond that, Jesus

conquered sin and death and his Spirit comes to live in us.

And we don't have to live that way anymore.

We can live right? We can live holy.

It's one of the things I think our church absolutely gets

right. We believe in holiness.

We believe that through the work of the Holy Spirit in our life,

we can actually live holy lives. So not only is he the perfect

example of humility, not only is he your salvation, he's your

life to this week, you can be thankful that Jesus offers you

life and victory over sin and death.

This week when we talked about in staff meeting, I said, what

is this? What does this tell you?

And Pastor Dale said, it tells me that we have victory.

We know who wins. I went to the UC football game

last night. I like going to the UC games.

I hoped that UC would win. I hoped they would pull out the

victory. You guys know how this feels,

right? You hope.

I mean, we're Cincinnati sports fans.

You hope. I love the hope we have every

year. This is our year.

We're going to do it. I had a lot of hope last night

until the third quarter when I said, you know what?

I think it's time to go home. I think it's over now.

I'm tired of being cold. I didn't know what was going to

happen. I hoped.

I hope Joe Burrow comes back and we play really well.

You know, I, I hope the stock market does well.

I hope our country does well. I hope a lot of things.

We can hope a lot of things. Here's the beautiful thing.

We know that Jesus is victorious.

And today we don't come to church wondering if we're, if

we're backing a winner. We serve the name that is above

all other names, the God that conquered the Savior, that

conquered sin and death. Praise the Lord, we have

victory. Verse 9 therefore, therefore, so

because of all that, therefore God exalted him to the highest

place, gave him the name that is above every name, that at the

name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and

under the earth and every tongue acknowledged that Jesus Christ

is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

God exalted him to the highest place because he is the perfect

example, because he's the Savior of the world, because he has

victory over sin and death. God exalted him to the highest

place and today he sits. He's the name above all names.

He sits on the ultimate throne. That's who we're here to

worship. Did you make the right call

today? You did.

We're here to worship Jesus and you can't deny this.

There may be some people that say, oh, Jesus isn't everything

you say is No, no, he is. 2.4 billion people on this earth

proclaim Jesus to be the savior. 2.4 billion people on earth call

themselves Christians more than anyone else.

Listen, I go around and I see bumper stickers on cars.

We got Star Wars fans, any Star Wars fans in the house?

OK, we got, we got Trekkies, Not as many of those.

Do we have any Star Trek people? All right, we got any big time

sport? We got any Ohio State people?

I wasn't getting. Oh, wow, OK, we got we got any

sleeping people. I mean, come on.

Listen, we, we can put our faith in a lot of different things, a

lot of different things, but there is one that reigns supreme

and that's Jesus Christ. And, and as I said, for

thousands of years, dictators, kings, powers, authorities have

tried to get rid of Christianity, have tried to get

rid of the influence of Jesus. Even some countries today try to

keep people from worshipping Jesus.

Guess what? In those places, that's where

it's growing the most. Why?

Because Jesus is the name above all other names.

He is the most famous, the most important, the most influential,

the most worshipped name in history.

God exalted him to the highest place.

Praise the Lord. God is good.

So humility is coming together and being one in Christ.

Humility is selflessness. Humility is obedience and

following Jesus example. I love how this ends.

It doesn't talk about us. See, I think we live in a

culture and, and I'll use a term here that I'm making up.

I think sometimes we treat Christianity as like what we

come to worship and, and it's kind of like the Oscars or the

Grammys, whatever you want to think of the award show, you

know, all these people come and they're here for this big,

they're all here for the same thing, this big event.

And I think we would all say today that, hey, we're here to

worship the saviour of the world.

But the truth is, you can see it at the Oscars and the Grammys.

They've all spent time getting ready because in reality, it's

kind of about them, isn't it? And they walk the red carpet and

they pose and they look at each other and they're making sure

every, you know, they're even making sure when the cameras are

looking at them that they're doing the right thing because in

their mind it's about them. Sure, there's something bigger

going on, but it's about them. And, and I think we fall victim

to this and Christianity. And I'm going to be honest with

you and say that sometimes I do make it about myself.

Last week I told you I went to Gateway Church.

I had the privilege of interning there when I was in college.

So like 20 years ago, 2022 years ago, 23 years ago, I interned.

Man, that's a long time. I interned at, at Gateway

Church, same pastor. And so I don't know what I

thought was going to happen, but I walked in the doors of the

church. It's it's not a huge church.

And I walked in the doors of the church and and I don't know, I

mean, I promise you, I didn't think people were going to like

fall all over themselves for me or anything.

But I walked in and I'm like, hey, you know, I'm Alex

Mahaffey. I used to intern here and I saw

the look on the pastor's face. All right, now this is a look.

I'm I'm giving you some internal secrets here.

OK? I saw the look of kind of panic.

I don't know if I told him my name, but I said I interned here

and I could see that he recognized me, but I could also

see that he really had no clue who I was.

Happens a lot to me. And then I noticed that, you

know, he slipped out for a little bit.

OK, now I'm really telling you my secrets.

Every once in a while you might see that deer in a headlights

look on my face. And maybe you've caught me off

guard and. And every once in a while, I'll

slip out and I'll go look up and try to figure out who you are so

I can come back in and say, oh, yeah, hey, Bill, how you doing?

And so you know what that happened.

We sat down. We're getting ready to worship

and, and Pastor Gary Henneke walks in now.

Pastor Gary Henneke was a long time pastor at Nashville First

Church. Many think of him as one of the

greatest preachers. I mean, he was known for his

wonderful preaching. He's a well known pastor.

And he walked in to Gateway Church and I was like, oh,

Megan, check it out. It's Gary Henneke.

Like like he's an awesome dude. And she's like, well, does he

know you? No, he doesn't know me.

Why would he know me? And can I be honest with you, as

I often do, I kind of started to make it about myself and I kind

of started to think, well, and, and I've, I've already told you

this in this series, I started to think, well, who am I?

Well, people don't know me. Do I matter?

And I'm giving you a testimony today.

I'm not. I don't want you to feel sorry

for me because it's not about me.

And the testimony is this, that last Sunday as I sat worshipping

while you were sitting worshipping, I was maybe making

it about myself a little bit too much.

And you know what God said to me?

It's not about you. It's about Jesus, the One, the

name of all above all other names.

And it doesn't matter if you pastor for 50 years and nobody

knows your name. It doesn't matter if people

recognize you when you walk into a room.

What matters is that one day all of us will fall down and worship

the one who's worthy. Praise the Lord, guys.

I have the opportunity not to get up and build my career every

week. Not to get up and make a name

for myself. I have the opportunity to get up

and tell you how great Jesus Christ is.

He alone is worthy. None of the rest of us are.

And as much as we tend to make it about ourselves, as much as

we tend to sit, we come to worship the Almighty God.

We come to worship the Savior of the world.

But way too often we come in like it's the Oscars or the

Grammys, and we're worried about who's looking at us, who knows

us, who doesn't know us, what they're thinking, how they

looked at us. And we forget that it's all

about Jesus. Today we have the opportunity to

worship the King of kings, the Lord of Lords, the name above

any other name and it's not about us.

See, I love this. Paul starts with, hey, you

should be humble, you should be unified, you should be selfless.

You should follow Jesus example, but he doesn't say then you will

be awesome. He says no.

Therefore Jesus is lifted up. The name of Jesus is above every

name, and at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every

tongue confess that he is Lord. So humility is being one with

each other. Humility is humbling ourselves

and putting others above ourselves.

Humility is obedience. Today humility is worshiping the

one that is worthy of all of our worship and praise.

Guys, you have the opportunity today to join with 2.4 billion

people. I don't know if they're all in

church this morning. You have the opportunity to

worship the one that's worthy of everything.

You can watch the Bengals later, you can watch the Bearcats.

You can. You can follow the government.

You can root for whatever you want to root for.

You can follow the stock market, whatever you want.

Knock yourself out, but don't miss this guys.

There's one worthy of our worship and praise, and it's not

me and it's not you. It's Jesus.

It goes on and it says at the name of Jesus, every knee should

bow. Every knee will bow.

That doesn't mean they should. They're not going to, they

should. What it means is that one day

every knee will bow to Jesus and every tongue will confess that

Jesus Christ is Lord. Would you stand with me?

I want to read Revelation 5 to you.

This is a picture of that. It's a beautiful picture of that

worship team. You can come on up, Revelation 5

says. Then I saw in the right hand of

him who sat on the throne a scroll with riding on both sides

and sealed with 7 seals. And I saw a mighty Angel

proclaiming in a loud voice, who is worthy to break the seals and

open the scroll. But no one in heaven or on earth

or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside.

And I wept and I wept because no one was found to was worthy to

open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to

me, do not weep. See the lion of the tribe of

Jude of the root of David, and has triumphed.

He is able to open the scroll in its seven seals.

Then I saw the a lamb looking as if it had been slain, standing

in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living

creatures and the elders. The lamb had 7 horns and seven

eyes, which which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all

the earth. He went, and he took the scroll

from the right hand of him who sat on the throne.

And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the 24

elders fell down before. The Lamb, each one had a harp,

and they were holding golden bulls of full of incense, which

are the prayers of God's people. And they sang a new song,

saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals,

because you were slain. And with your blood you

purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and

people and nation. You have made them to be a

Kingdom and priest to serve our God, and they will reign on

earth. Then I looked and I heard the

voice of many angels. Picture this guys, many angels

numbering thousands upon thousands and 10,000 * 10,000

They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the

elders, and in a loud voice they were saying, Worthy is the Lamb

who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and

strength and honor and glory and praise.

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under

the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them say to him

who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and

glory and power forever and ever.

The four living creatures said Amen.

And the elders felt fell down and worshipped him.

Guys, I hope you got a little bit of a glimpse there of what's

happening and what will happen for eternity.

And listen, you're called to be humble, you're called to be

unified. You're called to be a servant.

You're called to follow Christ example.

But today I want you to know more than anything, you are

called to worship the 1. So I want to invite you to

worship today. Humility is worship the one who

is worthy. You can do that however you

want. We're going to sing a couple

songs. You can kneel in an altar, you

can bow down where you are, you can put your hands up, you can

cry tears. You can do whatever you want.

But today, humility is fully surrendering and worshipping the

only one who's worthy. Father, speak to us, lead us,

guide us. Thank you for your love and

grace. Lord, I thank you for your

salvation. I thank you for the victory we

have in you. And today, Lord, I want to bow

at your feet. I want to worship you.

I want to give you everything. We worship you now in Jesus

name.