Philippians 2:1-11

Now I just wanna reference.

This beautiful artwork here, which I did not do.

Just so you know, one of our young adults, Joe Frost, did this painting,

and it was during a worship night we did at the Naval Store last

year.

And, the relevance

of this painting will come to light as we go

through, the message

for today.

All right.

So we are in our series, defiant Joy, going through the book of Philippians.

And so let's dive into the passage for today, which is

Philippians two verses one to 11.

And

it is a, before we

begin to read, I just wanna set the scene of this passage of scripture.

It is

one of the, most treasured

and precious passages of scripture in all of scripture.

If we did not have this passage of scripture, we

would be, limited in

our understanding of who Jesus is.

And the divinity of Jesus.

The passage that we'll read in a moment is possibly the clearest

passage on the incarnation, on the truth of the incarnation, that you

will find anywhere in scripture.

So it's an incredibly important and incredibly

precious, passage of

scripture.

So I'd encourage you to adopt a posture of really leaning in.

Lord, what have you got for me this morning?

Through your word, through this incredibly powerful and press

precious passage of scripture.

All right, let's read.

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 a one mind.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather, in humility,

value others above yourselves.

Not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus,

who being in the 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, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name

that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every niche 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.

Oh, right.

Before we dive in, babe, can I just ask, could you just get me some water?

I'm a little bit parched up here.

My tongue is sticking to the roof of my mouth.

All

right.

So, Paul says,

at the beginning of this passage, he says to them, make my joy complete.

She's essentially saying, just make my day church, make my day, make my joy complete.

How?

By the church, in this case, the Philippian Church, knowing their

foundation and their identity in Christ by the church being unified and by the

church having the same mindset as Jesus.

And what is that mindset?

It is a mindset of true humility.

So let's just break down the first part, the first few verses, verses

of the passage that we just read and break it down so that we can

grasp what he's actually saying here in the framework of, can we just

set this next slide up, Sabrina?

Thanks.

All right.

Identity and our foundation, but then also unity and humility.

So he's saying if you have, and this is an identity and a foundation statement

that he brings here, if you have any encouragement from being united

with Christ, my friends, we could park there on just that truth alone.

For days.

Have you come this morning, did you wake up this morning?

Encourage because your life, if you profess Jesus as Lord and Savior,

your life is united to the life.

Of Christ, like you don't have to earn it.

You don't have to wake up every day securing it, behaving right?

So in order so that Christ doesn't flee from you.

Now Christ has bound his life to yours.

That's what it is to be saved.

That's what it is to be born again.

It's that the life of Christ permanently united to your life.

There is a lot.

Of encouragement to be gained by just pondering on that truth alone.

If that is true of you, my friends, what could possibly shake you if you're

eternally united to the life of Christ?

What in this life could truly, truly shake you if you were to truly, truly apprehend

the fullness of that reality right there?

I think we forget to think about that sometimes, don't we?

Who we are in

him that, that foundational

identity, any comfort from his love?

Because it is his love that binds him to us.

Any common sharing in the spirit, any tenderness and compassion.

What is he talking about here?

Any deep, deep affection because when you understand who you are in Christ

and you understand his love for you.

The natural overflow.

That is a posture of deep tenderness and compassion.

So sharing this with the word and way people.

On Wednesday night, our Bible study, the, the word for tenderness there

in the Greek is actually, if you were to translate it directly, it's the

word B, translate directly to bowel.

So if you have any bowels and compassion, right?

What?

What could that possibly mean?

Well, for the ancients, this place here.

It was where you felt so very deeply.

It's that place.

And so when I

say church, you know,

love your guts.

That's kind of tapping into that truth there.

It is a, it's a gut born affection and love.

It's deep.

It's deep, deep in the bowels.

I think something gets lost in modern translation there,

but you know what I mean?

And then he goes, then what?

Make my joy complete by next slide there, Sabrina.

By being what?

By being unified.

By being humble, by being like-minded, actually agreeing with one another.

Oh, this does not come easy, does it?

By having the same love loving one another with the love that Christ has given you.

Being one in spirit and of one mind being deep spirited friends.

That's beautiful, isn't it?

I've borrowed that language from Eugene Peterson in the message paraphrase.

Be deep seated friends.

That just sounds like a really good time, doesn't it?

Just to be in the company of deep seated friends.

Is there any greater blessing in the world?

Ugh, humble.

Doing nothing outta selfish ambition or VA conceit.

Valuing others above yourself, not looking to your own interests,

but to the interests of others.

And so off the bat, the conclusions that we can draw from this right

from the beginning is this joy is found in knowing your foundation

and your identity in Christ.

Joy is found in being a unifying member of a unified community.

So it's not just found in being in a unified community.

It's actually contributing to the unity of that community by being a unifying

member of a unified community, joy, that is a joyful, joyful place to be.

And joy is found in a life of humility, which enables you to be a person of unity.

There is no unity apart from humility.

You can't have.

Unity without humility.

We try to do that, and that's called uniformity.

That's when we all just convince ourself we're unified because we look the same.

We sound the same, we wear the same.

We think the same.

We support the same politicians and sports teams, and we all

listen to the same music.

That's not unity.

Okay?

It's diversity that prove proves unity, and it's only

possible through deep humility.

All right.

So there is a deep joy in unity, which comes when we know and we live

out of a Christ founded identity with a humble Christ-like mindset.

So that is my encouragement for us all this morning, that we would lean into

that, that we would desire to know the joy that comes with living in this way.

We would desire to know the joy that comes from living out of a Christ.

Found that identity with a humble Christ-like mindset.

And so this is what Paul is saying.

He wants this for this church, and that will bring him the greatest joy.

And I don't think it's a stretch to understand why.

I mean, for, for those of you who are parents, you know the joy of seeing your

children getting along and being unified, loving one another, serving one another,

championing one another, that brings joy to a parent's heart, doesn't it?

And for Paul, he sees these churches like his children, and for God, well, we are

his children, so you wanna bless the Lord.

Love the people around you.

Be deep spirited friends with those around you.

Don't put a smile on the Lord's face.

You know, it doesn't put a smile on the Lord's face when you just bitch and

complain about all the people around you.

And just when God, them, them, them theming.

I know that God really enjoys that.

Who really enjoys that.

At the end of the day, nobody enjoys watching their children fight and

disagree, but that place of unity birthed in humility is precious and beautiful and

just, just a source of deep, deep joy.

So why does unity matter?

Other than being a source of joy, why would the Philippian Church being

unified matter so very much to Paul?

'cause remember the first chapter of Philippians, we got this real

sense of what really matters to Paul and what really matters to Paul

is the advancement of the gospel.

And why does that matter to Paul?

Because in Paul's mind, when the gospel advances, the kingdom comes

and the darkness is pushed back and light comes and evil is overcome

by good when the gospel advances.

So it matters greatly to Paul that the gospel advances.

And the gospel advances best through a unified church, doesn't it?

And so unity matters.

Unity matters to Paul, and it should matter to us here

because it's the will of God.

Again, the words of Paul here as found in Ephesians that God made

known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure.

And what is this will to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth.

The whole point of this all is unity.

It's reconciliation.

It's bringing everything back into a harmonious state of shalom and oneness.

Next.

Because our unity tells the world about the love of Gods Jesus.

As he's praying before he goes to the cross in John's gospel here,

my prayer is not for them alone.

I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that all

of them what may be one unified father, just as you are in me and I am in you,

this deep relational unity, then what?

Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them.

Even as you have loved me, our greatest witness is not in how loudly we scream

the gospel in people's faces and not how loudly we tell the wrong how the

world, how wrong and immoral it is.

But as we love one another, as we dwell in unity, it's a, it's a beacon to a

broken disintegrating world around us.

That beacon of love.

Yeah, Adam's, as I was going through my message with Adam

yesterday reminded me there's

this saying, division

in the church breeds atheism in the world.

Oh, it's a challenging statement, isn't it?

I think there's a lot of truth to it, because when the church is divided, our

lives are telling a lie about the goodness of the gospel when the church is divided.

Our lies don't bear a true witness to the truth of the gospel and the truth

of who God is and how he sees the world and how he wants to relate to the world.

All right, next.

Unity matters because it is there that we know the presence of God.

Psalm 133, how good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity.

It is like precious oil pulled on the head, running down the beard, running

down Aaron's beard, down the collary robe.

It's as if the Jew of Herman were falling on Mount Zion for there, the Lord bestows

his blessing, even life forevermore.

And so that picture of oil, it sounds kind of gross, doesn't it?

As you just read it, like can take it and it's plain kind of, you know,

describing there, you're just like, oh, Gracie, and did they have shampoo?

Then?

How did he get all that oil out of his beard?

But what did oil represent?

In the Old Testament, it represented the spirit, represented the very presence

of God and and so it's

saying that's what unity is.

Unity to be unified in the name of Jesus is to know the very presence of God.

There will be life, there will be life next because it's the very ministry

that we have been called to all this is from God writes Paul in Second

Corinthians, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and then gives us what.

The Ministry of Reconciliation.

You know, there's this interesting reality, right?

Every single person on this planet is an image bearer is

made in the image of God, right?

Not just the Christians.

Every single person human being is created in the image of God.

So every person is an image bearer, but not every person is a name bearer.

And for those who bear the name of Jesus, this is your ministry.

It is a ministry of reconciliation.

That's what you had to wear every day when you walk out the door, to just be

that place where heaven and earth collide.

Where God's will is done on earth that is, is in heaven and the kingdom comes.

And that's not so much just running around preaching the gospel at people,

but it's carrying the presence of God wherever your foot treads and

bearing witness in whatever way is authentic to how God has created.

You.

All right.

So why does Unity matter?

There we go.

And with this in mind, as we, as we consider all this, I wonder sometimes

if we're not just a little bit casual about unity, a bit quick and a bit

willing to divide over differences that ultimately just do not matter

content, or at least happy to feel justified in our reluctance to forgive

our brothers and sisters in Christ.

A little bit justified carrying bitterness and resentment.

But 'cause we truly understood the preciousness of unity, would we really

waste our time with things that divide?

I think if we're honest, there is something in the human heart that inclines

us to division that client inclines us to fight with one another, to be against

one another rather than for one another.

We acknowledge the good of it, right?

But there is something in our heart that often pulls us in this

direction of division, of conflict, of disagreement, of fighting.

And you know, not always outwardly, because you know, we're very good at

sanctifying our behavior, aren't we?

Church, we're very good at looking like nice Christians on the outside

and then what's going on in the heart, and this is what this is all about.

It's not about the outward behavior.

Yeah, it's like the positive posture of your heart.

Are you for.

The people here.

Are you here because God called you here and you know he called

you here so that you could be four.

This church family.

But then beyond that, are you for the church down the road, or are

you just worried about all the things that they do different to us

and how we do it better than them?

You know, I know nobody would think that, would they?

You know?

No.

I've been greatly challenged through this.

You know, when Paul said in back in chapter one, where he talks about, you

know, what does it matter what people's motives are in preaching the gospel?

Whether a false mood is or true, all that matters is the gospel is

preached and you know, and that as a teacher, right, as one who is,

can be very black and white, right?

And likes things to be right.

You know, I can get my little knickers all in all sorts of wedges

about, oh, is this being done right?

Oh, oh, oh.

And it's not a unifying heart posture.

Now, do we accept false teaching distortions of the gospel?

No, we don't, but it What is the posture of our heart towards our

brothers and sisters in Christ?

Is it one of humility and unity?

So if you just take a look at these few verses, what you're gonna see is

Paul describes the heart that fights, and then he describes the kind of

heart that doesn't fight, but that makes peace and that brings joy.

And then he shows us how to get that kind of heart that makes peace.

So what kills unity?

He talks about it here.

Selfish ambition and vain conceit.

And so what is, oh, the water.

I forgot to drink it.

Ugh.

Ah.

So much better.

Alright.

Oh, don't tip over.

Okay, what kills unity?

Selfish ambition and Bain

Conceit.

So let's

have a look here.

Selfish ambition is having a spirit of divisiveness, a

desire to put oneself forward.

It's a desire to be first, a desire to be recognized, to

be seen, to be acknowledged.

And what I would advise as we come before this is to resist the temptation to start

to think of all those other people who operate like this and just graciously

hold the mirror up to your own self.

Don't worry about the others, let the Lord worry about them.

You just hold it up to your own good self and see if there is anything

here that resonates for you.

All right.

Vain conceit or vain glory, as it says in the King James.

And what does this mean?

It means to be glory empty.

So the Greek word there is keno.

Docea.

So keno means empty, which I thought was really funny.

'cause who knows what keno is like as a gambling thing.

Yeah, yeah.

It's gonna empty

your wallet.

So funny.

They would call it

that.

Yeah.

And then

docia means glory, so it actually means.

To be somebody who is glory empty, and if you are empty of that, what does it do?

It makes you hungry.

It makes you hungry for honor.

For respect to be seen, to be acknowledged, to be

valued, to be appreciated.

It's kind of this anxiety as chin Keller put it, a ra, a radical

cosmic insecurity and anxiousness for assurance around your identity.

But it's this, it's kind of this GNA deep seated conviction in you that you

don't count and that you don't matter.

So therefore you need to spend your days proving that you do and gaining

that approval from other people.

So you need to be seen and you need to be acknowledged.

And again, we can immediately in our minds go to a caricature of this, of some

very obvious, arrogant, prideful person.

Don't do that.

Okay?

Allow the spirit to bring conviction to your own heart and

go, where is this in me, Lord?

Where might I be able to invite your spirit that I could be set

free of any kind of selfish ambition or vain conceit that would rob

your church of a joy filled unity?

Because remember, it's not just about you.

Is it, this is what we forget, right?

We can so easily come to church and we can hear these messages and we can receive

them in the sense of, of like self-help.

So how do I just become a better person so that I can look in the mirror and

just be more at peace with who I am?

But no, no, no.

It's like how, how do I take the beautiful truth of God, bring it to bear in my

own brokenness for the good of others?

It's, yes, it's for your own good, but.

Ultimately it's for the good of the people that God has

called you to love and to serve.

Okay, so why are we this way?

Why are we can, can we be people of selfish ambition

and people of vain conceit?

And I think it is because we're made to live forever in God's presence.

But when we turn away from the presence of God, we, we miss out

on receiving what we need most.

We miss out of being in the presence of his glory that fills us in a beautiful

way that doesn't distort us or deform us.

John 17 three says, this is eternal life that they know you God.

So outside of knowing God and deep relational, knowing not.

Had knowledge about God, but relational knowing of God, there is only death.

This is what the implications of these words of Jesus is, and so

we are made to never be forgotten.

We were made.

We weren't made to be unseen or unknown.

We were made to know God.

We were made to be known by God.

We're also made to be deeply known by one another as well.

But this relationship.

Our relational world is all broken.

It's broken by sin, and so we feel broken.

We feel incomplete, missing, and restless and anxious.

So we desperately look to everyone around us that we possibly can to get them to

say, you are good and you're special.

You're important.

You're worthwhile.

You're significant.

Welcome to the unholy fuel for social media.

Hey you.

But there's a great quote from Madonna that just describes this so beautifully.

She says this, my drive in life comes from a fear of being mediocre.

That is always pushing me.

I push past one spell of it and discover myself as a special human being, but

then I feel I am still mediocre and uninteresting unless I do something else.

Because even though I have become somebody, I still have

to prove that I am somebody.

My struggle has never ended, and I guess it never will.

Oh, what a horrible way to live.

There's no freedom there.

There's no joy.

It's, oh, just this hamster wheel of having to prove yourself.

You know, our culture's response to this reality is well

just go believe in yourself.

All that matters is what you think of.

You just love yourself.

Oh, that's such helpful advice.

It's really not.

It doesn't work.

We are deeply relational beings.

We're actually meant to get our identity and worth from beyond ourselves, but

not ultimately from other people, because that does not work either.

When we do this, we end up using other people as a means of

validation, and then what happens?

We end up resenting them when they don't deliver.

Happens in church all the time, you know, people come and then they like, you

know, and as, as, as leaders, we can be

particularly, I guess susceptible

to this and all this expectations that these people are gonna meet all

my needs and all my self validation needs, and then we don't perform

and then people get really upset.

And we've all been, you know, probably on both sides of the coin here.

And that's the journey of maturity as well.

So what I say here today, remember no guilt, shame, or condemnation.

The conviction comes, oh, hallelujah.

Praise the

Lord.

Right?

This is not

about guilting or shaming anyone because we're all on a journey of

maturity in this space of coming to fully understand our identity in Christ

and how God sees us and who we are.

You know, and so, but when we don't have that assurance, we end up competing

and we compare, you know, so I'm okay so long as I'm better in some way.

Then, you know, that person or those people, again, welcome to the unholy fuel

for social media, the basis of comparison.

Just getting that sense of, oh, right, I'm okay because I'm better

than them Happens in church all the time, you know, oh yeah, I might do

this, but at least I don't do that.

So, oh dear.

So we use people to bolster our shaky ego, and every time you meet a new person,

you can be unconsciously wondering, how can this person contribute to my

need to prove that I count and that I matter, and then life, or life therefore,

becomes a constant battle to use people.

So this is the sickness pride, which is a hunger for glory and

need for respect and need to be ultimately assured that we are o.

K, but so then what builds unity?

If that's what Tears it down.

Destroys it.

What builds it?

Well, humility.

So Philippians one, five.

Paul gives this instruction to the church when he says,

oh, we got it there, Sabrina.

Nope.

Philippians one verse five.

Ah, yeah, there we go.

In your relate oh two, sorry about that.

For the confusion in your relationships with one another, have

the same mindset as Christ Jesus.

This is the instruction he gives to the church as to how to cultivate humility.

And your relationships with one have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.

So what's a mindset?

A set of beliefs that shape how you make sense of the world and yourself

influencing how you think, feel, and behave in any given situation.

Often our mindset isn't something we think about.

But it's something that's good to think about.

When you know you this week, as you go through this week, watch how

you respond and react to different situations through your day.

And they'll tell you what your mindset is.

You know, the attitude with which you wake up in the morning will

tell you what your mindset is.

The attitude with which you go to bed at night will tell you so much about your

mindset.

You know,

the way I drive tells me a lot about my mindset and it's.

Because, I don't have

a lot of tolerance.

It turns out my pride, I think, gets

manifested, quite greatly

on the road.

And this assumption that I am vastly superior to whoever the other, the

driver.

And, I have no

tolerance for anybody who doesn't drive like me.

And I verbalize it to no one in particular 'cause I'm using the car by myself.

But, um.

It, it reveals a lot about my mindset.

It's going, okay, if I genuinely was a humble driver, would I be.

Losing my mind 'cause this person is driving so very slow.

Or the, or people's inability to navigate roundabouts, like,

you know, but this self, right?

But it's this, but I have this belief and it's like, well, driving brings it out.

And so chances are this mindset is manifesting in other places other than

just the traffic, if I'm gonna be honest.

Right.

So.

Yay.

Bring on traffic.

Bring on the revealing of my unhealthy mindset that I can bring it before the

Lord and have it redeemed.

So having the same mindset as Jesus.

So let's first take a look at the word humility.

What is it?

The Greek word used in the New Testament means?

Gentle, modest, deferential.

But the outside the Bible, in ancient Greek literature, this

word was always used negatively.

This is so interesting.

So in Greco Roman culture, so the culture in which this letter

was originally written to be deferential and gentle and modest was

considered the attitude of a slave.

And so their culture valued strength.

They believed social stability depended on fear.

Respect was built on fear.

If people feared you, then they respected you.

Humility that was for slaves, and yet Christianity changed

everything in the Bible.

This word or variations of it appeared 270 times almost always

positively, and that is nothing short of a worldview revolution.

And if you go back to Greek philosophy, philosophy to Aristotle, to Plato, you

will not find humility listed as a virtue.

But in the Bible, humility is central.

Consider Jesus's words when he says it is the meek.

It is the humble who will inherit the earth.

And he says, what?

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

For I am meek, I am humble.

I am gentle and lowly in heart.

And what is he saying?

Well, if you think about the gospel, right, what it is.

If you come to God and say, Lord, look at my accomplishments.

Look at what I have done.

Am I not wonderful?

You must therefore receive me.

God's gonna say, you don't know me.

You don't know yourself clearly, and you do not understand the cross.

But if you come saying, Lord, I repent.

I need your grace.

I have nothing to merit your favor, but I ask that you save me.

Accept me for Christ's sake.

That's repentance and that's faith, and that is humility.

So do you see how essential it is in the kingdom?

The only thing that can destroy you eternally actually is a lack of humility.

Think about the Pharisees.

They were the only ones Jesus had problems with.

He didn't have a problem with the prostitutes.

You have a problem with the tax collects you happily hung, hung out with them.

The Pharisees, he couldn't get through to them.

Why?

The pride that sat in their heart that they were right.

Pride, pride, pride.

You.

So ultimately, Jason doesn't, they have a problem with, you know, these

sins that we get all wigged out about and judging one another about, right?

Ooh, they swore, Ooh, Jesus must be out there sticking his fingers in his ears.

No, the, I'm not endorsing swearing.

All right.

But.

It's the, it's the self-righteous heart.

The one that says, oh, I've got it all.

I'm right.

Or at least I'm more right than them.

So therefore I'm okay.

I'm right.

That's the heart that is impenetrable to the gospel.

That's a dangerous ground to be on.

That's why Jesus said, beware of the use of the Pharisees.

Yeah, and you put real emphasis on that.

Beware.

Beware of it.

'cause it's sneaky and it's subtle and it feeds our flesh and before we know

it, it's kind of gripped our heart.

Be really be aware of that yeast as it creeps in.

So you can lack almost anything, but not humility because humility

is what connects you to God.

And humility, ultimately what connects us to one another.

You can't have a deep abiding, deep spirited friendship between

two prideful people can you?

You can't, 'cause there's no vulnerability there.

So the kind of relationship that we are creative for is only

found in postures of humility.

So do you see how important humility is?

What is it?

It's not weakness, it is not self-hatred.

It's seeing yourself accurately before God and seeing God accurately as well.

And that changes everything.

So by way is giving us a means of self-evaluation to

really assess our hearts.

And I'm borrowing this from Tim Keller, who borrowed it from Jonathan Edwards,

insights on humility and pride.

So let's just have a look at this for a moment.

Pride is drivenness a relentless need for success and validation

is scornful a tendency to mock, ridicule or look down on others.

Willfulness being unteachable and willing to admit wrong and rigid in beliefs.

Self-conscious and excessive focus on oneself, whether in

arrogance or insecurity, and that's really important to note, right?

Pride is not just for the overtly arrogant pride is for the one who is

constantly obsessing about themselves.

You know, if you go home after every social interaction and just sit there

analyzing everything you said, right?

You have a pride problem.

Okay.

If you can't walk out the door of your house without obsessively

considering what you are wearing, there is a pride problem there.

And you might convince yourself, you know, oh, I'm not proud because I don't boast.

No, but it's just ultimately, it's all just where your gaze

is fixed.

So whether

it's arrogance or whether it's overly self-conscious and now self-awareness.

Yeah, right.

We need to have an awareness of ourselves that's, that's good and healthy.

Okay?

But that's obsessive self-consciousness.

You've tipped in to pride, and again, I say this not to condemn, shame, guilt,

anybody, pure recognition at the heart that you'd be able to repent, bring it

for the Lord, and go, Lord, oh gosh, this is a bit icky, this thing in me.

Lord, would you help me?

Would you heal me of this?

Would you remove this from me?

All right, so humility.

It is the opposite of these contentment instead of drivenness, courtesy and grace.

Instead of s skillfulness, openness and teachability, instead of

willfulness, self forgetfulness instead of self-consciousness.

Why does time go so fast for me?

That's very unkind.

All right.

How many pages have we got here?

People hang in there.

All right, so who's read the screw tape letters?

So great.

Okay.

'cause this brings, so I'm just gonna read a bit

of this, from the

Screw Tape Letters, which is a book by CS Lewis and it

describes, a senior

demon screw tape

and he's, instructing

his nephew

wormwood.

And, it's so,

so incredibly insightful.

But this

particular bit on, pride and

humility, so this is Screw Tape Counseling wormwood.

So your patient has become humble.

Have you drawn his attention to the fact all virtues are less formidable to us

once the man is aware that he has them.

But this is especially true of humility.

Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his

mind the gratifying reflection by Jo.

I'm being humble, and almost immediately pride.

Pride at his own humility will appear.

You must conceal from the patient.

The true end of humility, let him think of it not as self forgetfulness, but as

a certain kind of opinion, namely a low opinion of his own talents and character.

By this method, thousands of humans have been brought to think that humility means.

Pretty women trying to believe they are ugly and clever men

trying to believe they are fools.

And since what they are trying to believe may in some cases be manifest nonsense,

they cannot succeed in believing it.

And we have the chance of keeping their minds endlessly revolving on themselves

in an effort to achieve the impossible.

So the enemy, which in their minds is God wants him to be so free from any

bias in his own favor, that he can rejoice in his own talents as frankly

and gratefully as in his neighbors.

Talents.

He wants each man in the long run to be able to recognize all creatures, even

himself as glorious and excellent things.

It's really good, isn't it?

Again, CS

Lewis, in his, book mere

Christianity, again on humility, he writes, do not imagine that if you

meet a really humble man, he will be what most people call humble nowadays.

He will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person who is always telling you that.

Of course, he's nobody.

But probably all you will think about him is that.

He seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest

in what you said to him.

If you do dislike him, it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone

who seems to enjoy life so easily.

He will not be thinking about humility.

He will not be thinking about himself at all.

So what is the way to humility?

Because the way to humility is not to think yourself into humility.

It's not to condemn yourself for your pride.

That won't form humility in you.

What does Paul do when he wants to instruct the church

about the way to humility?

He goes to a poem, he goes to this hymn that we read in verses six to 11.

And why?

So this passage from six to 11 that talks about Jesus and that

we read at the beginning.

So it's whether it was a poem that was written by Paul, or whether it was a

poem that was known at the time that Paul just took and put in his letter

to the Philippians, this Christ hymn, he uses poetry for a specific reason.

I think because to understand humility and have it deeply formed in you, you,

you can't really work on it directly.

Humility has to be a byproduct of something else.

Real humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself

less, so you're not gonna attain it by thinking about yourself.

I really like this description of humility.

Humility is a shy virtue.

As soon as you look at it, it goes away.

It's a great way of thinking about is it's very shy as we've got, these

friends of ours and one of their classic stories is, one of their members of their

family when they were younger went away to Africa and a bit of a mission trip,

and they came back and when asked how it was, how it affected them, their comment

was, oh, I got so good at humility.

Yeah.

That doesn't sound quite right, does it?

Oh dear.

So what's

Paul saying?

Paul's saying that the way we are gonna fix what is most wrong with us

in our center is you gotta see Jesus.

You need to have the theology and the doctrine of who Jesus is and what he

did actually on fire in your heart.

Not all sorted in your head.

But on fire, in your heart, you know something, you praise God for

something that actually captures your imagination, and this is what beauty does.

When we see Jesus as beautiful, when we see the cross as beautiful, when

we see the gospel as beautiful, it captivates us and it forms something

deeply precious in us that kills pride.

We must come to see Jesus as beautiful and not just useful.

So often that's what happens in the church and in a, even in our devotional time,

we just come with this sense of like, show me what I need to do today, Lord.

And it just leaves us as just like this life coast or this life

manager, like it's your devotional time, a thing of beauty for you.

Do you just.

Enjoy being in his presence or has it always gotta be useful for you

to walk away feeling like it was a good time with the Lord today?

'cause I learn something, you know?

Or, or are you are you just be able to sit in restful, contented joy, it

just being in his beautiful presence.

'cause that is what cultivates a humble heart of humility.

If you do not find Jesus beautiful, my friends.

I would suggest that you haven't actually truly seen him.

You've only seen a distortion and there's plenty of distortions on display.

It's actually takes quite a bit of work to perceive him in his beauty

because there are so many distortions.

Um.

You know, look at Jesus.

And in this poem, what does Paul describe?

He describes this beautiful trajectory of Jesus's humility, a symphony

in three movements, if you like.

And so we see the incarnation, though he was God, he became human.

We see the atonement.

He went lower suffering death on the cross.

And we see his exaltation because he humbled himself.

Yeah, because he was obedient.

God.

Then what lifted him up, and this is a pattern that we ought to follow.

This is the mindset that we ought to have as how we live our lives, Christ

in us enabling us to die to ourselves, that we will trust that in our obedience.

The Lord will lift us up and we've got this beautiful, like

very simple image here that helps put picture to this because.

This is what?

This is power of poetry, right?

Because what sits right in the middle of this poem, the central,

central line, is death on a cross.

The cross sits at the middle of this poem, and that is very, very, I poignant.

So this is trajectory that the poem takes.

Jesus was divine in his glory.

He emptied himself kenosis.

That's a great word, that he emptied himself of his divinity

and he took on the nature.

Of a servant, and he lived a life of humble obedience.

I said this on Wednesday night, and this is really important to know, you

we're coming out to Easter, which is all about the death and the resurrection

of Jesus, and we celebrate Christmas, which is all about the birth of Jesus.

And we can think Christianity is all about those two things.

Jesus being born and Jesus dying, and Jesus rising again and ascending.

But the life of Jesus really, really mattered too.

And one of the reasons that it really, really mattered was he showed

us what it's to be truly human.

He showed us how to live a truly human life.

And a truly human life is one livid lived in humble submission to the will of God.

A truly human life is one live freely in loving service to those

around you, even your enemies.

That is what it is to be truly human.

And so this poem takes you down to this point of death, to death

on a cross obedience unto death.

He wasn't obedient to death, he was obedient to the point of death.

Humbled to the point of death.

And then what happens?

Because of his humility, the Lord raises him up, exalts him to that place of glory.

And this is a pattern that we are to stand before and wonder at, but also to seek to

live according to this pattern as well.

Not being afraid of death, not being afraid of dying to ourself, but knowing

that in our humble, submitted, yielding to the way and the will of God.

That from that place that God brings true life.

So the paradox of humility is that the way up is down the way to be rich is to give.

The way to rule is to serve, and the way to happiness is to seek it for others.

So we try to fill ourselves with glory, but we remain empty.

Jesus who had true glory emptied himself.

So that what?

That we could be full because he gave up his reputation.

We no longer lead to clinging to ours.

We get so worried about our reputations, don't we?

Jesus didn't worry about his reputation, never defended himself.

Just let the Lord take care of that.

That's freedom, isn't it?

That is joy.

That is freedom to be so free.

You don't need to worry about your own reputation.

You can just leave that in the Lord's hand.

You're just free love.

Whoever the Lord brings across your path.

This is joy, this is freedom.

And of course, this kind of mindset will lead to unity because you

don't care about being right.

You don't care about being acknowledged, being validated,

being respected, joy for you.

This is, this is, this is, this will be your joy in this place, and this

will make you a joy to be around.

Hey, it is a joy to be around, truly humble people.

It is an absolute delight.

If you see Jesus as beautiful as what he did for you as the most

stunning, beautiful act of sacrificial love, that will humble you to be

loved, genuinely, and extravagantly is a deeply humbling experience.

It's one of the reasons why I've got this painting of Joe's here, right?

Because this is a painting of what Jesus washing the disciples feet.

That is humbling.

Jesus did the most lowly task that a slave would do in a house.

He washed his disciples dirty manky feet, and they were foul.

Right?

It was not a good time for feet back in ancient days.

Okay?

Because there's just a lot of.

Yucky stuff on the roads that you tread and you didn't have nice covered

shoes, and so your feet will not be covered in like dirt and poo and stuff.

And Jesus, Jesus like washes the disciples feet.

And we saw Pete, when you read the story, Peter's reluctance, no,

Lord, no, because he's humbling.

When the Son of God washes your dirty feet, grace humbles.

You know, we can try and shame people out of their pride.

That doesn't work.

What delivers people of pride is grace.

It is grace.

At the center of this poem stands the cross before the wonder

and the beauty of the cross.

There is no room for pride.

And the pride that causes one to self grand, oh, sorry, to self

aggrandize or the bride that causes one to self-flagellate.

The need to make oneself big, or the need to try and make one's mouth sell small.

But to stand before the cross is to stand before grace and nothing

will humble you like grace.

And this is a blessing of your own pride, your selfish ambition, and

your vain conceit if you will own it.

Right.

Stand before the cross, my friends with all of your stupid pride, all

of your stupid striving, all of your stupid meanness towards others, or

your stupid selfish ways, or your stupid bitter heart, your stupid

neurotic self-consciousness, right?

I'm kind of like, you know, for those of you who who've seen

this morning, I am so prideful.

You are.

You know what?

You're really blessed because you have so much crap to bring before

the cross that God's able to pour grace on because we are sinner bound.

Grace abounds even more.

Hey, so stand before the cross with Oliver.

Own every bit of your stinking pride, and watch it melt away

at the foot of the cross as you gaze at the loving face of Jesus.

The face of welcome, the face of acceptance.

And then let it melt away.

And then just delight in your identity as one who was loved by one,

who would love you like that one.

Who would love you to death.

Delight in that delight that you are an image bearer, that you are a name bearer.

Delight in that, my friends.

All right, let's bring this home team.

Do you wanna come on a. Church, can I just ask you to, close your eyes

and bow your heads for a moment and,

I just wanna take a moment of just stillness before the Lord

and just to ask that

question, just prayerfully

ask that question.

Lord, what is there of this morning that is for me?

Well, where is pride

robbing me of joy?

Where is pride ruling my life?

Or perhaps for you, it's like I don't know that I've ever

really seen Jesus as beautiful.

So maybe the cry of your heart in this moment is, Lord, show me your glory.

That cry of, Moses' heart,

show me your glory.

Show me your beauty.

Maybe there has been a moment of deep humbling for you this morning.

Maybe the Lord has shown you.

A place where you are deeply, deeply prideful, where you are

deeply in bondage to pride, and it's made you very judge judgmental.

It's made you very self-righteous, always looking out, criticizing other people.

It's made your heart somewhat small and shriveled.

Would you dear friends, stand before the foot of the cross and see the

loving eyes of Jesus upon you.

Would you see and you receive His grace poured out upon you.

He doesn't condemn you.

He just welcomes you into life.

Into life with him.

Allow his grace to melt away that pride.

Allow his grace to tell you who you truly are.

You don't need to strive for these things.

Just receive them from him.

You don't need to strive.

And scramble for worth and identity.

He freely gives it freely.

He has given freely, he has given.

You know, the Apostle Paul, he had to be knocked off his high horse in

order to be able to behold the truth of who Jesus was, and it changed

everything for him in that moment.

And maybe that is for you today.

Maybe you know, oh Lord, I need to be knocked off my high horse.

Humble me Lord, that I can be free of this pride.

That enslaves me and snares me, and robs me of living in

beautiful, unified, humble, joyous relationship with those around me.

Oh Lord, do this beautiful and precious work in all of us, we pray, Lord.

Amen.

Church, how about you stand and let us worship?