The necessity of humility in the service of Christ

So this is Kevin, Kevin O'Connor, for those who don't know Kevin.

A word of advice this morning, Kevin, beyond your best behaviour.

Alright.

Your in-laws are here.

My in-laws are here.

Yeah, yeah, okay.

Kevin O'Connor from Valancholic, what do you do day-to-day, do you job, work?

Yeah, so, morning everybody.

I work for an IT services company.

We rent out nerdy engineers to larger companies.

And my job is sales.

So I basically am in charge of getting people to order our engineers and keep them busy.

So that's what I do day-to-day.

So I like it.

And you're involved in your church in Valancholic.

Yeah.

What do you do there?

Yeah, so I preach there from time to time.

But kind of week-to-week, I've been involved in kind of leading worship and just helping out with whatever needs to be done.

So, yeah.

I've been there.

I was, since I've been a Christian, I've been in that church.

So it's nice to feel at home in a church like that.

That's brilliant.

Well, we're going to pray for you and for us all this morning as you come to speak.

Let's pray.

Father God, we thank you for your word to us that has been written, recorded, so that we can hear your voice to us today.

Thank you for your servants, for people like Kevin, for the gifts that you have given to him to explain and teach your word.

We pray that through Kevin, we would know you speaking to us today, Father.

And that we would understand, not just with our minds, but that you would change our lives to be more like Christ.

So help us all today, we ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, good morning, everybody.

If you'd like to turn your Bibles to the book of Philippians, so following on from your previous weeks, we'll be looking at the book of Philippians, particularly chapter 2.

So you can be turned there in your Bibles.

Amen.

Amen.

It's very good to be with you again.

So thank you, Johnny and team, for the invitation to come back and to preach again.

It's good to be with you.

It's page 1179 in the Church Bibles as well.

Page 1179.

And we'll be looking at Philippians chapter 2, verses 1 to 11.

Philippians 2:1–11

So Philippians chapter 2, verses 1 to 11.

Philippians 2:1–11

I'll read through it, and we'll pause for a moment of prayer, and then we'll get stuck in.

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 is to be with you, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of 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 the others.

In your relations with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in the very nature, 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.

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

Therefore, God has 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 acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Father, we thank you so much for preserving your word for us, that we can read it in a language we understand.

We pray, Father, that you would help us by your Holy Spirit.

Be with us, we pray, for our joy in you, Lord, and for your glory in us. Amen.

I'm very excited this morning.

I really love this text, and so I'm really glad I was assigned this text,

and when I got the email from Johnny, I thought this is a good one to get.

So I'm very, very glad.

I'd like to state up front what we'll be thinking about, or what we'll be looking at in this passage.

So, if you'd like to give titles to things, then the title I would put on this is

The Necessity of Humility in the Service of Christ.

I'll say that again.

The Necessity of Humility in the Service of Christ.

Now, because you've been going through Philippians, those of you who have been here the past few weeks,

you're probably very familiar with the background,

but just in case, it's no harm to jog our memories and go over some of the background,

the context of this letter, before we actually go into what Paul is saying.

So let's have a quick look at just the background of it.

So as I mentioned, the Apostle Paul wrote this letter,

and he wrote it to the church in Philippi.

Now, if you look in Acts chapter 16, we can read there that the Philippian church was the first church

Acts 16 · chapter mention

to be planted by Paul and his team in modern-day Europe.

It's in Greece, Philippi.

You can look it up on Google Maps.

There it is.

It's in Greece.

Paul wrote this letter famously while he was in prison.

Now, where was he imprisoned?

We don't know for sure, but it seems our best guess is that it was in Rome.

In fact, it's funny.

If you Google Paul prison, whatever, there's actually a place where they say,

this is the prison where he was imprisoned, and this is where St. Peter was also imprisoned,

and there's like a little shrine there, and you can go and visit it.

They don't know that's really the place, but I just think it's funny how oftentimes with these places,

they go, that was the place where this happened, and they don't really know for sure.

But anyway, beside the point.

But regardless of where Paul was imprisoned, all Roman prisons of that day were pretty horrible places to be.

They were nothing like today's modern prisons at all.

They were poorly lit.

They were damp.

They were cramped and moldy.

And they were run over with all types of creepy crawlies.

It was not a nice place to be.

It wouldn't be a place that you would put your pet dog, let alone another human being.

It was a foul place for Paul to be for even a single day, let alone a few years of his life on earth.

And yet it's from this dingy prison cell that we get this joyful letter.

Can you imagine being at the church in Philippi when this letter arrived?

Everybody come around, we're going to read out.

Paul just wrote us a letter.

He's in prison, as you know.

We sent to Epaphroditus.

He's come back now, Epaphroditus.

And he's got a letter from Paul.

We're going to read it out.

And he's in prison, in a Roman prison.

And you know what that is, or whatever, being there at the time.

Everyone gathers around, eager to hear how Paul is doing in prison.

And they read this letter.

And Paul doesn't complain once.

He doesn't moan about being stuck in a tiny room.

Or that all his clothes stink from the mold.

Or that he doesn't know what's going to happen next.

But instead, he writes to them.

And begins his letter by giving thanks to God for them.

His letter starts with thanksgiving.

And he goes on in chapter 1.

He tells them he wants them to know that his imprisonment has actually turned out to be a really good thing.

It's served to spread the gospel.

So that he can actually witness to the guards and those people around him.

He rejoices.

And on top of that, he encourages them to rejoice in the Lord with him.

He calls on them to live a life that is worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Chapter 1, verse 27.

And then towards the end of chapter 1, in around verse 28 onwards,

he calls them to continue faithfully in suffering and defending the gospel just as he is doing.

This is not the kind of letter that you would expect to get out of a Roman prison.

I don't know back then, you know, nowadays when prisoners send mail, it gets read on its way out.

I don't know if they did that back then, but if you imagine being one of the people reading the mail.

Or this guy Paul, he's a bit of a nutcase.

Reading his mail going, this guy must be insane.

He's happy.

This is a happy letter.

But it's not that.

It's because his joy, his contentment, is not based on his circumstances.

It is attached to the Lord Jesus.

That's what it means when he says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I can sit in a disgusting cell and not know what's going to happen with my life.

Because it is Christ who strengthens me.

And so that's a bit of the background.

And so I want to begin our first main heading this morning, as it were,

having looked at just the verses building up to chapter 2 where we begin.

I want to ask this question.

What does Paul want for the Philippians?

He wants unity.

What does Paul want for them?

He wants unity.

Verse 1.

He begins this passage, chapter 2, verse 1.

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.

So he said, it's sort of a poetic way of getting their attention and saying,

look, if you see God's grace at work in your life,

if you answer yes to any of these questions,

make my joy complete

by being like-minded,

having the same love,

being one in Spirit and of one mind.

He says, he's happy with the Philippians.

He says, you want to make me super happy,

full of joy,

be unified.

Obviously, unity is a great thing,

but why is Paul asking for it here at this point in his letter?

Well, in the verses just beforehand,

chapter 1, verses 29 and 30,

we read that the Philippians are suffering for the sake of Christ.

They're involved, Paul says,

in a conflict with outsiders because of their faith.

The same conflict that Paul was involved in.

That's why when he gets to chapter 2, verse 1,

he says, so, or therefore.

In other words,

you're being attacked,

you're under pressure from outside.

Therefore,

I want you to be unified.

Later on in the letter as well,

he also makes mention of two women,

Euodia and Sintech,

who are fighting.

And he says, I implore you,

please, come together.

It's not a time,

there's never a time for disunity in a church.

But it is essential

and key

when the church is under attack,

when it's under

persecution,

when they are suffering for the sake of the gospel,

they need to be united together

as a body.

So there are external

issues

and internal strains

on the unity of the church,

and Paul wants them to be united.

Unity,

but not uniformity.

To borrow an illustration

from Paul's letter to Corinthians,

we're one body,

he uses the illustration of a body,

but many parts.

He says, we're not all ears,

we're not all foots,

we all have different purposes,

but we together

serve one purpose,

like the different parts of a body.

May I ask you a question this morning?

How do you achieve church unity?

If I stuck a whiteboard up here

and we did a brainstorm

and said,

let's write down all the things

that you must do

to be a unified church.

What would you put up on that board?

Keep your fingers in Philippians,

but turn over to Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 4, verses 1 to 6.

Ephesians 4:1–6

I want to read you what Paul would say

in answer to that question.

At least in part.

Ephesians chapter 4, verses 1 to 6.

Ephesians 4:1–6

Again, writing from prison.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then,

I urge you to live a life

worthy of the calling you have received.

Be completely humble and gentle.

Be patient,

bearing with one another in love.

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit

through the bond of peace.

There is one body and one Spirit,

just as you were called to one hope

when you were called one Lord,

one faith, one baptism,

one God and Father of all,

who is over all and through all

and in all.

One thing we can say for sure,

you cannot have unity without truth.

I think it was Luther said,

unity where possible,

truth at all costs.

We cannot, as Christians,

have unity with anyone

who denies the central truths of Christianity.

I cannot have fellowship

with a Jehovah's Witness

who tells me that Jesus is not God.

That's heresy.

But if I need a brother

who has a different view of the end times,

or has a different view

of how the gifts of the Spirit

are manifested in today,

those are tertiary issues.

But on the core truths,

the virgin birth of Christ,

His atoning death on the cross,

His resurrection,

His deity,

we agree on those core truths

of the Gospel,

we can have fellowship.

So truth is indispensable.

Would you notice what he said

in verse 2,

and this is pointing us back

to Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Be completely humble and gentle.

Be patient,

bearing with one another in love.

humility and gentleness with others.

So if you turn back to Philippians 2,

you'll see from verse 3 onwards now,

Paul begins to drive home

how absolutely necessary,

or the absolute necessity of humility

in our lives together.

So verses 3 to 4,

how do we move towards greater unity?

Humble service.

Verse 3,

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.

I don't think I need to convince anyone

in this room this morning

that we live in a society

that doesn't really celebrate humility

all that much.

We don't, do we?

It's not the world we live in.

In fact, the very opposite,

I think, would be true.

We are a radically egocentric society.

To borrow a phrase from a friend of mine,

we live in the age of the selfie.

We have a second camera on our phones

that's designed to point towards us

so we can take pictures of ourselves.

Do you remember when camera phones

came out first?

I don't remember them all having that.

No, every camera phone has them.

Camera on the front and camera on the back

so you can take a picture of yourself.

Selfishness and vain ambition

are celebrated and applauded

as good things in our culture.

They are seen as signs of strength

and success.

My self-esteem is of highest importance.

My happiness is the most important.

I'll only believe those things

that I decide are best for me.

I will only be with the people

who make me feel good.

And to be fair,

things weren't all that different

in Paul's day.

One of the most devastating effects

of the fall of man

when sin entered into humanity

is that it turned us inward.

Adam and Eve enjoyed a perfect marriage,

but when sin entered,

they ran from God

and distance was between them.

Apart from the grace of God,

we are naturally born selfish.

I don't have kids,

but I know this to be a fact.

Hands up any parent in here

who had to teach their child

to be selfish.

You don't, do you?

We don't have to put an effort

into that one

because by nature

we are selfish.

But part of God's work

when we are born again

and put our faith in Christ,

he begins a new work in us.

And part of that

is to turn us outward again,

to look to other people,

not just to our own interests.

You do have to take care

of yourself, obviously,

but to the interests of others.

It's counter-cultural

to do nothing

out of selfish ambition

or for glory for ourselves.

Nothing.

He doesn't say

try not to do things

out of selfish ambition.

Paul is basically

laying down a law

that you can set your watch to.

If you're doing something

out of selfish ambition,

stop.

It may not be a wrong thing to do,

but you're doing it wrong.

If you are looking

for your own glory

in preaching a sermon

or playing a guitar

or doing anything,

and that is not befitting

of Christ's people.

It's counter-cultural

to consider other people

as more important,

more significant

than ourselves

and to truly look out

for other people,

genuinely look out for them.

that's not normal

in this world.

Are you humbly serving others

in this church?

It's easy to be the guest preacher

and ask questions like this.

I have to ask these questions

of myself.

Am I humbly serving others

in my church?

Or is it possible

that my selfishness

is a hamper

to the unity

of this church?

Is my ambition

a blockage?

Do you consider

all the other people

in this room

right now this morning

as more significant

than yourself?

Not just some of them,

the rest,

all the other people

who are not you.

Do you consider those people

more significant

than yourselves?

Paul says that

this is the mind of Christ.

Paul goes on now

for the rest of our time

this morning,

verses 5 to 11.

Paul goes on

and he lifts up

Christ before us.

This is the point

that I'm really

looking forward to.

The perfect picture

of humble service.

I think he holds this up

to us

not to condemn us,

not to make us

grovel and say

woe is me,

but to say

look at him.

That is my saviour.

That's my boss.

Verses 5 to 11.

Christ,

the perfect

humble servant.

Roxy was telling me

during the week

she works

in Mahan

and

the building

that her

business is based in

is a shared building.

They share that building

with other businesses.

Roxy,

over the last few months,

she's come back.

She's been telling us

about one of the other

businesses there,

the receptionist there.

She's had some

dealings with her

and she's just been

a very cranky person.

The other receptionist

is not my wife.

This lady's been

very rude to Roxy

and to others.

There's nothing

personal to Roxy.

This lady's just been

very irritable,

jumping down

people's throats

without any

proof of wrong.

And then it wasn't

until this week,

I think it was,

Roxy's boss

came to her

and said,

you do know

why that is.

She said,

I've seen

how her boss

treats her.

Her boss

jumps down

her throat.

Her boss

constantly

talks down

to her,

tries to blame

her for things

that aren't

her fault.

And so the boss

sets the tone

for the company,

doesn't he?

Jesus sets

the tone

of humility

for his church.

He's our boss.

He's our master

and commander.

And what Paul

is about to tell us,

I think will be

humbling to us

to look at

what he did

for us.

Let's read

verses 5 to 8 again.

In your relationship

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

for 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 man.

He humbled himself

by becoming

obedient to death,

even death

on a cross.

This is the mindset

of Christ,

says Paul.

This attitude,

this mindset

of humble service

is perfectly

displayed

in the person

and work

of our Lord

Jesus Christ.

Christ.

This is one

of the most

incredible passages

in the whole

New Testament.

These verses

are often referred

to as the hymn

of Christ

because of the way

that Paul

structured it

and the language

he uses.

It seems that

he intended it

to be a hymn

that we would

actually sing.

It's one of the

most important

sections in the

New Testament

in teaching us

about the mystery

of Christ's

incarnation.

It's beautiful

and it can be

quite intricate.

We were

in holidays

last week,

we did summer

holidays,

and we spent

one day,

two weeks ago,

we spent one day

in Geneva.

And Geneva,

if you've ever

been there,

it's where

the watchmaking

world basically

has its kind

of home.

So very high-end

watches and stuff.

Unfortunately,

the 50 euro

I had on me

didn't buy me

anything,

especially not

in Switzerland.

But I love

watches.

I've always loved

watches.

I get it from my

dad.

I just love

how they're made.

I don't ever

care if I own

a nice watch.

I don't think

I ever will.

I don't care.

I just love

how they're made.

But if I held

up for you

a Patek Philippe

watch,

one of the best

watchmakers in

the world,

and tell you,

it kind of looks

like this.

It doesn't really,

but just pretend

for my own sake.

It's that simple

looking,

okay?

And it'd be worth

about 40 or 50

thousand euro.

You said to me

that's a waste of

money,

and we could argue

about that.

That's fine.

I'm not saying

we should buy one.

But if I turned

it around to you

and took off the

back and showed

you what's inside,

I think you would

start to see the

value of it a bit

more.

Hundreds and

hundreds of

pieces,

all working in

perfect harmony,

handcrafted,

ticking away,

not machine,

they're made

with machines,

but they're

not assembled

by machines.

All to do

one purpose,

which is to

tell the time

perfectly.

To look at it,

you go,

it's complicated,

but it's beautiful.

But the more,

I'm just starting

to learn a bit

more about them.

This analogy

is going on too

long,

sorry.

But the more

you understand

about them,

the more precious

you realize it is.

Even though on the

front it can look

simple,

its intricacy

makes it more

beautiful.

Christ's

incarnation to

earth is in

one sense

very simple.

And yet it is

such a deep

and profound

mystery when

we start to

explore it.

It's sort of

like when you

go to the

Great Barrier

Reef.

I know

someone who's,

I've never been

there,

I know someone

who's been

there and

they said

you get to

the point

where there's

just this

big drop

off the end.

There's the

reef which is

a few feet

behind you and

then you swim

out and it

just drops

off.

Sort of like

this with the

incarnation.

You wade

in and you

look down and

you look at

all the beauty

that's there

and it drops

down beyond

your understanding.

Truly we'll

spend eternity

plumbing the

depths of

these things.

So let's

begin.

Paul begins

by speaking

about Christ

before he

came to

earth,

the pre-incarnate

Christ.

The word

incarnate means

in the flesh,

carneia means

flesh,

Jesus in

the flesh

when he

became a

human.

So before

that,

verse 6,

Jesus being

in the very

nature of

God did

not consider

equality with

God something

to be used

to his own

advantage.

Other

translations say

something to

be grasped.

Before his

incarnation,

Jesus was,

as he always

will be,

fully God.

Jesus is not

like God,

God.

He is God.

He is the

second person

of the

Trinity and

has existed

in the

fellowship of

the Godhead

from eternity

past.

Therefore,

all the

glory and

all the

worship and

all the

sovereign

authority that

is rightfully

belonging to

God belongs

to Christ

because he

is God.

All the

privileges of

divinity were

and are

rightfully

his along

with the

Father and

the Holy

Spirit.

And when it

was decided

by the

triune God

before the

foundations of

the world

that the

Father would

send the

Son to

die to

save sinners,

Jesus did

not protest.

He didn't

say, I'm

not going

down there.

Do you

realize Jesus

was not

obliged to

save us?

God did

not owe

us salvation.

The

angels fell

from him

and he

sent them

no

savior.

When man

fell, he

decreed before

the foundations

of the world,

try and get

your head

around that,

to send

his Son in

the likeness of

human flesh

and Jesus

agreed.

He left

heaven.

He left

heaven for

us.

God

he didn't

refuse to

leave the

praise and

glory of

heaven.

Rather, he

made himself

nothing.

In verse

seven, by

taking the

very nature

of a

servant.

What does

that mean

that Jesus

made himself

nothing?

We have to

very clearly

say one

thing.

It does

not mean

that Jesus

emptied

himself of

his

deity.

humanity.

When Jesus

was incarnate,

when he

became a

man, he

added humanity

to his

person.

He didn't

swap being

God for

being a

man.

He became

a man as

well as

being God.

So what

does it

mean that he

poured himself

out, that he

made himself

nothing?

It means that

he willingly

chose to

set aside

that glory,

that worship,

that sovereign

authority that

was rightfully

his.

not to

get rid of

it, but

to set it

aside.

To be very

clear from the

language we

use here,

he did not

set aside

being God,

he didn't

get rid of

being God

or give

up, he

set aside

some of

his

privileges

and rights.

In

taking on

human flesh

as part of

his mission

to save

you and

me from

our sins,

he willingly

chose not

to exercise

his privileges

and rights

as God

to make

things easier

for himself.

When I

was in

college,

friends of

mine,

some of

the guys

in my

class,

used to

get grants

from the

government

to help

pay their

fees,

or if

they lived

far away

from the

college,

they would

get grants.

And so if

you met

the requirements,

they would

get sent

checks about

three times

a year in

the post.

When the

checks arrive

in the

post,

they usually

are right on

the same

basis,

they all

come into

college super

happy because

they just

got sent

money,

which they

probably

weren't going

to spend

on fees.

But anyway,

when they

arrived in

the post,

it was up to

them to take

the checks

and cash

them in

at the

bank.

The money

was rightfully

theirs for

the entire

time that

they were

in college,

but they had

to choose

to take

that money,

take that

check and

cash it

in.

When Jesus

came to

earth,

the checks

that were

written to

him of

praise and

glory and

honor and

full authority,

they were

still rightfully

his,

but as it

were,

he did not

cash them

in for

his own

sake.

He chose

to set

them aside.

He never,

ever exercised

his divine

power to

make life

easier for

himself.

Consider

this,

in Matthew

4,

when Jesus

is in the

wilderness

being tempted,

he's fasting

for 40

days,

40 nights,

and then

the devil

comes to

him.

The devil

says to

him,

if you're

the son

of God,

command

these

stones

to become

loaves

of bread.

And Jesus

refuses.

But in

John chapter

John 6 · chapter mention

6,

when Jesus

sees the

crowd,

when he's

preaching to

them and

he sees

that they're

hungry and

that they're

far away from

town,

they can't

get any

food,

he miraculously

makes a

feast out

of a few

loaves and

fishes.

What's the

difference?

Think of

when the

disciples were

out on the

Sea of Galilee

in a storm

about to

die,

and Jesus

gets up and

he calms the

storm for

them and

saves their

lives.

But in

the Garden

of Gethsemane,

when the

crowd come to

arrest Jesus

and Simon

Peter lobs off

the ear of

one of the

guys who

was in

the crowd,

Jesus says,

put away

your sword.

And he

says these

words,

do you

think that

I cannot

appeal to

my father

and he

will at

once send

me more

than 12

legions of

angels?

A legion is

about 3,000 to

6,000.

That's a lot

of angels.

Jesus said,

in a word,

I could end

this.

but he

did not

because out

of his

love for

you and

for me,

he would

have broken

the rules

of engagement

if he had

done that

and he

would not

have gone

to the

cross to

die for

our sins.

It would

have been

contrary to

his mission,

going to

the cross

to die

for us.

The

Son of

Man did

not come

to be

served,

but to

serve and

to give

his life

as a

ransom for

many.

I hope

there's no

one in

this room

this morning

that doesn't

include

themselves

as in

that word

many.

I hope

that everyone

in this

room

is trusting

in Christ

as their

Savior.

Consider

the humility

of Christ

in becoming

a man.

We'll

never be

able to

fathom the

glory of

that mystery.

But as if

that were

not enough,

Paul continues

in verse

8, he

said,

and being

found in

appearance

as man,

just look

normal,

he humbled

himself by

becoming

obedient to

death,

even death

on a

cross.

Not only

did Christ

humble

himself by

taking on

human flesh

and living

a perfect

life for

us,

but he

went far

beyond that

again and

humbled himself

to the point

that he

died for

us.

He was

obedient to

the Father's

commission to

the point of

death, but

not just any

death, death

by crucifixion.

Jesus was

absolutely

humiliated for

you.

It's the

most ignoble

and shameful

death

possible.

You're

practically

naked,

nailed onto

a propped

up piece

of wood

for everyone

to see,

flanked on

both sides

by criminals,

even though

he was

innocent.

Jesus did

that for

you.

And it

was not

just the

physical

pain that

atoned for

our sins.

Bad and

all as that

was, it

was that on

that cross,

God poured

out all of

the wrath

that we

deserved for

our sins.

God

made Jesus

who knew

no sin

to be

sin for

us.

God the

Father laid

on Jesus

the iniquity

of us

all.

God the

Father did

what the

law weakened

by the

flesh could

not do,

by sending

his own

Son in

the likeness

of sinful

flesh,

flesh,

and for

sin,

he condemned

sin in

the flesh.

All this

Jesus did

in obedience

to the

Father for

you.

Paul says

this is the

mindset of

Christ.

And he

says I

want you to

have that

mindset when

you deal

with one

another.

What did

Jesus deserve

when he

came to

earth?

God the

earth?

Could there

have been

a red

carpet long

enough?

Could there

have been

music good

enough to

welcome him?

If the

whole world

bowed down

and worshipped

to him,

it wouldn't

have been

hardly enough.

And yet he

came to a

back alley

place in the

middle of

nowhere,

essentially,

born to

humble

circumstances,

circumstances,

and lived

a life

of relative

obscurity,

ministered

for three

years,

and died,

died?

Which one

of us who

are in

Christ this

morning can

say that

any act of

obedience or

service is

beneath us?

is there

anything that

Jesus could

ask you

to do,

call you

to do in

your life,

that you

could say,

no, that is

too low for

me.

Someone else

could do

that.

Jesus has

set us the

perfect example

of humble

service,

and by

his death

and resurrection

he has

secured for

us all

the grace

that we

need to

be humble.

Jesus doesn't

just give us

a good example

and say,

try that.

He gives

us the

grace we

need by

his Holy

Spirit to

change and

to become

more humble.

we might

ask ourselves,

how can I

be a more

humble person?

That's a

good question,

but can I

offer a

better question?

How can I

serve others

in my

church or

in my

life,

those around

me,

in the way

that Jesus

has served

me?

May we

never doubt

the absolute

necessity

of humility

for unity

in our

church?

Our

risen

Savior

deserves

our

wholehearted

obedience.

In

closing,

I'd like

to read

verses 9

to 11,

and we'll

pray and

sing.

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

acknowledge

that Jesus

Christ is

Lord,

to the

glory of

God the

Father.

Father,

we bow

before you

in our

hearts.

We praise

you that

before the

foundations of

the world

that you

had decreed

that you

would send

your Son,

the Lord

Jesus Christ

in the

likeness of

human flesh,

that he

lived a

perfect life

for us,

and that

he died the

death that

we ought to

have died,

that he

suffered your

wrath,

which we

ought to

have suffered.

That although

there was no

one who

deserved more

praise and

glory on

that earth,

on this

earth,

that there

was no one,

Lord,

at the same

time who

showed such

perfect and

complete

humility.

I lay

down my

life for

the sheep,

he said.

No one

can take

them from

me.

Thank you,

Father,

that we are

safe in

Christ.

And Lord,

I pray,

where we are

proud,

Lord,

may we this

morning,

over the

Lord's

Supper,

as we

reflect on

Christ's

work,

may we

humble ourselves

before you,

look to our

master and

commander,

and love

one another.

Help us,

Lord,

not to be

selfish,

not to be

selfishly

ambitious,

but to

look to

the needs

of others.

Thank you

for Jesus

Christ,

our Savior

and our

Redeemer.

We pray to

you in

his name.

Amen.

I think we're

going to stand

to sing a

closing hymn,

the Serving

King.

That's a

wonderful hymn.

Amen.

It's a wonderful hymn.

Amen.

It's a wonderful hymn.