Welcome and Introduction
- Great to see so many of us here today.
- Church camp in October… unity! 3 congregations don’t always know each other…
- Time to register! Basic accommodation… dress up night and dance!
- Bit of a sick week… I did declare at Haberfield that I never get sick 2 weeks ago… pride cometh before the fall…
- Which is great because I am talking about humility today…
I don’t know if you heard about the man who won an award for his humility?
- Yeah, they took it off him when he accepted it!
- I like the one about the woman who came up to the Minister at the end of his sermon. “That was great” she remarked. The Minister with false humility replied;
- “It’s was all God” to which she replied… “it wasn’t that good.”
- Or the young man who’d been working on his humility… who remarked “now I am perfect!”
- Back to the drawing board…
So we are in a series in Paul’s letter to the Philippians.
- A church Paul planted about 10 years prior to writing this letter which you can read about in Acts chapter 16.
- We’ve done lots of recaps, so I wont tell the story again this week.
- But last week was on the passage about living a life worthy of the gospel of Christ.
- The Christian gospel starts with grace and mercy… but there is then a clear call to live worthily of what we have received.
- We talked last week about the Greek word for worthy being Axios…
- Which means having a corresponding value or weight to something else…
What we are called to do as we enter into the mercy and grace of God through Jesus
- Is to bring our lives into balance… into a corresponding value with what we have received.
- And one of the big things is humility and living a life, like Jesus that is spent on looking to the interests of others above ourselves.
- That is a part of the renovation of our lives that will bring personal transformation and change all around us.
It’s been said, if we just deeply took the lesson of this passage into our marriages (for instance), most issues we face would melt away!
- “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.”
- Right?
- A little more, how can I make my spouses life easier and a little less keeping records of who has done what…
- Mind you I did read of one marriage that was saved when they just got a cleaner.
C.S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity:
“The point is, God wants you to know Him: wants to give you Himself. And He and you are two things of such a kind that if you really get into any kind of touch with Him you will, in fact, be humble – delightedly humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which has made you restless and unhappy all your life. He is trying to make you humble in order to make this moment possible: trying to take off a lot of silly, ugly, fancy-dress in which we have all got ourselves up and are strutting about like the little idiots we are.”
Well thanks for giving it to us straight Mr Lewis!
- “Little idiots” Bit harsh… though bit true!
- If we get in touch with God and really allow him to transform our lives… it will lead to humility…
- That will be a major fruit from communion with Christ.
- Or Christ alive in us!
- We will stop all the me, me, me first nonsense that destroys almost everything it touches…
- And instead come out of the restless unhappy lives that are always about ourselves…
- And instead be turned inside out in the service of others.
- Finding deeper connection, meaning and happiness!
Well this is one of those great Pauline passages that packs in about 9 profound things in 4 verse….
- And as I said, we are going to focus particularly on humility and looking to the interests of others…
- But I want to show a little bit how Paul works…
- If you were a bible nerd and had the time… you can see the link with the passage before, about living lives worthy of the gospel…
- Paul, basically notes a whole bunch of things about what we receive from Jesus
- And then exhorts us to act in the same way or be “in like mind”
So Let’s have a look…
- Firstly, If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ… (that’s the gift), response: be like minded,
- Secondly, any comfort from HIS love (that is the gift), response: have the same love
- Thirdly, any common sharing in the Spirit (that is the gift), response: be one in Spirit and of one mind
- Fourthly, any tenderness and compassion (that is the gift), response: do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit (which is the opposite of tenderness and compassion), rather in humility value others above yourself.
Right?
- We are united with Christ, so be united or like minded with one another.
- Jesus loved us, so be loving
- Jesus gave us his Spirit, so be of one Spirit and mind
- Jesus showed us tenderness and compassion, so act with humility and look to the interests of others!
In other words… live axios! Live worthy of the Gospel.
- Does that make sense…
- So much of the Christian faith, post that wonderful moment of salvation is then learning to live worthy of what you have received.
- So obviously there is a call to being likeminded, a call to love and a call to unity
- But as I said, I want to focus on that phenomenal verse in 3-4
- “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.”
Well where did this virtue of humility and serving others come from?
- Why as Paul thought about living worthy of the gospel, this theme of looking to the interests of others and dying to selfish ambition keeps coming up.
- Clearly in the next two weeks we will see that broadly this is the great story of Jesus Christ whom again we are to model (next bit)
- Verse 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
- 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.”
- Right?
- So again Paul will link Jesus journey of humbling himself to our relationships and humility.
But I can’t help but wonder if what really stuck in the disciples minds would have been another incident recorded right near the end of Jesus life…
- Paul of course got converted after the resurrection…
- But he would have heard the stories about Jesus over and over again as he hung out with Peter and John and the others who’d been with Jesus…
- They would have talked about this…
In John 13 we are told that the hour had come for Jesus…
- This will be his final week, and he is at his final Passover celebration…
- It was the time when Israel looked back to all that they had gone through… remembering how God had saved them from slavery in Egypt and delivered them to the promised land.
- But there will be a whole new Passover… just as the lambs to be slaughtered could be heard bleeting all around Jerusalem, the lamb of God, Jesus was now going to take on that role.
- And so we are told in verse 1, “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”
So a meal always happens around the time of the Passover.
- Jesus gathers his closest followers and instructs them on what is to come and what they must do moving forward.
- In one sense he talks to them about how they are to be known and remembered.
Of course to ancient readers this part of the gospel would have been huge. It was common for the final speech of great leaders to be recorded by their disciples.
- When Socrates was tried for creating a riot and corrupting the youth, his disciple Plato records his last speech…
- Of course Socrates last words were not quite as powerful as Jesus… his were “Crito don’t forget we owe As-cleep-ius a chicken.”
- But actually his last speech at his trial is very profound
- So here is Jesus, and he gathers around his disciples and gives his final summation of his teaching…
- So this is the heart of Jesus – this ought to characterize our following of Jesus. This is where ancient readers ears would have really picked up!
So we are waiting with bated breath
- He has healed the sick, raised the dead and been greeted in Jerusalem as King…
- And what does the Master do?
- What will he say… what great words will he begin with?
Vs 4; And getting up, he wrapped a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples feet.
- That is right, he washes feet…
- Now we must be careful not to sentimentalize this… it is not cute, it is not nice…
- Peter gets exactly what he is doing and immediately protests… “No!” said Peter, “You shall never wash my feet!
- “You do not do this… don’t you denigrate yourself Jesus… remember Hosanna – you are King of Israel…”
- Servant girls and boys wash feet…
- But says Jesus… unless I wash your feet, you can have no part with me.
- In other words, unless you let me serve you, you haven’t really understood what kind of King I have come to be.
It’s a defining moment and you are expecting messianic deliverance… maybe a rousing speech about how they are going to take Jerusalem back from the Romans…
- And what do they get?
- A hand towel and a basin
- And it changes forever Christian views of power, humility and looking to the interests of others…
Amazing how John builds up to this…
- Vs2-4: John editorializes the scene… it says, Jesus knew God had put all things under his power, had come from God, was returning to God… and then he gets up and washes their feet…
- And then in verse 12 Jesus makes himself clear…
- “Do you understand what I have done for you?”
- vs 15; “I have set you an example, that you should do as I have done for you.”
- If you are going to be a follower of Jesus, then this is the path set out for you!
- This is what it will mean to live axios… to live worthily of the Gospel.
- It will look like humbling yourself and dying to selfish ambition…
So humility becomes the cornerstone of Christian living.
- It is the recognition that we are not the center of the universe, but rather part of a larger community of believers.
- When we humble ourselves before God and others, we open ourselves to the transformative power of God’s grace and love flowing through us.
- In a world that often encourages self-promotion and individualism, this commandment can seem countercultural.
- However, as followers of Christ, we are called to embody a different way of living—a way characterized by selflessness, compassion, and sacrificial love.
Jesus said in Matthew 23:11 The greatest among you will be your (?) servant.
- Jesus said, those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be (?) exalted.
- In Jesus kingdom, the best way to get up… is to get down… and to serve!
- In Jesus kingdom, the revolution is forwarded and brought from heaven to earth by those willing to humble themselves and serve
- In Jesus kingdom, the thing that brings peace, the thing that draws out our proper humanity, the thing that changes relationships and communities… are humble hearts ready to serve!
- Amen?
So let’s finish by applying this…
In your marriage or relationships, at work, even amongst family and friends, how would you describe how people interact?
- Human nature is, once in a position of power, all to often to Lord it over…
- To become demanding, expecting people to do everything for you… treating your workers or subjects or your spouse as something to be used!
- And how many of our problems, how many of the worlds problems come from a misuse of power.
- But not us… us simple followers of Jesus… we become great by looking to the interests of others….
For most of history and humanity the traditional way relationships work is often it looks like a pyramid…
- In families maybe it has looked like a very domineering male head of the family
- At work you get a man or a woman at the top, who then has power or influence or control over a next level of management, and so on all the way down to the lowest level employ.
- The reality is that relationships and power often becomes a self serving tool for our own aggrandizement.
- So a manager walks into a kitchen, sees a pile of dirty dishes… says to his staff even though its late, you’re not to go home until this is done… and then takes off and leaves himself…
- Right? Lording it over…
So what Christian relationships looks like is that the pyramid get flips… we become servants of all…
- As the head of a family, or a leader, as a person of influence, you are in that position to serve others and to look to their interests.
- This takes intentionality
- This takes more than thoughts and prayers, it tkaes actions and deeds…
- That same manager would roll up his sleeves, start washing the dishes and not leave until it is all done.
So when Jesus washes his disciples feet, he is displaying humility…
- He acknowledges that he is their Master and Lord… but demonstrates to them what he expects of his followers…
- As Jesus says… whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant
- A servant leader in all speres of life creates a virtuous upward cycle of serving that inspires their employees or followers…
- Right? How amazing would it be if your leadership in whatever sphere was not dependent on the title you possess or the badge you wear…
- But in the allegiance freely given due to the servant nature of your influence.
- Right? That’s the kind of relationships, church, family, marriage, friendship, work… that we want to be in!
- It changes the atmosphere…
It is getting out of the cycle of only caring about your own interests… climbing the ladder, exerting your rights, using your privilege…
- And getting low… getting humble… getting interested in others welfare
- Right, practically it is demonstrated by listening and empathizing and doing something costly of service for others…
- It is nothing more, nothing less, than allowing the life of Christ to shine through you…
- Living worthy of the Gospel of Christ Jesus.
And every time we humble ourselves… when we become less, we imitate the life of Christ by getting low…
- And that’s the difference humility makes – it makes Christ visible…
- What an opportunity for us… where we have influence, where we are leaders to display the life of Christ!
I remember asking my Dad when he retired from his career as a lawyer what his greatest moments were.
- Now lawyers make money by people suing each other and taking things to court…
- But he said his greatest moments were when he could persuade his clients to settle and reconcile without costly legal proceedings…
- That is actually humility. Putting the interests of others ahead of yourself.
Well I think this is something for us all to work on,
David Brooks in the NY Times…
“It occurred to me that there were two sets of virtues, the résumé virtues and the eulogy virtues. The résumé virtues are the skills you bring to the marketplace. The eulogy virtues are the ones that are talked about at your funeral — whether you were kind, brave, honest or faithful. Were you capable of deep love?
We all know that the eulogy virtues are more important than the résumé ones. But our culture and our educational systems spend more time teaching the skills and strategies you need for career success than the qualities you need to radiate that sort of inner light. Many of us are clearer on how to build an external career than on how to build inner character.”
So you get to your funeral… what will they say?
- He had an amazing career… she had three Masters degrees? The house they kept was always spotless… his car was the top of the range…
- Or will they say, in him, in her we saw Christ…
- He loved his children, she sacrificed a promotion to spend more time with the kids…
- He knew the local homeless by name and cared for them…
- She was always friendly to new people at church and made them feel welcome…
- He on the quiet used to mow his neighbours lawn…
- She took her bonus and helped kids though Homes of Hope to get an education
- He had a big job but on Friday nights he’d cook dinner at his kids church youth group
- She loved her husband. She always spoke kindly about him and to him…
- He had this way with people. People would always say they felt really listened to.
- She became a Christian and then all these people started becoming Christians around her because of the way she changed… she just was different.
What will they say?