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.
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.
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.
So Philippians chapter 2, verses 1 to 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
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 chapter 4, verses 1 to 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.
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.
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
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,
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,
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.