Full Transcript

Hi, and welcome to Share the Word, the best way to learn your way through the New Testament one chapter at a time. We know there are a lot of devotionals and encouraging thoughts for the day from the Bible available online, but our goal is to little more to honestly and systematically present the whole story of the New Testament. So let’s listen in to today’s lesson and go a little deeper. Philippians chapter 2: Highs and Lows. If you’ve recently found your way to our podcast, welcome. If it’s because someone suggested to you that listening to Share the Word is a good way to understand the big ideas of Christianity, we especially welcome you.

Honestly, it’s with people like you in mind that we undertook this project a couple years ago. Our methodology is simple: to work our way systematically through the New Testament writings, doing our best to honestly explain in down-to-earth language the biggest idea in every one of its chapters. The ultimate goal is, if someone unfamiliar with Christianity listens through this series, by the time they are through, they will have been exposed to every essential idea of the Christian faith—not what different branches of professing Christians practice today, but to what Jesus and his apostles actually taught. We believe everything that’s essential to the Christian faith has been written down for us in the New Testament. So if you arrived here on such a quest, would it surprise you to learn that the New Testament contains exactly zero writings by Jesus himself?

He never wrote a manifesto or an autobiography or anything else that we know of. What we know about him was written by others, contemporaries of his, some of whom followed him during his lifetime, others who didn’t at all. But all of whom ultimately came to the conclusion that this person, Jesus, was the most important person who was ever on this planet, or ever could have been, because they came to the conclusion that he was really God come here disguised in human form. Someone who, as Paul writes in our chapter today, someone who everyone else who has ever lived will one day bow before and acknowledge is Lord of lords. A ruler roughly contemporary with Jesus was Roman named Gaius Octavian, better known to history as Caesar Augustus. Augustus, meaning respected and impressive.

That was an honorific title bestowed on him by the Roman Senate when he was declared emperor in 27 BC. There’s a bronze plaque on Augustus Mausoleum, his tomb, which is still standing in the center of Rome today. The plaque is engraved with a 25-word hymn of praise to this first Roman emperor. It enumerates and celebrates 35 areas of accomplishment, topic by topic: his military victories, his public awards, his generous gifts to the Roman people, his impressive building projects, and on and on. And the author of this lengthy eulogy? Ha!

It was Augustus himself. He wanted to make sure everyone who ever read this plaque realized, and I’m quoting him now, This honor, up to the present day, has been decreed on no one besides myself, an honor given to me by the Senate and the people of Rome on account of my courage, clemency, justice, and piety. The Greeks and Romans loved nothing more than to praise themselves, except to be publicly honored and praised by others. The elite were in an endless competition for recognitions and honor. Octavian, Caesar Augustus, reached the pinnacle of that pursuit. In fact, after he was declared to be Caesar by the Roman Senate, he took the title Divi Filius, meaning son of the divine one.

And upon his death, he himself was deified and added to the pantheon of Roman gods. Realize now, it was against this backdrop that Jesus told his small band of disciples, Among you, it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man, referring to himself, came not to be served, but to serve others and give his life as a ransom for many. What a radically different ethic. The Greek culture that saturated the Mediterranean world for centuries prior to Jesus’ time, as well as the Roman structures built upon it dominating the first-century world, did not consider being humble a virtue.

To them, it was not even a commendable trait. They actually associated it with shame, as I said a couple podcasts ago, with being a loser. When the apostle Paul writes in Philippians chapter 2, Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, the Greek word he used there, tapeinos, which in Latin is humilitas, meant something like to be crushed or debased. Humility was a characteristic of someone embarrassingly low in the eyes of others. Honor, on the other hand, was the characteristic of someone exalted by others, praised by others, and it was honor, certainly not humility, that was prized and valued above everything else in that world.

Aristotle, the influential Greek philosopher, taught that men should regularly reflect upon the importance of honor and think about nothing more than their reputation before their peers. These thoughts, he said, should fill one’s mind and shape one’s path. So nothing was more to be sought after than the honor of your contemporaries and those who come after you. It was into this setting that Jesus came, into this world Christianity was born. So it was to people steeped in this kind of thinking that Paul first wrote this. Listen to how the apostle addresses this subject beginning at verse 2.

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 one of you to the interests of others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be clung to. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself further by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

Therefore God has exalted him to the highest place and given him a 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. The life and teachings of Jesus, for those who took them seriously, turned many things upside down. Nowhere was this more obvious than the value Christianity places on humility. Think about this. Caesar Augustus was the man at the epicenter of the world’s kingdoms in the first century. He had great armies at his command.

He had his entourage. He lived lavishly at one palace and then another. He was exalted among men and unapproachable except to the very most elite of Roman society. But all that remains of Augustus now is that mausoleum he had built in the center of Rome. It sits on a man-made earthen mound surrounded by evergreens. Originally, atop it stood a towering 26-foot-tall bronze statue of Augustus in full military regalia.

But that is gone now. At the entrance to the tomb, though, there’s still that glowing eulogy on the bronze plaque, the one he composed himself in his own honor, describing his own greatness. Jesus, in contrast, is the man at the epicenter of God’s kingdom. He never had anything more than a ragtag band of followers in his time. He never owned a home of his own. He went from place to place engaging with all sorts of common people.

We don’t remember him for military campaigns or for holding any important offices. We remember him for being born a stable. We remember him for showing compassion to outcasts. We remember him for washing his own disciples’ feet and for dying like a criminal on a cross. Not for his sins, but for others. He lived for the good of others, and he died for the good of others.

Which of these two first-century men made the more lasting impact on this planet? Which of them made the greater impact for good? That’s an easy question, isn’t it? Paul wrote in this section to encourage the Philippian Christians to strive toward unity in their church body. Not only was unity in their local church essential to achieving God’s purposes in its members’ lives, it was also a powerful testimony to their pagan neighbors, to their community, of the difference Christ could make in people’s lives. Remember how at the earliest church, we saw this as we went through Acts, how the first Christian church at Jerusalem grew rapidly and made such an impact on that city as people saw wealthy members selling valuables and their property to care for the neediest among them.

Remember how we saw at Antioch in Syria, people who had for centuries despised one another, Jews and Gentiles, overcome old prejudices and coming together as equals. It was at Antioch that the followers of Christ were first called Christians, and they embraced that name. They wanted to emulate Jesus’ values. And now, as Paul wrote this from his house arrest in Rome, all over the Mediterranean world, Christians were now meeting together in homes and public buildings, men and women together, Jews and Gentiles together, citizens of the empire and slaves together, all as one in Christ. It’s hard to overstate how remarkable and how attractive that was in that very divided world. That’s why Paul wrote here, Make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and one of mind.

He knew what a powerful witness that was and how magnetic that was in that society. He loved hearing about the churches he had founded experiencing that kind of unity. So how did it happen? It happens as Christians adopt the mindset of Christ and relate to one another in humility rather than with the kind of proud self-interest which drove everyone else in their world. I had a discussion the other day with a couple of my grown children about sin, and after I heard one of them say, Well, sin is sin. It all separates us from God.

One sin is not greater than another, maybe not in those exact words, but that was their intent. I’m not sure what brought that up, but I said, Wait a minute. It’s true that all sins separate us from God, and all sins equally need to be forgiven by the atonement Christ made for us. But don’t imagine that God sees them all alike. Some sins are more offensive to Him than others, and some certainly have worse consequences on us and the people around us. Pride is one of those.

Remember, pride is what caused Lucifer to be cast out of heaven. In the Proverbs, there’s a passage that says there are six things that God hates, seven that are an abomination to Him. First on that list: a proud look, or as other versions translate it, haughty eyes. You know, probably the kind of look on the face of Augustus’ statue. Look at me up here. Am I not really something?

That kind of pride is something God detests, something He calls an abomination. Does that surprise you? Augustus composed a 2,500-word eulogy to his greatness and had it engraved and placed on a bronze plaque where everyone who ever walked through the city of Rome To this day would see it. Some early Christian, we’re not sure who, composed this hymn in Philippians 2 about Jesus that we read in verses 5 through 8. It’s much shorter than Augustus, but it reveals why God saw Jesus’ life accomplishments as so much greater, greater than any Caesar’s or anybody else’s. Why?

Because no one was ever so high and became so low on purpose, by choice, for the benefit of others. It was Jesus’ humility that defined his greatness. The early hymn says Jesus preexisted in heaven as God the Son, yet to carry out God’s amazing plan for our salvation, he willingly let go of his divine prerogatives, his divine privileges for a time, his exalted position, and he entered our world, infinite God confined to a human body. And he lived among us like a servant, like the humblest of men. And then he did something the angels who served him in heaven could never have imagined. He allowed jealous, wicked men to take him, allowed his own fallen creatures to torture and kill him.

Why? Because that was the only way God knew he could remain just and yet forgive men’s sins. Jesus would lay down his life as a sacrifice for us, the just for the unjust. Has anyone else ever demonstrated humility at that level? It’s almost a silly question, isn’t it? Of course not, and no one ever could.

That is why God has so highly honored him and given him a name that’s above every other name. So Paul’s challenge to the Philippian followers of Christ and to us is, let this mindset also be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Let this attitude rule in your relationships. To what extent do you think it does? For you personally, I mean. Here are some questions by which we could check ourselves.

Do you see yourself as above certain jobs? Do you love to talk about your own accomplishments? Do you crave the kind of honor that comes from others extolling you? Are you easily critical of others? Are you unable to graciously accept constructive criticism? Are you obsessed with your own physical appearance?

Do you like to impress others with how intelligent you are? Do you feel a need to show off what you have or what you own? Do you have trouble submitting to authority? Do you usually justify your failures rather than confessing and owning them? And finally, do you see some people as below you and not worthy of your time and attention? Did you wince a couple of times hearing that list?

Don’t get discouraged if some of those questions hit close to home. Most of us struggle with pride. It’s very ingrained in our human nature. Recognizing that is the first step toward gaining some true humility. If you can’t see yourself in any of those questions, I’d be much more worried. Let’s take a sharp turn for a moment.

Isn’t it interesting that the biggest idea in the Christian faith is embedded in a passage urging Christ followers toward humility? What do I mean by that? Well, Paul’s main idea in Philippians 2 is that Christians need to be humble because that virtue is essential for unity between people, and unity is essential for people to function as a truly successful church. But what do I mean by the biggest idea in the Christian faith is embedded here? I believe the biggest idea in the Christian faith is understanding Jesus’ real identity. The apostle here puts a spotlight on Jesus’ humility for the purpose of urging these early Christians to emulate him, to value and practice his kind of humility.

He’s pointing them to humility’s ultimate example. He’s saying no one has ever been so high and then stooped so low for the benefit of others as Jesus. The only thing that makes his illustration work is the reality of who Jesus really was, his true identity. These verses, Philippians 2, 6 through 8, are such a clear statement of Jesus’ humanity and his deity, the hypostatic union, as theologians call it, that he was an absolutely unique person. The language, the specific terms Paul uses here, demand that we understand that Jesus was both God and man. He preexisted his time on earth in the form of God, with the nature of God.

The Greek word Paul chose to use there, translated form or nature, means having all the essential characteristics of. Whatever makes God God, preexistent Jesus in heaven was all that. He was God. Then Paul uses the very same word again when he says that Jesus humbled himself to enter our world, and when he did so, he took the form of the nature of a servant. That is, he then had all the essential characteristics of the lowliest of men. He was really a man.

He underscores that by saying Jesus did not cling to his divine privileges, but willingly laid them aside for a time. So although during the time he was on earth Jesus had the appearance of a normal man, what people could not see was that he was in nature still God. He was in reality both God and man at once. Why do I think that’s the biggest idea of the Christian faith? Because it’s only because of Jesus’ one-of-a-kind identity, a person both perfectly divine and completely human at once, that he could accomplish the plan God had made for our salvation. He had to truly be man to live a perfectly righteous life before God as our representative, because none of us can, and then as our representative again lay down that perfect life as a sacrifice for our sin, dying in our place on the cross.

But he had to be truly God at the same time in order for that sacrifice to be powerful enough and valuable enough to atone for all mankind’s sin, once and for all time, making it possible for all of us sinners to be reconciled to our holy Creator. This is at the very heart of the Christian faith, Jesus’ unique identity. It’s only that which enabled him to do what he did, to become the Savior of all who would put their faith in him. Although this is not even Paul’s main point in the passage, it is the biggest idea in Christianity. And the fact Paul would use Jesus’ incarnation and atonement on the cross as the best example of humility ever, that is, that no one has ever been so high and been willing to become so low for the benefit of others as Jesus did, shows us that his unique identity as the God-man was foundational to the Christian faith in the apostles’ understanding.

It’s the linchpin that makes God’s plan for our salvation even possible. I’m stressing this because from Paul’s day to ours, false religions and heretical offshoots of Christianity have all denied this foundational truth, the unique identity of Jesus, that he was fully God and fully man, and so qualified to be our representative and our Savior. You sure you get this? Finally, to return to this passage’s main idea, forget Aristotle’s advice to spend a lot of time thinking about your own honor and how you can gain a greater standing among your peers. Remember, God is opposed to the proud. Instead, meditate on Jesus’ amazing example of humility, because God gives grace to the humble.

If this lesson strikes you as personally important, spend some time meditating on these questions. In my relationships, how can I show that I value others above myself? And in what specific ways could I serve them for Jesus’ sake? This was the mindset of Christ. If you want to be a follower of His, then follow Him in this. This is Paul for Share the Word.

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