Sarah, my wife, said last night, “Be sure to take a lot of notes.”
I never take notes. I mean, well, if you do not take notes, I will just ask Sharon and she will tell me everything. But she wanted me to take a lot of notes about last night.
And I did. I was a good husband. I wrote down what everybody said and wrote their names. She wanted to know who said what.
I read over those notes last night when I got home, and then again this morning. I tell you, it is like we should just read what the believers—the beloved saints—said to one another. That was almost everything I was going to say this morning.
You know, I was so blessed and thrilled at the great Spirit of the Lord last night. There have been many times when we have had meetings that have not been that way. Just praise the Lord for it. I am very thankful.
I want to set the stage for what I am going to share this morning just by reading some verses to you. Just sit back and listen.
Psalm 10:17
O Lord, Thou hast heard the desire of the meek:
Thou wilt prepare their heart, Thou wilt cause Thine ear to hear.
Psalm 34:2
My soul shall make her boast in the Lord:
The meek shall hear thereof, and be glad.
Proverbs 16:19
Better it is to be of a lowly spirit with the poor,
Than to divide the spoil with the proud.
Proverbs 29:23
A man’s pride shall bring him low;
But he that is of a lowly spirit shall obtain honor.
Isaiah 57:15
For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy:
I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,
To revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
And this is one of my favorites. What a difference. What an amazing thing that is.
Matthew 18:4
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child,
The same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 23:12
And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled;
And whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted.
James 4:6
God resisteth the proud,
But giveth grace to the humble.
James 4:10
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord,
And He shall exalt you.
Last verse: 1 Peter 5:6
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God,
That He may exalt you in due time.
The subject this morning is the humility of Christ. So, let us go to prayer.
Lord, we have exalted Your name this morning, and we do continue to exalt and praise You, declaring that You are high and lifted up. Lord, we bless Your name this morning.
Lord, I want to thank You so much that You love the humble. Lord, You love the poor in spirit. As we look at You and Your humility today, I pray that Your Spirit would really show us Christ—this part of our Lord Jesus—that we would fall more deeply in love with You than ever before. In Your name I pray. Amen.
We will be considering Philippians 2, so please turn there.
The first chapter is Christ is our life: “For to me to live is Christ.” The second chapter is Christ is our example. We are to have this same attitude in ourselves that was in Christ.
Chapter 3 is Christ is our goal: to count everything but loss for the sake of knowing Christ. Chapter 4 is Christ is our supply: we have riches in Christ Jesus.
But chapter 2 is the example of Christ—the humble mind of Christ. Let us begin by reading Philippians 2:1-8.
Philippians 2:1-4
If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ,
If any consolation of love,
If any fellowship of the Spirit,
If any tender mercies and compassions,
Make full my joy by being of the same mind,
Having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;
Doing nothing through faction or through vainglory,
But in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself;
Not looking each of you to his own things,
But each of you also to the things of others.
Before we read the next few verses, I want to say something. Oftentimes, as you are reading through Scripture, it is all wonderful, but every now and then you come across a passage that opens the door into the very thought of God. These are very amazing sections of Scripture.
You know, Scripture is not written as a doctrinal book. It would be nice sometimes if it were. But as Paul, by the Spirit, is sharing with the Philippian church, we come to this great passage here. This is an amazing passage. It tells us the mind of Christ.
Philippians 2:5-8
Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, existing in the form of God,
Counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,
But emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant,
Being made in the likeness of men;
And being found in fashion as a man,
He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death,
Yea, the death of the cross.
Philippians 2:9-11
Wherefore also God highly exalted Him,
And gave unto Him the name which is above every name;
That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
Of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth,
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
To the glory of God the Father.
I was going to start with 1 Corinthians 1:9, where it says that our fellowship is with Jesus Christ. Fellowship: sharing, sharing in the Lord. Today, we want to look at sharing in the mind of the Lord—fellowshipping in the mind of the Lord.
So consider verse 5. It says, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.” Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.
This attitude—if you look at verse 2, it says to be of the same mind. We are to have the same mind of humility mentioned in verse 3: “With humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves.” Paul is saying, “Have this same mind in yourselves that was also in Christ Jesus.”
W. E. Vine says that having the same mind is to be like-minded. Darby and the King James say, “Let this mind be in you.” The NIV says, “Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.”
We are to have the same mind that the Lord demonstrates in these next verses. That same mind is a mind of humility. What a wonderful thing that you and I are to share in this mind—to have fellowship in this mind of humility.
You know, it is not just a few of us who are to share in this mind. It is all of us together sharing in this mind of humility.
An amazing thing to me is that we can have this same mind, this same attitude, as Christ did. That is a wonderful thing: you and I can share in this mind of humility.
I think that is a wonderful thing. As we go through here, we will see what this mind of Christ is like.
When we come to verses 6 and 7, we come to a section of Scripture called the kenosis—the self-emptying of the Lord. I am not getting into any of the doctrine of it, because it can be controversial, but it is a wonderful section that speaks about the pre-incarnate Christ.
Let us look at that verse:
Who, existing in the form of God,
Counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,
But emptied Himself.
It becomes evident to us that the Lord Jesus willingly and voluntarily emptied Himself of all that He had when He was with the Father. He was willing to take a low place.
Thiessen—and this is the only doctrinal person I will read—says, “We note that the humiliation began in Christ’s attitude of mind. He thought the being on an equality with God not a thing to be grasped, or forcibly retained. This is an attitude of humility.”
I frankly was just amazed to consider that the Lord had an attitude, a heart, of humility even before He came to earth. It seems like humility is in the very fabric of who God is. In the Lord Jesus, there was great humility.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord had a lowly mind when He was willing to empty Himself and come to earth. He had a lowly mind, and He was willing to give up—to empty Himself.
We do not know quite all that meant, but He lowered Himself and became like you and me. If we are to share in the mind of Christ, we are to have a lowly mind.
The humble mind of Christ means taking a low place.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 8:9, please.
2 Corinthians 8:9
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
That, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor,
That ye through His poverty might become rich.
Our Lord was willing, though He was rich, to become poor—to take the low place of poverty for you and me.
You know, in Isaiah 6, you get a view into the throne of God. You see the smoke and the power and the sound that is there in the throne room. You see the great status that our Lord had.
Then, if you take a peek into the inn where He was born, you see the high and the low that our Lord was willing to go through for us. It is incomprehensible, really—the high place our Lord had, and what He emptied Himself of to come here.
I remind you that verse 5 says we are to have that same mindset that our Lord had, even then, of lowering Himself. The Lord took a low place for you and me.
My question to us is: Are we willing to have that same mind of humility? Are we willing to take a low place for each other? Are we willing to take a low place?
See, a mind of humility involves taking a low place. I want to try to be very simple today.
Look at the next verse, please.
We see Him emptying Himself, and He took the form of a bondservant. He took the form of a bondservant, being made in the likeness of men.
This bondservant is actually a servant. You know, it is not like a waiter, or a Chick-fil-A guy who says, “My pleasure to serve you.” Is that what they say?
“My pleasure,” yes, “my pleasure,” which is actually kind of nice, is it not? But our Lord took the form of a servant, of a bondservant. I would like you to turn to Matthew 20.
We will read Matthew 20:24-28.
Matthew 20:24-28
And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation concerning the two brethren.
But Jesus called them unto Him, and said,
Ye know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
And their great ones exercise authority over them.
Not so shall it be among you:
But whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister;
And whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant:
Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto,
But to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.
Our Lord came as a servant.
Brothers and sisters, that mind of humility was a lowly mind. The mind of humility that we are to have is a servant mind.
This servant mind of Christ is to be ours in our outlook toward each other. A servant mind is, “I am coming every Sunday, every Friday night, every time I am meeting with the brothers and sisters in the Lord—I am coming as a servant.”
In the humble mind of Christ, whenever we are together, we are to serve. We are to have that humble mind of servanthood.
It is an amazing thing that our Lord Jesus would come among us and be a servant.
In John, we read of when the Lord took off His garments before the table. He took the form of a servant and washed people’s feet.
The Lord demonstrated to the disciples how much humility we are to have in serving one another. Brothers and sisters, this service that we have to one another is to be that of a servant.
This goes against our American way of thinking. To be a servant is actually to take the low place—to always take the low place and always to serve.
The Lord humbled Himself before His disciples and served them.
So remember: we are to have this mind in us which was also in Christ Jesus—to be humble servants one to another.
We love to sing of the victory that we have in Christ, the power that we have in Christ, and how wonderful it is to know that we reign with Christ in the heavenlies. But it seems like the humility of the Lord grounds us, so to speak.
The most powerful saint is a servant.
Those among us who love the victory of Christ—and we do have the victory of Christ—are actually to be humble servants as well. They go hand in hand in the spiritual walk that we have with the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, let us have the mind of Christ in our servanthood, one to another. I am sure the Holy Spirit can further help us understand what it means to be a servant as we are with each other.
How much of that came out last night: “I want to serve one another. I want to build one another up.” What a wonderful thing that we are getting together in these new groups and can actually have a servant’s heart toward each other.
Not, “What am I going to get? How am I going to feel?” Rather, we lay that down, take the lowly place, and come into these groups with a servant heart—the same servant heart that the Lord Jesus has.
How He loved. How He associated with the lowly. How He loved the poor in spirit and the contrite in heart. We are to do that in our groups as the body of Christ.
I want to say how much I love each one of you guys. Just like Stella was saying, we are beloved in the Lord. We are beloved, and how beloved we are of one another.
How wonderful it is to be with a group of believers whose only thought toward each other is to serve: “How can I serve you? It would be a pleasure to serve you.”
That is the mind of Christ we are to have.
Look at verse 8. Not only did He have a lowly heart, and not only did He have a servant heart, but He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.
I think there is no better place to describe the Lord’s heart of humbling Himself to the point of death than the Garden of Gethsemane. So let us turn to Matthew 26.
Let us start with verse 36.
Matthew 26:36-39
Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane,
And saith unto His disciples, Sit ye here, while I go yonder and pray.
And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee,
And began to be sorrowful and sore troubled.
Then saith He unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death:
Abide ye here, and watch with Me.
And He went forward a little, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying,
My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from Me:
Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.
Matthew 26:42
Again a second time He went away, and prayed, saying,
My Father, if this cannot pass away, except I drink it,
Thy will be done.
The humble mind of the Lord—the mind that we are to have—is an obedient mind.
You notice the words, “Not My will, but Thine.” If this is what You want, Lord, I will do it.
How many times last night did I hear that? “Lord, if this is what You want, I want what You want.”
This is the humble mind of the Lord that we are to have in being with each other. It is a mind that says, “Not my will. Lord, Yours be done.”
That humbleness of heart is to come out in each one of us. It is like the humility that our Lord had, even to the point of death.
In Hebrews, it says this was with great crying and tears. This was difficult for our Lord. Many times, for us to say, “Not my will, but Your will,” is very, very difficult.
I know there have been times in my life, even here in the fellowship, when I have had to say, “Lord, I have no idea what is going on, but not my will—Yours be done.”
I think I am right in this, and I have had to lay it down and say, “Lord, not my will, but Yours be done.”
How wonderful it is when the humble life of the Lord comes out, and we experience the joy of giving up our will to the will of the Lord.
It is quite unlike Americans to give up our will. We want to state it and put it out there: “This is my right. This is what I want.” How unlike our Lord, who was so humble even to the point of death.
This section of Scripture is singular in that the Holy Spirit points out the humble mind of the Lord. He is not talking about redemption and all the wonderful things that happened on the cross. He is pointing out how the humble mind of the Lord led Him from His Father’s side even to that point of death.
Even later in this chapter, it was not the Lord who exalted Himself. It was the Father who exalted Him, gave Him a name, and placed Him in that high place.
Brothers and sisters, even in our own lives, we are not to exalt ourselves. Let others do that. Let the Lord, later, exalt you.
As we have this humble life of the Lord that we share together—this humble mind of the Lord—we are going to see so much fruit in the assembly.
I want to consider three men in this chapter who had this humble mind of the Lord, and it came out in some wonderful ways.
Consider the apostle Paul in Philippians 2:17-18.
Philippians 2:17-18
Yea, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith,
I joy, and rejoice with you all:
And in the same manner do ye also joy, and rejoice with me.
Ironside, when I was reading him on this, had a really great point which I loved.
The picture is that each one of us is living the life of Christ and, by our service to the Lord, our very life is a sacrifice of faith to the Lord. Paul says, “I come along and pour out a libation”—a libation being the pouring out of a sacrifice—“upon your sacrifice,” and it goes up as a sweet-smelling aroma to the Lord.
Paul is saying, “I am adding my service. I am pouring out my life upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, and it all goes up in a wonderful aroma to the Lord.”
He says, “I want you to do the same with me. I want you to pour out your life upon my sacrifice and service, and our joy together in pouring out our lives, one upon the other, goes up as a sweet aroma to the Lord.”
What humility of the Lord comes out in the apostle Paul—to give himself totally to the brothers he loves here. They have a great love relationship in Philippians. They really love each other.
Paul says, “I am going to pour out my life upon your life, and that sacrifice goes up as a good aroma to the Lord.”
What is wonderful here is that we, brothers and sisters, can do the same with each other. I can pour out my life upon you. You can pour out your life upon me. Together, it all goes up as a sweet aroma to the Lord.
This is the way we should view our service to each other: a sacrificial pouring out of our lives, one upon the other.
Then we come to verses 20 and 21. Paul loved Timothy, and this is what he says about him:
Philippians 2:20-21
For I have no man like-minded,
Who will care truly for your state.
For they all seek their own,
Not the things of Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, a humble mind of service is like Timothy, who had a genuine concern for the welfare of others.
I love that: genuine concern. Not a surface concern, but a deep, genuine concern for the welfare of others.
Timothy was a timid soul, but he was so used of the Lord. Paul sent him to many different places, and the Lord could really use Timothy to heal conflict and to share what Paul had with an assembly.
Timothy had a genuine heart. He could listen. He could empathize. He demonstrated a genuineness of love and concern.
This attitude, this heart, is to be ours as well. We are to have a genuine concern for the welfare of every believer in our assembly.
It is not just a few who are to have this concern. We all are to show this mind of Christ, this humility of not being concerned about myself, but being concerned about you—genuinely concerned about you.
Brothers and sisters, what an amazing thing it would be if we were all that way. Let us say there are one hundred people here. I would have ninety-nine people genuinely concerned about my welfare, and I would be genuinely concerned about your welfare.
Like Paul pouring out his life upon them, and them pouring their lives upon Paul, Timothy poured out his life upon these folks with a genuine concern for their welfare.
This really demonstrates the life of Christ. This is really sharing in the life of Christ.
The last person we will consider is Epaphroditus. Let us start with verse 25 and read through verse 28.
Philippians 2:25-28
But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus,
My brother and fellow-worker and fellow-soldier,
And your messenger and minister to my need;
Since he longed after you all,
And was sore troubled, because ye had heard that he was sick:
For indeed he was sick nigh unto death:
But God had mercy on him;
And not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow.
I have sent him therefore the more diligently,
That, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice,
And that I may be the less sorrowful.
Now listen to this. This just gets me about Epaphroditus. He was longing for them all and was distressed because they had heard that he had been sick.
What struck me about Epaphroditus, and about the assembly he came from, and Paul’s reaction to Epaphroditus, was the tenderness of heart that they had one toward another.
It is almost like they loved each other. Epaphroditus was really concerned—distressed—because they heard that he was sick. I mean, that is a really sensitive heart, is it not?
I have a very insensitive heart. This very much impressed me: if I would have the life and humility of the Lord, my heart over the years should not get harder, becoming a cranky old guy. It should become more sensitive.
It should become more able to express sensitivity to another person.
Brothers and sisters, in the body of Christ, if we had that lowly mind of the Lord, that servant heart, and that heart of obedience, our love for one another and our sensitivity to each other would become deeper and deeper.
It would not stay stagnant. It would grow and abound. To me, that is what we saw last night: a love for each other that was evident, and an opportunity in the coming months and years to show and demonstrate even more love and heart toward one another.
We are going to go back now to the first part of the chapter. I like verses 3 and 4. I kind of think of it as the rest of the chapter being very sensitive, and then someone like me says, “Well, just get down to the nub of it. What is it to have a humble heart, a humble mind?”
So Paul gets down to the nub of it. He says, “Okay, Roger, here is what you do.”
Do nothing through faction or through vainglory,
But in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself.
I mean, how plain is that? This humble mind of Christ that we are to have—if you want it put in black and white, plain as day—is that everybody else is more important than you are.
What an attitude to have. What a way of thinking to have: that every other person in this room is more important than you. Their thoughts and their needs are more important than yours.
Are we like that? Do we automatically come into a room—and we might not say it—but think, “I am at least as important as you are”?
But the humble heart, the lowly heart, the mind of Christ is: “You are more important than I am, and I am here to serve you. I am here to pour out my life upon you.” What a wonderful thing.
He says:
Not looking each of you to his own things,
But each of you also to the things of others.
So, not only are you more important, but what needs do you have? What interests do you have? They are more important than what I am interested in. I love how practical that is.
Lastly, let us consider verses 1 and 2. This describes a church that has the humble mind of the Lord. You know, it is possible to be in an assembly where the humble mind of the Lord is evident.
Verses 1 and 2 say, “Therefore, if there is any…” Let me stop right there. This “if” is intensive. It means that it is true. It is not saying, “If it were true.” These things are the case.
So we will just name these things: if there is any encouragement in Christ—and there is—if there is any consolation or comfort of love—and there is—if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if there is deep affection and compassion one toward another, then make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
Every assembly has a story, and our story could be just like that: an assembly that has unity—a unity of spirit, a unity of heart and purpose.
It is a place where there is fellowship in the Spirit, love, deep affection, and compassion one toward another. I believe the Lord wants to do this in our assembly in a greater and more wonderful way than He already has done.
Brothers and sisters, if we will take the mind of Christ and let that humble mind of Christ be ours, you know, it is possible.
It does say in 1 Corinthians that we have the mind of Christ. It is the Spirit of God who sheds abroad the mind of Christ in our hearts and lives.
An assembly that does not have humility as its base—I do not really know how to say it, like a foundation beneath everything—will suffer. Once humility is broken, once humility is not there, you get arrogance and pride and division and strife, like the Corinthian church.
But when we have the humble mind of Christ that is mentioned here, what unity, what growth, what outpouring of love toward one another!
I really sensed last night that beneath it all, under the surface, was a humility to the Lord and for each other. It was a beautiful thing to me to behold. I am sure it was to all of you.
We need to have the mind of Christ—this humble mind of Christ—in our assembly. Just praise the Lord that He desires to have it. Let us pray.
Lord, I want to thank You that You were willing to say, “Not My will, but Thine be done.” Lord, You were willing to become a servant, and You were willing to take the low place.
Lord, I pray that each one of us would be willing to take the low place, that we would be willing to become a servant—not to be served, but to serve.
Lord, may we be willing to be obedient, no matter how hard it becomes. May we be obedient to what You have asked us to do.
I pray that there would be within our midst that sweet savor of pouring out our lives in humility, one upon the other.
Lord, may we genuinely, deeply, from the heart, really care for the welfare of our brothers and sisters. Give us all a great sensitivity to each other—to our hurts, our wants, and our needs.
Lord, may none of us—no one here—feel lonely, left out, unloved, or uncared for. Lord, in Your house, how can that be? How can that be so when it is filled with servants and people who have this humble mind?
Lord, I pray that You would exalt Your name in our midst. We often ask that the beauty of Christ Jesus might be seen in us and might be seen in Your house.
Lord, I pray that the beauty of humility might be seen in each one of us, that the story of this place could be the humility of the Lord: how they loved each other, how they cared for one another.
Lord, we bless Your name. Amen.