THE HUMILITY AND HONOUR OF JESUS IN PHILIPPIANS 2:1-11

THE HUMILITY AND HONOUR OF JESUS IN PHILIPPIANS 2:1-11

I traced the path from humility to honour through Philippians 2:1-11, illustrating how Jesus relinquished divinity, privilege, embraced servanthood, and was exalted. Power isn’t demonstrated by status but by serving.

Chapter Markers
- 0:00 Humility Defined Through Scripture
- 2:15 The Mindset Of Christ
- 4:30 Jesus Lays Aside Equality
- 7:00 Temptation As A Test Of Humility
- 9:20 Servanthood Over Status
- 12:00 Emptied Glory And Human Likeness
- 15:30 Choosing Low Places When Called

Chapters

• 0:00 Wisdom, Fear Of God, Humility
• 1:03 Christ’s Mindset As Our Model
• 2:09 Equality With God And Incarnation
• 3:06 Temptation As A Test Of Humility
• 4:03 Servant Nature Over Status
• 6:25 Laying Down Glory To Serve
• 7:51 Choosing Obedience Over Comfort
• 9:40 Associating With The Lowly
• 11:37 Exaltation Follows The Process
• 13:05 Every Knee Bows To Jesus

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

The Bible states in Proverbs chapter fifteen verse thirty three that the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom and before honor is humility. It also states in Proverbs chapter twenty-four verse four that by humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor in life. So in essence, for Jesus Christ to have that honorable position came as a result of humility. And those who are humble fear God. And those who are humble serve God. Keep that in mind. At times, as ministers or children of God, we want the successes that come with our purpose. But we don't want the service of our purpose. We want the end result of our purpose. But we don't want to serve our purpose. The reason why Jesus Christ, as a state in Philippians chapter 2, verse 5, for God to exalt him, if you read all the way down to 9, before that exaltation, he had to serve his purpose. The Bible states that in our relationship now we have to look at Jesus as an example. We have to have the mindset of Christ. And the mindset of Christ is humility. Humility is not just a mindset in our soul, but also in our spirit. The Bible talks about the spirit of humility. It's in your spirit, it's in your mind, it's in your heart, not just an outward appearance. So Paul is encouraging us as believers when it comes to how we treat one another, how we relate to one another, to have this same mindset that is of Christ Jesus. And then he explains in verse 6 how we can attain to that mindset, how we can look at Jesus Christ as an example of having the mindset of humility. And it says that who being in very nature God, obviously, we know about the trying the trying nature of God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. And Jesus Christ is actually God. But when when God assigned him to come down to deliver mankind, he had to take off that equality of being God and abase himself, downgrade himself from glory into the human world. So as a result of that, he did not consider himself any equality with God. That is why at times when he will pray, he will pray to God because you don't expect God to pray to himself. But he was functioning as a human being, telling us that as a human being, he's not gonna stake equality with God. So that is why he will pray to God. That is why he will ask God, God, what do you want me to do? That is why we seek the will of God. These are all attitudes and mindset of humility when you acknowledge God, when you fear God in all your ways, you know you want the input of God, you want the will of God to be done, you want to seek the glory of God because if you don't have humility, you do things on your own, like the devil. You want to be like God. You see the opposite between God the Son and the devil, where he had it all, but he wanted to be like God, he wanted to replace God. But Jesus being God himself didn't want to replace God because he knew that he's already God. That is why the enemy was attacking the identity of Jesus Christ, because he wanted Jesus Christ to be proud. That is why I was saying that if you are the Son of God, why won't you do this? Why won't you state your claim that you're equal with God? Why won't you command the stone to turn into bread? Why won't you fall and then the angels will come and pick you up? So that was a test of humility. You understand? That was a test of humility when Jesus was being tempted. So the Bible states that something to be used to its own advantage. So how can we bring this to our own um ministry and as believers is that sometimes when we have gifts, when we have potential, when we have positions of power and influence, sometimes we as ministers we take that, you know, we use it as our own advantage, where we can benefit from it. We want people to serve us. Where Jesus said that I've not come, I've not come to be served, but I've come to serve. So rather that he made himself nothing. Wow. Jesus made himself nothing. He wasn't going around saying that, oh, I'm God, he must worship me. Oh, I'm God, you must do this for me. No. He said, They that worship God, they must worship God in spirit and in truth. But he was rather serving people, rather um helping people, rather having compassion for people. He made himself nothing. He wasn't showboating that, oh, I am Jesus. Even he rode on a donkey. Can you imagine? Pilate asked him, Who are you? Are you the king? He wasn't proud about it compared to the Pharisees who were so cocky, who were so religious. He made himself of nothing. So what we can learn is that even though we have position, even though we have power, even though we have potential, we as ministers, we as believers, we should act as if we have we are nothing. Not because we're we're we're nothing. We are something, but we should act around each other as if we're nothing. We should seek the interest of one another. Paul said that those who are rich pretend as if you are poor. Those who are poor, pretend as if you're you're rich. So he took the very nature of a servant. Wow. He took the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness. That's why on the cross he said, Father, give me the glory that I had before. Because he was missing that glory. But that glory that he had before, he had to go through this process of being made in the likeness of human beings to fulfill God's assignment, to fulfill the salvation of mankind. And the Bible says in verse 8, and being found in appearance as a man, for Jesus to be a man, for Jesus as God to be a man, that's a sign of humility. For Jesus to from, he said, I'm from above. Sometimes when he had it, when when he had an argument with the Pharisees, when the Pharisees are questioning his identity, he will tell them, guys, I don't want to boast, but really I'm from above. I'm really that's that's where I'm from. That's my origin. But you know what? I'm not gonna talk about my origin. I'm just here to fulfill a function. So for Jesus to actually decide, to say, you know what, God, I'm gonna come down, I'm gonna degrade myself, I'm gonna come to that level of a human being, even being God, that's a sign of humility. That's actually one of the greatest um tests of his humility for him to decide I'm coming down in a human form and do what God wants me to do. I'm gonna leave my divinity and come down and abase myself and put on the nature of a servant. It takes humility. How can we relate this in our practical day-to-day Christianity? When God is saying that, okay, you have a big church, you know, you have so much influence, people are serving you, people are washing your dishes, people are washing your clothes. But I want you to leave the city where you have this big church. I want you to go to a very remote village where you'll be the one to wash your own clothes. How would you do that? You're from the palace and you're going to the prison. You're from the palace and you're going to a pit hole nation or village where there's no electricity. It takes humility at times to say yes to God when you have been in a place of influence. Look at Moses, for example. Moses was in the palace, but Moses spent most of his years in the wilderness. That's why the Bible refers to him as he was a humble man. But for him to be referred to as a humble man, he has to go through the process. So my prayer is that you and I, as children of God, that God will help us to go through the process of being humble when the test will come. And verse 8, and being found in their appearance as a man, he humble himself. You don't want God to humble you. It's a dangerous thing to fall into the hand of God for you to allow God to humble you. There are instances in the Bible where people who are of great stature, people of great value, people of great significance in society, they were so pompous, they were so hardy that God had to humble them. Number one, number. He said, Oh, look at look at my empire, look at what I have achieved. Man, God made this man to become a beast. So you don't want you don't want God to humble you. So it's better we humble ourselves than to go for humble. When God humbles you, you're not gonna like it. You're not gonna like it. So Jesus, even me being made made, even Jesus as God, he has the free will to decide, you know what, God, and I'm not gonna be a man. But he humble himself. So, child of God, God wants us to humble ourselves. You can do it, you can humble yourself, you can speak to yourself. Brian, I don't like your arrogance. You're too arrogant, you're too cocky, you're too proud. Talk to yourself when you catch yourself being arrogant, talk to yourself because you don't want God to humble you. Jesus had to humble himself by becoming, he humble himself by by what? By becoming obedient to death. Remember, he he was he had a dispute with God in in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was saying that God, I don't want to go to the cross. God, but you know what, let your will be done. He had his own will, but he had to humble himself under the will of God. He said, Father, this cup is too much. This this assignment is too much. But you know what, God, I don't really want to take this cross. But you know what, Lord, I'm gonna humble my will, I'm gonna humble my desire, I'm gonna humble my comfort, I'm gonna humble myself and say, No, say yes to you, yes to the cross. So, how did he display his humility? How did Jesus Christ humble himself? The Bible clearly states an account that actually happened in his life, a real life account, by becoming obedient to death, even death on the cross. Can you imagine the Son of God, the King of Kings, the King of Glory, dying like a criminal on the cross? Dying among two criminals who actually deserve punishment. That's a disgrace. You as a minister, God is saying that I want you to associate with this type of people. I want you to associate with the prostitutes, I want you to associate with the the the the the the criminals. No, God, look at my caliber. Ah, God, look at look at look how anointed I am. You expect me to associate with these low-life people? You expect me to associate with these drunkards? No, no, no, no, God. What would people think of me? It takes humility. That is why the Pharisees were so self-righteous, they were so arrogant that they they they they they they they were arguing with Jesus. Jesus, why are you hanging out with with tax collectors? Why are you chilling with sinners? Why are you eating, dining with them? Why are you drinking with them? Why are you going to parties? Jesus was so relatable. It takes humility for you to be relatable. It takes humility for you to associate with people. The Bible says in Proverbs that the lowly in heart, the humble associate with the lowly. The humble associate with anybody. Proud people don't associate with everybody. Proud people they know their levels. Proud people don't know their levels. But God doesn't want us to be proud where we cannot associate with people, where we despise people that come to church. We only associate with those who give tithes and offerings. We only associate with those who speak in tongues, who do perform signs and wonders. But those who are nobody in church, we don't associate with them. And then finally, the Bible states in verse 9 that the result of humility is honor. The result of humility is honor. When you're proud, at the end, it's gonna be destruction. When you're humble, at the end it's gonna be honor. And verse 8, that's exactly what God gave Jesus Christ: honor. Therefore, God exalted him. Wow, that exaltation didn't just take place like that. Jesus Christ went through the process. Some of us we want God to exalt us, we want God to give us a big ministry, a big name. Uh, even you asking for a big name and big ministry, that's also a sign of pride. Remember when the two disciples were asking Jesus? I think their mom asked Jesus, Jesus, oh, my two sons, uh, I want them to sit. No, Jesus said, Hey, hey, there's a process. It's not even up to me. Are they able to drink the cup? So are you able to drink the cup of humility before you ask for the cup of honor? Let me say that again. Are you able to drink the cup of humility before you ask for the crown of honor? For you to have the crown of honor, you need to drink the cup of humility. Therefore, God exalted Jesus with honor to the highest place, to the highest, superlative, meaning that you cannot compare the position that Jesus Christ is in. Highest place, you cannot compare to that level of position, power, and influence that Jesus Christ is in, because he went through the process. He drank the cup of humiliation, he drank the cup of humility on the cross and gave him the name. Wow. So as a result of that, his name, that name is above every name. Our names are little, but that name Jesus is above every name. Every name that that name of Jesus, every knee shabo, every knee on earth, every knee on the sea, every knee in heaven. The angels, the 24 elders, the four living creatures, even Satan and his demons, human beings, the president, the prime minister, Musouveni, pastors, apostles, evangelists, celebrities, whoever they are, every one will bow. In heaven, it gives the different rams that we have in God's creation. The ram in heaven, they will bow. The ones on earth, they will bow. Under the earth, they will bow. So every ram will bow. There's nobody higher than Jesus in any realm. The ram in heaven, the ram on earth, the ram underneath the earth. Every ram, every tongue, every tongue, every nation, the Chinese, the Indians, the Caucasians, everyone, every tribe, every family, every tongue will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, meaning that Jesus Christ is the master, Jesus Christ is the supreme, Jesus Christ is sovereign, Jesus Christ is majestic. All for what? For the glory of God the Father. At the end, this is what God the Father wants. That is why, when you read the book of Revelation, I close with this. The 24 elders, the multitude of angels, the four living creatures, and everyone will bow and worship the one on the throne and also the lamb. So the one on the throne that is God the Father, and the Lamb that is God the Son, they are both equally seated where everyone bows before them.