The sermon "Gospel Wrought Humility" by Sam Cummings delves into the essence of Christian humility as outlined in Philippians 2:3-11. Cummings starts by expressing gratitude for the mentorship and guidance he's received, setting a tone of humility and thankfulness. He underscores the importance of the text from Philippians, highlighting verses 3 and 4 as personal milestones in his spiritual journey, taught by his father to combat selfishness and arrogance from a young age.
Cummings emphasizes that true humility and the ability to consider others more significant than oneself can only stem from a deep understanding and appreciation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He argues that it's not mere discipline or moral effort that brings about genuine humility but a heart transformed by the gospel. By examining Christ's example—His voluntary abasement from divine glory to human form, His life of service, and His obedience unto death on the cross—Cummings illustrates the profound humility of Christ and its implications for believers.
The sermon moves through a detailed exposition of Philippians 2:3-11, focusing on three main points:
1. **The Exhortation for Humility (Verses 3-4):** Cummings explains that humility involves valuing others above oneself and looking to their interests, a mindset that's contrary to worldly values but essential for unity and harmony within the church.
2. **The Greatest Example of Humility (Verses 6-8):** Christ's humility is presented as the ultimate model for believers. Cummings explores Christ's pre-incarnate glory, His incarnation, and His obedience to death, emphasizing that Christ's humility was not an obligation but a voluntary act of love for humanity.
3. **Humility's Great Reward (Verses 9-11):** The sermon concludes by reflecting on the exaltation of Christ as a result of His humility, promising that believers who humble themselves will also be exalted in God's kingdom.
Cummings calls for a response of humility and obedience among Christians, inspired by the humility of Christ. He stresses that remembering and meditating on the gospel is crucial for fostering humility and love towards others. Through prayer, Cummings invites God to work in the lives of the listeners, enabling them to embody the humility of Christ in their own lives for the unity and edification of the church.
The sermon is a powerful reminder of the central role of the gospel in producing true humility, urging believers to look to Christ as the perfect example of humble service and sacrificial love.
The sermon "Gospel Wrought Humility" by Sam Cummings delves into the essence of Christian humility as outlined in Philippians 2:3-11. Cummings starts by expressing gratitude for the mentorship and guidance he's received, setting a tone of humility and thankfulness. He underscores the importance of the text from Philippians, highlighting verses 3 and 4 as personal milestones in his spiritual journey, taught by his father to combat selfishness and arrogance from a young age.
Cummings emphasizes that true humility and the ability to consider others more significant than oneself can only stem from a deep understanding and appreciation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He argues that it's not mere discipline or moral effort that brings about genuine humility but a heart transformed by the gospel. By examining Christ's example—His voluntary abasement from divine glory to human form, His life of service, and His obedience unto death on the cross—Cummings illustrates the profound humility of Christ and its implications for believers.
The sermon moves through a detailed exposition of Philippians 2:3-11, focusing on three main points:
1. **The Exhortation for Humility (Verses 3-4):** Cummings explains that humility involves valuing others above oneself and looking to their interests, a mindset that's contrary to worldly values but essential for unity and harmony within the church.
2. **The Greatest Example of Humility (Verses 6-8):** Christ's humility is presented as the ultimate model for believers. Cummings explores Christ's pre-incarnate glory, His incarnation, and His obedience to death, emphasizing that Christ's humility was not an obligation but a voluntary act of love for humanity.
3. **Humility's Great Reward (Verses 9-11):** The sermon concludes by reflecting on the exaltation of Christ as a result of His humility, promising that believers who humble themselves will also be exalted in God's kingdom.
Cummings calls for a response of humility and obedience among Christians, inspired by the humility of Christ. He stresses that remembering and meditating on the gospel is crucial for fostering humility and love towards others. Through prayer, Cummings invites God to work in the lives of the listeners, enabling them to embody the humility of Christ in their own lives for the unity and edification of the church.
The sermon is a powerful reminder of the central role of the gospel in producing true humility, urging believers to look to Christ as the perfect example of humble service and sacrificial love.
Well, good evening. Thank you, Brother Jeff, for your kind words and your encouragement and just how great of a counselor and mentor that you've been to me in these few years that I've been at the church. And I know I could not have made it through as far as I have in anything in life if it wasn't for him and his influence upon me. So thank you. Tonight we'll be looking at Philippians 2. So if you'd like to turn there, Philippians chapter 2. And we'll be in verses 3 through 11 is where we're going to be focusing on. But I'm going to start reading in verse 1 for some context. So Philippians chapter 2 starting in verse 1. Read along with me. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Lead each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Let's pray again. Let me pray.[Silence] Heavenly Father, I come before you as a weak and insufficient man, a sinner, Lord, a man incapable of the task that is before me, Lord, and I need you. I need your Holy Spirit. I need you to work in my life right now. I need you to work through your word, Lord, for if your word is alone without your Holy Spirit, it returns void. God, we need your Spirit to help me, to help your people, and I pray that your Holy Spirit would come and work in the lives of everyone here today, that you would instill a love for Christ, that you would instill fruit in our lives through your word preached. Father, I pray that you would be gracious to show us your Son, Jesus Christ, tonight. Would you please give us a greater glimpse of your Son and change us at the sight of him? It's in his name, his holy name, and only in his righteousness, Lord, that we come before you and ask these things. Amen. Well, when I was asked to preach tonight, I was trying to decide on a passage of Scripture to preach from, and clearly I ended up going with this one. But I did so for a few reasons, one being simply because of how Christ-exalting it is, because of how astonishing, beautiful, and just incredible it is, and also just how encouraging, edifying, and motivating it is to us as Christians. But another main reason I chose this passage was simply because it holds a very special place in my heart. It's probably my favorite passage of Scripture because of what I just said, but also for a more sentimental reason. You see, verses 3 and 4 in this chapter were the first verses my dad ever had me memorize as a child. And maybe you're thinking, "Oh, how sweet!" But no, no, not sweet. It was actually a discipline, you see. The reason he had me memorize them was because I was a selfish, arrogant, snotty-nosed little brat. That's why he had me memorize them. But even with this good discipline from such a loving father, can you guess what kind of change it caused in my life? Now, at this time, I wasn't a believer. I didn't believe I wasn't a Christian until I was about 18 years old. But think about it. What change do you think occurred by my memorizing this command, by me memorizing it? Nothing. Not a thing changed whatsoever. Nothing changed in my behavior, despite my knowledge of the command and how I failed to obey it and knew I failed to obey it, as I should have. No trajectory towards obedience was ever formed in my life. Now, here's another question. Why do you think that was? Why didn't it cause a change in my life? It certainly wasn't a bad discipline. It wasn't because it was inappropriate. It was actually the most appropriate discipline my dad probably could have given me. And to this day, I'm thankful and indebted to him for that. But despite that, why did I persist in my stubborn rebellion? And the answer is actually pretty simple. I didn't know the gospel. The gospel had yet to register in my heart. It had yet to take root in my heart. And I had yet to trust in Christ. And here's the point I'm trying to make here. In regards to the passage that we're going to be looking at today, I want to make it clear that in order for us to truly obey the command laid out for us in verses 3 and 4 and Philippians 2, we first must know, believe, trust, and continually remember the gospel that we see in verses 6 through 11. The gospel is our motivation. It's our fuel to humbly serve and love each other. Second Corinthians 5, 14 through 15, "For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died. And he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised." You see, God's love revealed to us in the gospel in the work of Christ is what controls us. It's what compels or constrains us to humbly love others. Simply put, we love because he first loved us. The Christian life is always lived in this manner. It's always lived by falling in the footsteps of Christ. Living obedient lives always, always starts and ends with him and what he's done on our behalf. And when we fail to obey the Lord and others, it's always because we've forgotten or just haven't fully comprehended the weight of what the Lord has done on our behalf. Charles Spurgeon put it best when he said, "Holiness is not the way to Christ. Christ is the way to holiness." So what I wanted to do today, what I want to do today and what I want to do every time I preach for that matter, is I simply want to show you your humble Savior, Jesus Christ. And I also want to just exhort us all to humility in light of his glorious work on our behalf. You all probably heard the old prayer that goes day by day, "Dear Lord, these three things I pray." And what are the three things? To see thee more clearly, to love thee more dearly, and to follow thee more nearly. And this prayer actually presents a pattern. And it's true, a biblical dynamic is here. And that is when you see Christ more clearly, you will love him more dearly and thereby follow him more nearly. So when we see more of Christ, when our knowledge of Christ is deepened, we grow in Christ's likeness. This is why preaching the gospel is so important. The purpose in preaching the gospel isn't just to bring sinners to justification. It is that. But it's also the means by which God sanctifies the already justified. This is why we constantly preach Christ and him crucified to the just and to the unjust. And have you ever heard someone say, "I already know the gospel, so why would I need to hear it again every Sunday?" Or maybe you haven't heard someone say this verbatim, but perhaps you've seen this philosophy sort of practiced in churches when they "move on" from the gospel. Well, brothers and sisters, we do not move on from the gospel. We don't move on from the gospel. The gospel is not something that we hear once and believe, and now it's all law. No, we continue to preach the gospel and the law in its proper use and place because the gospel is what empowers us to obey the holy righteous law of God. The law doesn't have efficacious power to change us and conform us to obedience. It condemns us because of our sin. And it shows us our sin, but it doesn't provide us with the power to actually do anything for it. But the gospel, the good news of what Christ has done and is doing, it does change us. It does empower us, and it does conform us to the image of Christ, to the image of the law, which no longer condemns us but guides us. Now, there's another old piece of literature. It's an old poem by John Bunyan. At least it's usually attributed to him, but it represents its principle very well. It represents this distinction between law and gospel, and it goes, "Run, John, run, the law commands, but gives us neither feet nor hands. Far better news the gospel brings. It bids us fly and gives us wings." So in light of this reality, let's examine the work of Christ together this evening, particularly Christ's humility. And I have three major points that we'll look at today. First is the exhortation for humility in verses 3 and 4. Second is the greatest example of humility in verses 6 through 8. And third is humility's great reward in verses 9 through 11. So let's begin by looking at the exhortation for humility. Read along with me starting in verse 3."Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." Now, there's a few things about this exhortation that I want to highlight. First, I want to show the meaning of it. So what does it mean? What is the point of this exhortation? Then I'd like to reveal its contrary nature, and that might sound confusing, but I'll explain that further along. And lastly, I'll explain why this exhortation is important, simply why is it important? So first, let's check out the meaning of this exhortation. Throughout verses 3 and 4, Paul's basically pointing to one major quality, and that quality is humility. Humility. And what is humility? And maybe a better place is to start by asking, what is it humility? Well, verse 3, humility isn't selfishly ambitious. It's not conceited. It doesn't consider self as greater than others. It doesn't look only to its own interests. Rather, it looks also to the interests or the matters of others. All the while, humility is selfless, lowly, and serving of others. So, for clarity's sake, if we were to narrow down the commands in verses 3 and 4 to one essential command, it would be this. Be humble. Be humble. That is the essence of this exhortation. Now, secondly, I'd like to bring to light the contrary nature of this exhortation, and by that I mean that this exhortation is contrary to the way of the world. Simple as that. This command to humility is such a foreign concept to the world, especially to our American culture, is it not? I mean, it runs completely against the grain of the world's mindset. Our culture idealizes selfish ambition. The American dream, right? Money, fame, influence. This is what is deemed as an honorable pursuit and is sought after so greatly. When a man or woman places all their time and resources into their career, into the pursuit of this American dream, they're admired and respected. Rather than seeking Christ in his kingdom first and foremost, the world under Satan's influence tells us to seek self-glory and self-indulgence. Rather than seek what has eternal value, the world tells us to seek vain value in this fleeting world. The world tells us to look out for ourselves first. I mean, you've heard it said, you've got to look out for number one, right? I mean, that's true in a sense. We don't neglect caring for ourselves. You know, Paul isn't telling us to stop brushing our teeth and taking baths. Please don't do that. But here's the point. We shouldn't prioritize ourselves to the neglect of others. And I'm preaching to myself here as well. I mean, out of anyone here in this room, I feel like I am the one that needs to hear this the most. So I don't want anyone to think I am speaking on a high horse here. But anyway, that's the point Paul is making when he says, look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Even Jesus, he cared and he provided for himself. He didn't neglect himself. He worked as a carpenter. He earned his living. But his priority, this is the big thing, his priority was always to do the will of the Father and to serve mankind. Whatever it was that he did, he did for the glory of the Father, including his occupation. His life was perfectly marked by looking out for others first. Now, we'll examine more of Christ's humility in our next major point. But before that, let's take a minute just to look at the importance of this exhortation, the importance of it. Now, it's helpful for us to just take a moment to ask why. Why do you think Paul gave this command to the church? Why is it important to consider the needs of others and refrain from being selfishly ambitious and conceited? Simply put, why is humility so important? Why is it so important? And there are many reasons why humility is essential. I'm sure you've all probably already thought of many in your heads right now. But to narrow down my question more specifically, it'd be this. What is the main reason Paul is speaking to? And our answer is found in the context of this passage. I want you to notice at the beginning of this chapter that Paul didn't begin his exhortations in chapter 2 by commanding the saints to be humble. Rather, how did he begin exhorting them in this chapter? He began by first exhorting them to unity and harmony in verses 1 and 2. He insistently exhorts them to be of the same mind, to have the same love, and again, to be in full accord and of one mind. So the first and primary reason why Paul is calling the Philippians, and ourselves for that matter, to humility is for there to be unity and harmony within the church. This is a really big deal. There is no unity and harmony without humility. This is essential for the church to function properly and not be distracted or taken advantage of by the enemy. Just think about this for a second. Imagine—let's do a little thought experiment here. Imagine if everyone in the church, imagine if everyone here, imagine if every member only cared for their own needs, they only served themselves, they only looked out for themselves, and the only thing they saw was self-gain because they viewed themselves as most important. What would happen in that situation? What would happen in that scenario where we all did that? Well, it ceased to be a church is what would happen. We wouldn't even have a church anymore. It'd be utter chaos with no order. The church's mission would be completely undermined. There'd be no mutual goal. There'd be no like-mindedness. There'd be no working together. So instead of viewing ourselves as the most important, we need to view others as more significant than ourselves for the sake of the church, for the sake of Christ and his mission for us. Instead of caring only for our own needs, we also need to care for the needs of others. Instead of being full of ourselves, vainly striving to bring glory to ourselves, we need to be humble, seeking to bring glory to God. This is this. My brothers and sisters, this is why humility is so important. Now, maybe you're thinking, "Well, that's all good and well, Sam. I get it. I get that we're called to be humble. I get its importance. I see that we're commanded to this, but how?" The practical question, how? How do I grow in humility? I'm sinful, and humility isn't something that just comes natural to me. Well, if that's what you're thinking, how dare you not be perfect yet? No, I'm kidding. If that's what you're thinking, join the club. Join the club. But secondly, I'd like to encourage you that the Lord didn't just leave us hanging here. He didn't just give us a command and then leave us to it. He's not saying- He's not wagging his finger at us saying, "Hey, be humble, y'all. Quit being selfish." All right, now, on you go. Go figure it out for yourself. No, that's not what our loving Father is doing. Rather, God has also shown us how we can be humble and obey this command, and he does this by reminding us of the greatest example of humility ever, ever. This is our second point today, the greatest example of humility, the gospel. The gospel. And by the way, this will be the longest point by far, but please bear with me because this gospel is glorious. It is glorious. Starting in verse 5, Paul tells the Philippians and ourselves to have this mind among yourselves, which means attitude or way of thinking. Have this mindset among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant or slaves. Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Now, if you're wondering what humility is or you're uncertain about what it looks like, you're not sure how it looks, there is no greater clarification or explanation than the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul explains humility very well in his exhortation, but eventually he just defaults to sharing the gospel. It's almost like trying to explain something and then saying, you know what, here, it'll be ten times better if I just show you and then you just follow me and I'll show you. Or like, if you've ever had a video that you've seen on your phone and you're trying to explain it to someone and you're like, man, this is really funny, you got to see this. And then you can't explain it well and you're struggling to describe it, so instead what do you do? You're like, all right, I'll just pull out my phone and just try finding the video to show it to you. It's kind of like that. In the same way, we could go through Webster's dictionary, the Oxford dictionary, we could go through a Greek lexicon and trying to figure out what humility is, but the greatest way that we can know what humility is, is simply by looking to the gospel, is simply by looking to Christ. We'd be giving ourselves a massive handicap if we just stopped defining it and didn't look to Christ and see his glory there. His incarnate life, you see humility in every aspect of his life, whether it's pre-incarnate or incarnate, or his just willingness to become incarnate in the first place, his exaltation, his death, all of it is the greatest display of love and humility ever. So with that being said, I want us to examine four aspects of Christ's humility, his pre-incarnate humility, his incarnate humility, his humility in life and death, and his humility in his exaltation. So first, Christ's pre-incarnate humility, verse 6,"Christ, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped," or as the New King James puts it, "did not consider it robbery to be equal with God." I tend to prefer this translation. I think it does a better job at displaying what the original intent was in the original language. And that was, despite being equal with God the Father, God the Son did not seek to take advantage of this. Now, the pre-incarnate humility of Christ is probably the most overlooked or unspoken of aspect of Christ's humility. And by pre-incarnate, I simply mean the incarnation of Christ, him taking on a human flesh, a human nature. But normally when we consider the humility of Christ, we only speak in terms of his life and death. But it's so much more than that. Because, I mean, his life and death, it shouldn't be overlooked or under-emphasized either. I'm not saying that. But here's why it's important to also recognize and emphasize the pre-incarnate humility of Christ. And that's this. It shows us that this is who God is by nature. It shows us that this isn't just something that Christ assumed, it's something that Christ is. Christ is humble. It reveals to us that there's absolutely no selfishness within Christ, no self-centeredness or conceit. From beginning to end, Christ is humble and loving. The Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit display perfect humility. This is something that only the true Trinitarian God of the Bible can be. A non-Trinitarian God like Allah, like the Muslim skewed, false idea of God, he can't be anything but selfish. Because who would such a God have to direct his love to other than himself? Now, to help us understand this a little better, I'm going to share a quote from a guy you all may have heard of. His name's Jeffrey Johnson. I hear he's a pretty swell guy. But anyway, this is from his book, "The Absurdity of Unbelief." And it's actually very helpful in explaining this idea. He said, "The inter-Trinitarian love is not selfish. The Father's love does not seek its own, but rather the glory and honor of the Son. And likewise, the desire of the Son and the Spirit is to shine forth glory and honor upon the other persons of the blessed Trinity. In this we see the perfect relationship that is rooted in love and righteousness. Love by its very nature seeks to give and to share, yet if God was a single person, the desire to share and communicate would not be essential to his nature. And if sharing was not essential to God's nature, why would he share and reveal himself to us?" Okay, so to my point, and this is very helpful in getting there, to my point we see that Jesus Christ the Son has always been humble and loving. If Jesus wasn't humble, loving, and selfless to begin with, he would have never shown humility and love towards us. Now, before we continue, I really want us to think about this. If Christ, who is God, who is equal to the Father, who truly is highly esteemed, if Christ, who is all this, didn't selfishly take advantage of his highly exalted position, how much more than should we be humble when we're nothing? We're left with no excuse. Now, the second aspect of Christ's humility is Christ's incarnate humility. In verse 7, we see that the Lord Jesus emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born and the likeness of men. The Son of God condescended and became incarnate. God became man. It'd do us well to remember that Christ didn't have to condescend from such an infinite height. He didn't have to humble himself and sacrifice himself for us. He could have left us miserable fallen creatures to our sin and condemned us with no plan to redeem us. And he would have been completely just in doing so, would he not? But he didn't. He didn't. Instead, he emptied himself and became one of us. And when Paul says that the Son of God emptied himself, he doesn't mean that he ceased from being God. He couldn't have. And those who believe that are heretics. FYI. Rather, this simply means that he veiled the glory of his deity from man by assuming a human nature. He hid it. He concealed it. And he abased himself. Christ became as nothing in the sight of men. Isaiah 53. He had no former majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Just take a moment to think about that. God became man, and not even as an exalted man, but as a lowly man, who wasn't even esteemed by the rest of mankind. He wasn't looked at with admiration but with disdain. This condescension, this incarnation, the humiliation is so incomprehensible. Because we can't even fathom just how high an exalted God is. We can't even fathom just how esteemed he is. And we're so creaturely, we're so nothing compared to him. We have no right. We have no right to even consider ourselves as great. But God, he has all the right to stay put upon his throne, the king of heaven and earth, the one who rules all in all. What is man that he's even mindful of him? Who are we to compare to God? John Calvin really puts us into perspective by comparing the humility of Christ with the humility of man. He said Christ's humility consisted in his abasing himself from the highest pinnacle of glory to the lowest ignominy, which means deep personal humiliation. Meanwhile, our humility consists in refraining from exalting ourselves by false estimation. He gave up his right. All that is required of us is that we do not assume to ourselves more than we ought. Since then, the Son of God descended from so great a height, how unreasonable that we who are nothing should be lifted up with pride. When viewed in light of the gospel, pride makes no sense, does it? Makes no sense. Why would we ever be puffed up with pride? We delude ourselves when we consider ourselves as great, and if God so chose, he could rip the rug right out from underneath us and could wake us up from our delusion like he did with King Nebuchadnezzar. If it weren't for the grace of God and Christ, we'd all be on our hands and knees right now, grazing grass like wild animals. But God, he is great. He is high and lifted up, and yet he's still humble and loving. This gospel is the needle which punctures our pride and causes us to become lowly. It deflates us. Now, I know I've been giving a lot of quotes already, but it's irresistible for me because these are so good. So much ink has been spilled on this topic. I just want to share these with you. This one is from the Puritan and Merriman Thomas Boston. He said, "The eternal Word consented to be made flesh that all flesh might not perish. He consented to become man, to take into a personal union with himself a human nature, to wit a true body and reasonable soul, according to the eternal destination of his Father. This was an instance of amazing condescension." And it gets better."The highest monarch's consent to lay aside his robes of majesty, to clothe himself with rags and become a beggar, is not to be compared with." Nay, the highest angel's consent to become a worm is not to be named in one day with the eternal Son of God, the Father's equal, his consenting to become a man. Why? He says, "For the distance between the divine nature and the human is infinite, whereas the distance between the angelic nature and the nature of worms is but finite." Man, that's amazing. That really, it just really puts it into perspective. Imagine if you would the President of the United States hanging up his presidential suit to dress like a homeless person. I know we all probably wish that our President would do that, but that's not my point. Imagine if a President, you name him. But imagine if he gave up the White House for a cardboard box. Imagine if he decided to live on the side of a filthy road, begging passer-bys for spare change. Even this would not begin to compare. It would not scratch the surface of the magnitude of what Christ has done, on the magnitude of his condescension. Nothing can compare. God the Son, existing before time, an eternal communion with the Father and Spirit, and the all-satisfying perfect trinity of love, humbled himself by taking on the form of his very own creation. Can you imagine if you molded clay pots, if you're a potter, and you decided that you'd become a clay pot yourself? Even that fails to compare. And not only did the Son take on the form of his creation, his rebellious creation, mind you, but he willingly became a servant of mankind who rejected and despised him. Brothers and sisters, look at what Christ has done for you. Look at what Christ has done for you on your behalf. Look at all he has done for you and for the Father's glory. It's absolutely incredible. Nothing compares. Nothing will ever compare to what Christ has done. And remember, it's not as if Christ didn't know what he was signing up for when he decided to condescend. And his deity, he knew what was to come. He knew the horrific suffering he'd adored and the excruciating pain he was going to face. He knew the depth of the humiliation he was to undergo and the infinite wrath of God he would have to suffer. He knew it all. Yet despite perfectly knowing all that he'd go through out of love, he chose to humble himself anyway. All the way down, all the way to the point of death, even death, on a cross, which was by far the most humiliating death he could have possibly suffered. This is the third aspect of Christ's humility. Christ's humble life and death. Verse 8. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death, on a cross. When Christ took on a human nature, he humbled himself to an even deeper degree by becoming obedient. And the question we're left with is, to what, or to who? What was Christ obeying? And the answer is the Father, the will of God, the whole law of God. And why did he do this? He did this for our sake. Let me ask you this. What is the requirement for entering eternal life? What does God require for man to get into heaven? Is it to just try the best you can and avoid the big sins like murder? Is it for others to deem you as a good person? Is that it? How about this? Is it for you to just say a prayer, repeat some words to God, and everything is just magically well, disaster avoided, just as satisfied because you repeated some words? Is that it? No. God's justice is too great for that. God requires perfect obedience, perfect conformity to His law because He is holy, holy, holy, and just. And therefore, He cannot tolerate sin. We failed to obey the law. We failed to meet the standard required to inherit the promise blessing. And what did we do instead? We earned the curses. All the curses for disobedience, hell, death, eternal damnation. This is why Christ humbled Himself and obeyed the law. He did it for us. He did it for the glorious redemptive plan of God, for the glory of God the Father. You see, because Christ obeyed the law perfectly, if we're united to Him by faith, His righteousness is accredited to us so that when God looks at us, it's as though He's looking at His very own Son. It's as though we perfectly obeyed the law. But listen, Christ didn't just stop at fulfilling the law of God. He humbled Himself even further. See, here's the problem. If Christ fulfilled the law on our behalf but stopped at that, how will God's wrath be appeased for all our sins? Where do our sins go? What happens to the wrath of God? God would be unjust if our sins were left unpunished, undel with. And remember what the punishment for sin is, death, eternal death, damnation under God's wrath. And this is where Christ's humiliation goes even deeper. Christ died for our sins. The Son of God died for our sins. So not only did He humble Himself by obeying for us where we failed, but He humbles Himself even further by dying the death we should have died. We could have never satisfied God's wrath. That's why we would have suffered under it for all eternity. But Christ, He swallowed every last drop of God's wrath. He consumed the eternal wrath of God because He is the eternal God Himself. Our sins accounted to Him. His righteousness accounted to us. God justifies the wicked and remains just in doing so. Praise God! Praise God! It's glorious. It's glorious. How glorious is the humility of Christ! Now, brothers and sisters, what excuse do we have? What excuse do I have? Tell me, what excuse do I have to not put the unity of the church before myself? What excuse do we have? After all that Christ has done on our behalf, all the humiliation He undertook, what's our reasoning for not being humble and loving towards others? We have none. We have no good reason. We have no excuse. Fourth aspect of Christ's humility, Christ's humility in His exaltation. Now, earlier I said that Christ's pre-incarnate humility is likely to be the most under-emphasized aspect of Christ's humility, and I stand by that. I think that's true. But if there were a second, it'd have to be Christ's humility and His exaltation. That's hardly ever spoken about. But it's true, and exalted—you think about this—exalted and humble. How often do you hear those in the same sentence? Not often, right? But when it comes to Christ, He is humble, and even whenever He is exalted, He remains lowly. And this is displayed by the fact that Christ's intention is always to revert the glory back to God the Father, for all that He's accomplished. Read verses 9 through 11 along with me again."Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." To what? To the glory of God the Father. This was and forever remains Christ's intention to do everything for the glory of God. Now, what happens when we're exalted? What happens whenever we're put in a position of exaltation? What temptation are we faced with? Because of our remaining sin nature, we so easily resort to pride when we're lifted up. But Christ's spotless Lamb of God remains humble. He doesn't become prideful. Though He truly is high and lifted up, and totally deserves to be, still He doesn't count it robbery to be equal with God, and He moves the spotlight back to God the Father. The Lord Jesus is simply the greatest example of humility ever. I think that's extremely clear. Now, before I move on to our last major point, I want to ask you something. When you sin, when you're at that crossroads and you can choose to either ignore the temptation or to sin and accept it, and you choose to sin, were you dwelling on the richness of the gospel in that moment? Were you dwelling upon these rich truths that I am preaching to you today? Was the gospel at the forefront of your mind clear as day, influencing your decision? Or was it pushed back to the deep recesses of your mind to be forgotten? The answer is obvious. It's the latter, isn't it? You forgot whether unintentionally or intentionally, the gospel was not at the forefront of your mind. So whenever you ask yourself, "How am I supposed to be humble when I'm so selfish, so prideful, so arrogant, just plain sinful? How am I supposed to be selfish? I know God calls me... Excuse me, how am I supposed to be humble? How am I supposed to be humble? And I know God calls me to be humble, but how? What is the practical way in which I do that? And the answer is just remember the gospel. Don't forget it. Remember the gospel of Jesus Christ. Don't let it slip through the cracks. The gospel of Jesus is our greatest example, our greatest strength, our greatest source of power and motivation for living humble lives. Also, you realize that this is what the church is for, right? The church is gathered together to be made holy through the constant reminder of her loving husband, Jesus Christ, to be reminded of Him and what He's done through the preaching and teaching of the Word, the sacraments and communion with Him and His people, the ordinary means of grace. We need a constant influx of the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. He's the manna from heaven which sustains us. He's the bread of life. So look no further than the work of Jesus Christ to motivate you and look ahead to the day when you will be exalted to glory in Christ. And on that note, we're led to our third and final point for tonight, and that is humility's great reward, exaltation. And this is the shortest point by far, so bear with me. We're almost done. I'm almost done. Now, I've already touched on verses 9 through 11 briefly, but there's still so much more we can glean from these. And Paul begins verse 9 with a "therefore," so he's following his reasoning through to conclusion. Or she used to say, "What is the there therefore?" We all know that. We've all heard the hess. Okay, so Paul is following his reasoning through to conclusion. And the point being made is that because of Christ's astonishing show of humility, God has exalted Him. Okay? But here's the main point I'm getting at now. So it is for all who humbly come to Christ and are united to Him by faith. Remember the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector? Two men went up into the temple to pray, won a Pharisee, the other a tax collector, and the Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus, "God, I thank You that I'm not like other men. Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector over here." I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. And how does Jesus end the parable? Do you remember? What was his concluding point? He concludes with, "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." This is God's promise to you. Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. This is the promise of the new covenant. It's not based on your works, but on the works of Christ. Simply receive this free gift of God. Humble yourself. Trust not in your own righteousness. It's worthless. Trust only in Christ and His righteousness, His work for you. And God promises that you will be exalted to glory in Jesus. And just as Christ reverts the glory back to the Father, so we will revert the glory back to Christ when we're exalted. I can't imagine it any other way. When we're given a golden crown, the first thing I can imagine doing with it is throwing it back at the feet of Jesus and just saying, "All credit goes to you, my Lord." Can you imagine it any other way? When God tells you, "Well done, my good and faithful servant," can you think of saying anything else besides, "Look to Christ. He was the truly faithful servant, Lord. We will be changed. We will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. We will be glorified, and we will be humble." Praise God. Praise God. Now, I'd like to close by reading the lyrics from a rap song. Uh-oh. No. No, really, it's amazing. It's entitled "Emmanuel," and it's by a Christian group called Beautiful Eulogy. Actually, it's very good. And as I read this, seriously, try to contemplate and concentrate on just imagining what's being said. It's a beautiful display of the gospel."Lift up your eyes and see the riches of the all-sufficient King seated on his throne in glory. See his scepter that stretches the expanse of unmeasured space. Hear him who holds all things together declare all things are mine without exception. See the curiosity of the cosmos as Christ condescends to his most cherished creatures. See the astonishment of angels as the Almighty advances towards earth. See the humility of the pre-existent King born of the virgin birth. The infinite becomes infant. The Maker becomes man. The divine becomes despised. And the Christ is crucified. The author of all creation cursed upon the tree that he himself spoke into being. And the Lord of life was laid in the tomb, but the grave could not contain him. And so the Son of man was raised to life. But why? To draw near. To pierce our greatest fear. To shed satisfying blood on our behalf. To give back the life we were meant to have. To enjoy. To hear. To adore. To taste. And to look with peace upon our Savior's face. And to embrace him with an undying faith. To interpose all his worthiness into us. And serve the most unworthy and undeserving. He is our God and we are mere men made by him. We are not like him, but he loves us and moves among us. The great uncreated and the created no longer separated. He is Emmanuel. God with us. I must pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son Jesus Christ to not only die for us, but to live for us. For paying the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, which we deserve to pay Lord. Thank you for your grace, for your mercy. Oh and Father, would you allow this to lead us into paths of righteousness, to lead us into obedience and conformity to your holy righteous law, which is a representation of reflection of you and your nature. Oh God, please instill your law within our lives. Let us walk in obedience to it all the day while looking to our glorious Savior Jesus Christ, bowing our knees to him, glorifying him, worshiping him, thanking him for all he's done, and giving him the proper service he is due, which is obedience for all he's done for us. Your Father, please do a great work in our lives. Cause us to see more of Christ day in and day out. Conform us to his image as when we see him we will be like him because we will see him as he is. So let us see more of him, Father. Show us more. I pray that our church would grow in unity and harmony, Lord. I pray that we would grow greatly in humility, that this may occur. That we would be a church that the world looks upon and says, I cannot believe how united they are in the gospel. And that in our union you would carry out your will, dear God. Thank you for our Savior Jesus Christ, for your Son. It's in his name only. It's in his righteousness only that we pray. Amen.[Silence]