"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any
tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but
in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to
the interests of others.
Your
attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not
consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but
made Himself nothing,
taking the very nature of
a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled Himself
and became
obedient to death - even death on a cross!
Therefore God has exalted Him to the highest place
and gave Him the Name that is above every name,
that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father."
God has no need. We know that. He didn't need to create us. He didn't need to win us back from slavery to sin. But He chose to. Mind blown.
How did God choose to win us back from slavery and rebellion and death? By sending His perfect Son Jesus to live as a man, completely obedient, even to a death that we deserved. Not just death, but a humiliating and undeserved criminal's death on a cross.
So, Jesus is God.
He willingly humbles Himself by coming to earth.
He not only humbles Himself by coming to a sin-wrecked earth, but He comes in the form of a man.
He not only comes in the form of a man, but as a dependent-on-His-mother-for-life baby!
He not only comes as a baby, but as a baby born into a family of humble means.
He not only comes as to earth as a man, but as a servant of a man. A servant.
He not only comes as a servant man, but while serving, He is completely obedient to the Father. Obedience implies someone is in authority over you. Who could be in authority over God? Yet Jesus submits His will to the Father. What??? Mind BLOWN!!!
He not only obeys, but He obeys to the point of death. Death. The wages of sin is death, but He didn't sin. Why would He die?
He not only obeys to the point of death, but to the point of a humiliating death on a cross. A cross is for criminals. He committed no crime.
Do you see this? Do you?? God, who has NO NEED, humbles Himself to become needy!
Disdained.
Tortured.
Misunderstood.
Unappreciated.
Criminalized.
Killed.
"Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place
and gave Him the Name that is above every name..."
So, when we listen to Philippians 2 and "in humility consider others" better than ourselves, we re-enact Jesus' life. In humility, God the Son considered others. He looked not only to His own interests, but to all of our interests. Each time we choose to humble ourselves, we put Jesus' life on display. It doesn't make sense that God would humble Himself. Especially for rebels. But it is good. So, so good. We must tell this story by living it out. Just like a husband lovingly lays down his life for his wife and so puts Christ and His Bride-Church on display. So, each of us in humility considers others better than ourselves and so puts Christ's incredible submission to and trust in the Father on display.
"Humbles yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up." James 4:10
"...For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:14b
