Envision a king. He has all he could possibly want at his command. Servants, who will do as he says. Servants who will sacrifice their life for him. Their life is hardly their own, but rather a service for their king, the highest authority. This may lead one to believe that serving someone else is inconsistent with a high place of authority.
Philippians 2:5-11, however, distorts our view. It shows that service is something honorable, something to fight for, and seek after. Here, Jesus, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. Jesus would not have been wrong to call Himself God, in fact He did. But even though He was admittedly God, He still served others, taking the place of humility. We are called to have this same mind which Christ has demonstrated, and we are called to have it “among ourselves.”
Humility is about taking the lower place, and esteeming others as better than ourselves. Humility drives unity, and is caused by it. Jesus lowered himself, taking the place of humility. Jesus emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant, and being born in the likeness of men. Jesus, the Creator of the world, humbled Himself to the point that He took on the form of His creation. He humbled Himself to the point of obedience. Rather than solely giving commands and decrees, like a king often does, he humbled himself to be obedient to the orders of others, and ultimately obeyed the Father by dying for the world, even by the means of a cruel and awful cross.
The story doesn’t end, however, right after humility leads Jesus to the cross. In fact the story never ends, but goes on continually with the exaltation of Christ in His heavenly throne. 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.
We see this pattern of humility to exaltation commonly in the Bible, in places and commonly used phrases such as the first shall be last, and the last shall be first, or in the parable Jesus told about taking the place of humility at a wedding. When we read this passage, we often think that this riches to rags to riches story only applies to Jesus. We fail to realize that this is a promise made to the Lord’s people, and perhaps even a law built into nature itself. We tend to be very small minded about humility, thinking only about the short term results, giving something up for someone else's gain, and we forget that God will not leave us rewardless if we show humility to others. In Matthew 10:42, Jesus says, “Those who give one of these little ones a cup of cold water because they are my followers will truly gain their reward.” If even a cup of water is rewarded then how much more will the sacrifice of our lives in humility be rewarded, and who better is there to sacrifice our life to than Jesus and His body, the Church. John tells us that greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for his friends. Both the ultimate forms of love and humility are giving one’s life for someone else.
So then, if you want to be humble and love, or claim to be humble and love, then have this mind that Christ also had, and give up whatever title you believe you may have for the benefit of others. God will not leave you rewardless.
The junior high students are working through Basic Christian Living during their Bible lessons this year and have recently read Philippians in their morning devotions. Students were asked to write an essay based on their readings. Here was one written by an eight grade student and selected by Mr. Sabin for the Spring Concert and Recitations.
