929. The Call to Humility

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones Today, I'm to today's message entitled, The Call to Humility, from Philippians 2, 3, and 4. Would you please take your Bibles and turn with me to Philippians chapter 2?

We've been working through Paul's theme of living worthy of the Gospel, and as we have looked at this passage of Scripture, we ask, well, how do we live worthy of the Gospel? And we talked in our first message on being steadfast in both serving ministry and also being steadfast in unity, and Paul talked about how important unity was, where we are one mind, one heart, one soul. And what is the key to unity? How do you have unity among believers, and basically, it's all being aligned together. When you step into life in leadership roles, one of the most important things that a leader can do is to get people aligned together, because every individual produces energy, but two people together produce synergy. And the reason why you're able to accomplish amazing things is not because you have an amazing person, it's because you have amazing persons.

It's very, very important. If you want to go fast, go by yourself. If you want to go far, you have to go with others. And so Paul understands the importance of the alignment of believers. So the question is, how do you get people aligned together?

And of course, you need to have the same mission and the same purpose, but it's a little bit more than that. And in verses three and four, Philippians chapter two, Paul is putting meat on the bones to his charge to be like-minded, to be unified. He's fleshing out the right kind of an attitude, because attitude makes the difference. And he shows us that the way that you get everybody on the same page is not only do you have the same mission, live worthy of the Gospel, but you have the same attitude, and it is the attitude of humility. So this morning I'd like to speak to you on the theme of the call to humility, because Christianity does not work without people being humble. So let's look at Philippians chapter two, verses three and four. He has called them to fulfill the joy that he looks for in unity, and then in verse three says these words, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory. But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.

Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. So what is Paul doing here? He's establishing this call, this cry out for all of God's people to be humble. And in his communication, what he does is two things here. Number one, he — well first of all, he basically contrasts what humility is to secondly what humility is not. And in that contrast, we come to understand what it is that we're to be doing.

So those two things I want us to look at this morning. What does it mean to not be humble? And secondly, what it means to be humble. Now this is a hard subject to speak about because none of us are overly that humble.

It's about the guy who talked about being humble and he said how I became humble and all my friends wrote books about me. You know, it doesn't really quite work that way. So what is humility not? And he begins by telling us in verse three when he says let nothing be done through strife or vain glory. These two expressions are the very things that work against being humble and being unified as believers.

In this phrase, it's very interesting that there is no verb in the Greek language. And the main verb is back in verse two when he says be like-minded, to think the one thing. And so basically it reads this way, thinking nothing in relationship to strife and vain glory. There are two attitudes that should either be totally absent from our way of thinking or when they do appear, we should throw them out the front door as fast as possible. And what are those two attitudes? Number one, strife and number two, vain glory.

Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory. I could put it this way, we should be ruthless with ourselves when we see these attitudes in our own life. And by the way, one of the evident signs of maturity is you are self-aware of your own thoughts. You know, sometimes I get with people and I think, I think you're a little clueless. You know, you really don't really see yourself.

And you're really not self-aware and God calls us to be aware of our own attitudes. And what are those attitudes, number one is the attitude of strife. The word strife was used back in the days, in the Greek days, to describe somebody that was running for political office. Do you know anybody running for political office today? This is someone who is striving to position themselves against a rival in order to win. Now we use words like, I don't play politics.

Or people are so political. The idea of the word strife is one whose motivation is working for your own personal gain or your own selfish ambition. Now here's a question. Does the Apostle Paul give us any illustration of believers that were living with the attitude of strife?

And the answer is, of course that's a rhetorical question, the answer is yes. Where do we find that? Look at verse 15 of Philippians chapter one. Paul is talking about his experience of being in Rome and there were many believers in the city of Rome.

And he makes this statement, and it's a sad commentary because it's so true of all of us. He said, some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of good will. The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds. What is Paul saying? Apparently there were those Christians who were preaching the Gospel in Rome in a manner and with a motive to actually antagonize Paul.

Evidently, they were jealous of Paul's ministry and they were trying to get some of Paul's followers. And for Paul, he decided that he would rejoice over their preaching if people were being saved. Whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached and I'm excited for that. I can be, I can be excited about anybody who is preaching the Gospel, why?

Because when the Gospel is being preached, people are getting saved whether I preach it or not. I remember years ago experiencing this when I was a new convert and I was working at a church in Denver, Colorado and we went out on a Saturday morning doing house-to-house visitation. And a man came to the door and I began to talk to him about the Lord and short story is that I led this man to the Lord, standing there sharing the Gospel with him. And I got back in my car with another gentleman that was with me, he was older than me.

I was just, you know, right fresh out of college and he was probably up in his 30s. And when we closed the door, I said, praise the Lord and he looked at me and he said, you stole my convert. I went, what? He said, you stole my convert, I could have led that guy to the Lord but you did it.

I went, what in the world are you talking about? And all of a sudden, there was a strife and contention over this guy getting saved. The Apostle Paul said that there were people that were being saved and yet he was grieved over their motives because there was not a unity. But nothing be done through strife, contrast that to the response of John the Baptist when he was told that Jesus was getting more followers than John and he testified something that we all must testify, he must increase.

And I must decrease. Andrew Murray said, the humble man feels no jealousy or envy. He can praise God when others are preferred and blessed before him. He can bear to hear others praise while he is forgotten because he has received the Spirit of Jesus who pleased not himself but sought not his, and who sought not his own honor. In the church, the obstacle to unity is not differences of opinion but self-centered seeking.

Let nothing be done through strife and then notice number two, vainglory. The word vainglory means to be conceited. It's an inflated opinion of yourself.

We call it the big head. My mother used to say of a proud boy, he's too big for his britches. Oscar Wilde was a famous Irish playwright in the late 1800s.

When he was asked as he went through customs if he had anything to declare, he answered only my genius. You ever been around people like that? They're arrogant. Wilde thinks I'm up here when in reality I'm down here.

C.S. Lewis said if a man thinks he is not conceited, he is very conceited indeed. And Saint Chrysostom said there is nothing quite so foreign to a Christian as arrogance. When people develop an inflated opinion about themselves, it can always prove to be deadly. Have you ever heard of a puffer fish? It has a self-defense mechanism where it can quickly transform itself into an odd looking ball-like creature that scares away its predators. If you look like that, it would scare me too. It's also the second most poisonous vertebrae in the world whose toxin is 1,200 times more powerful than cyanide.

One puffer fish can kill 30 adult men, but they are also considered a delicacy in Japan, but it takes a specially trained chef that can clean the fish and deliver a toxin-free meal. Being puffed up can prove to be deadly. What does the book of Proverbs say? Pride goeth before what? Destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

If you think you're up here and you face reality, you're always going to go down. But conceited people, they live with an inflated opinion of themselves. They live with a sense of entitlement.

They think they deserve the best seat in the house. What did Jesus say about this? He said if you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the place of honor. Let someone more distinguished than you be invited, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, give your place to this person. And then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. He said but when you're invited, go sit in the lowest place.

Don't sit in the front seat, sit in the back seat. So that when your host comes, he may say to you, friend, move up higher. Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you, for everybody who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Is it wrong to be praised? No it's not wrong.

I don't think so as long as you're not singing the tune. The Bible says let another man praise thee and not thine own lips, a stranger and not yourself. Motivated people are motivated by self-interest in the advancement of their own personal agenda. When we hire a vice president at Bob Jones University, my number one concern is not their abilities but it is their humility. Because if you come here and we smell an agenda, then you know what? It stinks and we don't want to be around people that are smelly. An agenda-driven person, a person that seeks entitlement is a person who is inflated. They have a sense of vainglory. It is almost impossible to not have conflict when people have their own agenda. Only by pride cometh contention. So Paul says think nothing in relationship to strife and vainglory, and it is obvious that this is not natural for us to think this way. We have to be hard on ourselves.

We have to be hard on our attitude. We have to constantly rein our thoughts back in and bring them in captivity to the obedience to Christ because this is obviously not Christ's attitude. So first of all, Paul tells us what humility is not.

Then secondly, he tells us what humility is. Jesus and his disciples were traveling to Jerusalem. And in anticipation of Jesus becoming the Messiah ruling king, two brothers, James and John, begin to jockey for a position of prestige. They come to Jesus and they ask if they can sit on either side of Jesus on His throne when He rules in reign.

Then their mother gets into the action and requests that her sons have the best seats in the house. And understandably, the other disciples were angered at the audacity of the two brothers' selfish ambition. You know, it's interesting to me that they ask for a position of sitting on either side of Jesus when He reached His glory, and they did not realize that that glory was not on a throne, but it was on a tree. It was not wearing a crown, but it was hanging on a cross. And there were those on either side of Jesus on that cross of glory. And who were they? They were the thieves on the cross.

Do you know what? It must have been humbling for James and John to see that. Jesus took this little group together and He readjusted their thinking. He clarified the fact that leaders of the world rule over people, importance is measured by power and control in the world, but it is different in the Kingdom of God. Greatness means service. Success means ministry. It means to subordinate yourselves, not just to Jesus, but to your own servants. Two of you want to be the chief, Jesus said, then become the servant of all. I knew a Bible college once that on the day of graduation, they were — they gave to all the graduating seniors two things. Number one, they gave them a diploma.

Number two, they gave them a towel, and on the towel it said, be great slash serve, exclamation point. Jesus made it very clear that if you really want to be great, you must become a servant. Doing things motivated by strife and conceit is the spirit of the world. Doing things motivated by humility is the spirit of Heaven. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem other better than themselves. Paul is telling us that in order to be like-minded, we have to be low-minded. Let me say it again, in order for us to be like-minded, to be unified, we need to have the same attitude. We must be low-minded.

What does that mean to be low-minded? I read the story of the two famous evangelists, George Whitfield and John Wesley, who were both contemporaries and friends. However, they had great, great disagreements over theological matters. And Whitfield was very careful not to create problems in public over these disagreements because he did not want to hinder the preaching of the Gospel. When someone asked Whitfield if he thought that he would see Wesley in Heaven, Whitfield replied, I fear not.

For he will be so near the throne of God and we at such a distance, we shall hardly get sight of him. He was low-minded. What does it mean to be low-minded? Does it mean to think lowly of yourself?

Well in one degree, the answer is yes. What did Jesus say in Luke 17 and verse 10? He says when you have done all that you were commanded to do, say we are but unworthy servants because we've only done what is our duty. Let me say it this way, before God, we all should feel unworthy because when we do our very best, we know that there's all kinds of problems even in our best. So how should we be before God?

We should lay ourselves low like a doormat. This is the best position to be in because this is where you get grace. God resists the proud but He gives grace to the humble. Eternity is not a quality that was praised in the ancient world.

It was scorned in the ancient world and is still scorned today but it brings the praise of heaven. Isaiah 57, 15, thus says the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit. Even compared to God, we should always go low.

But with man, it's different. Humility is not putting yourself down in front of others. Humility is lifting others up above you.

Look not every man on his own things, that's easy to do, but every man also on the things of others. It's not neglecting yourself, it's just not thinking about yourself. Someone said that when you're 20 years old, you worry about what people think about you. When you're 40 years old, you don't care what people think about you. And when you turn 60 years old, you realize that nobody's thinking about you anyway. My mother, who is 89 years old, and I'm going to say a word about her in a moment. When she was about 80 years old, got a Facebook account.

It lasted less than a week. And we said, mama, I thought you were on Facebook, she said I was. She said, but I got off. I said, well why'd you get off? And she said, why in the world would anybody care that I went to the grocery store?

Social media can inflate your ego. To be low-minded means to think of others, to value others, to serve others, to esteem other better than themselves. Have you ever heard this hymn? Lord, help me live from day to day in such a self-forgetful way that even when I kneel to pray, my prayer shall be for others.

Others, Lord, yes others, let this my motto be, help me to live for others that I may live like Thee. In biblical times, lowliness was depicted in slavery. A slave stood on the lowest rung of the social ladder. Everybody was above a slave. A slave had nothing to do in life but to serve those that were above him and owned him. Have you ever stopped to consider that Paul and James and Peter and Jude and John all introduced themselves in their writings as slaves of Jesus Christ?

We are to go low, and we are to adopt a slave mentality. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. This means to pay careful attention to serve and anticipate the needs of others. This is what Paul said Timothy's attitude was in chapter two in verse 19 and 22 when he says that as a son with a father, he has served with me in the Gospel. Timothy was an example of the quality that enables us to live worthy of the Gospel. And as we finish up this morning, go back to James and John. You remember the guys that said we want to sit on either side of Jesus and His throne in glory? And on the night before Jesus was crucified, the disciples did not do something that they should have done. And that is in ancient times when people would come over to a home for a meal, the slaves would wash the feet of those that were attending the meal. And when they came into the house to have what we call the Last Supper, no one was there to wash their feet. And during the meal, Jesus got up and took His clothes off and wrapped Himself in a towel.

And He went to every single disciple, and He washed their feet because He wanted to show them what it meant to be great in the Kingdom of God. That greatness is always found in serving others. So how are we like-minded? It is when we are low-minded. It is when we are seeking to serve others and not serve ourselves. So let me conclude with this.

At Bob Jones University, you've got a lot of opportunities to be one way or the other. Where it's all about you, and everybody else is sort of a pain. You know what I mean? Or it's an opportunity to look for multitudes of opportunities. To be a servant. To be a blessing.

To wash others' feet. Father, we thank You for Your goodness to us. We thank You that You love us. We thank You that You have tender mercies on us, and You are a shepherd, and we are Your sheep. We pray for those, there are many in this room, that have struggles.

They have family health issues. They are all facing the same things, and Lord, may we lift up one another in prayer. And I pray for Your blessing as we continue to walk with You. In Jesus' name, Amen. You've been listening to a sermon from the book of Philippians by Dr. Steve Pettit, President of Bob Jones University. If you would like to order the study booklet titled, Live Worthy of the Gospel, which was written for this series, visit our website at thedailyplatform.com. Thanks for listening. Join us again tomorrow as we continue the study in Philippians on The Daily Platform.