Someone has said that humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less. The opposite of humility is thinking more about yourself.

We call this self-centeredness or pride. This is a manner of life that lets everyone around you know that you are the center of your existence.

The apostle Paul is crystal clear in Philippians 1:27 and 2:3 when he says “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ… Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”

These are extremely counter-cultural instructions to obey; to obey these imperatives is to live against the grain of pop-culture.

From a young age we are taught to live our lives in pursuit of the great American dream; a spouse, a house with a two-stall garage, an education, a good-paying job, two-point-five kids, a few toys depending upon your pleasure, a good circle of friends that you have some things in common with, some community service involvement and the freedom to choose the political party that represents your values.

The thing that defines the so-called great American dream as something that is actually pursuable is our definition of freedom and equality.

As Americans, our country was founded on the belief that all men are created equal with certain inalienable or God-given rights such as the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.

The problem of course, as I believe we’ve witnessed since the inception of our founding as a nation is that there have always been and probably always will be bad characters who have and will interpret the concept of freedom to pursue life, liberty and happiness in ways that are contrary to the gospel.

In short, the problem with freedom will always revolve around our interpretation of what freedom means.

And I am not afraid to say that I believe that the biblical concept of freedom has been hijacked and painted up with cute lipstick to cover the ugly truth that entitlement is much more valued in our country than true freedom.

When entitlement gets dressed up in the lip-stick language of freedom the end result will always be selfish-ambition and conceit; pride that seeks the advancement of self at any cost. Within this cloud of distorted freedom, we jockey for prestige, we clamor for control, we manipulate for comfort, we wine for acceptance and attention, and we position ourselves for power.

We look down our noses at anyone who stands in our way, we shun those who see things differently, we mischaracterize and put words in the mouths of those we disagree with, and we assign motives to behavior that puzzles us.

Some of the clearest places in Scripture where we see selfish-ambition and conceit is in the stories of the mother of the sons of Zebedee attempting to secure seats of power for her sons in Heaven on Jesus’ right and left sides (Matt. 20:20 – 28), the Pharisee who was disgusted with Jesus for his interaction with a sinful woman (Lk. 7:36 – 50), and the Pharisee who offered his pride-filled prayer alongside the humble tax-collector (Lk. 18:9 – 14).

Religious pride is something that is indicative of spiritually blindness. The scary thing is that while people who are physically blind know that they are blind, a person who is spiritually blind is blind to his or her blindness.

God help us in a day and age where our nation is divided upon some of the most polarizing lines we’ve witnessed in the history of the world because of spiritual blindness.

The danger of spiritual pride drowning out Christ-like humility in us is as real as its ever been. Humility characterized by selflessness, compassion and love are a rare commodity today, but they are the virtuous traits needed to satisfy the thirst of a parched nation.

The Scriptures teach us to put on the mind of Christ in a day and age where pride has become a destructive virtue.

The apostle Paul lays this out in Philippians 2:5 – 8 in what has become known as the Christological center of the book; everything Paul says in Philippians flows out of this grand vision of the humility of Christ.

Philippians 2:5 – 8

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

  • How have you been experiencing the recent events over the last few weeks?
  • Do you look upon the news reports of unbelievers acting like unbelievers and wonder how they could be so stupid?
  • Do you stand back in shock as the nation around us, claiming to be a Christian nation, behaves in such un-Christlike ways?
  • Do you find yourself ready for a social media fight every time you see a post that strikes you wrong?
  • Do you find yourself clinging to hope that the right political party will annihilate the other so that we can just get this thing “back-on-track”?

I don’t blame you if you find yourself in any of these places recently. I just want to remind you that spiritual pride manifests itself in either the passive form of insecurity and fear or the aggressive form of arrogance and hostility.

The reality is that the vaccination for this sin-infection can only be found in the message of the good news of Christ’s humility and the apostle Paul describes the various nuances of Christ’s humility in captivating fashion in our text.

#1: THE HUMILIATIVE MIND OF CHRIST BELONGS TO US (VS. 5)

The beauty of the doctrine of our union with Christ is that when we begin to follow Jesus we are immediately endowed with the perfect character of Jesus.

Everything that once belonged to us sinful human beings has been placed in the bank account of Christ and everything that existed in Christ’s account become ours.

While his mercy, love and grace are extended towards us, our rebellion, hatred and filth are replaced with his sinlessness, virtue and purity. At the cross, Jesus takes our pride and replaces it with humility.

But the key for us here is that must not approach the gift of Christ’s humility like a trinket to be placed on a shelf for admiration.

We must constantly come before him in daily communion, removing the worn-out clothing of pride as we put on the glowing garments of humility.

This is why Paul says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (2:5). The humiliative mind of Christ belongs to us and we must actively put it on.

#2: THE HUMILIATIVE MIND OF CHRIST DOESN’T SEEK EQUALITY WITH GOD (VS. 6)

We humans are limited creatures who do not know what’s inside the hearts of other humans. Sure, we know that we are all infected with sin; no one is perfect.

But we do not know the exact strain of sin that infects another human being. It’s one thing to know someone by their fruit (and to call the fruit ungodly) but it’s quite another thing to give a specific prognosis of the heart condition.

Only God sees the heart. Therefore, our approach with other sinners on this earth should be seasoned with grace, mercy and compassion instead of hostile judgment or fearful insecurity.

When Paul says that Jesus “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped” (2:6) we are invited to lay aside our striving and our grasping to be someone we are not.

We are set free to admit that since we are not God, we do not know everything, we are not in control of everything and we cannot do everything.

It is a beautiful thing altogether to recognize that Christ’s humility began in Heaven and his eternal equality with God qualified him to humbly descend to our sin-soaked earth because he came not to seek his own self-interests or own self-advancement (Hughes 2013: 80 – 89).

True freedom is found in the recognition that we are not God and in turn we are able to put on the humiliative mind of Christ that doesn’t seek equality with God.

#3: THE HUMILIATIVE MIND OF CHRIST TAKES THE FORM OF A SLAVE (VS. 7)

When Paul says that Jesus “emptied himself, by taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (2:7) he is reminding the Philippians that they have yet to humble themselves to the point that Jesus did.

When the going gets tough in my life, when people mischaracterize me or reject me, I have to put on the humiliative mind of Christ that takes on the form of a slave as I remember that things will never be as bad for me as they were for my Savior.

Jesus literally manifested the form of God in the form of a servant-slave (Hughes 2013: 80 – 89).

When Jesus washed the feet of the disciples in John 13 he was washing the feet of the pride-filled men from Matthew 20 who were vying for position in Heaven who hadn’t even stooped to the task of foot washing yet.

One author points out here that “hearing the truth and making it part of our lives are not the same thing” (Hughes 2013: 80 – 89).

The point here is that Jesus became a slave so that we can become children of God.

Oh that we would take the same posture in the world we live in today. I pray that we would put on the humiliative mind of Christ as we take on the form of servant-slaves to other filthy sinners so that they too might become children of God.

#4: THE HUMILIATIVE MIND OF CHRIST CRUCIFIES ONESELF SACRIFICIALLY (VS. 8)

I must admit that my first reaction to stupidity is to act stupidly. My first reaction to anarchy is to throw a bigger fit.

My first reaction to injustice is to think and behave unrighteously.

It’s my self-advancing conceit that motivates me to see others as the enemy to be conquered rather than the prisoner in need of freedom.

I am so thankful that Paul reminds us here that Jesus “being found in human form… humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (2:8) for in this picture I am reminded that Jesus died horribly for me; while I was still his enemy he loved me to the point of death.

I have not yet resisted sin “to the point of shedding my blood” like Jesus did. Therefore, I can “consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that [I] may not grow weary or fainthearted” (Heb. 12:4, 3).

The point here is that Jesus was infinitely superior over suffering while suffering infinitely and he did this for you and for me when we were at our worst (Hughes 2013: 80 – 89).

  • What does it look like when your self-centeredness and your pride are in control?
  • How do your thoughts and emotions look when humility is running low inside of you?
  • What do your relationships look like when all you can think about is yourself (either how awesome you are or how insecure you are)?

If you want to combat your self-centeredness and your pride, all you have to do is look to the cross of Christ where self-sacrifice became our hope. This is what it looks like to put on the humiliative mind of Christ as you crucify yourself sacrificially.

CONCLUSION…

In conclusion it’s good for me to confess that self-centeredness and pride rear their ugly heads in me all the time.

I struggle with judging and mischaracterizing other people’s motives. I struggle with self-congratulation when I think I accomplish something. I struggle with listening to others just so that I can jump in and speak at the slightest pause in the conversation. I struggle with impatience, anger, insecurity, etc., etc.; and the list of self-centered, prideful fruit goes on and on!

I need to put on the humilitive mind of Christ that already belongs to me, that doesn’t seek equality with God, that takes on the form of a slave and that crucifies oneself sacrificially.

I struggle with how to paint the picture of this kind of humility; probably because humility is hard to describe emotionally.

But I watched a movie this week called Just Mercy and it was about a lawyer who spent his life to fight for black people who were wrongfully convicted of crimes and placed on death row.

The movie did a great job of painting the picture of the immense lack of hope that seeps into a person’s life when the only thing in front of them is the death penalty for something they didn’t do. But at the very end of the movie the main character won his first case and his client was informed that he was now a free man.

I wish I could display for you the overwhelming emotion on this man’s face. He literally fell apart emotionally when he heard the verdict that he was no longer considered guilty of a crime he didn’t commit, and he was free to go.

In those moments I thought that if I could understand the depth of this emotion as a guilty sinner then when God the Father looks at me and says “Not guilty because of Jesus” then maybe, just maybe I would be able to put on the humiliative mind of Christ.

What could be more humiliating to my self-centered, pride-filled soul than to know that I have been released from death row even though I was as guilty as the day is long?

How could I ever look upon the imprisoned state of another human being acting like the imprisoned person that he or she really is without being full of humility that is characterized by love, mercy, grace and compassion?

The cross of Christ neuters the power of pride.

The cross of Christ is what cultivates the humiliative-mind of a free man that Paul says to have:

…among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.