Our reading today is going to be from Philippians, beginning in chapter one, the twenty seventh verse. Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ. So that whether I come and see you or an absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, If any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you in the name of Jesus. And Father, we thank you for the word which you have given us. We thank you that you have spoken your word and that your word brings us life. We ask that you would guide it to our hearts that we might receive from you what you have for us. In the name of Jesus. Amen. You may be seated. I've already received plenty of kidding about the title of today's message, because I joke, people have asked me, what are you preaching on? And I said, I'm preaching on humility. And I considered calling the sermon Humility by the Great Mike Dinna and how I did it. I decided against that one. But all joking aside, humility is a very important subject in the scriptures. We are all called to humility. And I think we're called to it and we often mistake what it is. And in this text today, Paul goes into quite a bit of details as to what humility is, how it is to be lived. and what it will do. And our last two messages out of the book of Philippians, we've talked about how in this letter, Paul is addressing the Christians at Philippi. And in this letter, Paul is showing great concern for these Philippian believers. And he's showing also, not just concern, he's showing a certain amount of tender affection, almost as that that a father has toward his children. Because these people at the church at Philippi were some of the very first converts that were brought to the faith and the ministry of the Apostle Paul. And he's a deep and abiding love and a compassion for them. And he wants to see them progress. But he also wants to encourage them, because we have to remember that at the time of the writing of this letter, Paul is in prison. in a Roman prison. Now, when I say a Roman prison, some say he was in prison in Rome. I'm not sure I believe that. I actually think from my reading, I think he was actually in Ephesus, but that's still a Roman prison because the entire empire was spread out. All these cities were under Roman control. He was in a Roman prison. And let me just be blunt. Their prisons aren't quite like what we have. Not that I would want to attend any of our prisons, but their prisons were not places you really wanted to hang out. He was in prison and he was being persecuted and it says he was in prison for the gospel. He was in chains for the sake of the gospel. And while he was there, and we've gone over this in the last two sermons on this, while he was there, his concern was not for himself, but for those at Philippi, that they would be able to deal with this issue in the proper manner. We have this tendency where we like to get ourselves into pity parties when things aren't going good for us. And I want you to notice, this is not what Paul is doing. Paul is in prison, and his concern is for the saints at Philippi that they would be able to deal with the situation properly, that they would know what to do. Paul is writing from the prison cell, and his love and desire for the growth of the saints at Philippi is very evident. He has been encouraging the Philippians that as long as the gospel is progressing, that he is rejoicing. I am often struck by the thought of how the apostle Paul would view today's church. We have many people in today's church who I like to call the soothsayers of doom and gloom. They look around and they think everything's falling apart. And then their their attitude is not their attitude is woe is me. Paul saw the progress of the gospel and because he saw the progress of the gospel, he saw that there was great hope, there was great joy and there was great reason for encouragement. He is full of hope and abiding joy. And He's encouraging others to partake in that same joy. In the 29th verse, He gives us words that seem strange to us today. He says, for to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake. To you it has been granted, not only to believe on Jesus Christ, but also to suffer for his sake. We often forget that each and every Christian has been graciously given the opportunity to both believe in Christ and we've been given the wonderful opportunity to suffer for his sake. You could almost laugh at that because that's not something most of us like to hear. Oh, great. Thank you for this gift. The first gift we discuss a lot, the ability to believe in Jesus. We're not incorrectly focused on this gift because it's easy to grasp its centrality to salvation, becoming a born again child of God, a new creation set to work in God's kingdom. However, the second gift we don't spend as much time talking about. We've been gifted the ability to suffer for his sake. It's no less important than the first. Indeed, the verse indicates that these gifts are given alongside of one another. You cannot have one without the other. One gift cannot be accepted without accepting the other. It's not a game of, what was the Hollywood game, the Price is Right, where you had the two boxes and you got to choose one. Is that Price is Right? What game was that? Let's Make a Deal. I never watched that show. Let's make a deal. That's not what we've got here. It's not Monty Hall. I would like to take eternal life. We'll leave suffering. That's the booby prize. We're going to set that aside. No. With one comes the other. To accept the gift of salvation is to accept the gift of suffering for the sake of Christ. To receive one is to receive both. Faith in Jesus and suffering for Jesus are two sides of the same coin. Suffering for Christ's sake is so fundamental to the life of a Christian that in Paul's second letter to Timothy, he tells us all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So the question is, if you're not suffering persecution, if we're going to take basic logic, what does that mean? that you're probably missing something on the godly part. All that will live godly lives in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. This is not, however, something to get us down. Paul is telling us that we suffer persecution. We go through tribulation. We go through these things. And he says in the text that our joy might be full. So when we look at the persecution, we look at the suffering, our temptation is to say, I don't want that. I want the happy box. But they come together. They're a package deal. It is through suffering and persecution that our joy becomes completely fulfilled. How this is done is a foreign concept to the world. And Paul understands this. The divine author understands that if we want our joy to be full, we have to go through suffering and persecution. And we don't. I mean, if you're if you're wanting your joy to be full, how many of you are going to check? OK, let's check the persecution box and the suffering box. This is the way to joy. That's not the way we would normally go about this. And yet, this is what Paul is going to explain to us how this is to be done. He understands this, and as this letter continues, he's going to explain how that he, while he is in prison and confined for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ, is able to be full of joy for the sake of the gospel. That question of how one's joy can be full is in large part what is going to be discussed over the next few weeks. Remember, Paul is in chains for the sake of the gospel. There is a very real possibility that he's not getting out, that he will be executed. In his mind, he knows that is a real possibility. They will execute him. He'll never step out again. And yet he's full of joy. Paul is not disturbed at his impending death. In fact, if we read the text, he's indicating that he knows it would be better for him to depart. to be executed. It would be better for me to depart. But he also realizes that by him remaining, it would be more beneficial for the Philippian Christians. He is in chain and he is in prison, and his concern is not for himself, but for how the kingdom of God will be increased. His concern lies in how his brothers in Philippi will react to whatever happens. Our tendency very often is to, when we're going through it, our concern is for ourself. And yet our concern should be directed toward one another. What is this gospel that drives Paul's passion and thoughts? What is this gospel that causes the imprisoned one to rejoice and show more concern for others than himself? What is this gospel? And does it differ from what often passes as the gospel today? In the very first verse of today's text, Paul tells his hearers to let their conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ. This verse has actually been the subject of quite a bit of controversy due to the way that it's translated, possibly, in some of your Bibles. The Greek word here is the word palatuste. That's a big, long word. The King James reads, let your conversation be as becometh the gospel of Jesus Christ. The New International Version renders the text, continue to exercise your citizenship in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. The controversy comes with that word conduct, conversation or citizenship. Is Paul, as some have said, encouraging his hearers to be good Roman citizens? Believe it or not, I found a few commentaries that said that. That's not right. What Paul is pointing to is he's pointing to their citizenship in the kingdom of God. And the rules of that citizenship are different than the rules of every other society, institution, kingdom, nation that has ever been on the planet Earth. The rules and the way we live is to be different than the way we are in every other institution we know. Paul's encouragement here is that their citizenship, their conduct, their way of life, everything that they do is worthy of the gospel of Christ. What does that mean? How do we make our conduct, our citizenship and our conversation worthy of the gospel of Christ? We have been transformed by the gospel from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. How do we live in the kingdom of light? In case there are some who want to miss the point that he's talking about the kingdom of heaven here, Paul closes out this letter in Philippians 3.20 by reminding everyone in the audience to remember that your citizenship is in heaven. You're citizens of a different kingdom. And so we have to live according to those rules. One of the major themes in this letter, and in the New Testament in general, is the idea that the Gospel is a Gospel that transforms. It not only takes the sinner and saves him from his sins, but also sets him in a new kingdom. He must still live in the world But he lives according to new citizenship and new rules. He has new rules of conduct. In the next verse, Paul answers the question of how a person is supposed to live. He commands that their conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ. And then he proceeds to explain what that means. I find it interesting that Paul comments that whether or not he is able to come to them, that he will be able to recognize whether or not they are walking in this manner. Theron is fond of asking the question, and I think it's a great question. If someone becomes a Christian, should we expect them to behave differently than before they were a Christian? The answer to that is not a difficult one. That's an easy question. And yet very often we see it doesn't change. I remember my dad telling me a story when he was a kid. They had a young man who worked as a logger come into their youth group and he got saved. He became a Christian. And it was during the time where they weren't logging. And so he spent some time in church and they were concerned because he was going to have to go back out for two weeks with the loggers. And I don't know if any of you spent any time hanging out with loggers. They're kind of a rough group. Not normally do you see a whole lot of godly character out there. I'm not saying there's not godly loggers, but they definitely treat them rough. And this young man was going back to be spending his time with the loggers and they were praying for him that his testimony would be strong and he would be able to live up to his new citizenship. Anyway, they were praying and after two weeks he came back and they said, well, how'd it go? And he said, it went great. And he says, did anyone give you a bad time because you're a Christian? He says, man, no one even knew. That's not what we're looking for. No one even knew. Paul says, if you're living up, if your conduct is becoming to the gospel, it will be recognized. Paul said he'd be able to recognize it. This citizenship bears certain marks or characteristics. The specific marks that Paul points out in these three verses, there are three of them. And I want to go over them real quick. The first one, he says, they would be standing fast together in one spirit and in one mind. They would be striving together for the faith of the gospel. And they would not be terrified of their adversaries. Did you guys know that one of the marks of a believer is that they're not terrified of their adversaries? So if you're walking around and you're in constant fear, that's a problem. It would be a strong indictment against the church if it was missing one of these characteristics. And yet, sadly, much of the modern church misses all three. What was it that was to unite these believers? What was it that drove Paul? And why today is there so little unity amongst the Church of Christ? Can it be said that today's church is standing together in one spirit and on one mind? I don't think I'm stepping out on too big of a limb by saying that we are not. And just to be clear, I want to make sure that the unity I'm talking about here and the coming together I'm speaking about is not that which unites those who deny the power of the gospel to transform lives. There are plenty of people who claim the name of Christ, who absolutely deny the power of the gospel. Those aren't the ones we're to be united with. We are not called to stand alongside apostates and heretics in the name of unity. But we are also not given permission here to claim that anyone who disagrees with us is an apostate or a heretic. The apostate or heretic claim is something that's really easy to jump to, especially when you're very zealous for the faith. Someone disagrees with you, the natural tendency is to say, oh, you're a heretic. I don't want to have anything to do with you. And what you're really doing there is you're speaking from yourself, not from the Spirit of God. We're called to stand fast together for the faith. Standing is a military term. When opposition comes against a military unit, the unit will either stand and fight or it will scatter and flee. Flight often seems the easier path, but we're not called to flight, we're called to stand. And standing involves taking some hits. When did we get to the place in the Church of Jesus Christ where we cannot disagree with someone? without condemning said person or institution to hell. The scripture speaks very strongly. And, you know, I admit I disagree with people quite a bit. I know some of you disagree with me from time to time. But just because we disagree does not mean we are on opposite sides for the sake of the gospel. If our agreement is right on the Gospel, then we need to find a way to come together in those other areas. Notice the text tells us to strive together for the faith of the Gospel of Christ. I looked up the word strive and it means to struggle or fight vigorously. A vigorous argument or debate is not necessarily a sign of weakness. In fact, it's an act of obedience. Where the problem comes in is when we allow our conduct to become conduct that is not shaped by the gospel of Christ. We may have disagreements, and many of those disagreements may be severe. But people who conduct themselves according to the gospel will not allow those disagreements to sever fellowship. If we're dealing with the issues of the Gospel, if we've got the Gospel right, if we are pushing forward the Kingdom of Heaven, then we can disagree, and guess what? We can even argue with each other and not fall into sin. Argument is not a sin. Why is it we're afraid to do that? I think sometimes people get their feelings hurt, and they don't want their feelings hurt, and so they stop striving together. And they say, you know, it would just be easier to cut off contact with such a person. Then I wouldn't have to deal with that issue. I often argue vigorously. The question I have to ask myself is, am I arguing to win my point or am I concerned with the advance of the gospel? Sadly, the answer to that question is not always the correct one. May God show us mercy. are striving together. And I want you to notice that are striving together. That means we're working together, but we're also striving together. We're working for a common goal and we are actually challenging each other, pushing each other forward. We're correcting and admonishing one another as we go forward. Do you know what it takes to receive admonishment or correction from a fellow believer? It's not an easy thing. I've mentioned before, I remember a letter I got from a fellow believer, happened to be my grandpa. He sent me a letter many years ago, letting me know that I was really messing up. And he used very strong language in the letter. He came at me actually very hard and he told me, that if I didn't repent, that I was going to destroy my life. And he used very strong language. And I received that letter and I'm going to tell you guys something. The first thing I did was not say, thank you for your deep concern for my soul, Grandpa. That's not the way I reacted. My first reaction was, Who do you think you are, old man? I know that's totally disrespectful, but I didn't feel like he was showing me a whole lot of respect in his letter. And had I continued on that path, that path of resistance to correction, that path of resistance to loving correction, he's right. We must receive correction. We must. And you may strongly disagree from time to time with someone. But he goes on. Why do we strive together? Our purpose is for the building us up in the faith. Proverbs 27, 17 says, As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. If you don't have people that are sharpening you, that are actually challenging you where you are, that's a problem. You need people to challenge you and push you forward. If no one's challenging you, you have to really wonder if they love you. We're called to challenge one another. We strive together because this is the way we are built up. The divine author understands our weakness. And so after he gives us these instructions, he also gives us direction on how we are able to fulfill that command that he has given us. Unity and striving together alongside others does not come naturally to fall in humanity. We are very often hindered in our attempts to follow Christ in such a way. What it is that hinders us from being able to do this? Well, it's pride. Paul begins the second chapter of Philippians with the following words. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy fulfill my joy by being like minded. Having the same love, being of one accord of one mind, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Paul answers the question of what hinders this ability to strive together for the gospel. And the problem is pride and self-interest. Verse three begins with the command to let nothing be done through self-interest." That's just one of those commands in the Bible that if we all got that down, things would be a lot better. Let nothing be done through self-interest. Calvin said in regard to this passage, there are two dangerous pests for disturbing the peace of the church. Strife is awakened when everyone is prepared to maintain, and listen to this word, pertinaciously his own opinion. And when it is once begin to rage, it rushes headlong in the direction from which it is entered. Vainglory tickles men's minds so that everyone is delighted with his own inventions. So selfishness, pride, vainglory, conceit, these are the things that destroy the church. Pertinaciously means to be stubborn or obstinate. We must always remember that when we are discussing the gospel of Christ, even with one another, we are not out to win a debate or to crush the opposition. We are striving, but we are not striving against, but we are striving together. We are told that the attitude we are to have is one of lowliness of mind, to esteem others better than ourselves. We are told to look out for the interests of others ahead of our own interests. And the natural reaction to people when they hear that is, yeah, but you don't know the people I'm talking about. Why would I consider them above me? Well, that's the problem. These are hard words, and they're hard because there has been no kingdom in the history of the world that was built on those words except one. Kingdoms come and kingdoms go. But what has always been the way of those kingdoms is to put down and to crush the opposition, to consider yourself better than the other guy. Here we are told by Paul that when the striving for the gospel, we are to esteem others ahead of ourselves. This is not the way to win an argument, or so the humanists would have us think. In John 18, 36, Jesus hints at the radical nature of his kingdom. Jesus answered his opponents. He said, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight. This is the way every kingdom has ever been. You've got kingdoms and the servants of that kingdom contend against one another. And Jesus says, My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would behave the way every other kingdom's servants do. When the servants of God fight with one another in an ungodly way, they are making the kingdom of God like every other kingdom. In doing this, they are not conducting themselves as ambassadors of Christ, but as something else. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it this way. He said, I very strongly believe that if Christians focused on the faith rather than on what divides us, we would see walls begin to crumble everywhere. Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others, we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as are we. Paul goes on. In case anyone misses his point, he's going to give us the ultimate example. He tells us, be lowly of mind, consider others above yourself. And then he says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the very form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. The kingdom of God is led by a king who is a king of ultimate humility. Christ Jesus, who was in his very nature God, took upon himself the very lowest of states. He made himself of no reputation and took the form of a servant, the ultimate example of humility, our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul begins this brief verse by establishing who and what Jesus is. By being in the form of God, He had certain rights and certain prerogatives that He could have rightfully laid claim to. Taking into account all the information we receive from other biblical texts, the essence of this verse might best be summed up by saying our Lord Jesus Christ has always existed as the second person of the Godhead. And he is actively involved in the creation of the world himself. He existed as God and was fully equal with the Father in his essence. And even though he was equal with God, the Father, he did not seize this as an opportunity to independently further his own interests. In Isaiah, chapter 14, a text that deals with Lucifer, we read, For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the furthest sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. This attitude is an attitude that is the height of presumption and arrogance. Lucifer, a created being, is attempting to exalt his position to that of the Most High. This attitude brings about his fall and ultimately his destruction. It is also this attitude that is on display when Satan tempts Adam and Eve in the garden. We all know the words. For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Contrast this with the attitude and the position of Christ Jesus. Remember, he's in very nature God, and yet his path to the throne was not by asserting his own power and his own dignity. His path to the throne was through humility. In Matthew and in Luke, both the fourth chapter, Satan tempts the Lord Jesus Christ. I find it interesting that the area in which he tempted Christ was in his right to assert himself as the Son of God. You will notice in Satan's temptation of Jesus, his words were not per se lies. In fact, what did Satan use to tempt Jesus? He used the Scripture. He used the Word of God. It was the Scripture that Satan quoted. What was happening, though, was Satan was attempting to cause Christ to act independently of his father. Jesus rightfully rebuked Satan and fully submitted himself to his father in obedience, humility and submission. The scripture says he became obedient even to the point of death on the cross. This passage of scripture is one of the most discussed and argued scriptures in the Bible. What does it mean when it says Christ emptied himself? We're not going to get into that a whole lot today. We'll discuss it a little more next week. But what I want us to focus on today is the fifth verse. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. What is so amazing about Christ's humility is how even though he was fully God, he showed humility and submitted himself to the Father's will. Sadly, what we do is we often think we can do what Christ Himself did not do. We decide that we can handle it ourselves. We can carry the weight of the world. We can tough it out. We're not called to tough it out. We're called to submit ourselves, to humble ourselves and obey the Father. We attempt to do these things on our own, not submitting our will to the Father. Rather than humbling ourself in the sight of the Lord, we try and lift our own self up. We exalt ourself rather than exalting God. How do we know we are doing this? Well, humility, it seems from the text, is imaged when someone considers others better than themselves. A portrait of humility then lies in the way we treat one another. Are we treating people as though they're better than us, or as their tools to an end that we have? I was talking to Pastor Seuss last week about humility, and he referenced a great quote by C.S. Lewis on the topic of humility. Lewis said that true humility is not thinking less of yourself, Like Christ, a person of humility is concerned not with the wrongs that have been done to him, but with how he can lift up his fellow man. This text goes on with one of those words in the Bible that I always like to underline. And by the way, I know it's hard to underline in the Kindle, but you can mark it. I always like to underline this word in my text when I see it, and it's the word therefore. I have often quoted my Bible college professor who said, when you come across the therefore, find out what it's there for. And after this extreme obedience, submission and humility, we see that word therefore. Therefore, God is highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and those on earth and of those under the earth. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of the glory of God the Father. You see, the path to the throne is not a path of military conquest or a path of self-exaltation. It is a path of service, a path of humility and a path of obedience. It is a road where others are regarded as more important than oneself. Over and over again in the ministry of Jesus, we see Jesus regarding the multitudes or individuals with compassion. We see Himself humbly submitting Himself to men who were clearly beneath Him. We see Him washing the feet of His disciples. Why? Because in absolute submission to His Father, He saw that He was submitted to His fellow man. How can we do any less? We're going to spend more time next week talking about the exaltation of Christ. But this text ends with God highly exalting him and giving him a name which is above every other name. But notice this is done after a therefore. In Revelation 19, we see the armies of heaven riding forth and they are following a rider on a white horse. The writer has on his head many crowns. This writer, by the way, is Jesus. And unlike Revelation 6, no one disagrees with me there. Everyone knows this is Jesus. We know that this writer in Revelation 19 has been exalted and he has been given a name that is above every other name. We know that he has been crowned with many crowns. And we also know, based on today's text, that the way these crowns were received and the way in which he was exalted was by taking the path of service, obedience and humility. We all desire to be those riders following in the path of the white horse. In order to do so, the way is laid out before us and it is the way of service, obedience and humility. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you in the name of Jesus. Father God, we thank you for the words you've given us. We thank you for this outline that you've given us to show us that the way to exaltation is the way of humility and service. We thank you for the perfect example you've given us. May you lead us in everything we do. We love you in Jesus' name. Amen.