Philippians 2:4-6 "Have This Attitude"

Humility in Philippians 2 and the Call to Christian Self-Denial

Comes to Philippians chapter 2. This is a text that is very near and dear to my heart. It is a text that speaks of the humility, the miraculous humility that we see in Jesus Christ. The very quality that should make us marvel at who God is and what he has done for us.

And so there's much to discuss here in this chapter 2, especially for application for us as Christians. And so today I hope that through going through these things slowly, that we would glorify God and be edified by his word today, be sanctified in these things.

So let's let's pray before we go over this text today. But Philippians chapter 2 verses 4 through 6, start turning that way and let us pray. God, I would ask, Lord, that you just be with those little ones, Lord.

Continue to be glorified by them. Continue to do your evangelizing work that you have set up for us as families, as a church, as mothers and fathers and families, to tell little ones about you, Lord. Let each one of them proclaim you as not only Savior but also as Lord and as God, as a king and everything else that you have declared yourself to be, Lord.

God, I would ask today that as we go through this text, Lord, that you would, you would be glorified, that you'd be sought, that this text would cut very, very deep into each one of our souls, that it would convict us not only to live a life as Christians but also to go out and tell others about this life that we now have in your Son, Jesus Christ, and in his name we say these things and request these things.

Amen. Philippians chapter 2 verses 4 through 6, let us read this text for today. Not merely looking out for your own personal interests but also the interest of others, guys, the interest of others. Having this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

Let us pray. God, I would ask again that these verses, that they would not fall on deaf ears, that they would not even come out of a deaf mouth, Lord, or a vain mouth, Lord, that it would be done so for the purpose of directing us to the cross, that we would see an example of humility in Jesus Christ, that we would model our lives, our daily living in these ways, and that we would be strengthened as a local body here in Hagerman in regarding this text.

Lord, we thank you for becoming flesh, we thank you for dying for us, and we thank you for rising again. And as our catechism question was asked, Lord, we would ask that you come quickly but that we would not tarry in telling the world about who you are in that process, and we say this in your name, Jesus Christ, Amen.

So last week, this again, this chapter is very near and dear to my heart, Philippians chapter 2 goes into depth about humility, and that's the context that we're coming at in this text. Last week we began to see the importance of even when Paul in his suffering is expressing how the Christian life is ought to be a life of humble service to others, to other Christians, to others outside of this world, that the Christian life should be an example of humility.

It shouldn't be one of pompous pride, self-ego, self-vain. It should be a life that's loving and giving to other individuals because we want to seek their benefit rather than our own benefit. That's where the context has been coming from, and it's just so important to remind ourselves that Paul is saying these statements while he himself is in a very terrible situation, that he's saying, look, Christian, you ought to love your neighbor rather than your own situation that you're in.

You ought to want the betterment of them rather than the betterment of yourself, and he's saying this while he's in chains himself, while he's in prison. You cannot forget that's the context that we're in.

It magnifies everything else, and this life that Paul is describing for us about humility is so clearly wonderful for us when we consider what Matthew chapter 22 verses 36 through 40, when Jesus is asked, what is the greatest commandment?

This is what Jesus responds, so this is what it says, 36 through 40, it says, teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law? And he said to them, to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hangs the whole law and the prophets. The only way that somebody could ever try to attempt to follow these two great commandments is from a place of humility.

If you have pride in your heart, you're not ever going to seek God. You're going to have a mighty fall that is awaiting you, and you're not going to love your neighbor as you're only seeking your self-interest.

That's what pride is. It's wanting to bolster yourself rather than love one another. So these verses that we have here prior to verse 4 are, as Paul is saying for us, is that the outside world might want physical betterment, they might want wealth, they might want toys, they might want all these type of things that they they desire, but our consolation as being Christians, being in Christ, is that we should have Christians that ought to, that want to love each other, that we should have, let's just look at this, the therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there's any consolation of love, if there's any fellowship of the Spirit, if there's any affection and compassion, fulfill my joy, that you think the same way by maintaining the same love, being united in the Spirit, thinking on one purpose, doing nothing from selfish ambition or vainglory, but with humility of mind regarding one another as more important than yourself.

So Paul's saying in this life, whether you live 80 years, 60 years, 10 years, 20 years, however long you live and you're a Christian, this ought to be the consolation that you have in life. When persecution comes, when hardship happens, when the bumps in the road start taking place, your life, your Christian walk should hopefully have other Christians that are showing this to yourself and you are showing the same type of consolations to the other Christian.

That's what the Christian life ought to look like. And now this is important for us to remember because now when we come into verse 4, it's coming off those statements. And so verse 4, not merely looking out for your own personal interests, meaning that a life that is continually seeking its own pleasures is a life that is not reflecting Christ.

A life that seeks its own glory is a life that does not glorify God. It does not seek to glorify God and does not have love for its fellow's neighbors. It's that kind of a life. Now think about what does the world teach us as individuals?

What does the world always try to do? It always tries to feed itself. It always tries to bolster itself. It's always one that's looking inside of itself. You go to any secular counseling, any secular, for the most part, any secular counseling, secular rehab stuff, it's always focusing on the self.

It's saying you ought to be better, you ought to be better, you ought to be better, right? You got to make yourself this. You want to have this kind of fulfillment in your life. And every false religion does this, that you have to do X, Y, and Z things and that's for yourself, right?

Well what does this have? This is so self-denying of the flesh in this text here. Do not just look out for your own personal interests, but for the interest of others. Others. How do we do this and what does this look like for us as Christians?

If we look out for another individual's interests rather than our own. I think it's always helpful when we talk about these kind of things to look and see what it's not before we express what it is. This does not mean that a Christian must be accepting of anybody and everybody in this world.

I'm gonna switch my mic. It doesn't mean that we are to have this politically correct type of life that the world tells us to have. This PC culture that's being said to us non-stop that we have to be accepting of our fellow sinful fallen creatures just like ourselves.

It doesn't say in this text that we need to forego our own beliefs, our own doctrine that we have in the Bible to turn a blind eye to the evils of this world. That's not what's being talked about in this text.

And why is this so important? Because right now, currently, that's all that the world says. That's what love is, is acceptance. That's all that it is. And if you don't accept them, they teach and they say you actually hate them.

What's the words that are being used today in our culture? These words change consistently and continually from age to age to age. Right now, transphobia, homophobia, homophobic. I saw one today that's called age phobia.

That if you don't like the pedophile, you're actually an age phobic. This is what sinful fallen man will do. It's saying that you have to accept me for what I do and sin. You have to accept my wrongdoings in your life, Christian.

That's what the world tells us over and over and over again. And if you don't agree with me, it's actually anti this and anti that. You see that in every single false religion. If you go to proclaim truth to a cult, to a false religion, well, you're just anti my religion.

No, I'm anti your religion's doctrine. I actually love you very much to have this conversation with you. Well, you're just a transphobic. No, I'm not. I'm worried about you falling into the hands of an angry God that's not happy with your sin.

I'm loving you right now by telling you what you're doing is wrong. I want you to have a change of heart. I want you to have the same experience that I had that I once was dead and fallen in my sin and nature.

I want you to be born again and love Jesus Christ. We can't read this text and say that what's being said in here in verse 4, not merely looking out for your own personal interests, it's not saying that we are to forgo our theology to accept another person's false ideology.

That's not what's being talked about in here. So what does it mean that this is being said in here? Not looking out merely for your own personal interests, but for the interests of others. It means that we are to look out genuinely for others now that we have converted eyes, now that we've had a change heart.

You are now to love others in the same way that you've been loved. That when you were evil, vile, dead, there in your sins, and God born you again, God birthed you again, God loved you, that he died for you while you were dead in your sins and trespasses.

And so now we go to the world and we say, look, I don't like what you might be doing, I might not like these things, but I love you enough to tell you the truth. I love you enough to tell you that you ought to be born again.

I want you to know the God that I know. I want you to be sanctified by the Spirit just as I am being sanctified by the Spirit. And my desire for my neighbor is that I'm going to put that interest over my own interest.

And not only this, but we see this here in the church that even as Christians to Christians, first of all, how do you know what your Christian brother's sister's interest is if you're not fellowshipping with them?

If you're not fellowshiping with them, if you're forsaking the assembly, or if you're forsaking talking with them, or if you're forsaking interacting with them, how do you know what their interests are?

How do you know what their needs are so that you can then deny yourself something to help lift them up? It's not there if there's not fellowship. So fellowship is something that's needed in this kind of a text.

So from Christian to Christian, we are to look after them in this humble way, want to lift them up and help them in whatever they're going through. So that is what's being taught in here. And this is, again, this is so counterintuitive to what this world is teaching us.

The opposite of this, looking out for your own personal interests, the looking out for your own instead of others, is pride. It's haughtiness. And why ought we to kill something like that? Why ought we seek to mortify that sin of pride and haughtiness in our lives?

Why? First of all, it doesn't glorify God, absolutely. Second of all, God tells us to do so. And third of all, Proverbs 16 verse 18, it says, pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall or stumbling in that text.

The Mind of Christ Is Not Weakness

So we are to have this attitude of looking at other individuals as more important than ourselves, wanting to seek their interests rather than our own's. And now in verse 5 we say this, it says, have this way of thinking.

Is this something that...I just realized that down in the nursery I better turn on the mic because down in the nursery they can't hear me if I yell even loud. They probably can't. Maybe. Who knows? But have this way of thinking.

So this is not something that we ourselves are to...it's not something that maybe comes instinctively to us, but something that we've got to tell ourselves continually. Have this way of thinking, Brayden.

Have this way of thinking, Brayden. I can't...I need to reiterate this to myself over and over and over again that I have to have this way of thinking. Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.

Now this is truly a folly and sin if you think to yourself right now, I'm above this kind of thinking. I don't need this in my life. Brayden, there's no reason for me to seek out the interest of another individual over my own.

There's no reason for me to have this type of humility. I want you to pay attention to something that gets brought up a lot in sermons and churches, but the life of a Pharisee. Notice three ways that Pharisees behave and how they conducted themselves in this day 2 ,000 years ago.

This same type of attitude is something that is so present in the world today. A Pharisee, first of all, saw themselves as righteous through their own actions instead of the actions of Christ. They saw themselves righteous through their own obedience, their own doings.

They saw themselves righteous through their own works of their hands. Now you might say, well, Brayden, I say I'm a Christian. I come to church. Obviously, I'm not a Pharisee. Well, ask yourself today, if you say to anybody, I'm a good Christian because of X, Y, or Z things, you are no better than a Pharisee.

And if you proclaim your own righteous deeds as a means of your own righteousness, you're not a Christian. You have the attitude of a Pharisee in your life. First of all, this is probably one of the biggest issues, and so if this is something that you yourself have done today, that you use evidence of your own works, your own actions to say that you are a Christian, repent and believe in the gospel because you don't know Jesus yet.

I would appeal to you to be born again, be converted, and know Jesus because that's your only plea is the righteous covering of Jesus Christ. Number two, do you do good works for others to see them? This is the second way that people can be like Pharisees and have this attitude of Pharisees.

Do you do good works for others to see what you have done? Do you want others to know of your good deeds, and are you dissatisfied for a work that goes unnoticed? Pharisees were always wanting others to recognize them for how they dressed, how socially superior they were than the others, and so on.

It was all an act so that they would appear higher and mightier than the person standing next to them. Matthew chapter 23 verse 5 says, but they all do their deeds to be noticed by men, for they broaden their placards and lengthen their tassels on their garments.

Look how great of a Pharisee I am, is what they were doing in that day. If I have a bigger placard, if I have these bigger tassels, if I can appear more and more as a greater individual than this other Pharisee standing next to me, that means I am a true Pharisee.

This is going to mean something for us later on in chapter 3 when Paul says that I was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. Look how prideful I was in this day, before I was converted. This is the type of thinking that the world wants you to have, is have this socially appearance of greaterness than the doubts where we draw the line, or bestiality, or all these things.

No, that's where we draw the line. Well that line in the water now is starting to fade away, starting to change, right? We see this non-stop in all of our culture. The third thing I'd like you to think about is what a Pharisee might look like.

A Pharisee avoids the thought of others seeing them for who they are and what they actually do in their private life. Since they have the thought of an appearance is so important, the thought that one might recognize them in their normal state is absolutely terrifying for them.

A Christian should not feel the need to hide their social appearance in fear of what others would say about them. The Christian ought to rejoice in the way they live and let no one put them to shame. Now, if a Christian is in fact sinning, if they're doing something wrong and violating God's commandments, they should repent and profess the failure to God and to others about these things.

And while also being clear in proclaiming the freedom that they have in Christ, even the things that are just the social stigmas, which we could think of several things on that topic itself. But the way of thinking that we are to have and what the previous verse says is so important for us to understand these next coming verses for us as a church.

The Humility of Christ in Philippians 2:6-8

I'm gonna just read to you really quickly the verses that are taken out of context, a verse that actually has a heresy tied to it. It's a verse that I'm writing a book on right now, but it's verses 7, just really just these verses next for us.

I'll read verse 6 to 8 here. It says, who although existing in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men, being found in the appearance of men, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

What's the theme of chapter 2 so far that we see? What are we talking about? Humility, right? We see humility, humility, humility. Regarding others is greater than yourself, and what was just told to us in verse 5, have this way of thinking in you that was in Christ Jesus.

In verse 7 there's a doctrine that teaches, and it's a false doctrine, that teaches Jesus lost his divine attributes when he became flesh. That's not what this text is teaching us. It's saying even though you're deserving of X, Y, and Z things, you ought to seek the betterment of another individual.

That's what this text is teaching, humility. So just remember this, but have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. Why do I bring this up? Because there's almost a thinking in Christianity that humility just means weakness, and most of the Western culture has painted Jesus to be this hippie-looking guy that has a robe on, that's knocking at everyone's door, and is so loving and kind, and would never say a mean thing to an individual.

He would never ever post something that would be upsetting on Facebook, or he would never ever go to the streets and tell someone to repent, because repent means that they're sinning, right? That's the Jesus that our culture has painted for us, and it's a weak Jesus.

It's not a real Jesus. So why is there this connection in our minds of humility and weakness? Because that is absolutely not the case. Humility is something of strength, and I have a verse here that talks explicitly about this.

Have this attitude that was in Christ Jesus in yourselves. Isaiah chapter 52 verse 10 says this, and if you know the context of Isaiah 52, this comes just right prior to the suffering servant chapter of Isaiah 53, where we have those hard-to-read verses that he'll be pierced through for our transgressions, that he'll be led like a sheep to the slaughter.

Isaiah 52 is also poetic, and it's also prophesying about the very same thing that Isaiah 53 is prophesying about with Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection. But Isaiah 52 verse 10 says this, Yahweh has bared his holy arm in the sight of all nations, that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God.

What does that verse mean? Yahweh, God, the Lord, has bared his holy arm. He's showing his strength. He has rolled up his sleeve, and he's bearing for other people to see his strength of his arm. That's what this text is saying.

How does he do it? How has he rolled up his sleeve in this allegorical language? How has he rolled up his sleeve so others can see his strength? He's done it in the sight of all nations, the salvation of our God.

This verse is speaking about the incarnation, about the death, about the resurrection of Jesus Christ being the demonstration of the strength of our God. That this was the flexing of God's arm. Modern Christianity, again, has painted this hippie, sissy Jesus that would not offend the sinner for calling them a sinner, but that he would just be accepting of them.

That is absolutely not the case within Scripture. Acceptance is not the strength of God. God dying for us in our place so that us, as the dead wretches that we are, like myself, would be born again and be covered in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

That is our God's strength. That is our God bearing his arm for all the nations to see that salvation is from and of God and of God himself and only of God. So it is wrong to associate this idea of Christ being humble with weakness, because that's not the case.

God bearing his arm, God showing his strength, is not weakness. Do not think humility is weakness. Christ had this quality of humility that was present within himself so that, and so because of that, is why we are to reflect this attribute of humility to others.

And I would ask, church, that you never think that in your humility and humility of showing to others and serving others, do not ever think what you're doing is weak. It's actually going to be a reflecting of the most strongest thing that has ever taken place, and that is God becoming flesh and dying for us.

The Deity of Christ, Isaiah 6, and the Gospel in John 19

And in verse 6, this is only part A of what we'll talk about next Sunday, because verse 6 is so important for us to understand. Who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.

Who is the who that is talked about here in verse 6? And you might say, well, obviously it's Jesus. Well, let's remind ourselves of who Jesus is. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

So who is this who? It's God. The Word. The second person in the Trinity. It's God is the who that we have in this text. He was in the beginning. So what does that statement mean? It's mean that He's self-existent, that He didn't come about, that He was in the beginning.

He's eternal. All things came into being through Him. And apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being. Brothers and sisters, when we see this who in this text that's talking about humility, do not forget that it's the very God that is the creator and sustainer of all things.

That is the who that is spoken of here in verse 6. Now the statement, although, is so important and so crucial for us to understand as we go on later on in this chapter. There are three doctrines that we should see on every single page of our Bible.

Every single chapter will have these three things that are talked in it. Every book of the Bible, it doesn't matter where you go, it will teach you how great God is. It will teach you how wicked and fallen man is.

And because that's the two doctrines that we see in there, we see a mighty gap that is there, a chasm between God and man. And the third thing that we'll see in every single verse is what God has done to span that gap, and that is Jesus Christ becoming flesh and dying for us.

That's the three doctrines you see on every single page of the Bible. We used to, in Bible studies, we used to ask four questions every single time, and I'm sure we could remember. What does this teach us about God?

What does this teach us about man? And what is this, how does this point us to what Jesus has done for us? Again, those three doctrines. The fourth one was how do we apply this to our life? I would ask you today, if you are ever reading a text that you are confused about, ask yourself those three things.

How does this teach us about God? How does this teach us about man? And how does this point us to Jesus Christ is spanning that great chasm between us? If you can understand those principles, you understand the gospel.

The gospel is directly tied to those things. I want to read to you here, again, let's read verse 6 again, who although existing in the form of God, we're not going to talk about the deity of Jesus today because we don't have time, but we're going to just take notice of something.

Even though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being made and liked as a man, being found in the appearance as a man.

He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. Many of us might recognize this chapter from our Bibles, Isaiah chapter 6 verses 1 through 4. It's one of the greatest visions of an individual seeing God lifted up on his throne.

Let's just read it, verses 1 through 4 of Isaiah chapter 6. In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord, I saw the Yahweh sitting on a throne, lifted and exalted with the train of his robe filling the temple.

I want you to pay attention to a couple things in here. The Lord God is sitting upon his throne, he's lofty, he's exalted, and he has a robe that's filling the whole temple in this vision. We see a picture of the grandeur of who God is in this text.

Seraphim, it doesn't end there telling us about the the splendorness of who God is. Seraphim, so these angels stood above him, each having six wings, with two which he covered his face. And theologians say that that's out of reverence for who God is, that the angels will cover their face before God.

That's what these Seraphim are doing. And two of them, they covered their feet, and with two of them they flew above God there. And it says, and they called out to each other saying, holy, holy, holy is the Yahweh of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the threshold trembled at the voice of him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke. That is our God that we have in this text.

Isaiah chapter 6, according to John chapter 12, it says that Isaiah saw Jesus and spoke of his glory. I want you to turn with me to John chapter 19 verses 1 through 7. John chapter 19 verses 1 through 7.

Please turn with me there. John chapter 19 verses 1 through 7. Again, if you can understand how great our God is, how low man is, and what Jesus has done to expand that gap, you will understand the gospel.

We have in Isaiah this picture that's painted for us, and this vision from the prophet Isaiah of these angels declaring the glory of God, holy, holy, holy. He's lofty, he's exalted, he has a train that's filling the whole temple.

John 12 tells us that that was Jesus who Isaiah saw, and this is what we have here in John 19 verses 1 through 7. Pilate then took Jesus and scourged him, and the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns, and they put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him, and they began to come up to him and say, Hail, king of the face.

Pilate came out again and said to them, Behold, I'm bringing out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in him. Jesus then came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate said to them, Behold, the man.

So when the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out and said, Crucify, crucify. Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him. And the Jews answered him, We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he himself made himself out to be the son of God.

They accuse him of blasphemy. That's what that's saying in that text. If you understand how great our God is and how low man is, you will understand the gospel when you understand what Jesus has done to span that gap.

The same God that was exalted high upon his throne was the same God that became oh so low and died on a cross for us. The same God that had a veil that filled the whole temple, this cape of him, this vestiture of him, it was exchanged, that glorious picture that we have in there was exchanged for a purple robe and a crown of thorns.

That same God that was hearing holy, holy, holy, heard crucify, crucify, crucify. This is the strength of our God. This is how he has bared his holy arm for all nations to see that you and I would profess him as our Lord and Savior because he has spanned that gap for us.

That chasm was far too great that anybody in their pride, anybody in their egotistical thought, anybody in their sin would never ever be able to span that gap. But Christ has done that in humility. I would ask today that as Christians, as this is our text, Philippians chapter 2 verses 4 through 6, that today we would echo that same strength of Jesus Christ, that he reconciled us all together in himself, that you today would not see yourselves mightier than what you ought to be considered, that you would not boast more than what you ought to boast of, but that your boast would be in Jesus, that your might would be there in Jesus, and that because God being rich in his mercy and he has saved you, that you would reflect that same type of thinking that was in Jesus Christ.

Don't look at yourselves as better as one another, but look out for your brothers' and your sisters' interest even over yourselves. And that is something, because we are sinful and fallen, you will fail at this, you will struggle with this, and it's something that it's okay to struggle with this.

Become better with it, be sanctified through it, kill that sin of pride, and echo the humility of Jesus Christ in your life today. Let's go ahead and pray. God, I thank you, Lord, for humbling yourself, for exchanging what you ought to have been given, what you are deserving of, to save us from what we are deserving of.

Lord, we thank you for your humility, and God, I would ask today that we would be humble, that we would not think of ourselves as greater than we are, because we are far from being great. And Lord, I would ask today that you'd be glorified in the singing of this last song, and that the little ones in our church would see the humility from their parents, from their loved ones, and that they would know more about the humility of Jesus Christ when he died for us.

Lord, we thank you, and come quickly. And we say this in your name, amen. Brothers and sisters, please stand with me as we sing our final song today.