The Humility of Christ -- Philippians 2

The Humility of Christ — Philippians 2

 

Today, it is a common practice for some that everywhere we go, we are compelled to flip our phones around and take a selfie.   Innocently, selfies are a fun way to share your thoughts, feelings and experiences.  But, according to Google, selfies have become more lethal than a shark attack.  People have fallen off of cliffs, drowned in the water, injured by vehicles, even Japan has banned selfie stick on their railway to avoid electrocution. Selfies are a fun way to show others how you want to be seen but it is also  a way to preserve, present and promote yourself. 

 

You might not be the person who regularly takes selfies, but you most certainly live in a world that values individual freedom, expression, independent decision making, and self-inspired, and self-motivated commitments.  On the other hand there are times like these LA fires that JFK’s famous quote from his inauguration speech on January 20th, 1961

“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”

Inspire people to humbly and sacrificially give and reach out to help one another in their time of need.

 

When Jesus came to the earth, this was His vision for community.  He did not come to inspire an individualistic, self-promoting, self-isolating, shallow definition of connections with other people, driven by a “what’s in it for me attitude.

 

Christ came to UNITE us through the submission of one self into a fellowship, partnership, a community, a shared participation built and fostered through the power and fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

 

This is what the Bible calls “Koinonia” a deep divinely inspired community of faith.  (Acts 2:42-47)

This was the example of the early church.

 

In the first few verse of Philippians 2, Paul gives a compelling vision of Koinonia to ignite and unite the church at Philippi.   Paul uses terms to describe that church as a place of  “consolation, comfort, affection. Love and mercy”.  He talks about how there is “fellowship of the Spirit”.  I believe that this a place where the Holy Spirit is at work. Where the Holy Spirit is bearing fruit.  And where the Holy Spirit is empowering people with Spiritual gifts.  (Eph. 5:17-21; Gal. 5:22-26).  This is the vision of what church is supposed to look like.

 

I share in Paul’s heart for Koinonia, for a fellowship where fearful and timid people find boldness where those who are empty and without purpose find significance.  Where Humility and Sacrifice replaces selfishness and pride. Where Anxious people find a place to lay their burdens. Where those held captive in bondage to lust, greed are freed by the power of the Spirit!  Where broken relationships can learn to trust one another again.  Where angry and bitter people find the strength to forgive and exercise grace and mercy.  Where the lies of the enemy are silenced with the truth of God’s word. And where people will join together to form the body of Christ and be the Light of the World and the Salt of the Earth.   This is Koinonia.

 

This is the place where Psalm 133 says, God pours out His Favor and His Anointing.  Church becomes a place that is blessed, pleasant, favorable, anointed and just the kind of place you want to be, not a place you want to avoid.

 

But, the #1 enemy of Koinonia is self-interest driven by pride, envy, jealousy, self-ambition, self-interest, self-preserving, self-promotion.   It’s this self-inspired activity that James says confuses the church and is the source of every kind of evil.

 

So what is the Catalyst for Koinonia?  It is what the theologians call “Kenosis". Kenosis means “ to empty one self” and this is what Jesus Christ does for us.  He mindfully, voluntarily chooses to EMPTY HIMSELF of His divine privileges, sacrifice His life, and obediently humble Himself to the point of death, even dying on a Cross.  Paul says, if you want Koinonia, this is what it’s going to take.

 

these verses were not primarily given to explain a system of theology but rather to illustrate the system of fellowship. 

The result of Christ’s humility and obedience was His exaltation that placed Him right back at the right hand of the Father…where every knee will bow and every tongue confess…but did He do this to show off?? I don’t think so…

 

He died to give us a new way of living through Love…not loving yourself, but loving God and loving others…It is the night that Jesus Christ was betrayed that His humility and obedience would be ultimately tested… it was on that night He would share with His disciples in a “koinonia” style last Supper…He would share in the bread and the wine by saying this is my body “given for you”, this is my blood “poured out for you”…this isn’t so I can get back to the throne, this is so that you can have access to the throne!   This isn’t so that I can get back to my living room in heaven, but rather its so that I can go and prepare a mansion for you…so that where I am, you may be also. 

 

Jesus would go on that night not only to die a criminal’s death but He would go on to experience the Cross that was meant for you and me…the Cross that represents our sin, our shame, our guilt, our ugliness…all of that He took upon Himself, and sacrificed His life, so that we could have life evermore!

 

THEREFORE, Paul says…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  Stop complaining, stop disputing.  Be blameless, be harmless.  Don’t be a complainer, be a comforter.  Don’t aggressively dispute and disagree, but rather seek affection and mercy.  Strive for that one mind, the mind of Christ.   Have an attitude that says “I don’t want to mess this thing up!” 

 

Paul says we are to be Light Bearers by holding on to the Word of Life and then poured out as a drink offering.  We are not meant to just take communion, we are meant to live Communion.  Communion was meant to become an example of our own Kenosis.  Yes Jesus did what we could not do for ourselves, but it was meant to be a catalyst an inspiration to ignite the Unity of Koinonia to a world that is so desperately divided and on its way to destruction.  We are now the body of Christ, symbolized by the bread,  we are now the drink offering, symbolized in the cup.   We are the His precious saints covered in the blood of Jesus being poured out for all mankind to find reconciliation and redemption in God. 

 

The Vision of God’s People is what the Bible calls “koinonia” built on the “kenosis” of Christ.  In other words, it’s unity built through humility.  Let’s be submitted not in some kind of authoritarian model, but submitted to the responsibilities and the roles that the Holy Spirit has given each of us.  Be the person God created you to be, and submit to His will and plan for your life.  That’s your kenosis.  Be a person who is willing to lay down your time, your talent, your efforts.  No greater love is this than when a man lays down his life for His friends.  This is your kenosis.  And It’s your kenosis together with my kenosis, that will build the type of Koinonia that Jesus and Paul describes for us.  It is preparing us for the day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, that every tribe, every nation, every person who chooses to follow Jesus will experience the most glorifying community ever, called the Kingdom of God.