The Humility of Jesus

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.

Philippians 2:8-11

Can you imagine the humility it took for Jesus to allow Himself to come to earth in human form, and have all the physical frailties that we have? Think about it. Jesus was there when God said “Let there be light”. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all one, and were all there when it all began. In Genesis 1:2, we first see the Holy Spirit make an appearance as “the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters”. In John 1:1-3 and 14 the Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He (Jesus) was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him (Jesus), and without Him (Jesus) nothing was made that was made….. 14) And the Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

So….Jesus was with God from the very beginning of creation. I find it interesting that in the creation account in Genesis 1, God did not mention a plurality of beings until Genesis 1:26 where He said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…”  Up until that verse, it was “God made” or “God created” or “God set”. I find it so cool that when God decided to make man, He had Jesus right there with Him. God already knew what Jesus was going to look like in His physical form, and man was patterned after that image. Of course, we know that being made in the image of God/Jesus is much more than the physical image. It is much deeper than that. It is our soul that is made in the image of God. But since God included Jesus when He said, “let us make man in our image”, it only stands to reason that God had a physical picture of Jesus in the flesh at that moment. 

And now….we turn back to the humility of Jesus. It is absolutely mind-blowing that Jesus was willing to allow Himself to become a helpless newborn baby for us. He had to go through His childhood years, His pre-teen and teen years, and His young adulthood. He grew up in much the same way that we all have. He “was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) If you have ever wondered if Jesus understands your struggles, your pain, your frustrations, your anger, your temptations, your emotions, your feelings….everything that we feel as human beings….just know that He does understand. He’s been there and done that my friend! He came to earth for that very purpose! He wanted us to know that we have someone who understands what we go through and can “sympathize with our weaknesses”. (Hebrews 4:15) He left the glory of heaven’s throne room for little ole me. He came for one purpose….to save me….and all of you. 

Here is some food for thought. I often wonder…..at what age did Jesus know His purpose. Did He realize His purpose when He was twelve years old when His parents found Him in the temple talking to the teachers and asking them questions? (Luke 2:46) Is that why He went to the temple? To find out more about His purpose? And after He went to the temple, the Bible says He went home, and was under subjection to His parents. (Luke 2:51) Is that when He found out that He was going to die for the sins of all humankind? I know there is no way to know for sure, but I feel like it is. Listen to what 12 year old Jesus says to His parents in Luke 2:49, after they found Him in the temple, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” Wow. Yes I believe He knew at that point. We know from His question that He knew that God was His Father. The use of the phrase, “My Father’s business”,  implies that He knew He had a higher purpose. He knew exactly what God wanted Him to know at that time as a twelve year old. To what extent did He know His “father’s business”? Did He know everything at that point? I think it is a good possibility that He did. Do you ever wonder how He felt at that moment? 

Imagine yourself at twelve years old…..and you find out that you are the Savior of the world. Everyone’s salvation is on your shoulders. You find out that you were born to be a sacrifice for people who were going to kill you. When I was a kid, and I thought about this account of Jesus as a twelve-year-old, I imagined myself saying something like that to my parents in that type of situation. I imagined myself saying, “Why were you looking for me? Don’t you know where I am?” As a kid, reading this story, I sort of thought that young Jesus was being a little condescending to His parents. I remember thinking, “doesn’t He care that He worried His mother so much?”. I thought this way because as a kid I never wanted to worry my parents. I didn’t want my parents upset with me. But, now that I am older, I realize that I wasn’t thinking about how Jesus might have felt at that moment. I wasn’t thinking that this could have been the moment that He found out everything about Himself….who He was and what He would have to endure. Of course, we don’t know the rest of the conversation between Jesus and His parents. I’m sure that more was said between them. And….we know that Jesus was in submission to His parents from then on. Jesus….the Savior of the world….humbled Himself to the will of His earthly parents, even though He knew so much more about His future than they did. 

So…..because Jesus “humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross”, God “highly exalted” Him, and gave “Him the name which is above every name”. (Philippians 2:8-9) To this day….no matter what happens in this world…..no matter how long this world remains….no matter who stands with Jesus……no matter who doesn’t give Him a second thought…..no matter who denies Him…..no matter who blasphemes Him…..Jesus is still exalted and He is the reason that it is the year 2024 right now…..2024 A.D…..Anno Domini…..which is Latin for “in the year of our Lord”. Every January 1st, the year changes. Why? Because our Savior was here….in the flesh all those years ago. Everything in regards to our concept of time revolves around the fact that He was here. He was born, lived on earth for around 33 years, was crucified for our sins as a sinless man, rose from the dead, ascended back into heaven, and now sits at the right hand of His Father at this very moment. He is alive! God rewarded Jesus with “a name which is above every name”, because of what He accomplished when He was on this earth. His accomplishment was conquering death for all of us…..for me personally…..and for every one of you. No one’s name in the history of the world, or the present day, or in the future, can ever come close to His name. Why? Because God wanted it this way. I know that sounds simple, but it really is that simple. And guess who else could be lifted up and exalted someday?

James 4:10 tells us in very plain language what we need to do, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” This verse tells us that we can also be rewarded someday if we wear the name Christian, and humble ourselves in God’s sight. This is a promise from God, my sisters and friends. If we humble ourselves and strive to be as much like Jesus as we can in this life, then He will exalt us in much the same way that He exalted Jesus. Remember we will be “joint heirs” with Jesus someday if we belong to Him. Listen to Romans 8:16-17, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” Do we truly fathom the inheritance that we will have as joint heirs with our brother, Jesus? But….we have to be willing to bend our will to God’s will to be truly humble. Jesus had to bend His will to His Father’s will in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42) Jesus didn’t want to go through the pain and agony. I picture Him possibly saying, “Father….is there any other way??” But there wasn’t. I feel like Jesus knew there wasn’t, but He needed to vent His feelings. “And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22:44) Can you imagine being in so much agony and distress that sweat is pouring out of you in the same way that blood pours out of a wound? Pouring….like you’ve had a bucket of water dumped on your head. And, it is not because you are exerting yourself physically. But….because you are praying that hard about something that you are dreading. Jesus dreaded the cross. Who wouldn’t? But He bent His will to His Father’s will for us! That is the definition of humility. Here is the question for us. Are we willing to bend our will to God’s will? Are we willing to humble ourselves in that way?

So…..because God has exalted Jesus’ name above all names, what should happen here on earth? Notice the language in these verses, “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.” (Philippians 2:10-11)  What “should” happen is what this says “should” happen! Every person should bow to Jesus and confess that He is Lord. This is what God wants to happen right now at this moment, but He also knows that this is not going to happen right now. But someday….it will happen! When Jesus returns the second time…..it will happen! On that day every knee will bow….and every tongue will confess…..both those who have passed before he comes again, and those who are alive and present at the time of Jesus’ second coming. Every knee will certainly bow….but sadly….for many…..it will be too late. Those who spent their lives denying Him will suddenly realize that they were wrong. Those who took their faith lightly will wish they had taken it more seriously and been faithful. Those who listened to false teachers will wish that they had studied for themselves to make their “calling and election sure”. (2 Peter 1:10) And then there will be the false teachers themselves……I can’t even imagine the agony that they will be in as they see all the people that they have led astray as they beg for their salvation. And finally, there will be those who were once faithful Christians who have left the faith. How sad. How heartbreaking! 2 Peter 2:21 says that “it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.” This is a terrifying thought to me, because it could have been me. I was found within some of the categories above in the past. If I had not changed, I could have led my husband and children down the wrong path. That terrifies me. It might even be that someone who I was a bad influence on in the past is in one of the categories above. Regret is a consequence of sin. Boy, could I go down a rabbit hole with this. But I won’t….I shouldn’t. This is one of my things that I struggle with….not forgiving myself….dredging up the past. I CAN NOT CHANGE IT. I can’t go back, I can only go forward, and do my best from here on out. I know that I am not even close to perfect, and never will be…..but I am striving. I certainly don’t want to be one who has to beg for my salvation on that day, because I didn’t humble myself to God while I had the chance. If that is the case, then all the begging in the world will not matter. It will be too late. So what do we do? 

All I can say for myself is that I need to work on my humility every single day. Here are some questions that I need to ask myself daily in order to work on being humble like Jesus. Maybe you need to ask yourself these questions as well. Can I be willing to humbly put God and His church first in my life? And humbly put others ahead myself? Am I willing to show others grace, because of the grace that God has shown to me? And treat others with compassion, kindness, and gentleness even when they don’t treat me that way? Am I willing to “be good to all” people, even the people who laugh in my face for following Jesus? (Galatians 6:10) Isn’t all this exactly what my Savior did for me? He humbly bent His will to His Father’s will. He put His Father’s will first. He put all of us ahead of Himself. He showed grace to the people who scourged Him, mocked Him, denied Him, and crucified him….ultimately killing Him. Jesus even asked His Father to forgive the people who hurt Him so badly on that day so many years ago. Could I do that if someone hurt me? I can’t say whether I could or not. Humility is hard. It is easier said than done. Why is it so hard? I believe humility is hard because we aren’t built for it. We are built to take care of self first….to put our will first. So….what does Jesus say?

Jesus calls us to deny self. He calls us to deny our natural instinct of putting ourselves first. It takes humility to do this. Listen to Jesus’ words in Luke 9:23-24, ““If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” This is what the world will never understand. The world will never understand why we deny ourselves to follow Christ. This month is set aside as PRIDE month in our country. It makes me sad that our country glorifies what God has plainly called sin. It makes me sad every June to see all of the businesses, groups, and individuals who are involved in this and support it. It goes against everything Jesus is saying in Luke 9:23-24 about denying self. The Bible is clear on its definition of sinful behavior. We can’t pick and choose which behaviors we want to acknowledge as sin. Every single one of us is tempted in some way, shape, form or fashion. Whatever it is, that is our “thing” that tempts us…..that is our cross to bear. And Jesus is asking us to symbolically carry that cross in the same way that He carried His own cross the day He was crucified for OUR sins. He then asks us to die to that sin, humble ourselves, and follow Him. We can’t follow Him while still willfully living in sin. We have to deny ourselves, and die to it. It is all or nothing, friends. But I just want to add this statement….just because I don’t support PRIDE and those lifestyles that go along with it, does not mean that I have any hatred at all in my heart for anyone. I am called a “hater”, but nothing could be further from the truth. It is only out of love for souls that I stand where I stand…..with Jesus. And I’ll take the persecution that I receive for standing with Jesus. But that persecution won’t change my love for God, His Son, His Word, His church, and ALL souls.

Humility…..do I have it? I’m a work in progress, and I have a long way to go! I am striving to be humble like Jesus….and that’s all I can do for the rest of my life…..strive. That is all any of us can do. It is not about being perfect, because we won’t be. It is about first belonging to Christ. Then, after that….it is about putting Him first while striving to be like Him for the rest of our lives.

Are you a Christian? Have you denied self, picked up your cross, died to sin, and began to follow Jesus? 

If so, are you a faithful Christian? Are you striving daily to follow Him and humble yourself the way that Jesus humbled Himself for us? Are you still denying self? 

God’s Plan of Salvation

Below is the plan that God has set forth in His Word, for mankind to receive His grace that leads to salvation and an eternity with God in heaven. 

We have to hear His word. (Romans 10:17) 

Upon hearing the message of Jesus, we believe it. (Mark 16:16) 

Then, we confess Jesus’ name before men. (Matthew 10:32) 

Next, we repent of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19) 

Finally, we are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins.  (Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 22:16, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:26-27) After baptism, God adds us to His church. (Acts 2:47)

Then, we remain faithful in our commitment to Christ until death. (Revelation 2:10, 2 Peter 2:20-22)

Source

biblegateway.com