1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:05,320 Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not 2 00:00:05,320 --> 00:00:10,000 count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:14,240 himself by taking the form of a servant. 4 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:20,080 Being the being born in the likeliness of men and being 5 00:00:20,080 --> 00:00:26,440 found in human form, he humbled Himself by becoming obedient to 6 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:31,800 the point of death. Holy Spirit, help me even death 7 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:35,960 on the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted 8 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:40,560 him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so the 9 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:44,400 name of Jesus. Every knee should bow in heaven, 10 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:50,240 on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess 11 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:55,640 that Jesus Christ is Lord and to glory of God the Father. 12 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:04,120 I want to begin by talking about one of the best movies ever. 13 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:08,280 My wife and I recently watched through all of the Indiana Jones 14 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:09,400 movies. Anybody. 15 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:10,440 Yeah. OK. 16 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:12,440 I hear some. I hear some chatter out there. 17 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:15,480 And we were watching through Indiana Jones Three. 18 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:19,800 I think it's the Last Crusade. And as always, Indy finds 19 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:23,880 himself in some temple that has some obstacles, and he has to 20 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:27,960 pass three tests in order to reach the Holy Grail. 21 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:30,680 Pretty cool. Now, the first Test is something 22 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:34,200 called the Breath of God. It's this like mysterious fog 23 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:36,560 that kills you if you don't know what you're doing. 24 00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:41,680 And knowing that failure means certain death, Indy only has one 25 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:45,000 clue. And the clue is only the 26 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:49,480 penitent man shall pass. Kind of interesting, right? 27 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:51,200 And so they're trying to figure out this clue. 28 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:53,920 The clock is ticking. He's walking into this fog. 29 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:56,360 He's knows that he could die at any moment. 30 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:58,280 And he's trying to figure out this Riddle that only the 31 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:00,640 penitent man shall pass, only the minute penitent man shall 32 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:02,600 pass. And then he says, in this final 33 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,920 moment, the penitent man is humble before God. 34 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:09,720 And they says, the penitent man kneels before God and he kneels 35 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:13,840 at just the right moment. These giant like circular saw 36 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:15,920 blades go right over his head, right? 37 00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:19,680 And it's this crazy moment where he rolls out of the way because 38 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:22,760 he dropped to his knees in humility. 39 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:28,080 He nearly misses, nearly misses these saw blades, which I don't 40 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:30,320 know how they got those in an ancient temple, but that's 41 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:33,520 beside the point, right? And he escaped death by a 42 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:36,680 whisker. And this moment is like this, 43 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:39,600 this great moment of cinematic flair, you know? 44 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:44,240 But it also has a profound message. 45 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:50,160 You see, Indiana Jones stumbles across an important truth that's 46 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:54,600 at the heart of the Bible, which is that following Jesus starts 47 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:58,000 with humility. It starts with being willing to 48 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:00,680 go to your knees in penitence, which is like another word for 49 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:04,840 being repentant, humble, aware of our sins. 50 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:08,920 See, the more we grow in revelation of God, the more we 51 00:03:08,920 --> 00:03:12,600 find ourselves dropping to our knees in worship. 52 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:18,400 The only way through the tunnels and the twists of our lives is 53 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:22,200 through humility. I don't know if you've noticed, 54 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:28,000 but in my opinion, humility is not a not a trait that we widely 55 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:30,800 see in our culture. By and large, it's not normally 56 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:33,760 celebrated in our culture. In fact, I think it's becoming 57 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:38,320 less and less of a virtue in our culture. 58 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:45,560 We see success equals celebrity, success equals influence, 59 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:50,680 gaining attention or notoriety or maybe even advancing in your 60 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:52,960 field, right. In the corporate world, for 61 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:56,920 instance, often times the goal is to outperform the person next 62 00:03:56,920 --> 00:03:59,520 to you to climb the corporate ladder. 63 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:03,360 Maybe you've heard or to be smarter, to be more marketable. 64 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:07,880 Like think about the the just the, the, the corporate resume. 65 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:11,600 You're trying to put on paper how awesome you are so that 66 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:13,760 people will will hire you. Isn't that an interesting 67 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:15,880 concept? And again, there's nothing like 68 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:19,880 necessarily all wrong with that or all bad with that. 69 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:25,680 But it's it's interesting that our culture seems to value power 70 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:29,640 over humility. Take a look at our our world 71 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:32,280 leaders today. Like even in the last 10 years, 72 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,480 would we say that our world leaders are marked by meekness 73 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:39,280 and by humility, right. As if that's a virtue. 74 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:41,360 Most people would say probably not. 75 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:43,520 We just don't see it as much anymore. 76 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:49,080 So the question for us today is how can you and I, as Christ 77 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:53,440 followers learn to grow in humility? 78 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:58,680 And how can we grow in humility without getting stuck in the 79 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:03,400 cycles of like shame and self defeat and oh, everyone else is 80 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,000 better than me and I'm I'm no good. 81 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:09,640 What does godly humility actually look like? 82 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:13,520 Well, today we are continuing in our sermon series. 83 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:15,440 It's called Wisdom in the Desert. 84 00:05:15,840 --> 00:05:20,080 And so for the 40 days leading up to Easter, we've been 85 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:22,760 practicing what's called Lent in church history. 86 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:26,840 In the sermon series is a look at some of the desert fathers 87 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:29,120 and mothers. Those, this was this radical 88 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:31,720 group of Christians in the in the 3rd and 4th century. 89 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:35,240 And they went off into the desert, literally out of the 90 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:39,200 city, out of the hustle in order to find God and do spiritual 91 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:43,680 warfare. And part of what we see with 92 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:47,080 these desert fathers and mothers is that their their lives were 93 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:50,960 marked by obscurity and by humility. 94 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:55,640 They lived lives of secrecy out in the desert as best as they 95 00:05:55,640 --> 00:06:00,000 could. There's this one quote by a man 96 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,280 named Anthony the Great, and he writes this. 97 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:08,280 He says, I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the 98 00:06:08,280 --> 00:06:11,360 world. And I said, groaning, what can 99 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:15,960 get through from such snares? Then I heard a voice saying to 100 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:20,600 me, humility. That sounds very similar to the 101 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:22,000 Indiana Jones quote, Right, Right. 102 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:25,760 The penitent man shall pass. Basically Saint Anthony, he's 103 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:27,800 looking around at the world and he's saying, man, it seems like 104 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:30,680 the devil's just laid so many traps, so many different 105 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:34,800 distractions, so many different vices, so many things that catch 106 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:37,240 our attention and draw our focus away from God. 107 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:39,560 He, he's almost groaning. He's saying how can anyone 108 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:41,280 survive? How can anyone get through all 109 00:06:41,280 --> 00:06:42,840 of these snares that are out there? 110 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:46,400 And he says, I heard a voice, It's through humility. 111 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:52,120 It's the way of Jesus. There's another famous man, his 112 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:56,240 name was the Apostle Paul, and he wrote most of the new or a 113 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:59,640 lot of the New Testament. And he also went on a journey 114 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:03,640 not only to the deserts of Arabia, but we see throughout 115 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:07,800 Scripture that Paul actually went on a journey of humility. 116 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:12,480 You see, Paul initially was a religious leader. 117 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:16,040 He had the pedigree, he had the notoriety, he was on the up and 118 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:19,440 up. But then he met Jesus Christ and 119 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:22,720 he gave his life over to Jesus. And it's interesting when you 120 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:26,000 when you read Paul's words over the course of time, it seems as 121 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:28,800 if his attitude about himself changes. 122 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:34,160 For instance, he writes early on that he calls himself the least 123 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:39,360 of all the apostles. OK, then a few years later he 124 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:42,040 calls himself the least of all the Saints. 125 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,320 So he goes from like being the least of like the apostles, just 126 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:47,880 kind of like a good thing. But then he says, no, no, no, 127 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:49,520 I'm, I'm the least of all the Saints. 128 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:54,680 Couple years later he says I'm the chief of all sinners, right? 129 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:57,080 Like it doesn't get lower than that, right? 130 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:01,080 So isn't that interesting that even with the apostle Paul, we 131 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:05,120 see him progressively becoming more and more humble, at least 132 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:07,360 apparently in the way that he describes himself. 133 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:12,000 He was on a journey towards Christlikeness and he wrote 134 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:16,800 about humility to this church in a city called Philippi, which is 135 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:19,800 where we get the New Testament book Philippians. 136 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:22,360 Does that make sense? So Paul's writing to a group of 137 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:25,120 people in Philippi, the Philippians. 138 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:28,120 And that's where we're going to be today if you want to turn 139 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:30,320 there. OK, Philippians is in the New 140 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:33,440 Testament. So maybe three 3/4 of the way 141 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:38,120 through your Bibles, if you want to find that short little book, 142 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:40,360 take a take a moment to find that. 143 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:42,240 We always encourage physical Bibles. 144 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:44,680 If you're able to bring, it'll be on the screens as well. 145 00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:47,240 If you don't have them today, we just try and get away from our 146 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:50,280 phones as much as we can because they're distracting and 147 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:52,840 addicting, right? And so we encourage that. 148 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:56,360 But Philippians chapter 2, if you can find that Philippians 149 00:08:56,360 --> 00:09:03,800 chapter 2, verse 5, the city of Philippi was founded by a man 150 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:06,680 named Philip the Second of Macedon. 151 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:10,280 He was this kind of great king like ruler who swept into the 152 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:13,960 aid of the city. It helped that that city was 153 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:16,840 flush with gold and silver. So he was glad to kind of jump 154 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:20,200 in and help and he named the city after himself. 155 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:24,280 But what we see here in Philippians 2 is Paul's calling 156 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:28,400 people to live out in humility. And what this section of 157 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:32,280 Scripture is specifically in six through 11, it's called the 158 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:35,960 Christ hymn. This is likely, this is what 159 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:38,400 have likely been like a worship song or a hymn that would have 160 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:41,960 circulated the early church, some scholars believe as early 161 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:45,680 as 30 to 40 AD. And what's remarkable is that 162 00:09:45,680 --> 00:09:49,360 even though this is really, really early, really close to 163 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:52,960 the death and resurrection of Jesus, we see there's a really 164 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:56,280 well formed and robust Christology. 165 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:01,880 In other words, they had a really accurate and thorough 166 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,880 picture of who Christ was even at an early time. 167 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:07,760 This is important for things like apologetics and defending 168 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:10,120 the faith. We see that they have a fully 169 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:13,400 formed picture of who God was and who Jesus was before even 170 00:10:13,560 --> 00:10:17,200 time and how he came to earth. And we'll read it here in verse 171 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:22,280 5. Paul writes this in your 172 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:26,880 relationships with one another have the same mindset as Christ 173 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:32,400 Jesus, who being in the very nature God did not consider 174 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:36,840 equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. 175 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:41,880 So Paul is speaking to the group in Philippi, speaking to the 176 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:44,520 Philippians and saying in with your attitudes with one another. 177 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:48,080 Show humility. Well, what kind of humility? 178 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:53,640 The kind of humility that Christ himself showed us. 179 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:58,600 It's interesting here that we see that Jesus says did not 180 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:01,680 consider equality with God something to be used to his own 181 00:11:01,680 --> 00:11:04,880 advantage. Other translations say he did 182 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:08,360 not consider equality with God something to be grasped. 183 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:12,920 In the Greek this is idea of something to be like snatched or 184 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:16,600 something to be taken to be used to his own advantage. 185 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:20,680 In other words, even though Jesus was equal with God the 186 00:11:20,680 --> 00:11:24,040 Father, he did not use it for his own advantage. 187 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:30,120 Some scholars call back to Adam and Eve because in Genesis 188 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:33,800 chapter 3 we see that God had previously previously made all 189 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:37,360 things good in the garden. But then the deceiver Satan 190 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:41,840 comes in and he tries to tempt Adam and Eve to disobey God. 191 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:46,000 And what is the line that he tells them? 192 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:52,960 Satan looks at this couple and he says you will be like God. 193 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:57,520 That's the temptation, you will be like God. 194 00:11:57,520 --> 00:11:59,840 And So what does it say? It says they took the apple. 195 00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:02,840 They took something that wasn't theirs. 196 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:08,360 Isn't it interesting that even we have terms when it comes to 197 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:11,480 taking power? We say that someone, we maybe 198 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:16,240 say someone took control or they seized power. 199 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:19,520 There's grabbing language when it comes to power. 200 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:23,360 What we see here is that Adam and Eve wanted to be like God. 201 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:25,320 They're like, there's something missing. 202 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:26,880 There's something in me that I don't have. 203 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:29,040 I want to be like God. And So what do they do? 204 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:33,200 They take. What we see here with Jesus is 205 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:39,160 that even though he had equality with God, he refused to take it 206 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:42,600 for his own advantage. Does that make sense? 207 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:45,560 We see his humility being lived out here. 208 00:12:45,560 --> 00:12:49,760 So what does Jesus do instead? Rather than seizing power for 209 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:52,560 himself? Verse 7, it says rather he made 210 00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:57,720 himself nothing. By taking the very nature of a 211 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:02,640 servant being made in human likeness and being found in 212 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:07,400 appearance as a man, He humbled himself. 213 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:13,040 Wow. Jesus was willing to humble 214 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:16,960 himself. This is the idea found in the 215 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:20,840 Greek called canosis. It's the idea of empty emptying, 216 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:26,040 emptying himself out or pouring himself out for others. 217 00:13:27,560 --> 00:13:29,800 Can you imagine just a moment? Let's let's pause for just a 218 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:32,880 moment. Imagine that you're Jesus before 219 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:35,840 the creation of the universe. So you're hanging out with the 220 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:38,560 Father, you're hanging out the Holy Spirit and you're like, all 221 00:13:38,560 --> 00:13:41,000 right, how are we going to map this whole universe out? 222 00:13:41,680 --> 00:13:44,000 Well, let's have some like quantum theory in here. 223 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,320 Let's invent some physics there. Let's figure out how this whole 224 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:49,840 gravity thing and this the whole dark matter is going to work. 225 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:51,360 Oh, lights going to be pretty important. 226 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:54,160 Let's figure out how light will will interact with everything. 227 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:57,880 Oh, here, let's create this earth and the perfect placement 228 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:01,640 in the universe. So imagine you're in that that 229 00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:04,720 realm. You have all power, all 230 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:08,000 authority. You're inventing things like 231 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:15,720 gravity and black holes, and then you come down to become a 232 00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:18,520 baby. Imagine that. 233 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:21,800 Yeah, I like that is unfathomable to me. 234 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:25,960 The descent from going to on high, creating all of the 235 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:29,720 universe, to coming way down to becoming an infant. 236 00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:36,200 You see, Jesus was tempted in every way, like us as human 237 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:37,680 beings. So that thing that you're going 238 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:41,920 through right now, that sin that you're tempted with, that 239 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:45,840 struggle, Scripture says that Jesus knows what it's like. 240 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:50,760 Jesus experienced everything from from being hot in the 241 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:54,040 desert to being cold at night. I would imagine he went from 242 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:57,600 everything from exhaustion to indigestion, right? 243 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:00,800 Like he was fully human and he was fully God. 244 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:05,560 And when Jesus was in the wilderness, Satan tempted him 245 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:08,440 with power and control, just like Adam and Eve. 246 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:11,000 He said, I'm going to give you all the kingdoms of the world. 247 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:14,680 If you just, you know, you know, just bow down and worship me. 248 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:17,560 Jesus refused. Why? 249 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:23,320 Because Jesus was called by God to take a different route to 250 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:25,360 glory. This is what it says in verse 251 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:29,840 28. By becoming obedient to death, 252 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:35,480 even death on a cross. You see, Jesus was being 253 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:38,480 obedient to the Father's will that He should come and live a 254 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:42,360 perfect life for you and for me. He was being obedient to the 255 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:45,280 Father, not by grasping power in the kingdoms of this world that 256 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:47,720 were offered to Him, but He was obedient to the Father by taking 257 00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:54,000 the low road to the cross. Jesus was willing to die for you 258 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:59,400 and for me, and he did it to take your sins upon himself. 259 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:02,200 All the wrongdoing you've ever done, all the shame you've ever 260 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:05,000 felt, all the death you ever experienced, Jesus was willing 261 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:09,320 to take that upon himself in his own body, on the cross for you 262 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:13,120 because he loved you that much. And by doing that, he glorified 263 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,440 the Father out of perfect obedience. 264 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:20,280 This is the story of the Kingdom. 265 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:26,760 This is the story of Jesus. You see, the first Adam failed 266 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:31,120 to obey God by taking the power in order to be like him. 267 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:36,960 But Jesus obeyed God not by taking equality, but by being 268 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:39,120 willing to be lowered on a cross. 269 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:43,800 Adam tried to elevate up, but Jesus lowered down. 270 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:48,560 In other words, the first Adam grasped for power, the second 271 00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:52,080 Adam laid it down. That's the story of Jesus. 272 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,560 There was this popular activity. I imagine it was probably 273 00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:01,240 popular in like the 50s, sixties, 70s. 274 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:03,480 It was called limbo. Does anyone know what limbo is 275 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:05,920 where you grab a bar and you try and get under the bar, right? 276 00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:08,200 Any, any older folks? Was this popular in like the 277 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:10,000 50s, sixties? OK, they're all raising their 278 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:11,440 hand. I like to imagine this like 279 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:13,680 groovy disco party where people are doing the limbo. 280 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:16,240 I don't know if that's ever happened, but I like to picture 281 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:17,599 it right? And there's this kind of, 282 00:17:17,599 --> 00:17:19,960 there's this kind of chant that goes along with limbo. 283 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:22,599 How low can you go? Stay with me. 284 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:24,599 How low can you go one more time? 285 00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:26,720 How low can you go? You're with me. 286 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:31,360 And the idea is that the person who can go the lowest is the 287 00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:32,880 winner. This is like the world record 288 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:35,640 holder, by the way, with Limbo. You should go watch videos of 289 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:38,440 her. It is striking the way she can 290 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:40,400 move across that. And that it is, it's a bit 291 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:41,880 uncomfortable, quite quite honestly. 292 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:46,480 But my point in bringing this up is to say, when it comes to 293 00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:52,200 limbo, the person who can go the lowest is actually the winner. 294 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:55,880 Does that make sense? The person who's willing to 295 00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:58,960 lower themselves as much as they can is the person who is 296 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:02,680 elevated to greatness. And Jesus was willing to go 297 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:04,560 lower than any of us have ever seen. 298 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:11,760 Jesus went from equality to emptying to embodying. 299 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:18,040 Jesus went as low as you can possibly go. 300 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:27,360 Jesus was willing to go lower. Jesus Christ was the in the very 301 00:18:27,360 --> 00:18:29,840 nature. He was the very nature of God, 302 00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:35,640 the same essence, but he was willing to go lower. 303 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:40,200 He did not consider equality with God something to be used 304 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:48,360 lower. He made himself nothing lower by 305 00:18:48,360 --> 00:18:52,920 taking on the very nature of a servant lower. 306 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:58,080 He was made in human likeness as an appearance of a man. 307 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:06,880 Lower, by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross, 308 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:15,840 Jesus was willing to go lower. He went as low as you can go. 309 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:23,840 Nobody, nobody has descended further than Jesus himself. 310 00:19:24,360 --> 00:19:27,760 He went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. 311 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:30,840 He went from the the the spiritual realm and the 312 00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:35,120 heavenlies hovering over all of the universe in the beginning of 313 00:19:35,120 --> 00:19:37,080 time. And you came all the way down 314 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,280 and what to wear to the realm of the dead in the ground. 315 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:45,240 That is how far Jesus was willing to come for us. 316 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:50,280 That is how far love was willing to travel for you and for me. 317 00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:57,160 There's this moment in the gospels where James and John are 318 00:19:57,160 --> 00:20:00,000 wanting power and so their their mom gets involved. 319 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:02,560 Maybe you're familiar with the story and. 320 00:20:03,360 --> 00:20:04,680 The mom is looking after her boy. 321 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:07,920 She see that sees that this Jesus is on the on the rise. 322 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:10,640 We he they believe that this Jesus is bringing in a new 323 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:13,200 Kingdom. And so mom is is looking after 324 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:14,800 her son. She wants the best for them. 325 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:16,560 She wants to know that they're going to be taken care of. 326 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:20,640 And so she approaches Jesus and she says, grant one of these two 327 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:24,800 sons of mine that they may sit on your right and the other at 328 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:29,400 your left in the Kingdom. She wants greatness for her sons 329 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:32,800 if there's going to be a cost. And the sons, James and John, 330 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:35,600 they're, they're looking at Jesus and they're saying, hey, 331 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:38,720 can we be great too? We want to be great. 332 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:41,040 It's a question we all want, question we all ask. 333 00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:46,320 Jesus looks at there was a request for greatness and it 334 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:47,800 responds with a pretty simple question. 335 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:49,880 He says, I see it. I see that you want greatness. 336 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:52,320 I see that you want to be elevated. 337 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:57,960 But can you drink the cup? Can you drink the cup? 338 00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:04,120 The cup throughout Scripture was was one's divinely appointed 339 00:21:04,120 --> 00:21:08,640 destiny either for great blessing or for great curse. 340 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:12,760 And here when Jesus is talking about the cup, what he's talking 341 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:15,680 about is the is the cross, the fact that he was divinely 342 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:19,240 appointed to go and suffer and die for humanity. 343 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:24,480 And so when, when you know, James and John are hearing this, 344 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:27,520 there may be thinking of like David and Goliath, they're 345 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:30,000 thinking, yeah, I'm ready to go to war for you, Jesus. 346 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:34,400 I'm ready to take on the bad guy and, and, and receive success 347 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:37,920 and acclaim and notoriety. And what they didn't understand 348 00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:40,640 is that the cup that Jesus was destined for was the cross. 349 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:44,000 It was the cup of being a servant, the cup of being a 350 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:47,720 slave. You see, the Kingdom values are 351 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:50,160 inverted with the ways of the world. 352 00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:55,720 In the Kingdom, the way up is down. 353 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:01,520 In the Kingdom, the way up is actually by going lower. 354 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:07,000 Matthew 2028. The Son of Man did not come to 355 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:14,920 be served, but to serve in some way or another, in some facet of 356 00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:17,600 our lives or another. We all want to be great. 357 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:21,400 I think especially as men, we want to achieve and we want to 358 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:25,600 be seen and we want to be known and, and it's, it's, it's kind 359 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:27,680 of a universal thing for all of us, I think. 360 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:32,160 And we go about it many ways. Maybe we try to gain followers 361 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:36,000 or achieve at work or even just like trying to maximize your 362 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:37,560 life, right? I'm going to be the fittest I 363 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:40,320 can possibly be. I'm going to improve my mental 364 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:42,480 health. I'm going to do all the things 365 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:44,800 and live my best life. And again, that's not all bad, 366 00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:48,920 but it's how we're actually going about and how we're trying 367 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:55,040 to achieve greatness. So for for you and for me, it's, 368 00:22:56,360 --> 00:22:59,640 it's not that you want to be great or you want to be an 369 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:01,720 achiever, you want to have notoriety. 370 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:04,880 But the question that we must ask is, am I willing to drink 371 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:08,960 the cup? Am I really willing to go where 372 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:12,440 Jesus went? Am I willing to follow his 373 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:17,520 model, His descent, even to the place of the cross? 374 00:23:19,360 --> 00:23:23,160 Following Jesus always costs us something. 375 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:26,560 There is always a cost to discipleship. 376 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:30,800 And every single day we have to just be willing to ask ourself, 377 00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:32,880 am I really willing to follow Jesus there? 378 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:36,320 Am I really willing to give it up? 379 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:40,920 Man, I feel like 95% of the Christian life is just learning 380 00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:43,640 how to surrender. Just more and more and more 381 00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:46,760 learning how to surrender. You take something on, you give 382 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:47,920 it. You get a little something in 383 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:49,400 life. Life throws you some some 384 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:51,800 blessing and it's just learning how to surrender it back down at 385 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:57,160 the feet of Jesus. This is not easy, but it's 386 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:00,320 necessary. Are you willing to drink the 387 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:03,560 cup? When we see here in Philippians 388 00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:07,960 2 with this Christ hymn, see that we see that Jesus was 389 00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:12,920 willing to be emptied so that he could be exalted. 390 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:16,360 Verse 9. Philippians 2. 391 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:22,720 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the 392 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:27,040 name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every 393 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:30,800 knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, in 394 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:35,400 every tongue acknowledged that Jesus Christ is Lord to the 395 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:40,600 glory of God the Father. Paul uses the language that he 396 00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:43,960 exalted him to the highest place in the Greek. 397 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:47,760 It's almost as if Paul is saying that that God super exalted 398 00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:52,960 Jesus to the highest place. What we see in this trajectory 399 00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:59,960 of Jesus that we see his descent and we see his exaltation with 400 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:07,320 Jesus, nobody has descended lower and nobody has ascended 401 00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:14,040 higher. We worship a humble God. 402 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:20,120 For most world religions out there, those two words, a humble 403 00:25:20,120 --> 00:25:24,760 God, those are an oxymoron. Those are a contradiction. 404 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:27,440 Those two things do not go side by side. 405 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:30,920 Those two words next to each other do not compete A compute a 406 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:35,600 humble God. It's only in Jesus Christ that 407 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:39,400 we see the perfect model of obedience to the Father by being 408 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:46,040 willing to be humbled so that God can do the exalting. 409 00:25:48,360 --> 00:25:53,320 It's interesting here that the city of Philippi was named after 410 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:58,720 Philip the Second because the exact same year that Philip the 411 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:02,400 Second named the city Philippi, he had a son. 412 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:04,840 Do you want to know who that son was? 413 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:11,040 Alexander the Great, And he lived in that same region. 414 00:26:12,360 --> 00:26:16,680 Isn't it interesting that this, this great king had a great son 415 00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:21,440 in the city called Philippi, the city with greatness in the name. 416 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:24,400 And yet Paul is looking at the group of people living in the 417 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:28,960 city with greatness all around them, and he's saying have the 418 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:35,720 same mindset as Christ. Lower. 419 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:46,080 Lower. The call to the Philippians is 420 00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:52,320 the call to you and me today. We have to be willing to go 421 00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:59,960 lower just like Jesus. So how can we do this in our 422 00:26:59,960 --> 00:27:04,440 age? How can we live this out and our 423 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:07,600 culture where everything is about achievement and greatness 424 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:11,920 and influence and followers, how do we actually model the 425 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:15,360 humility of Christ in our day-to-day life in a world where 426 00:27:15,360 --> 00:27:17,760 it just seems impossible at times? 427 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:22,440 I want to give you really three really, really quick things as 428 00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:26,720 we begin to conclude #1 is that humility is cultivated first and 429 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:28,840 foremost from identity. You can write that down. 430 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:31,960 Humility is cultivated from identity. 431 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:34,680 I believe part of the problem with Adam and Eve is that they 432 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:39,360 had an identity crisis. They said, wait, wait, wait. 433 00:27:39,360 --> 00:27:41,760 We're we're not like God. There's something more that is 434 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:43,720 missing in ourselves. And Satan knew that. 435 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:46,800 They came in and he came in with that deception and said, you'll 436 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:48,600 be like God. You can be like him. 437 00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:56,240 They had an identity crisis because what it says in Genesis, 438 00:27:56,240 --> 00:27:59,440 what they didn't realize or what they failed to remember was that 439 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:04,000 when God made man and woman, it says that they made them. 440 00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:08,320 He made them in His own image. In other words, He made them in 441 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:12,000 the Imago day. You see, what Adam and Eve 442 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:16,520 failed to realize is that they already were like God. 443 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:21,400 They didn't need anything else because God had already made 444 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:23,800 them with intrinsic worth. He made them in perfect 445 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:26,360 relationship. Their identity was meant to be 446 00:28:26,360 --> 00:28:30,720 rooted in Him. They had a crisis of identity 447 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:33,640 and so their their temptation is our temptation. 448 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:36,160 They tried to take and they tried to grab and it LED them to 449 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:39,240 disobedience. You see, if we don't know who we 450 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:43,320 are, we will always try to measure up to others. 451 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:47,480 If we don't have a strong sense of self in Christ, we will 452 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:50,400 always try to elevate ourselves and try and find our place in 453 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:52,680 the world. We will always be lost. 454 00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:56,080 And when Jesus started his ministry, there was these words 455 00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:59,440 spoken over him, where God the Father during the baptism said, 456 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:03,600 this is my Son with whom I am well pleased. 457 00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:07,440 And these words of identity were spoken over Jesus and they 458 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:11,320 propelled him into ministry. You see, Jesus never had a 459 00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:15,640 confidence issue. Jesus never had an identity 460 00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:17,240 issue. Why? 461 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:21,120 Because he knew the words that the Father had spoken over him. 462 00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:24,360 This is my son with whom I'm well pleased. 463 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:29,640 Jesus never had the crisis of of identities and we have them in 464 00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:31,200 excess. Would you agree? 465 00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:34,720 I, I don't know about you, but I have confidence issues all the 466 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:38,160 time. I feel insecure all the time. 467 00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:42,440 There's this phrase going around called, I think it's called male 468 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:44,160 fragility. You ever heard that phrase? 469 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:47,440 I, I don't exactly know what it means, but whatever it is, I 470 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,960 think I got it OK. I think it has something to do 471 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:54,200 with ego and trying to puff yourself up and trying to, you 472 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:56,120 know, have this sort of overconfidence, right? 473 00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:58,640 I'm pretty sure I've got it. Men, you probably got it too. 474 00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:02,000 And whatever the version of female fragility is, ladies, you 475 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:05,800 probably have it too. The reality is this, we're all 476 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:08,200 insecure to some degree or another. 477 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:11,800 We all lack confidence. We all try to puff ourselves up. 478 00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:15,200 We're all trying to seek our place in this world. 479 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:19,440 And for so many of us, I think we swing from the two extremes. 480 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:22,920 We swing from the extreme of insecurity and feeling down on 481 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:26,840 ourselves and feeling worthless. Or we swing to the other extreme 482 00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:29,640 of just this false sense of self in this overconfidence. 483 00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:33,440 And as I've got it all together and I need to puff myself up and 484 00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:36,720 rather than swinging back and forth between these two, what if 485 00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:40,640 instead we were rooted and established in our loving 486 00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:44,560 identity in Christ Jesus? What if instead we could hear 487 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:48,480 the Father's voice speaking over us that he is pleased with us? 488 00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:51,800 What if we could step into our identity that we are more than 489 00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:56,320 conquerors in Christ, That we are Co heirs with Jesus, That we 490 00:30:56,320 --> 00:31:00,200 are fully known and fully loved by our Heavenly Father. 491 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:03,200 There are so many times even in this last week where I made 492 00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:05,800 mistakes and I made the same mistake twice and it was 493 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:07,720 embarrassing and I had to humble myself. 494 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,720 And I just had this thought of like what is wrong with me? 495 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:13,880 Why can't I seem to get it figured out? 496 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:18,800 And then these moments where I'm tempted to just go into 497 00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:23,760 insecurity, God reminds me of my identity. 498 00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:29,720 Louis had this line in Mere Christianity. 499 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:36,200 He says that do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man, 500 00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:38,920 I'm just going to actually read it over here. 501 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:42,400 He says do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man, he 502 00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:44,960 will be what most people call humble nowadays. 503 00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:47,520 He will not be thinking about humility. 504 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:50,880 He will not be thinking about himself at all. 505 00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:56,760 In other words, humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's 506 00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:01,360 just thinking of yourself less. So many people get this wrong. 507 00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:02,640 They think, oh, I need to be humble. 508 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:06,480 So I'm just need to kind of live in this place of insecurity and 509 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:08,880 fear and not thinking too highly of myself. 510 00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:13,640 But rather humility is just not thinking of yourself as much. 511 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:22,040 Otherwise, we just have a false humility #2 humility is living a 512 00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:25,120 cruciform lifestyle. By cruciform I just mean like a 513 00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:28,720 cross shaped lifestyle. This is a lifestyle marked by 514 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:31,360 self sacrifice and self-service to others. 515 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:36,560 The emphasis in Philippians 2 is the cross and Jesus being 516 00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:42,080 obedient to his call. You see, the cross isn't just 517 00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:47,400 the way to life. The cross is a way of life. 518 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:53,080 The cross is a, is a lifestyle for you and for me to sacrifice 519 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:54,840 ourselves more and more for others. 520 00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:59,880 Tim Keller wrote a book by the name of the freedom of self 521 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:02,960 forgetfulness. And it's pretty rare that like 522 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:05,800 just the title of a book could change your life if you lived it 523 00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:08,280 out right. This is one of them, the freedom 524 00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:11,480 of self forgetfulness. And he has this incredible line, 525 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:15,360 super convicting for me. He says true gospel humility 526 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:19,200 means I stop connecting every experience and every 527 00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:23,640 conversation with myself. Anyone else do that? 528 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:27,240 Every experience, every conversation, I somehow find a 529 00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:31,720 way to bring it back to me. The point is this gospel 530 00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:36,840 humility is a willing death to self absorption. 531 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:41,160 It's a willing death to self preoccupation. 532 00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:48,480 It's a willing death to ego. How many of us would agree that 533 00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:52,920 our culture desperately needs a death to ego? 534 00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:59,560 Our leaders desperately need a death to ego. 535 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:04,440 And so we pray for them. We pray for them eagerly, that 536 00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:08,360 there would be a spirit of humility for whoever's in the 537 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:12,600 president now to whoever's next, to whoever's next, we pray for 538 00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:18,719 them. The goal is an influence. 539 00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:22,159 The goal is resemblance to Jesus. 540 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:26,280 The goal is to become like him together. 541 00:34:27,639 --> 00:34:30,440 Finally, as I wrap up, I'm going to invite the team back, 542 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:33,320 forward. Finally, Humility is magnifying 543 00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:38,800 God becoming more and more aware of His Holiness to realize where 544 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:43,040 and who we are. Humility is being made aware of 545 00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:45,360 our brokenness and our sinfulness and our need of 546 00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:48,400 Jesus, and then thrusting ourselves into His arms and into 547 00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:52,639 His love. You see, humility is not just 548 00:34:52,639 --> 00:34:55,880 about us stooping down and lowering ourselves to a level of 549 00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:59,920 insecurity, but rather it's standing at our full height and 550 00:34:59,920 --> 00:35:01,720 realizing that God is even taller. 551 00:35:02,240 --> 00:35:06,480 He's even greater. He is magnificent and he is 552 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:09,600 above all things. It's standing on our full height 553 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:12,880 with arms raised high and realizing God, you are so much 554 00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:16,920 bigger than I could ever be, knowing our proper place that he 555 00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:20,200 is God and we are not. And so as we conclude, I just 556 00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:26,560 want to ask you, where are you tempted to self promote? 557 00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:34,920 Where are you tempted, whether it's on LinkedIn, Instagram, 558 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:39,240 your dating app, your family, your friend group, whatever it 559 00:35:39,240 --> 00:35:42,360 may be, your school, where are you tempted to elevate yourself 560 00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:47,400 and how can you choose instead to honor others above yourself? 561 00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:51,800 Romans 12/10 says be devoted to one another and love, honor one 562 00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:56,080 another above yourselves. There are so many times as a 563 00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:59,080 pastor with the spotlight and the stage and planting a church 564 00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:01,600 where, you know, I get all these Pats on the backs and 565 00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:05,400 congratulations and all of that. And there's a temptation in that 566 00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:09,320 sometimes to, to, to allow my press clippings to go to my 567 00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:12,360 head. Sometimes there's temptations to 568 00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:14,960 allow my ego to, to, to go off and running. 569 00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:22,880 But the humble reality is this. I'd be nothing without the grace 570 00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:26,160 of God. This church wouldn't exist 571 00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:30,160 without the people humbly serving day in and day out, the 572 00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:32,400 people who are coming and setting up and tearing down 573 00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:35,640 every single week, the people who are preparing communion 574 00:36:35,640 --> 00:36:39,360 today and greeting people and people who are pouring out hours 575 00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:41,800 and hours and hours. And so I just want to take a 576 00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:47,000 moment to honour you all. I love this church and I love 577 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:50,080 seeing how you guys serve and I love seeing how you pour out for 578 00:36:50,080 --> 00:36:52,760 the Kingdom. And it's humbling for me. 579 00:36:54,240 --> 00:36:59,760 And it's, it's such a privilege to see that this is about a 580 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:04,880 Kingdom. And I honor you guys in that. 581 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:09,600 So we have a few practices for you. 582 00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:12,480 These are invitations. These are not, you know, do them 583 00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:14,720 or else you're a bad Christian or anything like that, OK? 584 00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:17,800 They're just some invitations so that we can practice and 585 00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:22,720 cultivate a life of humility #1 is maybe you just want to spend 586 00:37:22,720 --> 00:37:26,760 some time in God's presence and allow Him to to show you all 587 00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:31,040 those areas of brokenness and sinfulness and and allow His 588 00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:37,160 love to meet you in those areas. Maybe for you it's asking the 589 00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:40,560 simple question, where am I working to gain the approval of 590 00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:44,120 others and just spending some time with God in that question. 591 00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:50,680 Maybe this week you want to choose to embrace the mundane as 592 00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:54,160 meaningful. Maybe this week as you're, you 593 00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:58,000 know, dealing with your third blowout and your kids diaper, or 594 00:37:58,720 --> 00:38:01,440 you know that the house is a mess again, or the dishes are 595 00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:04,600 piling up, find meaning in those mundane activities. 596 00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:06,800 Allow those activities to just humble you. 597 00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:11,000 Find contentment in them. And thank God and realize that 598 00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:14,120 even Jesus came to serve. So as you serve your families 599 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:17,360 and as you serve your children, as you serve whoever, find 600 00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:19,360 contentment, find meaning in that mundane entity. 601 00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:23,760 Maybe for you it's as practical as choosing a bad parking spot 602 00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:27,200 instead of the best parking spot, or cleaning a toilet 603 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:30,640 without being noticed, right? Finding some way to serve in 604 00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:34,880 obscurity, serve in secrecy. Or finally, maybe you want to 605 00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:38,800 choose to associate with the lowly, spending time and 606 00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:42,480 offering yourself to someone who advances your cause in no way 607 00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:45,440 whatsoever, but you choose to just be with them anyway and 608 00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:48,440 love them. Realizing that they are made in 609 00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:50,600 the image of God too, and they have something to teach you and 610 00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:54,200 offer you as well. And if you do all these things, 611 00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:59,240 don't go tell people about it. Forget it. 612 00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:02,800 Enjoy the humility and worship God. 613 00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:13,280 So church, how low can you go? We need to remember that winning 614 00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:18,000 is actually lowering and that the way up is down.