Telling the Truth

Female Speaker: We all have a tendency to let things go to our head, to think too highly of ourselves. We're glad you've joined us today on Telling the Truth, as we listen to a powerful teaching from Stuart Briscoe about the humility that Christ modeled and one we should exhibit as his followers.

But first, in their two-message series, "Worry Less," Stuart and Jill Briscoe help you break free from worry and experience the joy and peace God wants for you. We'll send you a copy of this resource, plus Jill's booklet, "Me Worry," as thanks for your gift today to help others experience life in Christ. But the offer ends this week, so call today to request your copy of "Worry Less" and "Me Worry." 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org.

Now, here's Stuart's message.

Stuart Briscoe: I'd like to direct your attention to Paul's letter to the Philippians and the second chapter. This is what he says.

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Did you notice that? What he said? Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.

Now that will leap off the page at you. He doesn't just leave it there, however. He then gives us a piece of poetry that scholars believe in all probability is a fragment of one of the earliest hymns of the Christian church. So there's something very special about this. It's rather interesting to notice the kind of things they were singing in those days.

This is what he says: "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. But made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."

Now you'll notice that he's saying here, "This is what I want you Philippians to do. Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner that is worthy of the gospel of Christ." And to do that, it will be necessary in humility to consider others better than yourselves. That is a challenging statement.

Now, the reason that the Apostle Paul is very much concerned about addressing these people on the subject of humility is that he understood the lack of humility, pride, is the most certain way of destroying the community of believers.

In that church there were people who were coming from a Greek or Roman or Greco-Roman culture, and there were also people who came from a Hebrew background. Now their attitudes would be very, very different. Their cultures were extremely different. But they're all together now in a community of believers, and the possibilities of tension, the possibilities of stress and strain, the possibility of the unity being destroyed were immense.

And Paul knew that unless each of them were willing to stay humble in this situation, the whole thing could fly apart. So now you have an interesting situation in this little church in Philippi. You've got people coming from one background that says, "Humility is not for us. We were born free." And the other people who say, "Humility is the only appropriate response to our fundamental understanding of the world as it is."

And the potential for a clash in that church is immense. Not only that, you've got people who are wrestling with the clash between their cultural norms and what the Bible is now teaching them. And so the possibilities for this little church coming apart at the seams are immense.

And the Apostle Paul says, "The only way you're going to hold things together and be the unified group that this city of Philippi needs in order for the purposes of God worked out through the church in this city to come to fruition," the only hope for it is that you adopt a humble attitude.

Now, that's basically what this passage is about. So let me look at it in a little more detail with you for a few minutes. First of all, an explanation of why humility was necessary and expected in this fellowship of believers, and in every fellowship of believers.

The Apostle Paul says, "There are some very, very good reasons why you should be concerned about maintaining the unity of the Spirit that lack of humility would destroy." And here are some of the reasons. Number one: "If you have any encouragement from being united in Christ." Here's the second one: "If there's any comfort from his love." Here's the third: "If there's any fellowship with the Spirit." Here's the fourth: "If there's any tenderness and compassion."

Then he says, "Make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." Now look at those four things that he majors on. In the fellowship of believers, he said, "You need to be concentrating on the fact that you are united with Christ."

Now, if they have a common life in Christ, it's obvious that they now have something wonderfully in common themselves. Now the problem is this: because they come from diverse backgrounds, have diverse priorities, have diverse interests, it's easy for them to consider and to concentrate on their differences, when what they should be doing is rejoicing in their commonality. We're all united with Christ.

Now look at the second thing that he says. "If there is any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love." From early days I was taught that God has demonstrated his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And my heart from early days was warmed with this tremendous sense of the love of God showered upon me and invested in my life by the Holy Spirit.

And it has warmed and graced my life ever since. I'm loved of God. But then one day it dawned on me, it was incredible that God actually loved some of you as much as he loved me. And I thought, "No. No. That couldn't possibly be." But then I realized, it's true. Strange, but true.

Now, this is what we have in common. If we're all united with Christ, and we have all been drawn by the love of Christ, all these different things really, really fade into insignificance, don't they?

Female Speaker: You're listening to a teaching from Stuart Briscoe on the importance of staying humble, as our Lord himself did. We'll get back to Stuart shortly, but before we do, anxiety, fear, and worry can keep you in a painful state of uneasiness and limit you from truly experiencing the incredible joy and peace God wants you to have.

We want to help you break free from worry and embrace God's abiding peace with Stuart and Jill Briscoe's encouraging two-message series, "Worry Less." This powerful series, available through this week only, shines a critical light on a root cause of worry and gives you practical guidance on how to rule your anxieties instead of having them rule you.

It's fresh encouragement straight from God's word to help you overcome the stresses of life, whatever they may be, so you can start living with more joy. We'll send you the "Worry Less" series, as well as Jill's booklet "Me Worry," as our thanks for your gift today to help you share the healing truth of God's love with people around the world through the resources and teaching of Telling the Truth.

Again, the offer ends Friday, so call today to request your copy of these resources when you give. 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org.

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Now, here's more from Stuart.

Stuart Briscoe: Read on. "If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, any comfort from his love, any fellowship with the Spirit." A person who's a believer has experienced the work of the Holy Spirit in his or her life. It's a fascinating work, this work of the Holy Spirit. It's a convicting work that begins to show a person the reality of their own fallenness, their own sinfulness, their own moral bankruptcy before God. It's the work of the Holy Spirit.

It's a converting work. It works a work of change, a work of sense of forgiveness, and of reconciliation to God. It's a convincing work of the Holy Spirit. He begins to convince us of the truth of who God is and what he has done and what he promises. And it is a conforming work. It begins to conform us gradually to the image of Christ.

Now, obviously all those things would preach and they need a lot of explanation. But the thing to realize is this: every believer to some extent has experienced the convicting and the converting and the convincing and the conforming work of the Holy Spirit. But here's the incredible thing: so has every other believer.

Every one of you, however crusty, however stiff upper lip, however hard-nosed you might be on the outside, has been touched with the tenderness and compassion of the loving God who's drawn you to himself. Every single one. Now here's the point. It's the easiest thing in the world in any community for people, because of their differences, to so concentrate on their differences that tensions arise.

But the only way that you can maintain the unity is to handle the tensions, and the only way that you can handle the tensions is to adopt a humble attitude to each other, and a humble attitude to the Lord, and a humble attitude about yourself.

The Bible teaches that God detests pride. He just plain hates pride. The Bible doesn't say an awful lot about the stuff that God detests, but that's one of them. He says it more than once. It clearly is something that sticks in God's craw, assuming he has a craw. It is something that he cannot tolerate.

Now, why? Well, first of all, because pride is an attitude that refuses to acknowledge God's superiority. Pride will come through where a human being shows that he thinks that he and his opinions and his ideas and his plans are more significant than God's purposes and plans. He may say there isn't a God, or he may say there is a God, but I don't care what he says. Or there is a God, and I know what he says, and I know I should have done it, but I'm going to do it anyway.

It's called pride, and God detests that, because it is an exalting of the self at the expense of the recognition of the sovereignty of God. Pride demonstrates itself in another way. It exalts itself over against the neighbor, the other person. It regards itself as being the most significant person in the world, and that everybody else should recognize it. It assumes that it has rights second to no one else.

And accordingly, it demeans the other person. God says, "You should love the other person." Pride says, "No, I prefer to demean the other person." God detests it. So the Apostle Paul says, "What we need around here is some humility."

Well, what does that look like? Well, he goes into specifics about it. He says, "Make my joy complete." And this is how you'll do it. "By being like-minded, having the same love, being of one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. And don't just look out for your own interests, but also for the interests of others."

Now, we could spend time profitably in all those areas. We don't have time to do it, however, right now. However, let me just identify one or two things for you. It says that the humble person is the person who's going to work hard at like-mindedness.

In the community of believers, if you've got people coming from one cultural background and people from the opposite, if you've got some people who think humility is a virtue and others think it's absolutely stupid, if you've got entirely different approaches to things, then of course it is perfectly possible that if they concentrate on their cultural norms and their own preferences, they will not have a meeting of the minds. They'll have a constant butting of heads.

And this happens in many communities of believers. But the Apostle Paul says, "Somebody's got to back off. Somebody has got to say, 'Look, it isn't just a case of butting heads. It's a case of recognizing that our differences are secondary. Our commonalities are primary.'" What are the commonalities? We're all united to Christ. We've all been comforted by his love. We've all experienced the work of the Spirit. We all know something about compassion and the tenderness of God in our lives.

Okay, let's major on those things, and let's make the main thing the main thing. For the main thing is to make the main thing the main thing. The problem is in the church that very often the main thing that people insist on is not the main thing at all, it's their own personal priorities. And somewhere along the line, people back off humbly and say, "What I think is not all that important. Let me try and find out what other people think. So that there might be a sense in which we can come together, and instead of majoring on secondaries, we can come unitedly to be like-minded about the main thing."

It's a beautiful thing when that happens. It requires just a little humility. Whatever happens, stay humble. "Make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love." It's very easy to become angry with each other. It's very easy to be irritated with each other. It doesn't really take a lot for us to become envious and jealous and resentful of each other, sadly.

However, because we have been drawn by the same love and have experienced the same tenderness and compassion, because we're indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul thinks that it is perfectly reasonable to say, "We should humbly take the position now of saying, 'I choose not to be resentful, I choose not to be envious.' This is what I choose. I choose to be primarily concerned with your well-being." In other words, "I choose to love you." What a dramatic thing that is. But it does require a bit of backing off from my personal preferences.

It's called humility. "Make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose." Don't just come to the point of saying, "Well, okay, if that's the way they're going to go, I guess that's the way they're going to go, but I'm not going to go with them." No, that would not be the united spirit. It would not be a sense of united purpose.

It's not a case of saying, "Well, if that's the way they're going to go, I didn't agree with it in the first place and I'm just going to sit here and wait until I can say, 'I told you so.'" No, it's going to be a case of this: "The body is more important than I am as an individual. I'm part of this body, and if this is the way that the body is going, God, just enable me with genuine spirit and genuine purpose to go along with my brothers and sisters for this reason: I'm united in Christ with them, I'm comforted by the same love they're comforted, I have fellowship with the same Spirit, and there's a tenderness and compassion at work in all of us. God, grant me humility to get on board with who they are and what they're doing."

Female Speaker: That's Stuart Briscoe on Telling the Truth with a powerful teaching on Christ-like humility. More in a moment.

Life is full of stressful situations, so it's no surprise that so many of us these days struggle with things like anxiety, fear, and worry. That's why Stuart and Jill Briscoe created their two-message series, "Worry Less," to help you take hold of the peace and joy God intends for your life. It's our thanks for your gift to support today.

These encouraging messages uncover the root cause of worry and give you practical guidance straight from God's word on how to overcome worry so that it doesn't overwhelm you. Plus, when you give today, we'll also include Jill's booklet, "Me Worry," as an extra thank you.

Generous friends like you keep broadcasts like this one going, reaching others with God's healing love so they can experience God's peace and the joy of life in Christ. So if you haven't given before, consider a gift today to help keep God's word going out around the world to you and many others.

And remember, this is the last week for you to request your copy of "Worry Less" and "Me Worry" when you call and give. Just call 1-800-889-5388. 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online when you visit tellingthetruth.org.

Stuart Briscoe: Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. One of the difficulties we have in the community of believers is that we can sound terribly sanctimonious at times, and we can spiritualize a whole lot of things. And not infrequently, we can make statements that are simply a cloak for nothing less than selfish ambition and vain conceit.

You know, one of the commandments is, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." We use that to teach our kids they shouldn't say cuss words. I don't think that's what it means, really. I think what it means to take the name of the Lord your God in vain is to attribute to the Lord your God things that have absolutely nothing to do with him. And perhaps the most common way of doing that is to cloak selfish ambition or vain conceit in sanctimonious terminology which says, "The Lord told me."

Then he makes this wonderful statement, "Oh," and this is the part that we usually spend time on in this particular passage, verse 5. "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." And then he comes up with this beautiful passage, which basically says this: that the Lord Jesus was eternally used to heaven, and he voluntarily laid aside all the trappings and all the benefits and all the glory of being eternally part of heaven.

And he volunteered to come down to a sin-stricken world. Live 30 years in obscurity, self-imposed obscurity, took on a menial task, learned servanthood. Then eventually embarked on his public ministry. In going into his public ministry, he was met by unbelievable opposition, unrelieved hatred and antagonism, eventually was falsely accused, illegally tried, immorally sentenced, and cruelly crucified.

And when he hung on that cross, he became the personification of sin itself, a sin offering for us, and on his defenseless head poured out the holy, righteous indignation and just judgment of a holy, righteous, just God against the sins of the whole world, and he took it. And he went down into death, even the death of a cross.

It's called humility. And God raised him from the dead. Took him to his own right hand and set everything under his feet and said, "The day will come when you'll be seen to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and every knee will bow to you and every tongue will confess to you." And the Apostle Paul says to the Philippian Christians, "You guys are arguing, you're factious, you're breaking the unity of the Spirit, because you're more interested in your own interests than the interests of another. You're not interested in the unity of the Spirit, you're not interested in being the body of Christ. You're all going after your own thing and you're contentious. Make my joy complete, and just get a whole new attitude."

And if you want to model, there it is. It's Jesus. You claim to be followers of Jesus, don't you? Why don't you follow him? Is Jesus the only one who should go through self-humiliation? Or is it that his followers become people who will say, "It's not I, but Christ who lives in me." Paul says to the Philippians, "You're doing very well, folks. You're a great joy to me. Now make my joy complete and learn, whatever happens, to stay humble."

Well, that's a challenge for me. It's a challenge for you. But whatever happens, stay humble.

Female Speaker: Words to live by from Stuart Briscoe.

Before we go, just a reminder that through the end of this week, when you give to support Telling the Truth broadcasts like this one, we'll send you the Briscoes' two-message series, "Worry Less," and Jill's booklet, "Me Worry." These encouraging resources will help you start to worry less and live with more joy. The offer ends Friday, so request your resources when you call 1-800-889-5388. 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online when you visit tellingthetruth.org.

These encouraging resources will help you start to worry less and live with more joy. The offer ends Friday, so request your resources when you call 1-800-889-5388. Thanks for joining us today. Come back tomorrow to hear Stuart's message, "Keep Shining," and discover how you can shine for Jesus, whatever happens. That's tomorrow on Telling the Truth.