Turning Point

Guest (Male): Jesus showed us the way to exaltation isn't through pride and self-centeredness, but through humility. What does that mean to us in our modern world? Today on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah offers some practical pointers to help us live life the way Christ modeled it, with a new perspective on love. To introduce the conclusion of his message, Going Up by Going Down, here's David.

Dr. David Jeremiah: Thank you so much for joining us. This passage of scripture that we're studying in Philippians is often considered one of the great doctrinal passages of the Bible—the kenosis passage. It is the self-emptying of Christ. But the interesting thing about it is you see it in the context of Philippians. It was not meant primarily to teach theology, for the key to this passage after having looked at it and studied it and understood it is this phrase: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." In other words, as you see what Jesus did, let this be your attitude of life.

We'll talk about it here on Turning Point as we open our Bibles together to the second chapter of Philippians. On this Friday edition of Turning Point, I'd like to remind you of the importance of getting to church on the weekend. I hope this is part of your pattern. So easy to become lazy, and I think more so in the summertime than in the rest of the year. So just make it your purpose, your determination: I will be there. No matter what's going on, I will put myself in the building. I will be in the church service. I will be there. I will take the time to plan. I will be resolute. I will be in church. I can't tell you how important that is, and I hope you'll take my word for it and begin this week going back to church if you haven't been there. Make this your purpose and your practice.

So today we talk about what it means to humble ourselves, and we've called this message Going Up by Going Down. Philippians chapter 2:5-11 is the text, and let's get started.

We read in Philippians chapter 2, verses 9 through 11, that He didn't come on a one-way tour. He came on a round trip. It says that "therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, and at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and those in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."

The passage here tells us that the one who came down went back up. When did that happen? The scripture says after the 40 days He was outside on a hillside. At the end of 40 days, we are told in Acts chapter 1, verses 9 through 11, "and when He had spoken these things while they watched, He was"—what's it say?—"taken up. And a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said: Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus who was taken up into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."

Now let me just throw in something free here. This isn't going to cost you a thing; this is absolutely free. Sometimes people say that the Ascension was the imagination of the disciples who wanted some closure to the life of Christ while He was on this earth. So they came up with this metaphor of Jesus going back to heaven. I've read that. There are more crazy books out about the Christian faith than have ever been published in my lifetime. You cannot believe what some people write. And the worst thing about it is there are people out there who believe it.

It takes more faith to believe what they're writing than it does if they just believe the Bible. Listen to me: Jesus didn't just sort of metaphorically disappear. Let me tell you how I know. Luke's record is an eyewitness account of the ascension of our Lord into heaven. In fact, Luke employs five different terms for sight to assure the historicity of this event. We are told that the disciples watched that He was taken up out of their sight, that they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, that the angels asked them why they were gazing into heaven, and that they were told that the same Jesus would return to the earth as they saw Him go.

They watched, their sight, they looked steadfastly, they gazed, and they saw. Now how can you get around that? That wasn't some dream; that was an actual event. When Jesus completed the 40 days, He went back to heaven. That was the beginning of His exaltation. Where is Jesus today, class? He's at the right hand of the Father making intercession for you and me. But the exaltation isn't over. Oh no, the exaltation has just started.

And in a short time, we believe that Jesus Christ will be exalted and that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord to the glory of the Father. Everything above heaven, all of the angels and all of the people who've been raptured already; everything on earth, all of the living saints; everything under the earth, all of the devils and all of those who are in hell—all of them will one day bow their knee before him and say He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And as someone said, you can either bow now or bow later. His exaltation.

Now as you can tell, I'm pretty steamed up about this passage because it is one of the great truths of the Word of God. But I don't want to come down off this mountain too fast; I just want to tell you this. As I said at the beginning, this was not written so that we would have a great doctrinal summary of the life of Christ. That was not the purpose. Some of you say, "Pastor Jeremiah, I love this paradox, but what in the world does it have to do with me? How do I get my arms around this? What do I do?"

In order to answer this question, we have to go back to the first few verses of the book of Philippians, chapter two. In essence, we have to read this passage backwards. If you will allow me to do it—the Hebrews did it, let me do it, all right? We're going to read this passage a little bit backwards. We're going to start by saying, because the Bible teaches that the way up is the way down and that the way to exaltation is through humility and that Jesus demonstrated that when He came to this earth and went back to heaven, what that means to us is found in the introduction to this passage.

So go back with me to the fifth verse of the second chapter and notice that if we get our arms around this, it will create a whole new reality for us. Listen: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." Paul, what are you talking about? What mind? Paul says to the Philippian believers: Here's what I want you to do. I want you to have the same attitude that Jesus had. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." And notice that at the end of verse five, there's no period. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God," and then all that passage we just looked at.

Here's what Paul is saying to the Philippians. If you understand what Jesus did, it creates a whole new reality for you. It changes everything; you can never be the same. In this verse, we're talking about a new perspective. He's telling us that we are to adopt the reality of Christ as the ultimate reality of life. Life is not about me. Whoa, what a jolt. That's a head-on collision for some of you. Say it with me; it'll be good for you. It will clean out a lot of stuff: Life is not about me.

Life is not about my stuff, it's not about my desires, it's not about my purposes, it's not about my wants. When Jesus came to this earth, He came for us. He left everything for us. And now Paul is saying to us: You need to understand that's your reality as well. As a follower of Christ, you can no longer live for yourself. You live for Him, and because of that, you live for others. The first paradox creates a new reality.

And it's so different than the reality of life until Christ comes, isn't that true? I mean, I know some pretty selfless people who aren't Christians, but it's just a little short blip on their chart and then they go back to being their selfish selves. What Jesus wants is He wants to come and live within us and create within us the same kind of selflessness that He demonstrated when He left heaven to come down here for us. It creates a new reality. Now that's sort of a general concept, but now we're going to get a little more specific as we read backwards.

In verse three, we read: "Therefore, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not for his own interests, but also for the interests of others," and then, "let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." What is Paul saying? He's saying this new reality you have because you're a Christ-follower and Christ is being formed in you—it changes some of your responsibilities.

He is saying that because this is true, we can never be the same again in our attitude and our approach to life. Here's a writing that I found from an old evangelist by the name of Paul S. Rees. Really powerful, listen to it: "The occasion and meaning of this eloquent outburst is simple and clear. Don't forget, cries Paul, that in all of this wide universe and in all the dim reaches of history, there has never been such a demonstration of self-effacing humility as when the Son of God in sheer grace descended to this planet."

"Remember that never, never in a million years would He have done it if He were the kind of deity who looks only to His own interests and closes His eyes to the interests of others. You must remember," said Paul Rees, "my brethren, that through your union with Christ in living redemptive experience, this principle and this passion by which He was moved must become the principle and passion that moves you."

We are going to be challenged as never before to be people of Christ. We're going to be challenged as we've never been before to make Jesus Christ first in our life, to make others important in our lives. It is going to be very challenging to us in these days that are before us to grab hold of this truth and catch the spirit of Christ. And you know what? I'm excited about it because never before have we ever had such an opportunity to show the difference of Christ in a self-motivated, self-driven world. If we become like Christ, like this passage, we will stick out like we never have before. What a great opportunity God has given us.

And then here's a third thing. It creates a new reality, creates a new responsibility, and then it creates new relationships. And this is kind of interesting to me because in verse two, we read these words: "Fulfill my joy by being likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind." Now let me just ask a question, class. Suppose I came to you in a contemporary way; I said: Here's what I want you to do. Are you ready? I want you to be likeminded. I want you to start having the same love. I want you to be of one accord. Literally, I want you to be of one mind. What would you think I knew about you because I was telling you that?

You weren't getting along with each other, right? You were having disunity. And guess what? If you read the book of Philippians, that was one of the problems they had in the church. There was disunity in the church. In the first chapter, Paul says that when he went to prison for preaching the gospel, some of the people in the church started to preach out of contention, out of ambition, causing stress within the body. Over in the second chapter, he says to them: Do all things without complaining and murmuring.

Come on, folks. If you really want to know what's going on, I'm going to tell you. In chapter four, we discover—and ladies, don't be mad at me—that there were two women in the church who were fussing with each other, and it was tearing the church apart. Notice chapter four, verse two: "I implore Euodia and Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord." Girls, stop fussing. Somebody said Syntyche is "soon-touchy"; she was touchy. They weren't getting along, they were fighting.

And I think Paul constructed this whole thing to give them an illustration about unity and why disputes and quarrels in the church are absolutely off-base and they're totally just off the radar chart. Ray Stedman says we must never forget that this passage is set against the backdrop of two quarreling ladies in the church at Philippi. That quarrel was threatening to destroy the unity of the whole church. Then he wrote, "Wherever there is contentiousness, it is a revelation of the presence of pride. Pride in a single individual life, in a family, a church, a government, a whole nation always destroys and divides and sets one person against another and perpetuates conflict and breaks up marriages and partnerships and unions of every sort."

Now listen again to verse two: "Fulfill my joy," said Paul, "and be likeminded, have the same love, be of one accord, of one mind." And use Jesus Christ and what He did to self-sacrifice Himself as an illustration of how you do that. So the way up is—where is it, class?—the way down. Now before we close our Bibles, I just want to ask this question, because this is the key to the whole deal. I guess I'm supposed to be more humble, right? So how do I do that?

Well, as soon as you figure it out and you start telling people about it, you've lost it, right? "Let me tell you how I became humble." It's over. And there's a story about a pastor in England who felt that he needed to become more humble. And he went to see one of his pastor brothers and he said, "What could I do to be more humble?" And the pastor said, "Well, let me just give you an exercise. I want you to make a sandwich board like the ones you wear over your neck with a sign in front and a sign in back. On the front, put: I am a fool for Christ's sake. On the back, put: Whose fool are you? Walk around England for three days and see if God doesn't help you do it."

So he did it. He put the signs on; he walked around England. Everybody ridiculed him; he was the joke of the whole city. And man, he was being humiliated. When he got back home and he took off the signs, he said he thought to himself: I bet there's not another preacher in this whole town who'll do what I just did. What happened? He lost it. Isn't that the way we are? Humility is such an evasive thing. We think we're humble.

So I want to help you understand what I've been learning. And I think as we close our Bibles today and we try to wrap our hearts around this truth, maybe we can carry this away and it will do us some good this week. Phillips Brooks wrote these words. He said, "The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against someone higher who will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is."

Humility is not going around poor-mouthing yourself, saying, "You know, I'm nothing, I'm nothing." Humility is standing up straight but understanding you're not measured by the people around you; you're measured against a mighty God. You remember Isaiah in the Old Testament? The Bible says Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up. He describes what he witnessed, and you know what he said next? He said, "Woe is me, for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips."

Here's what I'm learning. The more I understand about the greatness and majesty of Almighty God, the less likely I'm going to be to get enamored with who I am. The closer I get to God, the more I realize how far away I still am. He has embraced me in His love; I'm going to heaven. But to be godly and to be Christlike, it's a long life journey, is it not? We will never fully be there until we are changed into the likeness of Christ.

But on our way, we're to be developing this. And how do we do that? Not by sitting around telling everybody how bad you are; they already know that. But by focusing your attention on who He is, learning to know Him and to grow in Him and to love Him. And the more you know Him and love Him and get into who He is, the more perspective you'll have on your own life. And it won't strip you of your confidence; it will just help you to understand that your confidence is in Him and not in yourself.

Here's another way to say it, and I've said this before: Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it's just thinking of yourself less and thinking of Him more. One evening, the great conductor Arturo Toscanini was conducting Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. It was a brilliant performance. And at the end of the performance, the audience went absolutely nuts. They clapped and whistled and stamped their feet and totally caught up in the greatness of the performance; you couldn't get them to quit.

As Toscanini stood there, he bowed and he bowed and he bowed and then he began to notice the orchestra and acknowledge them. And finally, when the ovation had ceased, Toscanini turned around and looked intently at his musicians. He was so overcome with emotion; he was out of control. And he whispered. He said, "Gentlemen, gentlemen." And the orchestra leaned forward to hear him. And in a fiercely enunciated whisper, Toscanini said, "Gentlemen, I am nothing."

And that was an extraordinary admission because Toscanini was blessed with an enormous ego. And then he added, "Gentlemen, you are nothing." They had heard that already at rehearsal the same day. But then he stopped and stood up straight and he said, "But Beethoven, he is everything. He is everything. He is everything." And when you see Him as a believer, without being false, you realize: I'm nothing, we're nothing. Ah, but He's everything.

He's everything. He is all in all, and in Him we can have confidence and still have humility because our confidence is not in ourselves but it is in the one who wrote the score, who wrote the charts, who gave us the song, who put the melody in our hearts and started us singing when we accepted Him as our Savior. I am nothing, we're nothing, but Jesus is everything. And that, my friends, is the new reality of the Christian life. That's why it took a paradox to understand it.

Say with me again: The way up is the way down. Humble yourself before the Lord, and He will lift you up. Did you know that you have to understand and believe at least a little bit of this to become a Christian? Did you know that? You can't become a Christian unless you believe this. You say: What do you mean? The Bible says you become a Christian by confessing your sin. Who wants to do that? When you confess your sin, you say: I have failed. I have failed to live a perfect life. I have failed to stand up for the truths that even I believe. I have sinned.

Do you know why most men have a hard time coming to Christ in their adult life? Because they have been taught their whole life that you get what you get when you work hard for it and there's nothing free; if it's free, there's probably something wrong with it. And then here comes this upside-down faith, this religion, this Christ. And He says: No, I don't want any of your good works because you haven't got any. In fact, the Bible says our good works are like filthy rags in the sight of God.

Well, Lord God, what do you want? I just want you to humble yourself and ask for forgiveness. That's all I want. I've already paid the penalty for your sin; I've already covered all the bills. You don't have to worry about that. But if you're going to become a Christian, you have to acknowledge that you need Christ as your Savior. You have to humble yourself and invite Christ to come in. You know what the Bible says? The Bible says you have to humble yourself and become as a little child.

You talk to a guy who's in the executive suite and you say to him: You want to be a Christian? Let me tell you how to be a Christian. You have to become like a little child and humble yourself before God. But here's the good news, man. The way up is the way down. Once you do that, once you come and give your heart to Christ and ask Him to forgive your sin, it just keeps getting better and better from that moment on. If you want the better and better and you're not willing to humble yourself, you can't have it. It's not available like that.

But if you come and ask Christ into your life and you ask Him to forgive your sin, He will take you at His word, He will cover your sin, and He will lift you up. And the road from that moment on is a glorious road in harmony and fellowship with a Holy God. Is there any reason why you wouldn't want to do that today? Oh, you say, "Pastor, my friends are here." Whoops, got you. Why wouldn't you do it with your friends here? I'm too proud. You've got to humble yourself. You've got to forget about everything else. It's not about you, it's not about your friends; it's about Him. And when you get that, you've taken the first step toward faith in Christ. Amen.

Well, that brings us to the end of this particular message. Next week we're going to talk about finding strength through weakness, how to get through the wilderness, and trusting God in times of trouble. If you're going through some stuff, next week you need to be with us every day. We're going to talk about all of that from the Word of God with principles that will help you stay strong.

Don't forget during this month because of our celebration of 250 years of freedom here in this nation, we're making available a very special book: 100 Bible Verses That Made America. Defining moments that shaped our enduring foundation of faith. Robert Morgan, one of my best friends and an incredible writer, has put this book together to help you appreciate the faith foundation you have as a citizen of this nation. And this is available to you for a gift of any size during the month of July. Ask for your copy of this 370-page book. Thank you for your generosity. See you next time.

David Michael Jeremiah: Our message today came to you from Shadow Mountain Community Church and Dr. David Jeremiah, the senior pastor. Turning Point is also on radio and TV this weekend. To learn where you can find it, visit our website davidjeremiah.org/radio. That's davidjeremiah.org/radio. Or call 800-947-1993.

Ask for your copy of Robert J. Morgan's inspiring book, 100 Bible Verses That Made America. It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard, New International, and New King James Versions, available in your choice of handsome and durable cover options. If this ministry is helping you grow, let us know by writing to Turning Point, PO Box 3838, San Diego, California 92163. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us Monday as we continue the series Making Sense of it All on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.