HE HUMBLED HIMSELF TO THE POINT OF DEATH

 

 

Gregory of Nyssa lived in Cappadocia (a region in modern Turkey) in the fourth century. His older brother, a bishop, arranged for him to be appointed bishop of the small and obscure and unimportant town of Nyssa (A.D. 371). Gregory objected; he didn’t want to be stuck in such an out-of-the-way place. But his brother told him that he did not want Gregory to obtain distinction from his church but rather to confer distinction upon it. Gregory went to where he was placed and stayed there. His lifetime of work in that place, a backwater community, continues to be a major invigorating influence in the Christian church worldwide (Eugene Peterson: side walk in the kingdom).

In Philippians 2:5-9 Paul instructed the Philippians to be willing to take humble positions in their relationships as Jesus ^“who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness... he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross!”

Paul gives a command “have this attitude in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” Then he goes on to describe the attitude of Jesus. Jesus voluntarily left the highest position in the universe and went to the very lowest position on earth in order to rescue from God’s judgment, people who did not in any way deserve it.  Since the glory of heaven is beyond our human ability to comprehend, we have difficulty grasping the sacrifice our Lord made.

We sometimes think of God as a massive cosmic force that we need to be constantly in fear and trembling towards. And indeed he is referred to as the great and “terrible God” (Deut. 10:17, Neh. 1:5) and “dreadful God” (Daniel 9:4). But God did not want that to be the final word towards His creation. God wanted us to know him primarily as the one who loves. And he did that was by coming to us as a common man

Paul could have said that Jesus took on the form of a human being. That would be humiliation enough for God. Instead, he chooses the “bond-servant” the lowest position a person could become in the Roman world; the bottom rung in the ladder from the Throne of God. The King of the Universe voluntarily became a pauper for our sake. Jesus was not born in a mansion or a king’s palace, but in a dirty stable among the animals.

The Almighty God appeared on earth as a helpless human baby. He endured hunger, thirst and tiredness. He had to borrow a place to be born, a boat to preach from, a donkey to ride upon, an upper room to use for the last supper, and a tomb to be buried in. He humbly submitted to his parents like a child. He took a humble trade of a carpenter. He was humble in the companions and disciples he chose.  He was humble in the audience he appealed to and the way he taught.  

He did not regard being equal with God something to be used for His own advantage. The Creator of the Universe was insulted, humiliated and rejected by the people he had created. He calmly endured the public humiliation of his death. Jesus was obedient to his heavenly father even to the point of death (Luke 22:42). He who was totally without sin endured the wrath of God by becoming sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21).

Jesus died in the most despised death of all, a condemned criminal on the accursed cross. Jews viewed death on a cross as a curse from God (Deut.21:23, Gal.3:13). The agonizing death of crucifixion was reserved for slaves and foreigners. Crucifixion was a horrible way to die. The cross was painful and humiliating beyond description for Jesus. But, the most painful part was God the Father turning His back on him for sins committed by others (Matt 27:46).  

Jesus did not seize equality with the Father for his personal advantage. He set the benefits aside so that the Father’s interests could be served. In the same attitude those in positions are not to abuse their power to further their own interests. Jesus said “the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them ...It must not be this way among you! But whoever wants to be great ... must be your servant...just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:20-28).

Humility means lowering oneself to lift others up.  Humility means we are to serve others in obedience to God, even at great personal cost. Humility prompts us to leave our “comfort zone” for the benefit of others, some who may not even deserve it. One day Jesus washed his disciple’s feet, and then he told them, “I your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet... I have given you an example...do just as I have done for you... the slave is not greater than his master...you will be blessed if you do these things” (John 13:12-17).

Jesus said “Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matt. 11:29).  Do you need soul rest? Jesus prescribed gentleness and humbleness in heart.  In Isaiah 42:1-4 God said this about Jesus “Here is my servant ... my chosen one in whom I delight...he will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the street.  A bruised reed he will not break a smoldering wick he will not snuff out”. If you want God to delight in you, follow the footsteps of his son!

Jesus had all power and glory; he could have demanded man’s homage and praise. He had every reason to be proud and yet he manifested humility. We are often proud when whatever we have is a gift from God (Acts17:25): breath of life (Job 33:4, Isa. 42:5), peace and joy (Rom. 14:17, Gal.5:22), wealth (Deut 8:18, 28:4-12), children (Ps 127:3, 113:9), salvation (Eph 2:8-9), spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:11). As Paul put it, “What do you have that you did not receive... why do you boast as though you did not?” (1 Cor. 4:7).

Paul wrote Philippians 2:5-9 with the express purpose of motivating believers to be humble and unified. He told the Ephesians the same thing “I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling ...with all humility and gentleness...ready to maintain the unity of the spirit” (Eph 4:1-3). In Paul’s day, humility was a despised trait. They viewed it as a sign of weakness. And our culture today is no different.

The Philippians were tempted to think of God’s power as being expressed only in exaltation and deliverance and not in terms of glorifying God through humble service and endurance.  Paul reminded the Philippians that his current place of humble circumstances (his Roman imprisonment) could still show forth the glory and power of God, even as Jesus did in His humility.

We wrongly believe that power and humility are incompatible. We expect the poor to be humble and the powerful to be proud and forceful (Proverbs 18:23). We tend to think of humility as the fate of the poor and the powerless, rather than the choice of the powerful and successful. Our Lord is the extreme example of humility in the context of power and glory. If Jesus could practice humility, then we should do it too.

The coming of Jesus to earth, his life and death shows that there is no limit to what God will do to demonstrate His love and saving power to man. This means no matter what you go through, no matter how low you may get, you can never sink so far that Jesus cannot get under you and lift you up. He can identify with you in any situation, no matter how hard: poverty, loneliness, humiliation, rejection, you name it.

Any personal cost we have to bear in serving God is nothing compared to what Jesus did. Humility is not weakness; it is power focused on the good of others. Jesus’ humiliation was not the end of the story; he went back home to glory and Saul of Tarsus saw a little of the resurrected Jesus’ present glory (Acts 9:1-9). John saw him in a vision; his face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance (Rev. 1:12-18).  

Humiliation will not be the end of your story either; you will someday enter into his glory if you remain faithful to the end. The Bible says “no eye has seen and no ear has heard and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Cor.2:9).