The Humble King | Pastor Cody Harlow August 10th, 2025- Philippians 2:1-11

You have Christians within the church of Philippi that are exhibiting selfishness and they're living for this world. They're not living for eternity. They aren't living as citizens of a heavenly kingdom. And because there are many that are looking out for what they want and for their own desires, it's causing Gospel work to be hindered there in their area. And so this passage here in chapter 2 is a shift not so much of

The outward struggle of standing and suffering but is the inward attitude. What is our thought life like in the midst of all of this that sustains unity? What type of mind should we have as we try to fulfill a Gospel mission? Our passage begins with Paul giving the Philippians something to consider. And in fact, Paul, he what he's trying to do is he is trying to get the Philippians to think through their motives. Why are they doing what they're doing? Why are they behaving the way that they are? Because it is being disunifying. And I want you to think of maybe these verses this way, right? Because he asked if there's any encouragement. And he kind of has this thought and there is, right? Is there any encouragement in Christ? Yes, absolutely. Is there any comfort from love? Yes, there is. Is there any participation in the spirit of God? Yes, there is. Is there any affection and sympathy? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. It's over and over. Yes. And each of these blessings is objective because it's grounded in God's own character. And it's also subjective, meaning that we get to personally experience these things in Christ. They are individual, yet they're also communal. We are to enjoy these things together in our interactions with each other and individually before God. These things are true of Christians because they are ours in Jesus Christ. This is what gives fellowship to the local church. That's coinonia. This is what brings unity. It is in Christ by the spirit that we have encouragement, that we have comfort, that we have fellowship, that we have sympathy for each other, that we have affection. And these things are enjoyed individually because of our relationship with Jesus and they're experienced with one another. But the Philippians weren't experiencing the one another. And so Paul, he gives them this call to

Christlike unity. He is giving them Gospel encouragement to be of the same mind love and full agreement. And this is what will give them spiritual unity. And he pleads with the church that he himself helped plant and get started to be of the same mind, the same love, to be in full accord and of one mind. Unity here is not blind uniformity. But it is harmony in the truth of the Gospel. It's like many different voices singing the same song under the same Lord. Unity is not agreeing on the color of the carpet, color of the walls, chandeliers. I hate the chandeliers. I think a lot of people do. Wait, you ever walk through here? You ever walk through here and the lights are still on even though they're off, right? You know, it's an old lighting system. If anyone's got like, you know, bunch of money laying around, we could update our lights. That'd be awesome. We'll make them classy. Really nice. We will not have any laser shows in here, by the way. Right. We don't want that. We don't want smoke screens. No, smoke machines. Smoke screens, too. We don't want that. But it's not it's not agreeing on that or the style of music or the time of the service or anything like that. It means that if you and I, if we both love Christ and we're both committed to being submitted to his word, then you know what? We can pull together even if we wouldn't decorate our houses the same way in our church. Are you willing to yield your personal preferences so that the Gospel can advance without friction? Paul, he says that if they can find any agreement in those things, that will make his joy complete. Well, let's let's think about that because what he's saying is that his joy is incomplete. And why is that? It's not because he's suffering in the inner cells of a Roman

Prison where death hangs over his head. That's not the cause of the lack of joy in his life. The cause of the lack of joy is that the Philippians are not living like citizens of heaven. So he's got all this suffering and none of that matters because the local church is disunified. They're behaving like Romans, like Gentiles, like Jews. They're divided and disunified. And this increases Paul's suffering while he is in prison. And what is happening is that they're not able to contend for the faith because they're not able to strive side by side for the faith of the Gospel as he said in chapter 1. And so Paul, he identifies four problems that they have. The first one is that they're not unified in their thinking. They don't have the same thoughts. They're so focused on their own desires that they're neglecting their fellow believer. So their thinking is completely wrong. But listen, Christ, he did not lay aside or he did not cling to his rights, his wants, his desires, his preferences. He laid them aside for you. And now you have the freedom to lay aside your preferences for the sake of others. When you enter a ministry conversation or a church decision, remember that your Savior gave up the glory of heaven to serve your eternal good. And that same grace is what empowers you right now to ask not what do I want but what serves the Gospel of Christ best. This is the mind in verse two. Opinions and attitudes these must be shaped by the Lord Jesus Christ. Not by cultural preferences not by my personal agenda or your personal agenda. And so we're not called to just blindly agree to everything that someone wants. There is diversity under the lordship of Jesus Christ. And I could list specific examples because sometimes we do struggle in this area, right? There's no

Perfect church. Amen. >> But you know what? I've also seen God's grace among us in this area. I've seen members quietly meeting with each other to discuss the hard things and try to achieve unity even in the midst of difficult tensions. We see people reconciling after disagreements. We see people praying for each other during hard times. Those are glimpses of Christ's humility. And so, let's build on those evidences of God's grace and ask God to root out anything that pulls us apart. Secondly, they don't have love in their heart. This love is the self-sacrificial love that flows from the Gospel of grace. And it's the love that's poured into believers hearts. It's the love that abounds that Paul demonstrates by sending Apaproditis who is an asset to him. But because of his deep love for the Philippians, he says, "He's useful to me, but I'm going to send him to you because he's useful to you as well." It's the love of Christ being displayed as he died on the cross for our sins. This is the same love that Paul, he prayed about would abound in their lives in chapter 1 verse9. It's the love that they've received in Christ now being poured out toward one another. You can't faint this love. This is not about smiling on Sunday morning. It's about praying for people when you're at odds with them, when there's tension there. It's making a call that you when you'd rather just stay home. Who is God calling you to actively love in this way this week? Not just with words, but with actions. Everything flows out of that right relationship that we have with God. And when we are made right with God, authentic love for him and especially for other Christians is the hallmark of the believer. I don't know a single mature Christian that does not love Christ's bride.

Thirdly, they're not in harmony with each other. Believers in the local church ought to be in agreement with each other. I want you to think of the church as an orchestra, right? They're they're they're playing the same piece of music. What would happen if someone tried to just play their own piece of music? You got discord. You got disharmony. That not only are they in a different key, which y'all have heard me play in a different key before on Sunday morning, but it's a different piece of music, you know, everyone has their gifts and their talents. Everyone brings their instruments and they play the pieces that they're written to play in a wonderful way under the great conductor of our lives, the Lord God. And the Lord, he conducts his church. And harmony comes when we're all submitted to what his score is in his direction for our lives. That's one of the things that I love about like vacation Bible school, right? Is because everyone is focused on the mission of reaching kids for Jesus Christ. You know, you can always tell everyone's exhausted after that week. Everyone's worn out. But you know what? From crafts. They've got their own like little little thing that they're doing over there to the music in here. You know, Amber, she's going and everything like that. She's worn out after the week to snacks and the Bible teaching and everything. Everyone's working together, all these different parts, working in harmony to reach kids with the Gospel of Christ. That's what it's like to be in harmony with each other. But the church was not experiencing that. And fourthly, we see that they're not unified in their purpose. The first mind refers to the opinions, right? The thoughts. But here it's about the goals, the unity of the mission being one and purpose. My point here is that we must

Be united in our mission and stand together in the spirit of God for the sake of Gospel work. We're called to go forth and bear fruit and create fruit that remains according to John 15. But you know what? When people aren't unified in their purpose, what happens? Well, nothing happens. You get 20 years of decline when that happens. You see, Satan, he doesn't fear a church that is disunified. The gates of hell do not tremble when a Christian is at odds with another Christian. The demons don't cower when division fills a sanctuary. I wonder if the enemy were to evaluate our church today, would he be worried or would he be relaxed? Would he see a people so focused on Gospel mission that nothing can distract them or people so distracted that Gospel work barely moves forward? So, how can we get there? Because there's there's Gospel here. There's a reason why Paul is writing this and it's to help the Philippian church to move in the same direction. And so we look at what Paul says that our unity begins with remembering who we are in Christ and all of the shared blessings that we have. You see, we must remember that the word of God is the foundation for lasting unity in the church. Paul's appeal is not sentiment. It is grounded in our positional reality in Christ and the spirit's ongoing work within us. So Paul, he is explicit about what not to do. He says, "Do nothing." Okay, do that's an imperative. Nothing all-encompassing word. And he uses all sorts of all-encompassing words here. He says, "Not one part of a Christian's life should be influenced by these two things. Selfish ambition and conceit." Selfish ambition is a political term where a politician makes themselves appear really great and their opponent less desirable. So you think of rivalry

In politics in everyday life, making yourself look good. And then you have conceit that is empty pride. That's how it's understood. It's how it's best translated is empty pride. It emphasizes a much higher view of oneself. I'm the best, you know, I'm supreme. I'm the ruler. Right? It's it's a Roman quality. It's something that Romans actually cultivated and celebrated in their culture. And of course, Philippi is a Roman colony. So these values of self-promotion and conceit are deeply ingrained in Roman culture, but they're also deeply ingrained in every human heart, whether Roman or American or anything else. Paul, his call is just to say, quit acting like Romans, but quit acting like citizens of this passing world. That's the call that Paul is giving. You are citizens of the heavenly kingdom and so live out the culture of Christ through the foundation of humility. Paul, he gives us some positives of what we are to do here with humble hearts. We are to count others more significant than ourselves. This word count is another thought word. He's dealing with our mind. What are we thinking about? And it's understood here translated as consider. Consider yourselves or consider others more significant than yourselves. And so we can understand this to say that. And so that's not natural, is it? Because our culture trains us to think, I'm going to put my needs first or my wants first. But in the Gospel, the Gospel turns that upside down. And I want you to imagine what would happen in a church if every person showed up asking, "How can I lift up someone else today?" Who is someone that I can deliberately serve and love on and elevate before I leave this building? And Paul, he had

This mind, didn't he? Look at what he says. He says, "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. You know, we are to have a proper view of ourselves and a better view of others. And so, this means that we don't have elites at First Baptist Church. The world looks at ranks and statuses and they want to know the letters behind your name and all of your accomplishments and everything. And what does Paul say about those things? He says that those things are garbage compared to knowing Christ. They're absolute rubbish compared to knowing him. And yet we're also to simultaneously view others as our betters. Sincerely from the heart, our betters. Because the Christian life is not about personal honor, but it's about selflessness. And our lives are to be marked by humility and service. And we see this modeled in Jesus's life. What does Jesus say? He says, "Jesus called to them and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And Paul, he writes that this teaching doesn't mean that, you know, we're just focused on taking care of our own business or it doesn't mean that we're not taking care of our business or anything like that. Paul, he's saying look out not only to your own interests but also the interests of others. What's he saying? He's simply rephrasing

What God has said since the beginning to love your neighbor as yourself. And so, how do we handle this? Is this a contradiction? No. Biblical humility is about rejecting self-centeredness as our driving motivator. It's about laying aside wants and desires for the sake of the glory of God. What advances the kingdom of God? What advances the Gospel of Christ? And so when a decision in this church doesn't go the way that you want, humility says, "Praise God, his work is still being done." When someone else gets credit for your work, humility says, "It's not about my name. It's about his name." And so, which voice is louder in your heart? The spirit reminding you to rejoice in others and their successes in Gospel work or the flesh whispering you deserve that or that would be better. And we see this modeled in the life of Christ. It's not about seeking personal benefits and personal goods and personal honors. We see Jesus at the beginning of his ministry was insanely popular and everyone was like, "Let's let's get this guy on the throne right now." And instead, what did he do? He rejected the honor of this world in order to follow the father's plan of redemption to save God's people. You see, Jesus, he wasn't indifferent to people's needs. He met their needs. He was genuinely loving. He was genuinely interested in them. It was never surface level with Christ. And we are called to have the same mind. You know, Paul, we do have limits on unity, okay? We don't we don't unite for the sake of unity, okay? We unite around the truth of God's word. That's what we're called to do. In Philippians 3, he'll warn about against those who distort the Gospel. And it echoes what he said in Galatians chapter 1 when he says, "But even if we are an angel from

Heaven should preach to you a Gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed." As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a Gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. And so for us, we must hold to the pure and true and unadulterated word of God. And thirdly, we have to look at the example of Jesus Christ. Paul, he says to have this mind. That's another thought phrase. Think like this. Look at the example of Jesus. And all believers are to have this mind which is ours. Paul, he is correcting the thought patterns of this church. Battling selfish ambition, self-centerness, empty pride. And he's showing them that the culture's way of thinking is not Jesus's way of thinking. And this mind is not something that we obtain through effort. Rather, this mind is ours. It is already ours in Christ Jesus. And so we look at his mind. We don't know all the thoughts of Jesus, but we do know his entire purpose was to do the will of the father. Jesus's life was laser focused on pleasing the father and doing his will. That's why he spent so much time in prayer and communion with the father. It was it was Christ's spirit that enabled what he commanded. And so we can live out the mind of Christ because we are empowered to do so by his indwelling Holy Spirit. We also look here at his advent. It's a fancy word meaning his arrival. The word existed fully divine before he became the son. According to John 1:14, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory. Glory as of the only son from the father full of grace and truth. That passage is understood as being in the form of God. That means likeness of God. And he was counted as equal with God. And that means that Jesus, he did not achieve divinity. He is divine. And he has been so since before the foundations of the world.

And Jesus did not count equality with God something to be grasped as in something to take for himself to Lord it over others. There's a Greek term here, a thing to be grasped, doesn't refer to something that he didn't have, but something that he already possessed and refused to exploit. Remember here that Jesus, he is the second Adam, the greater Adam. Adam, he took for himself the fruit that was forbidden. He was not supposed to do that. He is the one that crushes Satan's head. Satan, he tried to take for himself the throne of heaven and instead he rebelled against God. But Christ, he has every right to be the Lord, every right to be the master and king of creation. And he is. And when he came, he would have had every right to smite everyone on the face of the earth and execute supreme justice upon every single living, breathing human person. And yet, what did he do? He emptied himself not of his divinity but he took on the form of a servant. That is when Christ was born he became man. He took on flesh. Jesus has always been in the form actual God. And Jesus took on the form of actual man. Fully God, fully man, the fullness of both in one person. And so when you're tempted to cling to your rights, remember that Jesus, he had every right to stay in heaven. And yet he laid them down for you. And that's the standard for our humility. And if he could step that low for you, what step of humility is beneath you? Can you not lay aside preference for the sake of unity? Notice that the Christians in Philippi, they had built up themselves, their selfish ambition, their empty pride. And Christ, what did he do? He took on selfless ambition. And he emptied himself by becoming a servant, a slave. And this emptying by service was a path of unparalleled obedience to the will of

God. And there was not one time in all of history, not one time, where Christ walked apart from the will of the father. As an infant, he was perfect. Throughout childhood, he was perfectly obedient. That boy grew up into a perfect man. And this man had a unique purpose to obey God to death by dying on the cross for the sins of mankind. And that led to his exaltation. Therefore, because of Jesus's perfect obedience and service, God has exalted him. Now, Jesus is not higher than he was before creation. Okay. He is not higher than he was before he was incarnate. We just have his true identity now. He is exalted. His name is above every other name. And the name of Jesus commands power and authority. And now there is coming a day when every knee will bow. Paul, he's not creating new imagery here. He's not doing something creating new language. He's simply quoting what the Old Testament says. To me, talking about God, every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance. Paul is showing us that Jesus shares the very divine identity of Yahweh himself. This moment when every knee bows is not optional. It is not optional. It is inevitable and it will fulfill God's eternal decree. The whole sweep of human history from creation to Israel's hope to the cross to the resurrection to the final judgment is moving towards this moment when every knee will bow and proclaim Christ as Lord. Paul, he is doing what he's done in this passage using all-encompassing language to drive the point home. He said any. He said do nothing. And now he's saying one day every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

That phrase under the earth. It likely includes the dead and the spiritual powers of evil. That means that no being in existence is in is excluded from the lordship of Jesus. All creation will bow to Christ. From the highest angels and the elders that stand before God in heaven to believers and those who remain here on earth to those who rejected Christ and war against him. Yes, even Satan himself will begrudgingly pay homage to the King of Creation before he is cast into the lake of fire because he is a defeated foe and he will submit. Paul's point is absolute. No being anywhere will escape the moment where Christ has acknowledged as Lord. And so we began this morning with an image of a team of horses pulling in opposite directions. They were exhausted. They were frustrated. They weren't going anywhere. But what happens when the reigns are given over to the rightful driver? What happens when every heart is submitted to the same Lord pulling towards the same goal of Gospel work, making disciples, bearing fruit and that fruit remaining? What happens when that when we all are pulling towards that same goal? The cart moves, the mission advances, and the kingdom grows. Church, Christ is the driver. He is the humble king who laid aside his rights for you. He died in your place and now he is exalted above every other name. And one day every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth will and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And so let's not wait another day to give him the glory that he deserves. Let's live it now together with one mind, with one love, with one mission for the sake of his Gospel because we are called to be in one mind, in one love, in one mission.

That means reconciling to the person that you've been avoiding because Christ reconciled you at the cost of his life. It means choosing unity over preference because Christ chose the cross over his comfort. That means pulling together for the advancement of the Gospel because the lamb who was slain is worthy to receive the reward of his suffering. And his glory is not just our goal. It's our entire purpose. That's why we're here. Head, heart, hand, head. God. He wants you to know that Gospel unity comes through humility, following Christ's example of laying aside his rights for our sake. Yeah. He wants you to know that Gospel unity comes through humility and following Christ's example. So Christ, he has shown us the way by laying aside his rights to serve and to save us. We're called to follow his example. Heart. God, he wants you to believe Christ's humility is the model and source of true church unity. Christ's humility is our example and the power that makes true unity possible. When we trust him and we follow his example, the church can live with one mind and one mission. And God, he wants you to set aside self-interest to pursue Gospel unity. You know, p putting the Gospel first means letting go of personal agendas that divide Christ's people. When we lay aside self-interest, we make room for love, for service, and for shared mission. That's how this church and every church will be able to move forward together in the power of Christ. Father, we do thank you so much for this day that you've given to us. We pray that you would just deal with our hearts and deal with our minds. Lord, our attitudes may not have been right when we came here today. And Lord, if there's anyone here that's them, I pray that they would get that right with you. Lord, even for myself, Lord, I turn away from those

Things. Help me to pursue you above everything else. Father, I pray that's the prayer of every believer that's here. And if there's anyone that doesn't know you as their Lord and Savior, God, I pray that they would understand that one day they will submit that they will profess Christ as Lord. Either they can get that right now or they will bow the knee later, but I pray that they would do it now that they might be delivered from the wrath to come. We ask that you would move among us, God, as we stand and we sing together. You are worthy, you are good. Thank you for the beauty and the truth of the Gospel. Help us to have humble minds and humble hearts, God. Preferring others over ourselves and ultimately working towards your goal for our lives, which is the advancement of the Gospel. Help us Lord in Jesus name. Amen. Let's all stand and let's worship together. [Music] Oh creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and with us sing. Oh, praise him. Hallelu [Music] burning sun with golden be [Music] with softer gle. Oh praise him. Hallelu. [Music] Hallelu. [Music] Let all things that create a blessing and worship him in humbleness. Oh, praise him. Hallelu. [Applause] Praise. Praise the father. Praise the son. [Music] Praise the spirit. Three in one. Oh, praise him. Hallelu. Hallelujah.

[Music] [Applause] [Music] All the regime washed by his love. Come and rejoice in his great love. Oh, praise him. Hallelu. Christ has defeated every sin. Cast all your burdens now on him. Oh, praise him. Hallelu. Hallelujah. [Music] [Applause] [Music] We shall return in power to rain. Heaven and earth will join to sing. Oh, praise him. Hallelu who shall fall unended all creatures of our God and king. Oh praise him. Hallelu. [Music] Amen. Church. Hey, it's good having y'all here today. If you got any questions about the sermon or what we're all about, be sure to come up and shake my hand and just introduce yourself. I'm we do have a potluck that's going on here and so we got a couple of folks down there that are help setting it up. Give us about 10 minutes or so and we'd love to just have you stick around and shake your hand and say, "Hey, don't forget that we got a business meeting at one." other than that, God bless you. I love you, church. Go in peace. Thank you.