Follow Jesus with Humility

In Philippians verses 1-4, Paul provides the Philippians church numerous examples of how to fulfill his joy in being a fellow brother in Christ. He starts out by using terms like “consolation in Christ”, “comfort of love”, “fellowship of Spirit” and “affection and mercy”. Paul begins this section with the message by describing the Christian behaviors such as humility and being of one mind with Christ while rejecting the worldly behaviors such as selfish ambitions, conceit and promoting your own self-interests without considering the interests of others. Paul then follows up with what some theologians consider in verses 5-11 as a hymn. In these verses the message conveyed is one of the most important messages that Paul will deliver to the Church. That message is to replicate the behaviors that Jesus demonstrated during His three year ministry and when He went to the cross. The focus of His behavior is His obedience to His Father. How did Jesus do this? He did it with great humility and displaying through practice, His obedience to His Father while putting the interests of others before His (verse 5). Jesus did not want the focus to be on Him, but to show that He served His Father with all that was asked of Him through obedience and humility. Jesus is the greatest example and the epitome of a faithful, humble, obedient servant we have to live by.

When we develop the mind of Christ our lives will change. Jesus did not want to focus everyone’s attention on to Him as being the Son of God as it would distort the real message Jesus is trying to convey. Jesus made Himself of no reputation, a bondservant in the likeness of man to show that when we take our eyes off of ourselves and our circumstances, then our outlook in life will dramatically change for the better. Our focus on what we perceive is important also changes. We no longer rely on our own self-importance for approval by others nor do we look at self-importance as a key qualifier for living a successful life. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for you and me and through His obedience to His Father, going to the cross was not easy as we see in (Matthew 26:39) but Jesus did it because of the love He has for us and the love He has for His Father.

Jesus was exalted by God for His obedience and God gave Him the name (Jesus) above every name. We know there will be a time where every knee will bow and every tongue will confess the name of Jesus as Lord. If we follow the behaviors of Jesus and treat each other with respect and dignity our relationship with Christ will grow closer than we could ever imagine. Our love for God and others will grow stronger and our vision will become clearer. The vision that God has given which is to love and respect each other, to help the widow and the children, to show kindness to others, to give a hand up and not a hand out. To represent the Triune God the way He intended us to, showing our deep love we have for Him and share that love with others so they may know what we know and they may experience what we have in our close, personal and loving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and His Father, Yahweh the creator of all.

When we strive to live our lives according to the biblical principles laid out to us in scripture, our lives become more meaningful. Our purpose in life changes from a selfish life to a selfless life. Jesus proves to us in His earthly ministry that no matter what stature you possess if you serve God with humility and obedience, the ultimate reward becomes a life filled with Jesus and His Father, the creator of all things to live with them in the kingdom of heaven for eternity.

My prayer is that we would follow Jesus with all our hearts. That we would exercise the gifts He has given to each one of us in serving Him and His father. I pray that the Holy Spirit will fall upon us and that we will put God first in all that we do and that God’s glory will shine in us and thru us. In Jesus Mighty Name I pray Amen! Amen!