NOTES: 2 Peter 3 ,3-10 (It’s All About Jesus)

Consider Jesus
Hebrews 3:1-6
June 21, 2015

As you know we are studying the book of Hebrews.

I have told you several times that we don’t know who wrote it
Or who the writer wrote it to.

And so we just maintain the obvious.
THIS LETTER WAS WRITTEN BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;”

That is certainly true of Hebrews.

Furthermore, we are convinced that this letter was written by the Holy Spirit because we know the Holy Spirit’s favorite subject.

John 16:12-15 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

The Holy Spirit most definitely has a favorite subject,
And that subject is Jesus.

One of the ways you know the Holy Spirit is involved
Is that the message of Jesus is clearly proclaimed.
The Holy Spirit absolutely loves to talk about Him.

That reality helps us to understand the main point of this letter.

We said that the problem with those who are receiving this letter
Is that they were not taking Jesus as serious as they should have.
(Obviously that does not sit well with the Holy Spirit)

HE WROTE TO ADDRESS THAT.

One thing we have not talked about up until this point
Is what we mean by people not taking Jesus seriously.

This letter (as derived from the context)
Is clearly written to three different groups of people.

SOME TO BE SURE WERE BLATANT NON-BELIEVERS.
They loved Judaism, they loved the ritual, they had no interest in placing their faith in Jesus Christ or seeking redemption through Him.

And to them the Holy Spirit preaches the gospel,
Reminding these blatant non-believers that there is no other sacrifice for sin and if you reject this great salvation there is no way you will escape.

OTHERS ARE THOSE WHO HAVE INTELLECTUALLY COME TO BELIEVE IN CHRIST, BUT WHO HAVE YET TO PLACE THEIR TRUST IN HIM.

They know Jesus is the Christ. They know Jesus is the Savior,
But knowing the facts and trusting them are two very different things.

These people are afraid of the consequences and persecution
That will come if they trust Jesus.

They are those we dealt with in chapter 2
Who are “drifting” and neglecting this great salvation.

And to them the Holy Spirit repeatedly pleads for them to
Get off of the fence, to embrace adversity, and trust Christ anyway.

Namely because only in Christ do we have anything that truly lasts.

And then there is a third group that the Holy Spirit seems to continually be addressing in this letter, and that group are
THOSE WHO HAVE MADE A CONFESSION THAT THEY WILL FOLLOW CHRIST.

They claim to believe, and because of those claims
Have already endured great suffering.

And the problem is now that following Jesus is so hard,
THEY ARE TEMPTED TO RETREAT back to the comforts of ritualistic religion, namely Judaism.

They are contemplating giving Jesus up
And returning to their former way of life.

And the Holy Spirit is adamantly imploring them not to do this,
For rejecting Christ in this way will only lead to destruction.

And I want to clarify this here because
It is this third group that we are dealing with this morning.

You will notice that the writer identifies them in verse 1

(1) “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling…”
Then at the end of the verse he mentions their “confession”

So obviously we are dealing with people that have made an outward confession of Christ and now identify themselves as Christians.

• Only Christians are considered “holy brethren”
And this because Christ has sanctified them and made them holy.

• Only Christians are “partakers of a heavenly calling”

So we are dealing here with those who have claimed to believe in Christ, and who claim to be Christians.

The part that makes this chapter tricky then
Is the warnings that are given later.

For example.
(6) “but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house – whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.”

That almost sounds like these true believers might lose their salvation.

You look at verse 12
(12) “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”

And again
(14) “For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.”

And so when you take this chapter as a whole,
It sounds like the Holy Spirit is addressing Christians
Who are in danger of losing their salvation.

But do not fall into that trap.
SALVATION IS SECURE.

You could do nothing to save yourself
And you can do nothing to secure your salvation.

The security of salvation has always depended on
The strength of the Shepherd, not the strength of the sheep.

John 10:27-28 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

John 6:37-40 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

Even Hebrews says:
Hebrews 7:23-25 “The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

Jesus doesn’t lose His sheep,
And that is a topic we’ll talk about even more later in the book of Hebrews
As it pertains to His role as our High Priest.

We are not dealing with the threat that some genuine believer in Christ
Might lose their salvation.

So what are we dealing with?
That someone who claims to be a Christian
Might prove that they are phony by falling away from Jesus.

1 John 2:18-19 “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”

John was clear about the people who abandoned Christ.
They weren’t genuine believers who lost their salvation,
They were phonies who were proven phony when they left.

John said, “if they had been of us, they would have remained with us”
It they had been real, they would not have left.

Listen to Jesus speaking to some who claim to believe:
John 8:31-32 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Jesus knew a true disciple was one that stuck with Him.
One who didn’t stick with Him was never a true disciple.

So hopefully then the next point of the Holy Spirit in this letter to the Hebrews is becoming clear.
• There are people, sitting in the pews,
• Who have publicly confessed Christ,
• But they are drifting a little in their faith,
• They are not taking Jesus as serious as they should,
• The writer is afraid that they may fall away and prove their faith was never really genuine.

And to further understand where the writer is coming from
You need to understand why they might be ok with abandoning Jesus.
Any time a person abandons what they already have for something else,
There are always two main factors involved.

1) They devalue what they have
2) They overvalue what they pursue

It’s the old “The grasses is greener on the other side” issue.

And the writer of Hebrews can see this
Beginning to emerge in some of their lives.

He can see that they are beginning to devalue Jesus.
And he can see that they are beginning to overvalue the religion they once left, namely Judaism.

SO THE GOAL OF THE LETTER?
To show the value of Jesus,
That His value is so much greater than their former religion,
And that placing Judaism on the same level as Him would be a huge mistake.

And isn’t that what we’ve seen taking place?
• Chapter 1:1-2 – JESUS IS GREATER THAN THE PROPHETS
• Chapter 1:5-14 – JESUS IS GREATER THAN THE ANGELS
• Chapter 3:1-6 – JESUS IS GREATER THAN MOSES
• Chapter 4 – JESUS IS GREATER THAN JOSHUA
• Chapter 5 – JESUS IS GREATER THAN AARON
• Chapter 9 – JESUS IS GREATER THAN THE SACRIFICES

And on and on and on and on

And this is just as important for believers as it is for non-believers.

It is a constant temptation even to believers
To find their peace, security, and comfort in their religious ritual.

So long as they remain moral
So long as they stay in church
So long as they read the Bible regularly
(THEY FEEL LIKE THEY ARE GOOD)

And it doesn’t matter so much that
Their relationship with Jesus is sorely deficient.

The problem is that their comfort in tradition and ordinance
Sort of numbs them to their lack of a genuine spiritual relationship.

And that is precisely the problem here with the Hebrews.
They were so comfortable with historic Judaism
And its feasts and ordinances and sacrificial systems
That it didn’t seem to bother them
That they weren’t walking very close to Jesus.

To them Jesus was a good plan, but He wasn’t their only hope.
They always had a comfortable “Plan B”

So the command at the outset of chapter 3 couldn’t be clearer.

“Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus…”

And incidentally the word there for “consider” in the Greek
Translates KATANOEO (kat-u-ni-a-o)

NOEO (ni-a-o) means to “perceive with the mind, to think about; to ponder”
KATA in front of it intensifies it.

It means to really ponder this.
To really gaze on something.

Not to just let it escape your grasp, but to study it, dwell on it,
And to do so intensely with the aim of understanding.

And the Holy Spirit wants you to do that with Jesus.
“consider Jesus”

And it doesn’t matter if you are an avid non-believer,
Or a faithful Christian, or somewhere in between,
The command is the same. “consider Jesus”

Perceive Him, Ponder on Him, Think about Him, Dwell on Him,
Look Closely at Him, Study Him

And the reason is so that you will see that
He has more value than any other religious system,
And so that you will see the danger of falling away from Him.

SO THIS MORNING we begin looking at this very penetrating chapter,
Where the Holy Spirit asks even those who have claimed to believe,
To consider Jesus one more time in order that
They make sure they don’t fall away from Him.

And as I told you a moment ago,
The first 6 verses are dedicated to one thought.
JESUS IS GREATER THAN MOSES
Now, before we (as Gentiles) can fully grasp the weight of this argument,
You first need to understand what a delicate debate this is.

You can talk about Abraham or David all you want,
But in Jewish history the pinnacle Jew isn’t even a debate.
To the Jew no one even comes remotely close to Moses.

There are some Jewish Rabbis that even teach that Moses ranked higher than the angels.
• Moses was divinely protected by God at his birth
• Moses was privately buried by God at his death
• Moses was the savior of Israel from Egypt

And beyond any of that,
Moses enjoyed privileges that no other Jew ever enjoyed.

Exodus 33:11 “Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.”

You may even remember that God showed more of Himself to Moses
Than any other human…ever.

Exodus 33:17-19 “The LORD said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” And He said, ” I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”

It was Moses who used to go and speak to God “face to face”
To such an extent that Moses face even radiated the glory of God.

Beyond that, when God gave the Law to Israel, He gave it to Moses.
And by the time of Jesus, the Law and Moses were absolutely synonymous.

In fact many Jews didn’t even refer to it as “The Law of God” but as what?
“The Law of Moses”

And even when Jesus was here, the religious elite were quick to let the world know that Jesus ranked nowhere near the level of Moses.

John 9:29 “We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.”

The point is, to a Jew, there was no greater human than Moses.
• No one ranked higher
• No one accomplished more
• No one came closer to God
• No one brought more of God’s word
• No one better typified what a Jew should be
Moses was the best.

And that is part of the problem.
The Jews were not too concerned about rather or not they had Jesus. Why? Because they had Moses.

Moses brought them the Law of God
And in this they boasted and in this they were content.

But the writer of Hebrews is seeking to show these Jews
• That Jesus brought a new covenant
• That was better than the old one that Moses brought,
• And so he is charged with the delicate task of proving that Jesus is greater than Moses.

It may not seem like a difficult argument to you,
But I promise you it was to those whom it was written.

And so this morning it is why Jesus is greater than Moses.

AND HERE IS THE WHOLE ARGUMENT
Moses was faithful as a servant in the house.
Jesus was faithful as a Son over the house.

(1) “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.”

Now, there is the first indicator.
He gives you the dual role; the dual office of Jesus.

Jesus was both “Apostle” and “High Priest”

And “Apostle” is a “sent one”.
It is one who goes on the authority of the One who sent him, and with the purpose of delivering the message or carrying out the mission.

A “High Priest” is one who communicates to God on behalf of men.

Now Moses may have certainly been considered an “Apostle” of God,
But he most certainly was not a “High Priest”.

Who was the high priest in Moses day?
That was Aaron.

Jesus however perfectly filled both roles.
And it’s not the first time the author has told you that.
He told us in Hebrews 1:2 that God “has spoken to us in His Son”
And he told us in Hebrews 1:3 “He made purification of sins…[and] sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high”
Jesus spoke from God to man
And Jesus speaks from man to God
He is both “Apostle” and “High Priest”

This Moses never was.

It is important to note that the goal here is NOT TO BELITTLE MOSES.
In fact, the author is very careful not to do that.

(2) “He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.”

The writer is not out to belittle Moses.
If he had wanted to, he might have mentioned Moses murder of the Egyptian,
Or Moses striking of the rock, but that isn’t the goal.

The goal is simply to acknowledge that while Moses was great,
Jesus is greater.

Moses was faithful.
Numbers 12:7 “Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household;”

Moses was faithful, but so was Jesus.
The difference is that they were faithful to different roles,
And Jesus’ role was greater.

Look at what I mean.
(3-4) “For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.”

Moses and Jesus may have both been faithful,
But Jesus gets more glory, Why?

Because “the builder of the house has more honor than the house”

First, let me ask, WHO IS THE HOUSE?
When you read the Old Testament you read about “the household of David” or you read about “the household of Israel”

And so when we are talking about “the house”
We are talking about God’s people.

This is made clear again down in verse 6.
“But Christ was faithful as a Son over His house – whose house we are…”

Now here is the fact about Moses.
Moses was a part of that house and Moses was a servant to that house.

Isn’t that true?
Sure.

Moses was one of God’s children,
And Moses was a faithful servant to God’s children.
In fact, Moses may have been the most faithful ever of all time.

I mean look again at what verse 2 said.
“He (Jesus) was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in His house.”

The Holy Spirit compared the faithfulness of Moses to that of Jesus.
That’s pretty faithful!

Imagine if at your funeral someone said,
“He was faithful to God like Jesus was faithful to God”

Seems far-fetched doesn’t it?
And yet that is what is said about Moses.

Moses was faithful
He was faithful as part of God’s household
And faithful to serve God’s household.

But Jesus gets more glory because Jesus wasn’t a part of the household, Jesus was “the builder of the house”

And “the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.”

And so you can see the argument.
It isn’t that Moses wasn’t faithful,
It’s just that he didn’t occupy the same position.

Let’s go one further:
(5-6a) “Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony to those things which were to be spoken later; but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house…”

Now we even learn in what way Moses was faithful.

Moses was a faithful servant and that “for a testimony to those things which were to be spoken later”

And this is a very important point.
If you are going to esteem Moses
Then make sure you understand Moses purpose
Moses was a servant to the house
To make sure the house recognized what was coming later.

Moses pointed to Jesus.
John 5:45-46 “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.”

Moses’ goal as a servant to the house
Was to make sure the house recognized its builder.

And so the writer of Hebrews is making a very bold statement.
You honor and esteem and follow Moses,
But if you aren’t seeing the One Moses testified about,
Then you are missing the point of Moses all together.

Moses was a servant to the house,
But the One you really need to see is Christ.

WHY?
“Christ was faithful as a Son over His house”

Do you see that Christ is more important?
• Moses was faithful, but only as a servant to the house
• Christ was faithful as a Son and the builder of the house

You can go to the White House
And there are several people who have jobs in the Oval Office

One sits behind the desk and makes the decisions
One cleans behind the desk and takes out the trash

Now it is important that both be faithful to their job,
And both are rewarded based on their faithfulness,
BUT WE UNDERSTAND THAT THE JOBS ARE NOT EQUAL.

No one here is slighting Moses, he was faithful as can be,
But do not assume he was on the same level as Christ.

In fact Moses tried to point the household of God to Christ.

WHICH IS WHY THE WRITER OF HEBREWS SAYS THIS:
“whose hose we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.”

If you claim to be part of God’s household,
Then you will hold to the builder of that house firm until the end.
If you reject the builder of the house
And go back to following the servant of the house,
Then you have missed the point of the servant
And you have missed the glory of the builder.

DO YOU SEE WHAT THE WRITER IS SAYING?
YOU HAVE TO HOLD ON TO JESUS, NOT MOSES.

There is no retreating here back to the comforts of Judaism.
There is no retreating here back to the comfort of ordinances and traditions.

And that is what I hope you will realize this morning.

It is real easy to just get comfortable in the routine.
• Get up go to church
• Deliver Meals on Wheels
• Serve on a committee

You know the routine, and there can be a lot of comfort
And affirmation in doing that sort of thing

And while those things can have some value in and of themselves,
They are a pitiful substitute for an intimate relationship with Jesus.

SO WE MUST CONSIDER JESUS

We must “hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.”

Don’t substitute religious involvement for a relationship with Jesus.
Don’t substitute bible knowledge for a relationship with Jesus.
Don’t substitute ordinance and tradition for a relationship with Jesus.

All of those things are the symbol – Christ is the substance.

And if you try to involve yourself in those things without Christ,
You have nothing but empty religion.

YOU NEED JESUS
HE IS GREATER THAN EVERYTHING ELSE
And if we can fast forward in the chapter a moment:
READ HEBREWS 3:12-14

Don’t feel so secure in your religion
That you are ok with letting go of Jesus.
IT WON’T WORK

The Gentleness of Jesus
John 18:1-14
June 14, 2015

As you know we are in the middle of a study called: “It’s All About Jesus”

It was a study that began as a reminder that
Everything in life is indeed to be all about Him.
He is our purpose
He is our pattern

Our goal is to give Him first place in everything
And ultimately to be conformed into His image.

And since our goal is to look like Christ, it is only fitting
That we take the time to examine what He looked like.

Several years ago there 4 little letters that took the Christian community by storm, they were WWJD (What would Jesus do?)

The idea was that a Christian should ask Himself in every situation
What Jesus would do if He were there?

I certainly don’t have a problem with that idea, but the purpose of our study is more accurately to ask What DID Jesus do?

We are seeking to examine Him in various situations to learn how He operated and responded and then we seek to apply that to our lives.

As a guideline for this we have been following the list
Paul provided in Colossians 3:12-14

Colossians 3:12-14 “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”

Each of those qualities were qualities of Jesus
And we are called to put them on.

We looked at the compassion of Jesus.
It was a time when He was tired and He and the disciples decided to get away for a retreat and a time of rest, but the crowd spotted Him.

And instead of sending them away
The Bible says that Jesus “felt compassion” for them.

In His heart, He hurt more for the people than He did for Himself.
Their grief was more painful to Him than His own fatigue.
It was compassion.
We saw then Jesus feed those 5,000 that day.
Next we looked at the Kindness of Jesus.
As He passed through Samaria He came to a well at noon and encountered an interesting woman.

• She was a different race
• She was a different gender
• She was a different religion
• She had a different moral code

And by John’s own admittance Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
And yet Jesus not only talked with this woman,
But He ultimately offered and gave her salvation.

Jesus was kind to wicked and ungrateful people.

Then last week we looked at the Humility of Jesus
We studied Philippians 2 and took a look at the incarnation of Jesus.

Humility means “lowliness of mind” and this is certainly what Jesus exhibited when He left the glory of heaven to become a servant and die on a cross.

No person ever existed higher and no person ever descended lower than Jesus.
His expression of humility cannot be equaled.

We then learned what Paul taught us that each of us should consider one another as more important than ourselves.

And that we should do nothing from selfishness of empty conceit.

Well tonight we move on to the next attributed on Paul’s list
And that is the attribute of GENTLENESS

“Put on a heart of…gentleness”
PRAUTES (prow-tace) in the Greek

And ordinarily I would just give you a short definition,
But this time I want to read you the definition from Vine’s Greek Dictionary.

“…it is an inwrought grace of the soul; and the exercises of it are first and chiefly towards God. It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting; it is closely linked with the word [humility]…it is only the humble heart which is also the meek, and which, as such, does not fight against God and more or less struggle and contend with Him. This meekness, however, being first of all a meekness before God, is also such in the face of men, even of evil men, out of a sense that these, with the insults and injuries which they may inflict, are permitted and employed by [God] for the chastening and purifying of His elect”
(Vine, W.E. [An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words; Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN] pg. 727-728)

We are talking here about an amazing attribute.

It is also translated as “meekness” which I have told you many times means “strength under control” or “submission”
(My dad would call a horse “broke” – not necessarily gentle)
It is the attribute that must be employed for you to apply a verse like:
Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

It is the attribute that most clearly comes forth in the life of Joseph.
That trust or confidence that God is in control,
That nothing happens outside of His will,
And that it is not wise to resist what He is doing.

It believes that God knows best at all times
Therefore it not only trusts God’s wisdom, but obeys God’s voice.

In fact, all genuine obedience must come from this mentality.
• Since God’s thoughts are not our thoughts.
• Since God’s ways are not our ways
• Since God’s Spirit always wars with our natural flesh

We can’t obey any of His commands
Without first exercising at least a degree of “gentleness” or “meekness”
Whereby we submit to His will even though we don’t understand
And trust His hand even though we don’t see it.

This meekness or gentleness is best seen
Any time we resist the natural inclinations and desires of the flesh
In favor of obedience to God’s commands.

If you will remember when we studied the rest of that passage in Colossians 3 where Paul told us what a Jesus focused life practically looks like.

We looked at
• Wives submitting to their husbands
• Husbands loving their wives
• Children obeying their parents
• Parents not exasperating their children
• Slaves obeying their masters
• And masters not taking advantage of their slaves

Obeying commands like that requires this attribute.

• How else can a woman submit to a disobedient husband?
• How else can a man love a disrespectful wife?
• How else can a child obey a hateful parent?
• How else can a parent patiently teach an insubordinate child?
• How else can a slave serve a brutal master?
• How else can a master be fair to a lazy slave?

All of those incidents require a person
To disregard the natural inclination of the flesh
And submit to the revealed will and command of God.
Doing so is “gentleness” or “meekness”

And that attribute is even more seen
When obeying those commands of God
Does not initially have the desired effect.

When the wife submits, but the husband doesn’t seem to get it.
When the husband loves, but the wife remains ungrateful.
When the child obeys, but the parent never recognizes it.

True meekness continues to obey and trust the commands of God
With the understanding that at the very least
God is allowing the trial to continue for the sake of sanctifying you.

So if I can say it bluntly – “gentleness” or “meekness”
IS A HARD ATTRIBUTE TO APPLY IN YOUR LIFE

However, it was a constant attribute of Jesus.
And if we long to be like Him, we must see what it looked like,
And then apply it in our lives.

As is commonly the case, this attribute overlaps previous ones as well.
We actually saw it on display last week, though we didn’t comment on it.

Paul said:
Philippians 2:8 “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

That phrase “obedient to the point of death” was the epitome
Of Jesus being “gentle” or “meek” or “submissive”

And it is that reality we want to examine tonight.
We want to look at the very moment where Jesus
Took that step of obedience to submit Himself to the plan of the cross.

And that decision was made in a place called
“The Garden of Gethsemane”

Now before we dive into John’s narrative about what took place in the garden, I first want to make sure we recognize something that John did not include.

I want to make sure you are fully aware of the internal struggle
That Jesus had going on inside His heart and in His own human will.

Matthew 26:36-44 “Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.” And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.”

Have you ever found yourself in a position
Where God asked something of you that your flesh didn’t want to give?
Well Jesus understands how you feel.

• Did He come to die? Yes
• Was His plan to die? Yes
• Was He willing to die? Yes
• Did He look forward to it? Absolutely not

Listen to Him in the garden,
Three times asking the Father for a different plan of salvation.
Three times asking the Father to not have to fight this particular battle.

And if you are familiar with Jesus at all,
Then you know that this is shocking.

Here we have the Son of God in a way we never see Him anywhere else.
• We saw Him stare down the crowds that wanted to throw Him off a cliff…
• We saw Him clear a temple with a whip…
• We saw Him attend feasts where they wanted to kill Him…
• We saw Him stand toe to toe with Pharisees and chief priests…
• We saw Him go to Lazarus when the disciples were sure it meant death…
• We saw Him stand up for a woman in adultery…
• We saw Him talk publicly to a Samaritan woman…

I mean we’ve seen Him boldly do so much,
And He never even seemed to flinch.

And then we get this scene.

Please understand how hard it will be for Him
To submit to what He is about to submit to in John’s gospel.

In this passage the “gentleness” or “meekness” or “submission” of Jesus
Is about to be put to the test.

So let’s look at John 18.

What I want you to see first is how much power Jesus had.
Submission isn’t as impressive if it is forced.

If I only do what you say because you bend my arm behind my back and I have no other choice, it is submission, but it isn’t quite “meekness”.
However, if I have every ability NOT to do what you request
And yet choose to submit to your will and do it anyway,
Then we are talking about a Christ-like attitude.

So let’s look at this scene from the perspective of who has the power.

#1 ASSUMED POWER
John 18:1-3

John records here that after Jesus finished in the upper room,
• He did not run off to hide,
• He did not go to a new place,
• He did not seek to conceal Himself.

Instead He willingly went to the place
Where Judas and his soldiers could easily find Him.

It is amazing to me the willingness of Jesus.
Matthew Henry wrote,
“When the people would have forced him to a crown, he withdrew, and hid himself (ch. vi 15); but when they came to force him to a cross, he offered himself; for he came to this world to suffer and went to the other world to reign.”
(Matthew Henry commentary, pg. 1611)

He is not running from duty at all, instead He seems eager to face it.
For as you know, His hour was now at hand.

And so John says, “He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden, in which He entered with His disciples.”

“Kidron” – “black brook” – the drain for the blood of the Passover Lambs
30 years after Jesus they counted 256,000.

He then enters the place that the other gospels tell us
Is called Gethsemane and there He begins to pray.

He is literally here a sitting duck.

(Vs. 3-4) “Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew the place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples. Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.”

And what a picture we have painted for us.
Here John tells us who comes to arrest Jesus.

(Look at them)
1) Judas, the traitor, and I’ll tell you why they brought him along. First to locate Jesus, but also to identify Him in case one of the disciples tried to pretend to be Him and die in His stead. Judas came to kiss the One they were to arrest.

2) officers from the chief priests were no doubt brought as the authority to arrest Jesus, since He would be taken to trial in front of the Sanhedrin first.

3) the Pharisees were no doubt there to mock, but also to substantiate the warrant for His arrest in case Jesus tried to argue His way out of it.

4) the Roman cohort we brought in case there was a struggle. A Roman cohort at full strength was 1,000 men strong. It consisted of 760 infantry and 240 cavalry and one was always in Jerusalem to control the peace. Commonly a cohort was simply 600 mean and the smallest record of any Roman cohort was 200 men.

And if you were to look at the scene as this army approached the garden, they must have had the very display of power.

They certainly looked powerful, but you will quickly see that
They weren’t even close to the most powerful in the garden.

#2 ACTUAL POWER
John 18:4-6

Here John allows us to see who really had the power.

“It seemed like the guards had the power,
But it only seemed that way.”

For as Jesus goes out to meet His accusers, He had a point to make.

(4) “So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, “Whom do you seek?”

It wasn’t because He did not know.
John makes that point obvious.
He knew what was going on.

He was about to bring their pride and faulty assumptions
Down a notch.

(Vs. 5-6) “They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He said to them, “I am He.” And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. So when He said to them, “I am He.” They drew back and fell to the ground.”

When Jesus introduces Himself we get a glimpse of His glory
All of a sudden we see who really has the power.
For not only could Jesus have put them on their knees,
He had the power to keep them there.

Remember this Old Testament story?
The King of Israel sends servants to seek foreign gods and Elijah catches them and sends them home. It angers the King and so he is going to go get Elijah.

2 Kings 1:9-14 “Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him, and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. And he said to him, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.'” Elijah replied to the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. So he again sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he said to him, “O man of God, thus says the king, ‘Come down quickly.'” Elijah replied to them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. So he again sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. When the third captain of fifty went up, he came and bowed down on his knees before Elijah, and begged him and said to him, “O man of God, please let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight. “Behold fire came down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty with their fifties; but now let my life be precious in your sight.”

I want you to know Jesus could have easily done the same,
But His purpose was not escape, but to show where the power really was.

In case they thought they were in charge,
Jesus gives us a glimpse of the future.

Isaiah 11:4 “But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.”

Philippians 2:10 “so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,”

Jeremiah 16:21 “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know — This time I will make them know My power and My might; And they shall know that My name is the LORD.”
That day is a certain day that is coming
And Jesus here gives His arrestors just a glimpse.

It is Jesus here who truly is strong.

Now you are already catching my point.
We would have said that the army was pretty powerful,
And yet Jesus just showed us He is more powerful than them.

Assumed Power Actual Power
#3 AUTHORITATIVE POWER
John 18:7-9
It first begins in tragedy as these hard hearted men fail to acknowledge the power that Jesus has, as they arrogantly rise to ask for Jesus again.

But then comes a very humorous incident.

(Vs. 8-9) “Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He; so if you seek Me, let these go their way,” to fulfill the word which He spoke, “Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.”

DID YOU CATCH WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
Did you catch who is giving the orders?

THE ACTUAL POWER OF GOD TRUMPS
THE ASSUMED POWER OF THE WORLD EVERY TIME.

• See Pharaoh’s army who couldn’t stop a rabble of Hebrew slaves.
• Just look at the impenetrable walls of Jericho…
• Just look at a Giant about to fight a shepherd boy…
• Just look at Nazarene holding a donkey’s jawbone about to fight 1,000 Philistines…
• Just look at Gideon scaling down his army to a mere 300 men…

And the list goes on and on.
Remember when Paul was loaded on a boat to sail to Rome?

THE ACTUAL POWER OF GOD TRUMPS
THE ASSUMED POWER OF THE WORLD EVERY TIME

We have talked recently in our Sunday morning study how Satan is the god of this world, and how the current world lies in His power.

And it does.
But that does not mean that God is not still the ultimate authority.
Here God flexed His muscle.

Jesus is God and He can do whatever He wants.

That is why when Jesus would later stand before Pilate He would say:
John 19:10-11 “So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

And that is the point.
No one could do anything to Jesus that He didn’t allow them to.
• If He didn’t want the soldiers to find Him, He wouldn’t be found.
• If He didn’t want Judas to kiss Him, He wouldn’t be kissed.
• If He didn’t want to be arrested He wouldn’t be arrested.

You get the point?
Jesus is hands down the most powerful force in the garden.
He doesn’t have to do anything He doesn’t want to do.

So now let’s look at His “gentleness” or “meekness” or “submission”

#4 APPLIED POWER
John 18:10-14

Now in these 5 verses we see two examples of power.
One is wrong, and one is right.

Obviously you know which is wrong.
(Vs. 10) “Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slaves name was Malchus.”

I couldn’t have been anyone but Peter,
And don’t go off here bragging about Peter’s courage.

Misguided zeal is very dangerous.
A zealot without knowledge only causes trouble
And hinders the true work of God.

If it had been left up to Peter, Jesus would have never died on that cross,

What Peter had looked like strength.
BUT IT WAS REALLY ZEALOUS ARROGANCE

John Calvin wrote “Let us be warned by this striking example to moderate our zeal; and as our unrestrained sinful nature is always eager to attempt more than God commands, let us learn that our zeal will turn out badly whenever we try and do anything contrary to God’s Word. Sometimes the beginning promises much, but in the end we shall be punished for our rashness. Let obedience be the basis for everything we undertake.”

And as Peter was swiping for this man’s head (only getting an ear)
We see what strength is not.

Peter was not applying the power of God.
Peter was trying to use the power of the world.
Peter was the opposite of “gentle” or “meek” or “submissive”

This is not how the church fights.
Zechariah 4:6 “Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.”

2 Corinthians 10:3-4 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.”
We do not apply God’s power by trying to prove our strength.

And so next we see how true power is applied.
(Vs. 11) “So Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”

NOW THAT IS POWER
We do not see the power of Jesus in His victory,
We see the power of Jesus in His submission.

We call it meekness
“Strength under control”

That is THE GENTLENESS OF JESUS
He did not have to do what He did, but He submitted Himself to God’s will.

You’re familiar with the song:
“No one took His life, with love He gave it. He was crucified on a tree that He created.”

And look at the degree of His submission.
(12-14) “So the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him, and led Him to Annas first; for he was father-in-law of Caiphas, who was high priest that year. Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people.”

They arrested Him…
They bound Him…
They led Him…

What did they think they were really accomplishing?

THE PICTURE IS THAT JESUS
HAD ALL THE POWER OF GOD AT HIS FINGERTIPS
(as evidenced when He said, “I am He”)
BUT INSTEAD HE CHOSE TO OBEY HIS FATHER.

THAT WAS THE GENTLENESS OF JESUS.

NOW – WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?
As I mentioned at the beginning,
That mentality is the very heart of obedience.

Listen to what Peter had to say about our obedience
In light of Jesus’ meekness.

TURN TO: 1 Peter 2:13-3:17
NOTE: 1 Peter 3:15-17

That is what it means to live this life with the gentleness of Jesus.

It is to do God’s will even when you have the power to do your own.
Jesus always did this.
And it is our calling to be like Him.

So Great A Salvation – part 2
Hebrews 2:5-18 (10-18)
June 14, 2015

As you know we are working our way through this book of Hebrews.
We don’t know the author
We don’t know the recipients
But we do know that
They weren’t taking Jesus as serious as they should have.

And after reminding them that through Jesus God is speaking to us,
The writer was adamant that they should pay attention
And not neglect this message of Jesus.

Hebrews 2:1-3a “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”

As the writer made clear,
The salvation of Jesus is in fact A GREAT SALVATION,
And that is the point he is defending in the remainder of the chapter.

Now last time we met we began looking at why, and I gave you the first point.
#1 THIS SALVATION ADDRESSED GOD’S PROMISE
Hebrews 2:5-9

If you will recall what we talked about,
We saw how God had made a promise to man.

God had created man in His own image and placed man in the garden
To literally subdue and rule all of creation.

In verse 8 we saw where the Psalmist quoted David as saying, “You have put all things in subjection under his feet.”

Of course we noted a problem with that.
WE DON’T SEE IT

Creation is not currently subjected to man.
This world is subjected to angels…specifically a fallen angel; the devil
He is currently “the god of this world”
He is currently “the prince of the power of the air”

So we have an obvious problem.
Man is promised to rule and reign, but we don’t see it happening.

(9) “But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.”
We don’t see man in control, but we do see Jesus.
He humbled Himself to become human
That He might taste the death that man deserves.

In short, Jesus came to restore man back to his original role.
Scripture teaches that He will return, He will bind the enemy, He will set up His earthly kingdom, and His saints will in fact reign with Him on the earth for 1,000 years.

Revelation 20:1-4 “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

There is not another salvation in the world that will accomplish that.
The salvation of Jesus is A GREAT SALVATION
(And we saw this last time)

This morning we move on to the next reasons
Why His salvation is a great salvation.

This Salvation Addressed God’s Promise
#2 THIS SALVATION ACCOMMODATED GOD’S NATURE
Hebrews 2:10-13

If you will remember, last week I told you that one of the major stumbling blocks to the faith of Israel was the incarnation.

The writer just said that Jesus was God and that He “was made for a little while lower than the angels”

That statement would have been hard for the Jews to swallow.
They had nothing but the biggest view of God and to think that God would belittle Himself so as to become human was just too much of a stretch to them.

But here the writer reveals that “it was fitting”.
That is to say it perfectly aligns with who God is.

He is going to make the point that the incarnation
Fits perfectly into the truths you know about God
And how He operates.

He is out to show that “it was fitting…”
This was right, this fits, this makes sense…he says
He says it was “fitting for Him”
For who?

Well he tells you who Him is.
He is the one “for whom are all things, and through whom are all things”

Well who is that?
That is God.
All things are for God and all things are through God.

So the writer claims that this salvation where God’s Son becomes flesh and dies for sinners is perfectly fitting according to who God is.

And it is fitting if you understand what it is that God is seeking to do.

What does verse 10 say God’s objective was?
“in bringing many sons to glory”

Isn’t that the promise we talked about back in verses 6-8?
• That God had promised to “put all things in subjection under [man’s] feet”
• That God desired to bring His sons back to the glory they lost?

But in reality it is more than just that.
We are talking about the complete destruction of the sin nature of man.

I’ve told you before, but salvation has three stages.

There is JUSTIFICATION
It occurs that day that you place your faith in Jesus Christ and you are instantly justified in the sight of God. He now views you as righteous.

There is SANCTIFICATION
That occurs after justification and it is the process where God starts conforming you into the image of Christ.

There is GLORIFICATION
That is the day in which salvation is complete. The sin nature is totally destroyed and you now walk in perfect righteousness.

This is the ultimate goal of God’s salvation.
It is to restore man back to perfect righteousness.
PERFECT HUMANITY IN A PERFECT WORLD.

That is what God is up to.

And in God’s decision to redeem humanity back to perfection, the writer says that “it was fitting for Him…to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.”

Now there is an interesting statement.
That God chose to “perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings”

The “author of salvation” is obviously Jesus.
And the writer says that God chose to “perfect [Him] through sufferings”

I thought Jesus was already perfect?
I thought Jesus was already sinless?
What does that mean?

“to perfect” here DOES NOT imply that Jesus was less than perfect.
He was not
He was well-pleasing to the Father, He was totally sinless, He was perfect.

SO WHAT DOES HE MEAN?

“to perfect” here translates TELEIOO (ti-lay-ah-o)
It means “to bring to an end; to fulfill; to complete”

It is a different form of the same word Jesus uttered on the cross
(tetelesti – “it is finished”)

When the writer here says that God had to “perfect” Christ,
He IS NOT implying that Christ was less than perfect.

Rather he is revealing that God chose to prepare Christ.
God chose to mold Christ into the Savior He had to become.

It is the same word used later in the book:
Hebrews 5:7-9 “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,”

He was already perfect, but through His suffering
He became fully prepared and ready for His job of Savior.

Think of it as training.
He was the only possible candidate
And then God put Him through savior training.

SO: In God’s desire to save His children and restore them to glory,
It made sense that God would make sure His chosen Savior
Was fully prepared to accomplish it.

And according to the writer, the training God used was “sufferings”.
God would humble the Savior, make the Savior low,
And then afflict Him with suffering
All as a means of making Him a perfect Savior.
Why did God care so much?
(11) “for both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.”

BECAUSE WE ARE HIS CHILDREN TOO
God was willing to let His Son suffer
So that He would be able to save the rest of His children.

If you want to cut it right down the middle,
We are talking about the love of God.

Here is a God who loved His children so much
That He sent His Son to suffer that He might save them all.

Does that sound familiar?
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

THAT IS PERFECTLY IN LINE WITH GOD’S NATURE.
This salvation is great because
It is the only salvation that fully accommodates the nature of God.

Let me show you a little further.
Romans 3:21-26 “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Now key in on the result that Paul mentioned in that passage.
“so that he would be just and the justifier…”

Do you realize how hard that is?

You have a holy God and sinful humanity.
• He created them perfect with a plan to make them rule,
• But they sinned and now deserve eternal destruction.

So by our way of thinking you have two choices.
You can either be JUST – destroy all sinners
Or you can be MERCIFUL – forgive all sinners
But you can’t be both.

And the problem is that no matter which avenue God chose
It would be inconsistent with His nature.
He could judge sinners, but that doesn’t sound like the merciful God we know.
He could forgive sinners, but that doesn’t sound like the holy God we know.

SO HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN HOLINESS WHILE ALSO SHOWING MERCY?
You pay the price yourself

And that is what God did in Christ.
God became flesh that He might pay the debt of sinful humanity
“it was fitting”

It was right, it was consistent, and no other plan of salvation can say that.

That is what makes this such A GREAT SALVATION.
Here we have one Son coming to save the others.

And notice that the writer uses Old Testament Scripture to support his point.
(12-13) “saying, “I WILL PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN,
IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING YOUR PRAISE.” And again, “I WILL PUT MY TRUST IN HIM.” And again, “BEHOLD, I AND THE CHILDREN WHOM GOD HAS GIVEN ME.”

• According to verse 12 this Son came to “proclaim Your Name”
• He came to be an example to His brothers (13) “I will put My trust in
Him”
• And He came with the expectation that His brothers would follow His example,
“Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me.”

This One Son came
To lead the other Sons to a proper understanding of the Father,
To demonstrate what it meant to please the Father,
And to lead those other sons to follow His example.

And He couldn’t do that if He stayed away.
You can’t be an example
You can’t be a leader
You can’t be guide if you never enter their world.

Max Lucado wrote in “A Love Worth Giving”
“Imagine the change he had to make, the distance he had to travel. What would it be like to become flesh? This question surfaced as I was golfing recently. Waiting on my turn to putt, I squatted down to clean my ball and noticed a mountain of ants beside it. Must have been dozens of them, all over each other. A pyramid of motion at least half an inch tall.
I don’t know what you think when you see ants on a green as you are waiting to putt. But here is what I thought: Why are you guys all bunched up? You have the whole green. Why, the entire golf course is yours to spread out in. Then it occurred to me. These ants are nervous. Who could blame them? They live under a constant meteor shower. Every few minutes a dimpled orb comes crashing into their world. Bam! Bam! Bam! Just when the bombing stops, the mallet-swinging giants arrive. If you survive their feet and sticks, they roll a meteor at you. A golf green is no place for an ant.
So I tried to help them. Leaning down where they could hear me, I invited, “Come on, follow me. We’ll find a nice spot in the rough. I know it well.” Not one looked in my direction. “Hey ants!” Still no reply. Then I realized, I don’t speak their language. I don’t speak Ant. Pretty fluent in the idiom of Uncle, but I don’t speak Ant.
So what could I do to reach them? Only one thing. I needed to become an ant. Go from six feet two inches to teeny-weeny. From 200-plus pounds to tenths of an ounce. Swap my big world for their tiny one. Give up burgers and start eating grass. “No thanks,” I said. Besides, it was my turn to putt.”
(Lucado, Max: A Love Worth Giving, W Publishing group, Nashville, TN, 2002 pg. 152-153)

That is the point here.
The incarnation is not glamorous
The incarnation doesn’t seem to make sense

But when we are talking about a God who loves His children
And wants to deliver them, it makes absolute perfect sense.

If one Son was going to faithfully deliver the others,
He was going to have to enter their problem
He was going to have be trained in their suffering.
And God sent Him because God is holy and merciful.

This salvation fit the nature of God.
And no other plan of salvation can say that.

There is only one salvation that Addressed God’s Promise
There is only one salvation that Accommodated God’s Nature
#3 THIS SALVATION ACCOMPLISHED GOD’S DESIRE
Hebrews 2:14-16

And now we are really getting to the point of it all.
A truly great salvation can only be measure by its effectiveness.
DID IT WORK?

Well, let me remind you again of the problem.
• God created man in His own image, perfect and in charge of His perfect creation.
• However, man traded that right to the usurper Satan who stole that right from him in the garden.
• And now man lives with a fallen nature in a fallen world where Satan is the god of this world.
• God promised that it won’t always be that way, and indeed we are looking for “the world to come” but we are incapable of achieving it on our own.

We need salvation
We need deliverance
We need a Savior

We need one who can ENTER our race, DEFEAT our enemy,
And DELIVER us back to the position God previously promised us.
Anything less than that is not salvation.
• Any plan that leaves man in sin
• Any plan that leave Satan in charge
• Any plan that leaves the world in bondage is NOT great salvation.

We are looking for the plan that Accomplishes God’s Desire.
Well here it is.

Again the writer explains the necessity and perfection of the humiliation of Christ.
(14-15) “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

Now in case you missed the point earlier,
Here the writer spells it out as clearly as possible.

“Therefore, since the children share in flesh and flood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same…”

In short, why would the Christ become human?
Because “the children” are human.

He is purposely being redundant.
• He didn’t become human because He was weak
• He didn’t become human because it was fun
• He became human because those He wanted to save were human

Furthermore, He became human so He could die.
Remember?

Hebrews 2:8-9 “YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET.” For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.”

The wages for Adam’s sin was death.
The only way to restore Adam was to die for him.
So God became flesh so that He could die.

AND THROUGH HIS DEATH HE WOULD ACHIEVE VICTORY FOR US
“that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,”

We remember that Satan is the god of this world.
And if he is to be removed then someone must defeat him.
WELL NOTICE HIS MAIN WEAPON
What is it?
“the power of death”

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…”

What was it that Satan brought to the garden?
He brought lies that led to…death

Spiritual death – physical death – eternal death
Under Satan’s control this is all that man has.
• He is spiritually dead
• Satan seeks to keep him there until he becomes physically dead
• At which point he will remain eternally dead

That is Satan’s power; that is Satan’s weapon

And if you will look at our world today, it has enormous effect.

Ray Stevens wrote a song called “Doctor, Doctor”
“Strip down naked boy and cough and sneeze, and jump up on that table on your hands and knees”, now there’s not another person in the world we’d do that for. But we just hop on up there like a cocker spaniel, like it’s written somewhere in some sacred manual that we have to do everything the doctor tells you; who do they think they are?”

And think about all the things doctors will do to you. (and you let them)
• You have to have yearly physicals
• You have to perform self-examinations
• You have to go in for tests to embarrassing and humiliating to talk about

WHY?
Because if you don’t, you might die!

When you get in a car,
• You had better buckle your seat-belt
• You had better not speed,
• You had better not drink
• You had better not text

WHY?
You might die!

Satan holds the power of death
And he literally holds the world ransom with it.
People literally live with “the fear of death”

THAT IS PRECISELY WHAT JESUS CAME TO FIX.
He came to take Satan’s greatest weapon away.

“that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,”
Jesus came with the counter weapon – LIFE

Jesus took Satan’s greatest shot, and walked straight into death, but:
• He escaped Satan’s grasp
• He broke Satan’s hold
• He nullified Satan’s greatest weapon

Revelation 1:17-18 “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”

Jesus stepped into death, stole the keys and walked out the other side.

Satan boasts of spiritual death – Jesus offers spiritual life
Satan boasts of physical death – Jesus offers resurrection
Satan boasts of eternal death – Jesus offers eternal life

And the result of this?
(15) “and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

The result is freedom for God’s children!
1 Corinthians 15:55-57 “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

He took down the enemy so we no longer fear death.
HE ACCOMPLISHED GOD’S PLAN

Not one of the redeemed need have any fear of death.
George and I were talking last week about someone who died, and we talked about how people often say, “He died too soon”

But if you understand what Jesus did, that’s like saying someone
“Got out of the hospital too soon.”

That person just moved from a fallen, sinful, broken world run by the devil
And stepped into a perfect, sinless, glorious world
Where he will live with the Father.

I don’t know how a person goes there too soon

There is no more a fear of death for God’s children!

(16) “For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham.”

So the work of Jesus may have seemed strange,
But it is in reality the greatest salvation the world has ever seen.
This Salvation Addressed God’s Promise
This Salvation Accommodated God’s Nature
This Salvation Accomplished God’s Desire
#4 THIS SALVATION AIDS GOD’S CHILDREN
Hebrews 2:17-18

And here is the final glorious reality.
Not only did God come and taste death and conquer it,
But through His suffering He has also become CERTIFIED
To help us the rest of the way through.

Think about it for a second.
• Adam was created in perfection
• But Adam fell in the garden

Christ came and helped us, but who is to say that we won’t blow it again?
The answer: Christ

(17-18) “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.”

“He had to be made like His brethren in all things”
Why?

“so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

The goal was never to pick us up, brush us off and leave us on our own.
God knows how that game plays out.
We fall again and ruin it again.

Now we have an Advocate.
• One who has suffered as we have suffered
• One who tasted life and death
• One who knows what our battle is like

He is “merciful” because He knows how hard this life is
He is “faithful” because He doesn’t wish to see His work fall short

And now, because He has been trained through His suffering
“He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.”

You want me to put that to you another way?
WE HAVE WHAT ADAM DID NOT!

Wouldn’t it have been great if Adam had someone beside him to come to his aid when Satan was working them over?

But Adam didn’t have that and Adam fell and Adam ruined everything.

And were it not for Jesus, we would do the same.
But He didn’t just restore us, He now sits with us to secure us.
He comes to our aid.

He keeps us from stumbling and makes propitiation when we do!
1 John 2:1-2 “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”

THIS IS A GREAT SALVATION

It addressed God’s promise instead of just treating the symptoms
It accommodated God’s nature instead of forcing Him to choose one or the other
It accomplished God’s desire of defeating death and setting His children free
It aids God’s children so that they don’t fall again like Adam did previously

No other salvation can make such boasts.

That is why the author of this letter said in the first part of this chapter:
Hebrews 2:3a “how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”

• What is your plan for being restored to glory?
• What is your plan for being set free from death?
• What is your plan for being protected from future mistakes and failures?
• If you neglect this salvation, what is your plan?

WHATEVER IT IS, IT WON’T WORK
That is also why in the next chapter the writer will begin by saying:

Hebrews 3:1 “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession;”

See, it’s time to start taking Jesus more seriously.
You’ve never run across anything or anyone like Him.

To fail to pay attention
To begin to drift away
To continue to neglect
WOULD BE A MOST TRAGIC MISTAKE

His Salvation is A GREAT SALVATION

The Humility of Jesus
Philippians 2:5-11
June 7, 2015

We are studying how everything in life is to be all about Jesus.
And therefore we have determined that we need to know all about Jesus.

We are taking Paul’s list which he supplied to the Colossians
And using it as a checklist to learn about Jesus.

Colossians 3:12-14 “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”

We have seen the compassion of Jesus.
We saw Him take a much needed vacation only to be caught by a selfish crowd.
But Jesus, instead of avoiding them, was moved with compassion for them.

• He saw their need
• He saw their pain
• And it took precedent over His own.
• He fed the 5,000

We have also seen the kindness of Jesus.
There was Jesus sitting by a well in Samaria when He encountered a woman of low moral standards.

• She was a different gender
• She was a different race
• She had a different moral code
• She was of a different religion
• And yet Jesus was kind to her (so kind in fact that both she and His disciples were shocked)
• Jesus ultimately led this woman to faith and forgiveness.
• And not only her, but many in her town as well.

Well tonight we move on to the third attribute on our list
And that is “humility”

It is a Greek word that means “lowliness of mind”

It may in fact be the absolute last attribute
That we would have expected to see
In someone who was God in human form.

It is one thing to think you are better than others
It is one thing to think you are smarter than others
It is one thing to think you are more able than others
BUT JESUS ACTUALLY WAS

To quote the adage of Dizzy Dean, “If you can do it, it ain’t braggin”

Jesus DID know better
So to have “lowliness of mind” or “humility” is absolutely astounding.

And that is the attribute that we want to examine tonight.

Now we are going to study the amazing passage of Philippians 2,
But before we do, I do want to quickly look at
An everyday example from Jesus’ life.

In John 13 we have one of the most remarkable scenes unfold in the Bible. It is a scene filled with important instruction
And yet also beautiful imagery.

TURN TO: JOHN 13:1-17

(1-11)
It is clear that the humility of Jesus is profound.

His willingness to wash the feet of
• Those cowards who would abandon Him,
• That blowhard who would deny Him
• That worm that would betray Him
Is absolutely phenomenal.

And yet it is also a very symbolic event.
• Jesus “laid aside His garments” – picturing His emptying of self.
• Jesus “taking a towel” – picturing His taking the form of a servant.
• Jesus “wash[ing] the disciple’s feet” – picturing His sanctifying work.

It is a vivid analogy of what Christ had been doing for the last three years
And would ultimately complete the very next day on the cross.

There is so much beauty pictured here.

And yet this event was not just some abstract analogy.
This event was not just a beautiful show.

This event was for the purpose of setting a divine precedent.

(12-17)
Jesus wasn’t just putting on a show to be enjoyed,
He was giving an example to be followed.

This type of selfless service was not meant to be unique only to Christ.
This type of service was to be the trademark of all of His followers.
Some denominations actually believe that foot washings
Is a third ordinance for the church. (w/ baptism, Lord’s Supper)

In one sense they are absolutely right.
While the physical washing of feet is not the same and not the point,
The humble service it represented is very much a mandate for the church.

And it is a mandate repeated continually throughout the New Testament.

The Christian is called to be a humble servant of his brethren,
Just as Christ was.

He set the precedent here in the upper room,
And it is intended to serve as the chief example
Of Christian attitude perpetually.

Well, that is exactly what Paul is saying here in Philippians 2.
So let’s look at this attitude of Christ.

There are 5 things we see in this text.
#1 HIS DIVINE EXISTENCE
Philippians 2:6a
“who, although He existed in the form of God,”

To fully grasp the magnitude of the sacrifice of Christ
You must full understand exactly what He sacrificed.

A life of poverty isn’t impressive unless
You first see the amount of riches that were sacrificed.

Here we find two important statements about Christ.

1) “He existed”

Make no mistake about the eternal nature of Christ.
You and I didn’t begin to exist until we were conceived,
But Christ existed long before conception.

He always was.
He confidently stated to the Pharisees:

John 8:58 “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”

There was no point at which Jesus came to life, He always was.
He is eternal, having neither beginning nor end.

There was no need of birth and no expectation of death.
“He existed” eternally.
2) “He existed in the form of God”

Make no mistake about the deity of Jesus.
He is fully God.
He has always been fully God.

It is amazing today the number of people who deny the deity of Jesus.
But the New Testament has no problem proclaiming His deity.

In fact when you read the New Testament
They spend more time defending His humanity than they do His deity.

1 John 4:2 “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;”

2 John 7 “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.”

See in their day it was not as hard to believe that Jesus was divine
As it was to believe that He was human.

When you look at His miracles, when you see His resurrection
There was never any doubt that He was divine.
People began to doubt that He could have actually been human.

Him being God was obvious.

And it should be.
“He existed in the form of God”

John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”

Colossians 1:15-17 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

Hebrews 1:3 “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

There is no doubt as to the deity of Jesus.

But here it is important to note more than just His deity,
For He didn’t give up His deity when He came to earth.

What is unique here is His “form”
He was “in the form of God”
On earth He was in the form of man.
But He was not always in this form.

And all I have to ask you is:
IS IT BETTER TO BE IN THE FORM OF GOD OR THE FORM OF MAN?

Obviously God
That is a much higher position.
That is a much higher form.

Well, that is where Jesus was.
He maintained an eternal divine existence.
• Unlimited in power
• Unlimited by time and space
• Unlimited in understanding

Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent
Fully transcendent in all ways
That is where He was.

His Divine Existence
#2 HIS DISREGARDED EQUALITY
Philippians 2:6b

“did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,”

We would all agree that Jesus held
The most personally advantageous position that could be held.
I mean you couldn’t get any higher than God.

And you would think of all the things that should be cherished and held on to, the main thing would be your high position.
We live in a day of pathetic politicians who in the eternal scheme of things
Are absolutely insignificant.

And yet they will fight and scratch to keep their office.
Walk up to any of them and say, “Would you leave your office for the good of America?”
And I promise none of them would.
They have found an advantageous position and they won’t let it go.
BUT THAT WASN’T THE MINDSET OF JESUS.

He “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,”

He didn’t see that position as something that had to be held on to at all cost.

And it is important that you see that.
We’ll see His action in a minute,
But it is important that you first see His mindset.

98% of humility is mindset.

If you don’t have the right mindset you won’t have the right action.
Jesus had the right mindset.
He had the right “regard”

And His regard was not focused on Himself, but on others.

The point here is that a selfish heart never leads to a sacrificial life.
Before you can walk humbly you have to believe humbly.

Jesus existed in the form of God
But didn’t regard that as something to be grasped.

His Divine Existence, His Disregarded Equality
#3 HIS DELIBERATE EMPTYING
Philippians 2:7

Now there is the incarnation.
There is Jesus taking off His outer garments and wrapping Himself with a towel.

There is Jesus stepping out of His high condition and into a lowly one.
• He traded heaven’s castle for Mary’s womb
• He traded the glory of heaven for the scorn of Jerusalem
• He traded the comforts of heaven for the dusty streets of Israel

And He did it on purpose.

And notice that no one did it to Him.
He “emptied Himself”

Many today will accept adversity if someone forces it upon them.
But few will volunteer for it.

Jesus did.
He “emptied Himself”

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
Did He give up His deity?

No, but He did give up many of the benefits of it.

• For instance He was no longer omnipresent
• He was no longer omniscient
Remember Him saying even the Son doesn’t know the date of the return
It wasn’t that those things couldn’t be His,
But that He willfully refused them.

He let those divine privileges be set aside.

But if you want the clearest explanation, just keep reading the verse.

“emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant”

That is mindboggling isn’t it?
It certainly blew Peter’s mind.

In John 13 Peter said, “never shall You wash my feet”

• You are not a servant, You are a King
• This job is below You
• Don’t stoop to such a level
• There are other people who can do that

And that is what Paul is driving at.

By saying that Jesus “emptied Himself”
Paul is reiterating that He left the privileges of His high position
So that He could step into the burden of a low position.

2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”

And just as the ATTITUDE of verse 6 is important,
The ACTION of verse 7 is equally important.

For a humble heart without humble action is hypocrisy.
“You know them by their fruit”

It is not enough to claim that others are more important than you,
It is a belief that must be verified by action.

Jesus verified it.
He stepped out of His high position and into the most lowly.

He took the form of a slave.
He went from the One who called the shots,
To the One who took the orders.

His Divine Existence, His Disregarded Equality, His Deliberate Emptying
#4 HIS DEFINITE ENDURANCE
Philippians 2:8

And the point here is that Jesus took His humility all the way to the end.

Sure He became man.
But He didn’t become invincible man.

He walked through the hardest moment every man will ever face
And that is death.

“obedient to the point of death”

Incidentally, that is one of the reasons He became man.
If you want to taste death you have to become mortal.

Hebrews 2:14-15 “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

And if we stopped there it would be enough, but Jesus didn’t.
“even death on a cross”

Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us — for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”

He didn’t even die a noble death.
He died a criminal’s death of disgrace.

AND THAT IS JUST AMAZING.
• He became human, but not just any human, He became “a bond-servant”
• He died a death, but not just any death, He chose “death on a cross”

AND THE CONTRAST COULDN’T BE CLEARER.
He went from the highest pinnacle of glory and power
To the lowest point of humility and shame

No human could ever start so high or drop so low as Jesus did.
No human could ever claim to have paid as high a price as Jesus did.

Jesus once said it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven,
Namely because they have so much to lose in this life.

In fact Jesus said it was easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

And yet, no rich man could even be asked to lose as much as Jesus did.

HIS SACRIFICE CAN’T EVEN BE FATHOMED IN THE HUMAN MIND
Because we have no comprehension of the height were He first dwelled
And few of us have ever tasted the shame of where He descended.

The point is that He took His humility to the max
He endured in it

And what is it that Jesus told His disciples in the upper room?
John 13:12-16 “So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. “Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.”

So now do you want the stinging reality?
If Jesus could sacrifice glory and comfort and riches and honor for the sake of others, who are you and I to think we have the right to keep ours?

• When we selfishly cling to our rights…
• When we selfishly put ourselves above others…
• When we expect someone else to sacrifice…
• When we expect others to give me my way…

Who do we think we are?
Do we suppose ourselves so important that the world around us is supposed to just stop and give in to our every desire?

Absolutely not.
Instead, we are to be like Jesus, who even though He came from a much higher state willingly left it for the sake of others.

That is Paul’s point.
“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus”

And although we don’t have time to study in depth tonight,
We must give the practical application here.

Look back at the first 4 verses of this chapter:
Philippians 2:1-4 “Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”

That is the whole point of what Paul is driving at.
That is what the humility of Jesus would look like in your life.

• No, you aren’t in the form of God, so no, you can’t leave it.
• No, you aren’t king of the universe, so becoming a servant isn’t a stretch

SO WHAT WOULD THE HUMILITY OF JESUS LOOK LIKE IN YOUR LIFE?
Well, it would see things like “love” & “fellowship” & “affection” & “compassion” as MORE IMPORTANT than self-fulfillment.

It would seek to “joy” & “unity”

And it would never, under any circumstances do anything “from selfishness or empty conceit”

JESUS NEVER PUT HIMSELF ABOVE OTHERS
• Even when He was tired and the crowd was hungry
• Even when He was thirsty and the woman was a Samaritan
• Even when He was God and the sinners were unworthy

He never did anything out of selfishness or empty conceit

But here is what the humility of Christ actually looked like
“but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”

And that is what the humility of Jesus looks like in your life and in my life.

It does not regard self above others.

It isn’t just a martyr.
A martyr knows they don’t deserve what they are getting.

But a truly humble person doesn’t even regard it as injustice.
A truly humble person truly believes that others are more important.

That is what Jesus did.

Now, I don’t want to leave you here
Without the glorious reality of this truth as well.

There is one more very important point.
#5 HIS DESERVED EXALTATION
Philippians 2:9-11

Do not miss those first three words:
“For this reason…”
• The exaltation of Christ was not an example of favoritism…
• The exaltation of Christ was not an example of luck…
• The exaltation of Christ was not an example of chance…

The exaltation of Christ was an example of divine reward.

He humbled Himself like no one ever humbled themselves
And so He was exalted like no one has ever been exalted.
In fact “God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Is there another name like Jesus? No
Is there another name that brings such fear and reverence and gratitude and awe? No

That’s because God attached more glory to His name than any other name
God exalted Him higher than any other.
WHY?
Because He humbled Himself more than any other.

DO YOU SEE THE PRINCIPLE?

The height of your exaltation
Is directly proportional to the depth of your humility.

And if you’ll listen to Jesus that is what He said.
After telling the disciples to follow His example in the upper room, He then said this:

John 13:17 “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”

It is true.
James 4:10 “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”

1 Peter 5:6 “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,”

Or how about the teaching of Jesus?

Matthew 23:12 “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.”

Luke 14:7-11 “And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. “But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Luke 18:9-14 “And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

You get the point.

• When Paul tells you to humble yourself for your brother…
• When Jesus tells you to humble yourself for you brother…

They are not giving you advice that will harm you.
They are giving you advice that will ultimately exalt you.

Jesus humbled Himself more than any other person ever.
And as a result Hs is exalted more than any other person ever.
And that is a principle you and I need to understand.

Scorn follows selfishness, but glory follows humility
So:
“…if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,”