post 51. Imitate Christ’s humility

Philippians 2:3-11

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in the very nature God,
did not consider equality with God
something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death–
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above all every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.“

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In this passage the apostle Paul writes to the church in Philippi urging and reminding them to remember the gospel.   He spends most of his time in chapter one thanking God for their partnership in the gospel, encouraging them in prayer, and addressing their fears of his being in jail.  In chapter 2:2 he urges “then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one spirit and purpose.”  He then points to Christ as the model to follow.

Knowing and being honest with myself..  I would rephrase that passage based on my inherent behavior like this:

“I do everything out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, and in arrogance consider myself better than others.  I look to my own interests, and not to the interests of others.  Others attitudes should be the same as that of Tim Shin:”

Some of you would probably agree with that statement and some of you may probably think that I am being either overly-dramatic or a little too hard on myself.  Others may think it is ridiculous because they believe they are generally good people.  In it’s essence, I believe it is true.  Apart from the life-redeeming, sin-atoning, and wrath-appeasing sacrifice of Christ crucified on the cross along with the power and active work of the holy spirit in my heart, I am powerless to stand before anyone and say that my motives and actions are not out of selfish ambition, vain conceit, and in the interest of others.  If I am truly, truly honest with myself, I know behind every action and motive is a little sense and longing to fulfill my own agenda.  I want to be loved, accepted, respected, and supported in everything that I do.  Maybe its the lens with which I look at the world and the heart but the more I dig deeper into my heart, the more I read the word, pray, and worship, the realization of my selfishness and self-seeking glory becomes more and more apparent.  It’s frightening really.  Even though I know this and even though I want to fix it and change, I just can’t.  I yearn (yes, yearn…) to serve others for THEIR interest.  I want to love my neighbor as myself.  I really want to.  I want to serve the Church and God’s kingdom for God but I realize that I’m really building my own kingdom.

I find out each day just how good I’ve become at feeding my idols.  So good that no one even realizes it, not even me.  I’m like a ninja idolater.  Or more practically, like a special ops SWAT idolater.  John Calvin describes our hearts to be “experts in inventing idols”.  I think to add on to John Calvin (holds breath) we are and have also become experts at feeding our idols.  Some of us may hide behind our theology, good works, reputation, relationships, and so on.  Some of the best covers for our idols is our goodness.  If we’re good, no one will question us.  No one will challenge us.  People will assume our motives are good, intentions blameless, and hearts fully satisfied in Christ.

As I read and re-read this passage this week.. I became more and more frustrated at my inability to follow these commands.  It was clearly apparent that I could not live up to these commands from Paul.  So now what?  Do I just give up, sigh pitifully and accept my demise?  No!

Thankfully, Paul addresses this in Romans.

Romans 7:14-25

¹⁴We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

²¹So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²²For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. ²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Rest.  In a weird way its comforting to know that even Paul went through this struggle.  The gospel gives us rest.  In Philippians it goes on to say that because we could never grasp equality with God as humans, God himself came down to be the perfect equalizer.  Jesus, the suffering servant, became nothing.  He embodied Paul’s call to the Philippians perfectly.  There was not a hint of selfish ambition in his actions nor vain conceit in his message.  In humility he humbled himself before the world.  The king above all kings gave up the robe and his rightful throne.  He was mocked, ridiculed, beaten, blamed, despised, and shamed.  Unlike Paul in Romans, Jesus could do what he wanted to do.  He could carry out perfection and it cost him his life.  And as always.. “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).  How amazing!  (I think I tend to forget this sometimes.  That God looks on Christ and pardons me.)

While I was dead in my sin, I am also made alive in Christ.  In his resurrection, God reveals the power over death.  That in Christ we have power over our idols.  That through his Spirit continually sanctifying us we have power over our sin.  To conquer it.  To flesh it out.  To destroy it.  It gives us ultimate humility and boldness.  Humility because we did nothing to deserve it.  Boldness because there is nothing we can do to lose it.  The gospel has power.

Whenever I can I try to read some prayers from The Valley of Vision, a collection of beautiful, gospel-articulate puritan prayers.   I thought this one was especially relevant and it’s one of my favorites.

Continual Repentance (p.136, Valley of Vision)

O God of Grace,
Thou hast imputed (or simply, transferred) my sin to my to my substitute, and hast imputed his righteousness to my soul,
clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe, decking me with jewels of holiness.

But in my Christian walk I am still in rags;
my best prayers are stained with sin; my penitential (repentant) tears are so much impurity;
my confessions of wrongs are so many aggravations of sin; my receiving the Spirit is tinctured (stained) with selfishness.

I need to repent of my repentance; I need my tears to be washed;
I have no robe to bring to cover my sins, no loom to weave my own righteousness;

I am always standing clothed in filthy garments,
and by grace am always receiving change of raiment,
For thou dost always justify the ungodly;

I am always going into the far country, and always returning home as a prodigal,
always saying, Father, forgive me, and thou art always bringing forth the best robe.

Every morning let me wear it, every evening return in it
Go out to the day’s work in it, be married in it, be wound in death in it
stand before the great white throne in it, enter heaven in it shining as the sun.

Grant me never to lose sight of
the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
the exceeding righteousness of salvation,
the exceeding glory of Christ,
the exceeding beauty of holiness,
the exceeding wonder of grace.

In Tim Keller’s article entitled All of Life is Repentance, he writes,

“It is important to consider how the gospel affects and transforms the act of repentance.  In ‘religion’ the purpose of repentance is basically to keep God happy so he will continue to bless you and answer your prayers.  This means that ‘religious repentance’ is a.) selfish, b.)self-righteous, c.) and bitter all the way to the bottom.  But in the gospel the purpose of repentance is to repeatedly tap into the joy of our union with Christ in order to weaken our need to do anything contrary to God’s heart.”

Man.  I can’t wait until I am in heaven where sin will be no more.  Until then, I know God, in his loving will through pain and joy, will teach and lead me home.  I’m excited for the things that God has in store.  I’m thankful that God uses the poor and weak in spirit and that he even works through the prideful and misguided.  He covers all my inability.  He wraps me with all his glory.

Oh great and loving Father,
Apart from you, my every sense is inclined towards rebellion
My heart yearns to do your will but fails, it is a wretched and efficient idol-factory.
Lead me beside your quiet waters and restore my soul!
Lead me to paths of righteousness for your names sake!
Because of Your son Jesus, perfect and blameless in all his ways
I thank you for the robe that now covers my rags
Filthy rags that I foolishly wear in pride.
May I not look down at others filthy rags in admonishment and judgment
May your senses become my senses.
May I pursue holiness in the gospel.  Let grace not be an excuse for laziness and apathy in dealing with sin.
Thank you for walking with me always.  And for being the good and perfect shepherd.

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