Embracing Humility: Valuing Others Above Ourselves

I just love that here's someone who lost her child and yet during this time of grieving is going out and helping other people and she's taking her mind off of herself and and and even stretching herself to this point where she's going you know I'm just going to grab some different people in my neighborhood and start a Bible study. [00:06:04]

But I just love the example that Jen sets for us because man when life is difficult for us it's so easy to start looking Inward and just say it's all about me all about me all about me and yet even in that grieving we almost if anyone would have an excuse to to look inward we say well you know it's okay just just think about yourself. [00:06:44]

That's not the way we heal that's not the way God intended for us to heal man the more inward we get it's it's it's the more more uh more depressed we'll get and just watching her and seeing her life as she's going out and ministering to other people amidst her pain it's it's exactly what we're talking about this morning. [00:07:11]

It was such a beautiful pictures of beautiful picture of Philippians 2 where it says that what we're supposed to do as followers of Jesus Christ is to consider other people as more important than us it it says in Philippians 2 verse 1 it says if if there's any encouragement in Christ. [00:07:30]

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves Let each of you look not only to his own interest but also to the interest of others s it's this picture of humility that a lot of times we have a a a weird view of humility. [00:07:46]

We think it to be humble means that you put yourself down or you speak real quietly or you don't talk a whole lot the Bible says no humility is when you can consider other people as more important than you and you actually stop just looking at yourself but thinking about the needs of others. [00:08:06]

This passage is about the humility of Jesus Christ who even though he was God and he could have just sat there in heaven and done his thing and let all the Angels worship him instead he actually thought about us his creation these human beings and this whole picture of him humbling himself to be with us and to love us and to die for our sins. [00:11:34]

And it's like wow if God Almighty could do that then shouldn't we have that same attitude see verse 5 says have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. [00:12:00]

Isaiah gets to see the glory of God but everyone reading the Old Testament would have been thinking God the father but here he's explaining Jesus as being the one on this throne and in Isaiah 6 there's this very powerful picture of Jesus and a lot of times we don't think of Jesus being this way but here John 12 says Isaiah Saw His glory. [00:14:34]

Isaiah says I saw him he goes and he was sitting on a throne okay picture that he goes but not just a little Throne not a little chair I mean this Throne that was high in exalted and he says in fact he was so big that his robe literally filled up the whole Temple okay picture a being sitting on a throne so massive that the robe fills the entire Temple. [00:16:16]

There were these high angels that above him were these seraphim these these high angels and it says that each had six wings and with two they covered their faces with two they covered their feet and with two they flew see the whole idea of these angels is they got two Wings covering their faces two covering their feet they were covered from head to toe. [00:16:54]

I think one of the things the church needs more than anything is a new reverence and awe of God and I'm going to challenge you during this time of meditation on God that may some of you just drop to your knees and bow before God and literally maybe just turn around face your chair and just picture God in heaven and out of a sign of respect just be willing to bow to someone who's bigger than you. [00:21:28]