Unity Through Humility

Tim Sweetman (aka Agent Tim) recently preached an excellent sermon titled Unity Through Humility based on Philipians 2:1-11 and made it available online via podcast. A couple of the Rebelutionary Musings Administrators were greatly blessed by it, and we decided it definitely should be passed on. You can listen to it here.

Philippians 2:1-11

Imitating Christ's Humility

1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

As Rebelutionaries, the whole motiviation for "doing hard things" and "rebelling against low expectations" is (or should be) purely for the Glory of God. There is no room for God's glory and the pride of man to coexist; therefore, humility is a necessary component of being truly Rebelutionary (Proverbs 8:13, 16:18-19, Isaiah 66:2, James 4:6, I Peter 3:8, 5:5, 1 John 2:15-16).

Rebelutionary Daryn Morden, speaking to the question of "How we make ourselves enemies of God," offered these comments on the subject: "There is nothing that God despises more than a person who is proud and haughty. I'm currently studying through a book titled 'Humility: True Greatness' By C.J. Mahaney, and one of the points he makes in his book is that when we are prideful or haughty, 'we are attempting to achieve supremacy with God' or we have decided that we are better than God and that we know more about life than the One who created it. For me, that really hit home and I had to ask myself if I had any pride in my life. Well, sure enough there was a heap of pride, and, not only was it weakening my walk with God, but it was also weakening my relationship with my family.

So the question I'm asking is this: 'Are we making ourselves an enemy of God, even if we don't realize it'?"

Thank you, Daryn, for the thoughts and challenge! His question is simple and practical yet essential. How can we do hard things for God if we are in opposition to Him? The answer is...we can't.

Rebelutionary Musings highly recommends that you read Humility: True Greatness, if you have not already done so. You can purchase it here.

God bless!