"Joy in Humility" - Doug Rehberg

In many ways Philippians 2:5-11 makes up the greatest and most moving passage that Paul ever wrote about Jesus – certainly the most descriptive.  As we mentioned last week, no one can begin to understand the person and work of Jesus without gaining an understanding of these seven verses.  But not only is this a vivid description of who Jesus is, it’s a call to us.  Thomas Langford of Duke Divinity School once wrote:

“In Jesus we find embodied the self-giving of God to persons and the self-giving of a person to other persons.  Jesus is Lord who is servant, and Jesus is servant who is Lord.  As the Lord who is servant, Jesus identifies with human life so as to establish a redemptive relationship.  As servant who is Lord, Jesus calls us to acknowledge His lordship through our servanthood.  The grace of God in Jesus Christ calls us to a graciousness which is a self-abandonment to the love of God and the love of neighbor.”

And it’s in all of this that a great paradox of the Christian faith emerges.  The paradox is this.  The last becomes first.  The humble are exalted.  The servant becomes the leader. The poor becomes rich.  In fact, the Beatitudes (Mt. 5:3-11) are Jesus’ catalogue of the way things are turned upside down and inside out in the new economy of God’s kingdom.  So Jesus’ enumeration of the humble being exalted (Mt. 23:12) was gloriously fulfilled in His own case.  “Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow…and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

And it’s the example of His finished work that Paul carries over to the next paragraph in his thinking.  In fact, Paul links Jesus’ obedience to our obedience when he says, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling…”

I can think of few statements in the entire Bible that have been taken out of context more often than this one.  For some it’s an indication that salvation only begins with regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and it’s up to the saved person to “stay saved”.  For others it’s a club that’s used by the legalist to pummel believers into “holy living”.  They reason that if Paul says, “work it out”, he means it’s up to us to insure our own sanctification.  And yet, nothing could be further from the truth!

So how are we to understand this statement? And how in the world does Philippians 2:1-11 fit with the 12^th verse?  These and many other questions will be addressed this Sunday in a message entitled, “Joy in Humility.”  Our text is composed of only two verses:  Philippians 2:12-13.  Our companion text is Exodus 14:21-29.  As you prepare for Sunday you may wish to consider the following:

1.      What is the “therefore” there for in verse 12?

2.      How did Jesus humble Himself?  (See 2:8)

3.      What does obedience mean?

4.      How do humility and obedience fit together?

5.      How does Paul’s address of the Philippian Christians in verse 12 signal his intention in telling them to work out their salvation?

6.      How is the “salvation” Paul refers to here corporate and ongoing?

7.      Where else in his writings does Paul mention the phrase “fear and trembling”?

8.      What does it mean in those places?

9.      How does his statement in Philippians 1:6 fit with what he says in verses 12 and 13?

10.  How does fear and trembling produce joy?

See you Sunday!