27.05 | Do It Like Tony
Philippians 2
‘Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus’
Philippians 2:4-5
The other day I attended a First Aid training course. The instructor, Tony, was a seasoned First Aider, with an extraordinary repertoire of real-life stories of gruesome incidents that he had handled with clarity and life-saving skill. He was a battle-scarred warrior of First Aid legend, educating new recruits in the grizzly and heroic work of the first responder.
There was a bit of theory, but most of the training was demonstration and imitation. Tony would choose a manikin (or volunteer), and show us what needed to be done in different scenarios.
Pretty quickly we got the hang of the day’s leading lesson.
If you want to do it right, do it like Tony.
Paul has a training agenda with the Philippians in today’s passage. He wants them to cut out all arguments and complaining, to become blameless and pure. He wants them to live lives that are distinct in the middle of a world that he describes as ‘crooked and twisted’. He wants them to shine with righteousness and love, holding tightly to the true words of the Gospel. He has a vision for their souls that is purity and power, distinction and light, love and wisdom.
But he also wants to build this on something else. An organising principle that governs all other things. A foundational idea that ignites every other element into a holy fire of distinction and impact.
And it’s so simple.
Do it like Jesus.
More specifically, he points to one characteristic and pattern of Jesus’ life that is to set the direction for all of our ways and all of our choices and all of our character.
Humility.
Humility is quickly understood by most people as an opposite characteristic to arrogance. A humble person is seen as deferential, quiet, or self-deprecating. While this kind of humility is still understood to be a virtue, virtually every part of our culture steers us away from what true humility is.
Look at Jesus. The humility that He modelled knew His rights, yet abdicated the grasping desires of ego in favour of willing surrender.
His humility knew that He was made for the very fullness of heaven—more than any human ever to live—and yet He chose to empty Himself for the sake of others.
His humility knew that He was made for the most glorious and empowered life, and yet He willingly gave up His life, His comfort, platform, fame, platform, and even His very life, that a broken humanity could dance into the joyful wholeness of God.
This is not the quiet and self-deprecating humility of the timid.
Rather, this is the extraordinary humility of those who have learned to live for a cause greater than themselves.
The spiritual walk, in the footsteps of Jesus, could be articulated as a lifelong journey into the freedom of greater humility. Where the relentless, anxious, pressure of building our own reputation on the flimsy accolades of the world becomes secondary to the single greater ambition:
To love.
To serve a cause beyond ourselves.
To learn that the greatest self-assurance leads to the greatest sacrifice.
To do it like Jesus.
Evangelist D.L. Moody put it this way: “I believe many a man is praying to God to fill him when he is full already with something else.”1
Humility changes all things. It is the great letting go. It is the entry into the way of love. It is the freedom from insecurity and ego that you crave. It is the very place where the living God breathes life-giving oxygen to our withered, self-absorbed souls.
And it is only this path, that walks through the death of the self, that can learn the true freedom and joy of the exalting love of God.
Reflect:
Two things for today:
Reflect on your motives. What is driving your choices right now? Ego … self … ambition? Or the willing surrender of the humble?
Reflect on your choices. What little choices can you make today that lead you in the path of humility? What good done in secret? What rest in place of workaholism? What acts of love?
Ask the Spirit who raised Jesus to raise your soul to great life today, in the beautiful way of humility.
Pray:
Lord Jesus,
I walk in your footsteps,
And the further I go,
The more I realise that this Way
Needs me to Let Go.
To let go of my insecure grasping for position;
To let go of my competitive desires for prominence;
To let go of the febrile obsession with Me;
And instead, dear Lord,
To allow each part of this silly and selfish soul
To become ignited in the beautiful freedom of self-forgetfulness,
That my every thought and action and word
Be governed by the greater ambitions
Of worship, of honour, and of love.
In Your Name,
Exalted Lord Jesus,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
1 Kings 8:54-10:13 | Psalm 69:14-29
Dwight Moody (2013): Secret Power, p.20