GOD’S HUMILITY

Scripture: Philippians 2:1-11

INTRODUCTION

According to the liturgical calendar, the Sunday between November 20 and 26 is called “Christ the King,” and it is designated as the day when we lift up the vision of Jesus Christ coming to reign over His kingdom (From “Preaching Through the Christian Year,” Trinity Press International, 1992, page 516).

What’s more, we also embrace this Sunday as the opening of the door into the Advent-Christmas season, that sacred time in the Christian year of great expectation leading to the incarnation of God, in the person of the Holy Child born in Bethlehem.

And that presents us with what theologians describe as a “paradox” – something which seems to contradict itself, but actually does not, for it reveals a mystery which God has helped us to understand. And the paradox is this: Christ the King, with all the power of the universe in His hands, has come to reign and rule over the world…but it all began with a little baby who was born in a barn in a backwater village – as the poet Christopher Fry pictured it “at the darkest time of the year, in the poorest place in town.”

Do you see the paradox? God in His sovereignty, the creator of everything, came down to earth in humility through the birth of His Son, our Savior Jesus. And that is the focus of our sermon today – on God’s humility wherein He has reached out to touch and transform the whole world, including you and me.

I

When Dr. Ernie Davis was called in the early 1990’s to be our Associate Pastor of Church Growth and Evangelism, he told a story which some of you will remember. Ernie said that the Associate Pastor Search Committee met and decided that they wanted the most intelligent pastor in our denomination to come to First Presbyterian Church. So they contacted the General Assembly office up in Louiville, the office ran the request through their computer and one name came to the top. The search committee contacted this person and asked if he was willing to come and serve in Atlanta, but he said no.

So the search committee then decided to ask for the name of the best looking pastor in the denomination. Once more, they searched the files up at headquarters, found the best looking pastor and gave his name to the committee. They tracked him down, called him to come, but he said he wouldn’t.

Finally, the committee asked for the name of the most humble pastor in the denomination. The people in Louisville looked again, found him, contacted the search committee and they called him to come. And Ernie Davis said “I just couldn’t turn them down three times in a row, so that is how I came to the First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta!”

I like that story, and so does Ernie(!), because it allows us to laugh a little and not take ourselves too seriously, especially in the church. But sometimes we do.

Sometimes we think our opinions matter more than anyone else’s. Sometimes we are certain that our decisions are right and others are wrong. Sometimes we believe that our understanding of the Bible is the only correct interpretation, which doesn’t leave much room for discernment and open conversation.

And none of us is exempt, you know. C.S. Lewis, writing in his classic book “Mere Christianity,” included a chapter which he entitled “The Great Sin.” Please listen:

“There is one vice of which no one in the world is free; which everyone in the world loathes when they see it in someone else; and of which hardly any people…ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. There is no fault which makes us more unpopular…and the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others. The vice I’m speaking of is pride, or self-conceit, and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called humility.

You may remember, in talking about sexual morality, I warned you that the center of Christian morals did not lie there. Well, now, we have come to the center. According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness and all of that are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through pride that the devil became the devil: pride leads to every other vice…” (From “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis, MacMillan Publishing Company, 1952, page 109)

Now that might sound somewhat severe, but the writer of the Book of Proverbs said it was so a long time ago: Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). And it was the Apostle Paul who sent these words to the Roman Christians as they were bickering with each other about so many things:

By the grace given to me, I bid every one among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned (Romans 12:3).

In the same manner, when Paul wrote to the church in Philippi, he gave those early believers and all of us ever since, the one true and authentic image of humility which God poured into the life of His Son, Jesus Christ:

So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility, count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to their own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Have this mind among yourselves which you have in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of humanity. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every other 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 (Philippians 2:1-11).

On this Christ the King Sunday, we are bold to proclaim that is the gold standard of the Christian faith and the kingdom of God. Because God has revealed, once and for all, through the birth and the life, the teaching and the healing, the grace and the compassion, the death and the resurrection of Jesus, the way He wants us to live and to love, to forgive and to embrace one another as human beings, in our families, in the church, and to share that good news of the gospel with all of His children on earth.

Such is the humility of God, who came to dwell among us, to save and to redeem us, and to offer us the way, the truth and the life He wants all of us to share.

As we prepare for the Advent-Christmas season and the celebration of Jesus’ birth, there are great expectations that this will be a time of joy and peace in our hearts, in our homes and in the church.

But that will not be the case for everyone, because some of us suffer from loneliness and do not look forward to being left out of all the festivities. Others of us struggle with the pain of sorrow, grief and separation, having lost loved ones through death or divorce who used to be the center of our attention. There are those who are facing physical and emotional illness that just won’t go away, and far too many people who are already worried about how they’re going to pay the bills when the holiday season is over.

Now there’s another group of people whom I am deeply concerned about today, and as I walk down from this pulpit to the chancel steps, what I have to say comes from my heart – not so much as “the preacher” but rather as a pastor who has listened to, prayed with and cried alongside so many of them for 15 years. I am speaking about men and women, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers and even some fathers and mothers who are gay and lesbian in this congregation and surrounding community. In some of their families, there is affirmation, love, understanding and acceptance about who they are and what they need. But sad to say, in other families, there is conflict, anger, broken relationships and rejection.

I have been struggling with this for a long time myself, all the way back to my early years at Princeton Seminary. My roommate named Jack became my closest friend. When Barbara and I were married a couple of years later, he stood alongside me as one of the groomsmen. He went into a church – one of the greatest preachers and pastors I have ever known – and it took him years to tell me the truth about himself, that he is gay. He was the first person to say to me the words that I have heard many others, gay and lesbian persons, say over and over again – the same thing: “Ever since I was a little boy (or little girl), I have known that there was something different about me.” Sadly, Jack is no longer in the ministry today.

What I sense, more often than not, is the anxiety and apprehension which gay and lesbian persons feel as they ask the question, “Where do we fit in the church?” And as all of us know, congregations and denominations across America are divided over the issue of homosexuality, ordination, same sex unions, what the Bible says, and how we are supposed to relate to one another as Christians.

For the past 25 years, we in the Presbyterian Church have been caught up in this controversy, and I don’t know how or when it will be resolved. However, I have come to the conviction in my own heart where I hope and pray that the day will come, sooner than later, when every church and all denominations will offer full inclusion to gay and lesbian people.

I am not advocating that we give our blessing to promiscuity of any kind, homosexual or heterosexual, and for those who are struggling with any form of bondage or addiction, we offer pastoral care and counseling here to everyone who is willing to receive it. But to those who are faithful in their relationships and seek to follow Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives, the church needs to let them know that they are welcome and accepted as brothers and sisters in Christ.

I do not say this “officially” on behalf of the Session or the staff, and I am well aware that while some of you are encouraged by these words, others will disagree and be upset by what I have said. So I invite you to join me and anyone else who is interested to engage in an ongoing conversation, as we humbly and faithfully speak the truth in love and seek God’s will together.

I think that’s what the Apostle Paul was saying to the Philippians long ago, words which I do believe still speak to us today:

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord…do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to their own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus, who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of humanity. And being found in human form He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross…

Such is God’s Humility, my friends, and through the love and grace of Jesus, and the ministry and mission of the church, He has reached out to touch and transform the lives of all of His children on earth.

CONCLUSION

Barbara Brown Taylor believes that, and she wrote an article about it in the Christian Century Magazine a year ago. So please listen, in closing, to what she said:

“…I do not have ‘a position’ on homosexuality. What I have, instead, is a life. I have a history, in which many people have played a vital part…I cannot visualize ‘an issue.’ Instead, I visualize the homeroom teacher who seemed actually to care whether I showed up at school or not. I see the priest who taught me everything I know about priesthood, and a professor who roasted whole chickens for me when my food money ran out before the end of the month…

These days I guess everything sounds like a position, even a confession like this one. I do not (always) know what is right. All I know is whom I love, and how far I have to go before there is no one left whom I do not love. If I am wrong, then I figure that the Word of God (made flesh in Jesus) will know what to do with me. I am betting my life on that.” (From The Christian Century, an article entitled “Where the Bible Leads Me,” by Barbara Brown Taylor, October 18, 2003)

So am I, and to that, my friends, I hope and pray that we can say “Amen.”

In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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