Last week I received many pats on the back for my denunciation of the group from Kansas that threatened to picket a funeral in western Maine.  One reason this struck a cord is that we love Jesus and feel awe full when someone dishonors His name, even if they do it in the name of Christ.

           I believe that our nation is a nation of guilt.  We feel guilty about slavery, guilty about our treatment of women and minorities, guilty about how our ancestors treated fellow Americans.  As Christians we should have been embarrassed and raised a cry against cross burnings in the south.  Imagine the cross being used at a tool of hatred and fear!  Yet, we heard little outcry in those days from the Christian church.

           We sing the song, “So I cherish the Old Rugged Cross.”  But that has not always been our experience, has it.

           This series we are doing on the cross is intended to inform visitors and those new to this church about the importance of the cross to Christians.  I would love to see you come to understand the importance is such a way that you become a Christian, if you are not already.

           I am also doing this series to challenge the Christian to learn the lessons of the cross.   The cross speaks of Jesus’ death, love, humility and sacrifice.  These traits form the core of Christian thought and behavior. 

           We learned that Christ died for our sins.  So we are to die to our sin, to ourselves and to the world around us.  We learned that God loved the world.  So we are to love the people in the world, even though we do not want to get caught up in the philosophies and activities that are against the Word of God.

           A third symbol of the cross is the symbol of humility.  The cross of Jesus Christ shows us both humility and humiliation.  Our favorite passage on this is in Philippines 2:5-13.

           5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature 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. 12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. (Phil 2:5-13).

           As we read did you see his humility and his humiliation?  The key to this humility and humiliation is his death, which was prompted by his love for you. 

           I want you to notice, first of all, his humility.

           Notice, first, what an important person Jesus was. 

           He was in his very nature God!   We need to spend just a moment here, because some Christians are going to misunderstand this word, “nature” and have it say things, that though true, are not what the Holy Spirit is conveying to us in this passage.

           We believe that Jesus was God.  We believe that He has a divine nature.  In the very essence of who He is, he is God.  But this verse is not saying that.

           The word “nature” that is used in the NIV,  is the word “form” in the KJV.  This word describes the outward appearance of an individual.  If we were to talk about something that is physical, we would describe it’s shape.  But this does not describe something physical.  This is not saying that Christ looked like God.  Though we would say that this doctrine is true in the Bible, it is not what is being said here.  We have something more fundamental, more powerful, more wonderful about Jesus.

           To understand what Paul is saying, we need to go to verse 7.  Here the word “nature” or “form” is used again.  This time it is used, not with God, but with a servant.

           So many people go wrong at this point, thinking that when Jesus came down to this earth, the humiliation was going from being God to being man.  But this is not the contrast.  This is not the point.  It says in verse 7 that he was made in human likeness, but the point is not that God was humbled in becoming a man.

           The point is that when you looked at Jesus, before he came to his earth, outwardly he was God!  Whatever he said, happened.  John 1:3 says that “all things were made by him.”  When God speaks in Genesis 1, that is Jesus speaking.  And when Jesus spoke, the earth was formed.  When Jesus spoke, the water parted.  When Jesus spoke, flowers bloomed.  When Jesus spoke, animals started walking.  When Jesus spoke, man was made.  When Jesus spoke, the winds and the waves obeyed Him.  I don’t mean this disrespectfully, but when you looked at Jesus, He was the man.  When you looked at Jesus, he acted like God himself in the way he gave orders and was obeyed.  The angels went out at his command.  He looked, talked, and acted like God himself.  For he was.

           His outward form sprang from the essence of who he was.  Because he was God, he looked and acted and talked like God and everything obeyed him or suffered the consequences.

           Notice, now the humility.  He didn’t think that this equality that he had with God and as God was something to be grasped or held on to.  He no longer demanded that people treat Him as God.  He no longer went around demanding that people obey him.

           Instead he came to this earth and became nothing.  He wasn’t born in a royal family, there is no known wealth associated with his earthly family.  He was born in a stable, escaped death by fleeing to Egypt and worked as a carpenter or stone mason.

           Instead of being equal with God and in the form of God, he took the form of a servant.  He waited on people.  The sick came and he healed them.  People were hungry and he fed them.  If someone needed help, he helped them. 

           Before Jesus became a man, when He spoke, he spoke for the Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Now he voluntarily obeys the orders of His Father.  He is lead by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness.  He is a humble man.

           How humble?  So humble that he was willing to be humiliated.  When God the Father ordered, “Go to the cross!”  Jesus, the humble servant said, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from me.  But not my will, but thine be done.”

           Notice in verse 8 that he “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”  That cross was the cross of humiliation.  The worst criminals were placed on this cross.  Can you imagine pinning the creator of the universe to the cross?  They were beaten, stripped naked, and hung out so that everyone could see.  And people did go to see.  Just as people went to the Colosseum to see people killed by animals or gladiators fight, just as people in the west used to take picnic lunches to see hangings, so people would go out and look at these dying people.  They would mock them and laugh at them.  There is nothing more humiliating to be falsely accused of a crime and have the world laugh at you.  It is hard to believe that the people could do that to the boss of the universe.

           But he didn’t look like a boss, he looked like a servant, a worker.  And in that humility and humiliation, he came to the cross to die for you and me. 

           I am glad that is not the end of the story.  Jesus rose again and in verse 9-11 we find, as Paul Harvey would say, “the rest of the story.”

           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. (Phil 2:9-11).

           Jesus, today, is restored to the form of God.  He is in the highest place.  Every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is servant?  No, Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

           Paul starts his passage by telling us that we should have this same attitude.  This is why the passage is here.  Not only does it tell the story of Jesus, but it describes the form of a Christian! 

           What do Christians look like? Humble servants who are willing to suffer humiliation for the cause of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.

           Christians are to look like humble servants.  In fact, we may be people in power positions.  You may be a husband, wife, parent, boss, chair, leader or some other position of leadership and influence.  Humility means that we don’t throw our position around, but we work to serve those who are under us as well as our target group.  A target group might be the customers a company serves.  A Christian in leadership would humbly serve their customers and humbly serve the employees under him or her as well.

           Don’t get me wrong.  The job has to be done and it may be your job to hire and fire or evaluate those under you.  You need to do it.  But this is speaking of an attitude, a mindset that you carry with you and that others see.  This humility is seen a little in the saying, “Walk quietly and carry a big stick.”   You have a position, but you don’t have to ask for special privileges just because of what you have. 

           The humiliation is humiliation associated with doing the will of God. Here is a promise from James.  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up.  

           You young people may have your best friends challenging you.  “Why do you go to church or youth group?” “Just take one puff or one drink!.”  And when you don’t they make fun of you.  This is humiliation that Christ wants you to put up with.  He doesn’t want you to join them to avoid it, he wants you to stand up with him. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up.

           You are a Christian, but you have a brother or sister or friend who is visiting your house.  You are tempted to hid your Bible and tell a few off color jokes to hid your love for Christ.  You don’t want your friends to think that you have become some kind of a religious nut. I ask, “why not?” Suffer the humiliation for the sake of Christ, remembering that if you  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, he will lift you up.

           This is why we love Jesus.  He not only died for us, but he took a big step down for us as well.  If Jesus did that for you, why not trust Him?  Why not put your faith in Him?

           In the Purpose Driven Life Book we are going to sing number 3.  Think about these words.