Humility and Glory
Humility & Glory
Do those go together? Opposites? If you experience the later do you lose the former? Can they really be experienced and/or observed together?
The truth of the matter is, that this is rarely observed among us. But that is not to say it has never been observed. The amazing thing that Christians believe is that in the person of Jesus, humility was embodied in all of its glory. There we see it combined in a powerful way, for in Jesus we see the glory that arises in the midst of humility. What's more, this was God in human form. This is what the glory of God -- what it is that makes God so amazing -- is all about! This IS the greatest glory of God. True greatness, even divine greatness, is not always what we expect!
Take a moment to reflect on what this actually means. Listen and reflect on the hymn of the early church in Philippians 2 (see the scripture to the right). What does it mean for God to actually be this way? What does it mean for us to follow and reflect the character of God? What does it mean for what so often means so much to us . . . and what it means for what really should?
It is an amazing picture! If you would like to reflect on this further by listening to the sermon again, or perhaps for the first time, you can access our sermon library by clicking here.
Philippians 2 (ESV)
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so 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.