Humility: A Model Worth Emulating (Part 2)

Read Part 1.

Why the “fear and trembling” in Philippians 2:12? In the three verses that come before, it says,

Therefore, God also highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Php 2:9-11, LSB)

These verses speak of Christ’s exaltation with a fearful reverence that we need to see and connect with who we are in our need for humility.

In his commentary on Philippians, Walter Hansen wrote,

When we worship and serve the God who highly exalted Jesus and the God who works in us, our attitude in God’s presence should be one of humble submission before God. The fear of the Lord is the best way to dispel the attitude of selfish ambition or vain conceit (2:3) that so quickly ruins social harmony in the church. In order to build the community, believers need to work together with the attitude of humility that they are doing everything in the presence of God. Then their work will express their worship of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father.³

The Philippians were to humble themselves, with Christ as their supreme example, and in so doing, they would be in loving reverence, demonstrating the fruit of their salvation. They needed to do this whether the Apostle Paul was with them or he was away. But how could they do this? This was the desired end of what Paul commanded, but what would be the means?

…For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Php 2:13, LSB)

In this next verse, we see the connection between the work they were to do and the power that would make it happen. Paul is saying that the power of God works in you, a reference to the indwelling power of God. This phrase in Greek says, “God is working in you.” It is a present active participle, meaning that the activity of God was ongoing even as Paul wrote. It was not a past event—God was working in you, nor was it a future event—God will work in you. God is working in you!

This truth would give the Philippians great confidence that what God had commanded them could be carried out, not because of the strength in themselves, but because of the strength of God dwelling in them.

What would God do to bring about this change? The verse says, “both to will and to work.” To will speaks about the desires. Would the Philippians want to humble themselves? Would they want to treat others as more important than themselves and look out for the interests of others? In the flesh, no. But God would change their hearts so that they would want to obey the Lord.

The “work” part refers to the practical aspects. After God conquers the desires of the heart, then the believer must make changes in their life. Again, Walter Hansen wrote about this truth in his commentary on this passage,

Paul’s call to unflagging, Christ-like obedience will not be popular in a world that so highly values going fast and having fun and so quickly rejects enduring pain and submitting to authority. But the essential characteristic of the wise who build their community on Christ is their consistent obedience to him.⁴

This call to humility and unity is not easy. That is why it requires the power of God to change our hearts and practices. Just as God was doing amazing work in the church of Philippi, He is doing His divine work in us as well. We can get frustrated that things aren’t happening much faster, but God knows what He is doing.

Think about this. When a child draws and colors a picture, it might take five minutes for her to finish. Beautiful to the child and parent, but not to the stranger. Now, place a paintbrush in an artist’s hand, and he will produce a masterpiece, but it will take more than five minutes. Things of beauty take time.

We are like a piece of marble in the Master’s hands. But this does not mean we are passive like marble. We, too, must work at chipping away everything that does not look like Christ in our lives. Listen to Charles Spurgeon:

I have heard it said that the good sculptor, whenever he sees a suitable block of marble, firmly believes that there is a statue concealed within it. His business is but to take away the superfluous material, and so unveil the “thing of beauty” which shall be “a joy forever.” Believer, you are that block of marble; you have been quarried by divine grace, and set apart for the Master’s service, but we cannot see the image of Christ in you yet as we could wish. True, there are some traces of it, some dim outlines of what is to be; it is for you, with the chisel and the mallet, with constant endeavor and holy dependence upon God, to work out that image of Christ in yourself, till you shall be discovered to be by all men like unto your Lord and Master. God has sketched the image of his Son in you; in the as-yet-but-slightly-carved marble He has fairly outlined it, and you have but to go on chipping away these sins, infirmities, and corruptions, till the fair likeness of the incarnate God shall be seen by all.⁵

These are humbling truths modeled by our Lord that we must pursue in our lives. Challenging, but not impossible. In holy dependence, we can be conformed to the image of Christ, both individually and as a Church.