Pathway to Victory

Speaker 1

Hey podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word through the most effective media available, like this podcast.

To support Pathway to Victory, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes.

Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

Hi, this is Robert Jeffress and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day. This Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 3

When you humble yourself, when you surrender your own rights to meet the needs of another person, that act does not go unnoticed by God. God sees your sacrifice. He sees your humility. And one day he will reward you.

Speaker 4

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress.

I think we all have that call we're constantly butting heads with or that family member that we can't stand being around during the holidays. But gratefully, there's hope for even the most dysfunctional relationship.

Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress offers a Biblical prescription for restoring peace through rocky relationships.

Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Speaker 2

Dr. Jeffress thanks David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. No one has the capacity to ruin a good day any more than one of our critics. Can you relate? All it takes is a cynical, snide remark from one of our detractors, and we feel the emotions begin to surface.

In today's message, we're looking at a passage that provides practical counsel on how to disarm our enemies. It's not only the topic for today's message, but it's also included in my best-selling book I've written for you, *Outrageous Joy*. You see, God never intended us to endure a life of misery, living on our heels, responding to our enemies. My goal is to help you identify three keys for living a worry-free life and discover the secrets for feeling genuine contentment.

A hardbound copy of *Outrageous Joy* is my thank you gift when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory. Now, in addition to the book, I'm going to slip in a copy of our *Standing on the Promises of God* encouragement card. This is a handy reference tool that you can place in a prominent spot to remind you of Paul's message to the Philippians on finding joy, peace, strength, and hope.

We'll repeat all the details of requesting these resources just after today's message, but right now, let's pick up the study where we began on Wednesday's program from Philippians Chapter Two. I titled today's message "How to Make Your Enemies Love You."

Speaker 3

What is humility? How does it work? And why is it so key to our relationships? Paul's going to answer all of those questions in the passage we're going to look at today. If you have your Bibles, turn to Philippians Chapter two as we discover how to make your enemies love you. How do you keep difficult people from robbing you of joy? And the answer, in a word, is humility. Instead of using people, learn to serve people.

In this chapter, Paul is going to do three things. First of all, he's going to exhort us to exercise humility. Secondly, he's going to explain what humility is. And then third, he's going to give the greatest illustration of humility in all of history. First of all, let's look at the exhortation, the command for humility. Now remember what was going on in the Philippian church. Paul was in prison, but he received word that this church he loved and had founded was starting to have fractures in it. There was starting to be disunity. Some of that disunity was due to doctrinal problems in the church. But there were also problems in the church caused by relational issues. There were relationship problems in the church.

When we have bitter feelings toward another person, that bitterness does not remain self-contained. Bitterness affects everyone. And it was affecting this church at Philippi as well. Well, those were the problems. What is the solution? Well, he tells us what the solution is. In verses 1 and 2 of Philippians 2, Paul writes, "If, therefore, there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose."

Let me share with you the Jeffress paraphrase of verses 1 and 2. Paul is saying, if there is any benefit to being a Christian, demonstrate it by getting along with one another, by being united with one another. What is the solution to problems in the church, relational or doctrinal? He says the solution is unity. Being united in Spirit, verse 2. What does it mean to be united? How do two people who are so different maintain unity, the same love for one another, when they are so diverse? In a word, it's humility.

And Paul explains what humility is in verses three and four. Look at what he says. "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind." Underline that word humility. "Let each one of you regard one another as more important than himself. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." What is humility? Well, in terms of ourselves, humility means seeing ourselves as God sees us. Romans 12:3 says, "Let no person think more highly of himself than he ought." In terms of ourselves, humility means realizing that any good thing in our life is the result of either what other people or God has done for us.

But when it comes to other people, humility means putting the needs of others above ourselves. Andrew Murray said, "Humility doesn't mean thinking badly of yourself. It means not thinking of yourself at all." That's what Paul is saying. To be humble means to place the interests of others above your own.

Husbands, here today, for you, humility means being willing to give up your right to play golf on Saturday afternoon or to watch that game on television, to give up your rights, your needs, in order to take your wife to the mall. That's humility. Moms, for you today, humility means putting on hold, not canceling necessarily, but at least postponing your own dreams, your own goals in order to help your children achieve theirs.

For those of you who are the leaders of an organization, humility sometimes means giving up your perks and privileges as the leader of an organization for the well-being of that entire organization. Church member, for us, sometimes humility means giving up our own preferences to maintain harmony in a congregation. Several years ago, one of the leaders in our church in Wichita Falls called me and he said, "Pastor, I'm very concerned about a decision that's been made and I don't agree with it." He laid out a very good case about why he didn't agree with this decision. He said, "I realize I'm in the minority, but I wanted you to know how I feel about it."

Now, he had every right to feel that way. He had every right to bring it up at the next deacons meeting. But he went on to say, "But Pastor, I'm going to let go of it. I'm not going to say another word about it. Not because I don't feel strongly about it, but I want to maintain harmony in this congregation. I'm so excited about what God is doing in our church. I don't want to do anything to quench his spirit." Now folks, that's humility. Surrendering our own rights to meet another person's need.

Paul has commanded, exhorted us to humility. He's explained what humility is, that is, not looking out only for our own interests, but for the interests of others. But Paul was a master preacher, a master teacher, and he knew that when you have a concept like humility, you need a great closing illustration. So beginning in verses 5 through 11, Paul illustrates what he means by humility. Verses 5 to 11 are perhaps one of the greatest, if not the single greatest passage I think, in all of the New Testament. It's about the Lord Jesus Christ, about what he accomplished for us on the cross.

But sometimes we read these verses just like the early church read them. In fact, did you know they probably sung them before they read them? Many people believe this was one of the first hymns in the New Testament. This passage we're going to look at in a moment. But sometimes we look at these verses only in terms of their christological significance, what they teach us about Jesus, and we forget there's a very practical application of this passage. Because when Paul says, "I want to illustrate humility by using the best example I know," he goes back to the life of Jesus Christ.

In looking at Christ, he points out to us three essential ingredients to humility. First of all, notice in verses 5 and 6 that Paul says humility means surrendering our rights to meet another's needs. Humility is surrendering our rights to meet another's needs. Look at verses 5 and 6. "Have this attitude." What attitude? "Have the same attitude," verse four, "of not looking out for your own interests but the interests of others. Have that same attitude in yourselves," verse 5, "which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God."

Now that word "form" (morphe) refers to the very essence of God. Please get this. Paul was very clear in saying that Jesus Christ is God. Some people have this idea that you have God the Father up here and then a little lower is Jesus the Son, and then a little lower than him is the Holy Spirit of God. No, Paul says Jesus Christ is equal to God. Jesus didn't appear on the scene for the first time in Bethlehem. Jesus didn't come into existence when he was formed in Mary's womb. Jesus Christ has existed from eternity past, just like God the Father did. He is God in the flesh.

He is God. Again, a lot of people don't get this. There are some of you who are students here today. And you'll hear in some religion class or somewhere in your training, you'll hear, "Well, Jesus never claimed to be God. He just never claimed to be God." That's just a myth that was tacked onto his life to make a good story better by his apostles. A few years ago, I was at an ecumenical service. I didn't want to go, but you know, to be a nice pastor, I had to go to this service. It was around Easter time, it was on Good Friday in our community, and they'd asked various pastors to participate. They asked me to pray.

Then the guest lecturer was a theologian from a well-known Northeastern seminary. As he stood up to speak, here's the gist of his message. He said, "Jesus Christ spent his entire life on earth confused about his identity. He never really knew who he was." Now folks, the only person who is confused is that theologian. Jesus was never confused about his identity. Listen to John 10:30. Jesus said, "I and the Father are one." Or John 14:9. He said, "He who has seen me has seen the Father." Does that sound like he's confused to you about his identity? Now, Jesus Christ was God. He existed in the form of God.

But notice what all he says here. He said, "But he did not regard his equality with God a thing to be grasped or held onto. But he emptied himself." Jesus surrendered his rights. Well, what did he empty himself of? Now get this. He didn't empty himself of being God. Jesus could not give up his deity any more than I could give up being 5 foot 9 and having brown eyes. I might want to give that up sometimes, but I can't give it up because it's who I am. And in the same way, Jesus was God, so he couldn't give up being God. But what he did give up were his rights as God. He gave up all of the perks and privileges of being God and he came to earth.

I mean, think about it. He could have annihilated his enemies with a word or even with a thought, but he didn't do it. He gave up his rights as God and came in the form of a bondservant. He emptied himself. That's what humility is. Humility, first of all, means surrendering our rights to meet another person's needs. But it doesn't stop there. Humility also means submitting our will to God's will. Submitting our will to God's will.

Now, I want to share with you. I don't understand this next passage. These are one of the many questions I have when I get to heaven. I don't understand how it is that if Jesus is equal to God, how he could submit his will to God's will. I don't understand that. But what I do know is in that garden of Gethsemane 2000 years ago, something very unusual happened. Jesus knelt in prayer and he said, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me." Jesus asked for another way besides Calvary to take care of your sins and my sins, if there is any other way. He did not relish going to the cross, but in the very next breath, he said, "Yet not my will, but your will be done."

In an instant, Jesus submitted his will to the Father's will. And that's what humility is. It is submitting our will to God's will. "Not my will, God, but your will be done." That's humility. By the way, do you understand? Sometimes it's by submitting to other people that we are actually submitting to God. Wives here today, when you submit to your husbands, as incompetent, as stupid as what he asked you to do is, as long as he's not asking you to do something unscriptural, unbiblical, when you submit to him, the Bible says that is as if you were submitting to God himself.

Children, when you obey your parents, as long as you're not doing something unscriptural, when you obey your parents, the Bible says that is as if you are obeying God. Employees, when you submit your will and what you want done to what your employer wants, the Bible says that is as if you're submitting to God himself. Humility. Submitting our will to God's will.

But notice a third ingredient of humility. The Bible says humility means sacrificing temporary pleasure for eternal gain. Humility means sacrificing temporal pleasure for eternal gain. He became obedient, the Bible says, look at verse 8, "To the point of death, even death on a cross." Now, most of us here are willing to submit to a point. We're willing to obey God, or we're willing to put other people's interests above our own. Up to a point. But we all have. There are just some things we are not going to do.

But what I want you to notice in this passage was Jesus' humility. His sacrifice had no limits. He was willing to obey to the point of death, even death on a cross. We all know that death on a cross was the most excruciating kind of death man has ever developed. But listen to me this morning. What made Jesus' death unique was not that he died on a cross. There's nothing unusual about that. Thousands of people died by crucifixion. As horrible as it was, it was still very, very common. What made Jesus' sacrifice unique was not the physical death he endured, but the spiritual pain he endured on our behalf.

In some inexplicable way, when Jesus hung on the cross, all of God's wrath intended for all of mankind, God took all of that wrath, that condemnation, and he poured it out on his perfect Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no way to explain the kind of pain that Jesus endured. William Hendrickson, the New Testament commentator, describes it this way. He says about Jesus' experience on the cross, "From below, Satan and all of his hosts assailed him. From round about, men heaped scorn upon him. From above, God dropped upon him the power of darkness, symbol of the curse. And from within there arose the bitter cry, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' Into this hell, the hell of Calvary, Christ descended."

Why did he do it? Why was Jesus willing to endure such pain, physical and spiritual? Certainly one reason he did it was to secure our salvation. It's a testimony of God's great love for us that he was willing to go to the cross. He looked beyond the cross and he saw the results of the cross, our salvation. He put our needs above his own. But I want to suggest to you another reason Christ was willing to endure that cross. It's one you don't hear a lot about today, but it's one that's found in Hebrews 12:2. In describing Jesus, remember what the author of Hebrews says. He talks about Jesus being the author and perfecter of our faith, "who for the joy set before him, endured the cross and sat down at the right hand of God."

The reason Jesus went to the cross was because of the joy that was set before him. I'm not trying to be sacrilegious here, but you've seen a carrot on the end of a stick dangled out in front of a horse in order to make the horse go forward. The writer of Hebrews is kind of using that imagery and saying what gave Jesus the incentive to go through the experience on Calvary was there was some carrot dangling out in front of him that God had that made him see past the pain of the cross. You know what that carrot was? Jesus believed that by sacrificing temporary pleasure, by enduring pain, there was going to be an eternal reward for doing so. He believed that God was going to reward him for this act of humility.

See, I'm convinced, ladies and gentlemen, that none of us will ever be able to fully obey God unless we believe there's a payoff for doing so. The only reason we will go through the sacrifice of temporary pleasure is if we believe that there is eternal gain for doing so. That's not unspiritual to believe that. Hebrews 11:6 says, "Those who come to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him." Jesus believed that there was a payoff coming for his act of humility, for his sacrifice. He believed that he was going to be exalted by God.

And that's exactly what happens in verse nine. "Therefore, as a result of his death on the cross, God highly exalted him." How did God exalt him? Part of that exaltation occurred when three days after Calvary, God reached down into the grave and rescued Jesus from the jaws of death. That was part of the exaltation, but it didn't stop there. 40 days later, Jesus Christ ascended into heaven. That was part of his exaltation, but it didn't stop there. The Bible says in verse nine that God granted him a name which is above every other name, the name of one Lord Jesus Christ.

But the exaltation doesn't stop there. The Bible says in verses 10 and 11, one day every occupant of heaven, one day every occupant on the earth, one day every occupant under the earth is going to bow down and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. There is a great reward, an honor coming for Jesus Christ. You say, "Pastor, what does all that have to do with humility?" Simply this. When you humble yourself, when you surrender your own rights to meet the needs of another person, that act does not go unnoticed by God. God sees your sacrifice. He sees your humility. And one day he will reward you.

First Peter 5:6 says, "Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God so that he might exalt you at the proper time." Humility. Surrendering our rights to meet the needs of other people, just like God did for us. Somebody has said, "If man's greatest need had been for technology, God would have sent an engineer. If our greatest need had been for information, God would have sent an educator. If our greatest need had been for money, God would have sent an economist. If our greatest need had been for pleasure, God would have sent an entertainer. But our greatest need was for forgiveness. And that's why God sent a savior."

Speaker 2

Our greatest need is forgiveness. And for that reason, God sent us a savior. His Son, Jesus Christ.

He's our ultimate hope, and he's the reason for our joy, peace, and strength.

Don't forget to request your copy of the Standing on the Promises of God Encouragement Card.

Speaker 3

Now.

Speaker 2

I'm a visual learner. By that I mean I find it really helpful to keep God's Word in front of me throughout the day. Well, this Scripture Encouragement card features several of my favorite verses from Paul's letter to the Philippians. He made statements like, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." When you see this verse every day, it'll bolster your confidence in God, and you can request a complimentary copy today by going to ptv.org.

Remember that this daily program is made possible by our Pathway partners and anyone who gives a one-time gift. We're deeply grateful for the supportive men and women God has brought into the fold, and today we're saying thank you for your generous gift by sending you a hardbound copy of my book, Outrageous Joy. This is the book that parallels our current study in Philippians, and it goes into far greater detail than this radio series.

Keep this book near your favorite reading chair or bring it with you on a trip. Many in our listening family have chosen Outrageous Joy as a selection for their small group Bible study as well. The book will help you understand that real joy comes from the Lord.

So while it's still fresh on your mind, take down our contact information and get in touch with us today in order to take advantage of these two resources.

David, thanks, Dr. Jeffress.

Speaker 4

You're invited to request your copy of *Outrageous Joy* when you contact Pathway to Victory with a generous gift. As an added bonus, we'll also include the *Standing on the Promises of God* scripture card. Call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org, and when your gift is $75 or more, we'll also send you the entire *Living Above Your Circumstances* teaching series on both audio and video discs.

To request the teaching set, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. You can also contact us by mail. Write to P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. Again, that's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, TX 75222.

I'm David J. Mullen. You know, godly living is much more challenging when you're hanging with the wrong crowd. Learn how to remain obedient to God in spite of worldly influences. Listen Friday to Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress.

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Comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. Embark on the spiritual journey of a.

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