Advent 2025 - Week 3

Mar 10

This is the manuscript of the Philippians 2:1-11 sermon I preached on December 14, 2025 at Trinity West Seattle as part of our Advent 2025 sermon series.

You can watch it here or read the manuscript I preached from below.

SERIES INTRO

Anyone been reading the Advent Devotionals?

How about my suggestions two weeks ago to read one chapter of John each day

[INTRODUCE YOURSELF]…I am excited to open God’s word with you today.

Just a quick reminder, this Advent we looked at the breathtaking reality that God became man and dwelt among us! The Author of all things wrote himself into the pages of history so that we could clearly know him and believe in him.

We also looked last week at the incredible reality that Christ is the fullness of God. We looked at Christ’s supremacy and his sufficiency.

Today, we are diving right into the humility of Christ. What his humility brings, and why his humility is important.

SERMON INTRO

Allow me to invite you into some insider information. Sermon writing is hard! I am so grateful for this residency and the eldership process here. Trinity has seen every Sunday sermon I have ever preached. As someone new to preaching, I get to work on these things, learn, and grow with a team of support behind me.

I was told once that preaching and its prep is an act of spiritual war. I felt that this week. The sermon for today was giving me a whole lotta trouble you guys. This is one of my favorite passages in the entire bible, and I was WRESTLIN’ with it pretty hard.

So one night this week in the middle of dinner, you know…with me, Whitney, and three boys all around the table…I interrupted dinner and asked Whitney for some examples of me in our marriage when I was engaged in selfish ambition or conceit like it talks about here in our text today. I was fishing for helpful illustrations.

I was about to define for her what selfish ambition and conceit were according to Paul, but without missing a beat she answered, “When you steal the covers in the middle of the night, every night.”

We all laugh at that right? But…I think there is something to her comment we need to explore. Even in my sleep, I am subconsciously thinking of me.

Her jesting gets to the heart of our problem that Paul seeks to expose and the answer today.

In the most meta or ironic way, me asking about my work problem, from my job, from my sermon, from my inner dialogue, and my frustrations rather than being engaged with my family in those moments of family dinner is the problem. In fishing for an illustration of selfish ambition and conceit, I accidentally created one.

So what is the problem we encounter in the text today? Well…it’s the problem of me.

“What is wrong with the world? I am.”

(GK Chesterton to a newspaper, s/o to [ANONYMIZE] for that reference!)

But Paul is gracious to us, just as our Lord is gracious to us. He doesn’t beat the Church of Philippi over the head. In fact, he doesn’t talk about them much at all. Rather, he emphasizes Christ. In short, Paul argues Christ humbled himself, so we must humble ourselves.

So let’s explore what Paul is really doing in this text.

CALL FOR UNITY AND HUMILITY

Philippians 2:1–2

[1] So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, [2] complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Paul is talking to the church in Philippi, the Christians…those people, he wants them to take a next step.

The next step is unity. [2] complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Paul wants them to take a next step. Have the same mind, or attitude. Have the same love. Be, live, in full accord and of one mind. Live in harmony. In other words, unity.

Luckily for us, Paul tells the Philippian Church how they can take this next step…all they need to do to live in unity is just be humble.

Philippians 2:3–4

[3] Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. [4] Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Simple! Just be humble you guys, and Trinity, like the church at Philippi, will be good! Sermon done. Let’s go home. :)

WHAT IS HUMILITY?

Let’s spend a few moments together defining humility. I’ll be honest, this is hard to do. You’ll see why in a second…

And it doesn’t help that the world and Christians alike have all sorts of different definitions for it.

Here are some definitions of humility from all over the place:

Humility is

“the quality of having a modest view of one's value or importance”
thinking of others more significant than yourself
not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.
never thinking of yourself
self-forgetfulness
a heart full of dependence of God
seeing yourself accurately
seeing us rightly in our sinfulness and in God’s holiness

You see? Which one is correct? I am partial to the self-forgetfulness one because of Tim Keller. He talks about how humility is evasive. Once you think, “Am I humble?” You no longer can be because you are thinking of yourself. Thus, self-forgetfulness.

Nailing down humility can sometimes seem like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands. Think about it, you can’t avoid yourself…because you ARE yourself. Fortunately, God assumes we will look out for our own interests a little bit, but the interests of others must be above ours. We must count others as better, not ourselves.

We can agree, there is a lowering aspect here. A selfless endeavor too. But its still pretty hard to define concretely.

It gets even more complicated because if humility involves thinking of yourself less or counting someone more significant than Himself…then…can God be humble?

Let that one sit for a minute… [PAUSE]

Let’s see if Paul helps us out with this one a bit…He tells the church at Philippi to be humble, think of others first, and then gives us the example of Christ to help us define humility a little bit more.

Philippians 2:5–8

[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 emptied himself, by 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.

According to Paul the Incarnation, the act Advent is centered around, is an act of humility itself. The most insane act of humility in fact. And Paul uses it as a model for humility that we must then live. Christ humbled himself, so we must humble ourselves.

For us, we get to see what God expects when he asks for humility:

Don’t grasp for gain or power
Empty yourself
Be a servant
Be obedient to the point of death

This is absolutely insane to me. This is the exact opposite of EVERYTHING we want as humans.

Don’t grasp for gain? Empty yourself?

We want power, control, influence. We want a name for ourselves to be made. We don’t want to be overlooked. We want our achievements and statuses known. We want to leverage our influence. We want what is ours…even in the middle of the night when we’re unconscious we grab what we feel we need and deserve…just like the sheets at night.

Be a servant?

Well maybe I can do that…for an hour or two at church on Sundays once a month. Maybe at my kids' school for an hour a week or so. I can drop some stuff off at the shelter too. But that's already a lot. I have other stuff to do. How often is he asking us to do it?

Be obedient? To the point of death?

Even metaphorically, being obedient to someone to my own detriment…yeah…I don’t even know if that’s feasible. That sounds exhausting too. Unfair even.

The bar God is setting in his word is astronomically high. The Incarnation of Christ reveals humility at its peak…we can’t get there.

But we can’t do it. The problem is me. My selfishness. My conceit. Me. I focus only on myself. It is my default setting.

But the Lord is gracious you guys! Oh so gracious and merciful…

WHO IS TRULY HUMBLE?

Look again at our text…

Philippians 2:5–8

[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 emptied himself, by 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.

“Yours” in Christ Jesus. This elusive humility is already yours in Christ Jesus.

Jesus, God himself, did not grasp for his divine power, for you.

He emptied himself, not by getting rid of his divinity, but rather by self imposing limits on himself by taking on humanity.

He took the form of a servant, a man, and walked this earth.

Think about the discipline! There is a divine being, God in human form, walking around for 33 years restraining and limiting that divinity the entire time.

Every time he stubs his toe, he didn’t blow up the coffee table by thinking about it.

Every splinter from his time working in his earthly dad’s carpentry shop, restraint.

If his siblings snatched his toy away, he didn’t retaliate.

When the seasonal cold swept through, he didn’t heal himself.

As a teenager, when his mom told him what to do, he didn't argue or drag his feet and mope around.

He bound himself to the limits of being a human being for years. Decades.

And get this, what is one thing that every single human must encounter. The one thing none of us can avoid? Death.

Christ who humbled himself by becoming flesh, humbled himself further to the point of death. He was obedient to all the limits of the human body. Christ, the righteous one, who could have grasped for power and been perfectly justified. Christ, the God himself, could have poured out his divinity in full force while here on earth. Yet, he didn’t. He fully humbled himself, even to the point of dying.

[STAFF TEXT THREAD - Ryan W death and Nick’s baby born in back to back messages]

Christ’s incarnation reveals humility, but the crucifixion seals it. It seals it for me and for you. It is already ours! You cannot be humble on your own, but there is one who was humble for you and will help you in humility even now!

We have a God who isn’t asking us to do something he didn’t do himself.

Who wouldn’t want a God like that? One who fully understands our struggles here on earth. He did it for you.

There is someone who actually deserves all praise, glory, and honor. But decided to give us all these things, and go through death itself.

WHY DID CHRIST HUMBLE HIMSELF?

Why? Why did Christ humble himself? His humility unified creation once again with its Creator. And it brought God the ultimate glory!

Let’s be direct here. The text brings up two things. We chatted about this earlier when Paul brings it up in the first few verses, but the first reason is unity.

Unity comes through humility. Full stop.

You can test this principle by thinking of the opposite as well.

Humility unites. Pride divides.

That’s a bar ;)

Think back to the garden of Eden in the very beginning. What separated God from Adam and Eve? Their pride. They saw the fruit was pleasing to their eyes, desirable for gaining wisdom for themselves…then they realized they were naked and covered themselves. Then they hid themselves.

Pride, thinking of themselves, led to disobedience...their pride led them to put walls (fig leaves) between themselves and it caused the divide between them and the Lord. Before that moment, they were naked and unashamed. Complete unity with God and each other.

But they chose their own way. That same selfish ambition, same self-thinking has been baked into our very DNA from the beginning. We can’t help but be self-focused.

What is wrong with the world? I am. Me. So the solution must come from outside of us.

But what Christ does is he comes and does what Adam and Eve could not do. He remains humble his entire life. He chose God’s way over his own. He chose others over himself. He stays obedient, even through the consequences (death) he did not deserve.

The antidote to division is humility, but we struggle with humility. But we have a God who did it for us and gives us grace as he continues a good work in us. Christ’s incarnation reveals humility, but the crucifixion seals it. Christ’s humility unites Creator with creation again, but it also also for us to be united again as well.

The next reasons Christ was humble are seen in the last few verses. And here, we get REAL Adventy. (Is Adventy even a word?)

Philippians 2:9–11

[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.

Two things to note with this bit…First, Exaltation follows humility. He did not grasp at power, but it was given to him anyway. He didn't try to make his name known, but was given a name above every name!

This is utterly countercultural to us. We all want to go out and get what is ours! But the way of Christ is totally antithetical to all of that noise.

Seek first the kingdom of heaven and all these things will be added to you. (Mt 6:33) That is the way of the upside down kingdom! That is the way God flips the world on its head. Don’t believe me?

Psalm 138:6a
For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly…

Proverbs 3:34
Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.

Proverbs 29:23
One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.

Luke 1:52
…he has brought down the mighty from their thrones land exalted those of humble estate;

Matthew 23:12
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

James 4:6
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

1 Peter 5:5-6
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble…Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you”

Is it sinking in? Humility is the way forward. Humility is the essence of the Incarnation of Christ. It is stamped into eternity with the temporal act of the crucifixion.

And finally, back to our text…

Philippians 2:9–11

Every knee should bow. Every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. No one is exempt. Humble yourselves before God now, or be humbled by him. God will get his glory. Will you stand in his way, or allow yourself to be humbled by his Incarnation?

Because he is coming again, and next time we will not be in awe not of his humility, but rather in awe of his devastating power and authority.

Revelation 1:7

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

Jayson Curry