Humility by taking
In our lives, we pour ourselves into various roles. At work, we are the boss or the employee. We are the mom, dad, son, daughter, or sibling at home. In our social lives, we take on the roles of friend, host, and guest.
There is a kind of humility that comes from taking on these roles because they often require an emptying of ourselves for the sake of serving those around us. Jesus knows what this is like. After all, he humbled himself by taking on the role of being our Savior.
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, thought he was in the form of god, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Our song, Jesus The Servant of All,was inspired mainly by a devotion rooted in this passage in Philippians written by Alistair Begg. In the devotion, Begg directs our attention to the word “taking” in verse 7, making the point that Jesus humbled and emptied himself by taking. He explains how this works using a helpful analogy.
“Those of you who follow professional golf will know that Andrew Martinez has been a caddy on the PGA tour for a long time for many champion golfers. Andrew is well known among his friends. He’s intelligent and athletic. He is, in his own right, a good golfer; he’s a better tennis player; and he’s an even better backgammon player. Andrew as Andrew is somebody in his own right. But on the occasions that I’ve been with Andrew when he has made the transition from Andrew, the friend and companion, to Andrew, the caddy, he’s gotten out of the car and walked into the clubhouse and reappeared in white overalls. He has poured himself into something. He has emptied himself by taking. He’s still Andrew - athletic, golfer, intelligent. He’s still Andrew in all of his essence as Andrew, but by taking to himself, he has emptied himself. It is not by diminution that he makes himself nothing. It is by addition that he makes himself nothing. He has not ceased to be who he is. But by wearing the overalls - by pouring himself into them - he constitutes a completely different entity. He who is somebody in his own right has become a nobody in order that he might serve others.”
As I read and ponder this, it helps me marvel at the humility of Christ in pouring himself into our flesh and into the role of being our Savior. I am also encouraged to join him in this humility of taking by joyfully embracing the roles he has given to me.
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The devotion mentioned above is from the book Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, which is a collection of sermons and devotions put together by Nancy Guthrie.
If you're looking for a great devotion book to read this coming Advent season, this would be a wonderful choice that we highly recommend.
Several of our songs were inspired by the works featured in this book.
This anthology edited by Nancy Guthrie draws from the works and sermons of classic theologians such as George Whitefield, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, and Saint Augustine, and from leading contemporary teachers such as John Piper, Randy Alcorn, Tim Keller, and Joni Eareckson Tada to help readers enter into the wonder of Jesus’s incarnation and birth.
