⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,^{[a] 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,^[b] 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.

Following Jesus in Humility

Jesus, as the second person of the Trinity, had everything.  He is God and so he is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent.  Yet, for a while he put all his rights to one side.  Paul wants the Philippians to follow Jesus in doing this so that there will be unity.  The second step that he wants them to follow is that he took on a task which involved self-sacrifice.  He voluntarily suffered for the sake of others.  Thirdly, Jesus left it to the Father to exalt him, he did not exalt himself.  But, if God is working through a person he shares his glory with them.

In your life is there someone that you struggle to get along with?  The solution is to look to Jesus and then follow his three steps.

Prayer

To follow Jesus in this way seems so straight forward.  However, Father, I have so much fleshly thinking that serves self and avoids pain or difficulty.  Let me walk a path that changes that.

Questions

1. Where should the mind of the Philippians be focused?
2. What three steps does Jesus take?
3. What will happen if the Philippians walk the path laid out by Jesus?
4. How do you have to follow Jesus in this way?
5. What holds you back?