Why We Need To Think Nothing Of Ourselves

In the last post, we talked about how to attract the grace of God. Today, I want to explore how Christ demonstrates to us an ultimate form of humility.

I said in the last post the following quote:

If we are not emptying ourselves consistently, we will be full of ourselves constantly.

The Apostle Paul, in probably the most potent gospel passage in all of the New Testament, explains in full glory how Christ emptied himself on our behalf for our benefit (Php. 2:5-11).

Paul invites us to imitate Christ because it is this demonstration of humility that ultimately attracts the grace of God.

In this passage (Php. 2:5-11), we see three ways in which Christ emptied himself and demonstrated humility:

1. The Sustainer of the Universe becomes a Suffering Servant. Jesus demonstrates humility in that he goes from the highest pinnacle of glory to the lowest point of humility. To be sure, our humility needs to consist in not thinking of ourselves more than we ought. Jesus, the son of God, descended from His eternal Kingdom. All that is requisite of us is to know our place.
2. The Eternal God Does Not Grasp For Equality. Jesus has always been God (Col. 1:15). His continuos state has always been God. His perpetual condition has always been God. His nature, which is unchanging, has always been divine. Jesus possessed all privileges of God. He was worthy of His position. He could never be disqualified. Yet, he laid it all aside, for our sake, in our place, on the Cross.
3. The Messiah in which the fullness of God dwelt, emptied Himself. Jesus made himself nothing. Paul says that “though he [Jesus) was rich, yet for our sake he became poor, so that, by his poverty we might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). He emptied himself of having a face to face interaction with His Father. He emptied himself of independent authority and pursued the will of God in everything He did. He emptied himself by becoming poor and homeless. He emptied himself by experiences the horrific wrath of God because of our sin (2 Cor. 5:21). Even though he was the Savior of the world, he assumed the role of a suffering servant. He emptied himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. He emptied himself because he died the most wretched of deaths.

We need to think nothing of ourselves. We need to constantly be emptying ourselves. We must do this for two reasons:

1. Because Jesus demonstrated it
2. Because God demands it

We pursue humility by the grace of God, for the glory of God in light of the work of Jesus.

Question: How do we practically understand this concept of thinking nothing of ourselves?