Philippians 2

… Will you turn with me to the Epistle of the Philippians and chapter 2 and verse 1. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirits, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, fought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of new reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without tribute, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world. Holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. For the same cause also do ye joy and rejoice with me. That I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state. For I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the Father, he hath served with me in the gospel. Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly. Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellow-soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that he had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick, nigh unto death. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such in reputation. Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me. In our meeting yesterday afternoon, we had from Mr. Stoddart, under the general heading of the Christian character, the subject of Christ, the power for Christian character, dwelling particularly upon portions of the first chapter of Philippians. And we should do very well to recall how he said, that the Christian has within him the life of Christ. And it is only natural therefore, that it should be the character of Christ, which is manifested by that life. Now what more natural also, than if Christian character be the outflow of the life of Christ within us, that none else than the Lord Jesus himself, in the lowly grace of his pathway here upon earth, as he ascended up to the glory of God by way of the cross, and the grave, and the resurrection, that in that lowly pathway of his, he should be the pattern of that life which shows itself in Christian character. And so our subject this evening, looking at the second chapter of Philippians, which has been read to us, is to consider this great subject of the Christian character, with particular reference to the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ himself is the pattern. Now in order to grasp the significance of the opening verses of chapter 2, and in order to connect very definitely with the point to which Mr. Stoddart brought us yesterday afternoon, I want to ask you to look back at verse 27 of chapter 1. Verse 27 of chapter 1 reads, Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of, or on the side of, or in the same conflict with, the gospel. We have had a good deal in this first chapter of Philippians about the gospel to which Paul, under the Lord, was so utterly devoted. He thanked God for their fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. He was set for the furtherance and the confirmation and the defense of the gospel. And in this verse that we have read, he comes to the point that there is a manner of life which is becoming to the gospel. And in order to lead to that point, he brings forward a concept which gives us our starting point this evening, and that is that the gospel is at war. I hope to give you four brief statements like that. There's no alliteration about them to help your memory. They're merely connected together by the way naturally the subject develops from one to the other. But the first one is clearly this, that we begin with the concept that the gospel is at war. Now it is perfectly plain, and this is obviously very near indeed to the subject of Christian character, that there is a manner of life which goes with a certain people being at war. If, God forbid that it should be so, but if this country were at war tomorrow, all our lives would be changed. That one great and dominant fact would tower over everything else, and everything else that we did would be dominated by the fact that we are at war, and there is a manner of life that goes with a nation at war. And in particular, we shall come to the point that unity, togetherness, is absolutely vital to a people that is at war. Now the gospel is at war. The gospel by which God in Christ has reached down in order to reconcile the world unto himself is opposed by entrenched sin, manifesting itself in our days in the forces of materialism, and nationalism, and communism. Yes, the gospel is at war, and we have to see how that affects our lives. It's perfectly plain that there are many ways in which our lives should be in harmony with the gospel. In it, the kindness and love of God our Savior has been manifest, and any person who is sincerely devoted to the gospel would therefore be expected to manifest the kindness and love of God in his character and ways with other people. God is not inactive, and God is not unmoved by the sorrows that have come into the world on account of sin, but God is active by his gospel reconciling the world unto himself. And if a person is really in harmony with the gospel, he will be a man active in zeal in order to work as indeed God is working in order that there might be gathered out of the pit of sin a people who might be in that day for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel is at war, and while there are many ways in which we can see that there is a certain character and conduct which goes with that fact, I want to emphasize in a moment the great essential need for unity. As I think of the gospel being at war, the idea is strongly and wonderfully illustrated for me by the Old Testament story of Uriah the Hittite. You remember after David, who had forgotten that Israel was at war, and when it was, as the chapter informs us at the beginning, the time when kings went forth to war, King David was at his ease in the palace and fell into sin. And in these sad circumstances, he sent to the front for Uriah the Hittite, and made him comfortable, and fed him, and wined him, and dined him, and then said to Uriah the Hittite, now you go down to your house and live at ease as though there was no war on. But he discovered in the morning that Uriah the Hittite had gone no further than the steps of the palace, and was there sleeping in hardship. And he called him and said, look here Uriah, why didn't you go down to your house in peace? And he said, my lord Joab, and the people of Israel, and the people of Judah dwell in tents, and they're at war, and it's no time for me to live at ease in my house. That's the idea, isn't it? Our brethren in the Congo, because of the fact that they are there for the gospel, they are struggling for the very life of the gospel against sin manifested in the form of nationalism. All kinds of other people are involved in it, but they wouldn't be there if it wasn't for the fact that the gospel is at war. Is there any time? Is this a time that you and I should forget our unity with the gospel which is striving throughout the world, and we should be planning and disposing our lives as though we had a right to do so only with considerations of material advantage and our pleasure? No. Wartime is no time for ease. Wartime is no time for planning things only to our own advantage, but wartime is demands that we should stand with those who are in the forefront of the battle, and we should stand with them in unity. And therefore, I leave with you this concept of the fact, although we are sitting here in delightful surroundings and able to be at ease, the gospel is at war, and it is no time for us to forget our unity with those who are having to experience the bitter fact in many parts of the world that the gospel is at war. I don't mean to say, of course, as one has said so many times before, that refreshment and recreation are excluded from the life of the disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the one who recognizes the fact that the gospel is at war, but they must never be in the saddle. The dominant fact is that the gospel is at war, and it is our privilege to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. In all that we plan, our homes and our studies, under our refreshment and recreation, dominated by this fact that we are seeking first the kingdom of God. If we realize this, we shall be laboring at the gospel, we shall be laboring at the nurture of the church, we shall be laboring for a deeper understanding of the holy scriptures, and that God may give us the power to use them as the sword of the Spirit in this fight that is going on. Let nothing divert you from a knowledge of the holy scriptures, but don't let it stop there, but pray that the Holy Spirit, by his new covenant ministry, might write it in your heart and character, and the character of our Lord Jesus Christ might be seen there. And so my first maxim is that the gospel is at war. Now my second maxim is that war demands unity. Now there is no subject concerning the Christian faith that more tests our self-judging sincerity than the subject of Christian unity and the sad, sad fact of Christian disunity. On the wide scene of the profession of Christianity, one has to see that disunity and breakdown and division is a sad, sad fact, and it is equally a fact that it's too late and there's very, very little that you and I can do at all about the great open public fact of Christian disunity. But when we think of this epistle, which has for its subject, to a very large extent, the subject of Christian unity, we find that the searchlight is diverted from the point about which we can do practically nothing to the point where it is indeed up to us by the grace of Christ to manifest that character which accords with living in peace and in love with the brethren in our own local assemblies. When we think of the subject of Christian unity as it is presented to us here, and we're thinking now of the fact that war demands unity, that's the great subject of this verse with which we started, that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. I beseech you that you be of one mind in the Lord. When this epistle speaks about Christian unity, it is set in the most tremendous and tragic setting. The gospel is striving and at war, and when we have the pattern set before us by which we're to be guided in our lives of lowliness and humility as we conduct ourselves regarding the gospel in war, the tremendous pattern is given to us of the incarnation, the unthinkable down stooping of the blessed son of God, and stooping down here humbling himself to become obedient unto death. But when it comes to the kind of Christian disunity which is here spoken of, well it's two sisters who appear to have fallen out with each other. Oh it seems so small a thing, and yet this is the point upon which through the centuries the searchlight of this scripture which speaks to us of Christian unity has been concentrated. When I was listening to the gospel last evening in the central Methodist church, I think it's fair to say that I didn't miss a single word that the preacher said. But it so happened that in the place I was sitting his face was framed in a beautiful stained glass window, and it was quite impossible for me not to notice the inscription on this stained glass window. And it was one of these extraordinary blunders which says something quite different what the people intended. This is what it said, to the glory of God and in thanksgiving for peace, the gift of the ladies of this church. And I thought to myself well this is indeed a fortunate and blessed church that the gift of peace is given to it by its ladies. But sad to say when we come to the epistle to the Philippians we find that the searchlight is upon the fact that these two sisters were not at unity. Now if for a moment we were to look at the passage in chapter 4 which speaks about this matter, I hope I won't take too much attention to the subject which will be taken by others who will follow me, but if we just glance for a moment we find there in chapter 4 verse 2 that it says, I beseech you Odius and beseech Syntyche that they be of the same mind in the Lord, and I treat thee also through your fellow. Help those women which labored with me in the gospel with Clement also and with other my fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life. Now that passage tells us next to nothing at all about these two ladies, Odius and Syntyche, these two sisters who had a difference between them and that difference has been perpetuated for our warning all down the centuries that have intervened. It tells us nothing about them but we can be quite sure that in full measure in the church at Philippi there were those differences of character and temperament and training which make for these personal breaches that also sadly afflict so often the companies of the people of God. I think it was Mr. Stoddart yesterday afternoon was reminding us that the first convert and therefore the first member of the Philippian church was an Asiatic lady who was engaged in a very lucrative trade. She was a seller of purple. Then there was a Greek slave girl who was devoted to a very degrading shrine when she was liberated by the power of the gospel, and then there was the Roman, the Roman jailer who said what must I do to be saved. There were all kinds of differences which might have been the cause of these differences between one and another in the Philippian church, but we are, they were appealed to very definitely, and I want to point out to you here that there are two actions that are here spoken of. In the first place in verse two of chapter four there was to be the willingness of Euodius and Syntyche that by the grace of Christ they might be reconciled with each other, and in verse three we have another action, and that is the apostle's true yoke fellow by whom this epistle was to be sent, that he would help them in their reconciliation. It might be said that he would reconcile them, for the next verse really means I entreat thee also true yoke fellow, help these women, help them, Euodius and Syntyche, in that I am putting upon them that they may have one mind in the Lord. Help them, and if you help them you will do me a service, for I cannot forget their great service with me in the gospel. And so we learn that these two were worthy persons of faith and Christian virtue, and therefore they were called upon to be reconciled, and this brother was called upon to help them in their reconciliation. Now we can take it, because I think that general circumstances and general advice and guidance are appropriate to an occasion like this, we can take it, no one knows better than I do what the difficulty of it is, but we can take it that we must never be satisfied with the existence of personal breaches in the Christian community. They're always a canker and a grief, they're often extremely difficult, occasionally they're about real issues, but each one of us can challenge ourselves about this question of unity in the local assembly and ask which of these two things is my part that I might do to prevent and to help forward, that is to be willing by the grace of Christ to be of one mind in love and peace with my brethren, on the other hand am I the one who might help definitely towards an act of reconciliation. So the second maxim that we have is that the gospel is, the first one is that the gospel is at war, and the second maxim that we have is that war demands unity. Now when we come to the first part of Philippians chapter 2, we find there that the apostle is setting before them the means whereby this unity can be brought about, and my third maxim therefore would be the road to unity is through humility. Now here even if we thought of no other element in the Christian character than this, here is one of the wonderfully central elements in the Christian character, and that is we might quite generally use either the word lowliness or the word humility, because they both have the same meaning in a passage like this. And the brethren and sisters here are told not only that unity is essential because the gospel is at war, but they are told that the means to unity is humility. Let us look at verse 3. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Now what the apostle is saying to them here on the subject of the need for unity, he says now I want you to abandon strife and vainglory as motives for action, and I want you to substitute in their place lowliness of mind as the attitude, the character, the disposition of heart and mind out of which your action springs. And there he pinpoints the two epidemic impediments to the maintenance of Christian charity between brethren and sisters, and that is strife, and that is I think the word particularly means party strife, exalting of my party, and vainglory, which quite clearly means the exaltation of myself. And my brethren and sisters, in the exercise of daily piety, bringing ourselves to the searching light of the cross of Christ, represented to us as we daily read his word, we will discover these motives in our hearts and minds, the motives of strife and vainglory, and there is only one power by which the Spirit of God can put these things away, and that is when we come consciously into the presence of that which is so wonderfully presented to us in this chapter, and that is in the presence of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Lord of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and poor contempt on all my pride. It is in the presence of that cross, and this is why it is so desirable that day by day we should bring ourselves into the presence of God by his Spirit and his word, that our very hearts we may be searched out in these matters, and by the power of the Spirit, and as a result of that new life which by the Spirit has been given to us, we may abandon strife and vainglory as motives for action, and we may substitute lowliness of mind, we may substitute humility. Now thinking of this word lowliness, verse three, in lowliness of mind, but each esteem other better than themselves, and it is the same word which occurs in verse eight, when we come down to the portion which presents to us the Lord Jesus Christ himself, he humbled himself, he made himself lowly. We want to stop and think of this word humility, because it is indeed one of the central elements in the lovely character of our Lord Jesus Christ, and which it is his desire that we manifested by ourselves in all our dealings. Let none of us think that any more than love, lowliness is a feeble matter, a feeble virtue. No, the one who came riding to Jerusalem lowly upon a colt the fall of an ass, is the mighty victor who resisted unto blood striving against sin. There's nothing feeble about lowliness, but it is the lovely character of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let nothing be done through strife and vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Before the writing of the New Testament, this word was a word of reproach, the word which is the word used to describe time and time again the ways and the character of the blessed son of God. It was a term of reproach, it betokened servility, it betokened the lack of spirit by which alone a man could make progress in any sphere that he had set himself in the world. And there is no doubt that the very idea of humility contains within it something which is repugnant to nature, because it is sinful nature. But once we see that it is the character of our Lord Jesus Christ, and once we see that it is by no means a weak and helpless thing, but it is one of the triumphant virtues which showed themselves in him on his pathway to the victory and the glory, then we should be ready to see the power and feel in our hearts the appeal of this word. Let nothing be done through strife and vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than himself. Now I think it helpful to see that the meaning of lowliness is contained in two maxims that are contained in this verse and the next verse. I suggest to you that in these two little exhortations we have a pithy statement of what humility is in practice. The first one is in the end of verse three. Let each esteem other better than themselves. That's the first one. And the second one is look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. I must leave it to you to clothe these two brief exhortations with the life of daily practice of the Christian character. Let each esteem other better than himself. Now that doesn't exactly represent what the verse means. What the verse means is this, let each esteem other above himself. Let each esteem all the brethren and sisters as persons who for Christ's sake are to be served in the power and vitality of Christian love. Let each esteem all the brethren and sisters as persons who are to be served for Christ's sake. For even the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. When we think of that first of these two short exhortations, I'm sure that you won't mistake me. I'm not suggesting that this verse says that we've got to carry out the instructions of all the brethren and sisters. That is one kind of service which is a slavery when one person is absolutely at the instructions of another person to obey him to death, and that is the service that we owe to the Lord Jesus Christ, the very essence of being in his kingdom. We owe to him the bond service of those who have been purchased at the cost of his precious blood. Ye are not your own, but you are his who has paid the price for you. He is the one whom we serve in the sense that in life and to death we obey him first of all. But there is another kind of service. If you have the privilege and the pleasure of being a guest in someone else's house, your hostess will serve you. She will quite likely bring to the table those things that you need, but you would never dream of ordering her about. She's quite likely working her fingers to the bone in serving the saints of God, but it's not their part to order her about. Now that's the kind of service which is betokened by the important New Testament word ministry. It means that out of love, it means out of the desire to follow out the pathway of the Lord Jesus Christ, we serve the brethren and the sisters and seek to supply them with those things that we need. We hear the word of the Lord that he came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. So let us remember that so far as service in the sense of obedience to his commands is concerned, we obey the law and that's what it means to be in his kingdom. But one of the maxims of true humility is let each one of us esteem the other, a person who for Christ's sake is worthy to be served. Now the second maxim is the verse that says, look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. And there of course we see that the idea of those words is that it is our privilege, it is one of the manifestations of that lowliness of mind, which is the Christian character, that we do not consider our own interest and advantage only, that's natural to us. And we catch ourselves out in doing it to the disadvantage of others almost every day of our lives. But the more we drink into the spirit of the master, the more we will learn that in the true and final sense it is the privilege of his lowliness to consult and to consider the true interests and advantages of others and not only of ourselves. Let each esteem other better than himself. I don't think I shall be able to say very much about Timothy and Epaphroditus this evening for the sake of time, but it has occurred to me that we might very well consider Epaphroditus a person who looked not only upon his own things, but upon the things of others. Oh how concerned he was for the welfare of those Philippian saints and to prevent them from the things that would give them unhappiness. Whereas the Timothy was a person who served the saints, he considered them. And it could very well be that if we stopped to think about it, we would see that Timothy and Epaphroditus were given here perhaps purposely to be examples of these two things. That we esteem each other better than ourselves and we look not upon our own things only, but upon the things of others. Now I come to the greatest part of our chapter and you would expect that it is contained, I want to present it to you under the maxim that humility is the mind of Christ. You'll remember these four things won't you? The gospel is at war, we considered first. Second, war demands unity. Thirdly, we considered the pathway to unity lies in humility and we for a few moments want to consider this wonderful passage which presents to us the truth that humility is the mind of Christ. Let this mind, the word says in verse five, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. I think we've got to stop and think rather carefully about this word mind. It has all kinds of meanings and it's not a bad way of discovering distinctions of this kind. Even the philosophers do it these days. That is by inquiring what are the normal uses of a word in everyday language. Now what about this word mind? If I think back again to our meeting last night, like you, I was tremendously impressed by the story that we had about Sir Christopher Wren and this tablet in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral which was inscribed to say, reader if you want his monument look around you. And you remember the preacher said, the body and the mind that had conceived all this magnificence is moldering there in the dust. And I think of that idea of the word mind. A mind great enough to conceive this majestic edifice and to make plans to bring it into execution. If Christian humility depended upon having a mind of such magnitude and splendor, how impossible would it be for most of us ever to attain this Christ-like character and this Christian unity. There is somewhere in the realm of English poetry something about a person and they wondered that one little mind was able to contain all that he knew. And need hardly say he was some obscure little village school teacher. But they wondered that any mind, little mind, contained all the things that he knew. Now that kind of mind is not the mind that's spoken of here. And I think we've got to reckon with the fact that there are and there always will be divergences of judgment and view of truth in Christian matters. Why is that? It is because we have not yet arrived at the unity of the faith. The same passage which tells us there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. There is one faith. Well if there is one faith, why should there be divergences of view between this person and that person concerning the holy scriptures? Well the same chapter tells us why there are and there will be divergences of view. It is this. It says that these gifts that the ascended Christ has given to the church are given until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Only when that day comes, when the church has grown to be a perfect man and it is there reaching the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ, only then shall we reach the unity of the faith and our view of truth and our knowledge of truth is but partial. We see through a glass darkly and it is therefore impossible that there will not be divergences of view. It is not that kind of mind. It is not the mind that possesses knowledge which is the mind of Christ that he has spoken of. No, it is the lowly mind and the one mind is not mind in the sense of its majestic proportions and its tremendous attainment but the one mind is the lowly mind of the one of whom this wonderful scripture speaks to us that and this is the central point in the example if not in the truth being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient as far as death even the death of the cross. When we think of this tremendous passage I wish there is given to us the most wonderful glimpse of the essential deity of the Lord Jesus Christ the essential unchanging deity of the Lord Jesus Christ and the true nature of the incarnation which is given to us for our reverential awe and worship. We see that there are two steps not seven don't let us be looking for sevens there are two steps and they're almost parallel with each other and these are the two down stoopings of the one who asked to his original form was God. Being in the form of God he emptied himself. I'm just giving the bare statements all the others are participles which give the attendant circumstances of this unthinkable fact that the one who was in the form of God emptied himself not for a moment that he emptied himself of deity but of the glory and the majesty and the splendor and the heavenly state that goes with essential deity these he left he emptied himself and the second statement is being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient as far as death even the death of the cross. You know when we consider this profound and moving statement concerning the essential deity of our Lord Jesus Christ and his first great down stooping exchanging the form of God for the form of a serpent when we think of this it is quite plain that we cannot imitate such a down stooping why then is this tremendous truth given to us well there are many things it does give us the absolute contrast between the mind that was in the blessed son of God and the mind that was in Adam. You remember the story of Adam and you know how it is in our nature to be and to do what Adam did being found in fashion as a man it was proposed to Adam that he should become as a God and he grasped at it and grasping at it he became disobedient and his disobedience went on until he died being disobedient he died but here was one who as to his original form was God being found being in the form of God he did not consider it a thing to be grasped at to be God he was God but he emptied himself he made himself of no reputation he took the form of a servant and he became obedient and his very obedience landed him in death oh we cannot stop to consider this but one of the most profound truths of holy scripture the absolute antithesis between the man who disobeyed God and his disobedience landed him in death and the man who in down stooping the one who in down stooping grace became a man and became obedient and it was because of his very obedience that he died even the death of the cross and I think there is a direct example and indirectly in the spirit of the passage when the apostle says he took the form of a servant and then the second down stooping it says being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death oh how it should be our daily delight to dwell upon that wonderful word and the way in the gospel story all its details come to light for us that he humbled himself if it was his character that he humbled himself if in such a way as this as far as death even the death of the cross he considered his brethren those for whom he would pay the price and look to their everlasting advantage in all that he did as well as doing the will of God if once we see the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ how we shall be moved that in like manner we should do as he did and we should have his mind when we read in the 11th chapter of Matthew that familiar verse which comes to us again with all its call and with all its appeal and with all its challenge also come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden have you come answering the gospel appeal have you come to the one who can give you rest well thank God most of us here have come but the verse goes on come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you a rest take my yoke upon you the kingdom of God and the privilege of obeying the master take my yoke upon you and learn of me here he is here is the example of this wonderful element of the Christian character learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart I often think of that wonderful passage in the old testament in the ninth chapter of Zechariah the prophet when it speaks about the conqueror coming to Jerusalem and of all the conquerors who had come to Jerusalem and marched up to those gates here was one and when he came they would never fail to recognize him he bore a mark he bore an insignia that could never be mistaken he came meek and lowly and riding upon a coat the foal of an ass did you ever read Sir Edward Denny's description in his poem of Jerusalem though stricken dethroned and lowly the rest of a home on earth yet still to our hearts thou art holy thou land of messiah's birth he sprang from thy lowliest of daughters his star or thy hills arose he bathed in thy soft flowing waters he wept all thy coming woes he came there the lowly savior riding upon a coat the fall of an ass and so he became obedient as far as death even the death of the cross some of those who are here this evening will remember I suppose certainly well over 20 years ago at a conference in some ways similar to this we heard a voice which has long since been stilled by that voice belonging to one who has been put to sleep by Jesus and speaking of this very passage how he said words which reminded us of the 10th chapter of Mark and how the disciples were disputing almost in the very presence of the cross they were disputing as to who would be the greatest and we're told that they came to Capernaum and when they came into the house the Lord Jesus Christ said to them what was it that he disputed by the way and they were silent because they had disputed who should be the greatest and he said oh so moved me and the words have never left me when we get into the house when we all reach home with him is it true that he will say to us what was it that he disputed with each other by the way and we shall indeed be silent for so much of the strife that ruins the work of the gospel and mars christian testimony is because of this desire this strife this vain glory of which the apostles so solemnly warns us here but let us finish on the note of seeking to drink into that wonderful grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that obeying him and manifesting his life of lowliness and love here upon earth we may stand fast in one mind and one spirit striving together for the faith of the gospel …