The Communal Nature of Christian Humility

By Danny Saavedra

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus...Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.” — Philippians 2:1–16 (NIV)

If you’re a Christian, you likely have experienced encouragement from your relationship with Christ, comfort from His love, and fellowship with the Holy Spirit. This word fellowship in the original Greek is koinōnía, which implies community and intimacy, deep friendship and communion. You can’t have koinōnía alone.

Now, humility isn’t generally thought about in relation to koinonia, to a community. It’s more commonly associated with an individual person. But here’s the thing: a community is made up of individual people! When we repent and believe in Christ, we become a part of God’s family — sons and daughters of the King (John 1:12)! Therefore, the body of Christ, being made up of individual and unique children of God, will collectively take on the same attributes as Christ with the hope of reflecting Him to the world! With this understanding, we can more clearly comprehend what it means to be an heir and an ambassador for a kingdom of humility.

This passage reminds me of nearly every effective pre-game pep talk. Nearly all of them contain the following: a call to action and a greater purpose. In particular, I immediately think of the conversation the Avengers have in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

In this film, Tony Stark/Ironman creates a sentient robot called Ultron to protect the world from threats. He did this because of the battle with Loki and his alien army. However, Ultron turned evil because he saw the Avengers (and humans) as the greatest threat. Naturally, the Avengers were upset with Ironman, especially since he made Ultron without telling them about it. So, defending himself, he says, “A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but, that up there? That's...that's the end game. How were you guys planning on beating that?” To this, Captain America says, “Together.” And when told by Ironman, “We'll lose,” Cap again responds, “Then we'll do that together, too.” Together, as a unit, as a team with a common goal, and with trust and love for one another.

Paul is essentially doing the same in this letter. He first gives them the call to action, which is to “value others above yourselves” and look out for the interests of others. Before continuing to debrief what this looks like practically, Paul points them to the example of Jesus!

Through the following six verses, he writes of Christ’s humility as he temporarily surrendered His heavenly privileges of holy glory, independent authority, divine riches, and even His perfect relationship with the Father while He bore our sins on the cross. Even more than the perfect example of what humility looks like, though, this description also instills in us a wonderful and overwhelming gratitude to which we can only respond with the desire to obey and submit to Christ just like all of creation will one day. This is our greater purpose!

In verse 12, Paul returns to his original call to action except he speaks of it in different terms as he says, “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” This is because, in light of Christ’s humble sacrifice, we seek to love and honor Him through obeying Him and becoming more like Him! As we pursue this, we shall also sow and reap the fruit of humility, which only through the power and grace of God will allow us to become “blameless and pure...in a warped and crooked generation...shin[ing] among them as stars in the sky as [we] hold firmly to the word of life.” In light of this, may we seek to be a humble community that loves and reflects Jesus well!

Pause: How have you pursued humility in your community of believers?

Practice: Value someone else’s interests above your own today and try to do so with a truly thankful heart fixed on the humble sacrifice of Christ!

Pray: Jesus, thank You for being a perfectly humble example to us. Thank You that in Your humility, You obeyed Your Father and sacrificed Yourself on our behalf. You made a way when there would be no way otherwise and, because of that, we can now be in a relationship with You and with Your other children. I ask that You would help us to pursue a humble community just as You pursued us so humbly. In Your name, I pray. Amen.