What does it mean to follow Jesus? Sure, it involves receiving the blessings of forgiveness and reconciliation He offers to us. But at its root, following Jesus requires us to live as He lives. And today’s passage shows us that one of the hallmarks of His life was humility.

And that should be truly amazing. After all, as verse 6 points out, He is the Son of God – you can’t get any more powerful and important than that. But He freely chose to empty Himself, laying aside so much of His power and glory by taking on the limitations of human flesh. But He went even further than this, because He didn’t become a man to gain worldly wealth or power. Instead, He came to humble Himself as a servant. He served us by dying for our sins on the cross, submitting Himself to the will of the Father by making Himself a sacrifice to save a world full of sinners.

And verse 9 reminds us that it was precisely because of that humility, that service, that the Father exalted Him, giving Him all authority in Heaven and on Earth. It was because He served us, giving us what we need, that eventually every knee will bow before Him.

So, what does all that mean for us? It turns out that the way up is the way down. If we want to follow Jesus, if we want to share in His glory, we must live like Him, doing God’s will instead of our own, serving others in true humility. And in a sinful world like ours, that often means humbling ourselves not just before our loved ones, but before our enemies as well.

That’s the sort of attitude Jesus has toward sinners like us. Are we really following Him?

Philippians 2:5-11 (NAS)

5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.