Humility - Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Humility" – Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life Host: Tim Keller
Episode Date: November 19, 2025
Scripture: Philippians 2:1–11

Episode Overview

In this sermon, Tim Keller explores the biblical principle of humility by closely examining Philippians 2:1–11. Keller contrasts the scriptural call to self-emptying humility with the prevailing culture’s focus on self-expression and personal glory. He unpacks the root cause of human division, identifies what true humility looks like, and explains how lasting transformation comes not by working directly on humility, but by being captivated by the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Cultural Confrontation with Humility

(02:08)

Keller notes: The Christian definition of humility runs contrary to modern culture, especially in cities like New York, which value “expressive individualism.”
Quote: “Contemporary people... stare at the biblical concept of humility the way a cow stares at a new gate.” (06:35)
Whereas our culture seeks validation through self-exploration, the Bible finds value and security in humility before God.

2. Diagnosing the Sickness: 'Glory-Empty' Pride

(08:20)

Paul identifies the core issue as "selfish ambition or vain conceit" (Philippians 2:3).
The Greek word kenodoxia (‘vain glory’) is rendered as being "glory-empty"—a deep hunger for honor, recognition, and significance.
- “This is radical cosmic insecurity. This is feeling, ‘I don’t count, I don’t matter...’” (09:00)
Keller illustrates how this “emptiness” poisons relationships, fuels divisions (even in the church), and gives rise to prideful striving.
The “cosmic put-on”: Humans try to fill the void by demanding honor, but remain empty—alienated from God.

3. A Picture of Health: True Humility Defined

(15:10)

Humility, Keller explains, is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.
- “Humility is not thinking less of yourself or thinking more of yourself. It’s thinking of yourself less.” (22:25)
Jonathan Edwards’ Four Opposites of Humility:
1. Drivenness – Always striving, never content.
2. Scornfulness – Contempt, sarcasm, putting others down.
3. Willfulness – Inability to admit wrong, unteachable.
4. Self-consciousness – Over-absorption in how one is perceived, whether through superiority or inferiority.
C.S. Lewis on pride:
- “Pride only gets pleasure out of having more... than the next person... It’s the comparison that makes you proud.” (12:55)

4. Humility is Self-Forgetfulness, Not Self-Hatred

(20:24)

Using C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, Keller warns against confusing humility with self-deprecation.
- “Real humility is self-forgetfulness.” (22:53)
Illustration: We only notice our elbows when they’re injured—if our ego was healthy, we wouldn’t constantly think about ourselves.

5. The Cure: Christ’s Self-Emptying and Its Transformative Power

(26:00)

We can’t “work on” humility directly—“Humility is the shyest of virtues. Talk to humility and it goes away.” (27:52)
Humility grows as a byproduct of adoration for, and imitation of, Christ’s humility.
Trajectory of Jesus (Philippians 2:5–11):
- Incarnation: Christ “made himself nothing,” entering humanity.
- Atonement: “He humbled himself... to death on a cross.”
- Exaltation: God exalted him.
The Gospel dynamic: Jesus, who truly had glory, “emptied himself” of it so we—glory-empty—could be filled.
- “Because Jesus Christ became small, we are big in the eyes of the Father. Because Jesus Christ lost all of his glory, we are now given his righteousness and his record.” (33:37)
- “Humility is a byproduct of wanting something more than humility, wanting him first.” (28:28)

6. Practical Application: Meditating on Christ’s Humility

(34:00)

Example: Keller shares advice from Dick Kaufman, who would meditate on Philippians 2:7 (“he made himself of no reputation”) to overcome anxiety about reputation.
“If his reputation didn’t mean anything for him, if he gave it up for me, then I can give it up for him.” (35:18)
Anecdote: A young man tries to climb a mountain in pride and fails. An old woman says: “Son, if you’d gone up the way you came down, you would have come down the way you went up.”
- Application: “Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and he will exalt you in due time.” (36:18)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself or thinking more of yourself. It’s thinking of yourself less.” (22:25)
“You cannot work on humility directly. It’s a byproduct of something else.” (27:44)
“The way up is down. The way to be truly rich is to give away. The way to rule is to serve. And the way to become infinitely happy is not to seek your own happiness, but the happiness of others.” (33:00)
“We are desperately trying to fill ourselves with glory, but we end up empty. But Jesus Christ, who had true glory, emptied himself so we could be full.” (33:10)

Timestamps for Key Segments

[02:08] – Introduction: The challenge of humility in contemporary culture
[08:20] – Diagnosing the heart’s sickness: Glory-emptiness and pride
[15:10] – Defining humility: Biblical and practical insights
[20:24] – Humility is not self-hatred: Screwtape Letters and self-forgetfulness
[26:00] – The cure: Christ’s kenosis and the gospel dynamic
[34:00] – Practical application: Meditating on Christ, overcoming reputation anxiety
[36:18] – Life application story: The way up is down

Summary in Keller’s Tone

Keller challenges listeners to recognize the deep-seated pride and emptiness that shapes both overt arrogance and insecurity. True humility—so central to Christian life—is not self-loathing but self-forgetfulness born out of being filled with the love and acceptance found in Christ. Real transformation comes not from navel-gazing or willpower, but by becoming captivated with Jesus’ journey from glory to the cross and back—"doctrine on fire in your heart." The way up, Keller insists, is down: those who humble themselves, like Christ, will find themselves full, secure, and able to love others without pride or self-obsession.

For Further Reflection:
Meditate on Philippians 2:5–11 and consider in prayer how Christ “made himself of no reputation” for you. Are there places in your life where drivenness, scorn, willfulness, or self-preoccupation show up? Fix your gaze on Christ’s humility—and let that vision set your heart aflame for the humility God desires to grow in you.

Transcript

Podcast Host (0:04)

Welcome to Gospel in life, many of us try to change through sheer willpower, conquering bad habits or forcing better behavior, only to find ourselves snapping back to old patterns. In today's message, Tim Keller is exploring the fruit of the Spirit, showing how real transformation isn't about moral restraint, but a heart that through Christ, is changed from the inside out.

Scripture Reader (0:33)

Tonight's scripture reading comes from the book of Philippians, chapter 2, verses 1 through 11. If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with 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 purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility. Consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature, God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing. Taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. This is God's word.

Tim Keller (2:08)

This is a great passage on humility that you just had read. When we have talked in the last few months about justice and the poor, I've always sensed that even though it's important, it's what the Bible says. We have the cultural wind to our back. Do you know what I mean? The culture says great. We're really glad that you Christians are thinking about that. We're interested in that too. So you have your wind to the back. But when you get to this subject, and this subject is humility, when you get to what the Bible says about humility, we have the cultural wind in our face. Contemporary people, especially contemporary New Yorkers, stare at the biblical concept of humility the way a cow stares at a new gate. Recently a commentator on the trends in the culture said this said humility has come under attack in our society over the last few decades. Self effacement has become identified with conformity and self repression. A different ethos came to the forehead, which sociologists have called expressive individualism. Instead of being humble before God in history, now in our society, salvation is found through intimate contact with oneself and by exposing the beauty, the power, and even the divinity within. See, that's the approach of our culture. And that completely flies in the face of what this text and what the Bible says about the importance of humility. Let's notice three things. This magnificent passage. We could easily do 30 weeks of sermons on just this passage, but we won't. Instead, I'll give you a top level look at this is going to tell us about a sickness that we have, about what we would look like if we were healthy, and how to get the cure. Sickness, a picture of health and the cure. Now the sickness is find it in verse 2 and 3. Be like minded, he says, have the same love, be one in spirit and purpose. Now he's describing a unified human community. This is what we all want. We all want to live in a human community that there's no fighting and divisions, but there's love and there's oneness of spirit, oneness of mind. Okay, Instead we have bombs in Times Square and political polarization and war. And you say, but this is actually talking about the church, right? That's the point. The point is there's something wrong with the human heart. So wrong that even inside a body like the church, where everybody shares the same faith, there's constant fighting. The reason Paul's bringing this up, as you will know if you read, just read on to the end of the short letter, is there's contentions going on between a couple of key figures in the church. Churches are filled with fighting and divisions just like the rest of the world. Why? Cause there's something wrong with the heart. What is that? Well, he mentions it. He says, if you're gonna have oneness, therefore do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Now, the selfish ambition isn't a particularly illuminating phrase. It really just means the spirit of divisiveness, which is kind of what we know is the problem. But the second phrase is crucial. The reason why we do things out of selfish ambition or the reason why we have this division while we're always fighting is because of what he calls, what this translation calls vain conceit. But it's a single Greek word. Kino, doxos. Kino means to empty, kenosis, to empty oneself. And doxa means glory and honor. Respect. What does it mean to be characterized by kinadoxia? It means to be glory empty, to be hungry for honor, hungry for respect, hungry for that kind of assurance because you don't feel like you are a person of importance. This is radical cosmic insecurity. This is feeling. I don't count, I don't matter. I'm ephemeral. I'm a wave upon the sand. You know, I need assurance that I'm okay, that I'm important, that I count. You know, hungry for respect and for glory and for honor. This is the human soul. It's much better, is it not? It's much better to be hated and attacked than to be ignored. Remember at the end of the movie or the play, Amadeus, why is the agent, the aging Salieri, in a kind of living hell? Because as this composer gets old, he's not disliked, he's been forgotten. And because he's been forgotten, that's hell to be absolutely and finally dismissed and ignored. Now you see why being glory empty, feeling like I'm not important, I don't count, leads to the division. I mean, you can see it in a street gang. What are street gangs? They're filled with generally young men that do not feel in any way valued by their society and very often not valued or loved by their families. And as a result, they walk down the street and if you slight them slightly, they'll pull a gun on you. Because they're glory empty. Because they don't feel important, they fight. And you say, well, of course, that's easy to see because you know, yeah, that's them. They have low self esteem, et cetera. Yeah, I know. Except if you read history, if you just read history, you'll know that nation states have always acted the same way as street gangs. You know, just slight them slightly and they go to war. Because it's what we are corporately. It's what we are corporately. Why? Why are we this way? Well, think of what the Bible says. I don't have a better diagnosis. The Bible says we were made originally to live forever, but because we've turned away from God, now we're fading. We know we were made to never be forgotten. We were made to stand in the presence of God and get his favor. We were made to last. But because we've turned away from God, we know we're dying. We know we're fading, we know we're going to be forgotten. We don't feel real, we feel like a wave upon the sand. We feel like a moonbeam in the hand and all that. And so we desperately look to everybody we possibly can to get them to say, you're good, you're important, you're worthwhile, you know you'll never be forgotten. You're so Significant. And we just desperate. And that's why we fight. Lewis Smedes, the Christian writer, says this about pride. Because what we're talking about, this hunger for glory, is pride. And he says pride is this in the spiritual sense, is refusal to let God be God. It's to grab God's status for oneself. It's wishing to be the Creator, independent, reliant on one's own resources. And that is the greatest illusion, the delusional fantasy of all fantasies, the cosmic put on the fantasy that we can make it as our own gods, which is where everybody is. Leaves us empty at the center. Hear that? Leaves us empty at the center. Therefore, we learn to swagger. We're attacked by demons of fear and anxiety. So we bluff. We look around, and whenever we see a new person, we use people as buttresses for the shaky ego that pride created. Every time you meet a new person, you are unconsciously wondering, how can this person contribute to my need to prove that I count? Life therefore, becomes a constant battle to use people to bolster your own self. So there's the sickness, pride, which is a hunger for glory, a need for respect, a need to be assured that we're real. What would health look like then if we didn't have this? What would health look like? And the answer is intriguing. It's all summed up in the word humility. Because, see, keep on going. He says in verse 2, I want you to be unified. Verse 3A, the first part, says, and the reason you're not is because of this emptiness, this vainglory. That's what the King James Bible, which is a little better. It translates emptiness, you know, devoid of glory because of your emptiness, because of your pride. Therefore, he says starting verse 3b, in humility, consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Boy, that tells you a lot. But let's first of all look at the word humility. What is it? It's a simple Greek word that means gentle, modest, deferential. Gentle, modest, deferring to others. Outside of the New Testament, this Greek word, whenever it was used in any other kind of ancient Greek literature, was always derogatory. Because in the Greco Roman society, to be deferential and to be gentle and to be modest was the attitude of a slave. See, that old society valued strength, and they believed that actually social stability was based on fear. People had to respect you. They treated you with respect. Then society would hold together. And the only way for respect is if people feared you Gentleness and deference and modesty. Ha. That's for slaves. And yet this word in the Bible, or version of it, is used 270 times and almost always positively. You realize what a worldview revolution this was in Western culture, that humility, only Christianity comes along. Humility. If you go back and you look at the Greeks and you look at the, you know, Aristotle and Plato, you look at all their emphasis on virtues, you'll never see humility in there. And yet do you know how important humility is in the Bible? It's not just important. I want you to think of something for a second. When Jesus says, the meek, the humble will inherit the earth. When Jesus says, take my yoke upon me and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. What is he saying? Well, think about the Gospel for a second. If you come to God and say, I want to have a relationship with you, look at all my accomplishments, look what I have done, God's going to turn you away saying, you don't know who I am, you don't know who you are. You don't know what the cross of Jesus Christ means. But if you come and say, oh Lord, I repent, I need your grace, I have nothing with which to merit your favor, but I ask that you would save me for Jesus sake. That's repentance and faith. You're saved by grace. You're saved through faith. But you know what that is? That's humility. The only thing that can kill you, the only thing that can destroy you eternally is a lack of humility. You can lack almost any other thing, but not that, because that's what connects you to God. In fact, if you want to think about it, basically God's plan of salvation is to lift up the humble. He says so in Luke 1. His plan of salvation is to lift up the humble. You see how important it is? Well, what is it? What is it? Well, actually, Paul gives a pretty good top level answer. But let me. Since one of the advantages of this series has been to give people tools for self evaluation, let me take you to Jonathan Edwards. He spent a great deal of time, he was a Christian minister that spent a great deal of time thinking about spiritual growth and true Christianity. And in a couple of different places. He spends a fair amount of time treating the subject of what does the Bible say humility is? And I have summarized into four things what he says, says pride is and therefore opposed, which is opposed to humility. And there are Actually pretty good ways for me to look at my own life and to think about myself. He says pride is opposed to four things and therefore. Pardon me, pride is four things. And humility, therefore is opposed to these four things. Drivenness, scornfulness, willfulness, and self consciousness. Okay, think with me for a minute. First of all, humility is opposed to drivenness. Be careful. It is very possible to be passionate and hardworking and desiring excellence because you love the thing that you are pursuing. If you pursue excellence in art or in music, if you pursue excellence in business or education or your academic field, it might be because you actually love the field. It could be that, for example, you just love running and you love to see people run and you just love the athleticism of it. And if that's the reason why you are running and trying to run faster and faster as an athlete, if it's true that your competitiveness is a joy driven competitiveness, then you will be almost as happy if your friend breaks the record as if you do. But that's not how it usually works, is it? Because our competitiveness is not driven by joy, it's driven by an inner vacuum. This is the reason why there's a great place where C.S. lewis says in his book Mere Christianity, he says pride, real pride, gets no pleasure out of having something. Pride only gets pleasure out of having more of it than the next person. You may think you're proud of being successful or intelligent or good looking, but when surrounded by those who are equal or better than you, you lose all pleasure in those things. It's the comparison that makes you proud. It's the pleasure of being above the rest. And that's exactly right. And so, first of all, Jonathan Edwards says, here's how you can tell if you are a proud person. You're driven, you need to succeed. You're always unhappy with, you didn't do that well, you didn't do it right. You can do better. You're driven, you know, you're restless. But humility is content. Content with circumstances, content with being imperfect. Humility is the opposite of drivenness. Think about that. Secondly, humility is the opposite of scornfulness. Now, by the way, sometimes you can be sarcastic, especially about a really, really wrongful thing. And you might want to use sarcasm to maybe get your point across. But in general, as I think Edwards rightly says, he says treating others with contempt, jeering, ridiculing is always a manifestation of pride. Why? Because you're putting people down. That's the metaphor we use. You're putting people down so you can be above them. Instead, humility means treating all those who are lesser than you or opposed to you with courtesy, grace and affability. Always. So one of the ways you see pride is drivenness. Humility is the opposite of that. One of the ways you see pride is scornfulness, mocking sarcasm all the time, put downs. Humility is the opposite of that. Thirdly, humility is the opposite of willfulness. Edwards says that one of the marks of spiritual pride in churches is, he says, spiritually proud people are always absolutely sure of every point of their beliefs. A proud person cannot admit they're wrong. Proud people can't admit they're wrong. They can't take advice, they can't take correction. They don't like repenting. If they repent, it's always under duress. They're not teachable, they're not open to advice. They're not willing to change their mind. They don't listen. They're not teachable. So willfulness, so pride is opposite of drivenness, scornfulness, willfulness and self consciousness. Now think about this with me for a minute. When you and I think of proud people, we almost always think of arrogant people, but that's not the only form of pride. We think of people who are self promoters and who are bragging all the time. But that's not the only form of pride. Oh no. Because ultimately, pride, the opposite of humility is this insecurity, this need for honor, this need for glory. And that can be as much a manifestation, that can be as manifested as much through an inferiority feeling as a superiority feeling. Because if you're always down on yourself and you're always beating yourself up, or if you're afraid of compliments, you're afraid of any kind of attention, it's because you are just as painfully self aware, you're just as absorbed in thinking about yourself. You're looking at yourself and wondering, you know, how am I coming across as the person with a superiority complex? So humility is the opposite of self consciousness.