How to Get Low // Seth Owens // CDA Campus

·41 min·3 clips

Why does Paul repeatedly command 'rejoice' while writing from a prison cell?

Seth starts warmly. He says teaching Scripture has moved from nerves to delight over 11 years, and that ease gives the opening a loose, lived-in feel. Christmas is already in the room. He jokes about the rule of the elves, Christmas music before Thanksgiving, and the coming children's program. Then the sermon tightens around Philippians 2 and the call to count others as more significant. Seth stays with that word count because it reaches deeper than polite behavior, careful speech, or good manners. It asks what the heart is doing when no one is grading the performance. He does not pretend that is easy. Counting the people around you as more significant than yourself is a tough tall order, especially because Christ is the example. Verse four gives the sermon some room to breathe. The call to look not only to personal interests but also to the interests of others lets Seth separate self-care from self-centeredness. Humility is not self-deprecation. It does not mean treating the self as worthless. It means God comes first, others come next, and care for the self stops trying to sit on the throne. He also presses on motive. When serving gets tangled up in second guesses about why someone is doing it, his answer is blunt in the best pastoral way: obey Christ. The room still gets humor, including a quick joke about whether he is about to go woke, but the sermon keeps coming back to Jesus, Scripture, and a life made low. The close is gentler. With eyes closed, the congregation is invited to receive Jesus' promise of rest, an easy yoke, and life that is free and light. Humility is not misery. It is the way into the abundant life Jesus offers.

As heard by us

A Christmas-season sermon that makes humility concrete and keeps pointing back to Jesus.

Seth uses Philippians 2 to make a clear pastoral case for humility that resists both self-deprecation and self-importance, and also pushes back on the culture's easier version of self-care.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want humility explained without the usual spiritual fog.

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