A Christ-Centered Life
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Intro
Intro
So, we’ve been slowly going through the book of Philippians. Some weeks we cover a whole passage, and others, like the last few weeks, we’ve spent considerable time on just a couple of verses, going into detail what the words truly mean. So, today, I want to back up, and look at a section that I skimmed over a couple of months ago. This morning and next week, we’re going to look at . We’ll focus mainly on verses 5-8 today, and there are a few things that I hope for us to get out of this passage. See, I think this passage is a beautiful summary of Who Jesus is, What Jesus did, and it teaches us how we should live our lives towards each other.
Open your Bible, will you please, to the second chapter of Philippians, and I want you to look with me at verses 5-8, 5-8. The passage before us is deep. It is majestic. In many ways it is both overwhelming and unfathomable. And certainly we would agree that the text that we look at this morning would have to be included among the most important and glorious texts in all the New Testament. It describes the condescension of the second person of the Trinity into human incarnation. It is the single greatest New Testament passage on God becoming man.
The Message of Philippians 1. The Eternal God Becomes Incarnate
When Paul says that Christ Jesus was in the form of God, that is, in full possession of the divine nature, he underlines the fact by using, not the simple verb ‘to be’, but a stronger verb which in its characteristic usage has the force ‘to be really and truly’, ‘to be characteristically’, even ‘to be by nature’. In a passage like the present one, where it is plain that every word has been weighed and measured, the full meaning of the verb can be assumed: he was really and truly, in his own personal and essential nature, God.
But, being so, he emptied himself. The very notion of ‘emptying’ inevitably suggests deprivation or lessening, the loss of something that was possessed before. When Jesus emptied himself, did he diminish himself, and if so, in what way? Here is a thought which must obviously be handled with great care.
It is helpful to note, in the first place, the fact that the verb ‘to empty’ in every other New Testament instance means ‘to deprive something of its proper place and use’. ‘Christ, indeed,’ says Calvin, ‘could not divest himself of Godhead; but he kept it concealed for a time … he laid aside his glory in the view of men, not by lessening it, but by concealing it.’ Or again, ‘Kenosis’, according to D. G. Dawe, ‘says that God is of such a nature that acceptance of the limitations of a human life does not make him unlike himself … he is free to be our God without ceasing to be God the Lord.’ Or, more specifically, if we follow through the interpretation of Collange mentioned above, ‘the kenosis was a voluntary deprivation of the exercise of Lordship’.15
Secondly, we ought to notice that in asking the perfectly natural question, ‘Of what did Christ Jesus empty himself?’, we are, in fact, departing from the direct line of thought in this passage. For the verb emptied is at once followed by an explanatory clause, taking the form of a servant (slave). Our eye, in other words, is removed from the realm of mystery (the relation between the new incarnate life and the eternal divine life) and focused on the realm of historical factuality, the reality of the eternal God becoming truly man. It is not ‘Of what did he empty himself?’ but ‘Into what did he empty himself?’ While it must be pointed out that this way of putting it arises from the flexibility of the English verb ‘to empty’ and does not reflect the Greek use of kenoō in the New Testament, it nevertheless catches perfectly the movement of Paul’s thought: Christ Jesus brought the whole of his divine nature, undiminished, into a new and—had it not been revealed to us in Scripture—unimaginable state.
Yet it may be that ‘Into what did he empty himself?’ is not all that far, if far at all, from Paul’s thought. The parallel between he emptied himself and Isaiah’s word concerning the Servant of the Lord, that ‘he poured out his soul to death’, is too plain to be resisted. The fundamental thought is that of a deliberate, conscious consigning of oneself to a foreseen situation: the Servant of the Lord brought himself voluntarily and totally into death; Jesus, in order to die, first brought his total being down to the condition of the Lord’s Servant.17
Concerning the state to which the Lord Jesus consigned himself, Paul makes three points. First, the intention of the great change was obedient service; he took the form of a slave. Secondly, the sphere in which the service would be discharged was that of a true humanity; he was born in the likeness of men. Thirdly, his true humanity ‘left room’ for that other reality which he brought with him. It was a true humanity: Paul uses again the word form, already discussed; but this time of the slave-state. The Son became the reality of a bondservant. None of this reality is taken away by the careful phrase in the likeness of men: ‘this leaves room for the other side of his nature, the divine, in the likeness of which he did not appear. His likeness to men was real, but it did not express his whole self.’
Throughout all this there is the same revelation of the ‘mind of Christ’. His are the eternal glories, both by nature and by right, but they are not a platform for self-display, nor a launching-pad for self-advancement; they are all for self-denial. Self is something to ‘pour out’.
2. The incarnate God becomes a curse
The story continues in the same vein. By the end of verse 7 a true incarnation has taken place, and at this point Paul picks up the narrative. Christ Jesus was found in human form (verse 8), that is to say, those meeting him felt themselves to be in the presence of a man. They could say, ‘Is not this the carpenter?’20 How exactly true their observation was, but, equally, how much they missed! Well might Isaiah say, ‘To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’ (53:1)—or, as we might paraphrase, ‘Who would have believed, were it not revealed by God, that this is the Lord himself come down to save?’ Notice how Paul says (verses 5–6) that it was Jesus who existed before the incarnation and possessed the very nature of God—but Jesus is the name of ‘the carpenter’! The pre-existing and the incarnate Son of God were one and the same person:
Lo, within a manger lies
He who built the starry skies.
He seems the same as other men but in fact is vastly different. The question therefore is, what will he do with this ‘difference’? Will he use it as an occasion for self? Will it, in turn, become ‘a thing to be grasped’? Maybe this is the reason why the Lord spoke to Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration of ‘his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem’.23 For, having received the plaudits of these two great prophets and the accolade from the Father himself, he could surely have chosen to step back into the personal glory of heaven.
What he did was, however, very different. He chose rather to take upon himself that one thing which, without his consent, had no power against him, death. He was distinct from all others because of his divine nature. In particular, he possessed immortality, proper to God alone.25 But he subjected his immortality to death and thus humbled himself; nothing has now been held back; all has been given up:
Even his garments they parted
When he hung on the cross of shame.
Paul tells us that this was done as an act of obedience to God. The English obedient unto death suggests ‘obeying death’, but the Greek cannot bear this meaning. It requires rather ‘obedient as far as or right up to the point of death’.
Death was the mode, not the master, in his obedience; the obedience was yielded to his Father: this was ‘the cup which the Father has given me’.
Furthermore, the obedience which he rendered to God also achieved a purpose for man: it was death on a cross. Just as it was necessary to appeal to other scriptural evidence to establish that the obedience was a service offered to the Father, so here also Paul is using the succinct, allusive forms of poetry, not writing an itemized doctrinal thesis. When we ask why he proceeds from the fact of death (obedient unto death) to the mode of death (death on a cross), we must look elsewhere to discover what he intended. But the explanation is not hard to find. From one angle, the reference to the cross enhances the thought of his obedience, for ‘cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree’. Our Lord’s cry of dereliction28 shows how truly he entered into the place of rejection and with what horror he was enfolded in so doing: he who was in the form of God came down to earth, down to the cross, down to the curse—and he did it for us, for me! ‘Christ redeemed us from the curse … having become a curse for us.’
Though he was rich, so rich,
Yet for our sakes how poor he became!
Even his garments they parted
When he hung on the cross of shame.
All that he had he gave for me,
That I might be rich through eternity.
Finally, this Godward-manward act was undertaken by the will and consent of the Lord Jesus himself. No-one else did it: he humbled himself. This feature, so central to Philippians 2:6–8, must find its root in Isaiah 53, especially verses 7–9, where for the first time in the Old Testament we meet with a consenting sacrifice. All through the long years of animal sacrifice the Lord had driven home the lesson that in the divine purposes there could be a transference of sin and guilt from the head of the guilty to the head of the innocent. Whenever a sinner brought his animal to the altar and laid his hand on the beast’s head31 the lesson was plain: this stands in my place; this bears my sin. Yet the substitution was incomplete, for the central citadel of sin, the will, was left unrepresented in the uncomprehending, unconsenting animal. Isaiah foresaw that only a perfect Man could be the perfect substitute and that at the heart of this perfection lay a will delighting to do the will of God.
This was the ‘mind of Christ’. He looked at himself, at his Father and at us, and for obedience’ sake and for sinners’ sake he held nothing back.
So, we’ve been slowly going through the book of Philippians. Some weeks we cover a whole passage, and others, like the last few weeks, we’ve spent considerable time on just a couple of verses, going into detail what the words truly mean. So, today, I want to back up, and look at a section that I skimmed over a couple of months ago. This morning, we’re going to look at , and there are a few things that I hope for us to get out of this passage. See, I think this passage is a beautiful summary of Who Jesus is, What Jesus did, and it teaches us how we should live our lives towards each other.
Background
Before we look at the text, I want to give a little background info: this section is considered to be an early Christian hymn or song. It may have been adopted by the early church as a worship song or meditation practice. The Apostle Paul, who wrote this letter, likely either wrote this hymn, or he adapted it for the purpose of his argument. Now, what Paul has been arguing for since chapter 1:27 and all the way through chapter 2 is that the Philippian church needs to be humble and needs to be unified. We’ve talked about this considerably while walking through this letter, so I won’t go into detail here. But, this brief hymn gives the example of how Jesus humbled himself out of obedience to God the Father and it explains that he came down to us, served us, died for us, and was raised again. And therefore it functions as a paradigm of how we are to live. So, with that being said, let’s look at the text.
Scripture
English Standard Version Chapter 2
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Apparently, from study of the Greek language of this passage, it was a hymn. Very likely these verses were sung by the early church. No other New Testament passage could so completely, and with so much detail in its presentation, focus on the event of God becoming man. It is what theologians have called a Christological gem, or a Christological diamond that sparkles brighter than perhaps any other passage in the New Testament. It is unparalleled in the New Testament in its strong statement about the incarnation of God in Christ.
English Standard Version Chapter 2
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
But listen carefully. As strong as it is theologically, as profound as it is theologically, as unfathomable as it is theologically, the passage is first and foremost ethical. It has to do with motivation for Christian living more than just facts of theology as great as those facts are. Follow me as I read verses 5-8. "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
This is the word of the Lord
As I said, the theological richness of the passage is really beyond our ability to grasp or explain. But as theologically profound as it is, you will note from verse 5 that its purpose is as an illustration of a proper attitude. And the writer in even looking at the incarnation of Jesus is not viewing the incarnation for its own sake, but as an illustration of humility. And therein is the ethical implication here.
Prayer
The main point here is not to identify that God became man, but to show that in God becoming man you have the supreme illustration of humility, an illustration which we are called to follow. Here you see self-sacrifice. Here you see self-denial. Here you see self-giving. Here you see humble love. The key to understanding the ethical nature of the passage is verse 5, "Have this attitude in yourselves." What attitude? What attitude are you talking about, Paul? “I'm talking about the attitude I just described in verses 3-4.” And what attitude is that? Look at it. "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests but also for the interests of others." “Have this attitude in yourselves” - this self-effacing, self-sacrificing, self-denying, self-giving, humble attitude.
One of the major themes in this letter to the Philippians is unity. And I’ve been hitting on this theme pretty hard over the past few months, because I believe that it is vital to the the life of a healthy youth group and a healthy family. But, I’ve been reflecting on this theme over the last few weeks, and I’ve been reminded of how I’ve had relationships with people that were toxic, and I’ve been on teams with people where we were all focused on ourselves and what we wanted to do rather than being of one mind. When I was on the youth praise team in highschool, and I’ve kind of shared this before, all I wanted to do was play guitar solos. Another member of the team wanted to make the songs as short as possible, and I was trying to extend every song so that, you know, I could take my nice extended guitar solo. So, she and I clashed every. single. practice. Both of us were focused on what we wanted for ourselves. She wanted a shorter worship set, and I wanted a longer one so that I could be in the limelight. And I’ve been asking myself, why? What have all of these scenarios been missing? Why was my high school praise team lacking in unity, why have missions trip teams I’ve gone with in the past lacked unity, why do churches split and why do people, who claim to love and worship Jesus, why do we cause so much division and anger and hurt and pain towards one another? And here, I think is the answer: we are focused on the wrong thing. We’re focused on ourselves and we’re focused on what we want and how we can benefit from things. Whether this is school, or family, or friendships, or church, we are naturally inclined to focus on ourselves. We create our own mini kingdoms that we’re in control of and we sit on a nice throne and everything is about us. But, then Jesus comes, and he enter into this world where we live, a world that he’s created and sustains, but he enters into it, and breaks the way that we view life. And this is what we’re looking at this morning. And so, I think there are three things that I want for us to get out of the message this morning.
Who is Jesus?
What did Jesus do?
What does this teach us about how we should then live?
Who is Jesus?
Who is Jesus?
Okay, so, who is Jesus? We talk about Jesus a lot here. We sing about him, we pray in his name, we preach and teach about him, but who is he? There are tons fo passages in all of scripture that speak to who Jesus is, and this text is just one of many, but let’s look at verse 6. It reads “who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.” The first thing we notice about verse 6 is that it tells us that Jesus was in the form of God. This is a huge theological point. Now, Paul wasn’t trying to bring up theological points for us to argue about, which unfortunately this passage has caused a lot of arguments throughout church history, but, Paul was pointing and referencing theological and doctrinal truths to show us who Jesus is and how this impacts us.
Jesus in the form of God
Jesus in the form of God
And so, Jesus was in the form of God. What does this mean? Another way we could word this would be “existing in the form of God.” What Paul is talking about is Jesus’ preexistence and his divine nature. So let’s look at these two things briefly.
Preexistence of Jesus
Preexistence of Jesus
Even though the story of Jesus is told primarily in what we call the New Testament, which is what we’re reading from this morning, there has never been a time where Jesus did not exist. He always has been, he always is, and he always will be. And numerous passages point to this. Take for example the very first two verses of the Gospel of John. John writes “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” So you here that, and you’re like, okay, it said that the word was with him in the beginning. The word “Word” refers to Jesus. John later writes that all things were made through Jesus. Nothing that exists was made without Jesus. Jesus was not created, rather he is creator. So, what I’m trying to say is that Jesus has no point of origin. He wasn’t created, he has always existed with God the Father and with the Holy Spirit, and all three make up the God-head whom we worship.
Jesus’ Divine Nature
Jesus’ Divine Nature
Let’s look now at Jesus’ divine nature. Stick with me through this. I know it’s a little complicated, but it’ll be important for how we apply this message. Paul writes that Jesus existed in the form of God. Now, this word “form” is important. It come from the greek word morphe and it’s pretty difficult to accurately translate. Essentially what it refers to is the essential attributes and inner nature of Jesus. And what this means is that Jesus is God. Jesus is not other than God, he’s not just a super human, or a regular dude who just happened to be perfect. No, Jesus is himself God. He’s not half God like Peter Quill from Guardians of the Galaxy whose mom was human but dad was like half planet or something. No, Jesus is fully God.
Importance of Jesus being God
Importance of Jesus being God
Okay, yes Jesus is God, but why is this important? And here’s why: If Jesus were not God, then his death would mean nothing for us. If Jesus were not God, he would not have risen from the dead. If Jesus were not God, then there would be no hope for you and for me. Everything hinges on the fact that Jesus, who is God, came down to us, lived a perfect, sinless life, died a criminals death on a cross, and therefore paid the price for your sins and for my sins. See, you and I could not save ourselves. None of us were capable of living a perfect, sinless life. None of us can do it. Sin has infected the entire human race, and we are therefore corrupted from birth. But, Jesus, who is fully God and Fully man redeemed us. He redeemed our flesh, he redeemed our lives, and if we are in him, if we are following him, if we are seeking to glorify him, if we have made him king over our lies, then we live in this redemption. We live a redeemed life. We live in flesh that has been redeemed. Jesus is God and Jesus has redeemed us. I’ll talk about this a little more in a few minutes.
Did not grasp at this equality
Did not grasp at this equality
Let’s keep going with verse 6. Paul writes about Jesus saying he “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.” Guys, this is huge. Okay, we just talked about Jesus being God. Jesus is fully God. But, and Paul makes it clear here, he did not consider his equality with God, he did not consider his divinity, his glory, his God-status, as something to be used for his own advantage. And this was totally unexpected. Jesus as the Messiah was expected by Jewish culture to come and lead a rebellion against the kingdom that was subjugating them, which was Rome. But, Jesus did not live as expected by the culture around him. Jesus did not come and seize upon or grasp his own power, or take advantage of it, and use it for his own glorification, as kings and rulers of the day typically did. He could have. He could have grasped at his divinity and lived as a king among us, but he did something radically different, which we’ll look at in verse 7, but before we go there, lets think about this for a minute. Jesus did not use his own divinity for his own gain. Yet we often use our gifts, our talents, our popularity, our intelligence, as a means to glorify ourselves. We use these things to lift ourselves up, and this is the complete opposite of what Jesus’ example shows us. And so, what did Jesus do? Let’s look now at verse 7.
But he emptied himself.
But he emptied himself.
Verse 7 reads, “but emptied himself [talking about Jesus], by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” Essentially, this verse is describing the incarnation. Now, what is the incarnation? The incarnation describes the act of Jesus, or God, coming down to us. Jesus comes down, into this space, into our world, and lives among us. He comes down from Heaven, where he has always existed, and he comes here to us. To live among us. To live among sinful, fallen humanity.
And why are we to have this attitude? Verse 2, "in order that the church may be of the same mind,maintaining the same love, united in spirit, and intent on one person." For the sake of the unity of the church. And why should we be motivated to the unity of the church? Verse 1, "Because of all the encouragement Christ has given you, because of all the consolation of love He has given, because of all the fellowship you enjoy in the Spirit, because of all His affection and compassion toward you." Well, why is it important to the Holy Spirit? Because He is the Spirit of unity. Why is it important to Christ? Because He is the One who prayed that they may be one.
Have you guys heard of C.S. Lewis? He writes this about what Jesus did: “In the Christian story God descends to reascend. He comes down, down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity, down further still, down to the very roots and sea bed of the nature He had created. But He goes down to come up again and bring the ruined world up with Him. One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift. He must also disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders. Or one may think of a diver, first reducing himself to nakedness then glancing in mid air, then gone with a splash, vanished, rushing down through green and warm water into black and cold water, down through increasing pressure into the death-like region of ooze and slime and old decay. Then up again, back to color and light, his lungs almost bursting till suddenly he breaks surface again, holding in his hand the dripping precious thing that he went down to recover.”
The flow is obvious here. It is of deep concern to Christ, it is of deep concern to the Spirit that the church be one. That unity is defined in verse 2. The means to that unity is given in verses 3-4, and it has to do with an attitude of humility, where you look on others as more important as yourself, and where you are as concerned about their needs and their interests as you are your own. Unity in the church comes out of humility, and humility is nothing more than considering others and their needs more important than you and yours.
So, Jesus, who is fully God, has come down to us, and he did this by emptying himself. What does this mean? And this is important. Many people have wrongly come to the conclusion that Jesus emptied himself of his divinity, that he somehow gave up his god-status. NO. This is not true and cannot be true. Jesus remained God in the whole process. Jesus did not empty himself of his deity, he emptied himself of the right to use his divine functions. He refused to hold on to it. He emptied himself of his heavenly glory, and he emptied himself of his authority and humbly submitted to the authority of the Father. He gave up everything and became nothing.
And so the principle comes in verses 3-4, and the illustration in 5-8. If you want a model to look at, to see how this humility works, then “have this attitude in yourselves which was also in” - Whom? – “Christ Jesus.” He's the model. He's the perfect ethical illustration of humility. The fact is, and you know it as well as I do,that He is the pattern for us to follow in every area of life - not just in the matter of humility - but in every area of life. First John 2, verse 6, John says, "the one who says he abides in Him" - that is, in Christ - "ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked." We are to pattern our life after Him. The apostle Paul certainly made that very clear in 1 Corinthians 11:1 when he said, "Be followers of me, as I am of Christ." In 1 Thessalonians 1:6, when he said essentially the very same thing. It is exactly what Paul had in mind when he wrote in Romans that we are to look to our neighbor's need. And then he says in Romans 15, "For even Christ pleased not Himself, but His neighbor for edification," is the idea.
The best illustration I can think of is Iron Man. Now, when Tony Stark takes off his Iron Man suit, does he cease being Iron Man? Some of y’all will probably say yes, but I’m gonna say no. Iron Man, at least in the last few movies became more than just a suit, it became who Tony Start was. He was Tony Stark and Iron Man whether he was in the suit or not. And, analogies about Jesus and God always fall short, and so does this one. But the point is, Jesus did not cease being God when he came down to us. Again, he gave up everything and became nothing, but he was still God.
And then it says he “took the form of a servant.” Now, the word servant can also be translated slave. Paul often refers to himself as a “slave for Christ Jesus,” and here, I think, we can say, Jesus took the form of a slave. A slave during this time period had no rights. A slave was the lowest of society, and this is how Jesus chose to identify himself. In the Gospel of Mark Jesus is quoted as saying that he did not “come to be served, but to serve.” And then, in John chapter 13, we have the story of Jesus washing the disciple’s feet. Jesus stooped down at the end of dinner, put water into a basin, grabbed a towel, and washed his disciples dirty nasty feet. Feet that had been walking around in the dust and grime and filth of 1st century Rome. Feet that were probably cracked and calloused. He stooped down and took on the job that was reserved for slaves or the lowest members of society and gave a powerful illustration of what posture we are to take. And this is so wild. At one point, Jesus’ disciples were fighting over who would have the highest position in the Kingdom of Heaven. And Jesus, God, stooped down and washed their feet. What would happen if we took this same approach to living? What would happen if we served and loved one another in this way? How different would things be? What if we sought to serve others instead of elevating ourselves? What if we sought to serve our parents? What if we sought to serve our Church? What if we sought to serve our schools and our communities? What if we followed Jesus’ example? What if we emptied ourselves of our pride, of our jealousy, of our worldliness, of our selfishness, what if we emptied ourselves of these things and took on the mindset of servants?
Christ is the model of humility as He is the model of everything for us. That's why in Matthew 11:29 Jesus said, "Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly." “Learn humility from Me.” That's why in John 13 He says, after having washed the disciples’ feet, "Love one another as I have loved you." And how had He loved them? By self-sacrificing, humble service in washing their dirty feet.
He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of Death
He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of Death
So Paul is drawing on Christ as the model of humility, which is the means of unity. He Himself said He was the model of humility in Matthew 11:29 when He said, "learn of Me." He said He was the model of humility in John 13 when He washed the feet and said, "That's how I want you to love each other in the same sacrificial way." And so Paul literally follows the lead of Christ Himself and says He's the model of humility. And then he chronicles in verses 6, 7, and 8 the descent of Christ. And here you have as if He comes from heaven to earth in a series of steps, climbing down, as it were, the various factors of the descent of Christ to humiliation that is the model for us.
Lets’ keep going: Jesus was born in the likeness of men. He looked like us. He lived in a body like ours, he experienced the same things as us physically and emotionally. Again, he was still fully God, but he was also fully man. And as verse 8 says: “being found in human he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
There has never been such a clear demonstration of the character of humility as there is in the Son of God coming to this earth to die. And so Paul points us to Christ. Frankly, we can't copy His deity; we never will. We cannot emulate His incarnation. We cannot copy His perfection. We cannot copy His miracles. We cannot copy His redemptive work. But we are called to pattern our lives after His humility.
Jesus’ entire life was characterized by his humility. He was born in a manger. Jesus, the king of the universe and ruler of all things, came down to dwell among us, and instead of being born in the fanciest palace or villa of the day, we was born in a barn, and laid in an animal trough in Bethlehem. His ministry was marked by his loving those who no one else loved, serving those who no one in their right minds would have served, and then he died, a criminals death on a cross next to two criminals. He chose this. He chose this humility. And we too must choose humility.
So verse 5, then, is a transition from exhortation to illustration. It takes us from the exhortation of verses 3-4 to the illustration, who is none other than Christ. And listen, as deep as the passage is theologically, I say again, it was intended as a practical illustration of an exhortation to humility. So what we're going to do this morning is look at it in that light. And then next Lord's day we'll go back through the passage and look at it theologically, because we can't ignore the theology of it. But we have to do that after we've understood the implications of it practically, because that was the writer's primary intention.
Let’s focus for a moment on the cross. Now, typically we reserve the cross for Easter, but we should always be remembering the cross. Verse 8 ends by saying “even death on a cross.” This seems to be rock bottom for Jesus. He’s at the lowest point now. The cross was reserved for the worst people. And Jewish culture believed that if one were to die in this manner, then he was cursed. The cross was also shameful. It was shameful if someone in your family or someone you knew died on a cross. And it was shameful to follow and place your faith in a God who 1, could die, and 2 would die in this way. But, here we have Jesus, the one who has always existed, who is fully human and fully God, who is Lord over all and creator of all, dying on a cross for the redemption of all of humanity. He endured the shame, the pain, the agony, the loneliness of the cross, and he received the full wrath of God, in place of us. In place of sinners. Christ came down to us and paid the price we couldn’t pay. He came down to us and brings us back up with him. He humbled himself to the point of death for us. And so, what does this mean for us?
Let's follow the steps. Verse 6, it begins with this statement: “He existed in the form of God,” “He existed in the form of God.” That's where it all began. And that means to say He is God. The word "form," as we will see in our further study next week, has to do with nature, essence, innate being. He is God. He existed in the form of God. Before the incarnation He preexisted as God. And this emphasizes the point from which His humiliation began. He is by nature fully God. Jesus possessed the very being of God. And this is the high point from which He stoops. He descends, as you can well see, from a level which we will never know or experience, for we will never be as God.
Application
Application
But He gives us a pattern to follow, because He comes down from a lofty, lofty level - the highest in the universe, God. But there's a pattern even for us in this. Are we not the children of God? Are we not the sons of God and the daughters of God? Are we not “blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus”? Are we not the chosen? Are we not the beloved out of the world? Are we not the anointed by the Holy Spirit? Are we not those special people who have been given the promise of heaven's eternal glory? Are we not priests? Are we not chosen vessels? Are we not the ambassadors of Christ? Do we not possess as Christians an exalted position as sons of God indwelt by the Spirit of God? And so our humiliation, too, begins from a lofty level.
If you noticed, I skipped over verse 5 in the beginning. Verse five is the command for us to follow. It’s the application. Paul writes, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” This is the kind of mindset we are to have as followers of Jesus. This is the mindset we are to have as a family. This is the mindset we are to have as a youth group, as a church, as individuals. We are to have the same kind of mindset that Jesus himself had. We called to be humble. We are called to serve. We are called to put aside our selves and our selfish desires, and instead of seeking to uplift ourselves, we are called to love and glorify God, and we are called to serve others. This is what a Christ-Centered life looks like. This is what a Christ-centered community looks like. This is what I pray we will look like. We as a youth group need to meditate and pray through this scripture. This is the mindset we are commanded to have. So with that, let me pray and we’ll have a time of response.
It starts with a recognition of the fact that we have been lifted up by God's grace, and we too must begin our humiliation from a lofty starting point. Notice the descent now. The second statement, "Although He existed in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped." Here's the second step. “He...did not regard equality with God” which, by the way, explains the phrase "the form of God." We conclude that “the form of God” means the same as “equal with God.” Isos, the Greek word, means “exactly equal.” But He “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.”
Prayer
Prayer
Now notice, please, humility begins with a recognition of a lofty calling, and the first step down is an attitude. And the attitude is that this loftiness of My calling is not something to be clutched. It is not “something to be grasped.” It is not something to be seized and kept. It is not something to be selfishly held on to as such a prized possession that it is only to be exploited and never set aside for anyone else.
Father, may we have this mind among ourselves, which is ours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
English Standard Version Chapter 2
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
That wasn't Jesus' attitude. As God He had all the rights and privileges of God, which He deserved and for which He had every right and from which He could never be disqualified. But He did not have an attitude that selfishly clutched all of His privileges. And that's the first step down when you begin to loosen your grip on the possessions and privileges that you have as a believer that provide that exalted identity, and you become willing to start the process down. Think of Christ as God in a favored position with unimaginable privileges. That position was infinitely perfect, infinitely fulfilling. He was infinitely worthy of it and could never be disqualified from it. But He didn't have an attitude to cling to it if by letting go of it He could serve someone else. That's where humiliation begins.
Sure, we see ourselves as called and set apart from the world and lofty and high and lifted up in a spiritual sense, but we have to hold that lightly for the sake of the needs of others. Anyone who stoops begins with that kind of attitude. I will not clutch my privileges, possessions, rights, blessings, no matter what my elevated position might be.
The next step down in the descent of Christ and the pattern for us, verse 7, says, "but emptied Himself." Now the attitude becomes an action here. The attitude becomes an action. The attitude said, “I won't hold on to these things; I don't clutch them; I am ready to let go of them if for the sake of others I must stoop.” The attitude, then, led to the action and “He emptied Himself.” This is a profound statement. We will try to plumb some of its depths next time. All you need to know for this morning is that He divested Himself in some way of His privileges. He let go of some things in the process of coming down.
He didn't cease to be God; that's abundantly clear from the New Testament. He even claimed while on earth to be God, saying things like, "If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father." He was still God, but He had set aside and emptied Himself of some of His privileges. Why? To come all the way down for the sake ofunworthy sinners because their need was so desperate. That's how humility works. Starts at a lofty point,has an attitude that doesn't clutch what it possesses, and releases those things, emptying oneself and coming down to meet the needs of others.
What did He give up? Have you ever thought about it? What did Jesus give up? For one thing He gave up heavenly glory. In John 17 He prays to the Father in verses 4-5, and He says, "Father, restore Me to the gloryI had with You before the world began," which means He must have given up His heavenly glory. He did, He did. He longed for that pros ton theon, as John calls it, that face-to-face communion with God. That's why He went so often to the Mount of Olives to pray, because He loved that intimate communion with the Father that He had in heavenly glory, but He gave it up.
Secondly, He gave up the independent authority that He had as God, the second person. He gave up that independent authority, and Hebrews 5:8 says that “He learned obedience.” I don't think He had ever known obedience prior to that time. He operated independently as God operates independently, even within the Trinity. But He learned obedience as a Son. And He said in John 5:30, "I have come to do what the Father wants Me to do, and I resign Myself to His will."
The third thing He gave up were the prerogatives of His divine nature. He limited His own divine attributes. In Matthew 24:36 He said He didn't even know the time that the Father had in mind for the setting up of His kingdom. He said “no man knows...not even the Son.” And so He willingly set aside some of the exercise of His divine attributes. He limited, in that case, His omniscience.
The fourth thing He set aside were His eternal riches. It would be impossible for me to explain how rich He was, but I know what 2 Corinthians 8:9 says. It says “He was rich, but for your sakes He became” - What? – “poor.” And He was so poor He said “the foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.” I always think about John's gospel where it says, "And every man went to his own house, and Jesus went to the Mount of Olives." Why? He had no house. Poor.
He gave up heavenly glory, intimate communion with the Father. He gave up independent authority as God. He gave up the prerogatives of His divine nature. He gave up personal riches. And here's one - He gave up a favorable relationship with God. What do you mean by that? Hear His words: "My God, My God, why have You” - What? – “forsaken Me?” He gave up a favorable relationship with God for an unfavorable one. Alienated from the very God of whom He was part. Second Corinthians 5:21 puts it this way: "He became sin for us, and He was the one who knew no sin."
He gave up a lot. But that's what humility does. And that's what Paul is saying here. Humility recognizes its rights and its privileges as a child of God but doesn't clutch those things. But rather, because it sees the need of another, is willing to divest itself and stoop.
How far does it go? Let's follow it down. It says in verse 7, "He emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant." It comes all the way down to slavery. There's no condescension apparent in this because Jesus is an illustration of One who literally became a doulos, “a bond-slave” - all the way down, all the way down - from King to slave. And may I say to you, this is not theatrical? This is not a Halloween costume. He didn't put on the garment of a slave; He became one. It says in verse 6 that He was “in the form of God,” and in verse 7 that He took “the form of a bond-servant.” Whatever "form" means in verse 6 it means in verse 7, and in verse 6 it means “essential character,” and in verse 7 it means the same thing. He literally took on the essential character of a slave. This was not theatrical, this was reality. He said, "I am among you as one who serves" (Luke 22:27). Matthew 20:28, "the Son of Man didn't come to be served, but to serve, to give His life." You see, He waived the exercise of His rights as God and did only what God asked Him to do. Came all the way down, emptied Himself, and became a slave. And He served men as One who was a slave.
He even went to the point where it says in Isaiah 53:6 that God laid all our iniquities on Him. Slaves carry burdens, and He carried the greatest burden any slave could ever carry - the burden of sin for us. You can ask a slave to carry a lot of things, but only God could ask Christ, His slave, to carry the burden of your sin,which He carried. What a servant, and what a model - what a model.
His service to sinners took the form of total identification, total identification. Look at the next step down. Verse 7, "being made in the likeness of men." He became like us. He had all the attributes of humanness. He became a genuine man, really the Second Adam, truly human. He was not a reasonable facsimile. He was a man.
I want to say something to you that I don't want you to misunderstand. When God became man in the form of Jesus Christ, He did not become man as man was pre-Fall. You understand that? He did not become man as Adam was in his innocence. He became man in the sense of partaking of the results of fallenness. You say, "What do you mean by that?" Well, ask yourself some simple questions. “Did He feel pain?” Yes. “Did He feel sorrow? Did He weep? Did He have strong crying and tears? Did He ever hunger? Did He thirst? Was He weary? Was He weak?” And here's the final one, “Did He die?” Death was the result of - What? - the Fall. This is not a, this is not God taking on the unfallen character of humanity, this is God taking on the fallen character of humanity with one significant element eliminated. What is it? Sin. "Being in all points tempted as we are," Hebrews 4:15, "yet without sin." Never sinning but feeling the results of the Fall He became one of us. Otherwise how could He be “in all points tempted like as we are”? How could He suffer and be a sympathetic high priest if He had a pre-Fall humanness? Because He wouldn't have anything to sympathize with. No, He went all the way down to walk in our skin, as it were, to sympathize and empathize, and he says that's the model, that's what humility does.
Humility realizes its rights and privileges but humility starts down. First step down it holds very loosely to those privileges, doesn't clutch them. It empties itself when necessary. It comes all the way down to serve,and it even gets into the skin of those it serves. Total empathy, sympathy, compassion. These are the steps of humiliation that are the model for us.
Sixth, the next step down, verse 8, "and being found in appearance as a man." That is most interesting. I wish we had more time to talk about that. What that means is very much like what it says at the end of verse 7, but from another perception. Verse 7 says as a fact He was “made in the likeness of men.” This one says He appeared as a man, and it views it from the vantage point of the people who saw and experienced Him. And what it is saying is He was so much like them that they thought Him to be no different than them. And that is the supreme compliment. They didn't have any feeling that there was one condescending to them. They didn't have any feeling that this was a reluctant stooping down. They didn't have any feeling that this man did not understand them. No, what it's saying is He appeared as a man to them. They found Him in appearance as a man, so much so, by the way, that most of them didn't really know who He was, did they? So much that He appears a man that they, they really thought Him no better than themselves. That's tragedy on the one hand but on the other hand, what an illustration of humility. They didn't even see Him as any different than them.
I've been reading a fascinating book about Calcutta, India. A man who went there and decided that if he was going to have some kind of impact on the people in the slums he would have to live there. And that's where he lives. The people in the slums - in a place called the City of Joy, which is the name of a slum - have accepted him as one of their own. From his viewpoint it was the only way that he could touch their life in a significant way.
Jesus did the same thing. He came to live in the slums like the people in the slums live, in poverty and deprivation, pain and sorrow, with everything except sin - it never touched Him; it couldn't touch Him. He so perfectly condescended, so totally identified with men, so completely gave Himself to them and their needsthat they didn't know He was anything other than one of them. That's sad on the one hand, but what a picture of humility. You could say, in a sense, we have begun to fulfill verses 3-4 here, when they don't see us as any higher than they are. But follow this, He hasn't even reached yet the bottom.
There's a seventh step down. In verse 8 it says, "He humbled Himself." You say, "Wasn't it humble enough to be a man?" No. "Wasn't it humble enough to be a poor man?" No. "Wasn't it humble enough to live the way they did with a simple life? He didn't ask for a palace. He didn't ask for a chariot. He didn't ask for servants. He didn't ask for a wardrobe. He didn't ask for golden jewelry. He didn't ask for anything. He lived as one of them, appeared as one of them to them. Wasn't that enough?" No. He stepped lower, down below that. It wasn't enough just to be one of them, He went below that. Think of it. The God who made the universe standing alongside a man named Joseph, helping him make a wooden yoke in a carpenter shop in Nazareth. What condescension.
But He went even below just working alongside men. He went down further than that. How low did He go? Verse 8, He became “obedient to the point of death.” He went so low that He was willing to die for men. Now there is the epitome of humiliation. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." He didn't have to die; He volunteered. No man took His life from Him; He gave it up. It was an undeserved death. And it was a death of a humble person. He went all the way down to die. You say, "Why did He do that?" Because that was the way in which men had to be served, because there was no way to deliver them from sin apart from death. Since the wages of sin were death, somebody had to die. Since God required a sacrifice, someone had to be the sacrifice. And if He was to help man truly, He would have to die in man's place and pay the penalty for his sin. Humility, you see, goes as far as it has to go to meet a need. It goes as far as it has to go to meet a need. What a model this is.
How far did it go? “To the point of death.” That's not even the final rung in the ladder coming down. Look at the last one: “even death on a cross.” That is the worst form of tortured death man has ever devised. I have been writing the last couple of chapters on volume 4 of the Matthew commentary, all about the death of Christ. I've been writing that over the last couple of weeks and reliving every little part of the crucifixionrevealed in Scripture and recognizing the incredible pain, the unbelievable shame and nakedness and disgrace,to say nothing of the spit of people and their blows and their punches and jeers. And beyond that, the desertion of God, the guilt of sin, excruciating experience of the cross. But that's how far He went for sinners who didn't deserve it, who didn't even want it, and who still don't want it except that God in His free,sovereign grace gives it to them.
And sometimes humility is painful, and sometimes it’s unfair, and sometimes it’s misunderstood, and usually it’s very costly. But Jesus is the model; He's the example. Do you see the pattern?
You say, "Well, boy, I wish we had unity in our church." The price is high, the price is high. You say, "What's the price?" Humility, and humility is defined in the model of Christ. That's the pattern we have to follow,people. There are no shortcuts, no quick fixes. We'll have unity when we have humility. We'll have humility when we do like Christ did - we come all the way down. I hope that every time you read that passage you'llnot only think about Christ but you'll compare yourself to the standard, because that's the standard of humility. I wish we had time to go to verses 9-11, because that's what God does in response to the faithful humiliation - He exalts. But we'll see that later.
Look at your own heart this morning, will you with me for a moment? Let's bow together in prayer.
Lord, we confess, right now, that we love to live on level one. We love to exist as children of God, blessed, chosen, gifted, graced, empowered, called, set apart, priests, a royal family - we love that. But, Lord, how hard it is to let go and come all the way down where we look on the things of others, not just our own, and where we consider others “more important than ourselves.” That's what You've asked us to do. Forgive us, Lord, for not doing it. Please forgive us and strengthen us that we might humble ourselves. May we see in our dear Christ the pattern for our own humility.