From Heaven to Earth

Our hearts love a good story. A story where a person goes out of their way to help someone else. A story where someone puts their life in harms way to do something good. A story where good triumphs over evil. We’ve all heard this type of story time and time again. Why is this the case? Why does our heart gravitate toward something that seems too good to be true? Because it gives a glimpse to what our hearts know to be true… That there is a good God who created all things good and with order and structure. In this world we see chaos and we see destruction and disorder… But every now and then we see good prevail. We see someone do something for someone else. We see things work the way that they were supposed to before the fall! More times than not, these types of stories require great sacrifice. They require someone to do something difficult to help someone else. During the Battle of Okinawa, nearly 80 years ago, one such feel good story took place. A medic by the name of Desmond Daws found himself in the middle of one of a deadly war zone with bullets and grenades flying every which direction. Upon a plateau called Hacksaw Ridge Daws began running from soldier to soldier giving them medical assistance with bullets flying overhead. From person to person he went. Dragging the injured to safety and administering help to those too hurt to move. Over a 12 hour span Daws is credited with saving 75 lives in the middle of an active battle! This man put his life on the line to help those who were hurt and in desperate need of saving. Stories like this of people going out of their way to save those in need strike a chord in our hearts and understandably so, but they are but a shadow of the greater story of Someone helping us in our time of need.

On a day like today, what we all need to remember is that the Bible tells us that we are all in need of help. Not only are we wounded, the Bible tells us that we are dead in our sins and trespasses. Into this situation comes our Savior. He isn’t a flawed hero like those in our world… He’s the sinless Savior. He isn’t just here to offer some assistance and make us feel better… He’s here to make a way when there was no way and to reconcile us to our God! Who is this Savior? Where did He come from? What exactly does Jesus do? Paul spells all of these answers out in Philippians 2:5-11 in one of the most loaded passages in the entire New Testament as He shares with us why Jesus had to come and what He did for sinners. Today, as we continue our study out of Philippians, I encourage you to simply ask yourself this: What have I done with Jesus? As Paul continues to encourage this congregation, he arrives at an exclamation mark of sorts in this book as He rejoices in who Jesus is. Our world is so confused about Jesus - as we study from God’s Word this morning, rejoice in what we read and resolve to share this truth with others.

Philippians 2:5–11 CSB

5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. 9 For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus: The Greatest Substance (5-6)

Who is Jesus, or what exactly is Jesus? Did you know that over the years people have been divided about the answers to these questions? Look at a few of these heresies concerning Jesus within 300 years of His ascension!

Heresy list:

Ebionism - Denied divine nature of Jesus (He was a man adopted by God)

Arianism - Denied fullness of deity of Jesus (He was created by God)

Docetism - Denied humanity of Jesus - said He only looked like a man but wasn’t really a human

Apollinarianism - Denied full humanity of Jesus - human body but not a human mind

Nestorianism - Denied that Jesus was fully-God and fully man.

Eutychianism - Denied the distinction between deity and humanity in Jesus

Modalism - Denied the unchangingness of Jesus - says that God changes forms

People are still confused as to who Jesus is! Is He a good teacher? Nice guy? Is He kind of God? Is He just kind of man? Does Jesus change? Has Jesus always existed or was He created by God later on? You have some pastors out there today who teach things like this and will say that Jesus changes. Steven Furtick teaches that God broke His own law for love and that God changes forms - this isn’t found in the Bible, that’s a false Gospel from a false teacher. Others believe that Jesus is created by God - Arius in 4th century and Jehovah’s Witnesses today. Some believe that Jesus is Satan’s older brother and the offspring of God the Father (Mormons). People are confused!

So what does Philippians 2:5-6 tell us? That Jesus is the same form as God. What does this mean? Simply: Jesus was, is, and always will be God. The doctrine of the Trinity blows our minds because it’s impossible for us to fully understand… But here’s what we all need to know: The God of the Bible is 3 in 1. He has always existed as Father, Son, and Spirit but we don’t believe in 3 separate gods, there is only 1 God who reveals Himself to us in those 3 distinct persons. We see this truth in both Old and New Testaments

Genesis 1:26 CSB

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”

Isaiah 6:8 CSB

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking: Who will I send? Who will go for us? I said: Here I am. Send me.

Mark 1:10–12 CSB

10 As soon as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.” 12 Immediately the Spirit drove him into the wilderness.

We see in the Bible that God is 3 in 1 - Father, Spirit, and Son. He doesn’t change forms. He isn’t a magician who wakes up and picks a different mask to wear depending on how He feels. 1 God in 3 persons. The Doxology spells this out clearly: God in 3 persons, Blessed Trinity! This is the God of the Bible. This is what Philippians 2:6 is telling us - Jesus existed in the form of God. Some people believe that Jesus was created by God and isn’t fully God. In 325 AD there was a church meeting in Nicaea - present day Turkey - where there was a debate about who Jesus was and the debate stemmed from one tiny Greek letter. Was Jesus the same substance as God or was He just similar substance as God. Was Jesus created by God or is Jesus truly God? A man named Arius claimed that Jesus wasn’t fully God but the highest created being - he declared that there was a time whenever the Son of God didn’t exist. Did you know that many people believe the same way today? I’ve heard kids and adults say the following: Jesus wasn’t around until Bethlehem when he was born. Was the Son of God around before Bethlehem? You’d better believe so! Look at Jesus’ prayer in John 17

John 17:24 CSB

24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the world’s foundation.

Look at what we read about regarding creation in the book of Hebrews

Hebrews 1:2 CSB

2 In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him.

Why does it matter that we fully understand that Jesus has always existed and is fully God? Because if we get Jesus wrong, we get Christianity wrong. Only God can forgive sins… If Jesus isn’t fully God then we don’t have a great high priest in heaven interceding on our behalf. We are still dead in our sins. We are still hopeless if Jesus isn’t fully God! The Jesus of the Bible isn’t just a good teacher, nice guy, powerful healer, or wise prophet. The Jesus of the Bible is the eternal Son of God who is the same substance of God and who came from heaven to earth. See, Philippians 2:6 tells us that Jesus, as king, did something unexpected. He didn’t please himself. He didn’t grasp everything He could have. He didn’t do what He could have done… Instead Jesus gave.

Think about this for a moment, we live in a world where people want to grasp everything that they can. They want to get what they can, can what they get, and sit on the can until Kingdom come. But not Jesus. Jesus doesn’t grasp… Jesus gives. Compare Jesus with Adam for a moment. Adam was made in God’s image and wanted to be just like God and exalt himself. Jesus was and is the same substance as God but took on the form of man and emptied Himself by becoming a slave. Adam brought a curse upon the world… Jesus reverses that curse. Adam fell into temptation, Jesus overcame temptation. Adam plunges humanity into sin and death, Jesus raises us to walk in newness of life.

Friend, the economy in God’s kingdom is the opposite of the economy of this world. In this world people will try to exalt themselves but in God’s kingdom, the way up is down. Paul is telling his friends to adopt this same attitude. Adopt the attitude of being humble and not grasping all that you can but giving all that you can. Even though Jesus is perfect and God in the flesh, you and I are called to follow in His example and consider others as more important than ourselves and to put their needs above our own. The only way we will live this type of life is by keeping our eyes on Christ and allowing His grace to change everything about us.

The only way that this is possible is because Jesus didn’t stay where He was. The only way that you and I have access to God today is because Jesus, though He existed in eternity past, chose to come to this earth in the form of a servant… This leads to our second point, that Jesus is the greatest servant

Jesus: The Greatest Servant (7-8)

We read about Jesus being a great servant and all that He does for us as humans and we usually go straight to the cross as we think of what Jesus did as a servant. Isaiah 52-53 talk about Jesus being this suffering servant who will come and give His life for others on the cross and die in our place. The cross certainly is one place where we see the service of Jesus, but it’s not the only place and it’s certainly not the first place. Paul goes back to Jesus’ birth in Philippians 2:7 and says that Jesus assumed the form of a servant and emptied Himself, taking on the likeness of humanity. What does this exactly mean? Let’s think through these 3 parts by asking some questions: What does it mean that Jesus emptied Himself? How could Jesus empty Himself of something He is? What is significant about Him taking on the likeness of a man?

The verb in the Greek for emptied Himself is the word “kreno” and there is 1 time in the New Testament where it means to literally empty or pour out but the other 4 times it is used it means to give up one’s status or privilege. Which way should we understand it in Philippians 2:7? This is an extremely serious question because some people are confused as to who Jesus is and especially how He acted on the earth. Some people have said that Jesus was a good man who did all of His miracles as a man, not as God. These types of charismatic types use this logic to then say that you and I have the ability to do all of the miracles that Jesus did because Jesus emptied Himself of His deity and did all of His miracles as 100% man and 0% God. While this might pack out a stadium and make us feel warm and fuzzy about our own power as humans, this is a misunderstanding of Scripture. Jesus did things that only God can do - He healed people, He multiplied bread and fish and wine, He raised the dead. Can a man do those things? Some would argue that they could… Are you ready for something that no man can do? Exodus 34:6-7 share with us that only God can forgive sin

Exodus 34:6–7 CSB

6 The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

Only God can forgive sins because only God is holy and just to do this… But in the Gospels we read that Jesus claims that He has the authority to forgive people of their sins and the people of Jesus’ day know that only God can do this… Look in the Gospel of Mark

Mark 2:7 CSB

7 “Why does he speak like this? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

So what does Jesus do?

Mark 2:10–11 CSB

10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he told the paralytic— 11 “I tell you: get up, take your mat, and go home.”

Jesus is still the Son of God… He is still God. He has the authority to forgive sin. There are times where He uses His divine power… But there are other times where Jesus was hungry, sleepy, thirsty, and in pain. How can this be the case? How can Jesus be God and man at the same time and do these miracles and yet experience all of the range of human feelings that you and I do? Because He assumed the form of a servant and truly became fully man… Remaining all that He was, He became what He was not. AW Tozer puts it like this, “He veiled His deity… He did not void His deity.”

Bryan Chapell once shared a story he heard from a missionary in Africa that helps us to fully understand the idea of Jesus emptying Himself while still being fully God. This missionary came across a village where the village chief had to be the strongest man and he had a responsibility to wear a large headdress and robe. One day a man from the village was working on the village well while it was empty and fell down to the bottom, breaking his leg in the process. The only way that this man would be rescued would be if someone physically went down to the bottom, put him on his back, and made the climb out. No one else could even think of saving this injured man so the chief was called upon. The chief immediately put his headdress and robe aside and climbed down, put the man on his back, and brought him to safety. He did what no other person could do and this is exactly what Jesus did for us. He laid aside His heavenly glory and rights as the eternal Son of God just as the chief laid aside his headdress and robe… But did the chief stop being the chief when those things came off? Absolutely not. Did Jesus stop being God whenever He came from heaven to earth to rescue sinful humanity? Absolutely not.

See, Jesus humbled Himself, emptied Himself of the heavenly worship and glory He deserved, and became a man… And humbled Himself to the point of dying on a cross. For one, Jesus is the ultimate servant for coming in the first place and becoming the God-man… But He also demonstrates the ultimate servanthood by humbling Himself and dying on the cross in our place. Why the cross? Our world assumes that there had to be a better way, a cleaner way, a less bloody way… Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? We read in Acts 2 that this was simply God’s plan. Jesus died on the cross according to God’s preordained plan before the foundations of the earth were laid… This was the way things had to be done… But why? Because of the severity of our sin. Because our sin separated us from God so greatly that only God could could make a way back and it would cost Jesus His own life. The same cross that Roman citizens were exempt from because it was too gruesome. The same cross that was viewed as an instrument of execution. The same cross that people feared. That cross was where Jesus’ eyes were set from day 1. Why? Because that’s what our salvation would cost. It would cost Jesus His life. It would cost Him becoming a curse in our place. It would require an innocent sacrifice to give up His life on behalf of a guilty party. It would require divine grace. And this is what Jesus did because He came to serve.

Why did Jesus do what He did? He was the King of the Universe. But He gave up His rightful privileges in order to become a man - as CS Lewis says - to enable men to become sons of God. This Jesus is the greatest servant in the history of the world because of what He does for us and because He didn’t have to do what He did. He could have stayed in glory and recieved the comforts and praises He deserved… Yet, He came and in coming, saves His people from their sins… This is the final statement Paul drives home in this text about Jesus, 3rd He is the

Jesus: The Greatest Savior (9-11)

Aren’t you thankful that the cross isn’t the end of the story? For so many of us we’re used to talking about the good news of Jesus dying on the cross and raising from the grave and this is true but the empty tomb isn’t the end of the story… We read that 40 days after He rose, Jesus ascended back to glory and is preparing a place for His followers right now! Further, in Philippians 2:9 Paul shares that because of what Jesus did, God highly exalted Him and placed Him at the place of highest authority and honor in the universe

Psalm 110:1 CSB

1 This is the declaration of the Lord to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”

This is where Jesus is today - He is ruling and reigning right now on His throne. So many are looking to the future reign of Christ and can miss the truth of His rule and reign today. See, Jesus didn’t ascend and stop working. He’s not taking a nap. He’s not taking a foot off the pedal. He’s in charge and on His throne. Nothing catches the king by surprise. This isn’t to say that Jesus got promoted… He was already the king of the cosmos. He already created the universe. His resurrection and ascension were God’s stamps of approval that Jesus succeeded in His mission.

Do you want to know the good news about the economy in God’s Kingdom? God lifts up the humble. Those who go low, go high. Jesus humbled Himself and was exalted by the Father. Maybe today you’re struggling with a circumstance. Say it’s your kids or your job or your future… You’re struggling trying to figure out what to do. First, you need to follow Jesus if you’re not - but maybe you’re following Jesus and you feel like nothing is happening. It’s sacrifice after sacrifice and things just aren’t working out the way you think they should. You’re wondering if it’s worth it to keep on doing what you’re doing. Does anyone see the battles? Does anyone know the struggles? Jesus says, “I do!” Jesus knows about the late nights. He knows about the inner tug of war raging on. He sees the weaknesses. He hears your cries. And what does He say? Come to me… I will give you rest. Trust in Me, I will make your path straight. Live for Me, I will give you eternal life. Follow Me, I will give you purpose. We want to know “when” and “how” and “why” and we aren’t guaranteed to get those answers… But whenever you follow Jesus and worship Him, you are given a peace that passes all other earthly understanding and you are also promised to be lifted high by God. That doesn’t mean that it’ll happen in this life - God isn’t a genie to scratch us the way we’d like to be scratched - but it will happen in eternity to come. How do we know this? Because of what follows in Philippians 2:10-11. Jesus is exalted by God and given the name above every other name and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess before Jesus…

Think about this for just a minute. In Jesus’ day, what was the significance of bowing? It meant that you were showing someone respect and you often did this to a king or leader or master. Our world finds itself bowing to all sorts of lower “g” gods today… But one day every knee will bow to the One true God. Not just you and me but we’re talking everyone. Dead and alive - every one will bow and show Jesus the respect that He alone deserves as King of creation. But it won’t stop there. Every tongue will confess that He is Lord. Whenever you confess something you are saying the truth. What is the truth? Jesus is Lord - Jesus is Ruler. Jesus is the Supreme One. Jesus is the Master. What is this name above every other name talked about in verse 9? It can’t be Jesus… There are other Jesus’ out there. Steven Lawson shares that Jesus is His earthly man, Christ is His messianic title, and Lord is the name above every other name.

See, every person you know will one day declare that Jesus is Lord. Either whenever you become a Christian and repent from your sins and trust in Christ as Lord or whenever you stand before the judgment of God… You and I will bend the knee and you and I will declare the truth. The difference is this: When will you do that? Have you come to the realization that you are a sinner in dire need of a Savior? Today, have you seen what Jesus did for sinners? Have you seen that God became the God-man to enable you and I to become sons and daughters of God? Do you see how Jesus humbled Himself and served others even though it cost Him His life? Friend, what have you done with Jesus? Have you submitted to His Lordship? Have you repented and trusted in Him as Lord? Or do you think that there’s more time to do that later? Make no mistake, you will bend the knee and confess His Lordship… But don’t put that off a day too late. Jesus wants you to trust in Him and He wants you to grow to be more like Him. Just because Jesus came from heaven to earth it doesn’t mean that you have a pass to sit in your pew… You have work to do!

Application:

Because Jesus is fully-God, we must humble ourselves

In Philippians 2:5-11 we read that Jesus humbled Himself and came to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. We are instructed to adopt this same mentality. You and I must daily humble ourselves and follow Jesus as we seek to help others and consider their interests above our own.

Because Jesus came to serve, we must serve others

Jesus cared more about rescuing sinful humans and glorifying the Father than holding onto His heavenly glory. He came to serve! You and I must care more about serving Jesus than we do our earthly allegiances or things that we think matter more than Christ. We must realize that our purpose is to serve and glorify our God.

Because Jesus saves sinners, we must rejoice

The only possible response to a text like this that reminds us of what Jesus did for us is to rejoice and be thankful for the cross. You and I have lots of things on our mind and we’re all facing problems of all shapes and sizes… But the fact of the matter is that Jesus took care of our greatest problem through His death on the cross and He invites us to follow after Him. Let us be people who never fail to rejoice in what He has done!

Because Jesus is Lord, we must worship Him alone

At the conclusion of our text we see that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. We are tempted to worship different things and to put something or someone else on the throne of our life. There’s a misconception out there that you and I make Jesus Lord… Jesus is already Lord. He’s already the King. He’s already seated on the throne! He already has that name! You and I must bow the knee now and worship Him alone. Think about your time and focus and energy… If someone were to look at your life from the outside, what would they say that you worship based on the things you post on social media or the way that you spend your free time? Would they say that you worship yourself, your community, or Jesus? I’m all for family, fun, and community… But you’d better believe that Jesus has to be #1.

He came from heaven to earth to reconcile us to God. This is the best story in the history of stories and the best part is that it’s true. God became a man so that you and I could become children of God - what have you done with Jesus? He tells us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow after Him. Trust in Him and live for Him today!

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