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Sometimes there are questions
in life that are unanswerable. For example, why does the sun
lighten your hair and darken your skin? Why is lemon juice made with
artificial flavor and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons? Why is it that the man who invests
your hard-earned money is called a broker? With the new little kitten that
we have in our house, I ask the question, why is it that you
can't find mouse-flavored cat food on the shelf? Why do they sterilize needles
for lethal injections? Why is it that the congregation
knows when the preacher should shut up, and the preacher rarely
does? Here's a better question. Why
did God become man? The passage in front of us this
morning from Philippians chapter two will help us begin to deal
with that question. Why did God become a man? where Philippians chapter two,
we're gonna be looking at verses five and almost exclusively verse
six this morning. But before we do, I want you
to look at this passage through two sets of glasses. I want you
to look at this passage through the glasses of an apologist. I want you to be able to give
an apology regarding the person of Jesus. Now, when I use the
word apology, I'm using it in the biblical sense and not in
the English sense. In the English sense, to give
an apology is to give an excuse or to give a regret. I don't want you to give a regret
for what you believe. I want you to know what you believe. In the book of Peter, 1 Peter
chapter 3 and in verse 15, Peter writes, sanctify Christ as Lord
in your hearts, always being ready to give a defense to everyone
who asks of you to give an account for the hope that is in you.
The word defense in that particular verse is the word in Greek apologia. from which we get the word apology,
apologist, or the science of apologetics. It is not a science
whereby we excuse what we believe, but we rather explain what we
believe. The work of an apologist is not
to persuade, but to prove. I cannot, by arguments, by reasoning,
I cannot convert someone else. My job as an apologist, that
is one explaining what I believe, my job is, as John Calvin said,
is to shut the mouths of the obstreperous. My responsibility,
as I declare what I believe and why I believe it, is to close
the mouths of other people, not to persuade them to believe.
That's the Holy Spirit's job. When I articulate with reasoning,
with sound argument, with logical inference, what the scriptures
say, what I stand on, what I have built convictions about, I am
doing the work of an apologist. As we look at this particular
verse, chapter two, verse six this morning, I want you to have
that pair of glasses on so that you will have greater ammunition,
if you will, to be able to articulate what you believe specifically
about the deity of Jesus Christ. I want you to be able to answer
the question, why did God become a man? The second pair of glasses
I want you to look at, as you look at this passage of scripture,
is I want you to wear the glasses of context. Now, I've said before
that the Book of Philippians is not a theological tome like
the Book of Romans. It's much different, and yet,
we have in this particular passage of scripture an incredible thing. We have a gem that came out of the motherlode
of all passages dealing with the deity and the humanity of
Jesus Christ. This is an incredible passage
of scripture. I want you to understand this
gemstone that we are looking at. But I want you to put it
in the setting of that ring that it was designed for. I want you
to understand the context. The context is simply this, chapter
1, verse 27. Paul is urging these people from
that point on all the way through chapter 2 by way of exhortation
and example for us to live a life worthy of the gospel. That's
what he is. desperately wanting us to do.
He wants us to live life just as Jesus lived. And so he gives
Jesus to us as an example. Chapter 2, verse 5. Have this
attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. He
wants us to have the same kind of humility, the same kind of
concern for other people as Jesus has. He says in verse three,
do nothing for selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility
of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves.
Do not merely look out for your own interests, but also for the
interests of others, act just like Jesus did. So this is not
just an exercise in theology or in apologetics. This is a
passage of scripture to move us to be just like Jesus. So we don't just see him as God,
see him as man, and say, thank you very much. That's been an
interesting lesson The descent of God to become
a man serves as an example to us of humility, of service to
others, of giving what I have for the benefit of others. That's its context. I want you
to look at this passage through that pair of glasses. So I'd
like to read beginning of verse 5 through verse 11. This is from the New American
Standard. 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 bondservant, and being made
in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly
exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every
name, so that the name of Jesus every knee will bow. of those
who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that
every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. Last week, as we looked at this
particular passage of scripture, we looked at it as an overview.
I said, we're flying as if we're in an airplane, and we're looking
at the whole landscape. We're trying to get a picture
of all of this land right here. And I said, there are some Bible
teachers that will use the phrase, the great parabola, as they try
to understand and wrap their minds around this particular
passage of scripture. We talked about this last week,
Jesus being in the form of God, then later at the end of the
passage, exalted by God, experiences a tremendous swing into the very
heart and depth of man's humanity, identifying with man in every
way except that he was without sin. Jesus experienced humiliation
to the point of death on the cross of Calvary, in order to
win our redemption. This morning, we're just going
to look at these first two things. Remember, there were eight steps,
beginning with equality not to be grasped, eight steps of Christ's
descent in identifying with mankind. In verse six, Paul tells us that He, that is
Jesus, existed in the form of God. That word existed means
to continue in a state of being. It refers to a person's nature,
who you are. In his commentary, William Barclay
says this of that particular word. He says, it refers to that
part of a person which in any circumstance remains the same. So when Paul says Jesus existed
as God, he's saying that that's his nature. He's not gonna change. regardless of what the circumstances
are, even if he inhabits a human body, he still remains, according
to his nature, God. He existed in the form of God. Now that word form, literally,
according to the dictionary, means the appearance of, the
shape But Paul is not specifically
or only referring to some kind of external manifestation. God is a spirit, he doesn't have
a body like we have. So for us to talk about Jesus
being in the form of God, and that form somehow changes, is
to misunderstand his meaning. He's talking about the essence
of Jesus. He says, he is God of very God. The NIV translates it, being
in the nature, being in very nature God, That's who he is. His nature,
his being, his essence is divinity. Now I'd like to show you in other
passages of scripture how we know that Jesus is divine. Here I want you to put on those
glasses of apologetics to be able to give a more complete,
a more thoroughly thought-out explanation of who Jesus is. I've listed just four reasons
or four affirmations of Jesus' deity from Scripture. The first
one has to do with Jesus being identified as God. The Greek word is theos. That
is typically the word translated God, referring to God the Father. But in a number of passages of
scripture, I've listed just some of them on your notes, that word
theos refers specifically to Jesus. I will read the ones that
I printed for you in your notes. You can look at them later. This
will keep us all from flipping back and forth. John chapter
one, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God
and the word, speaking of Jesus, was Theos. Chapter 1, verse 18, no one has
seen God at any time. The only begotten God who is
in the bosom of the Father, He, that is Jesus, has explained
Him. Chapter 20 of John's Gospel,
verse 28, Thomas answered and said to Jesus, my Lord and my
Theos, my God. Titus chapter 2, We are looking
for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our
great Theos, our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1. But even of the Son,
the Father says, Your throne, O God, that's the Father calling
Jesus, God. Your throne, O God, is forever
and ever. 2 Peter 1. Peter begins his letter by saying,
Simon Peter, a bondservant and an apostle of Christ Jesus, to
those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by
the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Second affirmation that we find
of Jesus' divinity from scripture is the Greek word kurios, which
is translated Lord. Now, in the Hebrew Old Testament,
I'm sorry, the Hebrew Old Testament was, before the time of Christ,
translated into Greek. We call that the Septuagint.
If you're reading a commentary or a magazine that might refer
to that portion of scripture, you might find it listed as the
LXX. Roman numerals for 70. The Septuagint
was translated by 70 scholars into the Greek language. So now
we have the Hebrew Old Testament translated into Greek. The Hebrew
Old Testament has many, many, many references to God calling
him Yahweh or Jehovah. that's the Tetragrammaton, Y-H-W-H,
those four consonants constitute God's covenantal name. Now, Yahweh, or Jehovah, in the
Hebrew is then translated into the Septuagint, the Greek translation,
by the word kurios, or Lord. Now, it's true that the word
Lord can simply be a term of respect toward a superior, the
equivalent of the English word Sir, but in the Greek translation
of the Old Testament, that word Kurios is very closely aligned
with God the Father. When we get into the New Testament,
that same Greek word, kurios, is used to identify itself with
Jesus. 6,814 times it's used in the
Old Testament in reference to Yahweh. And now, in the New Testament,
kurios is related to Jesus. Who is Jesus? He is none other
than the incarnate Yahweh. And the Jews understood that.
If you look over at John chapter 8, we find an example of this,
where Jesus is called Kurios, and the Jews understood the connection
Jesus was making. In John chapter eight, the end
of that chapter, Jesus is talking with the Jews. They are passing
objections to him. And in verse 55, Jesus says, verse 56, your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. Jesus is referring to something
in the far distant past, Abraham's existence. And Jesus is implying
that he was around before Abraham was around, and yet he's standing
in their midst. Trying to clarify what Jesus
said, they asked him, verse 57, you are not yet 50 years old.
And have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, verse 58,
truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am. Now,
what Jesus could have said was, before Abraham was, I was. And
he would have said the very same thing. He would have said, I am the
eternally existent one. But he didn't. He said, I am. I just realized I jumped ahead
in my notes. I'm not talking about Kurios. I'm talking about
the third affirmation. Ah, let me finish this. We'll
go back to Luke 2. I should've looked at my notes where I was.
Here is another explanation of who Jesus is. He claims for himself. A title that God gave to Moses
to declare who he as the great God is. Before the burning bush,
God declared to Moses, I am. The Jews understood that the
great I am is none other than Yahweh. And here, Jesus could
have said, before Abraham was, I was. And he would have communicated
the fact that he was the eternally existent one, but instead he
used purposefully that word, I am. Identifying himself with
Yahweh. He does this seven times in John's
Gospel. He says, I am the door. I am
the bread of life. I am the resurrection and the
life. I am the good shepherd. I am the true vine. I'm missing a few. He uses all of these I am statements
specifically, purposefully, to link himself with God the Father
in the Old Testament. Yahweh Himself. Let me backtrack
here and go back to the second affirmation scripture, that use
of kurios. What I wanted you to do is to
turn to Luke chapter 2, where we find this word. In Luke chapter 2, we find a
record of Jesus' birth. Beginning at verse 8, we find
shepherds in the hillsides above Bethlehem. And all of a sudden,
they're just doing their job, and all of a sudden at night,
there is a flood of light. There is all this noise, and
they hear the voice of an angel, specifically directed by God
to give them a message. And the message is this, verse
10, do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great
joy, which will be for all the people. For today in the city
of David, there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ. There has been born to you a
Savior who is the Messiah. And then he adds this tag, the
Lord. He is Yahweh. These men are shaking in their
boots. They are in awe. They are in
wonder. They are dumbfounded. They can't believe it. God becoming
a man? A baby? You're out of your mind. How could that be? Scripture clearly declares, Jesus
is God. Uses the word theos, uses the
word kurios, linking Jesus with Yahweh in the Old Testament,
uses those great statements, the I am. In Hebrews chapter 1, we have yet
another affirmation that Jesus is God. If you look there at chapter
1, it begins with these words, that
particular book. God, after He spoke long ago
to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many
ways in these last days, He has spoken to us in His Son, whom
He appointed heir of all things through whom He made the world. Look at verse 3. And He, speaking
of Jesus, is the radiance of His glory, the Father's glory,
and the exact representation of His, that is, the Father's
nature. That is a startling statement. It is so clear, it is so crisp,
it is so concise. Jesus is an exact representation,
an exact duplication of God the Father. Exactly like Him in nature, exactly
like Him in His attributes. Now there are many other arguments
and affirmations that we could consider
regarding the deity of Christ, but these will be sufficient
for us right now to declare in a more full sense what Paul says
very succinctly by saying that Jesus was in the form of God. He existed as God. Now let me pause here for just
a moment, because I know these are not new thoughts to any of
you. You have heard me say, you have
heard other sound Bible teachers say, that Jesus is himself God. He is deity. But I must say that these are
words that we have to look at and consider again as though
it was for the very first time. And I say that because we become
very casual with Jesus. Too often we become very buddy-buddy
with Jesus. Too often, we treat Jesus as
though He's some long lost cousin, and we choose to hang out with
Him when we want to, or when it's convenient. And too often, we find ourselves
saying things like, Jesus, I'd love to spend some
time with you, but boy, this morning is really busy. How about
if we get together later? And we fail to understand and
appreciate the fact that Jesus is God. And because He's God, and because
He owns the bat and the ball, We play by His rules. I must habitually, continuously
submit to Him. I don't have the choice, outside
of my own personal rebellion, to say, yeah, God, I'll spend
some time with you today, but it'll have to be later, because
this is more impressing, God. I pray that we would behold him
as he truly is. He is God, worthy, demanding
of our full and complete allegiance. Back in Philippians, Having affirmed
that Jesus existed in the form of God, it's not going to change.
He is always going to be God. Paul reveals that first step
that he takes. As he identifies with humanity. Although he existed in the form
of God, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. We need to look at another couple
of words. The word equality is the Greek word isos, from which
we get a number of English words packed together. like isometrics
and isotope. It means equal. An isopod is
a small crustacean that has many different body segments, and
each of those segments have an equal number of legs. You know
what an isosceles triangle is. It has two sides that are of
equal length. We understand what the word equality
means. He was the same as God in every
respect. Yet, he did not regard equality
with God a thing to be grasped. We touched on this a little bit
last week. It means to hang on to, to clutch, to hold tightly
in your hands. In other words, though Jesus
was in the very nature of God, shared the same attributes of
God, he didn't grasp after those rights and privileges for his
own sake, for his own use. Jesus tempted in the wilderness
right before his, the beginning of his public ministry. Scripture
says, Matthew chapter three, verse two, that he was very hungry. 40 days and 40 nights in the
wilderness, his body was beginning to eat itself. He was very hungry. And so the tempter comes to Jesus
and says, Jesus, you have all power, you have all authority,
you are God. Turn these rocks into bread. Enjoy yourself. It's on me. See you later. Jesus refused. He had no qualms about turning
a small lunch into a banquet. Had no qualms turning water into
wine. but he didn't use his power and
his own authority for his own personal gain. He used it for
the benefit of other people. He didn't consider equality with
God. He didn't grasp, latch onto all
of those things that were his by right for his own benefit
in order to make his life easier. He used what he had for the benefit of other people. Matthew chapter 26, we find Jesus
in the garden, ready to be arrested, then stand trial, then crucified. And he says at that point, I
think it's verse 56, 53, Jesus says, I have 12 legions of angels
at my disposal. Remember the story of Elijah,
or was it Elisha, one of those two guys, and his prophet Gehazi? And Gehazi said, sir, we are
surrounded by the enemy. And God allowed that blindness
to be lifted from Gehazi and he saw the angels that were there
to protect the prophet and his servant. And they far outnumbered
any soldiers that were wandering around in the field. Same kind
of image there in Matthew chapter 26 where Jesus says, I've got
12 legions. You know how much is a legion?
6,000 angels. Jesus had 72,000 angels at his
disposal. One angel could have wiped out
the entire Roman army. He had 72,000. No, no, the scripture
says that he had more than 12 legion of angels all around him. Jesus could see them. And yet,
he let these little obstreperous Roman soldiers walk up and arrest
him. He didn't use his power, his
divine attributes, for his own gain. but he used that same power to
redeem every single person whose name is written in the Lamb's
Book of Life. Every one of them. My friends, behold your God. He is none other than Jesus. This one who came down from heaven
to identify with mankind. Wow. Question, where we started. Why, why did God have to become
a man? Let me put three things in your
mind. God had to become a man because only God can explain
God. Only God can explain God. In the Old Testament, the presence
of God was often revealed by what we understand from the Old
Testament as the Shekinah glory. It was an effulgent radiance
that could not be explained. Indeed, that brightness and that
glory could not be approached. Remember in Exodus chapter 33,
where Moses prayed so boldly, God, show me your glory. What did God say? You can't see
my face. No man can see my face and live,
buddy. You're going to die if you see
me. So God tucked him in the cleft
of a rock and he put his hand over him and he passed by. And
so all Moses was able to see was just the fading glory behind
God. He couldn't see his glory. And even that caused his face
to shine. But when we get into the New
Testament, We find out that there is a way
that we can see God. It's when God became one of us. John's Gospel, chapter one, verse
14. The word became flesh, and he
dwelt among us, and we saw his glory. glory as of the only begotten
from the Father. Later, Philip asks Jesus, show
us the Father. And Jesus says, he who has seen
me has seen the Father. All of that resplendent glory
is housed in a body. Why did God have to become that?
Only God could explain God. Only God could reveal God. Secondly, God had to become man
because only God can satisfy His standard of righteousness. Sometimes we look at sin so casually. We treat it so lightly. We don't see that our debt is
so great that there is no finite person that has the resources
to pay that debt. We need someone of eternal, infinite
resources to pay our debt. Our crime before God is so heinous
so wicked, so vile, that there is no finite person that is able
to deal with the mud and the dirt on our hands. We need an infinite being to
deal with our crime. Our rebellion against God is
so venomous. Our enmity between us, the enmity
between us and God has erected a wall so high that no finite
being could ever knock it down. We need an eternal being, holy
and righteous in the heavens to remove that enmity, to knock
down the barrier. to restore us into a relationship
with Him. Thirdly, God had to become man
because only God can fulfill His promises. Jonah chapter 2
verse 9 tells us that salvation is from the Lord. It's not from
man. It's not from anything that we
could do or dream up. It is only from God. Matter of fact, that's one of
the key themes of the Bible. How God has brought redemption
through this mess that man has made of God's perfect creation. And the Bible is God's story
of how he is righting that wrong. How he is bringing us back to
be the people he intended for us to be as he created us. Only God can fulfill that kind
of plan and promise. As I thought about these things
that we have just dealt with this morning, personally, I can't respond in
any other way than just one of worship. I am in awe. I am humbled. I am dumbfounded that God would
go to that extent to become a man to redeem my life. John Fisher is a songwriter and
author that for decades now I have deeply appreciated. He is deep
and he is sound in his thinking. He wrote this a handful of years
ago regarding worship. He says, as the church today
gets more and more hip, more and more need-oriented, responding
to the buttons that people push in their pews, I find myself
longing for a more historical faith. I find myself not wanting
to have everything explained to me in simple terms. I'm not
even sure I want all my needs met as much as I want to meet
God. And sometimes I wonder if he's
really interested in the noise of our contemporary clamoring. like my dog who can't seem to
get anywhere because he keeps having to stop and scratch his
fleas, I wonder if we are so busy scratching where everybody
itches that we aren't going anywhere
significant. When you come to a service for
worship Do you come expecting to meet
God? Or do you come in order to have
a pleasant experience? May we see Jesus as He really
is. We are called to an everlasting
preoccupation with God.
The Descent of Deity.1
Series Philippians-To Live is Christ
| Sermon ID | 1011181348441 |
| Duration | 43:46 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Philippians 2:5-6 |
| Language | English |
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