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.