I thought that was very appropriate, the song we just sang. Oh, how good it is. Oh, how good it is to embrace his command to prefer one another, forgive as he forgives. When we live as one, we all share in the love of the son with the father and the spirit. How beautiful and appropriate to the text that we are about to examine. Please open the word of God with me, if you have not already, to Philippians chapter 2, there in the middle of your New Testament, Philippians chapter 2, and whatever this means to you, to me it is perhaps a bit daunting that I do intend to cover the first 11 verses of this chapter and Maybe just to reassure you, that does not mean I plan to preach an extra hour or to talk twice as fast, but it is quite a bit of passage to cover. And part of the reason for that is I would hope that we would see the amazing practicality of the rich theology here. it's easy to spend a long time in verses 5 through 11 in particular there is so much Christology there but of course Pastor Kevin has been going through Christology in Sunday school and what I'd like to do this morning is I'd like us to see how this rich Christology is really connected to our everyday practice as a church and so please stand with me out of respect for the reading of the Word of God and let's read our text Philippians chapter 2 verses 1 through 11, there the Word of God says, Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, If any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from 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 personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves, which also was 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 at 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. That's the reading of God's word. You may be seated. Let's ask the Lord to drive his word home to us, shall we? Father, we thank you for this truth, and we confess to you our inadequacy. Lord, we understand and acknowledge this is not a matter of intellect, it is not a matter of merely just cognitively fitting our mind around what is being said here, but it is much deeper than that. Lord, we need to understand and agree with your truth. And we also need to be willing to obey it. And so I ask that your spirit would soften our hearts. And in the mystery of your own working, we ask that your spirit would also apply your word in such a way that we know exactly and precisely how it is that this truth is to go to work in our everyday living. Lord, bring to mind names and faces and places and situations and whatever you must that our lives would change and be transformed more like your son. This is our desire, Lord, in the name of Jesus, your son, amen. If you've ever played high school sports, surely at one time or another, your coach said something to the effect that there is no I in team. There is no I in team, and we know that this slogan is intended to remind us that we are to set aside our differences, our own glory, trying to make a name for ourselves, trying to just work up our stats, and we are to work together. We are to play together as a team for a common goal. 20 young players were uniquely selected by coach Herb Brooks to represent the USA in the 1980 Winter Olympics. All players were between the ages 18 and 25. But this 20-player roster represented two bitter rivalries. It was a bitter rivalry between two schools, two universities. Most of the students were from the University of Minnesota, and many of the others from Boston University. And they were at each other's throats, and there was a lack of chemistry. And there was division within the team. And Coach Brooks challenged his young team to set aside their differences, quit playing as rivals, quit trying to play for your own university, try to prove which of you has got the best of the other. And you need to play together as Americans. You're playing for your country. You're representing a common cause here. Well, the team did come together. You know the story. They came together in the Olympics. They went on to beat the virtually undefeated Soviet Union and went on to win the gold. It was a great sporting upset. And I mention that because if you belong to Jesus Christ this morning, then you are a member of his team. Now maybe you have not committed in membership to this church or any local church, but if you are a member of Jesus Christ, if you belong to him, you really are not intended by God, as we just saw in our last text. You're not intended by God to do this maverick thing where you go out and just be your own Lone Ranger, and you're only accountable to yourself, and you only serve yourself, or you dip in and out of church. No, that's not God's model. Christ's model, and as we've seen in Philippians, the model that he intends is for us to play as a team, for us to work together, to strive together as one, stand firm together with one mind, striving for the faith of the gospel. And if you notice here, much of our text is going to be telling us like Paul is telling us that we need to set aside selfishness. We need to set aside pride. We need to set aside our differences if this is going to happen and strive together for the great cause of the gospel. Perhaps there was some interpersonal conflicts that prompts Paul's instruction here. We don't have all the backstory or details. We do know that in chapter four, he's going to mention a couple of women in the church that apparently were not getting along. I know that's just impossible to imagine, but there were a couple of ladies here that he mentions. He says in Philippians chapter four, verse two, I urge Iodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord. I'm urging you, would you get along? He probably heard from Epaphroditus that something was going on. There was some division there. And we also see from Paul's letters at large that he understood, if anyone understood, Paul understood how critical harmony is to the health of the church at the advance of the gospel. Again, if we're going to win as a team, we've got to play as a team. And so Paul here focuses his reader's attention now on their attitude toward one another. We need the right attitude toward one another. And so the main point of our text before us is that Christ intends to break down the walls between us. He understands we're different. He made us diverse. He gifted us in different ways. He understands that you feel strongly about some things that someone feels less strongly about. And yet, in spite of all of that, Christ intends to break down the walls between us and to unite us as a team playing for the same cause. Or you might say that because Christ is our coach and we're on his team, we need to think like him, our coach. He's the boss. If you're a part of Christ Church, you need to think like Christ. You could even say that the point of this text is about thinking like a Christian. thinking like a little Christ, which is what the word Christian means. To this effect, Paul gives us two exhortations, two exhortations to those of us who are a part of Christ's church. First, he will say in verses one through four, be of the same mindset. Be of the same mindset. Verses one through four are calling for unity. Now let's be honest. Sometimes, just sometimes, it can be difficult to get along with people in the church. The church family, maybe more derisively known as those church people. Someone said, to dwell above with saints we love, that will be glory. But to dwell below with those saints we know, brother, that's another story. And that's often the case. We're looking forward to spending time in heaven with many different people, but then there's conflicts in the church. That may be your experience, but Paul expects much, much more from Christ's church. So he begins, therefore, he says, recalling what he's just said from the previous chapter, namely that because persecution is threatening you without, that was the Philippians case, because in Philippi he's saying there are some in your community that are now opposing you, seeking to intimidate you, as we saw last week, he says, therefore, And he goes on to command, he gets to the command in verse two, make my joy complete by being of the same mind. Be united is the idea. Now, we might tend to think of unity as something that Christians are supposed to do. It's something we practice, and it is. But it is first a factual condition. In other words, before encouraging my children to behave as a family, not to kill each other, but practice unity. Well, it would be worth explaining what it means that we are a family. We are a family. And let's talk about what that means. Well, that's sort of what Paul's doing here. Whether or not you feel united, whether or not you act united with the church, Paul will say you are. And he gives us a basis for Christian unity in verse one. And he lists four such realities here. Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of spirit, if any affection and compassion make my joy complete by being of the same mind. Because these four conditions, these if clauses, are really four realities for any Christian, they're really indicating a common basis. You might interpret this as, therefore, sense there is. Sense there is, or assuming there is at least some encouragement in Christ. Verse two, make my joy complete. Be of the same mind. And so reality number one. The basis on which Christians can practice unity is the fact that, reality number one, Christians have a common encouragement in Christ. We share this in Christ. The word encouragement is the Greek word paraklesis. It means this gentle, gracious manner by which Christ encourages his people. It's like Paul saying, assuming it's the case that you have received the gracious, compassionate encouragement of Jesus Christ, give that to someone else. Pass that along to your brothers and sisters. Freely you have received, freely give. We should seek to give off the same gentle encouragement to others we have received from Christ. Reality number two, Christians have a common consolation or comfort in Christ's love. The word consolation means that which assuages grief or that which alleviates pain. And I do believe Paul is referencing the reality of Christ's love in particular because there's no greater comfort than knowing that nothing can separate us from the love that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 8, 38, 39 will tell us. If you can sing, as we just did a moment ago, what a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. If that is what you can say of a truth, then you're in a good position to love and care for others. Now perhaps someone would say, Pastor, I've no doubt that Christ cares for me. I've no doubt that Christ loves me, but I'm just not feeling the love. What's wrong? Maybe you've been there. I wouldn't know for certain if that was your case, exactly what's going on without talking to you and asking some questions and us prying a bit further. It might be you are really doubting that Christ actually loves you, but it could be more simple. It could be as simple as the fact that you're just not receiving the love of Christ that he's offering you through his church. The Bible teaches that The church is the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. We are the body of Christ. And so I wonder how God feels when his children are crying out for comfort, crying out for help, for encouragement, all the while refusing to receive help at the hands of his church, which is the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. Christian, the body of Christ must be more to us than weekend acquaintances. And that's what we've been seeing throughout this letter already. There's a strong theme of unity here. Reality number three, behind our unity, Christians have fellowship or a sharing in the Holy Spirit. The commentator, G. Walter Hanson, explains in Paul's world that this term, fellowship, referred not only to a business partnership, where you're a part of a joint venture, but also to a common possession as a result of an inheritance. It's saying you share in the same inheritance. Ephesians 1, 14, Paul will say, God gives us all his spirit as a pledge of his inheritance. This is a basis for which we can have unity. We have the same spirit of God. God has placed the ultimate investment in each one of his children. giving us his own spirit. Now maybe there's a Christian brother then that you just can't get along with, another believer that you struggle with, you have a lot of differences with them, we'll just leave it at that. You would do well this morning to remember the fact that if they're your brother or sister in Christ, You share the same spiritual DNA. You have the same spirit. You have far more in common with that brother or sister in Christ that maybe you don't get along with than you have with your own blood relatives that don't know Jesus. We're a family, it's real. Reality number four, Paul says that Christians have this common affection and compassion. I think you see a lot of overlap here, but these words elsewhere grouped together by Paul compliment each other and they describe a inner deep gut feeling of affection, of mercy and compassion for someone or something. We know Jesus said in John 15 that we are to love others As I have loved you, you are to love one another just as I have loved you and Christian. You can't say that you have experienced the compassion. Of Jesus Christ, when you're not seeking to show that compassion to others, this ought to cause us check and ask us, are we really in the faith? But Paul will say, hey, if you've received this, if you have any affection and compassion that you have received, then He says, verse two, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit on one purpose. In light of all these realities, Paul gives us a call to Christian unity. And notice he offers some motivation for this. He says, if you come together and practice unity, because you are united in Christ, you will make my day. You will make my day. Now this wouldn't mean anything to us unless we loved Paul like the Philippians did. But if you want to bring joy to the Lord and his servants, just get along in the church. Nothing would make the pastors and deacons and the leadership of this church happier than to see God's people getting along and acting like a family. That is a beautiful thing. And Paul says, make my joy complete by, now here's the means to unity, He's going to say, being of the same mind, a beautiful expression for thinking together. But he begins with maintaining the same love. Maintaining the same love. If we maintain the same love, we will maintain unity. Wherever there are divisions, whether it's in a church or a family or in a nation, you know what that ultimately is reflective of? It shows that there is a division in what people love and what they care about and what they desire. Like-mindedness is only going to come from a common love. And if we at the Bible Church will faithfully maintain our love for Jesus, here's the good news, we will effectively maintain our unity. If we continue to love Christ as we ought, we will effectively love one another as we ought. Maintain the same love, of course, love for Christ, and that then fleshes itself out in our love to one another. But Paul says, be of the same mind by maintaining the same love, united in spirit. So he adds another means here. United in spirit. The Greek is literally one-souled. One-souled. You know, we use the expression soulmate. Maybe you have a soulmate. that you would refer to, that is a person ideally suited to another as a close friend or romantic partner. Well, forget the mushy stuff, forget the romance here for a moment, okay? The term soulmate should apply to every believer. We are soulmates, one of each other. Again, the romance aside, we are to share a unity, though, that is deeper than just something on the surface. It is deeper than an ascent to a set of doctrines. You know, that makes me sick. You have some churches, you know, it's like, that's the bar of what membership is all about. Do you agree with this? Do you agree with this? Do you agree with this? Do you agree? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay, then you're a member. That is not membership. Membership must be deeper. It must be about being one-souled. And this is what Paul wants this church to practice, to exhibit. It is a unity that is beyond just the cognitive. It goes to the very soul. We must be united in spirit and, he says, intent on one purpose. Here's a third means. And I hope this sounds familiar at this point because Paul's just like beating the dead horse. You know, he wants to make it clear. This is much of the emphasis we studied last week. If we're going to accomplish anything as a church, we've got to be bent on the same thing. We've got to be headed in the same direction. We've got to be shooting at the same target. And this is a encouraging thing to think about. What could we do as a church? What could the Lord do through us as a church in our community, in this area of the world, if we will band together and unite together. That's what Paul's after. Now in verses three and four, Paul continues explaining how to be of the same mind by presenting us with a choice between two attitudes. It's a choice of Christian unity. Verse three, he says, do nothing from selfishness and empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves. Ouch. Well, here's the first option. The first option in verses three and four is that, well, it's simple. Do as you will. It's do what you want. You do you. And we might represent this choice with the words selfishness and empty conceit. That's what Paul does here. These are the qualities that unfortunately come natural to us all. You know, no one ever had to teach you how to be selfish. No one ever has to teach you how to be selfish. You're just a natural. We're all the natural when it comes to being selfish. And no one ever has to really work at being conceited. I don't have to offer you reasons to be conceited. You are. That is your nature. In fact, it's so easy to be conceited that you can be conceited that you think you're not conceited. You can actually become proud that you're not proud. My friends, this is a problem that we have. And you say, well, what does this have to do with unity? This discussion about selfishness and pride. Is Paul just off topic? No. Selfishness and pride are what poison and kill unity more than anything. You see a church ripped apart over the color of the carpet or the color of the shingle. You see silly things like that. You know what the problem is there? Pride and selfishness. Kills the unity. James 4.1 traces the source of quarrels and conflicts in the church back to our selfish pleasures. Proverbs 13.10 traces our conflict that we are experiencing with others back to our pride. He says, where there is, the Lord says, where there is strife, there is pride. You see the smoke, you know there's a fire, you know something's going on. He says, that's what it's like with conflict. You see conflict, you know there's pride there. Giving rise to it. Now over against the first option here, doing what I want, doing what pleases me, doing what lifts me up and is in my best interest, Paul gives another option. He says, do what's best for others. That's the alternative. Verse three, do nothing from 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 personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Now it's noteworthy, Paul does not say only look out for the interests of others, or do not at all look out for your own personal interests. That's certainly not wrong. It's not wrong to have ambition. It's not wrong to look out for yourself. You have to, to survive, okay? But our problem is that we merely look out for ourself. Or that we look out for ourself always to the unfortunate disadvantage of others. We trample over others. We disregard the interests of others entirely. And you know, this is convicting to me. This is often convicting to me, but this was convicting to me more recently because the other week I was driving along where two lanes suddenly merge into one with some road construction, and so I had to get over, and I let the vehicle to the left of me go ahead, which was a large vehicle, and so I wait for the pass, and then you know how it is, it's like I was expecting that the next person would just understand that unspoken rule of common courtesy, which is, all right, now it's my turn, thank you, I will take my place, But no, she didn't seem to notice me trying to pull ahead and get in, so I pulled ahead a little bit more, and I noticed she did seem to be quite a bit older, and I thought, well, maybe she doesn't see me, and so I pulled ahead a little bit more, and I kind of asserted myself to come into the lane a little bit, and she just absolutely refused to let me in. And I thought, good grief, what is her rush? What is the problem with this woman? And then it occurred to me, my God, how selfish I am. How absolutely selfish I am that I simply want to get ahead another car length, in front of this woman. If she wants to go ahead, then I should be looking out for her interests over my own. And it just occurred to me that I was viewing my time and my interests more important than hers. And I had to say, my Lord, forgive me for being selfish. What does it mean when Paul says regard another as more important than yourself? Well, it's very practical. And if it doesn't ever hurt you, brother or sister, it's it's because you're not applying it right. OK, it's practical in a sense. It hurts. It's sacrificial. It's going to cost you something, more than a car light, which is a silly illustration, but unfortunately, a common way that we can disregard others. It means that you are going to need to regard the time of another as more important than your own. And you're gonna have to sacrifice your time for someone else. It means that you're going to need to seek to regard the interests of someone else over yourself. And this is going to come at a cost to yourself. This is going to require a supernatural change of mind. This is just very counterintuitive. This is not natural for us, but that's why the scriptures teach we need to be renewed in the spirit of our mind. We need the spirit of God to change the way we think. Romans 12, one and two. Christian Paul brings you then to a crossroad. He's saying you have to make a choice. I'm telling you here's the basis for unity, and I'm calling you to that unity, but I'm bringing you to a crossroad because you will not be united if you are proud and selfish. You're going to have to lay down your own interests. That's how you're going to arrive at unity. Selfless humility is the key to being of the same mind. And so if you're part of Christ's church, Paul's first exhortation is, yes, be of the same mindset, but his second exhortation follows right on its heels. And it takes us further, it takes us deeper. He says, be of Jesus' mindset. If you want to be of the same mindset as a church, well, you've got to be of Jesus' mindset, because Jesus is the captain. Jesus is the coach. He's the commander, the one we're rallying around. So verse 5, he says, have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. Here is the call to think like Christ and I don't like to get all geeky and grammatical on you all the time, but this is very important that the verb tense indicates a present continuous action. It's very important because God is not calling his people here to simply have a Jesus moment. You know what that's like. when you do something nice for somebody. You feel really good about yourself. You had a Jesus moment. But he's actually calling us to a Jesus mindset. There is a difference. You know, around the holidays, especially Christmastime, people get all sentimental. Maybe sending cards to one another, and maybe they're going to put a little bit of extra change in the, you know, Salvation Army can or whatever, or say a kind word to somebody. Or kind of like the Lent thing, that certain in Christendom do. You know, I'm gonna do something nice for somebody. I have this time where I wanna set aside and act like Jesus, but you see here, nothing wrong with doing something nice at a particular season, but all of that is perfectly within reach of your fleshly capabilities. I'm saying, you can have a Jesus moment where you act like Jesus for a day, for an hour, or whatever, and you can do that in the flesh. You can do it for selfish reasons. You can do it to reflect well on yourself. You know what you can't do? You can't have this attitude in you, this mindset of Jesus Christ, apart from the work of God's Spirit. But if you're one of God's people, this is your inheritance. You have this Spirit of God. And so what Paul is going to do is he doesn't give us a secret formula for how this is to happen. Of course, only the Spirit of God can make this possible, but he cites what scholars recognize as an ancient Christian hymn about the selfless humility of Jesus. He paints a picture, a beautiful picture, saying, brother, are you having trouble? Sister, are you having trouble about laying aside your preferences for unity in the church? He says, let me tell you a story. Let me sing you a song. Let me give you a poem. and it's about Jesus. He wants you to think on Jesus, to look at Jesus, the ultimate example of the attitude we need. And he uses four striking details here, four striking details from Jesus' example. Notice first, the ultimate exemption. We see an example of Christ, the ultimate exemption. That is if anyone had a pass on humility, the kind of thing we've just been talking about, it was Jesus. If anyone deserved to not have to be humble, it was Jesus Christ. Because of his divine nature, because of who he is. Verse 6, Paul says, who, speaking of Jesus, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. Now Paul is telling you, Christ, you will notice, existed prior to his coming on earth. Christ pre-existed, prior to being conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, he pre-existed in the very form of God. But some will then say, oh, well, like the Jehovah's Witnesses and those of different cults, they'll jump on this and say, look, you see, Jesus existed in the form of God, implying he is not God himself. And it's true that we often use the word form to describe merely the appearance of a thing. When we see the sculpture of Michelangelo's David, we immediately recognize this is the form of a man. It is not a man itself, right? This is not an actual man, just the form, the appearance of a man. But that's not Paul's point here. The word form, the Greek word morphe, is a word that philosophers used to describe that which is essential to a thing. The scholar J.B. Lightfoot, after a detailed study of this word morphe in Greek philosophy and in Philo and in the New Testament, concluded that it connotes that which is intrinsic and essential to the thing itself. Thus, here it means, he concludes, that our Lord, in his pre-incarnate state, possessed essential deity. That's a key word. Essential deity. Jesus is sharing the same essence of the Father. What is in the Father is in the Son. What is in the Son is in the Father. You can read Colossians 2.9. All that is in God is in Jesus Christ. It's like Paul saying, if God's nature took on a form, that form, would be Jesus. Jesus is the form, everything that shows us the Father's nature. As Hebrews 1.3 says, He, Jesus, is the radiance of the Father's glory and the exact representation of His nature. So the NIV is correct to interpret the force of verse six as who being in very nature God. Paul's point is not that Jesus merely looked like God, appeared like God, but that he is indeed God because he shares the very essence of God. This language could not be appropriate for any created being in heaven or earth. It is only fitting for God alone. And if you aren't persuaded by that, you weren't persuaded by what Paul was saying about Jesus' nature, just notice his divine status. who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. Now, Christian, pay attention. This is very important. You might not be dealing with a cult member tomorrow, but at some point in the future, you may, okay? And somebody's going to question you about the deity of Christ, so this is all very important. If you miss the significance of Jesus' divine nature, the second half of verse six tells you Christ shares equal status with God. That is significant. This is why Jesus had no problem claiming equality with God. Just read John 5.18. He made himself out to be equal with God. Now I love how John Milton imagines a mighty archangel's fall from heaven, being cast down to hell with all his compatriots with him. Satan graphs for this equality with God. And it is on account of his grasping for equality with God that he is cast down to hell because he is not God. He's a created being, and therefore he is not entitled to be considered equal with God. That is simple Bible. That is simple Christian theism. But here's Jesus, and Paul's saying, Jesus now is different. Jesus has equality with God. pre-existing in the very nature of God, and yet he does not grasp for that which is his. He does not grasp for that equality to which he's entitled. The King James says, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, which is also conveying an accurate sense here. It was not Inappropriate or unfitting for Jesus to grasp, to take advantage of equality with God. He was entitled to have always continued as the co-equal, co-regent with the Father in heaven. So the NIV puts it, being in very nature God, he did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. And we will see how this was so in verses seven and eight, but please understand this could never be appropriately said of angels or of any created being, not even the highest of angels. So this is some great theology, but Paul's not saying what he's saying here to simply give you a bunch of rich theology. He's actually not aiming to teach us about the deity of Jesus here so much as he intends to make a practical point. And his point is this, Christian, if there was anyone exempt from having to be humble, he says it was Jesus. If there was anyone who didn't have to lower themselves and let someone else go first, and think of someone else's interest first, and sacrifice for someone else, he says that was Jesus. So don't think for once, Christian, that you are in any way exempt from having to humble yourself. That's going to be his point. We've seen where Jesus came from. Now Paul shows us how he stooped. Verse seven shows us. the ultimate condescension here. He says, but he emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. This is the ultimate condescension, the ultimate lowering of oneself. If anyone condescended, it was Jesus. He took the form of a slave. Now, Paul's drawing a very stark contrast, again, using the word morphe of Christ a second time, and this time to describe his radically different form, as a man. Jesus, who is God, and we're putting this together, verses six and seven now, Jesus, who is God, came not to be served as God, but to serve as a man, and to give his life a ransom for many, Mark 10, 45. That is the heart of the gospel. And how amazing. Jesus took the form of a slave and Paul tells us he did that by having emptied himself. Now some have said Paul's teaching that Christ emptied himself of deity, of divine attributes. And of course we've been looking at some in the Christology course. But that is terribly mistaken to think that. That's terribly mistaken because if Jesus is God, then Jesus must always be God. God cannot cease to be God. If Jesus is God, he cannot in any way cease to be God. The incarnation is a divine mystery, I grant that, but the mystery of the incarnation is not that Jesus became somehow less God, but that as very God of very God, he took on humanity. That is the marvel. That's the mystery. So in what sense did Jesus empty himself? Well, here are five things scripture teaches and tells us how Christ set aside, five things Christ set aside according to scripture when he took on human flesh. First, he set aside heaven's glory. John 17, five, Jesus prayed to the Father, now Father, glorify me together with yourself for the glory which I had with you before the world was. Jesus had set aside this glory to come to earth. That glory was, you saw a little bit of it, a sliver of it, as Jesus pulled back the curtain a bit of his transfiguration. But he is praying, Lord, give me back this glory that I had with you before the world was, because I've set it aside in coming to this earth. Secondly, Jesus set aside his heavenly riches. Second Corinthians 8, 9 captures this, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, that you through his poverty might be made rich. Third, Jesus set aside his independent authority. Hebrews 5.8 tells us, although he had the very nature of God as God's only begotten Son, he shares God's essence. Again, he is equal with God. Jesus learned obedience from the things he suffered. Jesus voluntarily put himself under the authority of others, under the authority of other men. He could have told Mary and Joseph anytime he wanted. You know, I'm the creator. I made you. You do what I say. And yet you want to know what one of the most amazing marvels of the incarnation is? It's the fact that Jesus learned obedience. He did what would be expected of any young boy his age. He did what his parents told him. What a beautiful thing. But what a humbling thing that Jesus did here to condescend to this level. Fourthly, he set aside his divine prerogatives, meaning he set aside the independent use of his divine power. Jesus did not become any less God when he took on human flesh. though he did voluntarily forego the use of his divine power. If that's difficult to understand, just consider there are plenty of stories in folklore and actually stories in history actually of kings who set aside, they laid aside their kingly garments, their kingly robes and they adorned themselves in the garb of simple peasants. Why did they do this? So that they could walk among their people and experience life as one of their subjects. But you see, a king in such a situation, laying aside his royal robes, is not actually laying aside the fact he is king, nor is he laying aside his own right to the throne. but he is choosing, just choosing not to take advantage of his kingliness. And that's the mystery behind the gospel scenes, where we see Jesus saying, the Father is greater than I, or it's not even given to the Son to know when he is to return here to earth. That is, in his human nature, Jesus was forgoing the use of his divine rights, what he was entitled to. He has all power, I'm not going to use that power. Now, technically, the self-emptying went beyond Jesus' incarnation. Most painful of all was the fact that he was willing to become our sin bearer, and thereby, ultimately, he set aside his fellowship with his father. This is why he cries out from the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Well, he knew. But the rhetorical effect is that Jesus is showing us, at this moment, He has emptied Himself of His very communion with His own Father. Now that's the next point, the point of the next verse. Christ went even lower than His incarnation. And so we see the ultimate humiliation in verse eight. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. If anyone suffered humiliation, it was Jesus. Man, you think you got it bad. You think you got it bad to put up with somebody difficult in your home or at work or in your community or whatever, maybe in this church. You think it's difficult. What about Jesus? But don't miss it. This humiliation was not something God forced on Jesus. It was His choice. The Father didn't force this on the Son. He chose to humble Himself. We read, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient. So out of obedience, Jesus obeys the Father, but He makes this choice. And His choice is to be obedient to the point of death. It's inspiring to hear stories of soldiers who are willing to lay down their own lives, if need be, for the sake of their country, to obey their country's orders to the point of death. And I guess there's only one thing that could be more awe-inspiring beyond this sort of a sacrifice, and that would be those situations where you hear about a soldier who is captured, taken by the enemy, and willing to endure cruel tortures rather than to betray his country. And I tell you, if it ever came to taking a bullet in the head for Christ, I may be rash to think this, but I tend to think that that would be an easy way to go. But torture. being tortured for Jesus, like you hear about the story of Richard Wurmbrand in his book, Tortured for Christ. Read about the things that saints have suffered. Now that is a very different story. Suffering the cruelest, inhumane conditions, torture for the sake of Christ. Would you be strong enough for that? That's scary. That's different than just obedience to the point of death, but that's what Paul's words would have communicated to his Roman readers in Philippi. Jesus wasn't just willing to die for us, Paul says, he was willing to be tortured. See, where do you get that? Because he says he was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. The Roman statesman and philosopher, Cicero, understood crucifixion to be so horrible that he said, let the very word, cross, be removed, not only from the bodies of Roman citizens, but even from their thoughts, their eyes, and their ears. It is too horrible to even think about. But to these Roman citizens, Paul's saying, Jesus didn't even retain the dignity to die as a citizen. He did not even die a citizen's death, but went lower than any one of us could go by dying the death of a criminal slave. Why did Jesus suffer so much? Scripture explains, he was made a curse. He was made a curse for us on a cross. Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Galatians 3.13 explains. So here's Jesus. He's equal with the Father, co-reaching, co-eternal with God in all glory. All things belong to him. All is due to him. All things are created for him. Yet he stoops lower than the lowest slave, suffers the most agonizing death. Here's the highest of the high stooping to the lowest of the low. And the point is, if Jesus would do this to free you from your sin debt, is it too much for him to ask you to put up with another brother or sister? To put up with someone else's selfishness, their cockiness, their annoyance to you? Now Paul can't end his reference to Jesus' example here. He has to add the ultimate exaltation. And I want you to see, this is encouraging, all right? This is encouraging. There is hope here. Jesus' exaltation reminds us that God does not forget the humble. In verse 9, Paul says, for this reason, due to Christ's obedience, His great humiliation, His obedience to the point of the cross, he says, God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name. So that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and those on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Well, we don't have time to get into all of it, but here's plenty more evidence that Jesus is Lord of Lords. You can read this and take this seriously without coming to the conclusion, Jesus is not a created angel. He is very God, a very God. As Americans, we don't bow to anyone. We are citizens of a republic, not subjects. But my friend, when King Jesus returns, he's not setting up a republic. It's not gonna be a democracy, get over it. He's setting up a kingdom, and he's gonna rule it. And you can either submit to Him now by bowing the knee, by acknowledging He's Lord. That's not a cliche. Oh yeah, He's Lord, I'm gonna go about my life. No, if He's not Lord of all, He's not Lord at all. To say He is Lord and bow the knee to Him is to say, Lord, here is my life. Here is my finances. Here is my career. Here are my plans. Here's my ambitions. It is yours. It is thine. Have it your way, Lord. I surrender all to you. And you can either do that now or you will bow before him as a vanquished rebel when he comes. And when He comes, it will be too late. You will bow the knee, but it will be too late to find pardon. And He will, as the scriptures tell us, He will banish you from His kingdom to everlasting darkness. My friend, I don't want that for you. Christ does not want that for you. Now is the time to repent and believe the gospel. Receive the Son and His offer of pardon, and He will pardon you. That is his word to you. He didn't come down from heaven just to reject you, but to save you. Scripture could not be more serious about the fact that now is the time to bow the knee to Jesus. But notice, lastly, Paul's real focus here lies in the context on the fact that God exalted Jesus for Jesus' humility. What a beautiful picture. God delights to exalt his son. and he delights to exalt all who are humble. James 4.10 commands us, humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and he will exalt you. Christian, if you humble yourself, I want you to remember something this morning. If you will humble yourself and do the right thing and sacrifice for Christ and stoop for him and condescend for him and think of others and prefer others above yourself for him, if you will do that for Christ, God will not forget it. Christ will not forget it. If you're a part of Christ's church, you need to think like Christ. This is the only way that we're going to stick together as a church. It's the only way that we as a church will accomplish God's plan for us here in this community. So in conclusion, we should ask ourselves, is there some attitude of entitlement that we may have this morning? You know, Americans love their rights. We love our rights. We are so entitled to so many things. Life, liberty, happiness. But you know what that often translates to? Get out of my way. I was first. Who are you? Who do you think you are? And we have this way of preferring ourselves above others. Our rights, my friend, are you willing to lay down your rights? But I'm in the right, but I'm entitled. You may be, so was Jesus Christ. But will you lay down your rights for the sake of Jesus, that by humbling yourself and showing the love and grace of God, he might exalt you in due time? Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. Let's pray.