We have a wonderful word from God today and has everything to do with Jesus. So read, if you would, with me, the first 11 verses of chapter two in Philippians, as we reenter the context here, before we look to our text, verses six through 11. Philippians chapter two, verse one, the apostle Paul writes, So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, became nothing by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. As we approach verses 6 through 11 today, we must remember what it is that Paul has just said before in verses 1 through 5. If you remember, there were these four signposts of gospel realities that are pointing us towards the mountain. What follows in our text today has been described as this mountain. And in verse 5, we see he says what? Let this mind be amongst yourselves, which is yours in Christ. And so there is a call today to experience the transforming grace of the Spirit of Christ today, so that we would be, as the word Christian actually means, little Christs to the watching world as we do life one with another. But there's more here than simply a call to follow a model example. The crucified, incarnate son of God actually invites himself into our way of thinking, renovating our minds so that just as he took upon himself the form of a slave, of a servant in humility to the father, we would likewise willingly be captivated and enslaved to his lordship. This is a beautiful thing. So Paul unfolds this by noting three profound facets of Christ's humility for us today in this text. And so we have three main points. We'll see the height from which Jesus came. We'll see also the depth to which he descended. We'll also recognize the breadth to which he is exalted. We begin, as the text does, with the height from which Jesus came. We see this in verses six and seven. And Paul's first snapshot here of this pre-incarnate Christ is also that of the pre-creation Christ. Paul begins this theological song or hymn or poem in this text in the same vein as the apostle John and his gospel, with a profound revelation that when the beginning finally came around, Jesus was already there. Co-equal with God, as he always had been. Jesus is no mere man from Nazareth, as his own town folk would miss completely and believe of him. In Matthew 13, as we've already seen, they said, who is this guy? We saw him grow up ahead of us. Nor is Jesus merely a babe in Bethlehem, which is a lot of what most people today probably associate with Jesus. In fact, we'll recognize today that there's much more to this Jesus than being hung as a criminal on a cross. The apostles assert throughout the New Testament that Jesus's roots are divine. And the text speaks here in verse six, that he is the form of God. Look at verse six with me. Who, though he was in the form of God. The word form here is crucial in accurately recognizing Jesus for who he actually is. And many truly have, as Paul says other places, shipwrecked their faith because they've erred with this one word. In fact, we must recognize and understand the great watershed that flows out from almost every single line in this chapter. Paul here contains in Philippians something there as a drop falls, it will take you one way or the other about your conclusions of Christ. Every detail here is consequential. A gentle slope that will take you ultimately to one end or another about what you believe to be true about this Jesus. And this is your greatest concern today. Who is this Jesus? What do you believe to be true about him? These words are important. And in other places, the apostle Paul has used similar terms in helping us grasp the divine nature of Christ. In Colossians 1.15, Paul calls Jesus the image of the invisible God. And that is to say that when you see Jesus, you're looking at God himself. This is something that could not have been said even of Adam and Eve in their full perfection, even though they were image bearers of God. And that is because they were one created by God for this, and thus they were subject to his divinity and distinct from his divine nature. Here though, by using the word form, Paul distinguishes that Jesus is not merely a second edition of humanity. He's not a little g God. He's not a brother of Adam, as some heresies and cults would even suggest, though Christ does indeed fulfill all and more of Adam's divine calling. Jesus is, and always has been, the being of God's nature put on display. This is who the Son of God is. The being of God's nature, put on display. The second person of the Trinity is particular in his personhood and that he not only is God in all majesty, but he is also the expression of this nature in a transcendent way that distinguishes him as the Son. Paul highlights two of these elements of this expression here in the text in verse six. He continues, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. And so we see here, equality with God is a part of what it is for Jesus to be in the form of God. He had equality with God. Jesus is distinct from God, the father, and yet he is equal with him. Notice that this verse assures us, even in the language here, that Jesus is fully aware of his equal share in the divine nature of God. It says here he counted or recognized himself as equal with God. Jesus is not some sort of demigod, some sort of Herculean type character who must reclaim some sort of divine status. Jesus makes it plain all throughout the gospels of his earthly life and ministry that he is fully aware who he is and about whose business he is tending. This text here today contributes beautifully to our understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity of the Godhead. Three divine persons, Father, Son, Spirit. One divine nature. Equal in glory and yet distinct in personhood. This text is clear in its affirmation of Christ's divine nature. Jesus is God. But that's not all. This text also reveals within the Trinity of the Godhead, there are certain divine prerogatives. There's shared divine prerogatives as Jesus being in the form of God. We see here in verses, in verse six, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. Verse six places us then in the mind of Christ, which is what we're exhorted to follow after in verse five here already. Let's keep that on the forefront of our minds this morning. And we see here a string of words that I think often, if you're like me in years past, have been a little confusing to understand. Since Jesus is truly equal with God, And since he knows that this is true about himself, what does it mean he did not count that as a thing to be grasped? Well, this phrase illustrates the divine prerogative of the son. That even though he is equal with the father, he did not let that keep him from doing the father's will for him. He didn't let his divine nature inhibit him humbling himself and serving in service to the other person of the Godhead. This is what this means. There wasn't a scene in heaven in which God the Father said, all right, we're going to have to, we have a plan here and God the Son, we're going to need you to go to earth. And God the Son in heaven wasn't like, what? You can't send me down there. That's kind of a visual illustration of that. That scene really didn't happen though, because we see here a shared divine prerogative. The son humbled himself to the father. No, God the father, God the son, and God the spirit have from eternity past ordained, as Roman 8 even indicates for us very clearly, this one glorious plan together that perfectly incorporates each of their own divine prerogatives to redeem mankind and what's more to bring glory each to the other. But what was it about the father's plan that would have seemed to our expectations too costly for Christ to limit his divine privileges? Was it merely just this idea of a visit to earth Well, verse 7 is all about this. The one who is the very form of God, as it says in verse 6, would take upon himself another form. Look at verse 7. He emptied himself. Your ESV version may say he became nothing. By taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, he took upon the form of a servant. The one who is in the form of God took upon him the form of a slave. And here we see the great humility of the king of heaven, our king of humility. He became nothing. He emptied himself. And that's the first sub point of this, this, this facet of him being in the form of a servant is he emptied himself in verse seven. Many have taken this to mean that Jesus actually set aside his divine nature and his coming to earth, that he separated himself from his divine essence. But this cannot be the case, since the text is very clear as we continue to read about what it means that he emptied himself. Verse seven continues, he did this by taking the form of a servant, of a slave. It's a continuous line of thought. The will of the father for the son all centers around his incarnation, his taking on of human flesh and a human nature. And this is what we plainly see unfold in the gospel accounts of Christ's earthly ministry. We've been witnessing that as we've journeyed for, I don't know, how many weeks did Pastor Eric just say last week? A hundred and some weeks. getting through Matthew. We don't see in Matthew's account of the gospel or any of them, a divinity who is unwilling to stoop to mankind or too busy to busy himself with the affairs of mankind. Neither do we see a mere human void of divine character claiming a throne that he has no claim to. Rather, we recognize that Jesus is the God-man. He emptied himself by adding a human nature to himself. We call this, in theological jargon, humble addition. Humble addition. And it has everything to do with what the theological doctrine of the hypostatic union of Christ is, or as Pastor Eric calls it, the hypostatic union. We've already recognized that within the triune Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit, they all share one nature, but that they are each distinct persons. In the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God the Son, however, adds to himself a second nature, a full human nature. This means that Jesus, while 100% God, is also 100% man without either nature tearing or destroying the legitimacy of the other. For he's not merely man, he is sinless perfection man. We see that even the unveiling of Jesus to his three disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration, he gives this as a proof that his divinity is still there and intact. only it's just veiled in a certain particular way during his earthly ministry. This is the teaching of the hypostatic union. And this is what we see packaged here by the apostle Paul in Philippians chapter two, verse seven, when it plainly states, as it concludes there, he was born in the likeness of men. Here's a particular application point for us today. God became Man, that's a profound statement of hope. He became our kind. God does not leave you alone in your despair and loneliness. God does not pity you from the heights of heaven. He condescended. He stooped. He came. He dwelt among you and I. And in this, we know that He knows our struggles, struggles of our age. He feels the trials of our hearts. There's hope here, folks. God is very near to us. God has gone to great lengths to show to us that, fear not, I am with you. He's all in. There is no pit of agony that you can seclude yourself in. There is no area too remote for you to, for the consolation of Jesus not to be there. Is that not what verse one of chapter two says to us? Look, look where we started again. Verse one. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, and again, these are four affirmations. There is encouragement in Christ. There is comfort in his love. There's participation in the spirit. There's affection and sympathy. These things are true. We have a Savior who has gone to great lengths to relate to you and I. And is that not a comfort that we're not alone? He is the one to whom we can hope and rest and trust. God became man. And what a statement this is. And yet what a heavenly scandal. Like, are we thinking about this? Are we too accustomed to the gospel to realize what really is going on here? That the king of the universe, creator of all, wasn't just making a visit to earth. He was going all in. He's going to clothe himself in flesh. He'd enter that creation by taking on flesh and entering the sin infested realm of time and space. But Paul is just getting started. We've seen the heights from which he's come. Now we see here in verse 8, you think that's something where the depths to which he descended. Secondly, look at verse 8 with me. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. This King of the Ages wasn't born in a palace. He was born in a manger. He grew up in the seeming obscurity of society. He couldn't get the nobility to follow him, but he could get the plain and the poor and the uneducated, the outcasts. He didn't live with a royal caravan or before a royal court. He served rather among those who were depraved. He would have no place to lay his head. And when it would finally come time, where it seems like some folks were actually going to recognize him for the king that he is and sing Hosanna, he wasn't posted on a throne. They posted him on a tree so that he would be accursed. This is a scandalous story. Jesus Christ is the king of all humility. And as we look to him, the apostle Paul exhorts us again, let verse five echo, have this mind amongst yourselves. Let this mind be in you. Notice though the depths of his dissension from the one form to another, the one who is the form of God taking on the form of a servant. God, in human form. Verse 8 says, being found in human form. We could stop right there and we realize that Jesus did not bulk at his father's will. He didn't get here and was like, okay, I'm out. Having arrived, we don't see him regretting his decision. Rather, he fully commits himself to the father's plan. Have this mind in you. It's a profound reality that God took a body. Everybody look at your hands right now. God took a body and he kept it. Jesus kept that body. He keeps that body even today and he will keep it as a future testimony of this marvelous new covenant that we have. God took a body and he kept it. Jesus when he was here lived a perfect life. demonstrating his perfect abundant righteousness. And he verified for all the world to see that he alone truly is the only savior for mankind. But there was more to the father's plan than simply fulfilling the law and making a show of his righteousness. Verse 8 continues. And so here we see as if it wasn't enough that God of all the ages took on a servant's form, a form of a slave and took on flesh. That humility has humiliation added to it. There's humiliation upon humility here in verse 8 where he says what? He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. What kind of a backwards story is this? Jesus submitted himself to die. The one thing that would never have been required of him in his sinless humanity was the very thing he came to do. Jesus came to die the death that is calling each and every one of us to our graves even today. Paul clarifies this reality in his letter to the believers in Rome when he says the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. And this is news for everyone who has an ear to hear, because what? None are righteous. No, not one. Jesus, humiliation upon humility. Jesus is our substitutionary sacrifice for sin. The King of humility has become the Lamb of God. And he brings peace in doing this. Peace between us and God. He takes our place before God and lovingly exchanges his life for our death. And for as loving as an act as this beautiful gospel is, it was not pretty. Verse eight goes on. Even what? Death on a cross. It's like just when you didn't think this could get any more backwards. And so we see God in human form, humiliation upon humility. And here we have even just the greatest shame. Christ's death was not a natural death. Didn't die of old age. It was not a sterile death. It wasn't clean, nor was it quick. And yet it was entirely perfect. The perfect death. Roman crucifixion, for anyone familiar with all that it entails, is a bit of an art form of execution, designed to extract the maximum degree of pain and suffering from the victim, while also exposing them to the greatest degree of shame and misery, as they hung for hours for all the watching world to see, dying a slow, excruciatingly painful death. And that's precisely the aim Roman crucifixion had, to show the world the bitter end for anyone who wants to cross Rome. It's regarded by history as really the perfect execution, the perfect method of death. And so Paul makes his point in verse eight, as if it wasn't enough that the God of heaven come to earth, much less take on human flesh, live amongst the likes of us. He'd be treated unjustly. He'd be condemned to die. It wouldn't just be any death. It would be crucifixion. And yet this was the Father's will, and it is a perfect plan. Through this perfect execution of the perfect Lamb of God, sinners are declared perfect through faith in Christ. Only heaven could have come up with a story like this. And it's here on the cross that we see the great beauty of God's redemptive plan in spite of how gruesome it is. But it's a theme that even we've revisited already in our study in Daniel. It's a theme of grand reversals. And here we see Paul highlighting it being a reversal of shame. this shameful cross. The perfect death brings the great reversal of shame. And I think we need to look at Colossians, another one of Paul's writings in the New Testament to really appreciate this. Colossians chapter two, verses 13 through 15. Consider these words. Paul says, and you, speaking to believers, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircum of your flesh, God made alive together with him, Christ, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross." We often forget verse 15. It says, he also disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Do you see what's happening here? The cross. The tool meant to bring the maximum amount of shame for the worst of sinners and criminals is the very thing God takes upon himself to bring the grand reversal of shame so that the rulers and authorities of this age and this world are put to open shame in Christ's victory over us. This is a beautiful summary of the gospel we have in Colossians 2. that the shame that was experienced by our king of humility on the cross is the means whereby God brings all rulers and authorities to their shameful end. You can put it this way, as we've heard elsewhere in scripture, what man meant for evil, God meant for good. The death and resurrection of the Savior is the hope of life for all who look to him in faith. The stooping down of God in the incarnation of Jesus Christ is the very means whereby he is exalted. So take heed today. All who look to this Jesus in faith, it says, will not be put to shame, but woe to those who turn him aside. These three verses in Philippians chapter 2 have taken us on a Christological ascent and then a descent. But just like the best adventures always conclude, this journey takes us to one final pinnacle of this mountaintop. Finally, we witnessed thirdly this morning, the breath to which Christ is exalted. Verses 9 through 11, the breath. Therefore, it's victorious Christ, therefore God has exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The good news of the gospel doesn't end with the cross. It doesn't even end with the resurrection. The good news of the gospel includes present and future realities that have everything to do with Christ's exaltation. And we sell him short of the glory he deserves and we forget that. First, let's notice a shift taking place here in these last few verses. from what the son is doing to now what the father is doing. We see here in the breadth of his exaltation, it's the father who exalts the son in verse nine. As we noticed earlier, the son's obedience to the father, in that obedience, there is no competition between the divine prerogatives of the Godhead. The glory of one of the persons of the Godhead doesn't dim the glory of the other or another. And here we see the father expresses divine pleasure in the son as he exalts him. And this exaltation comes upon request. And yet it is so fitting. If we recall Christ's high priestly prayer, God the son says this of the father, I glorified you on earth, it says in John 17. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, father, Glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. Do you understand this is the business of the triune God? This is the business of the Godhead. The exaltation of each by the other. This is what God's doing today. Nothing could be more glorious than what's going on here. And yet we can only comprehend seemingly such finite portions of it. But this means more than simply for the sun a return to some sort of pre-incarnate status quo. I mean, the sun is returning, ascending, triumphant, completed, victorious in his mission. And what we do know this means is what verse nine includes. And it says here in verse nine, going into verse 10, that Jesus has the name that is above every name. It's been given to him of the father. This name that Jesus possesses is a name that demands respect and honor and worship of all. I think it's an appropriate question to ask, what exactly is being referred to here by name? You probably think this is simply referring to the name Jesus. The text kind of reads and would make us think that, you know, at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue confess. However, this is probably not a reference to such or to so much a personal name like Jesus, as much as it is a reference to the divine title that Christ wholly embodies. a name recognized upon his triumphant victory over sin and grave, not one assigned to him at his birth. This leads me to believe that this name is that of Lord. This is, in fact, the very confession made in verse 11. Look, verse 11 says, every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord. They're confessing the name of this Jesus. This also makes sense, though, if we understand how the Hebrew people have cared for and respected the name of God, Yod-Heh-Vol-Heh, Yah-Veh in Hebrew. They substituted throughout scripture in place of the name of God, because they deemed it too holy to even utter a different Hebrew term, Adonai. The Hebrew word that means what? Lord. That's why we see in a lot of our English Bibles, word in all little caps. That's a reference to the divine name. And this is Jesus's name. And again, see its impact. Verse 10, every knee bows at the name of Jesus. This name that Jesus has. Every knee should bow. And to what extent is he exalted? To where does his reign end? How broad is his lordship? It says it's in heaven. It's on earth. It's under the earth. Jesus, the king of humility, is Lord over all. Does that simple statement, Jesus is Lord, carry with it now for you so much more meaning? This is not just saying he has a high rank. He's an important guy. This is saying Jesus is Adonai. This is God. And this is an inescapable reality we recognize here as we get to verse 11. He says, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Every tongue confesses Jesus's Lordship. Or perhaps we should say every tongue will confess his lordship. We conclude with this ultimate reality, a reality we would do well to embrace today through our deeds of faith. That you will either confess his lordship as a beloved steward of it, or you will do so as a defeated shameful enemy of it. Because the inescapable truth is This king of humility is the sovereign over all. What a beautiful compliment to the theme of our service today. And what we find here is a beautiful application. We must bow our knees and confess Jesus as Lord. And if you resist in this, in your hearts, my question for you is, what more do you ask of Him to demonstrate His Lordship? What more do you need for him to convince you of this truth? There is no greater gospel. There is no greater Lord. At this point, we need to remember why Paul sent us on this vertical Alpine adventure, exercise in Christology to begin with. And that's what we see again, verse five, so that the mind of Christ would be in us. Jesus is no mere inspirational figure for us to model our lives after. Paul is not a fan of the what would Jesus do movement. So how do we have the mind of Christ? Well, let's end where we began. And let's again reflect in verse five, have this mind amongst yourselves, which what? Is yours in Christ Jesus. The truth to really appreciating all that this adventure has been and enjoying this wonderful Jesus, it all comes down to the reality that you received the mind of Christ when you were baptized into new life in him through faith. And so we share the mind of Christ in our midst as we follow him. Do we understand that this morning? You have received the mind of Christ who are in Christ today, when you were baptized into new life in Him through faith. And so we get to share in that as we follow after Jesus. What does that look like as if that is too spiritual to not be really practical? Well, that's what we see here at the very end. Verse 11. And words that we almost would forget to say. And yet it is so profound as Dan even prayed earlier. This is all to the glory of God, the Father. And we have a saying around here, all of life is all about God. And living with that mindset, that all of life is all about God, is living with the mind of Christ. And this is the basis from which all life applications, of our own obedience and of all New Testament one anothering to one another takes place. It's only done by the Spirit giving us the mind of Christ through faith in Him. In this do we live lives that glorify God? We can only do so according to the mind of Christ. So finally this final point is this beautiful truth that again The Son comes back and seeks to glorify the Father. And we are invited by the Son to participate, by His Spirit, in doing this exact thing. Just as Christ has wedded His divine nature and brought in a human nature, He represents us. He brings us to the table so we can have fellowship with God. Who are we to think we can do anything apart from Him? The Son glorifies the Father. The Father glorifies the Son. It's not indicated here, but it is elsewhere in the New Testament. The Spirit, what? His ministry is a ministry that points everything to Christ. He will speak of Christ's words. He is the Spirit of Christ. Do we treasure this truth this morning? The question for you today is, is who do you glorify? When are we going to get with the program of what the Godhead is doing and bringing glory one to another? It's high time that the people of God be about the business of glorifying the Father, glorifying the Son, glorifying the Spirit. It all begins with the mind of Christ. If you've never heard of this precious Jesus in such a way today, I plead with you, let's have a conversation before you leave. But the invitation for all of us this morning, the application is that we would look to this Jesus. We would offer Him all glory. That we must trust this King. That we would value and treasure the great humility of the King of all the ages. And that He came and dwelt among us. That God is all in. and bringing unto himself a people for himself, all for the glory of himself. Let's pray and thank God for this precious thing he's doing. God, we thank you today that in Christ you have brought us near. We who are far off get to sit at the table. We have a part and place in your kingdom. God this morning we ask that all other glorying would be brought to an end. May the meditations of our hearts and the words of our mouths and the deeds of our lives be all glory to Christ our King. Father this morning I pray that you would tear down in our thinking little views of God Lord, may we forever look at this mountain of theology and recognize all that we have in our precious Jesus. This is a story that only heaven could have put together. And it is our precious gift here on this earth. We thank you for this gospel. We thank you for this precious Jesus. Father, we thank you for your Son sent to us. Spirit, we thank you for the ministry of your word that points us to this precious Christ. May we treasure him this morning, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.