The Hymn of Christ - Philippians 2:5-11

INTRO

If you were here last week you experience our price is right esque pastor appreciation moment where grills kept getting wheeled up front.

I can’t thank you all enough for the Blackstone.

Cooking on a Griddle has been a ton of fun.

Whipped up some chicken fried rice for our c-group.

So good.

Think about a meal.

Not the McDonalds you tried reheating in the air-fryer.

Bury that one.

No think about a delicious meal.

A feast.

Think about a time when you had an amazing meal.

A steak dinner, thanksgiving.

An unforgettable meal.

That’s where we are today.

We have before us a feast.

This is one of the richest most poignant passages in the new testament.

This is known as the Christ Hymn.

A passage that was sung in the early church and has been a theological beacon for the incarnation of Jesus.

But for us as we head to this passage we have to remember why Paul is bringing this hymn up in the first place.

If we go back to the beginning of chapter 2 we see that Paul is calling the Philippians to have the mind of Christ.

He is calling them out from the disunity that was happening in the church.

He is saying, “Hey guys get your eyes off of yourselves and live like you believe in Jesus.”

It’s a challenging call.

Look at verse 3

Philippians 2:3 (ESV)

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

That is such a challenging word from Paul.

It hits us because if we are honest we all struggle with Pride.

Some theologians speculate that pride is really at the root of all sin.

Think of how selfish we can be.

Just the other night I remember sitting down and my wife, tired from caring for a toddler all day, meeting with women cleaning our house making dinner, doing the dishes.

She is bundled in her blanket with the rain outside and she is just so cozy.

I sit down and she says, “hey can you get me water.”

How do you think I responded?

Oh yeah babe I know you're tired, I want to consider you over me, sorry I didn't ask if you needed anything.

PSSSSSH I wish.

No I just did the ole deep sigh. And complained that I had just sat down.

Uh huh. You’ve all done it.

Think about it, we all struggle with pride we do.

Y’all we all struggle.

We all think too highly of ourselves.

A study was done where people were shown an image of themselves.

There were three images.

One was the actual image, unaltered…#nofilter

Then you have one that was photoshopped to make the subject look good. So taking away blemishes, whitneing teeth, etc.

The finally there was an image that altered to make the person look ugly.

So what happened?

Well 90% of people would say that the ugly image was altered.

The real image, they would say was also altered and that the good looking photoshop was the real image.

We like to think of ourselves highly.

We do.

Jesus though he humbles himself.

Paul now shifts the focus from challenge to an example.

He tells us that we should put on the mind of Christ.

Then he give us the grand example of Jesus.

Here is what I want to call you today Coram Deo.

This is the big idea:

BIG IDEA: Put on the mind of Christ. A mind-set of selfless love lived for the glory of God.

Put on the mind of Christ.

We are going to see this drama unfold in three acts.

It starts with the height from which our king descended.

I. The Height (v.5-6)

Philippians 2:5–6 (ESV)

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,

This is an absolutely wild concept.

What is happening here is Paul is pointing to the fact that Jesus is God.

He is showing us the triune nature of our three in one God.

The grandeur of mystery that should stir in us wonder.

A more accurate reading would be who though he was in form God.

The word means he had the same essence of God.

That he is God, he is divine.

This follows the pattern of scripture.

Look at John 1 with me.

John 1:1–3 (ESV)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Then down at verse 14.

John 1:14 (ESV)

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus created the world.

He was there when the cosmos were spun from a word of power.

He was in the highest of highs.

Here is the thing he didn’t come to earth thinking we’d all just get it.

He knew this was mystery.

But that wording in verse 6 is saying he didn't use his divinity to his advantage.

That is wild.

We use connections all the time.

“Oh the owner is a friend of mine.”

In our world we flaunt status.

But not our God, he stooped down in humility.

Do you know the concept of humility was so foreign from greek and roman culture that historians think Paul may have coined the term in greek.

Jesus was willing to step down from the grandeur of his glory.

What about us?

Are we willing to be inconvenienced?

Are you willing to step out of your comfort zone?

Can you look that homeless person in the eye?

Can you rearrange your schedule?

Can you say no to that thing?

You see this passage really starts to press in on us.

Jesus forsook glory.

There is no inconvenience or sacrifice we could hold up that can compare.

Consider Jesus, the vast, actually infinite, distance in dignity between the son of God, equal with God the father, Jesus who radiates glory.

Compare them with whoever you think is admirable.

Whatever celebrity, wealthy or respectable person.

However we measure worth, character, intelligence, courage, strength, wealth, influence, whatever quality the best humanity has to offer falls so short of the divine majesty of the Son who is the theme of Paul’s song.

This forces us to ask some uncomfortable question doesn't it?

Just how great do you think you are?

How much respect and honor do others owe you?

When Paul says count others more significant than yourself maybe you find that surprising, perhaps even a bit demeaning.

Coram Deo think long and hard about the magnificence of Jesus.

It puts our own sense of importance into proper prospective.

It brings it down to size.

When we consider Jesus it narrows then gap between our self-image and our appreciation for those we have viewed as less significant than ourself.

Pause for a moment and sit with the reality that Jesus doesn’t flaunt his divinity.

We spent a year in the gospel of mark.

Remember this little chestnut

Mark 10:45 (ESV)

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus was constantly turning our understanding on its head.

Philippians (The Height from Which the King Stooped)

In your home, in your workplace, in the church, when you are tempted to throw your weight around, to “pull rank” in order to get your way, pause and ponder the wonder of the mind of Christ—the mind that is becoming yours as you rest in him—the mind-set that exhibits the incomparable glory of God not in self-seeking grasping but in self-sacrificing giving - Dennis Johnson

Count Zinzendorf, the founder of the Moravians, was converted in an art gallery in Dusseldorf while contemplating a painting of Christ on the cross which had the inscription, “I did this for thee. What hast thou done for me?”

This picture had been painted by an artist three hundred years before.

When he had finished his first sketch of the face of the Redeemer, this artist called in his landlady’s little daughter and asked her who she thought it was. The girl looked at it and said, “It is a good man.”

The painter knew that he had failed. He destroyed the first sketch and, after praying for greater skill, finished a second. Again he called the little girl in and asked her to tell him whom she thought the face represented.

This time the girl said that she thought it looked like a great sufferer. Again the painter knew that he had failed, and again he destroyed the sketch he had made. After meditation and prayer, he made a third sketch.

When it was finished, he called the girl in a third time and asked her who it was.

Looking at the portrait, the girl exclaimed, “It is the Lord!”

That alone makes the coming of Christ meaningful to the world-not that a good man came, not that a wise teacher came, not that a great sufferer came, but that God came-Immanuel, God with us.

So we started here with the Son who has stooped down.

We have seen the heights, next let us see the depths.

II. The Depths (7-8)

Philippians 2:7–8 (ESV)

but emptied himself, 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.

My fear Coram Deo is that you know this so well it’s grown dull.

Like A Christmas Story you can quote every line, “You’ll shoot your eye out.”

When it comes to this passage you know it…you may even have a fondness for it.

But the scandal.

The sheer depth of beauty is lost on you.

Humility.

Really humiliation.

We wear crosses, have tattoos of crosses…my goodness I’ve got 5 on me.

We don’t realize the horror.

Jesus was divine.

Immaculate, glorious.

He laid it down.

He emptied himself.

What that means is not that Jesus forsook his divinity but rather he emptied himself of dignity as he added humanity.

He took on flesh.

Flesh that had been mired by the fall.

That means he felt pain and discomfort.

Yet unlike us, he remained sinless.

He was obedient unto death.

Not just any death. A truly scandalous death reserved for the worse, the riff raff of society.

The image doesn't shock us though.

This would read like a lynching of a young innocent black boy being hung by the ku klux klan.

That horror and dread, the wrongness of that image.

That’s what Paul is saying here.

Jesus didn’t deserve death, he was innocent.

This is the ultimate insult.

Execution by crucifixion was reserved for slaves and terrorists.

The cross was distasteful for Roman citizens even to mention in conversation

As a zealous Pharisee, Paul had once considered it his duty, for the honor of the God of Israel, to do all he could to wipe out this cult that acclaimed a crucified criminal as Messiah and Lord.

He knew well what being hanged, stripped, and subjected to public exposure really meant, for he had read Deuteronomy 21:23, which he would quote to the Christians in Galatia: Gal. 3:13

Galatians 3:13 (ESV)

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

To Gentiles, the cross meant scandalous and shameful impotence.

To Jews, it meant death under God’s curse.

Nothing in the world could have opened the mind of Paul the Pharisee to the possibility that Jesus the Nazarene, executed on a cross, rejected by his people and his God, a helpless victim of the Romans, could be anyone worth admiring, much less the promised Messiah.

Nothing could have changed Paul’s mind so radically, except the indisputable demonstration of Jesus’ resurrection, exaltation, and divine splendor.

Saul of Tarsus, Paul the apostle, surrendered to Jesus as Lord and then proclaimed Jesus as Lord, simply because he could not help it.

On the road to Damascus the overpowering, blinding divine glory of Jesus the Nazarene, whom Saul was trying to persecute, pulverized Saul’s unbelief and pride in a moment.

What else could Saul do but confess that “Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”?

Do you see?

Do you see how low he has gone for you friend?

Rich Mullens, (singer song writer) goes to Dove Awards, puts on waiter uniform and served everyone. Come on rich can’t you just for one night be like one of us.

Ouch…yikes.

For those who would learn God’s ways, humility is the first thing, humility is the second, humility is the third.

Augustine of Hippo

The mind of Christ.

Do we serve like Jesus?

Here is the reality Coram Deo...we don’t become like Jesus on accident.

Gravity has a natural pull doesn't it, where does it pull us? The ground.

Our natural pull is to selfishness and pride.

Paul is petitioning the Philippians to have unity, to consider others, to be humble.

Again as we’ve already noted humility was such a bizarre concept for this little church in Philipi.

Yet...Paul wants the Philippians, he wants us to be humble.

Not to think down on ourselves but to think of ourselves less.

To be like Jesus.

We must mediate on Jesus, consider his example, his humility.

So we have seen the heights Jesus stepped down from, the depths he plunged to but now let’s consider the heights to which he soared!

III. The Heights Christ has Soared (v9-11)

Philippians 2:9–11 (ESV)

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.

This is the gospel in short.

What does this tell us?

Jesus is risen.

Christ descended, took on flesh, died in our place and is now risen from the grave and ascended to the right hand of the father!

God highly exalted Him, Paul says.

He was exalted when the stone was rolled away and unbelieving guards fell to the ground as though dead.

He was exalted when Mary's tears were turned from grief to joy at the greeting of her risen Lord, and she bent her knees in adoration.

God exalted Him when doubting Thomas, seeing the nail marks in His hands and feet and the wound in His side, bowed low and confessed that Jesus was indeed, "My Lord and My God.”

God highly exalted Him when He sent the church in mission to the world, declaring, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples..”

God highly exalted Him when He ascended into glory before the gaze of His disciples.

And there He now sits, as Paul tells us here, exalted above every other name.

He is enthroned as King of kings and Lord of lords.

And there He shall reign forever and ever, of the increase of His government there shall be no end, until, in fulfillment of the promise of His Father ("Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool." Ps. 110:1),

every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess, whether in joyful acclamation or in terrified horror and shame, that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Remember that it is Jesus Christ, the one who is in essence both God and a slave, the God-man, who is exalted.

It is glorified humanity in union with deity that sits on the throne of eternal glory.

There is one, Coram Deo, who presides over reality itself, who bears your nature.

What a comfort and encouragement that is!

We come to God in and through Jesus Christ, for in Him deity and humanity are joined.

He is a man, this God of ours.

The ruler of all creation is the One who was born of the virgin, who walked the streets of Jerusalem, who knows our frame and remembers that we are but dust, who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

He is the One who was exalted!

And what a silencer of objections this is to all who say that God is distant and aloof.

"He isn't like us," they say. "He doesn't care about us. He is remote and unfeeling. ."

'Not so! He is the man Christ Jesus.

CONCLUSION

We have heard the story again and again in various forms.

The details differ from one telling of the tale to the next, but the premise of the plot always intrigues us.

It is the story of the incognito king.

We know it well from Tolkien in his trilogy The Lord of the Rings.

Early in , The Fellowship of the Ring, the hobbits Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and Merry set off from their home in Hobbiton on a quest related to the mysterious ring that Frodo’s Uncle Bilbo had entrusted to him.

When they reached the Prancing Pony Inn in the town of Bree, their paths crossed with a mysterious, menacing stranger, a Ranger whose rootless wanderings caused settled folks to view him with suspicion.

Folks called him Strider, though that was not his real name.

Only as the drama unfolds over the three books do the hobbits discover not only that the ominous Strider is an ally, not an enemy, but also that he is in fact the king, Aragorn, long exiled from his rightful throne!

Yet the drama of the unrecognized ruler is far older than Tolkien.

God’s Word itself shows us ordinary people encountering the Creator-King of the universe in the routines of ordinary history, only to be shocked in retrospect by the discovery that the stranger whom they had hosted, resisted, or rebuked was in fact the Lord of glory.

As Abraham entertained a group of nomads, his wife chuckled in the tent at the absurdity of their guests’ outlandish promise.

But Abraham’s guest was the God of promise himself, who always keeps his word (Gen. 18:1–15).

Though fearful of facing his bitter brother Esau, Jacob found the stamina to wrestle through the night with an anonymous adversary.

As the sun rose, the truth dawned on Jacob that his Opponent was divine.

He had seen God face to face, and yet survived (Gen. 32:30).

When, at Jesus’ direction, the fisherman Simon dropped his nets back into the lake, he may have wondered how much the carpenter-turned-teacher knew about fishing.

Only when fish filled the nets to the breaking point did Simon recognize and fall in awe before the Lord of creation, who sat calmly in Simon’s skiff (Luke 5:4–11).

Through tear-filled eyes Mary caught a blurry glimpse of a gardener and begged him to reveal where her Lord’s body had been moved.

Only when he spoke her name, “Mary,” did her sorrow and confusion clear, so that she could report, “I have seen the Lord” (John 20:11–18).

Heartbroken travelers were trudging to Emmaus in the aftermath of a Passover that had turned tragic.

An unknown companion joined them and showed them from the Scriptures that Messiah must pass through suffering to glory.

Later, as he broke bread, they discovered that their teacher was the King himself, who had walked beside them all along (Luke 24:13–32).

When the King comes among us unknown, incognito, he seems so ordinary, so much like the rest of us.

Then, in a flash of recognition, we discover that the person whom we had taken for granted or contradicted turns out to be Someone of such majestic dignity that we are overwhelmed with awe.

Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty.

And we are to put on his mind-set A mind-set of selfless love lived for the glory of God.

I said earlier we don’t accidentally become like Jesus.

Listen to be sure we aren’t saved by works…but y’all we are saved to works.

We are called to look like Jesus.

Paul is saying hey conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel.

He is calling for this in the church, why?

Because if we can’t look like Jesus here where it’s six flags over Jesus what makes us think we are going to do it out there?

Too often we give ourselves a pass.

We are lazy and indifferent, or we swear or tell a crude joke and say, “oh but you know my heart right?”

Brother, sister…I do know your heart and Jeremiah says it’s desperately sick.

If you leave today and your mean to your waitress because your tacos are wrong there is a massive disconnect.

Put on the mind of Christ.

Serve humbly. Love ferociously and selflessly.

You see the Philippian church had the old testament and this letter and maybe a couple other of Paul’s letters that had been circulated.

We have the whole thing.

The word of the eternal God that tells us how to put on the mind of Christ.

When was the last time you read it?

Look let’s get really really practical. There are 75 days left in 2022.

If you are way off and havent been in the word let’s do something really practical.

Monday-Friday read 2 chapters a day from the gospels.

If you do the math that means 55 days, you’ll read 2 chapters starting in Matthew 1 tomorrow.

So that means you will spend the end of this year walking with Jesus.

There are 89 chapters over 4 books. If you’re good at math you know that means you only really need to read a chapter and half a day or so.

I know halloween, thanksgiving, and christmas are coming so I am giving you a lot of wiggle room.

If you don’t read, listen! The ESV app is free and it will read to you.

You can speed it up and everything.

I listened to a discussion about how do we develop the habit of reading. I’ll never forget what Paul Washer said.

When you see someone who is in the word and prayer and it seems like it is easy for them, that it comes naturally to them don’t buy in the lie that it comes easy.

Washer shared that after he suffered a heart attack his ribs were so badly bruised from being pumped back to life that when he awoke from a coma every breath was excruciating.

It was horribly painful.

But what was the alternative? Die?

There’s a story of a student in a martial arts class who was growing tired of the monotony of doing the same motions.

It wasn't until at the beginning of class one day before he had even gotten changed that his sensi threw a punch and the student instinctively cross blocked that he got it.

Discipline matters.

It is a fight.

Until you realize that if you aren’t giving your life over to being in the word that you will die, that you have an enemy who wants to destroy you…you will keep being passive about the discipline of seeking the Lord.

Listen Coram Deo, we want to look like this glorious risen Jesus.

Our humble loving King who served.

So let’s do it!

Let’s make the effort.

Let’s fight side by side, arm and arm to put on the mind of Christ.