Humility of the God-Man

I. The “Christ Hymn” Phil 2:5-11

A. Paul introduces this portion of the text as a way of illustrating the lifestyle he asked of the Philippians in the first four verses

B. This portion seems to be a very early Christian Hymn which Paul adapted to help make his point.

“Christians don’t tell lies, they go to church and sing them” A. W. Tozer

The Throne, the Manger, and the Cross

Philippians 2:5-7 “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, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

“μορφῇ θεοῦ (morphe theou) form of God - “μορφὴν δούλου” (morphen doulou) form of a servant

Notice Paul did not simply say that Christ was in the “iconos” or the image of God evoking the picture of Adam in Genesis.

Here the hymn speaks about Christ’s incarnation

Meaning that at the pre-appointed time, God the eternal Son was made man- wrapped in human flesh- born miraculously to Mary while she was still a virgin.

The theological term used to describe what happened at the incarnation is “hypostatic union:” that is- the joining together of the nature of God and the nature of Man fully in the person of Jesus Christ.

One person, two natures, never suspending one in order to be the other. Hence why Paul will write to 1 Tim 3:16 “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”

look with wonder in your hearts at what happened here: The condescension of God!

Chasm Illustration: The incarnation is about the knowledge of God

The distance between man in God has always actually been much greater than our sin problem. Man had what I call a “transcendence problem.”

Philippians 2:7-8 “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.”

The servant image here will remind the careful reader of the suffering servant of Isaiah 53.

Having gone from the throne to the manger, when Christ is at the cross here in verse 8; he is there as the only fitting redeemer. The one who could reconcile Man to God needed to be fully both!

Philippians 2:9-11 “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.”

Having gone from throne, to manger, to cross, Jesus (fully God and Man forever) now risen, will be exalted again to the throne. Only this time He looks like you and me.

For the first time in all of history, a Man sat down on the throne of God! Could you imagine the look on the angels’ faces!

Imagine when the accuser sees the Man Christ Jesus on the throne.

Now the one who forever lives at the Father’s right hand to plead for you and I (Hebrews 7) has shared your human experience and sympathizes with your weakness (Hebrews 4).

As we wonder at the humility of Christ- that he would condescend to us, take on our frame, weep with us, and die for us- let’s follow after Him. Let’s not make life about ourselves. Almost $600 million worth of selfie sticks were sold by 2021.

Let’s follow after Him with a life of service to one another that announces to the world around us that that He is alive- that He is risen, that He is exalted, and He is coming again.