A Gospel Worthy Life - Pt. 2 - The Attitude of Christ - Philippians 2:1-11

Introduction

Diversity and Communication Training at the Bus Barn

Read Philippians 2:1-11

Philippians 2:1–11 (ESV)

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, 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.

Paul wants the Philippians to experience true love and unity with one another, to serve one another and to leave selfish ambition behind.

Paul starts with the motivation for unity. He makes this statement that if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from God’s love, and any fellowship or participation in the Spirit, then they should seek to be unified with one another.

He says our motivation is the Gospel. Through the gospel, the good news of Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross and His resurrection, we have received encouragement through the salvation that was purchased there.

We have also received the love of God through Christ’s atoning death. Romans 5:8

Romans 5:8 (ESV)

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

And because of Christ’s death, we have been brought into fellowship with God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit!

As a result, believers in Jesus ought to be seeking unity through loving and serving one another.

We are to be of the same mind or purpose with one another

Have the same love for one another

And being of full accord with one another.

As people who are in Christ together, this is not simply a suggestion, it is an expectation that this will be the case.

John 13:35 (ESV)

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Paul told the church in the previous verses to stand firm for the faith of the gospel together.

How can we stand firm together for the faith of the gospel if we cannot love one another?

In fact, how much damage has been taken by the name of Christ because of church splits over very inconsequential matters?

If we are to stand firm for the faith, as Paul tells us in the end of chapter one, we need to learn how to stand unified together and how to love one another.

The Question is, what keeps us from being able to love one another?

There is a skewed understanding of what it means to be great and how to exercise power and leadership

Sin has turned the world upside down from the way God meant for things to be.

So Paul turns our attention to Jesus Christ, who showed us what really is true greatness and leadership.

Behold the Attitude of Christ (vv. 5-8)

Philippians 2:5–8 (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, 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.

Paul directs our attention to the example of Christ Jesus.

It is important to note that we do not believe that Christ’s death on the cross was merely an example.

Christ’s death accomplished something for us beyond simply showing us how to live. He died in our place to take upon Himself the penalty and consequences of our sin. Where our sin deserved death, Christ stepped in and took that death, was buried, and was raised again to show that God the Father accepted the payment for sin on our behalf.

And yet, even as it is much more than an example, it does serve as an example as we are a people who are being transformed into the image of Christ, so how Christ lived, this is the life He is calling us to as well!

Here we learn some deep theological truths of Jesus that shows us just what it means to truly be great and to exercise true authority.

Understanding True Greatness: Humility

Jesus is Fully God

When Paul writes, He was in the form of God, it’s not that He was like God.

This is saying that Christ was in the beginning with God and He was God from eternity past.

John 1:1 (ESV)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

It is important that we keep in mind that Jesus is fully God, because that will affect how we see and understand everything else that follows

We are seeing the character and nature of God on display in how Jesus chooses to relate to those whom He came to save

Jesus Refused to Serve Himself

Here we read that Jesus did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

Some have argued that this means that Jesus quit being God.

Again, I think this is where the CSB is helpful in its interpretation of this passage:

Philippians 2:6 (CSB)

who, existing in the form of God,

did not consider equality with God

as something to be exploited.

Philippians 2:6 (M:BCL)

He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what.

Jesus is laying aside the right to use His divine power for His own benefit. He has not quit being God. He is showing us what it really means to be God and to exercise true power.

Of course we get a glimpse of this in his temptations in the wilderness.

Satan wants Him to use His power for His own benefit, yet Jesus constantly shuts him down because that is not what it truly means to be God, nor is it what it means to be man made in the image of God.

Jesus Was Fully Man

Again, we read taking on the likeness of humanity and we can think that he only appeared to be human.

But what Paul is writing here is that he had come in the likeness of humanity, the way Adam’s son was born in his likeness and the way our children are also born in our likeness.

This language would not have been unfamiliar to those in the ancient world to know that what Paul is saying here is that Jesus, who is in the form of God is now also in the form or likeness of humanity.

Jesus, who from eternity past is fully God, has now taken on the fullness of humanity.

True Greatness lies in humbling oneself

The problem of sin is that we seek to make ourselves greater than we really are.

Whereas Jesus, being God, took on human flesh...

Adam and Eve took of the fruit because they believed they could become more like God, and in doing so, actually became less like God.

Scripture tells us that humbling ourselves is the way of true greatness.

Matthew 23:12 (ESV)

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

James 4:6 (ESV)

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Psalm 138:6 (ESV)

For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly,

but the haughty he knows from afar.

Proverbs 6:17 (ESV)

haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

and hands that shed innocent blood,

1 Peter 5:5 (ESV)

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

The things that can destroy love and unity within a church is when someone begins to feel superior to someone else or to another group of people

This sense of superiority can create a sense of privilege that the rest of the group ought to give them what they deserve

But the way of the godly is to recognize that others’ needs and preferences should come before my own

What are some ways that we struggle with pride in our own hearts? What are some ways that we struggle with the feelings of superiority over others?

We must constantly examine our hearts for our motives and desires and how we see others in relation to ourselves.

We need to turn to God and ask Him for His help in killing our pride and creating humility within us for the sake of our relationship with Him and with others.

Exercising True Authority: Servanthood

Jesus Became a Slave

Next we see that Jesus took on the form of a slave and emptied Himself.

The point needs to be reiterated that He did not quit being God.

Bryan Chapell illustrates this idea of Jesus “emptying” Himself by telling a story from an African missionary. In this part of Africa, the chief of the Tribe was the strongest man in the village. As chief, he would wear a very large headdress and ceremonial robes.

One day a man was carrying water out of the shaft of a deep well and on his way out, fell and broke his leg. To get into the well, one would have to use the alternating slats and then have to use them to come back out again.

There was no one in the village strong enough to be able to carry the man out while using those alternating slats, so the village turned to the chief for help.

The chief, viewing the helplessness of the man, chose to lay aside his headdress and robes to go into the well to carry the man out.

In laying aside of his headdress and robes, he did not quit being chief. He just emptied himself of wearing those robes and being identified as chief for the sake of helping the man in need.

And yet, not only did he remain chief in doing so, he was actually fulfilling what it meant for him to be chief for the village he served. As the most powerful man in the village, he fulfilled his role by being a servant to those in the village.

In the same way, Jesus did not quit being God when He emptied Himself. He simply laid aside the right to be identified that way so He could fulfill what it really meant to be God by being a servant and helper to His people.

Jesus Was Obedient to the Father unto Death

Next, this God man was obedient to God the Father in everything even to the point of death.

This stands in stark contrast to Adam and all of his descendants, who chose to rebel so they could exercise their own autonomy.

Jesus, found true greatness in humbling Himself and remaining fully obedient to the will of the Father in all things to the point of death.

It is important for us to realize that through all this, Jesus remained fully God. He never ceased being God.

So when we talk about how Jesus came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many, we need to understand that He was doing this as the only Being in all of existence that never had to humble Himself. And yet, Jesus was demonstrating for us God’s perfectly holy and loving character by coming as a humble servant and a helper to His people, because we see that this is what God has always done for His people.

He is the one who provided the covering for Adam and Eve when they fell.

He is the one who provided the rescue for Noah and his family from the flood.

He is the one who made the covenant promise with Abraham and even told him that He would fulfill both parts of the covenant.

He is the one who brought Pharoah down and freed His people from slavery.

He is the One who fought the battles for the Israelites when they came in to the promised land.

And we could go on. It’s how the Psalmist could write in Psalm 28:7

Psalm 28:7 (ESV)

The Lord is my strength and my shield;

in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;

my heart exults,

and with my song I give thanks to him.

God is the One who accomplishes the work that we need in order to be in right relationship with Him.

And if God, the Creator of all and worthy of worship, has chosen to be helper and servant to His people, how much more should we, who are made in the image of God choose to be servants to one another!

Paul is helping us to see that our view of greatness and power are actually distorted from reality. We think greatness and power is being in a privileged position over someone else and being able to enforce my will and desires.

However, the exercise of true authority is serving.

Again, this is where we need to go back to Genesis.

God created Adam and Eve in the image of God with the purpose and ability to exercise dominion over creation.

Somehow we hear that and think, alright, we can do whatever we want with the resources available to us.

However, the dominion and authority that God gave to Adam and Eve was to care for and cultivate creation. They were to work and serve creation so it could flourish the way God intended. Adam and Eve as the highest of all God’s creatures were to display the image of God by exercising His authority as servants to creation, rather than as tyrants using things for their own pleasure and purpose.

This has been the idea of greatness and authority from the very beginning!

As we look at the example of Jesus, Paul is giving us an idea of what kind of attitude and heart we should have towards each other!

Again, the reason why we have an issue with this is because we are all grasping for our own image of greatness and power and exaltation.

The attitude of Christ Jesus changes our view of what these things mean!

Receiving True Exaltation: Bringing Glory to the Father

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.

Last, we see that because Jesus had humbled Himself and chose to serve rather than be served, God the Father has exalted Him and given Him the name that is above every name to the glory of God the Father Himself.

As people bow the knee to Christ, which one day all knees will bow and every tongue will confess, and as they worship Christ, understanding that God the Son and God the Father are One, as we worship Jesus, God the Father is receiving the glory for His exaltation.

Now, we will not be exalted in the same way that Christ has been exalted because Jesus is God and we are not.

However, we are being transformed into the image of Christ, and as we become more like Him in our humility and in our servanthood, we are told that God will exalt us as well.

Matthew 23:12 (ESV)

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

But what does it mean that we will also be exalted?

Well, Christ is making all things new and restoring them to the way He intended for them to be in Eden. If God, in making man in His own image, gave Adam and Eve dominion over the earth to care for and cultivate the creation, then to be exalted to a place of lordship over the creation is to exercise servanthood. We will once again be able to fulfill the purpose for which we were created, which is to rule and reign in such a way as to bring God glory among His creatures.

2 Timothy 2:12 (ESV)

if we endure, we will also reign with him;

if we deny him, he also will deny us;

And we get to experience that even now as we are servants to one another and exercise that humble servant leadership in the here and now. As we exercise that kind of leadership, we are actually practicing the kind of lordship that Jesus has demonstrated for us.

Now, before we think that this does not sound like a great kind of leadership, let me say that there is more joy in self-denial and servant leadership than there is in trying to lift ourselves up to prominence.

When everyone here is trying to outdo one another in love and service, then everyone’s needs are being met in greater measures than if we were each to just simply try to meet our own needs.

Imagine the health a church would experience if everyone was a servant leader instead of trying to assert their superiority over others.

Imagine what this kind of attitude would do for marriages, friendships, families, co-workers, etc.

This is the kingdom that Christ has come to inaugurate through His death and resurrection. This is the kind of leadership that our world longs for, but it doesn’t know that it actually wants.

Conclusion

In the end, what Paul is saying is that if we have been saved and redeemed by the Gospel, we should be transformed into the image of Christ and we should have the mind and attitude of Christ, which is to exercise authority in a humble servant-leader kind of way.

You and I as believers are called to reign with Christ, even now, as we interact with each other in love and service towards one another. And in that kind of love and service, we will experience the fullness of joy as we live out the purpose for which God has created us for.

We rob ourselves of this joy when we seek to live solely for ourselves and for our own glory. But we experience joy to the full when we die to ourselves and seek to lift the needs of others above our own. This is the abundant life that Christ is calling for each of us to experience!