The condescension, death, and exhaltation of our King.
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also 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 bond-servant, 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.
Introduction
Wedding illustration
Some of you may know I have one younger sister. We’ve been great friends ever since high-school. I miss her as she’s been over seas for the past 6 or 7 years now, but she just got married a few years ago in Duluth, Minnesota where my parents live. The fun part about it was that they got married in the winter in Duluth, MN, and my now brother in-law and his family are from Indonesia. If you don’t know Indonesia is almost exactly on the other side of the planet, and it’s also hot! My brother in-law and his family are truly wonderful, godly people and it showed that day. In the love and devotion they had for their son, their brother they flew across the globe to northern Minnesota into a snowstorm having never seen snow before in their lives to be at the wedding. They didn’t complain, they were simply delighted to be with Darrell, and Lydia on their wedding day in spite of the cost of the trip.
When you see clearly how far someone is willing to go to love you, you gain a better appreciation for that love. I want to spend a portion of our time today looking intentionally how far Christ came to be humiliated, beaten, nailed to a cross and die for our sins.
Our first two points are going provide for us the example of Christ Paul is calling us to walk in “Have this attitude in yourselves”.
The Deity of Christ
The Humanity of Christ
In considering how far Christ has come for our good we do find an example, but I hope we would also find a deeper gratitude for what Christ has done.
Our third point gives us our hope of glory which sustains us as we walk in Christ’s example
3. The victory of Christ
The church’s pursuit of glory is by the path of Christ: a path of humility and service.
The church’s pursuit of glory is by the path of Christ: a path of humility and service.
The Deity of Christ
The Deity of Christ
Notes:
The Humanity of Christ
The Humanity of Christ
Notes:
The Victory of Christ
The Victory of Christ
Notes:
The Deity of Christ
The Deity of Christ
Philippians 2:5–6a (NASB95)
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
who, although He existed in the form of God,
Let’s recognize from the onset the close knit relationship between doctrine and practice, orthodoxy and orthopraxy.
Paul says, “have this attitude”. He’s applying the doctrine to follow to the practice and behavior of the church.
The practice is only as good as the doctrine.
The water is only as good as the well.
For many we’re pulling from the right well, the water is good and clean, but the well needs to be dug out on occasion to get the full benefit.
Let’s take some time to address the well, dig deeper into this doctrine so that we can draw from it later.
The importance of the deity of Christ cannot be understated! It is the doctrine upon which everything else is built - the cornerstone if you will.
We take it for granted perhaps because the problems we face today are largely centered around marriage, sexuality, identity, or even the fact that people are just atheistic altogether.
These are important matters to consider certainly, but there used to be a time when people within the church weren’t asking, “What is marriage?” They were asking, “Who is Jesus?”
When Paul is edifying Timothy to preach the word in defense of sound doctrine with this warning
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
you might not initially think that Timothy might have to defend the cornerstone of all Christian doctrine, but beginning in the first century the church was actively defending against heresies threatening the deity of Christ.
This diligent defense of sound doctrine, specifically the doctrine of Christ, through the first four centuries of Church history is what gives us the Nicene Creed (325)
Where is the emphasis?
The Lexham Bible Dictionary The Creed of 325
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father [the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God], Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made [both in heaven and on earth];
Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man;
He suffered, and the third day He rose again, ascended into heaven; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
And in the Holy Ghost.
It’s pretty evident where time was spent by where the bulk of the statement is.
Church’s from all over the known world come together to define the faith, “What do we believe?”
1 line on the Father
a phrase on the Holy Spirit
A thorough description of Christ, his death, resurrection, and Lordship, but fundamentally answering the question,
“Who is Jesus?”
This fundamental doctrine was under threat and is absolutely fundamental to the entirety of the Christian faith.
As much as our battle for sound doctrine might not be for the fundamentals, it’s important we know where Scripture addresses these things.
‘true God of true God’
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 came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
‘by whom all things were made’
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1:26 (NASB95)
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
2 points of application from this point.
Just because certain doctrines aren’t threatened today doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be ready to defend them.
The roof on the house is fundamental to a house being a house. On rare occasion the roof needs close attention or even replaced to maintain the integrity of the home. Often times you only need to address a roof once every 20 to 25 years, but if the roof is disregarded altogether because, I took care of it 30 year ago, the integrity of the home is compromised.
The deity of Christ ensures we don’t let Jesus become just like one of us.
There’s a fancy word theologians like to use: transcendence. Transcendence is the idea of being beyond us or otherness to a degree we can’t fully comprehend. It’s right we view God as transcendent. I’m afraid we put the Father in the transcendent category, but we don’t put Christ in that category because we see him as immanent.
Immanence is to be right before us, like us, comprehensible. We like an immanent Jesus. A Jesus like us. In order to rightly appreciate Jesus’ immanence, his being with us in our likeness we need to hold firm to his transcendence- His God-ness, His deity, His role as creator of all things, The Word and giver of life through whom all things were made and through whom all things hold together.
This is the God who walked among us.
The Humanity of Christ
The Humanity of Christ
Philippians 2:6–8 (NASB95)
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 bond-servant, 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.
Let’s address first Jesus’ incarnation and we’ll address His death shortly.
We’re perhaps more familiar with Christ’s humanity. We celebrate Christmas every year and devote a month of our year to the incarnation during advent. We can readily admit, Jesus became a man, but I don’t know that I consider, “What did Jesus leave behind?”
Particularly, “What does it mean that Jesus did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped...” or
“What does it mean for Jesus to empty Himself?”
Firstly, we need to be clear that Jesus is not laying down his deity. Jesus is putting on humanity.
Now all analogies fall short somewhere, but I’ve heard it described as a king who stepped off his throne, laid aside the glamour of the palace, put on the clothes of a commoner, and walked among his people. Leaving the palace and putting on the clothes of a commoner doesn’t make the king any less of a king. He’s simply a king dressed as a commoner. At any point the king can beckon the royal guard to his side though he may wear the clothes of a commoner.
Christ leaves none of his deity behind in his incarnation, but he does lay aside the benefits and entitlements of deity. Disregarding equality with God is not to say that there is an inequality in essence or being but an inequality of benefits and apparent glory.
There are certain benefits the king enjoys seated on the throne in the palace as his subjects come to dine with him or appear before him to be judged.
Walking among the people as a commoner the king may even go unrecognized. All the authority is there, but the glory is not visible in the same way.
One example of this deity in the flesh is one of Caleb’s favorite stories:
Jesus in the storm.
Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him.
And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.
Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.
And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? How is it that you have no faith?”
They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
The fullness of Christ’s humanity evident in the exhaustion which Christ has experienced as he sleeps through a storm which has begun to sink this boat.
And yet, he get’s up and calms the storm with his voice and the authority of God.
O Lord God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty Lord?
Your faithfulness also surrounds You.
You rule the swelling of the sea;
When its waves rise, You still them.
The disciples respond in fear and wonder. An appropriate response having seen a glimpse of Christ’s glory in his deity and yet He stands before them a man who just woke from his sleep.
They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
Christ’s coming in the fullness of his deity and yet in the humility of humanity is truly something to behold and we are right to give a month of our calendar to the incarnation of Christ, but we know that Christ’s humility does not stop at his becoming a man, but extends to his service unto death.
It may be all the more imperative for us to recognize the fullness of Christ’s deity as He comes to His death that we may fully understand
the fullness of His humility,
the fullness of all he was entitled and actively laid aside,
the fullness of the injustice that was committed as Israel, God’s chosen people, cried, “Crucify Him”,
or perhaps most importantly the fullness of His sufficiency as righteous God to satisfy the punishment of sin which would be laid on His head.
Christ needed to be fully God and fully righteous to sufficiently bear the wrath that was due us. No mere man can bear the wrath of God that is due for all the sins of Christendom.
And yet, Christ needed to be man to serve as a substitute for our sins.
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
We’ve looked at these important doctrines with some depth hopefully deepening the well some, how then do we respond in practice as Paul intended,
“Have this attitude in yourselves..”
What are the entitlements, comforts, or things we enjoy that are perfectly fine and good things?
I’m not saying here what are the idols, or worldly comforts, but simply what position, possessions, or pleasures has the Lord graciously given you?
Before Christ’s incarnation He enjoyed a position of honor, possession and dominion over all creation, pleasures and glories in the presence of the Father and the Spirit all rightfully His!
Position, possessions, and pleasures.
Now consider your neighbor.
What position, possessions, and pleasures might they lack?
Now what would it take to say, “Why don’t you come enjoy this abundance with me?”
If it’s position, what might it look like to share that dominion with someone else? Teach them and train them to take on the privileges of that position.
If it’s possessions, what would it look like to further our hospitality and generosity for the good of our brothers?
If it’s the pleasures of family, food, or fellowship, what might it look like to have someone who doesn’t have those pleasures join you for the holidays?
At the end of the day, Christ’s incarnation and death was to redeem a people for Himself that we would be
coheirs with Christ sharing in His dominion. The position of sons and daughters.
Sharing in the abundance of blessing we have in the Spirit and ultimately in heaven. Innumerable possessions in Christ.
and Sharing in the fellowship of God for all eternity. The perfection of divine pleasure.
Christ’s humility and service has extended to us an abundance we can hardly comprehend.
Might our humility and service in Christ work to extend whatever abundance we’ve been given to those around us.
Thus far we have a rich doctrine which leads us to gratitude and to follow in Christ’s example, but this example is accompanied by a wonderful hope for us.
The Victory of Christ
The Victory of Christ
Philippians 2:9–11 “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.”
Christ new full well that victory, dominion and glory would await Him on the other side of His humiliation, death, and suffering.
There will come a day when all will stand before Him, those in heaven, those on the earth, and those in hell will declare, “Jesus Christ is Lord”, to the glory of God.
The questions isn’t whether or not someone will bow to the Lordship of Christ it’s when and with what disposition. Even those rejecting Christ now will bow to Him one day declaring, “Christ is Lord” though they will do it as enemies of Christ.
For us we eagerly anticipate the day when all will be made right, the dominion of Christ will be absolute, and we will gladly declare, “Christ is Lord!” as His beloved children finally glorified.
This is the glorious ending we anticipate and we hope in, but where are we now?
Today, Christ has risen and been seated at the right hand of the Father. Christ has been exalted to His rightful place, His kingdom has been established in the church and yet the fullness of His kingdom and dominion is yet to come.
What does that mean for us today?
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.
We today can revel and rejoice in the resurrection of Christ. Christ was the first, but he will not be the last! He is the first fruits, the beginning of a great harvest.
Today, it’s been given to us to experience the humiliation, the death, and the suffering and to walk in the footsteps of Christ yet we have the resurrection in our rear view mirrors saying he will not be alone. We have been given a glimpse of the glory that will be ours in Christ’s resurrection and exaltation. He will not forsake us and He will come again to bring us to Himself.
But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming,
then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.
For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.
The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
In the end every knee will bow. In the end every rule and authority will be abolished for in that day there will be one King and all will be subject to Him.
This week tends to be a time of stress and worry for many as we go to vote. We consider the well-being of our nation, and ask, “what-if...” to no end.
I believe we ought to use our vote, steward the power and dominion we’ve been given for the good of our neighbor, but I hope that we would vote with the hope that one day, Christ will rule and reign supreme and we will join Him in His eternal kingdom. We don’t vote in fear. We vote knowing that because Christ has been risen, he sits at the right hand of God as sovereign king overall and one day all will kneel.
When we are in his presence, singing his praises for all eternity, the 2024 election will be so trivial in our memory if we recall it at all.
No government, king, or dictator will endure to the end and so I hope we would not put our hope supremely in something that simply will not last.
This too is the hope we bring to the persecuted church. Our brothers and sisters who truly experience the humiliation and suffering of Christ more than we can imagine. Might we pray that their hope would be supremely in what awaits them when Christ’s kingdom will come in all its glory.
That is a sustaining hope.
A hope which feeds our faith
and encourages our perseverance.
We know our labor is not in vain for in the end the victory is sure and Christ is King!
King over all rulers and authorities and victor over death.
1 Corinthians 15:54–57 “But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In Christ we will be granted the final victory! Victory over sin and death to the fullest extent. We will be holy, pure, and glorified in our new bodies. There will be no enemy to fear and all will be brought into subjection to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
For now we’ve been given the example of Christ and the call to share in His sufferings. We lay down our entitlements and pleasures in humility for the good of the church, yet all of this is not without hope. We strive, labor, and sacrifice with the sure hope that the victory is ours in Christ and one day we will see it in all its glory. For now, let’s serve humbly as Christ did in patient waiting for the glory yet to be revealed.
Let’s pray.
