Nov 17 2024, The Full Humanity of Christ: The Mind of Discipleship Phil 2:1-8
Notes
Transcript
Becoming Like Christ: The Call to Humility
Becoming Like Christ: The Call to Humility
Bible Passage: Philippians 2:5–8
Bible Passage: Philippians 2:5–8
Summary: In Philippians 2:5-8, Paul exhorts believers to adopt the attitude of Christ, emphasizing humility and servanthood as foundational to discipleship.
Application: This passage challenges Christians to evaluate their attitudes and behaviors, urging them to embody humility just as Christ did, which can lead to stronger relationships and greater unity within the church community.
Teaching: The sermon teaches that true discipleship reflects the humility of Christ, showcasing that greatness in the Kingdom of God is achieved through serving others and prioritizing their needs over our own.
How this passage could point to Christ: This passage reveals Christ as the ultimate example of humility and service, reflecting the greater biblical narrative that highlights God's plan for redemption through a Savior who humbled Himself, making Him relatable and accessible to humanity.
Big Idea: True Christlike discipleship is marked by humility and servanthood, reflecting the character of Christ in our everyday lives.
Recommended Study: Consider delving into the cultural context of first-century Philippi to understand the significance of Paul’s emphasis on humility amidst a society that prized status and power. Exploring the Greek terms for 'mind' and 'humility' through Logos can enhance your understanding of their implications in the passage. Additionally, examining cross-references to Jesus’ service attitude in the Gospels will provide a more comprehensive view of what it means to be a disciple who embodies Christ’s humility.
Introduction
Introduction
Context
Context
1. Embrace the Mindset
1. Embrace the Mindset
Philippians 2:5
You could encourage believers to embrace the mindset of Christ as the starting point for true discipleship. This mindset is characterized by an inner disposition of humility that radically redefines how they relate to others, motivated by a Christ-centric view of servanthood. This mindset is foundational to growing in Christlikeness, as it involves a conscious decision to look at and respond to life through the lens of Jesus' example.
To engage in Biblical discipleship we have to think it the right way—Jesus’s way.
Have this mind:
What mind? Paul explained it in the passage immediately preceding this:
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.
Our mindset must be fundamentally other-focused:
Unselfish in our goals.
Devoid of ego.
Considering others as more important.
Looking after the interests of others.
Among yourselves:
This is a corporate mindset…each of us has been charged to keep it. This mindset is supposed to characterize all Christians.
There’s an ongoing debate in our culture today about how we judge groups of people
Which is yours in Christ Jesus (or “which was also in Christ Jesus”):
Jesus personally demonstrated the way of glory for us to walk in
The quality of our discipleship, indeed, all we do, should be shaped by our Christlike mindset.
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
Humility is the key to lasting success in the great commission—the church must value Christ’s character as a model for our ministry of discipleship.
But we must come to know Christ’s mindset if we are to make it our own.
This is important because we might think that Christ’s way is out of reach.
That it’s not possible to truly achieve such a mindset because, after all, Jesus is God.
2. Exemplify Selfless Service
2. Exemplify Selfless Service
Philippians 2:6-7
Perhaps, illustrating the extent of Christ's humility in stepping down from divine status to human form, you can highlight the call for believers to willingly lay down their rights and privileges for the service of others. This ultimate act of lowering oneself for the sake of others showcases the depth of Christ's love, urging us to embody this selfless service that He modeled.
We could get into theologically deep waters here in talking about Jesus. Many of the early battles inside the Church had to do with this very subject…what is Jesus’s nature?
We will not be diving that deeply this morning, but rather, we will find
Note what is not being said here:
It doesn’t say that Jesus appeared to be God.
It doesn’t say that Jesus was like God.
In either of these cases, Jesus would be a man…a super-special man maybe, but just a man.
Rather, Paul makes this explicit statement.
He was in the form of God:
This is another way of saying that Jesus is God.
Jesus’s essential nature is exactly the same as God’s.
He wasn’t created in the form of God either.
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.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Jesus Christ is eternally the second person of the Godhead. In every way the Creator of the universe.
This makes it all the more amazing when we consider what happens next.
Did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped:
Jesus calls us to humility and He led the way.
The eternal plan of salvation required that there be a perfect sacrifice.
God the father appointed the Son to be that sacrifice, and this great work gave Jesus no pause.
He remained united with the Father’s will and willingly surrendered to the greatest humiliation the world has ever known.
To suffering: emotional, psychological, physical, and spiritual suffering.
As the eternal Son of God, He was crowned with glory and majesty, yet He didn't clutch hold of his deity or take advantage of it.
He emptied himself:
This is the doctrine of Kenosis, that Jesus made Himself nothing.
These are some deep theological waters as well, but we’ll try and keep it simple.
Jesus didn’t stop being God when he descended into His creation.
Rather, he set aside his glory and majesty and added to himself a human nature, with all its frailty and weakness.
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.
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
The greatness of Jesus’s humility is shown in that he forever united humanity to deity. God condescended to identify with us in our weakness.
taking the form of a servant
But Jesus’s humility doesn’t stop at His becoming a man…he went even further.
He denied His majesty even further and took the form and nature of slavery…He became a servant.
But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus made Himself the lowest of the low, as the prophet Isaiah promised:
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Jesus so divested himself of glory that he became
born in the likeness of men
Jesus, in taking on humanity, became the example for us of the new man. The Second Adam.
Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
As our redeemer, Jesus shows us the new way for a new humanity.
Jesus’s humility offers us a perfect example for us in discipleship.
We are here, not to glorify ourselves, but to serve others.
By building them up in the fait
We must be prepared to go the distance when it comes to others, and we must resist the urge to think that there are lengths we should not go to make disciples…because, consider what Jesus was willing to do.
I don’t think we do this enough.
For there is even a further length that Jesus went in His humiliation.
3. Exhibit Sacrificial Obedience
3. Exhibit Sacrificial Obedience
Philippians 2:8
Maybe explore how Christ's obedience unto death illustrates the ultimate humility, calling believers to pursue obedience to God even when it involves self-sacrifice. The culmination of Christ's humility in His death is a powerful testament to His unwavering commitment, reminding Christians that true greatness in God's kingdom comes through sacrificial obedience and dedication.
Jesus humbled himself such that he willingly submitted to the worse kind of death for our sake.
We can scarcely understand the horror and shame of the cross as a form of execution, and what it meant for Jesus to die in such a way:
Ephesians–Philemon Comment
The cross was deemed an especially appropriate death for rebels and slaves because it was designed not just to kill but also to shame. The victim was stripped down to no (or few) clothes and typically nailed to the cross through the ankles and wrists (or, sometimes, fastened with ropes). Death would come by suffocation, when the victim could no longer lift himself to draw breath. This excruciating pain and shame was common to all who were crucified, but Jesus’ suffering on the cross is unparalleled and unequalled because he bore the terrible curse of sin (Gal. 3:13) and suffered the awful wrath of God as an atoning substitute and sacrifice (Rom. 3:21–26).
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”—
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
This was not a matter of happenstance or fate, but rather the ultimate act of obedience to the Father’s will:
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Spurgeon spoke powerfully about the humiliation of Jesus for our sake:
Philippians Exposition
What will not Christ do for us who have been given to Him by His Father? There is no measure to His love; you cannot comprehend His grace. Oh, how we ought to love Him, and serve Him! The lower He stoops to save us, the higher we ought to lift Him in our adoring reverence. Blessed be His name, He stoops, and stoops, and stoops, and, when He reaches our level, and becomes man, He still stoops, and stoops, and stoops lower and deeper yet.
There is no humility like obedience.
Through his humiliation, death and resurrection, Jesus charted the path for us as we keep the great commission.
There is not a length to far that Jesus would not go to save.
How far are you willing to go?
Implications for Discipleship
Implications for Discipleship
Jesus made disciples as a man, not as God. He was never less than God, yet He chose to live His life never more than man.
That means that the resources available to Him in His disciple making are the same that are available to us.
The Holy Spirit
Prayer
The Word of God
A community of support
So, Jesus is our model for life and ministry. We make disciples as He made disciples.
Fully dependent on Him as He was dependent on God.
Fully obedient to His will as He was obedient to the Father.
Fully reliant on God’s Word, the Spirit of God, and Prayer as He was.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Philippians Exposition
What an example we have set before us in the Lord Jesus Christ! Jesus is the divine example of love and self-denial, and as we hope to be saved by Him we must diligently copy Him.