Philippians 2:1-11 - Love in Christ

When we think about the definition of a word, we aren’t trying to redefine it… we’re trying to figure out what other people mean when they use the word.

So when I tell you that you can have love in Christ, what do you think I mean?

What I intend you to understand is that love is caring for someone.

Caring about them, about what they are doing, and how they are doing.

And caring for them, making sure they have everything they need to do well in life.

And we can do that freely in Christ.

The Bible says in 1 John 4:7–8 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

God… is… love.

We can define what true love is by who God has revealed himself to be in Scripture.

God cares about you, he cares about what you are doing and about how you are doing.

And he cares for you, he’s provided everything you need in life… he’s even given you his Son so that you can be forgiven and have eternal life.

But so often, our relationships in life don’t look like that.

We don’t truly love people like that and we aren’t truly loved by other people like that…

because our sinful flesh has turned our outward love inward.

It’s our tendency in our sinful flesh to love ourselves instead of loving others.

To protect our own interests, to seek out what we think is best for ourselves and ignore or oppose what’s best for other people.

If we look back at the first sin in Genesis chapter 3, when Eve was tempted to disobey God, and she and Adam both fell to that temptation…

That first sin was motivated by self-love.

Satan cast doubt on God’s love, and insinuated that Eve would be better off relying on her own self-love rather than relying on God’s love for her.

This is really the root of all sin, the motivation for every sin… self-love.

Well, in the passage we’re going to be looking at today, in Philippians 2:1-11, Paul understood this tendency to self-love.

He saw it in the Philippian church, he saw how it’s in every church, and he saw how detrimental it can be to the unity of the church and the progress of the gospel.

So, he gave the church at Philippi, and us by extension, an encouragement to love in Christ, and he reminded us of our example of love in Christ.

The first section we’re going to look at in verses 1-4 is our encouragement to love in Christ.

Philippians 2:1–4 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.

Here, Paul gives us an…

Encouragement to Love in Christ (1-4)

In verse one, Paul gives us a whole string of “if” statements.

These are things that are assumed to be true.

You could replace the word “if” with the word “since.”

Since there is any measure of these things, even a hint of encouragement, comfort, participation or fellowship, affection, and sympathy.

Since you have even the smallest measure of these things.

And Paul knows that the Philippian church has these things.

He already mentioned them as a description of his relationship with them earlier in chapter 1.

In Philippians 1:6–8 he said, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.”

Can you hear how Paul is encouraging them, and how he has been encouraged by them in Christ?

Can you hear how Paul is comforting them with his love, and how he has been comforted by them in their love?

Can you hear how Paul affirms their fellowship in the Spirit, and how he and they share in affection and sympathy for each other?

Now, it may be tempting to read this from a distance and only think about the relationship between Paul and the Philippian church.

But there’s a sense in which we can also put ourselves right there with the Philippian church.

All of us, by common faith in Christ, are in the same position as the Philippian church, joining with Paul and every other believer in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

In a supernatural way, what Paul says here about the Philippian church is also true of you if you have faith in Christ.

So, since you have also experienced some measure of this encouragement, comfort, fellowship, affection, and sympathy in the body of Christ, you can also do what he says to do in verse 2.

He says that since you have all of these things, complete my joy.

Well, how are we supposed to complete Paul’s joy… and how was it incomplete in the first place?

Paul mentioned his joy back in chapter 1… let’s see if there are any clues there to answer this question.

In Philippians 1:3–4 Paul prayed, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,”

So, Paul was joyfully praying for the Philippian church.

And one of the things he prayed about was the Holy Spirit faithfully completing the good work that was started in them in Philippians 1:6.

And he also joyfully prayed in Philippians 1:9-11 that their love would abound more and more with knowledge and discernment.

And their love and discerning knowledge would result in their justification and their pursuit of righteousness through faith in Christ.

So, we can join the Philippian church in completing Paul’s joy by working with the Holy Spirit to bring about the good work he started in us through faith in Christ.

This is growing in our faith, growing in our Christlikeness.

And Paul said in Philippians 1:25 “I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith,”

Paul’s joy was incomplete because he wanted to personally help the Philippian church grow in their joy and faith in Christ.

He found joy in helping believers grow in their faith, and he wanted that joy to be realized, completed, with the believers in Philippi.

And his joy can also be realized as you grow in your faith through his writing in God’s Word.

Well, the rest of verse 2 is actually the result of completing Paul’s joy, the result of progressing in our faith, in our Christlikeness.

The Greek sentence structure renders the second half of verse 2 as a result even though our English translations have a hard time rendering this.

In English we might woodenly say, “complete my joy so that you may think the same.”

Paul wants us to “be of the same mind.”

This is likemindedness, unity.

Then he explains this likemindedness in three different ways.

Having the same love.

Being in full accord.

And of one mind.

I won’t get into the nerdy linguistic details of these three explanations.

But Paul wants us to know that growing in our faith will result unity.

And unity means loving the same things as each other, namely loving Jesus.

It means doing life together because our lives all belong to the Lord and we are all living for the Lord.

And it means thinking so similarly its as if we have one mind that we share, the mind of Christ.

As a side note, Paul likely thought it was necessary to teach the Philippian church these principles because in chapter 4 verse 2 he calls out two people in the church at Philippi who were at odds.

They were not united like this, so Paul explains these principles early in his letter, and then later he calls them out to put these principles into practice.

These principles are what Paul explains in verses 3 and 4.

These are two ways that we are to pursue our likemindedness and Christlikeness in completing Paul’s joy.

The first way, in verse 3, is by not considering each other as less than yourself in selfish ambition or empty conceit, but instead considering each other as better than yourself in humility.

This is a strong contrast of replacement.

Don’t do that… but do this instead.

Paul has already given a negative example of what not to do in chapter 1 verses 15 and 17.

Philippians 1:15 “Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will.”

Philippians 1:17 “The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.”

This is a group of so-called Christians who preached the gospel from envy and rivalry, out of selfish ambition, seeking to cause Paul some emotional affliction in his imprisonment.

Like they want to gain more followers than Paul, so they could rub it in.

Paul mentioned in chapter 1 verse 18 that he can still rejoice that the gospel is being proclaimed…

But that’s not the way we ought to respond to the gospel, to the love we’ve received in Christ.

That’s not the way we ought to treat other believers.

And that’s not a good motivation to preach the gospel.

So, he already gave this negative example, and he’s going to go on to give the ultimate positive example in Christ.

The example of humbly considering each other more significant or better than yourself.

But before he gets to that example, he gives us a second way to pursue likemindedness with each other.

The second way to pursue this likemindedness is by not only looking out for your own interests but also by looking out for the interests of each other.

Before we had a strong contrast of replacement

Don’t do that, but do this instead.

And now we have a strong contrast of addition.

Don’t ONLY do that, but ALSO do this.

Don’t only look out for your own interests.

Notice that Paul assumes that you’re already looking out for your own interests.

This is like the second greatest commandment according to Jesus in Matthew 22:39 “ You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Loving yourself, looking out for your own interests is assumed, not commanded because we naturally do that… it’s called self-preservation.

When we’re hungry, we eat… when we’re tired, we sleep… when we’re upset over some personal failure, we discipline ourselves.

We don’t need to be told to love ourselves, that comes naturally.

Sometimes when we get depressed we may think that we don’t love ourselves.

But if you really think about it… in those instances what we really don’t love is our circumstances and our limitations.

If you find your identity in your circumstances and your limitations, then it very much feels like you don’t love yourself.

It can feel overwhelming to try and change your circumstances and overcome your limitations.

It can feel very tempting to take the easy way out.

But even that is an act of self-love, of looking out for your own interests.

Your identity is not in your circumstances and limitations… your identity is in who God says you are in His Word.

You are loved so much!

God loves you so much that he sent his Son to die in your place!

That’s a lot of love!

And Paul doesn’t say to stop looking out for your own interests.

Looking out for your own interests is actually a good thing.

God wants us to take care of ourselves because he loves us.

But we cannot ONLY look out for our own interests.

We’re very good at looking out for our own interests, but very bad at looking out for the interests of others.

Why is that?

I referenced it earlier in Genesis chapter 3.

The motivation of all sin is self-love.

And that self-love usually results in opposition to everyone else… especially when our own interests might be compromised by others.

In order to combat our sinful tendency to self-love and opposing everyone else we need to have our hearts softened by the Holy Spirit.

And we need to be reminded of the gospel and how Jesus was the perfect example of this humble love, so that we can be free to love like him.

That’s why Paul goes on in verses 5-11 to explain Jesus’ example of love in the gospel to us.

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.

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.

Here, Paul reminds us of our…

Example of Love in Christ (5-11)

Jesus is the perfect example of love.

Both the example of what humble love looks like, and how God gloriously rewards that humble love.

In verses 5-8 Paul explains what Jesus’ humble love looks like so that we can aim our love in the same direction and so that we can remember Jesus’ love as a proper motivation for our love.

Then in verse 9-11 Paul explains how God exalted Jesus because of his humble love so that we can be encouraged toward similar humble love, and so that we can remember God’s desire for us as another proper motivation for our love.

So, let’s look at verses 5-8 a little closer to see how Jesus was…

Emptied in Humble Love (5-8)

Paul says in verse 5 that we are to have this mind among ourselves that is also in Christ.

That verb, to have this mind, is the same root word as in verse 2, how we are to have the same mind, and have one mind.

We aren’t just supposed to agree with each other, whatever that agreement might happen to be…

We’re supposed to have the same thinking, the same mind, that Jesus had.

He’s our example, he’s our guide.

His mind, his thinking, is the standard we’re all supposed to be agreeing on.

We all have the same mind because all of us are trying to think like Jesus.

So how did Jesus think?

Paul goes on in verses 6-8 to show how Jesus thought about his position, his mission, and his relationship to God the Father.

Jesus is God, and before his incarnation he was in the form of God, that is, Spirit.

Jesus explained this to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.””

In verse 6, this form of God that Jesus had was also the exalted position of God as creator of everything and sovereign ruler of everything.

He had the highest position in the form of God.

But how did he view that position?

Certainly not like those who were preaching Christ from envy and rivalry, thinking that the gospel is a means of gain.

In our sinful self-love we step on each other to have a better position at work, to get paid more or to have an easier job, or to wield more power, to be an influencer, to establish our platform, to change the world as we see fit.

We look at our own position and grasp at it with a death-grip only letting go in order to grasp at something better.

But Jesus viewed his position, his highest position, not as something to be grasped, but as something to let go of in love.

And he did let go of it because of his mission of love in verse 7.

His mission of humble love was more important to him than his exalted position.

So, he went ahead with his mission to become a man, live on the earth, die in our place, and rise again so that we could live with him forever.

He loved you enough to empty himself of his glory, to become human like you and me.

When he emptied himself, he didn’t really lose anything of his divinity.

He was still God after his incarnation.

The thing he lost in his incarnation was his glory.

And he lost that by adding something to himself, by adding humanity.

Jesus gave a perfect illustration of this emptying of glory when he washed his disciples’ feet in John 13:3–5.

“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”

He emptied himself of the glory of his position as master and teacher when he laid aside his outer garment and added to his outfit a servant’s towel.

He was still their master and their teacher, but he was emptied of that glory when he changed clothes.

He was emptied of his glory by adding to himself the position, the role, and the appearance of a humble servant.

Remember the strong contrast of replacement back in verse 3?

Here in verses 6 and 7 Jesus has done exactly what Paul told us to do.

He did not consider us lesser in selfish ambition or empty conceit, but instead he humbly considered us worthy to join in humanity so that he could serve us and save us from sin and death.

And all of this is the will, the plan, of God the Father.

And Paul shows us in verse 8 how Jesus viewed his relationship with God the father in humble love.

Jesus actually became human just like he is actually God.

That’s what it means that he was found in human form.

It’s the same word structure as verse 6 where he was in the form of God.

Just like he is really 100% God, he is also really 100% human.

And when he became human he showed his humble love for God the Father by his obedience.

God the Father gave him a mission to humbly serve and save humanity by becoming human and dying a cruel death in our place.

Obedience can be an act of love for the one you are obeying.

And the measure of that obedient love can be seen in difference between what you would rather do, and what you are willing to obediently do instead.

Sometimes obedience is more about self-love.

Like when your boss tells you to do something you would rather not do, but you do it anyway because you don’t want to lose your job.

That obedience is about self-love, not a love for your boss.

But sometimes your obedience is about your love for others.

Like when your wife asks you to feed the baby on Saturday morning because she’s exhausted from the previous week.

You’d rather sleep in, you’d rather do anything but feed the baby.

But because you love your wife, you obediently feed the baby foregoing what you would rather do.

Jesus’ obedience was about his love for God the Father, not his self-love.

He would rather not take our punishment on the cross.

He said as much in Matthew 26:39 “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.””

But as he said at the end of that verse, he was willing to do what he would rather not do out of humble love for his Father and for us.

So, Jesus showed us what humble love looks like in his incarnation and his death.

He viewed his position as God as something he was willing to let go of in his humble love.

He viewed the addition of humanity as something worthy to accept in his humble love.

And he viewed his obedient death on the cross as something he was willing to endure in his humble love.

But his humble love in all these things was met with the glorious love of the Father to restore his previous glory and then some.

Now let’s look at verses 9-11 to see how Jesus was…

Exalted in Glorious Love (9-11)

In verse 9, Paul uses the word “therefore”… this is the result of Jesus’ humble love.

Because of Jesus’ humble love depicted in verses 5-8, God has highly exalted him and gave him the highest position.

He was already exalted, he already had the highest position as God before his incarnation.

But because of his humble love God exalted him EVEN HIGHER, he gave him and EVEN HIGHER position.

How is this position, this exaltation higher than the one he had before?

Well, that’s what verses 10 and 11 are about.

In verses 10 and 11 Paul says that the result of this exaltation would be every knee bowing at the name of Jesus, and every tongue confessing or agreeing that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Before Jesus’ incarnation he was just as sovereign over everything as he is now, but there’s a difference.

Before he became human Jesus’ reign was over a fallen creation, but after his incarnation, death, and resurrection his reign is over a redeemed creation.

He is just as sovereign as he was before, but now all of creation is redeemed so that at his name, every knee will bow in submission to his sovereignty, and every tongue will confess his sovereignty.

All of creation would have confessed this and bowed in submission being forced to do so in God’s wrathful judgment against sin.

But now we can have new life in Christ to willingly and joyfully submit to his sovereignty because we have been forgiven since Jesus became a man and died in our place.

And all of this is to the glory of God the Father because it was his plan to begin with.

This shows us what God the Father thinks of Jesus’ humble love, and it shows us what he thinks of our humble love as we follow Jesus’ example.

He thinks very highly of humble love.

He thought so highly of Jesus’ humble love that he exalted him to an even higher position and glory than before his act of humble love.

And you will also be treated to the same exaltation and glory for your humble love when Jesus comes back.

Jesus explained this in a parable in Luke 14:7–11.

“Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.””

Peter also explained this concept in 1 Peter 5:5b–7.

He wrote, “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

Humble love now, exalted love later.

We are to pursue humble love like Jesus now, so that later God will exalt us in love, just like Jesus is.

Conclusion

So, as we celebrate Jesus becoming human, being born in the likeness of men, adding 100% humanity to his 100% divinity…

Remember that he did that out of humble love for you.

And remember that he became a man so that he could accomplish his mission of taking God’s wrath and dying in your place on the cross.

And he also did that out of his humble love for you.

And God the Father raised him up to a position, a glory higher than he even had before he became human.

He did all of this because he loves you, and he wants you to do likewise.

But what does that look like?

What does it look like for us to humbly love each other like Jesus has loved us?

I mean… we can’t do the exact same things Jesus did.

We’re not God, so we can’t do exactly what he did in considering his position as God something he was willing to let go of.

But we do have positions of influence and human glory that we can be willing to let go of for the sake of humble love for each other.

What glory are you willing to give up in order to love your brothers and sisters in Christ like Jesus did?

…

And we can’t consider humanity worthy to add to ourselves like Jesus did since we’re already human.

But we can consider lower positions and acts of servitude that are thankless and have no glory… we can consider these things as worthy to pursue out of humble love for each other.

What humility do you consider worthy to take on in order to love your brothers and sisters in Christ like Jesus did?

…

And we absolutely can’t obediently go to the cross out of humble love for God like Jesus did.

But we can obey God in other ways as we humbly seek to love him and others.

I mean, Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-39 that the greatest commandment is to love God with everything you are, and the second is to love others like you love yourself.

And then in verse 40 he said, “On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Obeying God is loving him, and loving each other is the sum of all that he commanded us to do.

So, what do you need to do to obediently love God and others?

…

Now, if you don’t believe in Jesus yet, then I don’t expect you to understand his humble love, and I don’t expect you to follow his example of humble love.

But you aren’t off the hook, in fact you are in a worse position.

Because you can only experience Jesus’ humble love if you believe in him for the forgiveness of your sins.

So, if you don’t believe in him, then you won’t really experience his humble love.

In life you may experience his common grace, the things he’s given to all of humanity in spite of our sin.

But in death, at the judgment, you won’t experience his loving forgiveness…

What you’ll experience is his wrath against your sin.

Jesus is the only way to be forgiven because he alone was able to take God’s wrath for you so that you wouldn’t have to… if you believe in him.

So, please believe in him and submit to him as Lord.

So that you can experience forgiveness, eternal life, and love in Christ.

Pray

Father, thank you for loving us so much.

Thank you for giving us your best, your own Son, so that we could be forgiven and live with you forever.

That’s such an amazing gift.

It’s amazing that you love us that much.

And thank you for giving us his example of love so that we can love like him.

I pray that you would bring his love to our minds every day, so that we can be encouraged to love like him.

I pray that we would all desire to love like Jesus.

And only you can make that happen in our hearts through your Holy Spirit.

And if anyone here doesn’t know your love in the gospel, I pray that you would open their hearts, open their eyes to see your love, to experience your amazing love and have new life through faith in your Son, Jesus.

I ask all these things in his name. Amen.

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