Christ Humble and Exalted

Isaiah 45:21–23 ESV

21 Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. 22 “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. 23 By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’

Prayer

Introduction

I am really excited about our passage this morning, at the same time, I’m really nervous about it. I’m excited because this passage is such a neat and awesome passage. There is lots to study and discuss and learn about it. In some ways, it is the pinnacle of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. But as I said, I’m also nervous about it. It is such a rich and awesome passage that I know that I can never do it justice. The reality is that I can’t, but I will trust that God’s Word will not return void this morning and that Christ will be glorified to the glory of God the Father.

Passage

Our passage this morning is . If you are able, please stand for the reading of God’s Word. We do this to show appreciation to God for His Word and in recognition that these are the most important words we could possibly hope to hear today. says this:

Philippians 2:5–11 ESV

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

“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.”

Thank you, you may be seated.

Sermon

As I mentioned in the introduction, this passage is absolutely amazing. One of the really cool things about this passage is that it is sometimes called the Christ Hymn. You’re going to have to bear with me for a second, because my total nerdiness is going to be on full display here for a second. This passage, specifically verses 6-11, is an early Christian hymn. When I say early, I mean one of the earliest. It was most likely written by someone other than Paul, but was known throughout the early Christian communities. It is highly likely that Paul had sung this hymn in worship with the Philippians while he was ministering among them.

We all know that songs and music have the ability to affect us deeply in ways that sometimes words alone cannot. The songs we sing in church teach us doctrine and truth. And they connect to our emotions – deeply sometimes. Paul quoting this hymn would have been a powerful reminder to the Philippians of what they already knew and confessed.

Here is another really cool thing about this hymn. When we read it, when we confess it, we are joining our brothers and sisters throughout time who have worshiped Christ in this song. We truly act as one body, praising Christ across oceans and millennia. That is really awesome. What we are doing right here, right now, this morning is not an isolated event, but is connected to all our brothers and sisters in Christ who are living and who are in Christ’s presence. We are literally worshipping before the throne of God, right now along with a multitude that cannot be numbered. People from every nation, tongue and tribe. If that doesn’t affect the way we think about worship, then we are hopeless. If that truth doesn’t help us to take our eyes off ourselves and our own preferences, then we aren’t here worshipping Christ, we are here worshipping ourselves.

I wish I could go into more detail about the technical aspects of the Christ Hymn, but time is of the essence and I want you to stay awake! Generally speaking, this sermon is laid out like an upside-down triangle. What I mean is that we are starting with broad truths and as we move along, we will get more specific and detailed. We are still kinda in the “broad” category as we move to Roman Numeral 2. “Imperatives and Indicatives”.

These are what Burkey likes to call 75 cent words, but really they are nothing to be scared of. An imperative is basically a command. Do this thing. Don’t do that thing. Think of others as more significant than yourself. You get the idea. An indicative is basically a description of what things are – it indicates the way things are. This thing is true.

I touched on this a bit last week in anticipation of this passage, but God does not give imperatives without grounding them in indicatives. That is, God does not give rules or laws without first grounding them in what is true – what has been accomplished. We saw that last week with the 10 Commandments where just before the big 10 are listed, God reminds the People that He is God and He brought them out of Egypt.

Understanding that imperatives are always grounded in indicatives is massively important. It affects the way we interact with people and it actually affects the way we interpret this passage. Basically, we have two options in this passage. We can see it as an imperative – as a command where Paul uses Jesus as an ethical example to be followed. And Christ is and ethical example to be followed, don’t get me wrong. Or we can see this passage as an indicative – this is who you are in Christ, and now since you are in Christ and have the same mind as Him, then walk accordingly.

Unfortunately, we have a habit of making rules without grounding them in the reality of the work of Christ. When we do that, we are not practicing Christianity, we are practicing moralism. We are unintentionally saying that we can be good and moral enough to merit God’s good favor. But Scripture teaches that there is none good but God. We become like the Pharisees, adding rules and laws and commands, but never living in or proclaiming the truth of who Christ is and what He has done. We must be careful not to divorce Scriptural imperatives from Scriptural indicatives.

So back to our passage. If we view this merely as a command to follow, we are going to be hopeless. To be as humble as Christ is impossible. We cannot condescend low enough to equal what Christ has done. When Christ leaves His exalted place and literally becomes the lowliest, we can’t out humble Him – or even match that humility. Not when we are already basically at that low level. And here’s the point, we cannot do anything that is pleasing to God. Not on our own. Even our best deeds are nothing when compared to the righteousness of Christ. This is why this matters, because this is the Gospel. You and I cannot obey ourselves into God’s good graces. There is none good but God. There is none righteous, no not one. None who seek after God.

John Owen uses the analogy of the man who is trying to fix the hole in his wall while his roof is burning. He makes the point that you have to put out the fire first, then fix the wall. He is not arguing for ignoring the wall, but making sure that other things are dealt with first. Similarly, I am not arguing that we ignore the imperatives – the commands of God, but that we make sure we are grounding them in the finished work of Christ. Flee to Christ in your sin, and He will make you clean. The Holy Spirit will mend the hole in the wall.

So to our passage, “have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus.” Paul is grounding the Philippians humility in who they are. They are already “in Christ”, and so they already have this deep, God honoring humility. It is theirs. Not because they are awesome, but because Christ is and they are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. The Philippians do not need a list of rules. They don’t need a morality tale. They need to be reminded of who they are in Christ and to walk in light of who they really and truly are. A humble and obedient people who seek to honor God in their lives.

We just laid a lot of groundwork. Now with all of that in mind, let’s look at what it is that Christ has done. What is our reality in Christ? Christ humbled Himself deeply. He was eternally in the form of God. What that means is that Christ had the exact character and nature of God, but did not hold on to His natural and diving right. He was equal with God – think about that. There is only one way Christ can be equal with God and that is if He shares the same nature. Christ humbles Himself and takes the form of a servant – a slave. Oh man there is so much Christological goodness in this passage. So many big, major doctrines are tied up in this that I wish I could preach on this passage for three hours. There’s the hypostatic union and the Trinity and so much great and deep theology is taught in this hymn.

One of the reasons the early church was so effective is because their doctrine – their theology was incredibly deep. These people didn’t follow Christ lightly – it was life or death for them, so they understood who it was that they worshipped.

This hymn acts as a short summary of the work of Christ from eternity back to eternity. Christ starts in Heaven. One with God – equal with God. Takes the form of a man. Dies in the most horrific way, and returns to Heaven in glory. This must have been so encouraging to the Philippians. Remember that they are being pressured to proclaim that Caesar is lord. They can’t do that. Not in light of what they know of Christ. They see that Christ’s obedience to the Father brought Him death, but it ultimately brought glory. One day, Caesar’s knee will bow, and Caesar will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Christ is victorious. Christ conquers sin, and death, and principalities, and powers, and even emperors.

And that victory is ours if we are in Christ Jesus. Our sin is conquered. Death has no sting. We are of a Heavenly Kingdom where Jesus reigns. We are righteous – not because we obey the rules, but because Christ did and we are clothed in His righteousness. Our pride has been conquered. We are a humble people because our humility is Christ’s humility. We are dead because we died with Christ. We will be resurrected and exalted because we are united with Christ in every facet. This is why sin in the life of a believer is so terrible. Since we are united with Christ, when we don’t walk according to that truth, we are bearing false witness of Christ. When we allow sin in our own midst and in our own lives, we are saying through our actions that Christ is not pure and righteous. That’s blasphemy. Christ is pure and holy, and He has made His people the same. This is what Paul is saying. Walk in light of the truth of who you are in Christ.

When we do. When we walk in newness of life. When we walk according to our new nature, we bring glory to God the Father. That is ultimately what this is all about – bringing glory to God. There is no greater goal. It is the end to which Christ went to Calvary. Let your light so shine among men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven. The Christian life is not about keeping a list of rules. The Christian life is about living in such a way that brings glory to God. If we are united to Christ (and we are as Christians), we do glorify God with our lives.

If we find ourselves in a situation where we aren’t humble. We aren’t walking in obedience. We aren’t thinking of others as more significant than ourselves. If we continue on in sin, there is a real problem. Perhaps the problem is that we are not united to Christ. Maybe the reason sin reigns in our lives is because we aren’t clothed in the righteousness of God. Jesus says that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. It is a serious question. Do you have victory over sin? Over pride? Over whatever secret sin?

I’m not suggesting sinless perfectionism, but if Christ has broken the chains of sin in your life, it will be evident. These things are true of you. Yes, we stumble and give in to the flesh. We are pulled between this “already completed” and “not yet completed” reality until Christ returns or we are called home. But our lives ought to look like Christ’s – not because we need to force ourselves to obey the rules, but because we are new creations in Christ Jesus and we love the law of God and want to glorify God in thought, word, and deed. It is not a burden; it’s a joy.

Conclusion

Maybe you are here this morning and you are a believer, but you realize that you have not been walking in the light of the Gospel. Frankly, that is most of us here. We all stumble, and I don’t say that to make light of it, but it’s still true. The answer is not to shrug our shoulders and continue on. The answer is to humbly flee to Christ. Repent of our sin and rest in our forgiveness. To walk according to who we are in Him. Brothers and sisters, there is nothing that will destroy your assurance of faith like recurring sin. When we allow sin to reign in our hearts, it causes us to doubt that we are in Christ. That is both a good thing and a bad thing. It is bad because if we are in Christ, it is a lie meant to break us down and keep us from running to Christ.

Lack of assurance can also be a good thing because it is sometimes true. It might indicate that you have no union with Christ. If you are here this morning and you realize that you have been struggling and fighting to obey rules, but you just can’t seem to do it, it is possible that you are not a believer. Please stop trying to fix the hole in your wall and focus on putting out the fire. You cannot make yourself righteous enough to please God. Your goodness would have to exceed even the Pharisees. It would have to be equal with Christ’s own righteousness. That is an impossible standard, but if you will repent of your sin and place your faith in Christ alone, then you will be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. You will have power over sin. You will be humble. You will be pure and acceptable and without blemish before God. Bend your knee and confess Christ now in humble submission, before you do it in broken judgment.

We are about to transition into a time of worship through response. We believe that any time we hear the Word of God, we respond either in worship or rebellion. Rebellion is the response of the natural man – the response of the flesh. Worship is the response of the new man who is united to Christ – who wishes to glorify God for all that He has done. I will be on the front row worshipping with you. If you would like to talk to someone or pray with someone, I’d be delighted to do that. Maybe you need to confess sin to someone or ask forgiveness for lack of humility. Whatever you do, do it in light of who you are in Christ.

Also, we will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper in just a few moments, so use this time as an opportunity to examine yourself. One of the things we do in the Lord’s Supper is proclaim our union with Christ. Make sure you are united with Christ. Scripture gives strong warnings about taking the Lord’s supper in an unworthy manner.

Let’s pray and respond to the Word of God empowered by the Spirit of God all to the glory of God.