Philippians 2:5-11 - Richness in Poverties

Introduction

I think it’s fair to say that these last several weeks, as our nation has struggled to deal with this pandemic and all of the fallout over it, that we have all seen our lives upended in ways we never would have imagined just a couple of months ago. Aside from the obvious concerns over protecting our health and the health of the people we love, we really have seen this coronavirus pandemic take a lot of things from us, haven’t we?

In our own family, we’ve been talking about all of the ways we have been affected—all of the things that we have lost because of the shutdown. Caleb was set to go on an honors society trip to Italy—that was one of the first things to get cancelled! Levi probably won’t have a high school graduation ceremony, and he’s mission out on his last season to play soccer with his friends . Hannah’s volleyball club tournaments and practices were all cancelled. Selah’s baton classes were cancelled—she’s trying to take lessons via Zoom!

And every one of us these days could just go down the list, couldn’t we? Vacations cancelled, weddings postponed or drastically altered, family get-togethers and celebrations all curtailed—things that are really important to us that have simply been taken away from us. In the grand scheme of things, losing out on a family vacation or not having a graduation ceremony may not be the most drastic loss in the world, but when they’re important to you, it’s still a loss that you feel greatly.

In some very real ways, what we are experiencing is a lot like poverty, isn’t it? Think about it: A poor person has a lot fewer options. A poor man can’t do what he wants, see who he wants, or even eat where he wants. He’s limited by money. And we’re all being forced into a kind of impoverishment in theses days—we can’t meet together in worship the way we want, we can’t always get the groceries that we want (and when we do go to the store, we can’t even walk down the aisles the way we want!)

We can’t go where we want to go or do what we want to do—and it is beginning to cause us to get increasingly frustrated with the whole situation. We are getting tired of the confinements and restrictions that this impoverishment is imposing on us, and it’s beginning to show in the demonstrations that have been boiling up at state capitols across the country. People are getting angry because their rights are being taken away, and they want them back.

But what if God has something different in mind for His people in these days? As Christians, we confess that God is in total control of this pandemic—every movement and mutation of this virus, every person that falls ill, every person that recovers and every person that succumbs, every job that is lost, every GPA that suffers, every sports season that is cancelled, every opportunity that is taken away—all of it is superintended and decreed by the eternal counsels of an all-wise, all-powerful, righteous and holy Creator who has promised that “all things will work together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28)—even the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.

What if everything you have lost (and are continuing to lose) as a result of the coronavirus—what if all of the restrictions, all of the confinements, all of the impoverishment you have suffered is God’s invitation to a deeper and more intimate life in Jesus Christ? What if all of these losses could be a source of real joy instead of frustration for you? What if this could all be a source of peace for you instead of anxiety? What if you could really say with the Apostle Paul that

Philippians 3:7–8 ESV

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

How do we get there? How do we go from frustration over losing these things that mean so much to us, being frustrated and anxious over the limitations imposed on us, to joyfully giving them up because they are nothing but a pile of crap compared to knowing Christ?

I believe that these verses before us this morning here in Philippians 2 hold the key for us to be able to do that. What I aim to demonstrate for you this morning from Philippians 2 is that

Embracing our poverties leads to the richness of our union with Christ

As we approach these verses, the first thing that we come to understand is that Jesus Christ was impoverished far more in His incarnation than you or I could ever comprehend! Look with me starting at verse 5 in Philippians 2:

Philippians 2:5–7 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.

We are to have the same mind about our impoverishments and restrictions that Jesus did. These verses call us to

I. Join Christ in His emptiness (Philippians 2:5-7)

Think of it for a moment: There is nothing that you have lost in these past few weeks—no impoverishment or restriction or confinement that you have suffered—that even comes close to the confinement that Jesus Christ experienced when He came to earth as a human being! And when we embrace our impoverishments, we join Jesus in that experience! We get to have “the same mind” as He did—to know just a taste of the impoverishment that He willingly suffered!

The original word that is translated “a thing to be grasped” in verse 6 has the idea of something that you hold on to because it is rightfully yours! Joining Christ in His emptiness means that you

Give up what is rightfully yours

Jesus deserved all of the rights and privileges of deity—He absolutely deserved the power and glory and authority and honor of God. But this passage says that He voluntarily gave up that glory! Please note—this passage does not mean that Jesus gave up being God when He “emptied Himself”—it means that He gave up the rights and privileges that were rightfully His!

Christian, when you lose the rights and privileges that are genuinely yours—when you have those things taken away from you, and instead of grasping at them and struggling, saying, “Hey—that’s mine!”, you voluntarily give them up—you are joining Jesus Christ in His emptiness, and you are entering into the richness of a deeper union with Him! You get to “have the same mind” as Christ in your poverty!

Joining Christ in His emptiness means that you willfully give up what is rightfully yours, and it means that you

Give up what glorifies you (cp. John 8:54)

Jesus deserved honor, glory, obedience, authority and praise—but instead of that, what did He receive here on earth? Hatred, abuse, scorn and ridicule. During one memorable exchange with the Jewish religious leaders, when they were openly accusing Him of being a demon-possessed Samaritan, Jesus answered,

John 8:49–50 ESV

Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge.

And again in verse 54:

John 8:54 ESV

Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’

Jesus voluntarily gave up the things that would glorify Him. Instead of “seeking His own glory”, He left it to His Heavenly Father to glorify Him when and where He decided.

Now, think of this for a moment—what “glories” has this pandemic taken away from you? What things have you had taken away that contribute to your sense of self-worth? Things that cut really close to who you are as a person. One of our students at Christian Student Fellowship came to campus to play varsity softball—she played one game at Myrtle Beach over spring break, and her whole season got cancelled out from under her. A lot of our students have struggled greatly over the switch to online classes this semester—their GPA will probably suffer, and for a lot of students that’s a real impact on their self-esteem.

So I ask again—what has this pandemic taken from you that you “glory in”? Things that make you feel good about yourself, things that make you feel worthy in your own eyes, or other’s eyes (or even worthy in God’s eyes)? Instead of clinging to these things, instead of fretting and chomping at the bit because they are lost to you right now, embrace those losses, those poverties, because losing them means that you are able to join Christ in His emptiness—you are being given an opportunity to do what He did. To give up what is rightfully yours, to give up what glorifies you, so that you may receive the riches of union with Him.

Your poverties are God’s invitation to join Christ in His emptiness, and they are His invitation to

II. Join Christ in His obedience (Philippians 2:8)

Look at verse 8:

Philippians 2:8 ESV

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

When you voluntarily give up the things that you glory in—when you embrace the humbling that comes with the impoverishment of this lockdown—it is the way that, like Jesus, you

Die to your self-worth (cp. Galatians 6:14)

Jesus not only humbled Himself by giving up the rights and privileges of being God, He went even further—He humbled Himself to the point of the most humiliating, mortifying and excruciating death of all: Death on a cross! And as you suffer the loss of the things that you lean on for your self-worth, as it seems that all of those things are being taken away from you one by one, you have the opportunity to die to all of those reasons to boast in yourself! When all of those things are gone, it frees you to be able to say with Paul in Galatians 6:14:

Galatians 6:14 ESV

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

When all your reasons for boasting in yourself are taken away—you can’t stand on your good academic record anymore, you can’t stand on your athletic season anymore, you can’t stand on your impressive job anymore or your comfortable income anymore—when you can’t boast in any of those things anymore, you are free to boast in Jesus! You are free—not to boast in what you’ve made of yourself, but in what Jesus has made of you!

Joining Jesus in His obedience means that you die to your self-worth, and you

Die to your self-will (cp. Luke 22:42)

We talked earlier about how all of these restrictions and confinements are causing people to become increasingly frustrated and embittered. We can’t go where we want to go, we can’t do what we want to do. You’ve had that experience many times over the past several weeks, haven’t you? Your favorite restaurant is closed and doesn’t offer delivery, you can’t get the ingredients you want at the grocery store, you can’t visit family and friends, you can only meet for Bible study through a stupid Zoom meeting that you can’t figure out how to work. Or those frustrations may be more intense: You’ve been laid off and your’e blowing through your savings far more quickly than you can afford, you have an elective surgery that has been cancelled, you’re in a high-risk category and really can’t get out of the house for anything.

In all of these impoverishments—whether big or small—the problem at the root of them is the fact that you can’t do what you want to do, and have to do what you don’t want to do, right? Our self-will insists on having its own way— “I want what I want, and I want it now!” But I’m convinced that everything that is happening to us in these restrictions and confinements is God’s gracious invitation to us to die to that self-will, just as Jesus did.

Think back to the night that Jesus was betrayed—He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knew the crucifixion was coming, He knew that He was about to be tortured beyond human comprehension under the wrath of Almighty God for the sins of His people—and He did not want to do it! Everything in Him recoiled in horror from what was about to happen to Him—He saw the cup His Father had prepared for Him. And what did He pray in Luke 22:42?

Luke 22:42 ESV

saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

Not my self-will be done, but Your will be done! Christian, when you can look at the cup your Father has prepared for you during this pandemic—when you can see the loss of your job and your income and your freedom and the things you depend on for your self-worth—and you say, “Father, not my will but yours be done”, it sets you free from all of that anxiety and frustration! When you accept these things as coming from His hand, you die with Jesus to your self-will, and enter into union with Him in a way that you never have before!

What impoverishments have you suffered because of this pandemic? Sit down this week and write them out, one by one. Make a list: “Loss of our family income”, “Cancellation of our vacation”, “Sports season cancelled”, “Grades suffering”, “Ministry opportunities cancelled”—whatever they might be. And when you have them all written out—everything you can think of—write at the bottom these words: “Received from the hand of my Heavenly Father, and accepted by me” with the date and your signature. Turn it into a receipt that says, “I accept these impoverishments from my Father in Heaven, and I embrace them for the sake of greater intimacy and union with Christ!” And if you have to update that list next week, you do it again. And again, and again, as long as this new reality lasts.

And the great and glorious hope that you have, Christian, is that this “new reality”—this dying to your self-will and dying to your self-worth is like every other “death” in the Christian life. Because every death in the Christian life is followed by a resurrection! Think of it—the normal pattern of the Christian life is dying and rising with Jesus, is it not? Jesus died, was buried and rose again so that you and I could be delivered from the penalty and power of our sin. And when you were baptized, you demonstrated your death with Christ to sin and your being raised to newness of life in Him!

So why should this death be any different? Christian—if you have joined Jesus Christ in His emptiness, if you have joined Him in His obedience to death to self-worth and death to self-will, then it is as certain as can be that you will

III. Join Christ in His resurrection (Philippians 2:9-10)

Look at verses 9-10 of Philippians 2:

Philippians 2:9–10 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,

When you have joined Christ in His emptiness, freely giving up what is rightfully yours, giving up what glorifies you, when you join Him in His obedience to death—dying to your self-worth and your self-will, then those impoverishments and weaknesses and confinements will no longer be a source of shame and anger and frustration for you—you will be free to

Boast in your weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9)

You will be able to say, with Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9 that you will “boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me!”

Here is the answer to the question that we asked earlier—here is how we can say that

Philippians 3:7–8 ESV

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

I don’t know what the “resurrection” on the other side of this pandemic will look like—these things are in the hands of God, not us. But we know that new life is coming, and when we embrace these ways that we are “dying” to our self-worth and self-will, we are entering into a new intimacy, a new closeness with Jesus Christ—we can say with Paul

Philippians 3:10–11 ESV

that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Think of this! When you receive these impoverishments and restrictions as from the hand of your Heavenly Father as an invitation to enter into fresh intimacy and closeness with Jesus Christ—having His mind in you—these losses will no longer restrict you! They will be a source of delight for you! You will be able to say, “No, I can’t go where I want anymore, I can’t do what I want or go to work or school! But these losses enable me to live out the Gospel story of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ!” You have the opportunity here to be just like Jesus—giving up the things that are rightfully yours and take this cup from the Hand of your Heavenly Father, entering into death to yourself and your self-will so that you may be raised to a new life to glory in your weaknesses and

Glorify the Name you bear (1 Peter 4:16)

In his first letter to the churches, the Apostle Peter writes to a group of people who were coming under an increasing amount of persecution for their faith. So he writes to them to encourage them to stand firm and trust God during the trials and tribulations that were coming their way. He writes in 1 Peter 4:16

1 Peter 4:16 ESV

Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

While in that letter Peter was talking about suffering persecution for our faith, surely we can apply this same exhortation to the suffering we find ourselves in during this pandemic.

We are called to glorify God by the way we bear the name of Christian. And when we have traded the anxiety, fearfulness and frustration of these days with the peace and contentment of knowing what kind of story we are in (and where we are in that story—that there is a resurrection coming for us!), and when we are able to say to our Heavenly Father, “Not my will, but Yours be done” as we accept these hardships from His Hand, when every fresh hardship of illness, a collapsing economy, restriction of our liberties that comes upon us brings us fresh reasons to rejoice because it’s another invitation to move deeper into intimacy with our Savior, when our faces grow brighter as the days grow darker— the world around us will look at us and say, “Surely God is with these people! Show us this peace you have that passes all our ability to understand!”

Christian, this is the treasure that you have this morning—the richness hidden in your COVID-19 poverties! So embrace the losses you face, see in them an invitation from your Heavenly Father to experience fresh intimacy and union with Jesus Christ as you join Him in His emptiness, His obedience, and His resurrection!

And if you are listening today and you don’t have that relationship with Jesus Christ, then you have no treasure in Him—you have no way of drawing near to Him, and there is no promise that any death will be followed by new life for you. In fact, your position is the exact opposite: Every life is followed by nothing but death. Eternal death apart from the presence of God, under His eternal wrath in Hell.

But you have a chance today! You can make this the day when you die with Jesus Christ to your sin! Confess that you are a sinner and hopelessly condemned before God, tell Him that you are trusting in His death, burial and resurrection for the forgiveness of your sins, and cry out to Him to save you! These are uncertain days—you don’t know when you may ever have this opportunity again—so don’t put it off, don’t wait another moment! Come—and welcome—to Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

What were some of the ways that Jesus found Himself confined and restricted when He came to earth to be born as a man and live among us? How does your experience of losing your rights and privileges during this quarantine help you “have the same mind as Christ”?

What are some things that you have lost because of the coronavirus quarantine? What have you learned about the ways you may have been depending on those things for your self-esteem? Has losing those things drawn you to find your worth in Christ alone?

Read Luke 22:42 again. How did Jesus demonstrate death to His self-will in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before He was crucified? How can you demonstrate this same kind of obedience to your Heavenly Father during this quarantine?

How can you glorify the name “Christian” by the way you handle the restrictions and losses caused by this pandemic? What does this passage teach you about where the power to handle these things in a God-honoring way comes from?