Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

How many of you have ever heard of the show called Undercover Boss?

Several years ago this show came out and the title tells you all that you need to know.

A boss/CEO would go undercover and interview for various positions within his or her company and get to know several other employees during this process.

While there were some awkward and tense moments in the show, by and large there were numerous examples of employees impressing their undercover boss so much that at the end of the episode the CEO would often assist them.

Now, these employees didn’t know who they were training and why there were TV cameras involved - they simply had a job to do.

Some passed with flying colors, others were jerks and some even got fired from their jobs!

One particular episode stood out to me as a CEO gave out $15,000 to help an employee pay off student loans, $50,000 to help another employee’s disabled parent, and $150,000 to help pay off the mortgage/house of an employee.

These workers didn’t know that there would be a reward like this associated with doing their job, they simply did their job and they were shocked to learn of the identity of their trainee.

As we continue in our study of Philippians, we now find ourselves in chapter 2 as Paul continues to write to his friends about the joy of following Jesus.

He has talked about the benefits of knowing where he is going and the joy of sharing the Gospel in chapter 1 and we can relate to these joys as Christians, can’t we? It’s a joy to share the Gospel and it’s a comfort to know where our eternal destination is… However in chapter 2 Paul touches on a topic that many of us don’t find “joy” in and that topic is that of humility and serving others.

How many of you would say that you are humble?

If you raised your hand, you’re not because that’s not something that a truly humble person would do!

Humility is a difficult thing in our world to figure out.

Some people look at humility as a bad thing because they think that you should have self-confidence and others talk so much about humility that they never speak for themselves and they think less of themselves as a result.

Tim Keller put it well whenever he said this, “True humility is not thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less.”

This morning we’re going to look at the greatest example of Christian humility as Jesus Christ humbled Himself in the incarnation and was obedient to die on the cross.

We’re going to look at how Jesus calls us to humble ourselves and obey His call to be light in our dark world as we proclaim the Gospel to those around us faithfully.

Before we dive into the text, though, ask yourself this question: Who am I serving today?

Am I serving Jesus or am I serving myself?

Am I putting my needs and ideas above those of my brothers and sisters in Christ as Philippians 2:4 warns against?

Am I looking out for me or am I looking out for others?

My hope for all of us is that through this text, we’d be encouraged to not think less of ourselves but to think of ourselves less and think of Jesus so much more!

Let’s read this great Christological hymn in Phil 2:5-11

What Has Jesus Done? (5-11)

In these opening verses we read about what Jesus has done and Paul begins by sharing to his listeners to “adopt the same attitude of Jesus Christ.”

As we examine what Jesus has done, make sure to ask yourself along the way if you are someone who longs to get more and more or are you one who longs to give more and more?

Is your mindset on humility and compassion for others or on your self and on your gain?

We all need to be reminded of what Jesus has done: He humbled Himself and choose to die for sinners.

As a result our command is to live our Philippians 2:4 which you all studied earlier

We read in verses 6-11 some glorious truths concerning Jesus Christ and you should be able to see this demonstrated on the screen.

Look at these truths:

Renunciation (6)

Incarnation (7)

Crucifixion (8)

Exaltation (9)

Adoration (10-11)

Look at these verses.

Jesus existed in the form of God but didn’t consider equality with God something to be exploited - what does that mean?

It means that Jesus is the same substance as God - something we’ll get to in a few minutes - but He submitted to the will of the Father and in verse 7 emptied Himself and took on humanity by becoming a servant.

What do you think this means?

Verse 6 says that Jesus is fully God and verse 7 says that He emptied Himself and became a human servant… Does this mean that Jesus emptied Himself of His deity?

In other words, did Jesus stop being fully God?

How many of you have ever heard of something called the Hypostatic Union?

That’s a $5 word but it’s relatively straightforward: The union of Jesus’ divine and human natures.

Meaning this: Based on Scripture, we believe that Jesus was fully God and fully man - not half and half.

This is hard for us to fully understand because if you have a glass of water that is full to the brim and you grab a second glass of water that is full to the brim and you pour the first glass into the second, what will happen?

The water will spill onto the floor!

Coaches sometimes talk about giving 110% but at the end of the day that is an impossibility for us as humans - anything over 100% will spill out.

100% + 100% equals 200%, yet Jesus didn’t have split personality disorder.

In His person was fully God and fully man.

Think of this, who is your favorite superhero?

Superman/Batman/Captain America/Iron Man/ etc… All of these people have a human side and they have a special side with an ability or power.

Think of Jesus, the original superhero if you will, He is fully man but He also has His divine attributes and power.

He never for one nanosecond stopped being fully God - He veiled His glory at times and at other times He unleashed it - see Mount of Transfiguration.

He humbled Himself from the throne room of heaven to the forgotten room in Bethlehem.

From the heights of glory to the depths of shame.

From the wonders of heaven to the wickedness of man.

From throne to tree.

From worship to wrath.

From the glory place to the gory place.

The eternal Son of God came and put on human flesh and died in our place on the cross.

There is no greater display of humility in the world than what Jesus did for His followers on the cross

In Roman society, crucifixion was viewed as the worst and most embarrassing death imaginable as it was humiliating.

In fact, Roman citizens were exempt from this type of death.

The hymn continues because the story of Jesus doesn’t stop at the cross as we’re getting ready to celebrate on Easter Sunday!

Jesus rose from the grave and was exalted by God… Why did Jesus rise from the grave?

It was according to God’s predetermined plan as Acts 2 and 4 share with us

Because death had no claim on Him.

John 14:30 speaks of this truth

Death couldn’t hold Jesus because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) and Jesus paid the wages of sin in full and since death had no claim on Him, He couldn’t stay dead.

He rose from the dead and 40 days later ascends back to glory, exalted to the right hand of the Father, and is given the name above every other name - which name is that?

It’s not the name Jesus.

Jesus was His given name at His incarnation - Lord is His given name after His exaltation.

What does the name Lord mean?

Lord means master, sovereign, ruler, or supreme one.

Jesus is exalted and the promise is that one day, every knee will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

In our world who do people say the “ruler” is? Often people say that they are their own ruler.

In the 1st century world there was en expectation to say that Caesar is Lord and to not say this was an act of insubordination and could get you tossed in jail… But to say that Jesus is Lord, as the early Christians declared, could get you killed.

There are some Christians today who face this same threat day in and day out!

Yet there are many today, just like the Romans 2000 years ago, who refuse to make this declaration in this day and age.

One day coming they will make that declaration, but if you wait until that day it’ll be far too late.

So let’s recap: Who is Jesus/What did Jesus Do?

Eternal Son of God

Fully God and Fully Man

Humbled Himself (Suffering Servant - Isaiah 52/53)

Died on Cross

Rose from Grave

Ascended to Heaven

Worshiped as Lord by All

Why did Jesus do all of this?

For God’s glory

Why Am I Here? (12-18)

So if Jesus did all of this for God’s glory and for our salvation, we’d better figure out what’s expected of us as His followers and if you’re not a follower of Jesus as we just studied verses 5-11 I hope that there’s something stirring in your heart this morning to trust in Jesus.

We’ll talk about this more as we continue our study through Philippians but consider for a moment the gift of salvation.

Salvation is 100% God’s work and God’s gift.

We cannot earn our salvation but as people who are saved, we are given responsibilities and obligations to do on a regular basis.

Think about this: What is your Purpose in life?

Glorify God

Proclaim Gospel