Philippians 2:5-11
Your Humble and Exalted King!
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The Humbled and Exalted Christ
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Php 2:5–11.
Transcript
Welcome to God's Word for You, a Ministry of Sharon RP Church in Southeast Iowa. We want to thank you for listening today and we pray that you'll be blessed by both hearing God's word as well as having it applied to your life and your heart.
Philippians chapter two, beginning at verse 1. This is God's word. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God endures forever. Pay attention.
“Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each other esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal to God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and of those on the earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Men, I'm just gonna invite you this morning to one thing. Just bask, just bask in what the scriptures tell us about what Jesus says. This is one of the most famous passages of the scriptures about who Jesus is: our humble and exalted king. Our king who is lowly, and yet, through his lowliness was given to Him a name which is above every name. I want you this morning to just stop. You’ve got cares from this world, you’ve got things going on in your life; for the next couple minutes, just put it to the side. Just focus on Jesus. Just focus on our model of what humility looks like for the next few minutes.
And so the first thing we do for that is we realize we're to look to Jesus as a model of humility. Look to Jesus as a model of humility. That's your first point. Look with me at verse five, “let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Last week way we spent all week looking at verses one through four about what it meant to have one mind, being one soul, not being conceited, not being those who were after our own good, but being after the good of others, esteeming others better than ourselves. That's where the Scriptures left us last week. And this week we pick up and it tells us: So this is what you're supposed to do. Here's the model you're supposed to look to.
If you were to try to get good at anything in life, let's say that you wanted to get good at sports. If you wanted to get good at basketball, what would you do besides just practicing? You might get a role model, wouldn't you? You would think, “What have the greatest people in this sport done? How they played? What were their moves?” You might look at Michael Jordan and see, okay, how do I run like he did so I could jump like he did? So I could be like Mike. Or if you want to throw a spiral and you want to be able to throw long touchdown passes, you might look to a good quarterback. You might look to Tom Brady. If you want to learn how to swim fast you would look to a model like Michael Phelps and you would see, okay, how does he swim? How do I become like that? You're to look at Jesus as the author and perfecter of your faith. You're to use that mark. Jesus is your aim. Jesus is the model of what you're going towards in humility. And the whole rest of this is looking at verses six through eleven and just looking at what that meant for Jesus.
Be humble, the second point. See the humiliation, your second point. See the humiliation of Jesus. Look with me at verse six, “Who, being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.” Jesus was God. Jesus is God. There might be all sorts of people in this world who try to, downplay Jesus “was.” They might say he was a good teacher. He was a good prophet. He was a role model. Oh, He did lots of good things, but the stumbling stone for most people is this foundational truth of Christianity that Jesus Christ is God.
It's not something hidden in the Scriptures. It's right there, Philip says, “Show us. When will we see the Father? Show us the Father.” Jesus looks at Philip, his disciple, and he says, “How long have I been with you Philip? Since you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.” This isn't something hidden. In Isaiah, it’s not just in the New Testament, in the Old Testament, Isaiah saw Jesus. You remember Isaiah chapter six when he has that vision of the Throne Room of God, where he goes there and the angels, the seraphim, the burning ones, are standing there with six wings. With two they're covering their eyes, and with two they're covering their feet, and with two, they're flying and they continually cry out, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God of Hosts!” And Isaiah's response is, “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips,” and he's seeing the Face of God and he thinks he's gonna die. Who does he see?
John is clear in chapter 12 that Isaiah saw Jesus sitting on the Throne. John Chapter 12 is clear that Isaiah saw your king, your risen Lord Jesus Christ in that vision of Heaven. Jesus Christ was God but yet being in the form of God, he humbled. Look with me, at verse seven, “But he made himself no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men.”
This idea, if he made himself of no reputation, is better translated, “and he emptied himself.” Jesus Christ, the God man who dwelt forever in eternity past, as a second person of the Trinity emptied himself, voided himself, laid it all aside, took on the flesh of man. Think of it! Have you ever thought about Heaven before? I know this is something that when Olivia and I got married, we wanted to do a study on “What is Heaven?” There's all sorts of pictures of Heaven, especially in Revelation, and the closest I could come to sometimes, is the Palace of Versailles. Have you ever heard of that palace in France where King Louis the 14th built up this gigantic mansion with sprawling acres? If you go to France today and you go just outside Paris, I guarantee you, if you go to France, some tourist is going to say, or some, trip advisor is going to say you have to go to the Palace of Versailles, because it is the most gaudy thing you could ever lay your eyes on. I mean, its gold, everywhere. I mean, the chandeliers are made out of it, there's pillars on the walls made out of it, it is laid on the floor. And everybody there was meant to walk into that palace and their jaws were meant to drop to the floor gawking, “This place is incredible.”
Jesus had a palace far greater than King Louis the 14th and France ever had. And yet Jesus Christ traded those streets of gold for dusty roads. Jesus Christ, who the angels cried out, “Holy Holy Holy is He!” traded it in for his own people to cry out, “Crucify him. Crucify him. Crucify.” Jesus Christ emptied himself. Jesus Christ, who sat on his throne in splendor and in Majesty gave it up, emptied himself that he might be a poor beggar. Jesus Christ’s family was poor. They had to offer two pigeons. They couldn't afford a lamb, they couldn't afford a ram. They had to offer one of the lowliest sacrifices at the temple for poor people. Jesus Christ became poor. He emptied himself. He became a bondservant.
This is the amazing thing about Christianity. Your savior came not to be served, but to serve. The God of the universe who through him and by him the Father created everything, and by him all things are sustained. That's what Hebrews one tells us about. Jesus came to serve you. Who are we that he would come to serve us? He came as a servant. And you remember how uncomfortable that scene was for the apostles when the disciples were sitting there at the last supper, and what did Jesus do? He took off his outer garments and He got down on his hands and knees with a bowl of water and he went down to wash his disciples’ feet. And right away Peter says, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't wash my feet. I need to be washing your feet.” Jesus says, “Unless I wash your feet, it’s over. You can't get to the Father unless I serve you.” Christ emptied himself. Made himself of no reputation.
Verse eight, he humbled himself. Look at verse eight, “And being found in the appearance as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death of the cross.” Jesus was a man. Fleshly. Jesus has still got that flesh. He's still a resurrected man. You can pinch him. Jesus knew what it was like to be born. He knew what it was like to be hungry in that desert for 40 days and 40 nights without water and without food. And one of the greatest understatements of the entire Bible in Matthew four is, “Jesus was hungry.” He knows what it's like to be you. Jesus knows what it's like to be tempted in every way like we are. And yet, without sin. Praise God. He became obedient.
This idea Jesus became man, met Jesus, the law giver of Mount Sinai, became the law keeper of every man. Law which you have broken, a law which I have broken. Jesus Christ kept perfectly. Jesus Christ in that covenant of works, when God told Adam, “You shall not eat from this tree. You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for the day you eat of it, you shall surely die.” Our forefathers failed, our Lord succeeded. He was totally obedient. He came under the law, willingly. He took on flesh, willingly. It took the God of the universe to empty himself that you might be saved. He suffered death and became obedient to the point of death.
You know what it's like to read news stories of someone being killed unjustly. And we get in a rage about it. And when people are murdered, when justice is perverted, when things like this happen, we get furious about it. Jesus Christ was put to death as an innocent man. This is why Pilot says, “I find no fault in him.” The Pharisees couldn't prove him wrong. The miracles proved that He and the Father are one. And yet every chance they had, it seemed like they were trying to push him off a cliff, or pick up a rock and stone him, until finally they figured out how to do it, to kill him by the Romans. Jesus Christ willingly walked up that Mount of Calvary, went up to Golgotha, and hung upon a tree as your curse upon him. Jesus Christ’s obedience has given you your righteous and the death that you deserve as a law breaker he took upon himself on that cross. That great day of Calvary when he defeated the works of sin. He did it for you, Christian. He did it for you.
This is the only hope we have, that Jesus Christ, the very foundation of your salvation, is that Jesus Christ was humiliated. That Jesus Christ was humbled. That Jesus Christ emptied himself. It doesn’t end there for Jesus, does it? If that was the end of the story, that would be great, but we have a better hope than just that Jesus died on the cross for us. But Jesus rose from the dead for you. Jesus rose from the dead for you. And that's what we find in verses nine to eleven is not just that Jesus Christ was humiliated but Jesus Christ, because of his obedient humiliation, because of his emptying of himself willingly, was also exalted. That's what we're going to spend the rest of our morning on is the exultation, the lifting up, the grandeur of the great name of Jesus.
The first part of what should be your reaction if you are responding in faith, to having this mind in you, which is also in Christ Jesus, of being humble like Jesus, is you are to lift up the name of Jesus. Look with me at verse nine, “Therefore, God has also exalted him and given him a name which is above every name.” Christian, you are to magnify, you are to lift up the name of Jesus Christ. There's no president, no king, no emperor, no sultan, no chancellor, no dictator, no one in power, ever, in this entire universe who has a greater name than Jesus Christ your Lord. He has a name which is above every name, Christian.
What do you have to fear? If the Lord is with you, who can be against you? You serve the Lord of the universe. Jesus Christ is your Lord, Christian. He is the one you are to exalt with your mouth, you are to sing the praises of Jesus. You're to tell others about the praises of Jesus. When somebody comes and they used the slur, the heinous mockery of Jesus's name as a curse word, you’re to say, “Don’t you talk about my Savior like that. He's a Lord and He deserves respect.” He's your Lord and he deserves to be exalted because God has given him a name above every name.
But you’re also to bow your knee to Jesus. Look with me at verse 10, “That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those in heaven, of those on the earth, and of those under the earth.” This is a Jewish way, this is a Semitic way. This is a way that Jews would write. You find it all over the Old Testament about using the heavens and on the earth and under the earth. That means everyone. I mean, there ain't no escaping from this. Everybody is going to bow the knee to Jesus. Everyone, everywhere will bow the knee to Jesus. Are you? Are you bowing the knee to Jesus? Are you subjecting yourself to the Lord? Are you bowing in humility before Jesus? Because every knee is going to bow to Jesus.
But also, every tongue is going to confess that He is Lord. Look with me at verse eleven, “And that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord.” This idea that you have of confessing, it might better be translated, “And every tongue will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord.” In heaven, those who are in heaven, will willingly, and worshipingly with their tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. They'll do it. They’ll bow their knee to Jesus because he's their God. And at the last great day, when God renews the earth and his people dwell in the resurrected bodies upon the earth, every knee is going to bow to Jesus and every tongue will confess that he is Lord.
But it doesn't just stop there. You remember the story of the man who was possessed by a legion of demons in him? You remember what happened with Jesus came before that demon possessed man? What happened? Did the demons not know who Jesus was? No, they knew exactly who Jesus was. “What do you want from us, Son of the Most High God?” The demons know who Jesus is and tremble. And under the earth, the Old Testament word for this is Sheol, in the depths of the grave and hell will bow the knee to Jesus and confess that He is Lord. They are not gonna do it because they're worshipping him willfully, but because the back of their knees have been kicked in by God Almighty.
So how will you confess that Jesus is Lord? How will you bow? Will it be because He saved you? Will you do it because the Sovereign Lord is forcing you to confess the name of Jesus. Why did Jesus do all this? Why in the world would Jesus humble himself? Why in the world would he empty himself? Why in the world would he take on the form of man and be obedient, even the point of death? Why would he do all this? Because Jesus was consumed with his Father's glory.
Look with me at verse 11, “And that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the father.” Your last point, glorify God with Jesus. Glorify God with Jesus. When Jesus Christ emptied himself, He did it for his Father’s glory. When Jesus Christ made himself obedient, He did it to his Father's glory. When Jesus Christ sat under the temptations of Satan and overcame them, he did it to his Father's glory. When Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilot, he did it for his Father’s glory. When Jesus Christ marched up that hill of Calvary, bearing his cross, he did it for his father's glory. When he was hung on that cross and he looked at the man next to him and he said, “Today you will be with me in paradise,” He did it for his Father's glory. When he took his final breath and he suffered the full wrath that you deserve, that I deserve, he did it, that finished work, for his Father’s glory. So when you humble yourself, you do it for the Father's glory. When you are more concerned about what others need than yourself, you do it for the Father’s glory. When you get rid of vain glory and empty conceit, you do it for the Father’s glory. When you lift up the name of Jesus above every other name, you do it to the glory of God your Father. When you are obedient to the commands of Jesus Christ, because you love him, you do it the glory of your Father.
What is your chief end man? Your chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. You have great promise. You have a great safety. You have one who is exalted who is high and lifted up. Christian, have joy, because your redeemer lives; your king in heaven lives. And when you sing these psalms, when you pray in Jesus's name, you exalt Him and your Father is glorified.
God, Lord, we don't deserve such a blessing. Lord, we know what we deserve, but you haven't given it to us, you’ve given it to your son. Lord we pray that your Holy Spirit would apply these words to our hearts, to our lives. God, forgive us for how quickly we forget. Lord we pray you would make our joy complete in Jesus, for your glory. In His name we pray, amen.
Welcome to God’s Word for You, a Ministry of Sharon RP Church in Southeast Iowa. We want to thank you for listening today, and we pray that you be blessed by both hearing God's word as well as having it applied to your life and your heart.