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Welcome to God's Word for You, from Ministry of Sharon Arby 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 2, beginning at verse 1. This is God's Word. Grass withers, flower fades, the Word of our God endures forever. So 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 robbery to be equal to God, but made himself of no reputation taking the form of a bondservant, 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.
Amen. 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 a name which is above everything. I just want you to, this morning, just stop. You got cares from this world? You have things going on in your life.
For the next couple minutes, just put it to the side and 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 the model of humility. Look to Jesus, the model of humility.
First Point
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 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 are 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 have they played? What were their moves?
You might look to Michael Jordan and see, OK, 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 wanted 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 gonna look to Jesus as the author and perfecter of your faith. how you're, Jesus is 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 11, is just looking at what that meant for Jesus to be humble. So your 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. See, Jesus was God. Jesus is God. There might be all sorts of people in this world who would try to downplay who 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, and it's not something hidden in the scriptures. It's right there. Philip says, when will we see the Father? Show us the Father, and Jesus looks at Philip, his disciple, and he says, how long have I been with you, Philip? If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. This isn't something hidden.
Isaiah, it's not just in the New Testament, in the Old Testament, Isaiah saw Jesus. Do 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, he thinks he's going to die. Who does he see?
Well, John is clear in chapter 12 that Isaiah saw Jesus sitting on that. 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 7. laid it all aside, took on the flesh and man. Think of heaven. 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 XIV built up this gigantic mansion? I mean, it's 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, it's gold everywhere. I mean, the chandeliers are made out of it. There's pillars on the walls made out of it. It's inlaid on the floor. And everybody there was meant to walk into that palace and their mouths were meant to, jaws dropped to the floor, gawking. This place is incredible.
Jesus had a palace. far greater than King Louis XIV in 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 him. 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 in Iraq. 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 and became a bonds. 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 1 tells us about Jesus. He came to serve you. Who are we? You had 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.
This Christ emptied himself, made himself of no reputation, came to perform a service. 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. Cross, Jesus was a man, fleshly, Jesus still got that flesh. He's still a resurrected man. He's still, you can pinch him.
Jesus knew what it was like to be born. He knew what it was like to be hungry. He was in that desert for 40 days and 40 nights without water, without food. And one of the greatest understatements of the entire Bible in Matthew 4 is, and Jesus was hungry. Jesus 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 of Jesus became man meant Jesus, the law giver of Mount Sinai, became the law keeper of every man. Law which you've broken, law which I have broken, Jesus Christ kept. Perfect. 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. He 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, put to death as an innocent man. This is why Pilate says, I find no fault in it. 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 Galgoth and hung upon a tree. as your curse upon him. Jesus Christ's obedience is given to your righteousness. And the death that you deserve as a lawbreaker, 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, is that Jesus Christ, your very foundation of your salvation, is that Jesus Christ was humiliated. That Jesus Christ was hung. That Jesus Christ emptied himself. It doesn't end there for Jesus, does it? If that was the end of the story, that'd 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. dead for you. And that's what we find in verses 9 through 11, 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 exaltation, the lifting up, the grandeur, 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 9.
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 presence, no king, no Caliph, 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? and 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're to sing the praises of Jesus. You're to tell others about the praises of Jesus. When somebody comes and they use 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 the 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. That means there ain't no escaping from this. Everybody is going to bow the knee to Jesus. Everyone, everyone will bow the knee to Jesus. Are you? Are you bowing the knee to Jesus? Are you subjecting yourself to the Lord in this unit? Are you bowing in humility before Jesus?
Because every knee is going to bow to Jesus, but also every tongue is going to confess He is Lord. Look at me. at verse 11, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord. This idea 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 worshiply, 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 their 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 Gennesarene demoniac, that man who had possessed who had a legion of demons in him? Do you remember what happened when 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, they'll bow the knee to Jesus and confess that he's Lord. They're not going to do it because they're worshiping 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 or saves you, or 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 to the point of death? Why would he do all this?
Because Jesus was consumed with his Father's glory. Look at me. 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 Pilate, 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, he suffered the full wrath that you deserve. that I deserve, he does it, 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 the glory of God your Father. When you are obedient to the commands of Jesus Christ because you love Him, you do it to the glory of your Father.
What is your chief end of man? Your chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. You have a great promise. You have a great Savior. You have one who is exalted, who is highly lifted up. Christian, have joy. Have joy because your Redeemer lives. Your King in heaven lives. And when you sing these psalms, when you pray in Jesus' name, you exalt Him and your Father is Lord.
God, we thank you. 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 them. Lord, we pray that you would make our joy complete in Jesus. For your glory, in his name we pray, amen. Welcome to God's Word for Youth, a ministry of Sharon Arby 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.