HUMBLING DOWN LIKE JESUS
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on January 22, 2025 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group: January 22, 2025 from Philippians 2:5-11
Theme: When we look at how Jesus humbled Himself for us, we must humble ourselves for each other.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
Wouldn’t you rejoice to be in a church family in which everyone was like-minded toward the things of God and where everyone had the same love toward each other? Wouldn’t you be glad to be in a church family in which everyone was motivated by the same sense of divinely appointed purpose? Wouldn’t it be great to live in a church family in which each believer in it not only looked out for his or her own interests, but also the interests of all the others?
That was the kind of attitude Paul sought for the church in Philippi. In our last time together, we looked at how Paul—who was experiencing the joy of the Lord Jesus in his own trial of imprisonment—wrote and asked this small band of believers to “fulfill” his joy through their own fellowship with each other. He told them,
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 esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interests of others (Philippians 2:1-4).
What a witness a church like that would be to the world! But it couldn’t happen unless the people in that church were willing to humble themselves in a remarkable way. Such humility would have to come from a source other than from our own human abilities. And so, the apostle Paul pointed his readers to the greatest of all possible examples when he went on to write:
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 with 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 the name which is above every name, 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, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (vv. 5-11).
We can’t live up to the kind of practical Christian love that Paul wrote about in verses 1-4 apart from first being personally impacted by the example set forth in verses 5-11. And so the apostle, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, revealed the mystery of Jesus’ condescending love and showed his readers how far down in love Jesus humbled Himself in order to save us.
After knowing and experiencing Jesus’ condescending love for us, how could we ever remain selfishly ambitious, or conceited, or unwilling to humble ourselves in serving the needs of one another? As this passage shows us, when we—in the enabling grace of the Holy Spirit—look at how Jesus humbled Himself for us, we must humble ourselves for each other.
* * * * * * * * * *
Now; the apostle Paul gave his readers some very high theology in this passage. But it’s a theology we can grasp because it’s displayed to us in the life of our beloved Savior. In verses 5-6, he showed how Jesus had a right to be honored; but then, in verses 6-8, he described Jesus’ descent into humility for us into a world where He was dishonored. And then, in verses 9-11, he showed forth how Jesus’ humiliation led to His exaltation to glory.
And this is meant to present us with an example to follow. Paul made this clear to his readers when he wrote, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus …” The “mind” he spoke of is the same kind of “mind” he wrote about in verse 2 when he said, “fulfill my joy by being like-minded”. It’s the idea of having the same ‘mindset’—the same ‘attitude’. All the believers were to have the same “mind” with each other; and that mind was to be the “mind” (that is, the mindset and attitude) exemplified by the Lord Jesus Himself in His sacrifice for us.
So then; let’s first consider this ‘mind’ in terms of what Paul said about …
1. JESUS’ RIGHT TO HONOR (vv. 5-6a).
In verses 5-6a, Paul wrote, “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 with God …”
Paul here uses two phrases to describe the divine honor of the Son of God in His pre-incarnate glory. In the first phrase, Paul uses the Greek noun morphē, which is by the word “form”—or, in some Bibles—”nature”. When we English-speaking people think of the word “form” today, we tend to think strictly in terms of the outward appearance of a thing. But this word means more than just the idea of mere outward appearance. Implied in it is the very essence of the thing of which it is the form. “The form of God”, as Paul intends it here, includes in it the idea of the very essence of God that shows itself in the form.
It would be impossible for the Son of God to be “in the form of God” in this sense without actually being God—the Second Person of the Trinity. Paul described Him in Colossians 1:15-17 in this way:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist” (Col. 1:15-17).
This teaches us about Jesus’ essential dignity, and about His full right to be honored as the One who exists in the very form of God from all eternity. And another phrase Paul used helped to express the awareness Jesus had of His own majesty as the Son of God. Paul wrote that, being in the form of God, Jesus “did not consider it robbery to be equal with God”. Our Lord—in knowing that He was in the form of God—did not consider that He was in any way ‘stealing’ any glory from God the Father—as if He had been thinking of Himself higher than He was. In John 8:58, He told the Jewish leaders who opposed and questioned Him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM”—using the very sacred name that God used of Himself before Moses, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14). And on the night in which He was betrayed, He prayed to the Father and said,
“And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5).
There couldn’t be a clearer affirmation of Jesus’ own divine majesty than to say that He is “equal with God”. And so, we could never fully appreciate how far down in loving humility Jesus descended for us if we do not first appreciate the essential dignity and full right to divine honor that He willingly set aside for us.
And so, in the light of this, let’s then go on to consider . . .
2. JESUS’ DESCENT INTO HUMILITY (vv. 6b-8).
Paul described our Lord’s descent downward for us in three steps.
First, he showed us that our Lord didn’t consider the honor of equality with God something to be held on to. In verse 6, he wrote that—being in the form of God, and recognizing that the majesty of God was His by right—He “made Himself of no reputation”.
The Bible version that I’m using translates Paul’s words this way; that the Son of God, “being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God”. Other Bible versions translate it that the Son “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped …” And this would certainly be true to what has already been affirmed. If Jesus had clung to His right to be honored as God, He would not have been taking anything to Himself that didn’t rightfully belong to Him. He would not have been guilty of presumption, or of any act of robbery; because He truly is God, and the full right to be honored as God genuinely belonged to Him.
Have you ever been in an antique store or a thrift store and seen something unusual and rare? When you do, you eagerly “grasp” it, and tuck it under your arm so that it won’t be lost to you or so that no one else will scoop it up. That’s the same sort of action that is being described in this noun. There’s a sense of eagerness behind this word, translated as “something to be grasped”. It describes a thing that, once you see it, you seize it up quickly and hang on to it tightly. Many people “grasp”, with that kind of eagerness, after such things as “position” or “power” or “influence” or “riches” or “fame”. Once possessing such things as “recognition” or “applause”, or “respect”, or “wealth”, few people would ever think of giving them up.
But what a contrast this is to our wonderful Savior! In our passage this morning, we see that Jesus Christ—in His pre-incarnate state—possessed all the right to receive honor as God. He would have had every right to hold onto His position of power and respect, and remain in it forever. But when He saw the desperate need that our sins placed us in, He didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped and eagerly clung to. Rather, He set aside His right to honor and glory, so that He might serve us and meet our desperate need. And His behavior stands as the basis of the behavior we are now to exhibit toward one another. We’re called upon to forsake ‘honor’ on behalf of each other just as Jesus did for us—letting nothing be done by us toward one another out of selfish ambition or conceit.
Second, Paul showed his readers that Jesus lovingly descended even further from His glory, in that—more than not grasping on to His right to glory—Jesus willingly became “of no reputation” for us. In verse 7, Paul wrote that our Lord didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, “but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men” (v. 7).
The apostle Paul used a very important word in this verse to describe what Jesus did for us. The Greek verb he uses is kenoō; and its basic meaning is “to make empty”. In Romans 4:14, it’s used to describe how the law makes faith “void”; and in 1 Corinthians 1:17 to show how preaching in the wisdom of words would make the gospel “of no effect”. Some versions even translate Paul’s words in our passage by saying that the Lord Jesus “emptied Himself”. But if we were to think that Jesus “emptied Himself” of any of the essential attributes of God in the sense that He made them “void” or “of no effect”, we would badly misunderstand Paul’s meaning. If the Son of God had “emptied Himself” of any of His divine attributes that are essential to being God, then He would have ceased to be God. And the Bible is very clear that the Son of God retained His full deity even while He walked the earth as a man. And so, the best way to translate this verb is found in the version I’m using—that is that, He “made Himself of no reputation”. What He emptied Himself of were the divine prerogatives and privileges and rights that legitimately belonged to Him as one who is equal with God.
A helpful way to understand this—although a far from adequate way—would be to think of the kind of story in which a great, mighty, majestic king stepped down from his throne, put on the everyday working clothes of a poor and impoverished slave, and walked among the poverty-stricken people of his kingdom to meet with them where they were, to sympathize with them in their need, and to save them from their troubles. To have put on the clothes of a slave wouldn’t have meant that the king emptied himself of any of the essential attributes of his royalty. It wouldn’t mean that he had, in any way, abdicated his throne or renounced his authority as king. He would have simply “emptied himself” of his rights to glory and majesty by putting on the humble clothes of a peasant. That—in an imperfect sense—is what Jesus did for us.
And in emptying Himself of majesty, what was it that he took to Himself instead? Paul mentions two things. First, we see that He made Himself of no reputation, “taking the form of a bondservant”. And second, our Lord made Himself of no reputation by “coming in the likeness of men”. This is meant to emphasize His complete identification with us in our humble need and to communicate the depths of His condescension for us. He came in our likeness. He felt our pain. He felt our hunger. He felt our thirst. He felt our exhaustion. He felt our disappointments. He came not to be served, but to serve and give His life a ransom for us. The Bible tells us,
We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
It’s hard for us to grasp what a tremendous condescension this was. But just as the Son of God condescended to became “of no reputation” on our behalf, we are now called to do the same for one another. When we refrain from insisting on our rights, and when we condescend to serve another and step into each other’s need, we are behaving as Jesus behaved toward us. In lowliness of mind, we’re to place ourselves where our brother or sister is, and each esteem one another better than ourselves—just as the glorious Son of God did for us on our behalf.
So; Paul first showed his readers that Jesus didn’t consider His rights as the Son of God something to be held on to, and second that He became of ‘no reputation’ for us. And now thirdly, Paul showed his readers that love of the Son of God for us caused Him to descend to the furthest possible place from His position of glory in that He humbled Himself to the point of a humiliating death for us. Paul writes, “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” (v. 8).
We can see in this verse a series of steps in His descent into utter humility. We see this, first, in the statement that He humbled Himself by becoming “obedient”. The Son of God obediently fulfilled the will of His Father in the program of becoming a Man so that He could die for our sins in our place. Second, we see it in the fact that He humbled Himself in obedience “to the point of death”. The Creator and Sustainer of all things—the One from whom all life flows—submitted to death like one of His creatures. And third, we see it in that He humbled Himself to the point of “the death of the cross”. Paul said this as if saying that it was a step much further than normal death—calling it “death, even the death of the cross”—the most cruel and degrading and humiliating death conceivable. The Bible tells us that:
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Gal. 3:13).
And so, when we read that the Son of God condescended to die a death on the cross, we see that it was the furthest possible act of condescending love that there ever could be; because the glorious, majestic Son of God actually became “cursed” for you and me! And once again, we are to have the same mind—the same attitude—toward one another. We’re to cease looking out for our own interests alone, but are to humble ourselves for the sake of each other—not exalting ourselves over one another, but being willing to stoop as low as possible in love for one another.
And all of this leads us—finally—to consider …
3. JESUS’ EXALTATION INTO GLORY (vv. 9-11).
Paul wrote, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 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, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (vv. 9-11).
There’s a wonderful symmetry in this passage. We saw three features of Jesus’ condescension for us; and now we see three parallel features of His exaltation for us. First, just as He humbled Himself to the point of death on the cross, we see that God the Father “has highly exalted Him.” The Greek verb literally means that the Father has “super-exalted” Him. Second, we see that, just as the Son of God made Himself of no reputation for us, the Father has “given Him the name which is above every name”. The word “name”, here, refers to a public recognition of the majesty and supreme dignity of His character as “Lord”. And third, we see that, just as the Son of God did not consider His right to honor as a thing to be grasped, God the Father has seen to it that, at the name of Jesus every knee should bow to Him; and every tongue confess Him to be Lord.
He died in our place, He has been raised in glory; and now, in humbling ourselves for one another through faith in Him, we’ll be exalted with Him in exaltation. As He said, “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40).
* * * * * * * * * *
So; let’s look long and hard at what Jesus has done for us. When we look at how He humbled Himself for us, we become obliged to humble ourselves for each other in His name.
AE
Add A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.