Philippians 2:5-11 December
27, 1998 Contained in this small jar [of volcanic ash] is the fine gray powder which almost twenty years ago wrecked havoc in the Pacific northwest. On May 18, 1980 Mt. St. Helens erupted, spewing this ashen dust from Settle, Washington to Portland, Oregon. Of the scores that died, most succumbed not from the explosion, but from the gas and dust which asphyxiated them. But to look at this small jar, one would hardly guess that the devastation caused by that eruption could be contained like this. But what spewed out from below the earth’s crust, what covered thousands of square miles is the same material that is found here; the awesome power of that day now contained in this jar. Trying to express to you the majestic power of our text this morning is like holding up these ashes to show you the power of Mt. St. Helen’s. I am awed by the grandeur of our God, so I scoop up what I can, but all I can bring is this small container. But I trust that, by God’s grace, this glimpse into the majesty of the incarnation and exaltation will move you to contemplate the wonders which are far more than I can express. Just as the glimpse into the contents of this jar would move you to wonder all the more at God’s creation, so this passage will move you to consider even more God’s mercy. This passage will stretch our thinking, expand the way we look at who Jesus is and what He has done for us.
Our passage this morning is one of the great high peaks of God’s Word, one of the most sublime in describing not only who Jesus is and what He has done, but taking us the next step to say how His life should impact our daily lives. While we could take a few weeks on verses 6-11, mining the depths of theological gems contained here, we should quickly notice that this piece of poetry arises out of the practical problem of disunity. Paul’s solution to the conflict within the Church is found in directing his reader’s attention to the power of proper theology. Apart from Christ we spend our lives pushing ourselves to the forefront in selfish ambition. The root of this driving need to be number one is vain conceit, the hunger for our own glory. Instead we should be seeking to promote the needs of others before our own. The means by which this is possible is found in the Godhead, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit give us encouragement, comfort, partnership. The goal is to be of one mind, thinking the same thoughts. How is this to be done? Paul continues his argument that the solution to our discord is found in Christ in verse 5 as he describes what this unified thinking is to look like. What should be our thoughts so that we possess the unity God commands? Our thinking must be outward - verses 6-8 Jesus Christ is fully God While some translations say, "being in the form of God," captures the Greek term used here, they miss the meaning. The NIV is much closer by saying, "in very nature." The word here is morphe, from which we get words like metamorphasis - to change one’s form. But we think of "form" to mean outward shell. But in Greek "morphe" refers to the essential quality, the core elements. So to say a caterpillar changes into a butterfly, we affirm that the nature is the same. In the movies, computer generated scenes enable characters to "morphe," yet the fundamental character remains the same. There was a time when I was a baby, a child, teenager and now a man, but while the appearance changes, the "morphe" is the same. This is the strongest statement regarding who Jesus is, about the deity and divinity of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has the unique and identical qualities that make God God. Jesus is the very substance of God, the very characteristics of God. He is God. He is equal with God Since Jesus is by very nature God, that He is equal with God would not come as a shock. To explain His relationship to the Godhead is further explained in the word isos. This term means "exactly the same, in size, quality, quantity, character and number." We use it this way in English, for example: Isomer is a chemical molecule having a slightly different structure from another molecule but being identical with it in terms of its chemical elements and weight. Isometric is equal in number. Isosceles triangle is one with two equal sides. Jesus Christ is exactly equal with God. Is God omniscient? Then so is Jesus Christ. Is God omnipresent? Then so is Jesus Christ. Is God omnipotent? Then so is Jesus Christ. Is God the Creator? Then so is Jesus Christ. Is God the beginning and end? Then so is Jesus Christ. He did not rely on that position of equality Having reminded us that Jesus Christ is fully God, we are now told something about what it means to be God. This position as God is not something which must be grasped at all costs. Perhaps yesterday you stood in lines returning those gifts which did not fit quite right or were duplicates (how many Chia Pets can one really have!). You stood in line waiting your turn. Perhaps you took a number, so that no one could contest your place in line. You clutched that number in your hand so that when "53" was called, you could take care of business. You grasped that ticket; it was you passport to get out of there. Jesus did not grasp, did not clutch His position as the Second Person of the Trinity as something that He would use to demonstrate His power and status in the universe. In eternity past the pre-incarnate Christ did not see His position as a means of getting more, but as a means to give more. So the mind of Christ is to take what is best, greatest and most desirable to oneself, and to abandon it, freely, in the interests of a more cherished purpose. Jesus’s life was not a grasping life, but a giving life. Jesus Christ is fully man Although God, He made Himself nothing. Remember what we saw last week, that what you and I fear most is that our glory, our status is empty and so we are hungry for glory, but always empty. Because we think of ourselves as so marvelous, so prestigious, we look upon our power and possessions and fame and reputation and we're not willing to give it up to serve others. Paul tells us that Jesus embraced our worst nightmare: He made Himself nothing. Theologians call this the kenosis, Christ’s emptying Himself when He took on flesh in the incarnation. Unfortunately, the concept of God emptying Himself begs the question: of what? But the question misunderstands what the word means. To "empty" in New Testament means to deprive something of its proper place and use. Christ could not set aside attributes of the Godhead, but He could hide His glory, not lessening it, but concealing it. He emptied Himself not by subtraction of His divine attributes but by the assumption of human nature. The doctrine of the Kenosis --the self-emptying of Jesus Christ, has been misunderstood. What did Jesus empty Himself of? Let me give you some false Kenotic theories. William Barclay says, "He emptied Himself of His deity to take upon Himself His humanity." But Christ did not commit divine suicide in the Incarnation. He did not change His essence, so He did not set aside any attribute which is part of being God. He remained all through the Incarnation the Second Person of the Trinity. To empty Himself of any aspect of deity is to cease being God. If that were the case, His work on the Cross ceases to have any effect. Rather, Christ emptying Himself means that He did what none of us would ever consider doing: He veiled His glory, His majesty. The emptying is the humiliation of the Incarnation. When He became a man, He laid aside the brilliant manifestation of His glory, except for one brief moment on the mount of Transfiguration. He veiled His glory in that He did not demonstrate His attributes. In the Kenosis, Christ veiled His pre-incarnate glory by taking on humanity, but He did not diminish or destroy any part of it. When the sun is obscured by a cloud, there is no real change of its glory, nor are its beams extinguished, nor is the sun itself in any measure changed. Its luster is only for a time obscured. The sun was never effected by that cloud, but our vision of it was. Christ was never diminished in glory, but He veiled His glory. While we may be tempted to ask, "of what did Christ divest Himself?" the text does not answer. The question is not "Of what did He empty Himself?" but "Into what did He empty Himself?" Although God He also become fully man In verse seven we are told into what Jesus emptied Himself: He became a servant. This is a critical passage in describing what is called the hypostatic union. Hypostasis means: "substance or essence." So the doctrine of the hypostatic union is the doctrine of the personal union of the two natures, the divine and the human, of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is 100% God and 100% man. This is where we get the theological term "theanthropic," that Jesus Christ is the God-Man. He is One person with two natures. Martin Luther was forced to admit that the union could not be explained.
Although God He was completely obedient - Humility and obedience The extent of obedience is seen in His willingness to die; it was His choice; He humbled Himself. Imagine the most embarrassing, most humiliating experience (Wayne singing "I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"). We would never voluntarily enter into that, but rather it is something forced on us. Yet Christ humbled Himself; He was obedient to that end. His was a willful choice. But the goal of His humiliation was death, a death difficult for us to consider. He chose the death of a malefactor, a slave exposed as a public spectacle. There was no greater way in which people of the first century could express their utter disgust with a human being than by crucifying him. It was the chief, the most extreme form of human degradation that existed. It was in the fullest sense of the word an obscenity. In polite Roman society, the word "cross" was not to be uttered in conversation. Cicero said, "Let the very name of the cross be far removed not only from the body of a Roman citizen, but even from his thoughts, his eyes, his ears." By Jewish law, anyone who was crucified died under the curse of God. No one in Philippi used a cross as a symbol for their faith; there were no gold crosses embossed on Bibles or worn as pendants around the neck or lighted on the steeple of the local church. The cross was God’s, and thus their, scandal, God’s contradiction of human wisdom and power: The one they worshipped as Lord of all should appear in human dress and that He should die by crucifixion - what kind of life is that? What kind of thinking does this entail? If we are to think as Christ, if our attitude is to be the same as His, this means that our perceived status and superiority goes right out the window. Our thinking about ourselves should only entail ways in which we can not grasp our station in life, but empty ourselves of what we think adds glory to our names so that we can serve others. This kind of thinking hurts; it is thinking that leads to obedience, which may well include suffering. Christ is our example of humility. In verses 6-8, Christ descends into humiliation. We can't copy His deity, incarnation, perfection or redemptive work, but we are called to copy His humility. But when our thinking is outward, we must realize that our status before God is not dependent on what others say, how we appear. When our meager glory is obscured or ignored, rather than jumping up, trying to grasp the limelight, we think like Christ when we quietly move on. Our thinking must be upward - Verses 9-11 The response of the Father is exaltation This great passage moves us from the humiliation of Christ to the exaltation of Christ. This exaltation is the Father’s response to how Christ thought. As Jesus did not hold on fast to His glory, but set it aside so that we could be made sons and daughters of God, so the Father raises Jesus to an exceeding height. Christ lowered Himself, so the Father raises Him up. The last word belongs to the Father, as though to emphasize that now in Christ, pre-existing, incarnate and humiliated, and exalted, God and the world are united and a new segment of humanity, a microcosm of God’s new order for the universe is born. (Ephesians 1:10) The Father gives a name Today a lot of emphasis is put on brand names. You know when a company has achieved marketing success when the name for their product becomes synonymous with that product. Mention adhesive strips and you think of Band-Aids. Mention facial tissue and you think of Kleenex. Mention acetominophin and you think of Tylenol. These names are usually associated with quality. They didn't become household words without doing a good job, not merely of advertising, but of giving us a high-class product. Their names represent quality. How much more is the name of Jesus the one in which calls for all creation to bow in worship? The one who was humiliated before the world hung on the cross of shame - but His name no longer is associated with shame and agony, but with worship. The response of creation is adoration With these two verses the scenario comes full circle. The one who is God and chose to become an object of scorn is now worshipped by all creation. The one who was obedient to death receives obedience and homage. Paul lifts from Isaiah 45 where God calls for every knee to bow before Him and applies it to Jesus Christ, once again reinforcing the deity of the one who came in humility. To that one, Paul applies the term Lord. Paul uses the word kyrios, which the Roman citizens of Philippi would have acknowledged to be Caesar. This was an imperial title, and it was never used of the emperors until they were thought to be deified through a religious ceremony. Within the empire there was a test phrase used to check the loyalty of the people. It was "Kyrios Kaiser," and it meant: "Caesar is Lord." By this phrase, Christians who would not say these words were later singled out from pagans and executed. In those days, when a Christian insisted that Jesus is Lord, he meant that Jesus, not Caesar, is divine. Have you ever heard a Christian say, "I have been a Christian for a while now but I just made Jesus Lord?" But Jesus Christ is Lord, you don't make him Lord; God did that. Our response is to submit to His Lordship. You have a choice, you can either do that now as a response to His loving compassion as the one who died the sinner's death, or later as He is seated on His throne and forces one and all to bow. Not only must our thinking be outward, considering others, our thinking must be upward. We are, it has been said, at our most noble when we worship God. Our thinking must always include a response to God as the one who demands all worship. Here our thinking and Christ’s life diverge. Yet, if we are going to serve each other, if we are going to remain unified in our lives, a good dose of humility comes in recognizing that Christ and Christ alone is the center of God’s redemptive program. A great Copernican revolution must take place, in which you are dethroned, no longer the center of the world’s attention. Our thinking must be inward - Verse 5 How does this affect us? This thinking is to be community-wide. Think this among you! Within our community we must learn to develop attitudes of selflessness and humility, considering the needs of one another as top priority. But this kind of serving costs you something. It is thinking that hurts. Serving cost Jesus so much it's almost blinding to consider it. And yet, He chose to do that. It cost Him His life. Our servanthood costs us little by comparison. But it does cost something. It may cost you time; it almost always does. It may cost you money. It may cost you your agenda, your desires, your comfort. It will cost you not being able to spend all of your time advancing your career or your bank account. It will generally mean there's one more thing in your life that you've got to think about, pay attention to and care about. We often decide on service based on our convenience and comfort. But when our thinking follows the pattern of Christ, we see the world with new glasses - sacrifice comes into focus. No longer is serving a drudgery done out of obligation and guilt. Rather it is another opportunity to reflect the work of Christ in our lives. To look at Christ’s sacrifice must have an impact on us. Charles Spurgeon in the last century said: "Stand at the foot of the cross, and count the purple drops by which you have been cleansed; see the thorn crown; mark his scourged shoulders, still gushing with encrimsoned rills; see hands and feet given up to the rough iron, and his whole self to mockery and scorn; see the bitterness, and the pangs, and the throes of inward grief, showing themselves in his outward frame; hear the thrilling shriek, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And if you do not lie prostrate on the ground before that cross, you have never seen it: if you are not humbled in the presence of Jesus, you do not know him." But how can this be put into effect? We must contemplate Christ’s sacrifice for us so that we order our lives in a way that would please the Father. But Paul uses this passage not just as an example. We are called to imitate the selfless giving of Christ because it is in His sacrifice that we find the power to serve. Verse five has been a thorn to translators and Greek scholars for centuries. What Paul meant is far from clear. Paul includes that common phrase "in Christ" which he uses repeatedly to call us to faith in our position as Christians. We are "in Christ," that is, we are His body and He the head. In light of that, our thinking as a church should be thinking what it means to be "in Christ." Our mind-set in serving each other must reflect our mind-set regarding Jesus Christ. To be proud, to be divisive, to seek after our reputation is out of character; it denies what we profess to be true of Christ. For this reason Paul launches into a recounting of what Christ accomplished for us, what we can never do ourselves: while from eternity past He was God, He became a man to die in our place. The result is that our union with Christ should lead to the imitation of Christ. There is no genuine life in Christ that is not at the same time, by the power of the Holy Spirit, being regularly transformed into the likeness of Christ. A Gospel of grace which omits obedience denies the power of grace to transform our lives to live in obedience to the Father. As we think outward, not about ourselves and our needs, and think upward, about the glory and worship which belongs to Christ alone, then we will be able to think inward, toward those God has put in our lives, think in toward the body, the Church. It is then that we will be able to consider all God has done for us so that we can think what we can do for others.
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