For our Scripture reading tonight, turn with me to Philippians 2, Philippians chapter 2, as we read together the first 11 verses of that chapter, the text for our consideration, verses 5 through 11 of that portion, Philippians 2, the first 11 verses, as we give our attention to the Word of God. If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Dear people of God, as we consider the birth, the coming of our Savior and His birth, we cannot help but doing that along with considering His humiliation. And as we consider the humiliation of the Savior, the antithesis between good and evil, between the holy and the sinful, once again comes to light. You see, man pushes for power and for position and for prestige. Man seeks to advance his own interests. Out of vain conceit, man seeks to exalt himself before the eyes of others and even in the place of others. Society tells man to strive to be all that you can be. However, Paul points out that for the believer, being all that you can be means humility. You see, there is a certain standard or rule that is to govern the Christian's life. The believer's lifestyle is to be characterized by the example of the Savior. Now Paul is calling the Philippian believers to have the same love. To be one in spirit and purpose as he says in verse 2. Only when they are like-minded can they be united and therefore stand together and stand firm against the attacks from the world. But he also makes it clear that this oneness, this true unity can only come when they are like-minded first of all with Jesus Christ. Again, verse 5 says, Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Or as another version says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. You see, beloved, in a world that pushes for power and position and prestige, we as Christians are called to recognize why we are who we are, which is children of God, and why we have what we have, which is salvation. And the answer is this. The church, the body of Christ, was established by Christ's humiliation. And in a world which promotes self-help, self-improvement, self-esteem, and every man for himself, often at the expense of others, God commands His people in verses 3 and 4 to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. And there's only one pattern that is to be and in fact can be followed to carry this out the way God intends. And therefore, I preach to you this Word of God, the call to have the mind or attitude of Christ. And with this text, we want to consider these two things. First of all, it's demonstration of selflessness. And secondly, it's reward of exaltation. Beloved, not only is Jesus Christ our perfect Savior, but He is our example par excellence. There is no better example in demonstrating love for God above all and our neighbor as ourselves. Now one of Paul's major themes is that the sphere of the Christian life is to be in Christ. We are to be in Christ. Our whole life guarded, guided, and protected in Christ, following Christ in all things. Which also means that the Christian's mind or the Christian's attitude is to also be in Christ. As well, a major theme of the New Testament is that of renouncing oneself, giving oneself up for others. In John 13, after washing the disciples' feet, Jesus says, If I, then your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. And Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1, Imitate me just as I also imitate who? Christ. And in 1 John 2, verse 6, we read, He who says he abides in him, that is in Christ, ought himself also to walk just as he walked. You see, Jesus Christ came to accomplish redemption, to be sure. But He also came to leave His people an example of Christian living. How to put into practice the new life that you and I receive as a gift from God. And as we consider the mind or the attitude of Christ and His example, this text, first of all, brings forth its demonstration of selflessness. But as Paul knows, this will not have an impression on us unless we understand exactly what it is that Jesus gave up. It's so easy and somewhat natural for us to consider this baby born in a manger and to call Him the God-man. But sometimes I think it's so easy also for us to forget where it is He came from and what it is He gave up. And therefore, Paul begins with his majestic position. Notice verse 6. Who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. Paul speaks of His very nature before he speaks of His humiliation. And what we have here is not only proof that Jesus existed before He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a Virgin Mary and laid in a manger, But we have proof that He is God. Jesus was and is in the form of God. That is, His essence and nature is very God of very God, as we confessed a few moments ago with the Nicene Creed. He has enjoyed that exalted position from eternity. So that we can even sing, as we just did, Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth. But that means that this Jesus whom Paul says is the image of the invisible God has always enjoyed the glory of heaven. Imagine that before He came. Jesus says in John 17, verse 5, And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself with the glory which I had with You before the world was. This Jesus, being God, also possessed the attributes of God. Omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience, holiness, sinlessness, sovereignty, goodness, love, and everything else that God is. He is the Word of creation, as John says. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. The only begotten Son of God, who is Himself God, possessed the majesty and the glory and the perfection of heaven. And everything that can be said about God can be said about His Son. Yet then Paul quickly adds that he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. And what Paul is saying here is that our Savior did not cling to His equality with God for selfish reasons. He did not use His divinity to His own advantage and therefore refused His people the salvation that only He could accomplish. The eternal Son of God did not use His status as God as a reason to get and to get and to get a little more. Instead, as God, He had nothing to prove. And because He is God, He chose to give and give and give. Beloved, do you see the antithesis here? The antithesis. What I mean is Jesus always had what man has been selfishly trying to get from the very dawn of history. The first Adam tried to selfishly grab godliness, godliness, by eating the fruit that Satan said would make him like God. But the second Adam, who is always and continues to possess what man wants, did not selfishly hold on to it for his own advantage, but selflessly, as verse 7 says, made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant to being made in human likeness. This one who is God, whose very nature, essence, and being is God, then became fully man. His outward appearance, his form was that of a servant. We could say that this king exchanged his royal, kingly robes for sackcloth. And now the question the scholars have debated for years is this, what exactly does it mean that he made himself nothing? Whereas another version says, He emptied Himself. Of what did Jesus empty Himself? We see many say that He emptied Himself of something. That is, something was subtracted from Him. Some say that He emptied Himself of some of His deity, of some of His God-ness. But you see, that would mean that that couldn't be because then He wouldn't be God. In fact, the grammar of the Greek shows us that when Paul says, who being in very nature God, he's talking about a present continuing state or condition, something that was and never has changed. Jesus' nature was God. His nature is God. His nature always will be God forever. Jesus did not cease being God while He walked this earth. The text makes it clear that He emptied Himself by taking the very nature of a servant. In other words, He emptied Himself by adding something. He added something to Himself that He was not before. Jesus did not exchange His deity for His humanity like some of us might exchange a Christmas gift after the holidays because it doesn't fit. We'll go take it back to the store. Give this back and take something else. He didn't exchange His deity for His humanity. He didn't give up the nature of God for the nature of a servant. He became the God-Man. Jesus Christ concealed His Godhead, His divinity for a time under the weakness of the flesh. He laid aside His glory in the view of men, not by lessening it, but by hiding it. And this is especially seen when He was a baby. He was God manifested in the flesh, yet His flesh was as a veil that concealed His divine majesty and the brightness of His glory that is until His resurrection, at which time, as Paul says in Romans 1, verse 4, He was declared to be the Son of God. But then what did taking the nature of a servant and being made in the likeness of men mean? It meant that He gave up His heavenly environment of glory and His majesty. It meant that He gave up His rights. He said, not My will, but Thine be done. You see, a servant doesn't have rights, does He? A servant doesn't make the rules. He doesn't set the laws. But a servant is subject to the rules and he must obey the laws. Jesus gave up His favorable position to the law, the position of lawgiver. And as Paul says, He was born under the law. You see, beloved, in heaven there was no burden of guilt upon Him. But at His incarnation, He took this burden of sin and guilt upon Himself and began to carry it away. What did John the Baptist say when he saw Jesus? He said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 it says, For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. You see, He took upon Himself the heaviest death that anyone ever has taken on or ever will take on. Isaiah 53 verse 6 says what it is, And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. You see, Jesus Christ gave up that environment of perfection and sinlessness and eternal delight. He gave that up. and he became surrounded by the misery of sinful men. And wickedness was against him from the very moment of his birth. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich. You see, beloved, humanly speaking, Jesus was so poor that he was constantly borrowing. He borrowed a place for His birth. He borrowed a house to sleep in. He borrowed a boat to preach from. He borrowed an animal to ride on. He borrowed a room in which to institute the Lord's Supper. And finally, He borrowed a tomb to be buried in. And we must quickly add that Christ's demonstration of selflessness includes, as the text says in verse 8, and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on the cross. Notice the downward progression. Beloved, Jesus was found in appearance as a man. As we said a moment ago, His human flesh veiled or covered His divine majesty. But this is also another way for Paul to say that Jesus didn't look any different than any other man. And that's one reason why the hard-hearted did not see Him as He truly was. Men saw Him as no more than a human being. He was no different than anyone else in the eyes of so many. After all, He had come into the world through the natural process of birth. Really, a birth which to the naked eye gave no clue to the fact that it was a virgin birth. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes. He grew up. He had brothers and sisters. He learned to trade. At times, He was hungry and thirsty. He became weary. He slept. He became grieved and angry. He wept. He rejoiced on occasions, no doubt, at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. He was destined to die, just like all other men. Yet He was so different. But He was even like other men in dress and customs and manners. He was like you and me in every way except one. He was sinless. And therefore, is it really true to sing, but little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes? Yet because He was found in appearance as a man, that was no excuse for men to reject His sinless humanity and deity. All of His life and all of His mighty works and wonders sounded forth a call, veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity. However, He before whom the seraphim covered their faces and cried, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. He who voluntarily descended to earth was despised and rejected and hated all the more. Yet He always humbled Himself. He always bowed under the yoke. And as the text says, He became obedient to death, even death on a cross. You see, Paul makes it clear here that as if death wasn't bad enough, Jesus' death was by way of the cross. It was painful, it was shameful, and it was accursed by God. You see, beloved, we cannot under-emphasize the significance of the cross. The practice of crucifixion was meant to be a slow death by way of torture. And it was reserved for the lowest of the low, for slaves and robbers, for assassins, for those who were rebellious to the governing authorities. One who was hanged on a tree on a cross was shameful in the eyes of the people, but worse yet, as Deuteronomy 21 points out, he who is hanged is accursed of God. And of course, there are many things that we could say about the cross of Christ, but in this context of Christ's humiliation, it is a symbol of the reality that He gave up His throne in glory all the way to being separated from and forsaken by God His Father as He suffered the torment of hell. Beloved, again, Paul exhorts believers in verses 3 and 4, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. That was the attitude or mind of Christ Jesus. He gave up everything. He willingly humbled Himself to the lowest of the low so that we who are by nature the lowest of the low would be raised to an exalted position as sons and daughters of the Most High God. Again, Paul says in verse 5, your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Yet he is not saying that we can be like Christ. Not at all. You see, Christ's humility consisted of humbling Himself from the highest pinnacle of glory to the lowest dishonor of hell. Our humility, on the other hand, is to consist of refraining from exalting ourselves by selfishness or empty conceit, thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought. Christ's humiliation included giving up His right to continue in glory so that His people might share in His glory. Our humility, on the other hand, is to consist of not taking to ourselves more than we ought to take, but instead to regard one another as more important than ourselves. Christ became what He was not. We are called to recognize and be who we truly are. We are called to imitate Christ's humility, and it's His humility that makes it possible for His people to imitate Him. You see, our salvation, beloved, is not only possible, but indeed it has been accomplished because Jesus Christ took the nature of a servant while remaining fully God. He has secured redemption and therefore through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. As His people, we are changed from being slaves to sin and selfishness to being servants of God who are characterized by holiness and selflessness. You see, the Christian life is to be completely other-directed. Directed away from ourselves. toward God above all and our neighbor as ourselves. And of course, we need to confess that we all have a long way to go. But our incentive is to be that Christ's humility secured its reward of exaltation in the second place. Notice verses 9 through 11 again. Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now, beloved, we must confess that not one of us could fully imitate Christ's humiliation. And again, not one of us would want to do what He did. Yet Paul shows us that there is nothing more desirable than to be conformed to His image. As He humbled Himself, Jesus Christ always had our salvation in view. Think about that. He always had our salvation in view. The whole time. It's interesting that the same rule that Jesus laid down for others was now applied to His own case. He said, And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Christ's exaltation, you see, is the reversal of His humiliation and includes His resurrection, His ascension, His coronation, and His rule today. That name above every name that has been given to Christ, which belongs to Him forever and ever, it reflects His lofty position. It reflects His royal dignity. And it reflects His sovereign authority. That name is Lord. That means He is the Master and the Ruler over all things. That He is the Redeemer and the Deliverer. And therefore, He owns His people because He paid for us with His own precious blood. And because He is Lord, Jesus Christ is both the basis of our worship as well as the object of our worship. Jesus as Lord implies His power and majesty. God has given Him the name that reflects what He has achieved and also acknowledges who He is. You see, again, it's not that Jesus Christ was not Lord before His humiliation. Jesus, Lord, at thy birth. He always has been Lord. However, in history, He achieved it for the first time as the God-man, as the crucified and risen Redeemer. Beloved, giving this name to Jesus is not an insignificant matter. God says in Isaiah 42, verse 8, I am the Lord. That is my name. And my glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to carve images. Therefore, there is no one outside of God Himself who deserves the name Lord. And that means to give this name entitled to Jesus is God's confirmation of Christ's deity. And so great is His glory that all will feel driven to render Him homage and worship. Paul says in verse 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. We know that bending the knee is an expression of adoration and worship, again, which only God deserves. And in the same way, God's genuine worshipers in the Old Testament have not bowed the knee to Baal as the Lord told Elijah in 1 Kings 19. Beloved, Paul says, Every knee shall bow before Christ the Lord. Every knee. That means the angels and those who are redeemed will bow joyfully. But Satan and his wicked host and all those who are eternally condemned will bow regretfully. They will bow remorsefully. They will even bow scornfully. But they will not bow penitently. They will not bow in repentance and faith. But they will bow because Christ's glory demands it. In fact, the same Word of God was prophesied already by Isaiah back in Isaiah chapter 45 verses 22 to 25 say turn to me and be saved all you ends of the earth for I am God and there is no other by myself I have sworn my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked before me every knee will bow by me every tongue will swear they will say of me in the Lord alone our righteousness and strength all who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame but in the Lord all the descendants of Israel will be found righteous and will exalt. And then supporting Isaiah's prophecy, Paul makes it clear here that the mouth will interpret what the knees are doing. The mouth will give explanation to the action that is taking place. Notice verse 11, And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's what bending the knee says. Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is triumphant. That He has been crowned. That He actively rules over all. For unbelievers, of course, that will not be a confession of faith. It will be a confession of fact. But it will not be a confession of faith. And as well, beloved, this was the supreme yet life-threatening confession of the early church. Many lost their lives for this confession by saying that someone other than the Roman Emperor was Lord. The world's confession was that Jesus Christ is not Lord. But one day, you see, all will recognize that there is only one Lord and Savior. And there is only one name given under heaven by which men might be saved, Jesus Christ. But for many it will be too late. Because as Jesus says, whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in Heaven. Congregation Jesus Christ has received the reward of exaltation for His selflessness. And His exaltation secures the exaltation of His people. Of you and me. We are called to imitate Christ. To have the mind of Christ. but we don't earn exaltation and glory because of our acts of humility. Jesus Christ earned our exaltation by His humiliation. You see, again, He was exalted, but He did not merit something that He did not already possess. He always possessed exaltation. But He merited our eternal life. Christ's humiliation and exaltation, His selflessness opened the gate of life for His people. How do God's people have the attitude or mind of Christ? Paul says in Romans 10, If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. You see, only those who are saved by grace through faith can have the mind of Christ. And of course, that doesn't mean that we can copy His redemptive acts, that we can fulfill His vicarious substitutionary atonement or His satisfaction of God's justice. It doesn't mean that we are able to accomplish glory for His people. Only He can do that. Yet with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can. And we must copy the spirit that was basic to these acts. The attitude of selfless humiliation. As God's people, we are called to humble ourselves before the sight of the Lord, to recognize who God is and who we are, to recognize our proper roles, first of all, for the benefit of others. We are to bear a resemblance to Christ's life as evidence of having the benefit of His humiliation and death. So do you hunger for power, position, and prestige? Or is your desire, first of all, for the welfare and the benefit of your neighbor? You see, the answer to that depends on who your Lord is. Remember Christ's path from heavenly glory to the humble manger to hell and separation from God on the cross to the name that is above all names. This Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. You see, all will confess Him as Lord. What a day that will be, huh? when every tongue will confess Him that He is Lord. Either you confess Him by grace through faith as Lord now, or you will confess Him in shame and terror on the last day. Those who confess Him by faith will bow before Him in glory for eternity, but those who confess Him in shame and terror on the last day will bow before Him in the eternal fire. Where will you eternally bow before the Lord? beloved how great is salvation it stretches from the highest point of the glory of heaven to the lowest depths of the curse of hell that's what Jesus did for you and me as believers and therefore is it any wonder that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow before it's too late we must echo the angels' call to the shepherds. Come and worship Christ, the newborn King. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, when we become arrogant and conceited and prideful because we are sons and daughters of the Most High God, We pray, Lord, that You would remind us of the humiliation of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He left His throne in glory, that He became one of us and that was no blessing for Him. But He emptied Himself by taking on the form of a servant and coming in human likeness only to do for us that which we could not do for ourselves. Father, give to us the humility that befits Your children and in humility may we rejoice in our God and King and may it be our desire indeed to sound forth the call come and worship Jesus Christ the only name under heaven given among men by which we might be saved Lord God again as we look forward to celebrating the Christmas holiday with family and friends and as a family of God in this place We pray, Lord, that you would continue to strengthen us in the knowledge and the assurance of what Jesus Christ has done, that we might have life and have it abundantly forevermore. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.