Well, the reading of God's Word tonight comes to us from the book of Philippians. We will be considering chapter 2, verses 1 through 11. But in order to kind of set the context a little bit, we'll actually start our reading in chapter 1, verse 27. So as you open up your Bibles, that is to the letter of Paul to the Philippians, and we will start our reading this evening at chapter 1 with verse 27. Brothers and sisters, I would remind you, this is God's holy word. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come to see you or am absent, I may hear of you, that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict you saw that I had and now hear that I still have. So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so 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. Here ends the reading of God's word. May the Lord bless its hearing. Well, brothers and sisters, it is our tradition in Reformed churches to do even what we have just done this evening. Confess our common faith together using the words of the Apostles' Creed. And if you recall, part of that confession that we made this evening is that we believe that Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and sits there now at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. These doctrines of the ascension and the exaltation of Christ, they go together hand in hand. These are words that we confess, words that we believe and hold dear. but how often do we stop and consider the effect that they should have on our Christian walk and even our life in the church especially that well this evening that question is what brings us right into our text into Philippians you see Paul writes his letter to the church that is in philippi and philippi is a roman colony and the church there is doing well but as we have read they are also suffering they are suffering on the one hand from a very real physical persecution but they are suffering on the other hand from pressures from their culture that they exist in Oh, the city of Philippi is beginning to treat them like outcasts. But the heart of the matter, what Paul really writes to address, is that in the midst of this double pressure, the hearts of the Philippian saints is turning inwards. Their bond of Christian love and their unity as a church is what is becoming undone. And Paul uses the doctrine of the Incarnation, but especially the ascension and exaltation of Christ to answer this issue in Philippi this evening. You see, he uses the exaltation of Christ to reorient their perspective, to make them focus not on their lives in Philippi, but the new reality created for them by the ascended Lord. And that is the message of our text for us this evening, brothers and sisters. Because the Lord Jesus Christ humbled himself and is now highly exalted, so we must live lives which reflect the character of our heavenly King. And as we examine our text this evening, we're going to look at the church at Philippi. We're going to see this problem of disunity that they're suffering, but how ultimately what is at the root of that is a lack of humility and then we're going to see how paul provides us with an example of perfect humility in the lord jesus christ and then he's going to turn and show us christ in his exalted state and how that creates for us a new reality so the three points of our sermon tonight if you will so you can follow first will be the call to unity the second the example of christ and then third the glory of christ so let's turn this evening to our first point the call to unity and as we do so read with me again picking up at verse two in our text complete my joy by being of the same mind having the same love being in full accord and of one mind do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others well brothers and sisters as we read this we should remember paul is not in the habit of wasting words or wasting ink when he writes when he labors in these verses for such a strong appeal to unity it is because he knows that is exactly what the church in philippi has come to lack look again at the words that he uses in this passage he calls them to the same mind and again to be of one mind there he is calling them and us to a unity of conviction a unity of thought and confession and he also calls them to have the same love and to be in full accord there he's calling them and us to a unity of affection and a unity of love for one another but as paul sits when he writes this letter he is sitting in a prison in rome and he gets reports on how the church in philippi is doing and what he hears is that they are not united in this way but rather they are characterized by selfish ambition and by conceit now as we recall this and see this we shouldn't be too quick to judge the saints in philippi we should remember that they are suffering recall what we read even just in verse 30 paul writes them that they are engaged in the same conflict that they saw that he had well if your memory of the book of acts serves you you'll remember in chapter 16 And that is where Paul first came to Philippi. And when he came there, he was met by bloody beatings and even by imprisonment. And so the saints in Philippi are enduring the same thing. They are facing, on the one hand, a very real pressure of persecution. But they are also, on the other side, feeling a cultural pressure. You see, the church in Philippi was a Roman colony. And as a Roman colony, it was very closely connected to Rome, the capital city of the empire. The people in Philippi, the citizens there, they boasted in Roman philosophy, in Roman ethics, and in Roman values. Now, in context of this, there's one thing that Romans did not value. There's one thing that was never befitting of a noble Roman, and that was the idea of humility. you see this word that paul uses many times for humility in our passage that is the word that romans and philippians alike would use to describe slaves it was to them an ugly word a word that was used to describe those who were defeated in battle and are now begging for their lives you see when they hear the word humble they hear something similar to what we hear when we use the word pathetic and so there's this other pressure to be conformed back to this culture not to exercise humility and so in the face of all of this the hearts of the philippians were beginning to turn inward their pattern of thinking had become one of selfish ambition and even of conceit now selfish ambition is something that we have actually seen in our own text here in philippians before if you just take a quick look at chapter 1 verse 17 you see there paul talks about preachers who were there in rome with him who are proclaiming christ who are preaching the gospel but they are doing it not out of sincerity but they are doing it out of selfish ambition the same word that paul uses in our passage you see they are preaching the pure gospel but they're doing it from the wrong motive one pastor when reflecting upon this said that they are like spiritual scalp hunters they are trying to collect a large number of converts so that they can go to paul who is in prison and boast before him about how successful their ministry has been while he has rotted in jail well now paul takes this and he applies it to the situation of the saints in philippi he tells them don't you do the right thing for the wrong motivations well brothers and sisters i wonder how many of us have tried to front ourselves even in the church for the sake of being noticed ask yourselves in your heart if you've ever sought something which is good and perhaps even noble a call to office for those seminarians here even a call to ministry or an opportunity to participate in a church program to lead it evangelism outreach all of these things are good things in themselves but it is devastating to the unity of the church when we pursue these things for the sake of being in the spotlight or even for gaining a little bit of authority that we might use it against our brothers and sisters there are other ways that our behavior can affect our unity as a church when we put our own interests above those of our brothers and sisters and this likely isn't something that we do outwardly but it is something that we do inwardly when we refuse to forgive our brothers and sisters or when we do forgive them but we make a very big public display about it or consider the relationships that you have with one another in the church have you ever coveted what your neighbor has and greedily turned that relationship into a means of gaining your own ends or perhaps you gossip or you slander against them when they're not around backbiting wanting to sort of weave a tapestry of lies to elevate your reputation at the sake of your brother and sisters there's a long list of ways that we could apply this this evening but ultimately what our text shows us is that this all stems from a lack of humility. And that is because humility isn't really something that is naturally hardwired in our hearts. We all seek our own glory, don't we? And this is what Paul calls conceit. You see, the word he uses there for conceit is actually a compound word. It's two put together. One is the word glory, because when we pursue our own selfish ambition, that's what we're after but he joins it with the word empty because when we pursue such things from the perspective of heaven it is just empty hollow glory well the problem is that this lack of humility is rooted in our own hearts it's a pattern that we develop even after our first father adam who tried to put himself above god so certainly we try and put ourselves above one another and if you need an example of this just look at our culture we have a lot in common with the philippians we too live in a culture that does not value humility one that values individualism kind of the mantras of our time are so long as i get mine and do whatever it takes to get ahead in fact look at those who are most successful in politics or in business and behind them you usually find a long list of people that they have stepped on to get to where they are and ultimately brothers and sisters the problem is that in our old man in our sinful nature we resonate with that so strongly persecution is difficult yes and we should pray for our brothers and sisters across the world to endure it and yeah it's hard to live in such a way that is different from your culture but ultimately brothers and sisters what we see here is that there is no greater enemy to the unity of the church than what exists in our own hearts the greatest threat is not what is out there but the sin that dwells within so brothers and sisters if we can't find this humility in our own hearts then where do we go well paul provides us with a perfect example in our Lord Jesus. And so let's turn to our second point then, the example of Christ. And as we do so, read with me, if you will, verse 5. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death upon a cross. Well, here, brothers and sisters, we move into what is one of the grandest displays of who Christ is in all of Paul's writing. You see, we are told that he existed in the form of God. And what this means is that he existed in the full outward appearance of the glory of God. This is something that we read in both the Old and New Testament. In Hebrews, we are told that he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. In the first chapter of Colossians, we are told that he is the image of the invisible God. And what's more, all things were created through him and for him. He existed in the full divine splendor of the creator of the universe. to help make this a little more concrete think in terms of the old testament there whenever we see the glory of god appear how does it happen usually it is done in moments where there is smoke where there's lightning where there's thunder great awe and even fear brothers and sisters this gets at what it means for him to have existed in the form of god but he did not count his station something to be grasped something to be taken advantage of but he exchanged this outward appearance of the glory of god for the outward appearance of a slave and even of a servant what's more our text even tells us that he emptied himself now this phrase has kind of caused a little bit of controversy in the history of the church so very briefly what it does not mean it does not mean that even for a moment he somehow ceased to be or became less than true god but what it does mean is that he added to his true and perfect divine nature a true human nature he clothed himself in our own humanity identifying with us in our weakness in our limitation in our misery sin accepting and if this is still something that's a little difficult to grasp is very beautifully illustrated for us in scripture in the gospel according to john chapter 13 you see there we are at the scene of the passover and Jesus is about to go to the cross. And what we read there is that Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. This, brothers and sisters, is a visual metaphor of everything Paul has talked about so far. A visual metaphor of Jesus' entire ministry. Here, brothers and sisters, is the very creator of the universe wrapping a towel around his waist, loathing himself with the garments of a slave and performing the humble slave-like task of washing his disciples feet and he goes on to tell them i have given you an example that you should do also as i have just done brothers and sisters this is the heart and the attitude that we are meant to have toward one another in the church one which reflects the humility and the love of our king who descended from the highest of heights the lowest of depths to wash us and ultimately this is a picture of what paul in our passage calls christ's great act of obedience he obeys he submits himself to death even death upon a cross And brothers and sisters, there's a reason why Paul emphasizes that. Remember that we are still in Philippi. Remember that we are dealing with a culture and a people who do not value humility, but who look down upon it. Do you think there is anything more loathsome? Anything more degrading? Anything more pathetic to a Philippian and Roman mind than crucifixion? Certainly not something that was fitting for a king. And yet, that is what our king embraced for us. To wash you, not just with water, but with his blood and his spirit. To present you holy and blameless before the Father. Brothers and sisters, this is the answer to our selfish ambition and empty glory. Christ provided us with more than just an example to follow. But in his death, he takes away once and for all your guilt. And in his ascended glory, he provides us with the power to be unified in true humility, as we will see. But look again at verse 5. There, if you do, you will see what is kind of the controlling command of this entire passage. Have this mind among yourselves, this mind of Christ, which is truly humble, embracing death, even death upon a cross, being equal to God, but not counting that something to be grasped, but exchanging the glory of God for the form of a servant. Brothers and sisters, what a contrast between that and selfish ambition and conceit and putting your own interests above that of your neighbor brothers and sisters our lord jesus he led the way he blazed the trail down into selfless love for us and if we want to know what true humility looks like we have no further to look than to christ and to him crucified but he did not stay on the cross brothers and sisters but he was highly exalted and his exaltation creates a new reality for us so let's turn to our third and final point the glory of christ and as we do so read with me now if you will verse nine therefore god has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so 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. Yes, our King stooped down to the very depths of death to save us. But brothers and sisters, he did not stay there. He ascended into heaven and he sits now at the right hand of his Father in glory. And what we are going to see as we explore this idea of our Lord ascended in glory is that there is a double benefit for us now. We have the encouragement in Christ of knowing that as he is in heaven, in glory, he will call us to be like him and we will share in his glory. but in the meantime as we're going to see he gives us participation in his holy spirit who even now on earth conforms us into the image of christ but before we look at that first let's consider our lord jesus in his exalted glory in our passage we are told that he has been given the name that is above every name well this idea is a part of paul's holistic understanding of the doctrine of ascension because we see it also in ephesians chapter 2 there where paul says that god seated christ in the heavenly places high above every power and dominion and authority and above every name that is named so what is that name what is that name that has been given to jesus well you can't help but to imagine that as paul wrote this he had in mind isaiah chapter 45 verses 22 through 25 which read turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth for i am god and there is no other by myself i have sworn from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return to me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear allegiance brothers and sisters what we are seeing in our text is that this name given to christ it is a divine title it is the title lord which is spelled with all caps as you see it in your old testament that name that is given to jesus that is above every name it is the name yahweh the covenant name of the god of israel who is the supreme judge of heaven and of earth the one to whom every knee must someday bow and to whom every tongue must confess brothers and sisters he has been highly exalted and is now the king of all kings the lord of all lords sharing in god's own glory in heaven we are left with one inescapable conclusion here it is the same jesus of nazareth that we saw tie a towel around his waist, who embraced the humiliating, the pathetic, the cursed death upon a cross for us who now sits exalted upon the very throne of God. This is a great encouragement to us, brothers and sisters, but also there is a gentle warning as we are confronted with our own hearts which are tempted to not act in humility but to seek our own selfish gain here we are reminded that christ is king and your knee must bow to him so stop bowing to yourself brothers and sisters while we are on earth we are still tempted it is true to do everything from selfish ambition to seek our own good and whether we do this to serve the sinful desire that is in our own heart or because we want to escape the judgmental glare of those in our culture the result is the same a devastation to the unity of the church whenever you seek your own advantage at the expense of your brothers and sisters you speak that you seek the disadvantage of christ's own body but we are given an encouragement here brothers and sisters we are told that the church which now bears the marks of christ's suffering and humility is the same church that will one day bear the marks of his glory as paul finishes his letter to the philippians in chapter 3 verse 20 he writes but our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a savior the lord jesus christ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself brothers and sisters that power that enables him to subject all things to himself that is his ascended power that is his kingly power that he exercises now as the one who sits at the right hand of god we are called to live lives that reflect the selfless love of christ in his humility because what we are shown is that from his path of humility to his path of glory the path of christ is our own the encouragement that we have is that one day he will take us into heaven and he will make us share in his own glory brothers and sisters when christ died you died with him to this world when he rose you rose with him spiritually and now as he is ascended to the right hand of the father in glory your life is hidden on high with him in christ with god so in the meantime as we await the return of our savior and the glorification of our body the transformation of our lowly body to be like his glorious body in the meantime we are given participation in his spirit. This power that the Lord exercises in his ascension results, as we have seen, in a change in our citizenship. Brothers and sisters, you are no longer citizens of Philippi. You are no longer citizens of Escondido, but now you are citizens of heaven and this change in citizenship it results in a change of heart as well look with me again if you will at verse 5 what we have identified there as the controlling command of this passage have this mind among yourselves which refers to the humility of christ we'll read the verse again have this mind among yourselves which is yours in christ jesus brothers and sisters that exact same command which you are demanded to follow is the same gift that you are given to enjoy in christ our savior who was crucified for you who rose for you and now is ascended for you giving you his own holy spirit you see this example of christ's humility it is not one that we are called to follow by the strength of our will or by pulling up our own bootstraps but it is one that we are able to enjoy because the holy spirit gradually and graciously conforms us into the image of christ ultimately you are not seeking to follow the example of christ in order that your citizenship may be in heaven but because your citizenship already is you are citizens of heaven now because you are in christ and he is there you are united to christ and because of that you were also made members of one another so there is no point now in seeking your own empty glory because you have been given the glory of the exalted christ he is glorified now and he promises one day that we will share in his own glory but he gives us his spirit who begins that process of transformation in our hearts even now so brothers and sisters as we close let's put it all together there is great encouragement for us in christ because he is the one who humbled himself he is the one who died the death that you deserved and reconciled you once and for all to the father and he is the one now who is ascended in heaven ruling as the head of the church and who gives you the promise to take you unto himself and make you share in his own glory and in the meantime he gives you his holy spirit and we have participation in the spirit as we see in our text so brothers and sisters that call to unity that command to behave as one another as christ has behaved towards you it is not burdensome but it is a gift that you have been given through the ascended christ spirit they may joyfully exercise it so brothers and sisters let us no longer pattern our lives according to citizenship in this world seeking our own desire and selfish ambition but because we are citizens of heaven where our lord jesus is ascended and exalted let us follow the path of humility and the example that our King has set for us. Brothers and sisters, because the Lord Jesus Christ humbled himself and is now highly exalted, let us live lives which reflect the character of our heavenly King. Amen. Let us go before our Lord in prayer again. Father in heaven, Lord, as we consider the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ who has ascended into heaven and who sits now at your right hand. We are reminded that he has been given the name that is above all names. He's been given your own name, Lord, and he is our God. He is the one to whom our knees must bow. But he has made us citizens of heaven by joining us through your Spirit to himself. So we pray that as we enjoy this participation in the Spirit, which is a gift given to us by our ascended Lord, that we may exercise it by having unity and fellowship in the Spirit among one another, loving you with all of our minds and our neighbors as ourselves. In Jesus' name we pray all these things together, Lord. Amen.