Our scripture reading this evening is from Philippians chapter 2. We're going to be reading Philippians chapter 2 verses 1 through 11 with special attention paid to verses 6 through 11. Philippians was a book that was written by Paul. Most likely he was in prison when he wrote the book. And Philippi was a church that Paul had helped to plant. And so now Paul is writing them this letter of Philippians to encourage them and to strengthen them in their faith and also to thank them because the church of Philippi was a kind of missionary supporting church. Philippi supported Paul in his journeys and gave him gifts financially to help support him on his journey. Now as we come to chapter 2 in Philippians, we come to some of the most beautiful words that are written on the bible about jesus christ our lord this is what some people call a christ hymn but it's really a song of praise to jesus christ and so let us turn now to philippians 2 beginning at verse 1 so if there's 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 his 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. This is God's holy word to us as people. Now little children, if you're familiar with the book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or if you've seen the movie you may remember that there is a boy named Edmund and he comes and he finds his way into this strange land and Edmund didn't meet the real king of the land but he met another person who was the witch and he gave his allegiance to this white witch because of this betrayal Edmund deserves to die but there's someone else that agreed to take his place and that was the king of the whole wood Aslan himself so Aslan agreed that he would be the one he would be the substitute the one to pay the price for Edmund And it's all for his love of Edmund. Well, in our passage today, we read about someone else who gave his life for another. Someone else who submitted himself in humility unto death. And this wasn't just any ordinary sacrifice, but it was one where God himself becomes human. And this sacrifice is not just for one person, but it was for the sin of the whole world, for all who might believe in him. In Matthew 20, verse 28, Jesus said that even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus is the one that is giving his life for our ransom. In scripture, it says that Jesus is gentle and he is humble of heart. Christ's humble death and his ransom for us later led to his exaltation. And that exaltation leads to worship and confession. This is a godly confession, a confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus said in scripture, take my yoke upon me and learn from me. What is it that Jesus is trying to teach us today? This will be our focus, that because Christ humbled himself and was exalted, we should therefore have the mind of Christ by confessing that he is Lord. This confession and this sacrifice comes about in three major movements in today's sermon. First, Jesus Christ humbles himself to become human. Second, the Savior is sacrificed. And finally, the Christ is confessed. So first, Christ humbles himself to become human. The structure of our passage is set up like a descending staircase. it starts at the plateau at the very top and then as we go it moves down one step at a time and then when we reach bottom we also move back up so verse six begins and it says 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. This is Christ Jesus the Lord in glory with God in heaven, even before the foundation of the world. Our scripture says that Christ was in the form of God, or as the NIV says, he was in very nature god in other words he was god himself jesus christ did not just become the deity when he became a man but he always was he is eternity eternal in john 17 verse 5 jesus is making his high priestly prayer and he says and now father glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. There was union in the Trinity, in the Godhead, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit before the creation of the world. And our scripture says that Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. You see, Christ was equal with God because he was God. In John 1, verse 1, that well-known opening to John 1, 1, it says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That Word, Christ, is eternal, always with the Godhead. And Jesus not only was there before creation, but he also is acting throughout history. In creation, in Colossians 1 verse 16, it says, By him, all things were created through him and for him. And you remember Israel in the wilderness, they had that cloud of glory that was leading them and guiding them. And that symbolic representation of God's glory between the angels, between the cherubim in the ark of the covenant. And at that place, Christ was there too. Christ was part of that glory for as first Corinthians 10 talks about the Israelites being led and they're becoming fed and God is providing the manna and he's also feeding them water from the rock and it and Paul says that they drank from the same spiritual rock that followed them And that rock was Christ. So Christ was present, even in the Old Testament. But our scripture says that Christ was not grasping. He didn't have this thing that he was trying to hold on to. He didn't have this attitude of taking something that wasn't rightfully his. According to verses 3 and 4 of our text, It wasn't that Christ was doing things out of rivalry or out of vain conceit. And he wasn't only doing things according to his own interests, but he was actually putting others before himself. Now as God, as this God-man becomes human, we move one step down. And we see a great contrast for the Son of God lays aside his crown. by becoming human, all for his love of others. This does not mean that Christ ceased to be divine. He didn't lose his divine attributes. This emptying that our passage talks about means that he left the glory of heaven and he entered into a fallen, sinful human world where he became bodily weak and he was susceptible to pain and disease and emotions, just like we experience. As Calvin said, he laid aside his glory in the view of men, not by lessening that glory, but by concealing it. So Jesus is born in the likeness of men. He is like us because he has a body. He is human. He has a human soul where he can feel and where he's susceptible to temptation. But yet he is not like us because he did not give in to that temptation. Our scripture uses the words of servanthood. Christ became a servant. In John 13, verses 12 through 17, Jesus puts on servants' clothing and he begins to wash his disciples' feet. and then he goes to them and he says, Do you understand what I have done for you? You call me teacher and Lord because that is what I am. But 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 also should do as I have done for you. So being a servant is one who not only serves others, but one who doesn't have any rights. Christ's great love for us was this, that he put others above himself. And Christ is also calling us to have this mind by putting others above ourselves. What a great comfort it is to know that God is one of us. He shares our sorrows. He shares our joys. He weeps with grief, like in the Garden of Gethsemane. he has the same pain that we have. And he can say, I thirst when he's nailed to a cross. This is a great comfort for the believer and one that we can confess. So not only is a Christ humbled by becoming human, but secondly, he is a savior who is sacrificed. Christ humbled himself, it says, On his own accord, being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a Christ. Christ's sacrifice by becoming human led ultimately to his death. This is the ultimate death. It's a low point. As we have cascaded down our stairway, we are now at the bottom. Death on a cross. What a scandalous place of scorn and shame. Though Christ was perfect, he suffered the wrath of God, the place of the curse. Remember where we have come from. Remember Christ in the glory of God in heaven, reigning supreme, entering into the flesh. And now the king of glory becomes lifted up on a cross to suffer the pain and agony of hell. This is no ordinary death. This is a death that paid for all of our sins. For in Galatians 3.13 it says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. The Son of God was also known in Isaiah as a suffering servant. If we go back to Isaiah's prophecy and we look at what the Son of God went through as God the King anticipated Christ's coming, we see the words of the suffering servant of who Christ is. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. We esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed as a servant this gets at the motivation at the purpose for christ's suffering christ became a servant for our transgressions in hebrews 12 verse 2 it says for the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. You see, he suffered this curse to take away our sin. Now, we, as sinners, we automatically think about our own interests instead of the interests of others. We are the ones, not like Christ, but we are the ones who are grasping and seizing power by doing things what we selfishly desire. But his desire was to put others above himself. And because he had that desire, his righteous robes then cover us and impute that righteousness to us. Jesus' death not only saved us from our sin, but enabled us to be in that glory. that Jesus Christ had even before the world. In 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9, Paul puts it like this, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you, by his poverty, might become rich. This Savior enables us to make this godly confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. So we have seen a Savior who was humbled by becoming human and one who was sacrificed. And now finally, we come about to a turning point in the text where an exalted Christ is confessed. Our text says, therefore, it's a great big turning point, Christ's humble sacrifice led to his exaltation in the highest place, for he ascended into heaven, as our creed says. And in heaven, he has been given authority at God's right hand. Just before Christ ascended into heaven, in Matthew 28, 18, Jesus gives his great commission to his disciples. And he says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. You see, he died and rose again so that his name could be declared to be the Son of God. And he has been given the name Jesus Christ, our Lord. In Isaiah 45, God is setting himself in the prophet Isaiah as the king. God the King, and God is Lord of all. He says, 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, every tongue shall swear allegiance. This is the exact same language of our passage. God the King, God's name Yahweh in the Old Testament. Later on in the New Testament, that name was translated as Lord. And that name Lord has now been bestowed on the name of the Son of God, Jesus Christ the Lord. For it is at the name of Jesus that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. He entered the human race as a servant, but now he is the Lord and the master. He is the Lord and the ruler of every knee that bows and every tongue that confesses. And Christ's sacrifice brought about glory, not only to his own name, but also, at the end of our passage, to the glory of God the Father. In Ephesians 1, verse 20 through 22, it says this, God seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church. What a glorious name Jesus is. And so there are really two responses that we as Christians can make. The first response, according to our text, is worship. Every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And the second response is confession. Confessing that he is Lord. You see, we too should be declaring that Jesus Christ is Lord. This summary, this statement that Jesus Christ is Lord is really a summary of the entire Bible. It's what every page of the Bible is proclaiming. It's a summary of the confessions that we confess in our church. Confessing that Jesus is Lord, not only in church, not only in our lives, but also in our lives. What a better way do we have to avoid selfish ambition and vainglory than to glory and to confess him who has saved us and who has gave himself up for us. Romans 10 verse 9, Paul says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. What a great promise this is. What a great promise that we can glory and confess the name of Jesus Christ and be saved. And Jesus Christ did this for our benefit. Christ has become like we are. Christ has become human so that we can be what Christ was. We can be in glory. In Philippians 3, a little later, in chapter 3, verse 20 through 21, Paul says, 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 even to subject all things to himself. See, this is a noble interchange that's going on, an exchange of glory for glory. We become glorified as a result of Christ's humiliation. The God-man has now been exalted, and we too can have a hope for the future resurrection where our bodies will be raised and our bodies will be transformed to be like His glorious body. And as we eagerly await a Savior from there, we can live in light of this already exalted Christ. So we have arrived, in conclusion, at the place higher than where we started. Christ humbled Himself by becoming human. He became a servant. He submitted himself unto death. A scandalous death on the cross. But this great descent has also enabled a great ascent. For not only are we to glory in Christ, but it was Christ that had love. That love for all of us. And so Christ has brought glory and honor and praise and confession and he is made the Lord of all. And as a result, we eagerly await a Savior from there. We too can put on this mind of Christ by praising the Savior and by bringing all the glory, honor, power, and authority unto him who is the King. Amen. Oh Lord, we thank you for this message. We thank you that you are our King, that you have become human. You've humbled yourself by becoming like one of us. And we give you thanks that you enable us to live with you, not only here, but in glory. We thank you for that message, Lord. Thank you for that sacrifice, but also that we can confess that you above are Lord of all. In your holy name we pray. Amen.