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Please stand for the reading of God’s Word. We take a detour from our consideration of Isaiah this week and the next Lord’s Day to consider a very rich and deep passage from Paul’s letter to
the Philippians, Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 through 11. I’m going to read from verse
1 through verse 11 to fill out the context a bit, but you’ll find that on page 1165
in your Pew Bibles. Philippians chapter 2 verses 1 through 11 again we’ll be focusing
in particular in the latter section of this reading. Let us hear with reverence and awe
the Word of our God beginning at verse 1. 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. Dear friends, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God
endures forever. Please join me in prayer. Our Lord and our God, Heavenly Father,
you are the God whose speech has power, for in the beginning you spoke the universe into existence
by your creative word of power, and you have spoken new life into our souls by the gospel
of Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray that as we consider this portion of your word, that by your spirit you
would cause your speech, your word, that which we consider today, cause it to take deep root in our
hearts and lives. We would ask that much spiritual fruit would be born from that which we hear this
day, and we ask Lord that through this passage of your word, that you would once again fix the eyes
of our faith upon the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who is the author and the finisher of our faith.
For we pray these things in his glorious and majestic and mighty name, and all of God’s people
said, Amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon this morning is The Form of a Servant,
and there are four key words that the children can be listening for this day,
incarnation, mindset, identity, and obedience. Well, friends, let me ask you,
what gives Jesus Christ a black eye in the eyes of the world? In other words,
what makes our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and his gospel and his church look bad in the world’s
estimation? Now, there are many ways that question could be answered, and there are many things that
can do and have done great damage to the church’s witness for Christ, our Savior. Certainly heresies
and false teachings about our Lord can distort the world’s perception of his divine glory and
can obscure and cloud the beauty of his gospel. Christians and especially Christian leaders
falling into serious and scandalous sin can also damage the church’s witness to a sinless Savior,
the one whom we confess to be the Lamb of God who takes away our sins.
But in the New Testament, one of the greatest sins that damages the witness of the church,
and therefore which makes Jesus and his gospel look really, really bad, is division, disunity,
and schism in the church, in the body of Christ. If, as the song says, they will know we are
Christians by our love, which is a very biblical sentiment, well, then what will they conclude
about us and about our Savior if love and the unity which love produces are lacking?
Often church divisions, especially divisions of the petty variety, are rooted in nothing but
pride. And pride, of course, is the opposite of humility, and thus the opposite of love.
And thus the opposite of love. Our passage for this Lord’s Day morning brings before us,
as the Church of Jesus Christ, a call to selfless humility in service to one another.
And it points us to the supreme humility of our Lord in his incarnation as our example.
And by incarnation, we mean Jesus, we mean the eternal divine Christ taking upon himself
our humanity in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. For though he existed from eternity, we are told
in verse 6, in the form of God, he humbled himself by taking to himself the form of a servant,
as we’re told in verse 7. Now, friends, this is a beautiful, lyrical, poetic passage. In fact,
verses 5 through 11, many Bible scholars believe that what Paul is doing here is he’s quoting
perhaps from an early Christian hymn, or perhaps Paul composed this beautiful passage himself.
But the overall context of this passage makes it abundantly clear that here the apostle Paul
is addressing the unity and the harmony of the church. Apparently, there were some pressing
threats to the unity and harmony of the first century apostolic church in the city of Philippi.
Threats to the unity and harmony of the church that Paul could not ignore, but instead
needed to address. In fact, in verses 1 through 4 of this passage, Paul issues one of the strongest
calls to Christian unity that we find in all of the scriptures. Let me read those verses again.
And as I read these verses, let these words sink into your ears and seep into your soul.
Paul says this, 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. And then he starts stepping on our
toes. He says, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more
significant than yourselves. Boy, that’s different from what the world tells us to do today. The world
tells you to look out for number one. The Holy Spirit through Paul says, count others more
significant than yourselves. And then verse 4, let each of you look not only to his own interests,
but also to the interests of others. You see, dear ones, genuine Christian unity requires
selfless humility. And here in our passage for this morning, the Holy Spirit through the apostle
Paul grounds Christian humility in the utter selfless humility that our Savior manifested
in his incarnation, which is a glorious, mysterious and wonderful reality that the
church has historically celebrated during this Advent season and Christmas season as we consider
and celebrate the incarnation and virgin birth of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Friends, Christ in his incarnation is the pattern and example of true humility in the lives of his
followers, those who are united to him by faith, the kind of humility that supports and secures
genuine unity and harmony in the church. This morning we will focus our attention especially
on verses 5 through 8. There’s so much in this passage. I could actually do a whole series on
this passage alone, but we will consider this passage both today and on the next Lord’s Day.
And we’ll focus this morning especially on verses 5 through 8. These verses highlight
what our confessional standards describe as our Lord’s estate, meaning his state of humiliation.
Our Shorter Catechism, for example, describes that in the following. If you want to turn and
follow along, Shorter Catechism, question 23 found on page 969 in the back of your
hymnal, it says this, the question is, what offices doth Christ execute or carry out as our Redeemer?
It says, Christ as our Redeemer executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king,
both in his estate of what? Humiliation and exaltation. And then on the next page,
question 27 asks, wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist? Christ’s humiliation
consisted in his being born and that in a low condition, made under the law,
undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross,
and being buried and continuing under the power of death for a time. And so we’ll focus on
this morning on what we learn in this passage about our Lord’s state or a state of humiliation.
On the next Lord’s Day, we will focus on verses 9 through 11 and what they teach us about our
Lord’s estate of exaltation. Well friends, as we prepare to dive into this profound passage of God’s
word, understand that this passage is one of the richest Christological sections in all of
scripture. In other words, to put it in simpler terms, this section reveals profound theological
truths about the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the God man, the Word made flesh,
our Emmanuel, God with us. And yet, this profoundly, richly, deeply theological passage
is also profoundly practical in its implications for our Christian lives and for our life together
in the church. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that theology is impractical. The Apostle Paul,
and thus the Holy Spirit speaking through him, would disagree. So let’s dive into our passage.
And the first thing that we consider here from verse 5 is the Christian’s servant mindset. Paul,
in addressing the matter of the unity and harmony of the church, the first thing he says here
in verse 5, have this mind, some translations say, have this attitude among yourselves or in
yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. Have this mind, this attitude among or in yourselves,
and this mind is yours in Christ Jesus, as it’s translated here in the ESV. If that’s the correct
way to translate it, what that is pointing to is that the attitude or mindset that we have,
we have in light of our spiritual and saving union with Christ. But another way to translate this
is to say, have this mind or attitude in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And if that’s the
correct way to translate it, as I think is more probable, then Paul is pointing to the attitude
or mindset of humility that was exemplified in our Savior Jesus Christ. But friends, the point here
is that the Christian mindsets that we are called to is to be informed and guided by our Lord’s
humility displayed in his incarnation. The sanctification of our attitude, our mindset,
is grounded in our Lord coming to earth in the form of a servant. Again, he says, have this mind
among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God,
emptied himself and so forth. Now friends, the importance of a humble mindset or attitude
for the unity and harmony of the Church of Jesus Christ is a very common theme in the New Testament
Scriptures, especially in the writings of the Apostle Paul. And just to give you a further
sampling of that, let’s take a look at some other passages penned by the Apostle Paul where he
addresses this matter. Turn with me first of all, if you would, to 1 Corinthians, chapter one,
and let me briefly read verse 10. And as you’re turning there, remember that the Church in Corinth
was a church that had all kinds of issues with unity. There was party spirit, there were people
gravitating to their favorite preachers. And Paul opens his letter to the Corinthians
with this appeal. Verse 10, I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He appeals to the name of Christ. What does he appeal to them to do? That you all agree.
That doesn’t mean that they have to agree on every minutia opinion or what have you.
He’s talking about agreement in the faith. He says that you all agree and that there be no
divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. Or turn with me,
if you would, to Galatians, Galatians chapter five, that white-hot epistle in Galatians chapter five,
verses 13 and 14, after Paul has urged the Galatian churches, the Galatian believers to
continue to cling to the true gospel of justification by grace alone through faith alone
in Christ alone apart from works. He says this, Galatians five, 13 to 15, for you were called
to freedom, brothers. Praise God for that, for the freedom we have in Christ. Only do not use
your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, do what? Serve one another.
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
Or consider Ephesians four, verses one through six. Paul writes this, I therefore, a prisoner
for the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called with
all humility. There’s that term, humility and gentleness with patience, bearing with one another
in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one
spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one God and father of all who is overall and through all and in all. And finally,
skipping ahead to Colossians, look at Colossians chapter three, verses 12 through 15, where Paul
urges the Colossian believers and the spirit through Paul urges us not only to put off the
old man, the old sin nature, but to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He says that in these words,
put on then as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness,
humility, meekness and patience, bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against
another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony
and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body and be
thankful. He’s talking about the body life of the church and how we are to treat and relate to one
another in the body of Christ. So getting back to our passage for today, Paul opens this wonderful
poetic lyrical passage by saying, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
or which was also in Christ Jesus. My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we are here exhorted
to a servant mindset. That is what being a disciple of Jesus, that is one of the implications of our
discipleship. We are called not to lord it over one another, not to push our own agenda or get our
own way. We are called upon to take a servant mindset. Let us remember our Lord saying that,
to paraphrase him, in the kingdom of God, the greatest in the kingdom is the greatest servant.
You want to be great in the kingdom of God, be the greatest servant. Because of our union with Christ,
we have been given the mind of Christ. And in the incarnation of Christ, we have the supreme example
of gracious humility. By the grace of God then, let us put on the mind of Christ. But that leads us
next to consider our Lord’s servant identity. We as his followers are called to a servant mindset,
but that mindset is grounded in our Savior’s servant identity. It says this in verses 6 and
7 of Christ. He says, speaking of Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God did not count
equality with God, a thing to be grasped or did not count it robbery to be equal with God,
but did what? Emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Now this is a profound passage, and this is also a passage that is open to a potential misunderstanding
if you don’t understand or appreciate the way that Paul is using the terminology that he’s using here.
Now in particular in verse 6, Paul focuses on Christ’s pre-incarnate status, his status before
he took upon himself our humanity. And by the way, this passage clearly affirms the eternal
pre-existence of Christ. Even before he came to this earth, he existed in eternity as God the Son,
the eternal second person of the Holy Trinity. But Paul says here
of Christ, he was in the form of God. Now the term translated here as form in the Greek
is the Greek term morphe. I believe we get our English word morphology from that for example.
And now some are confused, especially to our English speaking ears. This can be confusing
because it could sound like Paul is saying, well yeah, Christ before he came to this earth was in
some sense in the form of God, but actually not really God. Is that what he means? No. This does
not mean, saying that Christ was in the form of God does not mean that in his pre-incarnate state
our Lord was something less than divine. In other words, that he was merely in some sense the form
of God, but not actually God himself. Instead, Christ was in the form of God in the sense that
he was in very nature God. That’s precisely how, for example, the New International Version
translates this. And I think it’s a good translation at that point. As one scholar puts it,
when Paul refers to the pre-incarnate Christ as being in the form of God, this means essential
form, the sum of those qualities that make God specifically God. And so this term morphe,
translated here as form, is kind of a technical term, a term that denotes an outward manifestation
that corresponds to an inner essence. As another commentator puts it, to say that he was existing
in the essential metaphysical form of God is tantamount to saying that he possessed the nature
of God. And so this is just another way of affirming that Christ is, was, and ever shall be
eternal God. To say he’s in the form of God is to say he has all the qualities of God
shared by the Father and the Spirit. And not only that, Paul goes on to say,
though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.
Focus in on those words, equality with God. Christ being in the form of God means that he was and is
equal with God the Father. The eternal Son is co-equal and co-eternal with God the Father
and God the Holy Spirit in the unity of the Godhead. And yet Christ in his humility
did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.
What does this mean? A thing to be grasped. What does it mean that he did not count
equality with God a thing to be grasped? Well, again, the commentators have different views on
how to specifically and precisely understand this, but this probably means, Paul uses this
language and he probably means by that, that even though the pre-incarnate Christ already possessed
equality with God the Father, he resolved not to cling to it. Perhaps in the sense of not clinging
to his luminescent, refulgent divine glory and his divine prerogatives. He didn’t stop being God,
but he let go and did not cling to his heavenly glory as God.
Now Christ not clinging to his existence as equal to God the Father does not and cannot mean that
when Christ came to this earth and the person of Jesus of Nazareth, that he stopped being God,
that he emptied himself of his Godhood. Such would be a ridiculous notion anyways. After all,
it is impossible for God to cease to exist for God by very nature is an eternal being.
So any, if God were able to go out of existence and come back into existence, then he wasn’t
really God to begin with because God by definition is the eternal I am from everlasting even unto
everlasting. But what this does mean is that Christ did not cling to his divine glory,
which he had with the Father before the incarnation. As we compare scripture with
scripture, we notice that Christ mentions this in the high priestly prayer before the Father.
Turn with me if you would to John 17 verse 5, John chapter 17 verse 5. As Jesus in his high priestly
prayer offered up to the Father before his crucifixion, he says this, and now Father,
glorify me in your own presence with the glory I had with you before the world existed.
There was a glory he had before the world existed, the eternal glory that he shared,
the heavenly glory that he shared with the Father that he veiled when he was in his earthly sojourn
here on earth. He was willing to give up his luminescent, refulgent divine glory in order
to take upon himself a human nature which would veil that glory during his earthly life and ministry.
And so again, verse 6, Paul reminds us of our Lord’s pre-incarnate state, but in verse 7,
he speaks of Christ’s incarnate state. In verse 7, it says this, it says he emptied himself by taking
the form, that’s that term morphe again, the form of a servant being born in the likeness
of men. He emptied himself again. How did he empty himself? In what way did he empty himself?
Well, clearly he did not empty himself of his divinity as I just mentioned. How then did he
empty himself? Well, Paul answers that in the same sentence. He emptied himself by adding something
to himself, by taking to himself the form of a servant. Though he was and is and ever shall be
truly eternally God, yet he was willing to come down to our level and take upon himself a servant
identity by taking to himself a full human nature, body and soul in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
Think about it. He who was in the form of God took to himself the form of a servant. Children,
what this means is that Christ went from the highest heights to the lowest depths and he did
that because he loved you and he loved me. He did that for us and for our salvation.
And when he came down to us, Paul says in verse 7 that he was born in the likeness of men. Now,
this may cause you to scratch your head and say, wait a minute, why doesn’t Paul just say he came
as a man? For, you know, the scriptures teach his full humanity. Why this term likeness?
Now, some heretics in the early church taught that passages like this mean that Jesus only
seemed like a human being without actually being a real human being. And if you think about it,
that’s really problematic, isn’t it? Because the only way that we human sinners can be saved from
our sins is by a divine savior who saves us and represents us as a human being. We need to be
represented and redeemed in our own flesh. But Paul is not teaching here that Jesus merely seemed
like a human being without actually being a true human being. No, that’s not what Paul is teaching
here. Paul has already asserted that Christ took the form of a servant, which means he took to
himself the very nature of a human being. Jesus was a real man with a real human body and a real
human soul. Why then does Paul say that he was born in the likeness of men? Because though Jesus
had the likeness of sinful men, like me and like you, he was not, he was very different from sinful
man in at least two very important ways. First of all, unlike us, Jesus had no sin nature. Yes,
he had a true human nature, a true body and a reasonable soul, but he was not a sinful man.
The scriptures make that very clear. For example, Hebrews chapter four, verse 15,
where the author of Hebrews is speaking of our Lord’s high priestly ministry. He says in Hebrews
415, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin. Christ our Savior is the
sinless, spotless lamb of God who takes away our sin. So he is like us in that he is a true human
being, fully God and fully man. And yet he is not that we’re fully God, we’re not incarnations of
God. That’s another way that Jesus is different from us. You see, in his incarnation, his divine
nature was inseparably united to his human nature. And you may say, well, doesn’t the Bible teach that
the spirit dwells in us? Yes, we who are believers, we are indwelt by the spirit of Christ,
but we are not incarnations of Christ. And so Jesus is very different from us in the sense that he is
not a sinner like we are, and in the sense that united to his human nature, inseparably united to
his humanity is his divine nature. He is the God man, not merely a God indwelt man. And it is probably
because of these important differences between Jesus and us that Paul uses this kind of technical
terminology of likeness. Again, my friends, this is deep and profound theology, but it is theology
in the service of practical discipleship and harmony in the body of Christ. Theology is
incredibly relevant, incredibly practical. Our Lord’s profound and gracious humility and
condescension in coming down to us in the incarnation in order to represent and redeem us
should fill our hearts with unspeakable gratitude, and it should fuel our zeal for humility in the
way that we live out our Christian lives, in the way that we conduct ourselves in the life of the
church, and in the way that we treat one another, in the way we treat one another as brothers and
sisters in Christ, in the way that we treat one another as husbands and wives, parents and children,
employers and employees, and so forth. The incarnation of Christ, the humility he displayed
in his incarnation has so many ramifications, practical ramifications and implications for our
daily lives as his disciples, that we should take it to heart. But you know, there is something even
more astounding about our Lord’s servant identity than simply his incarnation as astounding and
amazing and incredibly profound and incomprehensible as that is, and that is what Paul outlines in verse
8. Consider finally our Lord’s servant obedience, our Lord’s servant obedience as it says in verse
8, and being found in human form. He humbled himself, he didn’t just humble himself though in
his incarnation, that was humbling enough, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point
of death, even death on a cross. Now let’s go through this, and being found in human form.
When other people, if you were to get in a time machine and be able to go back to first century
Palestine and able to see the Lord Jesus in his humanity, would he have a halo around his head?
You know, maybe if you showed up on the Mount of Transfiguration at one occasion you would
see his divine glory shining through his humanity, but most of the time that divine
glory was veiled behind his humanity. You see when other people looked at Jesus,
they saw nothing in him that would make them think he was anything other than an ordinary human being.
After all, like everyone else, Jesus was born, though he was different in that he was virgin
born, but he was still born. He grew, he ate, he slept, he got hungry,
he felt sadness and grief, perhaps he at times felt loneliness, and eventually he died.
He experienced all of the miseries of this life that you and I experience, but behind the veil of
his humanity was the eternal Son and living Word of God. It reminds me of that beautiful
line in that beautiful hymn, veiled in flesh the Godhead’s sea, hail the incarnate deity.
Says he humbled himself. He humbled himself. Though Christ in his divine nature is eternally
exalted, yet for us and for our salvation, he humbled himself in his incarnation. The eternal,
infinite Son of God took upon himself our humanity and was laid in a manger.
But again, such was his servant identity, but his servant identity led to his servant obedience,
obedience even to the point of death and of no ordinary death. Jesus, as you know, did not die
a natural death, but he died on the painful, shameful cross of Calvary, where he died to
redeem a world of lost, wretched sinners just like me and just like you. He went from the highest of
heights to the lowest depths, and he did so, brothers and sisters, for you and for me.
How much he must have loved, he must love us, that he would humble himself to such an extent
to die on the cross. And again, when Paul points out that he was obedient, this focuses on his
comprehensive, the fullness and comprehensiveness of his obedience, he was obedient even to the
point of death on a cross. That statement would have been shocking and would have resonated more
powerfully with a first century audience than it tends to resonate with us today. After all,
when we think of the cross, what do we often think of in our society and our culture? I mean,
lots of folks, both Christians and non-Christians, like to wear gold or silver crosses, cross jewelry
around their necks. You can get earrings that have crosses on them.
And I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, but I’m not trying to bind your conscience,
but imagine going back to the first century in the neighborhood of Christ and wearing a
piece of jewelry depicting the cross. How do you think people would look at you? They’d be like,
what are you doing? The cross represents one of the most horrible instruments of torture and agony
ever invented by the sick, twisted mind of fallen man. It would sort of be, I’ve heard it compared
to this, imagine wearing a necklace around your neck depicting the mushroom cloud of a nuclear blast.
If you were to do that, how would people look at you? They’d be like, there’s something wrong.
There’s a screw loose up there in your head. But Jesus was willing to go even to the painful
and shameful cross. Beloved, in closing, our incarnate Savior came in the form of a servant
born in Bethlehem that he might ultimately die on the cross of Calvary. Bethlehem was but a prelude
to Calvary and Calvary, of course, a prelude to the empty tomb. This highlights the utter depths
of Christ’s humiliation to which he went in order to save us. It also highlights the horror and
seriousness of our sins that it took the incarnation and the awful death of Christ on the cross to
redeem us. But it also highlights the infinitude of his grace towards us.
like you and like me who trust in him. Have you trusted, have you humbled yourself in repentance
and put your faith and trust in this sovereign Savior who humbled himself even to the point of
death on the cross to redeem sinners like you and me? Believe upon him, trust in him this day as your
Savior, and you will know and experience his love and mercy in your life. Amen. Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, Sovereign and Eternal God, we thank you and praise you
for the humble obedience of Christ, for his servant identity, his servant obedience. We
pray that as a result of contemplating and considering and reflecting upon our humble
Savior that we ourselves would manifest in our own lives a servant mindset in all that we do.
We pray these things in Jesus name and all of God’s people said amen. Beloved, let’s rise and
we’ll sing as our closing hymn, O Come All Ye Faithful 319. Let’s sing together number 319.