You can turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. As you're turning there, there are places in the New Testament where one verse or a handful of verses summarize for us the point of the Bible. Think of John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting life.
You've been told before that Martin Luther called that the Bible in miniature. There are other places in the Holy Scriptures where we have a summary like that. And one of those places is in Philippians 2, where in the span of six verses, we have summarized for us the point of the Bible. In fact, Philippians 2, along with 1 Corinthians 1, 15 to 20, and 1 Timothy 3, 16, that we read at the outset of worship, give us, as one man has said, a glimpse of the hymn book of the early church, a glimpse into the hymn book of the early church.
What consumed the minds and the praises of the early church? What was the content of their proclamation their hymn singing, and their acknowledgment of the God of Scripture. Well, we have that in Philippians 2, 6 to 11, an early hymn of the early church. We're going to read, though, Philippians 1, 27 to Philippians 2, 11.
So this is Philippians 1, beginning at verse 27. Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now here is in me. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross.
Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Amen. Well, let us again pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this passage of Holy Scripture.
We do pray that you would help us now, Lord God, to observe it, to open it up, to declare it rightly, to receive it rightly. We pray for preacher and hearer, Lord God, that this exercise of preaching would be done unto your glory. We ask, Lord God, that you would help us as saints to most certainly, upon a reading and a hearing and a participation and preaching of this text, that you would help us to To in a fresh way bend our knee to the King of Kings and to the Lord of Lords that our knees would bow to our precious Christ and we pray Lord God that you would help those who are not Christians in this place those who have gathered in This church this morning outside of Jesus that you would cause them by this word Attended to by the Spirit to believe in our Savior and to find all things in him. We pray in Christ precious name Amen
Introduction: A Proper View of Christ
Well, in the New Testament, a vitally important reality is stressed. A Christian is to have a proper view of Christ. It seems simple, but in our day of a watered-down gospel, a watered-down religion, a watered-down Christianity, it is vital to revisit and to stress that reality, that the Christian is to have a proper view of Christ. In fact, we could word that even differently to be a Christian means to have a proper view of the Lord Jesus Christ, a proper doctrine of Christ.
We could and should say a proper Christology. Christ himself spoke the words. This is eternal life. John 17 3.
This is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. In a discourse with his disciples, Jesus asks the question, who do men say that I, the son of man, am? And the answer is quite telling. Some say a prophet, some say Jeremiah, some say Elijah, or some other fellow.
He then cuts to the matter and asks his disciples, and you know this well, but who do you say that I, the son of man, am? And Peter acting and Peter responding as a representative of the disciples response says, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, which answer is telling because it is the right one. They had a proper view of Christ, though they did not at that time yet have that Luke 24 Bible study where Jesus would open up their eyes, their hearts to understand the things fully revealed in the scriptures. But they acknowledged who Christ was when John, employs the term Antichrist in his epistles.
He employs the term Antichrist in warning and exhorting his Christian recipients about a certain problem in the Christian church. Far from the mind of John was some future centuries removed political enemy of the church. Fresh and immediate in his mind were those who were saying that Christ Jesus had not come in the flesh. There was an error of Christology in the early church.
John in 2nd John 1 7 says that Many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh This is a deceiver and an antichrist So knowledge of who Christ is is vitally important and just lastly as we introduce and move our way towards the text the clarion call, or if the clarion call of the gospel is, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, then we ought to know what believe on the Lord Jesus Christ means and entails. If it means that man is to have simply some sincere feeling of religious attachment to Jesus Christ as some important figure in religion, then many cultists, many liberals, and I mean that in the religious sense, many liberals, and many people opposed to historical Christianity are then saved. But if believe on the Lord Jesus Christ means to believe the right things concerning him, which it does, then no doubt God has left us in his revelation with clear truths concerning Christ that we are able to lay hold of and that we ought to lay hold of, and we have that here in Philippians 2. We read Philippians 1.27 to 2.11, but we're going to be confined to Philippians 2.6 to 11 as we gain a proper view of our precious, precious Christ.
Just before we get to the subject matter of the sermon, this is a quote, very brief one, by a fellow named James White. Few passages provide us with the breadth of revelation, the depth of theology, and the weight of importance as the Carmen Christi or the hymn to Christ as to God, which is Philippians 2, 6 to 11. So
Sermon Outline Introduced
we're going to look at this passage of scripture under the old traditional three points, three point sermon. The three points are going to be this, the person of Christ, the work of Christ, and the glory of Christ. Remember what I said before we read this passage of scripture and prayed with regards to the summary of the Bible or the point of the Bible wrapped up in a few texts. What we have given to us in our Bibles, if we believe Jesus in Luke 24, and we ought to, what we have given to us in our Bibles is the person and the work of Christ Unto the glory of God the Father and as we move through Philippians 2 6 to 11 We will see that but
The Person of Christ
first let us look at the person of Christ and that is contained in the following verses Well, actually it's contained entirely in all of it, but primarily in 6 in 6 to 8 but notice first off under the person of Christ
The Deity of Christ
notice in the text we have his deity and Now as Christians, we of course know this, we own this, and we bless God for this particular truth. Should never be the case though as Christians that we roll our eyes when we revisit an ABC of Christianity. Because it is those ABCs where as Spurgeon said, God first began with us. And it is those ABCs where we continue in the Christian religion, glorying in those basic truths of Holy Scripture.
The deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, this is seen in at least three ways in our text. First in the words, being in the form of God. Notice right at the beginning, verse 5 and 6a, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God. We'll get to it later, why didn't the author just say, who being God?
Because if he's trying to argue for Christ's deity, which isn't primarily in view, that would be much easier to communicate that truth, who being God. But this is a way of saying it, but we'll get to why it's written like this, why Paul wrote it like this in a little bit. But this is a statement declaring Christ's deity, being in the form of God. This does not mean a spiritual category of being similar to God.
That's very important to understand because enemies of the Christian truth, enemies of Christianity, will pose, for example, the Jehovah's Witnesses, that this simply means Christ being a created angel, being a spirit being, is simply in the same spiritual category as God. And that is, of course, false. What does it mean? It means that Christ had and has ongoing eternal existence in the very form of God.
James White notes that Paul uses the present tense to indicate ongoing existence. Form of God does not speak to a category of being or nature, but rather reflects a direct correlation to God. You see, he could have, Paul could have, if primarily in view, was trying to argue for the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul could have said, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being God, did not consider that power, that reality something to be held on to, but came in the incarnation. He didn't write that.
Why didn't he write that? Because he's speaking to Christians in Philippi who are at an equal footing or an equal level in their Christianity. He's writing to Philippians, one man has said that the ground is level at the foot of the cross. He is writing to Christianities who are at an equal footing.
And what is to be the mind of the Christians who are at an equal footing redemptively before God and towards their fellow men, the posture of mind is that they are to be servants. They are to follow this ethic, verse 4, let each of you Look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. So the example that he brings is Jesus Christ. Though he was, as God the Son, equal with God the Father, being in the form of God, he did not count that subsequent equality with God something to be held on to at all costs, but made himself nothing in the incarnation coming, in appearance as a man.
So he didn't write who being God, though, that is there in theology, but rather who being in the form of God or God the Father, he wanted to argue that equality that he had with the Father that he set aside to come in the incarnation. So being in the form of God, again, doesn't mean, as God-haters say, that it is a spiritual category of being similar to God. But rather, as Warfield stated, in the person and work of Christ, Paul does not say simply he was God. He says he was in the form of God, employing a turn of speech which throws emphasis upon our Lord's possession of the specific quality of God.
Form is a term which expresses the sum of those characterizing qualities which make a thing the precise thing that it is. You see, in our sort of human minds and the way we often traffic and in words, is when we say form, we usually strip the meaning of it to have just ambiguously or closely related to something. You know, a cloud, it's in the form of a giraffe, isn't that amazing, little three-year-old Johnny? But you see, the form being used here has what Warfield is talking about.
He goes on to say, thus the form of a sword, in this case mostly matters of external configuration, is all that makes a given piece of metal specifically a sword, rather than, say, a spade. And the form of God is the sum of the characteristics which make the being we call God, specifically God, rather than some other being, an angel, say, or a man. When our Lord is said to be in the form of God, therefore He is declared, in the most expressed manner possible, to be all that God is, to possess the whole fullness of attributes which make God God. So when Paul writes here that Jesus Christ being in the form of God, he's saying that Jesus Christ has all of those attributes that make God, God.
Secondly, under his deity, notice we see his deity in the words, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Notice the text says, Jesus Christ who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Now you read, this is the New King James, the King James is the same. You read other translations and there will be a different rendering of the original Greek.
For example, one rendering, and it is fine, says, he did not consider equality with God something to be held on to or to be grasped. We'll examine this because it is not just a reiteration of being in the form of God, but something that flows naturally from having all of the attributes that are God, that is equality with God. What it doesn't mean, it doesn't mean this, that he did not seek after something that wasn't his already. You see some God haters, opponents of Christianity who use the Bible as their religious document, will say because Jesus Christ in their theology was a created angel, that this means that Christ didn't seek after something that wasn't his, but rather came in the incarnation.
And that rendering, that interpretation is not only blasphemous and against the thrust of the Bible, but it goes against the entire context here. Paul is arguing for people at an equal footing to exercise servitude to one another. And the example is the Lord Jesus Christ, who was on equal footing with God the Father, but did not hold on to his rights as the Son of God at no cost, but rather humbled himself in the incarnation. So we have the deity expressed and set forth of Jesus Christ in being in the form of God, and also in the statement, did not consider it robbery, to be equal with God.
Now, there's another interpretation of that text that is intriguing, that is orthodox, that upholds the deity of Christ and the Trinity, but is different. You see, some people come to this text, the classical view is that we have first the pre-incarnate Son in view, and then the incarnate Jesus Christ in view. being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. So the progress, the progression in the text, in their minds is pre-incarnate Christ, incarnate Christ, and then the exaltation. Some people within Orthodox Christianity, and when I say that I don't mean the Eastern Orthodox with the big hats, I mean historical Christianity.
Some people in Orthodox Christianity, though, see the whole thing from the vantage point of the incarnate And so when it says, who being in the form of God, that's a reference to the incarnate Christ, who never divested himself of deity, but was incarnate and was nevertheless in, nevertheless had still all of the attributes that make God, God. Did not consider it robbery to be equal with God meant that in his incarnate manifestation, he did not seek after or he did not press his divine prerogatives but rather remained steadfast to his messianic mission. Hopefully you understand what I'm saying there. You see, there's examples in the Bible where Jesus Christ says, I could at this very moment summon 12 legions of angels to my aid.
I'm paraphrasing. But instead of doing that, he says, but the scriptures must be fulfilled. So this text is saying, even though as incarnate Christ, he had all the attributes that make God, God, and he had that subsequent equality with God that such a one would have. But nevertheless, as incarnate Christ, he didn't press his divine prerogatives against his messianic mission, but rather poured himself out unto death.
He continued along his messianic mission. But again, we have his deity set forth in the form of God. We have his deity set forth in the language, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. And then thirdly, under his deity, We have his deity in the text in the fact of his exalted lordship.
In the fact of his exalted lordship, notice what the text says at verse 9, therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. You see what we have there in the text is that Jesus is exalted. He's given a name which is above every name.
God the Father would not give a created angel a name which is above every name, which would be above his even very own name. But rather, the Lord God the Father exalts him and gives God the Son a name which is above every name. And notice verse 10, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, and every tongue should confess that he is Lord. This is an explicit declaration of the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have a threefold declaration of his deity given to us in these passages of scripture. And this is vital. If you don't know this already, and I'm sure every single one of you do, This is one of those non-negotiable tenets of Christianity. We cannot be a Christian and reject the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are at that point not a Christian and outside of saving faith. Jesus Christ himself says in John 8, 24, if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. Isn't that an amazing statement for you know, the son of a carpenter to make before Jews who would have been well-versed in Exodus and Isaiah. If you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins.
You'll see in your translation probably the he italicized because it's not in the text. It's provided there as an aid to understanding. But Jesus Christ is saying, if you do not believe that I am God, you will die in your sins. If you do not believe that I am in the sense of everything that that word carries in force and thrust, you will die in your sins.
So a Christian is a Christian, and one of the things that characterizes his profession is most surely the confession of Christ's deity. And we are not to tolerate the rejection of the deity of Christ. I don't mean we beat up people that reject the deity of Christ, what I do mean, though, in the sphere of ideas and philosophies and religion, we cannot tolerate anyone who rejects the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not commune.
We do not have religious fellowship because they reject a central tenet of Holy Scripture. That is a doctrine that Jesus Christ condemns anyone who does not believe. And likewise, we are not to say, for example, as Other pseudo-Christians would say that the Muslims are or do along with us worship the one true God. Muslims reject the second of the blessed triune and therefore are not worshiping the same God, but rather an idol constructed by the madness of their own sinful hearts.
We ought not to entertain low views of Christ. You see, there is the rejection of his deity, But there is also the minimization of his deity and a lack of the full acknowledgment of the glory that that reality brings. And what I mean is, is that there are people trafficking in the name of Christianity that will buy Jesus couture shirts, will sing rap songs about Jesus being their homeboy, and will engage in all manner of madness on Facebook, throwing Jesus an air high five. I realize that there may be a simplicity to these things where they don't fully understand, but I do see in that, and I don't want to be an old curmudgeon, but I do see in that a rejection of a full appreciation for who Christ is.
Such an individual and such a glorious person that the angels had to hide their eyes from gazing at his beauty. So glorious and so majestic that when he appeared to John on the island of Patmos, John didn't say, hey, wait, I gotta throw on my Jesus couture shirt or can I throw you a high five, my buddy Jesus, but rather fell on his face as a dead man before the glory and the holiness and the majesty of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We do not tolerate, we do not entertain low views of Christ. Moving on then, the deity of Christ is seen clearly and at least three parts of the text.
The Humanity of Christ
Secondly, notice under the person of Christ, we see his humanity. We see his humanity. We have his deity, but we also have his humanity. This is seen in at least three ways in our text.
First, in the incarnational language of the text. Notice. in verse 6, reading through, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. Now, if we're standing from the vantage point of the classical view that sees pre-incarnate Christ and this text, but made himself of no reputation, a reference to his incarnation, then that's what we have here, the first declaration of the humanity of Christ. We read at the outset, God was manifested in the flesh.
But just by note of a related aside, when it says against, or what does it say there with regards to controversy? When it's introducing that particular text, some people believe, rightly, that what Paul is writing there is he's appropriating, including an early Christian hymn. And he says, and without controversy, that could be translated by common confession. In other words, we have a biblical argument for the validity of a confession of faith, because what Paul is saying here is, by common confession, great is this truth.
Saints everywhere have the common confession. They, with redeemed tongues, would declare with great confession and profession and faith, God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, etc. But we have in Philippians 2 at verse 7, made himself of no reputation, also translated elsewhere, made himself nothing, emptied himself. I think probably if you're in the classical view, this is a good rendering, the King James or the new King James, but made himself of no reputation.
That speaks to the nature and the heart of the incarnation. You see, because we have Jesus, full deity, bearing all of the attributes that make God, God, but he makes himself of no reputation in the incarnation. Why? Because he takes on the form of a bondservant and comes in the likeness of men.
The one who was the praise of angels comes down into our earth to dwell among us. So we have first his humanity indicated in the incarnational language of the text. He made himself of no reputation. Secondly, in the words, taking the form of a bondservant.
Some would say that they would have this statement, made himself of no reputation, and then how did he do that in a twofold way, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. So you would have made himself of no reputation and then indented under that by taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. So Jesus Christ, though, evidence of his humanity indicated in coming in the form of a bond servant, coming in the form of a slave would be a good rendering of the text. And isn't it amazing as you read through this, it should be amazing that Jesus Christ deity fully, fully enrobed in the splendor that is God comes in the form of a slave to lowly humanity.
To not glory in, to not rejoice in, to not just be taken away by the splendor of the incarnation of Jesus Christ is to be heartless, is to be non-Christian. Or to be a little more kind, to be temporarily lost in a coldness and a languor with regards to your religion and you need a kick to the pants and a stir to the soul. Jesus Christ represented here is amazing. The deity, fully bearing all the attributes that made God God, yet coming in the form of a slave.
Thirdly, in the words, made in the likeness of man. Well, actually, just before we get there, this language too, taking the form of a bond servant, our minds ought to wander with purpose back to Isaiah. Remember the servant songs of Isaiah, specifically Isaiah 53, my servant shall deal prudently. Remember what's going on in Isaiah, Judgment of God is inevitable.
It has come upon and will come upon Israel But the promise is seen in this servant who will come in the fullness of the times born of a woman born under the law to redeem those under it We have that language used by Paul here applied to Jesus Christ taking the form of a bondservant Gil said put these two together the form of God and the form of a servant and admire the amazing stoop That's what we are to admire, the amazing stoop that Jesus Christ engaged in. That language, kids, stoop, means condescension. Actually, that's probably confusing you more. Coming from a place of honor and glory to a place of shame and lowliness.
That's what Jesus Christ did. He stooped and dwelt among us and saved sinners from their sins. And thirdly, his humanity is seen, again, in the words, made in the likeness of man. This is reiterated in the next verse, being found in appearance as a man, as it moves to the argument concerning the cross of Christ.
But we see his humanity there, made in the likeness of man. And notice the support for the deity of Christ being provided when his humanity is being written about. Coming in the likeness of man, but even before that, form of a bondservant, he didn't come He didn't come in some sort of physical category similar to humanity. He came in the form of a bondservant.
He came in the form of a man. Well, that returns back to his deity. He didn't come in some sort of spiritual category of spirit existence, but rather he was in the form of God, he's in the form of a bondservant. But he came in the likeness of man.
There was an early Christian heresy, and believe it or not, it's still around today because all errors at the point of Christ seem to continue, don't they? There was an error, the early church, and it's seen in John's epistles, where those were saying, who were anti-Christ, they were saying that Jesus Christ has not come in the flesh. What does John say concerning that? Again, with this idea of not tolerating errors concerning the person of Christ, John writes, every spirit that does not confess that Jesus has come in the flesh is not of God.
You see, a recognition of Christ's deity is right. But if you recognize the deity of Christ and you reject the humanity of Christ, just like rejecting the deity of Christ, you're outside of the faith and you're not You're not a Christian. You're not of God, John says. Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus has come in the flesh is not of God.
Some still believe that. That Jesus Christ just came in the appearance of a man. I know the text says this, but that's not what it means. What I'm saying is that he appeared to be human, but it was just a divine showing of an appearance.
It wasn't actually, literally, an incarnate Christ that came in the form of a man and dwelled among men. Cyril of Jerusalem, in repudiating such a damnable heresy, said, if the incarnation was a phantom, salvation is a phantom also. See, that's the problem that we have. If we reject the humanity of Christ and we say, He just appeared as a phantom, then The next logical step is to say then that redemption is a phantom as well, because a sacrifice needed to shed its blood upon the cross of Calvary in order to provide the blessed forgiveness of sins.
So a rejection or a calling of the incarnation, a phantom, makes salvation a phantom also. Just turn with me if you will, just so that we can see clearly the humanity of Christ, that Christ is not a phantom. In fact, Jesus uses those words in Luke 24. In Luke 24, we have clear language.
Jesus, in a sense, obviously this wasn't his primary purpose, but he is providing the early church with apologetic ammunition to reject anybody who would say that Jesus Christ has not come in the flesh. Luke 24, beginning at verse 36. Now, as they said these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, peace to you. But they were terrified and frightened and supposed they had seen a spirit or a phantom.
And he said to them, why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold, my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. So first off, Christ Calls upon them to use the senses that God has blessed them with He says behold my hands and my feet that it is I myself But just in case that wasn't enough for them just in case, you know someone you know might pose a theory that he was able to you know by his divine power to make it look like the wounds there were wounds in his hands and his feet Christ says handle me and see and For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.
So you see quite clearly Jesus Christ was deity manifested in the flesh as a true man bearing true humanity. And he even has the condescending attitude to allow his disciples to handle him and see. Not only that, verse 42, so they gave him, in fact, if you read the narrative here, it's amazing. They handle, but then verse 40, when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet, but while they still did not believe, for joy it says, and marveled, he said to them, have you any food here?
So they gave him a piece of broiled fish and honeycomb, and he took it and ate it in their presence. So he shows them, he lets them handle him, and he even goes to the extent of eating broiled fish and honeycomb to almost stress, though it's not repeated here, A spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have Gracious and merciful Christ engaging in his disciples in this way But all of that to show that most certainly Jesus Christ as deity still had humanity He was in the incarnation the God-man Also as we just before we move on turn to Hebrews for a moment. This is a very important part that contributes well to to our Christian doctrine of the deity and the humanity of Christ, though the humanity is primarily in view, we'll make a note also with respect to his deity. This is Hebrews 2, beginning at verse 14.
Hebrews 2, beginning at verse 14. In as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same. that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed, he does not give aid to angels, but he does give aid to the seed of Abraham. That should actually better be rendered for our understanding.
You may have a marginal note. For indeed, he does not take on the nature of angels, but he does take on the seed of Abraham. Why does this verse help us first with the deity of Christ? Well, the argument against the deity of Christ, for example, by Jehovah's Witnesses, is that Jesus was a created angel.
But you see, it says here in verse 16 that in the incarnation, for indeed he did not take on the nature of angels. So why would Paul need to write that in the book of Hebrews if it was the case that Jesus Christ was already an angel? It's because Jesus Christ is God, and that in the incarnation, he did not take on the form of angels, but rather he took on the seed of Abraham. He came to redeem guilty humanity.
But with regards to the humanity of Christ, notice verse 14, and as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself, that is Jesus Christ, likewise shared in the same. Of course, he was without sin. Moving on then, we have the person of Christ. there set forth in Philippians 2 in his deity and in his humanity. He is full in both, not half God, half man, but he is fully God and fully man.
The Work of Christ
Secondly, we have the work of Christ set forth in Philippians 2. Notice if you navigate your way back to Philippians chapter 2, we have the work of Christ. As his person is set forth as deity and humanity, we have at verse, well, we'll continue at verse eight. Notice verse eight here with regards to the work of Christ.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross, literally the cross death. Jesus Christ humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the cross death. We have the work of Christ set forth here for us.
The Work Is Voluntary
Notice first, it is voluntary. The work of Christ is voluntary. He took upon himself the mantle of his messiahship voluntarily. It was not pressed upon him.
He was not the unwitting or the passive recipient of his messianic investiture, that is his mission as the Christ, but rather he voluntarily took it upon himself. Notice what the text says, backing up, made himself of no reputation. He made himself of no reputation. He humbled himself, it says here in verse eight, in being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself.
It wasn't that he was made to be humiliated, but rather he humbled himself. Remember, Jesus Christ himself says, reiterating that Matthew 26, 47 to 56 passage that I alluded to earlier, at any moment I could call 12 legions of angels to my aid. But that the scriptures must be fulfilled, I do thus. Jesus Christ voluntarily took upon himself the messianic task to save sinners from their sins.
The Work Is Comprised of Obedience
Notice second, it is comprised of obedience. It is comprised of obedience. The work of the Lord Jesus Christ is comprised of obedience. One, I can't remember how he actually puts it, but Robert Raymond in his systematic theology says that the work of Christ is one large work of obedience.
The entire mission, the messianic work of Jesus Christ is one large act of obedience. Notice what the text says in our hymn to Christ as to God in verse 8, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. His work is marked by obedience, and that is something to marvel at as well. is that in Christ's act of obedience to the plan to redeem sinners from their sins, to bring about the reality of that covenant of redemption wherein the persons of the triune God had commissioned in time and in history to save a multitude of sinners to the praise of God, we have Jesus Christ submitting in his incarnation to the law of men, to the civil magistrate. We have him, of course, submitting to the law of God.
What we see is he as he stands before Caiaphas, as he stands before Herod, as he stands before the spittings and the bruisings of his countrymen, Jesus Christ is resolute to his task as the Christ, as the Messiah. We see at many points he did not open his mouth, he did not speak a word. In fulfillment of that prophecy, as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. Jesus Christ for the task of his messiahship engaged in obedience.
And we need to see specifically two things that you have been told and taught before.
Preceptive and Penal Obedience
Two things mark Christ's obedience. The first thing is his preceptive obedience, which has also been called his act of obedience. That was one man's deathbed glory, the act of obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. It should be every Christian's deathbed glory, the active and the passive, the preceptive and the penal obedience of Christ.
The fact that Jesus Christ, this is what we say when we mean the preceptive obedience of Christ. And let not these big words cause the eyelids to drop and cause the mind to wander. Do you know that a lot of Greek words, original Greek words that we translate into English are larger than the English ones? God loves big words.
But you see, big words, impress upon us or express glorious truths of Holy Scripture. When we say Christological, that's a big word. What does it mean? It comes from Christ and Logos, or Christos and Logos.
Doctrine concerning Christ, teaching concerning Christ. Christological is a glorious word. Why? Because wrapped up in it is what the Bible discloses concerning the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, concerning our precious Christ, our Jesus.
So when we talk about the preceptive obedience of Christ, another big word, obedience is kind of big, but I kind of get that one, but preceptive. I'm out of here. No, preceptive, it has to do with the law of God. It has to do with the revealed will, the revealed law, the statutes, the commands of God.
So what does the precept of obedience of Christ mean? It is intimately linked to his vicarious and substitutional, two more big words, look out, his substitutionary work. His obedience to the law of God was in the stead of, in the place of, and for his people. So Christ humbles himself and becomes obedient.
And that obedience is marked by the perfect fulfillment of the law of God, not just generally, which it was, but specifically for and instead of guilty sinners who every second of every day have broken and will break the law of God, because it requires exact and perpetual and abiding adherence and obedience to it. Christ comes and his obedience is marked by preceptive obedience, obeying everything that the Father commissioned him to obey. He never violated the law of God. It is this obedience wrapped up and it is his penal obedience.
Penal, P-E-N-A-L, is a smaller word. But it's a glorious one as well. What does that mean? Christ's penal obedience, also called his passive obedience.
Well, penal refers to the sanctions, the punishments due for violations of the law of God. Okay, so Christ in his precept of obedience obeys the law of God perfectly for guilty sinners, for those whom the Father had given to him. The penal obedience has to do with Christ bearing the penalty for those same people violating the law of God. So not only does he fulfill the law of God perfectly and actively and preceptively in doing it, but as our substitutionary sacrifice, he bears the wrath and the penalty of God, do sinners, do the elect for their violation of the law of God.
What a comprehensive work are Christ engaged in. And I hope you see here, at both of these points, if we eliminate one of those from our Christian confession, we're in, to put it simply, a lot of trouble. Because if Christ did not fulfill the law of God in our stead, we have no righteousness that avails before God. If Christ did not bear the wrath and the penalty due sin for us at the cross, then we're condemned and we still have to bear the penalty for that.
You see, Christ engages in a work of comprehensive salvation. He fulfills the law of God and he dies in our stead. That obedience, we are to see there, substitutionary obedience, preceptively obeying the law of God, penally bearing the wrath of God for his people. And we need to see here as well, just as we did with the person of Christ.
Just as we did with the person of Christ. If anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed, Paul wrote. The deity of Christ, we must own. The humanity of Christ, we must own as Christians.
The gospel of Christ, which is seen in Christ, preceptively obeying the law of God and penally bearing the wrath of God, his death and resurrection. If we reject that, then we reject the gospel and the God of it. So we need to have these things close to our heart. That's why I said that Philippians 2, 6 to 11 is a short six verse summary of the point of the entire Bible.
The person and the work of Christ to the glory of God the Father, which brings us thirdly to the glory of Christ.
The Glory of Christ
So we have the person of Christ, the work of Christ, and now we have the glory of Christ. Notice what a beautiful way to end this hymn to Christ. as to God. Verse nine, therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father.
I find it an amazing thing. a wonderful thing to look at and to consider when we're reading our Bibles. For example, when Jesus is standing before Caiaphas, before his crucifixion, Christ knows what he's going to endure. He had already prayed and wept in the Garden of Gethsemane. He had already cried out to the Father, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.
Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. He knows and he is resigned to his messianic task and the salvation of a multitude of sinners by bearing the horror of the cross. You see, there's a glimpse of his exaltation, there's a glimpse of the glory that he will receive. Notice, for example, you can turn there, you don't have to, Matthew 26.
Verse 62 and the high priest arose and said to him, do you answer nothing? What is it these men testify against you? But Jesus kept silent and the high priest answered and said to him, I put you under oath by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the son of God.
Jesus said to him, it is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you hereafter, you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Why is that amazing? Because this son of a carpenter, this son of Jesus and Mary, who many blasphemously thought to be an illegitimate son, born of a Roman soldier to Mary because we can't comprehend the virgin birth, this son of a carpenter who was about to be crucified, who had already been, or who would be, scourged, who would, in a matter of seconds, be spit upon and beaten, this one is saying that he's going to be exalted to the right hand of the power.
That he's going to be going to the ancient of days on clouds of power. He's saying to Jews, That he is the Danielic son of man in Daniel 7 14. They would have been so familiar with that text. Daniel having that vision of one like the son of man coming to the ancient of days receiving dominion and glory in a kingdom.
The son of a carpenter about to get spit on and bruised. He's going to be a bloody massacre upon a Roman implement of execution. And yet he is the one who is exalted here in our text.
The Name Above Every Name
He is the one who is given the name which is above every name. That's not the name Jesus, though his name is Jesus. Remember before the incarnation, Jesus wasn't Jesus. And what I mean is we have that narrative in Matthew.
You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Prior to the incarnation, Jesus's name wasn't Jesus. Now, he's called Christ in the Old Testament, but that's not the name that's in view here. But what a glorious name!
The Anointed One, the Messiah, the One, the Promised One who would come to execute and to wrap up and to consummate and to fulfill everything that the Bible is about, everything that the Old Testament is about. But that's not the name being referred to here. Probably the name that's being referred to here given the name which is above every name and it's not so much the name itself but the reputation the power and the authority that comes with it, but it's probably King of Kings and Lord of Lords we have that in Revelation 19 and the name which is written in upon that glorious white rider is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And it has to do not with his deity, though that is glorious and that is immense and that demands all honor.
But it has to do with the reward for his perfect work of his messiahship, his perfect life of obedience, his exact and precise and perfect work upon the cross of Calvary that did everything the father intended it to do. His victorious resurrection, His work as the man Christ Jesus is in view here at His exaltation and with the name that is above every name, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but no doubt with His deity, He already has the honor of the sovereign of the universe. He is rewarded by the Father, is exalted and given the name which is above every name, and He is the recipient of worship. Right now in Chilliwack, BC and in this church, it's hot and I've preached for a while, so I'm going to finish soon.
But
Universal Worship of Christ
notice here at the end of this text, Christ is worshipped. Christ is worshipped. You see the flow of the text. What is to naturally happen, what is and should happen in the heart of every Christian is that as they move from a consideration of the person of Christ, And by that consideration, I mean the right one, deity, humanity.
As they move from there to the work of Christ, to his voluntary condescension and taking up of the task of his messiahship, to the obedience which is marked by the general posture of it, the preceptive obedience to the will of God, and the penal obedience to the will of God and the cross, we are to naturally then arrive at Worship. We're not just to leave then and say, isn't that interesting? Isn't that splendid? No, we are to finish and wrap up with worshiping the Christ of heaven and earth.
That's what the flow of the text says. He was in the form of God, did not consider that subsequent equality with God something to be held on to at all costs, but came in the incarnation, being found in the form of man as a bondservant, He gave his life for guilty sinners and was obedient to his father. And now what are you to do? First century Christian, second century Christian, fast forward 21st century Christian.
Now what are you to do? You are to worship. You are to bless the name of the Christ, to honor the glory of the father who sent him, to glory in God, the spirit who has impressed upon us the glories of Christ by power and for for God's glory's sake. We are to rejoice, we are to worship, we are to, as the text says, bend a knee to the Lord Jesus Christ and confess with our tongues that he is Lord unto the glory of God the Father.
And what many a preacher has stressed from this text and the theology represented, you've heard this before, maybe some of you here haven't, The text says that every knee shall bow. The text says that every tongue shall confess. Now, we should see in this that that includes Christians. We just talked about that.
We're to worship the person of Christ by virtue of his person and his work, who he is, what he's done. We worship Christ. But you see, bowing a knee, And confessing with a tongue that he is Lord will happen by the unbeliever as well. Not in that glorious way that we know.
The Spirit, God in his appointed and accepted time has turned us from blasphemers and sinners dead in our trespasses to worshipers who with great joy, with earnest and genuinely rejoice and bow knees and confess with tongues. But those unbelievers will bend a knee and they will confess with their tongues. the glory of this one. They may want to hide themselves in the trees and under the rocks from the wrath of the Lamb, as it's indicated in Revelation, but nevertheless, at some point, prior to being cast into the lake of fire reserved for the devil and his angels, you will, if you're outside of Christ, bend a knee, forced by his majesty and his glory and his power, and you will confess with your tongues that he is Lord. forced by the immensity of his righteousness and his holiness as he gazes at you with flames of fire, eyes as of a flame of fire. So what is the clarion call then of the same Bible that presents that judging Christ?
The clarion call of the Bible is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Why would you not want to believe in such a glorious Christ? Spurgeon said, lay on you men of eloquence, spare no colors, You will never be able to declare Christ too bravely. In other words, he is glorious.
He is rich. We've only cracked the surface of his person, his deity, and his humanity. We only briefly touched on his work. Worship him.
Believe on him.
Application: Believe and Bow
Rest with Christ before you leave those doors today. Don't leave salvation. Don't dangle, don't wait. but rather close now with the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on him and you shall be saved.
And you will not force, but with great joy, genuinely and with fiery earnest, bow your knees and confess with your tongues that he is Christ to the glory of God the Father. Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the scriptures. We thank you for what we were able to consider this morning in our brief time. And we thank you for what your Bible discloses concerning Christ Jesus, our blessed Savior, truly God, bearing all those attributes of blessed deity, and truly coming in the incarnation, taking on the form of a man, taking on humanity, that he might redeem guilty sinners from their sins. And we thank you and we pray for all your saints gathered here that we would rightly and properly worship, that we would bow our knees, that we would confess with our tongues that he is Lord unto your glory.
We pray Lord God that none here would rest who are outside of Christ in their damnation, in their condemnation, and abiding under your wrath. But rather that you would conquer their hearts, that you would condescend in amazing and victorious grace to turn them from the madness and folly of sin and death and hell to the glory of being found in Christ. Not having their own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is from God through faith in Christ Jesus. We pray that you would save many this morning, that you would strengthen your saints, and that you would, Lord God, help us to properly rejoice in our Savior and to live in a manner consistent with our profession of faith.
And just go with us now as we finish off this day and as we gather tonight for the Lord's Supper. We pray that you would help us to have minds and hearts set upon the worship of our triune God, that you might receive all glory. We pray in Christ's name, amen.