Introduction and Context
He then moves to his future plans under God, obviously, in verses 19 to 26, where he says it's better for him if he departs and is present with the Lord. Nevertheless, for him to remain on is going to promote fruit in the lives of people like the church in Philippi. And then in chapter two, he begins to exhort the people very specifically under the auspices of chapter one, verse 27. Notice in 127, 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.
So there is his introduction in terms of the practical exhortation that he wants to give to the church in Philippi, the way they ought to live as those blood-bought children of God who have been called out of darkness into marvelous light. He starts with unity within the context of the church, love, and giving preference to others in the context of the church. We see that in chapter 2, verses 1 to 4. And then in verses 5 to 11, he sets forth Jesus as an example.
So I've told you many times, the primary emphasis in the New Testament is not on Jesus as an example. The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, The Jews seek after signs, the Greeks seek after foolishness, or after wisdom rather, but we preach Christ and Him crucified. So the primary accent in the scriptures is on the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ with reference to redemption. There are passages, however, that hold forth Christ as an example to be followed, and this is one of those passages.
So as glorious as the Christology is in verses 5 to 11, it's connected very intimately with what he has said in verses 1 to 4. So he doesn't say, verses 1 to 4, I want you to be unified, I want you to love one another, I want you to give preference to others. Now that we're done with all that, Let's just bask in the glory of Jesus Christ and consider Christology. No, that's not it.
The connection is obvious in verse five, when after giving the exhortations in verses one to four, he says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. So Christ serves as an example to the people of God to put on the various things that Paul says, specifically in verse three, 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. That is exemplified in a glorious way by the work of Christ in verses five to 11.
It's also exemplified in Timothy in chapter 2, verses 19 to 24, and then by Epaphroditus in chapter 2, verses 25 to 30. So we mustn't forget the context as we bask in the Christology, but we mustn't only look at the context when we can bask in that Christology. So we have seen the divinity of Christ in verses 5 and 6. He is in the form of God. and he is equal with God, equal with God the Father.
And then in verses seven and eight, we have the humility of Christ, and that's broken down into two parts. First, the incarnation of our Lord in verse seven, and tonight, properly, the passion of our Lord. And then Paul moves to the exaltation of Christ in verses nine to 11. So we'll take up the passion of our Lord under the humility of Christ under two statements or two heads. the declaration of his humility in verse 8a, and then the demonstration of his humility in verse 8b.
If you look at your Bibles, you'll notice verse 8 in our English Bibles has, and being found in appearance as a man. We already dealt with that last time. It's connected to verse 7 in the Greek text. So we're going to start with,
Declaration of Christ's Humility
he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. So that's the declaration of his humility. He humbled himself. And I think one of the things that we ought to observe here is that it was voluntary.
There was no gun put to the Savior's head. And I think in context, that helps us to understand verses one to four. Our doing nothing with selfish ambition or conceit Is it because pastors or parents or spouses are going to yell at us if we don't do that? But we do it voluntarily.
We see that this is indeed pleasing to our Lord. We see that this is conduct worthy of the gospel of Christ. We don't need to be compelled to do this, but we do it voluntarily because we are about serving our blessed God. In terms of the Christological nuance in the passage, he humbled himself according to his humanity.
You've probably heard me say that a lot in our studies in John's gospel. You've heard me say it a lot in our studies here in Philippians chapter two. And when we refer to according to his humanity or according to his divinity, the technical term or the methodology that this reflects is what's been called in the church partitive exegesis. There's not gonna be a quiz, no test, but this is something that exegetes have seen.
There are contexts where Christ speaks according to his humanity. the ignorant son, for instance, when he says that the son does not know the day or the hour, when the son bleeds, when the son suffers, when the son dies. That's according to the humanity of Christ, according to his human nature. So one person, two natures. There are times we see him act according to his divinity, when he breathes the Holy Spirit upon the disciples in John chapter 20, when he forgives that paralytic of his sins and says, so that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.
And this part of exegesis tactic or strategy isn't imposed upon the text, but it comes from the text, and especially a text like this. He's in the form of God, and he's in the form of a servant. He's in the form of God, and he is in the form of a servant. Not two persons, one person, one subject, two natures.
We call this in theology the hypostatic union. So the humility occurs according to his humanity, and it draws attention to the glory of Christ, this one who is in the form of God, who assumes our humanity and is in the form of a servant, humbled himself. And he does this voluntarily. And this really goes a long way to provoke in us to let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
If the divine son comes into this world, assumes our humanity, and lives in a manner like he lived, that should certainly hold sway in the consciences of the blood-bought child of God as to how they're to treat other people. When it comes to a verse 3 or a verse 4, that ought to be something that we bemoan that we don't do more, that we lament and we cry out to God for grace and we cry out to God for help and for strength so that we can let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. But in lowliness of mind, esteeming others better than ourselves, why does Jesus do what Jesus does according to verses 5 to 8? He does it because he is others-minded, and he has come to save his people from their sins.
The Son of Man did not come to be served, he says, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. So let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus our Lord. So the humility of the saints is even fortified in what we see here in terms of the Savior. Now that then brings us to the demonstration of his humility in verse 8b.
So notice, after the simple statement, he humbled himself, it then goes on to say, and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. So the demonstration of his humility. I want to look first at the nature of his humiliation, and then secondly, the extent of his humiliation. So notice that
Humility Expressed in Obedience
the humiliation of our Lord Jesus Christ is seen specifically in obedience. So notice in verse 80, humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death. Obedience is what is punctuated here in terms of the humility of Jesus Christ. Obedience.
One man says the manner and sign of his humility is obedience. whereas it is characteristic of the proud to follow their own will. For a proud person seeks greatness, but it pertains to a great thing that it not be ruled by something else, but that it rule other things. Therefore, obedience is contrary to pride. The overarching concern by the apostle, do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, consider others as better than yourself.
And so with reference to the humiliation of our Lord Jesus, it is seen specifically in obedience. Now, this is the one who was in the form of God. This is the one who took on our humanity. This is the one who humbled himself according to that humanity.
And I want to make sure that we're clear here, as we've seen this before in our studies in John's Gospel.
Eternal Relations of Origin, Not Subordination
We don't project obedience or submission or authority into God as God is in himself. This is not the way to distinguish the persons of the Godhead. This has become popular over the last generation or two. It's called eternal functional subordination of the son.
Now, they're not meaning by that, that the son, according to his humanity as covenant mediator, obeys the father in every jot and tittle of the law. That's perfectly acceptable. We put obedience and authority in the economy where it belongs. But when we read it into theology, we are making a huge mistake.
Dare I say, it is heretical. There is another school of thought that teaches eternal relations of authority and subjection. That what is true of the Father and the Son, that we see here on earth, is true of the Father and the Son in eternity, as God. Again, many times we have stressed the way you see distinction between the persons of the Godhead is not eternal relations of authority and submission.
It is not eternal functional subordination of the Son. It's the eternal relations of origin. The Father is unbegotten, the Son is begotten by the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. So when we think authority, and we think submission, and we think obedience, we don't map that onto God and say that the way that the Son relates to the Father in terms of heavenly reality, or God in Himself, we are in error.
And when it comes to that, what the people actually do is they introduce a multiplicity of wills in God. If that is true, authority and submission is what distinguishes the persons of the Godhead, it argues for two wills. You've got to have an authoritative will and then a submitting will. And that's not Orthodox Christianity.
One power, one substance, one eternity, one will. The essential nature, or rather the essentialness of the unity of the divine nature. It is at stake in this Christological debate. So we don't read what happens in the economy into God himself, because then we're going to be heretical, and we don't want to be heretical.
So the Apostle Paul tells us that with reference to the humanity of Christ, the form of a servant, he humbled himself and became obedient. Now, in terms of this, the entirety of his humility, let me just read what I think the text is saying.
Obedience from Womb to Cross
He humbled himself and became obedient to death. Now, I think we typically read that he was obedient to death, the death that was going to happen. I think it means from the womb to the cross, from the entirety of his life, he was obedient. Every jot and tittle, every step of the way, he was obedient.
When it gets into even the death of the cross, that's the extent of disobedience. That's the extent of this particular act of humiliation. So the obedience that he renders up is according to God's law. And our confession, I think, has a wonderful summary statement in terms of God's law.
It says, God gave to Adam a law of universal obedience written in his heart and a particular precept of not eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, by which he bound him in all his posterity to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience. So the perpetual obedience, the exact and entire obedience, is from his mother's womb all the way to the point of death. In other words, the entirety of his life was marked by this humiliation, which is seen specifically in his act of obedience. Galatians 3 tells us, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do that.
It's kind of Paul's point in the book of Galatians. We'll see that as Tim moves through Galatians. What does Paul say in Galatians chapter five? You who get circumcised, thinking there's religion in circumcision, thinking that there's acceptance with God via your circumcision, you are obligated or you're a debtor to keep the entirety of the law.
You don't get to just take your best shot at it. Well, I'll obey three out of the 10 commandments. I'll obey a few of the ceremonies of Moses. Now, the ceremonies of Moses seems to be front and center, which was plaguing the people of God in the churches in Galatia.
But with reference to God's law, listen again, Galatians 3, and this is a quote from the Old Testament, Deuteronomy, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do that. That's why we need Jesus, because we don't do the works of the law. especially not all of them. I mean, the best Christian, on the best day, stands in constant need of Christ's righteousness. It's not that there's ever a time where we go, man, I had a really great day.
I think sometimes this happens with the supper. I had a great week. I've had a great month. I think I deserve the supper.
I hope that's not in our minds. It's all about Jesus and what he's accomplished. And Christ was obedient from the womb to the cross. The obedience is seen to his father as the covenant mediator.
But even before that, as a man, true humanity in order for him to serve as that mediator in order for him to save his people from their sins as a man he had to obey the law so with reference to the obedience to his father galatians 4 says when the fullness of the time had come God sent forth a son born of a woman and born under the law. Why? To redeem those who are under the law. So he must obey his father.
Every jot and tittle of his life, the incarnation of the son necessarily placed him under the law. And as man and mediator, he had the obligation placed before him to obey that law.
Christ's Obedience in His Earthly Ministry
Go back to Matthew's gospel, where you see the first inkling of this in the baptism of our Lord Jesus. Matthew chapter three. Matthew chapter 3. You remember the scene?
He comes to be baptized by the Baptist, and the Baptist says, no, I don't think I should be baptizing you, you should be baptizing me. Verse 13, then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent him saying, I need to be baptized by you. And are you coming to me?
Jesus answered and said to him, permit it to be so now for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he allowed him. That sets the tone of the Savior's ministry. He's got to fulfill all righteousness.
Notice in John's gospel, you see this accent many times in terms of his relation to the Father according to his humanity as the covenant mediator, as the one tasked with saving his people from their sins. John 4. John 4, specifically at verse 34. Well, picking back to verse 31, in the meantime, his disciples urged him, saying, Rabbi, eat.
But he said to them, I have food to eat of which you do not know. Therefore, the disciples said to one another, Has anyone brought him anything to eat? Jesus said to him, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest?
Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest." Notice that. Verse 32, I have food to eat of which you do not know. They're perplexed. Has anybody given him any food?
How does he describe that? My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. That's a foreign concept, not just to these men that were with them, but to us. Can you say, my food is to do the will of Him who sent me?
Probably not, brethren, or else the cross and all of its attendant benefits were in vain. If we can do the will of the Father who sent us, then we don't need Jesus. Notice in John 5.30, John 5.30, I can of myself do nothing, as I hear I judge, and my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me." John 6, verse 38. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.
This is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all He has given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of him who sent me that everyone who sees the son and believes in him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last day. John eight, specifically at verse 29, John eight, 29.
And he who sent me is with me. The father has not left me alone for I always do those things that please him. I always do those things that please him. So the humility of our Lord Jesus from the womb to his death was always to the father.
But there was a manward orientation as well.
Manward Obedience and Subjection
The obedience to human authority. If you look at our Lord Jesus in his earthly ministry, he continued in subjection to his earthly parents. Those weren't perfect parents. Contra Rome, you know, Mary rejoiced in God, my savior.
She was a sinner that needed a savior. They were not perfect people, brethren. And yet he submitted to them. He was subject to them according to the scriptures.
His vocation as a carpenter. He was obedient the entirety of his life on the horizontal level as well. He didn't lay on the couch and say, hey, I'm the Messiah. I'm just going to wait it out until I go to the cross.
No, he worked. He did what God commands in the fourth commandment. It's a command to rest, but it's also a command to work. Six days you shall labor and do all your work.
As well, his humility before the disciples, washing their feet, That scene is amazing. He takes off the garment and girds himself. Later on, Peter uses a convention that seems to suggest that scene when he says, be clothed with humility. The implication might be like the master when he bent down and washed our feet or consider the humble obedience of our blessed Lord with reference to his enemies.
With reference to his enemies, he tells Peter to sheath the sword. He tells Peter to put away that instrument of defense such that he could be arrested and be dragged off to the Sanhedrin and then to Pontius Pilate. He was obedient. That's what characterized the state of humiliation.
As well, we have that blessed testimony of Simon Peter concerning the Lord. in 1 Peter 2, verses 21 and 22. Peter says, for to this end you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. And then he cites the prophet Isaiah, and he says, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. I find that to be an incredible statement, not only in terms of the active obedience of our blessed Savior, but in terms of the position of Peter.
Peter was very close to the Lord. Remember? Gethsemane and Transfiguration. It's Peter, James, and John.
You've heard me say this before. The people that you're closest to, you sin the most against. Unless, you know, you're the blessed exception. The rest of us slobs, the people that we love the most, for whatever reason, we sin the most against them.
You'd think it would work conversely. Peter was intimate with Jesus. Peter is able to say what Peter says from the mouth of the prophet Isaiah, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. Not once, not ever.
It was entire. It was exact. It was perpetual. It was blessed.
It is the obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ. So when Paul says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, our Lord, Paul is using the biggest example that he can muster to impress upon the children of God to let nothing be done with selfish ambition or conceit, but to give preference to others, to esteem others as better than yourself. The Lord Jesus Christ was obedient from the womb to the cross.
Demonstration: Extent of His Humiliation
But then notice in verse 8, we see the extent of his humiliation. I think what Paul is doing here is amplifying this state of humiliation characterized by obedience from the womb to death. But now let's talk about this death.
The Death of the Cross
It wasn't just an ordinary death. Matthew says concerning the crucifixion, far more reproachful than beheading, hanging or burning out of unspeakable love to bring us nigh unto God. So notice Paul says he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Now, it was especially humiliating in light of the Old Testament.
You can just turn to Galatians 3. There's an Old Testament quotation there, and we should see it. Galatians 3.13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. That's Deuteronomy 21.23.
Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. This was a cursed death. Christ became a curse for us. in order to redeem us from our sins. Now, not only was it a cursed death, but it was a very shameful death.
Turn over to the book of Hebrews. I remember reading Charles Spurgeon, as you're turning there, Spurgeon says, our artists usually clothe Jesus on the cross. Not that I'm an advocate for pictures or paintings of Jesus on the cross, but in the history of the church, when men have taken brush to whatever that thing is they draw on. My ignorance as an artist, that thing.
The canvas, thank you, yes, very good. When they do that, they put a cloth on Jesus. That's probably not the way that it was. Shame, humiliation, ignominy, all of the things associated with that kind of a death.
You think that bloodthirsty mob of unbelieving Jews wanted to do anything less than bring him to utter humiliation? I mean, him being a man made himself equal with God. This man's a blasphemer. Every bit of shame, every bit of humiliation should be thrown upon him.
Hebrews 12: Enduring the Cross's Shame
Note what the apostle says in Hebrews chapter 12, verse one. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. So what the apostle is doing here is he's exhorting the people of God to perseverance. He's exhorting the people of God to run with endurance the race that is set before us.
He first invokes this imagery of an amphitheater filled with witnesses. Now, those witnesses aren't cheering on the runners down below. The witnesses aren't, you know, going, hey, Jim, you keep running. You keep fighting that temptation.
You keep resisting that sin. That's not how they're witnessing. The witness in a courtroom testifies. These guys, these witnesses, men and women, aren't just watching the runners on the field.
They're actually witnesses. And the witness testimony is God is faithful. And if you ask the question, who are these witnesses in this amphitheater? Read Hebrews 11.
All the godly men, the godly women who by faith did what they were supposed to do. That's the connection. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, godly Abel, who says God is faithful. Godly Rachel, who says God is faithful.
Godly Abraham, who says God is faithful. Godly all of them, who say God is faithful. We've got these witnesses testifying concerning the glorious faithfulness of God. That's the first motive.
The second is the experience of Jesus. Notice. after verse one, verse two, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. I think at times, if we are operating in the realm of selfish ambition or conceit, it feels shameful It feels below us. It feels beneath us.
It's not dignified for us to humble ourselves, eat a bit of crow, confess where we were wrong and own it and deal with it. No, we sometimes double down. We get really defensive. We say, no, that wasn't me.
But that's not Jesus, according to this particular statement, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. So back to Philippians 2, what the apostle Paul is saying here is that this obedience of our Lord, which was indicative of the state of humiliation, was from the womb of Mary all the way to his death. But then to amplify that or to demonstrate the extent of that, to exacerbate it, he says, even the death of the cross, what Christ went through on behalf of his people, he endured, he despised, and yet he carried on because he counted his father as faithful as well. The blessed Savior is the perfect example for those in the church who need to be reminded to 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. If you ask the question, what would Jesus do? He'd humble himself. How would Jesus deal with this?
He'd disarm it. How would Jesus deal with this? He would do it without selfish ambition or conceit, and he would give preference to others. Well, how do we know that?
Because that's precisely what marked the entirety of his life. Exact. Entire. Perpetual.
Every jot and tittle of his life was marked by that obedience, which was the great identifier of the state of humiliation. So Paul's example here is most powerful. It's strong with Timothy, and it's strong with Epaphroditus as well. They both illustrate or demonstrate certain facets of what Paul enjoins upon us in verses 1 to 4, but not like Jesus.
And when we set this in its larger context, we cannot divorce verse 8 from verses 6 and 7. Who being in the form of God in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Paul's following that same motif.
Notice, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. That's his John 1.1. And then is John 1 14 is verse 7, but he 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. It's according to his humanity.
He humbles himself. And he does so to death, even the death of the cross. So in the context, it's the incarnation and the passion of the divine son of God. The word became flesh.
The incarnation shows us this, but the passion highly demonstrates the humility enjoined by the apostle upon the church of Christ, such that they do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit. It is a marvelous, stupendous example, and as Gill says, put these two together, the form of God and the form of a servant, and admire the amazing stoop. Or as Matthew Poole says, upon these considerations, how should Christians in mutual love condescend to each other? In other words, brethren, what Paul is doing here, he's giving us glorious Christology.
And I'm not sure you could pack as much into, you know, a few small verses as the Apostle does. And then you've got commentators that come along the way and expound it even more so to show us that what we have in the in what we call classical theism, was not imposed upon the Bible. It is derived exegetically from the Bible, the form of God and the form of a servant. That's part of the exegesis.
According to the humanity, according to his divinity, the one person acts. So when it comes to this particular section,
Christology and Ethics United
the apostle is calling upon us to contemplate the Savior. So that our hearts are drawn out in love and worship, we should consider the one who is in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but took on the form of a servant. That should just blow our minds when we ponder that. but it's also to function in such a way as to how we're to deal with one another, how we're to conduct ourselves in the context of the local church. Christology and ethics are mingled in this beautiful passage by the Apostle Paul for our good and for our benefit.
Well, in terms of just some thoughts in closing,
Closing Summary of Christ's Humility
the glory of Christ in his person. Again, we need to notice the voluntary nature of his humility. The voluntary nature of his humility. Gone to his head.
No compulsion, no, you know, you must, or I'm going to cut you off. The voluntary nature. He humbled himself. As well, the definitive expression of his humility, and he became obedient to death.
The entirety of Christ's life is marked by obedience. If you ever really want to see what righteousness looks like, it's the 33 years that Christ was on this earth. That is righteousness. That is obedience.
That is what our confession says in terms of personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience to God's law. This is what Deuteronomy 27 and Galatians 3.10 means when it says you must do all the things committed in that law. That's a subject for our meditation that should cause us to just stand in awe. I would suggest, thirdly, the glorious extent of His humility is seen in that phrase, even the death of the cross.
The extent of His humility, even the death of the cross. It wasn't just piecemeal. It wasn't just partial. It wasn't just kind of faked.
No, this is what the Son of God, who assumed our humanity, does for us men and for our salvation. And then
Active and Passive Obedience
the obvious doctrinal content of his humility is that we see here an emphasis on the active and the passive obedience of Christ. Those shouldn't be foreign concepts to anybody in this church. Whenever we talk about justification by faith alone, we ground it not upon our faith plus works, not upon our merit, not upon our thought process, but it's on the active obedience of Christ, his positive obedience to everything that God had given him to do. And then the passive obedience refers to his death on the cross.
Passive, not meaning that he was an unwilling participant and just sort of thrown up there, more probably like passion. It was the death aspect of the cross or the ministry of Jesus. Zanke says, there are then two parts to his obedience, one that preceded death on the cross and the other that included the cross and death. In common theological parlance, it's the active and passive obedience of Christ.
And Paul says it's as a result of that that you and I get to go to heaven. Romans 5, 19, for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous. The entirety of his obedience. That broken down in his life in terms of active, that with reference to his death in terms of passive.
Second Corinthians 521, Paul says, God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. The twin blessings involved in justification by faith alone. Brethren, that's why we eat this bread and drink this cup. That's why this is all possible to us tonight.
Why it's certain, why it's there, why we do this. Again, not a reward for good conduct over the last month since the last time. Not necessarily don't do it because you had a bad or rough month. No, it's the active obedience of our blessed Savior to every jot and tittle of the Father's command.
It's the passive obedience of our blessed Savior, shedding his blood to cleanse us from all of our sins and unrighteousness. And not only that, it's the one who is in the form of God, who did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, who took upon himself our humanity, not just our humanity, the form of a servant. I mean, brethren, if it were us, we'd take on humanity in the form of a king. I mean, that's what is due us, right?
We take on the form of a wealthy man. We take on the form of a wise man. He took on the form of a servant. Why?
So that he could save us from our sins. So that through that passive obedience, we would be cleansed in his precious blood. Through that active obedience, we would receive that wedding garment that fits us and prepares us such that we can enter into the presence of a thrice holy God. The stuff of Philippians 2, 5 to 11, yeah, as the people of God, don't be selfishly ambitious and do nothing with conceit, but rather give preference to others.
All that's true. But this is true because of what Jesus accomplished on behalf of the people whom the Father had given him. It really is a splendid and a marvelous passage. And I want to just end on this note with reference to the mind of Christ in the believer.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Yes, obedience. Yes, humility. Yes, kill the selfish ambition and the conceit.
But also have this mind in you to contemplate the beauties of the Christology and the glory revealed to us in verses 6 to 11. You're not going to go to heaven because you've mastered no selfish ambition or conceit. You're going to go to heaven because he did. You're not going to go to heaven because you always give preference to others.
And again, I'm not minimizing the context and telling you it's okay. you're going to go to heaven because of what Christ has done on your behalf. So we need to be reminded of that. We need to have this mind in us to contemplate the glories of the Savior as set forth in a Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 to 11, not so that we can go out in sin, but that when we do sin, we remember we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ, the righteous. He ever lives to make intercession for us.
This kind of commitment on the part of the Son of God means the kind of stability and the kind of peace and the kind of comfort that the people of God possess. His oath, His covenant, His blood, support me in the whelming flood. It's not my oath. It's not my covenant.
It's not my blood. It's his. Luther said something to the effect, when I look at myself, I cannot see how I could be saved. But when I look at Jesus, I cannot see how I could be lost.
I love that. That is blessed, brethren, so take the supper tonight with that sobriety, with that reverence before God, but with the joy of the Lord as our strength, that our Savior did what the Savior said He would do, has done, and is written about in a book like Philippians. May that encourage us May that build us up in our most holy faith. May that confirm that faith and strengthen it.
May it be a means of grace to conduce to our good and for our perseverance in the Christian faith. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this beautiful passage of Holy Scripture, truly an amazing passage. We give glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for such a wonderful salvation. We thank you that you've made us partakers of this, not because of what we were going to do or what you saw that we might do, but according to predestination and election and blood atonement wrought out by the Savior King. We thank you for the ministry of the Holy Spirit who has taken these things and made them effectual in our lives.
And we thank you that tonight we can eat this bread and we can drink this cup and together as a church we can proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. We give all glory and praise and honor to you for so great a salvation and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.