'This Attitude Which Was in Christ'
by Thom Blair on March 5, 2006
When I began preparing this sermon, I didn't realize that I was continuing a series on obedience. Last week, Pastor Jim spoke on obedience looking at Jesus' parable of the master and the unworthy indentured servant who only did His duty. The indentured servant could never be worthy for only doing His duty because He still had a debt to pay. This morning we'll look at a Servant that did His duty, but didn't owe a debt to anyone. He, in fact, paid the debts of others, and WAS considered worthy.
When you think of someone being obedient, you may have a specific person that immediately comes to mind. I have three brothers-in-law. Two of them are relations by marriage, and one's married to Emily's sister, Jenny, so there was some debate as to whether or not we're related. Of course, I find it convenient that He's my brother in Christ and that he practices law, so he can still be my brother in law. Well, when I was thinking about a practical illustration of obedience I thought of him, his name is Chris, and I thought about how he is with his kids. He has a Rachel, a Matthew, and a Grant who I get to spend time with every once in a while. I always try to take parenting notes for down the road. This particular story involves my nephew, Matthew, who's a great kid. Like any other kid, he's compelled from time to time to do something he's not supposed to do. At 3 years old, Matthew is already a climber/jumper. A few weeks ago, Matthew was climbing a chair; something he's not supposed to do and I was fascinated at how Chris handled it. After the 'event,' I asked him about it and his response to Matt's disobedience was intentional, he had a whole system. He starts by asking, "Matt, are you climbing when you're not supposed to?" Matt's enamored with the climbing experience and keeps going, then Chris moves the intensity up a level. "Matt, you aren't supposed to climb, you need to get down." Matt looks over, considers it, but still no response. Then up another level: "Matt, get down from there." No response, by Matt. So Chris then moves it up to what I'm calling the final verbal level, and it goes like this: "Matt, if you don't get down you will get a spanking." Matt gets down. I was intrigued because Chris was giving Matt every opportunity to obey on the friendliest terms possible, but if Matt didn't obey, he would become less and less friendly and show more and more authority, so the earlier Matt obeyed, the friendlier the terms were with Chris. Matt honored his father eventually, but it would be better if Matt was able to obey just for the sake of honoring his father, and without being told. Of course, no one expects this of a three-year-old and with good reason. Like every one of us, Matt's a fallen person in a fallen world. This profoundly important part of human history introduces our text this morning. So, let's start at the beginning, by looking in Genesis 3 at the first human sin.
Starting at verse 1:
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, " From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.' "
4 The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die!
5 "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and YOU WILL BE LIKE GOD, knowing good and evil."
6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, SHE TOOK FROM ITS FRUIT and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
There are a couple things to notice here. 1. The serpent told Eve that in eating the fruit, the orange, as Jim says, that she would "be like God." Secondly, when Eve saw that it was good for food and it was desirable for making one wise, she took from or grasped its fruit and she and her husband ate, and humanity accomplished the most atrocious thing that we had ever done, we dishonored our Maker, our Lord and we sinned. This sin was mud flung in the face of God. God's holiness is not affected by our sin, but when the source of all holiness, goodness, and love is dishonored, there can't be justice until the situation's remedied. The fact that He did provide a remedy that did not include our annihilation shows that while His holiness is not affected by our sin, His heart for us moved Him into action. That being said, what does all this mean for Paul and for us in Phil. 2?
We'll start by looking at verse 6, referring to Jesus Christ, the Second Adam:
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
There's a parallel here between Christ and Adam and Eve. Do you see it? Listen to the following two sentences:
1. On the one hand, Eve and all humanity considered the idea of being like God something to be grasped, and in the process disregarded and dishonored God in their disobedience.2. Christ, on the other hand, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but instead, with all the love of the Trinity decided to honor God in His obedience.
Our first parents took for themselves something that would make them like God.
Christ saw that being like God is not something to be taken by humanity at all, but given to humanity by God, so He made himself what we were supposed to be: a servant and He lived the God-honoring life that we were created to live and was obedient when we weren't, and this unto death!
Now, of course, His obedience unto death was given to those who were disobedient unto death. We get Christ's record, but was that all that Christ's obedience unto death was good for? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! He honored the Father when we dishonored Him. For our good, yes, but also for the sake of giving God what was due Him from humanity. We messed up our chief purpose: to glorify God and enjoy him forever. And when I say 'messed up' I'm talking about when a tightrope walker messes up. Christ wanted humanity to get it right both for the sake of His Father and for our sake. These two things were the joy that was set before Him; and so He did it; He got it right, He waited and earned His reward when we just took what we wanted.
And what was His reward for such a selfless, God-honoring act? Paul tells us in verse 9. He says:
9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus was crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Now, in a minute, I'll tell you how Christ spends His reward, but I want to take a minute and look at what our passage, this morning, would have meant to first century listeners. The whole Letter to the Philippians would have been considered extremely subversive in its first century context. First, let's very briefly look at a probable first century Jewish reading. The Jews were expecting a Messiah that would grasp power and overthrow enemies so that Israel would become the greatest nation in terms of power. The word 'Christ' means 'Messiah'. Christ is not Jesus' last name. When Paul calls Jesus, 'Jesus Christ' and he says that at His name that every knee will bow, including all earthly and spiritual beings, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father, when Paul says this, he's telling the Jews that they missed it, they messed up. The Lord promised them a Messiah, their chance of following God on earth, and they missed it. So any Jewish reader would be confronted with this fact upon reading and would have a choice to make. They could reaffirm their rejection of the Messiah, they could humble themselves and accept Him, or try to pretend they didn't even read this declaration of Christ as King.
So, what about the rest of the ancient world? How would they read this? When Paul says in verse 9 that God bestowed on Jesus the name which is above every name, and that all will bow to Him in heaven and on earth and under the earth, he is also calling Caesar a cheap imitation of the Real King.1 If a Roman official were to read this letter, they would know that Paul just said in effect that a few years back the Jewish Criminal that was executed on a cross, which was an execution that was too vile for a Roman citizen to receive, that this man was the real King, and that all the kingdoms of this world were the punch line to a joke that was still only barely hanging in the air. Such a statement would either make the Romans scoff, scared, or infuriated, and you see all three responses from them in the first century A.D. Out of the three, the least likely and most appropriate response, however, was to be scared. When the righteous reign the wicked shudder. And the Lord finally made a King that would do His righteous will.
When Israel first wanted a king, they were like a car-less teenager. They didn't care what he would be like, they just wanted one. And they got Saul. After Saul did not obey God, the Bible says that God wanted a King that would do His will, and He anointed David, but even David, the man after God's own heart, couldn't live up to God's standards. God foretold of one of David's offspring that would DO HIS WILL. How faithful and just our God is that He would give Israel a King that does not grab power for himself, but makes himself subservient to Him who is the source of all goodness and mercy and love and patience and holiness and justice. God fulfilled his prophecy in Jesus. And in His love, he grafted in everyone, Jew and Gentile, that believes in Him. He gave us ALL a just King that would do the Lord's will. And Jesus did this for His Father's glory, that God will be recognized as all in all, the source of goodness, and life, and functionality within every molecule. Look how Paul puts it in 1 Cor. 15,
He says:
24 then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.
25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.
26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
27 For HE [the Father]HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS[the Son's] FEET. But when He says, " All things are put in subjection," it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him.
28 When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.
Earlier I promised to tell you what Jesus did with the reward for His obedience. Jesus' reward is to have all things put in subjection under His feet. And what does Jesus' do with His reward? He hands it to the Father - and what is the result? that everyone that believes Jesus is saved from Hell? Well, that too. But even more importantly, Jesus obeyed unto death that God may be all in all. The Father is glorified as He deserves to be, FINALLY!
Okay, Thom, "this is all interesting," you may say, if you think this is all interesting, but you may be wondering what you are supposed to do with all this. Fortunately for me, I don't have to dig too deep for the application of all this rich theology because Paul does all the work for us in the preceding verses. Here's the 'what' to your 'So what?': Look at verse 1:
1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,
Paul starts off by establishing who this word's for. He's addressing believers. Who else finds encouragement in Christ or consolation of love in Him. Who else has fellowship or affection or compassion in the Spirit besides those who've had the privilege of believing in the message of Christ. If you've found encouragement in Christ, then this Word is for you.
Paul continues:
2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
Paul tells us as believers to look to the Trinity, and to Christ primarily. Every word Paul says about how we should act describes the nature of the Holy Trinity who's of the same mind, who maintains the same love within the Godhead, who's united in spirit, and intent on one purpose. God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit move together to bring salvation to sinners and all glory back to the Trinity.
Well, if God is so selfless, why would He spend so much energy glorifying Himself? Because when God is truly glorified goodness and justice prevail. When God is truly glorified love and hope are exalted and hatred of everything except sin is put down. When God is glorified, humanity can function. What great thing would you have God glorify besides Himself? Maybe you want Him to glorify you. Well, then praise Him because He will glorify you if you submit to Him and humble yourself like Jesus did and become the servant of all. Paul says 'Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ.' Did Christ honor himself? Did Christ retaliate when wronged? Did Christ have any personal agenda besides glorifying His Father and saving sinners? The answer is no! So if the word 'Christian' means 'little Christ', which it does, how are we to imitate Him whose name we carry? The answer, this morning, starts back in verse 2:
2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
Is this word for me? Absolutely. I can have so many tasks on Sunday morning that I just plow through people sometimes. How is that considering others more important than myself? Do we all need these words? Absolutely. How are we as a church supposed to be united in spirit, intent on one purpose when the only time we see each other is on Sunday morning? Divide and conquer is an effective strategy. Let's not be fooled by the enemy. The doctrine of the church is getting harder and harder to nail down these days, but if you want to know how to do church, if you really want to be the bride of Christ, this is a great starting point. We need to regard others as more important than ourselves and consider their interests as well as our own. Of course we shouldn't be steamrolled in the process either. Paul does say 'as well as our own'. But if we all give heed to what Paul's saying here we won't be walking on others or walked on by them.
Well, Thom, you've found a nice, happy way to think about things, but you'll find out that things aren't that easy, here in reality. If this particular reservation shows up in our minds - and it has in mine - then this just shows our unwillingness to obey Christ and validates the great need for this Scripture. It's time to obey Christ and be like Him in His humility. And we are able to do it.
I've talked about the Father's role in this. I've talked about the Son's role in this, but we need to take courage at our role in all of this, because the Trinity purposed with one will that Jesus would come and be obedient to death and when we believe in Jesus as He is, God does what He said He would do through His prophet, Ezekiel, who said:
"I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.
As we trust in Jesus, He removes our heart of stone and He places in us sinners a heart and a Spirit that we weren't born with; He gives us the heart of flesh that He intended us to have. And we are able to do what all humanity before Christ was not able to do, we can glorify God with a willing heart through the power of the His Holy Spirit. Adam and Eve messed up, but Jesus paid for us to be able to glorify God instead of ourselves; and He paid with his life. So, let's not throw away this privilege that we do not deserve. But instead, let us have the attitude that was found in our Savior, who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but emptied himself and being found as a man took on the form of a servant being obedient unto death, even death on a cross, for the Father's glory and for our joy.
FOOTNOTES
1 Cf. N.T. Wright. The Resurrection of the Son of God.