Church family, the greatest miracle that God ever performed was when He became man that He might die for us.

Transcription

1 Philippians 2:5-8 Jesus-Going All the Way Down A couple of weeks ago, Pastor Dale shared from Philippians 2 verses 3 and 4 how, as believers, we should show humility and kindness to others and consider others more significant than ourselves. Tonight we will transition in Paul s letter to the Philippian church by looking at humility from the perspective of Jesus humility in coming to the earth and becoming like one of us (human). And how, as the God/Man, He would pay our sin debt on a cross. Church family, the greatest miracle that God ever performed was when He became man that He might die for us. Let s read this passage together again: Philippians 2:5-8 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. This week I read a portion of a book by C.S. Lewis, titled: Miracles. There is a chapter in the book titled: The Grand Miracle. It s a chapter about Jesus coming to earth in what we call the incarnation. In that chapter in his amazingly insightful way, Lewis draws some rich analogies by which we can view the incarnation. I want to share that with you, because it will be the tool I ll use during the message to explain something that I want you to try to grasp now, which is something that s called the Hypostatic Union. Hypostatic Union: (from the Greek: ὑπόστασις hypóstasis, sediment, foundation, substance, or subsistence) is a term in Christian theology to describe the union of Jesus humanity and divinity in one individual existence. In other words, Jesus has two complete natures one fully human and one fully divine. 100% God and 100% man. What the doctrine of the hypostatic union teaches is that these two natures are united in one person in the God-man. In heaven today, Jesus is 100% God and He is 100% man. He has a belly button and holes in His hand and holes in His feet. He has scars on His brow. Jesus will forever be the God/man. He will be 100% God and 100% man. Okay as you are trying to park your brain around that, let me share this quote with you from Lewis chapter on the incarnation. In the Christian story God descends to reascend. He comes down, down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity, down further still, down to the very roots and sea bed of the nature He had created. But He goes down to come up again and bring the ruined world up with Him. One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower 1

2 and lower to get himself underneath some great, complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift. He must also disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders. Or one may think of a diver gone with a splash, vanished, rushing down through green and warm water into black and cold water, down through increasing pressure into the death-like region of ooze and slime and old decay. Then up again, back to color and light, his lungs almost bursting till suddenly he breaks surface again, holding in his hand the dripping precious thing that he went down to recover. He and it are both colored now that they have come up into the light. What Lewis shared is the idea that is central to Christianity. It is the idea that is the most grand and wonderful of all the things that God ever did. And that is when He came all the way down to earth via the womb of a teenage girl, born as a baby with blood coursing through His veins and air circulating through His lungs. The doctrine of the hypostatic union is an attempt to explain how Jesus could be both God and man at the same time. It is ultimately a doctrine we are incapable of fully understanding on this side of heaven, because it is absolutely impossible for us to fully understand how God works. We, as human beings with finite minds, should not expect to totally comprehend an infinite God. Jesus is both God and man. Jesus has always been God, but He did not become a human being until He was conceived in Mary by the Holy Spirit. Jesus became a human being in order to identify with us in our struggles (Hebrews 2:17) and, more importantly, so that He could die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins (Philippians 2:5-11). In summary, the hypostatic union teaches that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine, and there is no mixture or dilution of either nature, and He is one united Person, forever. Look at verse 6 and let s see if we can break this down. Let s look at the first phrase to the second comma. Philippians 2:6 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, Jesus was in the form of God. What does that mean? The word form is morphe in the Greek. We get the English word, morph. What is this? (The young ones will know.) 2

3 That s a transformer and it can morph back and forth into a car or a powerful giant. We know that God exists in three persons, and Jesus is the second person of His being. This is a diagram that s often used to describe the Trinity: Think of it like this. I am a man, I possess manhood. I have possessed manhood since I was conceived and I will possess manhood until I die. But, I have morphed from an embryo in my mother s womb, to a baby. Then, there was a time I was child. Then there was a time that I was a boy and then a teenager and then a young man and now an adult. And some day I will be an old man. You see, my manhood has morphed over time in my life to different stages of life, but I m the same man. Jesus has always existed in the unchangeable essence of the being of God. Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is God and God is God. Turn a couple of pages to the right to Colossians, chapter 1. Colossians 1: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him. Jesus is God. We know that because He created things while He was on this earth. He created fish. He created bread. He created an ear when Peter chopped one off of Malchus the servant of 3

4 the High Priest in the Garden of Gethsemane. He created new legs for the crippled man by allowing muscle and tendons, ligaments and bones be formed. He created new eyes for the blind and new ears for the deaf and tongues that could speak from mute mouths. He created new internal organs to replace the diseased ones. He created new flesh for the lepers. These are all acts of creation. And a man only could not have done those things. Jesus is the Creator. He is God. You see, Jesus didn't exchange His deity for humanity. He didn't stop being God and start to become man. If He had done that He would have died on the cross and stayed in the grave because man does not have the ability to rise from the dead! Only God has the power to die and then take up life again and conquer death. Only God could create and do the miracles that Jesus did. Hebrews 1:3 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, Christianity embodies the greatest truth of the universe. That truth is a tremendously simple and yet infinitely profound truth. It is the truth that God became man so that God could redeem us and bring us back to Himself. Oh how marvelous. Well, let s go deeper. Let s look at the second phrase of verse 6. Philippians 2:6 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, The Greek word for equality is isos. It means exactly equal. We use this word to give us our English word isomer. You remember from your Chemistry that an isomer is: Isomer: molecules with the same chemical formula but different chemical structures. Isomers contain the same number of atoms of each element, but have different arrangements of their atoms in space. I m sure you remember than an Isosceles triangle is a triangle with equal sides. 4

5 Jesus is isos with God because He is God. The word means equal. He is equal with God...exactly equal with God, but he didn t consider this equality something to be held on to. And here is the first step down. He didn't hold on to or try to keep His equality with God by refusing to come to earth and die for mankind. Jesus, being equal with God, came to earth to save mankind because he refused to hang on to this equality. Now remember, Jesus claimed over and over to be God while on this earth. There is no question about this in the Scriptures and this is what ended up getting him in trouble with the Jewish leaders and ultimately killed. We see this in John 10. John 10:33 33 The Jews answered him, It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God. Jesus would say to the Jews, "You ought to look at the things I do and know and understand that the Father is in Me and I am in the Father." Jesus had to help Philip understand who He was in John 14. John 14:8-9 8 Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. 9 Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, Show us the Father? After Jesus resurrection when He appeared to Thomas, Thomas said: John 20: Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. 28 Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God! Jesus is God, and in His first step toward coming down to earth, (though He had all the rights and privileges and honors of being God), He didn't hang on to them and clutch them. He refused to 5

6 cling to that favored position. So what did He do? Philippians 2:7 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. but emptied Himself. You might ask, What did He empty Himself of? Well, I can tell you that He didn t empty Himself of His deity because if He had done that, He would have ceased being God. God can never be less than Who He is and still be God. So, what did He empty Himself of? I ll tell ya! He emptied Himself of: His glory. Jesus set aside His glory. He refused to hang on to His glory and for a season of 33 years, He gave it up except for a brief time that Pastor Brad spoke of a couple of weeks ago, when Jesus revealed a glimpse of His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration to Peter, James and John. John 8:32 32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. You see, when Jesus came to earth, He dove into the dark murky water of humanity and went all the way down to the black, cold slimy ooze of mankind. But, on the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus pulled back His flesh and Peter, James and John saw the glory of Jesus. So, we know that Jesus emptied Himself of His glory and He was looking forward to that glory being restored when He returned to heaven. John 17:4-5 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. Jesus glory has been restored to Him in heaven at this very moment. Now let s go even deeper Look at the phrase: taking the form on a servant Philippians 2:7 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. The word there for servant is actually the word bond-servant and it means slave. Here is the God of the universe coming down to earth to the humanity He created and becoming the scum of the earth as a bondservant. Imagine, He owned everything, but when He came into this world He was borrowing everything from men. He had no place to lay His head when He was born but a stinking, nasty animal feeding trough. Unthinkable. He had to borrow a place to perform His ministry in Capernaum, because He didn t even have a home. When He traveled down to Jerusalem, He had to stay with Mary, Martha 6

7 and Lazarus in Bethany or sleep under the stars on the Mount of Olives. Many times, He had to borrow a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee. Many times He had to borrow a boat to preach from. He had to borrow a donkey to ride into the Jerusalem. He had to borrow a room for the Last Meal. He even had to borrow a tomb to be buried in. Think of it, the only person who had the right to everything in the universe wound up with nothing. He became a slave a bondservant. He came into the world as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the rightful heir to the throne of David, but He had no advantages, no privileges, no prosperity in this world. He had no money. He had not treasure. Nobody gave Him anything. Nobody gave Him any land. Nobody gave Him animals. He walked everywhere He went. He served everyone. And yet He is God! The One who spoke everything into existence! The omnipotent, (All powerful), omniscient (All knowing), omnipresent God became nothing for us! But there s more. Jesus goes down even deeper. You ask, How can He go deeper and lower than a slave? Well, watch! Look at the end of verse 7 and start of verse 8. Philippians 2:7b-8 being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Let those two phrases roll around in your head. Being born in the likeness of men Being found in human form You see here s the thing we often forget. Yes, Jesus is the God/man, but mankind only saw Him as a man. And there s the humiliation of it all. From the viewpoint of the people who saw Him, they just saw Him as a man. They just looked at the outward form and saw a man. Jesus left heaven and He came all the way down to be the God/man but the world never saw the God part. Listen, it would have been one thing for God to become man, that is humbling enough but for God to become man and man to think He is only man is so humiliating and what s worse man treated Him like a criminal. Now that s going all the way down to the very bottom to the slime the muck to the mire of humanity the most humbling of all the humiliation. God being treated as a criminal. Try to wrap your mind around this. It would have been enough for Jesus to just be willing not to hold on to His rights and privileges as God, but then to empty Himself of the exercise of those rights and privileges and then to come all the way down to this earth to be a bondservant, and then to be made exactly like every other human being, and then to suffer everything that humans suffer and feel everything that we humans feel, except without sin, and then to be seen only as a man Oh my! That would have been too much for me! I would have cried out: I VE HAD ENOUGH! I WANT MY RIGHTS! DON T YOU KNOW WHO I AM? But not Jesus! He would even go down one step further. He let mankind (His own creation) beat 7

8 Him and kill Him. Can you imagine! The humiliation is absolutely unbelievable. When the soldiers came to arrest Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, the only way they knew Him, was for Judas to kiss Him that didn t recognize Him as God. And then they would mock Him. Punch Him. Pull out His beard ram a crown of thorns on His head and treat like scum. But HE S GOD! And then they take God to the cross Did you notice the word even in verse 8? Philippians 2:8 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. This is the bottom. He can go now further. This is as far down as you can go. God would die a death on a cross that was the most excruciating the most embarrassing, the most degrading, the most humiliating the most cruel death imaginable at that time. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 21:22, Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree. You see for the Jews, to be hung on a tree in any way was the most despised and degrading way you could possibly die. And God in the person of Jesus Christ would die on a cross NAKED. God, hanging suspended in mid-air between the heaven and the earth He created. It s more than the mind can comprehend. Oh the love of God! You know, somewhere along that path down to the miry muck of this earth and all that humiliation, I would have thought to myself: You know, these people aren't worth it! These people aren t worth redeeming. This is too much it s too degrading. This is too disgusting! But, that s the grace of God. That's the love of God for you and for me for sinners. And He did it 8

9 all to bring us back to Himself! What an amazing plan. A plan none of use could have devised or would have devised. Because if I had planned it, I would have had God come to a palace. I would have had Him be born into wealth and a prominent family. I would have had Him educated in the finest university in Rome with the most elite teachers and the finest tutors. If I had orchestrated God coming into this world I would have made sure everybody loved Him and revered Him and honored Him and respected Him like He deserved. I would have never have let Him be born in a stable. I would never have let Him be born to a family in poverty. I would never have let Him spend His time in a carpenter s shop in an obscure, nothing little town in Nazareth. I would have never allowed Him to live without any earthly possessions. I would have never allowed Him to go through His life and ministry with a rag-tag bunch of followers like the Apostles, who would all desert Him save John. I would have done it so differently. He would never been humiliated. He would have never been imprisoned or spit upon, or have had His beard pulled out or be mocked or have spikes driven through His hands and feet. Yeah I would have done it differently and you know what because of that if we had done it my way we would have never been saved. He had to suffer and die so that we might live forever. For God s plan is that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. Is it any wonder that the psalmist said in Psalm 36:6, Your judgments are like the great deep. And oh are they deep. Jesus came all the way down all the way down to become the lowest of the low setting aside His glory because He loves you that much. Praise the name of Jesus! The King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Let s pray! 9