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Paul gives his readers a different goal to pursue. He wants them to be unified, to have the same mind and the same love. How is this to be accomplished? He zeroes in on one central idea. In humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Paul says that instead of striving for one’s own interests as our ultimate goal, we should turn our attention to the needs of others.

And Christ himself is the ultimate example of such behavior. Christ’s example reveals a deep truth. Those who are humble and focused on others will, in the end, be exalted. The bulk of this sermon will be focused on understanding the magnificence of Christ’s example.

But as we begin, I want to make sure that we understand why and how Paul turns to Christ as our example. Paul says that we should pursue a mindset of humility, a mindset which he says is yours in Christ Jesus. This oblique phrase suggests an idea that is fleshed out elsewhere in Philippians and Paul’s other letters.

We are united to Christ. We live in Christ. Paul starts the letter of Philippians by greeting them as the saints in Christ Jesus. We are called to imitate Christ, and we are able to imitate Christ, because we are united to him and empowered by his spirit. In our passage then, Paul proclaims Christ as the humbled and exalted God-man who serves as the pattern and the basis for our humility and ultimate hope.

We will unpack this in three points. First, we will see that Paul begins with who Christ is, God made flesh. Second, we will meditate upon the humiliation of Christ. And third, we will consider the exaltation of Christ. Let us then turn to Paul’s declaration of who Christ is, a topic that theologians often describe as the person of Christ. Paul describes Jesus as being in two forms, though the two forms are Christ’s in somewhat different ways.

Let us look at each in turn. First, Paul says that Jesus was in the form of God. The simplicity of this statement is, I think, significant. Before the humanity, Jesus was. Paul is clearly affirming that Jesus existed before the incarnation, before he was in Mary’s womb. But what sort of existence did Jesus have? Paul describes Jesus as being in the form of God, as we have said. This phrasing is interesting, and some have wondered why Paul does not simply say that Jesus is God.

Of course, Philippians 2.6 is far from the only place in scripture where Jesus’ divinity is described.

John 1.1, calling Jesus the Word, straightforwardly affirms that in the beginning, the Word was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Later in the same gospel, Jesus claims the covenant name of God for himself, telling a shocked crowd, before Abraham was, I am. Paul’s affirmation that Jesus existed in the form of God is simply another way of stating the full divinity of Christ, and it echoes other biblical descriptions of Christ that similarly affirm that Christ is God without using the exact formula.

Perhaps the closest parallel is Hebrews 1.3, which says that the Son is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.

Both passages express a similar idea. Jesus, the eternal Son, exhibits all the characteristics of God. The language of the form of God in Philippians 2, especially as contrasted with the later description of the form of a servant, may also suggest the idea, specifically, that the pre-incarnate Christ was robed in divine glory. His form exhibits divinity. This idea certainly aligns with Hebrew’s statement that the sun is the radiance of God’s glory. In any case, all of these statements point to the Son’s divinity.

Who can have the characteristics of God but God himself? Who can possess the glory of God but God himself? As Isaiah 42, 8 reminds us, God will not give his glory to another. The robes of a king tell you who he is. We stand here upon the edge of the doctrine of the Trinity, but I’m not going to try to delve into that doctrine today. I will simply affirm the greatest mystery of the faith is glimpsed in these verses. The one God who is Father, Son, and Spirit. Here we have attended specifically to the divinity of the Son.

Paul himself moves rather rapidly from the Son being in the form of God to the Son being in the form of a servant. The origin of the form of a servant is rather different from the origin of the form of God. Jesus was in the form of God. He took the form of a servant. The form of a servant has a starting point. It is something that begins in time. Paul expands on this in verses 7 through 8. How does Jesus take the form of a servant? He is born in the likeness of men and found in human form. The form of a servant assumed or taken up by Christ is our human nature, save without sin.

And we want to be clear that the language of likeness here is not merely that of similarity, but of taking up, just as we said, with the key characteristics of God, now the key characteristics of humanity. As Hebrews 2 affirms, since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things. that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God. Jesus partakes of the same things as us for our sake.

He takes up the form of a servant, meaning that he takes up true humanity in all of its weakness and frailty, sin accepted. Those around him during his life saw him as a suffering servant. As we will see in the next few verses, they saw him in his humiliation.

We have in these two verses then a basic statement of the identity of Jesus Christ and the foundation of all that we can say about Jesus. We have, in fact, the doctrine of the incarnation. Jesus is God made flesh. We often come to know who Jesus is through contemplating what he did and does, his words, his miracles, his actions. And yet all these things that he does and says are only possible because of who he is. Jesus can save us because he is the Christ, the son of the living God. He can die and destroy death because he is truly God and truly man. And yet he is not two people. He is not God and a man working in partnership with each other. There’s only one subject ever named in Philippians 2.

It is the one eternally existing son of God who takes up humanity for our salvation. This is a marvel that deserves our awe and admiration. And before we proceed, we would do well to ponder the majesty of this truth. God himself walked among us. God himself took up the form of a servant. Jesus is God himself, and Jesus is truly human. What a wonderful and awe-inspiring truth, a unique claim in Christianity that we see nothing like in any other religion. Let us never forget this great miracle at the heart of the gospel. In the passage we are considering today, Paul then moves from the who to the what. Jesus is God and man, but what does he do as the God-man?

We are moving then to considering the work of Jesus Christ in this passage. And Paul divides Christ’s work into two key states, states that have become central to Christian reflection upon the work of Christ over the centuries. In fact, you can almost chart these states. The states are Christ’s humiliation, moving downward, and his exaltation, then moving upward. We will begin, as Paul does, with Christ’s humiliation. The language of humiliation is embedded in the text itself in verse eight. He humbled himself. Yet the idea begins a few verses back.

I previously skipped over Paul’s statement that Jesus did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. The Greek here uses an unusual term for grasp that has proved difficult to translate. But the basic idea seems to be that Jesus did not view his equality with God This phrase is also another great statement of his full divinity, as something to be taken advantage of or something that he had to seize.

It was his by nature and it did not keep him from helping others. John Chrysostom, a fourth century church father, provides an analogy that I think is very helpful in understanding what Paul is getting at here. Chrysostom says, suppose someone commits a robbery and grabs something that does not belong to him.

Wouldn’t he be inclined to hold on tightly, to grasp it, to not lay it aside for fear of losing it? But suppose someone else possesses an estate by nature. He would not have any fear of losing it. He would not then be afraid to descend temporarily from his estate of dignity. He would know that he would suffer no loss because it belongs to him naturally. We are human beings. We are not divine by nature. We do not possess goodness by nature. But to God, divinity belongs by nature. His dominion was not acquired by seizure, but was natural. It was not the gift of another, but always stable and secure.”

To sum up Christos’ point here, and the point of Paul, Christ is secure in his eternal divinity, and is thus unafraid to take up the form of a servant. Paul further says that Christ emptied himself, another passage that has generated much discussion. Some have suggested that Jesus temporarily gave up a portion of his divine attributes or power. However, such a suggestion raises serious problems. God does not change and cannot cease to be fully himself. If Jesus were to give up some portion of his divine attributes, then he would, by definition, cease to be God.

In any case, Paul affirms in Colossians 2.9 that in Christ the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Paul is emphatic in this verse. Deity in its entirety, the whole fullness, not in part, dwells in Christ. Christ did not give up any of his divinity in taking up the form of man.

So what then does it mean for the son to empty himself? I would suggest that the verse actually tells us, it describes what the emptying consists of. Jesus empties himself by taking the form of a servant and by being born in the likeness of men. This is somewhat metaphorical language. Emptying is humbling, taking on a humble state.

The son lays aside the brilliance of his divine glory and is seen as a humble worker from Galilee. As Calvin says, Christ indeed could not renounce his divinity. but he kept it concealed for a time, that under the weakness of the flesh it might not be seen. Hence he laid aside his glory in the view of men, not by lessening, but by concealing it. Christ walks on earth not as God in his full majesty, but as a servant come to save a people who have rejected him. We can illustrate this point by returning to the language of being robed in divine glory.

If a king stops wearing his royal robes and instead wears the clothes of a peasant, even going out and experiencing the life of a peasant, has he ceased to be a king? Of course not. And yet many will not recognize him as the king. And yet the king always remains the king. He still owns massive wealth and has the authority to issue commands. He has simply disguised his royalty by wearing the clothes of a peasant.

Paul points out that Christ’s humiliation does not simply end with his existence as a humble human. It is a constant feature of his life and ministry. To use Paul’s language, Christ humbles himself by his obedience and by his death. Christ’s life was not one of earthly glory. It was one of poverty. He was born in a manger, and during his ministry, Jesus himself testified that the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. And as the Gospels make clear, his ministry concluded not, at least initially, in triumph, but in suffering and death. Of course, we know the death of Christ was not the final word. The triumph is to come after his death.

Christ in humility goes through suffering and death in obedience. The eternal Son, who is equal with God, undergoes mocking and scorn in obedience to the Father. Truly does the author of Hebrews say of Christ that although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. Christ’s obedience was in fact the ultimate obedience, obedience to the point of death, even death on a cross.

The eternal Son of God assumes humanity and dies in our place in his humanity. Here is the deepest humiliation of all. The just dies for the unjust, and the deathless one assumes death. This is the first part of the great exchange. Christ takes upon himself what is rightly ours. The weight of this humiliation may perhaps be brought out best by another biblical text, a prophecy that many scholars believe looms in the background of this text.

Isaiah 53, the passage that describes the suffering servant, says, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned, everyone, to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah even emphasizes the humiliating state of his death and the fact that he suffers in obedience. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. And they made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.” Our Lord was innocent, the only truly innocent man in all of the history of creation. And yet he dies in our place, taking on the humiliation of a criminal’s death.

Christ’s actions defy all natural earthly logic. They follow instead the upside-down logic of the kingdom of God. Imagine if George Washington had not led the Revolutionary Army and instead simply given himself up to the British. Our history would have been rather different.

And yet in the ultimate battle for humanity, Christ gives himself over to death knowing that in so doing he will destroy the power of death. Such surrender is an act of humility that boggles the mind. The one who cannot be defeated suffered death to secure the salvation of his people. The application of this teaching to us is direct and life-changing. If Christ, the eternal Son of God, is willing to suffer indignity, pain, and death in his humanity for his people, how can we stand on our dignity? Are we gods? Do we even have a portion of the glory that Christ possessed? Of course not.

Who are we then to insist that we are the most important people in our lives? Instead, we are called to imitate Christ. We must put others’ interests before our own. We are to serve one another in joyful times and in sorrowful times. Christ humbled himself to recreate us in his image as the church. Let us dedicate ourselves to serving the other members of his body.

This, of course, is a great challenge, but his humiliation is also a great comfort for us. It is a clear sign of the love that Christ has for his people. It is a reminder that Christ did not hold himself aloof from human pain and suffering. When we suffer, we know that Christ has also experienced suffering and can sympathize with us. And we know that his love for us is so great that he died for us. We can rest in the love of the Savior who died in our place. Even when we fail to imitate him as fully as we ought, we know that he suffered for us, that we might be united to him, that we might be justified and forgiven. We’ve considered at length the humiliation of Christ, yet our passage does not end there. This is not the end of the story.

Christ’s exaltation follows his humiliation and is the second state of his work. In so doing, Christ is the ultimate example and source of the principles stated memorably by Mary in Luke 3. God brings down the mighty from their thrones and exalts those of humble estate. Or, as it is so pitifully put in James 4, 6, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. In Christ, we see the ultimate humiliation followed by the ultimate exaltation. In Philippians 2, Paul explicitly describes Christ’s exaltation as being a response to his humble obedience.

Therefore, God has highly exalted him. The humble servant who obeys to the point of death is greatly glorified And once again, there is an echo of Isaiah 53 in our passage. The prophet says, therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong.

In both cases, there is a reward that is bestowed upon Christ as a result of his obedience, humility, and suffering. Now, it must be immediately noted that Christ’s exaltation is far greater than anyone else’s exaltation, just as his humiliation is far deeper than anyone else’s humiliation. Just as no one has descended from as lofty a position as Christ, so also has no one ascended to as lofty a place as Christ. This is true in at least two respects.

First, Christ’s exaltation secures our own blessedness. This has an effect that is far greater than our own glorification. We are, when we are glorified, the result of the exaltation of Christ. And in fact, our own humility is only possible because of this. Christ’s resurrection seals our salvation and is the first fruits of our resurrection.

His reign at the right hand of God ensures the perseverance and salvation of his people. Furthermore, as the passage continues, the exaltation reaches a level that could only be received by God. meaning that Christ’s exaltation is both a response to his work and an acknowledgment of who he is in his fullness.

Paul says that God gave Jesus the name above every name and that every knee will bow to him. What is this name? The passage itself tells us. Jesus Christ is Lord. Christ is Lord. The title of God, The common translation of the covenant name of Yahweh revealed to Moses in the burning bush. And again, we see echoes of Isaiah. In fact, echoes of the passage that was read previously in the liturgy. In Isaiah 45, 18, God declares, I am the Lord, there is no other.

A few verses later, God then declares, by myself I have sworn, to me every knee shall bow, every tongue, shall swear allegiance.” This final exaltation of Christ, then, is a public recognition of his divinity. Only God possesses the name that is above every name. Only God claims the final victory in which every knee bows to him. The exaltation of Christ is the full and clear manifestation of his eternal glory. An analogy might help us think through the relationship between the therefore and the exaltation of his divinity.

In the Lord of the Rings, Aragorn, the son of Arathorn, is the true king of Gondor. And yet when we first meet him in the story, he’s rugged, he’s worn, he’s not much to look at. In fact, the hobbits, our main characters, mistrust him upon their first meeting, especially Sam. He looks more like a robber than a king. Yet as the story goes on, there are moments when the royalty and power of Aragorn shines through. Catch a glimpse of who this man is.

And at the end of the story, Aragorn is crowned the rightful king of Gondor. The crown is bestowed on him in part as a reward for his faithful fight against Sauron, the enemy. Yet in an important way, his crowning is fundamentally an act of recognition. Aragorn has always been the rightful king, and he wasn’t shy to say that before he had the crown. Now his kingship has been made known. He has won the kingdom he was always the king of.

Given the uniqueness of Christ’s exaltation, how might we apply this truth to our own lives? Christ’s exaltation should give us hope and confidence for two reasons. First, we can live in hope because we serve a victorious, exalted king. Life sometimes feels hopeless. We can be overwhelmed by disease, by tragedy, sometimes simply how busy life can get. And yet we know that we serve a king who is exalted at the right hand of God and whose name is above every other name.

Every knee shall bow to him. No enemy shall be able to resist his coming. And this victorious king claims us as his own. He will preserve his people and the gates of hell shall not prevail against him and his church. Second, we can live in hope because we know that we will share in a portion of Christ’s exaltation. Not every knee will bow to us. We will not receive a name that is above every name, but we will share in, participate in the glory of and victory of Christ. Our bodies, we are told, will be made like his glorious body. We will live in the power of his spirit. In our lives now, this is already at work. We are no longer slaves to sin. We no longer need fear death. And in the life to come, sin will be completely abolished from us and all death and sorrow will be removed.

Revelations 2.17 even speaks of us receiving a white stone with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.

Those who humbly rely upon Christ will receive his blessings. This is the second part of the great exchange. We receive of what is Christ because he took upon himself what is ours. We have listened as Paul has narrated the humiliation and exaltation of Christ the God-man. We have been amazed with Paul at the heights of Christ’s eternal glory, the depths of his humiliation, and the majesty of his final exaltation. We have noted that Christ is an example of humility and a source of hope in the midst of trial. How do we sum all of this up and what does it look like in the life of the Christian?

Let’s return to a point I made at the beginning. We are called to imitate Christ because we are united to Christ. Christ’s humiliation and exaltation secures our own lives of humility and our future glorification. We are justified because he paid our penalty and rose in victory. In Christ’s death, our pride is killed and in Christ’s resurrection, life, our glorious communion with God and our fellowship with him in this life and the life to come is secured. We can be humble because Christ was first humble for us.

Then as we enter our weeks, let us try to work out this humility that we are called to. Where can we serve our brothers and sisters in Christ? How can we live lives of unity? One of the easiest ways to start on this is simply to look around us. In the pews of this church today are likely people that are rejoicing, that we can rejoice with. In the pews today are likely people grieving or struggling with the difficulties of life. We can grieve with and serve these people.

Look for opportunities to serve those around you in practical ways. As we start at the end of Sunday and the beginning of Monday is often natural for our minds to fill with our own cares, to think about all we need to do in the coming week. But this week, I challenge you to consider how you might serve those around you. How might you put others’ interests before your own?

How might you reflect the humility of Christ and live in the hope of the riches promised to you when Christ returns? Let us live as humble servants of each other and of our humble yet exalted King. Let me close with a brief prayer. Lord, we thank you for this proclamation of all that you have done for us. that your son came to earth, assumed a human nature, suffered and died for us, and rose again from the dead to secure our justification and our life with you. We pray that you would shape us this week to imitate Christ in his humility and to trust in the blessings that you give both now and in the life to come. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.