Christs Humiliation and Exaltation pt1
Philippians 2:8-11 · Unknown · Apr 21, 2024
Philippians (2021-24), No. 15
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261934527453

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, so let's begin today by reviewing the section that was taught last week, beginning at verse 5, and we'll go down through verse 11, which will be the topic for today and next week. All right, verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider robbery to be equal to God. but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

And verse 11 is nice and conclusive because it's not that our entire existence day and day after our lives would reflect a life that brings glory to God. We're not there to measure that. He measures that. But in a sense, I think what we learn from studying, you know, in other epistles that appear particularly, it's really, and in James particularly, the body itself pays attention to the way we walk. And so that's something that I think is ultimately the bottom line of our Christian existence, bringing glory to God and let him be the judge. All right, so first, a brief review, as usual, of last week's lesson, Philippians 2, chapter 7. Christ's attitude. Okay, first question to the class today. How do we have the attitude to accept Christ Jesus? Everyone respond at once, please.

Let this mind be in you, which is also the question. Well, he's been talking about the mind back up even earlier than that, back in verse 2. Being in the same mind. It's all about thinking what God thinks, thinking what Christ thinks. As we dwell, focus upon Him. So you're equating mind with attitude? Well, in a sense. influenced by the heart at all.

Because it actually is the word mind. And it is mine. That's what it says. Yeah, right. King James has mind, right? It does. The question remains. You don't like my answer? Think out loud somebody. I mean, you could be right or wrong. I don't necessarily have the right answer. So being the word. What would being in a word? Yes, good place to start. Bob, go ahead.

The context here talks about being humble. And being humble means we are in subjection to a higher power. I like that. Humble doesn't mean, you know, awkward or quiet. It means were to be in subjection, even as Christ was in subjection to the Father, we need to be in subjection to Christ. And that's the attitude. What does that mean, that we should be subjected to Christ?

Well, we have a choice. I don't like the choice between right and wrong. I mean, a self-righteous person can make a decision based on consequences. Well, like she just said, being in the Word of God, and letting the Word of God dictate our lives. As Mike would say, we all have choices, but that choice is not right and wrong. The choice is to live by faith, is it not?

And that's the source that we have in church, right? OK, so again, the attitude or the mind of Christ comes from knowing scripture and applying it. But what else? You have to know Him. You can only know him. That I may know him, the powers. If you don't know him, how can you have the mind of Christ? What's the third component of Godhead?

Walking with the Holy Spirit. Right, the Holy Spirit leads the Christian life. And by the way, it's a life, isn't it? When I think of a choice, I think it's really a life we're talking about, but that life is lived out by faith, right? I mean, we can't stop short. Our faith is what creates the attitude and mind of Christ in each and every one of us.

Other thoughts here on this, what was covered tonight, sir? So right to you, Dr. Wesley. Andrew did. Andrew told us, yeah. Good job, yeah. Paul's always said, let this mind be in you. And I think sometimes we tend to not listen to the Holy Spirit. he's indwelling us, he's the one that convicts us of things or whatever, but it's our job to listen, listen to his word, listen through the teaching.

What do you think of when you think of mind? Just, you know, put the human existence in that perspective in terms of mind. What does mind bring to mind? Forgive me. Our brains. What about our brains? Does it apply to our intellect, our cognitive capabilities?

Well, Bob, actually this word mind is this word. One of the words is for now, which is actually thinking. We're to think, we're to think like God thinks. So it has to do with thinking. I think that helps a little bit, maybe. All right. I think Andrew has something he wanted to add. Andrew, go ahead. Earlier. Maybe you didn't have something to say. I heard him, and then he dropped out. Romans 12 verse 2 says, we're not to be conformed to this world, but by the renewing of our minds, we should be transformed.

And that comes by the Word of God. And ultimately, how does that relationship position on truth? We have promises, like in Ephesians chapter 1, all these things we have in Christ. Okay. We need to put our faith in that and start living that way. We'll let our conditions reflect our position. I like that. All right, good.

So I think we've addressed this topic, which may be not completely understood in terms of peace of our day-to-day lives. But nevertheless, the attitude in Christ just comes from above. It's a new creation. We are, in Christ Jesus' spirit, led to the truth of the Lord God.

So we'll leave it at that. Okay, secondly, to review Andrew's lesson last week, that Jesus would totally die He had emptied and submitted himself to coming down to the earth as a human, the perfect son of God and God-man. We'll cover that in more detail in this week's lesson. So that's just a summary of kind of what Andrew introduced last week that we'll now see much more detail.

All right, verse eight. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death. even the death of the cross. You know, it's not only death. I mean, the death at the cross really has significance, and we'll kind of come back to that. All right. And being found in appearance as a man, why in appearance? How do we deal with that?

Well, he looked like a man. I mean, he had the features of a man. He ate like a man. He talked like a man. So I don't know. He was a man. He was a man. Of interest, the term appearance or schema tacitly, or which means that this is understood or implied, it's really without being directly stated. In other words, he was a man, but was he? He was more than a man. We know he was more than a man. He appears as a man, but But something was lacking in terms of its human existence, wasn't it? What was lacking in its human nature?

Sin nature. I mean, I was taught at one point in my early Christian existence that Christ could have sinned. Yeah, well, actually that's, Rob, you know, that's not unusual. Really, we've come across that quite a bit. Some people say, well, he can't be fully man unless he has a sin nature. Wait a minute. Scripture says exactly the opposite.

Roger, to extend that thought a little bit, if he could have sinned, then ultimately he completed the law completely without sin, right? So therefore that takes you back into this non-dispositional application of the truth of the Word of God. Bob, by the way, thanks for that handout on NOOL. Mike sent that to me yesterday. It was incredibly good. If you all haven't seen it, maybe Bob ought to send it to the entire body. I'm not sure how many Mike sent that to. I don't know. He should send it. It relates to our Wednesday night study too.

But anyway, all that aside. If he could have sinned, then that really puts you back under kind of a legal system. He completed the law. And many people look at him as someone who completely lived the law. But he couldn't have been the sinless sacrifice. I mean, there's so many other issues that brings up if he can sin. And that's so far stopped short of his human existence. He appeared as a man but he was much more than the human flesh that he exists within, suffering all the typical issues that related to his human existence.

Go ahead. Yes. I was thinking, you know, that kind of thinking that it couldn't have been a man if he didn't have a sin nature, that's like saying that we're not complete unless we have a sin nature. And the sin nature is actually a flaw, you know, so it's strange thinking. Well, the sin nature is the first Adam, is it not?

We had no choice. It's not like we decided. What's this bad stuff happening in me? Either father or me. Guys, where does that come from? Well, I should try harder. I mean, I mean, there's a whole minority of people that live very self-righteously and there are certain faiths that live a pretty good life when the human existence, you know, is there. Okay, so Wiest had some good thoughts here, I think.

His thoughts were that our Lord's expression, okay, our Lord's expression of his deity was not assumed from the outside. but came from his inmost nature, okay? So, interesting. Likewise, his outward expression as a bond slave came from his inmost nature. But his expression of his humanity came not from his inmost nature as God, but was assumed in the incarnation.

What do you make of that? Complicated. I'm sorry, Bob. No, but let's look at it again. Our Lord's expression of his deity was not assumed from his outside. Nobody could tell that this was a god, right? Likewise, his outward expression as a bond slave came from his inmost nature, yet the way his life was exhibiting was ultimately evidence that this is not the usual human with the indwelling sin nature. His inmost, excuse me, but his expression of his humanity came not from his inmost nature as God, but was assumed in the incarnation.

What does that mean? Roger, you're nodding your head. Well, you know, he was a holy man. He hurt like a man. He had all the trappings of a man, and that was seen. He didn't have that as God. He didn't need that as God. He didn't have a body as God. But as a man, he had the attributes of a man.

Well, describe some of the expressions, let's say, that were emotional. Emotions are not faith. It's just something that the human existence has. He wept. He did, for Lazarus. And when he raised Lazarus from the dead, I think there was something of completion that he was experiencing. Giving God glory for what he did not. He made a volitional choice to humble himself. Oh. Remained here on earth or upstairs? Upstairs. Yeah. Okay. I think it's also important to realize that all of his trials and tribulations, he went through those as a man. Right. And did not use his divine nature He did sometimes like changing the water to wine, or he escaped a crowd by moving out, or raised Lazarus from the dead.

But when he's with Satan in the wilderness, he did all that as a man. And all the trials, if he hadn't have done that, we couldn't have gone through that either, or it wouldn't have been legitimate. Well, you know, when he's on the cross, they said, if you're the son of God, get down, right? I mean, from the human perspective, all of us would have gotten down. I mean, the pain and suffering and thirst and everything that he experienced there.

But we can't use the excuse that he was divine. Because he did most of this stuff in his human nature, not his divine nature. But, Bob, I'm going to challenge you on the experience with Satan and Dolores. Okay. That's entirely his heavenly nature, his God-man nature. I mean, you could say he was tempted to sin, but I think it's much better interpreted that he was tested to prove who he really was, and that's not his human nature.

But when Satan offered him bread, he was humanly hungry. I think he was actually hungry, and he would have wanted that bread, but he went back to the Word of God. Okay, but what enables him to do that? not his hunger, it was ultimately his fact that he was truly God and man.

I mean, this is such an incredibly important part of Scripture. He humbled himself, he became human, but yet he's still full of God. I think my best interpretation is the faith implementation account that he was tested to prove that he was truly God. Yes, Jim.

You know, that last statement, but his expression of his humanity came not from his inmost nature as God. I think his godly, his deity affected his expression of his humanity. He chose not to sin because he could. You know, when he was in... We have no choice, right? When he was in the desert, he chose not to sin. We could not have done that. We had no choice. He did.

But in a sense, it's interesting to look at our Christian existence as one in which we're being proved constantly in the religion, right? We don't have a choice not to sin. I mean, we can sin whenever we want. But ultimately, God sees us as righteous.

But Christ himself, I think that's what that last sentence means, but it was assumed in his incarnation how he would live this human existence. Well, I think we have to be careful about, you know, Christ could not sin, really. He can't. I mean, we can't. We've got to be careful about making the case into humanity, because we have verses that say he cannot sin. He doesn't have a sin nature.

How will we interpret things? You have to be careful we don't wind up having Christ saying he could have potentially sinned. He was tested to prove, like you said, I like that. He was tested to prove who he was. He was a sinless God man. Could we say that Christ chose not to sin because his deity would not allow him to do that? I don't know... I'm fine with that. I would have gone against the purpose of God.

One of the things that we're dealing with here... One of the things that we're dealing with here is his purity, who he is in his nature, And out of a purity, you speak the truth. And so it reveals who you are by what you speak. He spoke the word of God. Satan's intent was to make him not do that. Satan's intent was to reveal bad in him. But he didn't have bad in him. So all he could do was speak the truth. And that revealed who he really is.

Well, thank you, Roy. I think you're complimenting what Lisa said in the last sentence. It was assumed in this incarnation. Yes. Don't you have to have a sin nature in order to sin? I mean, when we're in eternity, we won't have the sin nature, we will not sin. Yeah, I've been trying to get rid of mine, but how are you doing that? Well, that's right. He was innocent, right? He's a special case. It's that one you gave me, right? Anyway, but it's fun to have the discussion.

That's what we're here to do. We're here to fellowship around the word of God. We want to seek the truth, rightly dividing the word of truth. And, you know, I think You know, opining is one thing, but let's take Scripture and try to reduce it to really the truth of what it tells us. But I think that this incarnation did not permit. You know, Bob, the early church, it took them until the third century to come up with some of these answers. They had a Up for 300 years, they had different councils trying to understand what we're talking about right now.

We're talking about infinite things, and we're finite. All right, great discussion. Are we ready to move on? So the second part of this verse says, he humbled himself, became obedient, the point of that. Bob, share again what humbling means to you. That was nice of what you said. Repeat it.

Most people, when you think of being humble, that means you're quiet, you're reserved, but that's not what it means to me, is you're in subjection to a higher power. Selfless, like in our police department, if we get pulled over, We should be, if we're humble, we'll be in subjection to that officer. Are you suggesting that's kind of like my relationship to Margaret? If it's anything like my relationship to Heidi, yes.

Sorry. But the main point is being subjection to a higher power. Okay. All right. All right, let's go ahead. Okay, why humble? I mean, this is heiress tense. And did Christ really consider himself to be made less or low by his humility? I mean, you're using what you know to be true correctly, not incorrectly.

In other words, if in his essence being perfect, He could have assumed, as the perfect man, superiority on everybody else. But he didn't. He subjected himself to the Father's will unto death. And because he did, God exalted him above every name, every other human, every other deity, if you want to use that term. every other essence of creations, his reputation is magnified.

So, in terms of the wisdom of the Eternal Covenant, in terms of the relationship of Christ to his Heavenly Father to become man, Did he, in any sense, do you think, as the true godman, second person of the trinity, think that he was ultimately to be made lower by this task? No, he was still, he became true humanity, but undiminished deity. I'm sorry, pardon me? Undiminished deity, but true humanity. So he always had that. He's the perfect man. Yes, yeah.

And unfortunately, some people just look at his human existence in the Gospel account. Bob, I think you brought this up very, very well, that the Gospel account simply is evidence of his human existence. In fact, it was interesting that in this new description of dispensational truth, we have kind of two heroes of the faith, Moses for the law and Paul for the church. I mean, the Lord Jesus Christ, he didn't, and we dismiss the importance of the God-man coming, and carrying out what you've been taught. But in terms of our understanding of this position of separation of the Word and Truth, ultimately, Christ's earthly existence is what many people look at as wanting to walk in His shoes. Right, Roy? Go ahead.

Just one point of emphasis here. The word humble can be a thought process, but it also can be an action that you do something. And he did something, didn't he? He not only thought it, that's what these words that we went over a little bit ago. Let this mind be in you. His thought was to be subjected to the Father in reality. So he took a position under the Father's will. All right, good boy, you know, it's moving on. I'm glad we have two weeks. Right. Well, I'd like to get 10 and 11 next week because we've got a lot of discretion next week. Okay. Okay. So, becoming obedient suggests something novel.

It's something that was never experienced here into death and death on a cross. So, he's going through here something there. as the true second person to God that they've never experienced before. So this is really something innovation, and in a sense, it's the ultimate humiliation. I mean, the ultimate humiliation is not only becoming a man, but going to the cross.

Because, Bob, back to what you said, he is responding to a higher authority. And we have tremendous evidence in Scripture that he's communicating with his heavenly Father left and right by prayer. All right, good. Now, Constable, let me read what he's got to say here, often much wiser than yours truly.

The Phoenicians and Persians practiced crucifixion before the Greeks and the Romans adopted it. It was a form of execution from which Roman citizens were exempt. Only the worst criminals among the slaves and foreigners underwent crucifixion. And hanging on a tree was a sign to the Jews that the person was so disgraced and under the curse of God. So a number of scriptures here, Deuteronomy 21, 23, his body shall not remain ever on a tree, but you shall surely bury him that day so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God has given you as an inheritance for he who is hanged is accursed of God.

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 that hangs on a tree.

Isaiah 53.12, therefore I will divide him a portion with the great. And he shall divide the spoil with the straw, because he poured out his soul unto death. And he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

Hebrews 5.8, though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered.

And finally, 1 Peter 2.24, and those of you who who have been to men's or women's Bible study. This is a favorite verse. What was her name, the woman who read? Can anybody remember the woman who did Bible studies for women and for men? Study fellowship?

Do you say K. R. 3rd? K. R. 3rd. Joyce Meyer? I don't know. But you know, these are kind of for new believers, but you know, there are group leaders and there's a teaching believer and everything. Anyway, this was one of her favorite verses, 1 Peter 2.24, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that having died to sins might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. So on the tree, I mean, this comes up repeatedly, both prophetically and subsequently. All right, Darby, again, looking to other intellectual and spiritual leaders of the faith.

I'm quoting him, the first Adam sought to make himself like God by robbery when he was in the form of a man and strove to exalt himself at God's expense, being at the same time disobedient unto death. So that's the first Adam, right? Christ, on the other hand, or on contrary, when he was in the form of God emptied himself through love of all of his outward glory and of the form of God and took the form of a man. And even when he was in the form of a man, still humbled himself. It was his second It was a second thing which he did in humbling himself as God. He emptied himself as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.

God has highly exalted him, but for he who exalts himself shall be humbled. That's profound. when we kind of look at what we've done and kind of take credit for that. You're self-humbling, but God has highly exalted him, for he who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted. So kind of, Darwin kind of, I think has hit this nail on the head.

All right, because of time, we keep moving. There's a lot of discussion we could have a bit about his obedience. By the way, in terms of our Christian lives, what do you think of when you're thinking about being obedient? What's our obedience to? Isn't our obedience in faith? Obedience is to the faith. And remember, the life is ultimately transformed. Our condition really reflects the application of our faith in the word of God and how it exists on a day-to-day basis.

All right, verse nine, therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name. Therefore, I thought about therefore, what's it there for? What's it there for? It refers to what you just saw now. Back to Versailles. What was it before? What's the therefore in that? That's therefore 101. Okay.

J. Bernard McGee's great line. Therefore, God is highly exalted, is aerist active, and one Greek word, hyper-hyperismo, or zoo. Now, isn't it interesting that it's active? Therefore, God also has highly exalted him. So, what do you make of the active tense of that? Who's doing this? Sounds like God is. Oh, yeah. That's right. And interestingly enough, this is the only New Testament use of this verb. and means that God has exalted the Lord Jesus to the highest rank and power and raised him to supreme majesty. Amen. A very strong word, a very zealous interpretation is simply this in terms of the exaltation which he experienced. Right. No, I'm just thumbs up at you.

All right, giving him a name which is above every name, and we can look at a little scripture there, Romans 8 32. He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? I mean, think of the identification that relates to that verse. I'm sure Roger will be covering that fairly soon in the auditorium.

And Ephesians 121, far above all principality and power. Remember, he's being exalted. as being above all principality and power, might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. So, I mean, this is exaltation. He's being humbled, but at the same time, he's being exalted.

Incredibly profound, isn't it? But wasn't all of this about Christ all true before Calvary? Question. Isn't it also wonderful? Christ has the Father's will on his mind. The Father as the Son's will on His mind. And the Holy Spirit agrees with them in such a way that His thinking is always in conjunction with them. Well, actually, we're going to see that today in the prayer. It's amazing that the Godhead thinks together. They all have the same mind and they think together. I mean, it's just incredible. And actually what's amazing is that Holy Spirit inside of us, we're part of that circle in prayer, which is amazing.

And otherwise. But here I think, you know, verse seven gave us somewhat of a preview. And made himself in their reputation, taking the form of a God servant, becoming in the likeness of man. So wasn't all this true about Christ before Calvary? Yes and no, but it's exaltation related to his resurrection. It's almost like God, you know, in his wisdom the eternity passed when they decided this was going to happen, you know, eternal covenant, you know, this would exalt Christ, exalt God to the, you know, to show who he is and to demonstrate who he is.

It's almost like this all had to happen, and it did. Well, there was no way that man was going to understand or believe this or anything. This whole thing, it was like a play that had been scripted, you know, before it ever started. Yeah, I mean before humanity ever existed. I mean it was scripted and it had to go through this whole thing. All right, well, we got to wrap up quickly, but let me bear with me here just for a few more minutes. You know, yes, I thought Robertson had a good point, my bad.

And he said, what did he take back to heaven that he did not bring? Clearly, His humanity. He returned to Heaven the Son of Man as well as the Son of God. I mean, the exaltation in part related to bringing humanity back upstairs. So the exaltation is effectively His crucifixion to throw to the ground. Taking His human existence back to the God who, in fact, ultimately develop this whole process from the Eternal Covenant. That's hard to realize, but right now in heaven, there is a man, a human man, sitting at the right hand of the Father.

We can look at his hand before we get there. As Thomas needed to do. We don't need to do it. Okay, again, let's wrap things up. We said that which was graciously bestowed was not a name. We're looking at his exaltation now. But the name, the definite article appears in the Greek text and refers to a particular name. The title of the name is a very common Hebrew title denoting office, rank, dignity. The expression, the name of God in the Old Testament denotes the divine presence, the divine majesty, especially as the object of adoration and praise. The context here dwells upon the honor and worship bestowed on him. upon whom this name was conferred the conferring of this title of the name was upon the lord jesus as a son of man amen amen christ jesus who is very god and bob who had very as very god voluntarily laid aside his expression of the glory of deity during his intercarnation now has placed upon his shoulders all the majesty, dignity, and glory of the deity itself. And last verse, Colossians 123, and he is the head of the body, the church who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in, note this, that in all things he may have the preeminence.

Wow. Powerful. Was it on your PowerPoint, the last verse? Oh, my bad. Okay. Oops. Okay. Okay, good. Fine. Well, great. Let's close in prayer. Bob, close us in prayer, would you please? Thank you, Father, that your Son came and emptied himself and died on the cross so that we might be redeemed. We might have everlasting life. And in doing so, we make him Lord, that we can look up to him and follow him. We ask this in Christ's name, amen.