The Christ Hymn: Emptying

Sermon Transcript:

(transcribed with AI)

Well, good morning. For those of you that don't know me, my name is Justin. I serve as an elder here at Promontory Community Church, and I have the honor of preaching the word to you this morning. Now, as Jonathan mentioned it is Palm Sunday today. It's the last week of Lent. And for those of us who are unfamiliar with Palm Sunday, again, as has been said, it was a day 2000 years ago when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, welcomed by crowds waving palm branches, hence Palm Sunday, and hailing him as Messiah. Palm Sunday kicks off what we call Holy Week, the week of events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday, followed by his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Now typically on Palm Sunday, you will hear a sermon about the triumphal entry, and I'm pleased to tell you that we will not be doing that this morning. This morning we'll be taking a break from our sermon series on the life of David, and we're gonna begin a brief series in Philippians 2. This is just gonna be a short 3-part series for Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, where we're going to focus even more on the person of Jesus Christ than we already do. Philippians 2 provides us this rich picture and theology of the character of Christ, the significance of his death, and the glory of his resurrection.

Now, we're not gonna hear this morning, as I said, we're not talking specifically about Palm Sunday, but what we still are talking about. Jesus entering not just Jerusalem, but entering this world and exactly what that means. So as we approach the events of Holy Week, we want to focus our minds on who the Bible really says Jesus was and contemplate what that means for us today.

Now there's actually a lot of different views and opinions out there in the world about who Jesus actually was, ranging from people who don't think he even existed, to those who think he was an apparition sent by God. Now we're not gonna tackle each and every view this morning, that would take hours, but we're gonna get the basics, try to get the basics straight here.

The person, Jesus of Nazareth, actually existed. Now while there are some that doubt Jesus' existence, I would say nearly all scholars, regardless of faith background, agree that the person of Jesus existed. Archaeology shows us that we have more documents supporting the existence of Jesus than we do of Julius Caesar, yet no one doubts that Julius Caesar existed. Where the majority of our differences of opinion lie is in who and what we think Jesus actually was. Some claim that he was just a great and wise teacher, or maybe even a prophet. But the problem with that is that Jesus actually made claims to be more than that, to be divine. So he himself was claiming to be even more than just a great teacher. We as Christians believe that in addition to being a great teacher and a prophet, that he was actually the son of God. He was God's word made flesh.

Now some will point out that Jesus never actually claimed to be God. And while it's true, he never used the exact phrase I am God. He did use phrases like,

I am the light of the world. I am the resurrection and the life. I and the Father are one.

He claimed to be able to forgive sins, something only God was considered able to do. And ultimately it's Jesus' claim to divinity that gets him labeled as a heretic by the religious authorities. So clearly the experts at the time understood his statements to mean that he was claiming to be God.

Now, some say that the idea of Jesus being God is a legend that Christians have developed over time. These people, they won't deny that Jesus truly lived and taught and did great things, but they say that over the centuries, the stories about him began to get a little bit embellished. What began as an itinerant first century rabbi became exaggerated to being a miracle worker, and later got exaggerated to be that he was resurrected, and later got exaggerated to be that he was God incarnate. The theory is that Jesus and even those closest to him did not actually believe he was God, and this is just a legend that we have created over time as legends build.

Now this is a fair theory, except for one thing. The archaeological record again, does not support this. We have writings from shortly after Jesus' death that claim his divinity. This isn't an idea that was born over centuries, this is happening right after he lived, and as he lived. The gospel writers, two of whom were direct disciples of Jesus, and the other two interviewed direct disciples of Jesus, substantiate Jesus's claims to be God. In fact, the passage we're about to read now from Philippians was written by the apostle Paul, approximately 30 years after the death of Christ, not centuries. And Paul himself was personally acquainted with the original direct disciples of Jesus. So the claim that these legends of divinity developed over time is simply not supported by what is written immediately following Jesus' life and death. Not centuries after, but mere decades, mere years. And by those who personally knew him.

So we know that 1, Jesus actually lived, we know that 2, he actually claimed to be God. So now what do we do with that? Jesus can't just be a good teacher because he makes some pretty wild claims about being God, so we're confronted with a dilemma. The writer CS Lewis actually calls this a trilemma. He says that if Jesus really claimed to be God, then he's either a liar, a lunatic, or he is Lord. We don't get to be on the fence about Jesus. He's either a con man trying to deceive you, a crazy cult leader that some people somehow believed, or he's truly the son of God.

Now I don't believe he's a con man, because if he was, he's way too committed to the lie. He goes to the cross for this. He's beaten, he's interrogated and executed, and yet he never recants. I also don't believe he's a lunatic because his wisdom and his teachings are too sensible. That's why those who don't even believe that he's God still say he's a good moral teacher. His teachings aren't the ravings of a madman, but clear and reasonable guidance that's plain for most to see. So we as Christians arrive at this conclusion that Jesus really was who he said he was, the Son of God, one with the Father.

But now we've got to come to grips with how that's even possible. How could Jesus be both man and God at the same time? And this is where our passage this morning's gonna take us. So if you have your Bibles with you, you can begin turning with me to Philippians 2:5-7.

Now, I was saying earlier, this was written around the year 60 to 62 AD by the apostle Paul. Now this particular passage is sometimes called the hymn of Christ, because in the original Greek it was written in a poem or a song-like form. Now scholars aren't sure if Paul wrote this hymn himself or if he's actually quoting something that existed before him. Either way, this again verifies what we talked about earlier, that the idea that Jesus was God is not a legend that developed over time, but it's a truth accepted by Christians who personally knew Jesus.

So let's dive in, shall we? Please stand with me as we read God's word. This is Philippians 2:5-7.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped. But emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

So far the reading of God's word, you may be seated.

So we're wading into deep waters this morning. This passage is a really fundamental passage in the Christian understanding of who Jesus really was. Christians throughout history have wrestled with how to formulate how Jesus is human and also God. And this is one of the key passages that's studied when tackling this issue.

Now what I love about this passage is that defining the deity and humanness of Christ is not actually Paul's main goal in this. The context of this passage is Paul's actually urging the Philippians to humility and using the example of Jesus being God and becoming man to show the depth of his humility. Paul isn't even trying to prove Jesus' divinity in this passage, rather, he's assuming it in order to make his point about humility, which we're gonna get to later on. But for now, I'd like to unpack a bit of this theology that Paul seems to be assuming.

Paul writes that Jesus was in the form of God, and he later takes the form of a servant. Now we could read this and think that oh well this means that Jesus is some kind of shapeshifter, that he takes God form and then shifts and becomes human form. But that would not really be completely accurate. The problem is that we get the word form lost in translation. When we think form, or at least when I think form, I think a shape or a mold, maybe an image or a projection of something. But that's not what the word form meant in the original Greek.

In Greek, the word here I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to nerd out for a couple of minutes, so bear with me. In Greek, the word used for form here is morphe. Now in Greek philosophy, there's this concept of forms, morphe, and shadows. Now, a shadow is exactly what you would think it is, right? Like a shadow on the ground or a shadow on the wall. And the form or the morphe is the object that casts the shadow. The shadow is a rough image of the form of the actual object. The form is the true essence of the object. This word is intentionally used in our Bible to convey that Jesus wasn't just a man imprinted with the image of God or with a shadow of God, or God imprinted with the shadow of man. Rather, he is the true form and essence of God and the true form and essence of man.

So right out of the gate, we are confronted with Jesus being the morphe, the true essence, the form, the true form of God. This means that Jesus didn't start existing when he was born and his parents named him Jesus. This means he was God ever since God even existed. Which is forever, by the way. The first few verses of John put it this way.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

So both John and Paul tell us that Jesus was God from the beginning. He isn't just a part of God that split off and like boop, here's Jesus part. He was the father since the beginning. He was with the father since the beginning and was also one with God. We catch a hint of this way back in Genesis when God says,

let us make man in our image.

Us plural. So we are to understand that Jesus is truly God of one essence with the Father. One and the same God who created all things. As John says,

all things were made through him.

But now back to our passage, we're told something strange. That though he was God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. Now that can sound like God didn't think it was attainable to be God. But that's not what's being said here. We can read the word grasp and I naturally think of this as reaching out, as trying to grasp for something or trying to grab something. Attaining it. But the word here actually implies something more along the lines of holding onto or clutching tightly. Jesus wasn't a lesser version of God grasping at becoming the full version of God. Jesus already had equality with God. He wasn't trying to attain or grab it or grasp it. Rather, the passage is saying he did not consider something he should hold onto so tightly. He did not consider his position in heaven something to be held onto, rather, he left his heavenly home and came down to earth to dwell with us. And as our passage says, he emptied himself by taking the form of a man.

Now, what did he empty himself of is the next question. Some say he emptied himself of his deity of his godness in order to become human, that he somehow stopped being God temporarily while he was here on Earth. But that's not right. He is not Jesus of Nazareth, formerly known as Yahweh. I think what we've already learned and read makes it clear that he continued to be God, even after he descended to earth. But I believe Jesus emptied Himself in two ways. First, he willfully let go of his privileges and rights as God of the universe in order to genuinely live as a human being. Second, I believe he emptied himself in such a way that he poured himself out in service of others through his life and ministry, and ultimately his death.

But let's talk about the first point there. Jesus didn't give up his divinity, his deity, he didn't stop being God when he became human. However, he did voluntarily give up his rights and privileges, or you could say the perks of being God. Here's an example of what this looks like. So let's remember back to Moses, way back in the Old Testament. Moses is God's servant. He's leading the people of Israel out of slavery, out of Egypt. They've crossed the Red Sea into the desert, and now Moses goes up on the mountain to talk to God. The book of Exodus tells us that when Moses comes down from the mountain, the skin of his face was shining. It was like physically shining, and this was freaking people out. Moses ended up wearing a veil over his face and only took it off when he was talking to God or if he was making an official proclamation from God.

But now we fast forward to Jesus. This is not just a man that talks to God, but God Himself. Yet we have no shining face. People aren't being struck by lightning the second they insult him. I mean, that probably would have been pretty convincing if that had happened. But that's not how Jesus chooses to do things. He lets go of that show of raw power and glory. He sets aside the perks of being almighty God and wins the hearts of his people by his love and his sacrifice, not by shining faces and fire from heaven. We see this again when Jesus is tempted by Satan. Satan tempts him to turn rocks into bread and leap from a high tower in order to be caught from angels. All things he could do as God. But he chooses not to. Rather, he rebukes Satan with scripture. He relies instead on humble obedience to God, just as any human is called to do.

It's important that Jesus didn't just play the God card every time he got into a tight spot. Because then we wouldn't really have a great example to follow. We as Christians are called to follow the example of Jesus. Yet when we fail to do so, we often will use this excuse, yeah, well, but Jesus was God. As if it was somehow easier for him. To do it for us how somehow it's easier for him to live this life because he could just play the god card. What we're saying when we say that is that we think Jesus was cheating at life. That he was somehow using his divinity, his gods to get around things. Some people will go so far as to hypothesize that Jesus somehow used his God powers to make the crucifixion less painful, in order to bear going through with it a little bit easier. In doing so, they diminish the suffering and sacrifice of Christ. But I think scripture tells us that he willingly gave up those perks. He could have made it less painful on the cross, he could have commanded legions of angels to storm in and get him out, but he intentionally didn't. Jesus did it all for real, with all the resources any of us are given. We could maybe argue that his faith was stronger, but from the surety he had of being God, and that would be fair. But he gave himself no extra privilege. Jesus emptied himself of the rights and privileges of being God in order to truly live the human experience. No shortcuts, no get out of jail free cards. He lived a raw human life in perfect obedience to God.

And in that life, he poured himself out even more. Jesus could have come as anybody. He could have chosen to come as a king or an emperor. He could have had comfort and riches, earthly authority and power. But instead he chooses to be born as the son of a carpenter from a backwater town in rural Judea. He lives a life serving others, healing the sick, encouraging the poor, preaching good news to the common people. He's ultimately unjustly executed, literally pouring out his blood, sweat, and tears for the sake of humanity. He gave everything he had to serve others.

Jesus knew what it felt like to be drained. Just like we feel drained at the end of a long day. He was so drained one time, he fell asleep on a boat in a storm. People had to wake him up and then when he woke up, he got around to helping them, saving them, and calming the storm. Jesus emptying himself is not just a theological statement. But it's a physical reality. He devoted his life to the service of others. He emptied himself out for them, poured himself out for them. He gave every ounce of himself up for the sake of others, up to and including his death.

When God came down, he did not come as a king to be served, but as a servant who knew he was already king. If Jesus had come as a king or an emperor, he would have actually just been like any of the other kings and emperors claiming divinity. The Roman emperors claimed to be gods, the Egyptian pharaohs claimed to be gods. If Jesus had just come down tooting his own horn like the emperors and pharaohs, he'd be just like any other ancient dead guy who thought he was hot stuff. Today, we see that Jesus chose not to enter Jerusalem, not in a chariot or on a war horse, but on a donkey. Jesus gave up the kingship he was entitled to and chose to live as a servant. And lived such a life of service and healing that proved he was God.

Look at it this way, there's now a lot more people who believe in Jesus or believe that Jesus was God. Then there are people who believe Julius Caesar was God, or King Tut was God. So who proved their deity? The guys who puffed themselves up, who peacocked and masqueraded as gods on this earth. Or the one who humbly went about his business of obeying God and serving others. Jesus, having relinquished the perks of being God and pouring himself out in the service of others. I would argue has greater lasting effect on the history of the world than every other human king claiming to be God ever did. Jesus has had greater impact on the history of the world, with 12 ragtag disciples and a criminal's death than any emperor or pharaoh and their thousands of chariots ever did. Jesus is greater than all of them combined, and he did it by humbling himself. And it's that humility of Christ that we're really meant to see here in this passage.

Now, we've done a bit of a deep dive into the theological side of things. I thank you for sticking with me through it. So far all this theology and Greek language, it's meant to help us to see the heart of Christ being taught in this passage. And it's hard to grasp actually how profound it really is that he would pour himself out for us if we don't fully understand how truly God he is. To come down from the highest position of authority and glory in the cosmos, to die at the hands of his own creation as a penniless teacher, is absolutely mind boggling. I don't even think any amount of preaching or teaching or human expression can even fully express how significant that is. I feel like I'm not doing it justice here this morning.

Jesus didn't have to do any of this. He could have stayed in heaven and just let us perish. He could have said, you've soiled your bed, now you have to sleep in it. He could have discarded humanity, he could have started over. But he didn't. He loved us so much that he was willing to put aside the glory and comfort of heaven and live this life with all its struggles alongside us and suffer even more than most of us can ever even conceive. He did it because he loved us, not because he needed us, lest we think of ourselves as too important.

Think about it, Jesus already had perfect communion with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. He had this perfect relationship, he didn't need more friends. We weren't created because God was lonely and needed someone to be loved or someone to love and be loved by. We were created as an expression of God's creativity and love, and he desires us to experience loving relationships with each other and with Him. And he saved us in order that we could be redeemed from our sin and experience those relationships. He saved us again, not because he had to, but as an expression of his love for us. He came down and did the impossible. God became man. Fully God, because only a God-sized sacrifice could cover the infinite debt of sin that humanity had accrued. Fully man. Because the debt of sin was owed by humanity and human blood needed to be shed.

You know, I was posed the question one time. Can God make something so large that even he can't lift it? Now it's a paradoxical question, it's kind of a cheap shot actually, if you're, if I'm being totally honest. But if you try to answer it any way, you're forced to admit that the only thing that is impossible for God to do is to make something that is impossible for him to do. It'll make your head spin. So, I pondered this question for a long time and through God's provision of people much wiser than me. I came to this realization, it's the Sunday school answer, by the way.

The answer is found in Christ. Because we believe that Jesus took on the form of man. And after he had been scourged and a crown of thorns placed on his head. He was made to carry his cross through the streets on his way to be executed. Exhausted from the torture, he was unable to carry his cross any further, and another man was made to carry it for him. The hands that once formed and held the world. Could not lift the weight of that cross. The God of the universe did the paradoxically impossible. Whilst being tortured to death to pay for the sins of me and you. That's how much he loved us. He lived to serve those who should have been serving him. And he died at the hands of those to whom he had given life. It's a tragic irony. Oh, the humility it took to bear such injustice. The temptation to call down fire from heaven would have been immense. Just a word, he could have wiped the smug look off the faces of those jeering at him. But he restrained himself, emptied himself of his divine rights, and submitted in order to accomplish what he set out to do.

This is our example. This is the heart of Christ. It's a love that is willing to give up everything for the sake of others, and the humility to follow through with it. And his love and humility ought to inspire us to do the same. As our passage puts it,

have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.

We too are called to the selfless love and humble service. Not just as actions to be done, but as a mindset that comes from looking to the example of Christ.

As I mentioned earlier, the context of this passage is actually Paul urging the Philippian Church to greater humility. Let me just read the first few verses leading up to our passage. This is Philippians 2, starting in verse 1.

So if there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you not only look to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among you which is yours in Christ Jesus.

So how do we have this mind? Our passage calls us to humility, but humility is actually a tricky virtue to work on, because the moment you start thinking you're doing well at it. You become prideful of how humble you are, right? The minute you start measuring your own growth and humility, it ceases to be humility, doesn't it? The second we start looking inward at our humility, it starts to disappear. If we only work on humility for humility's sake, we get nowhere in this endless pursuit of good virtue. What we're truly called to do is look to the example of Christ, to be inspired and transformed by his example. And out of that, things like humility, love for others will start to flow. Keeping our eyes fixed on Christ and putting things into perspective through his example ought to impact how we think about things, and how we think about things will naturally affect the things we do and how we do them.

Now it may, this may sound kind of trite, but if Jesus was willing to stoop down from heaven. To Earth to clean up our mess. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to bend over once in a while and pick up someone else's trash. As we take on the mind of Christ, we stop thinking about what's easier and more convenient for ourselves. And start thinking about how can we help others.

Now, I work in construction, and what I'm about to say is probably true in other workplaces as well or actually probably within your own home. But people can sometimes have this attitude of making things the next guy's problem. They don't wanna clean up a mess or fix a defect, and they just say to themselves, well, the next trade will catch that. The next guy will get that. It's the next guy's problem. It's my wife's problem. That's my husband's problem. It's a hassle for them, so they make it someone else's problem. Now that's the opposite of humility. Someone who has humility says. That looks like a hassle for the next guy. Maybe I'll just quick take care of that while I'm here. That person is looking to the interests of others above their own convenience. Jesus endured torture and death for my sake, maybe I can take 5 minutes to sweep up after I'm done. The only being in the cosmos that doesn't need to be humble, the perfect, all powerful Creator God showed humility. How much more should we who are so much lower than he.

Now, we need to be careful, we can sometimes think of being humble or having humility as thinking of ourselves poorly or being self-deprecating. And you probably already know this, but being self-deprecating is really often just false humility. Being humble isn't thinking that you are worse than everyone else, it's simply thinking about others first. Again, we have to look to the example of Jesus. He was humble, but he was not self-deprecating. He goes to his trial and execution, head held high, knowing he is the son of the Most High God. But humbly submitting to the punishment. We too do not need to be self-deprecating or even moping about how we're such bad sinners. We can acknowledge our failures while holding our heads high as children of God and friends of Christ, while also serving others.

True humility actually seems to come out of a confidence in our identity with Christ. A prideful person has to constantly prove their worth. They hold tightly to the things that make them special or unique. They crave the approval and honor of others. But the humble in Christ know their intrinsic worth as a child of God. Yet don't count it as something to be held onto or flaunted. But are willing to stoop down and serve despite their high place of honor. They have this quiet confidence. Because they have nothing to prove.

So humility is not talking about how good you are. Neither is it talking about how bad you are. Humility is putting the interests of others above your own, with the confidence, knowing that your needs are already taken care of in Christ. Humility is not having to prove yourself to others to validate your worth. Rather, knowing your worth is found in Christ and seeking to lift others up, even at your own expense. This is the example Jesus gave us. And reflecting and imitating his example is going to be the most effective way to begin to transform your mind, to be like his. And out of that, we will begin to develop a love for others that is manifested in genuinely humble service to others.

So as we draw to a close here. I want to recap briefly, we've covered a lot of ground this morning, ranging from theology of the nature of Christ to what simple humility looks like. So we began at the beginning by verifying that Jesus was indeed a real person that lived historically. The problem with Jesus is not whether or not he existed, it is whether or not he is actually God incarnate. Jesus himself made claims to be God, and we have to decide whether we think he is a liar, a lunatic, or lord. We as Christians believe he is indeed the Lord.

Now we are left with the problem of how he could be both God and man. Our passage teaches us that Jesus was both true essence of God and true essence of man. He had to be God because only an infinite God could pay for infinite sins. He had to be human because the debt of sin was owed by humans. As God, Jesus willingly gave up his position in heaven to come down, live a perfect life of service, and die to pay for our sins. The example of his life and death is an example we can look to, contemplate, and allow it to change our minds to become more like his. As our minds become more like the mind of Christ, a love for others should grow and result in a humble service to others.

Once again, thank you for bearing with me through some heavy theology. I hope that through it we're able to glean not just an intellectual understanding. But a real sense of who Jesus was and what it meant for him to come down and live among us. I hope that as we approach Good Friday and resurrection Sunday, that we would take time to contemplate what the incarnation really means to us and the implications it has on our actions to those around us. Let us feel the weight this week of God stepping down from his throne in heaven, to wash the dirty feet of disciples, and to rub shoulders with lepers and prostitutes. Let us acknowledge the humility it took to be rejected by his own creatures in order that he could save them. Let us recognize the great love he has for us, that he was not only willing to come down and live as one of us. But to live and die as one of the least of us. Let's let that sink in this week as you go from here. Let's pray

Dear Lord, you are so good, you are so high above us, Lord, you are holy forever, as we sang earlier. We can't even understand what that means sometimes, Lord. And Lord, we are so thankful that though you are so high above us. You did not cling to that, you did not hold that so tightly that you weren't willing to come down. Into this world and clean up our mess. Lord, we thank you for the cross. We thank you for your humble submission. That you saved us, that you bled and died for us. Lord, we ask that we would let that reality affect us. That we would have the same willingness, Lord. That we would be willing to suffer inconvenience for our brothers and sisters around us. We pray as we go into this week, Lord, that you would go with us. That we would go with you. Lead us in your ways, we pray. In Your name we pray. Amen.