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The media loves falls from grace don’t they. Take Katie Price these last few weeks, 6 months ago she was part of the media’s golden couple, but now she has become an object of ridicule and dislike. Or take Gazza fated for his sublime skills in 1990 but ridiculed and derided for his tackle a year later. Or this week Tiger Woods oceans of ink have been spilt speculating on what he has done, why, how and the ramifications of it.
As we come to Philippians 2 we see not a fall from grace but a deliberate stepping down from glory to bring grace. This is a willing humility driven by love, mercy and compassion.
1. A Son’s humility (v6-8)
Paul structures v6-8 around the two natures of Jesus Christ. (6a)Begins by reminding his readers
of Jesus divine majesty he was "in very nature God". Jesus was from eternity past God. But
what follows this statement of fact is amazing.
Jesus is God therefore what does he deserve? He deserves praise and adoration, reign and rule; he is the almighty creator, sustainer and ruler of all things. But Jesus doesn’t use his status for his advantage, but he humbles himself(7), he leaves all that and becomes human.
Jesus has nothing to prove and because he is one of a kind with God, because his very nature is that of God he acts as God acts and in compassion, love, grace and mercy leaves his throne room and steps into his creation.
Instead of take, take, take or receive, receive, receive as he was entitled to Jesus gave, gave, gave. How like God’s nature.
The contrast is highlighted in (7)"he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant." The phrase literally means 'he emptied himself', it has led some to suggest that Jesus puts off his divinity, but clearly that isn’t the case as the gospels show. His deity is seen in creation obeying his voice, in him holding power over death, sickness, disease and demons. In him acting as God and in his disciples understanding that is who he is after his resurrection. Hence John begins his gospel by describing Jesus as the Word who was with God, is God and was the means of creation. So what does it mean? It was their way of saying ‘he gave up his rights’. He gave up what was rightfully his.
He does that by becoming a servant or a slave - in other words God the son not only comes to earth as part of his creation, but he doesn’t come as a king or prince, or ruler, he doesn’t come to exercise power or authority. He came as a nobody; born in a stable in a backwater town, in a birth that was misunderstood and the cause of scandal, to a family of nobodies.
Who is acting here? Jesus, he is not compelled by God the Father "he made himself nothing" he humbled himself. God the Son, Jesus, voluntarily and willingly lays aside his right to divine worship, praise and glory and humbly becomes a man, humbly becomes a nobody.
As if that humility weren’t shocking enough (8)would have scandalised those reading it. "he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death-even on a cross." Do you notice Paul is still amazed at this - it wasn’t just death as if that weren’t humble enough - the one through whom all life was created, the one who has the words of eternal life, the one who raised the dead dies. As if that weren’t enough he dies on a cross!
Those words have lost some of their impact, the cross has been so tamed that it has become a piece of jewellery. In Paul’s day the cross was a symbol of shame and stigma. The word crucifixion would not be spoken in polite society; a Roman citizen could not be crucified without special dispensation because it was beneath them. It was saved for the dregs of humanity; it was the equivalent of being held in Guantanamo and then more. There is no modern equivalent because we do humane execution - crucifixion was by its very nature designed to be inhumane, degrading and humiliating.
Do you see why Paul is still amazed as he pens those last words "even death on a cross!"
WH Auden wrote 'Only the unscarred, overfed enjoy the verbal event of Calvary.'
This is the most spectacular come down in the history of the world and yet it is not a fall from grace, it is a deliberate loving, gracious compassionate stepping down from glory to humanity, from Godhood to nobody, from source of life to death and from glory to crucifixion.
2. The Father’s Approval
(6-8)are about the Sons actions, (9-11)we see the Fathers’ response. Jesus gives and humbles
himself becoming obedient to the Father even to death on a cross and the Father’s response is
twofold. What does the Father do? God exalts him to the highest place and gives him a name.
Names for us aren’t that significant. When you are introduced to someone new you don’t immediately think of the meaning of their name. So for example if you meet a Thomas you wouldn’t say What is your twin called - though that is what Thomas means twin, or when you meet a Sybil not don’t naturally assume they are a prophetess or wise.
But in the Bible names are significant, they matter. A name speaks not just of a distinctive identifier but of distinctive characteristics. Here the name that Jesus is given reflects his achievement and who he is.
(11)Tells us the name he is given, what is it? "Lord". There is an important background to this. Turn to Isaiah 42:8 "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols."
God will not share the glory due to him, he is God alone, he is LORD alone and worshipping anything else is wrong worship. It’s a message taught again and again in the Old Testament and yet here God the Father ascribes the name, praise and glory exclusively due to him to Jesus Christ. God identifies Jesus as deity, as God, he is the resurrected, reigning God man.
As Lord there is a day coming when everyone and everything in all creation will confess that Jesus is Lord(10-11) and give the Father glory. Again Isaiah is the root behind this (45:22-25). Jesus will receive the praise and glory due to God because he is God.
God the Father exalts God the Son, he raises him up from death to his side and declares that he is Lord and one day everyone and everything will recognise him for what he is.
Jesus willingly comes down, down, down and the Fathers raises him up, up, up.
Jesus is histories hinge, the incarnation, the humble birth of the God man in Bethlehem is the most significant birth in all of human history, there has never been and never will be another like it. And one day everyone will confess that he is Lord whether willingly or fearfully.
Jesus incarnation calls us to incarnational living, that is the point Paul makes in (5)"In your relationships with one another, have the same attitude of mind Christ Jesus had:"
Paul has exhorted the Philippians to "conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel" how? By living as Christ did. If our salvation is achieved by Christ’s humility and suffering for us then the call to discipleship is a call to suffering and humility. It has to affect how we think of ourselves and others.
This speaks particularly to our society’s obsession with self esteem. The Bible pulls no punches about our depravity and rebellion outside of Christ. We deserve judgement, we are worse than we every dreamed. Yet Christ loved us to the point of dying for us his death and resurrection means we need never see ourselves as worthless again.
But it adds another dimension to how we think of ourselves. It calls us into community not to be individuals; the gospel is a communal affair. When we stop focusing on feeling good about ourselves and recapture the dignity and call to serve others as Christ served us we discover true self worth and satisfaction, because to be truly human is to be like Christ.
Christmas provides us with an opportunity to be struck again by the humility and love of Christ as we marvel at what he gave up for us. It calls us again to recognise the seriousness of sin as we see what he had to give up and what he had to go through in order to make us right with God. It calls us to view our selves in the light of what he did for us.
But we also live with the awareness that he will not come like that again, Bethlehem is a one off event, and Christ will not come veiled in humanities frailty again. When he comes again he will not lay aside anything, he will come as he is with glory and honour, majesty and power. And he will not just be owned by those who want to confess his name, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess either willingly or unwillingly.
Having seen what Christ has done for us how can we not serve others, love others, and call others to know the Saviour we serve?