It's so good to see each one of you here tonight, and I'm glad
to be back with you again. You know, the meeting is rushing
toward its conclusion, and of course, we're on a downhill
slide. And tomorrow, of course, we'll
have a couple of more services. But thank you for tolerating my
ramblings and my words on Philippians.
You know, there's so much there, as I mentioned last night, that
sometimes I'd like to bring out things and I forget what I want
to bring out. And, you know, it's kind of in a
swirl. But nonetheless, Philippians is
a great book. And I just hope that if you get
nothing else from our time together, you will at least take
this book home and read it and think about it because there's
such great encouragement in this book.
You know, in our lives today, in the world in which we live, it's
discouraging. It's very discouraging in so
many ways. As you get older, of course,
physically it's discouraging because you're going to face
hardship in health, you're going to face perhaps difficulties as
jobs end and maybe retirement looks, looks you in the face.
There's things that you know, again, just are difficult.
Your body hurts, you don't you just don't maybe feel like you
did. The world itself is a difficult
place. Temptations.
People, of course, you know, have different things they throw
at you. And even as you try to live for
Christ, people reject the message, the loving message that
we already go forth and preach. And so it's very discouraging.
But you know, one thing we have to keep in mind is that we
should never leave Jesus. I know there's some newer
baptized converts in this audience.
That's a wonderful thing. But never leave Jesus.
It's going to get tough. It's going to get hard, but
never leave Jesus. Why?
Well, for many reasons. Our salvation depends upon it.
But another reason is Jesus will never leave you.
Jesus will never leave you. He will never forsake you.
He will always have you on His mind, so to speak, and you will
be one of his sheep. You know, John 10 is a beautiful
chapter where Jesus speaks of himself being the Good Shepherd
and He speaks of himself as taking care of the sheep,
knowing them by name and protecting them and even laying
down His life for his sheep. We are the sheep of his pasture,
we are Christians, we are his followers, we are his, shall we
say, his beloved possession. Jesus will never leave us.
So let's not leave Jesus because as it was in John 6, after Jesus
had taught so many difficult things and people begin to
trickle away from him, having heard the sermons that he gave,
not understanding the depth and becoming discouraged that how
could this be the Messiah? They begin to leave.
And Jesus, you can almost feel the heartbrokenness in his words
as Jesus says to his apostles, will you also go away?
And I love what Peter says. You know, Peter was always
sometimes saying the wrong thing, but he says the right
thing here, just like he did in Matthew 16 verse 18.
He says, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. Well, indeed, tonight we're here
to study the words of eternal life.
But before we do that, I want us to think about the comfort that
we have in Jesus, because one of the sections we're going to look
at tonight is about the comfort that we find in Christ.
Now, again, when you look at the life of Christ, he was a man.
He was a, you know, a savior of little comfort.
And he, you know, he had no place to lay his head.
You know, he said one time the foxes of of you know, of the
have their holes and their Burrows and, and the birds have
their nest, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.
Jesus would feel the the pain of those that were sick, those that
needed the gospel, those that you know, again, he he saw them
sometimes as sheep without shepherd, sort of harassed by
the leaders of the day. And Jesus was a man who did not
enjoy the comforts of life. Why?
Well, because he was here for a purpose and it wasn't to enjoy
the comforts of life. But nonetheless, he bestowed
comfort upon those that he touched, those that touched him,
like the woman who came through the crowd and touched the hem of
his garment. He bestowed comfort on people
such as Jairus and the wife and the the daughter that he raised
from the dead. He bestowed comfort in his
words. You know, Jesus would say things
like coming to me all you that labor and are heavy laden.
You know, I don't know tonight and not get too far, you know,
far afield. But I don't know tonight if we
fully realize the harassment and the difficulty that people had
in that day to live even under the Mosaic law.
The scribes and the Pharisees had made so many extra laws.
It had become a burden to the people to even try to follow
God's commands. They were very tired.
They were discouraged. And Jesus gives this wonderful
invitation. He says, come to me.
He says, yes, there's responsibility, but come to me
because my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Oh, there's a yoke, there's a burden.
You know, the old idea about getting in the yoke of, of, of,
of a, of a plow and pulling it was very, very relevant in their
minds. But Jesus said, come to me
because my yoke is easy and my burden is like, easy what?
Well, in comparison, you know, sin's yoke is a very, very hard
yoke to put up on our necks. It is something that's going to
bow us low. It is something that's going to
bring us down. Sin is and it's going to make us
feel guilty. It's going to take the joy out
of living. But when we have that
relationship with Jesus Christ, there is going to be hope.
First of all, there's going to be salvation.
There's going to be joy, there's going to be peace.
There's going to be all of those things that do and eat, as Paul
will even say in this book, surpass all understanding.
I think Jesus wanted his own people, just experienced that.
I think Jesus loved his people so much that he said, I want to
give you what you cannot get anywhere else.
Jesus would also comfort his apostles over and over,
sometimes even in a physical way.
You know, recall that time when they are on the boat.
The disciples are out in the middle of the ocean, out in the
middle of the Sea of Galilee, and there's a great storm and
they think they're going to drown.
And Jesus comes walking on the water and they're terrified
because they see Jesus and they think he's a phantom.
They think he's some sort of an apparition or a ghost or
something that is very evil, and they're terrified.
The storm, the lightning flashing around and here's this
white figure coming towards them and they cry out in fear.
And Jesus says be of good cheer, be of comfort.
It's I don't be afraid. And of course he steals the
water. He comes into the boat.
They're safe and sound and they see the comfort that Jesus
provides over and over in the ministry of Jesus.
He is providing comfort. He is providing comfort mentally
as he heals the demonics who maybe had made individuals
basically crazy. He takes over their their
illness and he he takes care of it.
And of course, then he heals those who are spiritually sick.
He comforts those who are physically sick.
Jesus was a savior of comfort. And really that's what Paul is
going to deal with tonight in his message to us from
Philippians, the second chapter. Now he's also going to talk in a
little bit later on in this chapter about Jesus Christ and
the mind of Christ and how we are to have the mind of Christ
as well. But before we do that, I want to
at least develop this comfort concept because you know, Paul
is over and over talking about the comfort that we have in
Jesus and we are going to need it tonight as we try and attempt
to live our Christian life. And so he says this in verse 1
of chapter 2. He says, therefore, therefore,
if there is any, if any consolation, if there is any
comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit in any
affection of mercy, fulfill my joy by being like minded.
Now let's go back up and sort of unpack this.
He says therefore, if there is any consolation, if there's any
sort of consolation, you know, when somebody is consoled, that
means that someone comes alongside and they say, I
understand what you're going through and I want to help you
with that, or I understand your feelings.
It's an empathy statement. And of course, Paul is Speaking
of the empathy that the Philippians could have in
Christ. Now, why would they need that?
Well, first of all, they're Christians.
We all need Christian empathy from Jesus because we suffer in
this life. But it's very possible that they
were at Philippi going through additional persecution much like
they had after the church was established back in Acts 16.
And so he says, listen, if there's any type of consolation
and the if there is not a statement of doubt, it's just a
way of saying there is consolation in Jesus.
There is hope. There is power in his blood and
in that relationship. So he says if there's any
consolation in Christ, if any, a comfort of love.
Now this idea of comfort is very interesting because when we look
at consolation and comfort, really what we're talking about
is a very interesting Greek word.
The interesting Greek word is the word paracoleo.
Now this word, if some of you may recognize, is a word that is
used by Jesus in John 1415 and 16.
Para means beside. In other words, para.
We've talked about para church organizations or para this that
that means beside. And then the kaleo is a Greek
word that means to call, to call to one side.
It's a term of endearment and really kind of camaraderie.
You know, before Jesus went back in John 14 and 15 and 16, he
promised to send what the translators call the comforter,
the Holy Spirit. Well, that term in Greek is
paracaleo, the Paraclete, you may have heard it said.
In other words, the Holy Spirit was going to come.
Jesus was not going to live leave the apostles as orphans.
He was going to help them. He was going to send the Holy
Spirit to guide them into all truth so that they could have
power in their ministry as they went and fulfilled the Great
Commission. But that word deals with the
idea of the Spirit coming as a friend and being next to them to
call to one side. You know, sometimes maybe we're
struggling and maybe a friend comes and he kind of puts his
arm around us or her arm around us and they kind of call you
through your side and they say, listen, I just want to encourage
you. I just want to tell you that
that that I'm on your team. That's what Paul is talking.
That's the same word. And of course, he's not talking
here about the Holy Spirit per SE, but he's talking about
Christ. Christ is not only on our team,
he's the leader of our team and we follow him, but he's our
coach as well. And I'm not a big sports fan.
I don't know much about it, but I know coaches have a tremendous
impact on their players because they're positive or hopefully
are a positive influence and they encourage their players to
give their very best. Well, Paul says, listen, if
there's any of that in Christianity, if there is any of
that in Christ, he says, and there is of course, he says
fulfill my joy. And then he says, of course, be
like minded. Now he talks about this idea of
fellowship. You know, fellowship is also
another interesting word. And not to give you just a word
study tonight, that can be rather dull.
But the word fellowship is the word Koinonia.
It's the idea of a joint participation.
Now in the morning in our worship service, we're going to
assemble around the Lord's Table.
Now the word supper is also compared to a fellowship.
We partake of the loaf, we partake of the bread, we partake
of the fruit of the vine, and we share together in that memorial
feast. It's one of the most intimate,
beautiful times in all of Christianity.
Well, that's the same word that Paul is Speaking of here, and he
speaks of the term fellowship. And the word fellowship can be
used of the Lord's Supper as it is.
It's also used of our relationship with one another
and our relationship with Christ.
And it's also used, of course, even of our giving that is also
called a fellowship. But nonetheless, it denotes a
relationship, a close relationship with one another.
But he says if there's any fellowship of the Spirit.
Now again, we mentioned last night, and there's so much about
this that I don't know to be honest with you so much.
I've been decided about really to be honest with you.
But you know, the Spirit was so vibrant in the 1st century, it
provided the holy, the miracles rather to confirm the word.
It inspired the apostles into all truth.
The Spirit again seems to be the life force, just as our Spirit
is in the early church. And Jesus or Paul says here, he
says, you know, if there's any fellowship of the Spirit, in
other words, joint participation.
Now, again, it doesn't really matter to me for the purposes of
this study, how the Holy Spirit jointly participates with us.
Now, I do believe that the Holy Spirit is an intercessor.
It's not our mediator, by the way, but it's an intercessor.
We can have many intercessors. We can intercede for each other,
but there's only one mediator. Paul says in first to be two,
and that is Jesus Christ because he is the God man, as we're
going to notice in a moment, He stands between US and God, and
he, as it were, is our mediator. He mediates for us.
But Paul uses this idea of the fellowship of the Spirit.
You know, I've read something very interesting today as I was
sitting out on the porch and, you know, just kind of musing
over notes and, and looking at a couple of old commentaries on my
phone and that sort of thing. And Jameson Fawcett and Brown,
which may not mean anything to you, but it's kind of a go to,
easy go to sometimes. But they suggest that this idea
of fellowship is the idea of what went on in ancient
villages. Now, of course, Paul is writing
to people who at one time they did pagans.
And according to Jameson Fawcett and Brown and I haven't had
really had time to, you know, confirm this, but I'll just
share it with you anyway. You know, the Pagan concept
comes from people who are country people in a village.
We typically think of pagans as people who don't worship God or
whatever. Well, initially, apparently the
word carried other connotations. Rather than being a city person,
they were pagans or they were country folk.
And country folk in those villages would usually have a
single well, maybe a single fountain, a single spring, maybe
it came by enough aqueduct, as we noted the other night from
the mountains that the Romans had built.
Well, they didn't build the mountains, but they built their
aqueduct. But anyway, but they would drink
from that same fountain. And so you would go to that
fountain and it was like the local watering hole, if you
will. That's where maybe you get your
water. That's where you would talk to
your friends. That's where you would have some
fellowship, some camaraderie. And much like in John 4,
remember in the Samaritan woman in John 4, when Jesus comes to
Sycar and and Jacob's well, that's a similar situation.
That village had one watering source and people would go there
and they would drink of the same life giving water.
Well, that's kind of the illustration here.
According to Jameson Fawcett Brown.
It's the idea of of Christians imbibing and drinking from the
same spiritual source of life. You see, we're partners
together. We share together.
And how then is that made greater?
Well, it's made greater by having the same mind.
He says fulfill my joy, verse 2, by being like minded.
This idea of the mind is found over and over in parts of
Philippians. And when Paul's Speaking of the
mind, he's not just talking about our brain.
Now the brain is kind of the equipment.
The mind is something that I don't know that even
psychologists or scientists understand.
You know, the brain adder that we have is just physical stuff.
But somehow in that with the spark of life and with our
spirit that God gives to us, we're able to make decisions.
We're able to think, we're able to interact, we're able to
anticipate, we're able to have these emotions in our mind.
And of course, Paul in Romans chapter 12, we mentioned that
one time in this meeting talks about the renewing of our mind,
renewing of our thought patterns and our process, the things we
process as we go through our Christian life.
But he says, I want you to be of one mind.
You know, this reminds me a lot. And we won't go there for time's
sake of Ephesians chapter 4 verses one through 4.
Now Ephesians chapter 4, you know, that's the great chapter
of 11 Lord 1 faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is
above all through all and in you all.
It's the great chapter of once the unity of the Spirit, and
that begins. That chapter begins by Paul
talking about keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of
peace. Now, of course, he's writing
there to a congregation that likely had some division and
difficulty in it. But you know, again, that's a
human problem. But being like minded is so
incredibly important, and being like minded allows us to think
on the same things, to make the same decisions together in a
peaceful way and to comfort one another.
And so you see Paul is talking here about things that are very
practical. We don't even need to learn to
think together. You know, I think a good example
of that is marriage. You know, when I got married, of
course, I have my own individual will.
I had my own individual thoughts and also expectations of
marriage. Now that they were good,
unfortunately they weren't hers. And so she had her own thoughts.
She had her own expectations of marriage and we didn't have the
same. We weren't on the same page.
We weren't of one mind together. And I'm telling you what, you
know, I talked to Tranky I think or somebody this week.
I said, you know, it's like iron sharpening iron.
You're going to get a lot of sparks because that's what
happens when you get 2 people together and you're trying to
come to a meeting of the minds again.
I was thrown out of the meeting a lot, but nonetheless, the
meeting of the minds is so important in the Lord's body.
And what is the source of being able to have minds that are the
same? It's having a central authority.
It's having something that is a non negotiable that we both will
agree on. But what is that for the
Christian? Well, first of all, there's many
things, the love of Christ, the authority of God's Word, God's
power, all those things, but especially the authority of
God's Word. You know, I've said in business
meetings, and I don't have any inclination if that ever happens
here, but we are human. But I've seen people argue, I've
seen people almost come to blows over things.
And I'm like, why? Because that's not, that's not
the, that's not the unity of the Spirit.
That's not the unity of the mind that God wants.
He wants us to put him first, put his word first, filter
everything through that word and then make decisions.
Sometimes we're going to have to give, sometimes we're going to
have to take and sometimes we're going to have to be the bigger
person. But nonetheless, Paul here is
very concerned and very, you know, very insistent that they
have a mind that is peaceful. Now, how's that going to happen
besides what we've already said? Well, he says this, he says, but
in loneliness, let now let's look at our seat.
He says let nothing be done through selfish ambition.
You know, when we have selfish ambition, and this is where I
think it gets really practical in any group, in any
organization where they're talking about the church or the
family or school or business or whatever.
When we have selfish ambitions where we don't care what others
want, we don't care what others need and we just are going to
have it my way or the highway, that's going to be hard.
In other words, when you get the stubborn will, which we all have
involved in decision making, you have a real potential for
volatility, marriages, young marriages.
Again, as I mentioned, you have a real potential for difficulty
because both of these minds want to have it their way.
But this isn't Burger King. Burger King used to have a
commercial. Have it your way.
Or is that McDonald's? Nonetheless, it was one of
those. But we can't have it our way.
The only way we can have it is Christ's way.
And then try to conform our will to Him.
And so he says again with lowliness of mine, we esteem
others better than ourselves. That is so hard.
Why? Because within the human
condition is self preservation. Now that's a good thing.
In other words, God gave us the desire to live and preserve our
lives, fighting for our life, but that, when it's not taken in
the right context, can cause us to not only fight for our life
in good ways, but to also demand our rights in other ways.
And so we're willing then to let others become subservient or run
over others simply to get our way.
And that's not to diminish rightful headship issues,
whether it's at the workplace or the home place or whatever.
We know Paul talks a lot about headship, even in First
Corinthians 11, First Timothy 2. He speaks with the headship and
the responsibility of the husband in the home in Ephesians
5. But nonetheless, we need to
defer to one another. You know, Jesus did that.
Jesus even deferred to his apostles.
You know, he was with them. He gave himself to them.
He gave himself for us on the cross.
That is the greatest difference you can perhaps exhibit.
So he says again, let each other esteem each other better than
himself. You know what I think about
that? I think about the parables that
Jesus told. You know, Jesus would talk, for
example, about going to a feast and how the religious leaders of
his day, they wanted the best seats.
And Jesus says don't do that. Don't go and send the best
seats. He says let others take the
better position. And that way if you are moved
up, so to speak, at the table, hey, it's going to be a good
deal for you. Don't put yourself in the
position where you're assuming that you're better than others.
We're not better than others. You know, again, even when we
have found the Christ, even when our sins have been washed away
in baptism, we are not better than others.
We may be saved, we may be, but, you know, sanctified.
But we're not better inherently than others.
We are all God's children. And so Paul says, listen, put
each other first. Then he gives us the prime
example. And this is where we're going to
focus the rest of our thoughts tonight.
In verses 5 through verse 11, he says, let this mind be in you,
which was also in Christ Jesus, the mind of Christ.
You know, again, we want to be like Christ, and that starts in
the mind. Christ had a mind that I don't
think we can fully comprehend, but we should try.
The mind of Christ was a loving mind.
It was a submissive mind. At the same time, it was a mind
that understood the nature of humanity, understood the nature
of God, and yet He loved us despite the fact that he was
from heaven. And so he says, let this mind be
the example. Let Jesus be the pattern.
In fact, that's really what he's talking about.
He's talking about the pattern of Paul's life, which was Jesus
Christ. He says, let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
And then what did Jesus do? It says who be in the form of
God. Now what does he mean by that?
Well, we know that Jesus from eternity past was with the
Father, what we call the Godhead, God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit, really in some ways a great mystery
that theologians have never quite been able to figure out.
You can't quite diagram it. You can't quite put your head
around it, but we know it's true.
Jesus was with the Father, He was deity.
But now Jesus gave all of that up.
Now he didn't give up his Godhead because when he came to
the world, he was still the God man.
He was Emmanuel, which means God with us, but in some way, though
a man of flesh and blood and fully the Son of David, fully a
human. And that is seen in the
genealogies of Matthew and Luke. He is deity combined and infused
together in some, you know, wonderful plan.
Jesus is the God man. Now think about that.
Jesus, according to Colossians, was the very source of creation
for us, for humanity, for the world.
In fact, Paul says that everything was made through him,
and without him nothing was made that was made.
In other words, Jesus was the, as it were, the divine Logos,
the instrumentative tool by which the universe was made and
everything else. And so here's Jesus and we'll
sort of, you know, personalize this or or personify this, which
is sort of inaccurate. But here's Jesus who has
understood this perfect relationship with God and had it
from eternity past. And now he finds himself born in
a Manger, born of a poor family, born in flesh and blood.
He is a human and yet he's still fully deity.
Now, I don't understand all of that.
In fact, Luke 2, you know, talks about Jesus after they come back
from the temple where Jesus was lost.
You remember that story? Neat story.
You know, He is submissive to His parents and grows and in
knowledge and wisdom and in favor with God and men.
Jesus still had to grow. I don't quite understand all
that, even though he's deity, but nonetheless, Jesus gave up,
shall we say, the portals of heaven.
Now I don't know what heaven is like.
I don't know. We get these glimpses from
things that the Book of Revelation and maybe John 14
say, but I don't know what it's like.
But I know it's better than this world.
I know there's no sin there because apparently when Satan
sinned and the angels, he cast them out.
We know that God is perfectly holy and perfectly pure.
And I don't know all about heaven, but there's no impurity
up there. Well, Jesus left that place.
He left, as we sometimes say poetically, that place of the
pearly gates, and came to a low land of sin and sorrow.
This world is filled with sin. This world is filled with
sorrow. And He came here voluntarily to
live for us, but also to die for us.
And so he says then in verse 6, who being in the form of God,
did not consider it robbery to be equal to God.
Now that verse is sort of an interesting verse because
various translators have translated it very various ways,
and some have said he did not count his Godhead something to
be held onto. In other words, Jesus was
willing to give it up. Now we know he didn't give up
being deity because that of course, was his inherent nature,
but nonetheless he gave up at least the prerogatives of being
the Son of God. He came and humbled himself to
the Father. In fact, again, even as he was
in the garden before he died, he said, Father, not my will, but
thy will be done. And so he says He made himself
of no reputation. He took the form of a bond
servant. You know, when we read maybe the
myths and the legends of other supposed gods, and you know,
some of those Roman and Greek gods and goddesses, you know,
they're not servants, they're tyrants.
They're not servants who come to serve mankind.
They come to use mankind and abuse mankind, not Jesus.
That's what make Jesus so different than all of those
other, you know, stories about supposing gods and goddesses and
all that. You, Jesus came to serve.
He came to take the very creation that he created and
made and say I'm going to be not only become one of you, I'm
going to serve you. I think the greatest example or
one of the greatest examples just in his ministry was when he
washed the disciples feet. Now we don't understand that
either because we don't do that as a custom, but that was a
lowly job of a servant. And Jesus here the master of all
is stooping as a servant and washing people's feet.
Like Peter who would deny him and Judas who would betray him.
That is incredible. You see, that's the mind of
Christ. You know, really what Paul is
saying here is get over yourself.
Get over yourself because, you know, we think we're so great.
We think we sometimes have so many talents.
And man, you know, the world really needs me.
Well, yeah, because you're in Christ.
But really, you know, if I died tonight and guess what, what
happened, the world would continue.
You know, again, a couple generations, they wouldn't even
know who I was. We overestimate our own value
when it comes to worldly type perspectives.
Of course, in God's eyes, we're extremely valuable because we've
got a job to do, we go forth and we take the gospel.
But nonetheless, Jesus humbled himself to be a servant, A
dulos, A bondservant, a slave if you will.
And what happened? Well, he took the form of a
bondservant and coming in the likeness of men.
In other words, he looked like you and I.
I don't think Jesus was anything special as far as his looks, and
I think even when he came off the cross, he was even less
special beaten, as no man had ever been beaten before and
crucified. It's just that being found in
this appearance, he humbled himself and became obedient to
the point of death, even the death of a cross.
Now, why does Paul say that? Why does Paul say, well, he
died, he died on a cross because, you know, many people
die. Many people die in many ways,
some more horrific than others. But the death of a cross in that
day was not only horrific physically, all you have to do
is read the accounts in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but it was
also horrific in a very emotional way.
It was degrading. It was the common way to, you
know, to execute a a common criminal.
And yet Jesus went through that for us.
He took upon himself a servant. He came in the likeness of men.
He humbled himself. He became obedient to the point
of death, even the death of a cross.
Now, as we sum up, because this is the last little section I
want to look at tonight, God was pleased with that.
It pleased God to bruise him. Isaiah says what?
What? What kind of God is that?
What kind of God is pleased to take his Son and put him on a
cross? It sounds so sadistic.
No, it's necessary because you see, there was a broken trust.
There was evil in the world. Man had participated in that,
and somebody needed to pay the price.
Jesus willingly came and God willingly gave and said they are
worth it, we are worth it. And so Jesus died for us and God
was pleased with that. Now on the cross, it may not
look that way. In fact, on that six hours that
that, that you know, that that Friday or whatever day it was.
Some scholars disagree with that.
But nonetheless, the darkness just encompassed Jesus.
It looked as if God had turned his face away from Jesus, and
maybe in some ways metaphorically, he had.
And that's when, of course, as Jesus is about to die, he quotes
Psalm 22. My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? Now, before we get too involved
in, you know, God leaving Jesus. And that poses a whole lot of
theological problems and questions about how deity can
separate itself from deity since they're one.
But nonetheless, Psalm 22, yes, it starts out in darkness, but
it is a solve of messianic victory.
And I think Jesus was preaching A sermon saying, listen, you're
killing me, you're crucifying me.
But God is going to have his final stay.
So even in that and even in his death, burial and then
resurrection, God was pleased and demonstrated that by his
raising his son from the dead. In fact, it's said that that
the, that the, the, the resurrection was kind of the
exclamation point in the Gospel message.
You know, it's the I am pleased. And of course God had said that
at other times. This is my son in whom I'm well
pleased. He said that in his baptism.
He said that in Matthew 14 or Matthew 17 on the on the Mount
of Transfiguration. And he said it toward the end of
his ministry. And so then God was pleased.
And So what did God do? God exalted him and gave him a
name above every name. I love that the name of Jesus is
the most powerful, the most beautiful name that could ever
be given. The Son of God, Jesus said many
names, by the way, Lamb of God, John 129 Behold the Lamb of God
that takes away the sins of the world.
He's called the Savior, He's called the prophet, He's called
the priest, He's called the King.
Jesus had many appellations, He had many names, if you will.
But Savior, Redeemer, that's about as good as he gets.
And so he says, therefore God has given, 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,
of those on earth, and of those under the earth name, which is 3
things here, those in heaven, who are they?
Well, the angels, the heavenly host, those up there, the
seraphim, and all of those heavenly beings that also are
created beings by the way they look down and they see the
magnificent work Jesus did on the cross and they're just
praising God. I'm convinced of because God has
shown to them through his actions of Jesus what he had in
mind. You know, we have that passage
over in Peter that talks about angels longing to look into
ultimately what's the scheme of redemption.
They didn't quite understand it, it seems to me anyway, but in
Christ, and then I think even in the church today, we are still
showing the heavenly hosts what this whole plan of redemption
means as we live our godly lives.
So instead of those again in heaven, then he says those on
earth, who's that? Well, it's those we contact.
It's those that you see the gospel, see the light of Jesus
in us. It's maybe our fellow brothers
and sisters. It's all of those who are
living. And then he says those under the
earth. I take that to mean those who
have died, those who are in the Hadean realm or in the spiritual
realm that have already departed.
They also apparently have some inclination of what Jesus did.
And so in other words, Jesus's influence is pervasive.
And that's because Jesus, God exalted Jesus because of what he
did. And where did it all begin?
He began with Jesus having a mind to serve, a mind to come, a
mind to humble himself, a mind to die, and a mind to turn his
entire being in faith to God the Father.
And so then, what's the result? Verse 11, That every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the
Father. And so, you know, it's just
beautiful really. It's really brilliant when you
think about it, that Jesus came, did all of those things to show
us how to do all of those things as well.
Because when we come to the point where we can humble
ourselves, we can have the same mind as our brothers and
sisters. We can, as it were, wash their
feet, so to speak, or we can humble our will to theirs.
Guess what? God's going to exalt us.
In fact, many times Jesus said, you know, if we humble
ourselves, God will lift us up. And James said that too.
And so again, the point of this particular section in
Philippians is listen, serve one another, help one another, love
one another, and never leave Jesus.
Use him as your example. Well, those are the thoughts
tonight. If you're here and we can assist
you in some way in obedience to the gospel, either through
baptism or through just your life that may need comfort.
That's our job tonight as Christians, to help one another
while we stand and while we sink.