Exalting Christ

EXALTING CHRIST

We are talking this morning about Exalting Christ. Our theme for the month is Exalting Christ. For Feb Sharing the love of Christ. Mar Christ Crucified. Apr Serving Christ. May The Lordship of Jesus Christ, June Following the Example of Christ, July Christ suffered for you, Aug Give Yourself First To Christ, Sept Supremacy of Jesus, Oct Preaching Christ, Nov Jesus Crowned With Glory & Honor, Dec Praising Jesus Christ. Why? Jesus Christ is the central figure in the history of the human race. Our desire, our goal is to please Him, to exalt Him. Exalt in the Websters has this meaning: To raise in position. Elevate. To glorify; praise. To fill with pride, delight.

Why do we want to focus on exalting Christ? Because God did. Look at what he did in:

Phil 2:5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Phil 2:6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, Phil 2:7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Phil 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Phil 2:9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, Phil 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, Phil 2:11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Why did God exalt Jesus? It starts with Jesus attitude.

GOD EXALTED HIM BECAUSE OF HIS ATTITUDE

He was in very nature God, but look at his attitude reflected by his actions. First:

He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. Jesus was and is God but he did not hold on to his equality with God. He did not try to grasp it. When God said as it says in Hebrews:

Heb 1:5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father " ? Or again, "I will be his Father, and he will be my Son"?

There was no rebuttle from Jesus. There was no why can’t I be the Father. I’m God too, why don’t you go and die for them. It’s inconceivable that Jesus would respond this way.

He made himself nothing. We know that God is omnipotent (Gen 17:1 God appears to Abraham and says “I am God almighty.” Almighty means all powerful, omnipotent, meaning that he has unlimited power. This means that God can do whatever is possible to do. His power is unlimited and uninhibited by anything else.

Tozer says that God possesses what no creature can: an incomprehensible plentitude of power, a potency that is absolute. God has at His command all the power in the universe, the Lord God omnipotent can do anything as easily as anything else. All His acts are done without effort. He expends no energy that must be replenished. His self-sufficiency makes it unnecessary for Him to look outside of Himself for a renewal of strength.

He went from being God, to being born of a virgin, being nursed, crying, dribbling, crawling, walking, going through puberty, being a teen and becoming a man. In comparison to what he was, he became nothing. And he made himself that way.

He was in very nature God but took the very nature of a servant. Nature means the intrinsic character of a person or thing. A persons disposition, tempermant. Temperment meaning the manner of thinking, behaving, and reacting characteristic of an individual.

The nature of God is to do Godlike things.

Heb 1:10 He also says, "In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. You can’t do that if you are not in very nature God.

Look at what he told Job.

Job 38:4 "Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Job 38:5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? Job 38:6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone-- Job 38:7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Job 38:8 "Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,

Job 38:9 when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,

Job 38:10 when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,

Job 38:11 when I said, ’This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’? Job 38:12 "Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, Job 38:13 that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? Job 38:14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. Job 38:15 The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken. Job 38:16 "Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Job 38:17 Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death ? Job 38:18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.