BE LIKE JESUS! ( or HAVE A JESUS ATTITUDE!)
Philippians 2:5-11 - March 4, 2004 – PALM SUNDAY
PHILIPPIANS 2:5-11
5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
As we heard in our text for the second time, we notice a contradiction in terms, don’t we? We see that Jesus humbled Himself and then Jesus was exalted. Those two terms "humility" and "exaltation" are at the opposite ends of meaning--humility, to be brought low and exaltation, to be raised on high. Paul says to the believers and to us this morning we are to be like Jesus. Or we could say we are to have a Jesus attitude. When we look at that we realize, as we compare ourselves to Jesus, we are at opposite ends of the same spectrum. How are we who are sinners to be like Jesus who was sinless? How are we who are disobedient to be like Jesus who was completely obedient? How are we who are unholy to be like Jesus who is holy? Yet, that is what Paul reminds us about this morning--to be like Jesus.
The Book of Hebrews tells us how: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (HEBREWS 12:2). Scripture reminds us we are to be like Jesus when we look to Jesus. Looking to Jesus we discover that He was humbled to death on the cross (considering it a joy) and was raised up to sit on the throne of God, exalted forever.
We are to be like Jesus and have a Jesus attitude
I. with earthly humility
II. in eternal exaltation
I. Earthly humility
Our text begins with those very words of encouragement. It says: 5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. In the original it has a connecting word "Thus." This "thus" refers back to the attitude that Paul had described earlier. In verse 3 of the second chapter of Philippians, we are told the believers’ attitude which connects it with this section. It says: Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. And then our text continues, "Thus" that was the attitude of Jesus. Thus that was to be the attitude of these believers. Thus that should be the attitude of believers still today. Unless they would forget and misunderstand, Paul goes on to describe this attitude that Jesus had: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing. Paul reminded the believers that even though Jesus lived here on earth as a human being, but He was still God.
At the beginning or creation of the world, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit who made the heavens and the earth and this same Jesus in our text was part of the Triune God: three persons and one God. Yet for a time this One who created the heavens and the earth gave up that divinity, and He took on the form of a servant. Jesus became nothing. He, who was rich and already sat in heaven and was exalted, gave it all up and became poor for our sins and lived here on earth. Today’s text continues: 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Jesus was made to look like you and I. Jesus had real flesh and blood. Jesus lived here on earth having the same feelings. When His friend Lazarus died, Jesus wept. When Jesus was on the cross for those long hours, He was thirsty. At night Jesus was tired and during the day He was hungry.
Jesus was no different from mankind except Jesus was without sin. Jesus was no different except He did obey. Our text: Being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross! Jesus obeyed the Law which man could not obey. Jesus kept that single command which Adam and Eve did not do. Adam and Eve had only one prohibition--not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil—and they disobeyed. Paul goes on, "He became obedient to death." Jesus obeyed so much that His obedience took him to death, and not just a normal death but obedient to death, even death on a cross. This was a torturous death, a death full of suffering, and a death that brought him down in humility.
Jesus’ humility wasn’t just on the cross. His humility was not just in the Garden of Gethsemane, but Jesus’ humility began earlier, didn’t it? When we confess in the Apostle’s Creed: "He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary…" already there Jesus is leaving His throne of grace to serve us. What is the point of all of this? The point is that the Lord God who made the heavens and the earth showed to you and I, showed to every creature, showed to the entire world His unconditional love when He sent His Son as the perfect sacrifice. Our loving Lord demanded justice of Himself for the sins that the world had committed, for our sins. Christ came and died for us. Jesus sacrificed Himself for His enemies, and He sacrificed Himself for His disciples. Jesus sacrificed Himself for each one of us out of love. In the Book of Romans, Paul writes: "Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (ROMANS 5:7,8).
It really was of no benefit at all to Jesus Himself to personally live here, to come down from His throne of grace and to be humiliated. Jesus gained nothing for Himself by suffering and dying, but you and I have gained everything. We were given gifts very visibly. We recall as we began this Lenten season how Jesus showed to His disciples and us the full extent of His love. When Jesus was in the upper room with His disciples just before He was to be betrayed by one of His disciples, just before He was to be put on the cross after facing a mockery of a trial, Jesus washed His disciples feet in humility. Jesus did that for an example for us to live our lives in humility. In the account in the Gospel of John we are told: "Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet" (JOHN 13:14). We are to be like Jesus and live our lives in humility.
Of course, that will not get us very far in this world according to the world’s philosophy. The philosophy of the world is that we need to look out for number one. Of course we are to consider ourselves as number one. We see some of those people who get ahead in this life because they watch out for themselves. But if you look honestly at them and ask them if they are happy and content, very often they are not, because they don’t really have life. They don’t know God’s life. The world time and time again tries to put before us those things that are important--success, wealth and every good thing in this life. Do all of these temptations attract us? Yes, they do. As believers we are to be concerned about others. We are to wash the feet of others. This is earthly humility, which the world scoffs at and dismisses. There is a life of serving. As Christians we are to be less concerned about ourselves and more concerned about those around us. As we do that, we forget to worry about our own lives. We forget to be concerned about ourselves and worry about earthly matters.
Micah the prophet writes: "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (MICAH 6:8). If you told people you were going to do that as a model of your life to be like Jesus, to love mercy, to walk humbly, to act justly, the world would say that we would not get very far in this life. Yet, just the opposite is true, isn’t it? You can go through the pages of Scripture and find every man of great faith who has done the same--Abraham, Joseph, David, and the list goes on. The examples are there. Now our Lord says to us that we could be like Abraham or David or Joseph. But our Lord God gives us higher standards than following great men of faith. Rather, we are to be like Jesus.
Believers are reminded to have a Jesus attitude. We are to act like Jesus who walked humbly in this life. Then ultimately each one of us will be exalted eternally. Sometimes we may be exalted in this life, but always in heaven is our eternal exaltation in the presence of our loving Lord.
II. Eternal exaltation
Where was the Apostle Paul as he writes this letter? He was in prison. He was nearing the end of his life and knew that he would never again go back and attend a church service. Paul knew that he never again would go back and worship with his friends, his brothers and sisters in the faith. Yet, if you read Philippians, you would never know that; because Paul knew that the purpose in his life was not to feel sorry for himself. He knew that the purpose in this life was not to be concerned whether he was in chains or in prison, whether he was free. Instead, Paul would look ahead to eternity and realize what Christ had done for him. Our text says: he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross! For some they would like to say that is the end, but for the believer we know the difference. The Apostle Paul knew the difference and points this out clearly for us this morning. After that Paul says: 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. Jesus’ very name means "to save." Jesus came to this earth to save people from their sins. We know that Jesus died on the cross and was laid to rest in the tomb, but He also rose again. We know that Jesus faced injustice. On Palm Sunday the crowds shouted, "Hosanna to the son of David." In a very short time that all changed. By the end of the week some of the same people from the Palm Sunday were shouting, "Crucify Him. Away with Him. Give us Barabbas."
After all of this God exalted Him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. So we see that even though many would call Him the carpenter from Nazareth, the son of Mary and Joseph, yet at the name of Jesus every knee bows. The angels of heaven worship Jesus, the believers on earth worship Jesus. Verse 10 says, "even under the earth." Even the devil and his followers ultimately realize the power of Christ and unwillingly bend their knee.
Then he says: 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. The fact is Jesus is not just the carpenter’s son. Jesus is the Lord of all creation. Jesus is exalted and sits at the right hand of God. Why is Jesus’ name exalted? Not for Him personally--every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. To God be the glory. Yes, Jesus is exalted and He is raised on high after living His life here in humility for a short time, not to His glory but to the glory of the Heavenly Father.
You and I someday will be there, too, to see Jesus in His glory, to see God in His glory, and to rejoice. As we live humble lives here, so the Lord exalts us for eternity. In Corinthians we are told: "And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven" (1 CORINTHIANS 15:49). This verse gives us that contradiction in terms again. We live here on earth. We bear the likeness of the earth. We live here in sin. We bear the likeness of Adam. Adam was created in perfection but sinned. Today we are not created in any kind of perfection but are born in sin, the sin of Adam. But eventually for each one of us, we leave this vale of tears and are exalted to bear the likeness of Jesus, to be like Jesus perfectly; but until that time we live in an imperfect world and are an imperfect people. On this side of heaven we have to strive to be like Jesus and have a Jesus attitude.
We can do that when we look to Jesus and realize we live our life with humility but also with certain exaltation. We are already raised up here on earth in a sense that we know our sins are forgiven and we know that our lives are changed. Once again, we do not have to walk down the path of destruction like the rest of the people around us. We don’t have to fear the future like many around us. We don’t have to give in to sinfulness and corruption like many in this world today. In fact we are told in Titus: "It (God’s grace) teaches us to say ’No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ" (TITUS 2:12,13). We know the difference between right and wrong. Because of that, it makes our lives exalted in a sense that we can do what is right. We can say "no" to the sinfulness and avoid those pitfalls and traps and the consequences.
We also know that our future is certain. No matter what we face in this life, no matter what trouble or heartache, no matter what sorrow or danger or illness (these are all consequences of sin), and no matter what we face, the Lord as He raised Jesus from the dead promises us a resurrection and eventual eternal exaltation. In Revelation we are told: "To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne" (REVELATION 3:21). The words of Jesus to us--to be like Jesus and have that Jesus’ attitude! Sometimes it is not easy especially as we mingle and live in this life, because there are very few and even less as the last day approaches who have an attitude like Jesus.
There are very few, as the first portion of our sermon says, who live in humility wanting to serve others because they are so busy serving themselves. We too can easily fall into that sin from time to time. There are so few that realize that there is joy in this life, which you and I are raised up beyond the corruption and the sinfulness to understand that Christ has forgiven our sins. So it is important to be like Jesus. Our faith produces a life of service in humility, and it also produces a life of joy and thanksgiving and exaltation. The Lord promises us: "Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him" (2 TIMOTHY 2:11,12a). That is God’s divine promise that as we are like Jesus or have a Jesus attitude in humility, we will also be exalted in eternity. Amen.
Pastor Timm O. Meyer
