The Empty Vessel Series

Emptiness is not usually seen as a good thing. In our lives, we have all kinds of technology to alert us when things get close to empty.

- Often I have an alert that goes off to tell me when my gas tank gets close to empty. A bright glowing light and bell goes off alerting me that I’d better stop at “the filling station” and get some gas.

- My bank has an alert that send me both texts and emails alerting me when an account is getting low. It tells me I’d better stop by the bank and make a deposit.

- Our phones and devices have an alert when they run low on power. Every day they let us know when we need to plug them up; otherwise we are going to lose power. Our phones are programed to help us avoid emptiness.

Yet, when it comes to Jesus, His emptiness was not only good; it was necessary so that we could be filled.

In Philippians 2:7 we read the simple words: “he emptied Himself.” That is a huge statement.

To enhance the importance of these statements, it is commonly believed that verses 6-11 were meant to be sung. That’s right: It is believed that Paul, when he wrote these words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that he gave them a rhythmic quality so that when this passage was read in churches, they would suddenly start singing these verses to enhance their importance.

Therefore, it is believed that it is a song that Paul wrote to be sung in the early church to bring praise to Jesus and to reinforce the emptiness of Jesus.

Why is the emptiness of Jesus so important? Well, it’s pretty simply, for us to be like Jesus we have to know what Jesus is like and one of the primary things to know about Jesus is that he emptied Himself for you and me.

Transition: So what changes did Jesus go through to come be part of our lives?

I. He Changed His Appearance

vs. 4-7- “Have this attitude in yourselves which is also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. “

Explanation:

To understand Jesus we have to begin in the right place. We have to begin in heaven instead of earth.

The Bible says in verse 6 that before Jesus came to earth “He existed in the form of God, but did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped (or literally) to be hung on to.”

In other words, for Jesus to do what we needed for Him to do for us, there were some things that he had to let go and one of those things he let go of what “his form.”

The word “form” is the Greek word “morphe.” It gives a picture of what Jesus did. Before Jesus came to earth he was not like us. He did not have a physical form instead he had a spiritual form.

The Bible tells us in John 4:24: “God is a Spirit and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth.” Yet, when Jesus came to earth, he “morphed”--- He became flesh. He became like us. He became a human.

He did not need a body to inhabit like we do; but He morphed and downsized to enter a body so that it might become a vessel to be tried and crucified for you and me.

Illustration: Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers

In 2017 a movie came out called “Power Rangers” stemmed from a 29 television seasons of superheroes that a lot of people watched in the 1990’s.

I always thought the Power Rangers were pretty cool because of their ability to morphe from cool looking kids in skin tight suits with awesome helmets, into these huge “zords” which that inhabited to make them into these massive robots that could fight evil and protect the good.

Any Power Rangers fans out there?

One of my favorite moments in the program was when they suddenly they said what all kids thought was the coolest phrase of all time. They would say: “It’s morphin’ time.”

Application:

The idea of this actually came from this Greek word that is translated “form” in this passage today.

Yet, notice what Jesus “morphed” into? He didn’t morph into something “more mighty” he morphed into something “more lowly.”

Understand this: Just because Jesus morphed into a human did not mean that he ceased being God. Yet, he took on human flesh to become a servant.

Do you want to learn a big theological term today that you will probably never hear again in church? The word is “hypostatic union.” The word literally means: Two natures in one person, unmixed forever.