I invite you to take God's Word
and turn with me to the book of Philippians, Philippians chapter
2. And today, I want us to look
at verses 5 through 11, a passage, a text with which you are very
familiar, no doubt. And I trust that God will use
it to sanctify us all, but also to prepare us for coming to the
Lord's table. The title of this message is,
Have This Attitude. I want to begin by reading what
is our text for today. I want to set it before you.
I want to walk us through even in the reading of it and then
we will expound it in this message. Philippians chapter 2, beginning
in verse 5, this is the reading of God's inspired, inerrant and
infallible Word. Paul writes, have this attitude
in yourselves which was 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. Being found in appearance as
a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point
even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly
exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every
name, so that at the name of Jesus, Every knee will bow of
those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and
that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. Everything involved in our Christian
growth is designed to make us more like Jesus Christ. To be a Christian begins by committing
our very lives to Jesus Christ. And at that moment, we entered
into vital union with Christ. Christ now lives inside of us
and we live in Him. As a believer in Christ, we have
come to know Him in a personal intimate relationship far more
deeply than anyone we know in this world. Every step of our
Christian lives is lived in following Christ. We now pursue Christ
and are seeking to become like Him. We believe what He asserts. We follow where He leads. We
say what He says. We walk as He walked. We love
what He loves. We reject what He rejects. In
all this, we are to be like Christ. People are to see Jesus Christ
in us. We are to think like Christ.
We are to live like Christ. He is the original and we are
the copy. It is to such a high standard
that the Apostle Paul calls the church at Philippi to live. And likewise, this inspired letter
calls every believer in every church, in every place, in every
generation to this same high standard. As Paul addresses the
spiritual walk of these early believers, he begins with what
is most important, not with the outward actions but with the
internal attitude. It is as though Paul is lifting
up the hood of our lives and looking down into the engine
of seeing what is driving us in our Christian lives and he
is saying, down deep in the depth of your soul, have this attitude. Paul starts with their mindset,
with their mental posture. One's attitude is how you approach
life, how you see yourself, how you see life. Your attitude is
your inner disposition. Your attitude is what drives
you and determines your actions. Your attitude governs how you
live your life. It controls what you do and how
you do it. Your attitude, your attitude
is critically important before God this day. Here Paul states,
if we are to be like Christ, and we all here today who are
believers in Christ, we want to be like Christ, then we must
have the very attitude of Christ. His mindset must be our mindset. His humility must be our humility. His lowliness of mind must be
our lowliness of mind. As we will dig into these verses
today, in verses 5 through 11, I want to give you the overview.
I want to give you the outline. I want you to see where we're
headed today. I want you to note three things out of this text
and I want you to be able to take this with you and I want
God to inscribe it upon the tablet of your hearts. In verse 5, we
will note the strong exhortation. That is in verse 5. And then
second, in verses 6 through 8, we will note the selfless example. And then finally, verses 9 through
11, the supreme So let us look now at this passage
that begins in verse 5 with the strong exhortation. Paul now challenges the Philippians
and he challenges every one of us here today to have a Christ-like
attitude of humility. Note how verse 5 begins, have
this attitude in yourselves. Stop right there. What attitude? When he says, have this attitude,
what is this attitude? And it is found in the previous
two verses. This is the attitude that he
is talking about. It says, do nothing from selfishness,
in verse 3, or empty conceit. But with humility of mind, regard
one another as more important than yourselves. Verse 4, do
not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also
for the interests of others. Have this attitude. This is what Paul is calling
for in each of our lives. This attitude is one of self-denial,
self-sacrifice, self-surrender. Have this attitude. As we look
at this verb in verse 5, have this attitude, let me just break
this down a little bit because it's very important. The first
thing I want you to know, it's in the present tense. which means
always have this attitude. Every moment of every day, have
this attitude. You never have a day off from
having this attitude. You never take a sabbatical from
having this attitude. Every moment of every day, we
must have this attitude. Second, it's in the active voice.
And which means we must be active in this, not passive, active.
We must make every effort to have this attitude. We must exert
ourselves. Third, it's in second person
plural which means every one of us. Everyone who is a believer
in the church at Philippi, but every believer in every church
on every continent in every century. must have this attitude. And fourth, it's in the imperative
mood, which means this is a command, an apostolic command in the name
of Christ. This is not a suggestion. This
is not an opinion that Paul has. This is binding upon my life. This is binding upon your life. And when we pull all this together,
this verb, have this attitude in yourselves, could be translated
this way, every one of you, make every effort, every moment of
every day to have this attitude in you and that is an apostolic
command. And this verb, have this attitude,
means to develop an attitude based on careful thought. In other words, we must be very
intentional about this. We must be very purposeful. We
must be very directional about having this attitude. We will
not just stumble into having this attitude. We must set our
gaze upon having this attitude. And he now gives the ultimate
standard. He says at the end of verse 5,
have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. This is extraordinary how high
Paul sets the bar for us here today. And Paul will not lower
the bar. Not for the church at Philippi,
not for this church, not for Himself, not for any one of us. We are to have the very same
attitude that was in Christ Jesus. It's a call for Christlike lowliness
of mind. This is a call for Christlike
humility. Jesus said in Matthew 11 verse
29, I am gentle and humble in heart. Jesus said in John 5 verse
30, I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent
Me. And Jesus as He prayed in the
garden, He prayed in Matthew 26 verse 39, not as I will, but
as you will. This is an extraordinary charge. that Paul lays at our feet. I trust that it grips your heart
today. I trust that it lays hold of
your conscience and of your mind and that we feel the weightiness
of this injunction that Paul lays before us. In reality, growth
into Christlikeness is always a growth downward, not upward,
downward. Downward into greater lowliness
of mind. Downward into deeper humility. We are never more like the Lord
Jesus Christ in the days of His incarnation than when we are
humbling ourselves before one another. How counterintuitive
this is to the culture in which we live, the society in which
we found ourselves, to what is ingrained into our flesh. This
is antithetical to the squeeze of the world around us. But what
Paul is charging us to do is to live in a distinctly different
way, to live in Christ's likeness and it begins with the inside.
It begins with our attitude. It begins with our mindset. This is the strong exhortation. Do you hear what Paul is saying?
Do you see this in your life? Do you see God at work? chiseling
away, pruning away at your self-centeredness and your self-assertiveness?
Do you see God at work in your life cultivating more and more
of this attitude? Do you see how God is using trials
and adversity in your life to teach you lowliness and meekness? Do you see the work of God's
Word in your life sanctifying you, crushing your own ego and
promoting this kind of lowliness? Number one, the strong exhortation. Now number two, the selfless
example. As we come to verses 6 through
8, Paul is a master teacher. It's one thing for him to tell
us. It's something far greater for
Him to show us. A picture is worth a thousand
words, is it not? And far greater than me simply
parsing the verb in verse 5. is for Paul now to put up a canvas
before our eyes and to paint for us the greatest illustration,
the greatest picture of what he calls for by giving us the
example of Jesus Christ Himself in verses 6 through 8. And no
one ever started so high as Christ in verse 6, who existed in the
form of God, who was equal with God. And no one ever ended up
so low as Christ as He submitted Himself unto death, even death
on a cross. This starts at the highest level
in verse 6 and it concludes at the lowest level in verse 8. And this is so important that
in chapter 2, Paul gives four examples of this. He begins with
Christ in verses 6 through 8, but Paul even humbly sets before
him his own life in verses 17 and 18. And then with Timothy in verses
19 to 24, and then Epaphroditus, verses 25 to 30, four examples
of humility. This is the Mount Rushmore of
humility, these four faces. But he begins with the ultimate
picture, the ultimate example of humility. And I want us to
take a few moments now and to trace this back through. He begins
at the highest level in verse 6. He begins with the eternal
preexistent deity, the eternal deity of Jesus Christ. He says in verse 6, who although
He existed in the form of God. Jesus is God, has always been
God, and will always be God. He is the eternal Son of the
living God, uncreated. He is the one who has lived in
intimate fellowship with God Himself from all eternity past
in a continuous state of eternal, perfect, full deity. He says, that He did not regard
equality with God. Let me ask you this question,
is Jesus equal with God? Yes, amen, He is. This is the
great confession of the church, the deity, the Lordship of Jesus
Christ. He is co-equal and co-eternal
with God the Father. All that God is, Jesus is. He is equally holy, equally sovereign,
equally righteous, equally omnipotent, equally omniscient. Everything
that God the Father and God the Spirit is, God the Son is. But as we read in verse 6, it
says, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. That means it wasn't something
he clung to. He did not hang on to the rights
and privileges and prerogatives of deity. Verse 7 says, but emptied
Himself. Now this does not mean that He
emptied Himself of His deity. And neither does it mean that
He exchanged deity for humanity, rather what it does mean is that
Jesus Christ, fully God, voluntarily chose to set aside His privileges
as God. While remaining God in His incarnation,
fully God, fully man, He chose not to exercise all of the rights. of His deity. That is an extraordinary
step of humility, to have all the rights and to have all the
power and to have all the privileges of Almighty God and yet choose
not to exercise all of those rights and privileges while in
the state of His incarnation and humiliation. Yet even further
we read, verse 7, taking the form of a bondservant. The word form in verse 7 is the
same word that was used for form in verse 6. In verse 6, this
is the one in the form of God. Now verse 7, He is in the form
of a bondservant. He is the God-man. Thomas Watson,
the great Puritan, said that in these downward steps of humility
that are traced out in verses 6 through 8, that this was the
greatest descent down in each of these steps that go down into
depths of humiliation, that this One in the form of God took upon
Himself the form of a bondservant. You know from the teaching of
this pulpit that this word, bondservant, doulos, is far better translated,
slave. A slave is far lower than a mere
bondservant. A slave is one who is without
any rights. A slave is one who is totally
owned by one who is over him. A slave is one without any life
of his own but exists to do the will of the one who is over him.
He is completely owned and belongs to his master. And this is the
form that the Lord Jesus Christ came. In coming here and becoming
one of us, He did not come to be a prince. or a potentate. He came as a pauper. He came
as a slave, one who owned nothing, one without possessions, one
without prestige, a nine-month spin in a virgin's womb, born
in a smelly, filthy animal stall, born in obscurity and grew up
in obscurity in a place of contempt. Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth? He entered the ministry in a
river. He was followed by fishermen and tax collectors and the riffraff
of society gathered around Him. He owned no house. He slept in
the Mount of Olives. He paid taxes with money out
of a fish's mouth. He came down, down, down. And we read, and being made in
the likeness of men. In order to save men, He must
become a man. He must come down all the way
to our lowly existence. He must enter into our race. He must step into our skin. He must stand in our shoes if
He is to die our death and pay the wages for our sin by bearing
our sin upon the cross. He took all of the essential
attributes of humanity, yet without sin, he hungered and thirsted
and grew tired and weary. He wept. He suffered pain. He was the object of persecution
and opposition. He experienced disappointment.
He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He became made in
the likeness of men. He was made subject to our temptations. He felt our pressures. He was
put under the scrutiny of our tests. He endured our pains and
knows of our losses. Verse 8 says, being found in
appearance as a man. He looked like any other man. He did not have glamorous good
looks that just caused Him to stand out like a star on a dark
night. He was born a Jewish boy and
looked like others of His race. He did not look divine. He looked
very human, very common, very ordinary. He did not look regal
and kingly. He looked pedestrian and very
earthy. Isaiah 53 verse 2 says, he had
no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him or appearance
that we should be attracted to him. No, he came down from the
throne of God above and humbled himself and lowered himself beneath
even where you and I presently live. It says He humbled Himself,
He voluntarily lowered Himself by becoming obedient to the point
of death. And this obedience was a part
of His humility. He was obedient to the will of
the Father. It was the eternal will of the
Father that He would die upon a cross for the sinful human
race. And He died in perfect obedience. to the Father. Paul then writes,
there's one rung even lower than death. He adds at the end of
verse 8, even death on a cross. There is no more horrific death,
more shameful death, more despised and despicable death, no more
dishonoring ending of one's life. than to die by death of capital
punishment by crucifixion upon a cross. It was the most degrading
form of death ever devised. It was invented by the Phoenicians,
practiced by the Persians, and perfected by the Romans. It was disgusting. It was the
most brutal, sadistic torture that prolonged death but ultimately
led to death. Even Galatians 3 says, curse
it is everyone who hangs on a tree. This is the lowest rung that
anyone could possibly succumb to. The Roman philosopher of
the first century, or the century before Christ, Cicero, called
death on a cross, quote, the most cruel and disgusting punishment,
the worst extreme of the tortures inflicted upon slaves." Cicero
went on to say, to bind a Roman citizen is a crime. To flog him
is an abomination. To slay him is almost an act
of murder, but crucify him? What is that? He says, there's
no fitting word that can possibly describe so horrible a deed,
close quote. Death on a cross was the most
demeaning and debasing humiliation possible, and this great Self-humiliation
by the Lord Jesus Christ from the heights of glory to the depths
of death on a cross. Deity became despised. The Son of God became the man
of sorrows. The sovereign became a slave. He exchanged a crown for a cross. He laid aside his diadem and
embraced death. He exchanged being hailed for
being nailed. He gave up glory for a grave. He stepped down from the summit
of sovereignty to walk the valley of the shadow of death. Paul
is saying, this is how I want you to live. This is the attitude that you
are to embrace. every moment of every day. There is nothing beneath any
one of us here today. There is no step down too low
for any one of us to take in serving the Lord Jesus Christ
and considering the interests of others as more important than
our own. Christ is our example. Christ
is our pattern. He is our model. And this is
the attitude in the depth of our being that we must embrace
this day. Do you see it? Do you have the picture? Do you
recognize what it is that God requires of us today? how we need to disconnect from
ourselves, no longer being the center of attention, no longer
being the hero of our own stories, and no longer drawing the attention
to ourselves, no longer desiring others to flatter us, but instead
to choose the path of the Lord Jesus Christ. and to give ourselves
away even if it requires the dishonor and the degradation
that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself assumed. This is the selfless
example. And Paul says, have this attitude
in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. Now third and
finally, I want you to note in verses 9 through 11, and I'm
so grateful for verses 9 through 11, how this should encourage
us today, how this should lift us up today because what we see
in verses 9 through 11, the supreme exaltation, that to the degree
that we humble ourselves, God will exalt us. And we can say
conversely, to the degree that we exalt ourselves, God will
humble us. But Jesus Christ has humbled
Himself more than any human being who has ever lived. Therefore,
God has exalted Him higher than anyone who has ever lived. Now
look at verse 9 and following. For this reason, we have to stop
and say, for what reason? For the reason just set before
us in verses 6 through 8, the self-humiliation of the Lord
Jesus Christ as He took those steps downward in descent from
the heights of glory to the depths of this world. For this reason,
God highly exalted Him. This verb, highly exalted, is
one word in the original language, and it's an intense verb with
a strong prefix at the front of the verb, and it is the prefix
hupere, or hyper. God has hyper-exalted Him, not
just exalted Him a little bit above the angels or a little
bit above you and me. God has highly exalted Him to
the very apex pinnacle of the entire universe. He has highly
exalted Him to the right hand of God the Father on high. This exaltation is to the superlative
degree, to the highest possible place. This exaltation began
with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It continued
with His ascension as He was taken up from this world where
two witnesses, two angels met Him and took Him back to glory.
It continued in His enthronement at the right hand of God the
Father. and then consummated with His
coronation at the right hand as He was invested with all authority
in heaven and earth. Verse 9 goes on to say, and bestowed
on Him the name which is above every name. That He has a name
that is above every name means He has been so highly exalted,
the Lord Jesus Christ, that no one is on His level of human
creation. No one in His class, no one in
His category, only God the Father is next to Him. This name is
not given at this point. Almost to set the hook in the
reader's jaw, to draw in our curiosity, what is this name
that He has been given that is above every name? A name represents
the essence of what a person is, who they are and what they
are. A name is the identification
of the person. It is the revelation of the person. A name manifests the essential
nature and being of the person, God the Father. In recognition
of the great humiliation of the Lord Jesus Christ, subjecting
Himself to the will of God for our good, on the basis of this,
for this reason, God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name
which is above every name." Verse 10, so that, here's the purpose
clause, here's why God has given Him a name which is above every
name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow. There will be no one standing
on the last day before the Lord Jesus Christ, whether human or
angelic, whether redeemed or unredeemed, whether elect or
non-elect. Every knee will bow in the presence
of this exalted Christ. Every knee will bow in submission
and subjection to Him. Not all will bow in salvation,
but on that last day, every knee will bow. Of those in heaven,
this says, that refers to elect angels and elect saints, and
those on the earth, redeemed believers, unconverted sinners,
Satan and demon spirits, and those under the earth, fallen
angels now confined in hell and damned souls already in hell. Every knee will bow. Every tongue
will confess that Jesus Christ is L-O-R-D. Lord, it speaks to His deity,
it speaks to His sovereignty that He is the omnipotent Master
and Ruler over all that there is. All of this on the last day
will come to pass. Every king who ever sat upon
a throne will bow before this King of kings. Every judge who
ever presided in a human court will bow before this Judge of
all judges. Every Lord who once ruled over
a kingdom will bow before this Lord of lords. Every unbeliever
will confess that Jesus is Lord. Every atheist will confess that
Jesus is Lord. Every Muslim, every Mormon, every
cult member, every demon, even the devil himself will bow the
knee and give this confession, Jesus is Lord. And then every unbeliever will
be cast from his presence and thrust down into the bowels of
hell itself. And Jesus will be the chief object
of our worship and our affection as Lord throughout all of the
ages to come forever and ever and ever. And this is at the
end of verse 11, it says, to the glory of God the Father. Every father here today knows
something of the pleasure they derive when their children do
well. I have a box at home of old trophies
and letter jackets that I won't even mention to trivialize this
sermon. Long since forgotten and I also
have some things that my boys have accomplished that bring
tears to my eyes and bring me far greater pleasure. You magnify
that 10,000 times 10,000 times 10,000, the pleasure and the
delight in the heart of God the Father. For His own Son to be
so highly exalted and for there to be the confession of His Lordship,
all this because Jesus Christ humbled Himself more than anyone
who ever lived. Do you see what God requires
of us today? Again, this is so antithetical
to the world in which we live. This is so contrary to our flesh, and yet this is what
God requires of us, and God will not lower the standard one inch. You say, how could anyone live
like this? And the answer is, only by the
grace of God. Paul says, I am what I am by
the grace of God. And it is the operation of divine
grace in our life that is moment by moment conforming us into
the very image of Christ, even as this message is going forth. God the Holy Spirit is powerfully
at work in this place and He is using His Word to prune us,
to crush us, to trim us back, and then to stimulate and promote
that which is more like Christ. I trust that you see today as
we come to the Lord's table and as we contemplate His incarnation,
His humiliation, His crucifixion, His death for us, no one ever
started out at such a lofty pinnacle being equal with God, and no
one ever ended up so low as a slave being put to death, even death
on a cross. Let us treasure His voluntary
submission as we will hold the bread and hold the cup in our
hand here immediately. Let us contemplate. Let us reflect. And let us say to God silently
in prayer, God, work this into my life. how I need to humble
myself more. No one in this building has humbled
themselves too much. How we all need to be brought
down yet even lower if we are to be like Jesus Christ, trusting
that God in due season will exalt us, whether it be in this world
or in the world to come. A story is told of a college
alum who had become a very successful businessman and he was so proud
to come back to his old campus for he had a financial gift that
he wanted to give to the president of the college. As he came to
campus, he approached the administration building. There were a series
of steps that were leading up and there was an old man who
was on his knees cleaning the steps leading up. The successful businessman said,
sir, where may I find the president? I need to speak with him. And
this lowly man pointed down the mall of the campus and said,
see that white mansion with the large white columns? You can
see the president there at three o'clock this afternoon. So sure
enough, this businessman strutted down to the White House to meet
the President. He knocked on the door and when
the door opened, he was shocked at what he saw. It was the President,
but it was the same man who had been cleaning the steps of the
building. At Jesus' first coming, He was
the man cleaning the steps of our hearts with His sin-bearing
substitutionary death upon Calvary's cross, pouring out His blood,
propitiating the wrath of God, reconciling sinners to holy God,
redeeming us out of the slave market of sin. But because He
so humbled Himself as He scrubbed our hearts, God has highly exalted
Him and given Him a name which is above every name. And He is
far more than the president of some campus. He is the potentate
and Lord over heaven and earth and hell itself. We come this
day to ascribe honor and glory to this ascended enthroned Christ. And as we now come to the Lord's
table, may the God of heaven and earth open our eyes to allow
us to see more of His self-humiliation, but listen, more of what is required
of you and me. May only humble hands hold the
bread today. May only humble hearts receive
the cup today. May we all take steps down as
we come to the Lord's table. Have this attitude in yourselves
which was also in Christ Jesus. Let us pray. Father, thank You
for giving to us Your Son, Your only begotten Son, to become
the sin bearer for our sins. We know there is salvation in
no other name, that there is no other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. Rivet our attention upon
Him. May Christ have the place of
preeminence in this service. And Lord, challenge us, convict
us, encourage us how we may cultivate more of this attitude in our
homes, in our office, in school, wherever we are and wherever
we go, in this church and in ministry. May we clothe ourselves
with humility and lowliness of mind. May we submit and surrender
to Your will. May we follow the path that Christ
took. And trust that one day in Your
perfect timing, You will exalt us in glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.