Paul exhorts to unity among the
believers and humility our walk, and he sets forth the Lord Jesus
Christ as the example. Christ is our Lord. Christ is
our sacrifice. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
our example as to the way we are to walk in this life. And I hope to get to a point
here where I want to give a few points on the exaltation of Christ
being our greatest comfort. Our head, our brother, our Lord,
being exalted to the right hand of God. And that's the believer's
greatest comfort, is our representative, our substitute, is seated at
God's right hand. And because of that, we have
a good end. We have a good end. We have something
good to look forward to. Life can be tough along the way,
but I tell you this, every believer has a good end. We have something
to really look forward to. Now Paul says here in chapter
2 verse 1, if there be therefore any consolation, any real comfort,
real genuine comfort, any real hope in Christ, if any comfort
of love, and he's speaking here of God's love, if you have found
any real comfort of God's love in Christ to you, and any fellowship
of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, communion with God, the Holy
Spirit, and if any vows and mercies," and he's speaking here of real,
genuine, deep affections for one another, "...then fulfill
ye my joy." That is, I rejoice. If you have these things, if
you experience these things, Paul says, I rejoice. Oh, I rejoice. And that you be like-minded,
having the same love. You love the same gospel. The love of God is shed abroad
in your hearts, each one of us who believe the gospel. You have
the same love, same affection for one another. You love the
same things. How can two walk together except they agree? You love the same thing. You
love the same one. You love the same Lord. You love
the same gospel. You love the same message. Having
the same love. Being of one accord of one mind. That's unity. Being together
as one. It's like this congregation just
being really one body. One body. One person. You are
that united together in Christ. Nothing. Nothing unites a family
together, a congregation together, like love. Nothing unites us
together like love, true love now, the love that's of God.
And he says, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory. Don't let anything be done through
division. You know, if it's not over the
gospel, if we're not divided over how God saves sinners, then
we just drop it. Really. We just drop it. Don't
let anything be done through strife or vain glory, vain show,
in order to get some attention to yourself. Don't let anything
be done like that. But let it be done like this.
In lowliness of mind, which is totally contrary to human nature,
isn't it? Lowliness of mind. Let each esteem
other better than themselves. Let each esteem others to be
spiritually superior than myself, than yourself. That's what he's
saying. That's true humility. Paul said
this. The apostle Paul said this. I
am the least of the saints." He said he was the least, and
he meant it. That was true. When he said that,
he meant it. And look not every man on his
own things, always concerned, always concerned about me and
mine. If I give this up, I'll be broke. He says don't do that. Look not
every man on his own things, but every man also on the things
of others. Now this doesn't mean you don't
take care of things at home and your job and these things. But
to look on the things of others, to be concerned, to be that concerned
for one another. You know, I have two sons and
you have children. Don't you want your children
to do that? Don't you? You love it for them to look
after one another, to take care of one another. With the two grandkids right
now, you know, at the house, Madison's constantly saying,
well, give me one for Cole. You know, if she gets something,
she'll say, well, give me one for Cole. She's always taking
care of him. And that's the attitude. That's
the attitude we're to have. Give me one for this one or this
one. Always thinking of the other
one. That's of God. That's of God. Look not every man on his own
thing, but every man also on the things of others. I wrote
out by that verse. I've written out by that verse.
I am my brother's keeper. That's what Cain asked God. He
said, am I my brother's keeper? Well, the answer to that is yes.
Yes, you are. Yes, I am. We are to be each
other's keepers. But then he's going to set forth
Christ. He's going to set him forth as the great example, the
greatest example. Really, the only example as far
as having a perfect example. He says, let this mind, this
attitude, I've learned this. Attitude is everything. If you
have a good attitude going to work, your day will pass so much
better. If you have a good attitude in what you're doing, toward
what you're doing, you will do a good job. I'm telling you,
you'll do a good job. But if you have a bad attitude,
and it just, it corrupts, it's like a rotten potato. It corrupts
every one that touches it. Every other potato that touches
it, it'll corrupt it. I've learned over the years in
business, when a man would get a bad attitude over something,
and I've watched this as I've worked with men and as I've worked
men, when they get a real bad attitude over something, it's
hard to bring them back. I have found this. It's hard
to get them back, to get over it. And he says here, now let
this attitude This attitude of humility, this attitude of considering
one other before yourself. Let this attitude be in you,
which was also in the Lord Jesus Christ. This was his attitude,
constantly. He did nothing. He did absolutely
nothing for himself. Everything he did, he did for
someone else. Everything. He went about doing good, the
scripture says, and that good was for for others. It wasn't
for himself. Satan told him when he was in
the wilderness there for 40 days, 40 nights, he said, make these
stones bread. You're hungry, aren't you? What's
wrong with making these stones bread? Did he? Did he have the power to do it?
Absolutely. He had the power to turn those
stones into bread. But he didn't do it. He never,
ever relieved himself of any suffering. But he has sure relieved
many of their sufferings. Let this attitude be in you,
which is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God,
who being God. This man is God. I told you this once before,
probably two or three times before, but a lady was talking to me
some years ago. She told me that she had been
saved. And I started talking to her about Christ and the gospel
and Christ being God and who He is. And she said, well, I
didn't know that. I didn't know He was God. How could you trust? What are
you trusting? We're not trusting just a man.
I'm not trusting just a man who did some good. I'm trusting the
man who is God in the flesh. That's the gospel. God incarnate. That's who Jesus Christ is. He's
God incarnate. And that's why he thought, who
had been in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. It was not robbery for him to
be equal with God. When Satan rose up against God,
he wanted to ascend higher than his throne. He wanted to dethrone
God. It was robbery. What Adam did in the garden when
he fell was robbery. But Christ, being God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. He is God, and he's equal
with God. But now listen, this man is God
in the flesh, but he made himself of no reputation. If anyone could make themselves
a reputation Exalt themselves. He could have. He's God. But he made himself of no reputation. How many times did he say, don't
you tell anyone? How many times did he say that? Let's see me do something good.
Let me heal somebody and say, don't tell anybody I did that.
Give something. You let one of these men, these
multi-millionaires, they give big checks and they give big
money. Let them say, now don't you tell anybody. The camera
crew shows up. But he said, don't you tell anybody.
He made himself, this man, Christ Jesus, made himself of no reputation. He didn't toot his horn. He was
meek and lowly. He slipped in. Do good and slip
out. And He took upon Him, listen,
the form of a servant. When He came into this world,
He did not take upon Him the form of a king or the glorious person that He
is. A servant. A slave, that's what
that means. He took upon Him the form of
a slave. and was made in the likeness,"
here's his humiliation, here is his humiliation, and was made
in the likeness of men. Being found in fashion as a man,
a real man who hungered, thirsted, felt pain, hurt, he humbled himself. For me to die the death of a
criminal would not be humbling myself. If God punished me, put
it this way, if God punished me for who and what I am by nature,
that would not be me humbling myself. I wouldn't be humbled.
I deserve it. I deserve it. But the Lord Jesus
Christ, who knew no sin, Do no sin. He humbled himself. He allowed this to happen to
him. He allowed himself to be made, listen, sin. How humbling is that? And he's
in the garden of Gethsemane. He was sweating great drops of
blood. He humbled himself. He bowed down to He bowed down
to his Father. He took the curse. He humbled
himself and became obedient unto death. Not just any death. We all have
to die. But even the death of a criminal.
The death of the cross. That was reserved for the worst
of criminals. He humbled himself, became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also
hath highly exalted him." Now here comes our comfort. Here
comes the believer's greatest comfort because this is our representative,
this is our substitute, this is our brother, this is our Lord,
this is our sacrifice. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. There
is not a name equal to his name. There is not a name compared
to his name. Only in his name can a sinner
be saved. Only in that one name. Of all
the billions and billions of people that have lived on this
earth, there is only one name that God recognizes. and by which
he will save sinners. And that's the name of his son,
Jesus Christ. That at the name of Jesus, every
knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth, and
things under the earth. Every knee is going to bow to
this man. Those who are incensed against him, those who have been
brought to his feet by grace, all are going to bow to Christ. Every person that has ever lived,
ever shall live, shall bow to this man, this exalted man who
humbled himself. What an example! What an example! And that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord now, not going to be, he's
Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now, as I said, Our greatest
comfort, the believer's greatest comfort, is the exaltation of
the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to give you three reasons. First of all, we have a relationship
to him. Our brother has been exalted. The one who bone of our bone
and flesh of our flesh has been exalted to the right hand of
God. And then we have a unity with
him. He is the head, we are the body. Now, where the head goes,
the body goes. Our head is seated at God's right
hand. Well, guess where the body is
going to be seated? Right there with him. Right there with him. And we see the success of what
he prayed for. He said, Father, I will that
they be with me where I am, over in John 17. He's exalted. And then the reason for Christ's
exaltation is this. Because of who he is. It says here, equal. Equal with God. Equal with the
Father. And then because of what he did,
he made himself of no reputation. This man made himself of no reputation. He came here and became a servant.
It says in Isaiah 42, Behold my servant, he shall not fail. He was made in the likeness of
flesh. He died a cursed death, even the death of the cross. And our greatest comfort in his
exaltation is because of the one who exalted him, God. God exalted him. This is not
a man just exalted by a certain denomination. This man, which is our Lord, our brother,
flesh of our flesh, this man has been exalted by God himself,
which means that everything he did is accepted, and everyone
he did it for, they are accepted. Our greatest comfort is in the
exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where He is, we are. Someday,
faith will give way to sight, and we will see Him face to face. And this exaltation that we read
of, we talk about, We are really, really going to see it, and we
are going to be awed. We are going to stand in absolute
awe at the exaltation of this man, Jesus Christ. But until that happens, until
that day comes, let this same mind, let this same attitude
be in you that was in him. as he walked this earth.