WWUTT 013 The Hymn of Christ (Philippians 2:5-11)

The Greatest Commandment and Christ as Our Example

Jesus was asked, what is the greatest commandment? And he said, you will love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second one is like it. You will love your neighbor as yourself.

And Jesus is the ultimate example on loving God and our neighbor when we understand the text. Welcome to When We Understand The Text. My name is Pastor Gabe. Good to be along with you as we have been studying through Philippians together.

Just got into chapter two yesterday. And today we're gonna be looking at verses six through 11, which is a section of scripture referred to as the hymn of Christ. A beautiful hymn that Paul has written here for the Philippian church.

Now, there are some things that are discussed here that are pretty deep theologically and people have argued about some of the things that Paul is talking about. But ultimately, here's what we need to understand.

The context that this is being written in, it's being given to the Philippians as an example of the humility that we are supposed to display before God and before others. How we are to consider others needs even before our own.

How we are to do all things to the glory of God. This is our example, the example that we have in Christ. And Paul crafts this beautiful theological hymn to give us an example of what that humility is supposed to look like.

So that's what we're gonna be studying today. Coming up toward the end of the program, the last third of the program, we'll take another question from a listener, from a viewer related to our video on Roman Catholicism.

I said yesterday, I would take a question about that. So that's what we are gonna be looking at today. Before we get into the text, why don't we come before the Lord in prayer? Our gracious and sovereign Lord, we thank you so much for your scriptures that we might know what it means to have the mind of Christ.

Let this mind be among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, as Paul says to the Philippians. And then we see this beautiful hymn that tells us exactly what that's supposed to look like, what it means to have the mind of Christ.

And I pray that we are humble before you. I pray that we know what it means to put the interests of others ahead of our own. And I pray that we are willing to be self-sacrificing, not for the glory of us, but for the glory of God.

Guide us in these things. And we pray this in Jesus name, amen. Now, even though we're looking today primarily at verses six through 11, I'd like to go back to the start of chapter two and begin from there.

Philippians chapter two, beginning in verse one. If there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, and we know that there is.

So Paul says, then complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Humility, Selfish Ambition, and Loving Your Neighbor

Amen. So we come back again to Paul saying to the Philippians, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Jesus was asked, which is the greatest commandment? And he said, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second one is like it, to love your neighbor and yourself.

On these two commandments, hinge all the law and the prophets. And Paul is coming back to that second command, loving your neighbor as yourself. Here when he says, each of you should look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Jesus was saying, you're inclined to love yourself. That's your selfish nature. Take that and redirect it to loving your neighbor. The love that you have for yourself, love your neighbor instead. And Paul is doing the same sort of a thing here.

As you are inclined to your own interests, look not only to those interests, but also to the interests of others. Direct that toward one another. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.

Now your translation might also say, which was also in Christ Jesus. So which one are we talking about? How is that supposed to be worded? Either way, it applies. Are we talking about having a mind that is transformed in the spirit, that we therefore have the mind of God, a mind that is like Christ.

And so the more that we grow in sanctification and holiness, our mind is being shaped more and more to be like that of Christ Jesus. Yes, that is correct. Or are we talking about setting up Christ as our example?

So the mind that was in Christ is the mind that we should be striving for. That is our example, and so we should follow that. Yes, that is correct also. Either one applies. Whether we're talking about having a mind that is in Christ or the mind that was in Christ as our example, either one applies.

And then we have that beautiful hymn. So Christ, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. And Paul is talking here about Christ's pre-existence. In fact, in this hymn, we see his pre-existence, we see his incarnation, we see his death, his resurrection, and his ascension to the right hand of the throne of God.

All of those elements are here in this hymn. Christ was in the form of God, his pre-existence. Before time began, he was with God. John 1 ,1, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

We're talking about Christ's pre-existence there. We have that high priestly prayer that Jesus prays in John chapter 17, where he says, Lord, glorify me as I was with you before time began. This glorification that Jesus sort of lets us into, kind of opens a window up for us to be able to see this glory that God the Father and the Son had with one another along with the Spirit before time even began, before the world that we know came into existence, God glorifying in himself for all eternity.

And though Christ was in the form of God, though he was equal with God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. So therefore, having the form of God is equivalent to having the equality of God.

That's basically what's being said there. So don't read too deeply into these things. Again, Paul is setting up a picture of humility. That's ultimately what we are supposed to be taking away from this.

So don't go so deep into the theology that you start reading into it things that aren't actually there. We're just simply seeing that Christ's pre-existence, that he was there with God, and he did not count that equality with God a thing to be grasped.

He didn't use it for his own glorification. Though he was the king of all things, he didn't use that status as God for his own advancement, but he emptied himself. And again, don't read too deep into that.

All right, some people will read into that theology and say, oh, well, how much of God's divinity did he give up when he took on this form of a servant? Don't read too deeply into that. Jesus was fully God and fully man.

That's what we need to know. That's what we need to understand. We're simply talking about his incarnation here. He emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant. He was in the form of God. The contrast is he left his throne in heaven and took on the form of a servant.

He was in a place where he could have been served, but he took on the place of being a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, a little baby, born in Bethlehem, God, not born in a palace, but born in a manger in Bethlehem.

You know, the very first time I ever preached on the hymn of Christ before the congregation that I am leading now, it was in the month of December. It was at Christmas time. That was not planned. It just kind of worked out that way.

I'm one of those preachers that doesn't change a sermon series to accommodate a holiday or a special occasion. We just kind of go through the text. There have been some times where there was something that I needed to address, and I maybe put the series on hold to do something a little bit more topical, but ultimately the scriptures are dictating where it is that we are going when we are studying the scriptures together.

The scriptures are dictating where it is that we go. It is our submission to the scriptures of God, and that's the kind of church that you should be looking for, a kind of a church that preaches expository.

There is nothing wrong with topical preaching, but we need to show ourselves to be in full submission to the scriptures, and that's what expository preaching does. So again, Christ here talking about, or I'm sorry, Paul is talking about Christ being born in a human form.

He humbled himself by being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself further by becoming obedient to the point of death. So it's not just that Christ emptied himself of his form of God to take on the form of a servant.

He went even further by becoming obedient to the point of death. And Paul goes even further than that, even death on a cross. There's something significant to that. And as we've been studying through Philippians, we've talked about how the Philippian people, they're a proud Roman colony.

They understood crucifixion to be the ultimate humiliating form of death. It is a person being drained of all their personhood, being posted up on a cross as being posted on a sign to show people, look at how awful this person is, and all of their humanity being taken away from them as they die there in front of other people naked and bleeding.

And that's the way that Christ died. It's like the ultimate counterpoint. We have gone from Christ having equality with God to dying in the most humiliating form that a Roman knew that a person could die.

And Christ was dying in that way. He died death on a cross. A death that was so painful and so humiliating that another word had to be invented to describe that death. And it's the word excruciating. That word literally means out of the cross.

And Christ died that excruciating physical pain, that degradation, that humiliation. And because he was obedient to those things, therefore, all right now, now we're starting to hit this crescendo where we are going to see Christ magnified in this hymn because he emptied himself and took on human form, took on the form of a servant, became obedient even to the point of death, even death on a cross.

This ultimate form of humility we will never find anywhere else in the universe. We will never find anywhere else in history. It was God taking on the form of a man and dying at the hands of those that he had created.

Not because it was our will, but because it was God's will that that should happen. And therefore, therefore, all right, here we get into verse nine. God has highly exalted him. Because of this ultimate display of humility, God is highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.

So that at the name of Jesus. Now, the interesting thing here is that even though Paul is gonna go on to say that Jesus Christ is Lord and compare him equally with Yahweh, which is the name of God, he still first identifies him as Jesus.

So at the name of Jesus, his human name. Because even though God in human form was fully God and fully man, that hasn't changed even though Christ has gone to be exalted and sitting at the right hand of the father.

Christ has ascended is what I mean. And is sitting there at the right hand of the father. The picture didn't change. He's still fully man and fully God. Paul talks about this when he's talking to Timothy and he says that there is one mediator between God and man and that is the man, Jesus Christ.

So even though Christ is there with God, it's not like he is no longer fully man and fully God. He is still that interceding for us with God. So that at the name of Jesus, even his human name, at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

All that are in heaven with God, all that are on earth now, everyone that is under the earth, all of the fallen spirits, everyone at the name of Jesus will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father.

What an interesting thing to tag on at the end of that hymn. Again, this was not for Christ's own glory. He was not doing this for himself. Ultimately the purpose behind all of this was the glory of God, the father.

And as I said, before we started studying in on this hymn of Christ, Jesus is our ultimate example in obeying the greatest and second greatest commandments. You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

And Christ displayed that. He displayed that in his life, in his death and in his exaltation. It is the worship of God to the glory of God, the father. And he shows also the fullness of what it means to obey.

You will love your neighbor as yourself because Christ emptied himself and became a servant. Though he deserved to be served, he came to serve being born in the likeness of men and became obedient. He humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus experienced it all and he sanctifies it all because he experienced all of it from the point of conception to the point of natural death. Jesus sanctifies the entire experience. Why is it that we say that life begins at conception and ends at natural death?

It is because Christ experienced all of that. If he went through all of that, it has been sanctified and verified in Christ. So therefore there is no point in the life cycle that we can say that that life is not significant because Jesus was significant at every stage of it.

And so therefore we need to treat that life the same way. Christ humbled himself and took on this form. We cherish it because Christ experienced it all. He humbled himself by becoming obedient, even to the point of death.

Folks, even death is sanctified in Christ because he experienced that. None of us should ever say whether or not, you know, a person's suffering, a person's experience in that Christ suffered, okay? Because Christ suffered, it's been sanctified.

It is for us to suffer also to the glory of God. We talked about this earlier in the week. None of us should ever think or have this idea that it is not for us to suffer. Christ suffered, therefore we should suffer.

He went through it, we should also want to go through it to the glory of God. We suffer with Christ. He did all of this for God's glory. It was not for his glory, but for God's glory. So anyway, again, because Christ has sanctified the entire human experience, therefore we love our neighbor as ourself.

As we would have love for ourself, we need to have that love for our neighbor because Christ demonstrated his love for us in that he went through this whole human experience to the point of death. Folks, the child in the womb is our neighbor.

The person lying in a coma on the hospital bed is our neighbor. Even they need that charity. Even they need to be shown the love that God has shown each and every one of us. Defend those lives. And may we do all of this to the glory of God the Father.

Christ is the ultimate example of fulfilling. You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and you will love your neighbor as yourself. He's the ultimate example of obeying those commands.

So look to Christ and obey. Lord, how I love your law. I meditate on it day and night. And I pray that you continue to guide me in these things. Guide us in this as we store up the treasure of your word in our hearts.

It's in your name that we pray, amen. I'm finding it difficult to shift gears here. And I did not know that I was gonna get into it that way. I also don't know that I've left enough time to be able to respond to the question.

So I'm gonna save it until tomorrow. The question that we had on Roman Catholicism, that'll be on tomorrow's broadcast. Instead, what I would like to do here in the spirit and still in line with everything that we had just talked about, I wanna mention a television series that is coming up entitled Life Is Best.

It's being put together by Wretched, Todd Friel and his gang, who we are so appreciative of because they have played our When We Understand The Text videos and included us also in this Life Is Best series that they are putting together.

So I'd encourage you to check it out, lifeisbest .tv. And when it is released, the television series first will also be put on DVD. You will hear some When We Understand The Text materials included in that television series.

So I'm thankful to Todd and his crew for including us in that work. Here is one of those videos in particular that you'll be seeing in that series, and this is entitled Abortion and the Bible. In ancient Canaan, the people worshiped the pagan god Moloch, which in Hebrew means the king of shameful sacrifice.

Worship included ritual prostitution and sacrificing children. Babies would be placed in the idol's arms or abdomen and burned alive. In doing this, the people believed that Moloch would give them financial prosperity and bless their future children.

This took place just outside of Jerusalem in Tophet in the Valley of Hinnom, a location that became synonymous with hell. Unfortunately, the Israelites were not wise to the ways of this false god. Solomon built a place of worship to Moloch.

The people sacrificed their children, as did kings Ahaz and Manasseh, provoking the Lord to anger. Then came Josiah, a king who loved the Lord with all his heart, soul, and might. He read in the law that anyone who sacrifices their children to Moloch shall face the wrath of God, and those who ignore child sacrifice would be cut off from God and his people.

Josiah was grieved and repented before the Lord. He destroyed every high place to every false god. He defiled Tophet so that no one would ever again burn a son or daughter to Moloch. The Lord blessed him with peace, but Israel remained unrepentant and were handed over to their enemies.

The Bible is not silent on the subject of abortion. It is a sacrifice to a false god, the work of the devil himself. The Lord hates hands that spill innocent blood. He will judge this sin as before and also those who remain silent.

We must be cleansed by Christ and end this shameful sacrifice when we understand the text. Abortion and the Bible, from when we understand the text, and you will find that video in the Life is Best series.

That was, of all of the videos that we've done with when we understand the text, that one was the hardest. That was the hardest video that we've ever done. I actually went through several rewrites, and at one point I was doing some things over to the church and I had my studio at home, and so I was going between doing some recording at home and running back to the church.

I don't remember why I was between both places. I can't remember now why. But once I was finally done with the video and once we got it posted, I just collapsed in a heap on the floor and just wept. It was that emotionally draining coming up with that and being able to, having to put all of that together and the image searches that we had to do to assemble all of that and stuff.

It just, it was mentally draining. Folks, abortion is a deplorable evil that is happening in our world and not just in the United States of America. It's everywhere. I am thankful that the Republicans attempted back in July to defund Planned Parenthood because right now federal funds are paying for the murder of children.

That's essentially what's going on with the money that is being invested in Planned Parenthood. Our tax dollars are going toward that. And so I'm thankful that the Republican Party in particular was attempting to defund Planned Parenthood, but it does need to go further than that.

We'll take whatever small victories that we can get, but ultimately the goal is abolishing human abortion entirely. And that is what we ultimately need to be striving for, protecting the unborn. And I think that scripture has commanded us to do that.

First of all, as we just said, Jesus experienced everything in life from conception to natural death. And so therefore we need also to cherish life and we need to realize that it has all been sanctified and verified because Christ experienced it all.

There is no point of the human process that we should ever say is not good enough. This, the person is less than human here. This is not a significant life because we deem it that way. It begins at conception because Christ was significant even before conception.

And so therefore, since he went through that entire process, we need to see it as being sanctified. There is something that we can glorify God in, in conception and also in natural death. We think of death as being beneath a person.

Oh, a person should not have to suffer. There was the, I cannot remember her name now, but the woman last year who was dying of brain cancer. And so she decided to take her own life. And that was, you know, all over the newspapers for however long and the magazines that you would see in the store, the face of this woman on the cover of the magazine who is dying of this brain tumor.

And so therefore she was going to euthanize herself and all the things that she was going to experience in life up until that point. And we, there was the big discussion on death that nobody should ever have to suffer.

So it should be within a person's right to be able to euthanize themselves. Folks at no point in the life cycle is our life ever in our hands. It belongs to God. And scripture is clear that we've been bought with a price.

And so we need to honor God with our bodies. Our temple, our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit whom we have within us, as Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 6. Therefore honor God with your body.

Death is not some kind of experience that is beneath us to experience. Christ experienced it. So therefore, even in death and even in suffering, because Christ experienced suffering, we can glorify God in these things.

Jesus did. Therefore we need to also, and maybe we need to transform our thinking, our minds and our hearts a little bit to conform to God's sovereign will and his plan. Romans 12, one and two, present yourselves as holy and pleasing sacrifices unto the Lord.

This is your spiritual form of worship. This is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world. When they say that life begins and when it ends or what sort of experiences a person should have to go through and what they should not have to go through, don't conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by renewing your mind, renewing it meaning every day, submitting our thoughts to Christ.

And then, and only then will you get to see God's will, his good, pleasing and perfect will. I challenge you in these things today and continue to meditate on them as we go from these scriptures into the world, going out and preaching the gospel, making disciples of all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching all that Christ had commanded us.

We do these things in the name of Jesus, amen. God bless you. I look forward to studying with you again tomorrow.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. Pastor Gabe wrote a book for a Bible study at our church that has since been taught on two continents. It's a study through the book of 1 Corinthians entitled To the Core, great for a group study or for personal use.

It is available only in paperback and you can find it on our website, www .utt .com. Be sure to let someone else know about our program. We'll resume our study of Philippians tomorrow, rejoicing to hear God's truth when we understand the text.