Philippians (3): Four examples of humility — Brody Thibodeau

Christ’s Humility and the Call to Unity

In Philippians chapter 2 we'll read. I understand some of our readings have been repetitive and I understand some of the themes this weekend have been reinforced by some of the other ministry, but I'd just like to be more clear on some of the stuff that we've been reading in Philippians and go back again to chapter 2.

So Philippians chapter 2 and verse number 1. If there be or if there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind.

Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men.

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.

Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all, for the same cause also do ye joy and rejoice with me. Now verse number 20, concerning Timothy. For I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state, for all seek their own, not the things which are of or which are Jesus Christ's.

But ye know the proof of him, that as a son with the Father he has served with me in the gospel. In verse number 25, yet I suppose it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and companion in labor and fellow soldier, but your messenger and he that ministered to my wants.

For he longed after you all and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. I want you to notice the wording there for the specific nature of this statement. That ye had heard that he had been sick, for indeed he was sick, nigh unto death.

But God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that when ye see him again ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.

Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such in reputation. The idea there is high esteem or honor, because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.

Harmony and Unity in the Philippian Church

Now, we tried to make it clear from the beginning that the epistle to the Philippians was wrote with a specific thought pattern or thought flow that indicates what the apostle's primary message is. Now, I did not do justice to the thought flow, because I began in chapter 4 and I went to chapter 3 and I skipped to chapter 1 and I went to chapter 2, but I would like for you to remember that from the beginning of the Philippian epistle to the very end of the Philippian epistle, the apostle Paul is concerned with harmony and unity among the believers.

It was brought to my attention yesterday, and rightly so, that there were some things that I was not absolutely clear on when I was showing how the apostle sought to bring about or to maintain this harmony and unity among the believers.

So just very quickly, before I get into the meat of my message, I would like to say this. There is a point in the epistle where he calls out two people by name. I'm going to go slow with this and carefully with this, because I don't want to to bring any disrepute upon the reputation of these dear sisters, nor do I want to poke the bear when it comes to maybe people who are here today who are sitting under the ministry.

But there were two sisters and it was obviously known in the company that they were having difficulty getting along. And Paul does mention these two sisters. He mentions them and he refers to all the positive things in their history.

The positive things in their history from when they at one time had come together and pulled together in unity in the gospel. They were laborers together with Paul in the gospel. So he brought their names to everyone's attention, because he had to.

But he was careful. He was careful to be gentle and to remind them of all of the good things and all of the potential that Jodeas and Syntyche had to be workers together in the gospel. And then he exhorts a brother, I'm not sure which brother it is, but he exhorts a brother to help those two.

Help those two overcome whatever it is that it caused them to be disjointed in their unity. So in order to bring this about, Paul is very pointed in chapter four by using their names. But I would say there is something that Paul does that transcends the direct nature of chapter four as we read in chapter two.

Four Examples of Humility

And that is this. He gives them four examples of humility. Four examples of humility that helped in fulfilling the purpose of God. Four examples of humility that provided for harmony. Four examples of humility that provided for unity.

And you will see it. And that really is going to be the meat of my message in chapter two. Working backwards, you will find Epaphroditus. He's an example of humility. And then you find Timothy, who's an example of humility.

And then we find Paul, who's an example of humility. And then we see the Lord Jesus as the supreme example of humility for the sake of others. And if these sisters were to get the message, they were going to get the message from those four examples of humility.

Restoring Believers to Gospel Usefulness

So now, how does it break down for us today? It may be, now not always, but there may be times when we have to bring it to someone's attention that their behavior is affecting the testimony. But let's not forget to encourage them to better behavior.

Let's not forget the value that every brother and sister has in the work of God for the gospel's sake. Let us not write them off and say, it would be better if so-and-so wasn't here. Did you ever say that?

Do you ever say that? Now, I know I'm challenging you. I'm challenging you, first of all, to keep your eyelids open. Nobody knows here today, but I am exceptionally thin-skinned. And when people sleep during my messages, hey, some people are doing this now.

They're trying their best. When people sleep during my messages, I lose sleep at night over it. I start thinking, my, was I preaching that boring that they're…. No, but you'll stick with me, right? I want you to think with me.

Just think. Have we ever had that attitude toward a fellow believer? It would be better if he wasn't here, or it would be better if she wasn't here. Now, I want you to think in these terms. There are certain attitudes that believers are carrying that are affecting the testimony and affecting their ability to get along with other believers.

I'm just being as real as rain here, right? Those attitudes make it difficult. But our desire is not that that person wouldn't be with us, but that the attitude would be adjusted so that that person could function in harmony with us again in the gospel.

And maybe, just maybe, that person is me. So let's not be too quick to judge, and let's always be very quick to encourage them back to usefulness. But let us never forget, the real solution now, the real solution to address personality issues is to take the focus of brother X and Y off of their condition, off of their conflict, and to place their focus on Christ.

I would say, my brethren and sisters, that is the solution to almost all of our spiritual problems, is that we would take our focus off of the brother and the issues that we have with the brother, that we would take our focus off of the condition, that we would take our focus off of the problem and place our focus on Christ, and not just the doctrine and the theology of Christ, but his person and his character and his beauties and all of the things that are of Christ, so that we can have our attitudes adjusted.

So that's how Paul did it. But you will remember, and I'm going back now to chapter one, because in chapter four we talked about the beginning of the gospel. In chapter four, we talked about the laboring together in the gospel.

In chapter two, we mentioned that Timothy is a son with a father served with Paul in the gospel. In chapter one, in verse 27, we talked about behavior that is becoming or worthy of the gospel. And we talked about striving together for the faith of the gospel.

Partnership in the Gospel

And there's only four more times where the gospel is mentioned in the book of Philippians, and they're all found in chapter one. And we just want to look at these to see what normal gospel outreach looked like.

It got quiet in here all of a sudden. What typical, normal, scriptural gospel outreach looks like. Because sometimes we need to calibrate what we see out here by what we see in here. I'll say that again.

We need to calibrate how we function out here by what we see in here. And what we see in here is a man who is praying. We see a man who is praying even under the circumstances of imprisonment. And he's not just praying in an urgent way to be delivered from this imprisonment.

He's giving thanks. And he's giving thanks to God for the faithfulness of others. And as we come down now to verse number five, he had given thanks, making requests with joy for their fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.

Now he's taking them back to that first day that we talked about yesterday. And I believe he's encouraging them to remember what it was first like when they first got saved. There was a joy in their heart.

There was a softness about their character. There was a willingness to work together. And when he uses this word, fellowship in the gospel, he's not just talking about their participation with him in the gospel by supporting him financially.

I would take it the wording could also mean their partnership for the sake of the gospel. From that first day when he came into Philippi preaching the gospel, those who were saved began to work in unity and in harmony and in partnership with Paul for the sake of the gospel.

And as others were saved, they would understand that part of the fellowship of a local assembly means that we are in partnership for the sake of the gospel. There are no rogue gospel preachers. Sometimes today we see them, don't we?

Usually marked by a past history of going to many different churches and many different organizations and being able to find fault with every place that they have ever been. I'll say that again so that we can all think about it.

You know people like this, don't you? They go here and they figure they know what's wrong there. They go here, they know what's wrong there. They know what's wrong here. They know what's wrong there. They show up to the assembly meetings and they ask you all of the points of doctrine that they believe.

And then they start to point out everything that's wrong with the assembly. And sometimes that brother or that sister comes into the fellowship of the local assembly and then they begin to air their grievances.

And the next thing you know they say, I can do what the Lord wants me to do without the local church. I'm not sure when I'll be back to Garnevillo. I just don't know. I'd love to come back. But I will give you from now until then to read your Bible and find a gospel preacher who is preaching the gospel while protesting local church fellowship.

It's not in here. I believe that there were men who went out from a local church into an area where there were no other people who were saved. Into an area where there was no assembly testimony. But they did so in perfect fellowship, harmony, and partnership with their brethren and sisters in the local assembly.

I believe we need to remember that because as I move out from the assembly in Rosebank, PEI, I am doing so in fellowship with my brethren. If my brethren were not in harmony with the work that I am doing, then they should never have written a letter commending me.

And if there comes a point in time where I begin to move independently of their advice and their oversight, because I still move under their oversight when I am here in Garnevillo, if there comes a point in time when I am doing that, they have the full right to withdraw that commendation.

Now I'm not getting into what a letter of commendation means, but brethren, sometimes we look at a letter of commendation as a license to go and preach. And we make it a condition for coming on a conference platform.

If I could just be absolutely blunt and honest, we have applied a significance to that letter that the Bible never did. That letter is designed to let people know where I travel, that my brethren have confidence in me in the preaching of the gospel.

Nothing more, but thank God nothing less. And I am to move in harmony with them, in doctrinal harmony with them, believing what they believe. I am to move in partnership with them, that they share my exercise to take the gospel out.

But when I am taking the gospel out, I am taking it out in full harmony and partnership with my brethren in my home assembly. And when I preached the gospel in Garnevillo, connected with the assembly here, I am now functioning under the oversight of the assembly in Garnevillo.

And I'm functioning in partnership with you all in Garnevillo. And I remember what it was like to do that last year. Now remember with me, please. Those of you who are part of the work here in Garnevillo, and some were coming from Wisconsin, and some were coming down from the Manchester area, and from over in the West Union area.

And there were people coming, and they were interested in the work of the gospel. They were bringing their children to hear the gospel. They were bringing their friends to hear the gospel. We were praying together in the basement over there before the gospel meeting.

And the brethren were interested, not just in sitting in the seat. That's the least you can do. But if that's the least you can do, do it, please. But coming with an exercise to support the gospel with encouragement, with their words, with their prayers, with their activities, devoted to the partnership.

That is the design for gospel work. Now we're going to get to the furtherance of the gospel in a second, but let's not lose sight of the value of the partnership. And brethren who preach the gospel, you don't lose sight of the value of your brethren and sisters and their support.

Morally, yes. Prayerfully. Doctrinally. But that partnership is essential. Paul talks about their fellowship or partnership for the of the gospel. And here we have, down to the next one, he talks about the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

Defending and Confirming the Gospel

I'm not going to spend much time on that. It's just the idea, for sure, that he is ready for defending the gospel, confirming the gospel. The defense of the gospel, I believe, was with words that were used in order to logically defend the faith of the gospel.

I see Paul going into synagogues. When he went into synagogues, he opened the scriptures and he reasoned from the scriptures that this Jesus was indeed the Christ. As he is doing that, the word apologia, or where we get our word apologetics from, does not mean that he was saying he was sorry for the gospel.

It means that he was defending the gospel. He knew how to defend the gospel. How? Because he knew the scriptures. Now I'm all for... I also think Brandon's brethren were quite hard on him, to be honest.

And sometimes I feel like my brethren could have been a little harder on me, and it wouldn't have produced what you see today. But I want you to think with me. I want young brethren to come with me to preach the gospel.

Now you're thinking, what about your young man yourself? You must be not much older than 27. I want young men to come with me to preach the gospel. I don't like to talk about personal experience, but I will tell you this, part of the reason I'm preaching the gospel today is because older men took me with them when they were preaching the gospel.

And those men taught me how to work, and they taught me how to preach, and sometimes they taught me what to do by good, positive example. And sometimes I saw what they were doing and I said I'm glad that I saw that because now I know not to do that.

But do you know the benefit of that? Is that the older man should know the scriptures, and the younger man should be learning the scriptures. But because when it comes to the defense of the gospel, it will hinge on how well we know the scriptures.

Now I understand that the realm of Christian apologetics takes in philosophy, and history, and science, and all of those things today, to where we are extremely intrigued with a man who can stand up and defend the veracity of Christianity from a philosophical standpoint.

Or we put a lot of weight on a man who can take creation and compare it with real science. I'm all for that. But the apologetics, the real defense of the gospel, is impossible if we don't get people to the word of God.

And Paul was set to defend the gospel, and he could show them from the Bible what he believed. The confirmation of the gospel, I would take it as he went back over things with the believers. It could be the defense of the gospel is against those on the outside, and the confirmation of the gospel is building up the faith of the saints.

But we move on. There's a partnership in this gospel work, and let me tell you this. I should have told you from the beginning, I am very happy to work in fellowship and partnership with you. You don't have to reciprocate that all the time, but I want you to.

I want you to be in happy harmony and fellowship with me. There is no one and no place that I would rather be connected with in the preaching of the gospel than with the Lord's people who are gathered onto his name in the local assembly.

And in the defense of the gospel, we work together, brethren, by using the scriptures. But then Paul talks about the furtherance of the gospel, and it very well could be that there's another Roman colonial connotation here in the furtherance of the gospel.

Not only did the Romans set up an empire that was marked by peace, but they continued to take new ground. And in taking new ground, that meant they had to conquer new territory. And I believe Paul has the idea of taking new ground when he says the furtherance of the gospel.

Now, he's not saying that the furtherance of the gospel rests entirely on Paul. He is saying that every single person who is preaching Christ, every person who is preaching Christ, whether they are doing it under pretense or truth, brings rejoicing to the heart of Paul.

But he does say that there's a specific way in which the gospel can take new ground. Now, to be clear, I believe that regularly and consistently an assembly should preach the gospel from, I was going to say, this platform, but the platform in a local assembly gathering.

So if that takes the form of a weekly gospel meeting, it does. If you have more than one weekly gospel meeting, it does. But be careful that we don't lose the consistent, habitual, regular preaching of the gospel in the assembly.

You say, well, people aren't coming. Go on out and work the area and try to get people to come, build relationships, pray to God, and keep preaching. You say, it's just the Christian's kids. The Christian's kids need to hear it.

You say, the kids are grown up and now it's just us. We need to hear it. Keep preaching the gospel in the assembly. But let's not lose sight of the big picture. Scripturally, the gospel is designed to go out and take new ground.

The gospel is designed for furtherance. And Paul paints a picture now of a man who's going ahead of the armies into a place that has never been conquered before. And in order to get there, he has to cut a path.

Now, I'm not sure what he used to cut a path, but he's cutting a path that will allow for the furtherance of the Roman Empire. And now Paul is applying that to the gospel, that there are men and women who go before and they cut a path for the furtherance of the gospel.

I think we all should be exercised urgently, urgently, to pray the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. I'm not sure if that alarmed you when Brandon said so many men under 70 in the United States of America.

It alarms me. I'll tell you, all of my brethren could tell you this. While we try not to pay attention to our phone all the time, there are very few weeks that pass where you don't get many invitations to go and help assemblies preaching the gospel.

And I came to I was talking to my brother, Eric Fowler, and I said, you're going to this conference and that conference? I said, I've got an invite for there and an invite for here for gospel and there.

And I really want to be here, but there seems to be so much need. And I said, I think the brethren are getting active again after COVID. He said, yes, they are. He said, but there's a lot fewer of us to help.

And he's right. That should urgently alarm us to pray the Lord of the harvest, encouraging young brothers and young couples to be engaged in the work of the gospel. Now, I don't think we need to look for a bunch of Spurgeons to send out.

If you have a Spurgeon, very good. And I don't think we need to look for a bunch of Oliver Smiths to send out. But if you find one, that's fantastic. We need laborers. Laborers. And now, if you're a laborer, be very careful.

I'm trying to stay on track here, but it's not working. If you're a laborer, be very careful. If your brethren see potential in you to help in the spread of the gospel full time, don't take that as a license to be a conference preacher.

Don't take that as indication that you are the most dynamic speaker that there is. They're encouraging you in the gospel, not because we need dynamic speakers, but because we need laborers. People that will go and go door to door.

Door to door is not everyone's thing. I understand that. There was a time when I said to my older brother, Mr. Burden, we're about to go out with some tracks. I said, I'm not really good at this. It's hard to admit you're not good at something, right?

I'm not really good at this. And he said, well, there's only one way to get better. Let's go. Right? On that day, there was a lady invited him in, and he did a very wise thing. Because she was home alone, he called me over from across the street, and we went in the house together, and we had tea, and we gave them the gospel, and her husband came up from the basement, and we had a good chat.

We went out, we went down the street a little further, and he saw a large German shepherd dog. And that large German shepherd dog, he said, here, you. You go get that one. I said, I went and helped you with the little old lady, and you're leaving me here with the dog all alone.

And you know how I feel about dogs. We need workers. Sometimes I look on the map. There are certain people move into our community who are immigrants from across the sea, and I see their country, and I know that they have contacts in their country, and I think, who is there?

Who's there that I can support in the gospel so that they can bring the gospel to those families? And I research it. I look on the gospel trust website, and sometimes they have a contact, and then I email around and see if there's anyone, and sometimes I'm ashamed to say I come up empty.

I'm not saying God doesn't have workers there, but what I'm saying is this. We should be exercised about sending our workers there. The furtherance of the gospel is scriptural in 2023. So, he talks about their partnership for the sake of the gospel, and he talks about the defense of the gospel from the scriptures, the confirmation of the gospel, and the furtherance of the gospel, and then he talks about the defense of the gospel again.

But that, I believe, is in the forefront of his mind when he's encouraging these believers to get along in harmony and unity to bring forth the gospel. And now we come to chapter two with these four examples of humility that are designed to get these people to think in these terms.

Epaphroditus: Humility Through Self-Sacrifice

Epaphroditus was sick. I told him in Cedar Falls the other night, when you're sick, you usually think about yourself and how you feel, right? How I feel. And I told him that back home some people have what's called the man flu.

Anybody know what the man flu is in Iowa? Some of my brethren have their wives staring them down right now to where a woman can have the flu and the cold and be down and out and still get out of bed and still take care of the kids and still do all the work that she has to do.

And as soon as a man gets the sniffles, he's in bed for three days thinking about himself. You wouldn't be laughing if it wasn't true. But it's all right. I would encourage people to take care of themselves.

If you have a significant disease or sickness, by all means, you need to think about yourself and take care of yourself. And you would think that Epaphroditus would take care of himself. Or that at least the distress that he was experiencing would be because of his illness.

But that's not what it says. It says Epaphroditus was heavy with heaviness because they heard that he was sick. In other words, he wasn't concerned about his feelings going through the sickness. He was concerned about their feelings because they were sad about him being sick.

It almost makes no logical sense until you get inside the mind of the man. He was willing to sacrifice for the good of others. And their feelings came before his feelings. That is an example of humility.

That is a challenging example of humility. But I would say with Epaphroditus and with Timothy and with Paul, these are examples of humility that it is possible for us to attain to. We need to start to think of others better than ourselves.

Timothy: Caring for the Things of Christ

But then he speaks about Timothy. And he says, for I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own and not the things which be of Christ Jesus. I would take that the literal rendering.

If we took a survey today, I would say in the heart of every believer. Now I'm not just going by your words. I'm going by what I believe the Bible teaches. In the heart of every believer, there's a love for the Lord Jesus.

But in the lives of most believers, we care about our own things first and then the things that belong to Christ Jesus. And Timothy was an effective partner in the gospel. Read it in its context. He was an effective partner in the gospel because he put the things of Christ before the things of self.

That meant that he put the Lord's people before himself. That's why it says he will naturally care for your state. Your state. So we're sitting in Philippi and we're having trouble getting along because you want to bring a lemon pie and I want to bring a chocolate cake.

Now you can take a lemon pie and a chocolate cake and smush them together. They taste just as good that way, by the way. But we're having some kind of difficulty. And now we're listening to this. And Epaphroditus was sick, but he cared about me more than he cared about himself.

And Timothy, Timothy cares about us and the things of the Lord more than he cares about himself. And my little pie issue is starting to get smaller and smaller, isn't it? And then he talks. Well, I say then, but we're working backwards, of course.

Paul: Humility in Partnership and Service

Then he mentions an offering and he says, I am willing to be poured out upon your offering. Very simply, he's saying this. In terms of the Old Testament tabernacle system, the Philippians were the big offering.

Let's say the Philippians were the bullock. Now with the offering of a bullock, there would be a meal offering and a drink offering that would be offered on top of that or beside that big offering. And Paul is saying, I may be the apostle to the Gentiles.

I may have seen the risen Christ in glory. I may have been given all of the different mysteries of the faith that I've been able to expound to you in different epistles. But when it comes to the work of God, I am more than happy that you are the big thing and I am the little thing.

See how it makes sense? In humility, he is saying, I love working with you. I love working in partnership with you. I long for that fellowship and partnership to take new ground for the gospel. And as long as Christ is preached, and as long as the furtherance of the gospel is reality, I am willing to have a small little part.

I'm not here to be recognized as the big thing as long as the gospel goes forth. You see, that's humility. I know I'm not speaking to people here today who want all the platform time. I'll tell you this, the more you get, the more you'd rather be sitting down, right?

That's what Murray always told me when we're waiting for the weather to change for flying. I know you pilots know it, right? I'd rather be down here wishing I was up there than up there wishing I was down here, right?

I know I'm not looking for people who are looking for glory in preaching, or glory in doing all the this, and all of the children's meetings, and all of the gospel working. But Paul is an example here that even if we can just be a small part, let's rejoice that the gospel is going forward.

Christ as the Supreme Example of Humility

And of course, the supreme example of submission and humility is the Lord Jesus. And we spend just a couple of minutes now on this passage that many believe to be a poem or a hymn. The language seems to be such that it is poetic or hymnic in the text.

It's like the apostle Paul is taking a hymn that they may have sung in their gatherings, and he's taking it to the pages of scripture to remind them about the supreme example of submission. And he says, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

In the most literal of senses, we need to understand he's talking about the attitude, the attitude. So he is saying this, you think as Christ Jesus thought. Now he's not talking about all of the thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is talking about the specific attitude of humility that was found in Christ. Wherever you find a passage like this, dealing with the deity and humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is placed in the text, in the context, for a specific reason.

I would say if you go to the Colossian epistle in chapter one, where you read about him being in the image of God, the firstborn of all creation, the first in rank over all creation, the firstborn from among the dead ones, I believe he is proving there the deity of Christ and the perfect humanity of Christ to refute the false teaching of the agnostics.

If you come to John's gospel chapter one, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. Down a little further and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glorious of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth.

And John is seeking to prove the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ in light of the false doctrine that was prevalent in that day. In the book of Hebrews, we are introduced to the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person.

Why? Because he is proving to the Hebrew listeners that the Lord Jesus Christ is better than the angels and he is better than Moses. He's superior to all the old tabernacle system, but he's proving the humanity of the son of God.

But here is different. Here he's not refuting false doctrine. He's trying to encourage humility. The form of God, it says, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant who was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself.

How much time could be spent, I would suppose, on the words and their theological significance? I think we need to be careful with words because words have meaning. I think if we had more time, or this was a Bible study, that that dissecting these words and finding out their meaning in their semantic range for this particular purpose would be helpful.

But I want to give you a summary. He is not necessarily trying to prove the deity of Christ here. He's assuming it. All of the people would know being in the form of God, God in absolute essence, God in reality, God never having a beginning, never having an end, eternally existing in the form of God.

And you're going to watch him from that eternal existence in the form of God. We have some help with that in the words of the Lord Jesus when he speaks to his father in John's gospel and he says, glorify thou me with the glory that I had with thee before the world was.