1. "Imagine a classroom where every student thinks they're the teacher. Imagine a team where every player thinks they're the coach. Imagine a solar system where every planet thinks they're the sun. Imagine a kingdom where every subject thinks they're the king. What's the word for that? It's pride."

2. "We all come into this world with self securely on the throne. How many problems in your life come from other people treating you like they're the sovereign and you're the subject? How many problems do you create for other people by treating them like you are the sovereign and they're the subject?"

3. "That infinite distance between what Christ is by nature and what he became to save you is the measure of God's love for you. That infinite distance displays the size of God's infinite love."

4. "The infinite distance between Christ's eternal glory and his incarnate humiliation is not only the measure of God's love for you, it's also the measure of how far your sins have separated you from God. It's a measure of how far Christ had to go to save you because of how far you had gone from him."

5. "You can submit to Christ willingly now, or unwillingly then. You can confess Christ freely now or forcibly then. Christ's lordship is reality right now as we speak, but not everybody sees it. Not everybody acknowledges it, but on that day, everyone will."

6. "Every best-selling book eventually drops off the list. Every A-list actor, after just a couple short decades, will fade into irrelevance. Every politician, once they fail to get reelected, will find that their phone goes stone cold. But Jesus, his name will never dull or diminish."

7. "Christ holds the highest place in heaven. So give him the highest place in your heart."

8. "If you're eager for prominence and recognition, if you're looking for a way up in your church or up in your job or up in other people's opinions, be careful you don't pass Jesus on the way up. He went the other way."

9. "The letter V is the shape of Christ's life, and if you're in Christ, it's the shape of yours. Jesus humbled himself and the Father exalted him. Your job is to lower yourself, just the downward line, again and again and again. God will take care of the upstroke in his own way."

10. "You will grow far more humble by focusing on what Christ has done for you than on what you haven't done for him."

Observation Questions

1. According to Philippians 2:6, what did Christ possess before His incarnation, and what did He choose not to do with His equality with God?

2. In Philippians 2:7, what two actions describe how Christ "emptied himself," and what form did He take on?

3. According to Philippians 2:8, how far did Christ's obedience extend, and what specific type of death does Paul mention?

4. In Philippians 2:9, how did God the Father respond to Christ's humiliation, and what did He bestow upon Him?

5. According to Philippians 2:10-11, what two universal responses does Paul say will occur at the name of Jesus, and what three realms are included in this response?

6. In Philippians 2:5, what does Paul command the Philippians to have among themselves, and whose example does he point them to?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does Paul emphasize that Christ was "in the form of God" and possessed "equality with God" before describing His self-emptying? How does understanding Christ's starting point affect our understanding of His humiliation?

2. The sermon explains that Christ's self-emptying was "a matter of addition, not subtraction." What does this mean theologically, and why is it important that Christ did not give up any divine attributes when He became human?

3. How does the phrase "even death on a cross" in verse 8 intensify Paul's description of Christ's humiliation? What would this specific reference have communicated to the original audience about the depth of Christ's descent?

4. Paul quotes Isaiah 45:23 and applies it directly to Jesus in verses 10-11, even though the Isaiah passage refers to Yahweh, the one true God of Israel. What is Paul claiming about Jesus' identity by making this connection?

5. How do verses 9-11 (Christ's exaltation) function as both a completion of Christ's story and a promise for those who follow His pattern of humility? What is the relationship between the "downstroke" of humility and the "upstroke" of exaltation?

Application Questions

1. The sermon describes pride as viewing yourself as "the star of the show" with everyone else as a "supporting cast." In what specific relationship or area of your life this week are you most tempted to treat others as if they exist to serve your interests? What would it look like to reverse that posture?

2. Christ did not hoard His divine privileges but used them for the benefit of others. What blessing, resource, or advantage do you currently possess that you could intentionally use to serve someone else rather than keeping it for your own comfort or advancement?

3. The sermon states that "to submit to Christ is to write him a blank check for universal unqualified obedience." Is there an area of your life where you are currently negotiating with Christ rather than fully submitting? What would full surrender look like in that specific area?

4. Paul calls believers to "have this mind among yourselves"—meaning humility is to be practiced within the Christian community. What is one concrete way you could lower yourself to serve someone in your church or small group this week, especially in a way that might go unnoticed or unappreciated?

5. The sermon challenges us to examine what we want more than Christ and whether it will ultimately satisfy. What competing desire, ambition, or source of security are you most tempted to pursue instead of wholehearted devotion to Christ? How does the promise of future exaltation with Christ change how you view that competing desire?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Isaiah 45:18-25 — This is the Old Testament passage Paul quotes in Philippians 2:10-11, where Yahweh declares that every knee will bow to Him, demonstrating that Paul identifies Jesus with the one true God of Israel.

2. Mark 10:35-45 — Jesus teaches that greatness in His kingdom comes through servanthood, culminating in His statement that He came "not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

3. John 13:1-17 — Jesus washes His disciples' feet as a concrete demonstration of the humble service described in Philippians 2, then commands His followers to do likewise.

4. 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 — Paul appeals to Christ's poverty-embracing generosity as the model for Christian giving, echoing the theme that Christ became poor so that we might become rich.

5. 1 Peter 2:18-25 — Peter describes Christ's suffering as an example for believers to follow, showing how Christ's humble endurance of injustice provides a pattern for Christian living and a basis for our salvation.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Universal Problem of Pride

II. Christ's Humiliation (Philippians 2:6-8)

III. Christ's Exaltation (Philippians 2:9-11)

IV. Our Imitation of Christ (Philippians 2:5)

V. The Call to Submit, Worship, Obey, and Proclaim Christ

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Detailed Sermon Outline

What's wrong with the world? I don't mean in a superficial sense, like how come it's 2022 and there are no flying cars? Or why does Hollywood only ever make the exact same movie 100 times in a row?

I mean, what's the problem that explains our problems? What's the problem at the root of your problems.

Imagine a classroom where every student thinks they're the teacher. Imagine a team where every player thinks they're the coach. Imagine a solar system where every planet thinks they're the sun. Imagine a kingdom where every subject thinks they're the king. What's the word for that?

It's pride. My problem and your problem is that we're all that student, that player, that planet, that subject. The default setting of all our hearts and minds is to view this world as a kingdom, and yours truly is on the throne.

I'm on top, I'm at the center, I'm the star of this show. Oh, there's a nice supporting cast around me. How convenient.

We all come into this world with self securely on the throne.

How many problems in your life come from other people treating you like they're the sovereign and you're the subject. How many problems do you create for other people by treating them like you are the sovereign and they're the subject? If you know yourself at all, you know you have a problem with pride. But how can you solve the problem of pride? Laws can't do much.

Soft paternalistic nudges by government entities or corporations can't really move that dial. Grassroots activism doesn't yet seem to have taken up pride as a pressing global crisis. Now, the longer you live, the more likely you are to get some hard knocks from the school of life. Those have a tendency to cut you down to size, but there's no guarantee that you come out of any particular hard circumstance with a better more accurate and lower view of yourself. How can you get self off the throne?

This morning we return to the Apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians, as Mark mentioned. We'll consider chapter 2 verses 5 to 11, which you can find on pages 980 and 981 of the Pew Bibles. If you don't have a Bible, please do take that one home with you. The passage we'll consider together this morning is the very heart and soul of this letter. It's the theological core.

And what Paul teaches in these verses is the reactor that powers everything else he says in the whole letter. This passage is an unfathomably powerful source, not just of information, but transformation. This passage proclaims the power that can work in us the change we all desperately need.

This passage takes us to the heart of the letter, the heart of the Bible, the heart of the Christian faith, and the heart of God's purposes for this entire universe and the heart of his purposes for your heart.

Our passage takes its cue from the two verses that come just before. So look first at Philippians 2:3-4.

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. This exhortation to humility is what Paul deepens and extends in verses 5 to 11, where he shows us that humility is at the very center of how God saves us and what he saves us to become. Here's Philippians 2:5-11.

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.

What can take self off the throne?

Christ's humiliation, Christ's exaltation, and our imitation. We'll see Christ's humiliation in verses 6 to 8, Christ's exaltation in verses 9 to 11, and then we'll come back to our imitation in verse 5. Point one, Christ's humiliation. Paul proclaims this voluntary self-emptying, a sinner saving humiliation in verses 6 to 8. But first, First, as we've seen in verse 5, Paul gives us an exhortation, which we'll come back to.

The exhortation is, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. And then the whole rest of the passage, especially verses 6 to 8, tells us what he means by the mind of Christ. What kind of mind is this? It's a humble one. So verse 5 is exhortation.

Verses 6 to 11 are illustration. Because almost the whole passage illustrates Paul's main point, again, we're going to work through verses 6 to 11 and then come back around to verse 5. So, jumping in, starting with verses 6 and 7: 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. That Christ was in the form of God means that before his incarnation, he eternally possessed and eternally radiated God's own glory. Here the word form names God's outward appearance or external manifestation, how he appears to all created sight.

In himself, God is invisible. We can't just open our eyes and see him, and yet he manifests himself to creatures truly and faithfully. Now, only one who possesses God's unique divine nature can manifest God's unique divine glory. So the reality behind Christ existing in the form of God is also the reason why he was and is equal to God. You have to take those two phrases together.

They mutually interpret each other. So verse 6 does not teach that Christ did not yet possess equality with God, and so he had to grasp outward to try to somehow attain it. Instead, he didn't count the equality with God he already had as something to be used for his own advantage. He didn't consider the riches of divinity as something to be hoarded. Consider how small children often treat their Halloween candy or Christmas presents.

Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes fame calls it loot. What do kids do with their Halloween loot? Once they have it, they grasp it, they hoard it, they zealously guard it against any encroaching siblings or perhaps parents. They regard all of it as something to be used for their own advantage. You can't have that.

It's mine.

What blessings are you tempted to exploit for your own benefit at others' expense?

What did Jesus do with the equality with God that he already had as the eternal preexistent God the Son? He did the very opposite of hoarding. Verse 7, he emptied himself. Now, the most important guide to what that phrase means is the next two phrases. The next two phrases tell us what it means that he emptied himself.

They tell us the means and the manner of the divine Son's self-emptying. He emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. So there's no hint here that Jesus gave up any divine attribute by becoming human. That idea is contradictory and also impossible. God's perfections are not like a bouquet of flowers where you could remove one rose and the rest are all just fine.

That is not how God's eternally existent, simple, self-sufficient being works. You can't just take part away and still have the rest intact. But the main point here is the verb emptied himself is a metaphor for how the Son of God willingly embraced a lowly, status. That's what the verb emptied means. He lowered himself, he abased himself, he poured himself out.

It's not that he emptied himself of something, but that he emptied himself himself. And he did this by taking on the form of a servant. You could more literally translate that as slave. The contrast between the glory he always had and the state he entered into is such a big step down that it's like becoming a slave. And of course, it's not just like becoming a slave, but he did this to become a servant of God's people.

He did this to become a servant of those he came to save. Like the passage we read together in Mark 10, the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. So these two verses teach that he who always exists as God began to exist as man. He who always has the form of God began to have the form of a servant. He who is eternally self-existent as God was born as a man.

The incarnation is a matter of addition, not subtraction. He who always is and remains 100% God now began to be also at the same time 100% man.

Consider where Christ started from. Equality with God the Father is something none of us ever has had or will have. It belongs only to God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Christ's eternal existence in the form of God, His eternally glorious equality with God, is something that your mind literally cannot comprehend. You cannot fit it in your brain.

You can't get the whole thing to fit in here. Consider what the Puritan theologian John Owen said, of all our thoughts of God. We speak much of God, can talk of him, his ways, his works, his counsels all the day long. The truth is we know very little of him. Our thoughts, our meditations, our expressions of him are low, many of them unworthy of his glory, none of them reaching his perfections.

And because we can't imagine the infinite height Christ came from to rescue us, we can never measure the gap between what he was and still is and what he became for the sake of our salvation. That infinite distance between what Christ is by nature and what he became to save you is the measure of God's love for you.

That infinite distance distance displays the size of God's infinite love.

If you're not a Christian, we're glad you're here. As Mark mentioned, you're warmly welcome at any of our public services and I'd be delighted to talk to you at this door after the service about anything you'd like. I wonder what Christ's incarnation sounds like to you. Maybe a myth, maybe a logical contradiction, If so, I've got a question for you. If God is the creator of everything, can anything lock him out of his own creation?

If Shakespeare is the author of Hamlet, could anything keep Shakespeare from writing himself into his own play as a character if he wanted?

The poet W.H. Auden marveled at the seeming impossibility of the incarnation. He wrote, We who must die demand a miracle. How could the eternal do a temporal act? The infinite become a finite fact?

Nothing can save us that is possible. We who must die demand a miracle. But Christ didn't stop there. As if becoming incarnate wasn't a staggering enough act of humility, look at verse 8, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Having become incarnate, he became obedient.

Christ's incarnation was not an act of obedience. But the prerequisite for his human obedience. As a human being, Jesus obeyed his heavenly father perfectly all the way to the cross. Paul's stark reference to the cross here pulls in a weight of humiliation and degradation of pain and shame. Crucifixion was not only terribly painful, it was also utterly shameful.

It was illegal for Roman citizens to be crucified and crucifixion was a common punishment for slaves. In fact, the Roman orator Cicero called it the most horrible punishment ever inflicted on slaves. Jesus died as the lowest of of the low.

Why? Why would he do that?

The Son of God became incarnate and became obedient all the way to the cross. Not because he lacked anything but because we lacked everything. He didn't do all this to enrich himself but as we've just sung so that we through his poverty might become rich.

Can you look at the cross and doubt that God loves you?

The infinite distance between Christ's eternal glory and his incarnate humiliation is not only the measure of God's love for you, it's also the measure of how far your sins have separated you from God. It's a measure of how far Christ had to go to save you because of how far you had gone from him. God is eternally glorious and eternally worthy of praise. God is infinitely glorious and worthy of infinite praise, devotion, adoration, and obedience. And God has created this universe as a theater for his glory so that we would glorify him for his generosity toward us and live all of our lives with him at the very center, like the star of our solar system.

God is on the throne of this universe and he commands all of us to give him his rightful place. But we've all dethroned God in our hearts and set ourselves up in his place. Every one of us has committed a cosmic Coup. What we deserve from God in response is rejection, retribution, eternal condemnation that the Bible calls hell. And because he is holy and just, that's how God promises to repay all those who persist in rejecting him.

But because God is also infinitely loving and merciful at the very same time, he sent his son on this rescue mission of incarnate self-emptying. Because Jesus himself loves us, he humbled himself and gave himself to save us. For us he became incarnate, for us he became obedient, for us he obeyed the father all the way to the cross and gave his life in an agonizing death. So Jesus in his death paid the penalty necessary in order to make God's enemies into God's friends. In his death he paid the debt necessary to rescue from eternal torment all those who have sinned against God and to bring them by faith faith out from that condemnation into God's eternal embrace.

As we're going to see in a moment, the story doesn't stop there. Jesus didn't stay dead. The arc of his life plunged straight down to the lowest possible point. But in the resurrection, God reversed the trend. And he exalted him.

He ascended into heaven and God the Father installed God the Son in power and glory at his right hand. As the ruler of the whole universe. If you've never turned from sin and trusted in Christ, turn from self rule to God's rule. Turn from resisting him to embracing him. Turn from trying to justify yourself before him by what you do and accept this free gift of a salvation that you could never earn and never possibly hope to deserve.

If you're not a believer in Jesus, what's your instinctive reaction to this humiliation of Christ? Is it attraction? Is it repulsion? Maybe a mix of both?

Here's a question for you: In what other religion does God climb down off his own throne to come die for sinners?

What would the world look like if everyone in it acted this way?

If Christ came down from heaven to the cross for you, what do you have to come down from in order to accept this offer of salvation? If he humbled himself to serve you, Why wouldn't you spend your life humbling yourself to serve others? As Charles Spurgeon put it so well, here in the immeasurable distance between the heaven of His glory and the shame of His death is room for your gratitude. What can take self off the throne? Christ's humiliation.

But the story doesn't end there. Point two, Christ's exaltation. Christ's exaltation.

In verses 9 to 11, Paul proclaims Christ's exaltation and its consequences for every person on the planet. What happened after Christ died? How did God the Father respond? To his son's self-sacrificial service. Paul tells us, starting with verse 9, therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.

When Paul says that God highly exalted Jesus, he means that God the Father raised him from the dead and that Jesus is ascended into heaven where he sits at God's right hand in power and authority. From that time, the resurrected, glorified, still human Jesus began to occupy the throne of the universe. As God, Jesus always was and is in charge. But after his death and resurrection, he began to newly exert that universal rule as a human being. That's why he says after his resurrection at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him.

Given to me. And this is why Paul says that God the Father gave him the name that is above every name. If it's the name that's above every name, how could it really be given? How could he never not have had it? Well, that name is God's own personal proper name, Yahweh, which was represented in the Greek Old Testament as Kurios, Lord.

As God, Jesus always possessed this name. And the unique divine nature that it points to. But as man, he now began to exercise the authority, to wield the rights, to claim the due that this name is owed. That's why Paul says it was given to him. So when Christ sat down at God's right hand in heaven, he received as man what he always had as God, alone among human beings, Jesus has the divine name that is above every name, now and forever.

How high can any human name rise? And how long can that rise last?

Every best-selling book eventually drops off the list. Every A-list actor, after just a couple short decades, will fade into irrelevance. Every politician, once they fail to get reelected, will find that their phone goes stone cold.

But Jesus, his name will never dull or diminish. His name will never be forgotten. Eternity itself will only cause his name to resound louder and wider.

Following on verse 9, in verses 10 and 11, Paul names two purposes for which the Father exalted Christ. 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. So we see in these verses that God had two goals in mind in raising Jesus from the dead. And raising him all the way up to his right hand in heaven. The first goal, verse 10, tells us is that everyone would submit to Jesus.

In our culture today, submit is a bad word. It's seen as inherently threatening to someone's dignity and worth or even threatening to their very humanity. If authority is inherently abusive, then submission is inherently threatening. But neither of those is true. Even this fallen world provides abundant examples of how submit is a better word than that.

If you persevere through reading a classic work of literature day after day, week after week until you finally start to enjoy it, what's going on? You're submitting your attention, your thoughts, your effort to something that you have a vague sense is good or better, it eventually comes to actually seem that way. If you stand silent before a breathtaking view from a mountaintop, what are you doing? You're submitting your attention and all your senses to what's right there before you. If you have the privilege and the opportunity of doing work with someone who's an absolute expert in their field and you just do whatever they tell you to try to learn from them, What are you doing?

You're submitting your judgment to their mastery. Submitting to someone or something that's worthy is not threatening; it's beautifying and liberating and transforming. In light of the exaltation of Christ, submit is not a bad word and it's not even just a better word. It's the best word. To submit to Christ is to gladly own his lordship.

It's to recognize that he is supreme over everyone and everyone includes you. To submit to Christ is to write him a blank check for universal unqualified obedience. You will do whatever he says. To submit to Christ is to confess that he knows best, that he does best, and that what he commands is best. There's nothing better for you in this life and the next than to submit yourself completely to Christ?

When Paul says in heaven and on earth and under the earth, he's saying that all rational beings, both angelic and human, will come to acknowledge Christ's supremacy. When he says under the earth, he simply means those who are currently dead. As well as those who are currently alive.

Then verse 11 tells us the second goal of Christ's exaltation. Look at verse 11, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So this second purpose is that all would come to publicly own and acknowledge who Christ is, that all would come to publicly declare that Jesus is the supreme ruler of the universe, and that all would come to confess to confess in doing so that Jesus Christ is Lord. When you do that, if you say that and mean it from the depth of your mind and heart, what you're doing is not merely declaring some abstract truth, but you're binding yourself to that truth. You're committing yourself to it.

To confess that Christ is Lord is to confess that he is your Lord. And that is the fundamental divide between following him and not, between being a Christian and not. Confessing him as Lord, meaning it and following through. That's the path of Christianity. Nothing else that goes by the name of Christianity counts.

One important detail of both verses is this word every. So in verse 10, every knee should bow. In verse 11, every tongue confess. Now, of course, in this present age, not everyone acknowledges that Jesus is Lord. In this room, not everyone acknowledges that Jesus is Lord.

But Paul is saying that one day, everyone will.

Does that mean that every person will be saved and hell will be empty? Not at all. Just a few verses before this, back in chapter 1, verse 28, Paul writes that believers' endurance in the face of those who oppose knows the gospel is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God. Both the destruction and the salvation are future. It points to what's coming.

When believers endure in the present, it's a preview of the end, as we saw a few weeks ago. So what's Paul saying in verses 10 and 11? He's saying that one way or another, sooner or later, God will knock you off your throne.

Right now, for just a little while, you can choose the manner of that dethroning. But a time will come, either when you die or when Christ comes back, whichever comes first, when you will no longer have a choice. You can submit to Christ willingly now, or unwillingly then. You can confess Christ freely now or forcibly then. Paul is saying that while those who confess Christ's lordship now may be a minority, on the last day it will be unanimous.

Christ's lordship is reality right now as we speak, but not everybody sees it. Not everybody acknowledges it, but on that day, everyone will. This most fundamental of disagreements will disappear. The cacophony of clashing opinions that constantly surrounds us will be silenced by the sight of Christ.

On that day, acknowledging Christ will not do any eternal good for those who refuse to acknowledge him now. When Christ comes back, all will see him as he is, but that sight will not save all. So consider Christ's claims. Study him. Come to know him.

Ask what you are holding out against him. What objection do you have to him? And is it valid? What value are you cherishing instead of him? And is it worth it?

What do you want more than him and will that satisfy you? What are you trusting in instead of him? And when that day comes, will it protect you?

Submit to him now. Come to him now. He is holding out his arms to you, saying, this all was for you and I will give you everything in the age. To come. So what should you do now?

First of all, submit to Christ. Declare unconditional loyalty to him. Surrender your life to him. Grant him the throne of your heart. What should you do now?

Worship Christ. Delight to set him higher in your heart than any earthly good. That's the essence of worship. Being delighted to put him first in your thoughts, your affections, your priorities, your words, everything you do, that's worship. Delight to do whatever will show off how much more worthy of full devotion Christ is than any competitor.

Treat every Sunday when we gather as a dress rehearsal for the final day and as a refresher course in the worship that you should be offering Christ throughout your working week. What should you do now? Obey Christ. Obey every earthly authority for his sake. And so far as they do not contradict him.

If any earthly authority commands you to do something Christ forbids or forbids you to do something Christ commands, obey Christ no matter the cost. As one theologian put it recently, describing how strange Christianity was when it first showed up in the Roman world, he said, that is why the early Christian movement was so so threatening and so simply baffling to the Roman authorities. It was not revolutionary in the sense that it was trying to change the government. Its challenge was more serious. It was the claim to hold any and every government to account.

What should you do now? Tell others about Christ. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, so let's tell them. Let's go invite others to do so now. Let's seek to persuade them to embrace Christ and plead with them to choose Christ instead of whatever it is they're loving and serving more.

Verses 9 through 11 of this passage are a standing charter for cross-cultural missions. One day, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess of every person from every nation on this planet. So let's go to them and tell them about him. What should you do now? As Paul will say later in this letter, be anxious for nothing because your Savior is Lord of all.

Your destiny and the destiny of this entire universe are safe in his hands. What better cure for anxiety could there be? His present glory guarantees your future glory.

In verse 11, Paul says that if you do all this, if you live out a confession of the lordship of Christ, that will all ultimately be to the glory of God the Father. The Father and the Son are one in essence, one in nature, one in being. Together with the Holy Spirit, they are one God. There is no competition for glory between them. God declares in Isaiah 42:8, I am the Lord, that is my name.

My glory I give to no other. Nor my praise to carved idols. And in the last verse of the passage that Nika read earlier, Isaiah 45:23, the Lord says, By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance. Now Paul lifts those two phrases cleanly out of that passage. And he applies them both to Jesus.

First phrase in verse 10, second in verse 11. So if you said to Paul, Hey, wait a minute, what are you doing with that Old Testament passage? Don't you know that the Isaiah passage says, To me every knee shall bow? That's the one true God of Israel. Or if you said to Paul, Paul, the Lord says, My glory I will not give to another.

How can you say Jesus gets that glory? Paul would simply say, exactly, right. That's the point. This Jesus of Nazareth who humbled himself and was obedient to the cross and was exalted at God's right hand, he is, together with the Father and the Spirit, this world's maker, this world's true Lord. God the Father himself has borne witness to that by sitting him.

At his right hand. To give the glory of confession and worship to Jesus is to agree with God the Father about who he is and what he's done. To confess that Christ is Lord is to see him as he is. To confess that Christ is Lord is to bring your heart into alignment with heaven. What can knock self off the throne?

Witnessing embracing, and joyfully confessing the exaltation of Christ.

Christ holds the highest place in heaven. So give him the highest place in your heart. And Paul tells us this whole glorious narrative of Christ's work on our behalf so that we would not only confess it, but copy it. Which brings us to our third point. Our imitation.

Point three, our imitation. Now we come back to verse 5.

This is what the whole passage is driving toward.

What can knock self off the throne? Our imitation of Christ's humiliation. Our tracing the same shape in our lives. That Christ carved out in his. Now, it's crucial to keep in mind the order and how this happens.

We do not work our way back to God by imitating Christ. First, we receive this salvation as a free gift. First, we're united to Christ by faith. First, we embrace all that he's done for us. And then, by the power of his grace and his Spirit working within us, we begin imperfectly, but really, to imitate him.

The order is crucial, but the reality that comes, what it means to be a Christian, really is to walk as Jesus walked. It really is to follow in his steps, as 1 Peter chapter 2 says, about the cross. He suffered for us, leaving an example. So that you would follow in his steps. So Paul says in verse 5, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.

There's a translation issue here we should briefly address. You'll see at the bottom of the page that the ESV provides a footnote with another option. Instead of the phrase, which is yours in Christ Jesus, it could be read, which was also in Christ Jesus. The reason for these multiple options is just that the Greek phrase has no verb, which happens more often in Greek than it does in English, so the verse can be read either way. Both statements are theologically true, both statements fit well with what Paul's doing in Philippians.

I think the version in the footnote's probably more likely because Paul goes on to illustrate exactly what he means by this mind in the following verses. He illustrates the mind of Christ by what Christ did for us, the mind he showed in becoming incarnate and obedient. So the mind of Christ is self-forgetting, self-emptying, self-giving humility. Some people think humility is simply having appropriately lowly thoughts about yourself. That's a key ingredient in humility but it isn't the whole meal.

Humility consists not merely in lowly thoughts about yourself but lowly actions toward others. Humility is acting in such a way that you're putting someone else before yourself. Humility is pursuing someone else's good at the cost of your comfort. One example of humility almost by definition is the work of being a mother. Moms constantly sacrifice their own preferences, desires, priorities, rest, sleep, and general well-being so that their kids can flourish.

Their kids don't notice or care about one out of a thousand sacrifices their moms make for them. They have no idea they don't even notice. And sadly, in our culture today, motherhood is held in sadly low esteem. Especially, moms who are full-time at home are considered by many to be traitors to their sex. According to modern feminists, a stay-at-home mom anywhere is a threat to women's achievements everywhere.

But however little other people see, and however little our culture celebrates motherhood, God sees, and God celebrates. God knows, God cares, God sees that sacrificial service done in secret, and God God will reward it. And you could say something similar for all sorts of ways that people in their natural families are called upon to serve each other. It could be caring for aging parents or raising children who have special needs or attending to a wife and mother who herself is ill. So much of that work is unseen and unsung, but God sees and God sings.

In this local church, There are so many ways that you all humbly serve each other and it's just a joy to see as a pastor, I could make a list that's so long. Here's just a couple of items that come right to the front of my mind. Last Sunday, Caleb Murrell and Nathaniel MacArthur shoveling off the parking lot so we could all park at church and walk in. Or Chris Herndon keeping our whole block safe in ice and snow. Or members moving furniture for each other or helping each other move into new housing all day Saturday.

So many Saturdays just done joyfully and freely We have a constant ministry of moving in this church and you all do it so well. Or deacons arranging rides and meals for college students. The list goes on and on. By God's grace, this church is just chock full of examples of joyful, humble, service. Praise God for it.

Paul's instruction for all of us in this verse is simple: Look down. Look for a way off the throne of your your own life. Look for a way to set someone else above you in your concerns and cares and your priorities and ambitions. If you're looking for a way to serve, look down. If you're looking for a way to change, look down.

If you're looking for a way to grow, look down. No matter how lowly the task you embrace, no matter how far you sink beneath what you think you deserve, you'll find Jesus got there first and he went further. If you're eager for prominence and recognition, if you're looking for a way up in your church or up in your job or up in other people's opinions, be careful you don't pass Jesus on the way up. He went the other way.

When our three school-aged kids have each learned handwriting, they've started with these little booklets where you trace the letter and it shows you which way to start and which way to draw the letter. So if you're doing a P, you start up here and you go down, you go back to the same spot and do the little lump. The letter V is pretty easy to draw. You just go down and then up.

That letter V is the shape of Christ's life, and if you're in Christ, it's the shape of yours.

Jesus humbled himself and the Father exalted him. And as Jesus says again and again in the Gospels, whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. So actually drawing the shape of the Christian life is even easier than drawing a V. All you have to do is the down stroke. God will take care of the up stroke in his own way. And in His good time.

Your job is to lower yourself, just the downward line, again and again and again, like you're tracing it on the sheet of paper to teach you how to do it, just down.

That's how also verses 9 to 11 fit into this passage. Christ drew the downstroke. God the Father drew the upstroke. We're all called to draw the downstroke and God the Father will draw the upstroke. Verses 9 to 11 guarantee that those who humble themselves like Christ did will be exalted like he was.

These verses promise that those who willingly endure humiliation for Christ will receive glory from Christ. As Paul confesses later in Philippians in chapter three, verses 20 and 21, but our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that he has, even to subject all things to himself. There's nothing moderate about this passage's demand or its promise. The Christian life is not a happy medium between high high and low. It is going all the way down and trusting that God will take you all the way up.

The humility we are called to is limitless and so is the promised glory. The lowness and the highness of the Christian life are both mind bogglingly vast. Christian humility. And the promise of glory are measured by the limitless lowness and highness of Christ himself. Now humility does not mean that you never hold anyone to account for ways they've wronged you.

That is a false implication of humility. In fact, in order to hold someone to account for ways they've wronged you, you have to be humble. You have to desire to serve that person in a way they may not appreciate. You have to be willing that even after the ways they've mistreated you, they might mistreat you still further by thinking worse of you. Accountability requires humility.

It's not the enemy of it. So we are called to endure humiliation. But part of that endurance in the right way and shape and time is holding others to account in whatever ways are appropriate and necessary. So how can you cultivate humility? Paul tells us to have the mind of Christ.

How can that mind of Christ be formed in you? Let's first think individually and then corporately.

Individually, cultivate humility by doing what Christ does in this passage and, excuse me, what Paul does in this passage. Do what Paul does in this passage and contemplate Christ. Contemplate the immeasurable greatness of Christ, the surpassing condescension of Christ, and the boundless love of Christ. Contemplate the limits of your understanding, the lacks in your character, and the tremendous extent of your dependence on others and debts to others. But be sure to spend far more time gazing outward at Christ than gazing inward at your own faults and lags.

You will grow far more humble by focusing on what Christ has done for you than on what you haven't done for him. And corporately, consider all the ways in which our gatherings are an effort to humble ourselves before the Lord, and train ourselves to humbly serve each other. There's a sense in which everything we're doing as a church when we come together is an effort to trace that downward arrow. We speak and hear and listen to God's words. We offer the submission of attentive silence before God's word.

We try to preach sermons that aim to expose and convict of sin, to bring us all lower in our own eyes in light of God's perfect standard. We pray prayers of praise like David did that simply magnify God for his greatness and help lift our minds up higher to those infinite heights. We pray prayers of confession that acknowledge how far short we fall. We pray prayers of intercession that demonstrate our dependence, that show God, that show each other, that remind ourselves that in our own strength, we can't do any of the things God calls us to do. And yet God is sufficient to equip us and enable us.

And of course, we sing songs that joyfully celebrate Christ's supremacy. As we'll soon sing, Hark those bursts of acclamation. Hark those loud triumphant chords. Jesus takes the highest station. Oh, what joy the sight affords.

What can knock self off the throne? Adopting the mindset of Christ, embracing his attitude of self-forgetful, self-giving. Walk the path he walked. Follow the trail that his incarnation blazed for you. So you have a choice.

Either get yourself off the throne now or someday soon. God will take you off. But the problem is, even once you've submitted to Christ and joyfully declared that he is Lord, there's a too large part of your heart wants to keep climbing back up, getting back on that throne. So what can you do? Remember the height Christ came from and the depth he willingly descended to.

In order to save you. Remember the glory God gave him and the glory he commands you to give him. Remember that one day everyone will acknowledge him. The only questions are when and how. Look ye, saying, 'Society is glorious.

See the man of sorrows now. From the fight returned victorious, every knee to Him shall bow. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we praise you for the limitless love you've poured out on us in sending Christ to save us.

We pray that we would all accept and hold fast to this saving gift of your Son. We pray that in our own lives we would trace that downward path of humbling ourselves to glorify youy and serve others. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.