Hi ! Thanks for visiting the blog site once again. As I stated early on in with this blog, I
hope to post regularly and hoped for almost daily posts. Some of the readers of this blog said it was
hard to stay current when posts came in daily.
Still others said they liked having them available new each day. The reality is that life happens and I go
from daily to just a few posts per week.
I hope that doesn’t discourage you and I’ll keep trying to post every
day or two but life may get in the way. LOL
Thanks for hanging in there and I do hope that you are enjoying this
study of Philippians. It’s been
interesting to see that some people are just getting started with James while
others are in the middle of Psalm 23 and then there are people like you who are
waiting patiently for the next Philippians post. It’s kind of cool to realize that there are
people at all sorts of different points in this blog site. I like that.
With the “business” out of the way let’s get started with today’s study. We will be looking at 2 Philippians 2:5-11.
5”Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in the very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but
made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human
likeness. 8“And being found in appearance as
a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death on a cross! 9“Therefore God exalted him to the
highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under
the earth, 11and every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father.”
In the last post we read Paul’s
comments about having the mind or character of Christ in ourselves. Today we will see in detail how Paul
explained that mind or character of Jesus as he saw it. That’s exactly what he says in verse 5.
5”Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus”
This seems like such a simple concept.
Paul simply states that we should think, behave, react and interact in the same
way that Jesus did. As I sit here typing
I’m thinking about some of the many churches and Christians that I have
experienced over my life and then I think about myself and oh my, do we all
fall short of this goal, to have the “attitude” of Christ Jesus! It’s important to remember that it is a goal. I don’t mean that we shouldn’t strive to be
like Jesus for that’s exactly what we are told we should to do every day.
“Whoever claims to live in him must live
as Jesus did.” 1 John 2:6
The reality is that sometimes, maybe I
should say oftentimes we fall short which means we fail. We can tear ourselves up about it, we can
become sullen and depressed about it or we can admit it and move forward,
trying to do a better job of it. Just a
few verses previous to the one listed above, John writes about this very thing.
“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will
not sin. But if anybody does
sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous
One.” 1 John 2:1
God’s knows our heart and He knows we
are going to fall sometimes. Remember,
nothing surprises Him. You will never
hear God say, “Boy, I never saw that coming!”
Sounds silly even thinking of Him saying that doesn’t it? But sometimes that’s exactly what we seem to
be feeling when we stumble and fail. We
are afraid or ashamed to turn our hearts to God in prayer and day “Daddy, I’m
sorry. I messed up.” I believe God wants to hear that kind of word
from us. I know as a father I certainly
appreciated it when one of my kids would come to me after “falling short” to apologize. Of course, the very next moments were
critically important. I needed to hug
them, reassure them and tell them that I loved them and that things were going
to be okay. God can do the same thing
for us when we feel like we have let Him, and ourselves, down.
“If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just
and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
Let’s move on to the next verse in
today’s passage.
6“Who,
being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to
be grasped”
Remember, this is Jesus that Paul is
speaking of. Jesus, the Son of God, the
Lamb of God, the Word “did not consider
equality with God something to be grasped.”
7“but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a
servant, being made in human likeness”
The literal translation of verse 7
is "he emptied himself", he
poured himself out for others. Jesus is our model, our example,
our pattern for how to live life as a servant (not a slave). We are talking about the Son of God who gave up his seat in
heaven to come to earth to live with us and then die for us so that we would
have the chance to be with him for all eternity in heaven. He didn’t come as a ruler, a priest or a
king. Instead he came via a humble
beginning and a quiet life and lived to serve until that servant attitude
brought him to the cross. He came to be
the example for all of us just as he said in Matthew.
“Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants
to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your
slave— just
as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life
as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:26-28
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
8“And being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself
and became obedient to death on a cross!”
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down
one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13
Jesus demonstrated humility but he also
showed us that we need to be obedient.
He not only told us, he showed us.
“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” John 15:10
9“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him
the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father.”
Because of Jesus’
faithfulness to God’s plan he was “exalted”.
Just for fun I looked that word up in the dictionary and its definitions
included: (1) placed at a high or powerful
level, (2) held in high regard and (3) in a state of extreme happiness. All three make perfect sense to me as regards
Jesus state and state of mind after the resurrection. We can’t even imagine what he felt at that
moment. The word exalt relates to the blessings/rewards for Jesus as a response to
his obedience to the Father.
Verses 10 and 11 detail what this exalted position will be
like for Jesus: every knee will bow,
every tongue will confess, and all to the glory of God. Notice that it’s not for Jesus’ own glory but
to glorify, to honor God the Father. It’s
the same for us, I think. When we serve
in obedience God blesses but these blessings have strings. Those strings are this, that the blessings we
receive aren’t to help us sit back and relax as we enjoy all of it but that we
are to get busy and use whatever blessings we receive to help others and bring
glory to our heavenly Father. Does that
make sense to you? In
relationships with others we are to serve, to help others, to give of
ourselves, our time, our funds, our gifts.
If God blesses you
with ample finances He expects that you are going to put them to work for His
kingdom and for His children. If He blesses
you with talents to sing, preach, comfort, encourage, etc. then He expects you
to use them to help others and, oh yes, to bring glory to God. That’s the ultimate goal…to bring glory to
God through whatever we do, give, and say in our daily walks.
I have another favorite verse (I say that a lot, don’t I)
which is found in Matthew.
“In the same way, let your light shine
before others, that they may see your
good deeds and glorify your
Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16
I would like to challenge you to make this a goal for
yourself. Live in a way that “shines”
out to other people and causes them to focus on your God. See, you can bring glory to God just like
Paul suggests. Until next time. God bless.
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