O, To Be Like Jesus!

Pastor Milton is supposed to be the guy introducing our guest speaker this morning. Unfortunately, he, he got really sick over the week. He, he, had some a flu bug and a few nights ago, he ended up dehydrating to the point in which he experienced delusion and he had to go to the hospital and Get IV and get some liquids pumped into his system, and fortunately he's doing much better right now. he's, he's weak.

He's not going to be with us in worship this morning, and I know that that his heart aches to be with us, but he cannot be simply because he's trying to recover. So please pray for him. He, he was going to introduce Pastor Elliott. He knows Pastor Elliott a little bit better than I do.

I just met him today for the first time, so if my introduction seems not as personal as it should, forgive me, and you understand why. Pastor Mike Berry is over there at Riverside Reformed Baptist Church. I knew that. He's at Reformed Baptist Church ministering to them this morning, preaching on the topic of mercy.

And so, Pastor Elliott is gonna be speaking with us. Let me read for you, just a short paragraph here that would serve as an introduction. It says that Robert was born and raised in Scotland, so you'll have to get used to that accent. being raised in a Christian home and therefore always being aware of the gospel, it is difficult for him to know exactly when the Lord changed.

the mere knowledge of the truth into a genuine heart embracing of Christ as Savior. Yet by his mid-teens, it seems there was a work of grace in his life. He studied for the Christian ministry in Northern Ireland, during which time he married Janice. They now have three daughters, the oldest of whom married recently.

Before coming to serve the Lord in Riverside in 1995 at the Reformed Baptist Church, He was an assistant pastor in Glasgow for 3 years and then he pastored in a village just south of Glasgow for about 5 years. And this is the part I really want you to hear. He loves to play and watch soccer, and in my conversation with him this morning, he also loves rugby as well. So he loves those sports, and he never feels more manly.

Get this, this is how he gets in tune with his manhood. It says he never feels more manly than when he is wearing his kilt. And so, Pastor Elliott, we are very pleased to have you ministering to us this morning. If we could give him a cornerstone welcome.

Well, thank you so much, Carlos. that was a very kind welcome and it's great to be here. I'm delighted to have the opportunity to open up God's word this morning here at Cornerstone. we, we, we did pass your building every Sunday for years, but now we go to 91 now that the new exits open or the new ramps open.

so we're not passing as often, but for years and years and years we've passed by the building here and we're aware of God's work here. We've known Pastor Mike for a number of years, for a long time, and we appreciate him, and it's been a joy to get to know Pastor Milton a little bit as well. And I'm really sad that he's not here today. That would have been wonderful.

To have an opportunity to fellowship with him. I bring you the greetings of the church from just across the road. It's a nice thing that on the east side of Riverside there's a couple of churches, and there may even be more, but certainly you folks here and as across there where the gospel is preached and where the word of God is opened up on a regular basis. It gives you some encouragement that maybe the Lord has a purpose for the east side of Riverside.

It's known throughout the city for being where the gangs are and where it's, a wee bit more rough than other parts of the city, but wouldn't it be awesome if the Lord would use our churches to bring a revival of interest in the things of God and in the person of Jesus Christ. So it's a joy to be with you today, and I'd like to ask you if you would to turn in your Bibles to Philippians, the book of Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2 and verse 1, we'll begin to read at verse 1.

The text that I'm actually going to preach on this morning will be verses 5 through 8, so we're not going to consider the whole passage.

We just don't have time, but what we will do is look at verses 5 through 8. But we're reading for the sake of context the 1st 8 verses of Philippians chapter 2. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, If any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit.

For in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out, not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.

But made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant. And coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Going to leave the reading there, in many ways, it's almost jarring to do that because the whole passage flows from even the point where we've ceased, but that's our text for today.

Let's pray once again. Our gracious God, we have sung praises to your name, and we rejoice that we are in your presence. It is an awesome thing to have your world opened before us and to know that by the power of your spirit, it is your intention to speak to your church, to encourage your people, to show more of yourself, to reveal more of yourself and of your person and of your heart, even to those who know and love you. And Lord, we ask today that you would come and minister to us.

May it be, Lord, that rather than this congregation seeing a preacher, that instead, Lord, they would see Jesus and that there would, with the eyes of faith be a wonderful enlivening of the understanding of who he is. We ask it all for Christ's sake. Amen. It's always very difficult when you go to visit a congregation.

To know what to preach. It's one thing when you're at your own church, the people, what's going on, and in our church we just go through books consecutively, so it's fairly straightforward. But when you're coming to preach, you're very conscious that there's that sense in which there's that barrier of, well, what's going on in your lives and how can we minister the word. And since I've never had the experience of God whispering in my ear and telling me this is what I want you to preach, typically what I would seek to do is point God's people to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ because I know that those who love Christ love that more than anything, and those who don't love Christ benefit from that more than they benefit from any other sermon.

When they're able to know more of the person and work of the Son of God, and that's what we've read this morning, we've read a passage, especially verses 5 through 8, that tells us a lot about the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, in the original Greek. This section, verses 5 through 8, was written more as a hymn than it appears in our English translations. In the original Greek, there was a sense in which there was more of a poetic flow in verses 5 through 8.

It doesn't really come across too much in our English, but certainly this was a hymn of praise. It was a song, if you like, a praise song that was sung, even perhaps by the early church. We have before us today a crystal Christological diamond. We've got a text that tells us about the Son of God, and there's precious truths in it that sparkle and cause this to be one of the brightest passages in scripture that relate to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

It's interesting, however, that the context. is not some big theological diatribe for the seminary student or for the professors at the university or for pastors only. The context in which this presentation of Jesus is given to the church is in the flow of Paul seeking to exhort the Christians in the church to be of one mind, to be united in their thought. In particular, there were two women at the church at Philippi who Having a little squabble.

In fact, it was more than a little squabble. It had got to the point that the news of it had got back to Paul, and Paul, in large measure, not exclusively, but in large measure, is writing this book to encourage the saints to keep going on, but also to deal with the problem between these two women, because he knows that all it takes is a couple of people to be disaffected with one another, who, who don't love one. Another to perhaps start yapping and talking and slandering, and before it, a poison spreads in the church.

And so he's writing and at the beginning of verse chapter 2, he's saying, look, if there's any reality of comfort in the gospel, be of the same mind, and he's pleading for unity within the church.

And then, and this is what brings us to our text, then he says, because Think of Jesus. Here's the great illustration, here's the great example. Here is the one that is the great picture of what every Christian who loves Christ wants to be like. And that's what he does there in verse 5.

He starts by saying, look, just be like Jesus. Well, what was Jesus like? And that's what he begins to develop here in our passage. And that's what I'd like us to look at.

And we notice. that as the apostle begins to teach us about the Lord Jesus for this practical purpose of being those who love the saints and being united with the people of God, he tells us that this person, Jesus Christ is one who existed in the form of God. He gives us this wonderful statement in chapter 2, verse 6 in particular, where he says, who, being in the form of God. The word for form, it causes many of us to think of size and shape, doesn't it?

If we hear about the form of something, we think instantly, most of us about the size of something or the shape of something. It's form in that sense. In days gone by, not so much nowadays, but in days gone by, most houses had what they called forums in the attic, and they were brought down. At the time, thank you so much, they were brought down at the time of when dressmaking would begin.

Basically today we would call it a mannequin. It would be this headless, armless, legless torso on a little stick, and the ladies would get the husband to bring it out of the attic. And he would bring it down and they would start to make dresses and they would use it as a form to get the size, the shape. However, there's another way to use that word forum.

It's used to denote nature or essence, not mere outward shape, but the reality, the total sum of a person. We use this word in this sense every day. For example, just now, Tiger Woods is playing so well at golf that many people are saying he's in good form. Isn't that the case?

What do we mean? We mean that men I we mean that physically we mean that emotionally every time he, as it were, takes a driver or takes a putter, it seems that he's got it all together. He's got his act together. He's got his whole being physical, emotional, mental, his focus is exactly where it should be, and he's winning and again and again his form is good.

So whenever we read that Jesus was in the form of God, It simply means that his nature, his person, not his shape or his size, but his person. Indeed, is divine. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3 declares the sun is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being. He is the exact image of God.

He is the exact manifestation of God. This expression that He, Jesus, was in the form of God, it presents us with the incredible truth that before the incarnation, the second person of the Trinity was the same essence as the Father. He possessed all the divine attributes. One of the old confessions of faith of the Christian church declares the Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God is the brightness of the Father's glory.

He is of one substance and equal with Him who made the world. So who is it that the apostle is presenting to the church at Philippi? It is none other than the one who is God. The second member of the Godhead has always been coexistent and always been coequal with the Father and with the Spirit.

He has never existed apart from them. He has never been apart from them. They are eternally linked the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The three persons are one in substance and one in essence.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. That God's Son is of the same essence as the Father, that He is, He is the form of God, it means that He has all the necessary properties and characteristics and qualities that make Him God. Just as much as the Father is divine, so the Son is divine.

Just as much as the Father is eternal, so the Son is eternal, the Father is holy, so is the Son, the Father is all knowing, so is the Son, the Father is all powerful, so is the Son, and we could go on anything that makes God God. Jesus has Whatever makes God God is the essence of God and the sun has all that makes God God. That's what that little text is saying. He indeed was in the form of God.

This is who the person of Jesus Christ is, people. We're not presenting a good man. This church here in the Reformed Baptist Church across the road, doesn't preach of a good preacher or or teach of a good teacher or present a great leader. Jesus is not a good man.

He's not a mighty prophet. He is the eternal God. He is the mighty God, as Colossians 1:15 says, He is the image of the invisible God. He's the firstborn of all creation, for by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible.

Whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through Him and for Him, and He is before all things and in Him all things consist. And so as Paul is pleading with the church at Philippines, saying, look, would you put away your petty, sinful, selfish differences and live at peace with one another. He gets to that by saying, because your savior is God. But then he points out that this one who is God.

is also one who is humble. In verse 6 he goes on to say, who, being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Now first, this little statement, and I'm using the new King James Version and some other versions translated slightly differently, and we'll get to that in a minute, because some of them are actually better than the translation I have, but this looks at face value, as if it is just a straightforward expression of Christ's deity. What is it saying?

It appears to be saying that when the Lord Jesus considered his own person and character, he considered that he wasn't stealing anything from the Father to see Himself as equal to the Father. It was no insult. It was no detracting from the glory and the sovereignty of the Father when the Son, as it were, stood up and said, Whoever has seen me has seen the Father, when Jesus made it clear that if you've heard my words, you've heard the Father's words. Essentially saying I'm equal with the Father, that there was no robbery going on, it wasn't that Jesus was doing any wrong to the reputation of the Father by comparing himself.

Let me use Tiger Woods again, if I was to compare myself as a golfer to Tiger Woods, and you were to believe it, then I would actually be demeaning the reputation of Tiger Woods. You'd be foolish to believe it, but the reality is I would be, I would be comparing myself with somebody who really there's no comparison. I cannot lace the guy's golf shoes, let alone compete and be compared to him. And so there's a sense in which this verse certainly is implying that when Jesus claimed deity, when he claimed that he was equal with the same as, as good as the Father, that his words, his works all came from the Father and perfectly reflected the Father and were in fact the works of the Father in and through Him, when he claimed that there was no sense in which he was demeaning the Father.

He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. But we did say that there's more to this little statement than initially meets the eye. There is another way in which it might be developed and legitimately understood, you see, the word haragmos in the Greek translated here robbery is what they call in the passive tense, which means that the stress is not on his position, equality with the father, but rather his attitude to that position. Hence some translations will say something like, who being in the very nature of God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped at.

And that is a very helpful. translation. In this way of looking at the text, the meaning would be more that the son has always been equal with the Father. He has always been united to the Father in the Godhead.

However, while he was so innately and essentially God, while he has always been fit to be worshiped and adored, his lofty position and the enjoyment of the pleasures that that brought were not things that he wouldn't let go of. His, his legitimate right to be honored, his legitimate place of being adored and worshiped and recognized for who he is, was not something that he insisted on, that he always had to have, that he could never let go of. William Hendrickson translates this.

He did not count his existence in a manner equal to God, something to cling to.

That is this dignified, exalted position, this sitting and reigning from the Father's right hand, this place of honor and adoration that he enjoyed, although truly his, although rightfully his, it was not something that at all costs he could not let slip through his grasp. He, he must hold it. No, that was not the case. If the Son of God remained exalted in the heavens.

It wouldn't have been selfish of him. It was his right We've already seen that he was in the form of God. He was the very essence of God. He is God, always has been God.

It was his right to stay at his Father's right hand. It was his right to every day, all day, be worshiped by the angels and praised by the archangel. It was his right, and no one in the universe had any rights that were being violated because Jesus was exalted where he belonged. For him to give up this.

to assist those who had been his enemies. would be an unspeakable act of grace. It would have been beyond anything expected of him. It would have been beyond anything required.

He was not seated. In majesty and glory for any reason other than because he was the eternal God, he hadn't been given a place of privilege that really he didn't deserve, but the Father gave it to him, so that there could be some hierarchy or order in heaven, no. It wasn't that the father decided that the son deserves this so that there could be some, hereditary passing on of the Father's glory to the Son, nothing like that, nothing like that. It was his by right.

The eternal Son of God rightfully sat at the Father's right hand, and yet he did not hold it as one unwilling to let it go. We've all seen children play and children are often just expressions of what we all are, but we've as adults learned to cover it up a little bit, haven't we? We learn to cloak who we really are and put on a face, and even though inside we realize, boy, I'm just like that little kid there, and all their selfishness, and all their brazenness, that's just like me, although I'm a better hypocrite than he.

We've all, we've all seen that, for example, you take your kids to someone's house and isn't it true, boys and girls, you go to someone's house and they've always got better toys than you have, isn't that the case?

No matter what you've got in your own house, someone else has always got better toys than you, at least you think that. We've seen the kids playing with their friends's toys and it's time to go and then a big embarrassing scene erupts as mum goes right, time to go Charlie and wee Charlie won't let go of the toy that he's supposed to be borrowing. And then it's an awkward moment as he says, can I have this, I want this, and the other kid's standing going, no, mm, don't let my toy get taken from me and there's this awkward little moment where Mum goes, no, Charlie, that's Johnny's toy, you need to leave it here, you can play with it next time you come.

No.

Yeah, and you've seen it, and it doesn't even belong to little Charlie, but he holds it like it's like it's his own, like it's the most precious item in the world. He holds onto it. It's not even his, and therein is a picture of human nature, right, as all. We're selfish Especially if something is our right, if, if we own something, if it's, if it's mine, who do you think you are taking it from me?

And then sometimes even if it's not mine, hey, I would like to have that, and I'll do what I can here to position myself to make sure that I get this as opposed to you, isn't that who we are? We're selfish. We see a rotten nature, Adam's nature, that needs to be sanctified, needs to be mortified first. But what about Jesus?

It was his right. That he should sit at the Father's right hand. Wasn't a privilege given to him, wasn't some great opportunity that he was taking, it was his right, and yet that which was his right, he willingly gave up. And that's what we move on to in verse 7, because as we see this picture of Jesus who is God, who, who, who is not clinging to that which belongs to Him, what is it that he practically and actually does then in verse 7 he empties himself.

Look at verse 7, he made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant. And coming in the likeness of men. Here is the attitude he had. He was willing to let go.

His attitude became an action. His heart of humility became evident. It wasn't something that was deep and hidden, and nobody could identify it. It was something that became obvious and plain.

He was not forced into reincarnation. The Father did not insist on it or demand it. It was, it was not something that he didn't have a choice in that he didn't have a say in. No, the spirit of the Son of God is manifested here to us, as in verse 7 we read that he made himself of no reputation.

Taking the form of a bond servant. Just see in your mind's eye a pen full of sheep in ancient Israel. Some 20 young rams, let's see, and they're all fit and they're all healthy. The Jewish shepherd is looking for a beast that he could take to Jerusalem and hand over to the priests so that they might sacrifice it for him and for his family.

And so the shepherd is looking around and he sees a young strong yearling, and he pulls it from the fold and he carries it off to Jerusalem to be offered up to God. That young ram has no part to play other than being a passive victim. It doesn't select itself. It doesn't even agree with the shepherd.

Whether or not it does agree in its own little sheep mind, it doesn't matter. It's of no consequence. It is a passive victim that is taken. But see how verse 7 in Philippians chapter 2 begins.

He made himself. of no reputation. As many translations show, this means he emptied himself. In other words, his humiliation, his setting aside of divine glory, it was a voluntary act.

He was not picked on. He was not coerced. It was not something that was done to him. He was not a victim of the Father who made him of no reputation.

Instead, he made himself of no reputation. He whose right it was to sit at the Father's right hand forever and ever, he willingly made himself of no reputation. Christ coming to this world meant that he let go of many rights. He didn't become any less God.

Not in any way. In the person of the Son of God, the person of Jesus Christ, there are two natures. And one is fully God and the other fully man. He wasn't an artificial man, he wasn't a superman, he wasn't a a fake man, he was a real man, he wasn't artificial god, he wasn't pretend God.

He was really God. So he did not let go of any deity. But he made himself of no reputation, to show that this voluntary humiliation that he had taken to himself, it did not entail him losing or leaving anything that he was in himself, but it was his privilege, it was his position and his rights that he let go of. One old commentator, CH Lensky comments he could not do without his deity in his state of humiliation.

Even in the midst of his death, he had to be mighty God in order that by his death, he would conquer death. He was always, always God. But what he did give up was his heavenly glory. He set that aside for a time.

Now we don't have heavenly glory, so we don't understand fully what it is to set, set it aside. He gave up heavenly glory, he says to his father in John 17 5 as he's praying that high priestly prayer, he says, oh Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had before the world was. Before the world ever was, the sun was arrayed in majestic glory. The angels saw it and worshiped him.

But in order to come To be our Savior, he set aside that glory. He veiled that glory. He did not say, No, I am glorious, and people need to see it every moment, every day. They need to know who I am.

They need to appreciate who I am. No, instead he set aside his right to be recognized as the glorious eternal God. He gave up even independent authority, and this blows our minds, how, how could that be that he is God, yet nevertheless, according to Hebrews 5 and 8, he learned obedience. In his humanity as God and man and one person as these two natures and one glorious person, he learned obedience, that independent divine authority that had always been his, he subjugated it.

He, he, he, as it were, sat on it rather than exercising it and learned what it was to live under authority, the authority of a mother, young mum. Just a young mum, and you learned what it was to live under the authority of a mother and the authority of a father. An earthly father He learned what it was to live under the authority of the synagogue and of the rabbis. And even of the Roman authorities.

What great humility. Who is this one that is, that is humbling himself so that he is in a position of living under the authority of these people, especially the Romans occupying forces, enemy forces. Oftentimes unjust forces of law so called an order, who is this one that is living under their authority and is none other than the eternal God in human form. He set aside his unlimited riches.

2 Corinthians 8 and 9, says Paul to the church at Corinth, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor. Or it goes on to say something beautiful that through his poverty you might become rich, isn't that the gospel? But in order to get to that we've got to think of the fact that he set aside his unlimited riches. He really became poor.

What is it we're seeing, we're seeing the humility of the Son of God, the voluntary humility of the Son of God. He who is God, was God, always will be God, and how he willingly set himself under authority, gave up riches, veiled his glory. But what else did he do? He even gave up.

His favorable relationship with the father. This is shocking. We've already spoke of how from eternity past he rightfully sat at the Father's right hand, and it wasn't an honor that was bestowed on him, it was his right, it was his his inherent place to be there, and yet, that eternal relationship was, was breached, was violated. And he knew that would be the case, and yet he was willing to allow that to happen.

The spotless, righteous one in whose mouth was no guile, the Bible says, was made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Upon the cross we know those horrible words were uttered. That seething question was asked. Eli, Eli, Lamasabachnai, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

What is going on? Here is the eternal Son of God who has lived in harmony to a degree that we cannot even fathom because of sin and discord that is just a reality that we live with, but here is the eternal Son of God who has always been at one with the Father, and what's happening? He's asking why the Father is for. Forsaken him.

What is he doing? He has set aside these rights, the right of authority, the right of riches, the right of His glory, the right of a relationship with his father. He willingly set them aside so that he could. Be our savior.

That's what humility is. Humility recognizes its rights. He knew his rights the whole time. It's not that Jesus forgot what his rights were.

He knew his rights, but he did not cling to them, he did not clutch them unyieldingly. See how far this statement goes in verse 7. Look at it. It tells us that He made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men.

The form of a servant, Duos is the Greek there, you all know what that means, I'm sure, a slave. This is not theatrical. It does not mean he took a slave's outfit and played the part for a time. No, he took the form of a slave.

Whatever form means in verse 6, remember we spoke of how it speaks of the whole essence of a person. Whatever it means in verse 6, it also means in verse 7, it's the same words. One of the important biblical rules to try to understand scriptures, a rule of hermeneutics, is context and is the use of words. He's certainly in the same context it would be unnatural to say, well, in verse 6 it means the essence of God, but in verse 7 it means that he played the part of a servant, that he just took the clothes and acted out the part for a wee while.

No, it's the same thing. The word is morphe. And it means the nature of the character of the essence of a slave. He really and truly became a slave as much as he really and truly has always been God.

He came in the likeness of men, it goes on to say. In other words, all the attributes of humanity became his. By possession and experience, he became the second Adam. But mark this, so great was his humility that he did not become a man as man's experience was prior to the fall.

And I ask you to think about this because at first this might seem like it's heresy, so listen. He did not become a man, as it was man's experience prior to the fall, but rather he took the experience of man which was the consequence of the fall. Now what we're not seeing is that he took upon himself sinful human nature. We're not saying that.

He knew no sin. But because of sin, After Adam's fall, the experience of humanity, the experience of mankind, was not one of constant joy and health and satisfaction and delight as was the, The the the original experience of Adam and Eden, but instead post fall the experience of man was an experience of tears, an experience of pain, an experience of hunger, an experience of discomfort. Jesus took to himself the experience of humanity that was a post-fall human experience, not the ideal pre-fall experience of Eden.

He was not immune to sadness.

He wept He mourned He felt the pain that we feel when someone we love dies. He felt the churning in his stomach that we feel, even although we're not as sensitive as we could be and should be because of indwelling sin, but we see poverty, we see need, we see illness, we see disease, and our stomachs churn, and we, we have an empathetic feeling. Jesus felt that, but more than we do because he was perfectly tender and perfectly compassionate. He knew what it was to thirst.

We really don't We, we, we, we have faucets and glasses and Refrigerators that give us cool water on demand. It wasn't like that 2000 years ago in Palestine. When Jesus traversed the deserts, he knew what it was for his mouth to be bone dry. He knew what it was to be hungry, to have pains in his stomach.

He knew what weariness was. Discomfort was. The ground there in Palestine in the hillsides wasn't a nice soft silly mattress. It was rough at times.

He knew what death was. What being wounded and bruised and beaten and crucified is all about. Indeed, in all points he was tempted like as we are yet without sin. He knew what temptation was all about, more than we even do, because his whole, his soul was holy.

God took to Himself the experience and the vulnerabilities of fallen humanity with one notable exception, sin. If God had taken the form of Adam and enjoyed the experience of Adam before the fall, it would have been amazing. If God would have taken human form and come down into a perfect environment, that would still be amazing that such a mighty eternal, holy God would do such a thing. Wow, how condescending.

But he took the humanity that feels pain, fuels grief, knows fear. And tiredness and even death. God's Son knew his rights. He knew what was rightfully his, but he willingly set these things aside.

So much so as we go on into verse 8, we discover that he then willingly died. He willingly died. Look at verse 8, and being found in appearance as a man. Paul says this again, he's just said, look, he took the form of a servant, he came in the likeness of humanity, and then in verse 8, and being found in appearance as a man, it's it's almost like he can hardly get over this, isn't it?

He just keeps repeating himself. God became man, but he really became man. He, he became a man. He just can't get over this.

He goes on to say he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. He was found in fashion as a man, in other words, he was from the human perspective, no different from man. He had human appearance, he did not come and retain a supernatural glow. the face that Moses had when he came off came off Mount Sinai and everybody thought he's been with God.

Moses had that experience Jesus typically didn't. There was a couple of occasions that we know when he did reveal his glory to a very select few disciples. But Jesus came in the appearance of a man. Many, in fact, thought that they were better than him.

Is this not incredible humility? Jesus, the Son of God, knew he was better than anybody. But at times he allowed wicked men to look him in the face, to stare him eyeball to eyeball, and to say cruel things to him and to down him and to demean him, and he knew that they think they're better than him. You Pharisee, you think that you're holier than I am.

And I know that you're a rotten sepulcher outside, you're whitewashed and inside you're just full of dead men's bones. But he let them think that at times. He allowed that to to go on. What grace that the Lord of hosts could allow sinners to look him in the eye and consider they're no worse than he.

How did that come about? Because he came really as a man, so much so that these hypocrites, they could look at him and scoff and mock and jibe and jar. When the president is told by his advisors, often his PR representatives, his PR advisors, that it's time for him to maybe visit an inner city area somewhere and show some interest in those who perhaps America might prefer to forget. There's a rush of cars, let's say it's downtown Chicago or something or East Los Angeles, and there's this big rush of black limos and Cadillacs, a great convoy of top of the range Lexuses that are all kitted out bulletproof and tinted glass, and they come rushing in.

To some deprived housing project. And the president gets out and he stays for a short time and he allows the cameras to roll as he perhaps loads up a van that's delivering soup to the homeless or the needy, and he helps them a little bit for 5 minutes while the cameras are rolling and this isn't just President Bush, this is every president, right? Everyone, and whoever's next will do the same thing. And then there's this back into the car and then this rush of the convoy back out heading for the airport so that he can get to Air Force One and head off to wherever he's going.

That's how the president comes and meets with the people. And I'm not saying that to demean any individual president, it's just the way a human leader has to operate because he's so limited, and, but that's not how God came to depraved, rotten, hell deserving sinners. He came to this world without the fuss and the pomp of a head of state coming to town, let alone. What would have been justified by way of glorious accompaniment for the King of Kings?

He perfectly condescended to become a man. He didn't say I love you, I'll care for you, and hope that as I do so you'll be aware that I'm so superior to you that this is an honor for you. No, he came with a humble attitude. And he submitted himself to death.

Which we know had no claim over him since he was not a sinner even either by birth or by practice. At death he willingly submitted himself to the death of the cross, as it says here in verse 8, the death of the cross. A death which itself was cursed because God Himself said, Cursed is everyone that hangs on the tree. He yielded himself to the wrath of God, the anger of God against sinners, sinners who didn't even want him.

Sinners who in and of themselves could never want Him, never like Him, let alone love Him. And yet he willingly went to the cross and bled and died in their place. This humility is incredible. When we follow the words that are before us and allow the truth of them to sink into our hearts.

We realize that the meekness and the humility and the and the lowliness of the Son of God is overwhelming. He is God, he knew his rights. He would not cling to those rights but gave them up so that he could come in the true appearance and nature of a man and live amongst men unappreciated and unloved, and then die in the place of those that didn't care for him. What amazing love.

Now what is Paul's point in all of this? Well, if you go back to verse 5, you're reminded what his point is. Dear Christian, Dear child of God, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. This is the one that we profess to follow.

This is the one that we've been singing praises to. This is the one that everybody who knows us knows us by the name, his name, Christian, Christian. We belong to Jesus. Let His mind, let his thinking, let his disposition be ours within our local churches.

Isn't it true that one of the things that the world just loves is when in the church? This mind is absent and people are rivals and people are fighting with each other and people are stressing over each other. The world loves it. Wouldn't it be awesome if in the east end of Riverside there's two churches just across the street from each other and God's people are saying, what, the mind of Jesus is our goal.

Doesn't matter what else people know about us, it doesn't matter how fancy people think we are, but all that we might be known to have the mind of Christ, that we might be humble people, that we might be united people. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, there's a challenge. Our hearts have been challenged. If you're a Christian, I know that your heart has been challenged, not because of the preaching, but because of the truths of the preaching, right?

As you've seen Jesus again, you've said, Lord, you're wonderful, Lord, you're amazing. Lord, I I I I'm, I'm astounded by who you are and what you've done. But then we've got to personalize that and realize, well, there's gospel implications. And that is that the mind of Christ.

is to be your mind today. You might not be a Christian. It might be that you don't know this Savior. Do you see how glorious he is, do you see why we love him, do you see why we worship him?

Do you understand a little bit more today as to why it is that that we can't get enough of truth about him and we love to sing to him and we love to hear him preached? Or that you today as a non-Christian would recognize that in Christ there's provision for your sin. And that he paid a great price in order to deliver the likes of you. From the anger of God, which is judicially and rightly against you and the consequences of your sin, which is hell.

Jesus is a wonderful savior. May the Lord bless His word to each of our hearts. Thank you for listening. God bless you one and all.