Philippians 2:6-9

Jesus Christ chose to submit to the Father's purpose. He chose to do it, not thinking that what He already had was something to be grasped at. He had all of the power of the God Family there at his disposal. But He voluntarily chose to submit Himself to the Father's purpose. He made Himself of no reputation. We are seeing how the process works, how one can be clothed with humility.

He did not grasp at being God. He did not clutch at it like it was something that He wanted to hang on to forever and ever for Himself. So in practical experience, whether Jesus was in His character as God or in His humanity, He voluntarily considered all of His privileges which were His by right because He was God, and He just set them aside even to the point of an ignominious death as a common criminal. The result, then, was a gift of service and love that He could give to man—the forgiveness of sin. And of course there is more to it than that. And following on the heels of that was exaltation.

Philippians 2:5-11

This is about the humbled and exalted Christ.

Throughout eternity, Christ is in the form of God. He was God the Son in the bosom of the Father from all eternity. But Paul tells us that He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. This means that He recognized that He had given up something very important to Him—His equality with God.

But He willingly humbled Himself, He divested Himself of those signs of His eternal glory, and He entered this world of sin and shame in the likeness of man, in the form of a man. This is entirely beyond fully understanding; as Paul says, it is the love of Christ which passes knowledge. He deliberately chose not to cling to what He had the right to keep, but instead humbled Himself, took on human nature, and lived as a man in this world.

Philippians 2:5-11

So this U-shaped pattern is ironically illustrated in the story of Christ, the Deliverer, because Jesus the Deliverer must dive into the depths of human difficulty to bring human victims to new life in God's Kingdom. He has experienced what we experienced and He knows how to get us through. In Philippians 2:5-11, Paul emphasizes that Christ Jesus descended, from being in the form of God and equal with God, to taking on human likeness and servitude, even to the point of suffering the terrible death on the cross, and then He was highly exalted to universal Lordship.

Philippians 2:5-8

So Jesus, well not Jesus, the Word, decided that the sacrifices were worth it. That He would divest Himself of His glory and come as Himself but as a baby. A man. A servant. A lower lifeform, a restricted material being, and He would humble Himself. He would put Himself under those restraints of flesh and He would communicate and act with others among humanity who, all of them, were bad influences. All sinful. All trying to bring Him down.

Philippians 2:5-11

That is the practical application of Philippians 2:5-11. That is what Paul was leading to (only on a much grander scale), when he said "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who humbled Himself." He did not think it a big thing that He should be equal with God! He did not grasp at it. He let it go. He humbled Himself. "Therefore, (Paul says) He has received the highest of exaltation."

Philippians 2:3-8

So you see, these character traits that we are looking at here is the very holy and righteous nature of Jesus Christ. It is what God is creating in us, right? We are being created in His likeness. Mr. Armstrong used to always say that God is building holy and righteous character in us.