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 2:9-11

Here comes a connector. The "therefore" refers back to the things we have just been expounding about. That is, to His voluntary act of humility. It is connecting it to what followed. And what followed—as a result of what Christ did—was exaltation.

The "rank" that Jesus has been given is one of complete Supreme Lordship. The exaltation includes rulership. The exaltation has its basis in the experience to being faithful in living GOD's government. Please understand that, and tie it into the things that I gave you in the last sermon.

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 2:5-11

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."