Philippians 2:5-7

I want you to notice the voluntary submission of our Lord and Savior—our Leader, our King. "He made Himself." Now, think of this in reference to what I said just a little bit earlier. Each individual part (each person) must govern himself "from the top, down"—with top priority given, in every area of one's life, to God Himself. Each individual has to surrender control to God—voluntarily.

Let's think about this. His response to GOD's governance—and the needs of man—was to humbly and selflessly submit. What we are seeing here is an example of supreme condescension—in giving up an existence equal to God! He didn't grasp at it. He voluntarily gave it up. Here is the pattern, for you and me, so that we might become submissive to God.

There was no asserting of His "rights", but there was a supreme recognition of the authority of God's Word. (This is in Jesus Christ.) He didn't come and start throwing His weight around, become authoritative and bash heads. Remember that we are talking about GOD in the flesh. Human beings do not want to submit. Human beings who are converted are going to have to fight this all their life. It is a choice that has to be made.

Philippians 2:5-7

Here is an example of Christ showing submission as a voluntary act of love. In this case faith is in the background, but love has come to the fore. And Christ did it as an act of well-being for all concerned. He did it for our sake. He humbled Himself. He divested Himself of the majesty of His office in an effort to ensure that there would be others with whom to share the inheritance!

The important thing in this section right here is that Christ did not think of His equality. It even says here that He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. So His rights, then, were not a thing to be dearly clung to—clutched by Him. Jesus was not like the gods of Greek mythology who became men and women, yet retained their divine privileges. Christ became a man and He was subject to all the space and time limitations that we are. He was not play-acting! He was encumbered by humanity and He, God, submitted to it knowing that He could lose it all! Christ did not disguise Himself as a slave; He became one—and became servant to all. He had no rights superior to anybody!

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.