The Humility of the King
Philippians 2:6-11
 
This year, to keep our focus on the true meaning of Christmas, we’ve been considering The King who would be Man. So far, we’ve examined the danger of missing the king. It’s a shame, isn’t it, that so many will go through the season and barely give a nod to Jesus? Others will ignore Him completely.
 
That is magnified by the reality that He is the King of Glory! As we saw last week, He arrived in Bethlehem as the express image of God. He is the Brightness of His Glory. And when Jesus came to earth, He was God in the Flesh. 
 
Now today, I want to put the emphasis on the other end of that thought. He was God, but He was in the flesh. He was Deity, fully God, but He was also a Man, fully human. 
 
And to help us understand that, I want you to turn to Philippians 2 where we hear, from the viewpoint of the Holy Spirit as revealed to the Apostle Paul, the real Christmas story. . 
 
Why begin here? Because Bethlehem isn't the issue. Shepherds and wise men and Joseph and Mary and mangers and oxen, they don't appear in this perspective. But what is here is the reality of the incarnation. This is one of the greatest texts in all the Bible. It is, perhaps, the most profound statement of the Christmas story anywhere in the Word of God.
 
Look with me at verses 6 through 11.
In these verses, we see five events that take place as God enters the world as a man. 
 
First of all when this King would be Man,
 
1. He Abandoned a Sovereign Position
 
verse 6
 
 
Notice how this verse begins: Who
 
Obviously that refers back to Christ Jesus in verse 5. Christ Jesus, then, is the theme of this passage, the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
Now what does it say about Him? The first phrase, "being in the form of God."
 
This is without question the heart and soul of the Christian faith. The affirmation of the deity of Jesus Christ is the very heartbeat of all that we believe. That is why it is always under attack. Christ is in the form of God. It is the deity of Jesus Christ that is the substantive affirmation of the Christian faith.
 
Now let's see what this phrase means. The word "being" is very important. The word "being" denotes that which a person is in his very essence; that which a person is in his nature. It refers to the innate changeless, unalterable character and nature of a person.
 
For example, men may look different but they're all men--that's their nature. They all have the basic same elements of humanness.
 
The functioning of breathing and the heart, organs, mind, will, thought, emotion, these are the elements of humanness. You can change his clothes. You can do things to the physical form. But you never change the humanness. That is the being of man. And that is the meaning of this term. And it says of Christ that He is in the being of God. He is then unalterably and unchangeably God in His essence, in His essential being.
 
So the word "being" then has to do with His essential nature. Jesus Christ, then, has “being” and it is expressed in the “form” of God. 
 
Now what do we mean by "form?" The English can't really help us with this Greek word. We have to go back and talk about the Greek term for a moment. It is not "form" in the sense that we think of a material shape or a resemblance. It is completely different than that. The word in the Greek is the word morphe and morphe has to do with a deep inner essential abiding nature of something. It is not the external.
 
That’s what we find down in verse 8 in the word “fashion or appearance”. That’s the external. It’s passing; it’s temporary. But form” is internal; the unchanging, timeless and eternal.
 
What’s the point? What is being established is that Jesus is God. Don't let anyone deny that. That is the basic affirmation of the Christian faith.
 
Consequently, look at the end of verse 6, "He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God." Now what does that mean?
 
Think about it this way: Satan was a created angel. Satan was created by God, he was inferior to God, he was less than God. But in Isaiah 14, he said, "I will...I will...I will...I will...I will," five times and the substance of what he was saying was "I will be like...whom?...God."
 
Satan thought it something to be stolen or grasped at to be equal with God. He thought it something to seize, something to attain.
 
Jesus didn't. Why? He was already equal to God.
There was nothing for Him to seek. He didn’t have to be envious or desirous. There was nothing for Him to grasp that He didn’t already have.
 
There is something else implied there also. The verb that is used there can also mean to clutch or to snatch or to grasp tightly. And it can also be interpreted this way, "Being God was not something He had to hold on to or cling to."
 
Jesus didn't hang onto this thing fearing He would lose it. Why? Because He was essentially God and could never cease being God. So it wasn't something He had to snatch to get and it wasn't something He had to hang onto to keep. Do you see? It is a classic statement affirming that Jesus is God in His inner nature. So much so that He didn't seek it. And so much so that He never feared He'd lose it. He's God. That is the great heart and soul of the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
Then notice verse 7, "But He--the KJV says--made Himself of no reputation." The Greek says this, "He emptied Himself".
 
The verb means to pour out everything until it's all gone. He poured out Himself. He emptied Himself. He divested Himself. He rendered up.
 
Now what is this saying? Well, remember the point I’m seeking to make: the Lord Jesus Christ abandoned a sovereign position. The sovereign position is affirmed in verse 6 and the abandoning of it is in verse 7.
 
Now notice that I did not say He abandoned His deity. He did not give up His deity. He did not give up His divine attributes. He abandoned the position. He could never give those things up, they were His essential being. And if He ceased being God, He would be no one. And God could not cease anyway for He's eternal.
 
Now what then did He give up? What did He pour out? What did He empty out? Some people have tried to say He emptied out His deity. That's ludicrous because then He would cease to exist, that's who He was. He could never lose that. Some say He stripped Himself of His privilege. He gave up the bragging rights of His majesty and so forth.
 
But let me put it to you very simply. I can tell you exactly what He gave up because the New Testament tells us exactly what He gave up.
 
First of all, He gave up His glory. He gave up the radiance of His eternal effulgence and brightness, the full manifestation of all of His attributes in glory. He veiled His glory in human flesh. He set aside the full expression of His glory.
 
Secondly, He gave up His honor. He was despised. He was rejected.  He was hated. He was mocked. He was spit on. His beard was plucked. He was defamed. He was dishonored. He was discredited. He was accused. He was murdered.
 
Thirdly, He gave up His riches. Second Corinthians 8:9 says, "He who was rich for our sakes became...what?...poor that we through His poverty might be made rich."
 
Fourthly, He gave up His exclusive relationship to the Father.  And He did that only in a moment of time when He died on the cross and said, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" But He lived with the anxiety of coming to that point through all His life.
 
Fifthly, He gave up His independent exercise of authority.  He said, "I will do only that which the Father shows Me. My meat is to do the Father's will. What the Father says I will do. What I see the Father I will do."
 
He emptied all of those things out and yet He continued to be God. It wasn't that He lost any of His divine attributes; it is that He chose not to use them. He gave up the prerogative, or the privilege, of using them.
 
Was He still God? Yes, that's who He was. He was God, but He gave up all the privileges of being God. He emptied Himself. 
 
Does that not say volumes about His character? Does that not declare volumes about His love?
 
Jesus had all the privileges of glory and He had no obligation to us. He was equal with God. And yet this King who would be Man, abandoned His sovereign position. 
 
2. He Accepted a Servant's Place.
 
verse 7 - "taking the form of a bondservant”
 
When He became a man He didn't become a king as a man, or a great ruler, or great leader, or great master, He became a servant. The moment that He divested Himself of His robes of majesty, He donned the servant's towel.
 
And notice again in verse 7 that He wasn't just acting like a servant. He wasn't just pretending to be a servant. He wasn't just playing the part of a servant. He really became a servant.
 
Verse 7, "And being...look at this...in the form, or having taken upon Him the form," and there's our word. 
 
He took on Him the inner essential nature of a servant. He became a real servant, a true servant, a genuine servant.
 
Follow His earthly ministry and you will see Him in service all the time. And the ultimate act of service when He died on a cross to save sinners. He served His Father. His Father invited Him to come into the world as a servant to work out the plan of redemption, and He willingly became that servant.
 
So when this King would be Man, He abandoned the sovereign position, He accepted a servant's place. What else?
 
3. He approached a sinful people.
 
Look again at verse 7.
 
That was the only way it could be done. He had to become a man.
 
Notice the word "likeness". The first part of the word is the word homo which means "the same," homogeneous, something that is the same. And what it is saying is He was becoming the same as men. He was in every sense in the sameness as men. He was a genuine man. He had the essential attributes of humanness. He wasn't just God in a shell. He was fully man, in all parts and dimensions, a genuine man with real humanity.
 
He had everything that all men have except for one thing...what was it? Sin. But that doesn't mean He wasn't a man. Adam was a man before he was a sinner. And you and I will be glorified men throughout all eternity when our sin is put behind us.
 
And there are times in our lives when we're not sinning. So to be a man does not necessarily mean you must sin. And Christ did not. The Bible is clear, He was without sin, but He was no less a man. In fact, if I may be so bold to suggest, He was all that a man could be that we could never know a man to be because of His sinlessness.
 
So, He was a genuine man. He was fully man in the essence of His humanity, at the deepest point. He was man.
 
But go to verse 8. He also was found in appearance of a man. Not only was He a genuine man and deeply and truly in His nature all that a man is, but He also took on the outward form of a man.
 
And here's the word I mentioned earlier. He didn't come into the first century with a twenty-first century outfit, talking a twenty-first century language.
 
He didn't drop like some visitor from outer space. He was born of a Jewish mother. He lived in a little village of Nazareth. He ate the way they ate. He talked the language they talked. He transported Himself the way they did. He wore the clothes they wore, took care of Himself the way they took care of themselves. He ate what they ate. He drank what they drank. In other words, He took on the conditions of their life, the customs of their culture.
 
I want you to notice another thought in verse 8, it says, "He was being found in appearance," and "being found" means to learn something or discover something by personal experience. So by personal experience, He adapted to the outer manifestation of the time in which He lived. He was man at the deepest part of His nature. And He adapted to man in that climate and that culture and that time and experienced all of their experiences, fully God, fully man, and sinless all the while. That is the mystery of the incarnation.
 
Don't think of Jesus as less than fully human. He was fully human. Did people come into this world through the natural process of birth, through the womb of a mother? So did He. Had others been wrapped in swaddling clothes? So was He.
 
Had others grown up? So did He. Did others have brothers and sisters? He did. Did others learn a trade and work? So did He. Were other men at times hungry and thirsty and weary and asleep? So was He. Were others grieved and angry? So was He.
 
Did others weep? So did He. Did others rejoice? So did He. Were others destined to die? So did He. Did others suffer pain? So did He. Were others loved and hated? So was He. He was a man in the form and the fashion.
 
I think it's the Christmas carol "Away in a Manger" that says, "The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, but little Lord Jesus no crying He makes." You mean to tell me that because He was God He didn't cry? All babies cry. It isn't necessarily a sign of sin. He cried when He was a man, why can't He cry when He's a baby?  Sure He wept. He was human in all the fullness of humanness.
 
So He abandoned the sovereign position. He took a servant's place. He approached a sinful people.
 
Notice what else verse 8 tells us about this King Who Would be Man: 
 
4. He Adopted a Selfless Posture.
 
Verse 8 says "He humbled Himself."
 
What a statement! Do you ever think about the humility of Christ? I see Him and there He is as a little boy or a young man and He's helping Joseph make a yoke in the carpenter shop to put on some oxen that He had created. I mean, He's washing the feet of twelve disciples and He it was who designed their brains. He's hungry and it was He who created the universe. The place of humility. He lived a life of utter selflessness  
 
And to compound that, He did it for us. Humility is the theme of Christmas. Filthy stable, despised shepherds, no room in the inn, little nothing town.
 
And how humble? Look back at verse 8. "He humbled Himself." How far did it go?
 
Well, not only did He become a human, this King who would be Man, it went beyond that. He also became obedient unto death.
 
That's the worst that man can ever endure...all the way to the grave.
 
And He didn't just die, either. Look at the end of verse 8, "Even the death of the cross."
 
It's one thing to die, it's infinitely beyond that to die the death of the cross. The ancient writers used to say that to die on a cross is to die a thousand times before you take your last breath. The pain is excruciating, unimaginable. The suffocation of the organs when the body is suspended by four great wounds is more than you can believe. The fiery pain pulsing through the body is more than we can conceive. It was a painful death.
 
And it was a shameful death. It was reserved for the vilest and most wicked of criminals. And you hung suspended in space, naked before the gaping gazing mocking throng.
 
It was a cursed death. God Himself had said, "He that hangs on a tree is cursed."
 
It was a lonely death. There was no companionship, even God was gone.
 
That is incomprehensible humility. But what's so marvelous is that even in His dying, even in His dying, even in such abject depth of human suffering, He still wielded the power of God to redeem the human race. In His dying He could do that.
 
The story is told of a battle fought long ago. Word came to the king of one soldier who with his sword had single-handedly destroyed the enemy. The king said to one of his soldiers, "Bring me that sword. I want to see such a sword that can do such damage."
 
The soldier got the sword and brought it in. Gave it to his majesty and he looked it over and he said, "Take it back. This is but an ordinary sword."
 
The soldier said, "But Your Majesty, you should see the arm that wields it."
 
You look at Jesus Christ and you see His humanness. And you say, "But how could a man redeem the human race? Just an ordinary sword." Ah, but what you should see is the arm of deity that wielded that humanness, that even in death He redeemed the human race.
 
So, what do we see then? What is the Christmas story? The Lord Jesus Christ, this King who would be Man, abandoned the sovereign position, accepted a servant's place, approached a sinful people, adopted a selfless posture. That's the Christmas story.
 
But there's one more thought.
 
5. He Ascended a Supreme Prince
 
What was God's reaction to this? And what should be ours?
 
God's reaction, first, in verse 9: "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name, or a title, or a position, or a rank that is above every other name, or title, position, or rank."
 
God lifted Him up. There is contained in that verse a great classical spiritual truth. Jesus said it Himself in Luke 14:11, "He that humbleth himself shall be...what? Exalted." And that is the spiritual truth that we must learn. When we humble ourselves, God will lift us up and exalt us. And that's exactly what happened. He humbled Himself and He was exalted.
 
Jesus in His baptism is humbled. He's baptized by John. And in humility He identifies with the sins of His nation. But in exaltation, the voice of God bursts out of heaven, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."
 
We see Him in the temptation. He's humbled 40 days without eating. He's being buffeted by Satan. He's fasting in repentance, again identifying the sins of the nation.
In humility, He trusts the Father to take care of Him and never uses His power to meet His own needs. And then in glorious exaltation, when the time is done, the Father dispatches the angels who come and feed Him.
 
In humility, He publicly proclaimed to His disciples that He was going to die. And a moment later He's in a mountain with them and He pulls His flesh back and they see His glory.
 
We see Him on the cross in humility and then He bursts from the grave in exaltation. And that's the pattern.
 
God has highly exalted Him. That was God's reaction. God exalted Him and God gave Him a name above every name.
 
Why?
 
Verse 10
 
"In order that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow." Every knee...now we come to us and to all the other creatures. Every knee to bow. Every knee in heaven...who would that be?
 
That would be the holy angels and the redeemed saints who have already gone to heaven.
 
Everyone in earth...that would be all the living.
 
And under the earth...the demons and Satan and all that host.
 
All the creatures in heaven, in earth, and under the earth, all of them are to bow to that exalted name. He is, says Ephesians 1, far above all principalities and powers, far above all other names, given a supreme place, the prince of God.
 
Notice that He's given a name above every name. You say, "What is that name?"
 
It’s unmistakable. Verse 10 says “the name of Jesus” That means all that is embodied in that name, all that is embodied in who He is, He is unequalled, the Savior, the Lord of the world and the universe. And at that name every knee should bow.
 
And you know something? Every knee will bow. That's right. Every knee will bow. If not in adoration, in judgment, right? If not in worship, in condemnation. Every knee will bow...even Satan will be cast into the pit forever. He'll bow the knee to the authority of Christ.
 
But look at verse 11 and bring it to personal response.
 
Verse 10 encompasses the broad picture--every knee should bow.
 
Verse 11 comes down to the individual--"Every tongue should confess Jesus Christ as Lord to the glory of God the Father."
 
Every living thing, every living creature in this world will confess Jesus Christ as Lord. The demons and the damned, the redeemed, the holy angels, all will bow, all will confess sooner or later. The issue is not if, but when.
If you wait until the judgment, it's too late. But if now you confess Jesus as Lord, you enter in to His Kingdom, His salvation.
 
Romans 10:9 and 10 says, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, believe in thine heart God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." This is the message of the gospel. Jesus Christ is Lord. That's what we're saying.
 
He is God. He is in the form of God. He is God of very God with all the attributes of God, come into the world with all the fullness of humanness. He became the servant. He humbled Himself. He died on a cross purchasing our salvation.
 
God approved and God lifted Him back up and exalted Him. And then God calls to all the created universe and says, "Bow the knee and confess His Lordship."
 
And if you won't now, you will someday...but then it will be in judgment and condemnation. Now or later...the choice is yours.
 
That is the story of Christmas. It is the story of a King, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who would be Man, lowly, humble, sinless man dying on a cross for humanity.
 
Paul Harvey used to tell a very beautiful story that illustrates this truth.
 
It was Christmas eve in the Midwest. There was a man who had been in a family where his wife and his children were Christians but he was not.
And he rejected it. He sat home that Christmas eve in front of the fire. It was cold out and the snow was blowing. His wife and the little children had gone to the chapel in the nearby village for a Christmas Eve service to honor the Christ they loved. He sat by the fire reading the paper.
 
All of a sudden he heard a loud and repeated thumping. He thought someone was banging on the door. He went to the door and opened it but found no one was there. By the time he got settled back into his chair, he heard it again and again. And he was bewildered as to what was causing it until he realized that something seemed to be smashing against the window.
 
And so he went to the drapes and he pulled the drapes aside and to his amazement, a flock of birds was flying into the window. A snowstorm, you see, had blown in. And the birds had been caught away from their shelter and they couldn't find their way back. They couldn't fight the wind. They saw the lighted window and the warmth of the light had attracted them. And they were literally flying into the glass trying to get to the light to get warm.
They would freeze to death if they didn't find some shelter.
 
Well, the man felt a compassion for these poor birds. And so he wondered how he could help them. And so he opened the door and went out in the cold and tried to chase them away so that they wouldn't kill themselves against the window. And then he ran to the barn and he threw the doors open and he whistled and he shooed them and did everything he could to get them to fly to the barn, they wouldn't do it.
He even went so far as to take some corn and some bread and make a big trail from the window to the barn. And they wouldn't follow it.
 
In frustration, he said to himself, "If I could just communicate with them. If I could just tell them that I don't want to hurt them, that there's warmth and there's shelter and that they'd need to stop beating themselves to death against the glass. But I'm a man and they're birds and we don't speak the same language. Oh, if I could just become a bird, I think I could tell them."
 
And then it hit him. And in that moment, said Paul Harvey, the whole meaning of Christmas dawned on that man. Mankind had been beating itself to death against the barrier that kept him from the warmth of God's love until somebody became a man and told us the way, until the King Would be a Man.
 
And this morning He not only invites you to come, He will show you the way.