Resurrection Life in the Family of God

Transcript

GRM 846
04/20/2003
Resurrection Life in the Family of God
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

There are many things that can be said about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and of course when we talk about the resurrection, we cannot disassociate it from His death. If He had died and not been resurrected, God says there would be no salvation, He would not be the victor. That’s what Paul was writing about when he said we would be of all men most to be pitied because we would be believing a lie. But if Jesus Christ had simply ascended to heaven and not died the penalty for sin would have been unpaid. We must understand that the One who was raised was the One who hung upon a cross. God said He bore in His body on that cross our sins, to pay the penalty for sin which is death so that a just and righteous God could offer as a free gift His salvation to any and all who would turn from their sin and place their faith in His Son as their savior. When a person does turn from their sin to believe in Jesus Christ, a remarkable change and transformation occurs. A person is born into the family of God. One of the weekend newspapers had an article on being born again, and the Bible talks about that experience in two ways. It talks about being born from above, Jesus said to Nicodemus in John chapter 3 you must be born from above, a birth that is caused by God Himself. The Apostle Peter wrote in the first chapter of his first letter that said we are born again by the living and abiding Word of God. So, faith in Jesus Christ causes us to be born a second time, not a physical birth, but a birth that occurs by a work of God in the heart of the one who is placing their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. When that happens, we become members of the family of God. That changes everything. It changes the person on the inside. The Bible says if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, a new creation. The old things pass away, new things have come. It’s a change that revolutionizes a life. It is at the heart of what Jesus Christ was doing when He hung on the cross. It’s what is declared when He was raised from the dead.

I want to look at several passages in the Word of God with you where we focus attention on the work of God in creating a people for Himself that are unique and distinct as a result of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We’re going to note that the attitude of Jesus Christ in His coming to this earth in suffering and dying was the attitude that is to be seen in the people who belong to Him, who have trusted in Him. You cannot be saved by following the example of Christ. It’s a tragedy in this Easter season you’ll see in some places in the world people dragging crosses down the street. Some places they even allow themselves to be crucified. I was reading one article where the man who went through that says you go beyond the pain, and you enter into an experience that is marvelous. But it has nothing to do with salvation. The resurrection of Jesus Christ declares the penalty for sin has been paid. We cannot be saved by trying to live a life like Christ lived, or trying to repeat what He did. We can only be saved by bowing and receiving as a free gift what He has already provided for us.

Turn in your Bibles to John’s gospel chapter 17. John’s gospel, the 17th chapter is the conclusion of Jesus’ ministry with His disciples before His crucifixion. Chapter 13 begins the events of that last night of Christ with His disciples. In chapter 13 of John, you have the Last Supper as we know it. Then Jesus spends time with His disciples, teaching them, preparing them for coming events. In John chapter 17, He turns His attention, His voice to His heavenly Father. We have what is called the high priestly prayer of Christ. As He concludes this phase of His earthly ministry by praying particularly for those who believe in Him. Verse 1 of chapter 17, “These things Jesus spoke and lifting up His eyes to heaven He said, Father the hour has come.” This is why He came to this earth. It is now the time appointed by God Himself for His Son to hang on a cross and pay the penalty for sin. “Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” Then He goes on to speak concerning those who will enter into life in Him, that life is only found in Jesus Christ. Religions of the world are not all going to the same place, traveling different roads. Everyone who is believing in Christ is going to one place, everyone else is on a road going to another place. That’s why the Son of God had to die. What He was going to do was gather to Himself a people for Himself, a people who would be the children of the living God, who would be born into God’s family through faith in His finished work.

I want you to note what He said He is going to accomplish with these people. Look down at the end of verse 11, “I am no longer in the world, but they are continuing in the world,” speaking of His immediate disciples and followers. “I come to you,” in the middle of verse 11, “I come to you holy Father. Keep them in your name, the name which you have given me.” Now note this, “that they may be one even as we are.” It was the plan of God carried out in the work of Christ that the people that believe in Jesus Christ would be gathered together in a relationship of oneness with Christ and His heavenly Father and in a relationship of oneness with one another. That they may be one even as we are.

Continues this emphasis. Look down to verse 20, “I do not ask in behalf of these alone,” these that had gathered with Him in the garden that night, “but I ask also for those who believe in Me through their word.” Know what that means? He was praying for you and for me as those who would believe in Jesus Christ down through history, having heard the message that had been entrusted to these apostles that there is salvation in no one else. “For there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved. That the good news concerning Jesus Christ is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew and to the Gentile.” His prayer for them, those who had believed in Him and those who would believe in Him in the days and years and centuries and milleniums until He returns.

Verse 21, “that they may all be one even as you, Father, are in Me and I in you, that they also may be in us.” What an awesome transcending relationship is established when a person believes in Jesus Christ. They are brought into a relationship with Jesus Christ, a relationship with God the Father and a relationship with others who believe in Jesus Christ also. A relationship of oneness is established, a relationship that transcends all other human relationships, that goes beyond even the closest or human relationships. Because it is a relationship joined by God Himself.

Verse 22, “and the glory which You have given Me I have given to them that they may be one just as we are one.” You see that repeated emphasis. I find it of great significance, that as Jesus Christ is on His knees before His Father anticipating His crucifixion in but a few hours, He prays intensely for that supernatural work that God would do in the lives of those who would believe in Jesus Christ. That they would be brought into a relationship of oneness that would be a testimony before all the world. “I in them and you in Me that they may be perfected in unity.” Note this, “that the world may know that you did send Me, did love them even as You did love Me.” How great a love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God, that God should love us with that same infinite love that He bestowed on His own Son. You know what happens as God’s work of salvation is accomplished in lives and men, women and young people hear the truth concerning Christ; as they turn from trusting their own good works, their own church, their baptism and so on, and realize their wretched, sinful lost condition and cast themselves on the mercy of God, God be merciful to me the sinner, I believe Christ died for me, He’s my only hope--God marvelously washes them clean. Isaiah said we’d be as white as snow, white like wool, the ugliness of our sins washed away. The penalty for sin paid in full, that we’d be brought into His family, called sons of God. That new relationship established with God and with one another is a testimony before all the world of the power of the work of Jesus Christ. That with all our differences, with all the variety that exists among us and our personal likes and dislikes and races and nationalities and languages and whatever else, God mightily and powerfully and supernaturally brings together a people that are in a bond of oneness with Him and with one another.

So, the end of verse 21 Jesus said, “this is done that the world may believe that You did send Me.” That work of the Spirit of God who would gather into what is called the body of Christ in the New Testament, an entity that has great diversity, we have a relationship of oneness in Jesus Christ. That is the testimony to all the world that God does a work on the inside of a person when he places his faith in Christ and binds them together in a unique relationship. That reality happens to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ. It’s developed other places in the New Testament, that we are brought together as the body of Christ, as the building of Christ is another analogy, as a temple is a picture used when we believe in Christ. Jew and Gentile alike brought together in a unique relationship.

Turn over to the book of Ephesians. You see this heart passion of Christ in this final prayer before He is arrested and then crucified. Turn further back in you Bibles past John to the book of Ephesians and look at chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4 was written by the Apostle Paul while he was in prison in Rome. For the first three chapters he has unfolded the awesome work that God did in Jesus Christ in providing redemption and salvation. In chapter 1 verse 20 he talked about the awesome, overwhelming power of God that brought about the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The end of verse 19 in chapter 1 of Ephesians he spoke about the strength of the might of God, and he builds up words, the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies. After unfolding that great truth of the death and resurrection of Christ and the wonder of the salvation we experience that same power of God in transforming our lives when we place our faith in Jesus Christ. That’s what Paul is acknowledging and praying about in chapter 1. That same mighty power is the power that works in the life of the one who believes in Jesus Christ.

You come to chapter 4 of Ephesians Paul explains how this is lived out. You acquire this life by a simple act of faith, believing in Jesus Christ. You live this new life now under the power of God. It’s an analogy of being born. You don’t create a baby by taking a piece of clay and putting a bottle in the mouth and pouring water over it, wrapping it in a diaper and everything else. But you know after a baby has been born there are many things that are done. Now we saw Jesus pray for unity, that unity is brought about the moment a person believes in Jesus Christ. We are told by an act of the Spirit we are made part of the body of Christ. Now we are to live in light of that unity and be sure that that unity is displayed before all who see us, so that they can know something of the overwhelming power and might of the salvation of our God that so changed us we can live with all these strange people and get along. How do we get along so well? Well, I don’t know, they don’t like the same things necessarily, they don’t enjoy the same hobbies, but they get along.

Look at Ephesians chapter 4 verse 1, “I therefore the prisoner of the Lord entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” He’s talking to those who have responded to the call of God in Christ, have believed in Him. Now you walk, you live your life accordingly “with all humility and gentleness, patience, showing forbearance to one another in love.” And note this, “being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” You’ll note it does not say being diligent to create the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. You cannot create that unity; God creates it through the new birth. Our responsibility as those who have been brought into a relationship with Christ, His Father and other believers is to be careful we do everything to preserve that unity. There is one body, he talks about the unity we have, there is one body, that’s the body of Christ, the church; one spirit who dwells, one Holy Spirit dwells in every single child of God. You are called with one hope of your calling. We have one hope, the blessed hope, the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and our being brought into the glory of His presence. One Lord, that sovereign Savior; one faith, faith in Him, faith in the gospel, believing that the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ paid in full the penalty for sin. I am trusting Him and His work and nothing else. One baptism, and I take it the baptism of the Spirit is probably in view, that’s the work of the Spirit. By one Spirit you are placed into one body, the body of Christ. Water baptism simply reflects that one work of the Spirit of God in placing you into the body of Christ. One God and Father of all who is over all, through all and in all. You’ll note, things are all our unity, that’s the unity we entered into when we entered into faith in Christ. These things are true, and we are part of that, every single believer in Christ shares in these same things.

Then in the very next verse, but to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ gifts, and you know what he says? In that unity there is diversity. Unity does not mean sameness, unity does not mean we all have to do the same things in the same way, dress the same way, go the same places. Those are superficial things, there is great diversity. The fact that this is on the body does not mean the finger has to look like the ear. The beauty of this one body is that the finger is not like the ear, it is different. Each part of the body is different. There is variety and that’s why in Ephesians chapter 1 verses 22-23 God says He has made His Son the head over His body so that we now all function as He instructs. So just as the head in our physical body gives the fingers and the hands instructions to pick up the book, the ear doesn’t say oh I should do that too. I’m having a hard time. There is diversity. The ear hears, the fingers don’t. You don’t say whisper to my finger, you say whisper in my ear. You don’t take your socks and shoes off and look up and say oh I see more clearly. No. You see with your eyes. Isn’t it beautiful? Yet it’s one body. That’s why that analogy is used of the spiritual body of Christ. With all of our differences, with all of our uniqueness, with all of God’s gifted diversity there is one body.

Why are we here on a resurrection Sunday? Because look where he goes with this. Christ gave the diversity to His body that He created when He rose from the dead and ascended to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to indwell those who believe in Him. So, this unity and the accompanying diversity, He ascended on high, verse 8. But verse 9 says “He ascended, what does that mean except He first descended into the lower parts of the earth.” You know if Jesus Christ had not left the throne of glory and come to this earth and suffered and died and been buried there would be no penalty paid for sin. The penalty for sin is death, it’s not good works, it’s not baptism, it’s not church membership, it’s not doing penance. It’s death. That’s why Jesus said on the cross as He prepared to die, it is finished. It is finished. The resurrection is the stamp on the finished work of Jesus Christ, to declare to all the world it is finished.

He came to this earth, He suffered and died and was raised from the dead. Then He ascended to the Father. Because of that now we who believe in Him are brought together in a relationship of oneness and are to live accordingly, so that all the world may know that Jesus Christ is the Lord. What do you have in common with the people in your church? Oh, we’re the same nationality, we’re the same language, we’re the same, we’re the same, we’re the same. You know what really binds us together? Our faith in Christ. One of the exciting things I’ve had as I’ve traveled to other countries in the world, as I go and meet and fellowship with believers, and you know what? There is a family relationship there. We had never met before, we had spent our whole lives in different countries. But I can go and fellowship. What do we have in common? We may even need an interpreter to communicate, and one of us had the wrong color skin. They had different interests and ate funny food and thought it was good. But those weren’t the things that bound us together. You know what bound us together? We had the same Lord and Savior, we had the same Father, we had the same indwelling Holy Spirit. We belong to the body of Christ, live under His authority.

We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ; we’re also celebrating that marvelous work of salvation that has created the people of God called the church. You could attend here every Sunday and not be part of the true body of Christ. You could get baptized here and have responsibilities here and give money here and never be part of the body of Christ, the true church. Because you can only become part of that body through and action of the Holy Spirit on your heart. By one Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, we have been placed into one body, I Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13 says. Now the intention is that those who gather together in this church understand and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, and this church is to be a manifestation of the body of Christ on this earth. The body of Christ is comprised of those who believe in Jesus Christ.

Turn over just after the book of Ephesians to the book of Philippians. I want to spend the rest of our time looking at some material in Philippians chapter 2. The Apostle Paul is concerned about the church at Philippi. This is another letter he wrote to Christians in the Greek city of Philippi while he was in prison in Rome. That church was having some problems. You know the church is comprised of people, and people have different opinions, different likes and dislikes, and sometimes conflicts arise; and you know what had happened in the church at Philippi? Conflicts had come up, there were personal disagreements. Some people thought it should be done this way, some people thought it ought to be done that way. You know where the Word of God speaks it has to be done that way. But most of the decisions that enter into the church, and that was true of the church at Philippi, weren’t over the truths that God had revealed in His Word. They were matters of personal opinion, personal preference. We might call it some personality conflicts. Some people with strong personalities want it this way, some other people with strong personalities want it this way, and some other people just want the problem to go away. Paul writes and reminds them of what Christ has done for them, and He has begun a work in them when they believed in Christ. In Philippians chapter 1 verse 6 he says” I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” We are in a process. I have been redeemed by God’s grace and born into His family, but God is not done with me yet. I am a work in progress. My salvation is complete in the sense I am completely forgiven, my destiny is sure and secure. But I am continuing to mature and develop. It’s like when a baby is born into your family, they are part of your family now. There is a lot of growing and a lot of developing to take place, but certain things have been established. You are the parents; this is the brother or the sister and on it goes. Now there will be growth in those relationships, there will be development throughout life, but certain basic relationships have been established. It is when we’re born into the family of God, our relationship with Him has been established. Our relationship with other believers has been established. As others believe in our Savior they are added to the family of God, and new relationships come just like new brothers and sisters may be born into the family physically, and it all grows.

That’s what Paul is concerned about now, how are we doing. If the world looks at us, do they see that we are the people for whom Christ prayed and that oneness that He accomplished at the cost of His own death on the cross and sealed with His resurrection is a reality for us. Paul tells them in chapter 1 verse 27 of Philippians, “only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Conduct yourselves, live your life in a manner that is fitting for the message of Jesus Christ, the one who suffered and died and was raised from the dead. What a standard. We who have been redeemed by His grace, that’s the standard. Is your life a fitting adornment for the Savior who suffered so greatly, died and was raised?

Whether I come and see you or hear about it, he doesn’t know whether he’s going to get there or not, right now he’s in prison. But he wants to know, I want to hear that you are standing firm, notes this, “in one spirit with one mind.” Remember Jesus prayed that you be one. Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians that you preserve that oneness of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Paul said to the Philippians, I want to hear about you that you are standing firm. You’re not shaken, you’re not departing, we’re not talking about making compromises with the truth of God to get along with people. We’re talking about keeping our focus where it ought to be. If you like green carpet or you like blue carpet or you like red carpet, I can adjust. Don’t have to tear the church apart over what color the carpet is going to be, or whether we build an addition or we don’t build an addition, or whether we meet at 10 a.m. or 10:30 a.m. I want to hear you’re standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. You know if we are one, we ought to be striving together. There is a conflict, there is a war going on. There are multitudes who oppose the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are in a battle, but it’s not with one another. The tragedy of the church of Jesus Christ is it forgets what the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is all about and they get torn apart about things that don’t really matter. We are in a battle, but it’s not with one another, it’s with those who would oppose the gospel.

Come down into chapter 2 and that word therefore connects it to what he has said. Therefore, in light of what I have said let me summarize it for you; and he gives four statements all beginning with if to give the emphasis. If there is any encouragement, if there is any consolation, if there is any fellowship, if any affection and compassion, and there are. These are not doubtful things. That’s a way of driving home the point. If there is any encouragement in Christ. This is the word, remember in John chapter 16, the chapter before His high priestly prayer in John’s gospel, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to those who would believe in Him. He said He is another comforter, another paraclete, same word translated encouragement here, one who comes alongside to give help, encouragement. If there is any encouragement in Christ. The encouragement that Christ gives, any consolation of love. In other words, it overlaps with the previous word encouragement, that encouragement that comes out of love. Christ encourages us, the reality of love moves us. You know because we have human family, we are moved to do for one another because of our love for one another. This word for love here is not primarily emotionally oriented, it’s action oriented. Agape love, you do what is best for someone else.

If there is any fellowship of the spirit, if there is any koinonia of the spirit, that unity and harmony that the Spirit produces. John wrote in his first epistle that we have fellowship with God and so we have fellowship with one another. That word fellowship meaning a relationship, a bond, and there is a relationship of fellowship produced by the Spirit of God.

Any affection and compassion. You know the saving work of God envelops my whole life. It’s just not a matter of cold, hard facts, sign on the line, all right it’s done, let’s move on. It is a reality that grips you in your very heart. If there is any affection and that word is, the Greeks talked about it in New Testament times they talked about your intestines. We talk about it maybe more colloquially, your gut feeling. You know you’ll say sometimes my stomach is in knots, or you know you’re in love and what? There’s like butterflies in your stomach. Those kinds of things. That’s where the feeling is, and there are the emotions and the feeling generated. We’ve been born into God’s family, we have a love for Him, a love for others in the family. There is a reality that encompasses my entire being, including my emotions. They have an affection for the people of God.

If all these things are true, and they are, it will make my joy complete. There’s a command that controls everything in verse 1 and everything in verse 2. In light of the four statements of verse 1 I want you to do the four things now I’m going to tell you in verse 2. All built around this strong command. Make my joy complete, fulfill my joy by doing these things. If these things are true of you, and they will be and they are if you are a child of God, the four things of verse 1. Christ is working in your life in verse 1, His love is at work that’s produced by the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God is producing that binding, has produced that binding relationship and continues to develop it. There is a genuine, heart-felt feeling, compassion for fellow believers. Then make my joy complete by being of the same mind, being of the same mind. There ought to be a oneness among God’s people. Why is it proverbial? You know I’m Baptist way back in my background, way back. You know what Baptists can be known for? Division, fights, conflicts. You know there are 37 Baptist churches in our town, they all started out as one, but they had a building program and that started 4 more churches. That wasn’t the plan but…. Then they got a new pastor, that started 2 more. Then someone got to be chairman of the deacons that somebody else didn’t like, that started another one. And you know our churches, what? They just fracture and split and divide over what? Things that really don’t matter in light of the gospel. They’ve denied the reality. Look at those people, they claim to be the family of God and they’d slit one another’s throat over the color of the carpet. Is there any reality to that kind of gospel?

So, he says be of the same mind, maintaining the same love, a love for one another. Just like we talk about humanly speaking, somebody says….well they’re family. We overlook things, why ….. well they’re family, they’re family. We maintain the same love, we are united in spirit, intent in one purpose. Now you’ll note this thing, these are things we are to do. The Spirit has produced unity, we are responsible now to maintain it and see that it continues to develop. We do these things, we maintain the same mind, the same love, united in spirit. You know our mind gets at the head of the list here, and one of the things I have to do is be careful about my thinking. You know in marriage we are to be joined together in a relationship of oneness, same kind of language. Know what happens, we’re going to get to this in a moment on the negative side, as soon as I let my mind start to go the wrong direction problems develop. I begin to think about what I don’t like about my spouse. You know I mull that over for a day or two, this is not something little, really bothers me. Then if I mull it over for a week, two weeks, begins to grow. Pretty soon I can hardly stand the person. That happens in the church. Somebody does something, I take it as a slight and an offense. You know what happens? Pretty soon I’m rolling that over, and I’m thinking what I’d say to them and what I ought to have said, and pretty soon if something else happens that just reinforces what I already have been thinking. I’m not thinking with the same mind any longer. I can’t say my mind is going with their mind. Now I’m on a different track. Have to be careful here. This is part of what I am responsible to do to preserve the unity of the Spirit here.

Another way of putting these positive things, look at verse 3, “do nothing from selfishness, empty conceit,” that’s the other side of it. I’m not of the same mind with someone else when I’m functioning selfishly and concerned about myself. I’m not functioning out of love doing what is best for the other person when I’m being selfish, empty conceit. “But with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself.” That solves the problem, you know in marriage if I’m always thinking of how fortunate my wife was, I mean how good God has been to her, I mean think of it. She could have been married to…….., but she got me. You know pretty soon I begin to think like she ought to be functioning in relationship to me like a very privileged person. But you know things change totally if I am thinking not of myself but of her, and how blessed of God I am that a sinner like me, someone as hard to live with as me, and on it goes, should be privileged to get such an understanding and loving wife. All of a sudden now everything is different. She’s the same person, but my attitude and relationship with her is different. Now if we’re both overwhelmed with how fortunate we were to get the other person, boy our marriage is going to be wonderful because we’re just falling over ourselves for the other person.

Now we put that into the family of God and He says, look at you vile, wretched, hell-deserving sinners how graciously you’ve been blessed. How can I be functioning with empty conceit. By the grace of God, I am what I am, and without His grace what am I but a hell-deserving sinner. “Don’t do anything out of empty conceit and selfishness, let each one regard the other.” We look at others around us and not say well why don’t they do more, why aren’t they this……… We ought to look and say, God you have done a marvelous work in their life that they should be part of this body and make a contribution for my growth. How blessed I am to have them. You know I begin to think about that, and I appreciate people and it resolves the conflicts. I’m not looking for things I can disagree with. I’m not surprised they offended me; I’m surprised they don’t offend me more.

Don’t look out merely for your own personal interests, and the Bible always assumes you love yourself because it is a reality, always assumes you look out for yourself. So, he says literally here, do not look out for your own personal interests, but also. The word merely has been inserted, you see it in italics, because the also indicates you’re going to do that automatically. Everybody here does or you would be dead by now. We all look out for #1, and all the commercials tell us that’s the way to live our lives. But the Bible says now if you’re truly redeemed you don’t look out for #1, you look out for everyone else and let God take care of you, let others take care of you.

Look out for the interests of others. Now here’s where we come to. Why are we here in this passage? Every time we talk about this unity and the way we live we have to bring it back to the foundational matter, and the church of Jesus Christ does not appreciate that this is at the heart of the gospel. They are not little things. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. What a statement, I’m to think like Christ. He’s addressing believers, those that the things in verse 1 are true of, those that he has talked about in chapter 1. What does he say? Have this attitude which was also in Christ Jesus. Although He existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. Now we’re going to start with Christ in the glory of heaven.

Isaiah chapter 6, we don’t have time to turn there, where “I saw the Lord lofty and exalted sitting on His throne and the train of His robe filled the temple. The seraphim of heaven are crying out holy, holy, holy,” and Isaiah is convinced he’s doomed to die on the spot because he saw the living God, which the Bible says was the pre-incarnate Christ. When it says in verse 6 of Philippians 2, He existed in the form of God, the word is morpha. We have it in words like morphology and metamorphosis, and the morpha, the form, is the external manifestation of what the person is. In other words, Christ existed in the form of God. He was God and He manifested Himself as God. He sat enthroned in heaven and manifested the fullness of His glory to the acclaim of the angelic beings that He was God. He existed in the form of God, He was God. Just like the caterpillar undergoes metamorphosis, he changes form, moves to another form, but it is what? All a manifestation of what that caterpillar is. You don’t pin wings on an ant and make it a caterpillar because that’s not part of the being of an ant. Christ was manifesting His deity, that was His form.

He existed in the form of God; He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. I have to hold onto that, I cannot give up manifesting my deity as the Father manifests His deity. No, He didn’t think He had to hold onto that position of being enthroned in heaven with the full display of His glory. But He emptied Himself. One of the great passages in all the New Testament on the work of Christ. It is called the kenosis passage, so you can sound like a well-informed theologian. Well, I was just reading in the kenosis passage this morning for my devotions, and you’re really talking about Philippians chapter 2 and in particular verse 7, because the Greek work for emptied is the word kenosis. He kenosis Himself, not exactly the form of the word, but the basic word is kenosis. He emptied Himself. What do you mean He emptied Himself? He stopped being God? No, by definition you can’t stop being God because one of the unchanging attributes of God is eternality. Jesus Himself of Him is declared Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. In connection with His birth at Bethlehem, the one born at Bethlehem, Micah said, would be the one who inhabits eternity. But what are we talking about? He existed in the form of God as manifesting His glory as God, but He didn’t think He had to hold onto that manifesting His glory in heaven. He emptied Himself of that, He gave up manifesting the glory of His person as God. He didn’t cease to be God, but He no longer manifested His visible form.

He took the form of a bond servant, being made in the likeness of men. What a step down. He took the form of a servant, a slave. The same word, morpha. When Christ was born in Bethlehem, He truly became human, a man. He didn’t cease to be deity, He added to His deity true humanity, became the God-man. One person, a human nature and divine nature. Now He manifests His visible appearance as a servant. He took the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. He was truly man. The thing that characterized humanity now characterized Him.

He was found, verse 8, in appearance as a man. That word appearance there is, where we get the English word scheme from it. It’s all the details. If you had looked at Him, He would have been dressed in a robe as a first century Jewish man would have been. His hair would have been similar, His beard, He got tired, He ate food, drank water, and on it goes. In the appearance of a man.

He humbled Himself, He wasn’t done. When He steps from the throne of the display of the glory of His deity and was born at Bethlehem He’s not done. He humbled Himself further and became obedient. When He became a servant, He became a genuine servant, He gave up everything of His own to serve the Father and to do what was best for us. He became obedient to the point of death, but not just death, the death of a cross. Didn’t bring the quote, but I was reading it yesterday by Cicero, the Roman orator. He wrote regarding crucifixion: 1) a Roman citizen can never be crucified; 2) Roman citizens ought not even to look on a crucifixion because it is too degrading for someone of the stature of a Roman citizen. It gives you the idea, He went from the highest possible position to the lowest possible position. He not only became a man and became a slave, a servant, but He was willing to die. But He was not only willing to die; He was willing to die the worst and the lowliest of deaths, the death that the Old Testament itself says was the death reserved only for those who were cursed of God. Paul writes about it in Galatians, quoting from the Old Testament, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. He was becoming a curse for us. That’s what it took to provide our redemption.

“Therefore, God has highly exalted Him, bestowed upon Him the name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. Of those who are in heaven,” that’s the unfallen angels and redeemed people who have died; “of those who are on earth”, that’s the living; “and those under the earth,” that’s fallen angels and those who have died apart from Christ, apart from believing in the salvation of God. They are in Hades now awaiting doom to hell. In other words, everything and everyone will acclaim Christ. “That every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Now you’ll note here, this started out, verse 5, have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. We don’t put limits; I don’t mind humbling myself. But I don’t mind, but……. Just where did Christ stop? Isn’t that a denial of the gospel of Jesus Christ for us to live self-centered lives, for us to build our lives around ourselves and expect others to build their lives around us as well. Is it not a denial of the Lord we claim to serve that His servants should think themselves better than Him? That we fracture the body and divide over ourselves, when it’s the gospel that unites us, has made us one in Christ? We are to be following the example of a Savior who gave up everything and put no limits on His humiliation to provide redemption for us. And you know what God did? God has highly exalted Him. Know what Peter writes? “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” The pattern will be the same. You cannot be saved by trying to humble yourself and live a humble life. You cannot be saved by being willing to suffer for Christ. You can only be saved by God’s grace through believing in Jesus Christ. Your works and efforts can never contribute anything. But once you have been redeemed by God’s grace you ought to stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. We are to be a people now that God has drawn out from the world for Himself, what He calls in Titus chapter 2, His own special, peculiar treasure, redeemed for Himself. Living not in pride and arrogance and self-sufficiency as the world does, but in humble dependence upon Him, gladly giving ourselves in service to others, pleased to have them honored, willing to do whatever is necessary that they might grow and mature and experience the blessings of God.

That’s the reality of the work of Christ. This is just not some theological doctrine to be believed and packed away, not just some sentimental emotion to be celebrated on a holiday. This is a life to be lived, to be lived as we would say, on that cutting edge where we often find it somewhat unpleasant and difficult. When I am willing to follow the pattern of the One who loved me and died for me, and willing to give myself for His honor.

Do you know the Savior? You will bow before Him some day, you know. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. That has been decreed by almighty God, it cannot be changed. Some will bow by His grace in this life, and recognize their sinful condition, their wretched pride, and believe that Christ died for them, and they will be gloriously saved. Some will remain obstinate until the end, and they will bow before the Great White Throne upon which the Lord of glory will sit, and He will condemn them to an eternal hell, as they bow and acknowledge He is the Lord of all and their judge. Why would anyone not believe in the one who loved them and died for them? The fact that people don’t is a demonstration of how wickedly sinful and obstinate and proud we really are.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the might and power of your salvation in Jesus Christ that can take wretched, stubborn, arrogant, sinful humans such as each and everyone of us were apart from your grace. You brought us to our knees, you caused us to see our lost condition, you drew us to salvation through faith in Christ. Lord, may we live this gospel in our relationship with one another as your children, and we’d be willing to humble ourselves, to demonstrate the power of your gospel and work in our lives as you prepare us for glory. Lord, for any of our dear friends and family, regular attenders or visitors this morning who do not know the Savior, what a glorious day for them to experience the resurrection power of Jesus Christ in salvation. We ask that it would be so in Christ’s name. Amen.