Christ's Model

This morning we will be continuing our sermon series on the church. We started in Ephesians 4 and then we looked in 1 John and today we will be in the book of Philippians. And as we think about the church and what the church is called to be and what we as the church at Jefferson Park are called to be, and we look to Philippians, let's look to this letter as from the standpoint of realizing this is the Apostle Paul pouring out his heart for this church in Philippi, expressing his yearning and his longing and what he desires of them. And I think this epistle is particularly significant because if there's any church that Paul cherishes and yearns for, It's the Philippian church. As you read this epistle, his love for them is just, it comes through in a unique way. To remind you, this church is one that Paul was instrumental in the founding and establishing of. In Acts, I think it's chapter 16, we read about that, how there was a vision that Paul saw of a man in Macedonia pleading with Paul to come and help us. And we know that as Paul went there, they went by the riverside and began sharing the gospel, and there was a woman named Lydia, an affluent woman, a seller of purple, and God opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. And then after that, Paul and the city, there was a Siusang girl that was following them around, proclaiming things, and we know Paul eventually turned, and he commanded the spirit to leave her. And as a result, Paul and Silas were thrown into prison in Philippi. It was there that there was an earthquake at night, and the doors fly open, and the jailer himself was going to kill himself, and yet Paul stopped him. And in fact, the jailer says, what must I do to be saved? And they share the gospel, and that very night, he is baptized with his family. And so much had happened here. And not only that, but we know in time to come, as we read in Philippians, that this church had come alongside Paul financially, unlike anyone else who perhaps just assumed, well, his needs are all met, that just didn't think about it. And yet, Philippi expresses their love to Paul by supporting him in his work. And now, as Paul's writing this letter, he seems to be likely under house arrest in Rome. He's a prisoner at this time. And the Philippians had sent one of their members, Epaphroditus, with what seems to be a care package of sorts, to care for Paul. And now Paul is sending him back with this letter. And so all of these factors contribute to Paul's love for this church. He begins the letter, he says, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, making requests for you all with joy. He says, I have you in my heart, and God is my witness how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. And and even says that if it's God's will for him to be poured out and die for the sake of the faith of this church, he rejoices in that. And so as we come to this letter, we have this love for Paul, this this yearning for the sake of this church, that that they would grow up into what God has called them to be. And so, with that said, we're going to turn to our text. We are going to actually begin in chapter 1 and verse 27, and then we'll continue through chapter 2, verse 11. Prior to this point in the letter, Paul has expressed his thanksgiving to the Philippians and has prayed for them. Then he's updated them about himself, the fact that he is in prison, but even yet the gospel is advancing. And now he turns to the Philippians with the charge of this letter, his charge to the church. So with that said, listen as I read Philippians chapter one, beginning in verse 27. By the way, I will be reading from the New King James. If you follow along in the ESV or another translation, I'm sure that won't be an issue. And if you don't have a Bible, there are a few Bibles. So please grab one. This will be on page 980. Philippians one, beginning in verse 27. Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ. So that whether I come and see you or I'm absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. And not in any way terrified by your adversaries. which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now here is in me. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. Please join me in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your son. We thank you that through him you have bid us to come, all of us who are weary and heavy laden, to take his yoke upon us and to learn from him. For he is humble and lowly in heart, And in him, we find rest for our souls. Father, I pray that as we hear your word, Lord, that you would unite us, that we would strive together for the faith of the gospel, and that you would humble us, and that you would stir our hearts to look to Christ and to worship him. In his name we pray, amen. For this purpose of this sermon, I will be breaking down our text into four sections. The first section is verses 27 through chapter 2 and verse 2. And I think the main charge there is be united in purpose. The second section will be verses 3 and 4 of chapter 2. Be humble. The third section will be verses 5 through 8. Think like Christ. And the fourth and final section will be verses 9 through 11. Keep the end in view. So be united in purpose, be humble, think like Christ, and keep the end in view. So beginning in verse 27, Paul says, only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ. So that whether I come and see you or I'm absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. So as in Ephesians, where we heard that charge, walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called. Here again, Paul says, let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ. And then he goes and he adds a little bit of clarity or he narrows in and says, in this particular way, walk worthy. And he says that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. And so Paul's heart for this church is that they would be united together behind one purpose. the purpose of the faith of the gospel. And I believe that's another way of saying united around advancing the kingdom of Christ, united around seeing the gospel go forth into the world and be believed on by men. Seeing the church grow up in their trust in the gospel, their faith in the gospel and their faithfulness in living their lives in conformity to the gospel. And his charge for them is strive for this and do this together. That is, do this side by side. One brother had mentioned it's like an image of a chain link fence. You know that everyone in the church is locked arm in arm, striving for the same purpose, the same task, perfectly together, united with one another. And one of the things that is a theme throughout the book of Philippians is this idea of striving forward toward this end goal. We see this right in the beginning of the book, where Paul expresses his confidence that God, who began a good work in you, will finish it. He prays for them that you will be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ He charges them work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you And as we read in the scripture reading, you know Paul says imitate me in forgetting, you know, counting those things that used to be gained as loss, forgetting those things which are behind and pressing on, pressing ahead toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ. And so the church is to be united around that purpose. We have a mission, a task to be given to. And Paul, I think, part of his heart here for the Philippians is he longs to see this in them, and in time past he has. You know, he has seen them sacrifice generously for him financially. Members of the church, like Clement and Euodia and Syntyche, have labored with Paul in the gospel. And this is a church, he says, who, as always in times past, they have been marked by obedience. to Paul's instruction from the Word of Christ. But now, I think as he writes, Paul has fears. He has concerns. He is worried that this church that he has seen growing and striving is going to cease, is going to become divided, is going to stop what the good work that he has seen begun. And his two main fears for what would threaten to hinder this work are division and conflict. So first, there are outside adversaries which are bringing about conflict. If you look in verse 28, he says, you know, do not be in any way terrified by your adversaries. which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation." And then in verse 30, he's saying, it's been granted to you that you will have the same conflict which you saw in me and now here is in me. Just like I'm in prison suffering right now, you too will face conflict. You will have adversaries. And Paul does not want to see the Philippian church silenced by fear. He does not want to see them quit contending for the faith because it leads to suffering. But secondly, and I think more concerning to Paul, there is the danger of internal division. We know from Philippians chapter 4 that two likely prominent members of the church, women, Euodia and Syntyche, seem to be at odds. They have some disagreement, which is threatening the unity of the church. We don't know why exactly there was disunity. It doesn't sound to me like this was something theological, because elsewhere when Paul is writing to churches and there's a theological upheaval, he addresses the theology and corrects it. But here Paul's counsel is having to do with their mindset. The charge is be of one mind, consider Christ, think like Christ, be of the same mind, and he charges them, rejoice, rejoice always, focus on the gospel, on that purpose. And so it sounds to me like the issue is that both of them, at some level, are failing to be about Christ's purpose. There's selfishness, there's pride, there's selfish ambition coming in and threatening the unity of the church. And so Paul is seeking here to combat that, to address both of these concerns and unite the church around their purpose. And so his counsel is simple. It is strive together for the faith of the gospel, strive side by side. And there's two main reasons for that, for why he says they need to do that. The first, he says essentially in verses 29 through 30, strive together because you have been called to suffer together. So he says, for to you, in verse 29, it has been granted or given on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now here is in me. He's saying, listen, Just as God gave you faith, it's interesting that there was no debate about that at this time. He says, just like God gave you faith as a gift, it has been given to you, that's the word charis, which is the word we elsewhere translate for spiritual gifts. It has been given to you as a spiritual gift to suffer for the gospel. And in the midst of that suffering, take heart because it is evidence of your salvation. You know, when we are suffering for Christ, not just suffering in general, but suffering for the gospel, Paul says. Those who oppose you, this is a proof of their destruction, but to you and evidence or proof of salvation. Take heart in that, but secondly. realize that God has called us to suffer together. We're called to strive together, and therefore we will have enemies, and we are called to suffer together. Paul is in prison right now, and just think for a minute about the kind of shame associated with that, and the shame that would be associated with someone who identifies themselves with Paul. This person labeled, you know, an offender against the good of public welfare. Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, He says, I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last as men condemned to death, for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, weak, dishonored, reviled, persecuted, defamed, made as the filth of the world, the offscoring of all things until now. Paul and the other apostles are looked upon as shameful and despised by the world. And men and women in Philippi who are going to take a stand for the truth of the gospel will be looked on the same way. And I think part of what Paul is saying to the rest of the church is, listen, you are called to strive together with them, to identify and stand with them and participate in their sufferings because those sufferings are the sufferings of Christ. And you're called to suffer for Christ's sake. And we need to ask ourselves, will we stand arm in arm together as brothers and sisters in Christ? Even. With one another when we are mocked and despised for it. We live in a society where one of the things that is held up as the golden rule is tolerance. And anything perceived as intolerance, such as saying that Jesus is the only way to salvation, is viewed as the most offensive, just shameful thing someone can say. And when others of us take a stand for that, will we all stand together and strive together for the sake of the gospel, experiencing that suffering together? Because we need one another. We need to endure and strive together. We are weak alone, but we have strength in the unity that God has given us in the spirit. The second reason Paul urges them to strive together, we see in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 2. He says, therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, If any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy fulfill my joy by being like minded, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind. And I think the thrust of what Paul is ultimately saying there is strive together because that's the only natural or fitting response to the gospel. You know, if we have truly understood the gospel, if we have truly come to appreciate the privilege of being in Christ, if we have truly experienced Christ's love for us, if we have truly experienced the fellowship and the participation in the Holy Spirit. If we truly have any affection and mercy and tender heartedness from the work of God in our hearts, Of course, we will be united. Of course, that should unite us. If if if we have no unity, it. It's evidence that there's a problem in the way that we are understanding the gospel. There's a serious lack in our apprehension and experience of what God has done for us in Christ. And so Paul pleads with them. If any of these things are true, fulfill my joy. Allow me to look at you and see you striving together with one heart and one mind for the faith of the gospel. And I so that I can rejoice. Seeing what God has done in you. But on the other side. At times, there's almost this bit of fear and anticipation in Paul where where he says, you know, right. If you look later in chapter two in verse 16, where he says, oh, that you'll be holding fast the word of life so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. There's this this undertone of. If I look to you and there's nothing but division and there's no sense of uniting together for this cause, it's evidence that something is very wrong, that the gospel has not been believed and understood. What I pray that we as a church will reflect on and ask ourselves as we hear these words, are we striving together for the faith of the gospel? Is the purpose of what you're striving for the faith of the gospel, the advancement of the kingdom of Christ? The numerical and spiritual growth of the body. And are we doing it together? You know, when a nation goes to war, such as the United States and the world wars, the nation strives together for that purpose. Right? It may mean rationing, where the citizens all can't just eat all they want but have to limit themselves. It means men leaving their jobs for the battlefield. It means women going and sometimes World Wars are taking the place of the men in the factories. It means everyone doing his or her share because their very lives are at stake. There's a greater purpose. And so I ask, does the church reflect that? I mean, if if if that's what is natural when there's a something to strive for about physical life and well-being, how much more should that be the case when it's spiritual life and well-being? Will you come before the church and place everything on the table? And say, I am willing to do whatever it takes. So that we. can press forward for the faith, the advancement of the faith of the gospel. And as I think about Jefferson Park, one way that I would say Jefferson Park excels in this would be financial giving. When there is a financial need, I think all of us in leadership just have, we don't even question it. Yeah, if we said before the church, here is a financial need, it's met. You are generous. But I would say one of the areas that we are less generous with is our time. It is much harder when there is a need for service or a need to say we need to gather and pray about this. It's much harder to find that availability, that willingness, that ability to just put all on the table. And so I would ask you, you know, to ask yourself, can I be counted on? You know, are you someone that the church and the leaders of the church or any other member of the church can come to and count on? Can rely on? Or are you just unavailable? You know, and many times I think there are those of us in our heart is there we say, oh, yes, that's great. But I just I have these other obligations, other responsibilities. And I would say to some who I think. Their life is marked by a striving for the gospel, who are given to that selfless service. But I would ask us all to consider, but how much time, how committed in that serving is it to your local church? You know, if it's scattered abroad, it's very hard to be counted on. And there is, I think, a unique beauty when people come together and say, you know, we are going to be united, we're going to strive, not just by ourselves, we're going to strive together. I've been reminded as I thought about this, that when the tabernacle was being built, and how all the people just, they brought whatever they had. Didn't matter, some had a lot, some didn't have very much, but they brought what they had, and there was so much, they had to start sending people away. What a beautiful picture. I pray that that would be the case when any elder, when the leaders of church say, this is the ministry we want to do. I pray that that the church would come forward and say, you know, I'm really bad at this, but I'm here. You just tell me what to do. I am fully committed to striving with you for the faith of the gospel. And one other thing I want to mention, as we come to strive together, pray for us as leaders, because we need wisdom. And we don't always know the best way or the right way. But for you to come and to say, we're here, we're committed, we're with you, let's strive together. That is a tremendous blessing and encouragement. And finally, some of you are struggling. And I would just urge you, do not strive alone. That sin that you're battling, allow the church, strive with the church, allow other members to come and strive with you. Don't think, I am going to fight this by myself. Now, secondly, as we think about how to do this. In short, be humble. Look in verses three and four of chapter two. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. You see, the problem with striving together for something is that if anybody has some side agenda, some other thing that they're also trying to strive for, we're no longer all going in the same direction. And at the end of the day, that's what selfish ambition and pride and conceit and vainglory is all about. Selfish ambition is desiring to achieve something, you know, this goal that's about you. It's adding some other goal to your life besides the upward call of God in Christ. And conceit or vainglory is talking about ambitions that are particularly for your own honor or prestige. You're saying, I want the church to grow and prosper, and I need to be in leadership. I want to serve Christ faithfully, and I need to achieve my career aspirations as well. I want to obey Christ, and I need popularity. Every ambition in your life that is not a means to the end of glorifying Jesus Christ is sin and is divisive to the body. And one of the scary things about pride is that pride is like the hardiest of all plants. You know, you think of pride, it's like a plant that can grow in the jungle, in the desert, in ice, on mountains, in valleys, in the water, rocks, shade, light, anywhere. You know, pride grows in the nutrient-rich soil with lots of water. You know, the life that has indulgence and license and so on, that leaves, pride grows there. Pride grows in the dry and the barren place. You know, the life of hard discipline and work. Pride still grows. You know, you can be in the warmth and the sun, you know, the joyful and the glad times, or you can be in the cold and the dark, the sad and the depressing times. You know, you can be committed to lots of worldly things, or you can be doing spiritual things, like preaching the gospel, and pride will still grow. In fact, you know, Paul had just mentioned those in if you go back to chapter one, verse 16, he talks about those who preach Christ even from envy and strife. And some also from goodwill, the former, he says, preach Christ from selfish ambition. So you can preach Christ, you can preach the true gospel with pride and selfish ambition. And so this is something that is universal, that we will all face. And I think what Paul is really setting up here as he mentions this, you know, as we talk about this journey of salvation, having that goal in view in the book, The Pilgrim's Progress. Pilgrim's on the way to the celestial city and he comes up and he can see the city and yet right before him is the valley of humiliation. And it's as if we all need to hear that the only way to strive together in unity for the purpose of what God has called us to, to reach the goal, you have to go through the valley of humiliation. We all have to be humbling ourselves daily because pride is growing up. Pride is seeking to distract us and to cause us to set our affections on other things. We have to go through that valley. And so Paul says, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. In lowliness of mind, esteem others better than himself. You know, Paul, as the Apostle Paul, he could say, I am the chief of sinners. And he could say, I am the least of all the saints. And I pray that the Spirit of God would so work to convict us that we would come before God's Word, that we would be daily on our knees in prayer so that we would be convicted, that we would see our sin, and that we would know the grace that God has for us in Christ, and we too would see ourselves the way Paul does. To say, I know Christ came into the world to save sinners, and he came to save the worst kind like me. I pray that that would be our heart, that that would be the way we think, and that we would look to other people and not see all the faults, but we would see in them the way God has gifted them, that we would see in them the dignity that God has created them with, that we would see in our brothers and sisters in Christ that they are sons and daughters beloved by God, whom Christ died for, and therefore that we would esteem them highly. One thing that is a bit I think reveals our tendency to do the opposite of esteeming others better than ourself is, you know, think for a moment the last time someone said something hurtful, unkind to you, and how much that upset you. And now ask yourself the question, if that exact same thing you had just overheard said to somebody else, how much would it have upset you? Most of us, I think, would say it upsets me a lot more when it's directed at me than when it's directed at them. And the difference is, well, that's how much more we love ourself and value ourself and care about our interests than we care about others. It shows the difference in our love. And so the charge is. Be humble. Think of others. And as we think about that in the context here, talking about the church and the unity in the church. You know, I wonder. How is that played out in our body? Would you know in one thing that? I'm thankful for. I don't see in this body, in our church, I don't see a lot of jockeying for spiritual recognition. I don't see a lot of people just eager to preach from proud motives, eager to kind of set themselves forward. I want to start a ministry and I want to be in charge and I don't see a lot of that. But when I think about this body, what I do see is I think if someone were to come and observe our services, say on Wednesday night, would they come and see a church and glorify God in amazement at saying, look at how united that church is, all focused on the same thing, all seeking, striving together for the faith of the gospel? Or might somebody come and see us and kind of see a lot of people that You know, do we come late? Do we miss a lot of services? Do we sort of have a lot of distractions and other things going on? You know, would there just be a general sense of there's a lot of other things on these people's minds? You know, or would someone looking see, wow, all of these people are focused together on the same thing, having one heart and one mind. Now, thirdly, think like Christ. How do we go through this valley of humiliation? How do we do it? Verses five through eight. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." So Paul tells them Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Think like Christ. And what did Christ do? Christ was in the form of God. He was equal with God. Yet he did not consider it robbery to be with God, in other words, his his focus, you know, he didn't think of it as something to be held on to, to be grasp hold of. But he made himself of no reputation. That is, he emptied himself of his divine glory, his divine privileges, and took the form of a bondservant and came in the likeness of men. In other words, he emptied himself not by losing his divine nature, but rather by adding human nature. and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. As a man, he was subject to the will of God in everything and even obeyed God in suffering the most cruel and humiliating death. And as we think about this mind of Christ and how we are to think that way, I want to focus on three things, the humility of Christ's love, the humility of his emptying himself and the humility of his obedience. First, the humility of his love, he considered the interests of others. Christ himself did not focus on himself and his position and his glory and grasp and hold on to his godhood, but rather his focus was on two things. The glory of his father and the needs of us. He was focused on the interests of others. C.S. Lewis said true humility is not thinking less of yourself. It is thinking of yourself less. Think less often about yourself and think about others. You know, how much time do you spend thinking about yourself, your needs, your interests, your goals, even good things, your own spiritual growth, your sins, your failures? I mean, we need to consider those things. But do you think about them more or do you think about Christ and his glory and his work and his interests, especially his people? Do we think about that more? That is what love does. Secondly, the humility of emptying. Christ made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a slave. And this is something I don't think any of us can even begin to comprehend. We cannot possibly imagine what it is like for God to lower himself to become man. Paul could say, in preaching, we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. The very idea that God would ever do something like this is foolishness to the person who seeks wisdom. It's a stumbling block to the Jewish people. When Jesus came and he proclaimed who he was, the Jews took up stones to stone him and saying, we stone you for blasphemy because you being a man make yourself God. They're saying it is an insult to God to try to claim that God could be a man. God would never do something like that. You know, think of yourself. Imagine your body. Imagine you, yourself, your body being transformed into that of a worm. Creeping, wriggling on the ground, pink, slimy, segmented. Just picture a worm, being a worm. And whatever repugnance and revulsion that picture elicits of emptying yourself of all your dignity and your respectability, it does not compare to the revulsion that the Son of God would have felt in emptying himself of his divine glory and privileges to take the form of a slave and appear in the likeness of man. Motivated by love, The son of God, the creator. The bread of life, the fountain of living waters, the king of kings and Lord of Lords who alone has immortality dwelling in unapproachable light whom no one has seen or can see to whom the honor and everlasting power. That God. Descended. To become naked, mocked and beaten to hang on a cross, to die. Jesus quoted from Psalm 22, which says, But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised by the people. The author of life submitted himself to death because he loves you and me. He emptied himself because he did not consider his own interests, but he considered our interests. Will we have this mind? Will it will we in love empty ourselves like Christ? Letting go of our own respectability, our own reputation. Pouring ourselves out like the Apostle Paul. Will we be willing to lose all for Christ? And Paul could say, but what things were gained to me, these I've counted loss for Christ. Will we consider those who have gone before us, as Hebrews 11 mentions, who were tortured, mocked, scourged, stoned, sawn in two, wandered in sheepskins and goatskins, were destitute, afflicted, tormented, wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves, yet these were those of whom the world was not worthy. The most honorable men and women received the greatest dishonor in this world. Thirdly, consider the humility of Christ's obedience, that he was obedient to the point of death. Now, humility requires two things. One, it means thinking of yourself less. But secondly, humility means having a right view of yourself that is recognizing and accepting your position. And the point would be, if you do not understand authority, you will lack humility. I pray that we would see that three things which go together are humility, an understanding of authority, and great faith. There was, if you remember the story about a centurion who was a very noble man. The Jews were thankful for him. They come to Jesus and they said, this centurion, he has a servant. who's sick, will you heal him? And so Jesus goes, and while he's on the way, the centurion sends servants to Jesus, and they tell him, here's what the centurion said, you aren't worthy, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. You see his humility. And then the centurion, through his messengers, basically says, but I understand how authority works. You know, I understand you don't need to come here. Just say the word and my servant will be well. And Jesus turns and says, he marveled, said, I have not seen such great faith, not even in Israel. You see the humility. The understanding of authority and the great faith. And look at Christ. Christ too understands authority. He understood His position as a man. And so He willingly obeyed His Father in every circumstance. He did so even joyfully. It says, Then I said, Behold, I have come in the volume of the book it is written of Me to do Your will, O God. He said, my food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. Christ understood his position. And secondly, he recognized that all things were under his father's authority, that, you know, when when he stood before Pilate, he could say, you can do nothing to me except it has been given to you by my father. He understood authority, and so he understood God is sovereign over every circumstance, over every situation. And so in all of his life, no matter how much he was unjustly treated, no matter what the authority said, he obeyed his father. Faithfully entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. And that is a model of humility. Thinking like Christ means humbling yourself by obeying even unjust and unwise authorities because it reflects a right view of yourself and the position God has placed you in. And it also demonstrates faith that God is the one who will exalt you. That God is the one who will vindicate you. Let's look to our fourth point, keep the end in view, verses 9 through 11. Therefore, that is because of Christ's humility in his love, in his emptying of himself, in his obedience. Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. Christ went from the cross and the grave to being resurrected, to ascending, and is even now seated at the right hand of the Father. And we need to see that beyond that valley of humiliation, there is exaltation. That Christ, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. And one of the amazing things, I think this is perhaps just as amazing as the fact that Christ came and humbled himself on earth, is that even in heaven, the Son of God retains his humanity. The Son of God will be glorified and praised and worshipped and knelt down and worshipped as a man. That's the God-man, Christ Jesus, for all eternity. Every knee, every angel, man and woman will kneel in worship. And Paul makes very clear that all here means all. The dead will be raised up and even those about to be cast into hell will confess that Jesus is the one true and rightful Lord and King. One of the horrible things and terrifying things about hell. Is it every hidden thing will be brought to light? There will be no more hiding of sin, no more concealment of truth. So for those of you who are here that don't know Christ that have not bowed your knee to him now. You will acknowledge his authority then. But then you will be cast out of his kingdom. So I plead with you this morning, recognize Christ is King. He reigns now. Submit your life to him today. Because today there will be mercy today. He will on that final day exalt you and welcome you into his kingdom because he has paid the price on the cross. But if you wait till then. You will still bow. But then you will be cast out. But for you who do believe and who gladly bow now, what a joyful thing this will be. To be welcomed into his kingdom, to see all peoples worshiping and praising him together. And may we keep this end in view, you know, that as even now we are called striving together for the faith of the gospel, you know, descending down into the valley of humiliation. You know, in the midst of that humiliation, may we rejoice, knowing that the day of exaltation is coming. Humility doesn't mean I don't desire exaltation. It's not necessarily wrong to desire exaltation, but Christ says, he who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. And whoever among you desires to be great and desires exaltation, let him be the slave of all. The road there is down. And when you are suffering shame for his name, May you hold your peace knowing that a day of vindication is yet to come. And as we strive together for the faith of the gospel, may we all keep our eyes fixed on Christ, who is seated at the right hand of the Father, before whom all of us can look forward to this day when all people will bow. May that motivate us and encourage us. May we do all things in light of that. Amen. Let's pray. Father, it's a pitiful thing to seek to preach Christ. Because he could be preached for all eternity and we would not begin to do justice. To who he is and what he has done. But father, I pray that your spirit. Through your word. Would just open our eyes to see a little bit more of his glory. to apprehend a little bit more of his truth, and Father, to give more of ourselves to you. Father, may we, as a body, strive together for the faith of the gospel with all of our heart. May we lay aside every proud motive, and may we together descend into the valley of humiliation, Lord, knowing that you are the God who will exalt us. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen.