Summary: God saves a people and secures their future through the work of Jesus.

Scripture Introduction

The Christian faith is first and foremost about a person, which distinguishes it from other religions. Certainly the Bible teaches great moral truths, but Christianity is NOT, essentially, a new morality. Fantastic churches and ministries do wonderful works in the name of the Lord, but Christianity is NOT, fundamentally, a system of good works. True believers write learned discourses explaining both the world in which we live and how to live in this world, but Christianity is NOT, primarily, a philosophy of living fruitfully in a fallen world.

Jesus is the essence of the faith—who he is and what he did. At Christmas people sometimes say, “Jesus is the reason for the season.” That is true, but we could expand it by saying, “Jesus is the reason for the religion.” The Apostle Paul summarized his ministry as: “we preach Christ crucified.”

All Biblical preaching proclaims the cross of Christ, and some passages make that more obvious by their focus on the person and work of Jesus. Philippians 2.5-11 is one of those, Paul’s great meditation on Christ before time, Christ in time, and Christ beyond time.

[Read Philippians 2.5-11. Pray.]

Introduction

Once upon a time, a young shepherd grew bored while watching his flock. So he yelled, “Wolf! Wolf! A wolf is among the sheep!”

The villagers nearby ran with shovels and spears and hoes and picks—it was a near carnival to see them all rush to his aid, and the boy laughed at the sight. They scolded him for his behavior, but he still enjoyed the relief.

A few weeks passed and he again felt desperate for some excitement. So he cried, “Wolf! Wolf! A wolf is among the sheep!” Again the villagers came running, which delighted the boy tremendously, but the villagers were not amused.

The next day, a real wolf appeared. The shepherd boy, greatly alarmed, shouted in terror: “Wolf! Wolf! A wolf is among the sheep! Please, come and help me!”

But no one paid heed to his cries; no one came running. The wolf killed the sheep.

Why did the villagers not respond to the boy’s cry? [Because they did not believe him.]

Did they believe that a Wolf existed? [Yes.]

Did they believe a Wolf could be dangerous? [Yes.]

Did they believe that if a Wolf were among the sheep, the result would be disastrous? [Yes.]

What then did they not believe? [They not believe that the boy was telling the truth.]

How do you know that they did not believe the boy? I did not say that in the story, so how do you know that? [Because they did not come running.]

True belief produces changed behavior. If we are not changed, it would seem to be that our faith is deficient or non-existent. When we truly believe, we come running when God calls.

It makes me wonder if people think of God like the villagers thought of the wolf. We live in a religious country—polls tell us that 90% of the population believes there is a God. I am not certain, but I would guess many feel that God can be dangerous, and that if he were truly among us (like a wolf or lion), then they would certainly act differently. But hearts and minds seem little changed by the faith professed.

God reminds us in Romans 12 to have our lives transformed by the renewing of our minds. And here in Philippians 2.5, we are commanded to have the mind of Christ. How are we to think like Jesus, and what effects will that have on our lives? I believe God would have us explore those questions from our text, noting, first…

1. We Must Hope Because of Jesus’ Eternal Divinity (Philippians 2.6)

The director of a medical clinic told of a terminally ill young man who came in for his usual treatment. A new doctor on duty said to him casually and cruelly, “You know, don’t you, that you won’t live out the year?” As the young man left, he stopped by the director’s desk and wept. “That man took away my hope,” he blurted out. “I guess he did,” replied the director. “Maybe it’s time to find a new one.”

Lewis Smedes (who taught theology and ethics at Fuller Seminary for many years) wrote about that incident, “Is there a hope when hope is taken away? Is there hope when the situation is hopeless? In the Bible, hope is no longer a passion for the possible. It becomes a passion for the promise.”

G. K. Chesterton: “Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all…. As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.”

I do not need to give you all the reasons to be hopeless. With a world full of terrors and troubles, we easily grow discouraged and fearful. Where do we find hope? One place is in the promise of who Christ is.

Philippians 2.6 tells us that Christ was equal to God before he was born. John the Apostle explains it this way: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father…” (John 1.1,14). Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the one who is, and who was, and who is to come (Revelation 1.8). “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1.17). All creation, heaven and earth, will perish, but Christ remains: “he is the same and his years have no end” (Hebrews 1.11-12). John the Baptist said of him, “He who comes after me ranks above me, because he was before me” (John 1.15). Christ is eternal God.

Alister McGrath (doctorates in both molecular biophysics and divinity from Oxford, formerly an atheist and now chair of theology at King’s College, London): “God did not send a subordinate to redeem us. He chose to do it himself” (Knowing Christ).

The Nicene Creed, which Christians have recited together for hundreds of years, reminds us of what must be believed about Jesus: “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.”

Christ is eternal God.

And when we believe that, we are filled with hope. Not wishing for something we know will not happen, but certain of a promise secured by the power of God.

When my kids were younger, one of their favorite riddles was about a father who offers his inheritance to the son that can fill a room with something which he purchases with only a few dollars. One boy buys feathers, but the money will not buy enough to fill the room. The second tries straw, but neither can he purchase enough. The third buys a candle and match and fills the room with light.

We have ample reason to despair. The world is a dark and desperate place. Christian hope is not Pollyannish optimism in the face of certain defeat. It is a sure and certain Savior; it is faith in a Deliverer, King, Friend, Brother, Lord, Captain, and Teacher who is — God! Darkness must flee before the power of light; as God, Christ has infinite power to overcome every darkness in this world. We may not despair, no matter how trying the circumstances—God has come to earth!

2. We Must Be Humble Because of Jesus’ Full Humanity (Philippians 2.7-8)

Yehiel Dinur testified against Adolf Eichmann at his Jerusalem trial in 1961 for war crimes. When he came face-to-face with Eichmann for the first time since being sent to Auschwitz almost 20 years earlier, Dinur began to sob uncontrollably and then fainted. Was Dinur overcome by hatred, or fear, or simply the horror of the memories of Auschwitz? Mike Wallace asked him that very question on 60 Minutes. Dinur said: “I was afraid about myself. I saw that I am capable to do this. I am…exactly like he.” Mike Wallace then said: “Eichmann is in all of us.”

Chuck Colson, commenting on that episode of 60 Minutes, wrote: “Wallace’s summation of Dinur’s terrible discovery—‘Eichmann is in all of us’—is a horrifying statement; but it indeed captures the central truth about man’s nature. For as a result of the fall, sin is in each of us—not just the susceptibility to sin, but sin itself… That being so, why is sin so seldom written or preached about? Dinur’s dramatic collapse in the Nuremburg courtroom gives us the clue. For to truly confront evil–the sin within us– is a devastating experience. If the reality of man’s sin was forthrightly preached, it would have the same shattering effect on blissful churchgoers that it had on Dinur. Many would flee their pews never to return. And since church growth is today’s supreme standard of spirituality, many pastors steer away from such confrontive subjects; so do authors who want their books bought and read. So do television preachers whose success depends on audience ratings; for viewers confronted with hard truth can simply flick the offending preacher out of their living rooms. The result is that the message is often watered down to a palatable gospel of positive thinking which will ‘hold the audience.’ That’s what Nazi victim Dietrich Bonhoeffer called ‘cheap grace’–that in which ‘no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin.’ But it’s the very heart of a Christian conversion to confront one’s own sin and thus to desperately desire deliverance from it.”

Philippians 2 reminds us that in space and time God was born as a human baby. He did not give up deity, but took on humanity, God incarnate, God living in human flesh. Jesus is God humble, relinquishing the glory and honor due in order to save sinners. He humbled himself, not grasping tightly praise and worship demanded by his divine nature, but voluntarily descending to the depths of degradation—convicted and executed as a cursed and condemned criminal. He did not sin himself—indeed, as God he could not. But he was made into sin itself, and judged guilty, so that God’s grace and mercy might be revealed in saving sinners.

This is the humility which we must grasp. We are to be humble when we look at ourselves, because of how desperate is our need, that God must descend so deep to deliver. And we are to be humble when we look at God, because of how divine is the humility which Christ displays. Everything about the humanity of Christ screams for humility.

C. J. Mahaney (Sovereign Grace Ministries) wrote a great book on humility. Ligon Duncan (First Presbyterian, Jackson, MS) writes in the blurb on the front flyleaf: “A ‘proud Christian’ is an oxymoron. May the Lord of Glory, who humbled himself unto death, use this book to slay pride in you, and to form in you the true greatness of servanthood and self-denial.”

Yes, Dr. Duncan, may the Lord of Glory make it so.

3. We Must Hold Fast Because of Jesus Exalted Glory (Philippians 2.9-11)

When Jesus first came to earth, his divine nature was hidden under his humanity; when he returns, he will display his deity.

Christ’s First Coming - When Christ Returns

Was in humility and he was despised - it will be in glory and he will be worshipped

Was in rags and we rejected him - In royal robes and all will revere

Was in meekness and we mocked - Will be in power and he will be praised

Was in the form of a suffering servant - It will be as the glorified God

Was in poverty - Will be in wealth

Was disguised as a man and scorned - Will be revealed as God and received

Was ignored by most - Will get the attention of all

Was cursed as a criminal - Will be confessed as King

Was ugly - Will be beautiful

We need to see the difference so that we will hold fast until the glory is revealed. We are in the time of humility, and those who truly believe in Christ share in his sufferings. There will be times when we feel certain that we ourselves are under the “sentence of death. But that is to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” (2Corinthians 1.9).

Romans 8.18-25: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

4. Conclusion

Read “The Parable” (Preface) from Crabb, Shattered Dreams. (Long quote):

Hope and humility and the courage to hold fast come not from the promise of a pleasant life, but from the promise of who God is and what he does. Let us desire to drink from his streams of living water.