He Emptied Himself
TCF Sermon
December 11, 2011
This morning, I’m going to ask you to think – this won’t be a Christmas message where we remember the Christmas story, per se. So, to warm up your thinker, we’re going to have a little quiz:
Name That Christmas Carol – match these words with the right Christmas carol…
1. 5 p.m. to 6 a.m. without noise – Silent Night
2. Miniscule hamlet in the far east – O Little Town of Bethlehem
3. Adorn the vestibule – Deck the Halls
4. Listen, aerial spirits vocalizing musical harmonies – Hark the Herald Angels Sing
5. Monarchial trio - We Three Kings
6. Assemble, everyone who believes and obeys – O Come All Ye Faithful
7. Hallowed post meridian - O Holy Night
8. Homo sapien of crystallized vapor – Frosty the Snowman
Now that your brain’s warmed up, we can begin. When you think of someone who’s condescending toward you, you would typically think of someone looking down on you. Someone who thinks they’re better than you, smarter than you, and treats you that way.
A person who’s condescending towards you usually makes you feel small and unimportant. Generally, that kind of attitude annoys us – or aggravates us. None of us has the right to make someone feel small and unimportant.
But at Christmastime, we remember the One who, by condescending, rather than making us feel small, declared that we are precious and valuable to Him. This is the One who had every right to look down on us, because He truly is so much bigger, so much better, so much smarter, so much holier, than we are.
This morning, we’re looking at what it means in scripture, related to the incarnation, when it says Jesus “emptied Himself,” or as some versions say, made Himself of no reputation.
There’s the story – don’t know whether it’s true or not – of a man named Sam.
He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of college. He is intelligent. A little strange, but very, very bright.
He became a Christian while attending college. Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church. They want to develop a ministry to the students, but are not sure how to go about it. One day Sam decides to go there. He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair. The service has already started, so Sam starts down the aisle looking for a seat. The church is completely packed and he can’t find a seat. By now people are really looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything. Sam gets closer to the pulpit, and when he realizes there are no seats, he just squats down right on the carpet. Now, this may be perfectly acceptable behavior at a college fellowship, this had never happened in this church before!
By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is thick.
About this time, the minister realizes that from way at the back of the church, a deacon is slowly making his way toward Sam. Now the deacon is in his eighties, has silver-gray hair, and a three-piece suit. A godly man, very elegant, very dignified, very courtly. He walks with a cane and, as he starts walking toward this young man, everyone is thinking to themselves that you can’t blame him for what he’s going to do. How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor?
It takes a long time for the deacon to reach the young man . The church is utterly silent, except for the clicking of the man’s cane. All eyes are focused on him. The minister can’t even preach the sermon until the deacon does what he has to do. And now they see this elderly man drop his cane on the floor. With great difficulty he lowers himself and sits down next to Sam and worships with him so he won’t feel alone.
Everyone chokes up with emotion. When the minister gains control, he says, "What I’m about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget. Source: sermon central
God condescended to leave His throne in glory, become flesh in Christ Jesus, and live among us, so we could see, and remember, what God is like.
Condescend in our typical usage is seen as one person looking down on another, and is thus seen as a negative. But the definition of condescend includes more meanings than this.
condescend
1. to act graciously towards another or others regarded as being on a lower level; behave patronizingly (of course, that’s the meaning we usually think of)
2. to do something that one regards as below one's dignity
[from the Latin condēscendere to stoop, condescend, from Latin dēscendere to DESCEND]
God stooped to our level in Jesus, the Word made flesh, who dwelt among us. We see this reality most clearly in what scholars believe is an early Christian hymn. It’s known as the Carmen Christi, the Hymn to Christ. Some of your Bibles might even have this indented, set apart as poetry in the midst of Paul’s prose.
Philippians 2:5-11 (ESV) 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Some translations say, “have this attitude in yourselves.” This idea at the beginning of this passage is important to help us understand the full context of these verses. This is an admonition to emulate, to be like Jesus, in our attitude – in our minds. This is clearly the most important part of this passage – think like this - and it’s what Paul hopes the Philippians will understand and imitate.
But in the midst of this encouragement to humility in ourselves, Paul also highlights some things the early church clearly assumed about Christ. About who He was and is. About his nature. About His deity. We’ll look at that in a moment.
Some stories seem just too good to be true. It’s a real temptation for us to repeat stories that support something we believe in, and this story I’m about to relate to you is one of those stories that makes a great sermon illustration, but the problem is, as it’s been told by some before – maybe not here, but in many places, it’s not entirely true.
But I tell you this story today to illustrate this attitude we’re looking at today, which is the true part of this story.
There was a man named Leonard Dober. He was part of a missions-minded fellowship of Moravians in 1731. He had heard about the plight of slaves in the Caribbean Islands known as the West Indies. He had a strong sense of calling from God to be a missionary to these slaves. But he was told at first that no one could be a missionary in St Thomas, West Indies without first becoming a slave.
Here’s where the truth of this story gets embellished. The embellished story is the one that gets told the most, because it seems the most moving and powerful and convicting. The embellished version says that Leonard and a companion, David Nitschmann, traveled to the West Indies, and sold themselves into slavery, where they spent the rest of their lives living and working as slaves, and preaching the gospel to their fellow slaves with great results.
The true version is really just as good, because the Bible tells us the Lord looks on our heart and our attitude. It’s our willingness that God desires. Dober and Nitschmann truly were willing to sell themselves into slavery, and they began their journey through Europe toward the Caribbean with the clear intention of doing so.
That’s amazing enough all by itself. However, upon reaching Denmark, they learned that no white man was allowed to work as a slave in the West Indies. But they went anyway, and established a mission that existed for 50 years before any other church arrived on the scene. This work eventually resulted in 13,000 new followers of Christ.
This story illustrates well what Paul told us of Jesus. He emptied Himself. And at Christmastime, when we ponder the amazing doctrine of the incarnation, the One that the apostle John called the Word made flesh who dwelt among us, it’s good for us to dig deep into this reality and ponder some Biblical truth about what it meant, and what it didn’t mean, for Jesus to empty Himself.
Again, it’s important for us to consider the context. So let’s take just a moment to look at what was Paul saying to the Philippians just before the Carmen Christi – Hymn to Christ.
Philippians 2:1-4 (ESV) 1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Then, in the midst of his admonition on counting others more important than yourselves, Paul gives this hymn, beginning in vs 5, as a sort of “sermon illustration.” If we are to be “like Christ,” if we are to look not to our own interests, but also to the interests of others, if we’re humbly to count others as more significant than ourselves, one of the most important ways we can do that, is to follow Jesus’ example of humility.
All of the Carmen Christi is an illustration of what it looks like to act humbly, to give one’s life in the service of others.
Philippians 2:5 (NASB) 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
Philippians 2:5 (NIV) 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
And what an attitude it is. Paul expands on this idea. You and I have every reason to be humble. We may have talents and gifts. We may have some authority or power or position. We may have many things that others, maybe most others, don’t have. But none of those things are things we have because of anything in and of ourselves. Any talent we have is from God. Any gift we have is from God. Any authority or power or position we have is from God.
But think of this. Jesus was God. He was God the Son, even before the Incarnation. Paul affirms this truth, understood and celebrated in this hymn. He refers to Jesus as being in the form of God. “Form” here is the Greek word morphe. In some of your translations, it’s translated nature.
The word translated nature (morphē) in verses 6 and 7 is a crucial term in this passage. This word (trans. “form” in the kjv, nasb and esv) stresses the inner essence or reality of that with which it is associated (cf. Mark 16:12). Christ Jesus, Paul said, is of the very essence (morphē) of God, and in His incarnation He embraced perfect humanity. His complete and absolute deity is here carefully stressed by the apostle. The Savior’s claim to deity infuriated the Jewish leaders (John 5:18) and caused them to accuse Him of blasphemy (John 10:33). Bible Knowledge Commentary
So, when we read that Jesus existed in the form of God, what Paul’s telling us here is that Jesus always was God. God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. Before He became flesh, Jesus was already God the Son, in a glorified state with God the Father.
The fact that Christ in His human form showed us God presupposes His being God at all times. He never claimed to be something without really being that in His essence. If He had, He would have been making a false claim. Complete Word Study Dictionary
Before His incarnation, Jesus was in the form, the essence, the nature of God. After His incarnation, He was still in the form of God, the essence, the nature of God, despite the fact that He took on flesh, despite the fact that He condescended, voluntarily, of His own accord, to become like us.
Theologians call this the hypostatic union. It comes from the Greek word which indicates the true nature or essence of a being. It means Jesus was truly God from eternity, through His life on earth, and after his resurrection and ascension. There was a mystical union of the two natures – fully God and fully man. It means He never gave up any part of His divinity to become a real human being.
We’ll take a closer look at this idea when we explore what it means when it says “He emptied Himself.”
Though he retained true deity, Jesus also took upon Himself the true essence of a servant – the word there is actually slave – a form of the Greek word doulos. In order to be a slave, however, He had to become a man and appear in the likeness of men. And to do this, He had to empty Himself, or make himself nothing, or make Himself of no reputation.
At the end of verse 6, we see another aspect of this. Some who have power or wealth or authority want to hang onto it at all costs. Witness the many longtime Arab dictators, and the revolutions in their countries seeking to remove them from power. Moammar Gadhafi hung onto his power until he was caught and killed. We’ve seen this with people who have wealth or power throughout human history.
Yet, here we have Jesus, who didn’t just have wealth or power or authority over a puny country, or a vault full of gold, or millions of subjects. He was The King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He had everything, because He created everything. Everything belongs to Him.
But He not only didn’t see this as something He needed to hang onto, but He voluntarily emptied Himself of these things. He could have remained on the throne at the right hand of the Father. Yes, we see at the end of this passage that’s where He ends up. But He emptied Himself during His time on earth.
He emptied Himself of the proper recognition that He had with the Father as God who is Spirit, and entered into the world of men, most of whom did not at all recognize Him for who He was. The (original language here) indicates that humanity did not displace deity in His personality. Rather He took upon Himself voluntarily, in addition to His preincarnate condition, something which veiled His deity. Proper recognition is called dóxa, glory, praise. In the form of man and servant, He lacked the recognition among men that He had with the Father (John 17:5). This voluntary humiliation of Christ began with the incarnation and was carried through to His crucifixion. Complete Word Study Dictionary
What an amazing thought. His proper, rightful place, was in glory. He was continually receiving praise and honor and glory from the angels, in a glorified state we can only imagine. But He chose to lay that aside for 33 years. To live among us. To suffer and die for us. He did not treat equality with God, His genuine, very real right to glory, as something He should hang onto.
But He made Himself nothing. He made Himself of no reputation. He emptied Himself. He took the form – the very real essence of a human slave. Jim spoke of Isaiah 53 last week.
Isaiah 53:2 (ESV) 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
Think of the contrast of this reality of Jesus’ existence on earth, with the glory He had in heaven with God the Father before this. That brings us to verse 7, the phrase translated in some versions – which is the most literal translation – He emptied Himself.
Let’s look at a handful of takes on this from different translations:
KJV and NKJV: made Himself of no reputation.
ESV: made Himself nothing
NIV: made Himself nothing
NASB: emptied Himself (but the NASB also has a footnote explaining that this means “laid aside His privileges”)
NLT: gave up His divine privileges
Message paraphrase: set aside the privileges of deity
Though the NASB is the most literal translation of the original language here, which does in fact mean “emptied Himself” it’s unfortunate that, rather than take this amazing paradox as something clearly taught throughout the New Testament – fully God and fully man - and live with the mystery, throughout church history too many people have attempted to explain this phrase by teaching that Jesus somehow became less divine during the Incarnation, or even that He was a created being and simply human, and not God the Son. So, let’s clear that up right away.
The term “emptied” is always used by Paul in a metaphorical sense. For example, we see it used in Romans 4:14:
Romans 4:14 (ESV) 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
Here the word void is the same word used for emptied in the Carmen Christi in Philippians 2. It’s clear Paul is not talking about a literal “emptying” of faith, but a metaphorical “making empty”… so it is here in Philippians 2.
Paul is not saying Jesus ceased to be God, or in any other way stopped being equal with the Father, but that He voluntarily laid aside the privileges that were His.
When Jesus walked this earth, people didn’t see Him as a glorious heavenly being. His glory was hidden, it was veiled. With a single exception (in the Transfiguration), where a chosen few saw Him in His glory, the rest of mankind looked at Him as a normal, everyday guy – nothing exceptional in outward appearance.
Paul is not teaching us here that Jesus somehow became 50% God and 50% man. Or even 75% God, and 25% man, or the reverse of that percentage. His assumption is that the Philippians knew and believed Jesus was all God and all man.
He’s simply illustrating the ultimate example of humility. A 100% God who takes on the additional nature of human flesh, and becomes 100% man, without divesting Himself of any divinity.
But still, people have for centuries insisted on trying to un-deify Jesus. Some of them may be well-meaning - simply trying to understand better the Incarnation and all its implications. Can we admit that this is a challenge to our finite minds? Can we admit that it’s hard for us to fully understand how an all-knowing God can be said to grow in wisdom while He’s the man Christ Jesus, or doesn’t know the day or hour of His own return to earth?
To even try to explore these questions today would be a rabbit trail that’s unprofitable for us to venture down today. But:
The pity was that men in their zeal for rationalization often lost sight of the historic facts of faith because they were willing to surrender what they could not immediately rationalize. A.J.McLain
We don’t really have time to mention all the heresies that have come from a wrong interpretation of this passage. Unfortunately, even in our day, popular preachers and authors have bought into this heresy again. One popular preacher embraces a doctrine which teaches that during His earthly ministry Jesus operated only as a man and not God. He claims that Christ laid aside His divinity.
He (Bill Johnson) writes, and I quote, “(Jesus) performed miracles, wonders, and signs, as a man in right relationship to God . . . . not as God.” He writes elsewhere: “He laid his divinity aside as He sought to fulfill the assignment given to Him by the Father . . .” Orrel Steinkamp
Now, I’m certain that this teacher would claim He’s not denying the divinity of Christ. But can you see how quotes like that above, do, in fact deny the deity of Jesus?
This denial of Christ’s deity during His earthly ministry is the same as some Word of Faith preachers’ denial of Jesus’ deity when He died on the cross. They claim he lost His divinity and suffered in hell as a man. Both denials are blatant heresy.
A right understanding of deity has certain necessary definitions. The most basic definition is “eternal, non-contingent existence.” Non-contingent means God’s eternal existence, and all of His attributes, are not contingent, that is, they don’t depend on, anything or anyone. God is self-existent.
If God existed in eternity past before anything else existed, there is nothing outside of God that could have caused His existence. This means that God as God is not contingent on anything outside of Himself.
This relates to the false teaching we’re looking at now. In the false idea that when it says Jesus emptied Himself, He somehow became un-deity, or somewhat less than fully God, then Christ’s deity is contingent. It goes away during the Incarnation, only to return later.
Something that comes and goes is not eternal and non-contingent. If Jesus’ divinity can be laid aside, then it was never true divinity. Deity is not an attribute that comes and goes. It is or it is not. If lost and then regained it is contingent, and if contingent, then it’s not true divinity. Anything less leads to every form of heresy.
If divinity can be gained, then created man can possibly attain it. The Bible clearly rejects this idea. So, if divinity can be laid aside it is not divinity:
If God laid aside one of his attributes, the immutable (that is, unchangeable) undergoes a mutation, the infinite suddenly stops being infinite; it would be the end of the universe. God cannot stop being God and still be God. So we can’t talk properly of God laying aside his deity to take humanity upon himself. R C Sproul
So, if Jesus laid aside divinity, that would be proof that He never had true divinity. Hebrews tells us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Malachi quotes God Himself: 6 “For I the LORD do not change…”
So the quotes we just read from this well-known teacher reveal Him to be a false teacher, because it is a de facto denial of the deity of Christ.
So what does Philippians 2:7 imply that Jesus did empty Himself of? The answer is clearly not divinity, which is eternal and cannot be compromised. What Jesus laid aside were His divine prerogatives, or rights. Paul’s point was about Christ’s humility.
I think the context of Philippians 2 makes it very clear that what he emptied himself of was not his deity, not his divine attributes, but his prerogatives — his glory and his privileges. He willingly cloaked his glory under the veil of this human nature that he took upon himself. It’s not that the divine nature stops being divine in order to become human. In the Transfiguration, for example (Matthew 17:1-13), we see the invisible divine nature break through and become visible, and Jesus is transfigured before the eyes of his disciples. R.C. Sproul
The true doctrine of Christ is that, in the Incarnation, He took upon Himself humanity, not that he laid aside deity. Jesus, the Word made flesh, is fully human and fully God.
It’s interesting that this teacher I quoted a few moments ago claims that the Holy Spirit has led him “off the map.” I think he’s right on that point. I think he’s off the map. Our map, as believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, is the Holy Spirit-inspired Bible. The Holy Spirit does not lead God’s people off the map that He has given us, once for all.
So, as we consider this passage, it’s important once again to consider the entire context. The key point in this emptying of Himself that Paul was emphasizing about Jesus, was servanthood, and humility.
This was an admonition to be like Jesus in His humble laying aside of His privileges. This was an encouragement to us to not cling to what we think are our rights. Though Paul assumes the understanding of the early church in this passage, and thus references some key theological themes about Christ’s nature, His pre-existence, Paul’s point is that, if Jesus, who was in fact God the Son, who did in fact live in a glorified existence prior to the incarnation, can stoop to let all of that go and live the humble existence of His creatures, rather than the right He had to live as our Creator, with all of the accompanying glory, all the accompanying privileges, we can, in our less glorious, less privileged existence, certainly let go of our pride, our rights, and have the same attitude in ourselves that Jesus had.
This is the spirit of Christmas. This is the wonder of the Incarnation. This is the reality of the Word, God the Son, made flesh, who lived among us, and humbled Himself further by subjecting Himself to a slave’s death.
He emptied Himself. Have this attitude in yourself, Paul tells us.
Pray
