[00:00:05] Thank you for listening to the Calvary Monterey Podcast. To learn more about our church, please visit calvary.com. And for additional resources from our lead pastor, Nate Holdridge, please visit nateholdridge.com. Teaching today is our lead pastor, Nate Holdridge.
[00:00:24] Nate Holdridge
[00:00:25] All right. Good morning, church. Like Janine said, let's take out our Bibles and turn to Philippians. And we're in Philippians chapter two today. This is our third session in the book of Philippians.
[00:00:37] And today we're going to look at verse one through 11, thinking about how an advancing gospel community. That's our theme for the entire book of Philippians, how an advancing gospel community participates in God's kingdom.
[00:00:52] So we got a great passage of scripture in front of us today. Can't wait to get into it with you. And yeah, I would just encourage you this Friday or excuse me, Saturday, the the fall festival be a lot of fun. You know, the my my highlight is the sacra.
[00:01:07] We're going to be able to pick a few hours of the racetrack races for sure. We put the little kids together and they race each other than the bigger kids together.
[00:01:13] They race each other than the teenagers together. They race each other. And then we have the moms go out together and they race each other.
[00:01:20] And it's super competitive.
[00:01:22] I mean, there's cheating going on for sure.
[00:01:25] And then the dads get out there and there's like, there's definitely muscles being pulled
[00:01:30] and there's a lot of pride and humbling that's happening during that sack race.
[00:01:35] So that'll be a lot of fun.
[00:01:37] And again, anyone is free to either serve there or attend.
[00:01:43] We'd love to have you this Saturday.
[00:01:45] And, you know, invite a friend, invite a neighbor, someone that you know.
[00:01:48] It's a great light introduction to the church, our campus, the body of Christ.
[00:01:53] But let's pray together as we get into the word this morning.
[00:01:56] Lord, we thank you so much for the book, the entire book.
[00:02:03] But here, the book of Philippians.
[00:02:07] And as we're reading it and meditating upon it and thinking about it,
[00:02:15] our request, Lord, is that you would take the light of your word, the lamp of your word,
[00:02:19] and that you would search our hearts today with it.
[00:02:24] And we're just looking to you, Lord, looking to you to mold us more and more into who you are,
[00:02:32] your calling on our lives.
[00:02:34] And so, Lord, as your kingdom is quite clearly, as we'll see today, a kingdom of sacrifice and service,
[00:02:41] we pray that that kingdom ethic would work its way into our lives individually
[00:02:48] so that it could work into our corporate church community more and more
[00:02:53] so that the love that comes from the triune God could pour into us,
[00:02:58] out to each other, and out to the world in which we live.
[00:03:01] So we're praying for that, Lord.
[00:03:03] And I ask that you'd use this text in that direction today by your spirit.
[00:03:07] In Jesus' name, we pray together.
[00:03:09] Amen.
[00:03:12] Well, if you were to open up to the beginning of the Bible,
[00:03:15] you'd see the story of creation and God taking the first people
[00:03:21] and placing them into the Garden of Eden.
[00:03:24] He made them in his image.
[00:03:26] And he put them in the Garden of Eden to tend it, to keep it, to subdue it,
[00:03:31] and to cultivate it, and then to be fruitful and multiply,
[00:03:34] to have offspring who would also populate the land.
[00:03:38] And if you read Genesis 1 and 2, what you'll discover is that the garden
[00:03:42] was there at the head of a river that split off into four major rivers from it.
[00:03:49] So you have the garden and flowing through it a river,
[00:03:52] and then that river breaking off into four branches that went throughout that part of the world.
[00:03:58] And the idea, it seems, would be that God has made us.
[00:04:04] We then, as Adam and Eve, cultivate the garden.
[00:04:08] And then their offspring have the same job.
[00:04:11] They take the wild land.
[00:04:13] They subdue it.
[00:04:14] They bring it into subjection.
[00:04:16] Where are they going to go?
[00:04:18] They're going to go downstream on one of those forks of that river.
[00:04:23] And the concept was, in God's heart and mind, was that here I've started something
[00:04:29] that is supposed to expand.
[00:04:31] This cultivation, this subjection, this dominion, this bearing out of my image,
[00:04:37] it is meant to expand.
[00:04:39] And of course, if you've read Genesis chapter 3 or just looked around recently,
[00:04:43] you know that God's original heart and purpose has been thwarted by sinfulness,
[00:04:50] brokenness in humanity.
[00:04:52] Later on in the biblical record, God took a man named Abram or Abraham
[00:04:57] and promised him that from his line, a great nation would bloom
[00:05:02] who would eventually give birth to a person who would be a blessing
[00:05:06] to all the nations of the world.
[00:05:08] It's the story of Israel bringing us to the Messiah, Jesus,
[00:05:13] who is the Savior of the world.
[00:05:14] But for 400 years, Abraham's offspring or descendants or family
[00:05:19] were not a great nation, but just a fledgling group of people
[00:05:23] who were wandering around and then eventually found themselves enslaved in Egypt,
[00:05:28] growing and growing, but not free, not a nation without sovereignty.
[00:05:32] And so as we studied a couple of years ago in the book of Exodus,
[00:05:37] God sent Moses and plagues and delivered them from their captivity,
[00:05:42] not just so that they could be free, but so that they could go out,
[00:05:45] receive God's laws, receive God's commands, receive God's directives,
[00:05:50] say yes to following after God, establish God's tabernacle,
[00:05:54] bring it into the land and establish again, extend God's plan,
[00:06:00] extend God's reign, extend God's dominion as they bore his image
[00:06:05] in the world being a light to the nations around them.
[00:06:09] And you know, if you've read Israel's story and history in the Bible,
[00:06:12] that this went well at times, but overall, they trended in the wrong direction.
[00:06:18] In fact, after they eventually built a glorious temple in Jerusalem
[00:06:23] where the glory of God appeared, it was almost immediately after that
[00:06:27] that their king Solomon's heart was drawn away by foreign gods.
[00:06:31] He introduced them into the land and everything was downhill after that.
[00:06:36] But again, it was God's heart that they would spread, that they would grow,
[00:06:41] that the Edenic-like garden-like thing that God had instituted in Genesis 1 and 2
[00:06:48] would spread through them to the world.
[00:06:52] Enter Jesus. He lives. He dies. He rises from the grave.
[00:06:57] That whoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life.
[00:07:01] And Jesus also does something similar,
[00:07:04] really the ultimate version of all of those things.
[00:07:07] He creates a new humanity, a new people,
[00:07:11] reborn in his image, receiving Christ-likeness to be in Christ
[00:07:17] that we might spread and cultivate and bring to dry and barren and broken
[00:07:23] and uncultivated lands and soils, this is talking about human people,
[00:07:28] that we would bring Jesus into those environments,
[00:07:32] that we would spread in that garden-like, Edenic-like way.
[00:07:37] But Paul the Apostle, sitting there in his Roman prison cell,
[00:07:42] thinking about that mission that God is on,
[00:07:47] recalling the story of Genesis and recalling the story of Exodus
[00:07:52] through 1 and 2 Kings, recalling Israel's history,
[00:07:55] he would have been supremely conscious that the mission of God
[00:08:01] carried out by the people of God was vulnerable to attack.
[00:08:07] And the thing that Paul seemed to see is that
[00:08:10] just as Adam and Eve went sideways from God's mission,
[00:08:14] just as the people of Israel went sideways from God's mission,
[00:08:17] he's beginning to see, as he hears a report about the Philippian church,
[00:08:21] that they are getting sideways from the mission that God had given to them.
[00:08:26] He's starting to hear about a disunity that is creeping into the church,
[00:08:30] that they are becoming distracted from the ultimate mission
[00:08:33] of reaching the city of Philippi.
[00:08:35] And so he writes this letter to encourage them,
[00:08:38] to get them back on track on the mission
[00:08:40] that God has called them to originally.
[00:08:44] And so today, we're going to think about this mission,
[00:08:48] this kingdom that God is establishing,
[00:08:52] and think about or get guidance from Paul
[00:08:55] on how to enter into it most fully.
[00:08:59] So the first thing I want to show you is from the first four verses,
[00:09:02] and the point I'm going to make is this,
[00:09:04] that we need to participate in his kingdom
[00:09:06] by serving or his kingdom of service.
[00:09:09] So let's read verse 1 through 4 together.
[00:09:13] Paul said,
[00:09:14] So if there is any encouragement in Christ,
[00:09:18] any comfort from love,
[00:09:20] any participation in the Spirit,
[00:09:22] any affection and sympathy,
[00:09:24] complete my joy by being of the same mind,
[00:09:26] having the same love,
[00:09:27] being in full accord,
[00:09:29] and of one mind.
[00:09:29] Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,
[00:09:33] but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
[00:09:39] Doesn't that sound like a difficult thing to do?
[00:09:42] Let each of you, verse 4,
[00:09:44] look not only to his own interests,
[00:09:47] but also to the interests of others.
[00:09:51] Okay, a few things to say about these four verses
[00:09:54] that we're opening up with today.
[00:09:55] The first thing that I want to draw your attention to
[00:09:58] is that Paul is not giving us a hypothetical
[00:10:02] when he says if these things exist,
[00:10:06] if there's encouragement in Christ,
[00:10:09] if there's comfort from love,
[00:10:11] if there's any participation in the Spirit,
[00:10:14] if there's any affection and sympathy.
[00:10:17] Paul is not saying maybe these things
[00:10:19] are part of the body of Christ.
[00:10:21] He is quite sure that all of these things
[00:10:24] are part of a true, genuine,
[00:10:26] Christian fellowship and experience.
[00:10:29] We should be reading what Paul is saying there
[00:10:32] as a sense these things quite obviously exist
[00:10:37] in the body of Christ.
[00:10:38] What he's using is a rhetorical device to say just that.
[00:10:43] It would be like in my house,
[00:10:46] I eat the same breakfast every day.
[00:10:49] I've told you before, I'm a very boring person.
[00:10:51] I eat the same breakfast every day
[00:10:53] and there's a lot of yogurt involved,
[00:10:55] a lot of Greek yogurt involved.
[00:10:56] So when we go grocery shopping every couple of weeks,
[00:11:00] you know, twice a month,
[00:11:01] when we go grocery shopping,
[00:11:02] we buy a ton of Greek yogurt at Costco.
[00:11:06] I mean, it's ridiculous.
[00:11:07] Like the top shelf of our refrigerator
[00:11:09] just has like jar after jar,
[00:11:11] stack after stack of Greek yogurt.
[00:11:13] It's to the point where the clerk usually feels
[00:11:16] like they have to say something.
[00:11:17] You know, it's like this,
[00:11:18] like, oh, you running a like school or something?
[00:11:21] You know, like they just don't know what,
[00:11:24] like surely this is not for a family.
[00:11:26] And you know, my wife's like,
[00:11:27] there's a very large man that lives at our house
[00:11:29] and he likes yogurt.
[00:11:32] If I were to walk up right after we went grocery shopping
[00:11:36] and filled up our refrigerator and opened the door
[00:11:39] and said, is there any yogurt in here?
[00:11:43] Everybody would know I'm making a sarcastic comment.
[00:11:46] It's just like, obviously it's all right there.
[00:11:48] That's what Paul is doing with this.
[00:11:50] He's looking at a church, a Christian church,
[00:11:53] and he's saying, hey, I'm hearing about division.
[00:11:57] If there are these things in your church,
[00:12:00] maybe we should be a little more unified.
[00:12:02] You know, that's kind of the concept that Paul is giving.
[00:12:06] The other thing that I want to point out is that,
[00:12:09] you know, when Paul in verse two,
[00:12:11] when he talks about be of the same mind,
[00:12:13] have the same love, be in full accord and of one mind,
[00:12:15] some of you guys, like your first response,
[00:12:18] and this is probably, I'm in this category as well,
[00:12:21] is to just start nerding out on the difference
[00:12:23] between those different phrases.
[00:12:25] Like what is the difference between being of the same mind
[00:12:29] and of being of full accord and of being of one mind?
[00:12:32] Like let's get into it.
[00:12:33] Let's study it.
[00:12:34] But what you should know is that this is also Paul
[00:12:36] using a rhetorical device.
[00:12:38] He's just like, what I'm gonna give you
[00:12:40] is an avalanche of words saying, get on the same page.
[00:12:45] There's like a mission, it's Philippi,
[00:12:47] you better love each other, you better love God,
[00:12:50] and you better love the community that you're living in.
[00:12:52] All right, and so if you wanna get into the nitty gritty
[00:12:55] of each of these phrases, knock yourself out.
[00:12:58] But the point that Paul's making is this,
[00:13:01] like I wanna overwhelm you with this sentence
[00:13:03] to help you understand how badly
[00:13:05] I wanna see this happen in your midst.
[00:13:07] But the big thing that I wanna point out
[00:13:10] from these first four verses is that it seems to me
[00:13:17] that Paul, as he thought about this little Christian community
[00:13:21] in Philippi, for him, what he's envisioning
[00:13:27] is that this little Christian community in Philippi
[00:13:31] and all the individual members in it,
[00:13:33] they had been invited into the very nature,
[00:13:39] the very experience of the triune God
[00:13:45] through, of course, the precious blood of Jesus.
[00:13:48] I mean, notice how he says it.
[00:13:49] He says, if there's any encouragement in Christ.
[00:13:53] So who's that?
[00:13:54] That's the second person of the triune God.
[00:13:57] He's like, hey, if Jesus is in your midst,
[00:14:00] if Jesus is there walking among your church,
[00:14:02] if he's there encouraging you, strengthening you,
[00:14:05] trying to give you the boldness and the courage
[00:14:07] that you need to do the work that he's asked you to do
[00:14:10] as a body of believers, if he's there.
[00:14:13] And then the third thing that he mentions
[00:14:15] is the participation of the spirit.
[00:14:18] Like his whole thing there is like,
[00:14:20] you're not doing this in your own strength.
[00:14:22] You don't need to lean on your own power
[00:14:25] or even your own ingenuity.
[00:14:27] The Holy Spirit of God,
[00:14:29] the third person of the triune Godhead
[00:14:32] is there to help you.
[00:14:34] He wants to partner with you.
[00:14:35] Jesus prayed that he would come.
[00:14:38] He came, he's helping you.
[00:14:40] That leads me to think that the middle phrase
[00:14:43] from Paul there in verse one,
[00:14:45] when he talks about comfort of love,
[00:14:47] he doesn't name the father,
[00:14:49] but I think that's who he's talking about.
[00:14:52] The love of the father.
[00:14:53] Part of the reason I think that is because,
[00:14:55] well, first of all, he mentioned the son.
[00:14:57] He mentioned the spirit.
[00:14:59] So the father is the missing member
[00:15:02] of the triune Godhead in that phrase.
[00:15:03] But also in 2 Corinthians chapter 13,
[00:15:06] Paul blessed the Corinthian church by saying,
[00:15:09] the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
[00:15:11] and the love of God, that's the father,
[00:15:14] and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
[00:15:18] So I think what Paul is doing is he's envisioning
[00:15:24] that there's the Trinity,
[00:15:27] perfect love flowing within the triune Godhead.
[00:15:32] That love overflows to the world
[00:15:36] through Jesus in the gospel.
[00:15:39] That love flows into the hearts of new people
[00:15:42] who have believed in Jesus,
[00:15:43] like these new Christians in Philippi.
[00:15:47] That love then from the triune God
[00:15:50] is then overflowing us to each other
[00:15:53] or the Philippians to each other.
[00:15:56] And then that love overflows the congregation
[00:15:59] into the community in which they're living.
[00:16:03] It seems like that's the vision
[00:16:06] that Paul has of this moment.
[00:16:08] And here's what he thinks will result
[00:16:11] when that love and that comfort
[00:16:13] and that participation of the spirit
[00:16:15] is flowing from the triune God into us
[00:16:18] and out from us.
[00:16:20] He says in verse three and four,
[00:16:22] so in humility, reject selfish ambition or conceit.
[00:16:26] In other words, don't try to be elevated above others.
[00:16:29] Make that your big goal in life
[00:16:30] and adopt a mentality that counts others more significant
[00:16:34] by looking out for the interests of others.
[00:16:36] It's like, I think Paul would say it like this.
[00:16:40] In another way, he would just say,
[00:16:42] this is one of the major divine attributes.
[00:16:47] God gives.
[00:16:51] We've received from him.
[00:16:53] Let's give.
[00:16:55] That seems to be what he's saying.
[00:16:56] If I was to put my own paraphrase on this paragraph,
[00:17:00] I would say it like this.
[00:17:02] Since you have entered into a new relationship
[00:17:04] with the triune God,
[00:17:05] one where you receive his strengthening encouragements,
[00:17:08] his comforting love,
[00:17:09] and his empowering partnership,
[00:17:11] all of which lead you to deeply care for others,
[00:17:14] make me proud by operating as a cohesive unit
[00:17:17] with the same goal and love for this world.
[00:17:20] Don't be driven by self-centered desires,
[00:17:22] but instead form a congregation
[00:17:24] that to effectively live out the gospel
[00:17:27] is like Christ in that it unitedly focuses on others.
[00:17:32] I love this.
[00:17:34] This is Paul saying God has a kingdom.
[00:17:37] Service is a major attribute of that kingdom,
[00:17:40] and he's inviting the Philippians
[00:17:42] into that kind of life.
[00:17:46] Now, we, in our modern era,
[00:17:49] we might admire people who are servants.
[00:17:51] We might admire people who extend themselves to others,
[00:17:54] but I found in our modern time,
[00:17:56] we actually do like to put a little bit of a qualifier
[00:17:59] to the sacrifice and service of others.
[00:18:02] We might praise the others-centeredness
[00:18:06] that some people have,
[00:18:08] but we might also say that we would praise it
[00:18:11] only if they have good boundaries in place
[00:18:15] and are keeping themselves from burnout
[00:18:18] by practicing a healthy balance of priorities,
[00:18:23] always mindful of their well-being
[00:18:27] and prepared to take a break for self-care if needed.
[00:18:32] I'm trying to speak Californian right now.
[00:18:35] All right, all these buzzwords,
[00:18:37] boundaries, burnout, balance,
[00:18:38] mindful, well-being, self-care.
[00:18:42] For a lot of us,
[00:18:44] these have become our new holy scripture.
[00:18:48] And usually when I'm making a point like this,
[00:18:51] the wrong people hear it and the right people don't.
[00:18:56] And so someone who has served a parent faithfully
[00:19:02] to the bitter end of their lives
[00:19:03] and has extended themselves,
[00:19:05] even if they've been lashed out at and unappreciated,
[00:19:09] they feel guilty about the point I'm about to make.
[00:19:11] And the person who won't lift a finger for someone else
[00:19:15] is like, I really don't think he's talking about me.
[00:19:17] I'm talking about you.
[00:19:19] And what I want to say is that perhaps
[00:19:24] we're not thinking deeply enough
[00:19:26] about what leads to a good life.
[00:19:29] And perhaps we're not thinking broadly enough
[00:19:32] about the God who endorses this kind of life
[00:19:35] so wholeheartedly.
[00:19:37] He is more than able to take care of you.
[00:19:42] There's a story in 1 Kings that I love so much.
[00:19:46] It's the beginning of the prophetic ministry of Elijah.
[00:19:49] He comes out of obscurity
[00:19:52] and goes to the courts of King Ahab and says,
[00:19:55] there will be no rain
[00:19:56] because you have introduced the worship of Baal,
[00:20:00] the God of the weather apparently,
[00:20:04] into the land.
[00:20:05] So there will be no rain these years except by my word.
[00:20:10] And then he goes out to a brook Cherith,
[00:20:12] the brook Cherith where God hides him.
[00:20:14] And he drinks the water from the stream.
[00:20:17] And then every morning and every evening,
[00:20:19] ravens bring him bread to eat
[00:20:21] until because of the drought that came,
[00:20:24] the brook dries up.
[00:20:25] God speaks to him.
[00:20:26] It's time to move.
[00:20:27] You need water.
[00:20:28] You need sustenance.
[00:20:29] I want you to leave Israel
[00:20:31] and go to a Gentile town called Zarephath.
[00:20:34] And there will be a widow there
[00:20:36] who will provide for all of your needs.
[00:20:38] He approaches Zarephath in obedience to the Lord.
[00:20:41] And he sees this woman on the outskirts of town.
[00:20:44] She's collecting sticks and he comes to her.
[00:20:46] She's a widow.
[00:20:47] He says, give me some food and give me some water.
[00:20:53] She says, what I'm doing right now
[00:20:55] is I'm gathering sticks to go back to my home.
[00:20:59] I have a handful of flour.
[00:21:02] I'm going to give and make one last bake of bread.
[00:21:07] My son and I are going to eat it
[00:21:09] and then we're going to die.
[00:21:12] Famine has hit the land.
[00:21:13] We have no hope.
[00:21:15] That's what's happening right now in this moment.
[00:21:18] And Elijah says to her, if you do this,
[00:21:23] if you feed me, the jar of oil will not run out
[00:21:28] and the flour will not run out.
[00:21:30] And so she went home and she obeyed.
[00:21:32] She said, I'm going to put my needs second to this figure.
[00:21:37] And sure enough, as drought persisted
[00:21:41] and as famine persisted, this woman and her son survived
[00:21:46] because God saw her and took care of her.
[00:21:50] And perhaps for some of you,
[00:21:52] that story needs to become emblematic
[00:21:55] of you extending yourself into service a little bit.
[00:21:59] Saying, you know what?
[00:22:00] God will take care of me.
[00:22:01] God will watch over me.
[00:22:03] God will provide for me.
[00:22:04] God will defend me.
[00:22:06] It feels like I don't have enough time
[00:22:07] or energy or talent or whatever,
[00:22:09] but he is faithful.
[00:22:12] Okay, the second thing I want you to see though
[00:22:14] from this passage,
[00:22:15] it's not just that, you know,
[00:22:17] hey, here's this kingdom of service.
[00:22:19] Let's participate in it.
[00:22:20] But I, and this might sound like a weird point.
[00:22:22] I hope you'll get it by the time I'm done explaining it.
[00:22:24] But we need to also participate in his servant.
[00:22:29] Participate in his servant.
[00:22:32] And I get this from verse five through eight.
[00:22:35] Let's read that together.
[00:22:41] He says in verse five,
[00:22:43] have this mind among yourselves,
[00:22:46] which is yours in Christ Jesus,
[00:22:50] who though he was in the form of God,
[00:22:54] did not count equality with God
[00:22:57] a thing to be grasped,
[00:22:59] but emptied himself
[00:23:01] by taking the form of a servant,
[00:23:06] being born in the likeness of men
[00:23:08] and being found in human form,
[00:23:12] he humbled himself
[00:23:14] by becoming obedient
[00:23:17] to the point of death,
[00:23:20] even death on a cross.
[00:23:24] This is a powerful little paragraph
[00:23:29] that we just read.
[00:23:31] I mean, even if you don't know anything
[00:23:33] about the Bible
[00:23:34] and you come to this little section,
[00:23:38] you might even instinctively know,
[00:23:40] like I'm on,
[00:23:41] I'm on theologically rich ground.
[00:23:44] You know, this is like,
[00:23:46] he is saying something powerful here
[00:23:49] in this moment.
[00:23:50] He's trying to persuade.
[00:23:51] It's inspiring.
[00:23:52] It's even poetic and artistic.
[00:23:55] A lot of people actually think
[00:23:56] that this is a hymn
[00:23:58] that the early church sang.
[00:23:59] They call it the Christ hymn
[00:24:01] and that Paul adopted it,
[00:24:03] put it into the book of Philippians.
[00:24:06] It's intimidating in a lot of ways.
[00:24:10] You ever try to talk about the Trinity
[00:24:12] and the incarnation
[00:24:13] and hypostatic union
[00:24:15] and God the Son becoming flesh
[00:24:18] and you're like,
[00:24:19] you just feel yourself
[00:24:21] when you're talking about it,
[00:24:22] like I'm like a word away from heresy.
[00:24:25] You know, like I gotta say this right,
[00:24:27] you know,
[00:24:28] and like you're reading this.
[00:24:29] It's like, wow,
[00:24:30] there's a lot here
[00:24:31] that he's communicating.
[00:24:32] It's intimidating.
[00:24:34] It stands,
[00:24:35] I don't want you to lose this,
[00:24:36] at the center of Paul's argument
[00:24:38] to the Philippian church.
[00:24:40] He's gonna hold out Jesus
[00:24:41] as the supreme example
[00:24:44] and I'm gonna say in a second
[00:24:45] more than an example
[00:24:47] for the church.
[00:24:48] He thinks this is at the core of everything
[00:24:52] because an advancing gospel community,
[00:24:54] of course,
[00:24:55] has the gospel at its center.
[00:24:56] This is the gospel.
[00:24:59] It contains words
[00:25:01] that indicate Jesus is God,
[00:25:06] that he became a man,
[00:25:09] and that he suffered on the cross
[00:25:12] in obedience to Father God
[00:25:14] for our great and everlasting benefit.
[00:25:19] And Paul is again using it
[00:25:23] as a core driver or engine
[00:25:25] of all his exhortations.
[00:25:28] He wants them to have this mindset
[00:25:30] that Jesus had.
[00:25:32] Now the passage makes it clear
[00:25:34] that Jesus Christ humbled himself
[00:25:38] to the greatest degree possible.
[00:25:42] You can't have a distance greater than this,
[00:25:46] a humbling greater than this
[00:25:48] when he did not allow
[00:25:51] his equality with God,
[00:25:53] he is God,
[00:25:55] to stop him from emptying himself,
[00:25:58] it says in verse seven,
[00:26:00] to become a servant.
[00:26:03] And not just any servant,
[00:26:05] but a servant who,
[00:26:06] in human form,
[00:26:08] likeness of men,
[00:26:09] one of us,
[00:26:10] humbled himself
[00:26:11] to the point of dying,
[00:26:12] but not just any death,
[00:26:14] the most embarrassing,
[00:26:16] gruesome death.
[00:26:17] You could die the death
[00:26:18] on a Roman cross.
[00:26:21] And at the center of this passage
[00:26:23] is the concept,
[00:26:25] like I said in verse seven,
[00:26:26] that Jesus emptied himself,
[00:26:29] that he emptied himself.
[00:26:32] Now it doesn't say,
[00:26:34] Paul doesn't say
[00:26:34] what Jesus emptied himself of,
[00:26:38] not that that stopped theologians
[00:26:39] from trying to figure it out.
[00:26:41] There's actually a word for it.
[00:26:42] They call this the kenotic theory.
[00:26:44] The Greek word for empty
[00:26:46] is a word kenosis.
[00:26:47] And so kenotic theory
[00:26:48] is the big,
[00:26:50] long,
[00:26:50] lots of words,
[00:26:52] many years,
[00:26:53] argument about
[00:26:54] what Jesus emptied himself of.
[00:26:57] Right?
[00:26:57] So if you're like,
[00:26:58] well, I know exactly
[00:26:59] what he emptied himself of.
[00:27:00] Just you gotta understand,
[00:27:01] like really smart people
[00:27:03] have been arguing about it
[00:27:04] for a really long time.
[00:27:05] So just say your opinion
[00:27:07] with a little bit of humility.
[00:27:09] What I'll say
[00:27:10] is I think the safest definition
[00:27:13] is that Jesus Christ,
[00:27:15] he gave up the independent exercise
[00:27:18] of his divine attributes
[00:27:20] well on earth.
[00:27:21] He definitely did not give up
[00:27:23] his divinity.
[00:27:24] We gotta be in agreement about that.
[00:27:26] He did not walk away
[00:27:28] from being divine.
[00:27:29] He remained divine.
[00:27:31] But it seems that he walked away,
[00:27:34] gave up the independent exercise
[00:27:36] of his divine attributes
[00:27:37] well on earth,
[00:27:38] choosing instead
[00:27:39] to submit to the Father's will,
[00:27:42] embrace human limitations,
[00:27:44] and lean on the aid
[00:27:46] of the Holy Spirit.
[00:27:48] You ever wondered
[00:27:49] why Jesus lives his life?
[00:27:51] He's about 30 years old or so,
[00:27:53] goes to the Jordan River,
[00:27:55] is baptized by his forerunner
[00:27:56] and cousin,
[00:27:57] John the Baptist,
[00:27:58] comes out of the water,
[00:27:59] the Spirit descends upon him
[00:28:01] like a dove.
[00:28:02] The Father speaks
[00:28:03] as my beloved Son
[00:28:04] in whom I'm well pleased.
[00:28:05] And then the kingdom breaks out.
[00:28:08] The miracles begin to occur.
[00:28:10] It seems possible
[00:28:12] that he emptied himself,
[00:28:14] again, not of his divinity,
[00:28:15] but of the privileges
[00:28:17] of divine power
[00:28:19] while on earth,
[00:28:20] leaning on the power
[00:28:22] of the Holy Spirit
[00:28:23] to do what he did,
[00:28:24] which would obviously be him
[00:28:25] tapping into,
[00:28:27] in extreme ways,
[00:28:29] his divine power
[00:28:30] as the third person
[00:28:31] of the Trinity
[00:28:32] is aiding him.
[00:28:33] but I think
[00:28:35] that's what he's saying.
[00:28:37] He was clearly
[00:28:38] God in the flesh.
[00:28:39] He clearly used
[00:28:40] divine power,
[00:28:40] but he seems to have
[00:28:41] emptied himself
[00:28:42] of the on-demand
[00:28:44] privileges
[00:28:45] of his divinity.
[00:28:48] Okay,
[00:28:48] so all that to say,
[00:28:50] it'd be tempting
[00:28:51] at this point
[00:28:52] to just like keep
[00:28:53] nerding out
[00:28:53] about this passage,
[00:28:55] right?
[00:28:55] You know,
[00:28:56] it's like,
[00:28:56] this is so theological.
[00:28:58] I mean,
[00:28:59] it's amazing.
[00:28:59] Like,
[00:29:00] we're very appreciative
[00:29:02] for this passage
[00:29:03] from Paul
[00:29:04] because it almost feels
[00:29:05] like it's come
[00:29:05] out of nowhere.
[00:29:07] You know,
[00:29:07] like you expect this
[00:29:09] in like a Colossians,
[00:29:11] but he throws it in here
[00:29:13] amid this encouragement
[00:29:14] to the Philippian church
[00:29:15] to be unified
[00:29:16] and selfless
[00:29:17] and all of that.
[00:29:18] So I want us
[00:29:20] to remember the point
[00:29:21] that Paul was making
[00:29:22] by placing this hymn,
[00:29:24] if it was a hymn,
[00:29:26] right here.
[00:29:26] He saw the trend
[00:29:27] of the Philippians
[00:29:29] towards self-focus.
[00:29:32] He saw how it led
[00:29:33] to competing values
[00:29:35] that would inevitably
[00:29:37] keep them
[00:29:37] from advancing
[00:29:38] the gospel
[00:29:39] in their city
[00:29:40] or region.
[00:29:41] He wanted them
[00:29:42] to adopt
[00:29:43] a service mentality
[00:29:46] and to see it
[00:29:47] as a central aspect
[00:29:49] of the Christian faith
[00:29:50] in that without
[00:29:52] radically selfless service,
[00:29:55] there would be
[00:29:56] no gospel
[00:29:56] in the first place.
[00:29:58] That's what I think
[00:29:59] he's highlighting.
[00:30:01] That Jesus emptied himself
[00:30:02] to embrace jarring
[00:30:04] and brutal realities
[00:30:05] also that we could live
[00:30:07] so doesn't it stand
[00:30:09] a reason then
[00:30:09] that the church
[00:30:10] that bears his name
[00:30:12] would live
[00:30:13] in a similar way.
[00:30:14] Embracing pain
[00:30:15] for the sake of others.
[00:30:18] Now I told you earlier,
[00:30:19] I was trying to recount
[00:30:20] a little bit
[00:30:21] of Israel's history,
[00:30:22] Old Testament history
[00:30:23] and all of that.
[00:30:23] And you remember
[00:30:25] we were talking
[00:30:26] about how
[00:30:28] they got to a point
[00:30:29] where their kings failed.
[00:30:31] At that point,
[00:30:32] prophets started coming
[00:30:34] in to the land
[00:30:35] and one of the things,
[00:30:37] one of the through lines
[00:30:38] that the prophets predicted,
[00:30:40] they predicted this glorious future
[00:30:41] where the glory of God
[00:30:42] would cover the earth
[00:30:44] like the waters cover
[00:30:45] the sea,
[00:30:48] like it was just
[00:30:48] this glorious future moment
[00:30:50] and that connected
[00:30:51] to that glorious future moment
[00:30:53] there would be a king.
[00:30:55] A king who descended
[00:30:56] from David
[00:30:57] but didn't have
[00:30:58] a temporary throne
[00:30:59] but he would reign
[00:31:00] forever and ever.
[00:31:01] And of course we know
[00:31:02] that that king is Jesus,
[00:31:04] right?
[00:31:04] When Jesus was born
[00:31:05] that was the,
[00:31:06] those were the through lines
[00:31:08] that the angels announced
[00:31:09] to people like Mary.
[00:31:10] The king has come.
[00:31:11] The son of David has come.
[00:31:12] That's why he was born
[00:31:13] in Bethlehem
[00:31:14] and all of that.
[00:31:15] And so you've got
[00:31:16] these prophets,
[00:31:17] some of them predicting
[00:31:18] there's a king coming
[00:31:20] and they're waiting
[00:31:21] for that king.
[00:31:22] But some of the prophets,
[00:31:23] this was more of like
[00:31:24] the minor key,
[00:31:26] some of the prophets
[00:31:27] were also predicting
[00:31:28] a different figure
[00:31:30] who was a servant.
[00:31:33] And this servant would come
[00:31:35] in the spirit
[00:31:36] and the power of the Lord
[00:31:37] and this servant
[00:31:37] would suffer brutally.
[00:31:40] One of the main places
[00:31:41] that you find this servant
[00:31:42] is in Isaiah 42
[00:31:44] to the end
[00:31:45] of the book of Isaiah.
[00:31:47] And here's just a snippet
[00:31:48] of some of the things
[00:31:49] that Isaiah said
[00:31:50] that this figure
[00:31:52] would be like.
[00:31:53] He said that
[00:31:54] when this figure arrived,
[00:31:56] he would bring justice
[00:31:57] with him
[00:31:58] and a bruised reed
[00:32:00] he would not break
[00:32:01] and a smoking wick
[00:32:02] he would not extinguish.
[00:32:04] Some of you might recognize
[00:32:05] that Matthew used
[00:32:06] that phrase from Isaiah
[00:32:08] to describe Jesus.
[00:32:10] Isaiah 42 says
[00:32:12] that he would open
[00:32:13] the eyes of the blind
[00:32:14] and bring prisoners
[00:32:15] out of their dungeons.
[00:32:17] Isaiah 50 says
[00:32:19] that his teaching
[00:32:20] would be weighty
[00:32:21] and impactful
[00:32:22] sustaining the weary.
[00:32:24] Isaiah 50 also says
[00:32:26] that he would give
[00:32:26] his back
[00:32:27] to those who strike him
[00:32:29] and his cheeks
[00:32:29] to those wanting
[00:32:31] to strike him.
[00:32:32] Isaiah 52 says
[00:32:34] that his feet
[00:32:34] would be considered
[00:32:36] beautiful
[00:32:36] as he brought
[00:32:37] his good news
[00:32:39] down from the mountain regions.
[00:32:41] Isaiah 53 also says
[00:32:43] that he would be oppressed,
[00:32:45] he'd be afflicted,
[00:32:46] yet he would not open
[00:32:48] his mouth
[00:32:49] in self-defense.
[00:32:50] He would be humble,
[00:32:52] disfigured even,
[00:32:53] despised,
[00:32:54] and rejected by men
[00:32:56] and he would pour out
[00:32:57] his life
[00:32:58] to the point of death.
[00:33:00] Yet also,
[00:33:01] simultaneously,
[00:33:03] it seems that somewhere
[00:33:04] amid this servant's life,
[00:33:07] there would come a point
[00:33:08] where every knee
[00:33:10] would bow
[00:33:11] and every tongue
[00:33:12] would confess,
[00:33:14] Isaiah 45,
[00:33:16] Yahweh as Lord.
[00:33:18] Here's what I think
[00:33:19] Paul is doing.
[00:33:21] I think he's trying
[00:33:22] to point up
[00:33:23] to the Philippians,
[00:33:25] point up to us
[00:33:26] that yes,
[00:33:28] Jesus is the conquering king
[00:33:30] who is coming,
[00:33:32] but he is also
[00:33:33] the suffering servant
[00:33:35] who came.
[00:33:36] And so we need to wait
[00:33:38] for his conquering victory
[00:33:40] and we need to emulate
[00:33:41] his suffering service today.
[00:33:45] He's at the center
[00:33:47] of the gospel
[00:33:48] in that without his suffering,
[00:33:51] there is no gospel.
[00:33:53] Now what I want to ask here
[00:33:55] is why is Paul doing this?
[00:33:57] Why is Paul saying this?
[00:34:00] No, like,
[00:34:02] like is he just doing
[00:34:03] big theology stuff
[00:34:05] right here?
[00:34:06] You know,
[00:34:07] no,
[00:34:07] that's not what he's doing.
[00:34:08] I mean,
[00:34:09] this is big theology.
[00:34:10] This is holy ground
[00:34:12] being able to think
[00:34:13] about the incarnation,
[00:34:14] but he's not just here
[00:34:16] doing a theological thing.
[00:34:17] Is he saying,
[00:34:19] Jesus is your supreme example?
[00:34:23] And I want to say no
[00:34:26] with fear and trembling
[00:34:28] because there are places
[00:34:30] where the service,
[00:34:31] sacrifice part of Jesus
[00:34:33] is held out to us
[00:34:35] as pure model or example.
[00:34:38] Again,
[00:34:38] after you believed in Jesus,
[00:34:40] after you've trusted in him,
[00:34:41] that part of him
[00:34:42] is our model or example.
[00:34:43] Like remember the night
[00:34:44] that Jesus was betrayed.
[00:34:45] He washed the feet
[00:34:47] of his disciples
[00:34:48] and what did he say?
[00:34:49] He said,
[00:34:49] if I,
[00:34:50] your Lord and your master
[00:34:51] have done this for you,
[00:34:52] I've done it
[00:34:52] to be your example
[00:34:54] so that you
[00:34:55] would do that
[00:34:57] to each other.
[00:34:58] Now,
[00:34:58] what did Jesus mean by that?
[00:35:00] Please don't offer
[00:35:02] to wash my feet.
[00:35:03] You don't want to get near
[00:35:04] these dogs
[00:35:04] in the first place.
[00:35:06] But in that culture
[00:35:07] and time,
[00:35:08] that was needed.
[00:35:09] You're walking around
[00:35:10] in sandals
[00:35:10] in a dirty place
[00:35:11] with lots of animals.
[00:35:13] Their form of transportation
[00:35:14] left evidence,
[00:35:15] not in the air,
[00:35:17] but on the ground.
[00:35:18] And so you needed,
[00:35:20] as you're eating a meal,
[00:35:21] lounging together,
[00:35:22] someone to wash feet.
[00:35:23] That's the job
[00:35:25] of the lowest servant
[00:35:26] in those homes.
[00:35:27] Jesus was willing
[00:35:28] to do that.
[00:35:28] So the question is,
[00:35:29] what's needed?
[00:35:31] What does someone need?
[00:35:33] What will be a blessing
[00:35:34] to them?
[00:35:36] So,
[00:35:36] example,
[00:35:37] yes,
[00:35:38] but I think here
[00:35:39] Paul is actually saying
[00:35:40] a little bit more
[00:35:41] than just
[00:35:42] Jesus is your example.
[00:35:45] I think he's trying
[00:35:46] to say
[00:35:47] you get to participate
[00:35:48] in Jesus' life.
[00:35:51] You're a participant.
[00:35:53] And the reason
[00:35:54] I think that
[00:35:54] is because
[00:35:55] at the beginning
[00:35:55] of this exhortation
[00:35:56] in verse 5,
[00:35:57] he says,
[00:35:58] let this mind
[00:36:00] be yours,
[00:36:02] which is yours
[00:36:03] in Christ Jesus.
[00:36:05] This belongs to you
[00:36:07] if you are
[00:36:08] in Christ,
[00:36:09] which sounds
[00:36:09] so much
[00:36:10] like so much
[00:36:11] of the other
[00:36:14] participationist
[00:36:15] language
[00:36:15] from Paul the Apostle.
[00:36:17] I had a difficult time
[00:36:18] with that word.
[00:36:19] I still don't think
[00:36:19] I nailed it.
[00:36:20] But
[00:36:22] listen to some
[00:36:23] of these phrases.
[00:36:24] Romans 6,
[00:36:24] verse 3 and 4,
[00:36:26] don't you know
[00:36:26] that all of us
[00:36:27] who are baptized
[00:36:27] into Christ Jesus
[00:36:28] were baptized
[00:36:29] into his death.
[00:36:30] We were therefore
[00:36:31] buried with him
[00:36:31] through baptism
[00:36:33] into death
[00:36:33] in order that
[00:36:34] just as Christ
[00:36:35] was raised
[00:36:36] from the dead
[00:36:37] through the glory
[00:36:37] of the Father,
[00:36:38] we too
[00:36:39] may live
[00:36:40] a new life.
[00:36:41] It's like he's saying
[00:36:42] you believed in Jesus,
[00:36:43] it's like you died
[00:36:44] with him,
[00:36:44] it's like you were
[00:36:45] buried with him,
[00:36:46] and now you're raised
[00:36:47] so that you can have
[00:36:48] new life
[00:36:48] with him.
[00:36:50] He's participating
[00:36:51] in life with you.
[00:36:53] Or to the Galatians,
[00:36:54] Paul said,
[00:36:55] I've been crucified
[00:36:56] with Christ
[00:36:57] and I no longer live
[00:36:59] but Christ lives in me.
[00:37:00] The life I now live
[00:37:01] in the body,
[00:37:02] I live by faith
[00:37:03] in the Son of God
[00:37:04] who loved me
[00:37:05] and gave himself for me.
[00:37:06] He's like I died
[00:37:07] with Jesus.
[00:37:07] When I believed in Jesus,
[00:37:09] it's like I died
[00:37:10] with Jesus.
[00:37:11] And now I have
[00:37:11] a new life
[00:37:12] and I'm living that life.
[00:37:13] He's participating
[00:37:14] with me
[00:37:15] in this newness of life.
[00:37:16] Or to the Corinthians,
[00:37:17] he said,
[00:37:17] if anyone is in Christ,
[00:37:19] the new creation
[00:37:21] has come,
[00:37:23] what's that mean?
[00:37:24] Like God is,
[00:37:26] Genesis to Revelation,
[00:37:27] like it starts
[00:37:28] with the creation,
[00:37:29] it ends with
[00:37:30] the new creation.
[00:37:32] He's like,
[00:37:32] but if you've believed
[00:37:33] in Jesus,
[00:37:34] you're already tasting
[00:37:35] of the new creation.
[00:37:37] It's like yours
[00:37:38] already to a degree.
[00:37:40] The old is gone,
[00:37:41] the new is here.
[00:37:42] Or to the Ephesians,
[00:37:43] and God raised us up
[00:37:44] with Christ
[00:37:45] and seated us
[00:37:47] with him
[00:37:47] in the heavenly realms
[00:37:49] in Christ Jesus.
[00:37:50] You're like,
[00:37:50] when did that happen?
[00:37:52] I'm in Monterey right now.
[00:37:54] I'm sitting in this
[00:37:55] church service
[00:37:55] with this sermon
[00:37:56] that's like getting
[00:37:57] a little long
[00:37:57] in the tooth.
[00:37:58] And how is that
[00:38:01] me seated
[00:38:02] in the heavenly places?
[00:38:03] Well,
[00:38:03] I'm trying to tell you
[00:38:04] the sermon is that good.
[00:38:06] No,
[00:38:06] that's not what I'm saying.
[00:38:07] In the eyes of God,
[00:38:09] you become a believer.
[00:38:10] That's where you are.
[00:38:12] That's your position.
[00:38:13] Or to the Colossians,
[00:38:15] for you died
[00:38:16] and your life
[00:38:17] is now hidden
[00:38:18] with Christ in God.
[00:38:21] The case I'm making
[00:38:22] is that Paul wants us
[00:38:24] to participate
[00:38:25] in the life
[00:38:26] of the ultimate servant,
[00:38:28] Jesus Christ.
[00:38:30] He does want us
[00:38:31] to apprentice
[00:38:32] at Jesus' feet.
[00:38:33] He does want us
[00:38:34] to emulate Jesus.
[00:38:35] He does want us
[00:38:36] to think of Jesus
[00:38:37] as our model,
[00:38:38] but he also wants us
[00:38:39] to understand
[00:38:40] that we are like branches
[00:38:41] branches
[00:38:41] grafted into a vine,
[00:38:44] sharing in the life
[00:38:45] of the host.
[00:38:47] And as we fellowship
[00:38:48] with him,
[00:38:49] partake of him,
[00:38:50] engage with him,
[00:38:52] his life is increasing
[00:38:54] into our lives.
[00:38:56] So that like instinct
[00:38:57] in you
[00:38:57] or that part of you
[00:38:58] that would say,
[00:39:00] I would like to
[00:39:03] be a servant.
[00:39:05] I want that
[00:39:06] to be more
[00:39:06] who I am.
[00:39:08] What that probably is
[00:39:10] is not your flesh.
[00:39:13] What that probably is
[00:39:15] is the life of Jesus
[00:39:17] invading
[00:39:19] more into your space
[00:39:21] and becoming
[00:39:22] who you are.
[00:39:24] All right?
[00:39:24] So that's why I'm saying
[00:39:26] I think he's inviting us
[00:39:27] to participate
[00:39:28] in the life
[00:39:29] of the servant.
[00:39:30] Okay, let's wrap it up though
[00:39:31] with a final one
[00:39:33] that we need to participate
[00:39:34] in his king.
[00:39:36] I get this from verse 9
[00:39:38] through 11.
[00:39:38] Let's read it together
[00:39:39] and wrap it up.
[00:39:40] He says,
[00:39:40] Therefore God
[00:39:41] has highly exalted him
[00:39:43] and bestowed on him
[00:39:45] the name that is above
[00:39:46] every name
[00:39:48] so that at the name
[00:39:49] of Jesus
[00:39:50] every knee
[00:39:52] should bow
[00:39:53] in heaven
[00:39:54] and on earth
[00:39:55] and under the earth
[00:39:56] and every tongue
[00:39:58] confess
[00:39:58] that Jesus Christ
[00:40:01] is Lord
[00:40:02] to the glory
[00:40:03] of God the Father.
[00:40:04] Now,
[00:40:05] first things first,
[00:40:06] I want to give a little
[00:40:06] qualifier here
[00:40:07] because sometimes
[00:40:08] people will read
[00:40:11] Philippians 2,
[00:40:12] 9 through 11
[00:40:12] on its own
[00:40:13] without understanding
[00:40:14] the rest of scripture,
[00:40:16] the rest of the Bible
[00:40:16] or the rest of Paul's theology
[00:40:18] or even the context itself
[00:40:19] and try to come
[00:40:21] to a conclusion,
[00:40:22] a hopeful conclusion maybe,
[00:40:24] that what Paul is preaching
[00:40:25] somehow is universal salvation.
[00:40:28] You know,
[00:40:29] a day is coming,
[00:40:30] Christ will appear,
[00:40:30] every knee will bow,
[00:40:31] every tongue will confess
[00:40:32] and it's like the ultimate
[00:40:33] last chance moment
[00:40:35] and everyone receives.
[00:40:37] That's not what Paul is saying.
[00:40:38] He's actually quoting from Isaiah.
[00:40:40] It's not what Isaiah
[00:40:41] was saying either.
[00:40:42] What they're saying is
[00:40:43] a day will come
[00:40:44] where there's not
[00:40:45] universal salvation
[00:40:46] but where there is
[00:40:47] universal recognition,
[00:40:49] there is universal confession
[00:40:53] of,
[00:40:54] okay,
[00:40:54] I resisted this
[00:40:55] my whole life,
[00:40:57] all the revelation
[00:40:57] God gave to me,
[00:40:59] I pushed it aside,
[00:41:00] I didn't want it
[00:41:01] and now I'm seeing
[00:41:02] that I was wrong,
[00:41:04] okay?
[00:41:04] There is that universal
[00:41:06] recognition
[00:41:07] that is coming
[00:41:09] but the thing
[00:41:10] that I want to draw
[00:41:12] out here
[00:41:12] is that
[00:41:14] if we haven't
[00:41:15] learned
[00:41:16] that Jesus
[00:41:17] is God
[00:41:18] already
[00:41:19] at this point
[00:41:19] of our teaching
[00:41:20] in this passage
[00:41:21] of Philippians
[00:41:23] through the kenosis passage
[00:41:24] and all of that,
[00:41:26] this little passage
[00:41:27] ought to do it for us
[00:41:28] because what Paul announces
[00:41:30] is that a day
[00:41:31] is coming
[00:41:31] where this servant
[00:41:33] figure
[00:41:34] who suffered
[00:41:35] and died,
[00:41:35] Jesus,
[00:41:36] he rose from the dead
[00:41:38] and the day is coming
[00:41:38] where God
[00:41:40] is going to exalt him
[00:41:41] and bestow on him
[00:41:43] the name
[00:41:43] that is above
[00:41:44] every name
[00:41:45] and then it goes on
[00:41:46] to say
[00:41:46] so that at the name
[00:41:47] of Jesus
[00:41:48] every knee will bow
[00:41:49] and tongue will confess
[00:41:50] which might lead
[00:41:51] some of you to say
[00:41:52] oh yeah,
[00:41:53] I know what this means.
[00:41:54] The highest name
[00:41:55] is the name
[00:41:56] Jesus
[00:41:58] Jesus
[00:41:58] and believe me
[00:41:59] that's the high name
[00:42:00] Jesus famous
[00:42:01] is our church's
[00:42:02] vision and mission
[00:42:03] but you gotta go on
[00:42:04] and read
[00:42:05] what he's saying
[00:42:06] he says
[00:42:06] and every tongue
[00:42:07] confess that
[00:42:08] Jesus Christ
[00:42:09] is Lord
[00:42:10] to the glory
[00:42:11] of God
[00:42:11] and Father.
[00:42:13] What is
[00:42:13] according to the Bible
[00:42:14] the name
[00:42:15] that is above
[00:42:16] every name?
[00:42:17] It's the name
[00:42:18] of God.
[00:42:19] It's the name
[00:42:20] of Yahweh.
[00:42:21] It's the great
[00:42:22] I am
[00:42:23] and what
[00:42:24] Paul is saying
[00:42:25] is that a day
[00:42:26] is coming
[00:42:27] where Jesus
[00:42:28] is going to be
[00:42:29] exalted
[00:42:29] by the Father
[00:42:30] to the point
[00:42:31] that everyone
[00:42:32] goes
[00:42:33] Jesus
[00:42:33] has the highest
[00:42:34] name
[00:42:35] Jesus
[00:42:36] is the great
[00:42:37] I am
[00:42:38] Jesus
[00:42:38] is God
[00:42:39] Jesus
[00:42:40] is the one
[00:42:41] and we will
[00:42:42] fall in worship
[00:42:43] of him
[00:42:45] in that moment.
[00:42:47] Here's what Paul
[00:42:48] is trying to do
[00:42:48] right here
[00:42:49] he's trying to say
[00:42:50] in that moment
[00:42:51] all your weak
[00:42:53] definitions
[00:42:54] of glory
[00:42:55] are going to
[00:42:56] melt away.
[00:42:58] Everything you see
[00:42:59] on Instagram
[00:42:59] and you think
[00:43:00] that's life
[00:43:01] that's living
[00:43:02] that's what I want
[00:43:03] to be
[00:43:03] it's going to
[00:43:04] melt away.
[00:43:05] Every sweet
[00:43:06] vacation
[00:43:07] someone had
[00:43:08] that you're
[00:43:08] jealous of
[00:43:09] it's going to
[00:43:10] melt away.
[00:43:10] Every great
[00:43:11] college someone
[00:43:12] else got into
[00:43:13] it's going to
[00:43:13] melt away.
[00:43:14] Every great
[00:43:15] car someone
[00:43:15] else gets to
[00:43:16] drive
[00:43:16] it's going to
[00:43:17] melt away.
[00:43:17] All the square
[00:43:18] footage
[00:43:18] it's going to
[00:43:19] melt away.
[00:43:19] It's all going to
[00:43:20] melt away.
[00:43:21] He's saying
[00:43:21] to the Roman
[00:43:23] citizens of
[00:43:24] Philippi
[00:43:25] you've been
[00:43:26] enamored with
[00:43:27] Caesar's power.
[00:43:30] You're like
[00:43:30] impressed with
[00:43:31] him.
[00:43:32] His willingness
[00:43:33] to extend
[00:43:34] his throne
[00:43:34] his dominion
[00:43:36] ruthlessly
[00:43:37] brutally
[00:43:38] you look up
[00:43:39] to that
[00:43:39] there is a
[00:43:41] servant.
[00:43:42] He is the
[00:43:42] king of kings
[00:43:43] he is the
[00:43:44] lord of lords
[00:43:44] he's the only
[00:43:45] person in
[00:43:47] human history
[00:43:48] who used
[00:43:49] all of
[00:43:50] his power
[00:43:50] to bless
[00:43:52] everyone else.
[00:43:53] He didn't
[00:43:53] reserve any
[00:43:54] of it for
[00:43:55] himself.
[00:43:55] He wasn't
[00:43:56] in it
[00:43:56] for himself
[00:43:57] he was in
[00:43:57] it for
[00:43:57] everyone else
[00:43:58] and in
[00:43:59] that moment
[00:43:59] we're going
[00:44:00] to realize
[00:44:01] that's what's
[00:44:01] glorious.
[00:44:02] We're going
[00:44:03] to in that
[00:44:03] moment look
[00:44:04] around and
[00:44:04] see people
[00:44:05] who laid
[00:44:06] down their
[00:44:06] lives for
[00:44:07] Christ.
[00:44:08] We're going
[00:44:09] to see
[00:44:09] parents who
[00:44:10] laid down
[00:44:10] their lives
[00:44:11] for sick
[00:44:11] children.
[00:44:12] We're going
[00:44:13] to see
[00:44:13] soldiers who
[00:44:14] laid down
[00:44:15] their lives
[00:44:15] for people
[00:44:16] they didn't
[00:44:16] even know.
[00:44:17] We're going
[00:44:18] to see
[00:44:18] mentors who
[00:44:20] took
[00:44:20] addicted
[00:44:21] abused
[00:44:22] people who
[00:44:24] were going
[00:44:24] to fail
[00:44:25] nine times
[00:44:25] out of ten
[00:44:26] he's going
[00:44:27] to take
[00:44:27] those people
[00:44:28] and show
[00:44:29] us that's
[00:44:30] glory.
[00:44:31] That's
[00:44:32] glory.
[00:44:34] And so
[00:44:34] Paul is
[00:44:35] trying to
[00:44:35] urge us
[00:44:36] let's partake
[00:44:37] of that
[00:44:38] king
[00:44:40] right now.
[00:44:42] Let's just
[00:44:43] reorder our
[00:44:43] lives right
[00:44:44] now
[00:44:44] around
[00:44:46] that
[00:44:47] reality.
[00:44:48] All right?
[00:44:52] Thank you for
[00:44:52] listening.
[00:44:53] If you would
[00:44:54] like more
[00:44:54] teachings and
[00:44:55] information about
[00:44:56] Calvary Monterey
[00:44:56] please visit
[00:44:57] calvary.com.
[00:44:59] You can also
[00:44:59] find books
[00:45:00] teachings through
[00:45:01] the Bible
[00:45:01] and articles
[00:45:02] from our
[00:45:03] lead pastor
[00:45:04] at
[00:45:04] nateholdridge.com.
[00:45:06] Thanks again
[00:45:07] for tuning in.
[00:45:08] We'll see you
[00:45:08] next week.