The Exalted Savior - 8

Well, we are returning to our study through the book of Philippians, having taken a break last Sunday for Easter Sunday, but we are now back into this epistle of Paul to the Philippian church, the first one that he established in the continent of Europe, and to that section that describes the incarnation of Jesus Christ in such clarity and power, the convicting truth that we are amazed, especially when we realize that that was not Paul's primary purpose. That is, he was not penning these words in order to teach us about the incarnation so much as to tell us to follow the example of Christ in His self-sacrifice and humility. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. But in giving us that exhortation that we need to have the mind of Christ, that will bring the unity, that will bring the love, that will bring the brotherly fellowship, the brotherly love that we ought to have one for another. But to do that, we need to ask God to give us the mind of Christ, and for us to understand the mind of Christ, we need to understand what He did.

And so that's why we have these words, these wonderful words. God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, this brings us to our text for today, therefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The first part of this passage, verses 5 through 11, describes Christ's condescension. This describes what He did. He emptied Himself. He took upon Him the form of a servant. He was made in the likeness of man.

He humbled Himself to the point of death. And then in verses 9 through 11 that we're looking at this morning, we find out what God the Father did. Therefore, God hath highly exalted Him.

God has given Him the name which is above every name. And so He emptied Himself, that is, He laid aside His glory by becoming a man. He did not divest Himself of deity, for that was impossible, but He relinquished the exercise, the prerogative, the manifestations of His deity for the work of redemption. He humbled Himself to the very lowest degree, all the way to the point of death, yes, to the most painful and ignominious death known to mankind in that day, even the death of the cross. And that's why God exalted Him. In examining verses 9 through 11, we're going to ask some of the investigative reporter questions, the detective questions, who, why, what, and how, beginning with who. Who exalted who?

In fact, in the first question, there are two whos that we need to examine. Who exalted who? The Bible tells us, therefore, God also has highly exalted Him.

The language is clear enough on the surface, but a more careful examination will be helpful to understand fully what God has for us here. Who exalted who? The first who. Therefore, God has also highly exalted Him. That answers the question of the first who. Who exalted Him?

The answer is God, but that may raise in our minds a very logical question. Isn't Jesus Christ God? And are we saying, therefore, that Jesus exalted Himself when we say God highly exalted Him?

The answer to that question is no. He was exalted. He did not exalt Himself. He was exalted by God the Father. The Father exalted Him, and that's the clear meaning of the word God in verse 9, because that is referred to again in verse 11 with that fuller expression, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And so that we know that Paul, the author of this portion of scripture, has God the Father primarily in mind when he writes, God has also highly exalted Him. And that, of course, takes us into the mystery of the Trinity that we always revel in because of its truth, but stumble in because of its complexity. But here we have the one God in three persons, and we find different persons in the Trinity that are acting in a particular way upon other members of the Trinity, and it's God the Father who highly exalted Him.

That's the first who, but there's a second who. Who did the Father exalt? When it says God has also highly exalted Him, who exactly is in view?

And again, on the surface, that's not a difficult question. But the most logical way of answering that would probably be God the Father exalted His Son. If we come to understand that the word God here refers to the Father, then the most common answer, the most logical answer to the second question would be the Son, because when we think about the Father, we think about the Son. That's the relationship, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. But, though that's true, we're not saying that God the Father did not exalt His Son. That's not the emphasis of this text, and that's not what Paul wants us to think about.

What he wants us to think about is the name of Jesus, and this is what's important. The pre-incarnate Son was already exalted. The Son has existed eternally. The Son has been the Son as long as the Father has been the Father. The Son did not become the Son at the time of the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary. There has always been Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in eternity. The Godhead has always been the triune Godhead. And so the pre-incarnate Son has always shared the Father's glory, but what is different?

What are we talking about here? We're talking about the incarnation. We're talking about the man Jesus, who was the one who enveloped the eternal Son in human flesh. It is Jesus who was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. It is Jesus who lived a perfect and sinless life upon the earth. It is Jesus who died upon the cross and rose again from the dead. And though, of course, because Jesus is God, Jesus is the Son of God, nevertheless, when we focus upon Jesus, we are thinking about not the pre-incarnate Son, but the incarnate Son. We're talking about the Son in His humanity, this mysterious combination of deity and humanity, when the eternal God did not divest Himself of deity, but added to Himself humanity, and thereafter forever was 100% God and 100% man, and it's that 100% man part that Paul is talking about here.

The Father has highly exalted Jesus. That's the emphasis. And why? That brings us to the second question, why?

And the word therefore points us backwards. This is the why. Why? And in summary, we can say the Father exalted the Son because of His selfless abasement, the things that are described in verses 5 and 6 and 7 and 8. But let's summarize at least some of the things that are said here to remind ourselves as to why the Father exalted Jesus in this way.

Why? Number one, because He put others ahead of Himself. Verse 6, who being in the form of God, being eternal God, having all of the attributes and characteristics of God because He was God, being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.

We covered that passage a couple of weeks ago. He did not consider the manifestation, the honor, the glory, the exaltation of His innate deity to be a prize to be grasped and held onto at all costs and not to be relinquished, but rather He emptied Himself. My translation says He made Himself of no reputation, but the Greek word kenosis there means He emptied Himself. He emptied Himself of this exercise of His deity. He couldn't get rid of it, that would be impossible, God can never stop being God, but He could veil it. He could surround Himself with humanity to such an extent that His deity was not clear, was not manifest, it was not seen obviously to others. One commentator I think very aptly said, God became incognito in Jesus.

We know what that word is, don't we, when a famous movie star doesn't want to go out and be bothered by people asking for autographs and recognizing who He is, so He puts Himself in disguise and goes out into the regular world hoping that nobody will recognize who He is. Yes, incognito, well that's what Jesus did. He roped Himself in human flesh, He became God incognito, He was still God but He was not easily recognized as God. No obvious glory, no obvious exercise of His power, even when He performed His miracles, evidently He called upon God the Father to perform those miracles. He had divested Himself of His exercise of that power, but it was always available to Him from His Heavenly Father, but He didn't have the exercise of that voluntarily. It wasn't taken from Him, it wasn't kept from Him, it wasn't locked away where He couldn't get a hold of it, but He emptied Himself. And why did He do that? Because that was necessary for redemption.

What is He doing? He's putting others ahead of Himself. He did not value His own glory above the needs of others. Therefore, because of that, the Father has also highly exalted Him.

What else? Well, in verse 7 we learn that He made Himself a humble servant. He made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men.

He who is God Almighty, He who was supreme ruler, is supreme ruler of the universe, He who made all things, He who rules all things, He to whom all creation ought to bow and will bow and will acknowledge who He is, nevertheless, He made Himself of no reputation so that people did not see Him as this supreme Almighty God of the universe. He made Himself a humble servant. Instead of being the one that everybody by right ought to serve, He became the one who served others, demonstrating that by girding the towel around Himself in the upper room in John chapter 13 and going around and taking the servant's place, the slave's place, and washing the disciples' feet. And that's what He did. He became a servant, He who was supreme ruler, and therefore God has also highly exalted Him.

What else? He submitted Himself to the Father, you remember verse 8. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient. He submitted Himself to the Father's authority, the Father's will. He who was equal with the Father in every respect, equal with the Father in glory and power, became obedient to the Father for the work of redemption and said, I came not to do My own but My Father's will.

Nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done. He became obedient. And number four, He gave His life as a sacrifice for sin. He became obedient even to the point of death, yes, even the death of the cross. He who could not die as God, He whom death could not touch because He is the very source of life, nevertheless took upon Him humanity so that He could die, so that He could lay down His life in the work of redemption. He gave His life a sacrifice for sin. Therefore, God has also highly exalted Him.

That's why. Question number three, what? And by this I mean, well, what exactly constitutes this exaltation? God highly exalted Him, what does that mean? There are a couple of things that are not stated in this passage but I think need to be mentioned, and then there are four things that are stated in this passage as the elements of His exaltation.

But what is unstated? What is unstated is His resurrection and ascension. But that's where the exaltation began.

God raised Him from the dead. That's where His condescension ended and His exaltation began. His condescension, His humility, His weakness, His servanthood, His being ridiculed and reviled and hated and put to death and His doing nothing about it, not speaking out against it, not exercising His power to stop it, not calling upon a legion of angels whom He commanded in order to rescue Him and set Him free. But He gave Himself completely and obediently to all of these things and all of this was part of His humility, which began actually when He was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Can you imagine the God of the universe becoming a little cell, beginning life in the womb of a young maiden girl and seeing that life develop like all human beings develop and then being born like all human beings are born and living in this world and living in humility, living—poverty may be too strong a word, though there are elements of poverty in His life, but certainly living a very simple life, living among the lower classes, not elevating Himself even in the estimation of society, keeping in mind that the most revered human being in society on the face of the earth, whoever that may be, is nothing but a little worm compared to the glory of God Almighty.

But He didn't even exalt Himself in the realm of society but made Himself of no reputation, took upon Him the form of a servant. That's the way He lived and His humiliation just continued on down, down, down, down, down until He suffered the ultimate humiliation of death and they took His lifeless body off the cross and they buried it in that tomb, but even there, even in the burial, there's a glimpse, there's a glimpse He's buried in a rich man's tomb, a special tomb, a sepulcher that only the wealthier could afford and that's not the way He lived, but there's the first glimpse of something happening here and then on the third day, He arose victorious and glorious and with that resurrection eternal body and the grave was empty and His power and glory are now manifested and so in the resurrection and later in the ascension as He goes back into heaven to His previous place of glory, His exaltation has begun. But there are four things stated in our text that constitute His exaltation.

What are they? Number one, He is exalted to the supreme position, that is to enthronement with the Father. Therefore, God also has highly exalted Him, highly exalted Him and that terminology means exalted to the highest position possible and what is the highest position in this universe? It is the throne of God in heaven, you can't get me higher than that and this says He's exalted to the highest position possible. Co-regent with the Father. He humbled Himself, God exalted Him, not just a little bit, not even a lot, but to the highest degree possible. He not only ascended back to heaven, but He didn't ascend back to heaven to be with the angels and even the archangels and to serve with them, but He ascended back to heaven and the Father said, sit down here upon My throne or sit down here upon your throne, which is next to My throne as we rule the universe together and God the Father exalted Him to the highest position possible.

The supreme position, what else? Number two, the supreme title. God the Father gave Him the name which is above every name. Now some have looked at that and looked at the passage and said, well, what name is Paul referring to here?

Is he talking about the name of Jesus or is he talking about the name Lord, which sounds at first to us more like a title than a name, but we'll see in a moment that, in fact, it is a name. And if you had only the text to look at, you might have trouble answering that question until you realize that Paul is quoting an Old Testament text from the book of Isaiah, chapter 45, and I'll read just two verses out of that passage. First, to set it in context so that you know this passage is about Jehovah God. Truly, verse 15 says, you are God who hide yourself, O God of Israel.

That's who we're talking about. That's who spoken of in Isaiah 45. Now look at verse 23. I have sworn by myself, now the God of Israel is talking, I have sworn by myself the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return that to me, to who? To the God of Israel, the Lord God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who we generally refer to as Yahweh or Jehovah.

But to me, every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath. And Paul quotes that really word for word out of the Septuagint translation when he says God has given to him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. So the name that is referred to here is not the name of Jesus, although that's important and closely connected, but it's a name Lord which is actually Jehovah.

Paul, of course, like most of the Christians, Jews and Christians in his day, studied their Old Testament scriptures out of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. And in the Septuagint, the word kurios, the very word that is used here, is used 6,000 times to refer to Jehovah. Jews, in Paul's day, when they thought of God, when they thought of the God of Israel, and thought of Jehovah because they were reading out of the Septuagint, they thought of kurios, Lord.

That's what came to their mind. That's the name that the Jews used for Jehovah in that day. But now the text tells us that God in highly exalting him and giving him the name which is above every name has said that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, taking that quotation right out of Isaiah 45 where God Almighty, Jehovah says, to me shall every knee bow, to me shall every tongue confess. Paul says God has assigned that honor to Jesus. And you can go right back to Isaiah 45 and just substitute the word Jesus in the place of to me. You can come back to verse 23 where God says I have sworn by myself. The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return. That to Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall take an oath. Every tongue shall confess at the name of Jesus. And by doing that, Paul, by the Holy Spirit of God, is transferring universal homage to Jehovah to Jesus.

We shouldn't be surprised. Jesus himself has been preparing us for this all along if we've been paying attention to what he said. There are many references in the Gospels to other Old Testament texts that in the Old Testament refer to Jehovah but in the New Testament are applied to Jesus Christ.

But just one. Remember when Jesus was talking to the Pharisees and they were bickering and arguing with him about his claims of deity and he said this in verse 24 John chapter 8. Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. Your Bible says I am he but he's in italics.

That's not there. Unless you believe that I am, unless you believe in the Greek ego of me, unless you believe that I am, what is that? Well, what did God, Jehovah, reveal himself to be to Moses in the wilderness at the burning bush when Moses said, Who shall I tell Pharaoh sent me? God said what?

I am that I am. You tell him that I am has sent you unto him. And Jesus said, Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.

Do you hear me? That's what Jesus said. Those of you who may have questions about the deity of Christ, those of you who may have difficulty accepting that Jesus is in fact Jehovah, this is what Jesus said, Except you believe that I am, we could say except you believe that I am Jehovah, you shall die in your sins.

So are we surprised that when God has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, the name that he gives him is Jehovah? To Jehovah shall every knee bow and every tongue confess. But Jehovah is Jesus, so to Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. Jesus indeed takes the highest station, not only a high station but the highest station.

That's why the songwriter said, Hark those bursts of acclamation, hark those loud triumphant chords. Jesus takes the highest station. Oh what joy the sight affords, crown him, crown him, king of kings and lord of lords. The incognito Jesus is gone forever. He's been exalted to the throne of God and to him is given the name Jehovah.

The son, the pre-incarnate son already had that, but the incarnate son Jesus didn't have that, at least not officially, but now the father says this name belongs to the man Christ Jesus. He is Jehovah. He is God.

He is Lord. And so we're talking about what constitutes this exaltation. Number one, the supreme position.

Number two, the supreme title. Number three, supreme worship. That at the name of Jesus.

Jesus, the man. Jesus, the humanity that robed the deity. Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. That Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Every knee shall bow.

Universal worship. Shall bow. Bow is a sign of recognized authority. Bowing is acknowledging that I own, I accept this authority before whom I am bowing. Every knee shall bow.

And in case you aren't sure what that means, it's spelled out. Of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth. Every knee shall bow. Of those in heaven, who's that?

All the holy angels and all the redeemed saints of God who are already in heaven. You won't have any trouble getting them to bow. They're already doing that and they're glad to do that. They're eager to do that.

They're longing to do that. They're just waiting for the word that Jesus is the name that they bow to. Of those in heaven and of those on earth. Every living person, saved or lost, who is still upon the earth at the appointed time is going to acknowledge the supreme authority of Jesus and those under the earth. That would be the fallen angels and that would be condemned sinners who've already died.

Is there anyone left out of this? Every knee shall bow. Of those in heaven, those on earth, those under the earth. And every tongue shall confess. The tongue shall declare, shall speak what the bowing of the knee symbolizes.

Shall confess, that means to declare openly. The tongue declares why the knee bows. The knee bows a symbol of submission to the highest authority.

And the tongue declares why the knee is bowing. Jesus Christ is Lord. Supreme worship.

The fourth element of his exaltation is supreme certification. All of this we are told is to the glory of God the Father. All of this has the Father's affirmation. This exaltation pleases the Father. This exaltation delights the Father because he delights to exalt his son Jesus. And he particularly delights to honor him because of his willingness to do this work necessary to redeem fallen sinners because this ratifies the Father's will. This glory of God the Father at this point is saying this is the Father's yes to the claim that Jesus is Jehovah. Yes, I affirm that fully and completely. That brings me honor and glory and delight.

Supreme certification. Which brings me now to my fourth question, how? How does this apply to us? Well, three things that I think are in the passage that this ought to apply, we ought to apply to our lives. Number one, it deforms our understanding of Jesus. It tells us who Jesus is.

If we have any doubts, any questions about it, this tells us most clearly that Jesus is more than a supreme teacher, though he was that. He's certainly more than a noble martyr. He really wasn't a martyr at all. He voluntarily gave his life a ransom. He's more than the lowly Jesus, though he was for a while.

That's what's being honored here. But he is God incarnate. He is the supreme ruler of the universe. It shows us that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is God. He is Lord in the sense that he is Jehovah. And therefore, it surely underscores our need of salvation. This one died on the cross that sinners might be cleansed from their sins, might be born into the family of God, might have eternal life.

He did that. He did all of this in order to accomplish that. And therefore, every knee should bow, every knee needs to bow, every tongue needs to confess now that Jesus Christ is Lord to the salvation of your soul. You're going to do it eventually anyway.

Why be stubborn until the day comes when you can't stop doing it, can't stop from doing it? It informs our understanding of Jesus. Number two, it shows us how we ought to live. That's the whole purpose of the passage. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

Who? Being in the form of God, that it not robbery to be equal with God, etc., etc., etc. This passage shows us how we ought to live. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Let this attitude be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. Let these examples of selfless living be in you, which are shown to us by the life of Jesus, which shows us true humility if we have any question about what that looks like, which shows us full obedience if we have any question about what that looks like, which shows us the meaning of self-sacrifice if we don't fully understand what that is. Teach us, Lord, full obedience, holy reverence, true humility. Test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of your purity. Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see your majestic love and majesty. Words of power that can never fail.

Let their truth prevail over unbelief. It shows us how we ought to live. And finally, it encourages us to look for future rewards.

That's not really unspiritual. There are rewards for those who believe God. There are rewards for those who obey God. There are rewards for those who humble themselves before God.

He will lift them up. Jesus was rewarded for his selfless service to others. And we will be rewarded for our selfless service to others. That's what he calls upon us to do.

That's the mind. That's the attitude that ought to be in us. What do you have in mind when you think about serving Jesus? Well, there are a lot of tasks to do, but they must all be done with this mind of humility and selflessness and self-sacrifice and servanthood if they are going to be fully pleasing to God. I think it was William Hendrickson that said, let his followers tread the same path to honor and reward that he did, which leads me to ask this question in closing. What if our rewards in heaven are in proportion to our imitation of the mind of Christ?

How many will we have? Oh, but I did this. I did that.

I burned myself out doing this. I did this task. I did that task. I did this important thing.

I did that important thing. Yes, but was it with the mind of Christ? Was it with the attitude of humility? Was it with selflessness? Was it with self-sacrificing spirit? Was it without any thought of honor and glory in what you were doing here upon the earth? Was it all for the sake of Christ and for the sake of others? To the extent that it was, there is great reward. To the extent that it was not done in that spirit, it was just busy work.

No doubt helpful in many ways to the kingdom of Christ because God can even use an apostate like Balaam to accomplish his purposes, but Balaam didn't get any reward for what he did. That's a sobering thought, isn't it? If our reward is in proportion to our having the mind of Christ as it set before us here. It ought to cause all of us to search our hearts and to confess our sins, our pride, our selfishness, and ask the Lord to help us to serve him with the mind that is in Christ Jesus.

Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, what a Savior. What a Savior you have given. What a Savior has come and given himself for us. What an example is set before us. What a sacrifice has been provided for us.

What a reason to live. What promises to look forward to. And what help you have given us in your word and by your spirit to live like our Savior, at least to some degree. Oh, Lord, help us. Help us to trust him and to serve him in the way that he shows us to as we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.