Nothing challenges the wisdom of the world like the Word of God. The word says success comes from clawing our way to the top. But the Bible says the way up is the way down. Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah examines the truth behind this intriguing paradox.
from the series Making Sense of It All. Here's David to introduce today's message, going up by going down. And thank you for joining us today. This is Turning Point. I'm David Jeremiah, and we're talking about some principles in the Bible that help us make sense of what's going on in life.
Today, we look at a passage in Philippians chapter 2, a very famous passage, and it illustrates this whole principle of humility. In the passage, we read these words. God humbled himself. Jesus humbled himself. How could that be true?
And yet it is true, and it's the key to the whole discussion we're going to have in just a moment. Hey, I want you to know that we have a magazine that is a blessing to a lot of people. I'm always blessed when it comes across my desk each month after it's finished, and it's beautifully designed. It has all kinds of helpful information inside of it, including devotional material for every day of the week, Monday through Friday, and one for the weekend. And these are at the back part of this devotional book.
You can take them. Every day, kind of like your daily nutritional pill. They're really helpful to get you started. And the magazine itself is filled with articles to help you grow. It will keep you up to date on what we're doing here at Turning Point.
And I hope you'll take advantage of this opportunity. Ask for your copy of Turning Points Magazine. when you call or write today. And now here is part one of Going Up by Going Down from Philippians chapter 2.
Well, if you have your Bibles with you today, I want to ask you to turn with me to the second chapter of the book of Philippians. That is where we are going to end up here in a few moments. And so you will already be there when we get there. You will have your Bible open to Philippians chapter 2. One of Jesus' methods of teaching was through the use of a paradox.
Webster defines a paradox as a statement or an assertion. that seems contradictory or opposed to common sense. And yet when you hear it, You know there's something true about it.
Someone has said that a paradox is a statement. That's standing on its head, so you can't ignore what it means. And I've always been intrigued by the paradoxes of the Bible. For one reason They illustrate the paradoxical nature of the Christian life. Let's face it, folks, on the human level.
The Christian life seems kind of upside down and backwards. Read through the Gospels. And you will get Not very far. before you begin to run into statements that seem to contradict themselves. For instance, the New Testament teaches that we can be first by being last.
That we can have more by having less. That we can. Get more by giving more. that we can experience joy through trouble. That we can become free by becoming slaves.
That we can find rest. By labor. Then we can live by dying. That we can find ourselves by losing ourselves. That we can achieve exaltation.
by going through humiliation. And that we can win. By losing.
Now, I suggest if you were in a meeting of secular people and they said to you, tell me what you believe, and you recited that list, you would be laughed out of the room. You believe what? And yet, is it not true that the life of Christ and the life of Christ in us? Is not definable in the terms that people today truly can grasp. In his book, Loving God, Charles Colson once wrote that the real legacy of my life.
was my biggest failure. That failure was that I was an ex-convict. My greatest humiliation, he said, being sent to prison, was the beginning of God's greatest use in my life. He said, God chose the one experience that I could not glory in. for his own glory.
And he went on to say that the kingdom of God is a kingdom of paradox. Where through the ugly defeat of the cross, A holy God is glorified. Where victory comes through defeat and healing through brokenness and finding self through losing self.
So, a paradox is a statement that if you just read it, at first it sounds like it's a disconnect. But the more you think about it, the more you talk about it, the more you get inside of its truth, the more you understand how powerful it is. Today We're going to talk about the first of these paradoxes and The best way for me to say this paradox is to say it this way. The way up is the way down. Can you say that with me out loud?
The way up is the way down. The way up is the Way down.
Now, this probably sounds Kind of silly to you. It is without question one of the most powerful truths in the Bible. And it is a truth that is not isolated to one little scripture here, not just to Philippians or some other portion of the Word of God. Once you put this in your mental computer, as you begin to think about it, you will just see it everywhere. For instance, in the exhortation of the written word in the Old Testament, we read.
Surely he scorns the scornful, but he gives grace. to the humble. Proverbs 15:33 says, The fear of the Lord. It's the instruction of wisdom. And before honor, Comes humility.
Proverbs 29, 23 says, A man's pride will bring him low. but the humble in spirit will retain honor. The way up is the way down. When you come out of the Old Testament and into the Gospels and you begin to run into the words of Jesus. you will discover that this is one of his favorite themes.
He gave at least four mini-sermons on this particular topic. He constantly was talking about this. In Matthew 18, 4, he says, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom. In Matthew 23, 12, Jesus said, Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be humble. will be exalted.
The way up is the way down. Luke 14, 11, For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Luke 18, 14, Jesus said, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself, said Jesus, will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. The words of the Old Testament and the words of Jesus.
Teach us this truth, this paradox. that to be exalted you have to be humbled. When you come out of the Gospels and you get into the epistles where the gospel truth is explained, you hear words like this from the writer James. He said, But he gives more grace. Therefore, he says, God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.
James 4:10, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Okay. 1 Peter 5, 5. Quoting the Old Testament, God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.
Now, I dare say, when I tell you at the outset of this message that these paradoxes are important because. They teach important truth, and they also illustrate the upside-down nature of the Christian life. Perhaps you're beginning to get it even at the outset because. This is not the way the world functions. I dare say you've not been to a business seminar lately where they told you that if you want to really get up and excel in your position and get to the top, that the way up is the way down.
I don't think I've ever seen that in any business literature. The world knows nothing of this. This is not theirs. This is truth that is belonging just to those who are Christians. And it is a truth.
That if we can just a little bit get our arms around it today, it can be life-changing and transforming for all of us.
Someone would say, well, has anybody really ever lived like this?
Well, I don't know about Very many people that have, I'm sure there are many who do, but I know one who did. And his story is given to us here in the second chapter of the book of Philippians. In the second chapter of the book of Philippians, we have a little offset in the passage. Which is a hymn. It is perhaps a hymn written by Paul.
Some believe that Paul took this out of some of the extant literature of his day and incorporated it into the second chapter of Philippians. It's sometimes referred to as the kenosis passage for a particular Greek word that is found in the text. It is often used at Christmastime to talk about how Jesus came down to be born in this world as our Savior. But as we shall see today, this passage was not written in the second chapter of Philippians as a doctrinal treatise. Paul did not write this primarily for the purpose of teaching us the doctrines of Christ.
This is in the text to teach us. that the way up is the way down. And if we will understand this particular portion of scripture in light of the fact that it's a description of what happened to Jesus when he left heaven to come to this earth, if it does to you what it does to me, it will have an impact on your life that you will not be able to walk away from.
So, for us to do this and really get the best out of it, we have to follow the Lord Jesus on this round-trip journey from heaven to earth and back to heaven. And we begin, first of all, with this example of the living word, as we see how, when Jesus was in heaven, before he came down to be our Savior, we have to understand where he was and that he relinquished his place in heaven. It says in Philippians 2:6, who being in the form of God, J.B. Phillips translates the verse this way: For he who had always been God by nature, If anyone had the right to hang on to what he had, it was Jesus. He had the right to be self-centered if he chose to be.
He had existed throughout eternity from the beginning, there was no beginning. And the Bible says That Christ at the beginning in heaven was in his place, and he was. In the form of God.
Now, that doesn't mean that outwardly he looked like God. It doesn't mean that he appeared to be God. The words in the text of the Greek language literally mean that He was in the very essence and substance of who He was, He was God Himself. Jesus Christ was in heaven at home with his Father. He was and is and always will be God.
That's where the journey began. He was in the holy place of heaven. with the Lord. Every once in a while, people will say to me, I know you people believe that Jesus is God.
Well, I believe He's a good man. He was a great teacher, certainly a great leader, but I don't think He was God, and I don't think the Bible even says He was God. And when people say that to me, I always want to say, I bet you've never read your Bible. Because you can't read the Bible and believe that. That's absurd.
Did you know that one time in the book of John it's recorded 14:9, Jesus said, He who has seen me has seen the Father.
Now what part of that don't you get? In the book of Colossians, we are told that in Jesus Christ it pleased the Father that all the fullness should dwell. In other words, that in Christ everything that God is was there, He was God. In 1 Timothy 3.16, we read, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh.
When did that happen? When he came to be born at Bethlehem. That was God being manifested in the flesh. Listen to me, ladies and gentlemen. Jesus Christ is God walking around in the body.
If he were not God, he could not have died on the cross for the sins of the whole world. If he were just a good man, his death would have been equal to one death. But he was God in a body, and God on the cross was one death for every person who would ever live. He is the eternal. Infinite God.
And when this journey to earth started, I want you to get this picture. He was at home in heaven as God with the Father. And the Bible says That he refused his prerogative. Verse 6 says, He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. This really means that he did not grasp or hold on to this privilege.
He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. He did not view it as something to hold on to at all costs. While we may not be able to truly understand all of this, what we do understand is this: that Christ surrendered that which He loved in order that He might serve those who He loved. Please do not miss all of this. Jesus made a choice to become a servant.
Verse 7 says, he made himself of no reputation. Verse 8 says, he humbled himself. In both cases, it means. that he made a personal decision. To walk away from all that we have described and begin this downward journey to us, he did it of his own will and in obedience to the will of the Father.
If the only person in the world who ever had the right to assert his personal rights waived them, What does that mean to me? He relinquished his place, refused his prerogative, and then it says he renounced his privileges. It says in verse 7: he made himself of no reputation. I told you earlier that sometimes this passage is called the kenosis passage. And the reason for that is there's a Greek word here, which is K-E-N-O-O, Kana-O.
And it's the word which is translated in the text by, he made himself of no reputation, but the best translation of it is, he emptied himself. And of course the question is: of what did he empty himself?
Some people say, well, when Jesus came to this world, when he came down to this earth, He laid aside his deity. He left heaven, he ceased to be God. I don't know anybody that believes that if they believe the Bible. Let me tell you something: deity diminished is no longer deity. You can't have 20% deity.
You say, was Jesus God? Oh, he was 20% God. No, no, no. You either are God or you're not God. You're either 100% God or you're not God at all.
You can't be 30% God. Jesus wasn't 50% man and 50% God. He was 100% man and 100% God. He was, when He came to this earth, truly God of gods. He wasn't less God because he came to be one of us.
He was still God.
So when it says he emptied himself, it doesn't mean that he laid aside his deity. That's not what it means. The best way to understand it is that He determined by choice that while he was on this earth, he would not. Take his rights to himself. He voluntarily divested himself of the independent use of his attributes.
That's the best way to say it. And if you follow the Lord Jesus in the early years of his life on this earth, you will not see him doing any godly thing. If you knew Jesus growing up before his baptism, you wouldn't have picked him out of a crowd. You would never have said, there goes God. You wouldn't have known that.
You would have known him to be a good person because he was sinless. But he didn't do the miraculous things that he did after his baptism when the Spirit of the Lord filled him. Because The Bible says when he came down here to be one of us, He chose to lay aside all of those prerogatives that were His by virtue of the fact that He was God and to live and walk among us as one of us.
So that he would truly be our representative. He chose to waive his rights. He chose to not do what he could do. Did he still have all the power? Absolutely.
Could he have done all of those things without question? But because of his love for you and for me, and because of his desire to identify himself with those for whom he had come, he voluntarily laid aside all of his rights. Though he continued to be the very God of very gods. And walked among us as one of us. At his baptism, He began to demonstrate these powers that were his by virtue of his Godhead.
He did not give up his rights. He gave up his right to enjoy his rights. He emptied himself. And then the scripture says, He relinquished his place. He refused his prerogative.
He renounced his privileges, and here's what I love the most. He restricted his presence. Think of this because this one we can really comprehend. We can get our arms around this one. We might be a little lost in some of the doctrine of the early ones, but this one, we'll all get this one.
Let me ask you: where was Jesus before he was born in Bethlehem? You do know he didn't begin there. He came to be one of us through the miraculous birth Through Mary without the agency of a human father. But where was he before that? As we've mentioned, he was in heaven.
But where else? Listen to me. wherever he wanted to be. Amen? He was boundless.
He had no boundaries on him. He had the eternal universe and who knows what else at his disposal. He was unrestricted in his presence. But one day the father tapped him on the shoulder and said, Son, I have a job for you to do, and you're going to have to go to earth and become a human to do it. And when he was born in Bethlehem, all of that unrestricted presence.
was poured into one human body. And in that human body, that restricted presence, he walked upon this earth. And not only that, He lived his life in the postage stamp we call Israel without ever going outside of its boundaries. from the glories of everywhere. to the restricted presence of a human body.
in a localized Peace. real estate. What is Jesus doing? Leaving all of that. Coming all the way down one step after the other.
And then notice. He realized his purpose. And being found in appearance as a man, the scripture says, he humbled himself. And became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Jesus came down to be one of us, restricted into a human body, into a short.
Span of territory, and then the Bible says he went to the cross. And there he humbled himself, and he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Some people say, well, Maybe Jesus did not know when he came down here that that's what was going to happen to him. Maybe they took him by surprise. How many of you know you do not take God by surprise? God doesn't have the word oops in his vocabulary.
So the Bible says that when Jesus came to this earth, he knew what he was doing. He knew why he was coming. Mark 10:45 says, For the Son of Man did not come to be served. But to serve, now watch this, and to give his life a ransom for many. From the very moment of the eternal conversation in the Trinity, Almighty God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit knew all the plan for redemption.
Jesus knew when he came to this earth before he ever left heaven why he was coming. He was coming to be born so that he could die. And the Bible says, when he came, he humbled himself. And he became obedient unto death. And then it says, and yes, even the death of the cross.
Crucifixion was for criminals and for non-Roman citizens, and it was a cruel method of treatment. And the Bible says. That Jesus Christ endured that, and when you died by crucifixion, you died a hundred times before you ultimately died. There on the cross, the God-man. God in the body.
Hung between two thieves and between heaven and earth. And took upon himself the sin. And the grief And the sorrow. of all mankind. He was the only one who could do it.
For in his humanity he reached down to us, and in his deity he reached up to God, and he brought us together at the cross. He came down.
Well, that old song, when we couldn't reach up to him, he reached down to us. And uh that's the glory of this wonderful message we call the gospel. We'll have part two tomorrow on the Friday edition of Turning Point. I hope you'll be with us then. We have many wonderful truths to share in the weeks ahead during this month of July as we celebrate 250 years of freedom here in America.
We're so wonderfully blessed and so thankful for the privilege of this nation and what God has allowed to happen here in spite of all of the challenges we face. This year we are taking another Caribbean cruise at the end of the year, December the 26th through January the 2nd. We'll be sailing on the Holland America Zyderdam and visiting ports in Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas and Half Moon Cay. With musical guests Michael Sanchez and Uriel Vega, and lots of fun things to do as we celebrate the new year together.
If you haven't already, requested your information about this cruise do it today and we'll see you tomorrow. For more information on Dr. Jeremiah's series, Making Sense of It All, please visit our website where we also offer two free ways to help you stay connected, our monthly magazine Turning Points and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org slash radio. That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio.
Or call us at 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of Robert J. Morgan's inspiring book, 100 Bible Verses That Made America. It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard New International and New King James Versions, available in your choice of handsome and durable cover options.
Get all the details when you visit our website davidjeremiah.org slash radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series Making Sense of It All on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
