PHILIPPIANS 2:5-11 BE LIKE BABY JESUS2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Philippians 2:5-11 Be Like Baby Jesus

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016. Well, today, of course, is Christmas, and we're celebrating the birth of Jesus. That's what this day is all about and why we remember this day every year. And so in light of that, I've titled the message this morning, Be Like Baby Jesus.

And we want to spend some time considering what Christ did, but then also understanding that he called us to follow his example. And you can see that right at the beginning of our passage here this morning in verse 5. The Apostle Paul says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And as we consider the birth of Jesus and what that meant this morning, I do want to encourage you to consider that for yourself. And

And what it means to follow in the example of Jesus and to have the mind, the heart, the attitude of Christ that he modeled for us. Now, as Paul says, let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. That word let there at the beginning indicates that this is a choice that you and I need to make.

It's not something that happens naturally. If it happened automatically, there would be no need for instruction about it. But instead, he gives us this command. Here is the mind that you are to have. Here is the heart and the attitude that we are to adopt and take on. It's a choice that we must make.

Pastor David Guzik shares that it's easy for us to read the description of Jesus and admire it from a distance, but God wants us to be awed by it and to see it as something that we must enter into and imitate. And so as we consider Jesus this morning, let's put on the mind of Christ and follow his example and learn to be like baby Jesus. Now,

As we begin looking at this passage, there's four points that I'd like to walk us through. And the first one is found in verse 6 and 7. And here we find the first thing that we're to model after Christ. That is, Jesus emptied himself.

Here in Philippians chapter 2, we have this incredible passage, and it's deep. There's a lot of things that we could go into in this passage, but it's Christmas morning, and we've got time to celebrate with family and things to look forward to, so we're not going to be here all day. And so I'm just going to kind of touch on some highlights, but

It's one of those passages that is just a classic passage that has been studied and discussed and debated and interpreted and understood from all angles and varieties. And there's incredible insights about the Lord here in this passage. In verse 6, Paul says, And without getting into too much detail here,

The understanding of verse 6 is the reality that Jesus is God. That he being in the form of God doesn't mean that he was pretending to be God or kind of like God, but literally it means that he is equal to God, that he is God. And as we study the scriptures, we know that Jesus did not begin to exist on the day of his birth.

And he didn't begin to exist on the day of his conception, but that Jesus has eternally existed. And in fact, Jesus is the one who is the creator of the heavens and the earth, that he has always existed with the Father. He has always existed, and he was part of the creation, and he is the one who holds all things in his hands.

At the end of the ministry of Jesus, as he was headed towards the cross, in John chapter 17, he prays a prayer to the Father and kind of like summing up his ministry and saying, Lord, I'm on my way to you. And as he does that, in John chapter 17, verse 5, Jesus presents this request. He says, and now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you,

Before the world was. Here Jesus is talking to the Father and he says, Father, I used to be with you in glory because Jesus has always existed and is God. He is part of the triune nature of God. And so he has existed in glory with the Father from everlasting and then to everlasting, which is hard for our minds to comprehend. But here Jesus is indicating, I existed before my birth.

And that existence was not mere humanity. It was not, you know, something less than, well, ultimate glory with the Father. It makes me think about this idea of Jesus being in glory with the Father, that passage in Isaiah chapter 6.

where Isaiah is caught up into this heavenly scene. And the glory of the Lord filled the temple, and the train of his robe filled the temple, and the posts are shaken as the angels cry, holy, holy, holy. It's this incredible description of the presence of God there in Isaiah 6. And that is a description of the Father and the Son, that Jesus is there. He's part of the glory of God that Isaiah experienced there in Isaiah 6.

But then he stepped into time. He stepped into humanity and walked to this earth. But as he comes to the end of that time in John chapter 17, he says, all right, Father, I'm ready to go back. Glorify me together with you with the glory that I had with you before the world was. And so Jesus has always existed with the Father. He's in the form of God. And

He goes on to say here in verse 6 that he did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. So he is God. He's always existed with God and he's equal to God. This word robbery here is an interesting word. It literally means to seize or to hold fast. It's to grasp hold of something.

And so it gives a little bit of variety and understanding that Jesus was not trying to grasp hold of something that was not his, that is equality with God, but that he is equal to God. And instead of trying to grasp hold of equality with God, he is equal to God. And he instead let that go in a sense. And we'll talk about that in just a moment. A couple of different translations of this verse might give a little bit of

clarity in understanding it. The New Living Translation says, though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. And so you can picture there Jesus in glory with the Father, but he didn't cling to that glory. He let it go in order to come to this earth.

The New Living or the New International Version puts it this way, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. And so again, there is Jesus in eternity with the Father in glory, but instead of just accepting all of the advantages that that provides, he has laid aside some of those advantages and

to become a man. And so here is Jesus, who is God, eternally existing in glory, the creator of the heavens and the earth, moving on to verse 7 here in Philippians chapter 2, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. And so Jesus, instead of holding on to this glory, every advantage and right that he has as God, as the creator, he made himself a

Here in this phrase is another really powerful and important Greek word. It's the word kenosis, which doesn't mean a lot to you, but here's what it means literally. It means emptied of self. Literally, Jesus emptied himself. He made himself of no reputation. And this is one of those words that, again, there's huge theological discussions about this and what that entails and what exactly that means. And it's a word that's used a lot in the Bible.

How did Jesus empty himself? And how far did that emptying go? And what exactly, you know, does that mean for all different aspects of his life and ministry? And although there is great depth there, this morning I'd like to take a simpler approach. Jesus emptied himself. And I would ask you this morning, what else would you call it besides emptying himself? What else would you call it when Jesus became like this?

Now, here's a picture of my incredible nephews, Angus and Argyle. And I got to, you know, go visit them this last week and be introduced to them. And man, it's not to sound mean, okay, and I apologize to all the babies that I've dedicated and everything, but first time I've ever seriously wanted to hold a baby. I mean, it just...

Amazing. And they were so young. You know, you guys know me. I like babies when you can drop them and they don't break. You know, that's my comfort level. But here's these two boys, not even a week old, and so little, so fragile, so incredible at the same time. And you know, as we're heading into the Christmas season, the whole time I was holding them, I just kept thinking to myself, Jesus emptied himself.

And he, the creator of the heavens and the earth, who's always existed in glory, became like this. And yeah, there's a lot of theology that we could discuss, but just to take a moment and consider that he, although he is God, emptied himself to this degree that he became like this. And actually a baby boy. He became, in a sense, completely helpless. Right?

And I got to experience some of that this past week. Again, you know, I don't have a lot of time with babies of this size. I've never fed a baby this little, but this week I got to experience that.

I've never had to clothe them or change their diapers. The last time I changed a diaper was probably over 25 years ago. And this week, there was an emergency because my wife was holding little Angus, the smallest one. He's like six pounds, very tiny. And there was a little bit of an explosion. And there was stuff got on her and nobody else was available. And so I avoided it up to that point. But now I had to take Angus and...

go do some cleaning up. And again, mind you, I haven't done this for very, very many years. And so my dad has a video of me holding a diaper saying, I don't know how this works. And that's maybe a little bit, you know, more than you need to know. But here's the thing. So my dad is there. He's experienced. But all he's doing is just

laughing hysterically, so much so he's doubled over in pain as I'm trying to figure out how to do the cleaning and how to, you know, reapply things and put things back together. He's taking pictures and videos and refusing to help. And I just had to kind of suffer through it. And the poor Ingus had to suffer through it, really. But again, just thinking this whole time, Jesus became like this, always existed in glory with the Father, creator of the heavens and

and the earth. He emptied himself to this degree. And you need to understand, Jesus did not pretend to be a baby. It wasn't that he was just there and just like, you know, okay, this is kind of nice, you know, it's just kind of cool, just kick back, let mom and dad do everything for a little bit. But, you know, once my body catches up, then, you know, my consciousness will kind of align with, you know, who I am. No, no, Jesus became a baby. He became a little boy. He became a

A man, but through the normal process and means. He emptied himself. Now again in verse 5, Paul says, He set the pattern for us. He emptied himself to show us the model that we are to follow. He left his position at the right hand of the Father in heaven to come to earth as a man.

And if he had held fast to his position in heaven, you and I would not have the opportunity for salvation. If he had clung to all the rights and advantages that he has as the creator of the heavens and the earth, we would not have the opportunity of salvation. It was only because he loved us so much that he left his father's side and laid aside the glory that's rightfully his and became God.

a helpless little boy entrusting himself in the hands of his heavenly father, as well as his earthly parents. Maybe think about it in your own life. What would it mean for you? It's not possible, but just if you could think with me, imagine for a little bit, what would it mean for you if you could become a baby again today? What would you be giving up? The things that you've been working for thus far in your life,

Perhaps the career, you know, the position that you've attained, the things that you've been able to accomplish, you would be letting go of those things. What else would you be letting go of? Well, of course, the goods, the resources, the finances, all that you've been able to collect and accomplish in that regard, you would be letting that go as well. Even probably relationships.

You know, you might be able to look at your spouse and say, hey, can you wait, you know, 20 years for me to grow up again? They may or may not want to wait, right? So you might be losing, you're losing, you're letting go of things if you were able to do that. In a similar way, Jesus let go.

And yes, one day he would be returned to glory with the father, but he went through this process of letting go, laying aside and emptying himself and not insisting on his rights, not insisting on the advantages that he deserved. He emptied himself and became a baby. Now, Jesus said that we must do something very similar in John chapter three. He said that you and I must be born again, not talking about the physical birth and birth

Nicodemus, who Jesus was talking to, was confused. Do I have to enter again into my mother's womb? And Jesus says, no, you don't understand. It's a spiritual birth. But there's a lot of similarities. In order for us to be born again, there does need to be an emptying of self. And you know, we're going to have to let go of some of those things that we might cling to, that we might insist on, that we might think are so important. And we're going to have to humble ourselves and place ourselves in

in the care of our Heavenly Father, just like Jesus did. Jesus emptied himself. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Well, continuing to look at verse 7, but point number 2, we see that Jesus served people. Here's another aspect where Jesus set the model for us and showed us, this is how your life is to be.

In verse 7 again, it says, Jesus took the form of a bondservant, and he came in the likeness of men. He took the form of a servant. Now, that word form, it talks about an outward expression of the inward nature of

Again, Jesus did not pretend to become a servant, just as he did not pretend to become a baby. He actually became a baby. He actually became a servant. He actually came to serve. That Jesus, he put the needs of people above his own needs.

He put the needs of people above his own desires. He put the needs of people first because he loves people. And you can see that demonstrated all throughout the ministry of Jesus. One of the classic examples is in John chapter 13, where Jesus washed his disciples' feet. He washed their feet as they were at the table. It was the customary thing for the lowest of the servants of the house to do, but nobody did it. And so Jesus said,

I'm not above humbling myself to the lowest position and meeting people's needs. And so he washed his disciples' feet. Throughout his ministry, he healed people. He taught people. Even when he was tired, even when he was exhausted, even when he was hungry, he set aside his own needs to serve people. Now, that doesn't mean that Jesus did everything that anybody wanted him to do.

But he served people in love. And here's what love is. A good, just quick definition of love or understanding of love is this. Love is doing what is best for people. It's doing, it's an action. It's not just a feeling, but it's doing what is best for people. And that's what Jesus did. He came to this earth and he put the needs of the people around him ahead of his own needs. And he did what was best for

for the people that he connected with, the people that were around him, the people that he spent time with. And they had needs. Some of them were temporary needs, like they were hungry. You remember the feeding of the 5,000 where the people had been with Jesus for a couple days and the disciples were concerned if they stay with you too long, Jesus, they haven't eaten for the last couple days. They're going to faint on the way home. They had a need. They were hungry. They

And so Jesus met that need and ministered to that need. It was a temporary need, but it was a need. And even more importantly, people have eternal needs. And that's primarily what Jesus came to do, to meet the eternal needs of people. And so as a result, as you read through the Gospels, you'll find not everybody was healed. Jesus didn't heal everybody that ever existed, you know, there in Israel. He healed many.

as it corresponded with the will of the Father and the needs that were there. But his primary focus was not just to make everybody feel better. His primary focus, he came, the reason we celebrate Christmas is the birth of Jesus, but

But the real reason we celebrate Christmas is what he came to do, and that is to ultimately die upon the cross for our sins, to receive the penalty that you and I deserve to deal with the greatest need that we have, which is the eternal need for salvation, for forgiveness for our sins, and a relationship with God.

And so Jesus was focused on the eternal needs of the people. And so sometimes towns would say, please, Jesus, stay with us. And he would say, no, I can't. I need to move on. I've ministered to you and I've met your needs. And now I need to move on and minister to other people's needs as well. And to continue moving towards the cross to meet humanity's greatest need. Ultimately, what was best for people was for Jesus to go to the cross.

And so he took the form of a bondservant. Again, not pretending to be a servant, not just kind of looking like a servant, but he actually came to give of himself and to serve the people that were in his life right then, but also all of humanity with his death upon the cross. Jesus says in Mark chapter 10, verse 45, he says, even the son of man, referring to himself, even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve himself.

And to give his life a ransom for many. And so again, Paul says in verse 5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Take on the mind of Christ. He came not to be served by people, but to serve people. Now, if anybody deserves to be served, it was Jesus, the creator, the one who's always existed in glory with the father. It would have been right if

and appropriate for him to come and for people to serve him. But Jesus says, that's not what I came to do. I came not to be served, but to serve, to give myself and to give my life as a ransom for many. And he says, that's the example I've set for you to follow. Imitate me. Put the needs of people above your own needs. Don't expect everybody to serve you.

That's not the greatness that the world might think it is. Instead, to be great in the kingdom of God, be the servant of all. That's what Jesus taught. To meet people's needs and not just their temporary needs, which are real, but especially as we look to do what is best for people because we love them. We need to seek to meet the eternal needs and to put the eternal needs of people above our temporary needs and give of ourselves in sacrifice.

to help people come into contact with God and find forgiveness and a relationship with God. Jesus served people. Moving on to point number three, and that's in verse eight. Jesus obeyed the Father. This really goes hand in hand with the serving of people, but

It's emphasized here in verse 8. It says, I think this is interesting to consider. We've already seen Jesus made himself of no reputation. He emptied himself. But there's a progression that Paul is describing here.

So after he's emptied himself and he's become a baby, he's just released that glory, the rights, the advantages that he had. Here, Paul goes on to say, now Jesus humbles himself. Now that's pretty radical to consider because already Jesus has humbled himself to a great degree. Being God and then becoming a baby, that's a great humbling, far greater than you and I could ever know or experience. But that wasn't...

The finish of his humility. That wasn't the end of it. Here, Paul goes on to say he humbles himself yet further, being found in appearance as a man. He's become a man now. He's already humbled himself to this point, but now he humbles himself to become obedient to the point of death. He humbles himself to be completely and fully obedient to the Father. How could Jesus humble himself more than

than being God and becoming a baby. Well, that is as a man becoming obedient to the father. You see, God has given something very special to humanity, the power of choice, free will, autonomy. We get to choose what we do, who we serve, how we live. We get to choose. And so although Jesus existed in glory and emptied himself to become a man, as a man,

He had this great power that God has given to every one of us as members of humanity. As Jesus added humanity to his nature, he now had the opportunity to humble himself further by submitting to the will of the Father.

And this is probably not illustrated any better anywhere than in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus is headed to the cross. It's his final time with the Father before the cross. He's praying to God. And as he does in Matthew 26, verse 39, it says that Jesus went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed, "'Oh, my Father, if it is possible, "'let this cup pass from me. "'Nevertheless, not as I will.'"

but as you will. And something amazing is happening here, that Jesus, who's always existed, who's equal to God, who's part of the triune nature of God, is experiencing conflict in his will and the will of the Father. Not that Jesus didn't want to go to the cross. He made that choice. But as a man, as a human, he, well, you know what it's like to have conflicting emotions.

Even in choices that you make, and yet you know it's going to be painful, and it's going to be hard, and there's going to be great sacrifice. And here's Jesus coming to the Father and saying, if it's possible, that is, if there's any other way of salvation, let this cup, the crucifixion, and the scourging, and all that he was about to endure, let it pass from me. But Father, I'm submitting to your will, because you know what's best. One thing is clear as you read through the scriptures.

If you and I were in charge, we would do things differently. We don't see the plan of God and think, oh yeah, that's probably what I would do. We see the plan of God and wonder, why would you do it that way? In fact, the scripture describes God's ways being high above our ways, as high as the heavens are above the earth. It's hard for us to understand the plan of God many times.

We don't understand why God does the things that he does and why he works the way that he works because we don't know what God knows. And so if we were there back in that day in the garden of Gethsemane and Jesus came to you and sought counsel from you, he says, you know, the father's called me to be crucified this weekend. It's going to be a gruesome and bloody death. It's going to be painful. And that's what God's called me to do. It's very likely you and I, if we were trying to counsel Jesus, we'd say, no way.

You don't have to do that. Listen, you're only 33, man. You're in the prime of your life. Think how much good you could still do. Think of how many more people you could feed, not just the 5,000, but you could feed everybody. You could take care of all their needs. You could clothe everybody. How many miracles could you do? You could heal everybody. You could make amazing things happen in this world. We would easily counsel Jesus to not be crucified.

Because think of all the good you could do and how many people you could feed and how much glory you could give me. Don't get crucified, Jesus. We have a hard time understanding the plan of God, but God had eternity in mind. He was looking to the greatest need that we have, and he was interested in meeting that need. And that's why Jesus went to the cross to meet that need. He obeyed the Father.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. You and I, our lives are not really that much different. We have the same kind of experience. Things that God has set before us that we know about, that we know what he has said, and yet we're conflicted whether or not to follow. There's things in our life we don't understand the plan of God and why he's working the way he's working and what he's doing. And we need to learn to have the mind of Christ.

And to trust the Father, to obey the Father, to obey God, even when we don't understand it, even when it's not pleasant, even when it doesn't make sense to us, to entrust ourselves to our Heavenly Father just like Jesus did. He set the model for us and gave us the example. Well, finishing up with point number four in verses nine through 11, here we see that Jesus is exalted. In verse nine, it says, therefore...

God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Verse 9 begins with the word, therefore. Because Jesus has emptied himself, because he came to serve people, because he obeyed the Father, therefore God has exalted him and given him the name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. Without exception, every knee will bow to Jesus. All of humanity who has ever existed will bow to Jesus and confess that he is Lord and

All of creation bows to Jesus and will confess that he is Lord, that he is the one who has always existed with the Father in glory. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess he has been given the name above every name. And it's only by receiving that name, by bowing before Jesus now, by confessing that he is Lord now, that we have the opportunity for salvation. We'll all bow one way or the other.

If we wait until we enter into eternity to bow, then it's going to be too late. But we will bow in acknowledgement that Jesus Christ is Lord. We will confess he is Lord, but it will be a confession of the righteousness of his judgment upon us because we refused to bow in our life. We refused to confess that he is Lord in our life. But as we bow now, as we confess now that Jesus Christ is Lord,

Then we have the opportunity to receive everything that he came to accomplish. The forgiveness, the reconciliation with the Father, the promise and the hope of eternity. It's found in bowing to Jesus. You see, we've been called to be like Jesus and empty ourselves and serve people and obey the Father. But we can only really do those things when we bow to Jesus and confess that he is Lord.

If we try to do these things, I mean, everybody can try to be a good person and you can try to empty yourself and be real humble and you can try to serve people and do your best to obey God, but you're never going to measure up to what it really takes to enter into eternity with God by your own efforts and by trying to do those things. The only way to actually empty yourself and serve people and obey the Father is to let Jesus be exalted in your life.

to bow before him now and confess that he is Lord. And so again, in John chapter three, verse three, Jesus says, most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Unless you're born again, unless you follow the example of Jesus and empty yourself out,

and trust in him and call upon him and ask him to be Lord of your life and submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You cannot enter the kingdom of God. You must be born again. And when you believe in Jesus, there's a spiritual birth that takes place. And that's what we celebrate this morning. The coming of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, but not just the birth of a man who lived a good life and did good things and died in a good way.

We celebrate the birth of the man who is God, but became man to receive the penalty for our sins and give us the opportunity of life. He is exalted above every name. And Jesus says there is only one way to the father and it's through him. He emptied himself. He served people. He obeyed the father. And so he is exalted. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And so this morning,

as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, I would encourage you to be like baby Jesus. Come to Jesus in a way where you empty yourself like he emptied himself, where you let go of things that you're clinging to and you bow before him and proclaim him to be Lord. Let him be the boss, the master of your life.

And follow his example then and serve people. Obeying the Father, even when it doesn't make sense, even when it may not be the most pleasant. But trusting God enough to know that he loves you and wants what's best for you. And so putting into practice the things that he says, recognizing that Jesus is exalted. And here's the final thing. Here's what Jesus said in Luke chapter 14, verse 11. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and

and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. If you exalt yourself instead of emptying yourself, Jesus says you're going to be humbled. You're going to stand before God, and you're going to be humbled. You will bow, and you will confess, but it will be a humbling of you in judgment that you will be humbled if you insist on your own ways, your own life, your own ideas instead of emptying yourself and serving people and obeying the Father.

But the other side of that is whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Just like Jesus humbled himself, he emptied himself, and then he humbled himself further to obey the Father. Just as Jesus humbled himself, he says, if you will follow my example and humble yourself, you will be exalted. And as we follow Jesus, as we seek Jesus and love Jesus and live for Jesus, letting him be our Lord and bowing before him,

Jesus says, I will exalt you. You're going to have exaltation. You're going to have glory in eternity if you will humble yourself before me now. And so we celebrate the birth of Jesus. And it's also a call for us to follow the example and humble ourselves and receive who he is and what he came to do. Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, we thank you again that you are alive, that you're on the throne, that you are exalted above every name, that we can entrust our lives to you. And so Jesus, this morning we celebrate who you are and that you being God became man to die upon the cross for us. You gave of yourself for our sake. And God, I pray that you would help us to respond to that in the way that you've called us to, to bow our knees before you now.

and to confess right now that you are Lord. Lord, help us to follow your example and to entrust ourselves to you completely. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. This morning as we close, there's going to be some of us up here in the front.

If you need prayer this morning, if you would like help getting right with God, or maybe, you know, you have some questions about the things I've been sharing this morning, we'll be up here and available. We'd love to share with you and encourage you. So come on up. If not, God bless you. Have a Merry Christmas. Have a wonderful week and a Happy New Year. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.