Why God Became Man
To Humble Himself To The Point Of Death
Philippians 2:5-11
There are lots of important events that have taken place in world history. But for the next four Sundays I am going to preach on one event that is by far the most important – the birth of Jesus Christ which took place in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago.
One reason Jesus’ birth is so important is that when Jesus was born – God became man. The theological term for that is the incarnation – from Latin where “in” means in and “carne” means “flesh.” In the birth of Jesus, God took on flesh and became a man.
So for the next four weeks we are going to look at different passages from the New Testament which explain why God became man – so our understanding of Jesus Christ will deepen, and our worship of Jesus Christ will grow.
So let’s turn to Philippians 2:5-11. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we will bring one to you. Philippians 2 is on page 980 in the Bibles we are passing out. The book of Philippians was written by Paul to the church in Philippi. He had visited there at around the year 60 AD, planted a church, and now is writing a letter to them.
In vv.1-4 of ch.2 Paul calls them to grow in loving each other, serving each other, and helping each other. And to motivate them he describes what Jesus did for us, and how God rewarded him. Look at what he says in vv.5-11 --
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
This passage has four parts. There’s who Jesus was before he was born, in v.6. Then what Jesus did in being born, in v.7. Then why Jesus did that, in v.8. And what God did in response, in vv.9-11.
So let’s start with who was Jesus before he was born? Notice that Paul describes Jesus’ birth in v.7. So v.6 describes Jesus before he was born. So Jesus existed before he was born. This is not true of any of other human being. But Jesus existed before he was born. So what kind of being was he before he was born?
Read v.6 again –
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Now right at this point some of you might have some intellectual struggles. Because you might wonder how anyone living today can believe in God. That’s a fair question. We love questions here at Mercy Hill.
I can’t go into a detailed discussion of that now. But here’s something that might help you. Everyone has to agree that it’s shocking that we are here. Somehow a universe came into existence, and a beautiful world, and people with amazing bodies who think and plan and love and laugh.
How did that happen? The answer is outside our usual categories. But it’s all either by chance – which means random interactions of matter over billions of years; or it’s all by purpose – which means a very powerful and wise purposer – God. Everything is either here by chance, or by God.
I find it very hard to believe that all of this came about by random interactions of matter, because when has randomness ever produced anything like taste buds, and eyesight, and photosynthesis, and kidneys?
I find it much easier to believe that all this was created by an infinitely powerful, flawlessly wise, and perfectly loving personal God.
That does not prove there’s a God. But I hope it might help you see that believing in God is not so far-fetched. So consider what Paul says here about God, and about Jesus.
Read v.6 again --
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
So before Jesus was born on earth he was in the form of God. So what is the shape, or the form, of God’s existence? The Bible is clear that God has always been, that God has infinite power, that God created everything, and so forth.
So before Jesus was born, he existed in the shape, in the form, of God’s existence, which means he had always been, had infinite power, created everything, and so forth.
Now you might think – it sounds like Paul is saying that Jesus is God. And you would be right, as you can see in the next phrase in v.6 -- that Jesus “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.” That shows that Jesus had equality with God.
Think about that word equal. The number 9 does not have equality with the number 10. Only the number 10 has equality with 10. And Jesus has equality with God. There’s mystery here. But the Bible teaches that God is three equal persons, God the Father, Jesus -- God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So Jesus is fully God.
There is a real being in existence, whose name is Jesus. And he is fully God. Think of what that means –
- The Bible teaches that God has always been from eternity past – with no beginning. So Jesus had always been from eternity past – with no beginning.
- The Bible teaches that God has authority over everything that exists. So Jesus had authority over everything.
- The Bible teaches that God had the power to create everything. So Jesus had the power to create everything.
- The Bible teaches that God is perfectly wise and knows everything. So Jesus is perfectly wise and knows everything.
- The Bible teaches that God has always been full of joy in the fellowship of the Trinity. So Jesus has always been full of joy in the fellowship of the Trinity.
From eternity past Jesus Christ was God. Fully God. And what did Jesus do? Read v.7 --
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Jesus emptied himself. Notice that this was something Jesus did voluntarily. He emptied himself. He took who he was, and poured it out for our sakes. Paul explains what that means in the next two phrases.
He says it meant “taking the form of a servant.” Which means that Jesus Christ, fully God, chose to become a servant. In that culture a servant was someone who had no rights or privileges. And God the Father asked him to serve us by doing what had to be done so we could be saved and forgiven and restored to God.
So Jesus Christ, who as God had every right and privilege, made himself a servant with no rights or privileges. That’s what it means that Jesus took the form of a servant.
And how did Jesus do this? Next phrase -- by “being born in the likeness of men.” That means he actually became a man. He never stopped being fully God. But he also became fully man. And to really be fully man, he had to lay aside all the rights, powers, and privileges he had as God.
Imagine if you became an ant. An ant. Six legs. Antennae. Thinking like an ant. Feeling like an ant. Being an ant. That would be an unbelievable lowering of your existence.
But for Jesus to become a man was an infinitely greater lowering than if we had become ants. Think of it.
Jesus – who had always been full of joy in perfect fellowship with God the Father – laid that aside – and came to earth to be born as a man.
Jesus – who had power to create a universe – laid that aside and took on the weakness of a human body. We read that he got tired. He became hungry. He slept.
Jesus – whose sovereignty had authority over everything – laid all that authority aside, choose not to use that authority – so he could be fully man like you and me.
Jesus – who had perfect knowledge of everything – laid that aside and limited himself to the knowledge any believer would have by learning and reading God’s Word with the help of the Holy Spirit.
So Jesus, who was fully God, became fully man. But why? Why did Jesus become a man? Paul tells us in v.8 –
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Not only did Jesus lower himself by becoming a man. As a man he humbled himself even further -- to the point of death, even death on the Cross.
The Cross was no accident. It was his plan. He took on a human body precisely so he could die. As God, he could not die. So if he was going to die, he needed a human body. And that’s one reason he became a man – so he could die.
But why did he need to die? It’s because we have all sinned. God created us so we could have the joy of knowing him, trusting him, worshiping him. But all of us have rebelled against him, turned our backs on him, sinned against him. And because God is just, he had to punish our sin.
But God loves us – cares about us – has compassion on us. And so he made a way for us to be completely forgiven, and for him to justly punish our sins. How? By punishing his own Son with the punishment we deserve. On the Cross Jesus was punished in our place for our sins. And that’s why Jesus took on a human body, so he could be punished in our place.
Imagine that you created a colony of ants – and the ants all rebelled against you and deserved to be killed and crushed. Can you imagine being willing to become an ant, and to have the ants kill you, so they could be forgiven? That’s what Jesus did for us.
Read v.8 again --
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Even death on a cross. As most of you know, the cross was the worst form of execution – reserved only for the worst criminals, and no Roman citizen could be crucified.
So think of Jesus, who had existed from eternity past with no beginning. Who had infinite power, complete sovereignty, flawless wisdom, perfect joy in fellowship with the Father. But he did not cling to that equality with God.
He became a man -- born as a baby, grew in wisdom and knowledge, chose his disciples, fed the 5,000. He healed the blind, preached to the crowds, raised Lazarus from the dead, forgave the paralytic for his sins and then healed him.
And he allowed himself to be beaten by the Roman guards, to have a crown of thorns smashed into his scalp, to undergo the scourging of 39 lashes which ripped his back to the bone, to have his hands and feet nailed to the cross, to hang for hours in absolute agony – to pay for our sins.
Some people think God is aloof. Distant. Uncaring. But 2,000 years ago God was on the Cross. God was feeling unimaginable pain. God was screaming in agony. Because he loves us. Because he wanted to save us. Because he wanted to forgive us.
And anyone who will turn to Jesus Christ, and receive Jesus as Savior, Lord, and all-satisfying Treasure – will be completely forgiven and restored to God forever.
Jesus, who was fully God, became a man so he could die as punishment for our sins. He died. He was buried. But that’s not the end of the story.
What did God the Father do? Read vv.9-11 –
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
First, God the Father highly exalted him. He raised Jesus from the dead, and after Jesus taught his disciples and appeared to hundreds of people Jesus left this earth and ascended to heaven.
Then God bestowed on him the name that is above every name. What name is that? We can see in v.11 – every tongue is confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord. So the name is Lord.
See, Jesus had not been revealed clearly in the Old Testament. But with the resurrection, for the first time, God the Father reveals Jesus Christ as Lord. He reveals Jesus Christ as Lord, which means, as we read in vv.10 and 11 – that he is the one to whom every human being should bow their knee and about whom every tongue should confess that he is Lord.
From eternity past Jesus Christ was fully God.
He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped – but willingly laid aside his divine powers and privileges and became a man.
He did this so he could die in our place for our sins so we could be forgiven.
And as a result God raised him from the dead, and declared him the one to whom your knee should bow – the one about whom your tongue should confess that he is Lord.
Jesus Christ is Lord. That is the objective, unchanging reality of the universe. Jesus Christ is Lord.
So – bow your knee before Jesus Christ the Lord.
And -- confess to others Jesus Christ the Lord.