New Life Bible Fellowship Church
12-1-24

      • Ephesians 6:5–8ESV

      • Bible Trivia
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      • Psalm 34:1–3ESV

  • Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
  • Joy Has Dawned

      • Psalm 115NKJV

  • Doxology

  • Introduction:

    Each year as we approach Christmas, every preacher has the privilege of taking the same story and making it new and fresh. We call it a privilege because the same story is a glorious life changing message that we should never tire of hearing.
    This year’s advent series we’ve called, Call His Name Jesus, which we have taken from the passage in Matthew 1:21
    Matthew 1:21 ESV
    21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
    As you may know, In the Greek text, the word for name (nomos) is a word that denotes much more then just a name that sounds good, like Johnny, or Eliana, it actually has to do with the very characteristics of the one to whom it’s given.
    Therefore, my purpose during this advent season is to look at all that the name of Jesus (the Lord is salvation) encompasses, so that as we celebrate this baby, who on the surface looks much like any other baby, we would be transformed and see beyond all that meets the eye, and know and see:
    his nature, as the God/Man
    his function, in the overall covenant of atonement
    his office, as prophet, priest, and king
    his position, as head of his body, the church, and
    his presentation, how he was presented to the world on that first Christmas night.
    So we begin this morning with a look at the Nature of Jesus. We will see the reality of God becoming flesh and what that actually means from Philippians 2:5-11. For though Paul’s primary purpose in this passage is that we have the same mind as exemplified in Jesus, he uses this nature of Jesus to help us understand the magnitude of that example, as we read together what has been referred to as the hymn of Christ.

    Text: Philippians 2:1-11

    Philippians 2:1–11 ESV
    1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 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, by 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.

    Main Idea: Because his name is Jesus, we must understand that he has both the nature of God and the nature of man.

    Background:

    The nature of Jesus was one of the most important doctrines to be understood by the early church. For if you get the nature of Jesus wrong, the whole of Christianity comes unraveled. This is why, once the cannon of scripture was recognized, it was used to understand who Jesus is according to the cannon of scripture. Thus many of the early councils developed creeds (Chalcedonian creed, the Nicene creed), that centered around the nature, or natures of Jesus Christ. One of the primary scriptures used was this hymn of Christ from Philippians 2. So why did Paul write to this church in Macedonia?
    Philippians overflows with joy and thanksgiving.
    Paul wrote to the church in Philippi to thank them for a gift.
    He reported the joyful news that Epaphroditus, who had brought their gift to Paul, had recovered from his illness and was returning to Philippi.
    Paul said that he had learned the secret of being content in any situation, and he told them about his situation in prison, from where he wrote this letter while in Rome about A.D. 60.
    He expressed joy that more people were hearing about Christ even if some were proclaiming the gospel with bad motives.
    Wanting the Christians in Philippi to be unified, he challenged them to be servants just as Jesus was when he “emptied himself” and became a man rather than clinging to the rights of his divine nature (2:1–11). As a result, he begins this chapter with a fourfold appeal in verse 1:
    Encouragement in Christ
    Comfort from love
    Participation in the Spirit
    Affection and Sympathy
    In essence he is saying…because you are all unified in Christ, than unity with one another should flow!
    So with this as the context, the bulk of our message will come from verses 5-8. We begin with the past…eternity past…

    I. The Nature of God (5-6)

    A. Divine Mind (5)

    (5) Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
    This verse connects the exhortations (vv. 1–4) to the hymn about Christ (vv. 6–11). Addressing the pride that lies at the root of the Philippians’ discord (1:27–2:4), Paul points to Christ as the supreme example of humility. But Christ is not only an example (Rom. 15:1–3; 2 Cor. 10:1); He is first of all Lord and Savior (v. 11; 3:20).
    The believer’s mind needs to reflect on the proper model; the Philippian church would be of one mind (v. 2), united by love (v. 2) and humility (v. 3), and looking out for the interests of others (v. 4), which is yours in Christ Jesus with the supreme model being Christ’s two natures.

    B. Divine Essence (6)

    (6) who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
    in the form (morphe [noun] - fully and truly the essence) of God. The word “form” refers to the underlying reality and not to appearance only. Jesus’ being in “the form of God” means that He is divine, and to the “preexistence” of Christ—he, the eternal Son, was there with the Father (John 1:1; 17:5, 24) before he was born in Bethlehem.
    did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. This figure of speech means that something desirable was already possessed, but that Christ did not exploit it for personal gain. Unlike Adam in the garden, Jesus was not trying to become God (as Satan tempted Eve), nor did He capitalize on the privileges that were always His out of self-interest. He does not exercise His deity at the expense of His people; rather, He exercises His divine prerogatives for the benefit of His church.
    Therefore having the form of God is roughly equivalent to having equality with God (Gk. isa theō), and it is directly contrasted with having the “form of a servant” (Phil. 2:7). The Son of God is and always has been God.
    Form is also a reference to Christ being the ultimate image of God, “the exact imprint of his nature” (Heb. 1:3)
    Hebrews 1:3 ESV
    3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
    It also refers to the fact that he is the visible expression of God’s invisible glory (Col. 1:15)
    Colossians 1:15 ESV
    15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
    Remarkably, Christ did not imagine that having “equality with God” (which he already possessed) should lead him to hold onto his privileges at all costs. It was not something to be grasped, to be kept and exploited for his own benefit or advantage.
    For, since he already had the form or essence of God, he would never lose it, any more than any human being could lose their essence of humanness, but Instead, he had a mind-set of service. “Christ did not please himself” (Rom. 15:3). In humility, he counted the interests of others as more significant than his own (Phil. 2:3–4). He did so by taking on…

    II. The Nature of Man (7-8)

    A. Human Nature Added (7)

    (7) but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
    emptied (kenoo [aor, act, ind] - to divest oneself of position) himself., which must be understood as Christ did not removed from Himself either His deity or His identity as God. Instead, the Son of God added to His person a human nature without surrendering any of His divine attributes. The phrase means that He humbled Himself (v. 8), not relinquishing His divine being but embracing dishonor by becoming human. The nature of His “self-emptying” is defined by the three phrases that follow:
    taking the form of a servant
    being born in the likeness of men
    being found in human form (8)
    a servant (doulos [noun] - bond-slave). That is, a slave. This language vividly expresses Christ’s willingness to deprive Himself of the enjoyment of the glory befitting His divine status and identity. Though He continued to possess this glory, even revealing this glory to His disciples from time to time (e.g., Matt. 17:1–8), He veiled it in human flesh during His earthly ministry in order to save His people from their sin.
    the likeness of men. Christ is truly human. “Likeness” means more than similarity. In order to die (v. 8), He had to be completely human. At the same time, Paul makes one important distinction between Christ and other human beings. Unlike them, He has no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21 “21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”)
    And regarding His divine nature, He remains transcendent over created reality; He cannot and did not cease to be a divine person with a divine nature even in His humiliation.
    Theologians have called this miracle of God taking on flesh as the hypostatic (Greek word: hypostasis [noun] - the stuff or substance of which a thing consisted) union, - put together means the welding together of two substances, as in the case of Jesus, the welding together of both God and Man, as understood from this passage in Philippians, by the scholars who wrote the creed of Chalcedon that Jesus is:
    “…recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the fathers has handed down to us.”
    When we look at this miracle of God adding to his essence of God-ness, the essence of humanness, we must understand the necessity of this miracle was that ultimately, in fulfillment of the eternal covenant of redemption to bring about:

    B. Human Death Obeyed (8)

    (8) And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
    human form. (As we learned that this was part of his emptying himself in verse 7) Christ’s appearance as a man was not an illusion. He revealed Himself through a complete and genuine human nature united with His divine nature in one divine person. He possesses all the essential attributes of humanity, though unlike us, He has never sinned.
    he humbled himself. The language here is parallel to the phrase “emptied himself” in v. 7. Each act occurs by the free exercise of Christ’s own will.
    obedient to the point of death. Submission to the Father’s will is more significant for the One who is equal with the Father (v. 6) than for anyone else. Paul’s words embrace Christ’s whole lifetime of obedience, while emphasizing that the supreme expression of obedience was His death, Heb. 10:5–9:
    Hebrews 10:5–9 ESV
    5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ” 8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second.
    even death on a cross. This shows the ultimate purpose of adding the nature of humanity…Christ’s willingness to suffer the most shameful of deaths, Rom. 3:21–26:
    Romans 3:21–26 ESV
    21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

    So What?

    Do we understand that as we look into the face of that tiny small baby this Christmas, that God the Son, emptied himself by adding another nature, the nature of man?
    Do we understand, that if God the Son could in obedience to his father and as the fulfillment of the covenant of redemption empty himself in this selfless way, we who are Christ-ones, must, as a result, have this same mind toward one another?

      • Matthew 1:21ESV

      • Philippians 2:1–11ESV

      • Philippians 2:5ESV

      • Philippians 2:6ESV

      • Hebrews 1:3ESV

      • Colossians 1:15ESV

      • Philippians 2:7ESV

      • Philippians 2:8ESV

      • Hebrews 10:5–9ESV

      • Hebrews 10:5–9ESV

      • Hebrews 10:5–9ESV

      • Hebrews 10:5–9ESV

      • Hebrews 10:5–9ESV

      • Romans 3:21–26ESV

  • Emmanuel
New Life Bible Fellowship Church
dick.bickings@gmail.com
(302) 945-8145
https://newlifebfcde.org
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