Philippians 2:5-8

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Context

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Context
The Philippians are experiencing external opposition and need to
remain steadfast. This standing firm requires unity which is
ultimately made possible through humility. It appears however that
the opposition is causing a “self preservation” mode in which
opinions and needs are becoming opportunities for selfishness.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Context
The Philippians are experiencing external opposition and need to
remain steadfast. This standing firm requires unity which is
ultimately made possible through humility. It appears however that
the opposition is causing a “self preservation” mode in which
opinions and needs are becoming opportunities for selfishness.

Stand Firm

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Context
The Philippians are experiencing external opposition and need to
remain steadfast. This standing firm requires unity which is
ultimately made possible through humility. It appears however that
the opposition is causing a “self preservation” mode in which
opinions and needs are becoming opportunities for selfishness.

Unity Stand Firm

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Context
The Philippians are experiencing external opposition and need to
remain steadfast. This standing firm requires unity which is
ultimately made possible through humility. It appears however that
the opposition is causing a “self preservation” mode in which
opinions and needs are becoming opportunities for selfishness.

Humility Unity Stand Firm

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Context
The Philippians are experiencing external opposition and need to
remain steadfast. This standing firm requires unity which is
ultimately made possible through humility. It appears however that
the opposition is causing a “self preservation” mode in which
opinions and needs are becoming opportunities for selfishness.

Humility Unity Stand Firm

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Context
The Philippians are experiencing external opposition and need to
remain steadfast. This standing firm requires unity which is
ultimately made possible through humility. It appears however that
the opposition is causing a “self preservation” mode in which
opinions and needs are becoming opportunities for selfishness.

Humility Unity Stand Firm

Paul’s objective is not to give instruction in doctrine but to reinforce

instruction in Christian living by referring to the Jesus story.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 A majority of scholars understand Phil 2:6-11 to be a worship hymn
of the early church.

Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia-Pontus, wrote to the

Emperor Trajan (a.d. 112–13), that Christians were in the habit of
singing hymns “to Christ as to a god”.
Word Biblical Commentary

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Jesus vs Adam

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Jesus vs Adam

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Jesus vs Adam

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Jesus vs Adam

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Jesus vs Adam

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Jesus vs Adam

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 “form of God”
“Possession of the form implies participation in the essence”
FF Bruce

The Preexistence of Jesus

1 Corinthians 8:6
yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things
came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom all things came and through whom we live.

Colossians 1:15-17
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or
authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before
all things, and in him all things hold together.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 “something to be grasped”
The point is rather that he did not treat his equality with God as an
excuse for self-assertion or self-benefit. Instead, he treated it as an
occasion for renouncing every advantage or privilege that might
have accrued to him as God and chooses self-impoverishment and
unreserved self-sacrifice.

The Temptation of Jesus

The stones to bread and jumping from the temple were both
suggesting that Jesus use his divine abilities for self-serving
purposes.

Paul has just finished telling the Philippians . . .

“do not look out for your own interests”

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 “emptied himself”
Jesus did not empty himself of his deity but emptied himself of the
rights he had as deity.

John 13:3-5
Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and
that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up
from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel
around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began
to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was
wrapped around him.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 “taking the form of a servant”
“Christ did not “cease to be in the form of God” when he took the
form of a slave any more than he ceased to be the “Son of God”
when he was sent into the world. On the contrary, it is in his self-
emptying and his humiliation that he reveals what God is like.”

Morna Hooker

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 “death on the cross”
Jewish Attitude
By the Jewish law anyone who was crucified died under the curse
of God (Gal. 3:13,quoting Deut. 21:23).

Roman Attitude
In polite Roman society the word "cross" was an obscenity, not to
be uttered in conversation. Even when a man was being sentenced
to death by crucifixion, an archaic formula was used that avoided
the pronouncing of this four-letter (crux).

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 “death on the cross”
By enduring the cross Jesus turned that shameful instrument of
torture into the object of his followers' proudest boast.

Galatians 6:14
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 “death on the cross”
The humiliation of Jesus was crowned by his undergoing death on a
cross. By the standards of the first century, no experience could be
more loathsomely degrading than that. It is difficult for us, after so
many Christian centuries during which the cross has been
venerated as a sacred symbol, to realize the unspeakable horror
and disgust that the mention or indeed the very thought of the cross
provoked.
FF Bruce

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 I think “death on the chair” comes close to a modern day equivalent
of “death on the cross”, although it is a much quicker death.

The point of the comparison is that anyone in our modern history

who died by the chair was condemned as a vial criminal worthy of
death.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 “Pieta” wax sculpture
Paul Fryer

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 “Pieta” wax sculpture
Paul Fryer

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 If we were the century God chose to
send Jesus into and if Jesus would have
been crucified on the chair we would
make little electric chair charms.

Although this may seem bizarre, that is

what happened to the symbol of the
cross . . . it lost its vile status through
years of being venerated.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 The Humility Spiral of Jesus

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 The Humility Spiral of Jesus

human

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 The Humility Spiral of Jesus

human

servant

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 The Humility Spiral of Jesus

human

servant

obedient to death

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 The Humility Spiral of Jesus

human

servant

obedient to death
cross

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Sow What?

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Sow What?
We live in a culture fixated on personal rights (consider the
abundance of lawsuits). Living within our “rights” cannot
be the ultimate standard for determining acceptable
behavior. Certain actions may be within our rights but it is
not what is best for others or the kingdom of God.
Because we are in Christ we can exercise humility and lay
down our rights just as he did.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Sow What?
We live in a culture fixated on personal rights (consider the
abundance of lawsuits). Living within our “rights” cannot
be the ultimate standard for determining acceptable
behavior. Certain actions may be within our rights but it is
not what is best for others or the kingdom of God.
Because we are in Christ we can exercise humility and lay
down our rights just as he did.
1. If we are experiencing relational conflict let’s prayerfully
assess if we are contributing to the situation by clinging
to our rights.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Sow What?
We live in a culture fixated on personal rights (consider the
abundance of lawsuits). Living within our “rights” cannot
be the ultimate standard for determining acceptable
behavior. Certain actions may be within our rights but it is
not what is best for others or the kingdom of God.
Because we are in Christ we can exercise humility and lay
down our rights just as he did.
1. If we are experiencing relational conflict let’s prayerfully
assess if we are contributing to the situation by clinging
to our rights.
2. Ask God to help you cultivate humility and live with
others in a way that is governed by what is best for
them not your personal rights.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Sow What?
We live in a culture fixated on personal rights (consider the
abundance of lawsuits). Living within our “rights” cannot
be the ultimate standard for determining acceptable
behavior. Certain actions may be within our rights but it is
not what is best for others or the kingdom of God.
Because we are in Christ we can exercise humility and lay
down our rights just as he did.
1. If we are experiencing relational conflict let’s prayerfully
assess if we are contributing to the situation by clinging
to our rights.
2. Ask God to help you cultivate humility and live with
others in a way that is governed by what is best for
them not your personal rights.
3. Are there steps you can take to go down the “humility
spiral” in those situations?

Saturday, April 10, 2010

 Sow What?
We live in a culture fixated on personal rights (consider the
abundance of lawsuits). Living within our “rights” cannot
be the ultimate standard for determining acceptable
behavior. Certain actions may be within our rights but it is
not what is best for others or the kingdom of God.
Because we are in Christ we can exercise humility and lay
down our rights just as he did.
1. If we are experiencing relational conflict let’s prayerfully
assess if we are contributing to the situation by clinging
to our rights.
2. Ask God to help you cultivate humility and live with
others in a way that is governed by what is best for
them not your personal rights.
3. Are there steps you can take to go down the “humility
spiral” in those situations?

Saturday, April 10, 2010