Philippians 2:5-11 - Homiletics

The example of type Lord Jesus.

I. THE IMITATION OF the Lord JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONE RULE OF CHRISTIAN PRACTICE .

1 . In the outward life. He pleased not himself; he sought not the high places of the world; he did not choose a life of ease, comfort, pleasure. He lived for others; he went abrupt doing good; He cared for the temporal needs of the sick and poor. He cared for the souls of all.

2 . In the inner life of thought and feeling. The Christian must mind the things which the Lord Jesus minded; his thoughts, wishes, motives should be the thoughts, wishes, motives which filled the sacred heart of Jesus Christ our Lord. Holy Scripture bids us purify ourselves even as he is pure. The standard is very high, above us, out of our reach. But it is the end to which the high calling of the Christian points; it should be the object of all the longings of our hearts, to know Christ, to love Christ, to be made like unto Christ—like him in the outward life of obedience, like him in the inner live of holy thought.

II. THE EXAMPLE DRAWN OUT IN ITS DETAILS . Christ looked not upon his own things—his Divine glory, his equality with God the Father. He looked ripen the things of others—our helplessness, our danger, our need of a Savior.

1 . What he was. He was God; the Word was God in the beginning, "God only begotten" (the reading of the most ancient manuscripts in John 1:18 ), begotten of his Father before the world was. When God only was, and there was none but God; before the ages were, the Word was God. "Before Abraham was, I am," the Savior said, in John 8:58 , where he vindicates his right to the incommunicable Name, Jehovah. He was God, then, by nature, by inalienable right, one with the Father, being "the Brightness of his glory, and the express Image of his person; "possessed of all the fullness of the Godhead; all the splendor the glory, the omnipotence, all the essential attributes, of Deity. Thus he was in the form of God, on an equality with God. But he did not count this inconceivable glory a thing to be grasped, to be clung to. He looked on the things of others, blessed be his holy Name!

2 . What he became. He emptied himself of that effulgence which flesh could not behold and live. He took the form of a servant, the likeness of humanity. In outward fashion he became as one of us, though he ceased not to be God. this whole humiliation, from the Incarnation to the cross, was his own voluntary act: "I lay down my life of myself." That stupendous act of self-sacrifice wholly transcends the reach of human thought. The difference between the greatest king and the meanest slave is absolutely nothing compared with the abyss that separates humanity from Deity. That abyss beyond measure is the measure of the love of Christ which passeth knowledge.

3 . Still he looked not on he his own things ; he chose the lowest place upon earth. He despised not the carpenter's shop at Nazareth; he shed a new dignity on honest labor by his own example; he gave a new glory to humility which had no glory hitherto; he was content to obey: "Not my will, but thine, be done." He humbled himself and became obedient. His obedience extended through every detail of his most holy life; he sought not his own glory; it culminated in his death: it could reach no further; he became obedient unto death. And that death was the death of the cross—the cruel, lingering, shameful death reserved for slaves and the worst of criminals. Life has many strange contrasts—wealth and abject poverty, joy and utter misery. There never was contrast like this—omnipotence and seeming helplessness, the glory-throne on high and the awful cross, He loved us so very dearly. That astonishing love is set before us as our example.

III. HIS EXALTATION CONSEQUENT UPON HIS HUMILIATION .

1 . Christ humbled himself , wherefore God highly exalted him. Wherefore ; it is a great word, it expresses a law of God's kingdom. Exaltation follows on self-abasement, glory on humility. It was so with Christ our Lord. God exalted him, the incarnate Son, Jesus, perfect God, but also (blessed be his holy Name!) perfect Man, high above all heavens. He became obedient unto death; wherefore God gave unto him the name which is above every name. Unto Jesus, God and Man, all power is given in heaven and in earth, all the unutterable glory, all the majesty of the Godhead.

2 . Therefore all prevailing prayer is made in his Name. "If ye shall ask anything in my Name, I will do it." All prayer is offered through his mediation. We plead before the throne of grace his perfect obedience, his precious death, his atoning blood, the blood that cleanseth from all sin. "Through Jesus Christ our Lord" is the prevailing close of every Christian prayer.

3 . He himself is the object of Christian worship. All creation in heaven and earth and under the earth bows the knee to him in adoration. All tongues must confess with thanksgiving that he is Lord. Worship of offered to him redounds to the glory of God the Father, for it is God who exalted him.

IV. THE DISCIPLE IS AS HIS MASTER , THE SERVANT AS HIS LORD . The life of Christ, in a sense, repeats itself in each one of his elect. They share his humiliation, his cross; they shall share his glory, his throne ( Revelation 2:21 ).

1 . I am crucified with Christ. We must imitate him in his humiliation, emptying ourselves of pride and self-indulgence. We must deny ourselves, mortifying the old man, crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts, dying through the power of the most holy cross to the world and to the flesh.

2 . So shall we rise with him— now, unto newness of life; hereafter, to behold him in his glory, to sit with him in his throne. "He that shall humble himself shall be exalted." Self-abasement must come first, then the glory; first the cross, then the crown.

LESSONS .

1 . Learn never to let a day pass without meditation on the great Example. Contemplate with wondering thankfulness the great mystery of the Incarnation. Strive with all the energy of your spirit to fix your thoughts in awe, in penitence, in adoring love, upon the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Intense meditation on that tremendous sacrifice is the greatest help towards a holy life.

2 . Pray for grace to imitate him in his humility, in his unselfish love.