The attributes of God are the attributes of Jesus:
All powerful (Matt 28:18)
All knowing : “… Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”(John 21:17)
Everywhere “Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.” (John 1:48)
Eternal: “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58)
Unchanging: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)
Judge of all men “Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31)
Creator (John chp 1)
Here is one aspect of the NT affirmation of the Deity of Jesus Christ.
We considered a little in general regarding this section
That the mind of Christ as revealed here to the Philippians ought also to be our mind; the mind of:
Service
Humility
This is the mind that moves us forward into the ‘doing’ of the will of God.
This is the mindset which empowers us to overcome the inertia of selfishness / self centredness of the:
Critical spirit
Contentious spirit
This moves me between ‘to will’ and ‘to do’
This is the mind of Christ, which despite the enormous cost of the cross said: “Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22:42)
Free to do the will of God and not trapped in the wilderness nor in the belly of the whale.
“but made Himself of no reputation” (2:7) – “emptied Himself”
Born into poverty: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” (2 Co 8:9)
Born to an unmarried mother
Born in a manger
Fled as a refugee to Egypt
Listened to the teachers of the law rather than teaching the teachers of the law!
Knew hunger: 40 days in the wilderness
Knew hardship
Knew thirst: “I thirst”
Knew homelessness: “And every man went unto his own house… Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.” (John 7:53 - 8:1)
Knew hatred and persecution: “hated without a cause”
Tortured
Suffered
Died on the cross
Christ moved from:
Immeasurable riches to abject poverty
The throne to the manger
Worship and adoration to mockery and rejection
Possessing all things to: ‘show me a penny’
Love of the Father to the hatred of men
Perfection of heaven to the corruption of earth
Sinless angels to sinful men
Emptied Himself of the insignia of Glory
The pattern of John chapter 13
Philippians 2
John 13
Who being in the form of God
He was come from God and went to God
He emptied Himself
Laid aside His garments
Took the form of a servant
Took a towel and girded Himself
He humbled Himself
Began to wash the disciples feet
Christ uniquely knew the time, the purpose, the place of His death (John 13:1-3) and embraced it.
The greatest victory ever won came when one in full knowledge of that plan and purpose pursued that plan and subjected Himself to death and embraced that death.
The greatest victory ever came when Christ embraced that destiny and that plan, He did not flee from it!
So often we flee from the irresistible destiny, rather than go with God into it!
Reward comes from willing obedience and surrender to God.
Here in 2:6-11 we have the mind of God / the way God deals with sin!
Why not deal with sin the way we might intuitively think? By means of:
Global judgment – the flood
Punishment for broken commandments
Fire and flame of Sodom
Calamity that came on Jerusalem
The waters that engulfed Pharoah and his armies
The plagues of Egypt
The tribulation
This was made necessary by:
The nature of God – God of Grace – we have an insight into this in His Grace shown to Adam and Eve. Why allow them and Cain and millions of other sinnners to live? Why not write off humanity from the very beginning? God is not only a god of judgment, He is a God of Grace and mercy and love – willing not that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
In dealing with sin by this means, God not only defeats and destroys sin but He rescues and redeems the sinner! Not only does He bring an end to the war but He establishes a lasting peace between man and God. Cf. WW1 – the war came to an end but nothing was really solved and war returned 20 years later.
An inevitable moral imperative that good is greater than evil. Evil did not have the final say in destroying God’s creation – God was greater than the evil and is able to restore a broken world, broken lives and rebellious sinners to Himself.
Not only did God defeat sin but He established a relationship with man. Christ in His service and ministry identified with man, understood man, reached out to man, cared for man, healed man, raised up man, opened the eyes of man, breathed life into man, fed man, and saved man. He shed human tears experienced human grief, knew human loneliness, suffered human pain, endured human torture, died a human death and lay in the grave of men. This was not only salvation from sin, this was salvation to eternal life and a living relationship with God.
As Christ came on this mission as a man to go to Calvary, He first served.
He served because:
The nature of God is Grace
Man is made in the image of God and must too give and be gracious – this is seen at the very beginning with Adam been given the task of serving and tending the garden.
The great men of God were servants of God:
Moses my servant
Abraham my servant
David my servant
My servant Job
When Christ came in the likeness of man He too must take on the nature of a servant.
Service and suffering was a path to identification (Heb 2:11) because Christ not only desired to save us from sin but to save us for Himself that we might be “all of one”
In fulfilling perfect humanity Christ fulfilled the purposes and Word of God and rightfully claims the place and position of a creation subject to Him, under God, in the “world to come” (Heb 2:5; Psalm 8). The fulfilment of service to the God of heaven lays Christs claim to vice regeant of the earth!
This was essential for Christ’s future ministry as our Great High Priest (Heb 2)