Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 to 17 - The Cost The Cross and the Crown - J Stewart Gillespie 

3 practical applications of the mind of Christ: 

To be great means to be gracious 
The sinner does not justify the sacrifice, the sacrifice justifies the sinner! 
You won’t lose at the altar! 

Many of the NT epistles are specialist epistles: 

Romans – gospel, justification by faith 
1 Corinthians – sanctification and some church truth 
Ephesians – Christ and the church 
Colossians – Christ and the occult 
2 Peter and Revelation – prophetic 

Philippians is very much a generalist 

Deals with the entire Christian life 

Philippians follows: 

Life of Christ 
Life of Paul 
Life of the believer 

Persecution, trial, imprisonment, unfaithfulness of friends, contradiction of sinners (chp 1) 
The cross and sacrifice (chp 1) 
Resurrection (chp 3) 
Crown and rejoicing (chp 4) 

Interestingly this presse of the Christian life emanates from the prison cell! 

Not from the Christian life going smoothly, but in the trial and the testing. 

From this experience comes the heart beat, the pulse of Christian experience, distilled into 4 chapters. 

This ministry is the product of turmoil and not of peace! 

Christianity works in the deepest and darkest of experience. 

Christ is able to sustain, no matter how difficult the path and the circumstances. 

From this experience is distilled the essence of Christian experience: 

  • To Live Christ – chp 1 
  • To Think Christ – chp 2 
  • To Know Christ – chp 3 
  • To Rejoice in Christ – chp 4 

To Live Christ – chp 1 

Both a challenge and a comfort 

CT Studd: 

Two little lines I heard one day, 
Traveling along life’s busy way; 
Bringing conviction to my heart, 
And from my mind would not depart; 
Only one life, twill soon be past, 

Only what’s done for Christ will last. 
Only one life, yes only one, 
Soon will its fleeting hours be done; 
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet, 
And stand before His Judgement seat; 
Only one life,’twill soon be past, 
Only what’s done for Christ will last. 

Only one life, the still small voice, 
Gently pleads for a better choice 
Bidding me selfish aims to leave, 
And to God’s holy will to cleave; 
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, 
Only what’s done for Christ will last. 

Only one life, a few brief years, 
Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears; 
Each with its clays I must fulfill, 
living for self or in His will; 
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, 
Only what’s done for Christ will last. 

When this bright world would tempt me sore, 
When Satan would a victory score; 
When self would seek to have its way, 
Then help me Lord with joy to say; 
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, 
Only what’s done for Christ will last. 

Give me Father, a purpose deep, 
In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep; 
Faithful and true what e’er the strife, 
Pleasing Thee in my daily life; 
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, 
Only what’s done for Christ will last. 

Oh let my love with fervor burn, 
And from the world now let me turn; 
Living for Thee, and Thee alone, 
Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne; 
Only one life, “twill soon be past, 
Only what’s done for Christ will last. 

Only one life, yes only one, 
Now let me say,”Thy will be done”; 
And when at last I’ll hear the call, 
I know I’ll say “twas worth it all”; 
Only one life,’twill soon be past, 
Only what’s done for Christ will last. ” 

In his poem / hymn Studd brings the challenge of 1:21 

Not only is there CHALLENGE in this verse there is also COMFORT in this verse 

Living according to this rule and principle has led Paul into the prison cell! 

He looks around and understands his circumstances in the light of this great principle: 

‘for me to live is Christ!’ 

If Christ brought me here 

If obedience to His call and His gospel brought me to this point there must be significance, meaning in where I am and in what I’m doing. 

Christ must have purpose in it! 

Just as He did: 

Placing Joseph in the prison cell 
Moses in the backside of the desert 
Daniel in the lions den 
Shadrach Meshach and Abednigo in the fiery furnace 

If Christ and His gospel led Paul into this experience there must be purpose 

Design infers Destiny 

Plan infers Purpose 

Paul sees that: 

Sinners have been saved 
Saints have been encouraged 
Self has been built up 
Christ has been glorified 

This is not a catastrophic disaster 

This is unforeseen part of God’s plan! 

What is our response / reaction to plans going wrong? 

We didn’t understand the plan (1:12) !! 

To Think Christ – chp 2 

2:6-11 – deeply doctrinal, also profoundly practical 

3 practical consequences of these verses: 

To be great means to be gracious 

‘robbery’ – ‘harpagmos’ – abstract noun 

Not a ‘thing to be grasped after’ but ‘grasping’ itself 

To be God doesn’t mean to grasp. But to give 

‘thief’ – noun – concrete 

‘thieving’ – noun – abstract 

Not a thing to be grasped but grasping as a thing 

To be God means to give rather than to take 

This is part and parcel of the character and nature of God 

To be great is to be God like 

To be God like is to be gracious 

Grace will not diminish your greatness nor belittle who or what you are! 

God is great: omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, eternal He is so great He is not controlled by the attributes of His greatness! 

He has absolute control over His power! 

He is not a victim of His power. 

‘power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely’ – a reasonable deduction from 20th century European history! That is indeed true in the hands of fallen men. 

Hand a fallen man absolute power, he has more power than he is able to handle! We see amplified the traits of a fallen human nature! 

God is not enslaved by His own power 

He is able both to extend: 

Righteous judgment on a world by flood 
Grace to Noah in the Ark 

God is not victimised by His power 

Christ is greater than His miracles 

God is greater than the power He displays 

He has power to extend wrath to the murmuring Israelites and power to restrain that Judgment and provide the brazen serpent. 

God remains great whilst He has and when He gives! 

He remains the same! 

To be God means not to grasp but to give. 

One of the lessons of John chp 13; no one wanted to take the lowly place; for to take the place of the servant diminished who you were! 

Right?? 

Not at all! 

Christ takes the lowly place, it does not diminish who He is! 

Christ is not the slave of His greatness; needing to hold on to what He possess or to His reputation, in case that would change in some way who He is! 

He is able to act graciously and stoop down and take the lowly place. 

Who He is abides absolutely, His essence is unchanged. 

The sinner does not justify the sacrifice, the sacrifice justifies the sinner! 

The sacrifice of 2:8 was not compelled by the greatness and goodness of humanity 

Humanity did not work to deserve that sacrifice! 

               Here the thought is are others worth my service? 

               In point 3 – is my service worth it? 

Cf. 2:17 – Paul willing to be poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith. 

Did the Philippians deserve it? 

Did they live up to a standard that compelled this level of commitment and sacrifice from Paul? 

I very much doubt it? 

Cf Phil 2:30 

There was at time a lack in their service yet Paul did not hesitate to pour himself out on the sacrifice and service of their faith! 

It is not necessarily because of what you see in others but at times it is in spite of what you see in others! 

Perhaps if we had assessed the disciples by what we had seen of them in the gospels, the pouring out of the sacrifice of Calvary would have seemed somewhat futile! 

What was poured out, was poured out in faith! 

In faith, what did Paul achieve? 

The Philippian epistle! 

A blessing to the sacrifice and service of the faith of all of God’s people and at all times: 

To Live Christ 
To Think Christ 
To Know Christ 
To Rejoice in Christ 

You won’t lose at the altar. 

You won’t find losers at the altar! 

The altar will cost you but you won’t lose out! 

Not at God’s altar! 

Service leads to the cross but the cross leads to the crown 

I have paid so much 
This has cost me so much 
I have invested so much 

Such is seen in the sovereign purposes of God in OT: 

Jacob -> service -> Israel 
Joseph -> service and slavery -> saviour of the world 
Moses -> shepherd in the backside of the desert -> leader and deliverer 
David -> shepherd and fugitive -> king 
Gideon 
Samson – finally at the end he pours himself out 

I have seen over the years some who get discouraged by: 

Burdens they carry 
Responsibility they shoulder 
Commitment they make 
Cost they pay 

Philippians 2:6-11 – you won’t lose at the altar!! 

There is a path to the altar 

There is a path from the altar 

Sacrifice leads to the cross 

The cross leads to the crown 

Chp 2 vs 5 to 13 is presented not only as a presentation of the person and work of Jesus Christ but as an example; ‘let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.’ 

His: 

Incarnation 
Humanity 
Stoop 
Death 
Crucifixion 
Resurrection 
Exaltation 
Glorification 

There was at the end of this not defeat and failure but exaltation and glorification.