Equal With God
Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 21st June service and hymns are below.
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Our principal verses are:
Php 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Php 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Php 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Php 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Equal With God
The Apostle writing to the Philippians has called the church to consider the divine comforts and consolations freely bestowed by God upon His people. These are the felt blessings of the Spirit indwelling a believer’s soul. Every child of God, to one degree or another, experiences the consolation of Christ. We know the comfort of love, the fellowship of the Spirit and the bowels, or sympathies, and mercies of God. There is great tenderness and care in Christ for His people and Paul, in turn, would have us live life by the pattern of our Saviour’s love to us.
Look at Jesus
The Lord Jesus is the believer’s Great Pattern for Christian living. He is our Example and Enabler. He is the grand cause of every grace in a converted sinner’s life. In our verses today the Apostle directs our thoughts specifically to Christ’s humility and lowliness of mind revealed in His coming into this world. What an immense alteration of state Paul sets before us here by the inspired direction of the Holy Ghost. What vast expanse the Saviour descended in coming to earth as a man; how low He stooped.
Jesus is God
He who is God and equal with God in the highest eternal majesty, humbled Himself by assuming our human nature. Our Lord Jesus Christ is Himself God. He is God the Son, co-equal with God the Father and with God the Holy Spirit. Being in the ‘form of God’ means being God, wholly and completely, as Christ was and is by nature and essence from all eternity. Here the Apostle gives us a clear statement and full declaration of the essential divinity of Christ.
A willing servant
From this sublime state of majesty our Lord Jesus willingly assumed the ‘form of a servant’. Out of love for His church Christ made Himself of no reputation but came to minister and serve His people. Being found in ‘the likeness of men’ He voluntarily subjected Himself to the death of the cross. Though immortal and eternal He learned obedience and submitted to death; freely, happily. Astonishingly, this is the pattern and likeness to which you and I ought to aspire. Paul says, ‘Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus’.
Divine revelation
The Apostle’s language contains great beauty and meaning. Explaining the Lord Jesus as ‘being in the form of God’, reveals Christ’s essential nature and Godhead. Telling us Jesus ‘thought it not robbery to be equal with God’ shows us that divinity is Christ’s rightful and natural state. There was no grasping with the Son. Paul is describing Christ as being truly God in His own, underived nature. He was so from eternity. This confirms Christ’s existence and being before His incarnation and teaches us how He dwelt independently as a distinct person from God His Father.
Covenant grace fulfilled
The humiliation of Christ began when He made Himself of ‘no reputation’. This is the Lord joining Himself to the human nature of man for the salvation of His elect. Here begins the outworking of covenant grace. Our Saviour was revealed as a servant, made and fashioned in the likeness of man, to serve His church and redeem His people. His humiliation was intentional and voluntary. He sustained personal dishonour, shame and pain to accomplish the great purposes and to secure the great promises of divine love.
Twice humbled
All Christ’s life was lived in low and humble circumstances. At birth He was laid in a manger, in life He worked as a labourer. He owned no home, He possessed no worldly wealth. His ‘death of the cross’, being reserved for slaves and criminals, was designed to epitomise disgrace and dishonour in the Roman world. Everything about our Saviour’s life spoke of submission and humiliation and it is this attitude Paul advocates for the church.
Our perfect Example
Believers should be willing to stoop with our Saviour to serve His people, to be personally abased for the good and honour of our Lord and our brethren. This was the mind of Christ and it is the example our Lord has left for us to follow. Paul does not lean upon statutes or insist on ordinances. He simply points the church to the Saviour and says, ‘Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus’.
Amen
Hymn 403
A Song of Praise to Christ. Phil. 2. 6-11; Rev. 5. 9-13
S. Stennett 148th
1
Come, every gracious heart,
That loves the Saviour’s name,
Your noblest powers exert,
To celebrate his fame;
Tell all who fear the Lord below,
The debt of love to him you owe.
2
He left his starry crown,
And laid his robes aside,
On wings of love came down,
And wept, and bled, and died;
What he endured no tongue can tell,
To save our souls from death and hell.
3
From the dark grave he rose,
The mansion of the dead;
And thence his mighty foes
In glorious triumph led;
Up through the sky the Conqueror rode,
And reigns on high, the Saviour, God.
4
From thence he’ll quickly come;
His chariots will not stay;
And bear our spirits home,
To realms of endless day.
There shall we see his lovely face,
And ever dwell in his embrace.
Hymn 95
The Wonders of Redemption. Phil. 2. 8; Heb. 10. 10
A. Steele C.M.
1
And did the Holy and the Just,
The Sovereign of the skies,
Stoop down to wretchedness and dust,
That guilty worms might rise?
2
Yes, the Redeemer left his throne,
His radiant throne on high,
(Surprising mercy! love unknown!)
To suffer, bleed, and die!
3
He took the dying traitor’s place,
And suffered in his stead;
For man (O miracle of grace!)
For man the Saviour bled.
4
Dear Lord, what heavenly wonders dwell
In thy atoning blood!
By this are sinners snatched from hell,
And rebels brought to God.
5
What glad return can I impart
For favours so divine?
O take my all, this worthless heart,
And make it wholly thine.
Paul is encouraging humility amongst the Lord's people. He tells them to 'Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus'. Following Christ's example is the measure of a believer's life. The Apostle goes on to show how Christ's incarnation, suffering and death exemplifies true humility and in so doing provides a beautiful account of the Lord Jesus Christ's divinity.