The Grace Of the Lord Be With Your Spirit - Part 3 | Mike Criswell

It's so good to see each one of you here tonight, and I'm glad

to be back with you again. You know, the meeting is rushing

toward its conclusion, and of course, we're on a downhill

slide. And tomorrow, of course, we'll

have a couple of more services. But thank you for tolerating my

ramblings and my words on Philippians.

You know, there's so much there, as I mentioned last night, that

sometimes I'd like to bring out things and I forget what I want

to bring out. And, you know, it's kind of in a

swirl. But nonetheless, Philippians is

a great book. And I just hope that if you get

nothing else from our time together, you will at least take

this book home and read it and think about it because there's

such great encouragement in this book.

You know, in our lives today, in the world in which we live, it's

discouraging. It's very discouraging in so

many ways. As you get older, of course,

physically it's discouraging because you're going to face

hardship in health, you're going to face perhaps difficulties as

jobs end and maybe retirement looks, looks you in the face.

There's things that you know, again, just are difficult.

Your body hurts, you don't you just don't maybe feel like you

did. The world itself is a difficult

place. Temptations.

People, of course, you know, have different things they throw

at you. And even as you try to live for

Christ, people reject the message, the loving message that

we already go forth and preach. And so it's very discouraging.

But you know, one thing we have to keep in mind is that we

should never leave Jesus. I know there's some newer

baptized converts in this audience.

That's a wonderful thing. But never leave Jesus.

It's going to get tough. It's going to get hard, but

never leave Jesus. Why?

Well, for many reasons. Our salvation depends upon it.

But another reason is Jesus will never leave you.

Jesus will never leave you. He will never forsake you.

He will always have you on His mind, so to speak, and you will

be one of his sheep. You know, John 10 is a beautiful

chapter where Jesus speaks of himself being the Good Shepherd

and He speaks of himself as taking care of the sheep,

knowing them by name and protecting them and even laying

down His life for his sheep. We are the sheep of his pasture,

we are Christians, we are his followers, we are his, shall we

say, his beloved possession. Jesus will never leave us.

So let's not leave Jesus because as it was in John 6, after Jesus

had taught so many difficult things and people begin to

trickle away from him, having heard the sermons that he gave,

not understanding the depth and becoming discouraged that how

could this be the Messiah? They begin to leave.

And Jesus, you can almost feel the heartbrokenness in his words

as Jesus says to his apostles, will you also go away?

And I love what Peter says. You know, Peter was always

sometimes saying the wrong thing, but he says the right

thing here, just like he did in Matthew 16 verse 18.

Matthew 16:18

He says, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal

life. Well, indeed, tonight we're here

to study the words of eternal life.

But before we do that, I want us to think about the comfort that

we have in Jesus, because one of the sections we're going to look

at tonight is about the comfort that we find in Christ.

Now, again, when you look at the life of Christ, he was a man.

He was a, you know, a savior of little comfort.

And he, you know, he had no place to lay his head.

You know, he said one time the foxes of of you know, of the

have their holes and their Burrows and, and the birds have

their nest, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

Jesus would feel the the pain of those that were sick, those that

needed the gospel, those that you know, again, he he saw them

sometimes as sheep without shepherd, sort of harassed by

the leaders of the day. And Jesus was a man who did not

enjoy the comforts of life. Why?

Well, because he was here for a purpose and it wasn't to enjoy

the comforts of life. But nonetheless, he bestowed

comfort upon those that he touched, those that touched him,

like the woman who came through the crowd and touched the hem of

his garment. He bestowed comfort on people

such as Jairus and the wife and the the daughter that he raised

from the dead. He bestowed comfort in his

words. You know, Jesus would say things

like coming to me all you that labor and are heavy laden.

You know, I don't know tonight and not get too far, you know,

far afield. But I don't know tonight if we

fully realize the harassment and the difficulty that people had

in that day to live even under the Mosaic law.

The scribes and the Pharisees had made so many extra laws.

It had become a burden to the people to even try to follow

God's commands. They were very tired.

They were discouraged. And Jesus gives this wonderful

invitation. He says, come to me.

He says, yes, there's responsibility, but come to me

because my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Oh, there's a yoke, there's a burden.

You know, the old idea about getting in the yoke of, of, of,

of a, of a plow and pulling it was very, very relevant in their

minds. But Jesus said, come to me

because my yoke is easy and my burden is like, easy what?

Well, in comparison, you know, sin's yoke is a very, very hard

yoke to put up on our necks. It is something that's going to

bow us low. It is something that's going to

bring us down. Sin is and it's going to make us

feel guilty. It's going to take the joy out

of living. But when we have that

relationship with Jesus Christ, there is going to be hope.

First of all, there's going to be salvation.

There's going to be joy, there's going to be peace.

There's going to be all of those things that do and eat, as Paul

will even say in this book, surpass all understanding.

I think Jesus wanted his own people, just experienced that.

I think Jesus loved his people so much that he said, I want to

give you what you cannot get anywhere else.

Jesus would also comfort his apostles over and over,

sometimes even in a physical way.

You know, recall that time when they are on the boat.

The disciples are out in the middle of the ocean, out in the

middle of the Sea of Galilee, and there's a great storm and

they think they're going to drown.

And Jesus comes walking on the water and they're terrified

because they see Jesus and they think he's a phantom.

They think he's some sort of an apparition or a ghost or

something that is very evil, and they're terrified.

The storm, the lightning flashing around and here's this

white figure coming towards them and they cry out in fear.

And Jesus says be of good cheer, be of comfort.

It's I don't be afraid. And of course he steals the

water. He comes into the boat.

They're safe and sound and they see the comfort that Jesus

provides over and over in the ministry of Jesus.

He is providing comfort. He is providing comfort mentally

as he heals the demonics who maybe had made individuals

basically crazy. He takes over their their

illness and he he takes care of it.

And of course, then he heals those who are spiritually sick.

He comforts those who are physically sick.

Jesus was a savior of comfort. And really that's what Paul is

going to deal with tonight in his message to us from

Philippians, the second chapter. Now he's also going to talk in a

little bit later on in this chapter about Jesus Christ and

the mind of Christ and how we are to have the mind of Christ

as well. But before we do that, I want to

at least develop this comfort concept because you know, Paul

is over and over talking about the comfort that we have in

Jesus and we are going to need it tonight as we try and attempt

to live our Christian life. And so he says this in verse 1

of chapter 2. He says, therefore, therefore,

if there is any, if any consolation, if there is any

comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit in any

affection of mercy, fulfill my joy by being like minded.

Now let's go back up and sort of unpack this.

He says therefore, if there is any consolation, if there's any

sort of consolation, you know, when somebody is consoled, that

means that someone comes alongside and they say, I

understand what you're going through and I want to help you

with that, or I understand your feelings.

It's an empathy statement. And of course, Paul is Speaking

of the empathy that the Philippians could have in

Christ. Now, why would they need that?

Well, first of all, they're Christians.

We all need Christian empathy from Jesus because we suffer in

this life. But it's very possible that they

were at Philippi going through additional persecution much like

they had after the church was established back in Acts 16.

And so he says, listen, if there's any type of consolation

and the if there is not a statement of doubt, it's just a

way of saying there is consolation in Jesus.

There is hope. There is power in his blood and

in that relationship. So he says if there's any

consolation in Christ, if any, a comfort of love.

Now this idea of comfort is very interesting because when we look

at consolation and comfort, really what we're talking about

is a very interesting Greek word.

The interesting Greek word is the word paracoleo.

Now this word, if some of you may recognize, is a word that is

used by Jesus in John 1415 and 16.

Para means beside. In other words, para.

We've talked about para church organizations or para this that

that means beside. And then the kaleo is a Greek

word that means to call, to call to one side.

It's a term of endearment and really kind of camaraderie.

You know, before Jesus went back in John 14 and 15 and 16, he

promised to send what the translators call the comforter,

the Holy Spirit. Well, that term in Greek is

paracaleo, the Paraclete, you may have heard it said.

In other words, the Holy Spirit was going to come.

Jesus was not going to live leave the apostles as orphans.

He was going to help them. He was going to send the Holy

Spirit to guide them into all truth so that they could have

power in their ministry as they went and fulfilled the Great

Commission. But that word deals with the

idea of the Spirit coming as a friend and being next to them to

call to one side. You know, sometimes maybe we're

struggling and maybe a friend comes and he kind of puts his

arm around us or her arm around us and they kind of call you

through your side and they say, listen, I just want to encourage

you. I just want to tell you that

that that I'm on your team. That's what Paul is talking.

That's the same word. And of course, he's not talking

here about the Holy Spirit per SE, but he's talking about

Christ. Christ is not only on our team,

he's the leader of our team and we follow him, but he's our

coach as well. And I'm not a big sports fan.

I don't know much about it, but I know coaches have a tremendous

impact on their players because they're positive or hopefully

are a positive influence and they encourage their players to

give their very best. Well, Paul says, listen, if

there's any of that in Christianity, if there is any of

that in Christ, he says, and there is of course, he says

fulfill my joy. And then he says, of course, be

like minded. Now he talks about this idea of

fellowship. You know, fellowship is also

another interesting word. And not to give you just a word

study tonight, that can be rather dull.

But the word fellowship is the word Koinonia.

It's the idea of a joint participation.

Now in the morning in our worship service, we're going to

assemble around the Lord's Table.

Now the word supper is also compared to a fellowship.

We partake of the loaf, we partake of the bread, we partake

of the fruit of the vine, and we share together in that memorial

feast. It's one of the most intimate,

beautiful times in all of Christianity.

Well, that's the same word that Paul is Speaking of here, and he

speaks of the term fellowship. And the word fellowship can be

used of the Lord's Supper as it is.

It's also used of our relationship with one another

and our relationship with Christ.

And it's also used, of course, even of our giving that is also

called a fellowship. But nonetheless, it denotes a

relationship, a close relationship with one another.

But he says if there's any fellowship of the Spirit.

Now again, we mentioned last night, and there's so much about

this that I don't know to be honest with you so much.

I've been decided about really to be honest with you.

But you know, the Spirit was so vibrant in the 1st century, it

provided the holy, the miracles rather to confirm the word.

It inspired the apostles into all truth.

The Spirit again seems to be the life force, just as our Spirit

is in the early church. And Jesus or Paul says here, he

says, you know, if there's any fellowship of the Spirit, in

other words, joint participation.

Now, again, it doesn't really matter to me for the purposes of

this study, how the Holy Spirit jointly participates with us.

Now, I do believe that the Holy Spirit is an intercessor.

It's not our mediator, by the way, but it's an intercessor.

We can have many intercessors. We can intercede for each other,

but there's only one mediator. Paul says in first to be two,

and that is Jesus Christ because he is the God man, as we're

going to notice in a moment, He stands between US and God, and

he, as it were, is our mediator. He mediates for us.

But Paul uses this idea of the fellowship of the Spirit.

You know, I've read something very interesting today as I was

sitting out on the porch and, you know, just kind of musing

over notes and, and looking at a couple of old commentaries on my

phone and that sort of thing. And Jameson Fawcett and Brown,

which may not mean anything to you, but it's kind of a go to,

easy go to sometimes. But they suggest that this idea

of fellowship is the idea of what went on in ancient

villages. Now, of course, Paul is writing

to people who at one time they did pagans.

And according to Jameson Fawcett and Brown and I haven't had

really had time to, you know, confirm this, but I'll just

share it with you anyway. You know, the Pagan concept

comes from people who are country people in a village.

We typically think of pagans as people who don't worship God or

whatever. Well, initially, apparently the

word carried other connotations. Rather than being a city person,

they were pagans or they were country folk.

And country folk in those villages would usually have a

single well, maybe a single fountain, a single spring, maybe

it came by enough aqueduct, as we noted the other night from

the mountains that the Romans had built.

Well, they didn't build the mountains, but they built their

aqueduct. But anyway, but they would drink

from that same fountain. And so you would go to that

fountain and it was like the local watering hole, if you

will. That's where maybe you get your

water. That's where you would talk to

your friends. That's where you would have some

fellowship, some camaraderie. And much like in John 4,

remember in the Samaritan woman in John 4, when Jesus comes to

Sycar and and Jacob's well, that's a similar situation.

That village had one watering source and people would go there

and they would drink of the same life giving water.

Well, that's kind of the illustration here.

According to Jameson Fawcett Brown.

It's the idea of of Christians imbibing and drinking from the

same spiritual source of life. You see, we're partners

together. We share together.

And how then is that made greater?

Well, it's made greater by having the same mind.

He says fulfill my joy, verse 2, by being like minded.

This idea of the mind is found over and over in parts of

Philippians. And when Paul's Speaking of the

mind, he's not just talking about our brain.

Now the brain is kind of the equipment.

The mind is something that I don't know that even

psychologists or scientists understand.

You know, the brain adder that we have is just physical stuff.

But somehow in that with the spark of life and with our

spirit that God gives to us, we're able to make decisions.

We're able to think, we're able to interact, we're able to

anticipate, we're able to have these emotions in our mind.

And of course, Paul in Romans chapter 12, we mentioned that

Romans 12 · chapter mention

one time in this meeting talks about the renewing of our mind,

renewing of our thought patterns and our process, the things we

process as we go through our Christian life.

But he says, I want you to be of one mind.

You know, this reminds me a lot. And we won't go there for time's

sake of Ephesians chapter 4 verses one through 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Now Ephesians chapter 4, you know, that's the great chapter

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

of 11 Lord 1 faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is

above all through all and in you all.

It's the great chapter of once the unity of the Spirit, and

that begins. That chapter begins by Paul

talking about keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of

peace. Now, of course, he's writing

there to a congregation that likely had some division and

difficulty in it. But you know, again, that's a

human problem. But being like minded is so

incredibly important, and being like minded allows us to think

on the same things, to make the same decisions together in a

peaceful way and to comfort one another.

And so you see Paul is talking here about things that are very

practical. We don't even need to learn to

think together. You know, I think a good example

of that is marriage. You know, when I got married, of

course, I have my own individual will.

I had my own individual thoughts and also expectations of

marriage. Now that they were good,

unfortunately they weren't hers. And so she had her own thoughts.

She had her own expectations of marriage and we didn't have the

same. We weren't on the same page.

We weren't of one mind together. And I'm telling you what, you

know, I talked to Tranky I think or somebody this week.

I said, you know, it's like iron sharpening iron.

You're going to get a lot of sparks because that's what

happens when you get 2 people together and you're trying to

come to a meeting of the minds again.

I was thrown out of the meeting a lot, but nonetheless, the

meeting of the minds is so important in the Lord's body.

And what is the source of being able to have minds that are the

same? It's having a central authority.

It's having something that is a non negotiable that we both will

agree on. But what is that for the

Christian? Well, first of all, there's many

things, the love of Christ, the authority of God's Word, God's

power, all those things, but especially the authority of

God's Word. You know, I've said in business

meetings, and I don't have any inclination if that ever happens

here, but we are human. But I've seen people argue, I've

seen people almost come to blows over things.

And I'm like, why? Because that's not, that's not

the, that's not the unity of the Spirit.

That's not the unity of the mind that God wants.

He wants us to put him first, put his word first, filter

everything through that word and then make decisions.

Sometimes we're going to have to give, sometimes we're going to

have to take and sometimes we're going to have to be the bigger

person. But nonetheless, Paul here is

very concerned and very, you know, very insistent that they

have a mind that is peaceful. Now, how's that going to happen

besides what we've already said? Well, he says this, he says, but

in loneliness, let now let's look at our seat.

He says let nothing be done through selfish ambition.

You know, when we have selfish ambition, and this is where I

think it gets really practical in any group, in any

organization where they're talking about the church or the

family or school or business or whatever.

When we have selfish ambitions where we don't care what others

want, we don't care what others need and we just are going to

have it my way or the highway, that's going to be hard.

In other words, when you get the stubborn will, which we all have

involved in decision making, you have a real potential for

volatility, marriages, young marriages.

Again, as I mentioned, you have a real potential for difficulty

because both of these minds want to have it their way.

But this isn't Burger King. Burger King used to have a

commercial. Have it your way.

Or is that McDonald's? Nonetheless, it was one of

those. But we can't have it our way.

The only way we can have it is Christ's way.

And then try to conform our will to Him.

And so he says again with lowliness of mine, we esteem

others better than ourselves. That is so hard.

Why? Because within the human

condition is self preservation. Now that's a good thing.

In other words, God gave us the desire to live and preserve our

lives, fighting for our life, but that, when it's not taken in

the right context, can cause us to not only fight for our life

in good ways, but to also demand our rights in other ways.

And so we're willing then to let others become subservient or run

over others simply to get our way.

And that's not to diminish rightful headship issues,

whether it's at the workplace or the home place or whatever.

We know Paul talks a lot about headship, even in First

Corinthians 11, First Timothy 2. He speaks with the headship and

the responsibility of the husband in the home in Ephesians

5. But nonetheless, we need to

defer to one another. You know, Jesus did that.

Jesus even deferred to his apostles.

You know, he was with them. He gave himself to them.

He gave himself for us on the cross.

That is the greatest difference you can perhaps exhibit.

So he says again, let each other esteem each other better than

himself. You know what I think about

that? I think about the parables that

Jesus told. You know, Jesus would talk, for

example, about going to a feast and how the religious leaders of

his day, they wanted the best seats.

And Jesus says don't do that. Don't go and send the best

seats. He says let others take the

better position. And that way if you are moved

up, so to speak, at the table, hey, it's going to be a good

deal for you. Don't put yourself in the

position where you're assuming that you're better than others.

We're not better than others. You know, again, even when we

have found the Christ, even when our sins have been washed away

in baptism, we are not better than others.

We may be saved, we may be, but, you know, sanctified.

But we're not better inherently than others.

We are all God's children. And so Paul says, listen, put

each other first. Then he gives us the prime

example. And this is where we're going to

focus the rest of our thoughts tonight.

In verses 5 through verse 11, he says, let this mind be in you,

which was also in Christ Jesus, the mind of Christ.

You know, again, we want to be like Christ, and that starts in

the mind. Christ had a mind that I don't

think we can fully comprehend, but we should try.

The mind of Christ was a loving mind.

It was a submissive mind. At the same time, it was a mind

that understood the nature of humanity, understood the nature

of God, and yet He loved us despite the fact that he was

from heaven. And so he says, let this mind be

the example. Let Jesus be the pattern.

In fact, that's really what he's talking about.

He's talking about the pattern of Paul's life, which was Jesus

Christ. He says, let this mind be in

you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

And then what did Jesus do? It says who be in the form of

God. Now what does he mean by that?

Well, we know that Jesus from eternity past was with the

Father, what we call the Godhead, God the Father, God the

Son, God the Holy Spirit, really in some ways a great mystery

that theologians have never quite been able to figure out.

You can't quite diagram it. You can't quite put your head

around it, but we know it's true.

Jesus was with the Father, He was deity.

But now Jesus gave all of that up.

Now he didn't give up his Godhead because when he came to

the world, he was still the God man.

He was Emmanuel, which means God with us, but in some way, though

a man of flesh and blood and fully the Son of David, fully a

human. And that is seen in the

genealogies of Matthew and Luke. He is deity combined and infused

together in some, you know, wonderful plan.

Jesus is the God man. Now think about that.

Jesus, according to Colossians, was the very source of creation

for us, for humanity, for the world.

In fact, Paul says that everything was made through him,

and without him nothing was made that was made.

In other words, Jesus was the, as it were, the divine Logos,

the instrumentative tool by which the universe was made and

everything else. And so here's Jesus and we'll

sort of, you know, personalize this or or personify this, which

is sort of inaccurate. But here's Jesus who has

understood this perfect relationship with God and had it

from eternity past. And now he finds himself born in

a Manger, born of a poor family, born in flesh and blood.

He is a human and yet he's still fully deity.

Now, I don't understand all of that.

In fact, Luke 2, you know, talks about Jesus after they come back

from the temple where Jesus was lost.

You remember that story? Neat story.

You know, He is submissive to His parents and grows and in

knowledge and wisdom and in favor with God and men.

Jesus still had to grow. I don't quite understand all

that, even though he's deity, but nonetheless, Jesus gave up,

shall we say, the portals of heaven.

Now I don't know what heaven is like.

I don't know. We get these glimpses from

things that the Book of Revelation and maybe John 14

say, but I don't know what it's like.

But I know it's better than this world.

I know there's no sin there because apparently when Satan

sinned and the angels, he cast them out.

We know that God is perfectly holy and perfectly pure.

And I don't know all about heaven, but there's no impurity

up there. Well, Jesus left that place.

He left, as we sometimes say poetically, that place of the

pearly gates, and came to a low land of sin and sorrow.

This world is filled with sin. This world is filled with

sorrow. And He came here voluntarily to

live for us, but also to die for us.

And so he says then in verse 6, who being in the form of God,

did not consider it robbery to be equal to God.

Now that verse is sort of an interesting verse because

various translators have translated it very various ways,

and some have said he did not count his Godhead something to

be held onto. In other words, Jesus was

willing to give it up. Now we know he didn't give up

being deity because that of course, was his inherent nature,

but nonetheless he gave up at least the prerogatives of being

the Son of God. He came and humbled himself to

the Father. In fact, again, even as he was

in the garden before he died, he said, Father, not my will, but

thy will be done. And so he says He made himself

of no reputation. He took the form of a bond

servant. You know, when we read maybe the

myths and the legends of other supposed gods, and you know,

some of those Roman and Greek gods and goddesses, you know,

they're not servants, they're tyrants.

They're not servants who come to serve mankind.

They come to use mankind and abuse mankind, not Jesus.

That's what make Jesus so different than all of those

other, you know, stories about supposing gods and goddesses and

all that. You, Jesus came to serve.

He came to take the very creation that he created and

made and say I'm going to be not only become one of you, I'm

going to serve you. I think the greatest example or

one of the greatest examples just in his ministry was when he

washed the disciples feet. Now we don't understand that

either because we don't do that as a custom, but that was a

lowly job of a servant. And Jesus here the master of all

is stooping as a servant and washing people's feet.

Like Peter who would deny him and Judas who would betray him.

That is incredible. You see, that's the mind of

Christ. You know, really what Paul is

saying here is get over yourself.

Get over yourself because, you know, we think we're so great.

We think we sometimes have so many talents.

And man, you know, the world really needs me.

Well, yeah, because you're in Christ.

But really, you know, if I died tonight and guess what, what

happened, the world would continue.

You know, again, a couple generations, they wouldn't even

know who I was. We overestimate our own value

when it comes to worldly type perspectives.

Of course, in God's eyes, we're extremely valuable because we've

got a job to do, we go forth and we take the gospel.

But nonetheless, Jesus humbled himself to be a servant, A

dulos, A bondservant, a slave if you will.

And what happened? Well, he took the form of a

bondservant and coming in the likeness of men.

In other words, he looked like you and I.

I don't think Jesus was anything special as far as his looks, and

I think even when he came off the cross, he was even less

special beaten, as no man had ever been beaten before and

crucified. It's just that being found in

this appearance, he humbled himself and became obedient to

the point of death, even the death of a cross.

Now, why does Paul say that? Why does Paul say, well, he

died, he died on a cross because, you know, many people

die. Many people die in many ways,

some more horrific than others. But the death of a cross in that

day was not only horrific physically, all you have to do

is read the accounts in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but it was

also horrific in a very emotional way.

It was degrading. It was the common way to, you

know, to execute a a common criminal.

And yet Jesus went through that for us.

He took upon himself a servant. He came in the likeness of men.

He humbled himself. He became obedient to the point

of death, even the death of a cross.

Now, as we sum up, because this is the last little section I

want to look at tonight, God was pleased with that.

It pleased God to bruise him. Isaiah says what?

What? What kind of God is that?

What kind of God is pleased to take his Son and put him on a

cross? It sounds so sadistic.

No, it's necessary because you see, there was a broken trust.

There was evil in the world. Man had participated in that,

and somebody needed to pay the price.

Jesus willingly came and God willingly gave and said they are

worth it, we are worth it. And so Jesus died for us and God

was pleased with that. Now on the cross, it may not

look that way. In fact, on that six hours that

that, that you know, that that Friday or whatever day it was.

Some scholars disagree with that.

But nonetheless, the darkness just encompassed Jesus.

It looked as if God had turned his face away from Jesus, and

maybe in some ways metaphorically, he had.

And that's when, of course, as Jesus is about to die, he quotes

Psalm 22. My God, my God, why have you

forsaken me? Now, before we get too involved

in, you know, God leaving Jesus. And that poses a whole lot of

theological problems and questions about how deity can

separate itself from deity since they're one.

But nonetheless, Psalm 22, yes, it starts out in darkness, but

it is a solve of messianic victory.

And I think Jesus was preaching A sermon saying, listen, you're

killing me, you're crucifying me.

But God is going to have his final stay.

So even in that and even in his death, burial and then

resurrection, God was pleased and demonstrated that by his

raising his son from the dead. In fact, it's said that that

the, that the, the, the resurrection was kind of the

exclamation point in the Gospel message.

You know, it's the I am pleased. And of course God had said that

at other times. This is my son in whom I'm well

pleased. He said that in his baptism.

He said that in Matthew 14 or Matthew 17 on the on the Mount

of Transfiguration. And he said it toward the end of

his ministry. And so then God was pleased.

And So what did God do? God exalted him and gave him a

name above every name. I love that the name of Jesus is

the most powerful, the most beautiful name that could ever

be given. The Son of God, Jesus said many

names, by the way, Lamb of God, John 129 Behold the Lamb of God

that takes away the sins of the world.

He's called the Savior, He's called the prophet, He's called

the priest, He's called the King.

Jesus had many appellations, He had many names, if you will.

But Savior, Redeemer, that's about as good as he gets.

And so he says, therefore God has given, has highly exalted

him, and given him the name which is above every name, that

at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven,

of those on earth, and of those under the earth name, which is 3

things here, those in heaven, who are they?

Well, the angels, the heavenly host, those up there, the

seraphim, and all of those heavenly beings that also are

created beings by the way they look down and they see the

magnificent work Jesus did on the cross and they're just

praising God. I'm convinced of because God has

shown to them through his actions of Jesus what he had in

mind. You know, we have that passage

over in Peter that talks about angels longing to look into

ultimately what's the scheme of redemption.

They didn't quite understand it, it seems to me anyway, but in

Christ, and then I think even in the church today, we are still

showing the heavenly hosts what this whole plan of redemption

means as we live our godly lives.

So instead of those again in heaven, then he says those on

earth, who's that? Well, it's those we contact.

It's those that you see the gospel, see the light of Jesus

in us. It's maybe our fellow brothers

and sisters. It's all of those who are

living. And then he says those under the

earth. I take that to mean those who

have died, those who are in the Hadean realm or in the spiritual

realm that have already departed.

They also apparently have some inclination of what Jesus did.

And so in other words, Jesus's influence is pervasive.

And that's because Jesus, God exalted Jesus because of what he

did. And where did it all begin?

He began with Jesus having a mind to serve, a mind to come, a

mind to humble himself, a mind to die, and a mind to turn his

entire being in faith to God the Father.

And so then, what's the result? Verse 11, That every tongue

should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the

Father. And so, you know, it's just

beautiful really. It's really brilliant when you

think about it, that Jesus came, did all of those things to show

us how to do all of those things as well.

Because when we come to the point where we can humble

ourselves, we can have the same mind as our brothers and

sisters. We can, as it were, wash their

feet, so to speak, or we can humble our will to theirs.

Guess what? God's going to exalt us.

In fact, many times Jesus said, you know, if we humble

ourselves, God will lift us up. And James said that too.

And so again, the point of this particular section in

Philippians is listen, serve one another, help one another, love

one another, and never leave Jesus.

Use him as your example. Well, those are the thoughts

tonight. If you're here and we can assist

you in some way in obedience to the gospel, either through

baptism or through just your life that may need comfort.

That's our job tonight as Christians, to help one another

while we stand and while we sink.