Sermon

Philippians 2:9-15 - Chris Osburn

Church of Christ - Bakersfield, Ca

Open publisher episode ↗

Publisher transcript

Transcript

View source ↗
  1. Thank you all for coming tonight.

  2. And we are so happy to be here and hopefully tonight will be

  3. able to say something that's edifying to the church and will

  4. be able to gain some knowledge from what we're studying in

  5. Philippians. Of course we're studying

  6. Philippians 2. Will particularly be studying

  7. verses 9, through 15. And and before we start we'll go

  8. ahead and read and kind of bring us up to speed.

  9. So it's been a couple weeks since we've studied.

  10. So we'll read starting at verse 1 and we'll read all the way

  11. through verse 15. And remember while we're reading

  12. this that of course, Paul is writing to the church and to the

  13. congregation in Philippi and he's specifically giving

  14. direction to those members about Unity about how to be Christ

  15. Christ like and how to get along and how to be humble and all

  16. these things. So, let's kind of keep that in

  17. mind as we as we start reading, it says there in verse 1.

  18. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, If any

  19. comfort in love, if any Fellowship of the spirit, if any

  20. affection and mercy, fulfill my joy, be like-minded, having the

  21. same love being of one, Accord of one mind, let nothing be done

  22. through self-assembly selfish, ambition or conceit, but in

  23. lowliness of Mind, Let each esteem others better than

  24. themselves himself. Let each of you look out, not

  25. only for his own interest but also for the interests of

  26. others. Let this mind be in you, which

  27. was Is also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God, did

  28. not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself

  29. of no reputation taking the form of a bondservant and coming in

  30. the likeness of men and being found in appearance.

  31. As a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of

  32. death, even the death of the Cross.

  33. Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the

  34. name, which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every

  35. knee, should bow of Those in heaven and those on Earth and of

  36. those under the Earth and that every tongue should confess,

  37. that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father,

  38. therefore my beloved as you have always obeyed.

  39. Not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence work

  40. out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who

  41. works in you both to Will and to do his good pleasure, do all

  42. things without complaining and disputing.

  43. And that you may be that you may become blameless and harmless

  44. children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and

  45. perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the

  46. world. So on the first to bring us up

  47. to speed to vs. Starting in verse 9, you know,

  48. we want to we talked about last time, how how Jesus humbled

  49. himself and became a servant when he was part of the godhead,

  50. and he became a little lower than the angels and came here to

  51. this earth and and humbled himself and suffered for us.

  52. And in his upcoming versus we're going to see because of his

  53. humility. How God exalts him to the

  54. highest position? And there could ever be.

  55. So beginning in verse 9, the word, therefore there is derived

  56. from a Greek word, a couple of Greek words deal and Kaia, which

  57. literally means to. And that is why?

  58. So, because he humbled himself, we could replace the word.

  59. Therefore, and that is why. God has highly exalted him and

  60. given him the name, which is above every other name.

  61. So to be highly, exalted is to elevate to elevate above all

  62. others, and to be lifted up. It's the same verb that was used

  63. in John 3, verse 14. It says there.

    John 3:14

  64. And as Moses, lifted up, the serpent, in the wilderness even

  65. so must the son of man will be lifted up.

  66. This was a picture of the serpent was a symbolic to what

  67. would happen to Jesus being lifted up.

  68. And there's sermons have been taught here on that and I don't

  69. have time to go into that, but it's a very clear type and anti

  70. type of Christ being lifted up. So, This is being done.

  71. God Is Lifting Up Jesus. Which which shows actually of

  72. validation or Vindication and approval of god of what Jesus

  73. did here. So God lifted him up because

  74. Jesus did what he did and it was lifted to the highest position

  75. possible. So that brings us to our first

  76. question, what is meant by the phrase and given him?

  77. The name above every name? So Not only was he, highly

  78. exalted, he was given a name above every other name, you

  79. know, in the Bible names, we can see names time after time being

  80. changed from an original name to a different name, and that was a

  81. purpose. There was a meaning behind the

  82. names in the especially in the Old Testament.

  83. For example, Abram was changed to Abraham, which means High

  84. father. Was his original name to father

  85. of all, which is Abraham, and same with Sarah.

  86. Her name was Sir. I was changed to Sarah which

  87. originally was, my princess changed his Sarah, which is

  88. mother of all Nations. So the name is a description of

  89. who and what they are their character.

  90. So Jesus is name was not changed because Jesus was who he was and

  91. always is who he's always been, and will always always be who we

  92. always is. So his name doesn't have to be

  93. changed but but the name above every name, in Isaiah 42 and

  94. verse 8, which is a prophecy of Jesus.

  95. It says I am the Lord that is my name.

  96. I will not yield my glory to another Also in Hebrews chapter

    Hebrews 1:1–4

  97. 1, verses 1 through 4, it says God who at various times and in

  98. various ways spoke in times past to the father's by the prophets

  99. has in the last days spoken to us by his son, whom he has

  100. appointed, heir of all things through whom.

  101. Also, he made the world's who being the brightness of all his

  102. glory and the express image of his purpose person and upholding

  103. All Things by the word of his power.

  104. And when he had his Himself purged, our sins sat down at the

  105. right hand of the Majesty on high, haven't become so much

  106. better than the angels as he has by inheritance obtained.

  107. A more, excellent Name than they.

  108. So we hear all the time in this, you know, all kinds of names

  109. that we hear all the time. And sometimes we wonder what in

  110. the world, some parents were thinking, when they named their

  111. kids. so, I can guarantee you that that when we hear, or

  112. anybody hears, Jesus his name they know who he is.

  113. All around the world, somebody could say, oh yeah, Chris.

  114. And in Bakersfield, California, nobody may know that, you know,

  115. people may not know that across the country or whatever.

  116. But when they hear the name, Jesus, everybody knows who Jesus

  117. is a name above all names, so that leads us to the.

  118. Next question is deals with verses 10 through 11 verses 10

  119. and 11 say that the name of Jesus, that at the name of

  120. Jesus, every knee, should bow and those in heaven and those on

  121. Earth and of those under the Earth and that every tongue

  122. should confess, that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory

  123. of God the father. So that this is the reason why

  124. God exalted Jesus. These verses here.

  125. He raised him up so that every knee should bow.

  126. Now this does not mean that every time that the name Jesus

  127. is uttered out of our mouths that we are going to bow.

  128. This is dealing with the second coming of Christ.

  129. This is dealing when when he comes, there is going to be so

  130. much power and so much glory, and everybody's going to know

  131. who he is. At every knee will be compelled

  132. to Bow before him. And and and by every everybody,

  133. it's talking to talk about those in heaven, those in Earth and

  134. those under the year. So those in heaven refers to as

  135. the Angels the angels will have in are going to bow to Jesus as

  136. well in First Peter 3 and verse 22, it says who has gone into

  137. heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities

  138. and Powers, having been made subject to him, which is Jesus.

  139. Also when Hebrews 1 verse 6 says, but when he again brings

    Hebrews 1:6

  140. the first born into the world he says let all The angels of God

  141. worship Him. So that's what they have.

  142. What those in heaven is talking about, is the Angels.

  143. Now, those in the earth is to us that you and I everybody from

  144. the beginning of time to the end of time.

  145. And when you think about that, everybody will bow.

  146. I mean, think it all about all the people who opposed Jesus

  147. think about the high priest. Think about this, the Sanhedrin

  148. think about Muhammad. I mean, those leaders of

  149. different religions are going to bow to Jesus at the second

  150. coming. That's pretty amazing when you

  151. think about that. Every knee shall bow.

  152. Now those under the Earth is referred to, as of course, the

  153. dead those who are in the in the hadean realm at this time.

  154. I don't know. All there is to know about this.

  155. I'm going to admit that, but but we need to notice that Jesus has

  156. power transcends, all time, all Dimensions.

  157. If that's what you want to call space and all places.

  158. There's not one part of creation that is not going to recognize

  159. Jesus at the second coming. All, we're all of us.

  160. All will recognize Jesus for who he is, that he is Lord of all.

  161. So, you know, think about all of us who look forward to that time

  162. who look forward to Confessor his name and look forward to

  163. bowing to him when on the second coming.

  164. But but even those who oppose him now, who don't look forward

  165. to them, are going to be bowing as well.

  166. So when we recognize Jesus for, who he is, and what he has done,

  167. of course, it's always to God, be the glory.

  168. So, Paul explained. So Paul is just explain to us

  169. before how the humility, and how he is exalted work.

  170. And Jesus could be only exalted if he was humbled first.

  171. If he was humble first and same with us, do we have to be

  172. humble? We have to be humble.

  173. People will be humble, Christians, and God will

  174. recognize us for that. And they in time a judgment,

  175. that's a great lesson for us. That brings us to verse 12,

  176. Which says they're therefore my beloved as you have always

  177. obeyed. Not as in my presence only but

  178. now much more in my absence working out your own salvation

  179. with fear and trembling. So the question here is, how

  180. does one work out his own salvation with fear and

  181. trembling? So, if we read further in verse

  182. 15, Paul refers to the members, their Philippines children of

  183. God, you know, us as parents are extremely happy when our kids

  184. follow our Direction. When were around, we tell them

  185. to take out the trash to take out the trash, tell him dust the

  186. house. They does the house.

  187. Tell him to act, right? When they're at school and a

  188. crack at school. But when it's, we're away.

  189. And they do what we want them to do.

  190. It makes us so proud of our kids and what they do, you know we

  191. can trust them being away. We know they're going to make

  192. the right decision and we get word back from those who are

  193. around them that they have You know, done what we expect them

  194. to do and that's kind of what Paul is saying here.

  195. You know, it's good that you're doing what you're doing while

  196. I'm here. But do it even more when I'm not

  197. here, when I'm not here to visit you.

  198. Or, you know, follow the will of God.

  199. So that leads us to a question in hand.

  200. How does how does one? How do we work out?

  201. Our own salvation with fear and trembling?

  202. Now we cannot work out our own salvation on our own.

  203. That is not our, there's nothing we could do to earn our

  204. Salvation. Nothing at all.

  205. We do not work to earn it yet. We work because we have been

  206. saved. So, the verb here, the this this

  207. word workout is a verb and it is defined as a continuous action.

  208. We referred to, as going through a race or competition.

  209. So it's continuous. So once we get saved once we get

  210. baptized and follow the will of God, it's time to go to work.

  211. We're working through our Salvation in First Corinthians 9

    1 Corinthians 9:24–25

  212. verses 24 through 25. It says, do you not know that

  213. those who run in a race All run, but one receives the prize run

  214. in such a way that you may obtain it.

  215. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all

  216. things. Now they do it to obtain a

  217. perishable Crown, but we for an imperishable crown and and and

  218. fear. And trembling here is, is

  219. basically a reverence for God, we have a respect for God, we

  220. understand his power. We understand that he can blot

  221. our name out of the book of life.

  222. We understand that he can save us.

  223. We understand that. At that, he that we are going to

  224. be judged on that final day and there's no greater motivator

  225. than that than to fear what judgment will be for us.

  226. So, we need to work our out, our own salvation work, because we

  227. have been saved Verses 13 and 14 says 48 is God who works in you

  228. both to Will and to do for his good pleasure, do all things

  229. without complaining in disputing.

  230. And the question is, how does God work in us?

  231. And why is it important to do all things without complaining?

  232. So God works. God works from some examples in

  233. the Bible. He works.

  234. He worked by Distributing spiritual gifts and First

  235. Corinthians 12, he worked in Peter and Paul in Galatians 2

  236. and verse 8. He worked by raising Jesus from

  237. the dead and he will also work in us when transforming our

  238. bodies when this life is over in Philippians, 3 and 21.

  239. I don't know. All there is how God works in

  240. it. I don't know.

  241. I don't think any of us are going to ever know the entirety

  242. of how God works in US. But we know he does because we

  243. can read it. Now that same power that worked

  244. in the Bible works now in us I don't know how but it does

  245. because Paul said it's the same power that will save us the same

  246. power that will wash our sins. Clean one that hears.

  247. Our prayers ones that gives us our needs.

  248. Our Comforts that Comforts us and we'll eventually judge us.

  249. There's all manners of how God works in us how we in dwells in

  250. us and I do not have the knowledge and wherewithal to get

  251. all that to understand that to preach it, but he does work in

  252. US. Someone wants to comment on that

  253. later on. That's great.

  254. Without complaining and arguing, you know, this follows the same

  255. line in which Paul was teaching the congregation at Philippi and

  256. with unity in verse 2, through 4, you know, we called them to

  257. be unified this teaches us as a congregation that we need to get

  258. along that. We need to our have a Christian

  259. attitude, to be humble considerate serving on, obedient

  260. to death, So that brings us to our next verse or last verse,

  261. which is verse 15. And it says there that you may

  262. become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in

  263. the midst of a crooked, crooked and perverse generation among

  264. whom you shine as lights in the world.

  265. So what is meant by the phrase crooked and perverse generation?

  266. This goes all the way back to the Old Testament Deuteronomy,

    Deuteronomy 32:5

  267. chapter 32, verse 5. And it says there, they have

  268. corrupted themselves. They are not his children

  269. because of their blemish at perverse and crooked generation.

  270. That was Moses speaking about the issue, The lights.

  271. So God has a path to our Salvation And it is referred to

  272. in the New Testament as a straight and narrow path.

  273. So the passions that this is referring to is those who do not

  274. walk a straight and narrow path but pervert it or distort it and

  275. meaning and change the path to make it crooked as one bite.

  276. That's what's meant by a crooked and perverse generation man.

  277. Is the only one who can pervert God's work.

  278. We are God doesn't perverted Jesus doesn't prefer it.

  279. The the apostles didn't pervert. It But us as man thinking that

  280. we know better than God can mess things up real quick, if we're

  281. not careful. So in conclusion, just to

  282. quickly go over kind of what we've studied.

  283. So far number one, Jesus became a humble servant and because of

  284. that God, highly exalted Jesus and gave him authority over all.

  285. We are to continually work because we have been saved.

  286. We need to Revere God and Jesus, we need to not argue with each

  287. other or complain about each about each other within the

  288. congregation. And we do not want to prefer

  289. pervert, God's word. We thank you for listening to

  290. our podcast, put on by the Church of Christ at 22:15 plans.

  291. Road in Bakersfield, if you would like any additional

  292. information or you would like to receive a free Bible

  293. correspondence, course by mail. Please email us at info at True

  294. Church of Christ Bakersfield.com.

  295. Our service times are on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and

  296. Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. Please make plans to join us.

  297. We would love for you to be our honored guest.