The Exaltation Of Jesus

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I want to begin this morning with a question before we get to our scripture reading.

The question is, who is your Lord?

To who or what have you formally, as far as a demonstration of commitment,

or practically in just the way that you live your life and the way that you allow your mind to be influenced,

to whom or to what have you sworn your allegiance?

Who's your Lord?

We all have one.

It's the person or thing or idea by which we govern our thoughts and actions.

It's the instruction by which we have developed and created our worldview and our outlook on life.

It's the thing ultimately that we have determined to obey and to follow above every other thing.

It may not always be at the forefront of our minds, but its influence has permeated our hearts

and it's permeated our beliefs and our behavior.

And there's a number of different answers that we could give to this question depending on the person

and what they have chosen to do as far as their life is concerned.

For some, this answer may be science.

When they consider who is their God, who is their Lord, who have they sworn their allegiance to,

science for many people could be that answer.

They base their worldview solely on what they see in the physical world

and they disregard notions of the supernatural

or things that are unexplainable according to their scientific process.

And so when it comes to determining who is it ultimately that they have given authority in their life,

they would say, well, honestly, my Lord would be science.

If I can see it and understand it in the physical world with human reason and rationale,

then I would choose to follow that thing.

For many people, it's religion.

And it's the religion that they've chosen to ascribe to.

For instance, a Muslim would say perhaps that Muhammad is their Lord.

And the instruction by which they would follow in governing their life

and governing their belief system would be the Koran.

For a Mormon, perhaps they would say that their Lord would be Joseph Smith.

And the instruction by which they're going to develop their worldview

would come through the Book of Mormon.

Obviously, for Christians, we would say our Lord is Jesus Christ.

And the instruction by which we pattern our lives and our behavior.

We submit ourselves to the authority of the Bible.

So for some people, it would be science.

Some people, it would be the particular religion that they have ascribed to.

And those who have ascribed to a specific religion would basically say,

the leader of my religion is my Lord.

I follow that individual or that philosophy.

I think for most people, the answer to this question is actually self.

Even though they may be influenced by religion to an extent,

and even though they may have the influence of the physical realm

and of scientific process to an extent,

ultimately, many people have decided that they are the purveyor of truth.

They are fundamentally relativist.

That they may take a little bit from here and a little bit from there

and a little bit from this religion,

and they have developed this amalgamation of truth

that they have determined,

this is the truth that I'm going to live by.

This is what is truth to me.

And that may be different for another person,

but for me, this is what truth is.

And therefore, the main authority in my life,

the Lord in my life is myself.

I determine what's true for me,

and I will follow my truth.

You determine what's true for you,

and you follow your truth.

We all have a singular Lord.

In fact, it's impossible to have more than one.

There are no double agents when it comes to lordship in our lives.

In fact, Jesus taught this specifically.

In Matthew chapter 6, he said,

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

No man can serve two masters,

for either he will hate the one and love the other,

or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.

And the people that would attempt to follow more than one Lord

really are just following the Lord of self.

They have determined what would be truth for their life.

Now, all of this may seem trivial and non-essential,

but it's really not.

The truth is,

to who or what you have determined to follow

as the Lord of your life has eternal consequences.

And the ramification of it goes much further

than just your physical life on this earth.

It actually reaches into the realm of the life

that comes beyond this life.

As a Christian,

I believe that Jesus Christ is the true Lord of all,

and that eternal blessings come in God's presence

for all that will follow him in faith.

But the immediate question to that becomes,

how can you know for sure that Jesus is the one?

How can you be so confident

that he's the one that we must follow

and not Muhammad or Buddha or science

or my own kind of version

of what all of those things could possibly point to?

How is it that you can actually know for sure

that Jesus is the one?

And that is an absolutely valid

and important question to ask.

It's one that we all must ask.

Why do we believe what we believe?

Why do we ascribe to Christianity?

Is it just because this is the way that we have been raised

and this is just the climate of the culture

in which we live in the southern United States?

Or has there come a point

where we have truly understand that Jesus is Lord

and we have chosen willingly to follow him as Lord?

I wanna take a few moments this morning

and explain how we can know that Jesus is the one

and how that should affect our thoughts

and our behavior as Christians.

Let's read this passage together in Philippians chapter two.

We're gonna focus in on verses nine through 11,

but to keep it all together in our study

from the last few weeks, let's start at verse one.

If there be therefore any consolation in Christ,

if any comfort of love,

if any fellowship of the spirit,

any bowels and mercies,

fulfill ye my joy that you be like-minded,

having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory,

but in lowliness of mind,

let each esteem others better than themselves.

Look not every man on his own things,

but every man also on the things of others.

And then he says,

let this mind, this humble mind,

this mutual submissive mind,

this unifying mind,

let this mind be in you,

which was also in Christ Jesus,

who being in the form of God,

thought it not robbery to be equal with God,

but made himself of no reputation

and took upon him the form of a servant

and was made in the likeness of men.

And being found in fashion as a man,

he humbled himself

and became obedient unto death,

even the death of the cross.

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him

and given him a name,

which is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus,

every knee should bow of things in heaven

and things in earth

and things under the earth,

and that every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord

to the glory of God the Father.

In verses one through four,

Paul has given an instruction

to the believers in Philippi

to live in humility

and to pursue unity within the church.

And his primary intention

in verses five through eight

that we just read

was to present Jesus Christ

as the supreme example of that humility.

That same humble mind

that will lead us to unify together

underneath the gospel as a church

is the same mind,

humble mind that was demonstrated

in Christ Jesus

as he left the throne of heaven

to become a man

in order to provide salvation.

And in the process

of demonstrating Jesus

as the supreme example

of the humble spirit

that we should have,

he ends up writing for us

through the power of the Holy Spirit

one of the most helpful

and concise doctrines

of the person and work of Jesus Christ

that you'll find anywhere in the Bible.

This passage of scripture

is so significant even

as we mentioned last Sunday

that some believe

that the early church

actually sung these verses together

as a hymn

in their worship services.

It was so helpful

to understand

who Jesus is

in these terms

and these verses

all center

on the fact of his identity,

who Jesus is.

And last week

we talked about

three of four facets

of Jesus' identity

that Paul gives us

here in these verses.

In verse number six

we saw that Jesus

is the sovereign God.

He's the sovereign God.

Look at it with me again.

Verse six,

Jesus who

being in the form of God

thought it not robbery

to be equal with God.

Now that word form

is important

for our understanding here.

It is a reference

to the very essence

of a person's nature.

It is what makes you you.

When Paul says in verse six

that Jesus was

in the form of God,

he's saying that Jesus

in his very essence

in the very nature

of who he is

is God.

He is deity.

He is divine.

That's who he is.

It's rigid.

It's inflexible.

It's who he's always been

from eternity past

and who he always will be

in eternity future.

Jesus is God.

So the first thing

that we see

in this identity of Jesus

is we see that

he is the sovereign God.

Verse number seven

we see then

that Jesus is the humble servant.

Look with me again there.

He made himself

of no reputation,

humility,

and took upon him

the form of a servant

and was made

in the likeness of men.

There's that word again,

form.

And again,

it's important for us.

Paul uses the same word

for Jesus' nature

as a human being

in verse seven

as he uses

for Jesus' nature

as God

in verse six.

At the same time,

simultaneously,

Jesus Christ

is God

and man

to the fullest extent.

That is who he is

in his very essence

of his nature.

Jesus is the God-man.

He is God

that has become a man

for a specific purpose.

And in that,

we see the demonstration

of his humility.

For God

to do anything

that would be different

than his eternal nature

would mean

that he would have

to descend.

And so,

for God

to take on human flesh,

even though he was perfect,

to take on human flesh

meant that he condescended

to mankind.

It was the demonstration

of his humility.

He's the humble servant.

And then in verse eight,

we see

that Jesus

is the sufficient savior.

Look with me there.

Being found in fashion

as a man,

he humbled himself.

That was his initiative.

No one humbled him.

He humbled himself

and became obedient

unto death,

even the death

of the cross.

Well,

what was the purpose

of that?

We talked about

this word

that the Bible uses

last week,

propitiation.

It's an important word.

It means to satisfy

or to appease.

Because of our sin,

our sinful nature,

what we deserve,

what we are up against

as humans

is the wrath of God.

And the Bible says

that the only way

for that wrath

to be appeased

on our part

is through an eternity

separated from him

in a physical,

real place

called hell.

So God takes on

human flesh

and he becomes

a man

in perfection

because he is not sinful

and he cannot sin.

And he goes

to the cross

and suffers

a criminal's death

on our behalf.

that word propitiation

is important

because as we sung

about just a moment ago,

when God looks

at his son,

Jesus Christ,

his wrath

is appeased

through his sacrifice

for all that will

come to him

in faith.

What a glorious truth

that is for us.

Without that truth,

we actually have no hope.

Our hope

and our destiny

is death

and it's hell.

But because of

Jesus' willingness

to leave the throne

of heaven,

to condescend to man

for the specific purpose

of dying our death,

the wrath of God

has been satisfied.

It has been appeased

so that when Satan

does tempt us

to despair

and he is bringing up

as our judge

or as our accuser

is what the Bible

calls him.

He accuses us

to the Father.

We don't know

what they've done

and here's the list

of sins

that they've committed

against you.

For those of us

that believe Christ,

when God hears

that accusation,

it's not our sin

that he looks at,

it's the satisfaction

in Jesus' Christ,

a crucifixion

that he sees

and he then looks

at us

and sees a complete

pardon for that.

It's a glorious truth

but it's incomplete

because Paul has

one more facet

of this identity

that he needs

to deal with

and he does it

in verses 9-11.

When he does this,

he basically leaves

off now

the illustration

of humility

and he's just

solely focused

on the person

of Jesus Christ.

These verses

essentially burst

into a moment

of praise

and bring a perfect

conclusion

to Paul's teaching

of who Jesus is.

In these verses

we see that Jesus

is the exalted Lord.

He's the exalted Lord

and there's four notes

about this exaltation

of Jesus' Lordship

that I want us

to make today.

If you're keeping notes

in your scripture journals

or otherwise,

you can write this one

down first.

Write down the revelation

of his exaltation.

The revelation

of his exaltation.

Look with me again

at verse 9.

Paul writes,

Wherefore God

also hath highly

exalted him.

Hath highly

exalted him.

Now verses 6-8

effectively introduce

us to the gospel

of Jesus.

That word gospel

literally means

good news.

It's a biblical term.

It's used over and over

in the New Testament

in reference to what

Jesus has done for us.

That's its literal

translation

is good news.

Now in this day and age

or in that day and age

as far as when the Bible

was written,

this term carried

a picture with it.

It pictured a herald

going from city to city

and proclaiming victory

for his particular nation

or his king

in some battle.

And you can picture

in your mind

the custom of the day.

They didn't have

social media

where when they won

a particular battle

somewhere they could

just post it on Facebook

or Instagram

and everybody would know

and they could just

rejoice in their house.

There was no TV

to demonstrate

and to show us

exactly what has happened

on this battlefield.

There would be a herald

that after the battle

was won would go

from city to city

and they would go

into the town center

and they would cry out

the good news

that we won the battle

or this is what has happened.

And so it's a celebratory term.

As this would happen

there would be celebration

and rejoicing

in these towns

and in these cities

as they rejoiced

in the victory

that had been won.

So when we talk

about the gospel

of Jesus

we're celebrating

the good news

that Jesus

has conquered

sin and death

on our behalf.

The gospel

is our celebration

of the good news

that Jesus

has conquered

sin and death

on our behalf.

The term comes

from the same word

that we get

the word evangelize.

And again

that's a reminder

of what we're to do

as Christians.

We're to tell others

this good news

that they can be saved

from God's wrath

through the work

of Jesus Christ.

But the gospel

is not good news

if it ends

with the death

of Jesus.

If the gospel

is just summarized

in Jesus

living a perfect life

and then dying

a criminal's death

the gospel

is not good news.

In fact

if that's all

that there was

to the gospel

there'd be no reason

for us to know it.

There'd be no

particular reason

for us to regard

Jesus at all.

In fact

most of us

probably would have

never even heard

of Jesus.

There's no telling

how many people

through time

had lived good lives

and were considered

by their constituents

to be good

moral teachers even.

Maybe even prophets

who went through

a process

of being falsely accused

and even maybe

imprisoned

and then executed

and we actually

have never even

heard about it.

there's a reason

we've heard

of Jesus's

and the reason

is because of

these other

two crucial

components

to the gospel

message.

That is

that Jesus

rose from the dead

and he ascended

back to heaven.

These two components

are not

explicitly stated

in this text

that we're studying

today

but they are

implicit

to Paul's

statement

of Jesus's

exaltation.

Without the

resurrection

there would be

no gospel

and we would

have no hope.

In fact

it was the death

and resurrection

of Jesus

that the apostles

in the book of Acts

were tasked

with being witnesses

of.

That's what an

apostle is.

It means a sent

one.

There's not

apostles today.

There was only

a limited amount

of apostles.

It was people

that were

specific witnesses

to the life

the death

and the

resurrection

of Jesus

Christ

was his

disciples

plus the

apostle Paul.

What they

were to be

witnesses of

was the

identity

of who

Jesus

really was

because they

saw it.

They witnessed

it.

They witnessed

his life.

They witnessed

his death.

They witnessed

his resurrection.

They witnessed

the living

Christ beyond

his death.

In fact

in Acts chapter 2

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Peter was preaching

and here's what

he preached

to the Jews.

He said

ye men of

Israel

hear these

words.

Jesus of

Nazareth

a man

approved of

God among

you by

miracles and

wonders and

signs which

God did by

him in the

midst of you

as ye

yourselves also

know.

He being

delivered by

the determinate

counsel and

foreknowledge of

God ye have

taken and by

wicked hands

have crucified

and slain.

And then he

says whom

God hath

raised up

having

loosed the

pains of

death because

it was not

possible that

he should be

holden to

it.

This Jesus

hath God

raised up

Peter said

whereof we

all are

witnesses.

That is he

and the other

apostles and the

others who had

witnessed the

resurrection.

Therefore let

all the house

of Israel know

assuredly that

God hath made

this same

Jesus whom

you crucified

both Lord

and Christ.

What makes

Jesus significant

to the apostles

and to the

New Testament?

What makes

his death

any different

than anybody

else's death?

What makes

his life

any different

than anybody

else's life?

It comes

down to the

fact that he

didn't stay

dead.

He did

something that

no other

person in all

of history has

ever done.

He rose from

the dead.

Of his own

power he rose

from the dead.

And these

apostles then became

witnesses of

that.

And Peter as

he preaches he

says you

crucified him.

You saw the

power that he

had.

You put him

to death.

You witnessed

his death and

we have

witnessed his

life.

And all those

who follow him

will be saved

becomes the

message.

But then Peter

says something

interesting.

This God

that God had

made this same

Jesus who you

crucified what?

Lord.

He's made him

Lord.

God.

The gospel

itself is

defined as the

death and

resurrection of

Christ.

In 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15

Paul writes

I have

declared unto

you the

gospel how

that Christ

died for

our sins

according to

the scriptures

and that he

was buried

and that he

rose again

the third

day according

to the

scriptures.

And then

Paul says

and then he

was seen

of Peter

then of the

twelve

apostles

apostles

and after

that he

was seen

of above

500 people

at one

time

of whom

the greater

part at least

at the time

that he wrote

this letter to

the Corinthian

church the

greater part of

those people

were still

living and

could testify

of this.

After that

Paul says he

was seen of

James then of

the apostles

and last of

all he was

seen of me

Paul then

became a

witness of the

resurrected

Christ.

the truth

is if

Jesus

didn't

rise

from the

dead

all of

this

would be

absolutely

pointless.

Our

purpose

in gathering

today

would be

absolutely

pointless.

The

unique bond

that we

have in

the gospel

though we

are all

very different

in who

we are

would not

exist.

It's the

resurrection

that brings

it all

together.

Paul in

1 Corinthians

15

reemphasizes

that.

He says

if Christ

be not

risen then

our preaching

is vain

and your

faith is

vain.

And if

Christ be

not raised

your faith

is vain

and ye

are yet

in your

sins.

And they

all which

are dead

in Christ

are perished.

And he

says if

this life

only we

have hope

in Christ

we are

of all

men

most

miserable.

So how

then can

we stay

and know

that Jesus

is the

true

Savior

and the

Lord

of all?

And the

fundamental

answer is

found in

his victorious

resurrection

from the

dead.

How do we

know that

Jesus is

the one?

Why do we

follow him

in faith?

Why do we

worship on

Sunday

morning?

Why do we

say that

we're

Christians?

Not because

this is the

way that

we're raised

but because

we have

come to a

point to

acknowledge

that Jesus

is the

Christ and

that not

only did he

die for

my sins

but he

was risen

from the

dead.

His

resurrection

is what

makes all

the difference.

The Bible

is not a

collection of

fairy tales

that some

people would

believe it

to be.

They're real

historical

letters,

real historical

books,

real people

wrote them

and they

didn't write

them to be

mythological.

They recorded

real events

that really

happened.

So a

Christian comes

to Christ

believing that

Jesus Christ

is actually

who he said

he was,

that he is

God,

that he is

the Savior

and that he

really did

rise from

the dead.

That's what

makes all

the difference

for us.

The

resurrection.

That's why

we know

he's the

one.

But we

can't forget

about his

ascension.

Jack read

about it

just a minute

ago in

Acts chapter

one.

After

Christ's

resurrection

in the

span of

40 days

he appeared

to many

many people

and then

he visibly

ascended back

into heaven.

Acts chapter

one.

When he

had spoken

these

things

while they

beheld

he was

taken up

and a

cloud

received

them

out of

their

sight.

And while

they looked

steadfastly

toward heaven

as he

went up

behold two

men stood

by them

which also

said ye

men of

Galilee

why stand

ye gazing

into heaven?

This

same

Jesus

which is

taken up

from you

shall

so come

in like

manner.

There's a

promise

there.

What

does that

matter?

He

was

ascended

back to

his

place

of

lordship

of glory.

This

condescension

that he

made in

verses five

through eight

has now

been put

back right

and he's

ascended

back to

heaven

after

accomplishing

the task.

It's what

makes him

lord.

It's the

demonstration

of his

exaltation.

The revelation

of it.

It's been

revealed.

And how

has God

revealed

that Jesus

is lord?

Through his

resurrection

and his

ascension.

It's the

manifestation

of it.

So we

see the

revelation

of it.

It's

implicit

in this

text.

His

resurrection

and

ascension.

Number

two,

we see

the

designation

of his

exaltation.

The

designation

of his

exaltation.

Look with

me at

verse nine.

Wherefore

God also

hath highly

exalted

him and

given him

a name

which is

above

every

name.

Not

only has

God

revealed

Jesus'

exaltation

through the

resurrection

and ascension,

but he's

expressed

this

exaltation

by giving

him a

name

that's

above

every

other

name.

Now

this

designation

is not

the name

Jesus.

That's

just his

earthly

name.

It's

the name

that he

was given

by Mary

and Joseph.

It's

the name

by which

he was

known

as he

walked

the

earth.

The

designation

that is

above

every

other

name

is in

verse 11.

Look at

it at

the beginning.

Every

tongue

should

confess

that

Jesus

Christ

is

what?

Lord.

The

designation

of his

lordship

is not

in the

term

Jesus.

Lots

of people

have been

named

Jesus.

The

designation

of his

lordship

is in

Lord.

That's

how God

has

chosen

to name

him.

Every

knee

doesn't

bow

before

the

term

Jesus.

Every

knee

bows

before

the

term

Lord.

There's

no

significance

to

confessing

the

term

Jesus

but

there

is

great

significance

in

confessing

someone

as

Lord.

The

term

itself

means

supreme

in

authority.

So

when

Paul

says

that

God

has

exalted

him

and

given

him

a

name

which

is

above

every

name

that

that

name

is

Lord.

He

says

Jesus

Christ

is

the

supreme

authority.

So

we

go

back

to

our

question

at

the

beginning

of

the

message.

Who's

your

Lord?

Who's

your

supreme

authority?

The

one

that

you

have

chosen

to

follow

in

your

way

of

belief

and

behavior.

If

it's

not

Jesus

Christ

he's

the

true

Lord.

If

that's

not

the

answer

for

your

life

then

you

cannot

be

saved.

That's

the

point

of

the

scriptures.

The

revelation

through

the

resurrection

and

ascension

is

God

saying

this

is

Lord.

This

man

is

the

supreme

authority.

This

is

God.

Follow

him.

Obey

him.

Now

God

did

not

bestow

upon

Jesus

a name

that

he

did

not

already

possess.

His

lordship

wasn't

given

to

him

after

his

resurrection

and

ascension.

His

lordship

and his

exaltation

has

always

existed.

Look

with me

at

verse

six.

This

is

before

you

ever

get

to

the

exaltation.

Who

being

in

the

form

of

God.

We've

already

talked

about

that.

What

does

that

mean?

Jesus

is

God.

He

existed

from

before

the

foundations

of

the

world.

He

is

God.

He

is

equal

to

God

in

verse

six.

It

gets

no

higher

than

that.

So

it's

not

that

in

verses

nine

through

eleven

God

is

giving

him

something

that

he

did

not

already

possess.

It's

not

that

he

gained

something

that

wasn't

previously

his

but

what

was

already

his

in

essence

God

clearly

demonstrated

to us

in his

resurrection

and ascension.

He's

always

been

Lord

but

when

he

rose

from

the

dead

and

he

ascended

into

heaven

it

was

God's

way

of

saying

here's

how

you

can

know

this

is

him.

It

wasn't

that he

then

became

Lord

it's

that

God

said

let

me

show

you

why

he's

Lord

raised

from

the

dead

ascended

to

heaven

he

is

Lord

remember

what

Jesus

prayed

in

John

17

he

prayed

to

the

father

he

said

now

father

glorify

me

in

your

own

presence

with

the

glory

that

I

had

with

you

before

the

world

existed

he

has

always

been

the

glorious

Lord

now

verse

10

is

a

quotation

of

Isaiah

Isaiah 45 · chapter mention

chapter

45

and

verse

23

let me

read it

to you

I'm

going to

start

reading

it

verse

22

actually

write

down

that

reference

so you

can

refer

to it

make

sure

I'm

not

lying

to

you

Isaiah

Isaiah 45:22

chapter

45

verses

22

and

23

here's

what

Isaiah

prophesied

hundreds

of years

before

Jesus

ever

came

he

says

turn

to

me

and

be

saved

all

the

ends

of

the

earth

for

I

am

God

and

there

is

no

other

by

myself

I

have

shall

not

return

verse

23

to

me

God

says

every

knee

shall

bow

and

every

tongue

shall

swear

allegiance

to

God

he

says

that

through

the

prophet

Isaiah

Paul

quotes

this

verse

now

in

verse

number

10

he

quotes

Isaiah

45

23

except

he

applies

it

to

Jesus

the

designation

of

Jesus

as

Lord

is

really

just

the

affirmation

once

again

that

Jesus

is

actually

God

he

is

the

Yahweh

!

that

was

spoken

of

in

Isaiah

45

23

he

is

the

same

God

that

said

through

Isaiah

every

knee

will

bow

to

me

every

tongue

will

swear

allegiance

and

then

in

the

New

Testament

in

Philippians

2

Paul

now

says

this

same

quotation

this

same

God

this

is

Jesus

at

the

name

of

Jesus

every

knee

will

bow

and

every

tongue

will

confess

!

He

is

Lord

every

tongue

!

will

confess

allegiance

to

him

that's

the

designation

of

his

exaltation

we see

the

revelation

the

designation

thirdly

we see

the

scope

of

his

exaltation

the

scope

of

his

exaltation

or

of

his

lordship

let's

look at

verse

10