Is Jesus humble or exalted? - 10/04/2026

There's a story in Luke 14 where Jesus and his disciples get invited to a big fancy party at a rich guy's house.

And apparently they get there a little bit early.

Jesus is standing off to the side and he's people watching, and he's seeing all these people show up at this party.

And he's what he's he's observing this common behavior, which is that people come in and they try to save a spot at the table at near the head of the table in the most important spots.

So in that day, the closer you were sitting to the host, the closer you were sitting to the rich guy, the more important you were.

And so people were coming in, you know, they're throwing their jackets down, they're trying to save the best spots.

And Jesus stands back and he watches this and he says to his disciples, uh, don't do that.

It's a bad idea.

Don't save a spot near the head, because what'll happen is you'll sit there, and then someone actually important will show up.

And the host will tell you to get up and go down to the end of the table to make room for the important person.

So instead, what you should do when you show up to a party like this, go save a spot at the worst end of the table, at the very far end.

And here's what might happen.

What might happen is the host might see you and recognize you and say, What are you doing down at this end of the table?

The host might honor you in front of the whole party and bring you to a better spot.

And wouldn't that be better than getting embarrassed by the host in front of the whole party?

Then Jesus, he sums up what he's saying with this verse in Luke 14.

He says, For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

So now what is Jesus doing here?

I mean, is he just giving us some good advice on how to go to a party?

I don't think so.

I think Jesus has something quite a bit bigger in his mind as he's teaching this.

I mean, this random dinner party, this random thing that Jesus is teaching, it actually unveils one of the most profound truths of the universe.

It's a paradox that's actually at the heart of the gospel message itself.

It's at the heart of who Jesus is and what Jesus came to do.

The paradox is this: that the path to true exaltation is through humility.

The reason why that's a paradox is because exaltation and humility are actually at odds with each other.

Those are both words that are describing status or importance, position, but exaltation describes being given a high status, being, you know, given a place of importance, being noticed, being praised.

That's what exaltation is all about.

Humility is about low status, it's about being overlooked, it's about not being worthy of being noticed.

And so for Jesus to say that the path to exaltation is actually humility, it's almost the opposite of what we would experience.

And yet Jesus says, that's actually what I want you to know.

Uh this reality is important because all of us actually desire exaltation.

You maybe wouldn't use that word.

You maybe you've never had that thought in your life, but it's true.

You want high status.

You want to be worthy of praise.

You want to be important.

You were actually made that way.

It's hardwired into us.

It's part of our human nature.

It's not even just a part of our sinful nature.

It's just a part of what it means to be human.

You can see it at the youngest age.

If you raise kids, uh, you know, my kids are six and eight, and I look for opportunities to praise them.

I look for opportunities to see them do something without being asked, to be kind, to share something, to forgive someone without talking about how much they hate the person they have to forgive, you know, that kind of stuff.

And when I see it, when I get an opportunity, what I do is I get down on their level and I get a hold of them, I make sure they're really paying attention to me, and I look them in the eye and I say, I am so proud of you.

I love you so much.

You are an amazing kid.

And I mean, you should just see their face, right?

I mean, it just lights up.

That just fuels their fire.

Because what am I doing there?

I'm giving them something that they're hardwired to crave.

I'm exalting them, I'm praising them.

I'm saying, you are worthy of my praise.

You're important to me, and I love you.

And it's just, it fills them up.

And we never grow out of that.

I mean, we all have a desire to be important, to be worthy, to be praiseworthy.

And what Jesus says is okay, if you want exaltation, let me tell you how to get it.

Seek humility.

It's interesting.

We're gonna see that unpacked in this passage this morning in the book of uh Philippians.

This book is uh a letter from the Apostle Paul to the church in Philippi, and he's telling them all about Jesus and what Jesus is doing in his life and in their life.

And a huge part of what Paul has been doing in this book is he's been saying that we have a part to play in the story of Jesus.

That in Jesus, God is at work to redeem all things, to reconcile all of creation to himself, and God is doing that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, but that we have a part to play in that story, that our lives are actually being used by God for that same purpose, to redeem all things to himself.

And in this passage today, what Paul is saying is like, okay, if we're gonna play a part in that story, if we're gonna follow Jesus together, if if we're gonna uh become more like Jesus, then we need to understand who Jesus is.

We need to grasp his story.

And so this section that we're in this morning, uh in Philippians 2, 5 to 11, it is this short, powerful summary of who Jesus is.

It's actually a work of art.

It's called the Christ hymn.

And we don't know if it was originally a song or if it was a poem or something that people memorize, but it is this beautifully crafted, short series of sentences that encapsulate the person of Jesus.

And we're gonna unpack it together.

Normally what we do on Sunday mornings is, you know, we take a couple of verses at a time and I explain it and we talk about it.

Before we do that, we're gonna do that this morning, but I want you to just take it all in at once.

Uh, this is a work of art, and I want you to experience the whole thing.

And so I'm gonna read it for us in just a moment here.

And and even this morning, right now, where you're seated, I invite you to meditate on it.

If you want to close your eyes, close your eyes, but just let this soak in and listen to what the Word of God has for us this morning.

This is what it says in Philippians chapter 2, verse 5.

Philippians 2:5

Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.

Instead, he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity.

And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even to death on a cross.

For this reason, God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Amen.

Like I said, it's a it's a beautiful work of art, but it's more than that.

I mean, these verses are just jam-packed with the deepest Christian theology about who Jesus is.

And I do want to walk through it with you, make sure we understand what Paul is telling us.

He's painting this picture of Jesus as God who chose to humble himself for us.

And in choosing to humble himself, Jesus actually received exaltation.

And so, how did Jesus choose to humble himself?

Well, the first thing Paul says here is that Jesus chose to lay down his status for us.

This poem or this hymn, it begins in eternity past.

We're invited to consider where Jesus came from, that before he became a man, he experienced the fullness of the glory of being God in heaven.

This is what verse six says.

Paul says, I want you to adopt the attitude of Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.

That idea at the top that he existed in the form of God.

That didn't mean that doesn't mean like he was like dressed as God or anything like that.

Like the form there, that word, it refers to something's essential nature, to what something is.

Paul is saying Jesus was God.

I mean, it was pretty epic.

He was God.

He existed in the fullness of the glory of being God in all power.

I mean, God is so far above us, it's hard to even imagine what that is like.

And even though it's nearly impossible for us to put ourselves there, we do actually get a couple glimpses of this reality in the scriptures.

So, like one, for instance, is in Isaiah chapter six, where the prophet Isaiah is given a vision of God's heavenly throne room, of that glorious existence that Jesus was participating in before he became a man.

And I just want to read this for you.

This is from Isaiah 6 of what Isaiah saw when God gave him this vision.

He says, I saw the Lord seated on high, on a high and lofty throne, and the hem of his robe filled the temple.

Seraphim were standing above him, and they each had six wings, with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.

And one called to another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of armies.

His glory fills the whole earth.

The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.

Can you imagine that?

I mean, it's it's hard to picture.

Isaiah's is picturing some sort of scene like this.

I mean, just full of God's glory in the temple.

I remember it was like seven or eight years ago, uh, when in this room in our worship sets, we started using haze for the first time, and a lot of people didn't really like that very much.

They're like, why is there smoke in the auditorium?

I don't like it.

And I'm like, well, it's what God likes.

I don't I don't know.

I just uh you gotta take it up with him.

Read your Bible.

So uh what does God say here?

He says, okay, Jesus was God, he shared an equality with God, but but what does he say about that?

He says he didn't consider it something to be exploited.

Some older versions of your Bible might say something like he didn't consider it something to be grasped, and that could make you feel like it's something that he didn't have that he was trying to attain.

That's not what that word means.

Exploited there, it means it refers to what you do with something that already belongs to you.

See, Jesus was God, he had that status, he didn't have to go get it, he had it.

The question is, what is he gonna do with it?

And he didn't consider his status something to be used for his own gain.

That's what it means to exploit.

Instead, he laid it down for you and for me.

Jesus humbled himself by choosing to lay down his status.

He also chose to lay down his privilege for us.

There's quite a bit of privilege that comes along with being God.

This is what Paul goes to next.

He says, instead of exploiting this status, instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity.

There's been a lot of theological debate about what this means right here, that Jesus emptied himself.

It's a little bit hard to understand.

What does that mean?

What did Jesus empty himself of?

Because Jesus did not become any less God when he became a man.

Jesus has always been fully God.

He was fully God as he walked to this earth, he's fully God still today.

When he became a man, he also became fully human, but he didn't lose any of his godness.

So what was being emptied?

Well, at the very least, Jesus certainly emptied himself of the status and the privilege of being God when he became a human being.

I mean, I mean, think about what Jesus gave up to become to become a human.

As God in that heavenly throne room, in that in that eternal existence of being God.

Jesus, he was worshipped by the angels, he was served by them.

All of creation had no choice but to bow to his will.

He he's untouchable.

I mean, he couldn't be affected by sin or by sickness or by death.

Jesus wanted for nothing in heaven with his father.

He never, not once, in all of eternity past, Jesus never needed anything.

That was his experience before he became a man.

I mean, and then he becomes a baby.

I mean, uh, Jesus, he goes from this existence in all of eternity to this.

Becomes human.

And to become human, I mean, it is the definition of becoming needy.

He never needed anything.

And then he's born and he needs everything.

I mean, he needs the milk of his mother, he needs his parents to give him clothing, to clean him up, to change his diaper, to carry him around, to protect him.

I mean, he becomes vulnerable, he becomes needy.

And even as he grows up, I mean, just think about what Jesus chose to take on by becoming a man.

I mean, think about the indignity of becoming human.

I mean, you know all about the indignity of being human, you just don't ever think about it because that's all you know.

But he was God.

I mean, Jesus grows up, I mean, he gets acne, you know?

Like he he has all these limitations of his human body.

He he can't, he can only run so far.

He can only go so many days without food or water.

I mean, he was all powerful before he became a man.

Now he's limited by this human body.

I mean, I think about the indignity of being human different now after having kids.

I mean, you know, Jesus threw up at some point, right?

Like he ate some bad hummus or something and he was throwing up all night.

Like the God of the universe.

I mean, think about that.

I mean, I I at some point, someone, Mary, had to teach Jesus to wipe his own butt.

You ever thought about that?

I know it's a little crass for a Sunday morning, forgive me.

But some of you have thought about this, you know, you've heard this a thousand times.

Have you really thought about it?

Have you thought about what Jesus chose to take on?

He became a human for us.

He laid down all of the privileges of being God.

And he didn't even become a rich human or a powerful human.

He took on the form of a servant.

He became a nobody even to other humans.

You know, the rich and the powerful, they uh didn't even think Jesus was worth noticing.

I mean, I mean, think about the fall there.

I mean, think about uh that heavenly throne room again.

When Isaiah sees that, okay, it's so overwhelming.

God's glory that Jesus was sharing in, it's so overwhelming Isaiah can't even look at it, he has to hide his face.

I mean, when John sees the glorified Jesus in in the book of Revelation, John falls down like a dead man before him.

That's how overwhelming the glory of God was before he became a man.

Then Jesus becomes a human, and even just a common Roman soldier would have thought nothing of shoving Jesus out of the way and telling him to move on as he walked in the streets.

He gave up the privilege of being God for us.

And lastly, Jesus chose to lay down his power for us as well.

This is where Paul goes next in verse 7.

He says, And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even to death on a cross.

Before he became a man, I mean, Jesus was all powerful.

I mean, death couldn't touch him.

Uh God is the source of life.

I mean, nothing stands in the way of God's will, nothing can hinder him.

And now, Jesus, he goes from that to actually having to be obedient.

That's not something God does.

I mean, God asks others to obey.

Now Jesus is obeying.

He's obeying even to the point of going to the cross and laying his life down, becoming powerless.

This reality, this picture of a God who humbles himself so much that he's crucified.

It has been a stumbling block for people to believe in Christianity from the very beginning.

The Bible tells us this.

Paul says this, you know, that the cross is a stumbling block to the Jews because they can't imagine the transcendent God becoming a man and being crucified.

I mean, they thought that was laughable.

And it was a stumbling block to the Greeks and the Romans because they worshiped power.

And they would never worship someone who was powerless to the point of being crucified.

And it wasn't just then, I mean, it's today as well.

You know, I remember when I was in high school uh, you know, listening to a really uh well-known Christian pastor at the time who was kind of a macho man, kind of a man's man kind of pastor.

And he was talking about how he really only thinks of Jesus uh as the revelation version of Jesus, the riding on the on the white horse with the sword coming out of his mouth and the blood on his robe, and kind of that Jesus coming in power, like that's the Jesus he worships.

And what he said was, I I can't worship the diaper wearing Halo Christ, because I can't worship a guy that I could beat up.

I was in high school, so I thought that was pretty cool.

Uh but upon reflecting on it as an adult, uh, it just misses the point.

It misses the whole paradox, it misses who Jesus actually is.

Yes, Jesus is all powerful.

I mean, he's sitting at the right hand of his father.

That's true.

And Revelation is coming, and like, yes, amen.

But we worship Jesus also because he is the God who humbled himself for us, who laid down his power.

Jesus did in fact become a man who could be beaten up, who could be crucified for us.

That's who he is.

And what Paul says is that that's who Jesus is.

It's just not the end of the story.

That Jesus chose humility for us, but God exalted him.

Because Jesus chose humility, God chose to exalt him to the highest place.

That's what he says in these next few verses.

He says, for this reason, because of Jesus' choice, for this reason, God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name.

So that the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

This is who Jesus is.

He humbled himself even to the point of death.

But because Jesus gave up his status and his power, because he gave up his privilege, God gave him the highest status, the most privilege, and all of the power.

Today he is back in the heavenly throne room.

He's at the right hand of his father.

He's been given the ultimate honor, a name that is above every other name.

And he's been given the submission of every man and woman who has ever lived.

And you might be saying, Well, that's not true.

Not everybody submits to Jesus.

They will.

That's the promise.

One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.

The worship of all creation has been given to Jesus.

And this is the paradox.

Jesus says, if you want exaltation, choose humility.

That's his life.

He chose to humble himself for us.

And he found exaltation because God, his father, honored him and exalted him.

And this is the story that we're being invited into, right?

Remember how this started.

Paul said, I want you to adopt the attitude of Christ Jesus, who did these things.

As we follow Jesus, that's our job.

It is to choose humility like Jesus chose humility.

Like Jesus laid down his status and his privilege and his power for us.

We're called to lay down our status and our privilege and our power for him and for his kingdom, for the good of those around us, especially those who don't yet know Jesus.

That is the life of following Jesus.

And so often when we talk about this reality, that we're called to choose humility.

Humility because Jesus chose humility for us, we leave it there, we end there.

Say, look, if you're a follower of Jesus, then you just you should choose to be humble.

That's true.

But that's actually not the end of this.

And this is what's uh so interesting to me.

That the end of Jesus' story isn't humility, it's exaltation.

And that's actually the invitation to us as well.

As we're invited to follow Jesus and humble ourselves because of him, we're actually invited to receive exaltation as well.

You maybe don't think about that.

Like this is the truth that when we follow Jesus in humility, his exaltation becomes our exaltation.

I don't know if you've ever been told in church that you're allowed to desire exaltation.

Uh, you know, that's we don't talk like that very often.

Like we kind of pound humility into our children.

I I was had you know humility pounded into me.

Be humble, be humble, be humble.

Never really stuck, but they tried really hard, you know.

Like that's the image, is be humble.

But actually, you're allowed to desire to be exalted.

I want you to see a promise here, something that Jesus offers you in the book of Revelation.

We're studying Revelation right now at Midweek.

If you've never joined Midweek before, I hope you will.

It's it's a blast.

We're we're gathering every Wednesday night and we're learn, we're learning in the book of Revelation right now.

And we're actually studying a passage this week where Jesus is speaking to his followers and where he promises something as a reward to the people who faithfully follow him and choose humility.

At the end, this is what he says: he says, To the one who conquers, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne.

Did you know that was in the Bible?

He said, You get to sit on Jesus' throne.

How do you feel about that?

Do you feel comfortable sitting on Jesus' throne?

I mean, that's that's not the image I have of heaven, right?

My image of heaven is, you know, Jesus is on the throne and we're worshiping, and we're probably a ways away from Jesus.

We're singing and we're glad to be there.

You know, it's a fantastic.

And I think that's probably gonna happen.

I think there's gonna be a lot of worshiping.

We don't get to become Jesus.

That's not what I'm saying at all.

But I am saying this.

I am saying Jesus is saying here, look, you want to sit on a throne?

It's okay.

I'm actually gonna invite you to sit on my throne with me.

You're allowed to desire exaltation.

Like I said at the beginning, it's hardwired into you.

And the Bible explains why.

The Bible says that you were created in the image of God, that you were actually created to be royalty.

You were created as sons and daughters of the king, and you were given a mission and a purpose to rule and to reign on God's behalf.

Now, that's in submission to Him, that's worshiping Him.

It's not and yet that desire to have status, to be important, you know, to be worthy of praise, that's actually a good desire.

That's a part of how you remain.

But what's happened is that sin has corrupted that desire.

And so we seek exaltation in the wrong ways.

We seek exaltation right now.

We want it now.

Uh, we seek exaltation that we've gotten for ourselves, that is because of what we've deserved, what we've earned.

We seek exaltation at the expense of others.

We want to be better than other people, more important than other people.

We we seek exaltation at other people's expense.

And that's all sinful.

And that's why the call of humility is so key to the life of following Jesus.

But deep in there is actually the godly desire to be who God made you to be.

And Jesus says, Will you trust me to be the one to exalt you in the end?

See what he says is look, if you if you want to be exalted, here's what you got to know.

It's a paradox.

If you seek exaltation, you won't find it.

I mean, sure, like maybe you'll find some people who will praise you, who are impressed by you.

Maybe you'll, you know, you'll do some things in your life that you're proud of that you get maybe some awards for, you know, maybe you accumulate enough stuff that you really are proud of that.

I don't know.

But one day, Jesus is gonna come back and you're gonna stand before the judge, and the judge of all the earth is gonna reveal everything for what it really is.

And on that day, you're not gonna be exalted, you're gonna be humbled, and you're not gonna have anything to show for the life that you lived.

But Jesus says, if you if you follow me, if you choose humility now, then on that day, when I come back, when you stand before the judge and God reveals everything for what it truly is, you are gonna be exalted.

You're gonna be praised by God Himself, and you're gonna receive a level of honor, of exaltation that this world can't touch.

And so will you trust me?

This is the paradox.

If you seek humility, you will find exaltation.

And so, how do we follow Jesus in that?

How do we choose humility?

Well, it starts just in responding to the gospel at all.

You know, the gospel message is that God humbled himself in Jesus for our sake, that because Jesus chose humility and went to the cross, we can receive forgiveness and new life and eternity with God.

And that act of cosmic humility, the only way that you can receive it is by humbling yourself in return.

Because you have to come to Jesus with open hands saying, I need you, Jesus.

I need the forgiveness that only you can give me.

I need the life that you earn because I can't earn it on my own.

I'm not worthy, only you are.

And so thank you, Jesus, for what you can give me that I couldn't get on my own.

Humility is the only way into the kingdom in the first place.

But then as we follow Jesus together, following Jesus every day is an act of humility.

This obedience, this way of following him, is choices all the time that are calling us to be humble.

I think sometimes we get confused about what it means to be humble.

We think it's like a feeling.

We think being humble is like feeling a certain way about yourself, like you're not worthy, or like you feel like you don't want to be praised or anything like that.

Humility really isn't a feeling thing at all.

Humility is a do thing, it's a choice.

That's why this passage lays out all the things Jesus chose to do in humility.

It's the same for us.

We have choices in front of us every day that are humility choices.

Sometimes they're just simple things, like a choice to obey.

Obedience is always a choice of humility.

Every time you obey God, what you're saying is, God, you're more important than me.

What you want from my life is more important than what I want from my life.

What you say is good is more important than what I say is good.

Obedience is always a choice that is in adopting the attitude of Jesus, of choosing humility.

And sometimes it's just the little things of following Jesus and obeying.

It's it's making the choice of obedience not to talk bad about that person behind their back, or to be honest when you follow your taxes, or you know, to be kind to the person you live next to or that you live with or whatever, you know, like just simple, small acts of obedience.

That's sometimes really big.

I mean, sometimes that that decision to follow Jesus and obey is to confess that sin that you've been keeping secret for a long, long time, and you know the pain of confessing it is going to be big and the shame is gonna be hard, and you don't want to do it, but you choose to obey even though you don't want to.

Every act of obedience is an act of following Jesus in humility.

What about a choice of service, of serving?

I mean, every time you choose to serve, you you give your time and your energy, not for your own good, but for the good of the kingdom of God or for someone else, that is an act of humility.

That is saying there is something more important going on than my concerns and my desires for my own life.

And whether that's, you know, making a meal for a neighbor who's in need, or you know, doing a chore for someone, or whether it's showing up early and greeting people here as they come into Alderwood or holding babies in the nursery or discipling our students.

I mean, whatever that is, every time you choose to serve in the name of Jesus, you're adopting the attitude of Jesus, and you're saying, I am gonna be humble because Jesus has been humble for me.

Or lastly, what about generosity?

Every time we choose to be generous, we're saying, Okay, I'm gonna humble myself.

Like Jesus laid down his privilege for me.

I'm gonna lay down my privilege.

I'm gonna live down, I'm gonna lay down some of what Jesus has given me for the good of the kingdom and for the good of others.

I don't know where Jesus has you in life this moment, what he's called you to, what relationships he's put you in.

But wherever he's sent you right now, he is calling you to make choices, that adopt his attitude, that choose the path of humbling yourself, like he has humbled himself for you.

Let's ask him by his spirit to give us the power to do that together.

Jesus, thank you for your incredible mercy and grace towards us and the incredible act of love that you humbled yourself to the point of obedience, to go to the cross for us.

And so, Lord, would you help us to trust you to be the one to exalt us, to be willing to humble ourselves in return, to not need to lift ourselves up, to put ourselves first, to work for our own kingdom and our own good.

Would you help us to have open hands, to lay that down, to remember that your life is the proof that the path to real exaltation is through humility, and so it helps us choose humility and love because you loved us first.

We give you our lives, we give you our families, our community, all of it.

Use it how you will.

Say this together in Jesus' name.

Amen.