How Is Your Attitude (2)

INTRODUCTION

The attitude of Christ—what is the one thing that characterized it? You may remember what the apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:1-2 (NIV) 1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. That is the attitude of Christ.

But you know, you and I can’t be meek and humble. We are not made that way. We want to stand on our two feet and have our little say. All of us are like that. Don’t say you aren’t, for you really are. None of us wants to be offended. None of us wants to be ignored.

We come now to one of the greatest theological statements in the scripture. Some even consider it the greatest doctrinal statement in the New Testament concerning the person of Jesus Christ. It is known as the KENOSIS, the EMPTYING passage. This passage will make it absolutely clear that Jesus did not empty himself of his deity. It will give us seven steps of humiliation that Christ took.

We find seven steps downward. Then we have seven steps upward, his exaltation.

Let’s notice the steps downward:

I. HE LEFT HEAVEN’S GLORY.

A. He came down to earth where you and I live.

It is totally impossible for us to conceive of what a big step it was from heaven’s glory all the way down to earth. It is absolutely beyond our ability to completely u understand all that our Lord did for us. When Christ was at the right hand of God the Father, He wasn’t hanging on to that position. He wasn’t in danger of losing His place in the Godhead. He hadn’t gone to school to learn how to be God. He WAS God. This position belonged to Him, He was God.

B. Neither did He leave heaven reluctantly.

At no time did He say, “Oh I just hate to leave heaven.” He left JOYFULLY. Listen to the writer of Hebrews 12:2 (NIV) Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfected of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 10:7 (NIV) Then I said, 'Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll-- I have come to do your will, O God.'" He was not releasing something that He wanted to hold on to when He came down to earth.

Now we see the second step down:

II. HE EMPTIES HIMSELF.

Philippians 2:7 (NIV) but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

Again, we must remember that He did not empty Himself of His deity. What then did He empty Himself of?

Note the prerogatives of His deity.

He lived on this earth with certain limitations. Self-imposed limitations. There was not a single moment when He was not God.

He became hungry during the temptations in the wilderness. Listen to a part of His prayer in John 17.

It still gives me chills when I read it. John 17:5 (NIV) "And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began." WOW !

He prayed to have His glory RESTORED. He had never given up His deity.

The third step down is:

III. HUMILITATION

A. He took upon Himself the form of a servant or bond-servant. He worked as a carpenter. If you and I had lived in that day, we could have called upon Him to do some work for us. He could have been born into royalty. But He chose to be born into a humble family. He was a King but He never made that claim until He rode into Jerusalem in what is called a “triumphant entry.”

The fourth step down was:

IV. HE WAS MADE IN THE LIKENESS OF MAN.

He could communicate man by becoming man. He became one of us.

The fifth step was that;

V. HE HUMBLED HIMSELF.

You and I have been humbled by someone else. Or by saying something that humbled us. But He humbled HIMSELF. This is a most difficult thing to do. But the Lord Jesus humbled Himself.

The sixth thing He did was:

VI HE BECAME OBEDIENT.

When Jesus came to earth, he came for a different reason than we did. We came to LIVE. He came to DIE. B. He did not HAVE to die, but He wanted to die for US. Listen to our Lord in John 10:15 (NIV) just as the Father knows me and I know the Father--and I lay down my life for the sheep. John 10:17-18 (NIV) 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."

The seventh and last step in the humiliation of Christ is:

VII. DEATH ON A CROSS.

Not only did He become obedient to death. But death on a cross. The most horrible death known to man at that time. Why in the world did He do this? He did it for you and me. The pain, the humiliation, all for you and me.

CONCLUSION

Since He died for us, can’t we LIVE for Him?