In such struggles and conflicts that we have, Paul says in Philippians 2, the key is to be like Jesus: Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God – Jesus is the Son of God and therefore part of the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit being equal – nevertheless left His high position and made Himself of no reputation in order to become a servant, made like you and me, to serve us. And being found made as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross – the most shameful, degrading form of public execution in Roman times.
Christ humbled Himself. Paul is trying to explain that when God became flesh in the form of a son, born of a virgin, into our world, Jesus gave up all His heavenly position and Glory, all His heavenly Power and Authority – to an extreme! Jesus gave up EVERYTHING. He so humbled Himself, so divested Himself of ALL His heavenly attributes, He brought Himself down to our level to an extreme – even unto death. He died on the cross for you and me. THEREFORE, v9ff, God has highly exalted Him – BECAUSE He humbled Himself, BECAUSE He gave up EVERYTHING and became like us, even unto death – in complete obedience to God the Father’s Plan and Purpose in Salvation!
It is BECAUSE Jesus, as the Son of God and equal with Him, was so OBEDIENT and so fulfilled God’s Plan and humbled Himself to the extreme, that God has highly exalted Him and given Him a Name above every name! Right from the beginning, Jesus was Co-Creator: “In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God, all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made.” John 1:1-3. But, Paul says, because of Christ humbled Himself and was OBEDIENT unto death, God has given Him a position and an authority higher than any other. Through His obedience and death – JESUS IS EXALTED! HIS NAME IS ABOVE EVERY NAME!
In my praying to God the Father, I pray through Jesus – He is the Intercessor. He lives to make intercession for us. None of us is perfect. I’m not perfect. We all fail. It’s because of our imperfection that Jesus is the Intercessor – He paid the price for our sin! He bought our forgiveness. Therefore our Salvation is through Jesus. God the Father forgives us, helps us and blesses us – through His Son Jesus! Jesus is pleading, “I died for these people. I love these people. I lived with them. Forgive them and give them Eternal Life!” He is our Mediator. If we want access to God, we come through the Mediator, Jesus. So often, if you need to approach people – and I have to approach government and heads of denominations – you usually first come through another person who acts as an intermediary, a mediator who makes it possible. Our access to God is ONLY through Christ, there is no other way. You can’t go through ‘saints’, you can’t go through Mary – read the Scripture, it’s absolutely clear – our approach can ONLY be through Jesus. It was because Jesus was so OBEDIENT and so fulfilled God’s Plan, because He HUMBLED Himself to that extreme, GOD HAS HIGHLY EXALTED HIM and given Him a Name above every name!
Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus!
So now Paul is continuing to teach the Philippians in v12, “Wherefore my beloved, as you have always OBEYED in my presence, and now in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Christ-like OBEDIENCE is the key. The original sin of Adam and Eve was DISOBEDIENCE. God said, “Thou shalt not” – and they did! The greatest sin for us as believers is DISOBEDIENCE to God’s Plan.
We have to seek and to know what God’s Plan and Purpose is for us. I’ve known almost from my birth, from my earliest conscious days, that God had a Plan and a Purpose for my life. And all I’ve tried to do, all my life, is be OBEDIENT – to hear the call and to go out and do it. It takes an enormous amount of faith, that’s why I seek the Holy Spirit! There are nine gifts of the Holy Spirit – but the gift that I asked for above all others is the gift of faith in order to be able to do what God says. In my life, going to Ukraine, going to Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Poland – is only in OBEDIENCE to what God is calling me to do.
My ministry is to OBEY what God says. God is the Strategist, He is the Planner. We’re not the strategists, the planners in spiritual issues – ONLY God knows the strategy. From the beginning when He created the earth, He also knew man would sin. Jesus Christ is described in the Bible as the sacrificial Lamb of God, slain for our sins BEFORE the foundation of the world! 1 Pet 1:19-20; Rev 13:8. BEFORE sin came, Salvation came. Salvation came BEFORE sin! Before you and I sinned, God had made the way of escape. That’s why Jesus had to be OBEDIENT to the Plan which, right from the beginning of Creation, God had made!