5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross!
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
This is one of my favorite passages in the entire Bible. It is a perfect model for how to live life, and also a perfect gospel testimony, and is also very poetic and flowing. All in all, I do not feel like it lacks anything.
It begins by stating that our attitude should be like that of Christs, in all situations, and in all times. Read the gospels, and that is what our attitude should be like. It continues though, saying that Christ did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. Christ was God! He was the living Son of God! He was both man and God! If anyone had claim to be equal with the Father, it is Christ! And yet he didn't. How then do we as lowly sinners expect to grasp equality with God? How then can we claim to know what is best for our lives or have any complaint against God?
So instead of taking equality with God, Christ went the complete opposite way with it, he humbled himself as a servant, and became obedient to God. He served and obeyed his entire life, and continued to serve and obey humbly on the same path that lead him on the Via Dolorosa, or Way of Sorrows (aka Way of the Cross), culminating in his innocent torture and death.
Now because Christ took the complete opposite life of glorification and power, and rather chose a life of humbelness and servitude, God exalted him! He raised him up, his name above all names! Because of his life, death, and resurrection, all mankind is saved. That is the gospel message amongst all of this. Because Chrsit did all this for us, we are saved and glorified with him as Saint Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 1:12 "We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."
So we see that through all this, Christ is raised up because of the life he lived, all to the glory of God the Father. I pray that each of us lead lives bringing glory to God the Father as well, through Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior
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3 comments:
I agree joe, this is one of my favorite passages also. A continued reminder of Easter, something that I do my best to remember everyday. And also where my attitude should be. I've been trying a lot lately to get my attitude where it needs to be, because too often I am not acting as I should be. I try and pray that everyday I draw closer to Christ and through my actions act more like Him.
Excellent post, Joe. I think we would all do well to remember this passage.
thanks for the kind words fur. do you have a blogger account now? are you following my blog, you have the option of doing that with your account. Thanks for reading!
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