Philippians 2:4-11
Imitating Christ's Humility
4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus teachings were all about kindness to others...St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians tells them to think about others... Keep the same attitude Jesus had...We are to imitate Him...
St. Paul teaches us sharing with others is so important...We are to look not only of our interests, but the interests of others...
St. Paul tells us of some characteristics of Jesus and how we should follow Him in the glory of the Father...God made Jesus a man...God made Jesus a servant of man... God made Jesus humble...God made Jesus obedient to death... God then exalted Jesus to the highest place and put His name above every man...
Jesus was poor all His life...Jesus served and taught man during his ministry...He did not appear to many to be in a powerful position of fame, honor, or celebrity...Although hard to understand, by Him taking on our human nature, He lowered Himself from the glory of God to take on the sins of all men...
Since this was His purpose (to take on our sins), we as man must understand first we are sinful in nature to find Him and find glory in Him...For if we do not understand how wretched we are as man, we will drift away from Him and lead just a nonbeliever's life on earth...No more than that...No heaven...
So Jesus was like man...And God made Jesus divine...And He exalted Him without sin...
God wants everyone to know that Jesus is above everyone in heaven and earth...We should bow our knee to Jesus and confess Jesus is LORD, and give glory to God the Father...
We needed Jesus to come to earth...Like the people He healed on earth, they needed Him...After they were healed, the healed then knew they would not have been healed without Him...He healed many...We are like those He healed...Our illness is sin...We are the sinners...He died for sinners...He died for us...We too, need Him...