The Humble Path to Exaltation

PEARLS OF PAUL
THE HUMBLE PATH TO EXALTATION
DR. JIM DIXON
PHILIPPIANS 2:3-11
FEBRUARY 13, 2000

In the year 1854, a man named Dudley Tyng became the pastor of the Church of the Epiphany in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was an Episcopal church. His father, who had recently retired, had been the prior pastor. Dudley was 29 years old, and the people liked him. The honeymoon didn’t last very long because Dudley Tyng began to preach on the subject of slavery. He told his congregation that the institution of slavery was an abomination to God, that it grieved the Holy Spirit, and that slavery was contrary to the love of Christ and the compassion of Christ and the justice of Christ. Slave owners in the congregation told Dudley to shut up. They told him to speak no more on the subject of slavery, but Dudley said, “I must stand up for Jesus.” Well, they fired him at the age of 31 in the year 1856.

Dudley went and started a new church at the downtown YMCA in the city of Philadelphia, and he called it The Church of the Covenant. The church began to grow. Dudley had a burden, not only for slaves and a burden to see slavery eradicated from the earth, but also for men. He actually had a burden for wives and children. His burden was he didn’t believe that husbands were treating their wives fairly, and he didn’t believe that dads were treating their children fairly. And so, he started a men’s movement, kind of a foretaste of the Promise Keepers movement we’ve seen today.

It was March 30, in the year 1858, when Dudley Tyng had his first men’s conference, and 5,000 men showed up. More than a thousand accepted Christ. More than 2,000 made a commitment to devote their lives to a greater service of their wives and service of their children. After that men’s conference, Dudley Tyng felt pretty good, but it was only two weeks later when Dudley was out in the country. He was looking at a corn thrasher, watching the machine. Somehow he got too close. He caught his sleeve in the machine, and it ripped his arm from his body. One of his arteries was severed. He died four days later with his elderly father at his side. Dudley Tyng’s final words to his dad were, “Dad, tell the people to stand up for Jesus!” Well, Dudley’s father conducted the memorial service, and he told all of the people what Dudley’s final words were: “Stand up for Jesus!”

There was a man in the audience who was touched by those words. He was a pastor, a Presbyterian minister named Reverend George Duffield. He was the pastor of the Temple Presbyterian Church in the city of Philadelphia. Inspired by Dudley’s final words, he went home and he wrote a hymn. He wrote these words; “Stand up, stand up for Jesus ye soldiers of the cross. Lift high His royal banner. It must not suffer loss. From victory unto victory, His army shall He lead, till every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed.” It became one of the most popular hymns in the Christian world. Some of you grew up in churches where you sang that song. I grew up in a church where we sang that song. It’s only one hymn of an estimated one million Christian hymns that have been written since the Protestant Reformation.

All of those hymns have a story behind them, and we have seen some great hymn writers in the history of the Christian church from Fanny Cosby to Isaac Watts to Martin Luther to Charles Wesley. There have been many great hymn writers, but it would be a mistake to conclude that the singing of hymns is a post-Reformation phenomenon. The truth is that Christians have always sung hymns. Our word hymn comes from the Bible. It comes from the Greek word “hymnos,” which is used in a number of passages in the Bible. The early church, the first century church, sang hymns.

Bible scholars believe that our passage of scripture for today is an early Christian hymn. Philippians 2:6-11, they believe it was an early Christian hymn. The words were, “Being in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but He emptied Himself, taking on the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of man and being found in human form, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even unto death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted Him, bestowed upon Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”

It doesn’t sound like a hymn, not in the English, but when you look at it in the Greek, you can see the stanzas. You can see the poetic structure. You can see the patterns of a hymn. There is no doubt it was an early Christian hymn. Whether Paul wrote the hymn or whether Paul was just quoting it because he loved it, we don’t know. We do know it was an early Christian hymn probably sung by congregations throughout the Christian world. We know it was a Christological hymn, a hymn that focused on Jesus Christ. That’s what we’re going to do this morning, focus on Jesus Christ as we take a look at this hymn. This hymn really focuses on three attributes of Christ, and these comprise our three teachings.

First of all, the hymn focuses on the deity of Christ. “Being in the form of God…” That’s how the hymn begins. “Existing in the form of God.” Now, in the Greek language, there are two words for form. There is the word “schema” and there is the word “morphe.” These words are different. The word schemadescribes the outward appearance, the form that is capable of change. The word morphe, on the other hand, describes the inner nature, the essence which cannot change.

Now, in this worship center, all of us, male and female, are all human beings. We’re all in the form of man. Our schema varies. When you look in the mirror, you see your schema. You might not like what’s happening to your schema because it changes over time, but your morphe doesn’t change. You are, in your inner nature and by your essence, a human being and that does not change. It doesn’t matter what happens to your schema, you’re still a human being. Your morphe does not change. It’s immutable. It cannot change.

Now, when this hymn tells us that Jesus Christ is in the form of God, the word is not schema, but it’s morphe. It means that His inner nature is deity. In His essence, He is God, and it’s immutable. It cannot change. This is stressed all the more by another word in the opening phrase, “existing in the form of God.” The word existing is the Greek word, “hyparcho.” This word refers to constancy. It refers to essence, and again, that which never changes, that which always exists. And so, in every way, this hymn is saying that Jesus Christ is immutably divine. He is God. At the core, it cannot change.

Now, why is that important? Why is it important to say that Jesus Christ is deity? Well, I want you to go back with me for a second to the Roman world and to the year 81 AD. That was the year that Domitian ascended the throne of Rome. Domitian was the brother of Titus and the Son of Vespasian, both of whom had been Roman Emperors before. But Domitian was different than his brother, different from his father, because Domitian claimed to be God. He claimed to be divine. He claimed to be deity. He began all of his decrees with the words, “Our Lord and God Domitian demands…” That’s how he began every decree. “Our Lord and God,” “kurios theos,” “Domitian demands.” He wanted the people to believe he was God. The trouble was the people didn’t take him seriously, so he decided to enforce his deity. He erected temples to himself in cities throughout the empire. If he did not erect a temple to himself, then he simply took an already existing structure and he made it the Temple of Domitian. He required that all people throughout the Roman Empire had to go to the temple and to acknowledge the deity of the emperor. They had to burn incense on the altar and give a wine offering. They had to say the words, “Kurios Kaisaras” (Caesar is Lord.) There were soldiers at every temple to record the citizenry.

Christians were in a mess. They couldn’t say “Kurios Kaisaras.” They couldn’t say Caesar is Lord because kurios was a divine title that they only gave to God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—and so when Christians were taken to the temple for emperor worship and they were told to say kurios Kaisaras, they couldn’t do it. Instead, they said, “Jesus is Lord,” and many of them died. They were executed. Slaughtered. In some parts of the empire, they were just incarcerated or flogged and beaten. In other parts, they were killed.

But this is what’s being referred to in the Bible and in 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 3, where the Apostle Paul says, “Nobody can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” Paul doesn’t mean nobody can say the words Jesus is Lord. Anybody can say the words Jesus is Lord. Paul meant nobody under that circumstance, in a life-or-death situation, can say Jesus is Lord except by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now, Domitian was not the first Roman Emperor to claim deity. Caligula had claimed deity, the demented insane ruler of Rome. He actually commanded that an image of himself be placed in the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem Temple. Fortunately, he died before that order could be carried out, but he also claimed to be God. Antiochus IV, the Seleucid King, had taken the title Theos Epiphanes, God Manifest. The Egyptian Pharaohs, through the centuries, many of them had claimed deity. But why? Why did these rulers claim deity? They claimed deity for the sake of authority. They wanted unreserved submission from their people. They wanted absolute obedience from their people. That’s why they claimed deity. And, you see, that’s why a lot of people in the world today do not want to acknowledge the deity of Jesus. They don’t want to acknowledge His deity because if He is God, then that would demand their surrender. That would demand their unreserved devotion and their absolute obedience.

And so, people say, “Well, he was a good teacher.” Or maybe they even say, “He was a great teacher,” but they’re off the hook. They don’t have to obey Him; they don’t have to obey His word because they don’t hold to His deity. But, you see, the Bible says again and again and again, “Jesus is deity. He is Immanuel. He is God with us.” If you’re a Christian today, truly you acknowledge that.

Now, the hymn speaks not only of His deity, but the hymn speaks of His humility. “Though He was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but He emptied Himself, taking on the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of man. Being found in human form, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even unto death on a cross.”

Now, the Greek word for humble is the word “tapeinos.” The Greek word for humiliation is the word “tapeinosis.” These two words are related as are the two English words, humble and humiliation. I think, for the most part, our culture does not understand the relationship between humility and humiliation.

Now, we’ve all been humiliated, but I think we would agree that when we’ve been humiliated, generally speaking, it’s been an accident. I mean it’s not been by our choice. When we’ve been humiliated, we’ve not chosen to be humiliated. It is the condition of man that at times we all make mistakes, and we all make blunders, and we experience humiliation. This is true even of our presidents.

Barb just recently bought a Time Life Video called “Presidential Bloopers.” I was watching this a couple of weeks ago. I laughed out loud in a few places. I mean, it really is funny. There is one scene in there where you see Gerald and Betty Ford coming off of Air Force One as they arrive at Salzburg, Austria. The Austrian Chancellor is there to greet the President of the United States. Betty and Gerald are coming out of Air Force One. They start to descend the stairs. It’s raining. They have an umbrella. The President slips, and you can see him just bounce on his seat, just bounce down the stairs until he just comes to rest at the bottom of the steps. The chancellor is just standing there looking down at him. It’s funny but humiliating, and yet he did not choose that humiliation. It was an accident.

There was a scene on this Presidential Bloopers where it showed the Vice President, Dan Quayle, speaking to supporters of the United Negro College Fund. The motto of the United Negro College Fund is, “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” That’s the motto of the United Negro College Fund, “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” Dan Quayle meant to quote that, and he couldn’t remember it, and so he said, “What a Terrible Waste to Lose Your Mind.” You could see from the look on his face that he knew he didn’t get it right. And then he said, “Or to not have a mind.” That was humiliating, but it was an accident. I mean he didn’t mean to humiliate himself.

In another instance, it showed Dan Quayle running for the Republican nomination for presidency. He said, “If you vote for me, we’ll go forward into the future, not past into the back.” In the background, you could see the faces of his supporters. They looked embarrassed because that’s kind of humiliating. But, again, it was an accident. It was unintentional humiliation. It can happen to any of us. I have a sheet up here that is three pages of bloopers from Al Gore, but I’m not going to read them. But the truth is, it could happen to anybody.

In fact, last Sunday, I’ve been told that at the second service I made more than ten blurbs where I said words wrong or combined words. When I get tired, I can do that, but it’s unintentional. We all have times when, perhaps, we feel humiliated. We don’t choose it. Maybe we think humiliation can lead to humility. The world says that. Humiliation can lead to humility. Of course, it rarely does. More normally, humiliation leads to anger or to frustration or resentment or bitterness, or maybe it leads to low self-esteem. But rarely does humiliation led to humility. In fact, the Bible tells us the opposite is true. It’s not so much humiliation leads to humility, but it’s humility that leads to humiliation. Isn’t that incredible? That’s what the Bible tells us. If you’re really humble, there are going to be moments and situations in which you choose humiliation. Incredible.

The great example is Christ in this great hymn. “Though He was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.” The Greek word is “harpagmos,” a difficult word to translate. It can mean “to prize.” It can mean “to clutch or hold onto.” It can mean “to seize.” “Though He was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but He emptied Himself.” The Greek word is “kenoo,” and it has led to the theological theory of the kenosis where they discuss the emptying of Christ when He became a man. It’s led to all kinds of debate. What did Jesus empty Himself of? But I think the debate is unnecessary, as most debates are. When it says that Jesus Christ emptied Himself, the word “kenoo” simply means “to pour out.” He poured Himself out in humility. He poured Himself out to you though He was God. In the form of God and equal with God, He still poured Himself out.

In fact, this is the nature of humility, and this is the nature of God—not to fill Himself up but to pour Himself out. And so, He poured Himself out for your sake and for mine, taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man. Do you realize how humble His incarnation was? Not just being born in that manger in Bethlehem but being born as a human being and sharing our flesh. What humility that took.

Some of you have read the book by John Howard Griffin, “Black Like Me.” The year was 1959 when John Howard Griffin decided that he wanted to understand better the plight of African Americans. He wanted to understand what it was like to be black in America, particularly in the south, and he wanted to understand what prejudice was really like and what discrimination was like. He wanted to understand their humiliation. And so, through a combination of dyes and stains and chemicals, he made himself black. He made himself black, and he traveled throughout the south, and he began to experience persecution and what he called dehumanization. He began to experience the humiliation that many blacks have experienced through the decades and years. Then he wrote that book to help the white community understand what it’s like to be black in this country.

I’ve heard that book and that incident used as an illustration of the incarnation. In a sense, it’s a good illustration, but it’s inadequate. It’s inadequate because, even though John Howard Griffin lowered himself sociologically, he didn’t lower himself anthropologically or ontologically. He didn’t take on a lower life form. Blacks and white are equal. He remained human. But Jesus lowered Himself ontologically. He became a lower being. He was the Creator, but He joined the creation. It is incomprehensible. There’s nothing to illustrate it in all of history. He chose to share our humanity in the humility of the incarnation. And then He became obedient unto death, even unto death on the cross. Incomprehensible humility.

He experienced humiliation. He was spat upon. He was flogged. He was beaten. He was crowned with thorns, and He was crucified for you and for me. He lowered Himself that He might raise us up. That’s the essence of humility, to lower yourself in order to elevate somebody else, to seek to exalt not yourself but others. That’s the essence of humility. If you are a Christian and you are called by the name of Christ, then you’re called to live like that—not as the world lives, because the world seeks to exalt itself. You’re called to be in the world and not of it. We are called to lower ourselves when it serves to exalt others. That’s how we’re to live.

If you’re not willing to be humiliated, you can’t even really repent. You can’t acknowledge you are wrong. You can’t give an apology if you’re not willing to be humiliated. That’s all part of humility, and it’s the call of Christ upon His people. He washed His disciples’ feet. He calls us to do the same. He said, “You call Me Lord and Savior, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Savior, have washed your feet, how much more ought you to wash one another’s feet?”

Well, this hymn not only speaks of His deity and His humility, but finally this hymn speaks of His exaltation. “Therefore, God hath highly exalted Him and bestowed upon Him the name that is above every name.” He has highly exalted Him. The Father has highly exalted His Son. The word “huperupsoo” is the word for highly exalted. It literally means “to super exalt,” “to exalt to the highest.” Nobody ever has been and nobody ever will be exalted like Christ. God the Father has bestowed upon Him the name that is above every name, that “at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.”

How should we take that? Some people interpret it in terms of universalism. They think everyone is going to be saved because every knee is going to bow. But the Bible doesn’t teach universalism. Jesus said, “The day is coming when all who are in the tomb are going to hear My voice, and they’re going to come forth, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting death.” That’s not universalism. Jesus said, “Wide is the path that leads to destruction, and many there are who find it. Narrow is the path that leads to life, and few there are who find it.” That’s not universalism. No, when this passage says, “Every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth,” it’s speaking of conscriptionist. Some people are going to be forced to bend the knee. Some will choose to bend the knee, and they’re in heaven. Some will be forced to bend the knee. You see, the day will come when everyone has to acknowledge, “Yes, Jesus is indeed the Son of God. He is ‘kurios theos,’ Lord and God.”

Now, you may have read in the newspapers a few weeks ago about a statue of Christ that was removed from a park in an eastern city. The courts ruled that the statue of Christ violated the separation of church and state. The courts ruled that public tax dollars cannot be used to place a statue of Christ in a public park. So, a group of Christians in the city got together. They wanted to keep the statue in the park, so they bought the statue, and they bought the land around it. They paid the city thousands of dollars so that the statue was now sitting on private property instead of public. But the courts revisited the issue, and they decided the statue still had to go because it gave the appearance of religion being supported by public taxes.

Now, pick up a newspaper and you read about a lot of things like that. Maybe it frustrates you, but the most important thing is not that you exalt Christ in a park. The most important thing is that you exalt Christ in your heart. That’s the most important thing, that you honor Him there in your soul, and you willingly bend the knee. That you wake up every morning and you bend the knee because you recognize that he is kurios. He is indeed Lord. If you’ve taken Him as Lord, you’ll want to honor Him in the way you live. That means you’re going to be willing to do what He did, lower yourself in order to exalt others. So, here is this great hymn sung by the early church but meaningful to us. Let’s close with a word of prayer.