His Lowliness -The Name of Jesus

[0:00] Three themes, His love, His loneliness and His lordship.

[0:20] ! Philippians 2 verses 1 to 7, the love feast.! The love that should mark us as His people, as He says, love one another.

[0:38] And it says there, verse 1, if therefore there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies or compassions, again love, He says, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

[1:05] It was love that took Him to the cross. It was love for you, love for me, love to shed His blood, love to lay His life down, love to become sin for us.

[1:16] Now we see lowliness, lowliness, the one who stepped down from Heaven's height, from the very glory of the throne. He stepped down from Heaven's height to identify with such as we, to identify with us, so that we can be identified with Him.

[1:34] His lowliness is a mark of our Lord and Master. His lowliness, His humility. And His lowliness should mark His people too. So verse 3, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory.

[1:49] Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory. We are not to big note ourselves or put ourselves forward, but we are meant to have a lowliness of mind as our Master displayed, as that one who has a great power of the throne.

[2:08] And we are going to be able to be able to be able to be able to be able to be able to any of those who are any of those who are any of those who are any of those who are any of those who are any of those who are any of those who are any of those who are any defeat of his disciples. What love, what lowliness, what humility, what care. And we should esteem others better than ourselves. We should have that sense of putting others ahead of ourselves, looking not for our own interests but those of others. Ask yourself, how can I be a blessing to someone? How can I bless someone? How can I consider someone else's needs ahead of my own?

[2:51] How can I put myself out and put someone else ahead of me? Verse 5, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man. He took upon him the form of a servant. He clothed himself as I say with a towel. He clothed himself with human skin just like ours. He came from the dimension of heaven to that little place of earth, to that little speck, that little planet.

[3:36] He gave up for a time as it were his kingly rights and rule so that we could know his love, so we could know that relationship. I read something interesting lately. It was a comment on some human rights protest. There was all these people holding placards for, we want, we demand our rights. And there was a subtitle that a Christian had put on there that if we got all of our rights, we would be in hell. You know, because really what do we deserve?

[4:11] You know, every one of us has nothing really to be rightfully claiming other than the just punishment for our sins. And yet he, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, laid aside his rights, he laid aside his reputation and he took upon him the form of a servant. And verse say, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Not just death, but the death of the cross. That's how great his love, that's how awesome his loneliness, how manifest his identification with sinful man.

[4:59] That he, the spotless, perfect one, clothed not only in human skin, but taking upon that body, our very sin itself, and took upon him the place of a cross, the curse, the place of a curse, the place of vilification, of mockery, of spitting, of shame, of disgust.

[5:24] The Lord and master of all became the servant. The creator of life became dead for us, death for us. The perfect one became sin for you, for me, our sin, your sin, my sin, our shame, our guilt. He bore it all. Consider his love. Consider his lowliness. Consider his lordship.

[6:01] His lordship should mark his people too, because his lordship means we are followers. We are servants of this lord. Verse 9, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name that is above every name. The name of Jesus, of Yeshua, however you want to put it, in all the languages of the world, our lord, our master, our saviour, the messiah, the christ, the name of Jesus. That at the name of Jesus, every name should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have also always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Friends, the lordship of Christ. We should take stock of that. The name of Jesus. The lord to whom is due all worship, that at his name every knee should bow, that at his name every son should confess. The lord that we should confess. Confess him as your lord, as your master, and confess him to others as such. And a lord to obey, as ye have always obeyed. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. He's a lord to whom we should worship and pay homage and allegiance. A lord to whom we should confess our need of him, our love to him, our relationship to him. And a lord to whom is due our obedience, our manifest service. And verse 13. For God it is which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

[8:21] Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. Among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. Yea, and if I be offered upon the service and sacrifice of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. Friends, it says his lordship, his name. Our bowing, our confessing, our obeying. God working in you both to will and to do. The Lord is at work in human lives. The Lord of Lords and the King of Kings is still at work.

[9:15] He is still doing, he is still willing, he is still using human beings for his glory. And we should be blameless and harmless as the sons of God, as sons and daughters, as children of the living God, living out that life, shining out that light in the darkness of the world we live in, holding forth that word of life while we still can hold it forth. And I was encouraged, a brother asking for tracts. We want to pass it on, we want to get this message out. We want to shine as lights in the world, not hold it to ourselves. I'll call the stewards now.

[9:56] And it's a feast, a love feast. And we want to involve and welcome those that identify to be partakers of this feast. So we'll pass the bread and cup, we'll pass together and hold it and then take as one piece.

[10:23] And just to reflect again, there's a consolation, a comfort and encouragement in Christ. There's comfort of love, there's fellowship of the Spirit. There's the compassion, there's the joy. There's the same love, there's this one accord, there's one mind. Love.

[10:47] There's a lowliness as we think of the one to step down from heaven's glory to identify with human beings such as we. Of every nation, tribe, kindred and tongue. There's a lowliness of mind that we should manifest to each other. Not putting ourselves above one another, but considering others better than ourselves and looking after the things of others. To have that mind in us which was also in Christ Jesus.

[11:16] The lowliness of the one who made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant was made in the likeness of man.

[11:27] And humbled himself even to the death of the cross. His lowliness and his lordship. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name.

[11:42] That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. Every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

[11:54] Think of this lordship. We should have fear and trembling considering such, shouldn't we? As we work out our own salvation. As we think God's working still in human beings such as you and me.

[12:05] Working still. The Lord of lords is working still. Working in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

[12:16] Using us as shining lights. Using us as once holding forth the word of life. As the service and sacrifice of our faith should bear testament to who we belong to.

[12:29] And this love feast is all about him. It's all about his love. It's all about his grace.

[12:43] That he still extends. And we can come as helpless and hopeless as we are to the one who has the absolute love to cover all of our sins.

[12:57] To the one who has died.