[0:00] Let's turn now to the second passage we read together in Philippians and chapter 2. And for a few moments, as we seek the Lord's blessing and prepare for the sacrament, we'll consider verses 6 to 8 of this chapter.
[0:15] Philippians 2, we'll read at verse 5, Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours, or which was also in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, or even the death of the cross.
[0:51] Why do we need theology? Why is theology important? Is it important? What place does it have in our Christian lives and in our Christian thought?
[1:05] Well, it's a very important question. Theology is given us to apply to our practical, everyday needs. It's given us not just to inform our minds, although it is something that happens when we consider theology as given to us from the scriptures.
[1:25] It does inform our minds. It is for the use of our intellect. But more than that, it is for our application, even for the most ordinary, everyday issues of life.
[1:39] And that's what Paul is doing in this passage as well. When he says, have this mind among yourselves, or you could translate it, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
[1:54] What he's doing is addressing that fellowship of people in Philippi, so that they will attend to things like humility and unity, and how they consider one another, and the kind of lifestyle that they must have as Christians in the world, how they must conduct themselves in the presence and the face of the world, how they must think about one another, all of those practical things.
[2:22] And it's to that, that Paul brings this immense passage filled with the highest, deepest, widest, greatest theological points.
[2:35] And it's just following what the Lord himself did. We'll mention it later in our study today. What the Lord himself did in regard to the disciples. There they were coming towards the Passover at which Jesus was going to present himself to them.
[2:52] As the one who was the true bread. As the one who was the provision of God. The door to life. And there was a squabbling amongst them.
[3:06] And in order to answer that, to deal with that, Jesus took the greatest theology. He said, The lords of the Gentiles, they exercise authority.
[3:20] They want to be served. They demand to be served. But the Son of Man came. Not to be served, but to serve.
[3:32] And to give his life. A ransom for many. You see, when you think. In your own mind. What must I be towards my fellow Christians?
[3:43] What must I be in the presence of the world? What must I be as a person who represents Christ and the values of Christ as I live then?
[3:55] You come to Christ himself. You come to these great theological passages of the Bible. And you say, That's where I need to begin to answer my question. Because that's what God has given these passages for.
[4:09] So that's what Paul is actually doing. And as he's doing it, He brings us into, As we said, These great points about the Lord Jesus Christ and his death.
[4:20] Especially, not only his death, But what led to his death. The route that he took to the cross, You might say, Beginning with him being in the form of God. So let's look briefly.
[4:30] Now we're only going to touch on some of these great points. I want to take the whole of these three or four verses together as a unit. And there's not going to be time to enter into any great detail about each of the great points that are mentioned there.
[4:47] First of all, We will look at Christ being in the form of God. The beginning of verse 6 there. Who though he was in the form of God. What does that mean? And then secondly, Christ taking the form of a servant.
[5:02] He did not think equality with God a thing to be grasped or held on to. But made himself nothing, Taking the form of a servant. And you can see immediately that the word form is used for what he was before he became a servant.
[5:17] In regard to his deity, To what he had there as God. And then it's used also in terms of being a servant. And he took the form of a servant.
[5:29] Christ being in the form of God. It's something that has to do more, Not so much, Not just with him being God.
[5:41] This is very similar in many ways to the way that John began his gospel. In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God.
[5:51] And the word was God. He's really taking us back to time, To when there was no time, When there was no creation, When nothing existed but God. And in the depths of God's being, In God himself, In his triune life, This person who is now known as the word, Or Jesus Christ, He was.
[6:14] He existed. He had his eternal existence. And one of the things that Paul here will want us really to consider, And wanted the Philippians to consider, Is the tremendous distance, The unmeasurable distance, Between the form of God, And the form of a servant.
[6:37] And not only was this person, This Jesus, God from all eternity, But the form of God, Is a way of saying, He had everything to do with the status, Of God.
[6:54] All the trappings, If you like, Of divine royalty, They were his. They were his, From all eternity.
[7:05] Not merely, Was he God, If you could use the word, Merely, But everything to do with God, In terms of the status, That God has, In his authority, In his rule, In everything that he has revealed of himself, In all of those attributes, That belong to him, They belonged to this Jesus.
[7:26] He was, In the form of God. He had, That status that belongs, To God alone. And the second thing is, He took the form of a servant.
[7:39] Because you see, He's moving, Logically and rapidly on, In the various stages, Of this route, That Jesus took, To the cross, And to the death of the cross. And that's where he has to begin.
[7:51] He has to begin, In eternity, He has to begin with Jesus, Being in the form of God, Existing in the form of God, Having the status, Of God. Of God. He, He says, Did not consider, Or, Count equality with God, A thing to be grasped, Or you could say, Held onto.
[8:15] Now these words are difficult, And they can, Lead you astray, Unless you actually, Realize what exactly, Paul is dealing with. He's not, For example, Suggesting, That, Jesus was trying to, Aim for, Equality with God, In every sense, As something he didn't possess.
[8:37] He did have, Equality, With God the Father, With God the Holy Spirit, In terms of having, That same authority, And that same status, He had that.
[8:49] But what this is saying to us, Is that, He, As the, In the form of God, In the status that he had, In order to come into this world, And be our savior in it, He did not consider, That status, Something that he would hold on to, In order not to become a servant.
[9:10] That's what he's really saying. It is not, That he, In some way, Gave up part of what it meant to be, God in his being, In his essence.
[9:22] It's rather that he gave up the status, Of being God, Answerable to no one. Quite above, Anything to do with being a servant.
[9:37] That's the status he had, As the, As being in the form of God. The form of God, In itself, Has nothing to do, With being a servant.
[9:47] It's completely above, The idea of being a servant. It's, It's, It's, It's indicative of having service done, For you and to you. But that's what Jesus, Did not hold on to.
[10:03] That's what Jesus, Did not actually keep in his grasp, So as to refuse to take, The form of a servant. The son of God, Did not think, Equality with God, In that sense of being in the form of God, A thing to be held on to, A thing to be grasped, A thing he could never let go of.
[10:27] But instead, He made himself, Of no reputation as the AV has it, Or here he made himself, He made himself, Nothing.
[10:41] He made himself, Of no reputation. And that is then explained, By the following words, You see, You have to really keep this together, Very tightly.
[10:53] Because the words there, He made himself, Nothing, Or made himself, Of no reputation, Could literally be translated, He emptied himself. And that's led to heresy, On the part of some people, Who suggest, And who insist that, What he emptied himself of, Was deity.
[11:08] He stopped being God. When he became man, He ceased to be God. That's not what it's saying. It's saying that he, Did not hold on to the status, Of this royal status, To be served, And be in the form of God, As he released that, As he came from that status, In order to take the form of a servant, In doing so, He made himself nothing, Not by emptying himself, Of being God, But by taking to himself, By adding to himself, The being a servant, In the form of a servant.
[11:50] In the words of, The great professor Murray, John Murray, He was a great theologian, And was many years, In Westminster, Seminary in America, In Philadelphia, In commenting on this, Particular issue, This is how he puts it, This he says, Is not something done, By subtraction, But by addition.
[12:13] It's not a subtraction, Of Godhood, From this person, In order to become human, It's still deity, It's still God, But he's adding humanness, And he's adding the form of a servant, He's not ceasing to be, The God he always was, But he's beginning to be, The servant he never was, Till this moment.
[12:41] That's what Paul is dealing with, You see, And that's what he's, Really saying, You have to take with you, Into your relationships, You have to take with you, Into your consideration, Of how you relate to others, And what you think of others, You have to think of the fact, That the son of God, Did not refuse, To become a servant, That he did not refuse, To take the form of a servant, To himself, And therefore, Leave the form, Of God, Temporarily, While he was a servant, And you and I, Should never think, That it's beneath us, To be of service, Not just to God, But to other people, After all, That's what, God, That's what, Paul said, God, Had made him, As an apostle, And minister of the gospel, When he wrote, To the Corinthians, We are, Your servants,
[13:42] For Jesus' sake, It's all to do with, Service, For God, For Christ, Just as it was, For Jesus, The son of God, To do the father's will, To be of service, To the father, And to serve, His people, He did not think, Retaining the form, Of God, But took to himself, The form of a servant, And you see, It then says, That he, Did this, By taking, Our human nature, To himself, The way in the form of God, Did not count equality, With God, A thing to be held on to, But made himself nothing, Taking, The form of a servant, Being born, In the likeness, Of men, How did he become a servant?
[14:39] How could God, God in the person of his son, How could God, Become a servant? It's almost too much to think about, Isn't it?
[14:51] It's just almost too staggering, To get into your mind, That God could, In any sense, Become a servant, That God could, In any sense, Come as Hebrews puts it, And learn obedience, And learn obedience, From the things, Which he suffered, Well he tells us here, He came, To take the form of a servant, By becoming human, By taking, Our human nature, To himself, He made himself nothing, Taking, Taking the form of a servant, Being born, In the likeness, Of men, There is no loss, Of deity, Though he leaves behind, The status, The form of God, In terms of that status, In order to take, The form of a servant, Let's see if we can just, Illustrate that, Very imperfectly,
[15:52] And yet it might help, Particularly the younger ones, To think, Of what this really is saying, The prince of Wales, Prince Charles, Is heir to the throne, Genetically, He is the son, Of Philip, And Queen Elizabeth, But in terms of his status, He is heir to the throne, He is, If he survives his mother, Going to take over the throne, And be king, That's the status, That he has, He lives in a palace, It's something that, Comes with the status, Just as it was for the son of God, In heaven, Eternally, With God the father, And God the holy spirit, In all the regal, Royal splendor, Of godhood, When there was nothing else, In existence, But suppose you imagine,
[16:52] That Prince Charles, Would actually give up, The status that he has, Of living in a palace, And being heir to the throne, And just come, And join, Those who sadly, Have no employment, Or perhaps even worse, Those who are out on the street, And have to make do, With night shelter, And all the help, That others are able, To bring them, Just imagine that, Charles willingly said, That's what I'm going to become, I need to go, I need to leave my palace, I need to go and take up, The very situation, That these poor people have, As they're out on the streets, In the winter, Begging for food, He would not have ceased, To be the son, Of Philip, And Queen Elizabeth, He would still retain, His genetic identity, But he wouldn't have,
[17:53] The same status, He would no longer, Be in the palace, He would no longer, Be surrounded, By the trappings of royalty, He would no longer, Have things done to him, In serving him, He'd become a servant, Someone dependent, On others, Someone who needed, The help of others, That's what the son of God, Took to himself, He remained, The son of God, He remained God, But he took to himself, The status of a servant, The lowly status, Of a servant, He became, A servant, By becoming human, And in that humanity, He entered out conditions, That's the same idea, You have in Hebrews 5, Verse 8, As we said, He learned obedience, Though he were a son, That's how the verse begins, Though he were a son, Though he is the son, He learned obedience,
[18:54] By the things, Which he suffered, In other words, The son of God, Took to himself, Voluntarily, And willingly, Took to himself, To become, Dependent, To become, Dependent on, Not just on the will, Of his father, In doing that will, In carrying out, What he had to do, To obey the father's command, To do the work, The father had given him, He became dependent, On human beings, When he was born, As a human being, He was dependent, On his mother, He needed to be carried, By her, Cared for by her, Fed by her, Protected by her, Looked after by her, I say, That's his human nature, No, That's not a human nature,
[19:55] It's the son of God, In our human nature, That's who he is, He's not lost his identity, Though he's changed his status, He continues to be the son of God, But now in a different state, And he comes into this world, Voluntarily taking to himself, The limitations of humanness, The boundaries of servitude, The lowliness, Of having to be dependent, On others, This too, In remembrance of me, That's who you remember, That's what you remember, That's the extent, That he went to, So that you would be able to come, And remember him in his death,
[20:58] Because that death, Means so much to you, And your salvation, Is bound up in it, But you see he's saying, Being born, In the likeness of men, Now why does he use likeness, Does that mean, That he wasn't really human, No it doesn't, He was fully human, Human in every sense, In which you need, Humanness to be defined, He was in every sense, Fully human, In terms of his soul, In terms of his body, Every single aspect, Of humanness was there, But he was different, To you and I, Not different, By not being human, But different, By being human, Without a human father, And different, By being human, Without any sin, Of his own, There is no inherent sin, In him, There is no sin, Committed by him, The only way, You can unite sin,
[21:59] With him, Is in the fact, Of our sin, Being imputed to him, Being placed, Upon him, And that's why, He died the death, He died, Not because he was, A sinner himself, Not because he was, In any way defiled, Not because he needed, Acceptance with God, For something, That was out of place, In his life, But because you and I, Needed the acceptance, With God, That only his death, Could achieve, And that's where, Again, The likeness is so important, The word likeness, It's not, In any way, Indicative of not, Having a full humanity, But it does remind us, That Jesus, Was different, In that sense, Apart, From ourselves, And yet, Fully human, Just as we are,
[23:01] He took, He took, The form, Of a servant, He did not count, This being in the form of God, Something just to hold on to, So as not to come, To take the form of a servant, Instead, He made himself nothing, By taking the form of a servant, He left the form of God, And the status, That he had in it, And took the form of a servant, And all the conditions, That are involved, And he did so, By being born, In the likeness, Of men, But it doesn't end there, Does it?
[23:45] Because not only, Was Christ in the form of God, And not only, Did he take the form of a servant, And none of us, Can measure the step, From being in the form of God, To being in the form of a servant, None of us can measure that step, For the Son of God, Coming to leave, His royal status in heaven, And come to be, In the form of a servant, In this world, In our humanity, You can't measure that, There are no greater opposites, Than that, But he's not done, When he takes the form of a servant, In the form of a servant, And having becoming human, What does he then do?
[24:31] He humbled himself, And became obedient unto death, Even the death of the cross, You see, Verse 7, Really doesn't go far enough, In explaining to us, How we come to be redeemed by him, Because it says there, Yes, He made himself nothing, Taking the form of a servant, Being born, In the likeness of men, But that's not where it ends, If Jesus Christ, Had simply come, If the Son of God, Had come, If we can speak in such terms, And only taken our humanity, And remained, The perfect man that he was, And never died, The death that he died, Where would our redemption be?
[25:10] What would have happened to our sins? They would have been left with us, But being found, In human form, He humbled himself, By becoming obedient to death, Now the word form, In verse 8, Is not a good translation, It's unfortunate, That the ESV, Has used the word form there, Because it confuses things, When the word form has appeared, As we've seen twice before, It's really, Being found in fashion, As a man, It's a word, Very like the word likeness, In words, In verse 7, Likeness, And being in fashion, As a man, Are pretty much the same thing, And again, It's not saying that, It was anything less than human, That Jesus was, But it's reminding us that, When people saw Jesus, They really only saw, The human, Christ, Outwardly,
[26:12] That's what they looked at, He was found, In fashion as a man, And only three human beings, As far as we know, Ever got a glimpse, While he was in this world, Into his immaculate, Glorious God, And that was Peter, James, And John, On the Mount of Transfiguration, When through, The human, Form, The human, Body, The human, Nature of Jesus, The splendor, Of his deity, Momentarily, Shone through, That's why, You see, The gospel writers, Couldn't find words, Really adequate, To describe, What they saw, What these three men saw, It just says, That his, Face was, Brighter, Than the sun, And his clothes, Glistening white,
[27:14] Brighter, Than any fool, On earth, Could make them, You just couldn't, You couldn't describe, And adequately, In words, What this was like, And it's just telling us, That, There was that, To Jesus, Which apart, From those moments, Was never seen, The glory of God, His own, His own, Native glory, Being found, In fashion, As a man, He appeared, As a man, They looked, On him, As a man, They saw, Only the human, They could not, See through, To the divine, In other words, For Jesus, Part of, Taking the form, Of a servant, And not only, Holding on, To the form, Of God, And refused, To become, A servant, And take the form, Of a servant, Part of that, A great part of that,
[28:14] Meant for him, That his own, Native, Glorious God, Was veiled, It was hidden, From view, And that too, Is part of, The Lord's, Own humiliation, Because, You can hardly, Think of it, It's difficult, To get into your mind, The thought of God, Without the manifestation, Of his glory, That's what Jesus, Took to himself, And when he took to himself, The form of a servant, He knew, That that meant, The form of God, Could not be evident, Had to be masked, And veiled from view, And that people, Would only see, The humanness, The servitude, The lowliness, Of Jesus, And he humbled himself, Becoming obedient,
[29:14] To the point of death, Even, Death on a cross, Now what Paul is giving us, Is a series of steps, The very top of it, The first step, The first step begins, In glory, In eternity, He took, The form of a servant, He came down, To take the form of a servant, By becoming human, And then, As a human, He takes further steps, He lives a life, Of obedience, To the will of the father, And that obedience, Culminates, Reaches its, Pinnacle as far as, Obedience is concerned, Its nadir, Or bottom, In terms of his suffering, On the cross of Calvary, He was obedient, Being found in fashion, As a man, He was obedient, To the point of death, And then it says,
[30:17] Even, Death on a cross, And again, It's not the best translation, It's better as it is, In the AV, Even the death of the cross, Paul is singling out, This death, And this cross, There were many crosses, The Roman Empire, Throughout its extent, Was very familiar, With crosses, People, Were familiar with death, By hanging on a cross, It was fairly common, But there was no cross, Like this one, There were three crosses, On this very occasion, But Paul is saying, This person, Humbled himself, Even to the death, Of the cross, This cross, This death, That he died, Unique, Different to every other death, The death,
[31:20] That you and I deserved, The hell, That we will never, Have to experience, When he is, Our saviour, But that's what he died, That's what he suffered, The whole extent, Of hell, Compressed, In its intensity, In these moments, Of the cross, My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me, With all reverence, We could say, What he was saying, Was my God, My God, Why this hell, Within me, This too, In remembrance, Of me, You cannot remember,
[32:22] Anything more significant, You cannot remember, Any person, More significant, You can't, Remember, Any root, More significant, Any path, Of greater significance, Than the one, From the form of God, To the death, Of the cross, Of Calvary, But that's what, You do remember, That's who you remember, That's who you remember, And this is why, You remember him, Because all of that, And all that is in him, Means everything to you, And it's the least you can do, When he has done the most, That he has done, Let's pray, Lord our God, We give thanks today, That as the father, Of your people, And the father,
[33:22] Of our Lord Jesus Christ, You sent your son, Into this world, To die the death, Of the cross, We thank you too, Lord as our saviour, That you willingly came, To make yourself, Of no reputation, That you took the form, Of a servant, And that being found, In fashion as a man, You humbled yourself, To the point of this death, This death of the cross, Lord help us, To remember you, As we ought, In the spirit, In which we ought to, And enable us to do so, With thankfulness, That we are here today, To do so, Hear us now, And receive us, For Jesus sake, Amen.
[34:07] Well at this point, It's very customary, For us to give some direction, To those who are coming, To the Lord's table, By way of what we call, Fencing the table, Which, Is not intended to be, A means of, Keeping anyone away, From the table, Who ought to be there, But nevertheless, Giving some indication, As to what is it, That characterizes, Those who ought to be, And have the privilege, Of coming, To the Lord's table, Well to do that, Let's look at, Philippians 3, And verse 3, For we are the real circumcision, Who worship God, By the spirit of God, And glory in Christ Jesus, And put no confidence, In the flesh, Paul is describing there, What God's people are, And also, How that is seen, In their lives, He's saying, We are, The real circumcision,
[35:08] As it's translated there, But literally, It just says, We are the circumcision, Because there were those, Going about, In Paul's day, Who claimed, That they too, Were apostles, That they were Christians, But insisted, That the, Circumcision, And other aspects, Of, The Old Testament law, Needed to be kept, If you're going to be, Acceptable with God, And of course, For Paul, That was such a serious issue, And he wrote, Some of his greatest theology, Against it, In the likes of, His letter to the Galatians, For example, And similar passages, In Romans, That were justified, By faith in Christ, Without the works, Of the law, But he's saying here, We are the circumcision, In the Old Testament, Circumcision, Of course, Was practiced, On male children, It was the sign, Given to them, That they belonged, To the covenant people, Of God,
[36:09] And it was taken over, And replaced, By baptism, In the New Testament, Age, From the time, Of Christ's coming, And through the apostles, But in the Old Testament, Circumcision, Was something, That you needed to have, Not outwardly, Merely outwardly, Physically, In your body, But also, In your heart, And that's why, The prophets, So often, In the Old Testament, Used that terminology, Circumcise, Your hearts, When the people, Had gone away, From God, This was how, The prophets, Often addressed them, That God, Was appealing to them, To circumcise, Their hearts, To cleanse, Inwardly, The disobedience, The defilement, Of sin, And all of that, Is packed, Into the word, Because, As circumcision, Itself, Physically, As also, Baptism,
[37:09] Physically, Represents, Cleansing, Of sin, Union, With Christ, Holiness, Of life, A pledge, To live, For the Lord, So, Paul is saying, That's what we are, We are the circumcision, We who live, In obedience, To God, We are the circumcision, We are not formalists, We are not merely, Depending on what we do, Outwardly, We want to appear, Before God, And our hearts, Cleansed, Circumcised, In heart, We are, The circumcision, In other words, The people, Who come to the Lord's table, Are people, Who have their sins, Forgiven, People who have, Come to God, Repented of their sin, And received forgiveness, As he has promised, And they show,
[38:11] That that's who they are, When he mentions, These three things, We worship, God, In the spirit, That's literally, What it says, It says here, We worship, By the spirit of God, But literally it says, We worship, God, In spirit, In the spirit, In the holy spirit, The people of God, Are characterized, By being a worshipping people, To say, You're a Christian, And you don't, Concern yourself, With worship, Negates the very claim, You're making, And not only, Is it important, To be, A worshipper of God, Individually, What this is saying to us, We, Worship God, In the spirit, We do it together, We value doing it together, We appreciate fellowship, Together, In worship, We depend upon, The spirit of God, To do that, We're not actually content, With an outward ritual, Even though, It's an outward ritual, To the singing of psalms,
[39:12] The voicing of prayers, The reading of the word, The hearing of the word preached, And the preaching of the word, There's an outward ritual, To all of that, There's a ritual, To our service, To the form of our service, But Paul is saying, We worship God, By the spirit, Or in the spirit of God, It's in dependence, By faith, On the spirit of God, That's the sphere, Of our worship, Though outwardly, It has that ritual, It is worship, In the spirit, In the sphere of the spirit, And then he says, The second thing, That marks us, As the circumcision, Is that we, Glory in Christ Jesus, We glory in Christ Jesus, That means, We make our boast, In him literally, We are so proud, Of him to use common language, We are so proud,
[40:12] Of Christ Jesus, We're so proud, Of our Lord, We commend him, For what he is, We're not ashamed, To speak for him, To speak of him, To speak about him, To speak to him, We glory in him, We exult in him, He's everything to us, That doesn't make us proud, It makes us humble, But it makes us proud, Of him to use that, To use that terminology, We glory in him, It's difficult really, To get words, That bring out, The whole meaning, Of the word, That Paul uses here, But it includes, Such things, As to depend upon, To trust in, To be confident in, To actually be, Always in the praise of, To be proud of, All of that is packed, Into this magnificent, Little expression, We glory, We boast in Christ Jesus,
[41:14] My beloved, Is mine, As the song of Solomon, Puts it, And I am his, And, I'm proud of him, And I glory in the fact, That I'm united to him, And he says, Have no confidence, In the flesh, Well that's, Really the other side, Of the coin, Isn't it?
[41:34] The other side of, That second, Phrase that he uses there, Glory in Christ Jesus, If you're glorying, In Christ Jesus, Then you're like Paul here, You're putting no confidence, In the flesh, Last night we looked at, The remaining part of that passage, Or at least further on, In the chapter, Where we saw Paul himself, Saying, If I, Though I myself, Have reason for confidence, In the flesh, And we saw how that was, Something that he considered, At one time as gain, His own ability, In keeping the law of God, His prestige, As a Pharisee, A Hebrew of the Hebrews, Blameless as touching the law, In his own intensity, Of application, To every detail of it, That went away, The moment he met Christ, When he started, Glorying in Christ, Glorying in the law, Without the window, No more confidence, In the flesh, No more confidence,
[42:34] That's to say, In his own ability, In his own gifts, Nothing of that, Now you don't come, To the Lord's table today, Because you're confident, In yourself, Because you're confident, In the level of your faith, Because you're confident, Through how often you pray, Or you belong, To knock free church, You come to remember him, Because you have no confidence, In the flesh, And you have all your confidence, In him, Your glory, In Christ Jesus, That's, What God's people are, They are the circumcision, Though many times, They find themselves, Very short of that, As how they would describe themselves, But they are the circumcision, Who worship God, In the spirit, Glory in Christ Jesus, And you have no confidence,
[43:37] In the flesh, As Paul wrote, In Galatians 5, But I say, Walk by the spirit, And you will not gratify, The desires of the flesh, For the desires of the flesh, Are against the spirit, And the desires of the spirit, Are against the flesh, For these are opposed, To each other, To keep you from doing, The things you want to do, But if you are led by the spirit, You are not under the law, Now the works of the flesh, Are evident, Sexual immorality, Impurity, Sensuality, Idolatry, Sorcery, Enmity, Strife, Jealousy, Fits of anger, Rivalries, Dissensions, Divisions, Envy, Drunkenness, Orgies, And things like these, I warn you, As I warned you before, That those who do such things, Will not inherit the kingdom of God, But the fruit of the spirit, Is love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness,
[44:39] Gentleness, Self-control, Against such things, There is no law, And those who belong to Christ Jesus, Have crucified the flesh, With its passions, And desires, If we live by the spirit, Let us also walk by the spirit, Let us not become conceited, Provoking one another, Envying one another, May God bless these thoughts, To us, While we sing some words now, The elders will, Take the elements, And place them on the table, We'll sing from Psalm, 118, In the Scottish Psalter, From verse 15, And we'll sing two verses, While the elders bring out the elements, That represent the body, And the blood of Christ, In dwellings of the righteous, Is heard the melody of joy, And health, The Lord's right hand, Doth ever valiantly,
[45:41] So on to the end of verse 16, While the elders, Take the elements out, For us in dwellings, Of the righteous, In dwellings, Of the righteous, Is heard the melody, Of the righteous, In the same way, Also he took the cup, After supper, Saying, This cup is the new covenant, In my blood, Do this as often as you drink it, In remembrance of me,
[46:42] For as often as you eat this bread, And drink this cup, You proclaim the Lord's death, Until he comes, And so on, And in following that example, We'll give thanks now, In the Lord's name, Let's pray, Our gracious, And eternal God, We do give thanks, That we are here, At this moment, In our experience, Once again, Gathered together, At this sacrament table, Gathered together, To remember you, In your death, Gathered according, To your own command, And direction, We thank you, For everything, That is associated, With these moments, For everything, Lord, That you have done, To provide this for us, Not only in instituting, The supper itself, But in dying the death, That it represents, We thank you, Lord, For that path, Of obedience, Which you so perfectly,
[47:43] Fulfilled, For the way, In which you came, To learn obedience, From the things, Which you suffered, We thank you, For the way, In which you laid down, Your life, For your people, As the good shepherd, Of your flock, And as we bear, These things, Lord, In remembrance, We do so, Thankfully, And do so, Realizing that you are, Risen from the dead, That while we remember, The death of Christ, We remember the Christ, Who is no longer dead, We thank you, For the way, In which you reign, From your risen splendor, Above, From the majesty, That you have, At the right hand, Of God, We thank you, For the prospect, Of your sanctifying power, For as long as, Your people live, In this world, We thank you too, Oh Lord, For the reminder, Even in the words, Of institution, That we show forth, Your death, In the sacrament, Till you come,
[48:45] We bless you today, For the prospect, Of your coming, For the way, In which that is, So important, To your people, Not only, For their own redemption, And the redemption, Of their bodies, But also, For your own vindication, To declare, And to show forth, That you are, Indeed, The Lord, Before whom, Everyone must bow, And it is, Oh Lord, In that vein, And with that thought, In mind, That we come, To humble ourselves, Again before you, Forgive our sins, We pray, We are very conscious, Lord, Of our sins, When we come, To the Lord's table, Because we come, To remember the death, That was died, For our sins, Forgive us, We pray, For our lack, Of obedience, For our failure, For the many ways, In which we come short, In our lives, Of being the people, We ought to be, As we are, By profession, Continue,
[49:46] Lord, To bestow, Your favor, Upon us, And your mercy, Each day, Hear us now, For Jesus' sake, Amen. Well, just before we come, To take the communion, One or two further thoughts, In regard to, The passage in Philippians, That we've been looking at, And as we come, To take this, Communion, Let's think of these words, In chapter 2 as well, At the beginning of verse 5, Where you find, Where you find, Paul saying, Let this mind, Be in you, Which was also, In Christ Jesus, And of course, He was describing, That mind, Not only by referring to, What Jesus did, As we've been thinking of, But also what he said, In the verses, Leading up to that, Fulfill, My joy, He says, He didn't know, Whether he would see them, Again or not, He was in prison,
[50:47] When he wrote, To the Philippians, He was confident, That he would be released, But he wasn't, Absolutely sure, And we'll look tonight, At what he wanted them, To be, Irrespective of, Whether he be with them, Or not, But he says here to them, Fulfill my joy, By you being, Of the same mind, Having the same love, Being in full accord, And of one mind, Nowhere is unity, Seen more demonstrably, Than at the Lord's table, Because not only are you here, As individuals, You're here as a body, Of people, United together, In Christ, Having the same mind, One with another, Having the same love, One with another,
[51:50] None of you here, Has a different love, To the love of the others, You have the same love, The same mind, In Christ, And what he's saying to them is, Fulfill my joy, By being this, By continuing to be, What you are now, Here, In the way you live your lives, In the world, United in mind, United in love, Being the people, Who are of one accord, And of one mind, And then he says, Secondly, Do nothing from selfish ambition, Or conceit, But in humility, Count others more significant, Than yourselves, Let each of you look, Not only to his own interests, But also to the interests, Of others, When you serve the Lord, As you well know, You don't serve him, Isolated, From all the others,
[52:51] You serve him, And when he's saying here, Don't do anything, From selfish ambition, Or conceit, But in humility, He's of course, Reminding them, Of their great example, In Christ, The humility, Of making himself, Of no reputation, That's to be, Mirrored in your lives, And mine, Together as Christians, Count others more significant, Than yourselves, That's a big challenge, Because that's not, What we are naturally, We are naturally, Very prone, And we still think it, Even as Christians, I'm just as good, As so on and so on, The Lord, Could say that of himself, That he was better, Than everyone else, But he still made himself, Of no reputation,
[53:53] He still put the interests, Of others above his own, He still regarded others, Better than himself, Whatever happens, In the days ahead, In the days ahead, That fill my joy, That you be of the same mind, Of the one accord, That you do nothing from, Conceit or selfish ambition, But in humility, Consider others better, Than yourselves, Let each of you, Look not only, To his own interests, But the interests, Of others too, That night, In which the Lord, Was betrayed, He took bread, When he had given thanks,
[54:53] He broke it, And said, Take, eat, This is my body, Which is broken for you, Is due in remembrance, Of me, Like manner, He took the cup, When he had supped, Saying, This cup is the new testament, In my blood, That you as often, As you drink it, In remembrance of me, As often, As you eat this bread, And drink this cup, You show the Lord's death, Till he comes, Before we rise from the table, Let's just give our thoughts, To one or two more verses, From Philippians 2, To carry these with us, From this occasion, And out into the world, Do all things without grumbling, Or disputing, That you may be blameless, And innocent children of God, Without blemish, In the midst of a crooked, And twisted generation, Among whom you shine, As lights in the world, Holding forth,
[55:55] Or fast to the word of life, And so on, Do all things without grumbling, Or disputing, Grumblings and disputings, Not only are the contrary to unity, But they also always, Hamper, Your service in the gospel, Never is there an occasion, Of grumbling or disputing, Among God's people, That does not have, An adverse effect in some way, Upon the gospel, And your service in it, And so he's saying to us here, As you leave this table today, Having remembered the Lord's death, Having remembered his great love for you, His humility, His humiliation, His servitude, Do all things without grumbling, Do all things without grumbling, Or disputing, That you may be, Blameless and innocent, Children of God, Without blemish, That you may be as far as possible,
[56:56] The holy family of God, In this life, We're all not, We're all going to be, Short of that, We're not going to be, Able to reach that perfectly, We know that, But God is still saying, Because of the context you're in, And the context is, This crooked and twisted generation, Among whom you live, You are to be lights, In the world, To them, And to be lights, In the world, To that generation, To those people, Who are enemies, Of the gospel, You are to be, Blameless and harmless, Innocent, The children of God, The more we are that, The more effective, Our light will be, Your light must be kept, Clean, And shining brightly, And it's as,
[57:57] Holy people, But that will be the case, We have no excuse, Not to be holy, Christ has done everything, For us, To that, To that end, But holding fast, To the word of life, Or holding forth, The word of life, Could be translated as well, That's such an important, Reference at the end, Among whom you shine, As lights in the world, Holding fast, Or holding forth, The word of life, Both things are important, Holding it fast, And holding it forth, In fact, You can't have the one, Without the other, You hold fast to the word, You prize it in your heart, It's the word of your Lord, It's his mind expressed, For how you live your life, And as you hold it fast, In your life, So you hold it forth, Not just literally, Holding it and speaking about God, But he's talking about,
[58:58] The way you live, Harmless, Blameless, Children of God, As lights, In the world, In the midst of a crooked, And twisted generation, It's a great responsibility, But a great privilege, When we ask, Where is the world, Going to see light, When it doesn't bother, With the gospel, Where is it going to see the light, It has to see it, In you, In you, Not just in you individually, But in you together, What you are together, What you are to each other, What you will be to each other, As the children of God, In this generation, May he bless his word to us, And we're going to rise, From the table now, Singing, Verses from Psalm 103, 103, In the Scottish Psalter, Verses 1 to 4, I've always said a word,
[60:01] At this point, To those who, Were not at the table, And I don't want to let, This occasion pass, Without saying something as well, It's most encouraging, That you are here, I do hope, That your time here, Today, Has been one of blessing, To yourselves, That each of you, Will have, As you've been considering, As you no doubt have, What you were seeing, In the Lord's supper, What you heard, In the preaching of the word, That you are considering, Your own relationship, To the Lord, Where you are, What he means to you, What he requires, Of you to do, If this should be, My last communion with you, As your minister, I hope that, What you are not able to do, During my time with you,
[61:04] That God will give you grace, To do it, In the future, All of you are precious, All of you are precious, To those who are Christians, In this congregation, As you are precious, To me as the minister, And I would just urge you, Without delay, To make your peace with God, If you have not already done so, And if you have done so, See in your heart, That there is no reason, Why you also, Should not be at the table, And I pray, By the next communion, Whenever it will be, And whoever will be here, That your own lives also, Will be lives that reflect, The praise of God,
[62:06] In your testimony for him, I do pray this earnestly, And I do pray it, With love for you, May the Lord continue, To bless us, Individually and congregationally, In all time to come, And kita will be oleh, Now I do not say it for you, But it will be honest,