Christ looked to the things.
[0:00] Now, I want to read two well-known verses and to indicate this afternoon that the one is the answer to the other.
So we’re reading in Philippians chapter 2, firstly.
The epistles of the Philippians and in chapter 2. And reading at verse number 4, look not every man on his own things, but every man also, on the things of others.
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.” Now the gospel by John please, and chapter 17. John’s gospel chapter 17, and reading at verse number 5.
[0:59] And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Now the Lord has blessed us the reading of, his Word. I want to make a general point before I come into the particulars of Philippians 2 first of all, which is this, that whatever the difficulty amongst believers, whatever the problem is in assembly life, and they do arise from time to time, the answer is always found in the person of Christ.
[1:46] And that what you find in New Testament epistles is that the greatest Christology, the greatest teaching about the person and the work of Christ is found in the most practical, of passages. This indicates to us that Christian doctrine, theology if you like, Christian doctrine.
[2:09] Is not some high-blown, far-off, distant thing that we’ll only grasp if we’re that way inclined, so much as we are discovering that the greatest, highest, most glorious truth about the person of Christ will speak to us in our circumstances, whatever they be, and in particular where there difficulties in assembly life. In Philippi there were difficulties, they weren’t as great as they were in Corinth, for instance, or in the Galatian churches, but in Philippi there were two sisters, you may remember, and I don’t know what the problem was. I’ve been in many discussions where people were saying, I wonder what the problem was? Of course, the fact is that the Bible doesn’t reveal what the problem was between Euodia and Syntyche, and I suppose that if it was important to know we’d be told, but the point of the matter is this, that there was difficulty between them who had previously worked well together. And the great possibility was that there would be people lining up in cliques or in party spirit behind the one and the other. So Paul’s writing from prison in Rome and as he’s writing to them, these believers whom he’s been amongst and who he dearly loves, he wants to encourage them not to be like that.
[3:39] It’s a poor thing when as believers we’re like that, if that’s the case.
So what he’s going to do is write to them and he’s going to say, look I want to show you the perfect example in all of this and what I want to lay before you is the person of Christ, and in particular here in chapter 2 he wants to lay before them the mind of Christ, so look what he says will you in verse number five, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, which by the way is very often where the reading starts when it’s read, But in actual fact you really need to begin earlier on, even earlier than where we began, and when you see that he speaks about this mind being in you, it is the mind that he’s referred to in verse 4.
[4:31] So the mind that he’s encouraging his people to have is not to look on our own things, not to look to our own advantage, not to look to my own furtherance.
[4:45] Nor to look to the furtherance simply of those who are in my little clique, God forbid that there should be such a thing, but in my little clique or my little party.
What he’s saying is this, that we’re not to look on my own personal, selfish, self-indulgent, whims, fancies, ambitions, advantages, but he says to these Christians, you are to look also, on the things of others. And this is exactly that that he refers to when in the next verse he says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” And what he’s going to do is explain.
[5:27] How it was that this was Christ’s mind to look not on his own things but actually and also to look, on the things of others. By the way, you ought to be interested because we are the others, isn’t that something? We are the others. He’s going to tell us that he did not look to his own things, but he looked on things for our advantage, for our benefit, for our blessing.
And here we are this afternoon in the good and in the enjoyment of the fact that Christ looked not to his own things, but also to the things of others, we are the others. So the question arises as to how this actually happened, what is it that Paul is thinking about when he says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
[6:25] Now, I want to ask you to really try to concentrate on this because the next bit is fairly tightly argued.
So if you miss any of the links of the things I’m about to say, you might go away wondering what the meeting was all about. So I want you to follow this through with me, and to consider the first phrase of verse 6.
[6:45] And what he’s saying in that verse at the beginning, in speaking about Christ Jesus, he says of him who being in the form of God. And there are two great matters, two great words that we need to consider in that expression. The first of them is the word being. Aren’t Bible readings wonderful places, by the way, where lots of words come up that our brethren use and none of us have a clue what the word means, in normal circumstances, but they are seemingly Bible-reading reserved words, and a brother says something, and everybody says Amen, and if you say to them at the end of the meeting, what did that word mean? They’re likely to say, not sure. Did it add clarity? Hmm. Was it in the aorist? That’s a cracker. Which aorist?
Well, well anyway, that’s another matter. But anyway, so people in a Bible reading, If we’re just a Bible reading on this passage, some brother would say, brother, the word being is really the word subsisting.
[7:57] Thank you very much, brother. That was really helpful.
[8:03] Whether or not it’s true, well, it is true, really. But this is the word I want us to think about first, being.
Who’s subsisting in the form of God.
And the idea in the Word is really important to grasp, because embedded within it is the whole idea of the eternity of being of God’s Son, who being in the form of God.
So Paul’s saying, look back the way, look back to before time began, look back to the eternal past, and remember this, that Christ has eternal antecedents. E-N-C-E at the end. Eternal antecedents. The idea in that is this, he had no beginning. He always was. It’s expressing the same thing as John expresses at the beginning of his gospel. In the beginning was the Word. The force of the tenses being this, that there never was a time when the Word began to be.
[9:09] So what Paul is marking, as he’s going to speak on the matter of humility and thinking on the things of others, is this simple yet really profound point, that our Savior knew no beginning of existence.
This is really important, I know it’s pedestrian in one way, and yet profound from another point of view, that our Saviour is eternal.
And of course, in that He’s eternal, He’s going to remind us in a moment, I don’t want to jump in before we get there, but He’s going to remind us in a moment that He is God.
[9:48] And not only does being, subsisting, also point back the way, but what it’s saying is that this actually was true of Him in time.
It was true of Him when He was here.
So let me put it to you like this, the Bible is teaching that when Christ was in the womb of his mother, he was subsisting in the form of God.
[10:13] When our Savior was walking up the main street in Nazareth, or in the carpenter’s shop, or standing in Jordan, or whether it was that he was prostrate in Gethsemane, or bearing our sins in his own body on the tree, our Savior was subsisting in the form of God, who being in the form of God, it looks to the past, it speaks of him in time. It’s true of him now. We realize this, that, Colossians, in Paul in Colossians 2, he’s going to speak of the fact that in him dwelleth, all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He’s really saying that’s true now.
Not that it wasn’t true when he was here, but he’s speaking about Christ in glory, and what he’s saying is this, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
So what the Apostle is speaking about here is this, that our Savior subsisted in the form of God, unchangingly, immutably, in the past, in the present, in the future, now, in the future, from eternity to eternity, in every circumstance, wherever he’s found, the, fact of the matter is this, he subsisted, who being in the form of God. That’s word number one. Then word number two that I want to call your attention to is this, who being in the form of God.
[11:40] Now, the idea in that is not just mere appearance. That won’t really fit, for a variety of reasons.
In the form of God is not, he was rather like God.
But the idea in form, and the word that’s used here, who being in the form of God, is one of essence.
It is an expression of nature.
It is an expression of that which is intrinsically true.
So now add that to what we’ve just been thinking.
What the passage is saying, what this phrase is saying, is that your Saviour and mine was eternally God.
Go back to eternity past, He’s divine. Possessed of divinity, possessed of the divine nature.
Was his, in the past, in the present, by the way. That means that being in the form of God, was true in time as much as it was in eternity.
[12:50] Can I just ask you all, on matters like this, on matters like sovereignty and responsibility, that those sorts of areas where there is an interface between time and eternity, Let’s not try to reduce that to human logic. Let us not rationalize our way through that. There are things in the Bible you will not understand by, endeavoring to comprehend them in your mind. There is a principle in the Bible, that it is that by faith we understand. Now that’s a really important thing. Do, know, every conjecture that was made about Christ was wrong. They supposed him to be the son of Joseph, wrong. They supposed him to be in the company, wrong.
She supposed him to be the gardener, wrong. They supposed that he was a spirit coming to them on the waters, wrong. Every conjecture about Christ was wrong. On this we need to be careful. You may remember John, you won’t remember John Newton, but You may remember what he wrote.
[14:00] Apart from amazing grace, he wrote, what think ye of Christ is the test. To try both your state and your scheme, you cannot be right in the rest if you fail to think rightly of him. Listen very carefully.
Our Saviour became man, but in becoming man he never ceased to be God.
[14:23] Not only did he never cease to be God, but deity remained undiminished in him.
When one who is God became man, deity remained undiminished in him. And further, the fact that there was two whole and perfect natures in one glorious person.
[14:45] Also means this, that our Savior became really and truly man and the fact that he was God did not elevate in any way his true humanity. So don’t try and explain that, I’m just telling you what the Bible teaches. So here’s one glorious person, from Bethlehem onwards two whole and perfect natures were found in him. Now what Paul’s saying here in Philippians 2 is this, who being in the form of God. Now what about it? When he says look, who being in the form of God and he’s now looking back to an eternity past, he says who being in the form of God, he says he thought it not robbery to be on, listen carefully, to be on equalities, it’s a plural word, to be on equalities with God. So then you say, well what on earth does that mean? Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be on equality
And if you go further back, in Isaiah 6, you discover that he was enthroned in glory.
He’s Isaiah, he saw the Lord high and lifted up. Who was he seeing? He was seeing the Lord Jesus.
Us. John 12 makes that clear. And before him there were seraphim, you will remember, who, veiled their faces as they flew before him and they cried, holy, holy, holy is the Lord.
These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and he spake of him. So what’s that saying?
Telling us this, that before ever our Savior came into the world, He was in a place and in a position, that was proper, that was appropriate to the outshining of all His glory.
That’s why the angels veiled their faces.
[17:06] And you say, yes, we know that. Well, think about it. He was in a place that was proper or appropriate for the outshining of all his glory. I think it’s Bishop Lightfoot, in his commentary on Philippians who says something like this, that there belonged to him all the outward insignia of divine glory and majesty. And you.
[17:36] Think about that and you say, yes that would be true. Well good, we’re on the same sheet here, it was true. You see, and the fact that our Savior was there with the outshining of Godhead glory, because he’s in the form of God, he’s truly God, because our Savior was there and there was all this outshining of glory, don’t, think for one moment that that wasn’t proper. It was his, it rightly belonged to him. So when Paul says, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, you do pretty well if you just stick with the text of the King James Version, because, it’s exactly expressing the idea. Let me put it to you like this, suppose at the end of the meeting you were to walk off with your Bible in your hand into the car park and away you go. You know, no one is going to think a thing about it.
[18:41] But if at the end of the meeting you picked up my Bible by chance, or not, not that I want to, suggest any bad motives with anybody, suppose you picked up my Bible, I wouldn’t worry too much in the sense that this is not my noted Bible, there are one or two notes front and back, as you’ll see in an hour and 20 minutes or something, but suppose that was my noted Bible at home, and you picked it up at the end of the meeting and you walked off with my Bible with any number of notes in it, I would be out in that car park and I would be chasing you and I would be calling after you and I’d be throwing myself on your vehicle because what had happened was this, you had robbed me, you had taken something that didn’t belong to you. If I was carrying that Bible out at the end of the meeting, that you wouldn’t raise an eyebrow, because it’s mine, you wouldn’t think it was robbery that I was taking what was really mine.
[19:47] So what the apostle is saying here is this, that our Saviour thought it not robbery to to be on equalities with God, because the fact of the matter is this, that rightly belonged to him.
The outshining of Godhead glory, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be on equalities with God, and that Godhead glory that belonged to God the Father and the Holy Spirit of God, is a Godhead glory that properly belonged to the Lord Jesus, and he was in a place, that was proper to the outshining of all of that glory. Now just bear that in mind, it was His, and rightly it was exhibited, it shone forth. So now our Saviour could have had this mind, if you allow me to speak as a man, our Saviour could have had this mind where He could look around on all that He had, His own things. He could look at the place where He was sat, He could look at the praise of angels, he could look at the light, he could look at the love of heaven’s glory, he could look at all of that that was his and he could say, I’m going to stay here and really, really enjoy this. It’s all mine.
[20:57] And it was. But he didn’t say that and he didn’t think that. So the mind that was in Christ Jesus was this, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be on equality with God, but he made himself of no reputation. I’m really glad now that this isn’t a Bible reading, because somebody would say, what do you think Think about kenosis, brother.
[21:32] That’s a Greek word by the way, something like that anyway.
And so somebody would say, well you see what this means is this, that he thought it not robbery to be on equalities of God but he emptied himself.
[21:52] And then the question would arise, what did he empty himself of? And somebody would say, no it’s what he emptied himself into. Do you know what we’d end up going right round in circles as sometimes happens in meetings and you end up going dizzy and you went out and you thought you understood the passage before the Bible reading but now you’re sure you don’t. Been in Bible readings like that? I have been in Bible readings like that. So now what this is saying is this, just keep it as translated here. What he’s saying is this, he made himself of no reputation and the thought in the passage is this, that our Savior left a place that was proper to the outshining of all his glory and he came into a world that was not such a proper place for the, outshining of that glory. Now I want us to understand, our Lord did not walk up the main street in Nazareth, I was going to say with a halo, that wouldn’t quite be sufficient.
It was absolutely impossible for our Lord to be here on earth with all the outshining of Godhead glory. Because we learned long ago in the Bible that no man can look on the glory of God and live.
[23:08] Which leads us to another conundrum.
Can’t just say, never make a brother an offender for a word. Do you know when you’re on your feet and you’re either preaching or praying, sometimes you say things you think, oh dear. Even as you’ve said it, you can hear all the brethren with an intake of breath. And why on earth did he say that? Well, my wife, she says to me, I’m glad I’m a woman. And maybe there’s a whole lot of you think that, but I say to all the brothers, you need to rise to your responsibilities. You know, meetings need to be audibly sustained. In the course of audibly sustaining meetings, you’re going to drop a clangor or two. What do you think about this? When it is that our brethren say, he veiled his glory. Do you Do you think that’s right or wrong?
[24:02] Or what about when we sing hymn number, whatever it was, the old number in believers was 1 2 2 and the first verse of 1 2 3, Lamb of God our souls adore thee, thou didst lay thy glory by.
Do you think that’s true? Well you see, people have objections to all these kinds of statements, in one way or another. I say these are efforts to try to explain something that is almost impossible, to put in words, except Bible words. And the way the Bible puts it is this, that he made himself of no reputation, he exchanged a place proper for the outshining of all his glory, and praise his name.
He came into this world for all the reasons that Paul’s going to talk about in a little while, he came into this world, not a proper place for the outshining of all his glory. See the humility in that, see the majesty of that humility. This was not someone seeking his own things, this was somebody seeking the things of others, we are the others. Because in actual fact what happened was this, he not only made himself of no reputation, but when he had done that, he took upon him the form of a servant, same word, he really and truly became a servant, you know the rest of the passage because it’s the most read passage ever in morning meetings.
Why did he do that?
[25:29] He did that for the benefit of others. Can I just ask all of you, seriously and in the fear of God, what are you doing for the benefit of others?
The Lord’s people. doing.
[25:45] What price am I prepared to pay for the advantage of my beloved brothers and sisters, fellow children in the family of God, fellow saints in the assembly, fellow subjects in the kingdom? Look at what our Saviour did, He left that place, He came to this place in order of course that He might become obedient to the extent of death, even the death of the cross, and He went there for others, He went there for us. Praise God in your heart this afternoon, imagine if we were Pentecostals and all the hallelujahs that would arise, at this moment when we consider that in actual fact our Saviour exchanged that for this, and he did it for you and he did it for me. If your heart ever gets over that, you’re in trouble as a Christian. Oh the wonder of his love, see him coming from above to atone and die for thee. Praise him, praise him, cheerfully.
Oh, the humility of Christ, oh, the meekness of Christ, oh, the mind of Christ. He looked not in his own things, but he looked also on the things of others.
[27:05] I have seen assemblies riven and divided and destroyed by people looking on their own things.
If we take something away from this afternoon’s meeting of the conference, may we take away this that we need to think as Christ Jesus thought.
Never will I forget the first time I heard in London Mr. Jim Allen preaching on this passage.
He says, this is how this can be loosely rendered. Think as Christ Jesus thought.
Would that our mind was like his mind, our thinking like his thinking.
God forgive us for pride.
God forgive us for boasting. God forgive us for seeking position.
God forgive us for thinking we’re something.
These things have no place in the Christian community.
[28:04] He did not look on his own things, says the Bible, but he looked also on the things, of others. And so our Saviour lived and died and he rose again.
And he’s on the threshold of glory, which is pretty well where the Lord is in John 17.
He’s speaking as if death and resurrection had already occurred.
He’s speaking as if he’s already back in heaven, you understand this? That’s how to understand John 17. It’s as if he’s already the other side of death, one foot as it were, back home in glory. And our Saviour now on the night before he’s going to the cross, he’s speaking to the Father, he says this in verse 1, Glorify thy Son, but he says in verse 5, glorify thou me. He speaks in the third person as the subject son, the one who came to do the will of the Father and did it. Glorify thy Son. Brothers and sisters, Christ is now back in heaven’s glory and, he’s there with acquired glory. I remember preaching on this once and a brother came up to me in Great Dungeon at the end of the meeting and said surely it’s not possible for Christ to have acquired glory, additional glory.
[29:28] To which the undiplomatic answer is, read your bible, which wasn’t exactly the answer I gave. But remember this, that in 1 Peter the apostle says, in Peter’s epistle, the apostle Peter says this, that God raised him from the dead and gave him glory. Brothers and sisters, there is a man on heaven’s throne today and he has now all the added glory of the finished work of Calvary.
See him there, glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. But when it comes to verse 5, it’s not third person, it’s first person. So he’s not now speaking as the subject son, but what he’s speaking as the son co-equal with the father. Now look what he’s saying, he says, And now, O Father, glorify Thou me, here’s the word I want to point to your attention, with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
If you have a Newbery Bible, that is good.
[30:41] If you don’t have a Newbery Bible, as my teachers used to say on my school reports.
[30:47] Could do better. If you’ve a Newbery Bible and you’re looking in the middle between the Testaments you’ll discover a diagram which is Mr. Newbery’s diagram of Greek prepositions which if you don’t know a word of Greek is really helpful. If you look at that you will find that there are various Greek words that are translated with the one word in our language, with. So it’s like this, we are with each other, in one word, one preposition, the idea is we’re looking at each other. I’m sorry about that, it’s the way I’m born, I can’t help how I look, you’re looking at me, and by the way you can’t help how you look either, I’m looking at you, but the point is we’re with each other in that sense, that’s the sense in John 1, the Word was with God, the Word was regarding God, the Word was face-to-face with God, is sometimes put, is the idea that the Word and God, were eternally in communion, beholding each other, so that we’re with. But then I could say to you, there’s another word and it means not that we’re face-to-face with each other but we’re in the company of each other, that’s another word and And that’s true. Here we are.
[32:12] Then there’s another word, which is the word in John 17 and 5, which we could only use if in fact somebody, one of you, more of you, all of you, were actually up here alongside me. So there’s our word.
So John 17 and 5 is this, Now, O Father, glorify Thou me alongside Thine own self.
Remember what I was saying?
He’s the divine equal and he’s praying.
He’s making requests. He says, glorify thou me with thine, along with, alongside, thine own self, with the glory which I had alongside thee.
Before the world was. Can’t you see if Philippians 2 is the downward steps of our Saviour, that here now our Saviour is speaking about not only His resurrection, His ascension, His exaltation?
Where is it? Where is He now?
My dear fellow believers, your Saviour and mine is alongside the Father.
And alongside the Father, He’s in the very place where He was before He came into the world.
And can I say to you that this is again a proper place for the outshining of all His glory?
His personal glory, not now acquired glory, but his personal Godhead glory.
[33:36] As one who is divine, glorify thou me alongside thine own self.
Remember what he said to the churches in Revelation?
That he sat down on his father’s throne.
There he is. He’s alongside the Father. He says, with the glory, the glory which I had alongside thee before the world was.
Isn’t that wonderful? That our Saviour became man, came into the world, did the work the Father had given Him to do, accomplished it fully in His life at the cross, rose again, is ascended and it was such a perfect work, done in such a perfect manner that our Savior rightfully is now back alongside the Father and there is again an outshining of all that glory. So we’ve got to think like he did.
[34:38] In the interest of others, for their advantage and all that.
But before I sit down and before we leave the chapter, look at that well-known 24th verse of John 17.
This is Father, I will that they also whom thou has given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which is linked to eternity, which thou has given me for thou lovest me, before the foundation of the world.” Dear brothers and sisters, one day the world is going to see His glory. He’s going to be manifested in glory and we shall be manifested in glory with Him. He refers to that in verse 22 of our chapter, the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, one day you will not be in Midland Park or wherever you come from any further, any more.
[35:33] And we who are sitting in the seats this afternoon in this meeting, we are one day going to appear with Christ in glory, how remarkable, and as we were thinking on one of the previous meetings, every eye shall see Him, but that’s not the glory of verse 24. The glory of verse 24 is His non-communicable glory, there is glory that he shares with his people and there is glory that he cannot share with his people this is his glory look at what he says that they may behold my glory it’s uniquely a wonderfully and gloriously his because of who he is ah but more than that if we ask what is that glory which his people alone shall see it is, the glory of the man of Calvary, sitting in a place that is reserved to deity.
[36:40] Our Saviour bearing mortal wounds. John sees him as a lamb as it had been freshly slain.
Our Saviour bearing mortal wounds, sitting as man most certainly in a place reserved to deity, a place in which only God can sit. He says, this is my deep desire, Father. This is what I really want, that these, they whom thou has given me, be with me where I am, alongside the Father, that they may behold my glory.” What a day that’s going to be.
I want to ask you a question and then I’m finished. Is there anything else worth living for? What is all that earth can give to one who shares in God’s own joy?
[37:41] Dead to the world in thee I live is, in thee is bliss without a loy. Tell me this, who are going to appear with Christ in glory, is there anything else worth living for? Says the apostle in the Colossian letter, not another thing. We who are going to have the great privilege of beholding Christ, his glory? Is it worth living for earthly fame or earthly possessions or, earthly advancement or earthly applause, is it?
[38:18] Oh, that our hearts might be filled with Christ, taken up adoringly, worshipingly, worshipfully, even with our glorious Lord, and to be careful for nothing but his interests, and to yield to him all that we have and all that we are, because that’s exactly what he did for us, when he did not look on his own things, but he looked also on the things of others.
I hardly need to tell you, that’s easier said than done. May the Lord bless his word to us, for his name’s sake.
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