The Sovereign Became a Slave - Philippians 2:8

The right to live like God, he gave him the right to act like God, he gave up the right to look like God that he gave up the right to be treated like God. The apostle John explains but as many as received him, he writes, to become children of God, he gave up his rights to give you a right to gave him everything he deserved to hold to give us something we do not deserve, and then willingly execution cross was to accomplish God's will in doing something great for us. Jesus emptied himself so that we could be filled with the spirit of God and live with him forever in Philippians 2, we have the lyrics to a hymn of the early church. It's filled with the rich truth about Christ and what we find is an amazing illustration of humility is Jesus humbled himself and becoming a man and humbled himself by going to the cross. The sovereign became a slave and that's the title of Stephen Davies message today here on wisdom from the heart. Keep listening. In keeping with the context of Paul's use of Christ's incarnation as the ultimate illustration of you know, the laying down of his rights. I've suggested as we studied our way through this ancient hymn text four different personal rights that Jesus gave up that he relinquished when he came to work. First we covered Jesus gave up the right to live like God to live like God.

Verse six were told that even though he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God, as is God the father thing to be grasped the original language is much more expressive to declare that even though Jesus preexisted is God's side and the very nature and essence of God he didn't clutch it. He did. He didn't grasp his equal rights with the father, who in our culture doesn't seize their equal rights gave them up when he came he gave up his legitimate right to live. I got secondly we explored the fact that Jesus gave up the right to act like God. Verse seven tells as he emptied himself, taking the form of a dual loss, literally, a slave, so the sovereign Lord becomes a slave in his humility and because of that unbelievable reversal.

He now refuses to demonstrate the power that he has the attributes of who he still is rated cease to become God's subtraction. It's addition he took on the nature of man and he doesn't use his power or attributes for his own convenience, or comfort, but for the benefit of others when he every so often pulls back the veil gave up his legitimate right to live like God and to act like God. Thirdly, Jesus gave up the right to look like God.

We covered this in our last session together. We don't think of it often in verse seven and then the first part of verse eight Paul sings these ancient lyrics that Jesus was made in the likeness of men being found in appearance as a man. In other words, prior to his incarnation, he was his close to this unspeakable unimaginable splendor, but then with incredible humility.

Isaiah gives us the only physical description of our Lord. He chooses the face in the physique of an unattractive, unimpressive mail of Jewish 1053 verse two.

I mean, and we we talked about a little bit.

He could have chosen everything about himself. He did, in fact, the height of his stature.

The size of his nose to get them in the most handsome man to walk the planet yet he adds to the demonstration of his humility by not only becoming a man choosing to become an ordinary, literally, as this is a homely man he so run-of-the-mill, ordinary and unimpressive when he announces he is Jewish leaders said, isn't this the carpenter's son. We know you are and they took offense at 13. We listen, we would've agreed with the sentiment of our culture have you lived in that we would've echoed the sentiment of everybody around.

We would've spent the listen. We never see God the son, but you are not you are not lead me to the fourth and final right that Jesus gave up his humility. He gave up the right to be treated like God, go to the middle part of verse eight were left off, he humbled himself, literally.

He laid himself low by becoming obedient to the point of death, that is delaying this himself low in obedience and obedience to death. Don't hurry past that this is one more of those signature phrases that that tells us there is more to Jesus than meets the if you take time to explore his death requires his obedience your death and mine doesn't. We don't have to obey anything to die, we die, we all have to come to some point will we say okay God I am now willing obedience and then we not that how we die for us.

Death is not a matter of obedience, we die, whether or not we want to isn't an elective. It's required to certain Franklin status taxes right we rather not think about it will do anything we can to avoid my parents told me sometime after it happened of an event when I was in middle school and we were traveling the family a deputation going to church after tertiary support for the mission. Typically we didn't stay overnight in the hotel and mature how this particular event happened. All six of us four boys to mom and dad were packed in the one little room in the hotel and they said I was sharing a bed with one of my brothers, unfortunately, but that a red shirt but we were lying there at around midnight, I suddenly sat and shouted death, and lay back down with sleep. I manage a satellite of the washout.

It definitely back down. My mother rattled her so badly ruined her night no idea what world I was thinking.

Death is a is a mystery in the and we aren't all that eager to engage in it even though we know it's on the other side.

According to Scripture we do not know when it's going to happen. Jesus did the same Jesus did.

He became obedient right up to the point of death, encompassing in other words, it will require the obedience of Christ in order to experience death.

This is what he meant when he told his audience.

On one occasion John recorded in chapter 10 nobody has taken my life away from me. I down on my own initiative 20 men. So on the cross, Jesus will demonstrate this as as God though man. He being God will obey the will of the triune God he will deal his spirit.

The father John 1930 the old King James translated he gave up the ghost. He literally yields up his spirit that verbal yield means he voluntarily gave it over other words, Paul is effectively saying here Jesus. Jesus died at the very moment he decided to die was an act of obedience to the will of the father is there determined it all before the foundation of the world was in an accident. It was the plan that Peter would later preach stunning truth to the nation Israel the man you killed was actually determined in advance God to die just that manner and in that moment, acts 220 see what he saying is from the perspective of mankind and all of the events surrounding the crucifixion, Jesus was murder but from the perspective of the triune God in the plan of redemption. He was not murdered he was sacrificed. He was the Lamb of God who would come take away the sin of the world is the last act of obedience in his life. His perfectly obedient life was to yield up his spirit to his father.

Paul here adds one more freighted phrase wasn't just any kind of death that I want spend the majority of our time here is the last part of verse eight. It was death on the cross. Paul wants us to call this is the way he writes it became obedient to death, even as if to say, if you can leave if you can match death document giving up the right to be treated like God death on the cross was the ultimate insult by man.

It was the crowning act of humility by God. Paul will write to the Gentile die cross is foolishness to insanity. 123.don't die and if they died and I gonna die that way. The Gentiles just couldn't quite get over it. I hope by the end of our study letter. Similarly Y. But he also right in the same printed text to the Jews that to them the crucifixion of Jesus was a stumbling block because he go all the backing of the law.

The tar Deuteronomy chapter 21 verse 23 says, clearly say that anybody put to death by hanging on a tree which encompassed crucifixion.

They became a curse, they were cursed by God. So today was it was a stumbling block way if you were truly God's son if he were really the Messiah would depend on the tree is been killed by crucifixion if he were truly God in the flash the Messiah begin to become a curse. Jews were waiting for a Messiah who would liberate and rule: defeats the Roman army in the nation, and Jesus time that a Roman cross.

When I was in Israel month or so ago I was at the site of the place where they discovered the ruins of King David's palace and the walls of his house number are literally observable, excavated underneath the visitor center, of all places.

A woman in archaeologist followed some clues from Scripture and begin to think there found it and they discredited her because she use the Bible. Nonetheless, they found it in the so they have built the foundation the visitor center sits on. You can literally see through glass built into the floor down into the walls of David's palace there in the visitor center is a gift shop with lots of books pictures which I still enjoy this day, so I'm rummaging my way around is awaiting my group with that point I was waiting through Hezekiah's tunnel underneath the city was in anybody else in the shop just this Jewish woman young woman behind the counter and I didn't think she had much to do, so I struck up a conversation with her and talked about some recent discoveries in fascinated by, and I just cut to the chase, I said look I want you to tell me something I want you to give me what comes to your heart and your mind is the strongest argument have against Jesus being the Messiah and hear about that all the time when when you hear so many save it to Jesus as Messiah comes to your and your heart with your strongest argument against him be without batting an eye. She looked at me.

She said she died he died she went on adding any didn't bring peace to me what kind Messiah is that it is still to this day. 2000 years later the stumbling Paul by the way, in the New Testament follows up and fleshes out what I heard. Isaiah 53 about the fact that the Messiah came to suffer. He will one day come to rule. I could really get into it because under tourist from America came and ruined everything. But Paul writes to the Galatians and Galatians 313 the here's what was happening that the Jesus he redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming the curse for us and then he reaches back into Deuteronomy 4 curse.

It is everyone who hangs upon the tree. This is exactly why he did. He was sacrificed on the cross he gave up his right to be treated like God in all humility borer. The curse of sin and the wrath of a holy God, so that we would not be curse forever even even to the world at large, specially back here is the early church singing about the crucifixion we do today it would be the crucifixion that separated Christianity from any and every other religion make it repulsive mankind would much rather worship God, and kills people than God, was killed by people, God is that so it was unimaginable to his world and explain a little crucifixion was invented by the Persians. They wanted to kill somebody that they had elevated so that that dying victim would not touch their goddess earth whom they worshiped like many people that Carthaginians developed a further of the Greeks popularized it. Alexander the great crucified thousands. The Romans perfected its torture by designing it a little differently. Cicero, the Roman philosopher. He died 50 years before the birth of Christ right right this to bind a Roman citizen is a crime, to flog him is an abomination to slay him is almost an act of murder to crucify him is what there is no fitting word that can possibly describe so horrible. Josephus the first century Jewish historian and an eyewitness of Titus the Roman general Kaman surrounded conquered Jerusalem, destroying an 87 in the temple as Jesus had earlier predicted not one stone will be left on another. Josephus writes that the Jews who tried to escape the city was surrounded by this Roman Gen. Titus troops knew that was too late to ask for mercy. So they were caught and women's and torture and then they were crucified in front of the walls of Jerusalem, Titus, Josephus is felt pity for them. Pity, since there were so many attempting to escape nearly 500 a day trying to slip away out.

Titus felt it was too great a risk to let them go or even put them under guard. Josephus right so he allowed his soldiers to have their way, hoping the gruesome sight of the countless crosses might move the citizens to surrender to the soldiers out of the rage and hatred. They bore these people nailed those they caught in different postures to crosses out of cruel mockery and their number was so great that there was not enough room for the crosses and not enough crosses for the body part of our misunderstanding of the degradation in horror and torture of this death is the fact that the church over the years as sentries is romanticized it and turn it into a tall Latin eyes cross. Jesus is a little trickle of blood in these not totally naked is hanging symmetrically on this 10 foot tall cross the Roman cross was actually only about my height, 6 feet victim would be nailed to a portable crossbeam I was with Jesus was carrying fell underneath when they would reach the place of execution if it were a normal place of execution.

The vertical piece would be embedded in the hill would be permanent and would live it down nail his wrists.

The upper part of his hand to the demon literally stand him up raises hands and in the center of that portable beam was a hole cut that would slip over the vertical piece and then they would raise the victim up onto a central saddle a pay Romans added that they added that so that the victim could survive for days and some weeks they would be close enough to earth right here. Talk to to weep over to beat the spit on to mock many died in the same.

Another thing that's lost that is unique in our Lord's own narrative and made it even more demeaning for the typical execution was that the victims were not buried. They were simply left on that cross to suffer and die and be eaten by wild animals under the mission.

We have a fragment during the reign of this verse. Roman Caesar of a robber who was hung across and then soon after torn to pieces by a bear. There were vultures known and even named after the place of crucifixion because they flew around and ready to send and dispose of the corpse at the first century Roman poet by the name of juvenile Road. The vulture hurries from dead cattle and dogs and crosses to bring it to her offspring another first century account tells of a man was crucified for the wild beasts and birds of prey now if the Romans during the days of our Lord needed the cross for another victim and enough time to wait for the animals that basically dispose of what the Jews wanted a Jewish victim to be taken down before Shabbat or Sabbath, which was the case of Jesus soldiers would break the legs of the victim push them off the saddle, he would be unable to pull himself up to exhale and with in a matter of moments, unable to breathe God.

Remember from the account of our Lord. John 19 they broke the legs of the two men on either side of that his he was already dead is the reason the Gentile, among others, the Gentile world considered worshiping crucified God total folly. One early writer called Minaya that is you who do are maniacal, your maniacs like one of them. Lucius Sicilia so successful Roman thinker who lived in the first century.

During the days of Christ crucifixion in the development of Christianity.

He said this, they put forth sick delusion, senseless and crazy superstition which leads to the destruction of all true religion and that at least among the monstrosities of their faith is the fact that they worship someone who is been crucified, they were repulsed by the idea of Christianity being founded via criminal died such a vile death. Vectors one critical issue also surrounded crucifixion that we overlooked over the years and that was this the crucifixion was reserved primarily and mainly for the execution of slave. They were often in fact they were always worried of slave uprisings slaves outnumbered citizen in the Roman Empire became close, slaves had no rights. They had no justice to defend themselves. They own nothing. They were offered nothing in return for their servant hood.

They were at the mercy and whim of their masters in the cross during this era back for several hundred years came to be thought of as one Roman author put it, the slave penalty. The slave punishment was cold so there's no mistaking here the early church is singing and they would have immediately can connected Paul's reference as he quotes the lyrics or even composes a number seven to Jesus taking on the form of a slave and then later verse eight and he died on the cross. Of course he did is a test slaves who were executed so often died stanzas of this hymn, then begin not by taking us upward to see the glory of heaven and in and barely into the glory of the preexistence of Christ. What this hymn does in these early stanzas is as one author said take you down down down to the deepest darkest hellhole in human history to see the horrific torture the unspeakable abuse the blood he execution of a slave on a cross in this hymn celebrates the death of this slave on this cross, he chose to become powerless.

He chose that cross chose to die that way.

He never stood up for his rights and he never demanded a fair trial. He refused to defend himself.

He didn't demand worship than he doesn't demand that now he will one day receive it from everyone. Think about it in our world today and for centuries, there is been this national birthday party we call a Christmas can you imagine coming to a birthday party and giving gifts to everyone, but the birthday boy. In fact, take it one step further.

Can you imagine inviting everybody to the party but the birthday boy that were to happen today birthday boy would sue every one of us for violating his rights, and emotional distress thing of all the lawsuits in our land. Just because someone didn't get what they believe they deserve.

Think of the glorious son of God, who gave his right in order to be treated in a way he did not deserve.

He gave up the right to live like God, he gave up the right to act like God, he gave up the right to look like God that he gave up the right to be treated like God in a text.

The apostle John explains it. But as many as received him, to them he gave the rights to become children of God, he gave up his rights to give you a right. He gave him everything he deserved to hold to give us something we do not deserve to have sovereign became a slave, so that through his suffering and his vice week can be seen forever.

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