Descending Into Greatness

DESCENDING INTO GREATNESS
Philippians 2:5-11

To be a real follower of Christ is to express your Christianity the way Jesus did.

It is a dedication to downward mobility to give God glory and to serve other people.

Jesus voluntarily descends the ladder into greatness in the eyes of God. He starts at the top.

I. Demotion 1 - Christ Did Not Hold On To His Equality With God.

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, Philippians 2:6 NIV

Jesus Christ is equal with the Almighty Father in every way from eternity past.

He voluntarily relaxed his grip on those privileges equally His with the Father and the Spirit.

II. Demotion 2 - He Made Himself Nothing

That Jesus "empties" himself does not mean that he became less divine.

He willingly divested himself of everything that would have kept Him from becoming human.

III. Demotion 3, 4, 5 - He Became Man.

Demotions three, four, and five all pertain to the incredible miracle we call the Incarnation.

Demotion 3 —the appearance of a man V 7c

Demotion 4 —made in the likeness of man 7b

Demotion 5 — the very nature of a servant 7a

He came to earth as a fetus in a stable, born to a Jewish blue-collar worker.

He takes on our appearance and likeness and becomes a love servant.

IV. Demotion 6 - He Became Obedient To Death

He humbled himself and became obedient to death. Philippians 2:8 5-11

Jesus, who sustains life every second every day allowed death to win, this time.

V. Demotion 7 - Accepted Death On A Cross.

…even death on a cross. Philippians 2:8

Christ's self-demotion is rewarded with ultimate promotion.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:9 -11 NIV

This passage is a call to someone who is intoxicated with upward mobility to get off that drug.

Adopt Jesus' dedication to downscaling to advance the cause and for the glory of God.