As Christmas approaches, we often focus on the birth of Jesus, our Messiah. We talk about the angles, Mary, Elizabeth, and the manger—all fantastic things. But today, we took a bit of a different approach. Today, we asked, “What can we learn from the act of Jesus coming to earth?”
Tonight, we took a look at Philippians 2. For context, the people of Philippi were a group Paul visited in Acts 16. They were very patriotic; thus, the fact that Jesus is King/Lord became a point of contention. Many Christians faced persecution because of their faithfulness to Jesus as Lord. Despite persecution, the church grew. Paul’s writing to them is actually sort of a thank-you note for a gift they sent him while he was in prison.
He starts this letter by thanking God for the people and giving them an update on how he was doing in prison. In short, even though he was in prison, he saw it as a win-win situation. The gospel was going out because people were hearing of his imprisonment. Also, he pointed out that If he died in prison, it was only for his benefit because he would be with the Lord. At the same time, if he was released, then he has the blessing of continuing to spread the gospel!
To Paul, everything was about Jesus, and the life of Jesus was a model for Him and us to live by. This brings us to Chapter 2. For this portion of our lesson, we broke things down verse by verse, but instead of me explaining each portion, I had the students explain each portion. The goal was to get them to think about the passage the same way they would in their personal study time. The following are my notes on how I led the conversation.
Philippians 2:1 – Paul is operating from the base understanding that everyone is, in fact, a Christian. So since they are all united in Christ, find comfort in the love of God, are one in the Spirit, and walk in tenderness and compassion, then they need to walk in certain things.
Paul lays out a central idea that is said two different ways. Both ways lay out a negative statement followed up with a positive. Many believe that Christianity is a series of “No’s” but it’s not. However, where there is a no there’s often a path laid out that shows us a better way.
V2-4 – At it’s core Paul is challenging the believers to simply be humble and care for others but let’s break this down a bit more.
Ask: What does it mean to be selfish and conceited?
Ask: What does it mean to be humble?
Ask: Is Paul saying that we should look down upon ourselves or is he saying that we need to think of the needs of people more than ourselves?
The question now becomes… why? What’s the point of all of this? Is this just a “be a nice person” statement from Paul? This is where we circle back to our conversation about the Birth of Jesus and the implications of the act of Jesus coming to earth in the form of a man.
In verses 5-11, Paul lays part of our Christology. Christology is a big word that simply means the study of Jesus. In the following verses, Paul lays out a look at the type of individual Jesus is helping us to know Him better. Some have suggested this may have even been an early hymn for the early church.
V5 – In this verse, Paul challenges us to have the same mind or attitude that Jesus had. Suggesting that the moral code laid out beforehand isn’t something just to do, but it’s directly linked to Jesus’s mindset. This means that we as believers, need to change how we think about things, not just the things we do.
V6 – Some versions say “did not count equality with God a thing to be held on to for advantage”
Ask: What does this tell us about who Jesus is?
Here, we see that Jesus was in the form of God already, he was already fully divine and walking in Lordship. But the advantages of that Lordship weren’t something that he felt he had to hold to.
V7 – Some translations use the words “emptied himself,” which in the Greek is “ekenosen” coming from the Greek term “kenosis.” This term of emptying himself has become debated. To help us understand it better, some have rendered it as “gave up his divine privileges” or “Made Himself of no Reputation.” When you include the vocabulary from the previous verse about his divine status not being something he felt he had to hold on to for advantage, we can take this to mean that while he’s still fully God, fully divine, he’s happy to take on the appearance of a humble man.
Ask: What does Jesus’ willingness to appear in this form tell us about him?
V8 Here Paul tells us that Jesus’ humbleness led Him to be obedient to God, even though that obedience led to him dying on the Cross.
Ask: What does this tell us about who Jesus was?
So here we see Jesus coming as a lowly human… meaning he wasn’t trying to impress anyone. We see him doing this because he thought of us more than himself. Because of this, he did was in our best interest more than his own.
This is why Paul is encouraging us to do these things. It’s not just a moral thing to do, and it’s not about just being a nice person. It’s about having the mindset of Jesus. So the question becomes, how do we change our mindsets?
- It has to be continually in front of us. Best way to do that is to be in the scriptures regularly.
- We need to be in regular prayer with God asking him to help change our mindset
- We need to be in a biblical community where people can help us see where we may have steered away from this mindset.
To wrap up this discussion I pulled out washers that you’d use for facenting things. A washer is made of the same material as bolts. But it has a different function. In some ways it’s a lesser form, but this lesser form is important. A washer stand between a bolt and the item it’s facenting to. The washer is meant to protect the structure being facented. It take the pressure and spreads it out. Somes that washer can get damaged severely, the thing it protects is safe. In the same way Jesus acts as a washer for us and God. He alone took the punishment for our sins (1 John 2:2). He stood between us and the wrath of God so that we can safely be bound to God. I handed each one to the students to act as a reminder of what Jesus did and how that should inspire us to be humble too.
Parent Questions:
How can we as a family humble ourselves for the sake of others?
Adventures in Student Ministry 