If you have a Bible, I encourage you to turn with me to the book of Isaiah chapter 42 for our Old Testament scripture reading. Isaiah 42, passage I hope that you are familiar with by now. Yet once again, a passage that looms so large in the New Testament in so many ways that perhaps we have overlooked. We'll give our attention to those things this morning. But here in Isaiah chapter 42, in those first four verses, the Lord speaks of the great delight that he has in the servant of the Lord, that servant who we know is the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold my servant whom I uphold my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I've put my spirit upon him. This servant. Will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. A bruised read he will not break. The faintly burning wick you will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands wait for his law. I'm now turning with me to the gospel of John chapter 13 for our New Testament scripture reading. Here we find Jesus on the night of his betrayal doing what a servant would do. and making it very clear that he is enacting the work of the servant, that all that he is about to do for all the suffering that he is about to undergo over the next several hours is the culminating feature of his appointed task and call as the servant of the Lord. Where he dies in our place and yet in dying in our place as a servant, tells his disciples before him, that he's also setting a pattern before them, which they too are called to follow a pattern of service. John Chapter 13 will read the first 17 verses now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world back to the father, having loved his own who were in the world. He loved them. To the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, he rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel, he tied it around his waist, and then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered him, what I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no share with me. And Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only then, but also my hands and my head. And Jesus said to him, the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you. For he knew who was to betray him, which is why he had said, not all of you are clean. And when he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master. nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." And turning with me one final time this morning as we consider Paul's letter to the church at Philippi, Philippians 2, for our sermon text this morning. Philippians chapter 2, we'll read the first 11 verses. And therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any comfort from love, if there is any participation in the Spirit, if there is any affection and sympathy, then complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others to be more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interests of others. Here's the central command of this whole section. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. Christ, too, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself by 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. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed upon him the name that is above every name. so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. This is God's word. Let us go before the Lord in prayer. Our gracious God and heavenly fathers, we have heard so much of your word this morning. We pray that you would incline our ears to hear. that you would illuminate our hearts through the work of your spirit that we might grasp those things that your word so clearly says concerning not only our duties the great salvation that is found in the one who gave himself to be a servant and died as a ransom for his people we ask these things in christ's name amen Over the past several weeks, we have been considering those so-called servant songs of Isaiah. I hope that you start to see by now that these are not simply a random collection of passages, but rather summarize in so many ways the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ, who has come to us sent by the Father to serve His people to die in their place as our prophet, priest, and king. The ministry that sounds too good to be true and yet the very thing that we are reminded of is it is in fact most true. But it does lead us to one final question. What now? If there is any consolation to be found in Christ's present ministry as our comforter, the one who will not break the bruised reed, the one who will not snuff out the one who is despairing of life. What does that mean for us as the body of Christ and as disciples of Christ today? To use the words of Francis Schaeffer, how should we then live in light of this great truth and promise? Well, Paul himself addresses the very same question as he writes to the church at Philippi. There are two halves to this particular passage in chapter two, verses one to 11. we're actually going to take them, actually I'm going to reverse them. Have you noticed verses 1 to 4, it speaks of the servants of the Lord. What does it look like to serve the Lord? And then he grounds it in verses 5 to 11 because of the servant of the Lord. So verses 1 to 4, servants of the Lord, verses 5 to 11, the servant of the Lord. For this morning, I would actually, we're actually going to begin by looking at the second half of this passage. The servant of the Lord in verse 5 and following, and in light of what the servant of the Lord has done for us, how then should we live as servants of the Lord who walk in the path of him who died and was raised for us? What we see here, Paul, as he's writing to the Church of Philippi, begins to speak of the work of Christ, and he speaks in such broad-brush strokes that he presents before us a particular pattern. You notice here that Paul himself uses the language of form. two different places. One in verse 6 and then in verses 7 and 8. He who was in the form of God nevertheless took on the form of a servant. We need to have these particular categories in mind that we might understand who this person is of whom Paul speaks about. Who is Christ? What does it mean to say that Christ exists and has been in the form of God, and what does it mean that he took on the form of a servant? Well, the language here that Paul uses with respect to form means equality. You see this over and over again. You see in verse 5, for instance, Have this mind among yourselves, which was yours in Christ, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God as something to be utilized for his own personal preferences or ambition. Paul is making a pretty wild statement. The Lord Jesus Christ is himself deity. Not just that he became deified, as you see in older kind of heretical teachings in the history of the church, but that Christ from eternity past has always been in the form of God. We'll consider that more deeply tonight during evening worship when we look at John 1.1, but here what we have before us is Paul is simply affirming what the Holy Scripture teaches, the deity of Christ. that Christ himself is divine. And yet, though he is true God, Paul points out, pointing to the mindset of Christ, Jesus did not see this great truth as something that he should utilize or assert for himself, for his own personal privileges and purposes. While he retained the form of God, Paul says, Jesus took on the form of a servant. Again, using the language of Isaiah. Here, Paul is speaking to the utter humiliation that Christ undergoes for the sake of the salvation of his people. Again, when he speaks of the form of a servant, it's speaking of a true equality, a real, in other words, that Paul is saying that Jesus is not only true God, But He also is truly man. That though God from eternity passed, there came a point in time where the Son of God took to Himself, as we confess week in and week out, a true body and a reasonable soul. Truly man. And yet, Paul begins to probe. consider the mindset of Christ in this great act of humiliation. Notice what it says here again in verse seven, that though he did not count equality with God a thing to be ascertained for his own personal privileges, rather he emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant. Of course, that form of a servant is language there for true humanity. You see in the following phrase, by being born in the likeness of men. But what does it mean when it says that Jesus emptied himself? It's a critical question. Is Paul saying that Jesus, though he once was God, ceased to be God and somehow converted into humanity? That is not what Paul is saying. Paul is not saying that Christ divested himself of his deity. Rather what Paul is saying is that while he remained the Son of God from eternity past, he took to himself flesh and blood. He took on the form of a servant. There are stories that you read of kings and monarchs and emperors of old and the Middle Ages who at night would put on a servant's garb and walk the streets of the cities in which they ruled. many times to spy out and hear what the people are saying about them. There are, I forget which particular Muslim or Ottoman emperor it was, but he was said to do this at night and sit in the Turkish coffee houses and hear people criticize him, to which the next morning he would of course call them forth and have them summarily executed. It's great that the Lord does not do that here, but what we do see is a particular pattern. For those kings of old who had dawned on the servants' garb at night to hide themselves among the streets, they are not ceasing to be the king or emperor. They are simply hiding their outer glory, what their true identity was. That's what Paul is getting at here. While Christ remains in the form of God, he took on the form of a servant. As we read, even last week in Isaiah 52, everybody looked upon the servant and thought, what's the big deal? There's nothing in the servant that would have said, this guy is the king. This guy is the one we want to be as king. He had no outward form or appearance in such regard. In fact, it was in such a way that we looked on him and thought that he was one hated by the Lord. We see over and over again the Gospels attesting to the fact that Jesus himself retains his divinity. He's not divesting himself of his divine nature. John chapter 8 or 9, Jesus tells the people, he says, before Abraham was, I am. Very strong statements. One that did not go over the heads of his accusers because they said, here is one who claims himself to be equal with God. What is it that happens with our Savior as he ascends the mountain with several of his trusted disciples? As the heavens are rent open yet once more, not at his baptism, not at his ascension, but on the mountain of transfiguration where Jesus for a moment, as it were, unveils and displays the true glory that has been hiding all this time. as the father pronounces with divine approbation from above, this is my beloved son, this is my servant, listen to him. When we talk about Jesus taking on the form of a servant, we're speaking of a true humanity that he takes to himself, but not one in which causes change within the divine nature. He is true God and yet remains true man as we confess on a regular basis without confusion, change, or separation. And yet this emptying of himself describes the very humiliation that the form of God does as he takes on the form of the servant. I think what's striking here is so many of us, when we think of Christ's humiliation, we only think of his final week leading up to the cross. Which is truly humiliating. It is a humiliation of humiliations to see the man who was sinless, who had known no sin, be condemned as a common criminal and die in such a humiliating way on the cross. And yet notice Paul's language here. The way in which he speaks of Christ's own humiliation. It does not begin at the cross. It begins. In the womb of the Virgin. It begins in his conception in birth Christ, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant by being born in the likeness of men. And in being found in human form, there's that language again to notice, to remind us that the language of him taking on the form of a servant is him taking to himself a true humanity. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. In other words, Christ's humiliation must be seen as the moment in his life from conception to Calvary, not simply the final week of his life. Here we have the King of Glory set before us who's born in a cattle stall. How humiliating that is, and yet it is something that Christ does willingly as he obeys and submits to the will of the Father. What is it that the Son of God, the King of Glory, be made man but an act of humiliation? Isn't that what the psalmist says in Psalm 8, when I consider the stars, what is man that you are mindful of him? The son of man that you would care for him in such a way. And yet we see that Christ's Life does not end at the cross. It does not end at the grave. The suffering gives way to glory. The humiliation is the path to his exaltation, his resurrection, ascension, and his heavenly session at the right hand of God in heaven. If verses 7 and 8 speak of humiliation, that is state of humiliation, verses 9 to 11 attests to His exaltation, what happens as a result of His obedience unto death. The grounds of His exaltation is His obedience to death. It is the Father's divine approval as He looks upon the death of His Son and is satisfied that the sinless one has died in the place of and for the sake of sinners like you and me. The reward of Christ's obedience, even as we've seen in the Isaac Psalms, is the divine bestowal of a name that he would be exalted, that he would in fact be highly exalted, as Isaiah 53 says three times. He's placed in such a position of honor that the whole human race, and in fact, not just the human race, but the whole cosmos bows the knee ultimately to the Lordship of Christ. That on the last day, both the redeemed and the damned will confess that this one is in fact worthy. That all of his judgments are true and just. regardless of the outcome of the salvation or damnation of men, all he does, everything he does is righteous. He is the one who is to receive all glory and honor and power and praise. The very thing Paul is getting at here is there is coming a day when everything that is created will recognize that Christ truly is him who is in the form of God. There will be no more excuses. No more lies or deceptions to hide about. Everyone will see and stand before the throne, the judgment seat, and confess, truly this is the King of kings and Lord of lords. And they will bend the knee and confess and give glory to God. I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Chronicles of Narnia series, a favorite pastime for so many families to read during the holiday season. But there's a particular scene, I believe it's at the end of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, where the old professor, Diggory Kirk, turns to the kids as they tell him of their experience in Narnia, wondering whether or not he'll believe them. And he makes this rather curious statement. He says, Plato, Plato, Plato, it's all in Plato. When will these kids, what do they teach these kids in schools these days? Perhaps we can modify the old professor's statement and say, Isaiah, Isaiah, Isaiah, it is all in Isaiah. The person and work of Christ is fully attested to nine centuries before Christ is born. From the virgin birth his work as the servant, as the Redeemer, as our prophet, priest, and king, to his death and resurrection, to his once-for-all sacrifice for sin, to his Spirit-empowered ministry, as he causes the deaf to hear and the blind to see and the lame to leap for joy, The final judgment that he brings on the last day. It's all found there in Isaiah's message. Jesus Christ is the Isaac servant of the Lord and Paul assumes that because Christ now reigns above that that ministry of consolation is now spread and is part of the facet of the Church of the living God. It's the very message that we proclaim week in and week out that there is the true and full forgiveness of sins. To anyone who would turn to Christ. Doesn't matter how much money is in your bank account or what type of nobility is attached or not attached to your last name. Doesn't matter the neighborhood that you live in. Christ has come as a servant for all and whosoever will turn to him will find mercy. Paul assumes this ever-present reality of the messianic ministry of the servant in the life of his church, and that is actually why he begins this chapter in such a way as he now addresses the servants of the Lord. Look at these, what we might call these conditional statements. These are statements that he assumes are true. If there is any consolation to be found in Christ, if there is any comfort that is marked out by love, if it is true that there is a communion that is produced by the Spirit, if there is truly compassion that arises from the heart, here Paul is echoing the very language of the Isaianic servant songs, of him who brings comfort and consolation to his people. As we've heard over and over again from Isaiah's own lips, comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to her. Tell her that her warfare is ended and that her sin is pardoned because I have sent my servant. Behold my servant and the comfort he brings. He will neither break a bruised reed nor snuff out the candle that is standing on its last leg. Those candles that are on the verge of dying out, the Lord says, I have sent my servant to be the light of the world, to sustain the weary that they might not walk according to the light of their own ingenuity. Isaiah 49. As we considered last week, it is a ministry of comfort secured by the substitutionary death of the sinless servant in the place of sinful man. Paul here says that if these conditions describes the ministry of the servant of the Lord, if there really is such consolation and comfort and compassion and communion, if these things are really true, then how should we as the people of God live? Paul says, therefore, complete my joy. That as servants of the Lord, we ought to imitate the servant of the Lord. How so? He says, well, by a unity. of love, purpose, and fervent devotion towards God and each other by being of the same mind, he says, by being of the same love, by being of one spirit. Not by acting out of strife or ambition of trying to put yourself above others where we treat other people as stepping stones to advance our own personal cause or glory or notoriety. Paul says that should not be named so among yourselves because not even Christ acted in such a way. Christ, who had the full prerogative, could say, I am God, you will do all these things, X, Y, and Z. Paul says that though he was in the form of God, son of God did not consider these things to be utilized for self-service because he came as a servant. Isn't that the very thing that we heard in the reading of the law this morning? Isn't it so striking that James and John, when they come up to Jesus, they said, Lord, we want you to do something for us, which is a really bold statement to make. But did you catch Jesus' own response? You know, if somebody in your workplace came up to that, and let's say you're the manager of your particular business, and they say, well, we want you to make us co-manager. You say, that's a very bold claim. That's a very presumptuous act, you knucklehead. Putting it nicely. And yet, how does Jesus respond to James and John when they say, we want you to do something for us? What does Jesus say? What would you like me to do for you? Here, Jesus, even when he has to tell them no, Even the manner in which he responds reflects his own servant-hearted character and disposition to his own, even when they don't understand why it is that he has come. Paul says we are to act in the same way, not acting out of strife or ambition, but with modesty and humility. And here he describes and defines humility in this way, considering others to be more significant than yourselves. And that's what leads to the pivot of this whole passage there in verse 5. You are to have this very mindset among yourselves. Just as Christ had the mindset of the servant in his own incarnate ministry, so should you act in the same way. The night in which Jesus is going to be portrayed. What does he do? He begins to wash his disciples feet. including that of Judas, by the way, knowing full well that Judas is about to betray him. Jesus doesn't use his position of authority as a thing to be utilized, but rather he recognizes his own mission, even to the ones who will put him to death within the next 24 hours. Paul says you're to have this exact same mindset among yourselves. In one sense, we could put it like this, that you ought to imitate the incarnation. Paul is not saying that there's some type of divine spark that resides in us or that we ourselves are part of the form of God. It's not Paul's point. Paul is saying if he who is in the form of God took on a servant, than you who are not in the form of God, how much more should you follow in his footsteps? That's the very thing Jesus says, a servant is not greater than his master. And if the master is acting like a servant, then how much more should the servant of the servants, the servant of the master be? How different this is from pagan notions we see in the world around us, where be it in the political arena or even in the workplace or the home, so many people love to lord their positions of authority over others. And yet Jesus says here, this will not be named so among you. Rather, you must be a slave to all. For the Son of Man came not to be served, but rather he came to serve. A servant is not greater than his master. If he who bears the form of deity did not consider that reality a thing to be asserted, then we who are not divine have no excuse to place ourselves first in anything. Perhaps to put this differently, if Christ being God was not power hungry, then neither should we strive to put ourselves first in anything who are not God. How different God's character is from the way in which we assume him to be. We assume that God is simply a bigger version of ourselves. And yet we find every step of the way that the one who is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, power, wisdom, justice, goodness, and truth is so much greater than we ever could imagine. now there's an imprint that is placed upon the life of the believer just as Christ came to serve. Therefore, the servants of Christ ought to imitate him in our daily walk. That is Paul's very point here, to consider Christ in his incarnate service and follow him. How ought this to transform our lives and biblical notions of leadership and maturity? Christ who divested himself not of his deity, but of his privileges for our sake. Does this not mean that we ought to do the same? How does this mean for us as husbands as we relate with our wives or as parents with our kids? As managers with their employees? Or even among equals, neighbors and friends? We who are the heirs of heaven living in a world of darkness, what does this look like for us as we engage with those who would seek to put the church to death? Paul says so here, this is how you're to act, that you're to count others as more significant than yourselves, and you're to look out for the interest of others. Even as Jesus looked out for the interest of the ones who would betray and put him to death, so too should we. You see, it is here that the ministry of Christ continues through his body to a world that is afflicted by sin. It is here that the comfort and consolation of the Spirit is poured out and exemplified in the life of the church. so that the church with tenderness and compassion ought to proclaim that the true king of heaven reigns and that he has come to bring healing to the nations through the free forgiveness of sins, free, not three, through the free forgiveness of sins that is found through faith in his name. It calls us to our duties, even as Christ has come to serve us, it tells us how we as a church should be shaped and how we should treat one another. May we be a church shaped by the comfort of Christ that we might bring the consolation of his spirit to those around us. The same consolation that we ourselves received when we first heard the word of truth. Let us pray. Gracious God, Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your word and ask that even as Christ came. to serve us and to give Himself as a ransom for many that we would follow and walk in the footsteps of our Savior by denying ourselves our rights and privileges that we would take up our cross and deny our selfish ambition and walk in the footsteps of our Savior. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.