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Facts About Jesus (Philippians 2:5-11)
“who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself…” Philippians 2:6-7a ESV
God has a funny way of getting my attention. During Easter week I had read Philippians 2:5-11 in my nightly devotions. I was attempting to fall asleep, but couldn’t, because I had gotten myself all worked up about something. In my frustration, I began to pray and seek about how God would have me handle this situation. As I was praying the words of Philippians 2:6-7a started running through my head. The frustration I was dealing with was trying to tell God that I couldn’t do what needed to be done because I was not enough. I wasn’t gifted enough or wired the right way… in those moments I came up with a laundry list of excuses for why He should pick someone else.
As the words of verses 6 and 7 were running over and over through my head it reminded me that my relationship with God is not about my talents but my obedience. I like David Guzik’s summary of verses 6 and 7. “Jesus did not cling to the prerogatives or privileges of deity.” I think that the more power or privileges we acquire the harder it is for us to remember to “empty ourselves” in order to pursue what God would have us do. Sometimes I blur the line between, “I cannot do something”, and “I don’t want to do something”. There is a big difference between the two. And often “Can’t” is an excuse for “I don’t want to.”
Jesus “emptied Himself,” not of His deity, He was fully God and fully man. He instead emptied Himself of his privileges of being deity for the salvation of all the glorification of God. I can’t help but think who might be missing out on encountering Christ because we refuse to empty ourselves and do things that God would have us do that seem below us or uncomfortable. God has arranged things so that we can make an impact for him right where we are. Often times we think we need to be lifted up first, that we need to have more: more authority, more power, more education, more money, in order to make an impact. As we see in these verses that is not the model Christ laid out for us. Instead, Christ gave up his rights, in order to be obedient to God and because of this He was exalted.
The encouraging part for me is that God doesn’t need me to be anything other than who I currently am in order for Him to use me. We should still seek to become more like Christ but his ability to impact others through us does not depend on us achieving anything. He instead wants us to rely on Him and His power as He accomplishes His will through us. When we follow the model set by Christ and humble ourselves to his will, God will use that act of obedience to impact others for Himself.
– Adam Deering
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